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HYMN IX.

[Thanks be to God, whose faithful love]

Thanks be to God, whose faithful love
Hath call'd another to His breast,
Translated him to joys above,
To mansions of eternal rest.
Ripe for the glorious harvest made,
He first was saved from inbred sin;
The angel then his charge obey'd,
And thrust the mortal sickle in.
He the good fight of faith hath won,
He heard with joy the welcome word:
“Hither come up, (thy work is done,)
And reign for ever with thy Lord.”
By ministerial spirits convey'd,
Lodged in the garner of the sky,
He rests, in Abraham's bosom laid,
He lives with God, no more to die.
Thanks be to God, through Christ alone,
Who gave our friend the victory;
O Master, say to me, “Well done!”
May I rejoice to die in Thee.
Thus may we all our warfare end,
In struggling to the upper skies,
Our last triumphant moments spend,
And grasp in death the' immortal prize.
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O that we all may thus break through,
The crown with holy violence seize,
The starry crown to conquest due,
The crown of life and righteousness.
Will not the righteous Judge bestow
The prize on all who seek Him here,
And long, while sojourning below,
To see their much-loved Lord appear?
He will, (our hearts cry out,) He will
Those eager wishes more than meet,
These infinite desires fulfil,
And make our happiness complete.
We all shall see our life appear,
(Our hidden life in Jesus found,)
Our dust the' archangel's voice shall hear,
And kindle at the trumpet's sound.
O what a soul o'erpowering thought,
'Tis ecstasy too great to bear:
We all at once shall be upcaught,
And meet our Jesus in the air.
Eternity stands forth in sight!
We plunge us in that boundless sea,
Expatiate in those plains of light,
The regions of eternity!
Even now we taste the heavenly powers,
The glorious joys of angels prove,
A whole eternity is ours,
A whole eternity of love!
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