Old Melodies

Burst, ye emerald gates, and bring

No. 1161
Tune EMERALD GATES.
Words Anon.
Music Arranged.
Key G major
Singing key F major
Time 6/8
3 stanzas

Words

Burst, ye emerald gates, and bringTo my raptured visionAll th' ecstatic joys that springRound the bright Elysian!Lo! we lift our longing eyes;Break, ye intervening skies!Sons of righteousness, arise!Ope the gates of paradise!

Chorus.

O, how good it is to be blessed,And dwell where loving Jesus is!

Floods of everlasting lightFreely flash before him;Myriads, with supreme delight,Instantly adore him;Angels' trumps resound his fame;Lutes of lucid gold proclaimAll the music of his name,Heaven echoing the theme.

Four and twenty elders riseFrom their princely station;Shout his glorious victories,Sing his great salvation;Cast their crowns before his throne;Cry, in reverential tone,"Glory be to God alone,Holy, holy, holy One!"

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «MISCELLANEOUS—OLD MELODIES.»; hymn number «1161» (large), tune name «EMERALD GATES.» centred over the music (condensed capitals and small capitals), «ARRANGED.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); no meter and no reference line are printed. Stanza 1 is interlinear: in system 1, «1.» and a brace before two lines — «Burst, ye em-erald gates, and bring To my rapt - ured vis - ion» (sung the first time, to the first ending «1st.») and «All th' ec-static joys that spring (omit.) . . . . . . . .» (sung on the repeat; «(omit.)» in italics under the first ending, followed by eight dots); after the closing brace, «Round the bright E - lys - ian!» (second ending «2d.»; the «!» is cut by the edge of the scan, see `uncertainties.md`); system 2 «Lo! we lift our longing eyes; Break, ye in - ter-ven - ing skies! Sons of righteousness, arise!»; system 3 «Ope the gates of par - a - dise!» and, under «Chorus.» printed over the music, «O, how good it is to be blessed, And dwell where loving Jesus is!» (see `lyrics_syllables.txt`). The chorus is printed once, under the music, and is sung after every stanza. Stanzas 2–3 are printed as text in two columns below the music, numbered «2» and «3» without a full stop (written «2.» and «3.» here, as in the other deliveries of this book), lines 2 and 4 of each stanza indented, «Anon.» in italics after stanza 3. Under the music «emerald», «ecstatic», «longing», «righteousness», «arise», «loving» and «Jesus» are printed whole under two or more notes. The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» («him ;», «fame ;», «station ;», «One !»); it is closed up here. Quotation marks and apostrophes are written straight («th'», «Angels'», «"Glory … One!"»). The first word of stanza 1 is not in small capitals. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's («Ope», «Elysian», «Heaven echoing»).