O Zion! when I think on thee

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O Zion! when I think on thee

Author: Thomas Kelly
Tune: AUGUSTUS (Roedel)
Published in 36 hymnals

Representative Text

1 O Zion, when I think of thee,
I wish for pinions like a dove,
And mourn to think that I should be
So distant from the place I love.

2 An exile here, and far from home,
For Zion's sacred walls I sigh;
Thither the ransom'd nations come,
And see the Saviour eye to eye.

3 While here I walk on hostile ground,
The few that I can call my friends,
Are like myself, with fetters bound,
And weariness our steps attends.

4 But yet we shall behold the day
When Zion's children shall return,
Our sorrows then shall flee away,
And we shall never, never mourn.

5 The hope that such a day will come
Makes ev'n the exile's portion sweet;
Though now we wander far from home,
In Zion soon we all shall meet.

Source: Book of Worship (Rev. ed.) #341

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Author: Thomas Kelly

Kelly, Thomas, B.A., son of Thomas Kelly, a Judge of the Irish Court of Common Pleas, was born in Dublin, July 13, 1769, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was designed for the Bar, and entered the Temple, London, with that intention; but having undergone a very marked spiritual change he took Holy Orders in 1792. His earnest evangelical preaching in Dublin led Archbishop Fowler to inhibit him and his companion preacher, Rowland Hill, from preaching in the city. For some time he preached in two unconsecrated buildings in Dublin, Plunket Street, and the Bethesda, and then, having seceded from the Established Church, he erected places of worship at Athy, Portarlington, Wexford, &c, in which he conducted divine worship and preached. H… Go to person page >

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