Classic Poem

Can Joy and Sorrow Meet
That are so opposite?
The one so Bitter, th' other Sweet?
What, can such Foes unite?
What! meet in one small Heart!
And lovingly agree!
Joyn hands and strengthen one another!
Doubtless it cannot be.

As Aaron's Serpent-Rod
Rods of th' Inchanters swallow'd:
So godly Sorrow eateth up,
That Sorrow that's unhallow'd.
It worldly Sorrow kills:
But helpeth Spiritual Joy.
These two will strengthen one another,
And not each other 'stroy.

The deepest godly Sorrow
Spring-Tides of Joy brings in.
The more a soul can Joy in God,
The more he mourns for sin.

This Grief the Channel is
In which Joy loves to run,
And Joy the Channel deeper plowe
Then when 'twas first begun.
If any Nicodemus
Say How can these things be?
As Philip to Nathaniel said ,
So I say, come and see .