Scripture Verse

The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold. Revelation 21:18

Introduction

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John M. Neale (1818–1866)
Wikipedia

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Words: Ber­nard of Mor­laix, cir­ca 1140 (O bo­na pa­tria). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale, 1849. The last stan­za is al­so found in Brief Life Is Here Our Por­tion.

Music: Bo­na Pa­tria Sac­red Hymns and Tunes (Bris­tol, Eng­land: 1876) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

Lyrics

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.

O one, O on­ly man­sion,
O pa­ra­dise of joy,
Where tears are ev­er ban­ished
And smiles have no al­loy!
The Lamb is all thy splen­dor,
The Cru­ci­fied thy praise;
His laud and bene­dic­tion
Thy ran­somed people raise.

With jas­per glow thy bul­warks,
Thy streets with em­er­alds blaze;
The sar­dis and the to­paz
Unite in thee their rays;
Thine age­less walls are bond­ed
With ame­thyst un­priced;
The saints build up thy fab­ric,
The cor­ner­stone is Christ.

Thou hast no shore, fair ocean;
Thou hast no time, bright day,
Dear foun­tain of re­fresh­ment
To pil­grims far away!
Upon the Rock of Ag­es
They raise thy ho­ly tow­er;
Thine is the vic­tor’s laur­el
And thine the gold­en dow­er.

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

The morn­ing shall awak­en,
The shad­ows shall de­cay,
And each true-heart­ed ser­vant
Shall shine as doth the day:
There God, our King and por­tion,
In full­ness of His grace,
Shall we be­hold for­ev­er,
And wor­ship face to face.

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,
The home of God’s elect!
O sweet and bless­èd 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.