Scripture Verse

I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Revelation 20:12

Introduction

portrait
Neal A. McAulay (1854–1928)

Words: Neal A. Mc­Au­lay, 1904. Pub­lished in The Old Sto­ry in Song, ed­it­ed by Ar­thur S. Ma­gann, Will­iam J. Kirk­pat­rick & Hen­ry L. Gil­mour (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Praise Pub­lish­ing, 1906), num­ber 31. Com­pare Must I Go, and Emp­ty Hand­ed?

Music: John P. Hill­is (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

Will I emp­ty hand­ed be
When beside the crys­tal sea
I shall stand be­fore the ev­er­last­ing throne?
Must I have a heart of shame
As I an­swer to my name,
With no works that my Re­deem­er there can own?

When the har­vest days are past,
Shall I hear Him say at last,
Welcome, toil­er, I’ve pre­pared for thee a place?
Shall I bring Him gold­en sheaves,
Ripened fruit, not fad­ed leaves,
When I see the bless­èd Sav­ior face to face?

When the books are op­ened wide,
And the deeds of all are tried,
May I have a re­cord whit­er than the snow?
When my race on earth is run,
May I hear Him say, Wel­come,
Take the crown that Love im­mor­tal doth be­stow
?