Words: , Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems, 1742 (Po­et­i­cal Works, volume II, page 186); the words be­low are vers­es 4-6 of “Let the World La­ment Their Dead.”

Music: Roy­al Oak, 17th Cen­tu­ry Eng­lish mel­o­dy; ar­ranged by , 1915.


Jesus, faithful to His Word, shall with a shout descend;
All Heaven’s host their glorious Lord shall pompously attend:
Christ shall come with dreadful noise, lightnings swift, and thunders loud;
With the great archangel’s voice, and with the trump of God.

First the dead in Christ shall rise; then we that yet remain
Shall be caught up to the skies, and see our Lord again:
We shall meet Him in the air, all caught up to Heaven shall be,
Find, and love, and praise Him there, to all eternity.

Who can tell the happiness this glorious hope affords?
Joy unuttered we possess in these reviving words;
Happy while on earth we breathe, mightier bliss ordained to know,
Trampling down sin, hell, and death, to the third heaven we go.