O What Joy Will Be Ours

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O what joy would be ours as we watch and pray

Author: Ernest G. W. Wesley
Tune: [O what joy would be ours]
Published in 2 hymnals

Representative Text

1 O what joy would be ours, as we watch and pray,—
Did we think, often times, of the coming morn—
Of the morn which shall follow this life’s brief day,
When all night shall be lost, in one radiant dawn.

Refrain:
O what joy! O what joy!
When our loved ones we shall greet!
O what joy! O what joy,
When our Savior we shall meet.

2 O what joy would be ours ‘mid the cares of life,
Did we think, often times, of that tearless home,
Where no sorrow nor pain, where no sin nor strife,
Shall be ours when no longer from Christ we roam. [Refrain]

3 O what joy would be ours when our hopes deceive,
Did we think, often times, of that Faithful Friend,
Who will never forsake but at last receive
E’en the weakest and poorest, when life doth end. [Refrain]

4 O what joy would be ours as we mourn and weep,
Did we think, often times, of the loved and blest
In their mansions above, where they vigil keep,
As they wait for our coming to heaven’s rest. [Refrain]

5 O what joy will be ours when our Lord we meet,
When we evermore dwell with our Gracious King;
O what joy will be ours when our loved we greet,
And the praises of Jesus with them we sing. [Refrain]

Source: Great Revival Hymns No. 2 #2

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Author: Ernest G. W. Wesley

Ernest G. W. Wesley was born and educated in England. At the age of seventeen he started writing for local newspapers. When he was twenty-two he worked as special correspondent for The New York Times in Buenos Aries. While he was in Buenos Aries he became licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He came to the United States in the early 1870's and continued writing and contributing to religious and secular papers. He wrote between five and six hundred hymns and nearly two thousand articles on religious and theological topics. Dianne Shapiro, from "The Singers and Their Songs: sketches of living gospel hymn writers" by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (Chicago: The Rodeheaver Company, 1916) Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	O what joy would be ours as we watch and pray
Title:	O What Joy Will Be Ours
Author:	Ernest G. W. Wesley
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	O what joy! O what joy!
Copyright:	Public Domain