Scripture Verse

There remaineth…a rest to the people of God. Hebrews 4:9

Introduction

portrait
James Montgomery
(1771–1854)
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: James Mont­go­me­ry, 1824.

Music: Bath (Cooke) Will­iam H. Cooke (1838–1898) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Cooke (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Friend af­ter friend de­parts;
Who hath not lost a friend?
There is no un­ion here of hearts,
That finds not here an end:
Were this frail world our on­ly rest,
Living or dy­ing, none were blest.

Beyond the flight of time,
Beyond this vale of death,
There sure­ly is some bless­èd clime
Where life is not a breath,
Nor life’s af­fect­ions tran­si­ent fire,
Whose sparks fly up­ward and ex­pire.

There is a world above,
Where part­ing is un­known,
A whole eter­ni­ty of love,
Formed for the good alone;
And faith be­holds the dy­ing here
Translated to that hap­pi­er sphere.

Thus star by star de­clines,
Till all are passed away,
As morn­ing high and high­er shines
To pure and per­fect day;
Nor sink those stars in emp­ty night,
But hide them­selves in Hea­ven’s own light.