1. If there be that skills to reckon
All the number of the blest,
He perchance can weigh the gladness
Of the everlasting rest,
Which, their earthly exile finished,
They by merit have possessed.
2. Through the vale of lamentation
Happily and safely past,
Now the years of their affliction
In their memory they recast,
And the end of all perfection
They can contemplate at last.
3. There the gifts of each and single
All in common right possess;
There each member hath his portion
In the Body’s blessedness;
So that he, the least in merits,
Shares the guerdon none the less.
4. In a glass through types and riddles
Dwelling here, we see alone;
Then serenely, purely, clearly,
We shall know as we are known,
Fixing our enlightened vision
On the glory of the throne.
5. There the Trinity of Persons
Unbeclouded shall we see;
There the Unity of Essence
Perfectly revealed shall be;
While we hail the Threefold Godhead
And the simple Unity.
6. Wherefore, man, take heart and courage,
Whatsoe’er thy present pain;
Such untold reward through suffering
Thou may’st merit to attain;
And for ever in His glory
With the Light of light to reign.
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #3083
John M. Neale's life is a study in contrasts: born into an evangelical home, he had sympathies toward Rome; in perpetual ill health, he was incredibly productive; of scholarly temperament, he devoted much time to improving social conditions in his area; often ignored or despised by his contemporaries, he is lauded today for his contributions to the church and hymnody. Neale's gifts came to expression early–he won the Seatonian prize for religious poetry eleven times while a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1842, but ill health and his strong support of the Oxford Movement kept him from ordinary parish ministry. So Neale spent the years between 1846 and 1866 as a warden of Sackvi… Go to person page >
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