The second line of the second stanza was also changed by Dr. Hastings, the original version by Moore being:
Hope, when all others die, fadeless and pure.
The third line of the second stanza was greatly improved by the American critic. Moore’s line read:
Here speaks the Comforter, in God’s name saying.
But the greatest change was made in the third stanza. This was practically rewritten by Dr. Hastings. Moore’s third stanza departs very radically and abruptly from true hymn style. It originally read:
Come, ask the infidel what boon he brings us,
What charm for aching hearts he can reveal,
Sweet is that heavenly promise Hope sings us—
Earth has no sorrow that God cannot heal.
The last three years of Moore’s life were very unhappy. A nervous affliction rendered him practically helpless. His death occurred on February 26, 1852, at the age of seventy-three years.