As Flows the Rapid River

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As flows the rapid river

Author: Samuel Francis Smith
Published in 75 hymnals

Representative Text

1 As flows the rapid river,
With channel broad and free,
Its waters rippling ever,
And hastening to the sea,
So life is onward flowing;
And days of offered peace,
And man is swiftly going
Where calls of mercy cease.

2 As moons are ever waning,
As hastes the sun away,
As stormy winds, complaining,
Bring on the wintry day;
So fast the night come o'er us,
The darkness of the grave;
And death is just before us--
God takes the life he gave.

3 Say, hath thy heart its treasure
Laid up in worlds above?
And is it all thy pleasure
Thy God to praise and love?
Beware! lest death's dark river
Its billows o'er thee roll,
And thou lament for ever
The ruin of thy soul.

Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #910

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Author: Samuel Francis Smith

Smith, Samuel Francis, D.D., was born in Boston, U.S.A., Oct. 21, 1808, and graduated in arts at Harvard, and in theology at Andover. He entered the Baptist ministry in 1832, and became the same year editor of the Baptist Missionary Magazine. He also contributed to the Encyclopaedia Americana. From 1834 to 1842 he was pastor at Waterville, Maine, and Professor of Modern Languages in Waterville College. In 1842 he removed to Newton, Massachusetts, where he remained until 1854, when he became the editor of the publications of the Baptist Missionary Union. With Baron Stow he prepared the Baptist collection known as The Psalmist, published in 1843, to which he contributed several hymns. The Psalmist is the most creditable and influential of… Go to person page >

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