426 L. M. Our life is a vapor. James 4:14.
How vain is all beneath the skies! How transient every earthly bliss! How slender all the fondest ties That bind us to a world like this!
2 The evening cloud, the morning dew, The withering grass, the fading flower, Of earthly hopes are emblems true, The glory of a passing hour.
3 But though earth’s fairest blossoms die, And all beneath the skies is vain, There is a brighter world on high, Beyond the reach of care and pain.
4 Then let the hope of joys to come Dispel our cares and chase our fears; If God be ours, we’re traveling home, Though passing through a vale of tears.
427 L. M. Fight the good fight of faith. 1 Tim. 6:12.
Stand up, my soul, shake off thy fears, And gird the gospel armor on; March to the gates of endless joy, Where Jesus, the great Captain’s gone.
2 Hell and thy sins resist thy course; But hell and sin are vanquished foes; Thy Saviour nailed them to the cross, And sung the triumph when he rose.
3 Then let my soul march boldly on, Press forward to the heavenly gate; There peace and joy eternal reign, And glittering robes for conquerors wait.
4 There shall I wear a starry crown, And triumph in almighty grace, While all the armies of the skies Join in my glorious Leader’s praise.
428 C. M. The land of promise.
There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign, Infinite 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 see 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.
429 C. M. The land that is afar off. Isaiah 33:17.
Far from these narrow scenes of night, Unbounded glories rise; And realms of infinite delight, Unknown to mortal eyes.
2 Celestial land! could our weak eyes But half thy charms explore, How would our spirits long to rise; And dwell on earth no more:
3 There pain and sickness never come, And grief no place obtains; Health triumphs in immortal bloom, And endless pleasure reigns!
4 No cloud these blissful regions know, For ever bright and fair! For sin, the source of every woe, Can never enter there.
5 There no alternate night is known, Nor sun’s faint sickly ray; But glory from the sacred throne Spreads everlasting day.
430 C. M. We all shall meet in heaven.
Hail, sweetest, dearest tie, that binds Our glowing hearts in one; Hail, sacred hope, that tunes our minds To harmony divine. It is the hope, the blissful hope, Which Jesus’ grace has given— The hope, when days and years are past, We all shall meet in heaven.
2 What though the northern wintry blast Shall howl around our cot; What though beneath an eastern sun Be cast our distant lot; Yet still we share the blissful hope, Which Jesus’ grace has given— The hope, when days and years are past, We all shall meet in heaven.
3 From eastern shores, from northern lands, From western hill and plain, From southern climes, the brother-bands May hope to meet again; It is the hope, the blissful hope, Which Jesus’ grace has given— The hope, when life and time are o’er, We all shall meet in heaven.
4 From Burmah’s shores, from Afric’s strand, From India’s burning plain, From Europe, from Columbia’s land, We hope to meet again; It is the hope, the blissful hope, Which Jesus’ grace has given— The hope, when days and years are past, We all shall meet in heaven.
5 No lingering look, nor parting sigh, Our future meeting knows; There friendship beams from every eye, And love immortal glows. O sacred hope! O blissful hope! Which Jesus’ grace has given— The hope, when days and years are past We all shall meet in heaven.
431 C. M. The heavenly Canaan.
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand, And cast a wishful eye To Canaan’s fair and happy land, Where my possessions lie.
2 O the transporting, rapturous scene, That rises to my sight! Sweet fields arrayed in living green, And rivers of delight!
3 There generous fruits that never fail On trees immortal grow; There rocks and hills, and brooks and vales, With milk and honey flow.