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ANOTHER.

[Draw near, ye strangers to our God]

Draw near, ye strangers to our God,
And taste with us the heavenly powers;
O that His love were shed abroad!
O that your hearts were all like ours!
185

Come, see how Christians wail their dead;
Come, share in our mysterious bliss;
On Satan, sin, and death to tread,
O what an happiness is this!
Though once ye intermeddled not
With the strange madness of our joys,
Ye all may be to Eden brought,
And heighten our triumphant noise.
With tears of joy our eyes o'erflow,
At parting with our dearest friend;
From us we gladly let her go
To pleasures that shall never end.
We know in whom we have believed,
Our faith in Jesus is not vain;
To all who have their Lord received
To live is Christ, to die is gain.
Our sister's flesh shall turn to dust,
Her sacred dust in hope shall sleep,
The temple of the Holy Ghost
The still indwelling God shall keep.
Triumphantly she laid it down,
For time to waste, and worms devour;
In weakness and dishonour sown,
Till raised in glory and in power.
A body natural it lies,
A lifeless lump of mouldering clay;
But spiritual it soon shall rise,
No more to perish or decay.
186

This corruptible body soon
Shall all incorruptible be,
This mortal quickly shall put on
Its robes of immortality.
The terrible, all-conquering king
Shall then a final period have:
Say then, O death, where is thy sting?
Where is thy victory, O grave?
The sting of death, our sin, is gone,
Scatter'd are all our guilty fears;
Thanks be to God, through Christ alone,
Who makes us more than conquerors.
God only doth the victory give;
He shall our glorious flesh restore,
His many sons to heaven receive,
Where time and death shall be no more.
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