Hymns for Christian Devotion Part 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 breast; 'Tis found alone in heaven.

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 shining 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.