Hymnal: The Christian Hymn Book
Date: 1865
Compiler: Alexander Campbell
Publisher/Printer: Central Book Concern
First Line: Friend after friend departs
Topic: The Present and the Future/Life and Death
Writer: <no first name given> Montgomery
Composer:
Meter: SPM
Tune:
Hymn Number: 1090
Page Number: 646, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsFriend after friend departs;
Who hath not lost a friend?
There is no union here of hearts,
That finds not here an end;
Were this frail world our only rest,
Living or dying, none were blest.
Beyond the flight of time,
Beyond this vale of death,
There surely is some blessed clime,
Where life is not a breath,
Nor life's affections transient fire,
Whose sparks fly upward to expire.
There is a world above,
Where parting is unknown;
A whole eternity of love,
Formed for the good alone;
And faith beholds the dying here
Translated to that happier sphere.
Thus star by star declines,
Till all are passed away,
As morning high and higher shines
To pure and perfect day;
Nor sink those stars in empty night;
They hide themselves in heaven's own light.