Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity

We ask for life, and mean thereby
A few uncertain years.
The sunshine of a changeful sky
Over a vale of tears;
But Thou art better than our prayers.
And givest, in Thy love,
A shorter path through earthly cares,
A longer rest above:
From sin and strife, with sorrow rife.
Thine early call doth sever.
Thou givest us a long life.
For ever and for ever!

We ask for life Thy work to do.
For Thee to toil and win.
To warn the many, save the few.
From sorrow and from sin:
In rolling years and fleeting breath
We think the charm must lie,
Thou teachest that a faithful death
Is highest victory;
When from earth's tangled maze of strife
Thy hand doth early sever.
Thou givest us a long life.
For ever and- for ever!

We ask for life, and little dream
The answer we'll receive.
No answer it at first doth seem.
So little we believe:
But soon the hidden power is felt,
The leaven of the soul,
Which every thought and throb doth melt
Into one perfect whole;
While bearing upward through the strife
From which we may not sever.
Thou givest us a long life.
For ever and for ever!