Scripture Verse

There appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire…and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 2 Kings 2:11

Introduction

portrait
Edward J. Hopkins (1818–1901)

Words: Ho­ra­ti­us Bo­nar, Hymns of Faith and Hope (Lon­don: James Nis­bet, 1857), pag­es 17–18.

Music: El­lers Ed­ward J. Hop­kins, in the Sup­ple­ment­al Tune-Book, by Ro­bert Brown-Borth­wick, 1869 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Horatius Bonar (1808–1889)

Lyrics

I love yon pale blue sky; it is the floor
Of that glad home where I shall short­ly be;
A home from which I shall go out no more;
From toil and grief and va­ni­ty set free.

I gaze up­on yon ev­er­last­ing arch,
Up which the bright stars wan­der, as they shine;
And as I mark them in their night­ly march,
I think how soon that jour­ney shall be mine!

Yon sil­ver drift of si­lent cloud, far up
In the still heav’n—through you my path­way lies:
Yon rug­ged moun­tain peak—how soon your top
Shall I be­hold be­neath me, as I rise!

Not many more of life’s slow pac­ing hours,
Shaded with sor­row’s me­lan­cho­ly hue—
Oh, what a glad as­cend­ing shall be ours,
Oh, what a path­way up yon star­ry blue!

A jour­ney like Eli­jah’s, swift and bright,
Caught gent­ly up­ward to an ear­ly crown,
In Hea­ven’s own cha­ri­ot of all-blaz­ing light,
With death un­tast­ed and the grave un­known.