Wilt Thou return to me, O Lord,
If I return to Thee?

She is not dead — she only sleeps:
Life in her soul its vigil keeps:

What shall we write on this memorial stone?
Thy merits? Thou didst rest on Christ's alone.

Did Christ o'er sinners weep?
And shall our cheeks be dry?

O that the Lord’s salvation
Were out of Zion come,

Ah wherefore should the silent tear
Down Ellen's youthful visage stray,

Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee:

Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide;
The darkness thickens. Lord, with me abide

I would not always sail
Upon a sunny sea:

Again, O Lord, I ope my eyes,
Thy glorious light to see,

My spirit on thy care,
      Blest Saviour, I recline;

Blest is the broken, bleeding heart,
      For sin constrained to ache!

Ye lingering hours, wheel swift away,
And usher in the joyful day,

The Lord hath builded for Himself;
He needs no earthly dome:

Why do I sigh to find
Life's evening shadows gathering round my way?

Fly, ye hours, the best, the brightest:
Best are they that fleet the lightest!

Mary, thou art gone to rest;
Why should we deplore thee?

Pleasant are Thy courts above,
In the land of light and love;

She is gone!   she is gone!  A God of love
Has called her up to His side above;

My mother, my mother, O let me depart!
Your tears and your pleadings are swords to my heart.

The billowy shore is booming loud
The sky is black with storm and cloud,

Oh, had I, my Saviour, the wings of a dove,
How soon would I soar to Thy presence above!

Where shall I fly?  What dark untrodden path
Will lead a sinner from his Maker's wrath?

On Horeb's rock the prophet stood:
The Lord before him passed:

God of mercy, God of grace,
Show the brightness of Thy face:

When earthly joys glide swift away,
When hopes and comforts flee,

O Lord, how good, how great art thou,
In heaven and earth the same!

When at Thy footstool, Lord, I bend,
And plead with Thee for mercy there,

Praise for Thee, Lord, in Zion waits;
Prayer shall besiege Thy temple gates;

Praise the Lord, God’s glories show, Alleluia!
Saints within God’s courts below, Alleluia!

Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven;
To His feet Thy tribute bring!

Omniscient God, Thine eye divine
My inmost soul can see;

Be the heart in tune within,
All without runs smooth and even,

I stand in a world where there's nothing my own,
Where the lightest event is beyond my control;

Above me hangs the silent sky;
Around me rolls the sea;

Glory and praise to Jehovah on high!
Glory from all, through the earth and the sky!

There is a safe and secret place,
Beneath the wings divine,

When at Thy footstool, Lord, I bend,
And plead with Thee for mercy there,

Loud was the wind, and wild the tide;
The ship her course delayed:

The leaves around me falling
Are preaching of decay;

Sweet evening hour!  sweet evening hour!
That calms the air, and shuts the flower;

Far from my heavenly home,
Far from my Father’s breast,

Hail to another year,
The year that now begins!

When reft of the converse of those that they love,
The godless may fret and repine:

'Twas a sweet April morning: I traversed the glade
Where my light foot in infancy often had played:

O spare my flower, my gentle flower,
The slender creature of a day!

There is a change in all below;
Nought sure beneath the sky:

My rest is in heaven; my rest is not here;
Then why should I murmur when trials are near?

Why loves my flower, so high reclined
Upon these walls of barren gloom,