Now let our mourning hearts revive. P. Doddridge. [Death of a Minister.] Written on the death of a Minister, at Kettering, August 22, 1736, and headed, "Comfort in God under the Removal of Ministers; or, other Useful Persons by Death, Joshua, i. 2, 4, 5" (D. MSS.) It was given in Job Orton's posthumous edition of Doddridge's Hymns, &c, 1755, No. 17, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, with the heading changed to, "Support in the gracious presence of God under the Loss of Ministers, and other useful Friends"; and repeated in J. D. Humphreys's edition of the same, in 1839, with the same heading. It is in common use in Great Britain and America. Another form of the text, beginning with stanza ii., "What though the arm of conquering death " is also in several collections.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)