Funeral
Despair Not, O Heart
- Words:
- Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348-413). Translated by O. T. Sanden, 1909.
- Music:
- 'Iam Moesta' or 'Jam Moesta' or 'Despair Not O Heart' or 'Med Sorgen Og Klagen'
- Metre:
- 9 9 9 9
- 1Despair not, O heart, in thy sorrow,But hope from God's promises borrowBeware in thy sorrow, of sinningFor death is of life the beginning.
- 2The body is shrouded in mourning;The garlands, the casket adorning,Are emblems of hope that betoken,O Death, that thy power is broken.
- 3A dearly belov'd one hath left us;God hath in His Wisdom bereft us;But He will not leave us forsaken,We know that the dead shall awaken.
- 4When dawneth the glorious morrow,This body that we view with sorrow,A glorified form shall be given,Restored to its spirit in heaven.
- 5The seed that in springtime is planted,Is hid in the ground, but if grantedA measure of sunshine and showers,Will spring into fruitage and flowers;
- 6A gift to the churchyard we tender,As dust to the dust we surrender;Returning the clay to its Maker,We lay it to rest in God's acre.
- 7A soul in that body abided,A soul that in Jesus confided,A soul that hath longed for salvation,And now hath found hope's consummation.
- 8O earth, we consign to thy keepingThis body with sorrow and weeping;In peace to await resurrection,When it shall arise in perfection.
- 9O Christ, our soul's Maker and Lover;When time and earth's travail are over,Thou closest the grave's mournful story,And callest Thine own to Thy glory.
Scripture
Topics
In the hymnals
- The words are in 3 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
- The tune, Iam Moesta, is in 8 hymnals. The tune →
Words, music and setting are in the public domain. The score is from the Open Hymnal Project (Brian J. Dumont), which places its own work in the public domain. The piano is the FluidR3 General MIDI sound font (MIT licence). How many hymnals print a hymn, and when it was written, is from Hymnary.org.