Scripture Verse

That great city, the holy Jerusalem. Revelation 21:10

Introduction

portrait
Marianne Hearn (1834–1909)

Words: Ma­ri­anne Hearn, 1862. First pub­lished in the fall of 1864 in the Lon­don Church World.

Music: Phi­lip P. Bliss, Gos­pel Songs (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: John Church, 1874), page 114 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Philip P. Bliss (1838–1876)

Anecdote

At one of Mr. [Dwight] Mood­y’s meet­ings in Far­well Hall, Chi­ca­go [Il­li­nois], this tes­ti­mony was giv­en on one oc­ca­sion:

For ma­ny years past I have been an in­fi­del, and oft­en lec­tured to au­di­enc­es in op­po­si­tion to the Bi­ble. To­day, in the pre­sence of all you who see me, I de­clare that I am a con­vert­ed man.

I owe the soft­en­ing of my hi­ther­to sto­ny heart to a Gos­pel hymn sung by Mr. Bliss, the re­frain of which is, Will any one then, at the beau­ti­ful gate, be wait­ing and watch­ing for me? It re­mind­ed me so ten­der­ly of my Chris­tian wife, par­ents, bro­thers, sis­ters and child­ren who have gone be­fore me that it quite broke me down; and now Christ and the Word have be­come my best hope and strong­hold.

Sankey, pp. 293–94

Lyrics

When my fi­nal fare­well to the world I have said,
[originally, When mys­te­ri­ous whis­pers are float­ing about]
 And glad­ly lie down to my rest;
When soft­ly the watch­ers shall say, He is dead,
And fold my pale hands o’er my breast;
And when, with my glo­ri­fied vi­sion at last
The walls of That Ci­ty I see,
Will any one then at the beau­ti­ful gate,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me?
Will any one then at the beau­ti­ful gate,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me?

Refrain

Be wait­ing and watch­ing,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me?
Be wait­ing and watch­ing,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me?

There are lit­tle ones glanc­ing about in my path,
In want of a friend and a guide;
There are dear lit­tle eyes look­ing up in­to mine,
Whose tears might be ea­si­ly dried.
But Je­sus may beck­on the child­ren away
In the midst of their grief and their glee?
Will any of them, at the beau­ti­ful gate,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me?
Will any of them, at the beau­ti­ful gate,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me?

Refrain

There are old and for­sak­en who lin­ger awhile
In homes which their dear­est have left;
And a few gen­tle words or an act­ion of love
May cheer their sad spi­rits be­reft.
But the Reap­er is near to the long stand­ing corn;
The wea­ry will soon be set free.
Will any of them, at the beau­ti­ful gate,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me?
Will any of them, at the beau­ti­ful gate,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me?

Refrain

Oh, should I be brought there by the boun­ti­ful grace
Of Him who de­lights to for­give,
Though I bless not the wea­ry about in my path,
Pray on­ly for self while I live,
Methinks I should mourn o’er my sin­ful ne­glect,
If sor­row in Hea­ven can be,
Should no one I love, at the beau­ti­ful gate,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me!
Should no one I love, at the beau­ti­ful gate,
Be wait­ing and watch­ing for me!

Refrain