The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
Revelation 21:23
Words: Horatius Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope, second series (London: James Nisbet, 1861), pages 120–21.
Music: Edwin P. Parker, The Sunday School Hymnal (New York & Chicago, Illinois: A. S. Barnes, 1880) (🔊 pdf nwc).
Dropping down the troubled river,
To the tranquil, tranquil shore;
Dropping down the misty river,
Time’s willow-shaded river,
To the spring embosomed shore,
Where the sweet light shineth ever,
And the sun goes down no more.
O wondrous, wondrous shore!
O wondrous, wondrous shore!
Dropping down the winding river,
To the wide and welcome sea;
Dropping down the narrow river,
Man’s weary, wayward river,
To the blue and ample sea,
Where no tempest wrecketh ever,
Where the sky is fair and free.
O joyous, joyous, sea!
O joyous, joyous, sea!
Dropping down the noisy river,
To our peaceful, peaceful home;
Dropping down the turbid river,
Earth’s bustling, crowded river,
To our gentle, gentle home;
Where the rough roar riseth never,
And the vexings cannot come;
O loved and longed for home!
O loved and longed for home!
Dropping down the eddying river,
With a helmsman true and tried;
Dropping down the perilous river,
Mortality’s dark river,
With a sure and heav’nly guide;
Even Him who, to deliver
My soul from death, hath died;
O Helmsman true and tried!
O Helmsman true and tried!
Dropping down the rapid river,
To the dear and deathless land;
Dropping down the well known river,
Life’s swoll’n and rushing river,
To the resurrection-land;
Where the living live for ever,
And the dead have joined the band;
O fair and blessèd land!
O fair and blessèd land!