Scripture Verse

The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. Isaiah 25:8

Introduction

portrait
Thomas Moore (1779–1852)

Words: Tho­mas Moore, Sac­red Songs 1816.

Music: Elm J. Va­rley Ro­berts, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1889 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
J. Varley Roberts
1822–1877

Lyrics

O Thou who driest the mourner’s tear,
How dark this world would be,
If, when deceived and wounded here,
We could not fly to Thee!

The friends who in our sunshine live,
When winter comes are flown;
And he who has but tears to give,
Must weep those tears alone.

But Thou wilt heal that broken heart,
Which, like the plants that throw
Their fragrance from the wounded part,
Breathes sweetness out of woe.

When joy no longer soothes or cheers,
And e’en the hope that threw
A moment’s sparkle o’er our tears
Is dimmed and vanished too—

O who could bear life’s stormy doom,
Did not Thy wing of love
Come brightly wafting through the gloom
Our peace-branch from above?

Then sorrow, touched by Thee, grows bright,
With more than rapture’s ray;
As darkness shows us worlds of light
We ne­ver saw by day.