Library Home Page LCU Home Page

Hymnals of the Stone-Campbell Movement

Enos E. Dowling Hymnal Collection

Hymn: O thou who driest the mourner's tear (FL)

Hymnal: The Christian Hymnal

Date: 1871

Compiler: Under direction of the Christian Hymn-Book Committee

Publisher/Printer: Bosworth Chase & Hall

First Line: O thou who driest the mourner's tear

Topic: The New Life/Afflictions

Writer: <no first name given> <no last name given>

Composer:

Meter: CM

Tune: China

Hymn Number: 692

Page Number: 253, click to see hymnal pages

Lyics

O thou who driest the mourn-er's tear,

How dark this world would be,

If, when de-ceived and wound-ed here,

We could not fly to thee.



But thou wilt heal the broken heart,

Which, like the plants that throw

Their fragrance from the wounded part,

Breathes sweetness out of woe.



When joy no longer soothes or cheers,

And e'en the hope that threw

A moment's sparkle o'er our tears

Is dimmed and vanished too;



Oh, who would bear life a stormy doom,

Did not thy wing of love

Come brightly wafting through the gloom,

Our peace-branch from above?



Then sorrow, touched by thee, grows bright

With more than rapture's ray;

The darkness shows us worlds of light

We never saw by day.