Scripture Verse

He [shall] send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Mark 13:27

Introduction

Words: C. W. By­ron, 1900. Ar­ranged by James E. Tho­mas in New Ho­san­nas, by Tho­mas et al. (Fort Worth, Tex­as: Quar­tet Mu­sic, 1906), num­ber 84.

Music: Wal­ter L. Rose (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
James E. Thomas (1860–1946)

Lyrics

The song was cap­tioned De­di­cat­ed to the Cow­boys of Tex­as. Though ob­vi­ous­ly not in­tend­ed for a tra­di­tion­al wor­ship ser­vice, it is an apt an­alo­gy for the an­gels’ pro­phe­sied ga­ther­ing of be­liev­ers at the end of the age. The term round up re­fers to the pro­cess of col­lect­ing live­stock for brand­ing, ship­ping to mar­ket, etc. In a par­al­lel to the seals on be­liev­ers’ fore­heads (Re­ve­la­tion 7:3), ani­mal brands are a per­ma­nent, in­de­li­ble sign of ow­ner­ship.

illustration
The Cowboy
Frederic Remington, 1902

I’ve been think­ing to­day
As my thoughts be­gan to stray;
Your me­mo­ry to me’s worth more than gold;
As you ride up­on the plain
Midst the sun­shine and the rain,
You’ll be round­ed up with­in the Mas­ter’s fold.

Refrain

We’ll be round­ed up in glo­ry by and by;
We’ll be round­ed up in glo­ry by and by;
When the mill­ing time is o’er,
And we stam­pede no more,
We’ll be round­ed up in glo­ry by and by.

May we lift our voic­es high
Till the glo­ri­ous by and by,
And be known by all thro’ God’s own brand of love;
For His pro­per­ty we are,
And He’ll know us from afar,
And will round us up in glo­ry by and by.

Refrain

As we look up­on the plain
To the cow­boys who have fain
While the rag­ing storm and light­ning flash­es by;
We will meet to part no more
On that hap­py gold­en shore
When we’re round­ed up in glo­ry by and by.

Refrain