Not lost, but gone before.
1 WHY should we weep and mourn for those Whose places know them here no more? Released from all life's hurtful foes,
They are not lost-but gone before. 2 How many weary days on earth, How many griefs, they numbered o'er! Now they enjoy a heavenly birth: They are not lost-but gone before. 3 Dear is the spot where Christians sleep, And sweet the strain which angels pour: O why should we in anguish weep?
They are not lost-but gone before.
1 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!
2 Ere sin could blight, or sorrow fade,
Death timely came with friendly care;
The opening bud to heaven conveyed,
And bade it bloom for ever there.
1 CALM on the bosom of thy God, Young spirit, rest thee now!
E'en while with us thy footsteps trod,
His seal was on thy brow.
2 Dust, to its narrow house beneath!
Soul, to its place on high!
They that have seen thy look in death,
No more may fear to die.
3 Lone are the paths, and sad the bowers,
Whence thy meek smile is gone;
But O, a brighter home than ours,
In heaven is now thine own.
Blessedness of the Departed.
1 0, STAY thy tears; for they are blest,
Whose days are past, whose toil is done:
Here midnight care disturbs our rest;
Here sorrow dims the noonday sun.
2 How blest are they whose transient years
Pass like an evening meteor's flight!
Not dark with guilt, nor dim with tears;
Whose course is short, unclouded, bright.
3 0, cheerless were our lengthened way;
But Heaven's own light dispels the gloom,
Streams downward from eternal day,
And casts a glory round the tomb.
4 0, stay thy tears: the blest above
Have hailed a spirit's heavenly birth,
And sung a song of joy and love;
Then why should anguish reign on earth?
1 THOU gavest, and we yield to thee,
God of the human heart!
For bitter though grief's cup may be,
Thou givest but our part.
2 O, thou canst bid our grief be stilled,
Yet not rebuke our tears;
How large a place his presence filled!
How vacant it appears!
3 We mourn the sunshine of his smile,
The tendrils of his love;
Oh, was he loved too well the while
Ere he was called above?
4 Our chastened spirits bow in prayer,
And blend all prayers in one,-
Give us the hope to meet him there,
When life's full task is done.
1 LIKE shadows gliding o'er the plain, Or clouds that roll successive on, Man's busy generations pass,
And while we gaze their forms are gone. 2 "He lived, he died;" behold the sum, The abstract of the historian's page! Alike, in God's all-seeing eye,
The infant's day, the patriarch's age.
3 O Father! in whose mighty hand
The boundless years and ages lie;
Teach us the boon of life to prize,
And use the moments as they fly;
4 To crowd the narrow span of life
With wise designs and virtuous deeds; And bid us wake from death's dark night, To share the glory that succeeds.
1 PASTOR, thou art from us taken
In the glory of thy years,
As the oak, by tempests shaken,
Falls ere time its verdure sears.
2 Pale and cold we see thee lying
In God's temple, once so dear,
And the mourner's bitter sighing
Falls unheeded on thine ear.
3 All thy love and zeal, to lead us
Where immortal fountains flow,
And on living bread to feed us,
In our fond remembrance glow.
4 May the conquering faith, that cheered thee
When thy foot on Jordan pressed,
Guide our spirits while we leave ther
In the tomb that Jesus blessed.
1 THERE is a land where earthly woe,
And earthly sorrow, all shall cease;
No sin shall grieve, no tear shall flow,
In that sweet land of love and peace.
2 There is a sunless, starless sky,
And yet no darkness there is found;
Night cannot spread her canopy,
Where God's own glory shines around.
3 There is a home where friends shall meet
And never, never part again;
And those who loved on earth, repeat
The vows they pledged in sorrow then.
4 That spirit-land shall ever bloom,
Grief from its clime be ever driven;
Immortal joys pervade that home:-
That spirit-land, that home is heaven.
8s. & 7s. M.
Death of a Young Girl.
1 SISTER, thou wast mild and lovely,
Gentle as the summer breeze,
Pleasant as the air of evening,
When it floats among the trees.
2 Peaceful be thy silent slumber-
Peaceful in the grave so low:
Thou no more wilt join our number;
Thou no more our songs shalt know.
3 Dearest sister, thou hast left us;
Here thy loss we deeply feel;
But 'tis God that hath bereft us:
He can all our sorrows heal.
4 Yet again we hope to meet thee,
When the day of life is fled,
Then in heaven with joy to greet thee,
Where no farewell tear is shed.
1 LIFE is a span, a fleeting hour;
How soon the vapor flies!
Man is a tender, transient flower,
That in the blooming dies.
2 The once-loved form, now cold and dead,
Each mournful thought employs,
And nature weeps her comforts fled,
And withered all her joys.
3 Hope looks beyond the bounds of time,
When what we now deplore
Shall rise in full immortal prime,
And bloom to fade no more.
4 Then cease, fond nature, dry thy tears;
Religion points on high;
There everlasting spring appears,
And joys that never die.
1 "SPIRIT, leave thy house of clay;
Lingering dust, resign thy breath!
Spirit, cast thy chains away;
Dust, be thou dissolved in death!"
2 Thus the guardian-angel spoke,
As he watched the dying bed;
As the bonds of life he broke,
And the ransomed captive fled.
3 "Pilgrim, long detained below,
Prisoner, now with freedom blest!
Welcome from a world of woe,
Welcome to the land of rest."
4 Thus the guardian-angel sang,
As he bore his trust on high,
While with hallelujahs rang
All the region of the sky.
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