Perfect love casteth out fear

If perfect love shall cast out fear,
How faint and cold my love must be!
How can I to my Saviour bear
So little as I feel and see?

I fear the thing unknown to me
Lest it should bring some hurtful ill,
Yet this affront must surely be
Mistrusting of thy perfect will.

I fear the pain of those I love
And losing things I dearest hold,
Yet can I hold them thee above,
To less esteem thee be so bold?

I fear the evil of my sin,
And what for me it must portend,
As if I had no love within
Or me toward thee thou ne'er didst bend.

I fear the hellish bonds of death;
What throes shall be my final pain?
Yet thou hast said my latest breath
Is but the first of greatest gain.

Beset by fears on every part,
No pow'r is mine to make them flee.
O God! Revive my fearful heart;
Restore my wayward love to thee!

—On 1 John 4:18