When Gathering Clouds

When gath'ring clouds around I view,

And days are dark, and friends are few,

On Him I lean who not in vain

Experienced ev'ry human pain;

He sees my wants, allays my fears,

And counts and treasures up my tears.

If aught should tempt my soul to stray

From heav'nly wisdom's narrow way;

To fly the good I would pursue,

Or do the sin I would not do;

Still He who felt temtation's pow'r,

Shall guard me in that dang'rous hour.

When sorr'wing o'er some stone I bend

Which covers what was once a friend,

And from his voice, his hand, his smile,

Divides me for a little while;

Thou, Savior, mark'st the tears I shed,

For Thou didst weep o'er Lazarus dead.

And, oh, when I have safely past

Thro' ev'ry conflict but the last,

Still, still unchanging, watch beside

My painful bed, for Thou hast died;

Then point to realms of cloudless day,

And wipe the latest tear away.