Waiting for Christ

Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings

No. 837
Metre P. M.
Tune AMSTERDAM.
Words Robert Seagrave.
Music James Nares.
Key G major
Singing key F major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings,Thy better portion trace;Rise from transitory thingsToward heaven, thy native place.Sun, and moon, and stars decay;Time shall soon this earth remove;Rise, my soul, and haste awayTo seats prepared above.

Rivers to the ocean run,Nor stay in all their course;Fire ascending seeks the sun;Both speed them to their source:So a soul that's born of God,Pants to view his glorious face;Upward tends to his abode,To rest in his embrace.

Cease, my soul, O cease to mourn!Press onward to the prize;Soon thy Saviour will returnTo take thee to the skies:There is everlasting peace,Rest, enduring rest in heaven;There will sorrow ever cease,And crowns of joy be given.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «WAITING FOR CHRIST—CLOSING WORK.»; hymn number «837» (large), tune name «AMSTERDAM. P. M.» centred over the music (condensed capitals), «JAMES NARES.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). Stanza 1 is interlinear, between the staves: under the first half of system 1, after «1.», two lines in braces, «{ Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings, Thy bet - ter por - tion trace; / Rise from tran - si - to - ry things Toward heaven, thy na - tive place. }» — the first and the second time through the repeated opening (the end-repeat sign stands after «trace; / place.») — then «Sun, and moon, and stars de - cay;» under the rest of system 1, and under system 2 «Time shall soon this earth re - move; Rise, my soul, and haste a - way To seats pre - pared a - bove.». «Toward» and «heaven» are each sung on one note. Stanzas 2–3 are printed as text in two columns below the music, with no reference line; «Robert Seagrave.» in italics, right-aligned, after stanza 3. Lines 2, 4, 6 and 8 of each stanza are indented in the print; stanza 1 is set here in the same pattern. The print sets a thin space before «;», «:» and «!» («trace ;», «cay ;», «move ;», «course ;», «sun ;», «source :», «face ;», «mourn !», «prize ;», «skies :», «heaven ;»); it is closed up here. The printer's curly apostrophe is written straight («that's»). Stanza numbers printed without periods are written «2.», «3.». The handwritten notes of this exemplar (beside the hymn number, above the composer and at the foot of the page) are not part of the print and are not transcribed (see `uncertainties.md`). Spelling («Saviour»), punctuation and capitals are the print's.