Scripture Verse

Joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

Introduction

portrait
Frederick Faber
(1814–1863)

Words: Fred­er­ick W. Fa­ber, Ora­to­ry Hymns 1854.

Music: Pil­grims Hen­ry T. Smart, 1868 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Henry T. Smart (1813–1879)

Lyrics

Hark! hark, my soul!
Angelic songs are swell­ing,
O’er earth’s green fields
And ocean’s wave-beat shore:
How sweet the truth
Those bless­èd strains are tell­ing
Of that new life
When sin shall be no more.

Refrain

Angels of Je­sus, an­gels of light,
Singing to wel­come
The pil­grims of the night! *

Darker than night
Life’s sha­dows fall around us,
And like be­night­ed
Men we miss our mark:
God hides Him­self,
And grace hath scarce­ly found us,
E’er death finds out
His vic­tims in the dark.

Refrain

Far, far away,
Like bells at ev­en­ing peal­ing,
The voice of Je­sus
Sounds o’er land and sea;
And la­den souls,
By thou­sands meek­ly steal­ing,
Kind Shep­herd, turn
Their wea­ry steps to Thee.

Refrain

Onward we go,
For still we hear them sing­ing,
Come, wea­ry souls,
For Je­sus bids you come
;
And through the dark,
Its ec­hoes sweet­ly ring­ing,
The mu­sic of
The Gos­pel leads us home.

Refrain

Rest comes at length:
Though life be long and drea­ry,
The day must dawn,
And dark­some night be past;
Faith’s jour­neys end
In wel­come to the wea­ry,
And Hea­ven, the heart’s
True home, will come at last.

Refrain

Cheer up, my soul!
Faith’s moon­beams soft­ly glist­en
Upon the breast
Of life’s most trou­bled sea,
And it will cheer
Thy droop­ing heart to list­en
To those brave songs
Which an­gels mean for thee.

Refrain

Angels, sing on,
Your faith­ful watch­es keep­ing;
Sing us sweet frag­ments
Of the songs above,
Till morn­ing’s joy
Shall end the night of weep­ing,
And life’s long sha­dows
Break in cloud­less love.

Refrain

* A dif­fer­ent re­frain is used when sung with the tune Ki­la­uea:

Angels, sing on! your faith­ful watches keep­ing;
Sing us sweet frag­ments of the songs above,
Till morn­ing’s joy shall end the night of weep­ing,
And life’s long sha­dows break in cloud­less love.