Christ, enthroned in highest Heaven,
Hear us crying from the deep,
For the faithful ones departed,
For the souls of all that sleep;
As Thy kneeling Church entreateth,
Hearken, Shepherd of the sheep.

King of Glory, hear our voices,
Grant Thy faithful rest, we pray;
We have sinned, and may not bide it,
If Thou mark our steps astray;
Yet we plead the saving Victim,
Which for them we bring today.

That which Thou Thyself hast offered
To Thy Father, offer we;
Let it win for them a blessing,
Bless them, Jesu, set them free;
They are Thine, they wait in patience;
Merciful and gracious be.

They are Thine, O take them quickly,
Thou their Hope, O raise them high;
Ever hoping, ever trusting,
Unto Thee they strive and cry;
Day and night, both morn and even,
Be, O Christ, their Guardian nigh.

Let Thy plenteous loving-kindness,
On them, as we pray, be poured;
Let them through Thy boundless mercy,
From all evil be restored;
Hearken to the voices pleading
Of Thy Church, O gracious Lord.

Hear and answer prayers devoutest,
Break, O Lord, each binding chain,
Dash the gates of death asunder,
Quell the devil and his train;
Bring the souls which Thou hast ransomed
Evermore in joy to reign.

Sleep thy last sleep, free from care and sorrow;
Rest, where none weep, till th’eternal morrow;
Though dark waves roll o’er the silent river,
Thy fainting soul Jesus can deliver.

Life’s dream is past, all its sin, its sadness,
Brightly at last, dawns a day of gladness:
Under thy sod, earth, receive our treasure,
To rest in God, waiting all His pleasure.

Though we may mourn those in life the dearest,
They shall return, Christ, when Thou appearest:
Soon shall thy voice comfort those now weeping,
Bidding rejoice all in Jesus sleeping.

The morning breaks, ’tis bright and clear,
The shadows of the night are flying swift away;
A stirring cry salutes the ear:
Jesus is coming soon.

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The song of jubilee,
It sweeps o’er land and sea;
With thousand voices strong
The chorus speeds along—
One word of hope and cheer:
The kingdom now is near,
Jesus is coming soon,
Jesus is coming soon!

By form and creed are millions bound,
But God hath sent the Word to loose the iron band—
Deliv’rance dawns with this glad sound:
Jesus is coming soon.

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Salvation nears—the saints arise,
And from the sleep of death the slumb’ring nations wake;
We too shall mount the starry skies.
Jesus is coming soon.

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Our glorious King is coming soon—
It may be darkest night, it may be morn or noon;
In glory then His saints will reign.
Jesus is coming soon.

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Awake, ye nations, from the dead,
With everlasting joy let praise your tongues employ;
By this sweet hope be comforted;
Jesus is coming soon.

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All praise and glory to His Name!
The King of kings is He, earth’s Sov’reign yet to be;
Let all the saints aloud proclaim,
Jesus is coming soon.

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Great God, what do I see and hear?
The end of things created!
The Judge of mankind doth appear,
On clouds of glory seated.
The trumpet sounds, the graves restore,
The dead which they contained before!
Prepare, my soul, to meet Him.

The dead in Christ shall first arise
At the last trumpet’s sounding.
Caught up to meet Him in the skies,
With joy their Lord surrounding.
No gloomy fears their souls dismay,
His presence sheds eternal day
On those prepared to meet Him.

But sinners, filled with guilty fears,
Behold His wrath prevailing.
In woe they rise, but all their tears
And sighs are unavailing.
The day of grace is past and gone;
Trembling they stand before His throne,
All unprepared to meet Him.

Great God, to Thee my spirit clings,
Thy boundless love declaring.
One wondrous sight my comfort brings,
The Judge my nature wearing.
Beneath His cross I view the day
When Heav’n and earth shall pass away,
And thus prepare to meet Him.

In these, the closing days of time,
What joy the glorious hope affords,
That soon—O wondrous truth sublime!
He shall reign, King of kings and Lord of Lords.

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He’s coming soon, He’s coming soon;
With joy we welcome His returning;
It may be morn, it may be night or noon—
We know He’s coming soon.

The signs around—in earth and air,
Or painted on the starlit sky,
God’s faithful witnesses—declare
That the coming of the Savior draweth nigh.

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The dead in Christ who ’neath us lie,
In countless numbers, all shall rise
When through the portals of the sky
He shall come to prepare our paradise.

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And we, who living, yet remain,
Caught up, shall meet our faithful Lord;
This hope we cherish not in vain,
But we comfort one another by this word.

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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.

Jesus is coming! O sing the glad word!
Coming for those He redeemed by His blood,
Coming to reign as the glorified Lord!
Jesus is coming again!

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Jesus is coming, is coming again!
Jesus is coming again!
Shout the glad tidings o’er mountain and plain!
Jesus is coming again!

Jesus is coming! The dead shall arise,
Loved ones shall meet in a joyful surprise,
Caught up together to Him in the skies
Jesus is coming again!

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Jesus is coming! His saints to release;
Coming to give to the warring earth peace:
Sinning and sighing, and sorrow shall cease.
Jesus is coming again.

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Jesus is coming! The promise is true;
Who are the chosen, the faithful, the few,
Waiting and watching, prepared for review?
Jesus is coming again!

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On the hilltops, on the mountains,
There are gleams of golden light,
For the promised morn is dawning,
And its star is growing bright.

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Keep on watching, O ye faithful,
For the time is drawing nigh—
We shall see the King of glory
With His angels, by and by.

O the promised morn is dawning,
When the ransomed of the King
Shall return and come to Zion,
And His praise forever sing.

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Hallelujah! what a moment,
When the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the trumpet of the ages
Sound in triumph from the skies!

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Keep on watching, be not weary,
For the Lord will surely come;
He has said, and we believe it,
He will take His people home.

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Lo! He cometh! countless trumpets
Blow to raise the sleeping dead!
’Mid ten thousand saints and angels,
See the great exalted Head!
Hallelujah!
Welcome, welcome, Son of God!

Full of joyful expectation,
Saints behold their Lord appear;
Truth and justice go before Him;
Now the joyful sentence hear!
Hallelujah!
Welcome sounds throughout the air!

Come, ye blessèd of My Father,
Enter into life and joy!
Banish all your fears and sorrows,
Endless praise be your employ!
Hallelujah!
Welcome, welcome to the skies.

Lo! He cometh, countless trumpets
Blow before His bloody sign!
’Midst ten thousand saints and angels,
See the Crucified shine.
Allelujah!
Welcome, welcome, bleeding Lamb!

Now His merits by the harpers,
Thro’ the eternal deep resounds!
Now resplendent shine His nail-prints,
Every eye shall see His wounds;
They who pierced Him,
Shall at His appearing wail.

Every island, sea, and mountain,
Heaven and earth shall flee away!
All who hate Him must, ashamed,
Hear the trump proclaim His day:
Come to judgment!
Stand before the Son of Man!

All who love Him view His glory,
Shining in His bruised face:
His dear person on the rainbow,
Now His people’s heads shall raise:
Happy mourners!
Now on clouds He comes! He comes!

Now redemption, long expected,
See, in solemn pomp appear:
All His people, once despised,
Now shall meet Him in the air:
Allelujah!
Now the promised kingdom’s come!

View Him smiling, now determined
Every evil to destroy!
All the nations now shall sing Him
Songs of everlasting joy!
O come quickly!
Allelujah! come Lord, come!

On the resurrection morning,
Soul and body meet again,
No more sorrow, no more weeping,
No more pain.

Here awhile they must be parted,
And the flesh its Sabbath keep,
Waiting in a holy stillness,
Wrapped in sleep.

For a while the wearied body
Lies with feet toward the morn;
Till the last and brightest Easter
Day be born.

But the soul in contemplation,
Utters earnest prayer and strong,
Bursting at the resurrection
Into song.

Soul and body reunited
Thenceforth nothing shall divide,
Waking up in Christ’s own likeness
Satisfied.

O the beauty, O the gladness
Of that resurrection day,
Which shall not through endless ages
Pass away!

On that happy Easter morning
All the graves their dead restore,
Father, mother, sister, brother,
Meet once more.

To that brightest of all meetings
Bring us, Jesus Christ, at last,
By thy cross, through death and judgment,
Holding fast.

In the resurrection morning
We will see the Savior coming,
And the sons of God a-shouting in the kingdom of the Lord.

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When the trump of God shall sound,
When the trump of God shall sound,
It shall wake the sleeping nations,
When the trump of God shall sound!
The dead in Christ shall rise,
The dead in Christ shall rise.

We feel the advent glory
While the vision seems to tarry,
We will comfort one another with the words of Holy Writ.

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By faith we can discover
That our warfare’ll soon be over,
And we’ll shortly hail each other on fair Heaven’s happy shore.

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We will tell the pleasing story
When we meet our friends in glory,
And we’ll keep ourselves all ready for to hail the heav’nly King.

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“Rise from your graves, ye dead!” Thus shall the call be sounded,
Which on the latter day shall find us all astounded;
Which to the faithful flock shall promise rare delight,
And fill the trembling hearts of sinners with affright.

“Rise from your graves, ye dead!” Your sleep at last is over,
Ye blessèd of the Lord, no more without shall hover.
The garments are prepared, the crowns for you are stored,
Enter into the joy and comfort of your Lord!

“Rise from your graves, ye dead!” Come from your earthly cover;
Ye wicked all the pangs of hell shall now discover.
Ye once rejected Me, I hold you nothing worth;
Wailing and gnashing teeth shall be your lot henceforth.

“Rise from your graves, ye dead!” Lo, here are bone and tissue
Flesh, sinew, hands, eye, foot! from earth and air they issue.
That wherewith you have served the Lord is glorified,
That wherewith you have sinned, consumed and cast aside.

“Rise from your graves, ye dead!” Ye faithful now shall glory
In halos like the sun, undimmed, untransitory.
Immortal bodies with immortal souls shall blend,
Ye shall enjoy the rest of saints that hath no end.

Soon shall the trump of God
Give out the welcome sound,
That shakes death’s silent chamber walls,
And breaks the turf-sealed ground.

You dwellers in the dust,
Awake, come forth, and sing;
Sharp has your frost of winter been,
But bright shall be your spring.

’Twas sown in weakness here;
’Twill then be raised in power;
That which was sown an earthly seed
Shall rise a heav’nly flower.

Star of our hope! He’ll soon appear,
The last loud trumpet speaks Him near;
Hail Him, all saints, from pole to pole—
How welcome to the faithful soul!

From Heaven angelic voices sound:
Behold the Lord of glory crowned.
Arrayed in majesty divine,
And in His highest glories shine.

The grave yields up its precious trust,
Which long has slumbered in the dust,
Resplendent forms ascending, fair,
Now meet the Savior in the air.

Descending with His azure throne,
He claims the kingdom for His own;
The saints rejoice, they shout, they sing,
And hail Him their triumphant King.

Thou shalt, O Lord, descend,
And all the kingdoms bless;
Throughout the earth Thy realm extend,
And judge in righteousness.

The fruitful earth shall yield
A rich, increasing, store;
And God, who is to us revealed,
His choicest gifts shall pour.

The blessings of His grace
He shall to us make known;
Till all the earth His laws embrace,
And His dominion own.

Let all the people raise
The loud thanksgiving voice;
Let every nation sing Thy praise,
And every tongue rejoice.

Welcome sight! the Lord descending!
Jesus in the clouds appears;
Lo! the Savior comes, intending
Now to dry His people’s tears.
Lo! the Savior comes to reign:
Welcome to His waiting train.

Long they mourned their absent Master;
Long they felt like men forlorn;
Bid the seasons fly still faster,
While they sighed for His return:
Lo! the period comes at last;
All their sorrows now are past.

Now from home no longer banished,
They are going to their rest;
Though the heavens and earth have vanished,
With their Lord they shall be blest:
Blest with Him His saints shall be;
Blest throughout eternity!

Happy people! grace unbounded,
Grace alone, exalts you thus:
Be ashamed, and be confounded;
Sing for ever—“Not to us,
Not to us be glory given—
Glory to the God of Heaven!”

Though we may not know the moment when our blessèd Lord shall come
To receive us to mansions “over there,”
Yet we know ’twill not be long before He takes His loved ones home,
And we’re caught up to meet Him in the air.

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We’ll be caught up to meet Him in the air,
We’ll be caught up His blessedness to share;
Very soon He will come
To take His people home
Caught up to meet Him in the air.

There are times when we are called to wade through waters deep and wide,
And the sorrows of Christ Himself to share;
We remember He has promised to be ever at our side,
Till we’re caught up to meet Him in the air.

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Then eternal years in glory with our Savior we will spend;
O we long for that morning bright and fair!
When the days of our sojourning and our pilgrimage shall end,
We’ll be caught up to meet Him in the air.

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Come, let us rise with Christ our Head
And seek the things above,
By the almighty Spirit led
And filled with faith and love;
Our hearts detached from all below
Should after Him ascend,
And only wish the joy to know
Of our triumphant Friend.

Enthroned at God’s right hand He sits,
Maintainer of our cause,
Till every vanquished foe submits
To His victorious cross;
Worthy to be exalted thus,
The Lamb for sinners slain,
The Lord our King, who reigns for us,
And shall forever reign.

To Him our willing hearts we give
Who gives us power and peace,
And dead to sin, His members live
The life of righteousness;
The hidden life of Christ is ours
With Christ concealed above,
And tasting the celestial powers,
We banquet on His love.

Time with its tempests is passing away,
Some day, and soon it may be,
Jesus will come, oh, that glorious day!
Coming in glory for me.

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The day of all days is coming at last,
The day of all days when sorrows are past,
The day of all days when I thro’ His grace
Shall see with delight His wonderful face.

Oh, what a wonderful joy to be there,
Praising the Lamb that was slain;
Rising to meet Him, caught up in the air!
Oh, He is coming again.

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That is the wonderful day of all days,
That day when time shall be o’er;
Tongues of all nations will sing of His praise
On fair eternity’s shore.

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In a lonely churchyard, many miles away,
Lies your dear old mother, ’neath the cold, cold clay;
Mem’ries oft returning of her tears and sighs,
If you love your mother, meet her in the skies.

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Listen to her pleading, “Wand’ring boy, come home,”
Lovingly, entreating, do not longer roam;
Let your manhood waken, heav’nward lift your eyes;
If you love your mother, meet her in the skies.

Now the old home, vacant, has no charms for you;
One dear form is absent, mother, kind and true;
Evermore she dwells where pleasure never dies,
If you love your mother, meet her in the skies.

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Now in true repentance to the Savior flee,
He Who pardoned mother, mercy has for thee;
Now He waits to comfort, He will not despise,
If you love your mother, meet her in the skies.

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That glorious day is coming,
The hour is hastening on;
Its radiant light is nearing,
Far brighter than the sun;
In yonder clouds of heaven
The Savior will appear;
And gather all His chosen,
To meet Him in the air.

The saints, then all victorious
Will go to meet their Lord;
An earth both bright and glorious,
Will then be their reward;
And God Himself there reigning,
Will wipe all tears away;
Nor clouds nor night remaining,
But one eternal day.

O Christian, keep from sleeping,
And let your love abound;
Be watchful, prayerful, faithful,
The trumpet soon will sound!
O Sinner, hear the warning!
To Jesus quickly fly!
Then you, in that blest morning,
May meet Him in the sky!

There’s coming a wonderful, wonderful day,
Its glory has never been known;
When free from our burdens we’re going away,
As Jesus returns for His own.

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When Jesus returns for His own,
And carries us up to His throne,
There’ll be no more sadness,
But all will be gladness,
When Jesus returns for His own.

Then those who have suffered and toiled for His Name,
Tho’ hated, rejected, unknown,
No longer shall suffer the world’s scorn and shame,
When Jesus returns for His own.

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Triumphant they’ll rise with their Lord in the air,
And sit with Him soon on His throne,
While those who once ridiculed weep in despair,
When Jesus returns for His own.

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No longer we’ll think of the trials down here,
The days when we suffered alone,
For God’s loving hand wipes away ev’ry tear,
When Jesus returns for His own.

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Then let us be faithful, e’en down unto death,
Nor ever our troubles bemoan,
But render Him praise, and rejoice full of faith,
That we may be counted His own.

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