Scripture Verse

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Isaiah 60:1

Introduction

Words: John A. Gra­nade, in A Choice Se­lect­ion of Hymns and Spi­ri­tu­al Songs, ed­it­ed by Da­ni­el V. Dodge (Wil­ming­ton, De­la­ware: Mat­thew R. Lock­er­man, 1808), num­ber 317.

Music: In­gle­side, Wie­sen­thal (not fur­ther iden­ti­fied), in The Af­ri­can Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Hymn and Tune Book (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­va­nia: A. M. E. Book Con­cern, 1902), page 303 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Arise and shine, O Zi­on fair,
Behold, thy light is come!
Thy glo­ri­ous con­quer­ing king is near
To take His ex­iles home.
The trum­pet sound­ing through the sky,
To set poor cap­tives free;
The day of won­der now is nigh:
The day of Ju­bi­lee.

Ye he­ralds, blow your trum­pets loud,
The earth must know her doom;
Go spread the news from pole to pole,
Behold, the Judge is come;
Blow out the sun, burn up the earth!
Consume the roll­ing flood;
While ev­ery star shall dis­ap­pear,
Go turn the moon to blood.

Arise, ye na­tions un­der ground,
Before the Judge ap­pear;
All tongues and lang­uag­es shall come,
Their fi­nal doom to hear!
King Je­sus on His dazz­ling throne,
Ten thou­sand angels round;
And Ga­bri­el with a sil­ver trump,
Echoes the aw­ful sound!

The glo­ri­ous news of Gos­pel grace
To sin­ners now is o’er;
The trump in Zi­on now is still,
And to be heard no more!
The watch­men all have left their walls
And with their flocks above,
On Ca­naan’s peace­ful shore they sing,
And shout re­deem­ing love.

Come, all ye pil­grims in the Lord,
Whose hearts are joined in one,
Hold up your hands with cour­age bold,
Your race is al­most run.
Above the clouds the Sav­ior sits,
And smil­ing, bids you come;
Angels will guide your hap­py souls
To your eter­nal home.

Behold a pil­grim as he dies,
With glo­ry in his view,
To Hea­ven he lifts his long­ing eyes,
And bids the world adieu;
While friends are weep­ing all around,
And loth to let him go,
He shouts with his ex­pir­ing breath,
And leaves them all be­low.

O! Chris­tians, are you rea­dy now,
To cross that nar­row flood,
On Ca­naan’s hap­py shore be­hold,
And see your smil­ing God?
The dazz­ling charm of that bright world,
Attracts my soul above;
My tongue shall shout re­deem­ing grace,
When per­fected in love.

Go on, my breth­ren in the Lord,
I’m bound to meet you there;
Although we tread en­chant­ed ground,
Be bold and ne­ver fear.
Fight on, fight on, ye con­quer­ing souls,
The land, it is in view;
And when I gain fair Ca­naan’s shore,
I hope to meet with you.