“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, either shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4
When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder
By Shannon Pederson
When James Milton Black, American composer of hymns, choir leader and Sunday school teacher, came home one Sunday, his wife saw at once that he was deeply troubled. Tears filled his eyes as he entered his gate. He sat down at his piano and in a few minutes wrote the words and composed a song that is familiar to most American church-goers: "When the Roll Is Called up Yonder."
Mr. Black was born in 1856 in South Hill, New York. He acquired an early musical education in singing and organ playing. Around 1881, he moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he carried on Christian work through the Methodist Episcopal Church. Teaching music during the week, he was a song leader, Sunday school teacher, and youth leader in his spare hours. In addition to all this work, he edited hymnals.
He loved young people and tried to win them for Christ. One day, as he passed through an alley, he met a ragged fourteen-year-old girl. She was the daughter of an alcoholic. He invited her to his Sunday school and youth group and she began to attend.
However, one day in 1893 when he took roll, the girl did not respond. Each child had to say a Scripture verse when his or her name was called. James saw a lesson in her silence. "It spoke of what a sad thing it would be when our names are called from the Lamb's Book of Life, those who belong to God and have attained eternal life, if one of us should be absent."
He was not the kind of man to let the matter die with a moral lesson. After Sunday school, he went to his pupil's home to find out why she had not showed up for class. He found her dangerously ill and sent for his own doctor. The doctor said that she had pneumonia. Since that was before the days of antibiotics, death was highly likely.
Mr. Black returned home. He tried to find a song to fit the thought of a heavenly roll call but could not locate one. An inner voice seemed to say, "Why don't you write one." And that is what he did: He is quoted as saying, "I played the music just as it is found today in the hymn-books, note for note and word for word, and I have never dared to change a single word or a note of the song."
A few days later, he had the sad opportunity of explaining in public how he came to write the song when it was sung at the funeral of the girl whose absence at roll call had inspired it.
Fifty-two years later, in 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill created a stir in the British press when he quoted the hymn in response to a question about when the Big Three (Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin) were to meet. Mr. Churchill, in one of his somewhat puckish moods, replied that he did not know, but, he added irreverently, 'When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.' The British press expressed surprise at Churchill, an Anglican, being familiar with a hymn more associated with Methodism, Presbyterianism, or at revival meetings. Some speculated that Churchill might well have heard the "catchy" tune in the street meetings he attended that were held by the Salvation Army.
When James Milton Black, American composer of hymns, choir leader and Sunday school teacher, came home one Sunday, his wife saw at once that he was deeply troubled. Tears filled his eyes as he entered his gate. He sat down at his piano and in a few minutes wrote the words and composed a song that is familiar to most American church-goers: "When the Roll Is Called up Yonder."
Mr. Black was born in 1856 in South Hill, New York. He acquired an early musical education in singing and organ playing. Around 1881, he moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he carried on Christian work through the Methodist Episcopal Church. Teaching music during the week, he was a song leader, Sunday school teacher, and youth leader in his spare hours. In addition to all this work, he edited hymnals.
He loved young people and tried to win them for Christ. One day, as he passed through an alley, he met a ragged fourteen-year-old girl. She was the daughter of an alcoholic. He invited her to his Sunday school and youth group and she began to attend.
However, one day in 1893 when he took roll, the girl did not respond. Each child had to say a Scripture verse when his or her name was called. James saw a lesson in her silence. "It spoke of what a sad thing it would be when our names are called from the Lamb's Book of Life, those who belong to God and have attained eternal life, if one of us should be absent."
He was not the kind of man to let the matter die with a moral lesson. After Sunday school, he went to his pupil's home to find out why she had not showed up for class. He found her dangerously ill and sent for his own doctor. The doctor said that she had pneumonia. Since that was before the days of antibiotics, death was highly likely.
Mr. Black returned home. He tried to find a song to fit the thought of a heavenly roll call but could not locate one. An inner voice seemed to say, "Why don't you write one." And that is what he did: He is quoted as saying, "I played the music just as it is found today in the hymn-books, note for note and word for word, and I have never dared to change a single word or a note of the song."
A few days later, he had the sad opportunity of explaining in public how he came to write the song when it was sung at the funeral of the girl whose absence at roll call had inspired it.
Fifty-two years later, in 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill created a stir in the British press when he quoted the hymn in response to a question about when the Big Three (Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin) were to meet. Mr. Churchill, in one of his somewhat puckish moods, replied that he did not know, but, he added irreverently, 'When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.' The British press expressed surprise at Churchill, an Anglican, being familiar with a hymn more associated with Methodism, Presbyterianism, or at revival meetings. Some speculated that Churchill might well have heard the "catchy" tune in the street meetings he attended that were held by the Salvation Army.
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more
And the morning breaks eternal bright and fair
When the saved word shall gather over on the other shore
And the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise
And the glory of his resurrection share
When His chosen ones shall gather
to their home beyond the skies
And the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
And the morning breaks eternal bright and fair
When the saved word shall gather over on the other shore
And the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise
And the glory of his resurrection share
When His chosen ones shall gather
to their home beyond the skies
And the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there