The Journey Done, the Rest Begun

The jour­ney done

the rest be­gun

The day of death now end­ed;

To life ab­ove on wings of love

The freed one hath as­cend­ed:

Why do we weep? For Christ doth keep—

He died that He might save us;

The bo­dy trust we to the dust

The soul to God who gave it.

Our tears must fall at loss of all

That time can­not re­store us;

But to the skies we lift our eyes

And think of what’s be­fore us:

There safe ab­ove

with Him whose love

For all their wants pro­vid­eth

The spir­its blest

in change­less rest

In Pa­ra­dise ab­id­eth.

Your muf­fled chime

ye bells of time

Ring out with chast­ened glad­ness;

The hap­py soul needs not your toll

As if it dwelt in sad­ness:

Toll for the dead who

liv­ing

tread

Earth’s sin­ful ways

hard-heart­ed;

But hap­py chime

ye bells of time

Ring out for Christ’s de­part­ed.

Their war­fare o’er

now nev­er more

Shall sin or sor­row grieve them;

Against that day

not far away

In ho­ly earth we leave them:

Why should we weep? For Christ doth keep—

He died that He might save us;

The bo­dy trust we to the dust

The soul to God who gave it.