Readings · Hymns
Shall We Gather at the River
Robert Lowry · 24 lines
Shall we gather at the river
Where bright angel feet have trod;
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God?
Chorus
Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river—
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God.
On the margin of the river,
Washing up its silver spray,
We will walk and worship ever,
All the happy, golden day.
Ere we reach the shining river,
Lay we every burden down;
Grace our spirits will deliver,
And provide a robe and crown.
At the smiling of the river,
Mirror of the Saviour’s face,
Saints whom death will never sever,
Lift their songs of saving grace.
Soon we’ll reach the silver river,
Soon our pilgrimage will cease;
Soon our happy hearts will quiver
With the melody of peace.
About this reading
Robert Lowry, a Baptist minister in Brooklyn, wrote both the words and the music. An account published in 1876 says he wrote them on a very hot summer day in 1864, when an epidemic was taking many lives in the city. They were printed the next year in Happy Voices, a Sunday-school book.
All five verses and the chorus, as printed in 1865, where the song is titled "Beautiful River."
- First published
- 1865
- Text from
- Happy Voices (New York, 1865)
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