Scripture Verse

God shall wipe away all tears…and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21:4

Introduction

portrait
Horatius Bonar (1808–1889)

Words: Ho­ra­ti­us Bo­nar, Hymns of Faith and Hope, sec­ond ser­ies (Lon­don: James Nis­bet, 1861), pag­es 97–99.

Music: Ac­claim, tra­di­tion­al Ger­man me­lo­dy (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Angel voic­es sweet­ly sing­ing,
Echoes through the blue dome ring­ing,
News of won­drous glad­ness bring­ing;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

Now, be­neath us all the griev­ing,
All the wound­ed spi­rit’s heav­ing,
All the woe of hopes de­ceiv­ing;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

Sin for ev­er left behind us,
Earthly vi­sions cease to blind us,
Fleshly fet­ters cease to bind us;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

On the jas­per thresh­old stand­ing,
Like a pil­grim safe­ly land­ing,
See, the strange bright scene ex­pand­ing!
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

What a ci­ty! what a glo­ry!
Far be­yond the bright­est sto­ry
Of the ag­es old and hoa­ry;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

Softest voic­es, sil­ver peal­ing,
Freshest frag­rance, spi­rit heal­ing,
Happy hymns around us steal­ing;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

Gone the va­ni­ty and fol­ly,
Gone the dark and me­lan­cho­ly,
Come the joy­ous and the ho­ly;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

Not a brok­en blos­som yon­der,
Not a link can snap asun­der,
Stayed the tem­pest, sheathed the thun­der;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

Not a tear drop ever fall­eth,
Not a plea­sure ev­er pall­eth,
Song to song for ever calleth;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

Christ Him­self the liv­ing splen­dor,
Christ the sun­light mild and ten­der;
Praises to the Lamb we ren­der;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

Now at length the veil is rend­ed,
Now the pil­grim­age is end­ed,
And the saints their thrones as­cend­ed;
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!

Broken death’s dread bands that bound us,
Life and vic­to­ry around us;
Christ, the King, Him­self hath crowned us,
Ah, ’tis Hea­ven at last!