Scripture Verse

The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 1 Thessalonians 4:16

Introduction

portrait
William Monk (1823–1889)
National Portrait Gallery

button

Words: Jo­seph Swain, Wal­worth Hymns (Lon­don: J. Mat­thews, 1792), pag­es 43–44. The com­ing of Christ an­ti­ci­pat­ed.

Music: Aber Will­iam H. Monk, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1875 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Joseph Swain (1761–1796)

Lyrics

In ex­pec­ta­tion sweet
We’ll wait, and sing, and pray,
Till Christ’s tri­um­phal car we meet,
And see an end­less day.

He comes! He comes! be­hold
His pre­sence melts the sky!
Celestial armies, clad in gold,
Around His cha­ri­ot fly.

He comes! the Con­quer­or comes!
Death falls be­neath His sword;
The joy­ful pri­son­ers burst the tombs,
And rise to meet their Lord!

The trum­pet sounds, Awake!
Ye dead, to judg­ment come!

The pil­lars of cre­ation shake
While hell re­ceives her doom.

Thrice hap­py morn for those
Who love the ways of peace;
No night of sor­row e’er shall close,
Or shade, their per­fect bliss.