How did my heart rejoice to hear

My friends devoutly say,

“In Zion let us all appear,

And keep the solemn day.”

2 I love her gates, I love the road:

The church, adorned with grace,

Stands like a palace, built for God,

To show his milder face.

3 Up to her courts, with joys unknown,

The holy tribes repair;

The Son of David holds his throne,

And sits in judgment there.

4 He hears our praises and complaints;

And while his awful voice

Divides the sinners from the saints,

We tremble and rejoice.

5 Peace be within this sacred place,

And joy a constant guest!

With holy gifts and heavenly grace,

Be her attendants blest!

6 My soul shall pray for Zion still,

While life or breath remains;

There my best friends, my kindred, dwell,

There God, my Saviour reigns.

A mother may forgetful be,

For human love is frail;

But thy Creator’s love to thee,

O Zion! can not fail.

2 No! thy dear name engraven stands,

In characters of love,

On thy almighty Father’s hands,

And never shall remove.

The Lord of glory is my light,

And my salvation too;

God is my strength, nor will I fear

What all my foes can do.

2 One blessing, Lord, my heart desires;

O, grant me my abode

Among the churches of thy saints,

The temples of my God.

3 There shall I offer my requests,

And see thy glory still;

Shall hear thy messages of love,

And learn thy holy will.

4 When troubles rise, and storms appear,

There may his children hide;

God has a strong pavilion, where

He makes my soul abide.

5 Now shall my head be lifted high

Above my foes around,

And songs of joy and victory

Within thy temple sound.

There is a little, lonely fold,

Whose flock one Shepherd keeps,

Through summer’s heat and winter’s cold,

With eye that never sleeps.

Not to the terrors of the Lord,

The tempest, fire, and smoke—

Not to the thunder of that word

Which God on Sinai spoke;—

2 But we are come to Zion hill,

The city of our God,

Where milder words declare his will,

And spread his love abroad.

3 Behold the great, the glorious host

Of angels clothed in light!

Behold the spirits of the just,

Whose faith is turned to sight!

4 Behold the blest assembly there,

Whose names are writ in heaven!

And God, the Judge, who doth declare

Their vilest sins forgiven!

5 Saints here, and those in Jesus dead,

But one communion make;

All join in Christ, their living head,

And of his grace partake.

Our Christ hath reached his heavenly seat,

Through sorrows and through scars;

The golden lamps are at his feet,

And in his hand the stars.

2 O God of life, and truth, and grace,

Ere nature was begun!

Make welcome to our erring race

Thy Spirit and thy Son.

3 We hail the Church, built high o’er all

The heathens’ rage and scoff;

Thy providence its fenced wall,

“The Lamb the light thereof.”

4 O, may he walk among us here,

With his rebuke and love—

A brightness o’er this lower sphere,

A ray from worlds above!

O where are kings and empires now,

Of old that went and came?

But holy Church is praying yet,

A thousand years the same.

2 Mark ye her holy battlements,

And her foundations strong:

And hear within, the solemn voice,

And her unending song.

3 For not like kingdoms of the world,

The Holy Church of God!

Though earthquake shocks are rocking her,

And tempests are abroad;

Great is the Lord our God,

And let his praise be great;

He makes his churches his abode,

His most delightful seat.

2 These temples of his grace,

How beautiful they stand!

The honors of our native place,

And bulwarks of our land.

3 In Zion God is known,

A refuge in distress;

How bright has his salvation shone,

Through all her palaces!

4 When kings against her joined,

And saw the Lord was there,

In wild confusion of the mind,

They fled with hasty fear.

5 Oft have our fathers told,

Our eyes have often seen,

How well our God secures the fold

Where his own sheep have been.

6 In every new distress

We’ll to his house repair;

We’ll call to mind his wondrous grace,

And seek deliverance there.

I Love thy kingdom, Lord—

The house of thine abode,

The church our blest Redeemer saved

With his own precious blood.

How charming is the place

Where my Redeemer God

Unvails the beauties of his face,

And sheds his love abroad!

2 Not the fair palaces

To which the great resort,

Are once to be compared with this,

Where Jesus holds his court.

3 Here on the mercy-seat,

With radiant glory crowned,

Our joyful eyes behold him sit,

And smile on all around.

Thy kingdom, gracious Lord,

Shall never pass away;

Firm as thy truth it still shall stand,

When earthly thrones decay.

2 Thy people here have found,

Through many weary years,

The sweet communion, joy and peace,

To banish all their fears.

3 And now while in thy courts,

Do thou our love increase;

Give us the food our spirits need,

And fill our hearts with peace.

Like Noah’s weary dove,

That soared the earth around,

But not a resting-place above

The cheerless waters found;

2 O cease, my wandering soul,

On restless wing to roam;

All the wide world, to either pole,

Has not for thee a home.

3 Behold the ark of God,

Behold the open door;

Hasten to gain that dear abode,

And rove, my soul, no more.

How honored is the place,

Where we adoring stand!

Zion, the glory of the earth,

And beauty of the land.

2 Bulwarks of grace defend

The city where we dwell;

While walls of strong salvation made,

Defy th’ assaults of hell.

3 Lift up th’ eternal gates,

The doors wide open fling;

Enter, ye nations, that obey

The statutes of our King.

4 Here taste unmingled joys,

And live in perfect peace;

You that have known Jehovah’s name,

And ventured on his grace.

5 Trust in the Lord, ye saints;

And banish all your fears,

Strength in the Lord Jehovah dwells,

Eternal as his years.

Far as thy name is known

The world declares thy praise;

The saints, O Lord, before thy throne

Their songs of honor raise.

Far down the ages now,

Much of her journey done,

The pilgrim church pursues her way,

Until her crown be won.

2 The story of the past

Comes up before her view:

How well it seems to suit her still—

Old, and yet ever new!

3 It is the oft-told tale

Of sin and weariness—

Of grace and love yet flowing down

To pardon and to bless.

4 No wider is the gate,

No broader is the way,

No smoother is the ancient path,

That leads to life and day.

Glorious things of thee are spoken,

Zion, city of our God!

He, whose word can not be broken,

Formed thee for his own abode:

On the Rock of ages founded,

What can shake thy sure repose?

With salvation’s wall surrounded,

Thou mayst smile at all thy foes.

2 See the streams of living waters,

Springing from Eternal Love,

Well supply thy sons and daughters,

And all fear of drought remove:

Who can faint while such a river

Ever flows their thirst t’ assuage!

Grace, which like the Lord, the giver,

Never fails from age to age.

Restore, O Father! to our times restore

The peace which filled thine infant Church of yore,

Ere lust of power had sown the seeds of strife,

And quenched the new-born charities of life.

2 O, never more may different judgments part

From kindled sympathy a brother’s heart!

But, linked in one, believing thousands kneel,

And share with each the sacred joy they feel.

3 From soul to soul, quick as the sunbeam’s ray,

Let concord spread one universal day;

And faith by love lead all mankind to thee,

Parent of peace, and Fount of harmony!