Anglican
Hymn Appendix #70.
“We sing of the realms of the blest,
That country so bright and so fair,
The glorious mansions of rest—
But what must it be to be there?
We tell of its service of love,
The robes which the glorified wear,
The church of the first-born above—
But what must it be to be there?”
So wrote Elizabeth Mills a few weeks before she was taken “there.” She was born at Stoke, Newington, England, the daughter of Philip King, in 1805. She was married to Thomas Mills, a member of Parliament. The hymn written was suggested by a remark someone made to her a few weeks before her death, This remark was, “We speak of heaven, but oh to be there!” At Finsbury Place, London, England, on April 21, 1829 at only 24 years of age she learned what it must be to be there!
“We tell of its freedom from sin,
From sorrow, temptation and care,
From trials without and within—
But what must it be to be there?
Do Thou, Lord, midst pleasure and woe
Still for heaven our spirits prepare;
And shortly we also shall know
And feel what it is to be there!”