There is One in yonder glory I have loved for many years;
He has cleared my guilty conscience, He has banished all my fears.
And I seek to spread His goodness, while I’m waiting hour by hour,
For His long-expected coming, for the moment of His power,
With the loins tightly girded on the highway and the hearth,
With the rays of coming glory shining back upon the path.
What a poor and empty bubble – what a vain and gilded toy,
Seems the world with all its treasures in the view of future joy;
Of the joy of being with Him, who for me in death did stand,
Whom I ever love to think of as the Man at God’s right hand.
In the daily toil of business – in the hourly trial and fight,
When I wake up in the morning – when I sink to sleep at night –
There’s a deep and earnest longing, there’s a yearning of the heart,
For the bright and blessed moment when we never more shall part.
And the eye of faith is upward, ‘mid the struggle and the strife,
For the coming hope of glory, for the joy and crown of life.
The One there crowned with honor has been in this desert scene –
The suffering Man of Sorrows, the lowly Nazarene –
The Lord of life and glory, the Holy One of God,
Who bore in grace and meekness the mocking scourge and rod;
Who conquered death and Satan, and for the sinner died,
And by the Father’s glory was raised and glorified;
And from that throne He’s coming to call His saints away
From every taint of evil to share His blissful day.
Are you ready, Christian, ready, for the trump and shout and voice?
Would His coming make you tremble, or cause you to rejoice?
Are you walking, talking with Him, trusting Him with all your care?
Do you live so close to heaven that a breath would waft you there?
Or is the heart and spirit chained and rooted in the earth,
Instead of on the mansions, the place of heavenly birth?
Is your heart and walk so loyal that your spirit would rejoice
Any day or hour or moment to hear His blessed voice?
Are you watching, waiting for Him, does your heart with joy expand?
At the very thought of seeing the Man from God’s right hand?
He is coming in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye;
No time will be allotted just to utter one “Goodbye”;
No time to kiss the children or embrace the loving wife,
If they are but united in the bonds of human life.
The darkness seems to thicken and the scenes of sin increase;
They may move my heart to pity, but they cannot touch my peace;
For my peace is in the glory, where I shortly hope to be,
To raise my Alleluia unto Him who died for me
There’s a deep and cherished craving as I hasten on my race,
For the long-expected greeting, for the seeing face to face;
For the thrilling trumpet sounding, for the ceasing here to roam,
For the entering the mansions and the longed – for joys of home.
Like an anxious watcher standing with the hand upon the latch,
In eager expectation the first faint gleam to catch,
I peer up through the midnight and upon the threshold stand,
With a grateful heart to welcome the Man from God’s right hand.