Scripture Verse

When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, in the Spir­it the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:31–41

Introduction

Words: John Need­ham, Hymns De­vo­tion­al and Mo­ral on Va­ri­ous Sub­jects (Bris­tol, Eng­land: S. Far­ley, 1768), num­ber 224.

Music: Clau­di­us Ar­thur H. Mann, in The Me­tho­dist Hym­nal (New York: Me­tho­dist Book Con­cern, 1905), num­ber 595 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
Arthur H. Mann (1850–1929)

Lyrics

Behold, He comes—the Judge ap­pears,
With all His glo­ries crowned:
Behold each na­tion, tribe and tongue,
The judg­ment seat sur­round.

View well the right­eous, mark the joy
O’er ev­ery fea­ture spread;
But Oh! What pale af­fright­ed looks,
Bespeak the sin­ner’s dread.

No truth ap­pears, no en­vi­ous cloud
Can hide her ra­di­ant face;
No names and forms, and bor­rowed masks
No more shall find a place.

As from his sheep the shep­herd parts
The goats at ev­en-tide,
So from the good, the right­eous Judge
The wick­ed shall di­vide.

Ranged on the right, the pi­ous race,
Shall their glad sen­tence hear;
Whilst on the left, th’un­god­ly world
Too late their doom shall fear.

Among the saints, at Christ’s right hand,
May I, Lord, find a place;
Enrolled among the heirs of God,
The first­born sons of grace.

Then shall I all en­rap­tured hear
The Judge pro­nounce me blest;
And share the king­dom long pre­pared
That sweet and end­less rest.