559

10,6,10,6,7,6,7,6

JERUSALEM, thou city fair and high, Would God I were in thee!

My longing heart fain, fain to thee would fly,

It will not stay with me;
Far over vale and mountain,
Far over field and plain,
It hastes to seek its Fountain
And quit this world of pain.

2 O happy day, and yet far happier hour, When wilt thou come at last?

When fearless to my Father's love and power,

Whose promise standeth fast,
My soul I gladly render,

For surely will His hand
Lead her, with guidance tender,
To heaven, her fatherland.

8 A moment's space, and gently, wondrously,

Released from earthly ties,

Elijah's chariot bears her up to thee,
Through all these lower skies,

To yonder shining regions,

While down to meet her come

The blessed angel legions,

And bid her welcome home.

4 O Zion, hail! Bright city, now unfold The gates of grace to me!

How many a time I longed for thee of old,

Ere yet I was set free

From yon dark life of sadness,

Yon world of shadowy naught,

And God had given the gladness,
The heritage I sought.

5 O what the tribe, or what the glorious host,

Comes sweeping swiftly down?

The chosen ones on earth who wrought the most,

The Church's brightest crown,

Our Lord hath sent to meet me,
As in the far-off years

Their words oft came to greet me
In yonder land of tears.

6 The Patriarchs' and Prophets' noble

train,

With all Christ's followers true, Who bore the cross, and could the worst disdain

That tyrants dared to do,
I see them shine forever,
All glorious as the sun,
'Mid light that fadeth never,
Their perfect freedom won.

7 And when within that lovely paradise At last I safely dwell,

From out my soul what songs of bliss shall rise,

What joy my lips shall tell, While holy saints are singing Hosannas o'er and o'er, Pure Hallelujahs ringing Around me evermore!

8 Innumerous choirs before the shining throne

Their joyful anthems raise,

Till heaven's glad halls are echoing with the tone

Of that great hymn of praise,
And all its host rejoices,

And all its blessed throng
Unite their myriad voices
In one eternal song.

580

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.

C. M.

3 Sweet fields, beyond the swelling flood, Stand dressed in living green;

So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
While Jordan rolled between.

4 But timorous mortals start and shrink To cross this narrow sea,

And linger, shivering, on the brink,
And fear to launch away.

5 O could we make our doubts remove,
Those gloomy doubts that rise,
And view the Canaan that we love,
With unbeclouded eyes:

6 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 shore.

561

8,6,8,6,6,6,6,6,

O PARADISE, O Paradise,

Who doth not crave for rest?
Who would not seek the happy land
Where they that loved are blest;
Where loyal hearts, and true,
Stand ever in the light,

All rapture, through and through,
In God's most holy sight?

2 O Paradise, O Paradise,

The world is growing old;
Who would not be at rest and free
Where love is never cold;
Where loyal hearts, etc.

3 O Paradise, O Paradise,

I greatly long to see

The special place my dearest Lord
In love prepares for me;
Where loyal hearts, etc.

4 Lord Jesus, King of Paradise,
Oh, keep me in Thy love,

And guide me to that happy land
Of perfect rest above,

Where loyal hearts, etc.

562

7,6 81

THE Homeland! O the Homeland!
The land of souls free born!

No gloomy night is known there,
But aye the fadeless morn:
I'm sighing for that Country,
My heart is aching here;
There is no pain in the Homeland,
To which I'm drawing near.

2 My Lord is in the Homeland,
With angels bright and fair;
No sinful thing nor evil,

Can ever enter there;
The music of the ransomed
Is ringing in my ears,

And when I think of the Homeland,
My eyes are wet with tears.

3 For loved ones in the Homeland
Are waiting me to come
Where neither death nor sorrow
Invade their holy home:

O dear, dear native Country!
O rest and peace above!

Christ bring us all to the Homeland
Of His eternal love.

563

I'M but a stranger here,
Heav'n is my home;
Earth is a desert drear,
Heav'n is my home;
Danger and sorrow stand
Round me on every hand;
Heav'n is my fatherland,

Heav'n is my home.

6,4,6,4,6,6,6,4

2 What though the tempest rage,
Heav'n is my home;

Short is my pilgrimage,
Heav'n is my home;

And time's wild wintry blast
Soon shall be over-past;
I shall reach home at last,

Heav'n is my home.