Adventist Pioneer Library

Waiting for Christ

O happy day! that bursts the tomb

  • No. 793
  • Metre L. M. P.
  • Tune Happy Day
  • Words U. Smith.
  • 4 stanzas
  • Words only in the original

Words

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1

O happy day! that bursts the tomb,And sets the joyful prisoners free;That lifts the saints from death and gloomTo life and immortality.

Chorus.

Happy day! happy day!For thee we'll wait and watch and pray;We bid thy hours no more delay;O chase the shades of night away.Happy day! happy day!For thee we'll wait and watch and pray.

2

O happy day! when earth so bright,In Eden robes shall bloom again;Her beauty no decay shall blight,Nor death e'er tread her wide domain.

3

O happy day! when far around,Through all this universal frame,One glorious anthem shall resoundOf blessing to Jehovah's name.

4

O happy day! that knows no night;No sorrow with thy joy shall blend;No clouds shall e'er obscure thy light;Thy scenes of glory ne'er shall end.

About this hymn

As printed Words only. As printed: hymn number «793» (large) in the right column of p. 260, below the end of hymn 792, then in italics and brackets «[Tune, Happy Day, No. 435.]» (sing to the tune HAPPY DAY, hymn 435), then «L. M.» in bold with a small «P.» after it (as in the header of 435, «L. M. P.»). The first words «O HAPPY» are set with «HAPPY» in capitals and small capitals; written «O happy» here. After stanza 1 the word «CHORUS.» (capitals and small capitals) and six indented chorus lines; the chorus is printed once and is sung after every stanza. Its six lines fit the chorus of HAPPY DAY (435: «Happy day, happy day, When Jesus washed my sins away!» to «Fine.», two lines on the repeated section, «D. S.» back to «Happy day»), as the repeat of «Happy day! happy day! For thee we'll wait and watch and pray» at its end shows. Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are indented. The print sets a thin space before «!» and «;» («day !», «free ;», «pray ;», «delay ;», «again ;», «night ;», «blend ;», «light ;») and before the final periods of «pray .» and «domain .», and a thin space after the apostrophe of «we'll» («we' ll»); they are closed up here. Apostrophes are written straight («we'll», «e'er», «ne'er», «Jehovah's»). Stanza numbers printed without periods are written «1.»–«4.». «U. Smith.» in italics after stanza 4. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.

Source
The Seventh-day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book (Battle Creek: Review & Herald, 1886/1888)
Where
Waiting for Christ · No. 793 · printed page 260
Checked
lyrics verified (fork reading; parent check pending) · 2026-10-02