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Words: Peter Abelard, 12th Century (O quanta qualia sunt illa Sabbata); translated from Latin to English by John Mason Neale, Hymnal Noted, 1854.
Music: "O Quanta Qualia," Paris Antiphoner, 1681; harmony by John Bacchus Dykes, 1868
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O what their joy and their glory must be,
Those endless Sabbaths the blessèd ones see;
Crown for the valiant, to weary ones, rest;
God shall be all, and in all ever blessed.
What are the Monarch, His court, and His throne?
What are the peace and the joy that they own?
O that the blessed ones, who in it have share,
All that they feel could as fully declare!
Truly, "Jerusalem" name we that shore,
City of peace that brings joy evermore;
Wish and fulfillment are not severed there,
Nor do things prayed for come short of the prayer.
There, where no troubles distraction can bring,
We the sweet anthems of Zion shall sing;
While for Thy grace, Lord, their voices of praise
Thy blessèd people eternally raise.
There dawns no Sabbath, no Sabbath is o'er,
Those Sabbath keepers have one evermore;
One and unending is that triumph song
Which to the angels and us shall belong.
Now, in the meanwhile, with hearts raised on high,
We for that country must yearn and must sigh;
Seeking Jerusalem, dear native land,
Through our long exile on Babylon's strand.
Low before Him with our praises we fall,
Of Whom, and in Whom, and through Whom are all;
Of Whom, the Father; and in Whom, the Son,
Through Whom, the Spirit, with Them ever One.
Hymns supplied through the gracious generosity of the Cyber Hymnal Website