God of My Life, Thy Constant Care

God of my life

Thy con­stant care

With bless­ings crowns each op­en­ing year;

This guil­ty life Thou dost pro­long

And wake anew mine an­nu­al song.

How ma­ny pre­cious souls are fled

To the vast re­gions of the dead

Since from this day the chang­ing sun

Through his last year­ly pe­ri­od run.

We yet sur­vive; but who can say

Or through the year

or month or day

I will re­tain this vi­tal breath;

Thus far at least in league with death.

That breath is Thine

eter­nal God

’Tis Thine to fix my soul’s abode;

It holds its life from Thee alone

On earth

or in the world un­known.

To Thee our spir­its we re­sign

Make them and own them still as Thine;

So shall they smile

se­cure from fear

Though death should blast the ris­ing year.

Thy child­ren ea­ger to be gone

Bid time’s im­pe­tu­ous tide roll on

And land them on that bloom­ing shore

Where years and death are known no more.