On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand

Verse 1

On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

Refrain

We will rest in the fair and happy land,
Just across on the evergreen shore,
Sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, by and by,
And dwell with Jesus evermore.

Verse 2

O’er all those wide-extended plains
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns
And scatters night away.

Verse 3

When shall I reach that happy place,
And be forever blest?
When shall I see my Father’s face,
And in his bosom rest?

Verse 4

Filled with delight, my raptured soul
Would here no longer stay;
Tho’ Jordan’s waves around me roll,
Fearless I’d launch away.

Verse 1

Lo! on a narrow neck of land,
Between two boundless seas I stand,--
Yet how insensible!
A point of time--a moment’s space--
Removes me to yon heavenly place,
Or shuts me up in hell!

Verse 2

O God! my inmost soul convert,
And deeply on my thoughtless heart
Eternal things impress;
Give me to feel their solemn weight,
And save me, ere it be too late!
Wake me to righteousness.

Verse 3

Be this my one great business here,
With holy trembling, holy fear,
To make my calling sure;
Thine utmost counsel to fulfill,
To suffer all thy righteous will,
And to the end endure!

Verse 4

Then Savior! then my soul receive,
Transported from the earth, to live
And reign with thee above;
Where faith is sweetly lost in sight,
And hope, in full supreme delight,
And everlasting love.

Verse 1

There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.
There everlasting spring abides,
And never-withering flowers;
Death, like a narrow sea, divides,
This heavenly land from ours.

Verse 2

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood
Stand dressed in living green;
So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
While Jordan rolled between.
But timorous mortals start and shrink
To cross this narrow sea,
And linger, shivering on the brink,
And fear to launch away.

Verse 3

O could we make our doubts remove,
Those gloomy doubts that rise,
And see the Canaan that we love,
With unbeclouded eyes--
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.

Verse 1

When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I’ll bid farewell to every fear
And wipe my weeping eyes.
Should earth against my soul engage,
And fiery darts be hurled,
Then I can smile at Satan’s rage.
And face a frowning world.

Verse 2

Let cares like a wild deluge come
Let storms of sorrow fall--
So I but safely reach my home,
My God, my heaven, my all.
There I shall bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast.

Verse 1

On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand,
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan’s fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.

Refrain

We will rest in the fair and happy land,
Just across on the evergreen shore,
Sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, by and by,
And dwell with Jesus evermore.

Verse 2

O’er all those wide-extended plains
Shines one eternal day;
There God the Son forever reigns
And scatters night away.

Verse 3

When shall I reach that happy place,
And be forever blest?
When shall I see my Father’s face,
And in his bosom rest?

Verse 4

Filled with delight, my raptured soul
Would here no longer stay;
Tho’ Jordan’s waves around me roll,
Fearless I’d launch away.