1 BEHOLD the western evening light!
It melts in deeper gloom;
So calm the righteous sink away,
Descending to the tomb.
The winds breathe low-the yellow leaf
Scarce whispers from the tree!
So gently flows the parting breath,
When good men cease to be.
2 How beautiful, on all the hills,
The crimson light is shed!
'Tis like the peace the dying gives
To mourners round his bed.
How mildly on the wandering cloud
The sunset beam is cast!
So sweet the memory left behind,
When loved ones breathe their last.
3 And lo! above the dews of night
The vesper star appears!
So faith lights up the mourner's heart,
Whose eyes are dim with tears.
Night falls, but soon the morning light
Its glories shall restore;
And thus the eyes that sleep in death
Shall wake, to close no more.
1 CLAY to clay, and dust to dust!
Let them mingle-for they must!
Give to earth the earthly clod,
For the spirit's fled to God.
2 Never more shall midnight's damp
Darken round this mortal lamp;
Never more shall noon-day's glance
Search this mortal countenance.
3 Deep the pit, and cold the bed,
Where the spoils of death are laid;
Stiff the curtains, chill the gloom,
Of man's melancholy tomb.
4 Look aloft! The spirit's risen-
Death cannot the soul imprison;
'Tis in heaven that spirits dwell,
Glorious, though invisible.
1 UNVEIL thy bosom, faithful tomb!
Take this new treasure to thy trust,
And give these sacred relics room
To seek a slumber in thy dust.
2 Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear,
Invade thy bounds; no mortal woes
Can reach the peaceful sleeper here,
While angels watch the soft repose.
3 So Jesus slept; God's dying Son
Passed through the grave, and blessed the bed;
Then rest, dear saint, till from his throne
The morning break, and pierce the shade.
4 Break from his throne, illustrious morn!
Attend, O earth, his sovereign word!
Restore thy trust! the glorious form
Shall then arise to meet the Lord.
"Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord."
1 HEAR what the voice from heaven proclaims, For all the pious dead;
Sweet is the savor of their names,
And soft their sleeping bed.
2 They die in Jesus, and are blessed;
How kind their slumbers are!
From sufferings and from sin released,
And freed from every snare.
3 Far from this world of toil and strife,
They're present with the Lord!
The labors of their mortal life
End in a large reward.
"Blessed are the dead, that die in the Lord."
1 HARK! a voice divides the sky!
Happy are the faithful dead,
In the Lord who sweetly die!
They from all their toils are freed.
2 Ready for their glorious crown,—
Sorrows past and sins forgiven,—
Here they lay their burthen down,
Hallowed and made meet for heaven.
3 Yes! the Christian's course is run;
Ended is the glorious strife;
Fought the fight, the work is done;
Death is swallowed up in life.
4 When from flesh the spirit freed
Hastens homeward to return,
"A man is dead!"
Angels sing, "A child is born!"
1 ASLEEP in Jesus! blessed sleep!
From which none ever wakes to weep;
A calm and undisturbed repose,
Unbroken by the dread of foes.
2 Asleep in Jesus! peaceful rest!
Whose waking is supremely blest;
No fear, no woes shall dim that hour,
Which manifests the Saviour's power!
3 Asleep in Jesus! time nor space
Debars this precious hiding place;
On Indian plains, or Lapland's snows,
Believers find the same repose.
4 Asleep in Jesus! far from thee
Thy kindred and their graves may be;
But thine is still a blessed sleep,
From which none ever wakes to weep.
C. M. 81.
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,-
Resign the honors of their form
At winter's stormy blast,
And leave the naked, leafless plain
A desolated waste.
2 Yet, soon reviving, plants and flowers
Anew shall deck the plain;
The woods shall hear the voice of spring,
And flourish green again.
So, to the dreary grave consigned,
Man sleeps in death's dark gloom,
Until th' eternal morning wake
The slumbers of the tomb.
3 0 may the grave become to me
The bed of peaceful rest,
Whence I shall gladly rise at length,
And mingle with the blessed!
Cheered by this hope, with patient mind
I'll wait Heaven's high decree,
Till the appointed period come
When death shall set me free.
The Changes of Nature Types of Immortality.
1 As twilight's gradual veil is spread
Across the evening sky;
So man's bright hours decline in shade,
And mortal comforts die.
2 The bloom of spring, the summer rose,
In vain pale winter brave;
Nor youth, nor age, nor wisdom knows
A ransom from the grave.
3 But morning dawns and spring revives,
And genial hours return;
So man's immortal soul survives,
And scorns the mouldering urn.
4 When this vain scene no longer charms,
Or swiftly fades away,
He sinks into a Father's arms,
Nor dreads the coming day.
|