The voice says cry what shall we cry

The voice says cry what shall we cry

Author: Henry Twells
Published in 6 hymnals

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Representative Text

1. The voice says, Cry! What shall we cry?
All flesh is grass, and like the flower
Its glories droop, its pleasures die,
Its joys but last one fleeting hour.

2. The voice says, Cry! O piteous cry!
And are there none to help and save?
Have all that live beneath the sky
No other prospect but a grave?

3. The voice says, Cry! Yet glorious cry!
The Word of God can never fall,
And tells how Jesus, throned on high,
Holds out eternal life to all.

4. The voice says, Cry! Who needs the cry?
O brother men! who needs it not?
By countless millions, far and nigh,
’Tis still unheard, despised, forgot.

5. The voice says, Cry! What stops the cry?
Our greed of wealth, our love of ease,
Our lack of earnest will to try
Mankind to save, and God to please.

6. The voice says, Cry! O let us cry!
Though standing on death’s awful brink,
Men feast, they jest, they sell, they buy,
And cannot see, and will not think.

7. The voice says, Cry! Lord, we would cry
But of Thy goodness teach us how;
For fast the hours of mercy fly,
And, if we cry, it must be now!

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #7083

Author: Henry Twells

Twells, Henry, M.A., was born in 1823, and educated at St. Peter's College, Cambridge. B.A. 1848, M.A. 1851. Taking Holy Orders in 1849, he was successively Curate of Great Berkhamsted, 1849-51; Sub-Vicar of Stratford-on-Avon, 1851-54; Master of St. Andrew's House School, Mells, Somerset, 1854-56; and Head Master of Godolphin School, Hammersmith, 1856-70. In 1870 he was preferred to the Rectory of Baldock, Herts, and in 1871 to that of Waltham-on-the Wolds. He was Select Preacher at Cambridge in 1873-74, and became an Honorary Canon of Peterborough Cathedral in 1884. Canon Twells is best known by his beautiful evening hymn, "At even ere the sun was set." He also contributed the following hymns to the 1889 Supplemental Hymns to Hymns Ancie… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: The voice says cry what shall we cry
Author: Henry Twells
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

The Voice says, Cry! What shall we cry? H. Twells. [Missions.] Appeared in Hymns, Sonnets and Other Poems for the Bicentenary of the S.P.G., 1900, No. 13, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, and again in Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1904, but in a slightly altered form.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

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The Cyber Hymnal #7083
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The Cyber Hymnal #7083

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