Scripture Verse

Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. Luke 8:52

Introduction

Words: F. I. Dar­ling, in Songs of So­ver­eign Grace, by J. Lin­coln Hall, Will­iam J. Kirk­pat­rick & Win­field Weed­en (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Hall-Mack, 1897), num­ber 138. Oth­er sour­ces cre­dit the words to Spen­cer Wal­lace Cone (1819–1888); perhaps F. I. Dar­ling was his pseu­do­nym?

Music: Sing­a­pore Win­field S. Weed­en (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Dar­ling’s full name, or where to get a good pho­to of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or a bet­ter one of Weed­en,

portrait
Winfield S. Weeden
1847–1908

Lyrics

A bud the Gar­den­er gave me,
A fair and love­ly child,
He gave it for my keep­ing
To cherish un­de­filed;
It lay up­on my bosom,
It was my joy and pride,
Perhaps it was an id­ol
Which I must be de­nied.

For just as it was op­en­ing,
In glo­ry to the day,
Down came the hea­ven­ly Gard­en­er
And took my bud away;
Yet not in wrath He took it—
A smile was on His face,
And ten­der­ly and kind­ly
He bore it from its place.

Fear not, me­thought He whis­pered,
Thy bud shall be re­stored;
I take it but to plant it
In the gar­den of My Lord
;
And bade me not to sor­row
As those who hope­less weep,
For He who gave hath tak­en
And He who took can keep.

And night and morn to­ge­ther
By the op­en gate of pray­er,
I’ll go un­to my dar­ling
And sit be­side him there;
I know for me ’twill op­en
Poor sin­ner though I be,
For He who guards and keeps it
Will keep my bud for me.