The Cyber Hymnal ‎#2559

2559. The Hour-Glass

1. Alas! how swift the moments fly!
How flash the years along!
Scarce here, yet gone already by,
The burden of a song.
See childhood, youth, and manhood pass,
And age, with furrowed brow;
Time was—Time shall be—drain the glass—
But where in Time is now?

2. Time is the measure but of change;
No present hour is found;
The past, the future, fill the range
Of Time’s unceasing round.
Where, then is now? In realms above,
With God’s atoning Lamb,
In regions of eternal love,
Where sits enthroned I AM.

3. Then pilgrim, let thy joys and tears
On Time no longer lean;
But henceforth all thy hopes and fears
From earth’s affections wean:
To God let votive accents rise;
With truth, with virtue, live;
So all the bliss that Time denies
Eternity shall give.

Text Information

• First Line: Alas! how swift the moments fly
• Title: The Hour-Glass
• Author: John Quincy Adams (1839)
• Meter: CMD
• Language: English
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: He wrote this hymn for the 200th anniversary of the First Congregational Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, September 29, 1839.

Tune Information

• Name: GERALD
• Composer: Ludwig Spohr (1834)
• Meter: CMD
• Incipit: 55431 76665 35435
• Key: D Major
• Source: Das Heiland's letzte Stunde, 1834
• Copyright: Public Domain