O MOTHER dear, Jerusalem, | |
| When shall I come to thee? | |
| When shall my sorrows have an end— | |
| Thy joys when shall I see? | |
| O happy harbor of God’s saints! | 5 |
| O sweet and pleasant soil! | |
| In thee no sorrows can be found— | |
| No grief, no care, no toil. | |
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| In thee no sickness is at all, | |
| No hurt, nor any sore; | 10 |
| There is no death nor ugly night, | |
| But life for evermore. | |
| No dimming cloud o’ershadows thee, | |
| No cloud nor darksome night, | |
| But every soul shines as the sun— | 15 |
| For God himself gives light. | |
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| There lust and lucre cannot dwell, | |
| There envy bears no sway; | |
| There is no hunger, thirst, nor heat, | |
| But pleasures every way. | 20 |
| Jerusalem! Jerusalem! | |
| Would God I were in thee! | |
| Oh! that my sorrows had an end, | |
| Thy joys that I might see! | |
| |
| No pains, no pangs, no grieving griefs, | 25 |
| No woful night is there; | |
| No sigh, no sob, no cry is heard— | |
| No well-away, no fear. | |
| Jerusalem the city is | |
| Of God our king alone; | 30 |
| The Lamb of God, the light thereof, | |
| Sits there upon His throne. | |
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| O God! that I Jerusalem | |
| With speed may go behold! | |
| For why? the pleasures there abound | 35 |
| Which here cannot be told. | |
| Thy turrets and thy pinnacles | |
| With carbuncles do shine— | |
| With jasper, pearl, and chrysolite, | |
| Surpassing pure and fine. | 40 |
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| Thy houses are of ivory, | |
| Thy windows crystal clear, | |
| Thy streets are laid with beaten gold— | |
| There angels do appear. | |
| Thy walls are made of precious stone, | 45 |
| Thy bulwarks diamond square, | |
| Thy gates are made of orient pearl— | |
| O God! if I were there! | |
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| Within thy gates no thing can come | |
| That is not passing clean; | 50 |
| No spider’s web, no dirt, nor dust, | |
| No filth may there be seen. | |
| Jehovah, Lord, now come away, | |
| And end my griefs and plaints— | |
| Take me to Thy Jerusalem, | 55 |
| And place me with Thy saints! | |
| |
| Who there are crowned with glory great, | |
| And see God face to face, | |
| They triumph still, and aye rejoice— | |
| Most happy is their case. | 60 |
| But we that are in banishment, | |
| Continually do moan; | |
| We sigh, we mourn, we sob, we weep— | |
| Perpetually we groan. | |
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| Our sweetness mixèd is with gall, | 65 |
| Our pleasures are but pain, | |
| Our joys not worth the looking on— | |
| Our sorrows aye remain. | |
| But there they live in such delight, | |
| Such pleasure and such play, | 70 |
| That unto them a thousand years | |
| Seems but as yesterday. | |
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| O my sweet home, Jerusalem! | |
| Thy joys when shall I see— | |
| The King sitting upon His throne, | 75 |
| And thy felicity? | |
| Thy vineyards, and thy orchards, | |
| So wonderfully rare, | |
| Are furnished with all kinds of fruit, | |
| Most beautifully fair. | 80 |
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| Thy gardens and thy goodly walks | |
| Continually are green; | |
| There grow such sweet and pleasant flowers | |
| As nowhere else are seen. | |
| There cinnamon and sugar grow, | 85 |
| There nard and balm abound; | |
| No tongue can tell, no heart can think, | |
| The pleasures there are found. | |
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| There nectar and ambrosia spring— | |
| There music ’s ever sweet; | 90 |
| There many a fair and dainty thing | |
| Are trod down under feet. | |
| Quite through the streets, with pleasant sound, | |
| The flood of life doth flow; | |
| Upon the banks, on every side, | 95 |
| The trees of life do grow. | |
| |
| These trees each month yield ripened fruit— | |
| For evermore they spring; | |
| And all the nations of the world | |
| To thee their honors bring. | 100 |
| Jerusalem, God’s dwelling-place, | |
| Full sore I long to see; | |
| Oh! that my sorrows had an end, | |
| That I might dwell in thee! | |
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| There David stands, with harp in hand, | 105 |
| As master of the choir; | |
| A thousand times that man were blest | |
| That might his music hear. | |
| There Mary sings “Magnificat,” | |
| With tunes surpassing sweet; | 110 |
| And all the virgins bear their part, | |
| Singing around her feet. | |
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| “Te Deum,” doth Saint Ambrose sing, | |
| Saint Austin doth the like; | |
| Old Simeon and Zacharie | 115 |
| Have not their songs to seek. | |
| There Magdalene hath left her moan, | |
| And cheerfully doth sing, | |
| With all blest saints whose harmony | |
| Through every street doth ring. | 120 |
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| Jerusalem! Jerusalem! | |
| Thy joys fain would I see; | |
| Come quickly, Lord, and end my grief, | |
| And take me home to Thee; | |
| Oh! paint Thy name on my forehead, | 125 |
| And take me hence away, | |
| That I may dwell with Thee in bliss, | |
| And sing Thy praises aye. | |
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| Jerusalem, the happy home— | |
| Jehovah’s throne on high! | 130 |
| O sacred city, queen, and wife | |
| Of Christ eternally! | |
| O comely queen with glory clad, | |
| With honor and degree, | |
| All fair thou art, exceeding bright— | 135 |
| No spot there is in thee! | |
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| I long to see Jerusalem, | |
| The comfort of us all; | |
| For thou art fair and beautiful— | |
| None ill can thee befall. | 140 |
| In thee, Jerusalem, I say, | |
| No darkness dare appear— | |
| No night, no shade, no winter foul— | |
| No time doth alter there. | |
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| No candle needs, no moon to shine, | 145 |
| No glittering star to light; | |
| For Christ, the king of righteousness, | |
| For ever shineth bright. | |
| A lamb unspotted, white and pure, | |
| To thee doth stand in lieu | 150 |
| Of light—so great the glory is | |
| Thine heavenly king to view. | |
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| He is the King of kings beset | |
| In midst His servants’ sight: | |
| And they, His happy household all, | 155 |
| Do serve Him day and night. | |
| There, there the choir of angels sing— | |
| There the supernal sort | |
| Of citizens, which hence are rid | |
| From dangers deep, do sport. | 160 |
| |
| There be the prudent prophets all, | |
| The apostles six and six, | |
| The glorious martyrs in a row, | |
| And confessors betwixt. | |
| There doth the crew of righteous men | 165 |
| And matrons all consist— | |
| Young men and maids that here on earth | |
| Their pleasures did resist. | |
| |
| The sheep and lambs, that hardly ’scaped | |
| The snare of death and hell, | 170 |
| Triumph in joy eternally, | |
| Whereof no tongue can tell; | |
| And though the glory of each one | |
| Doth differ in degree, | |
| Yet is the joy of all alike | 175 |
| And common, as we see. | |
| |
| There love and charity do reign, | |
| And Christ is all in all, | |
| Whom they most perfectly behold | |
| In joy celestial. | 180 |
| They love, they praise—they praise, they love; | |
| They “Holy, holy,” cry; | |
| They neither toil, nor faint, nor end, | |
| But laud continually. | |
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| Oh! happy thousand times were I, | 185 |
| If, after wretched days, | |
| I might with listening ears conceive | |
| Those heavenly songs of praise, | |
| Which to the eternal king are sung | |
| By happy wights above— | 190 |
| By savèd souls and angels sweet, | |
| Who love the God of love. | |
| |
| Oh! passing happy were my state, | |
| Might I be worthy found | |
| To wait upon my God and king, | 195 |
| His praises there to sound; | |
| And to enjoy my Christ above, | |
| His favor and His grace, | |
| According to His promise made, | |
| Which here I interlace: | 200 |
| |
| “O Father dear,” quoth He, “let them | |
| Which Thou hast put of old | |
| To me, be there where lo! I am— | |
| Thy glory to behold; | |
| Which I with Thee, before the world | 205 |
| Was made in perfect wise, | |
| Have had—from whence the fountain great | |
| Of glory doth arise.” | |
| |
| Again: “If any man will serve | |
| Thee, let him follow me; | 210 |
| For where I am, he there, right sure, | |
| Then shall my servant be.” | |
| And still: “If any man loves me, | |
| Him loves my Father dear, | |
| Whom I do love—to him myself | 215 |
| In glory will appear.” | |
| |
| Lord, take away my misery, | |
| That then I may be bold | |
| With Thee, in Thy Jerusalem, | |
| Thy glory to behold; | 220 |
| And so in Zion see my king, | |
| My love, my Lord, my all— | |
| Where now as in a glass I see, | |
| There face to face I shall. | |
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| Oh! blessèd are the pure in heart— | 225 |
| Their sovereign they shall see; | |
| O ye most happy, heavenly wights, | |
| Which of God’s household be! | |
| O Lord, with speed dissolve my bands, | |
| These gins and fetters strong; | 230 |
| For I have dwelt within the tents | |
| Of Kedar over long. | |
| |
| Yet search me, Lord, and find me out! | |
| Fetch me Thy fold unto, | |
| That all Thy angels may rejoice, | 235 |
| While all Thy will I do. | |
| O mother dear! Jerusalem! | |
| When shall I come to thee? | |
| When shall my sorrows have an end, | |
| Thy joys when shall I see? | 240 |
| |
| Yet once again I pray Thee, Lord, | |
| To quit me from all strife, | |
| That to Thy hill I may attain, | |
| And dwell there all my life— | |
| With cherubim and seraphim | 245 |
| And holy souls of men, | |
| To sing Thy praise, O God of hosts! | |
| Forever and amen! | |
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