The Christian — Faith, Hope, and Charity

How cheering is the Christian's hope

No. 680
Metre C. M.
Tune EXHORTATION.
Words Anon.
Music S. Hibbard.
Key E major
Singing key D major
Time 4/4
6 stanzas

Words

How cheering is the Christian's hope,While toiling here below!It buoys us up while passing throughThis wilderness of woe.

It points us to a land of rest,Where saints with Christ will reign;Where we shall meet the loved of earth,And never part again,—

A land where sin can never come,Temptations ne'er annoy.Where happiness will ever dwell,And that without alloy.

O, how unlike the present worldWill be the one to come!Here, pain and sorrow, care and fear,Attend where'er we roam;

In that bright world no tears will flow,Death ne'er can enter there;For all who gain that heavenly landWill be as angels are.

Fly, lingering moments, fly, O, fly,Dear Saviour, quickly come!We long to see thee as thou art,And reach that blissful home.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «THE CHRISTIAN—FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY.»; hymn number «680» (large), tune name «EXHORTATION. C. M.» centred over the music, «S. HIBBARD.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). EXHORTATION is a fuguing tune: stanza 1 is interlinear; lines 1–2 («1. How cheer - ing is the Chris - tian's hope, While toil - ing / here be - low!») are sung by all four voices together; lines 3–4 («It buoys us up while passing through / This wilderness of woe,») are sung twice in the music — first in imitative entries, each voice with its own printed line (bass below the bass staff from the last beat after «below!», soprano on the first line between the staves, tenor on the second line between the staves; the alto joins the soprano at «This»), then by all voices together on the main line of the last system («woe, It buoys us up while passing through This wil - der - ness of woe.»), while the tenor finishes «wil - der-ness of woe, . . . . .» on a line of its own (the dots: «woe» held over a slurred run). The text below gives each verse line once; stanza 1 ends with the full stop of the last system («woe.»; the fugued entries print «woe,»). The italic reference line «724, 550, 798.» (= the words may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 724, 550 or 798) stands above stanza 2 in the left column; stanzas 2–6 follow as text, numbered «2»–«6» without a full stop (written «2.»–«6.» here), the second and fourth lines of each stanza indented; «Anon.» in italics after stanza 6. In this copy an ink blot covers the end of «happiness» and the first letter of «will» in stanza 3, line 3 (read «happiness will»: «happines» and «ill» are visible on each side, and the line needs eight syllables); handwriting in ink at the foot of the page is not part of the print. The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» («reign ;», «below !», «come !», «roam ;», «there ;»); it is closed up here. Spelling («Saviour», «ne'er», «where'er»), punctuation and capitals are the print's.