Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken

"Shake yourself from the dust; arise, sit erect in a dignified place, O Jerusalem,
loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion."
(Isaiah 52:2)

Jerusalem From The Mount Of Olives

(1870)

Frederick Edwin Church

(1826-1900)

American landscape painter

Glorious things of thee are spoken,

Zion, city of our God.

He whose Word cannot be broken,

formed thee for His own abode.

On the Rock of Ages founded,

what can shake thy sure repose?

With salvation's walls surrounded,

thou may'st smile at all thy foes.

See, the streams of living waters,

springing from eternal love,

well supply thy sons and daughters

and all fear of want remove.

Who can faint while such a river

ever flows their thirst to assuage?

Grace, which like the Lord, the Giver,

never fails from age to age.

'Round each habitation hov'ring,

see the cloud and fire appear

for glory and for a cov'ring,

showing that the Lord is near.

Thus deriving from their banner

light by night and shade by day,

safe they feed upon the manna

which He gives them on their way.

Savior, since of Zion's city

I through grace a member am,

let the world deride or pity,

I will glory in Thy name.

Fading is the worldling's pleasures,

all his boasted pomp and show;

solid joys and lasting treasures

none but Zion's children know.

"Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken"
(1779)
John Newton
(1725-1807)
Hymn writer and ardent abolitionist
against slavery