The Pilgrim's Happy Lot

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How happy is the pilgrim's lot

Author: John Wesley
Published in 181 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 How happy is the pilgrim's lot,
How free from every anxious thought,
From worldly hope and fear!
Confined to neither court nor cell,
His soul disdains on earth to dwell,--
He only sojourns here.

2 No foot of land do I possess,
No cottage in this wilderness;
A poor wayfaring man,
I lodge awhile in tents below,
Or gladly wander to and fro,
Till I my Canaan gain.

3 There is my house and portion fair,
My treasure and my heart are there,
And my abiding home;
For me my elder brethren stay,
And angels beckon me away,
And Jesus bids me come.

4 I come, thy servant, Lord, replies;
I come to meet thee in the skies,
And claim my heavenly rest!
Now let the pilgrim's journey end,
Now, O my Saviour, Brother, Friend,
Receive me to thy breast!

Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #1020

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Author: John Wesley

John Wesley, the son of Samuel, and brother of Charles Wesley, was born at Epworth, June 17, 1703. He was educated at the Charterhouse, London, and at Christ Church, Oxford. He became a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and graduated M.A. in 1726. At Oxford, he was one of the small band consisting of George Whitefield, Hames Hervey, Charles Wesley, and a few others, who were even then known for their piety; they were deridingly called "Methodists." After his ordination he went, in 1735, on a mission to Georgia. The mission was not successful, and he returned to England in 1738. From that time, his life was one of great labour, preaching the Gospel, and publishing his commentaries and other theological works. He died in London, in 17… Go to person page >

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First Line:	How happy is the pilgrim's lot
Title:	The Pilgrim's Happy Lot
Author:	John Wesley
Meter:	8.8.6.8.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

How happy is the pilgrim's lot. [Desiring Heaven.] Appeared in the Wesley Hymns for those that Seek, and those that Have Redemption, 1747, No. 51, in 9 stanzas of 6 lines. When given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 1780-1875, the fourth stanza was omitted. (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. iv. p. 278.) Although somewhat unreal as a hymn for general use, it has long been most popular with the Methodist bodies. Stanza v., "No foot of land do I possess," and vii., "There is my house, and portion fair," have gathered around them reminiscences, in many instances of a tenderly sacred character, some of which are noted in detail in Stevenson's Methodist Hymn Book Notes, 1883, p. 77. In Stevenson's Notes this hymn is attributed to John Wesley, and in the Index to the same work to Charles Wesley. The former is also the almost universal ascription in America, the argument usually put forth being that the personal circumstances evidently referred to suited John Wesley rather than Charles. The editors of the Wesleyan Hymn Book are in doubt, and have left the authorship an open question. As there is no direct evidence either way, we must follow their example.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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