O happy saints [that] who dwell in light, And walk with Jesu, &c. J. Berridge. [Saints in Glory.] Published in his Zion's Songs, &c, 1785, No. 143, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, “At Thy right hand are pleasures for evermore." Psalms xvi. l.1 (edition 1842, p. 139). Although seldom found in English collections, its use in America, sometimes abbreviated as in the Baptist Service of Song, Boston. 1871, is somewhat extensive. It is based upon Ralph Erskine's "Aurora veils her rosy face." The second stanza in Berridge reads:—
" Releas'd from sin, and toil, and grief,
Death was their gate to endless life;
An open'd cage to let them fly,
And build their happy nest on high."
This reads in Erskine's original:—
"Death is to us a sweet repose,
The bud was ope'd to show the rose;
The cage was broke to let us fly
And build our happy nest on high."
The rest of the hymn follows Erskine's line of thought, but there is no repetition of his actual words.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Berridge, John, born at Kingston, Notis, March 1, 1716, and educated at Clare Hall, Cambridge. In 1749 he was ordained as curate to the parish of Stapleford, near Cambridge, and in 1755 he was preferred to the Vicarage of Everton, where he died Jan. 22, 1793. His epitaph, written by himself for his own tombstone (with date of death filled in), is an epitome of his life. It reads:—
" Here lies the remains of John Berridge, late Vicar of Everton, and an itinerate servant of Jesus Christ, who loved his Master and His work; and after running on His errands for many years, was caught up to wait on Him above. Reader! art thou born again? (No salvation without a new birth.) I was born in sin, February, 1716; remained ignorant of my fallen sta… Go to person page >
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