The Celestial Passion. Part 2. 4. Cost

Because Heaven's cost is Hell, and perfect joy
⁠ Hurts as hurts sorrow; and because we win
⁠ Some boon of grace with the dread cost of sin,
⁠ Or suffering born of sin; because the alloy
Of blood but makes the bliss of victory brighter;
⁠Because true worth hath surest proof herein,
⁠ That it should be reproached, and called akin
⁠To evil things—black making white the whiter;
Because no cost seems great near this—that He
⁠Should pay the ransom wherewith we were priced;
⁠ And none could name a darker infamy
Than that a god was spit upon,—enticed
⁠ By those he came to save, to the accursèd tree,—
⁠ For this I know that Christ indeed is Christ.