After the Death of a Friend, Part 1

O Happy soul, thy work is done,
Thy fight is fought, thy course is run,
And thou art now at rest:
Thou here wast perfected in love,
Thou now art join'd to those above,
And number'd with the blest.

Thy sun no more goes down by night,
Thy moon no more withdraws its light;
Those blessed mansions shine
Bright with an Uncreated Flame,
Full of the glories of the Lamb,
The' eternal light Divine.

Our state if parted spirits know,
Thou pitiest now thy friends below
In this dark vale of tears,
Who still beneath our burden groan,
Or, grieved with sorrows not our own,
Are living out our years.

Secure of the celestial prize,
Thou waitest now in paradise
Till we are all convey'd
By angels to our endless rest,
Of thine and Jesu's joy possest,
In Jesu's bosom laid.

O when shall I be taken home!
O that my latest change were come,
For which I wait in pain!
Weary of life through inbred sin!
Speak, Jesu, speak the sinner clean,
Nor let my faith be vain.

O bid me live in Thee and die:
Why, Saviour, let me ask Thee, why
Dost Thou so long delay?
A blessing hast Thou not for me?
O bid me live and die in Thee;
My Jesus, come away.

Another and another goes
Through the dark vale to his repose,
And glad resigns his breach;
But I alas! must still remain,
I cannot break my fleshly chain,
Or overtake my death.

The bondage of corruption bear,
And groan beneath my load;
Struggles my spirit to get free,
And pants for immortality,
And reaches after God.

But O! my strivings all are vain,
Inevitable is my pain,
Incurable my wound,
Till Jesus ends my inward strife,
And speaks me into second life,
And I in Christ am found.

See then, I all at last resign,
Thy will, O Lord, be done, not mine,
I give my murmurings o'er:
Do with me now as seems Thee meet,
But let me suffer at Thy feet,
And teach my God no more.