Christ My Song - 522
Dear to thee, O Lord, and precious - Precious
in the sight of the Lord ... (Meta Heusser-Schweizer/
Jane Laurie Borthwick/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
"Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints."
1. Dear to thee, O Lord, and precious,
is the death of all thine own;
thou hast said, and we believe it, –
yet we weep and make our moan
when a soul, through Christ forgiven,
every grief and peril past,
all the toilsome journey ended,
rests with thee, our God, at last! PDF - Midi
2. Ah! our eyes are dim and blinded,
mists of earth hang heavily;
where the stream of life is flowing,
only shades of death we see.
Here, our stars of hope have vanished,
all our music died away;
while a welcome peal is ringing
yonder, in eternal day.
3. Yes, for thee that welcome sounded,
dear one, through the courts on high,
when thy God and Saviour called thee
to his presence in the sky.
Gentle, dove-like sister-spirit!
sweetly didst thou rise, and go,
where thy heart had long been dwelling,
with the Lord, so loved below.
4. And as here that love celestial
ever reigned within thy breast,
surely earthly love continues
in thy home among the blessed.
Surely we are still remembered!
All is past of grief and gloom;
but, by founts of life eternal,
love, a fadeless flower, shall bloom.
5. Joy of full and free salvation,
all the joys of home are there!
Oh, thou gracious, great Redeemer!
when we hope such joys to share,
shall not heart and soul united
raise the hymn of praise to thee,
for the countless blessings purchased
by thy grief and agony?
6. Dear to thee, O Lord, and precious,
is the death of all thine own!
On our darkness hath the dawning
of thine Easter morning shone.
Through our tears the bow of promise
shines around with cheering ray,
while we journey to the country
where all tears are wiped away.
H.L.L., alias Jane Laurie Borthwick, Alpine Lyrics, ca. 1874, 49-51.
Translated from the German Teuer ist der Tod der Deinen - Einer verborgenen Perle of Meta Heusser-Schweizer