Here we have many fears; this is the vale of tears, the land of
sorrow.
Tears are there none at all, in that celestial hall, on life's bright
morrow.
The great English rendering is by Neale in his Rhythm of Bernard de Morlaix on the Celestial Country. From this many favorite hymns have been drawn.
The subject is the speedy coming of Christ to judge the world and the joys and glories of the New Jerusalem. Cf. Revelation 21 and 22.
3. terminet: subjunctive of wish. 8. homo deus: the God-man; i.e. Christ. 10. non breve vivere: subject of retribuetur. 17. Sion: the church. Babylone: the world. Cf. such passages as Revelation 16. 19. 19. sobria: sober and impliedly watchful. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5. 6. 24-29.
With jasper glow thy bulwarks,
Thy streets with emerald blaze;
The sardius and the topaz
Unite in thee their rays;
Thine ageless walls are bonded
With amethyst unpriced;
Thy saints build up its fabric,
And the corner-stone is Christ.
The cross is all thy splendor,
The crucified thy praise;
His laud and benediction
Thy ransomed people raise.
Thou hast no shore, fair ocean;
Thou hast no time, bright day
Dear fountain of refreshment
To pilgrims far away.
—Neale.
26. The heavenly throng compose thy fabric and Christ is thy precious stone; i.e. each believer is a stone built into the structure of the heavenly city of which Christ, the 'living stone, elect and precious,' is the foundation. Cf. 1 Peter 2. 3-6. 29. Thou without shore (i.e. unbounded in extent), thou without time (i.e. never ceasing to flow), fountain that art soon a stream. 34.
Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice oppressed.
—Neale.