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3 Join we then with one accord
In the new and joyful song;
Absent from our glorious Lord
We shall not continue long:
We shall quit the house of clay,
Better joys with him to share;
We shall see the realms of day,
We shall meet our brethren there.

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The Mourner Comforted.

1 O, WEEP not for the joys that fade
Like evening lights away,

KNOWLES.

For hopes that, like the stars decayed,
Have left thy mortal day;
The clouds of sorrow will depart,
And brilliant skies be given;
For bliss awaits the holy heart,
Amid the bowers of heaven.

2 O weep not for the friends that pass
Into the lonely grave,

603.

As breezes sweep the withered grass
Along the restless wave;

For though thy pleasures may depart,
And mournful days be given;
Yet bliss awaits the holy heart,
When friends rejoin in heaven.

C. M.

Consolations in Bereavement.

WILSON

1 THE air of death breathes through our souls,

The dead all round us lie;

By day and night the death-bell tolls,
And says, "Prepare to die!"

2 The loving ones we loved the best,
Like music all are gone;

And the wan moonlight bathes in rest,
Their monumental stone.

3 But not when the death-prayer is said,
The life of life departs:
The body in the grave is laid,
Its beauty in our hearts.

4 This frame, O God, this feeble breath,
Thy hand may soon destroy;

We think of thee, and feel in death
A deep and awful joy.

5 Dim is the light of vanished years
In glory yet to come;

O idle grief! O foolish tears!
When Jesus calls us home.

604.

S. M.

CH. PSALMODY.

The Peaceful Death of the Righteous.

1 O, FOR the death of those

Who slumber in the Lord!
O, be like theirs my last repose,
Like theirs my last reward!
2 Their ransomed spirits soar,
On wings of faith and love,
To meet the Saviour they adore,
And reign with him above.

3 With us their names shall live
Through long-succeeding years,
Embalmed with all our hearts can give,―
Our praises and our tears.

394

605.

L. M. 61.

SARAH F. ADAMS.

"And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre."

1 THE mourners came at break of day
Unto the garden-sepulchre ;

With darkened hearts to weep and pray,
For him, the loved one buried there.
What radiant light dispels the gloom?
An angel sits beside the tomb.

2 Then mourn we not beloved dead,
E'en while we come to weep and
The happy spirit far hath fled

To brighter realms of endless day;
Immortal hope dispels the gloom!
An angel sits beside the tomb.

pray;

606.

SUBMISSION AND RELIANCE.

C. M.

"Trust ye in the Lord."

ANONYMOUS.

1 WHEN grief and anguish press me down,
And hope and comfort flee,

I cling, O Father, to thy throne,
And stay my heart on thee.

2 When clouds of dark temptation rise,
And pour their wrath on me,

To thee for aid I turn my eyes,

And fix my trust on thee.

3 When death invades my peaceful home,
The sundered ties shall be

A closer bond in time to come,
To bind my heart to thee.

4 Lord,-"Not my will but thine be done!"
My soul from fear set free,
Her faith shall anchor at thy throne,
And trust alone in thee.

607.

L. M.

DODDRIDGE.

Weeping Seed-Time and Joyful Harvest. Ps. 126. 1 THE darkened sky, how thick it lowers! Troubled with storms, and big with showers, No cheerful gleam of light appears, And nature pours forth all her tears.

2 But seeds of ecstasy unknown

Are in these watered furrows sown:
See the green blades, how thick they rise,
And with fresh verdure bless our eyes!

3 In secret foldings they contain
Unnumbered ears of golden grain:
And heaven shall pour its beams around,
Till the ripe harvest load the ground.

4 Then shall the trembling mourner come
And bind his sheaves and bear them home;
The voice long broke with sighs shall sing,
Till heaven with hallelujahs ring.

608.

L. M. 61.

"He is able to save unto the uttermost."

GRANT.

1 WHEN Vexing thoughts within me rise,
And, sore dismayed, my spirit dies;
Yet he who once vouchsafed to bear
The sick'ning anguish of despair,
Shall sweetly soothe, shall gently dry,
The throbbing heart, the streaming eye.

396

609.

2 When, mourning, o'er some stone I bend,
Which covers all that was a friend,

And from his voice, his hand, his smile,
Divides me for a little while;

Thou, Saviour, mark'st the tears I shed,
For thou didst weep o'er Lazarus dead.

3 And oh, when I have safely past
Through every conflict but the last,
Still, still unchanging, watch beside
My painful bed-for thou hast died;
Then point to realms of cloudless day,
And wipe the latest tear away.

C. M.

God, the Refuge of the Afflicted.

1 AFFLICTION is a stormy deep,

COTTON.

Where wave resounds to wave; Though o'er our heads the billows roll, We know the Lord can save.

2 When darkness and when sorrows rose,
And pressed on every side,

The Lord hath still sustained our steps,
And still hath been our Guide.

3 Perhaps, before the morning dawn,
He will restore our peace;
For he who bade the tempest roar,
Can bid the tempest cease.

4 Here will we rest, here build our hopes,
Nor murmur at his rod;

He's more to us than all the world,
Our Health, our Life, our God.

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