Scripture Verse

All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Matthew 28:18

Introduction

portrait
Johann Rist (1607–1667)

Words: Joh­ann Rist, Neu­er himm­lische Lied­er son­der­bahr­es Buch (Lü­ne­burg, Ger­ma­ny: 1651), page 248 (Wach auf, wach auf, du sichre Welt). The text be­low is a cen­to from Ca­the­rine Wink­worth’s 1863 trans­la­tion, “Awake, Thou Care­less World, Awake!” The cen­to ap­peared in Songs of Pil­grim­age, a Hym­nal for the Church­es of Christ, Part I, ed­ited by Hor­ace L. Hast­ings (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Script­ur­al Tract Re­po­si­to­ry, 1880).

Music: Ri­ve­ra, adapt­ed from Dmi­tri S. Bort­ni­an­sky, 1825 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Dmitri Bortniansky
(1752–1825)

Lyrics

Lo, He, on whom all pow­er is laid,
Who sits at God’s right hand on high,
To judge the liv­ing and the dead,
In pow­er and glo­ry draw­eth nigh.

Awake, ye care­less souls, awake,
And trem­ble, ye sin­ners, at His ire,
When on a guil­ty world shall break
The Lord re­vealed in flam­ing fire.

Ye saints who watch and wait shall see
That morn­ing dawn in glo­ry bright;
Your king shall come to set you free,
And crown you then with life and light.

His peo­ple, with a migh­ty hand,
He from earth’s con­flicts then shall bring
To dwell with­in their fa­ther­land,
Where hal­le­lu­jahs they shall sing.

Ye saints, awake, make haste to meet
The ho­ly Bride­groom with His train;
So shall we wor­ship at His feet,
So shall we in His king­dom reign.