Verse 1
Wherefore should I make my moan,
Now the darling child is dead?
He to early rest is gone,
He to paradise is fled:
I shall go to him, but he
Never shall return to me.

Verse 2
God forbids his longer stay,
God recalls the precious loan,
God hath taken him away,
From my bosom to his own;
Surely what he wills is best,
Happy in his will I rest.

Verse 3
Faith cries out, It is the Lord!
Let him do as seems him good:
Be thy holy name ador’d,
Take the gift awhile bestow’d,
Take the child, no longer mine,
Thine he is, forever thine.