Methodist-Hymns-652
1: 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: That we should look, poor wanderers,
To have our home on high!
That worms should seek for dwellings
Beyond the starry sky!
And now we fight the battle,
But then shall wear the crown
Of full and everlasting,
And passionless renown.
3: And how we watch and struggle,
And now we live in hope,
And Zion in her anguish
With Babylon must cope;
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.
4: O sweet and blessed country,
The home of God’s elect!
O sweet and blessed country,
Jesu, in mercy bring us
To that dear land of rest,
Who art, with God the Father
And Spirit, ever blest.
. . . .
5: JERUSALEM the golden,
With milk and honey blessed,
Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice oppressed.
I know not, O I know not,
What joys await there,
What radiancy of glory,
What bliss beyond compare!
6: They stand, those halls of Zion,
All jubilant with song,
And bright with many an angel
And all the martyr throng;
The Prince is ever in them;
The daylight is serene;
The pastures of the blessed
Are decked in glorious sheen.
7: There is the throne of David,
And there, from care released,
The song of them that triumph,
The shout of them that feast;
And they who with their Leader,
Have conquered in the fight,
For ever and for ever
Are clad in robes of white.
8: Strive, man, to win that glory;
Toil, man, to gain that light;
Send hope before to grasp it,
Till hope be lost in sight.
Exult, O dust and ashes;
The Lord shall be thy part:
His only, His for ever
Thou shalt be, and thou art.
