Scripture Verse

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning. Mark 13:35

Introduction

Words: H. L. Tur­ner, in Gos­pel Hymns No. 3, by Ira D. San­key, James Mc­Gra­na­han & George C. Steb­bins (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois and Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: Big­low & Main and John Church, 1878), num­ber 18.

Music: James Mc­Gra­na­han, 1878 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Tur­ner’s full name, or where to get a good pho­to of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
James McGranahan (1840–1907)
Wikipedia

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Lyrics

It may be at morn,
When the day is awak­ing,
When sun­light through dar­kness
And sha­dow is break­ing
That Je­sus will come
In the full­ness of glo­ry
To re­ceive from the world His own.

Refrain

O Lord Je­sus, how long, how long
Ere we shout the glad song,
Christ re­turn­eth! Hal­le­lu­jah!
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Amen.

It may be at mid­day,
It may be at twi­light,
It may be, per­chance,
That the black­ness of mid­night
Will burst in­to light
In the blaze of His glo­ry,
When Je­sus re­ceives His own.

Refrain

While its hosts cry Ho­san­na,
From Hea­ven des­cend­ing,
With glo­ri­fied saints
And the an­gels at­tend­ing,
With grace on His brow,
Like a ha­lo of glo­ry,
Will Je­sus rec­eive His own.

Refrain

Oh, joy! oh, de­light!
Should we go with­out dy­ing,
No sick­ness, no sad­ness,
So dread and no cry­ing.
Caught up through the clouds
With our Lord in­to glo­ry,
When Je­sus re­ceives His own.

Refrain