289.  The Glorious Day

1
The night is spent, the morning ray
Comes ush’ring in the glorious day,
The promised time of rest.
Hark! ‘tis the trumpet sounding clear;
Its joyful notes burst on the ear,
Proclaiming tidings blest.

2
The harvest of the earth is ripe;
The dead who sleep in Christ awake
In likeness of their Lord.
To life immortal they arise,
Inheritors of Paradise,
Where death finds no abode.

3
Stupendous scene! Those men of old,
Prophets who have the story told
Of this transcendent day;
The patriarchs, apostles, too,
Who lived and died with this in view,
In glorious array.

4
Now entered into their reward,
Those faithful servants of the Lord
Have not served him in vain;
A band of heaven’s royalty,
In glory and in majesty,
O’er all the earth they reign.