A rest for the people of God.
Hebrews 4:9
Words: J. H. Bright, in the Universalist Hymn Book, third edition, by George Rogers (Cincinnati, Ohio: R. P. Brooks, 1842), number 518.
Music: From The Casket of Sunday School Melodies, by Asa Hull (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Asa Hull, 1865), number 100 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know Bright’s full name, or where to get good picture of him (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Should sorrow o’er thy brow
Its darkened shadows fling,
And hopes that cheer thee now
Die in their early spring;
Should pleasure at its birth
Fade like the hues of ev’n,
Turn thou away from earth,
There’s rest for thee in Heav’n.
Refrain
There’s rest, there’s rest,
There’s rest for thee in Heaven,
O turn from earth away,
There’s rest for thee in Heav’n.
If ever life should seem
To thee a toilsome way—
And gladness cease to beam
Upon its clouded day;
If like the weary dove,
O’er shoreless oceans driven;
Raise thou thine eyes above,
There’s rest for thee in Heav’n.
Refrain
But O, if thornless flowers
Throughout thy pathway bloom—
And joyfully fleet the hours,
Unstained by earthly gloom—
Still, let not every thought
To this poor world be given;
Nor always be forgot
Thy better rest in Heav’n.
Refrain
When sickness pales thy cheek
And dims thy lustrous eye,
And pulses low and week
Tell of a time to die—
Sweet hope will whisper then,
Though thou from earth be riven,
There’s bliss beyond the ken,
There’s rest for thee in Heav’n!
Refrain