It would not have been unusual for him to have written the first words of this song on a stray scrap of paper. William Lamertine Thompson admitted that’s how many of his compositions began, so perhaps that was also true of “There’s a Great Day Coming”, which this 39-year-old entrepreneur fashioned in the mid-1880s. Was Will at his East Liverpool, Ohio home (see map), or does his poetry suggest he was sitting in a church in this small community when he was moved by a particular moment? This fellow had done much to carve out his own success, and had the respect and admiration of his community and family, in both secular and spiritual realms, but he didn’t lean on just his earthly accomplishments and relationships. One could readily say that Will wanted to be ready for another time, and wanted to challenge others with that same question he must have asked himself.
Will Thompson might have been in any number of places with special circumstances that sparked his thoughts, as so often happened with his poetic compositions. He could have been at home in East Liverpool, or maybe traveling abroad as he sometimes did with his family, on the premises of his publishing company, or in a church building during a worship service. These and many others would have been normal venues for Thompson, as he pursued writing and publishing church music, in addition to writing some secular music. Will evidently loved his community in eastern Ohio, and did much in a philanthropic way to preserve its history and set aside land for residents’ enjoyment. And yet, he must have also wanted everyone to know that time there was short, and not to be so cherished that no one planned for an eternal home. With the words of ‘There’s a Great Day…’, it would be easy to imagine that Will was sitting in a worship service, perhaps listening to an especially resonant sermon or taking note of the moment someone responded to the preacher’s message. Was he also thinking about and yearning for someone who was still acting skeptical about the hereafter? The results of that moment or moments could have been scrawled on a piece of paper now long-discarded by Will, but at least he preserved what may still be that episode’s most consequential effect – this song. With the words ‘Are you ready?’ that he asks repeatedly, Will wanted others to be in that moment also. Was Will being merely rhetorical? If he were here, we could guess that he would answer with a loud ‘NO!’ He saw it as a ‘great’ (v.1) and ‘bright’ (v.2) day for the believer, but was not shy about warning people he must have felt were not committed to God. To say it would be a ‘sad’ (v.3) day for the unsaved was not enough; Will told them it would mean their ‘doom’ (v.3), and that the ‘bright day…only come(s)’ (v.3) for the saved. ‘Depart’ (v.3) would be the direction those unfortunate would hear.
Will seems to be asking the hearer to decide for him/herself: is this ‘Great Day’ a magnificent one, or instead an awful one? And, does piling on more adjectives to amplify one’s description of that day help you and me understand it better? Will Thompson really didn’t try to underscore he message with more descriptive phrases. Instead, he just repeats the question each hearer must use to probe the conscience. Can you be honest with yourself, even for just a moment? God doesn’t ask for your perfection. He provided that part. What Will apparently apprehended, and what you and I need to see is this: The day is coming; it will be inescapable. Do you want the God of the universe to transport you in that moment?
See short biography on author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/t/h/o/m/p/thompson_wl.htm
See a longer biography here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Lamartine_Thompson
See all of the song’s verses here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/g/r/e/tgreatda.htm
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