Adventist Pioneer Library

Waiting for Christ

The Church has waited long

  • No. 815
  • Metre S. M.
  • Words Horatius Bonar.
  • 6 stanzas
  • Words only in the original

Words

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1

The Church has waited longHer absent Lord to see;And still in loneliness she waits,A friendless stranger she.

2

How long, O Lord our God,Holy and true and good,Wilt thou not judge thy suffering Church,Her sighs and tears and blood?

3

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.

4

We laid them down to sleep,But not in hope forlorn;We left them but to slumber there,Till the last glorious morn.

5

We long to hear thy voice,To see thee face to face,To share thy crown and glory then,As now we share thy grace.

6

Come, Lord, and wipe awayThe curse, the sin, the stain,And make this blighted world of oursThine own fair world again.

About this hymn

As printed Words only. As printed: hymn number «815» (large) in the left column of p. 267, under hymn 814, with the reference line «558, 810, 236.» in italic figures beside it (sing to the tunes of hymns 558 BOYLSTON, 810 EL KADER or 236 BADEA, all S. M.; no meter is printed — the four lines 6.6.8.6 are S. M., like the referenced tunes). Stanzas 1–3 stand at the foot of the left column; stanzas 4–6 continue at the top of the right column, followed by «Horatius Bonar.» in italics, right-aligned. Stanzas numbered «1»–«6» without periods (written «1.»–«6.» here, as in the other deliveries of this book); lines 2 and 4 indented. The first word «THE» is set in capitals and small capitals; written «The». In stanza 4 the last letter of «there» is almost entirely missing in this copy («ther» + a faint tick, then the comma); read «there,». The print sets a thin space before some «;» («died ;», «forlorn ;»); it is closed up here. 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. 815 · printed page 267
Checked
lyrics verified (fork reading; parent check pending) · 2026-10-02