O GOD the Rock of Ages Who evermore hast been, While life’s brief tempest rages, Our dwelling-place serene; Before the world’s creation, O Lord, the same as now, To endless generations, The everlasting Thou.
Our years are like the shadows On sunny hills that lie, Or grasses in the meadows That blossom but to die: A sleep, a dream, a story By strangers briefly told, An unremaining glory Of things that soon are old.
O Thou Who cannot slumber, Whose light grows never pale, Teach us aright to number Our years before they fail; And may we find and know Thee, Thy kindness and Thy ways; And Thou our Guide and Friend be, The Lord of all our days.
Lord, crown our faith’s endeavour, With glory and with grace, Till, clothed in light for ever, We see Thee face to face; A joy no language measures, A fountain brimming o’er, An endless flow of pleasures In Christ for evermore.
Edward Henry Bickersteth, 1825-1906‡