Our Father's Home Eternal

Our Father�s home eternal,
O Christ, Thou dost prepare
With many divers mansions,
And each one passing fair;
They are the victors� guerdon,
Who, through the hard-won fight,
Have followed in Thy footsteps,
And reign with Thee in light.

Amidst the happy number
The virgins� crown and queen,
The ever-virgin mother
Is first and foremost seen;
The patriarchs in their triumph
Thy praises nobly sing;
The prophets of Thy wisdom
Adore the nations� King.

Th�apostles reign in glory,
The martyrs joy in Thee;
The virgins and confessors
Thy shining brightness see;
And every patient sufferer,
Who sorrow dared contemn,
For each especial anguish
Hath one especial gem.

The holy men and women,
Their earthly struggle o�er,
With joy put off the armor
That they shall need no more;
For these, and all that battled
Beneath their Monarch�s eyes,
The harder was the conflict,
The brighter is the prize.

And every faithful servant
Made perfect in Thy grace,
Hath each his fitting station
�Mid those that see Thy face;
The bondsman and the noble,
The peasant and the king,
All gird one glorious Monarch
In one eternal ring.