The Cry of the Afflicted. 1 Lowly and solemn be Thy children's cry to Thee, Father divine! A hymn of suppliant breath, Owning that life and death Alike are Thine. 2 O Father, in that hour When earth all helping power Shall disavow; When spear, and shield, and crown, In faintness are cast down, Sustain us Thou! 3 By him who bowed to take The death-cup for our sake, The thorn, the rod; From whom the last dismay Was not to pass away, Aid us, O God! 4 And now beside the grave, We call on Thee to save, Father divine! Hear, hear our suppliant breath; Keep us, in life and death, Thine, only Thine! 345. 12 & 11s. M. Gaskell. Life in Death. 1 Thanks, thanks unto God! who in mercy hath spoken The truths which have pierced through the spirit's sad gloom; Whose love with the light of its presence hath broken The darkness which hung o'er the desolate tomb. 2 What now shall affright us? A Father almighty Keeps watch round our footsteps wherever we go; His mercy is sleepless,--His wisdom unfailing,-- He knoweth each want and regardeth each woe. 3 Where now is death's terror? he comes as an angel To carry the spirit away to its rest; The gloom which he weareth is lost in the message He brings from the Being who loveth us best. 4 May we live ever true to the hopes He hath given, While they shed o'er our path a still holier light; Ever making us nearer and nearer to heaven, More pure our affections, our spirits more bright. 346. L. M. Norton. O, Stay Thy Tears! 1 O, stay thy tears! for they are blest Whose days are past, whose toil is done; Here midnight care disturbs our rest, Here sorrow dims the morning sun. 2 For laboring virtue's anxious toil, For patient sorrow's stifled sigh, For faith that marks the conqueror's spoil, Heaven grants the recompense,--to die. 3 How blest are they whose transient years Pass like an evening meteor's flight, Not dark with guilt, nor dim with tears, Whose course is short, unclouded, bright! 4 O, cheerless were our lengthened way, But heaven's own light dispels the gloom, Streams downward from eternal day, And sheds a glory round the tomb! 5 Then stay thy tears,--the blest above Have hailed a spirit's heavenly birth, Sung a new song of joy and love; Then why should anguish reign on earth? 347. L. M. Sarah F. Adams. The Angel at the Tomb.