453 As after the water-brooks panteth the hart, when it

1 As after the water-brooks panteth the hart, when it sinks in the chase, So thirsteth my soul, as it fainteth, For Thee, O my God, and Thy grace; For Thou art the fount ever-living, Who unto the thirsty art giving The water of life that they need. 2 By day and by night in her anguish My soul is lamenting in woe: O Lord, in my grief I must languish, No counsel, no help do I know; When shall Thy mercy awaken? When shall I, the poor and forsaken, Before Thee appear, O my God? 3 Great fears now my bosom are rending, For near the abyss I am brought, My way on the brink I am wending, My journey with peril is fraught; I faint, I see terrors appalling, And into the deep I am falling, O hearken, O Lord, to my cries! 4 Thou, Thou art my rock of salvation, My house I have built upon Thee; O if Thou shouldst fail as foundation, My ruin it surely would be; Lord, deep unto deep now is calling, Thy waves and Thy billows appalling Arise to go over my soul. 5 When others sing anthems of gladness, And offer thanksgiving and praise, I sit in the gloom of my sadness And hear not the anthems they raise; My song is the voice of my sighing, The festal days pass in my crying, I languish in grief and in woe. 6 Why art thou disquieted within me? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Confide in thy God, let Him win thee! Still hope in thy God, Him extol! For surely once dawneth a morrow, When, freed from thy care and thy sorrow, Thou praises shalt sing to thy God. 7 His light and His truth, they shall lead me In peace to His temple at last; I rest on His Word He will speed me, And conflict and sorrow are past; Yea, joyful anthems will I raise Him, With heart and with voice will I praise Him - My health and my life and my God.