1034 L. M. Soon will the storm of life be o’er.
Gently, my Saviour, let me down, To slumber in the arms of death; I rest my soul on thee alone, E’en till my last, expiring breath.
2 Soon will the storm of life be o’er, And I shall enter endless rest; There I shall live to sin no more, And bless thy name, for ever blest.
3 Bid me possess sweet peace within; Let childlike patience keep my heart, Then shall I feel my heaven begin, Before my spirit hence depart.
4 O, speed thy chariot, God of love, And take me from this world of woe; I long to reach those joys above, And bid farewell to all below.
5 There shall my raptured spirit raise Still louder notes than angels sing, High glories to Immanuel’s grace, My God, my Saviour, and my King!
1035 L. M. The glory of man is as the flower, etc. 1 Pet. 1:24.
The morning flowers display their sweets, And gay their silken leaves unfold, As careless of the noon-day heats And fearless of the evening cold.
2 Nipt by the wind’s untimely blast, Parched by the sun’s directer ray, The momentary glories waste, The short-lived beauties die away.
3 So blooms the human face divine, When youth its pride and beauty shows; Fairer than spring the colors shine, And sweeter than the virgin rose.
4 Or worn by slowly rolling years, Or broke by sickness in a day, The fading glory disappears, The short-lived beauties die away.
5 Yet these, new-rising from the tomb, With luster brighter far shall shine; Revive with ever-during bloom, Safe from diseases and decline.
6 Let sickness blast, and death devour, If heaven must recompense our pains; Perish the grass, and fade the flower, If firm the word of God remains.
1036 L. M. Death of parents.
The God of mercy will indulge The flowing tear, the heaving sigh, When honored parents fall around, When friends beloved and kindred die.
2 Yet not one anxious murmuring thought Should with our mourning passion blend; Nor should our bleeding hearts forget Their mighty, ever-living Friend.
3 Parent, Protector, Guardian, Guide, Thou art each tender name in one; On thee we cast our every care, And comfort seek from thee alone.
4 To thee, our Father, would we look, Our Rock, our Portion, and our Friend, And on thy covenant love and truth, With humble, steadfast hope depend.
1037 L. M. They are not lost, but gone before.
Dear is the spot where Christians sleep, And sweet the strains their spirits pour; O, why should we in anguish weep? They are not lost, but gone before.
2 Secure from every mortal care, By sin and sorrow vexed no more, Eternal happiness they share Who are not lost, but gone before.
3 To Zion’s peaceful courts above In faith triumphant may we soar, Embracing, in the arms of love, The friends not lost, but gone before.
4 To Jordan’s bank whene’er we come, And hear the swelling waters roar; Jesus! convey us safely home, To friends not lost, but gone before.
1038 L. M. Them which sleep in Jesus. 1 Thess. 4:14.
Asleep in Jesus! Blesséd sleep From which none ever wakes to weep; A calm and undisturbed repose, Unbroken by the last of foes.
2 Asleep in Jesus! O how sweet To be for such a slumber meet! With holy confidence to sing, That death has lost its venomed sting.
3 Asleep in Jesus! peaceful rest, Whose waking is supremely blest: No fear, no woe, shall dim the hour That manifests the Saviour’s power.
4 Asleep in Jesus! O for me May such a blissful refuge be: Securely shall my ashes lie, And wait the summons from on high.
5 Asleep in Jesus! time nor space Affects this precious hiding-place: On Indian plains, or Lapland snows, Believers find the same repose.
6 Asleep in Jesus! far from thee Thy kindred and their graves may be: But thine is still a blesséd sleep, which none ever wake to weep.
1039 L. M. Let me die the death of the righteous. Num. 23:10.
How blest the righteous when he dies! When sinks a weary soul to rest! How mildly beam the closing eyes! How gently heaves the expiring breast!
2 So fades a summer cloud away; So sinks the gale when storms are o’er; So gently shuts the eye of day; So dies a wave along the shore.
3 A holy quiet reigns around, A calm which life nor death destroys; And nought disturbs that peace profound Which his unfettered soul enjoys.
4 Life’s labor done, as sinks the clay, Light from its load the spirit flies, While heaven and earth combine to say, “How blest the righteous when he dies!”
1040 L. M. Death of an infant.
As the sweet flower that scents the morn, But withers in the rising day— Thus lovely seemed the infant’s dawn; Thus swiftly fled his life away!