Scripture Verse

God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21:4

Introduction

Words: John Lyth, 1870.

Music: Hay­hurst John Hay­hurst (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Lyth or Hay­hurst (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyth wrote to W. F. Ste­phen­son, ed­it­or of Hymns for Cha­pel and Home, 1873, say­ing the song was based on an ear­lier work,

…written at Stroud, in Glou­ces­tershire (30th April, 1845) for the an­ni­ver­sa­ry of the neigh­bour­ing in­fant school at Ran­dwick, and to an air then ve­ry po­pu­lar, called All is Well. That it was writ­ten for in­fant child­ren will ex­plain the simp­li­city of some of the ex­pres­sions. It was speed­ily caught up, and I be­lieve first ap­peared in the Home and School Hymn Book.

Lyrics

There is a bet­ter world, they say
O so bright! O so bright!
Where sin and woe are done away,
O so bright! O so bright!
And mu­sic fills the bal­my air,
And an­gels with bright wings are there,
And harps of gold and man­sions fair,
O so bright! O so bright!

No clouds e’er pass along that sky,
Happy land! Hap­py land!
No tear drops glist­en in the eye,
Happy land! Hap­py land!
They drink the gush­ing streams of grace,
And gaze up­on the Sav­ior’s face
Whose bright­ness fills the ho­ly place;
Happy land! Hap­py land!

And wick­ed things and beasts of prey,
Come not there! Come not there!
And ruth­less death and fierce de­cay,
Come not there! Come not there!
There all are ho­ly, all are good,
But hearts un­washed in Je­sus’ blood,
And guil­ty sin­ners un­renewed,
Come not there! Come not there!

And though we’re sin­ners ev­ery one,
Jesus died! Je­sus died!
And though our crown of peace is gone,
Jesus died! Je­sus died!
We may be cleansed from ev­ery stain,
We may be crowned with bliss again,
And in that land of glo­ry reign;
Jesus died! Je­sus died!