Scripture Verse

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

Introduction

portrait
Philip Doddridge
(1702–1751)

Words: Phi­lip Dodd­ridge, writ­ten to be sung at the close of a ser­mon he gave on June 2, 1736 (Ro­bin­son, pag­es 7–8).

Music: Eff­ing­ham, in The Sac­red Harp or Ec­lec­tic Har­mo­ny, ed­it­ed by Lo­well Ma­son & Ti­mo­thy B. Ma­son (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: Tru­man & Smith, 1859) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Thine earth­ly Sab­baths, Lord, we love,
But there’s nob­ler rest above;
To that our long­ing souls as­pire
With ar­dent love and strong de­sire.

In Thy blest king­dom we shall be
From ev­ery mor­tal trou­ble free;
No groans shall min­gle with the songs,
Which war­ble from im­mor­tal tongues.

No rude alarms of rag­ing foes,
No cares to break the long re­pose,
No mid­night shade, no cloud­ed sun,
But sac­red, high, eter­nal noon.

O long ex­pect­ed day, begin;
Dawn on this world of woe and sin:
Fain would we leave this wea­ry road,
And sleep in death, and rest in God.