Scripture Verse

Moses My servant is dead…As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Joshua 1:2,5

Introduction

portrait
Philip Doddridge (1702–1751)

Words: Phi­lip Dodd­ridge (1702–1751). Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Found­ed on Va­ri­ous Texts in the Ho­ly Scrip­tures, by Job Or­ton (Shrop­shire, Eng­land: Jo­shua Ed­dowes & John Cot­ton, 1755), num­ber 17: Sup­port in the pre­cious pre­sence of God un­der the loss of min­is­ters, and oth­er use­ful friends.

Music: Mear, old Eng­lish tune. Ar­ranged by Aar­on Will­iams, 1762 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Will­iams (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Now let our mourn­ing hearts re­vive,
And all our tears be dry;
Why should those eyes be drowned in grief
Which view a Sav­ior nigh?

What though the arm of con­quer­ing death
Does God’s own house in­vade?
What though the pro­phet and the priest
Be num­bered with the dead?

Though earth­ly shep­herds dwell in dust,
The ag­èd and the young,
The watch­ful eye in dark­ness closed,
And mute th’in­struct­ive tongue.

The eter­nal Shep­herd still sur­vives,
New com­fort to im­part;
His eye still guides us, and His voice
Still ani­mates our heart.

Lo! I am with you, saith the Lord,
My church shall safe abide;
For I will ne’er for­sake My own,
Whose souls in Me con­fide.

Through ev­ery scene of life and death,
This pro­mise is our trust;
And this shall be our child­ren’s song,
When we are cold in dust.