My soul, that springs beyond thy sphere,
No more demands thy aid.

3 Ye stars are but the shining dust
Of my divine abode,

The pavement of those heavenly courts
Where I shall see my God.

4 The Father of eternal light

Will there his beams display;

Nor shall one moment's darkness blend
With that unvaried day.

532.

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.

4 O, for the death of those

Who slumber in the Lord!
O, be like theirs my last repose,
Like theirs my last reward!

533.

C. P. M.

C. WESLEY.

Reunion of Friends in Heaven.

1 IF death my friend and me divide,

Thou dost not, Lord, my sorrow chide,
Or frown my tears to see:
Restrained from passionate excess,
Thou bidd'st me mourn in calm distress,
For them that rest in thee.

2 I feel a strong, immortal hope,
Which bears my mournful spirit up,
Beneath its mountain load:

Redeemed from death, and grief, and pain,
I soon shall find my friend again,
Within the arms of God.

3 Pass a few fleeting moments more,
And death the blessing shall restore,

Which death hath snatched away;
For me thou wilt the summons send,
And give me back my parted friend,
In that eternal day.

534.

C. M.

My Father's House.

R. TURNBULL.

1 THERE is a place of sacred rest,
Far, far beyond the skies,
Where beauty smiles eternally,
And pleasure never dies;

My Father's house, my heavenly home,
Where " many mansions" stand,
Prepared, by hands divine, for all
Who seek the better land.

2 When tossed upon the waves of life,
With fear on every side,

When fiercely howls the gathering storm,
And foams the angry tide,

Beyond the storm, beyond the gloom,
Breaks forth the light of morn,
Bright beaming from my Father's house,
To cheer the soul forlorn.

3 Yes, even at that fearful hour,

When death shall seize its prey
And from the place that knows us now,
Shall hurry us away,

The vision of that heavenly home
Shall cheer the parting soul,
And o'er it, mounting to the skies,
A tide of rapture roll.

4 In that pure home of tearless joy
Earth's parted friends shall meet
With smiles of love that never fade
And blessedness complete :

There, there adieus are sounds unknown;
Death frowns not on that scene,

But life and glorious beauty shine,
Untroubled and serene.

535.

C. M.

LOGAN.

The Creation, an Emblem of the Resurrection.

1 ALL nature dies, and lives again:
The flowers that paint the field,

The trees that crown the mountain's brow,
And boughs and blossoms yield, –

2 Resign the honors of their form
At winter's stormy blast;

And leave the naked, leafless plain,
A desolated waste.

3 Yet soon reviving plants and flowers
Anew shall deck the plain;

The woods shall hear the voice of spring,
And flourish green again.

4 So to the dreary grave consigned,
Man sleeps in death's dark gloom,
Until th' eternal morning wake
The slumbers of the tomb.

5 0, may the grave become to us
The bed of peaceful rest;
Whence we shall gladly rise at length,
And mingle with the blest.

6 Cheered by this hope, with patient mind
We'll wait Heaven's high decree;
Till the appointed period come

When death shall set us free.

The Dwelling-place of God.

1 THERE is a region lovelier far
Than sages tell or poets sing,
Brighter than noonday glories are,
And softer than the tints of spring.
2 It is not fanned by summer's gale;

TUCK.

"T is not refreshed by vernal showers; It never needs the moonbeam pale, For there are known no evening hours.

3 No; for that world is ever bright

With purest radiance all its own :
The streams of uncreated light

Flow round it from th' eternal throne.

4 It is all holy and serene,

The land of glory and repose;
No cloud obscures the radiant scene;
There not a tear of sorrow flows.
5 In vain the curious, searching eye
May seek to view the fair abode,
Or find it in the starry sky:
It is the dwelling-place of God.

537.

C. M.

W. B. TAPPAN.

The Peace and Repose of Heaven.

1 THERE is an hour of hallowed peace
For those with cares oppressed,

When sighs and sorrowing tears shall cease,
And all be hushed to rest.

2 'T is then the soul is freed from fears
And doubts which here annoy;
Then they that oft had sown in tears
Shall reap again in joy.

3 There is a home of sweet repose,
Where storms assail no more;
The stream of endless pleasure flows
On that celestial shore.

4 There purity with love appears,
And bliss without alloy;

There they that oft had sown in tears
Shall reap again in joy.

538.

L. P. M.

Source of Consolation.

WATTS.

1 I'LL praise my Maker with my breath;
And, when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers;
My days of praise shall ne'er be past,
While life, and thought, and being last,
Or immortality endures.

2 How blest the man whose hopes rely
On Israel's God! He made the sky,

And earth, and seas, with all their train;
His truth for ever stands secure ;

He saves th' oppressed, he feeds the poor,
And none shall find his promise vain.

3 I'll praise him while he lends me breath; And, when my voice is lost in death, Praise shall employ my nobler powers; My days of praise shall ne'er be past, While life, and thought, and being last, Or immortality endures.

539.

L. M.

The better Land.

ANONYMOUS.

1 THERE is a land mine eye hath seen,
In visions of enraptured thought,
So bright that all which spreads between
Is with its radiant glory fraught;

2 A land upon whose blissful shore

There rests no shadow, falls no stain;
There those who meet shall part no more,
And those long parted meet again.

3 Its skies are not like earthly skies,

With varying hues of shade and light;
It hath no need of suns to rise,

To dissipate the gloom of night.

4 There sweeps no desolating wind
Across that calm, serene abode ;
The wanderer there a home may find,
Within the paradise of God.

540.

8 & 6s. M. W. B. TAPPAN.

Heaven anticipated.

1 THERE is an hour of peaceful rest
To mourning wanderers given;
There is a joy for souls distressed,
A balm for every wounded breast;
'T is found alone in heaven.

2 There is a home for weary souls,
By sins and sorrows driven,

When tossed on life's tempestuous shoals,
Where storms arise, and ocean rolls,
And all is drear; 't is heaven.

3 There faith lifts up the tearless eye,
The heart no longer riven,
And views the tempest passing by,
Sees evening shadows quickly fly,
And all serene in heaven.