O Blessed Hope! With immortality
Replete; with joys celestial crowned; beyond
The narrow grasp of human minds, its heights
To comprehend or depths explore; and far
Imagination’s stretch exceeding, all
Its unseen glories to portray; that brings
The coming One to view in all the bright,
Celestial glory of his Father clad;
With all the shining hosts of angels thronged:
Who in his flaming chariot shall descend
To take his ransomed ones to endless rest;
When from the mighty bosom of the earth,
The saints, long mingled with the dust, shall wake,
And ocean’s bed its myriads restore
With beauty clothed, with living saints redeemed,
To meet him in the air, and on the sea
Of crystal glass the glorious company
Will joyful stand with glitt’ring crowns, and strike
Their golden harps, to heaven’s strains attuned,
In songs of victory; and through the gates,
The pearly gates of New Jerusalem,
The holy city enter, all whose streets Are paved with purest gold, and ever shine
With dazzling lustre eye hath ne’er beheld;
And from the tree of life, immortal fruit
Shall pluck and eat; and from the crystal fount
The living waters drink; where tears are dried,
And sin and pain and death, no entrance find. HHHH 29.1
When earth no more shall groan beneath the curse
But with its withering lines effaced, shall bloom
In its primeval beauty, and in robes
Of universal peace shall smile, and o’er
Its green and verdant fields, in union sweet,
The saints may range, and in ambrosial bowers
Repose; when birds light-winged, of plumage fair,
Delight to warble forth their sweetest lays.
And there within the kingdom of their God,
Whose glories ever new will still unfold,
Shall they as stars forever shine; his power
Omnipotent adore, and all his works,
With gratitude beholding, still admire. HHHH 30.1
O Blessed Hope! That with undying ray
Still burns within the breast to buoy us up amid life’s varying scenes of care and toil
And strife, and with its bright, effulgent beams,
That emanate from the eternal throne,
Dispels the deep’ning shades that thicken round
Our weary way, and guides our trembling feet
Along the rough and narrow path that leads
Where opes the portals of eternal day. HHHH 30.2
Since first the realms of Paradise by sin
Were lost, hast thou the christian’s solace been, And sure support in tribulations deep
And scourgings sore. When by the sheeted flame
Encircled, hast thou shed around his brow
A halo of thy light benign; and while
The vital spark remained has praise to God
And the redeeming Lamb his lips employed.
Thou hast the mourner’s grief assuaged, and from
The grave its terror east and wide dispersed
Its mantling gloom; and through its portals, dark,
The promise lingers still to cheer the way,
The promise of the resurrection morn,
When o’er the just, the tyrant Death no more
Shall reign; but from his grasp, on Love’s bright wing
They rise to meet where parting is unknown. HHHH 30.3
Time in his rapid flight has onward sped;
And now far down the great prophetic chains,
That present, past and future link, the signs
Predicted in the word, presaging forth
Its end, o’er nature’s face in mercy are
Spread out, and brightly shine emblazoned on
Its canopy. And inspiration’s page,
Unsealed, with light unwonted shines for all
The wise to know where on the sea of time
They are; the beacon light decry, to guide
Them safely o’er its trembling verge, and laud
Them in the harbor of eternal rest. HHHH 31.1
They loud the cry proclaimed to warn the world
Of its approaching doom, and from the chill
Of apathy to rouse a slumbering church
To refuge seek from the impending storm; HHHH 31.2
And while the wicked scoffed, a humble band,
With joy their sails unfurling to the breeze,
‘Neath sunny skies, serene, borne on, prepared
Their glorious King and Lord to meet in peace. HHHH 32.1
But when by Disappointment’s chilling dart
With anguish pierced, and gathering darkness vailed
The vision from their view, their courage failed
To stem the tide, and with the current thus
They floated back where cold formality
Has quenched the flame that once with zeal inspired.
And many a bark, upon the raging waves
Of error wildly tossed, is sadly driven
Along enveloped deeply in its dark
And misty fogs that intercept the light
Divine, or dashed against the wreck strewn shore. HHHH 32.2
A few, though clouds arise, and tempests round
Them burst, with firm, unfaltering trust in him
Who in the purpose of his will his word
Fulfills, upon his promises rely,
And with the eye of faith, unwavering, fixed
Upon the golden prize, will onward in
Truth’s even channel steer until the day
Shall dawn, the sun of righteousness arise
With his resplendent rays to ushur in
The glorious morning of eternity,
Succeeding time’s long night of fearful storm. HHHH 32.3
So live in patient waiting for the Lord,
That when he comes thou mayest not on rocks
And mountains vainly call, that from his sight
Thou may’st be hid, but his returning hail HHHH 32.4
With raptured joy, and hear the welcome Come!
Ye blessed of my Father, Come! Thy blest
Inheritance receive, and join the bright,
Seraphic host, in one harmonious voice,
To swell the song of praises to the Lamb;
And with the vast assembly share the full
Fruition of thy hope forevermore. HHHH 33.1