Reward of Saints

O sweetly through the gloomy years

No. 994
Metre L. M. D.
Tune ETHAN.
Words H. L. Hastings.
Music Unknown.
Key A-flat major
Singing key G♭ major
Time 6/4
4 stanzas

Words

O sweetly through the gloomy yearsThat roll their dimming vail between,The promised goodly land appears,Arrayed in never-fading green.And from that peaceful, happy clime,Transporting bursts of song arise,And, rolling through the mists of time,Tell us of joy that never dies.

As voyagers on the stormy deepLook for some bright and sunny bayWhere winds and waves are hushed in sleep,And joy lights up the happy day,So o'er the tossing sea of yearsWe glance the eye and stretch the handWhere, robed in fadeless light, appearsThe border of the shining land.

There angel hosts of glorious ones,With sinless hearts and stainless hands,Call us in glad and loving tones,And bid us welcome to their bands.Hark! how their harps and voices tellThe glories of that radiant strand,And bid us breast the waves that swellBetween us and the shining land.

Ear hath not heard, eye hath not seen,The glories of that home of song;Though stormy billows roll between,I go to join the angel throng.But of the joys beyond the tide,The welcomes on that golden strand,The best shall be from Him who diedTo bring me to the shining land.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «REWARD OF SAINTS.»; hymn number «994» (large), tune name «ETHAN. L. M. D.» centred over the music (condensed capitals and small capitals, the «D.» smaller), «UNKNOWN.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). Stanza 1 is interlinear, between the staves, in a small condensed bold face: its first four lines are printed in two lines one above the other between braces after «1.» — «O sweetly through the gloom-y years That roll their dim - ming vail between,» / «The prom-ised good - ly land appears, Ar - rayed in nev - er - fad-ing green.» — under the section of system 1 that ends with a repeat sign (sung first and second time); lines 5–8 follow under the rest of system 1 and under system 2. Many two-note words are set solid («sweetly», «between,», «appears,», «happy», «Transporting», «arise,», «rolling»; see `lyrics_syllables.txt`). Stanzas 2–4 are printed as text in two columns below the music, under the reference line «518, 749.» in italic figures (= the words may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 518 or 749; the first figure is read 5, see `uncertainties.md`); stanza 3 runs from the foot of the left column to the top of the right column. The text stanzas are numbered «2», «3», «4» without periods (written «2.», «3.», «4.» here, as in the other deliveries of this book); lines 2, 4, 6, 8 of each stanza are indented in the print and stanza 1 is laid out the same way here. «H. L. Hastings» in italics, right-aligned after stanza 4, without a final period. The print sets a thin space before «!» and «;» («Hark !», «song ;»); it is closed up here. «vail» (stanza 1) and «o'er» (stanza 2, apostrophe written straight) as printed; the «o» of «To» (stanza 4, last line) carries a stray stroke of the type. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.