Why do we mourn departing friends
China
1
Why do we mourn departing friends,Or shake at death's alarms?'Tis but the voice that Jesus sendsTo call them to his arms.
2
Are we not tending upward too,As fast as time can move?Nor should we wish the hours more slow,To keep us from our love.
3
Why should we tremble to conveyTheir bodies to the tomb?There the dear flesh of Jesus lay,And left a long perfume.
4
The graves of all his saints he blest,And soften'd every bed;Where should the dying members rest,But with their dying Head.
5
Thence he arose, ascending high,And show'd our feet the way:Up to the Lord our flesh shall fly,At the great rising day.
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Then let the last trumpet sound,And bid our kindred rise;Awake, ye nations under ground·Ye saints ascend the skies.