Hymnal: The Christian Hymnal
Date: 1871
Compiler: Under direction of the Christian Hymn-Book Committee
Publisher/Printer: Bosworth Chase & Hall
First Line: The Church has waited long
Topic: The New Life/Aspirations
Writer: <no first name given> <no last name given>
Composer: L Mason
Meter: SM double
Tune: Bonar
Hymn Number: 599
Page Number: 218, click to see hymnal pages
LyicsThe Church has waited long
Her absent Lord to see;
And still in loneliness she waits,
A friendless stranger she.
Age after age has gone,
Sun after sun has set,
And still in weeds of widowhood
She weeps, a mourner yet.
Saint after saint on earth
Has lived, and loved, and died;
And as they left us, one by one,
We laid them side by side;
We laid them down to sleep,
But not in hope forlorn;
We laid them but to ripen there,
Till the last glorious morn.
The whole creation groans,
And waits to hear that voice
That shall restore her comeliness,
And make her wastes rejoice.
Come, Lord, and wipe away
The curse, the sin, the stain,
and make this blighted world of ours
Thine own fair world again.