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Author: Benjamin H. Kennedy Hymnal: The Cyber Hymnal #9585 Meter: 8.7.87.8.8.7 First Line: Lord, Thou hast been Thy people’s rest Lyrics: 1 Lord, Thou hast been Thy people’s rest
Through every generation:
Their refuge sure when peril pressed,
Their hope in tribulation:
Thou, ere the mountains sprang to birth,
Or ever Thou hadst formed the earth,
Art God from everlasting.
2 The sons of men return to clay
When Thou the word hast spoken,
As with a torrent swept away,
Gone like a vision broken.
A thousand years are in Thy sight
But as the passing hours of night,
Or yesterday departed.
3 Fair laugh the flowers, whose beauty new
The dews of morning cherish:
Pale evening comes; with fading hue
They hang their heads and perish.
So fade we in Thy righteous wrath:
Thine eyes behold our secret path,
Our deeds and thoughts of evil.
Soon, as a breath, the times are past
Of those who seem the strongest:
And if to seventy years they last,
Or fourscore, at the longest,
Life’s proudest strength is sorrow still.
Lord, who reveres Thy mighty will?
Who rightly dreads thy anger?
4 O teach us so to count our days
That we may prize them duly;
So guide our feet in wisdom’s ways
That we may love Thee truly:
Return, O Lord, our griefs behold,
And with Thy goodness, as of old,
O satisfy us early.
5 For long have been our days of pain,
And long our years of sadness:
To us display Thy grace again,
And to our sons Thy gladness;
O Lord our God, with favoring love
Shine forth; our handiwork approve,
And bless our daily labor. Languages: English Tune Title: GOLDEN CHAIN
Lord, Thou Hast Been Thy People's Rest