Scripture Verse

The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books. Revelation 20:12

Introduction

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John M. Neale (1818–1866)
Wikipedia

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Words: Ber­nard of Mor­laix, 12th Cen­tu­ry (Ho­ra no­vis­si­ma, tem­po­ra pes­si­ma sunt, vi­gi­le­mus). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John M. Neale in The Rhy­thm of Ber­nard de Morlaix, Monk of Clu­ny, 1858.

Music: Pear­sall Ro­bert L. Pear­sall (1795–1856) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know when the mu­sic was writ­ten, or where to get a good pic­ture of Pear­sall (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

The world is very ev­il,
The times are wax­ing late,
Be so­ber and keep vi­gil,
The Judge is at the gate.
The Judge who comes in mer­cy,
The Judge who comes in might,
Who comes to end the ev­il,
Who comes to crown the right.

Arise, arise, good Chris­tian,
Let right to wrong suc­ceed;
Let pe­ni­ten­tial sor­row
To hea­ven­ly glad­ness lead,
To light that has no ev­en­ing,
That knows nor moon nor sun,
The light so new and gold­en,
The light that is but one.

O home of fade­less splen­dor,
Of flow­ers that bear no thorn,
Where they shall dwell as child­ren
Who here as ex­iles mourn;
’Midst pow­er that knows no lim­its,
Where wis­dom has no bound,
The bea­ti­fic vi­sion
Shall glad the saints around.

The peace that is for Hea­ven,
And shall be too for earth,
The pa­lace that re-ech­oes
With fes­tal song and mirth;
The gar­den breath­ing spic­es,
The pa­ra­dise on high;
Grace beau­ti­fied to glo­ry,
Unceasing min­strel­sy.

O hap­py, ho­ly por­tion,
Reflection for the blest,
True vi­sion of true beau­ty,
True cure of the dis­tressed!
Strive, man, to win that glo­ry;
Toil, man, to gain that light;
Send hope be­fore to grasp it,
Till hope be lost in sight.

O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,
The home of God’s elect!
O sweet and bless­èd coun­try,
That eag­er hearts ex­pect!
Jesu, in mer­cy bring us
To that dear land of rest;
Who art with God the Fa­ther
And Spir­it, ev­er blest.