REST of the saints above,
Jerusalem of God!
Who, in thy palaces of love,
Thy golden streets have trod
To me thy joy to tell?
Those courts secure from ill,
Where God Himself vouchsafes to dwell
And every bosom fill!
Who shall to me that joy
Of saint-thronged courts declare -
Tell of that constant, sweet employ
My spirit longs to share?
That rest, secure from ill,
No cloud of grief e'er stains;
Unfailing praise each heart doth fill,
And love eternal reigns.
The Lamb is there, my soul!
There God Himself doth rest
In love divine diffused through all,
With Him supremely blest.
God and the Lamb! 'Tis well
I know that source divine
Of joy and love no tongue can tell,
Yet know that all is mine.
And see, the Spirit's power
Has ope'd the heavenly door,
Has brought me to that favoured hour
When toil shall all be o'er.
There on the hidden Bread
Of Christ once humbled here -
God's treasured store - for ever fed,
His love my soul shall cheer.
Called by that secret name
Of undisclosed delight
(Blest answer to reproach and shame),
Graved on the stone of white.
There in effulgence bright,
Saviour and Guide, with Thee
I'll walk, and in Thy heavenly light
Whiter my robe shall be.
There in th'unsullied way
Which His own hand hath dressed
My feet press on, where brightest day
Shines forth on all the rest.*
But who that glorious blaze
Of living light shall tell,
Where all His brightness God displays,
And the Lamb's glories dwell?
There only to adore,
My soul its strength may find -
Its life, its joy for evermore,
By sight nor sense defined.
God and the Lamb shall there
The light and temple be,
And radiant hosts for ever share
The unveiled mystery!
*That is, the saints' rest.
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John Nelson Darby (1800 - 1882)
was an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, one of the influential figures among the original Plymouth Brethren and the founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism and Futurism ("the Rapture" in the English vernacular). Pre-tribulation rapture theology was popularized extensively in the 1830s by John Nelson Darby and the Plymouth Brethren, and further popularized in the United States in the early 20th century by the wide circulation of the Scofield Reference Bible.He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation from the Original Languages by J. N. Darby. Darby traveled widely in Europe and Britain in the 1830s and 1840s, and established many Brethren assemblies. He gave 11 significant lectures in Geneva in 1840 on the hope of the church (L'attente actuelle de l'église). These established his reputation as a leading interpreter of biblical prophecy.
John Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation from the Original Languages by J. N. Darby.
John Nelson Darby graduated Trinity College, Dublin, in 1819 and was called to the Irish bar about 1825; but soon gave up law practice, took orders, and served a curacy in Wicklow until, in 1827, doubts as to the Scriptural authority for church establishments led him to leave the institutional church altogether and meet with a company of like-minded persons in Dublin.
Darby traveled widely in Europe and Britain in the 1830s and 1840s, and established many Brethren assemblies. These established his reputation as a leading interpreter of biblical prophecy. He was also a Bible Commentator. He declined however to contribute to the compilation of the Revised Version of the King James Bible.