1 Beyond the dark, mysterious river
In heav’ns fair land,
Bathed in the bright and lustrous glory
Our loved immortals stand;
There in the glow of God’s clear sunlight,
Happy and blest,
Refrain:
Oh! my heart is fondly yearning,
Yonder courts to roam!
There, there my weary fear are turning,
And I am going home.
2 They leave us at the mystic river
And, one by one,
They gather in the Father’s kingdom
Till all the crown have won;
Farewell to earthly friendships breathing
To heav’n they come,
Renewing there the broken circle
In an eternal home. [Refrain]
3 Heav’n is a land of light and beauty,
Wondrously fair,
Dearer because our loved immortals
Are safe and happy there;
For thee my eager heart is yearning,
Country so fair!
Oh! bring me to my home dear Jesus,
And to my loved ones there! [Refrain]
Source: Triumphant Songs No.2 #6
Elisha Hoffman (1839-1929) after graduating from Union Seminary in Pennsylvania was ordained in 1868. As a minister he was appointed to the circuit in Napoleon, Ohio in 1872. He worked with the Evangelical Association's publishing arm in Cleveland for eleven years. He served in many chapels and churches in Cleveland and in Grafton in the 1880s, among them Bethel Home for Sailors and Seamen, Chestnut Ridge Union Chapel, Grace Congregational Church and Rockport Congregational Church. In his lifetime he wrote more than 2,000 gospel songs including"Leaning on the everlasting arms" (1894). The fifty song books he edited include Pentecostal Hymns No. 1 and The Evergreen, 1873.
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