The Pilgrimage of the Saints

Representative Text

Lord! what a wretched land is this,
That yields us no supply!
No cheering fruits, no wholesome trees,
Nor streams of living joy!

But pricking thorns through all the ground,
And mortal poisons grow,
And all the rivers that are found
With dangerous waters flow.

Yet the dear path to thine abode
Lies through this horrid land;
Lord! we would keep the heav'nly road,
And run at thy command.

[Our souls shall tread the desert through
With undiverted feet,
And faith and flaming zeal subdue
The terrors that we meet.]

[A thousand savage beasts of prey
Around the forest roam;
But Judah's Lion guards the way,
And guides the strangers home.]

[Long nights and darkness dwell below,
With scarce a twinkling ray;
But the bright world to which we go
Is everlasting day.]

[By glimm'ring hopes and gloomy fears
We trace the sacred road;
Through dismal deeps and dangerous snares
We make our way to God.]

Our journey is a thorny maze,
But we march upward still;
Forget these troubles of the ways,
And reach at Zion's hill.

[See the kind angels at the gates,
Inviting us to come!
There Jesus the forerunner waits,
To welcome trav'llers home!]

There on a green and flowery mount
Our weary souls shall sit,
And with transporting joys recount
The labors of our feet.

[No vain discourse shall fill our tongue,
Nor trifles vex our ear;
Infinite grace shall be our song,
And God rejoice to hear.]

Eternal glories to the King
That brought us safely through;
Our tongues shall never cease to sing,
And endless praise renew.

Source: Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts, The #II.53

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Author: Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Lord! what a wretched land is this
Title:	The Pilgrimage of the Saints
Author:	Isaac Watts
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Job 14:14
(hymns)

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Notes

Lord, what a wretched land is this. I. Watts. [Pilgrimage of the Saints.] Appeared in his Hymns & Sacred Songs, 1707. Book ii., No. 53, in 12 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled "The Pilgrimage of the Saints; or, Earth and Heaven." In Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book, 1866, stanzas viii.-xii. were given as "Our journey is a thorny maze." This arrangement, together with abbreviations beginning with the first stanza, is in several collections.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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