10. Hymn: Cometh Sunshine After Rain

Hymn: Cometh Sunshine After Rain

Author: Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676)

Cometh sunshine after rain,
After mourning joy again,
After heavy bitter grief
Dawneth surely sweet relief!
And my soul, who from her height
Sank to realms of woe and night,
Wingeth new to heav'n her flight.

Bitter anguish have I borne,
Keen regret my heart hath torn,
Sorrow dimm'd my weeping eyes,
Satan blinded me with lies;
Yet at last am I set free,
Help, protection, love, to me
Once more true companions be.

None was ever left a prey,
None was ever turn'd away,
Who had given himself to God,
And on Him had cast his load.
Who in God his hope hath placed
Shall not life in pain outwaste,
Fullest joy he yet shall taste.

Though to-day may not fulfil
All thy hopes, have patience still,
For perchance to-morrow's sun
Sees thy happier days begun;
As God willeth march the hours,
Bringing joy at last in showers,
When whate'er we ask'd is ours.

Now as long as here I roam,
On this earth have house and home,
Shall this wondrous gleam from Thee
Shine through all my memory.
To my God I yet will cling,
All my life the praises sing
That from thankful hearts outspring.

Every sorrow, every smart,
That the Eternal Father's heart
Hath appointed me of yore,
Or hath yet for me in store,
As my life flows on, I'll take
Calmly, gladly for His sake,
No more faithless murmurs make.

I will meet distress and pain,
I will greet e'en Death's dark reign,
I will lay me in the grave,
With a heart still glad and brave;
Whom the Strongest doth defend,
Whom the Highest counts His friend,
Cannot perish in the end.

3. Hymn: Be Thou Content

Be Thou Content

Author: Paul Gerhardt

1. Be thou content; be still before
    His face, at whose right hand doth reign
    Fulness of joy for evermore,
    Without whom all thy toil is vain.
    He is thy living spring, thy sun, whose rays
    Make glad with life and light thy dreary days.
    Be thou content.

2. In Him is comfort, light and grace,
    And changeless love beyond our thought;
    The sorest pang, the worst disgrace,
    If He is there, shall harm thee not.
    He can lift off thy cross, and loose thy bands,
    And calm thy fears, nay, death is in His hands.
    Be thou content.

3. Or art thou friendless and alone,
    Hast none in whom thou canst confide?
    God careth for thee, lonely one,
    Comfort and help will He provide.
    He sees thy sorrows and thy hidden grief,
    He knoweth when to send thee quick relief;
    Be thou content.
 
4. Thy heart's unspoken pain He knows,
    Thy secret signs He hears full well,
    What to none else thou dar'st disclose,
    To Him thou mayst with boldness tell;
    He is not far away, but ever nigh,
    And answereth willingly the poor man's cry.
    Be thou content.

5. Be not o'er-mastered by thy pain,
    But cling to God, thou shalt not fall;
    The floods sweep over thee in vain,
    Thou yet shalt rise above them all;
    For when thy trial seems to hard to bear,
    Lo! God, thy King, hath granted all thy prayer:
    Be thou content.

6. Why art thou full of anxious fear
    How thou shalt be sustained and fed?
    He who hath made and placed thee here,
    Will give the needful daily bread;
    Canst thou not trust His rich and bounteous hand,
    Who feeds all living things on sea and land?
    Be thou content.

7. He who doth teach the little birds
    To find their meat in field and wood,
    Who gives the countless flocks and herds
    Each day their needful drink and food,
    Thy hunger too will surely satisfy,
    And all thy wants in His good time supply.
    Be thou content.

8. Sayst thou, I know not how or where,
    No help I see where'er I turn;
    When of all else we most despair,
    The riches of God's love we learn;
    When thou and I His hand no longer trace,
    He leads us forth into a pleasant place.
    Be thou content.

9. Though long His promised aid delay,
    At last it will be surely sent:
    Though thy heart sink in sore dismay,
    The trial for thy good is meant.
    What we have won with pains we hold more fast,
    What tarrieth long is sweeter at the last.
    Be thou content.

10. Lay not to heart whate'er of ill
      Thy foes may falsely speak of thee,
      Let man defame thee as he will,
      God hears, and judges righteously.
      Why shouldst thou fear, if God be on thy side,
      Man's cruel anger, or malicious pride?
      Be thou content.

11. We know for us a rest remains,
      When God will give us sweet release
      From earth and all our mortal chains,
      And turn our sufferings into peace.
      Sooner or later death will surely come
      To end our sorrows, and to take us home:
      Be thou content.

12. Home to the chosen ones, who here
      Served their Lord faithfully and well,
      Who died in peace, without a fear,
      And there in peace for ever dwell;
      The Everlasting is their joy and stay,
      The Eternal Word Himself to them doth say,
      Be thou content!

35. Hymn: Commit Thy Way To God

Commit Thy Way To God

Author: Paul Gerhardt

1. Commit thy way to God;
    The weight which makes thee faint,
    Worlds are to Him no load!
    To Him breathe thy complaint.
    He who for winds and clouds
    Maketh a pathway free,
    Through wastes or hostile crowds
    Can make a way for thee.

2. Hope, then, tho' woes be doubled,
    Hope, and be undismayed;
    Let not thine heart be troubled,
    Nor let it be afraid.
    This prison where thou art,
    Thy God will break it soon,
    And flood with light thy heart,
    In His own blessed noon.

3. Up, up, the day is breaking,
    Say to thy cares, Good night!
    Thy troubles from thee shaking
    Like dreams in day's fresh light.
    Thou wearest not the crown,
    Nor the best course can'st tell;
    God sitteth on the throne,
    And guideth all things well.

4. Trust Him to govern, then:
    No king can rule like Him.
    How wilt thou wonder when
    Thine eyes no more see dim,
    To see those paths which vex thee,
    How wise they were and meet;
    The works which now perplex thee
    How beautiful, complete!

5. Faithful the love thou sharest;
    All, all is well with thee;
    The crown from hence thou bearest
    With shouts of victory.
    In thy right hand to-morrow
    Thy God shall place the palms.
    To Him who chased thy sorrow,
    How glad will be thy psalms!

17. Hymn: Give To The Winds Thy Fears

Give To The Winds Thy Fears

Author: Paul Gerhardt

Tune: ST. BRIDE, by Samuel Howard

(Melody)

1. Give to the winds thy fears,
    Hope and be undismay'd,
    God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
    God shall lift up thy head.

2. Thro' waves and clouds and storms,
    He gently clears thy way;
    Wait thou his time, so shall this night
    Soon end in joyous day.

3. Still heavy is thy heart,
    Still sink thy spirits down;
    Cast off the weight, let fear depart,
    And every care be gone.

4. What tho' thou rulest not,
    Yet heav'n, and earth, and hell,
    Proclaim, God sitteth on the throne,
    And ruleth all things well.

5. Leave to his sov'reign sway
    To choose and to command,
    So shalt thou wond'ring own his way,
    How wise, how strong his hand!

6. Far, far above thy thought
    His counsel shall appear,
    When fully he the work that wrought,
    That caus'd thy needless fear.

7. Thou seest our weakness, Lord,
    Our hearts are known to thee;
    O lift thou up the sinking heart,
    Confirm the feeble knee.

8. Let us in life, in death,
    Thy stedfast truth declare,
    And publish with our latest breath
    Thy love and guardian care.