Brief life is here our portion

Brief Life is here our portion.

Brief life is here our portion,
Brief sorrow, short-lived care;
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life, is there.

2 O happy retribution !
Short toil, eternal rest;
For mortals and for sinners
A mansion with the blest!

3 And now we fight the battle,
But then shall wear the crown
Of full and everlasting
And passionless renown;

4 And now we watch and struggle,
And now we live in hope,
And Zion in her anguish
With Babylon must cope ;

5 But He, whom now we trust in,
Shall then be seen and known ;
And they that know and see
Him Shall have Him for their own.

6 The morning shall awaken,
And shadows shall decay,
And each true-hearted servant
Shall shine as doth the day.

7 Yes, God, my King and Portion,
In fullness of His grace,
We then shall see for ever,
And worship face to face.

This, the last, bat certainly not the least beautiful, of our thirty two hymns, was not written as a separate and complete hymn. It consists of verses taken from Dr. Neale's translation of the poem of Bernard, from which " Jerusalem the Golden" also was taken, and which is described under that hymn, No. 15. [NOTES.—Verse a, line 1. Retribution. The word is rightly used, as here to refer to the distribution of rewards in the next life, as well as of punishments. Verse 4, lines 3 and 4. Zion is the Church of God in the world, and Babylon stands for the powers of worldliness that contend against the Church. Verse 6, line 1. This line is slightly altered.]