Life

Verse 1

A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify;
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.

Verse 2

To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfil,—
O may it all my powers engage
To do my Master’s will.

Verse 3

Arm me with jealous care,
As in Thy sight to live;
And O, Thy servant, Lord, prepare
A strict account to give.

Verse 4

Help me to watch and pray,
And on Thyself rely,
Assured, if I my trust betray,
I shall for ever die.

Verse 1

Blessed city, heavenly Salem,
Vision dear of peace and love,
Who of living stones upbuilded
Art the joy of heaven above,
And, with angel cohorts circled,
As a bride to earth dost move!

Verse 2

From celestial realms descending,
Bridal glory round her shed,
Meet for Him whose love espoused her,
To her Lord shall she be led;
All her streets and all her bulwarks
Of pure gold are fashionèd.

Verse 3

Bright with pearls her portal glitters,
It is open evermore;
And by virtue of His merits
Thither faithful souls may soar,
Who, for Christ’s dear Name, in this world
Pain and tribulation bore.

Verse 4

Many a blow and biting sculpture
Polished well those stones elect,
In their places now compacted
By the heavenly Architect,
Who therewith hath willed for ever
That His palace should be decked.

Verse 5

Laud and honor to the Father,
Laud and honor to the Son,
Laud and honor to the Spirit,
Ever Three, and ever One;
Consubstantial, Co-eternal,
While unending ages run.

Verse 1

Brief life is here our portion,
Brief sorrow, short-lived care;
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life, is there.

Verse 2

O happy retribution!
Short toil, eternal rest;
For mortals and for sinners
A mansion with the blest!

Verse 3

And now we fight the battle,
But then shall wear the crown
Of full and everlasting
And passionless renown;

Verse 4

And now we watch and struggle,
And now we live in hope,
And Zion in her anguish
With Babylon must cope;

Verse 5

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.

Verse 6

The morning shall awaken,
And shadows shall decay,
And each true-hearted servant
Shall shine as doth the day.

Verse 7

Yes, God, my King and Portion,
In fulness of His grace,
We then shall see for ever,
And worship face to face.

Verse 1

Daily, daily sing the praises
Of the city God hath made;
In the beauteous fields of Eden
Its foundation-stones are laid.
O that I had wings of angels,
Here to spread and heavenward fly!
I would seek the gates of Zion,
Far beyond the starry sky.

Verse 2

All the walls of that dear city
Are of bright and burnished gold;
It is matchless in its beauty,
And its treasures are untold.
O that I had wings, etc.

Verse 3

In the midst of that dear city
Christ is reigning on His seat,
And the angels swing their censers
In a ring about His feet.
O that I had wings, etc.

Verse 4

From the throne a river issues,
Clear as crystal, passing bright,
And it traverses the city
Like a sudden beam of light.
O that I had wings, etc.

Verse 5

There the meadows green and dewy
Shine with lilies wondrous fair;
Thousand, thousand are the colors
Of the waving flowers there.
O that I had wings, etc.

Verse 6

There the wind is sweetly fragrant,
And is laden with the song
Of the seraphs, and the elders,
And the great redeemed throng.
O that I had wings, etc.

Verse 7

O I would my ears were open
Here to catch that happy strain!
O I would my eyes some vision
Of that Eden could attain!
O that I had wings, etc.

Verse 1

For ever with the Lord!
Amen, so let it be;
Life from the dead is in that word,
’Tis immortality:
Here in the body pent,
Absent from Him I roam,
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent
A day’s march nearer home.

Verse 2

My Father’s house on high,
Home of my soul, how near,
At times, to faith’s foreseeing eye,
Thy golden gates appear:
Ah! then my spirit faints
To reach the land I love,
The bright inheritance of saints,
Jerusalem above.

Verse 3

I hear at morn and even,
At noon and midnight hour,
The choral harmonies of heaven
Earth’s Babel tongues o’erpower:
Then, then I feel that He,
Remembered or forgot,
The Lord, is never far from me,
Though I perceive Him not.

Verse 4

For ever with the Lord!
Father, if ’tis Thy will,
The promise of that faithful word
E’en here to me fulfil;
Be Thou at my right hand,
Then can I never fail,
Uphold Thou me, and I shall stand;
Fight, and I must prevail.

Verse 5

So when my latest breath
Shall rend the veil in twain,
By death I shall escape from death,
And life eternal gain.
Knowing as I am known,
How shall I love that word,
And oft repeat before the throne,
“For ever with the Lord!”

Verse 1

For thee, O dear, dear country,
Mine eyes their vigils keep;
For very love beholding
Thy happy name, they weep:
The mention of thy glory
Is unction to the breast,
And medicine in sickness,
And love, and life, and rest.

Verse 2

O one, O only mansion!
O Paradise of joy!
Where tears are ever banished,
And smiles have no alloy;
Thy loveliness oppresses
All human thought and heart,
And none, O Peace, O Zion,
Can sing thee as thou art.

Verse 3

With jaspers glow thy bulwarks,
Thy streets with emeralds blaze;
The sardius and the topaz
Unite in thee their rays;
Thine ageless walls are bonded
With amethysts unpriced;
Thy saints build up its fabric,
And the corner-stone is Christ.

Verse 4

The cross is all thy splendor,
The Crucified thy praise;
His laud and benediction
Thy ransomed people raise:
Upon the Rock of Ages
They build thy holy tower;
Thine is the victor’s laurel,
And thine the golden dower.

Verse 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.

Verse 1

Hark! hark, my soul! Angelic songs are swelling
O’er earth’s green fields and ocean’s wave-beat shore:
How sweet the truth those blessed strains are telling
Of that new life when sin shall be no more.
Angels of Jesus, Angels of light,
Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night!

Verse 2

Onward we go, for still we hear them singing,
“Come, weary souls, for Jesus bids you come;”
And through the dark, its echoes sweetly ringing,
The music of the gospel leads us home.
Angels of Jesus, etc.

Verse 3

Far, far away, like bells at evening pealing,
The voice of Jesus sounds o’er land and sea;
And laden souls, by thousands meekly stealing,
Kind Shepherd, turn their weary steps to Thee.
Angels of Jesus, etc.

Verse 4

Rest comes at length: though life be long and dreary,
The day must dawn, and darksome night be past;
Faith’s journeys end in welcomes to the weary,
And heaven, the heart’s true home, will come at last.
Angels of Jesus, etc.

Verse 5

Angels, sing on, your faithful watches keeping;
Sing us sweet fragments of the songs above;
Till morning’s joy shall end the night of weeping,
And life’s long shadows break in cloudless love.
Angels of Jesus, etc.

Verse 1

I’m but a stranger here,
Heaven is my home;
Earth is a desert drear,
Heaven is my home:
Danger and sorrow stand
Round me on every hand;
Heaven is my fatherland,
Heaven is my home.

Verse 2

What though the tempest rage,
Heaven is my home;
Short is my pilgrimage,
Heaven is my home:
And time’s wild wintry blast
Soon shall be overpast;
I shall reach home at last,
Heaven is my home.

Verse 3

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

Verse 4

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