Lord, Thou Hast Been Thy People’s Rest

Lord

Thou hast been Thy peo­ple’s rest

Through ev­ery ge­ne­ra­tion:

Their re­fuge sure when per­il pressed

Their hope in tri­bu­la­tion:

Thou

ere the mount­ains sprang to birth

Or ev­er Thou hadst formed the earth

Art God from ev­er­last­ing.

The sons of men re­turn to clay

When Thou the word hast spok­en

As with a tor­rent swept away

Gone like a vi­sion brok­en.

A thou­sand years are in Thy sight

But as the pass­ing hours of night

Or yes­ter­day de­part­ed.

Fair laugh the flow­ers

whose beau­ty new

The dews of morn­ing cher­ish:

Pale ev­en­ing comes; with fad­ing hue

They hang their heads and per­ish.

So fade we in Thy right­eous wrath:

Thine eyes be­hold our sec­ret path

Our deeds and thoughts of ev­il.

Soon

as a breath

the times are past

Of those who seem the strong­est:

And if to se­ven­ty years they last

Or four­score

at the long­est

Life’s proud­est strength is sor­row still.

Lord

who rev­eres Thy migh­ty will?

Who right­ly dreads thy an­ger?

O teach us so to count our days

That we may prize them du­ly;

So guide our feet in wis­dom’s ways

That we may love Thee tru­ly:

Return

O Lord

our griefs be­hold

And with Thy good­ness

as of old

O sa­tis­fy us ear­ly.

For long have been our days of pain

And long our years of sad­ness:

To us dis­play Thy grace again

And to our sons Thy glad­ness;

O Lord our God

with fa­vor­ing love

Shine forth; our han­di­work ap­prove

And bless our dai­ly la­bor.