1 "For ever with the Lord!". Amen; so let it be;

2

Life from the dead is in that word, "T is Immortality.

Here in the body pent,

Absent from Him I roam,
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent
A day's march nearer Home.

3 My Father's house on high,
Home of my soul, how near,
At times, to Faith's foreseeing eye
Thy golden gates appear!

4

5

6

In darkness as in light,
Hidden alike from view,

I sleep, I wake, as in His sight,
Who looks all nature through.

All that I am, have been,

All that I yet may be,

He sees at once, as He hath seen,
And shall for ever see.

Knowing as I am known,
How shall I love that word,

And oft repeat before the Throne,
"For ever with the Lord!"

1

2

"For ever with the Lord!"

Father, if 't is Thy will,

The promise of that faithful word

E'en here to me fulfil!

Be Thou at my right hand,
Then can I never fail;

Uphold Thou me, and I shall stand,
Aid, and I must prevail.

3 So when my latest breath
Shall rend the veil in twain,

By death I shall escape from death,
And life eternal gain.

4

The trump of final doom

Will speak the selfsame word,

And heaven's voice thunder through the tomb, "For ever with the Lord!"

That shout of victory,

Once more," For ever with the Lord!"

Amen; so let it be!

1 My Father's house on high!
Home of my soul, how near,
At times, to faith's foreseeing eye
Thy golden gates appear.

2

Ah! then my spirit faints
To reach the land I love,

The bright inheritance of saints,
Jerusalem above.

3 Yet clouds will intervene,
And all my prospect flies;
Like Noah's dove, I flit between
Rough seas and stormy skies.

4 Anon the clouds depart,

5

The winds and waters cease;
While sweetly o'er my gladdened heart
Expands the bow of peace.

I hear at morn and even,

At noon and midnight hour,
The choral harmonies of Heaven
Earth's Babel-tongues o'erpower.

6 Then, then I feel that He,
Remembered or forgot,
The Lord, is never far from me,
Though I perceive Him not.

459. L. M.

1 God is our refuge and defence, In trouble our unfailing aid; Secure in His omnipotence,

What foe can make our soul afraid?

2 There is a river pure and bright, Whose streams make glad the heavenly plains; There, in eternity of light,

The city of our God remains.

3 Thither let fervent faith aspire:
Our treasure and our heart be there;
Oh, for a seraph's wing of fire!

No, on the mightier wings of prayer,—

4 We reach at once that last retreat,
With His unclouded presence blest;
And cast our burdens at His feet,
Who is our home, our hope, our rest.

5 But soon, how soon! our spirits droop;
Unwont the air of heaven to breathe:
Yet God in very deed will stoop,
And dwell Himself with men beneath.

6 Come to Thy living temples, then!
As in the ancient times appear!
Let earth be paradise again,

And man, O God! Thine image here!

460. P. M.

1 Lord! have mercy, and remove us Early to Thy place of rest,

Where the heavens are calm above us,

And as calm each sainted breast.

2 Holiest yet if our repentance
Be not perfect and sincere,

Lord! suspend Thy fatal sentence;
Leave us still in sadness here.

3 Leave us, Father, till our spirit
From each earthly taint is free;
Fit Thy kingdom to inherit,
Fit to take its rest with Thee.

461. L. M.

1 God of Eternity! from Thee
Did infant Time its being draw;
Moments and days and months and years
Revolve by Thine unvaried law.

2 Silent and slow they glide away;
Steady and strong the current flows,
Lost in eternity's wide sea,

The boundless gulph from which it rose. 3 The thoughtless tribes of mortal men, Before the rapid stream, are borne On to that everlasting home,

The country whence there's no return 4 Yet, while the shore, on either side, Presents a gaudy, flattering show, They gaze, in fond amazement lost, Nor heed the world to which they go.