There is a land of pure delight | There is a land of pure delight

by Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748)

There is a land of pure delight

Language: English

There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain;

There everlasting spring abides,
And never-with'ring flowers:
Death, like a narrow sea, divides
This heavenly land from ours.

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood
Stand dress'd in living green;
So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
While Jordan roll'd between.

But tim'rous mortals start and shrink
To cross this narrow sea,
And linger, shiv'ring on the brink,
And fear to launch away.

O could we make our doubts remove,
Those gloomy fears that rise,
And see the Canaan that we love,
With unbeclouded eyes;

Could we but climb where Moses stood,
And view the landscape o'er,
Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood,
Should fright us from that shore.

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Text Authorship:

by Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Daniel Bellknap (1771 - 1815), "Shoreham" [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by William Billings (1746 - 1800), "Jordan" [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Bacchus Dykes (1823 - 1876), "There is a land of pure delight" [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by George Mursell Garrett (1834 - 1897), "There is a land of pure delight" [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Oliver Holden (1765 - 1844), "Hanley Green" [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by John Jenkins Husband (1760 - 1825), "Hephzibah" [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by William Marsh (flourished 1805-1816), "There is a land of pure delight" [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Thomas Wright (1763 - 1829), "There is a land of pure delight" [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Ross Klatte

This text was added to the website: 2026-03-28
Line count: 24
Word count: 129