My Christian friends in bonds of love,

Whose hearts the sweetest union prove;

Your friendship’s like the strongest band,

Yet we must take the parting hand.

2 Your presence sweet, our union dear,

What joys we feel together here!

And when I see that we must part,

You draw like chords around my heart.

3 How sweet the hours have passed away,

Since we have met to sing and pray;

How loath are we to leave the place

Where Jesus shows his smiling face!

4 O could I stay with friends so kind,

How would it cheer my fainting mind!

But pilgrims in a foreign land,

We oft must take the parting hand.

5 My Christian friends, both old and young,

I trust you will in Christ go on;

Press on, and soon you’ll win the prize—

A crown of glory in the skies.

6 A few more days, or years at most,

And we shall reach fair Canaan’s coast:

When, in that holy, happy land,

We’ll take no more the parting hand.

7 O blesséd day! O glorious hope!

My soul rejoices at the thought,

When, in that holy, happy land,

We’ll take no more the parting hand.