1 Come, Lord, and tarry not!
Bring the long-looked for day!
O why these years of waiting here,
These ages of delay?
2 Come, for your saints still wait;
Daily ascends their sigh;
The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!"
Do you not hear the cry?
3 Come, for creation groans
With longing for your stay,
Worn out with these long years of ill,
These ages of decay.
4 Come, and make all things new;
Build up this ruined earth;
Restore our faded paradise,
Creation's second birth.
5 Come, and begin your reign
Of everlasting peace;
Come, take the kingdom to yourself,
Great King of Righteousness!
Source: Lead Me, Guide Me (2nd ed.) #242
First Line: | Come, Lord, and tarry not |
Author: | Horatius Bonar (1846) |
Meter: | 6.6.8.6 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Come, Lord, and tarry not. H.Bonar. [Second Advent desired.] Printed in May, 1846, at the end of one of the Kelso Tracts, and again in his Hymns of Faith and Hope, 1857. It is in 14 stanzas of 4 lines, with the heading "Come, Lord," and the motto from St. Augustine, "Senuit mundus." Centos, varying in length and construction, but all beginning with stanza i., are in extensive use in America. In Great Britain it is less popular. A cento, beginning with stanza ii., "Come, Lord; Thy saints for Thee," is also given in Kennedy, 1863, No. 22.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)