Words: , Hymns and Spir­it­u­al Songs, 1707:

According to tra­di­tion it came to him one sum­mer day while he was gaz­ing across the gulf-river, South­amp­ton Wa­ter; and the plea­sant fields near Net­ley are said to have sug­gest­ed the “sweet fields be­yond the swell­ing flood.” That the hymn was pro­duced about this time is cer­tain. It can­not be as­signed to an ear­li­er date, for it is one of Watts’ most per­fect pro­duc­tions, and the work was of no pren­tice hand. Then, too, it must have been writ­ten in the sum­mer, and at a time when its au­thor was out of health, and prob­ab­ly oft­en in pain.

Music: As­crip­tion, , 1866. Al­ter­nate tunes:

  • Beulah, , 1889
  • Mendip, Eng­lish tra­di­tion­al mel­o­dy
  • Oakley, , 1875
  • Varina, , 1849

Oh, I do not know how we shall stand the first day in heav­en. Do you not think we will break down in the song from over-de­light? I once gave out in church the hymn:

“There is a land of pure delight
Where saints immortal reign,”

and an aged man stand­ing in front of the pul­pit sang heart­i­ly the first verse, and then he sat down weep­ing. I said to him aft­er­ward, “Father Lin­ton, what made you cry over that hymn?” He said, “I could not stand it—the joys that are com­ing.”

—T. Dewitt Talmage. [1832-1902]

There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.

There everlasting spring abides,
And never withering flowers:
Death, like a narrow sea, divides
This heav’nly land from ours.

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood
Stand dressed in living green:
So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
While Jordan rolled between.

But timorous mortals start and shrink
To cross this narrow sea;
And linger, shivering on the brink,
And fear to launch away.

O could we make our doubts remove,
Those gloomy thoughts that rise,
And see the Canaan that we love
With unbeclouded eyes!

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.