Scripture Verse

The Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. 1 Thessalonians 4:16

Introduction

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Luther Emerson (1820–1915)

Words: Theo­dore of the Stu­di­um, 826 (Τὴν ἡμ­έρ­αν τὴν φριχ­τὴν τῆς). The hymn is part of the Canon for Sexagesima Sunday (the Sunday of the Meat-Fare, which focuses on the Last Judgment in the Eastern Orthodox calendar). Trans­lat­ed from Greek to Eng­lish by John M. Neale, Hymns of the East­ern Church (Lon­don: J. T. Hayes, 1862). The first line of Neale’s orig­in­al trans­la­tion was That fear­ful Day, that Day of speech­less dread. The text be­low ap­pears with­in [Neale’s] work on Theo­dore’s Can­on for Judg­ment Day (Ge­mi­ni).

Music: Ses­sions Lu­ther O. Em­er­son, 1847 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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John Neale (1818–1866)

Lyrics

When Thou shalt come with trum­pet sound,
With count­less an­gels hov­er­ing round,
O Sav­ior! grant me, in the air,
With all Thy saints, to meet Thee there!

Weep, O my soul! ere that great day
When God shall shine in stern ar­ray;
O weep Thy sin, that thou may’st be
In that se­ver­est judg­ment free!

O Christ, for­give, re­mit, pro­tect,
And set Thy ser­vant with th’elect,
That I may hear the voice that calls
The right­eous to Thy heavn’ly halls!