Words and music by Charles H. Gabriel, 1856-1932.
From Forty Gospel Hymn Stories by George W. Sanville, 1943, p. 80.
"Dad," said Charles H. Gabriel, Jr., from the embrace of his father, "if I never see you again here, I'll meet you where the gates never swing outward." His father, the beloved song writer, had gone to New York to bid his son God-speed as he departed for France during the First World War. It was while clasped in that last good-bye, his eyes turned toward the gates through which he must pass to go on shipboard. Those gates of entrance to war and death swung both ways; it gave him apt figure of speech to phrase his parting from his father.
"I'll meet you where the gates never swing outward!" The words sketched a picture in the mind of his father, who, while the train journeyed westward toward his Chicago home, held in his heart his son's heart-warming good-bye of love and...affection. From his meditation came this tender song: "Where the gates swing outward never!"
Revelation 21:25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
And to tell the old, old story;
Then, when twilight falls, and my Savior calls,
I shall go to Him in glory.
Chorus:
I'll exchange my cross for a starry crown,
Where the gates swing outward never;
At His feet I'll lay ev'ry burden down,
And with Jesus reign forever.
Just a few more years with their toil and tears,
And the journey will be ended;
Then I'll be with Him, where the tide of time
With eternity is blended.
Chorus.
Tho' the hills be steep and the valleys deep,
With no flow'rs my way adorning;
Tho' the night be lone and my rest a stone,
Joy awaits me in the morning.
Chorus.
What a joy 'twill be when I wake to see
Him for whom my heart is burning!
Nevermore to sigh, nevermore to die--
For that day my heart is yearning
Chorus:
I'll exchange my cross for a starry crown,
Where the gates swing outward never;
At His feet I'll lay ev'ry burden down,
And with Jesus reign forever.