Brief life is now our portion,
Brief sorrow, short-lived care;
The life that knows no ending,
Nor pain, we hope to share.

O, happy retribution!
Short toil, eternal rest
For us poor mortal sinners, --
A part with angels blest.

And now we fight the battle,
But then, shall wear the crown
Of full and everlasting,
And passionless renown.

And now we watch and struggle
Yet now we live in hope,
While Zion in her anguish
With Babylon must cope.

But He whom now we trust in
Shall then be seen and known;
And they that know and love Him,
Shall have Him all their own.

RETURN TO MAIN HYMN PAGE