Preparation for Death, 52

Who giv'st me yet a longer space,
A moment's merciful reprieve,
Saviour, vouchsafe the softening grace,
The pure Divine affection give,
And then my grateful soul remove
To grasp in Thee the God I love.

Now let Thy dying love constrain
My heart to make the kind return,
To love my loving Lord again,
The Comforter of all that mourn;
The weary burden'd sinner's rest,
Prepare and take me to Thy breast.
United with Thy sacrifice,
Memorial sweet before the throne,
O might this faithful prayer arise,
And bring the great salvation down,
The peace which human thought transcends,
The mystic joy which never ends.
Soon as the antepast I feel,
Thy love's ineffable delight,
Saviour, Thy majesty reveal,
That soul-beatifying sight,
That sight to raptured seraphs given,
That sight which makes a heaven of heaven!