Lord God! Thou Art for Evermore

Lord God! Thou art for ev­er­more

Thy peo­ple’s ha­bi­ta­tion

And Thou ex­ist­ence hadst be­fore

Was laid the earth’s foun­da­tion!

Ere yet the hills be­gan to be

Thou lived’st in eter­ni­ty

Of all things the be­gin­ning!

Thou let­test all the crowds of men

Through death’s dark por­tals wan­der

And bid­dest them return again

Those oth­ers fol­low yon­der.

With Thee a thou­sand years are aye

Like watch of night or yes­ter­day

When it is gone for ev­er.

Thou let­test the base hosts of men

E’en as a stream be flow­ing

And as a ship up­on the main

That fa­vor­ing winds are blow­ing

And as a sleep and dream of night

That when men wake at morn­ing light

They can no more re­mem­ber.

We’re like an herb that ear­ly dies

Or grass in fields that grow­eth

That in the morn­ing flour­ish­es

Ere night the mow­er mow­eth.

So ’tis with man: he blooms to­day

Tomorrow he is borne away

If but a breath doth touch him!

Because Thy wrath ’gainst us doth glow

Lord! we so ear­ly van­ish

And for our sins Thou lay’st us low

And from Thy face dost ban­ish.

Our sins Thou sett’st be­fore Thine eyes

Then doth Thine in­dig­na­tion rise

In Thine heart ev­er ho­ly!

This fire it is con­sumes in all

Our bones the mar­row ev­er;

And hence it is that great or small

From death es­cap­eth nev­er.

And hence our days are pass­ing o’er

Like tales that oft be­guile an hour

And that are soon for­got­ten.

And scarce­ly doth our life on earth

To seven­ty years last ev­en;

And what are all our la­bors worth

If four-score years be giv­en?

What is the sum of all our gain

From youth to age

but toil and pain

Heart-sor­row and vex­ation?

We’re ever toil­ing full of care

And ere we do be­think us

To stop our work

lo! death is there

Into the grave to sink us.

And speed­ily we pass away

Yet of their end none ev­er stay

To think

nor of God’s an­ger.

O teach us

Lord! to think each day

Upon this earth’s af­flict­ion

That when we think on death we may

Grow wis­er by re­flect­ion.

Ah! turn on us again Thy face

And be at peace

O God of grace!

With Thy re­bel­lious child­ren.

And ear­ly with Thy mer­cy free

Be soul and body fill­ing

And late and ear­ly

Lord

may we

Thy glo­ri­ous praise be tell­ing.

O chief­est joy! our hearts now cheer

And once more give us good times here

The days have been so ev­il.

We’ve borne the cross these wea­ry years

Now let Thy sun be shin­ing

Vouchsafe us laugh­ter af­ter tears

And plea­sure after pin­ing.

And ever­more

O Lord! make known

Thy works of won­der to Thine own

Thine hon­or to Thy child­ren.

Be Thou our faith­ful friend and God

Establish us for ev­er!

And when we err from wis­dom’s road

Give pe­ni­tence and fa­vor!

Turn Thou our hearts again to Thee

May all our works es­tab­lished be

Crown all we do with bless­ing!