ON Jordan’s stormy banks I stand, And cast a wishful eye To Canaan’s fair and happy land, Where my possessions lie.
O, the transporting, rapturous scene That rises to my sight! Sweet fields arrayed in living green, And rivers of delight!
O’er all those wide extended plains, Shines one eternal day; There God the Sun for ever reigns, And scatters night away.
No chilling winds, or poisonous breath, Can reach that healthful shore: Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, Are felt and feared no more.
When shall I reach that happy place, And be for ever blest? When shall I see my Father’s face, And in His presence rest?
Filled with delight, my raptured soul Can here no longer stay: When Jordan’s waves around me roll, I’ll, fearless, launch away.
Samuel Stennett, 1727-95