When shall th’ imperial standard spread
Its crimson thro’ the skies?
To meet their great triumphant head
When shall the members rise?
Gazing, thy church, and listening stands:
We long to see thee crown’d:
Now, Lord, send forth thine angel-bands,
And bid the trumpet sound.
When shall th’ imperial standard spread
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man ... then shall they see the Son of man coming ... then shall he send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.”—[Matt.] xxiv. 30, 31. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 2 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 375.
Publishing: Public Domain