Scripture Verse

His days shall be an hundred and twenty years. Genesis 6:3

Introduction

portrait
John Q. Adams
1767–1848

Words: John Q. Ad­ams, 1839. He wrote this hymn for the 200th an­ni­ver­sa­ry of the First Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church in Quin­cy, Mas­sa­chu­setts, Sep­tem­ber 29, 1839.

Music: Ger­ald Lud­wig Spohr, Das Hei­land’s Letz­te Stun­de 1834 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Ludwig Spohr
1784–1859

Lyrics

Alas! how swift the moments fly!
How flash the years along!
Scarce here, yet gone already by,
The burden of a song.
See childhood, youth, and manhood pass,
And age, with furrowed brow;
Time was—Time shall be—drain the glass—
But where in Time is now?

Time is the measure but of change;
No present hour is found;
The past, the future, fill the range
Of Time’s unceasing round.
Where, then is now? In realms above,
With God’s atoning Lamb,
In regions of eternal love,
Where sits enthroned I AM.

Then pilgrim, let thy joys and tears
On Time no longer lean;
But henceforth all thy hopes and fears
From earth’s affections wean:
To God let votive accents rise;
With truth, with virtue, live;
So all the bliss that Time denies
Eternity shall give.