I quickly shall o'ertake

My dear departed friend,
Received for Jesu's sake

To joys that never end.

Even now I taste the blessed hope
Through Jesu's Passion given:

It swallows all my sorrows up,

And turns this earth to heaven.

Whom next to God I love,

He beckons me away,

To solemnize above

Our second bridal-day.

I come, my longing soul replies,

To Jesu's arms I come,

And force my passage to the skies,
And fly triumphant home.

ANOTHER.

REST, my troubled spirit, rest,
So long with tempests tost!
God hath caught him to His breast,
Hath found whom I have lost.

Lost as for a moment's space,
Till I after him repair

To that happy, happy place,
And claim my husband there.

1749.

Can a true believer doubt

If souls each other know?
Surely I shall find him out

Whom most I prized below.
Later, but at last, removed,
I shall then my wish obtain,
Meet Him with my best-beloved,
And never part again.

Happy both, no matter then

Which of us went before ;
Both at Jesu's side are seen,
And live to die no more.
Both our golden harps employ,
Vocal with our Saviour's Name;
Both the blissful sight enjoy,
The presence of the Lamb.

Who can tell the solid bliss
Which in this hope I prove?

We shall see Him as He is,
The glorious God of love.

We shall sink with all His host,
All that know the atoning Blood,

Sink, o'erwhelmed, o'erpowered, and lost,
And swallowed up in God.

FOR ONE IN PAIN.

PAIN, my old companion pain,
Seldom parted from my side,
Welcome to thy seat again;

Here, if God permits, abide. Pledge of sure approaching ease, Haste to stop my wretched breath;

Rugged messenger of peace,

Joyful harbinger of death.

Foe to nature as thou art,

friend :

I embrace thee as my
Thou shalt bid my griefs depart,

Bring me to my journey's end.
Yes, I joyfully decay,

Homeward through thy help I haste: Thou hast shook the house of clay; Surely it will fall at last.

Kind remembrancer, to thee

Many a cheerful thought I owe :

Witness of mortality,

Wise through thee, my end I know.

Warned by every pain I feel

Of my dissolution near,

Pleased the lessening hours I tell;

Quickly shall the last be here.

Sacred, salutary ill,

Thee though foolish man miscall,
Mingled by my Father's skill,
Sweet as honey is the gall.
Who beneath thy pressure groan,
Chief of ills who reckon thee,
Sin, alas! they ne'er have known;
Sin is perfect misery.

Free from sin I soon shall live,

Free from sin while here below;

Only thou may'st still survive

Till the joys of heaven I know,
Of my starry crown possest;
All thy office then is o'er.

When I gain the glorious Rest,

Pain and suffering are no more.

FOR ONE VISITED WITH SICKNESS.

O THOU whose wise paternal Love
Hath brought my active vigor down,
Thy choice I thankfully approve;

And prostrate at Thy gracious throne,
I offer up my life's remains,
I choose the state my God ordains.

1749.

Cast as a broken vessel by,

Thy will I can no longer do ; Yet while a daily death I die,

Thy power I may in weakness show: My patience may Thy glory raise, My speechless woe proclaim Thy praise.

But since without Thy Spirit's might
Thou know'st I nothing can endure;
The help I ask in Jesu's right,

The strength He did for me procure,
Father, abundantly impart,
And arm with love my feeble heart.

This single good I humbly crave :
This single good on me bestow :
And when my one desire I have,
Let every other blessing go.
Ah, do not, Lord, my suit deny ;
I only want to love, and die.

Or let me live, of love possest,

In weakness, weariness, and pain:
The anguish of my laboring breast,
The daily cross I still sustain
For Him that languished on the Tree,
But lived, before He died, for me.

Family Hymns, 1767.