GREAT God, we bow to thy decree,
And own thy sentence right;
Thy sov’reign voice has call’d away
Our brother from our sight.Dear Jesus, we believe thou art
The sinner’s only friend;
Nor death, nor hell shall ever part,
For we on thee depend.No more our brother’s rack’d with pain,
Or hears the tempter roar:
O! may thy spirit us defend,
From sin and Satan’s pow’r.O, Lord! our eyes are up to thee
In this distressing hour,
Thine handmaid bless, and grant that we
May thy rich grace adore.Eternal love will still provide,
Though mortals die around;
The Lord, at times, may seem to chide,
But faithful he is found.We will rejoice our brother’s gone
To Jesu’s welcome breast;
At his right hand he shall be found,
Eternally to rest.
N.B. The Profits, arising from the sale of this Hymn, will be appropriated for the benefit of the Widow, and four young Children.
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FOOTNOTES.
[1] These three pieces are tightly bound in the British Library copy, and are preceded by Voice of Faith in the Valley of Achor, Vol. II. However, they are clearly not part of Voice (which was published by R. Thomas in 1820) as two of these were published (undated) by R. Weston. John Church used R. Thomas as his printer until around 1822 (Glory of Grace), and used R. Weston from 1823, which puts the first two around then. The Hymn, from 1827, is the last known published work by John Church, who died in 1833.—DP.