Scripture Verse

How long, O Lord? Revelation 6:10

Introduction

portrait
William Tans’ur (1700–1783)

Words: Anon­ymous, in The Ad­vent Christ­ian Hym­nal (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Ad­vent Christ­ian Publ­ica­tion So­ci­ety, 1894), num­ber 7.

Music: Ban­gor Will­iam Tan­s’ur, 1734 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

How long, dear Lord, ere Thou wilt come,
Our lone­ly hearts to cheer?
How long ere Thou wilt come to reign?
We long to view Thee near.

O come and cheer our sor­row­ing hearts—
We long Thy face to see;
O come and take Thy wea­ry bride,
To dwell, dear Lord, with Thee.

We look abroad o’er earth’s do­main,
We hear Thy child­ren cry,
How long, O Lord, ere Thou wilt come,
And bring re­demp­tion nigh?

How long ere grief and pain shall cease,
And tears be wiped away,
And joys un­told our hearts shall cheer
’Mid realms of end­less day?