Scripture Verse

He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. Isaiah 25:8

Introduction

portrait
John H. Tenney (1840–1918)

Words: An­zen­tia I. Chap­man, 1889.

Music: John H. Ten­ney (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

In 1887, An­zen­tia, her hus­band and child­ren tra­veled from their home in Mi­chi­gan on an ev­an­gel­ism tour of Kan­sas. En route, the child­ren were play­ing with coins, and se­ven-year­old Eva swal­lowed some. Swal­lowed coins oft­en pass harm­less­ly, but these did not.

Five days lat­er, Eva an­nounced she was go­ing to Hea­ven. She gave away her child­hood trea­sures to her fa­mi­ly, then got in her bro­ther’s lap and sang In­to My Heart, Come in­to My Heart Lord Je­sus. Af­ter that she passed away to Hea­ven.

Her heart­bro­ken par­ents, not fin­ished with their tour, put Eva in­to a glass topped cof­fin and stored it in a cave. When the tour was over, they bur­ied her in Ed­na, Kan­sas. After the fa­mi­ly re­turned home, they moved to Isa­bel­la County, Mi­chi­gan, and An­zen­tia wrote this song in Eva’s me­mo­ry.

Lyrics

With friends on earth we meet in glad­ness,
While swift the mo­ments fly,
Yet ev­er comes the thought of sad­ness,
That we must say, Good­bye.

Refrain

We’ll ne­ver say good­bye in Heav’n,
We’ll ne­ver say good­bye,
For in that land of joy and song,
We’ll ne­ver say good­bye.

How joy­ful is the hope that lin­gers,
When loved ones cross death’s sea,
That we, when all earth’s toils are end­ed,
With Thee shall ev­er be.

Refrain

No part­ing words shall e’er be spok­en,
In yon­der home so fair,
But songs of joy, and peace, and glad­ness,
We’ll sing for­ev­er there.

Refrain