Hark! Hark, My Soul! (Faber)

Hark! hark

my soul!

Angelic songs are swell­ing

O’er earth’s green fields

And ocean’s wave-beat shore:

How sweet the truth

Those bless­èd strains are tell­ing

Of that new life

When sin shall be no more.

Angels of Je­sus

an­gels of light

Singing to wel­come

The pil­grims of the night! *

Darker than night

Life’s sha­dows fall around us

And like be­night­ed

Men we miss our mark:

God hides Him­self

And grace hath scarce­ly found us

E’er death finds out

His vic­tims in the dark.

Far

far away

Like bells at ev­en­ing peal­ing

The voice of Je­sus

Sounds o’er land and sea;

And la­den souls

By thou­sands meek­ly steal­ing

Kind Shep­herd

turn

Their wea­ry steps to Thee.

Onward we go

For still we hear them sing­ing

Come

wea­ry souls

For Je­sus bids you come;

And through the dark

Its ec­hoes sweet­ly ring­ing

The mu­sic of

The Gos­pel leads us home.

Rest comes at length:

Though life be long and drea­ry

The day must dawn

And dark­some night be past;

Faith’s jour­neys end

In wel­come to the wea­ry

And Heav­en

the heart’s

True home

will come at last.

Cheer up

my soul!

Faith’s moon­beams soft­ly glist­en

Upon the breast

Of life’s most trou­bled sea

And it will cheer

Thy droop­ing heart to list­en

To those brave songs

Which an­gels mean for thee.

Angels

sing on

Your faith­ful watch­es keep­ing;

Sing us sweet frag­ments

Of the songs ab­ove

Till morn­ing’s joy

Shall end the night of weep­ing

And life’s long sha­dows

Break in cloud­less love.