Now hush your cries, and shed no tear, On such death none should look with fear; He died a faithful Christian man, And with his death true life began. | Coffin and grave we deck with care, His body reverently we bear, It is not dead but rests in God, And softly sleeps beneath the sod. | It seems as all were over now,-- The heavy limbs, the soulless brow,-- Yet through these rigid limbs once more A nobler life, ere long, shall pour. | These dead dry bones again shall feel New warmth and vigour through them steal Reknit and living they shall soar On high where Christ lives evermore. | This body, lying stiff and stark, Shall rise unharm'd from out the dark, And swiftly mount up through the skies Even as the spirit heavenwards flies. | The buried grain of wheat must die, Wither'd and worthless long must lie, Yet springs to light all sweet and fair, And proper fruits shall richly bear: | Even so this body made of dust, To earth we once again entrust, And painless it shall slumber here, Until the Last Great Day appear. | God breathed into this house of clay The spirit that hath pass'd away, Christ gave the true courageous mind, The noble heart, ye no more find. | Now earth has hid it from our eyes, Till God shall bid it wake and rise, Who ne'er the creature will forget, On whom His image He hath set. | Ah would that promised Day were here, When Christ shall once again appear; When He shall call, nor one be lost, To endless life earth's buried host! | |