Hail the glorious golden city

Representative Text

1 Hail the glorious golden city,
pictured by the seers of old:
everlasting light shines o'er it,
wondrous tales of it are told.
Wise and righteous men and women
dwell within its gleaming wall;
wrong is banished from its borders,
justice reigns supreme o'er all.

2 We are builders of that city.
All our joys and all our groans
help to rear its shining ramparts;
all our lives are building stones.
Whether humble or exalted,
all are called to task divine;
all must aid alike to carry
forward one sublime design.

3 And the work that we have builded,
oft with bleeding hands and tears,
oft in error, and in anguish,
will not perish with our years:
it will live and shine transfigured
in the final reign of right:
it will merge into the splendors
of the city of the light.

Source: Singing the Living Tradition #140

Author: Felix Adler

Adler, Felix, Ph.D. Born in Germany in 1851; taken to New York in 1857; graduated at Columbia College 1870; and Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature at Cornell University, 1874-76. He published in 1877 Creed and Deed. His hymn, "Sing we of the golden city" (City of our Hopes) is in The Pilgrim Hymnal, 1904. Sometimes given as "Have you heard of the golden city?" --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)  Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Hail the glorious golden city
Author: Felix Adler (1878)
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

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The Cyber Hymnal #2369
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Singing the Living Tradition #140

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The Cyber Hymnal #2369

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