2 Free us from death's terrific gloom,
And all the fear which shrouds the tomb,
Heighten our joys, support our head,
Before we sink among the dead.
3 May death conclude our toils and tears!
May death destroy our sins and fears!
May death, through Jesus, be our friend!
May death be life, when life shall end!
4 Crown our last moment with thy power-
The latest in our latest hour;
Till to the raptured heights we soar,
Where fears and death are known no more
Prayer for the dying Christian.
1 GENTLY, My Father, let me down
To slumber in the arms of death:
soul on thee alone,
E'en till my last expiring breath.
2 Soon will the storms of life be o'er,
And I shall enter endless rest:
There I shall live to sin no more,
And bless thy name forever 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.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadon of Death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." Ps. 23.
1 THOU must go forth alone, my soul!
Thou must go forth alone,
To other scenes, to other worlds,
That mortal hath not known.
Thou must go forth alone, my soul,-
To tread the narrow vale,
But He, whose word is sure, hath said
His comforts shall not fail.
2 Thou must go forth alone, my soul,
Along the darksome way;
Where the bright sun has never shed
His warm and gladsome ray.
And yet the Sun of Righteousness
Shall rise amidst the gloom,
And scatter from thy trembling gaze
The shadows of the tomb.
3 Thou must go forth alone, my soul'
To meet thy God above:
But shrink not- He hath said, my soul,
He is a God of love.
His rod and staff shall comfort thee
Across the dreary road,
Till thou shalt join the blessed ones
In heaven's serene abode.
7s. & 4s. M.
Prayer for Support in Death.
1 WHEN the vale of death appears,
Faint and cold this mortal clay,
Father, soothe my fears,
Light me through the gloomy way
Break the shadows,
Usher in eternal day;
2 Upward from this dying state
Bid my waiting soul aspire
Open thou the crystal gate;
To thy praise attune my lyre:
Then, triumphant,
I will join th' immortal choir
LORD, must we die? O let us die
Trusting in thee alone!
Our living testimony given,
Then leave our dying one
2 If we must die, O let us die
In peace with all mankind,
And change these fleeting joys below
For pleasures all refined.
3 If we must die, -as die we must,-
Let some kind seraph come,
And bear us on his friendly wing
To our celestial home!
4 Of Canaan's land, from Pisgah's top,
May we but have a view!
Though Jordan should o'erflow its banks,
We'll boldly venture through.
The Hour of Death, and Entrance on Immortality.
10 GOD unseen-but not unknown!
Thine eye is ever fixed on me;
I dwell beneath thy secret throne,
Encompassed by thy deity.
2 The moment comes when strength must fail, When, health and hope and comfort flown
I must go down into the vale
And shade of death, with thee alone:
3 Alone with thee;-in that dread strife
Uphold me through mine agony,
And gently be this dying life
Exchanged for immortality.
4 Then, when th' unbodied spirit lands
Where flesh and blood have never troď,
And in the unveiled presence stands
Of thee, my Saviour and my God:
5 Be mine eternal portion this,
Since thou wert always here with me,
That I may view thy face in bliss,
And be for evermore with thee.
1 BEHOLD the path which mortals tread,
Down to the regions of the dead!
Nor will the fleeting moments stay,
Nor can we measure back our day.
2 Our kindred and our friends are gone;
Know, O my soul! this doom my own;
Feeble as theirs my mortal frame,
The same my way, my home the same.
3 Awake, my soul, thy way prepare,
And lose in this each mortal care;
With steady feet that path be trod,
Which, through the grave, conducts to Goa.
4 Father! to thee my all I trust;
And if thou call me down to dust,
I know thy voice, I bless thy hand,
And die in peace at thy command.
The Dying Christian to his Soul!
1 VITAL spark of heavenly flame !
Quit, O quit this mortal frame!
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,
O the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life!
2 Hark! they whisper! angels say
"Sister spirit, come away!"
What is this absorbs me quite,
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
3 The world recedes!—it disappears.
Heaven opens on my eyes!-my ears
With sounds seraphic ring:
Lend, lend your wings! I mount, I fly !
O grave! where is thy victory?
O death where is thy sting?
1 SWEET is the scene when virtue dies!
When sinks a righteous soul to rest;
How mildly beam the closing eyes,
How gently heaves th' 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 Farewell, conflicting hopes and fears,
Where lights and shades alternate dwell ⚫
How bright th' unchanging morn appears.
Farewell, inconstant world, farewell
4 Life's duty done, as sinks the clay,
Light from its load the spirit flies;
While heaven and earth combine to say,
“How blessed the righteous when he dies!"
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