[L. B. 66.] 4 lines 8 & 2-6.
How happy is the pilgrim's lot!
How free from every anxious thought,
From worldly hope and fear!
Confined to neither court nor cell,
His soul disdains on earth to dwell,
He only sojourns here.
2 This happiness in part is mine;
Already saved from low design,
From every creature love:
Bless'd with the scorn of finite good,
My soul is lighten'd of its load,
And seeks the things above.
3 The things eternal I pursue;
A happiness, beyond the view
Of those who basely pant
For things by nature felt and seen;
Their honours, wealth, and pleasures mean,
I neither have nor want.
4 Nothing on earth I call my own;
A stranger to the world unknown,
I all their goods despise:
I trample on their whole delight,
And seek a city out of sight,
A city in the skies.
5 There is my house and portion fair;
My treasure and my heart are there,
And my abiding home:
For me my elder brethren stay;
And angels beckon me away,
And Jesus bids me come.
6 I come, thy servant, Lord, replies:
I come to meet thee in the skies,
And claim my heavenly rest:
Now let the pilgrim's journey end;
Now, O my Saviour, Brother, Friend,
Receive me to thy breast!
I LONG to behold him array'd
With glory and light from above;
The King in his beauty display'd,
His beauty of holiest love:
I languish and sigh to be there,
Where Jesus has fix'd his abode;
O when shall we meet in the air,
And fly to the mountain of God!
2 With him I on Zion shall stand,
For Jesus hath spoken the word;
The breadth of Immanuel's land,
Survey by the light of my Lord:
But when, on thy bosom reclined,
Thy face I am strengthen'd to see,
My fulness of rapture I find;
My heaven of heavens in thee.
3 How happy the people that dwell
Secure in the city above;
No pain the inhabitants feel;
No sickness or sorrow shall prove.
Physician of souls, unto me
Forgiveness and holiness give:
And then from the body set free,
And then to the city receive.
LEADER of faithful souls, and guide
Of all who travel to the sky,
Come, and with us, e'en us abide,
Who would on thee alone rely:
On thee alone our spirits stay,
While held in life's uneven way.
2 Strangers and pilgrims here below,
This earth, we know, is not our place;
But hasten through the vale of woe,
And restless to behold thy face,
Swift to our heavenly country move,
Our everlasting home above.
3 We have no 'biding city here,
But seek a city out of sight:
Thither our steady course we steer,
Aspiring to the plains of light;
Jerusalem, the saints' abode,
Whose founder is the living God.
4 Patient the appointed race to run,
This weary world we cast behind;
From strength to strength we travel on,
The New Jerusalem to find:
Our labour this, our only aim,
To find the New Jerusalem.
5 Through thee, who all our sins hast borne,
Freely and graciously forgiven,
With songs, to Zion we return,
Contending for our native heaven:
That palace of our glorious King:
We find it nearer while we sing.
6 Raised by the breath of love divine,
We urge our way with strength renew'd:
The church of the first-born to join,
We travel to the mount of God:
With joy upon our heads arise,
And meet our Captain in the skies.
[L. B. 71.] 8 lines 8.
AWAY with our sorrow and fear,
We soon shall recover our home;
The city of saints shall appear,
The day of eternity come:
From earth we shall quickly remove,
And mount to our native abode,
The house of our Father above,
The palace of angels and God.
2 By faith we already behold
That lovely Jerusalem near;
Her walls are of jasper and gold;
As crystal her buildings are clear:
Immovably founded in grace,
She stands as she ever has stood;
And brightly her Builder displays,
And flames with the glory of God.
3 No need of the sun in that day,
Which never is follow'd by night;
Where Jesus's beauties display
A pure and a permanent light:
The Lamb is their light and their sun;
And lo! by reflection they shine;
With Jesus ineffably one,
And bright in effulgence divine.
Their great and eternal reward;
In Jesus, in heaven they live;
They reign in the smile of their Lord:
The flame of angelical love
Is kindled at Jesus's face;
And all the enjoyment above
Consists in the rapturous gaze.
We know, by faith we know,
If this our house of clay,
This tabernacle sink below,
In ruinous decay;
We have a house above,
Not made with mortal hands;
And firm as our Redeemer's love,
The heavenly fabric stands.
It stands securely high,
Indissolubly sure;
Our glorious mansion in the sky
Shall evermore endure.
O were we enter'd there,
To perfect heaven restored!
O were we all caught up to share
The triumph of our Lord!
O let us put on Thee,
In perfect holiness;
And rise prepared thy face to see,
Thy bright unclouded face:
Thy grace with glory crown,
Who hast the earnest given;
And then triumphantly come down,
And take us up to heaven.
WHAT are these array'd in white,
Brighter than the noon-day sun?
Foremost of the sons of light?
Nearest the eternal throne?
These are they that bore the cross;
Nobly for their Master stood;
Sufferers in his righteous cause;
Followers of the dying Lord.
2 Out of great distress they came;
Wash'd their robes by faith below,
In the blood of yonder Lamb;
Blood that washes white as snow;
Therefore are they next the throne,
Serve their Maker day and night:
God resides among his own;
God does in his saints delight.
More than conquerors at last,
Here they find their trials o'er;
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