Chapter L: M. 6 l

I fall asleep in Jesus’ wounds,
There pardon for my sins abounds;
Yea, Jesus’ blood and righteousness
My jewels are, my glorious dress,
Wherein before my God I’ll stand
When I shall reach the heavenly land.

2. With peace and joy I now depart,
God’s child I am with all my heart;
I thank thee, Death, thou leadest me
To that true life where I would be.
So cleansed by Christ, I fear not death.
Lord Jesus, strengthen Thou my faith!

Probably Paul Eber, † 1569; C. Winkworth, 1869, tr., a.

546

7, 7, 7, 5

When the day of toil is done,
When the race of life is run,
Father, grant Thy wearied one
Rest forevermore.

2. When the strife of sin is stilled,
When the foe within is killed,
Be Thy gracious word fulfilled,
“Peace forevermore.”

3. When the darkness melts away
At the breaking of the day,
Bid us hail the cheering ray,
Light forevermore.

4. When the heart, by sorrow tried,
Feels at length its throbs subside,
Bring us where all tears are dried,
Joy forevermore.

5. When for vanished days we yearn,
Days that never can return,
Teach us in Thy love to learn
Love forevermore.

6. When the breath of life is flown,
When the grave must claim its own,
Lord of life, be ours Thy crown,—
Life forevermore.

J. Ellerton, 1871.

547

10, 10, 5, 10

O how blest are ye whose toils are ended!
Who through death have unto God ascended!
Ye have arisen
From the cares which keep us still in prison.

2. We are still as in a dungeon living,
Still oppressed with sorrow and misgiving;
Our undertakings
Are but toils and troubles and heartbreakings.

3. Ye, meanwhile, are in your chambers sleeping,
Quiet, and set free from all our weeping;
No cross or sadness
There can hinder your untroubled gladness.

4. Christ has wiped away your tears forever;
Ye have that for which we still endeavor;
To you are chanted
Songs that ne’er to mortal ears were granted.

5. Ah! who would, then, not depart with gladness
To inherit heaven for earthly sadness?
Who here would languish
Longer in bewailing and in anguish?

6. Come, O Christ, and loose the chains that bind us!
Lead us forth and cast this world behind us!
With Thee, th’ Anointed,
Finds the soul its joy and rest appointed.

S. Dach, 1635; H. W. Longfellow, tr., a.

JUDGMENT.

548

8, 7, 6 l

O’er the distant mountains breaking
Comes the redd’ning dawn of day;
Rise, my soul, from sleep awaking,
Rise, and sing, and watch, and pray;
|: ’Tis thy Savior, :|
On His bright returning way.

2. O Thou long-expected, weary
Waits my anxious soul for Thee;
Life is dark, and earth is dreary,
Where Thy light I do not see;
|: O my Savior, :|
When wilt Thou return to me?

3. Nearer is my soul’s salvation,
Spent the night, the day at hand;
Keep me in my lowly station,
Watching for Thee, till I stand,
|: O my Savior, :|
In Thy bright, Thy promised land.

4. With my lamp well trimmed and burning,
Swift to hear and loath to roam,
Watching for Thy glad returning
To restore me to my home.
|: Come, my Savior, :|
Thou hast promised: quickly come.

J. S. B. Monsell, 1863, a.

549

8, 9, 8, 6, 6, 4, 8, 8

Wake, awake, for night is flying,
The watchmen on the heights are crying:
Awake, Jerusalem, arise!
Midnight hears the welcome voices,
And at the thrilling cry rejoices;
O where are ye, ye virgins wise?
The Bridegroom comes, awake!
Your lamps with gladness take!
Hallelujah!
With bridal care Yourselves prepare
To meet the Bridegroom, who is near!

2. Zion hears the watchmen singing,
And all her heart with joy is springing,
She wakes, she rises from her gloom;
For her Lord comes down all glorious,
The strong in grace, in truth victorious,
Her Star is risen, her Light is come!
Now come, Thou Blessed One,
Lord Jesus, God’s own Son,
Hail! Hosanna!
The joyful call We answer all,
And follow to the nuptial hall.

3. Glory unto Thee be given,
By men and by the host of heaven,
With harp and cymbal’s clearest tone;
Of one pearl each shining portal,
Where we are with the choir immortal
Of angels round Thy dazzling throne.
Nor eye hath seen, nor ear
Hath yet attained to hear
Such great glory;
Therefore will we Eternally
Sing hymns of joy and praise to Thee.

Ph. Nicolai, 1599; Comp. tr.

550

L. M.

Let thoughtless thousands choose the road
That leads the soul away from God;
This happiness, dear Lord, be mine,
To live and die entirely Thine.

2. On Christ, by faith, I fain would live,
From Him my life, my all, receive,
To Him devote my fleeting hours,
Serve Him alone with all my powers.

3. Christ is my everlasting All;
To Him I look, on Him I call;
He will my every want supply
In time and through eternity.

4. Soon will the Lord, my Life, appear;
Soon shall I end my trials here,
Leave sin and sorrow, death and pain;
To live is Christ, to die is gain.

5. Soon will the saints in glory meet,
Soon walk through every golden street,
And sing on every blissful plain,—
To live is Christ, to die is gain.

J. Haskins, 1789.

551

L. M.

That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away!
What power shall be the sinner’s stay?
How shall he meet that dreadful day?

2. When, shriveling like a parchèd scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll;
When louder yet, and yet more dread,
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead:

3. Lord, on that day, that wrathful day,
When man to Judgment wakes from clay,
Be Thou the trembling sinner’s stay,
Though heaven and earth shall pass away.

Thomas of Celano, 13th cent.; Walter Scott, 1805, a.

552

8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 8, 7

The day is surely drawing near
When God’s Son, the Anointed,
Shall with great majesty appear
As Judge of all appointed.
All mirth and laughter then shall cease,
When flames on flames will still increase,
As the Apostle teacheth.

2. A trumpet loud shall then resound,
And all the earth be shaken;
Then all who in their graves are found
Shall from their sleep awaken;
But all that live shall in that hour
By the Almighty’s boundless power
Be changed at His commanding.

3. A book is opened then to all,
A record truly telling
What each hath done, both great and small,
When he on earth was dwelling;
And every heart be clearly seen,
And all be known as they have been,
In thoughts and words and actions.

4. Then woe to those who scorned the Lord
And sought but carnal pleasures,
Who here despised His precious Word
And loved their earthly treasures!
With shame and trembling they will stand
And at the Judge’s stern command
To Satan be delivered.

5. O Jesus, who my debt didst pay
And for my sin wast smitten,
Within the book of life, O may
My name be also written!
I will not doubt; I trust in Thee,
From Satan Thou hast made me free
And from all condemnation.

6. Therefore my Intercessor be,
And for Thy bloody merit
Declare my name from judgment free,
With all who life inherit;
That I may see Thee face to face
With all Thy saints in that blest place
Which Thou for us hast purchased.

7. O Jesus Christ, do not delay,
But hasten our salvation!
We often tremble on our way
In fear and tribulation.
Then hear us when we cry to Thee;
Come, mighty Judge, and make us free
From every evil! Amen.

B. Ringwaldt, † 1599; P. A. Peter, 1880, tr., a.

553

8, 7, 8, 7, 8, 8, 7

Great God, what do I see and hear?
The end of things created;
The Judge of mankind doth appear
On clouds of glory seated;
The trumpet sounds; the graves restore
The dead which they contained before:
Prepare, my soul, to meet Him.

2. The dead in Christ shall first arise
At the last trumpet’s sounding,
Caught up to meet Him in the skies;
With joy their Lord surrounding;
No gloomy fears their souls dismay;
His presence sheds eternal day
On those prepared to meet Him.

3. But sinners, filled with guilty fears,
Behold His wrath prevailing,
For they shall rise and find their tears
And sighs are unavailing;
The day of grace is past and gone;
Trembling they stand before the throne,
All unprepared to meet Him.

4. O Christ, who diedst and yet dost live,
To me impart Thy merit;
My pardon seal, my sins forgive,
And cleanse me by Thy Spirit.
Beneath Thy cross I view the day
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
And thus prepare to meet Thee.

W. B. Collyer, 1812.

554

S. M.

And will the Judge descend?
And must the dead arise
And not a single soul escape
His all-discerning eyes?

2. And from His righteous lips
Shall this dread sentence sound;
And, through the numerous guilty throng,
Spread black despair around?

3. “Depart from Me, accursed,
To everlasting flame,
For rebel angels first prepared,
Where mercy never came.”

4. How will my heart endure
The terrors of that day,
When earth and heaven before His face
Astonished shrink away?

5. But ere that trumpet shakes
The mansions of the dead,
Hark, from the Gospel’s cheering sound
What joyful tidings spread!

6. Ye sinners, seek His grace
Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of His cross
And find salvation there.

Philip Doddridge, † 1751.

555

8s 3 l

Day of wrath, that day of mourning!
See fulfilled the Prophet’s warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!

2. O what fear man’s bosom rendeth
When from heaven the Judge descendeth
On whose sentence all dependeth!

3. Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth,
Through earth’s sepulchers it ringeth,
All before the throne it bringeth.

4. Death is struck and nature quaking;
All creation is awaking,
To its Judge an answer making.

5. Lo, the book, exactly worded,
Wherein all hath been recorded;
Thence shall judgment be awarded.

6. When the Judge His seat attaineth,
And each hidden deed arraigneth,
Nothing unavenged remaineth.

7. What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
When the just are mercy needing?

8. King of majesty tremendous,
Who dost free salvation send us,
Fount of pity, then befriend us!

9. Think, kind Jesus! my salvation
Caused Thy wondrous incarnation;
Leave me not to reprobation!

10. Faint and weary Thou hast sought me,
On the cross of suffering bought me;
Shall such grace in vain be brought me?

11. Righteous Judge of retribution,
Grant Thy gift of absolution
Ere that day’s dread execution.

12. Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
All my shame with anguish owning:
Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning!

13. Thou the women gav’st remission,
Heard’st the dying thief’s petition;
Hopeless else were my condition.

14. Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires undying!

15. With Thy favored sheep, O place me!
Nor amid the goats abase me;
But to Thy right hand upraise me.

16. While the wicked are confounded,
Doomed to flames of woe unbounded,
Call me, with Thy saints surrounded.

17. Bows my heart in meek submission,
Strewn with ashes of contrition.
Succor Thou my lost condition!

18. Day of sorrow, day of weeping,
When, in dust no longer sleeping,
Man awakes in Thy dread keeping!

19. To the rest Thou didst prepare me,
On Thy cross, O Christ, upbear me!
Spare, O God, in mercy spare me!

Thomas of Celano, c. 1250; W. J. Irons, tr., 1848, a.

HEAVEN.

556

7, 6, 8 l

Jerusalem the golden,
With milk and honey blest!
Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice opprest.
I know not, O I know not
What joys await us there,
What radiancy of glory,
What bliss beyond compare!

2. There is the throne of David;
And there, from care released,
The songs of them that triumph,
The shout of them that feast;
And they who, with their Leader,
Have conquered in the fight,
Forever and forever,
Are clad in robes of white!

3. Exult, O dust and ashes!
The Lord shall be thy Part;
His only, His forever,
Thou shalt be and thou art!
Jesus, in mercy bring us
Soon to that land of rest;
Who art, with God the Father
And Spirit, ever blest!

Bernard of Cluny, 12th cent.; J. M. Neale, tr., 1851.

557

7, 6, 8 l

Brief life is here our portion;
Brief sorrow, short-lived care;
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life, is there.
O happy retribution!
Short toil, eternal rest;
For mortals and for sinners
A mansion with the blest!

2. And now we fight the battle,
But then shall wear the crown
Of full and everlasting
And passionless renown;
And now we watch and struggle,
And now we live in hope,
And Zion in her anguish
With Babylon must cope.

3. But He whom now we trust in
Shall then be seen and known;
And they that know and see Him
Shall have Him for their own.
And there is David’s fountain
And life in fullest glow;
And there the light is golden,
And milk and honey flow.

4. The morning shall awaken,
And shadows shall decay,
And each true-hearted servant
Shall shine as doth the day;
Yes! God, my King and Portion,
In fulness of His grace,
We then shall see forever
And worship face to face.

5. O sweet and blessed country,
The home of God’s elect!
O sweet and blessed country
That eager hearts expect!
Jesus, in mercy bring us
To that dear land of rest;
Who art, with God the Father
And Spirit, ever blest.

Bernard of Cluny, 12th cent.; J. M. Neale, tr., 1851.

558

C. M.

Jerusalem, my happy home,
Name ever dear to me,
When shall my labors have an end
In joy and peace and thee?

2. When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls
And pearly gates behold;
Thy bulwarks with salvation strong
And streets of shining gold?

3. O when, thou city of my God,
Shall I thy courts ascend,
Where evermore the angels sing,
Where sabbaths have no end?

4. There happier bowers than Eden’s bloom,
Nor sin nor sorrow know;
Blest seats! through rude and stormy scenes
I onward press to you.

5. Why should I shrink from pain and woe
Or feel at death dismay?
I’ve Canaan’s goodly land in view
And realms of endless day.

6. Apostles, martyrs, prophets, there
Around my Savior stand;
And soon my friends in Christ below
Will join the glorious band.

From an ancient hymn, anon., 1801.

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.

3. 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.

J. M. Meyfart, 1626; C. Winkworth, tr., a.

560

C. M.

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,
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.

Isaac Watts, 1707.

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, and true,
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God’s most holy sight?

3. O Paradise, O Paradise,
I greatly long to see
The special place my dearest Lord
In love prepares for me;
Where loyal hearts, and true,
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God’s most holy sight.

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, and true,
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God’s most holy sight.

F. W. Faber, 1862.

562

7, 6, 8 l

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
Invades their holy home.
O dear, dear native country!
O rest and peace above!
Christ bring us all to the Homeland
Of His eternal love.

H. R. Haweis, 1855.

563

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

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.

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 overpast;
I shall reach home at last,—
Heav’n is my home.

3. There at my Savior’s side—
Heav’n is my home—
I shall be glorified,—
Heav’n is my home.
There are the good and blest,
Those I love most and best;
And there I, too, shall rest,—
Heav’n is my home.

4. Therefore I murmur not—
Heav’n is my home—
Whate’er my earthly lot,—
Heav’n is my home;
And I shall surely stand
There at my Lord’s right hand,—
Heav’n is my fatherland,
Heav’n is my home.

T. R. Taylor, 1836, a.

564

8, 6, 8, 8, 6

There is an hour of peaceful rest,
To mourning wanderers given;
There is a joy for souls distrest,
A balm for every wounded breast:
’Tis found above—in heaven.

2. There is a soft, a downy bed,
’Tis fair as breath of even;
A couch for weary mortals spread
Where they may rest the aching head
And find repose—in heaven.

3. There is a home for weary souls,
By sin and sorrow driven,—
When tossed on life’s tempestuous shoals,
Where storms arise and ocean rolls,
And all is drear—but heaven.

4. There faith lifts up her cheerful eye,
To brighter prospects given;
And views the tempest passing by,
The evening shadows quickly fly,
And all serene—in heaven.

5. There fragrant flowers immortal bloom,
And joys supreme are given;
There rays divine disperse the gloom;
Beyond the confines of the tomb
Appears the dawn of heaven.

W. B. Tappan, 1818.

565

9, 8, 6 l

A slumber I know, in Jesus’ name,
A rest from all toil and sorrow;
Earth tenderly takes my weary frame
To sleep till the blissful morrow;
In heaven my soul with God abides,
Forgotten are cares and trials.

2. An even I know, serene and blest,
And oft is my spirit longing,
When, weary and worn, it finds no rest
While woes on the way are thronging;
Oft longing to see the journey’s end,
And rest in a blissful slumber.

3. A morning I know, so bright and fair,
When tidings of joy shall wake us,
When anthems from high shall fill the air
And God to His glory take us;
When Jesus shall bid us rise from sleep—
How joyous that hour of awaking!

4. Oh, dear is that morning fair to me!
And oft, o’er the mountains beaming,
In spirit its heavenly light I see,
As golden the peaks are gleaming.
For joy I must sing as birds at dawn
Their carols in lofty lindens.

5. The Savior then comes unto our graves;
His mighty command is given.
Then break from the deep the ocean waves,
Each tomb and restraint is riven.
All earth hears the cry, Ye dead, come forth!
In glory we go to meet Him.