If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
John 14:3
Words: Attributed to Emma F. Bevan, Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso and Others (London: James Nisbet, 1894), pages 91–93. The lines were followed by the initials P. G.
Music: Almaden S. H. Price, 1874 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know Price’s full name, or where to get a good photo of him (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels), or a better one of Bevan,
The fact that these lines were signed
P.G.led to the belief that they were translated from the German hymnodist, Paul Gerhardt, since Mrs. Bevan normally signed translations with the initials of the original author.It is, however, virtually certain that these lines were an original composition written at the Bevans’ London house Princes Gate. Gerhardt wrote nothing that could have served as a basis for such a composition.
John S. Andrews
Frances Bevan: Translator of German Hymns
The Evangelical Quarterly (1962?), p. 208
’Midst the darkness, storm and sorrow,
One bright gleam I see;
Well I know the blessèd morrow
Christ will come for me.
’Midst the light, and peace, and glory
Of the Father’s home,
Christ for me is watching, waiting,
Waiting till I come.
Long the blessèd Guide has led me
By the desert road;
Now I see the golden towers,
City of my God.
There, amidst the love and glory,
He is waiting yet;
On His hands a name is graven
He can ne’er forget.
There, amidst the songs of Heaven,
Sweeter to His ear,
Is the footfall in the desert,
Ever drawing near.
There, made ready are the mansions,
Radiant, still and fair;
Bur the bride the Father gave Him
Yet is wanting there.
Who is this who comes to meet me
On the desert way,
As the Morning Star foretelling
God’s unclouded day?
He it is who came to win me
On the cross of shame;
In His glory well I know Him
Evermore the same.
O the blessèd joy of meeting,
All the desert past!
Oh the wondrous words of greeting
He shall speak at last!
He and I together entering
Those fair courts above—
He and I together sharing
All the Father’s love.
Where no shade nor stain can enter,
Nor the gold be dim,
In that holiness unsullied,
I shall walk with Him.
Meet companion there for Jesus,
From Him, for Him, made—
Glory of God’s grace forever
There in me displayed.
He who in His hour of sorrow
Bore the curse alone;
I who through the lonely desert
Trod where he had gone;
He and I, in that bright glory,
One deep joy shall share—
Mine, to be for ever with Him;
His, that I am there.