All’s for the best! be sanguine and cheerful;
Trouble and sorrow are friends in disguise,
Nothing but folly goes faithless and fearing,
Courage forever! is happy and wise.
All’s for the best! if a man would but know it,
Providence wishes that all may be blest,
This is no dream of the pundit or poet,
Fact is not fancy, and all’s for the best!
_Chorus._--All’s for the best! All’s for the best!
Fact is not fancy, and all’s for the best.
All’s for the best: set this on your standard,
Soldier of sadness, or pilgrim of love,
Who to the shores of despair may have wander’d
A way-wearied swallow, or heart-stricken dove.
All’s for the best! be a man, but confiding,
Providence tenderly governs the rest,
And the frail bark of his creature is guiding
Wisely and warily, all’s for the best!
_Chorus._--All’s for the best, &c,
All’s for the best dispel idle terrors,
Meet all your fears and your foes in the van,
And in the midst of your dangers and errors,
Trust like a child, and strive like a man.
All’s for the best! unfailing, unbounded,
Providence wishes that all may be blest,
And both by wisdom and mercy surrounded,
Hope and be happy, then all’s for the best!
_Chorus._--All’s for the best! All’s for the best!
Hope and be happy, then all’s for the best.