ry! What bliss be-yond com-pare! A-men.

2 They stand, those halls of Sion,
All jubilant with song,
And bright with many an angel,
And all the martyr throng.
The Prince is ever in them,

The daylight is serene;
The pastures of the blessed
Are decked in glorious sheen.

3 There is the throne of David;

And there, from care released,
The shout of them that triumph,
The song of them that feast.

And they who with their Leader
Have conquered in the fight,
For ever and for ever

Are clad in robes of white.
*4 O sweet and blessed country,
The home of God's elect!
O sweet and blessed country,

That eager hearts expect!
Jesus, in mercy bring us

To that dear land of rest!
Who art, with God the Father,

And Spirit, ever blest. Amen.

ST. BERNARD OF CLUNY, 1145; Tr. JOHN MAson neale, 1858. This verse may be sung also at the end of the following hymn.

2 O one, O only mansion! O Paradise of joy!

Where tears are ever banished

And smiles have no alloy;
Thy loveliness oppresses
All human thought and heart,
And none, O Peace, O Sion,
Can sing thee as thou art.

3 With jasper glow thy bulwarks,
Thy streets with emeralds blaze;
The sardius and the topaz
Unite in thee their rays;
Thine ageless walls are bonded
With amethyst unpriced;
The saints build up thy fabric,

And the corner-stone is Christ.

4 The Cross is all thy splendour,
The Crucified thy praise;
His laud and benediction
Thy ransomed people raise:
Upon the Rock of Ages

They build thy holy tower;
Thine is the victor's laurel,
And thine the golden dower.
5 O sweet and blessed country,
The home of God's elect!
O sweet and blessed country,
That eager hearts expect!
Jesus, in mercy bring us

To that dear land of rest;
Who art, with God the Father,
And Spirit, ever blest. Amen.

ST. BERNARD OF CLUNY, 1145;
Tr. JOHN MASON NEALE, 1858.

O bb

men.

men.

men.