Now that he’s dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.
2 Samuel 12:23
Words: Charles Wesley, Hymns and Sacred Poems 1749, Volume 1, number 170. On the death of a child.
Music: Redhead Richard Redhead, Church Hymn Tunes, Ancient and Modern (London: 1853) (🔊 pdf nwc).
Alternate Tunes:
Wherefore should I make my moan,
Now the darling child is dead?
He to early rest is gone,
He to paradise is fled;
I shall go to him, but he
Never shall return to me.
God forbids his longer stay,
God recalls the precious loan,
God hath taken him away,
From my bosom to His own;
Surely what He wills is best,
Happy in His will I rest.
Faith cries out, It is the Lord!
;
Let Him do as seems Him good
Be Thy holy name adored,
Take the gift awhile bestowed;
Take the child, no longer mine,
Thine he is, forever Thine.