1 I sojourn in a vale of tears,
Alas how can I sing!
My harp doth on the willows hand,
Distun'd in ev'ry string.
2 My music is a captive's chains;
Harsh sounds my ears to fill;
How shall I sing sweet Zion's songs,
On this side Zion's hill?
3 Yet lo! I hear the joyful sound,
Surely I'll quickly come!
Each word much sweetness doth distil,
Like a full honey comb.
4 And dost thou come my dearest Lord?
And dost thou surely come?
And dost thou surely quickly come?
Methinks I am at home.
5 Come then my dearest, dearest Lord,
My sweetest surest friend;
Come, for I loath these Kedar tents!
The fiery chariot send.
6 What have I in this barren land?
My Jesus is not here;
Mine eyes will ne'er be blest until
My Jesus doth appear.
7 My Jesus is gone up to heav'n
To get a place for me;
For 'tis his will, that where he is
There should his servants be.
8 Canaan I view from Pisgah's top,
Of Canaan's grapes I taste;
My Lord who sends unto me here,
Will send for me at last.
9 I have a God that changeth not,
Why should I be perplext?
My God that owns me in this world
Will own me in the next.
10 My dearest friends they dwell above;
Them I will go to see:
And all my friends in Christ below
Will soon come after me.
First Line: | I sojourn in a vale of tears |
Author: | John Mason |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
I sojourn in a vale of tears. J. Mason. [Hope.] First published in his Songs of Praise, &c, 1683, No. 30, in 9 stanzas of 8 lines, as the "Song of Praise for the Hope of Glory," and repeated in D. Sedgwick's reprint, 1859, p. 46. From it three centos are in common use:--
1. I sojourn in a vale of tears. In use in America specially.
2. And dost Thou come, 0 blessed Lord. In Bickersteth's Christian Psalmist, 1833, No. 535, and others.
3. My Saviour is gone up to heaven.
In Bickersteth, 1833, No. 536. and others. The text of all these centos is slightly altered from the original.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)