Forever with the Lord!
Amen, so let it be!
Life from His death is in that word
’Tis im­mor­ta­li­ty.
Here in the bo­dy pent,
Absent from Him I roam,
Yet night­ly pitch my mov­ing tent
A day’s march near­er home

My Fa­ther’s house on high,
Home of my soul, how near
At times to faith’s fore­see­ing eye
Thy gold­en gates ap­pear!
Ah! then my spir­it faints
To reach the land I love,
The bright in­her­it­ance of saints,
Jerusalem above.

Yet clouds will in­ter­vene,
And all my pros­pect flies;
Like No­ah’s dove, I flit be­tween
Rough seas and stor­my skies.
Anon the clouds de­part,
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;
Then, then I feel that He,
Remembered or for­got,
The Lord, is ne­ver far from me,
Though I pe­rceive Him not.

Forever with the Lord!
Forever in His will,
The pro­mise of that faith­ful word,
Lord, here in me ful­fill.
With You at my right hand,
Then I shall ne­ver fail;
Uphold me, Lord, and I shall stand,
Through grace I will pre­vail.

So when my lat­est breath
Breaks through the veil of pain,
By death I shall es­cape from death,
And life eter­nal gain.
That re­sur­rec­tion word,
That shout of vic­to­ry:
Once more, For­ev­er with the Lord!
Amen, so let it be!