Scripture Verse

Thy will be done. Matthew 6:10

Introduction

portrait
Jennie Hussey (1874–1958)

Words: Jen­nie E. Hus­sey, 1902. The words were writ­ten as a po­em, evi­dent­ly to com­me­mor­ate the death of a lo­cal lead­er (pas­tor?).

Music: Charles L. Lew­is (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

Out of earth’s heart break­ing sor­row and ang­uish
Into eter­ni­ty’s rap­ture and calm;
Out of the doubts and the fears where we lang­uish
Into the tri­umph of vic­to­ry’s psalm;
Gone is a lead­er and friend of the people,
Home with the ran­somed and num­ber­less throngs,
There to re­ceive the re­ward of his la­bors,
Who in the ranks of the mar­tyrs be­longs.
Whisper it ten­der­ly sor­row­ing one,
This was God’s way, His will ev­er be done.
This was God’s way, this was God’s way,
This was God’s way, His will ev­er be done.

Out of the bat­tle of life sore­ly wound­ed
Into the joy of the vic­to­ry won;
Now face to face with his king and com­mand­er
His the pro­mo­tion for what he has done;
Ours the loss of a true stand­ard bear­er,
His the bright crown and eter­nal re­ward,
Called from earth’s strife to be­come a blest shar­er,
Now and hence­forth in the joy of the Lord.
Lovingly, ten­der­ly, joy­ful­ly say,
His will be done, we be­lieve ’tis God’s way.
His will be done, His will be done,
His will be done, We be­lieve ’tis God’s way.

Out of the noise and the tu­mult of bat­tle
Into the rest and the in­fi­nite peace;
Out of earth’s bond­age and wea­ri­some ex­ile
Into the joy of the spir­it’s re­lease;
Ours the loss and the grief be­yond mea­sure,
Confidence brok­en and hopes crushed for aye,
Lord God of hosts, if it be Thy good plea­sure,
Help us to trust and be­lieve ’tis Thy way.
Like him for whom we know Heav’n is be­gun,
We would say ear­nest­ly, His will be done.
His will be done, His will be done,
This is God’s way, His will ev­er be done.