Scripture Verse

Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Revelation 1:7

Introduction

Words: Su­san­na Har­ris­on, Songs in the Night (Ip­swich, Eng­land: Pun­chard & Jer­myn, 1780), pag­es 33–34, alt.

Music: Yale W. How­ard Doane, 1884 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
W. Howard Doane (1832–1915)

Lyrics

Behold, He comes, the Sav­ior comes
Dressed in His bright ar­ray;
Awake, ye saints, and burst your tombs,
And view the glo­ri­ous day.

He comes, at­tend­ed from on high
With thou­sands, through the skies,
His glo­ry shines; and ev­ery eye
Shall see Him with sur­prise.

Lo, in the clouds the Judge des­cends
With His il­lus­tri­ous train;
He se­vers sin­ners from His friends,
And dooms to end­less pain.

He comes to make His jus­tice known,
To vin­di­cate His word:
The guil­ty view Him on His throne,
And wail be­fore the Lord.

Till now they ne­ver sought His face.
Nor wept for sin be­fore:
O how tre­men­dous is their case!
They weep to laugh no more.

Once they des­pised His glo­ri­ous name,
And set at naught His worth;
But now they feel, with bit­ter shame,
His fierce, vin­dic­tive wrath.

They now be­hold the saints re­joice,
And mount above the skies;
These praise the Lamb, with cheer­ful voice,
And tri­umph as they rise.

Yes, and my soul shall bear her part
In their me­lo­di­ous song,
My Sav­ior’s grace shall tune my heart,
His love in­spire my tongue.