JERUSALEM, thou City blest!
Dear vision of celestial rest,
Which far above the starry sky,
Piled up with living stones on high,
Art, as a Bride, encircled bright
With million angel forms of light:

Oh, wedded in a prosperous hour,
The Father’s glory was thy dower;
The Spirit all His graces shed,
Thou peerless Queen, upon thy head;
When Christ espoused thee for His Bride,
Ο City bright and glorified!

Thy gates a pearly lustre pour;
Thy gates are open evermore;
And thither evermore draw nigh
All who for Christ have dared to die,
Or, emit with love of their dear Lord,
Have pains endured, and joys abhorred.

Thou too, O Church, which here we see!
No easy task hath builded thee.
Long did the chisels ring around;
Long did the mallets’ blows rebound;
Long worked the head and toiled the hand,
Ere stood thy stones as now they stand!

-BREVIARY.