Lo, the Mighty God Appearing!
55

Text: William Goode (1762–1816)
Music: Evan Stephens (1854–1930; LDS)
Tune name: QUINCY

“Lo, the Mighty God Appearing!” is a graphic, awe- inspiring vision of the day of judgment. The nations of the earth hear the voice of Jehovah speaking like thunder. Fire, clouds, and tempests prepare his coming. The Saints claim their reward, but “sinners perish from before him.”

This hymn was one of William Goode’s many verse paraphrases of the psalms. A look at the first six verses of Psalm 50 will show that this Old Testament passage is the source of most of the imagery of this fine hymn:

“The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down there of.

“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

“He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

“Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

“And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.”

In the 1950 hymnal, “Lo, the Mighty God Appearing” was labeled as a choir hymn. Although it is not among our easiest hymns, it has been transposed into a lower register and soprano and alto parts have been added at the beginning of the last line to make it more manageable for congregations using the 1985 hymnal. The 1950 hymnal included one additional verse, in which William Goode gave a New Testament cast to the words of the psalm:

Gather first my Saints around me,
Those who to my covenants stood—
Those who humbly sought and found me
Through the dying Savior’s blood.
Blest Redeemer,
Dearest Sacrifice to God.

Emma Smith included this hymn text in her 1841 hymnbook, and the 1889 Latter- day Saints’ Psalmody printed the words with the present tune, QUINCY.