Scripture Verse

The angels of God in Heaven. Matthew 22:30

Introduction

Words: A. T. Gor­ham, in On Joy­ful Wing, ed­it­ed by John R. Swe­ney & Will­iam Kirk­pat­rick (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1886), num­ber 19.

Music: Will­iam J. Kirk­pat­rick (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Gor­ham’s full name, or where to get a good pic­ture of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
William J. Kirkpatrick
(1838–1921)

Lyrics

The gold­en spires are gleam­ing
Just on the oth­er side!
I see the tur­rets glist­en
Hard by the flow­ing tide;
The pear­ly gates are op­en,
The high­way’s large and free;
And an­gel bands are wait­ing
To wel­come you and me.

Refrain

Waiting, wait­ing,
Beautiful forms I see;
The an­gel bands are wait­ing,
To wel­come you and me.

The fade­less flow­ers are bloom­ing,
Just on the oth­er side,
And down life’s shin­ing riv­er
The crys­tal wa­ters glide;
The sons of glo­ry ling­er
Beneath each spread­ing tree,
And an­gel bands are wait­ing
To wel­come you and me.

Refrain

With joy we soon shall ga­ther
Just on the oth­er side,
While end­less songs of tri­umph
Come float­ing o’er the tide;
In Ed­en’s star lit man­sions
Our home shall ever be,
And an­gel bands are wait­ing
To wel­come you and me.

Refrain

Yes, wait­ing, ev­er wait­ing
Just on the oth­er side—
Beyond the roll­ing ri­ver,
Across the surg­ing tide;
Yes, wait­ing, ev­er wait­ing
Upon the jas­per sea,
And an­gel bands are wait­ing
To wel­come you and me.

Refrain