In my Father’s house are many mansions.
John 14:2
Words: Edla Poyry. Translated to English by Hermann H. M. Brueckner in the American Lutheran Hymnal, edited by Emmanuel Poppen (Columbus, Ohio: Lutheran Book Concern, 1930), number 303.
Music: Långfredag, Långfredag, from Dalarna, Sweden (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know the original language or title of this hymn, or where to get a good photo of Poyry or Brueckner (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
My beautiful home is in Heaven above;
I long its fair mansions to enter.
This earth with its treasures has naught that I love,
My treasure awaits me in Heaven.
There all of my sorrows shall vanish for aye,
My harassing cares shall no longer hold sway;
My course I in faith shall have finished.
Thro’ perilous deserts my pathway doth wind,
In valleys of sorrow I wander;
The light of the sun on my journey I find
By gathering clouds overshadowed.
My way oft grows weary, I languish in tears,
Each moment is threatened with torturing fears
When also the tempter assails me.
But comfort I have as I sojourn, indeed;
The Lord is my faithful companion.
My hand He has taken, me safely to lead;
A helper is He for the helpless.
If ever His help on my way I should miss,
My soul would be buried in sorrow’s abyss;
In darkness I surely would perish.
O wonderful blessing that Jesus is mine,
That naught of His love can deprive me!
What solace in sorrow, what comfort divine,
To know that God’s Son is my brother!
Whatever the world now before me shall lay,
I shall not esteem it, but cast it away;
My far better portion is Jesus.
All thanks and all glory for aye shall be Thine,
O Lord, for Thy bounteous mercy!
Do Thou but sustain me and ever be mine;
In faith let me take my departure
From all that this earth may of treasure contain,
And grant that with Thee I may ever remain,
Sustained to the end by Thy Spirit.