Scripture Verse

The Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. Zechariah 9:16

Introduction

portrait
John Cennick (1718–1755)
National Portrait Gallery

button

Words: John Cen­nick (1718–1755). Ap­peared in A Se­lect­ion of Hymns from the Best Au­thors, by John Rip­pon, 1787. The words have been re­pub­lished ma­ny times, some­times omit­ting the first two stan­zas. Those wish­ing to use the en­tire hymn in mo­dern wor­ship may con­si­der up­dat­ing the first line of the se­cond verse; sug­gest­ion: Long drea­ry cen­tur­ies now have passed…

Music: Wood­worth Will­iam B. Brad­bu­ry, Men­dels­sohn Col­lect­ion, or Third Book of Psal­mo­dy (New York: 1849) (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
William Bradbury
(1816–1868)

Lyrics

How ma­ny years has man been driv­en
Far off from hap­pi­ness and Hea­ven?
When wilt Thou, gra­cious Lord, re­store
Thy wan­der­ing church, to roam no more?

Six thou­sand years are near­ly past
Since Ad­am from Thy sight was cast;
And ev­er since, his fall­en race,
From age to age, is void of grace.

When will the hap­py trump pro­claim
The judg­ment of the mar­tyred Lamb?
When shall the cap­tive troops be free,
And keep the eter­nal ju­bi­lee!

Hasten it, Lord, in ev­ery land;
Send Thou thine an­gels and command,
Go, sound de­li­ver­ance; loud­ly blow
Salvation to the saints be­low.

We want to have the day ap­pear!
The pro­mised great sab­ba­tic year,
When, far from grief, and sin, and hell,
Israel in cease­less peace shall dwell.