[Music]
He comes, he comes, the Judge severe,
Roll, Jordan, roll;
The seventh trumpet speaks him near,
Roll, Jordan, roll.
I want to go to heav'n, I do,
Hallelujah Lord;
We'll praise the Lord in heav'n above,
Roll, Jordan, roll.
His lightnings flash, his thunders roll,
Roll, Jordan, roll;
How welcome to the faithful soul,
Roll, Jordan, roll.
Charles Wesley wrote the text. According to Lightwood, p. 132, it is a
parody on a popular secular song which celebrated Admiral Vernon's
return to England after taking Portobello in 1739. Its first stanza
is:
He comes! He comes! The hero comes!
Sound your trumpets, beat your drums!
From port to port let cannons roar
His welcome to the British shore.
It is found also in SOC, published in 1855. In the Introduction p. 14,
I have mentioned the 'Roll Jordan' type of melody; it was named after
the above tune. Other melodies of the type in this collection are
'Florence', 'I Belong to this Band (B)', 'Tennessee', 'Jordan', and
'Resurrected'. It is this tune type which influenced Stephen Foster in
the making of his 'Susanna Don't You Cry' and 'De Camptown Races'. See
in this connection my article in _The Musical Quarterly_, vol. xxii.,
No. 2. For samples of negro borrowings of 'Roll Jordan' see _White
Spirituals_, 264; Dett, p. 76; and _Slave Songs_, Nos. 1 and 10.
No. 185
WE'LL ALL PRAISE GOD, REV 381