Chapter 92
1 There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign; Eternal day excludes the night, And pleasures banish pain.
2 There everlasting spring abides, And never-withering flowers: Death, like a narrow sea, divides This heavenly land from ours.
3 Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood Stand dressed in living green: So to the Jews old Canaan stood, And Jordan rolled between.
4 O could we make our doubts remove,-- Those gloomy doubts that rise,-- And see the Canaan that we love With unbeclouded eyes.
5 Could we but climb where Moses stood, And view the landscape o'er,-- Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, Should fright us from the sh.o.r.e.
556. S. M. Stennett.
Surpa.s.sing Glories of Eternity.
1 How various and how new Are thy compa.s.sions, Lord!
Each morning shall thy mercies show,-- Each night thy truth record.
2 Thy goodness, like the sun, Dawned on our early days, Ere infant reason had begun To form our lips to praise.
3 But we expect a day Still brighter far than this, When death shall bear our souls away To realms of light and bliss.
4 Nor shall that radiant day, So joyfully begun, In evening shadows die away Beneath the setting sun.
5 How various and how new Are thy compa.s.sions, Lord!
Eternity thy love shall show, And all thy truth record.
557. 8s. & 6s. M. W. B. Tappan.
Heaven Antic.i.p.ated.
1 There is an hour of peaceful rest To mourning wanderers given; There is a joy for souls distressed, A balm for every wounded
2 There is a home for weary souls, By sins and sorrows driven, When tossed on life's tempestuous shoals, Where storms arise, and ocean rolls, And all is drear--'tis heaven.
3 There faith lifts up the tearless eye, The heart no longer riven,-- And views the tempest pa.s.sing by, Sees evening shadows quickly fly, And all serene in heaven.
4 There fragrant flowers immortal bloom, And joys supreme are given; There rays divine disperse the gloom; Beyond the dark and narrow tomb Appears the dawn of heaven.
558. C. M. Christian Psalmist.
The Society of Heaven.
1 Jerusalem! my glorious home!
Name ever dear to me!
When shall my labors have an end In joy, and peace and thee?
When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls And pearly gates behold?
Thy bulwarks with salvation strong, And streets of s.h.i.+ning gold.
2 There happier bowers than Eden's bloom, Nor sin nor sorrow know: Blest seats! through rude and stormy scenes I onward press to you.
Why should I shrink at pain and woe?
Or feel at death dismay?
I've Canaan's goodly land in view, And realms of endless day.
3 Apostles, martyrs, prophets, there, Around my Saviour stand; And soon my friends in Christ below Will join the glorious band.
Jerusalem! my glorious home!
My soul still pants for thee; Then shall my labors have an end, When I thy joys shall see.
559. S. M. Mrs. Steele.
Heaven.
1 Far from these scenes of night Unbounded glories rise, And realms of infinite delight, Unknown to mortal eyes.
2 No cloud those regions know, Forever bright and fair; For sin, the source of mortal woe, Can never enter there.
3 There night is never known, Nor sun's faint, sickly ray; But glory from th' eternal throne Spreads everlasting day.
4 O may this prospect fire Our hearts with ardent love!
And lively faith and strong desire Bear every thought above.
560. L. M. Anonymous.
The World to Come.
1 There is a world we have not seen, That wasting time can ne'er destroy, Where mortal footstep hath not been, Nor ear hath caught its sounds of joy.
2 That world to come! and O how blest!-- Fairer than prophets ever told; And never did an angel-guest One half its blessedness unfold.