Soon may the last glad song arise Through all the millions of the skies. That song of triumph which records That "all the earth is now the Lord's." "ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP APPEARING." This admired and always popular church hymn was written near the beginning of the last century by the Rev. Thomas Kelly, born in Dublin, 1760. He was the son of the Hon. Chief Baron Thomas Kelly of that city, a judge of the Irish Court of Common Pleas. His father designed him for the legal profession, but after his graduation at Trinity College he took holy orders in the Episcopal Church, and labored as a clergyman among the scenes of his youth for more than sixty years, becoming a Nonconformist in his later ministry. He was a sweet-souled man, who made troops of friends, and was honored as much for his piety as for his poetry, music, and oriental learning. "I expect never to die," he said, when Lord Plunkett once told him he would reach a great age. He finished his earthly work on the 14th of May, 1855, when he was eighty-five years old. But he still lives. His zeal for the coming of the Kingdom of Christ prompted his best hymn. On the mountain-top appearing, Lo! the sacred herald stands, Joyful news to Zion bearing, Zion long in hostile lands; Mourning captive, God himself will loose thy bands. Has the night been long and mournful? Have thy friends unfaithful proved? Have thy foes been proud and scornful, By thy sighs and tears unmoved? Cease thy mourning; Zion still is well beloved. _THE TUNE._ To presume that Kelly made both words and music together is possible, for he was himself a composer, but no such original tune seems to survive. In modern use Dr. Hastings' "Zion" is most frequently attached to the hymn, and was probably written for it. "YE CHRISTIAN HEROES, WAKE TO GLORY." This rather crude parody on the "Marseillaise Hymn" (see Chap. 9) is printed in the _American Vocalist_, among numerous samples of early New England psalmody of untraced authorship. It might have been sung at primitive missionary meetings, to spur the zeal and faith of a Francis Mason or a Harriet Newell. It expresses, at least, the new-kindled evangelical spirit of the long-ago consecrations in American church life that first sent the Christian ambassadors to foreign lands, and followed them with benedictions. [Illustration: The Right Rev. Reginald Heber, D.D.] Ye Christian heroes, wake to glory: Hark, hark! what millions bid you rise! See heathen nations bow before you, Behold their tears, and hear their cries. Shall pagan priest, their errors breeding, With darkling hosts, and flags unfurled, Spread their delusions o'er the world, Though Jesus on the Cross hung bleeding? To arms! To arms! Christ's banner fling abroad! March on! March on! all hearts resolved To bring the world to God.