Scripture Verse

Well done, good and faithful servant!…Come and share your master’s happiness. Matthew 25:21

Introduction

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems 1742, pag­es 130–31.

Music: Guide Mar­cus M. Wells, 1858 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Wells (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Lyrics

Hark! A voice divides the sky!
Happy are the faithful dead,
In the Lord who sweetly die,
They from all their toils are freed.
Them the Spi­rit hath declared
Blessed, unutterably blessed;
Jesus is their great reward,
Jesus is their endless rest.

Followed by their works they go
Where their Head has gone before;
Reconciled by grace below,
Grace has opened mercy’s door;
Justified through faith alone,
Here they knew their sins forgiv’n,
Here they laid their bur­den down,
Hallowed, and made fit for Heav’n.

Who can now lament the lot
Of a saint in Christ deceased?
Let the world, who know us not
Call us hopeless and unblessed:
When from flesh the spirit freed
Hastens homeward to return,
Mortals cry, A man is dead!
Angels sing, A child is born!

Born into the world above,
They our happy brother greet,
Bear him to the throne of love,
Place him at the Sav­ior’s feet;
Jesus smiles, and says, Well done,
Good and faithful servant thou;
Enter, and receive thy crown,
Reign with Me triumphant now.

Angels catch th’approving sound,
Bow, and bless the just award;
Hail the heir with glo­ry crowned,
Now rejoicing with his Lord:
Fuller joys ordained to know,
Waiting for the general doom,
When th’archangel’s trump shall blow,
Rise, ye dead, to judg­ment come!