Waiting for Christ

Long upon the mountains, weary

No. 844
Metre 8s & 7s. D.
Tune GREENVILLE.
Words Annie R. Smith.
Music Jean Jacques Rousseau.
Key F major
Time 4/4
4 stanzas

Words

Long upon the mountains, weary,Have the scattered flock been torn;Dark the desert paths, and dreary;Grievous trials have they borne.Now the gathering call is sounding,Solemn in its warning voice;Union, faith, and love, abounding,Bid the little flock rejoice.

Now the light of truth they 're seeking,In its onward track pursue;All the ten commandments keeping,They are holy, just, and true.On the words of life they 're feeding,Precious to their taste, so sweet;All their Master's precepts heeding,Bowing humbly at his feet.

In that world of light and beauty,In that golden city fair,Soon its pearly gates they 'll enter,And of all its glories share.There, divine the soul's expansions;Free from sin, and death, and pain;Tears will never dim those mansionsWhere the saints immortal reign.

Soon He comes! with clouds descending;All his saints, entombed, arise;The redeemed, in anthems blending,Shout their victory through the skies.O, we long for thine appearing;Come, O Saviour, quickly come!Blessed hope! our spirits cheering,Take thy ransomed children home.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «WAITING FOR CHRIST—CLOSING WORK.»; hymn number «844» (large), tune name «GREENVILLE.» centred over the music (condensed capitals), meter «8s & 7s. D.» (the «D.» small), «JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU.» at the right (capitals and small capitals), «Fine.» under it. The music has two systems. System 1 (closed by a repeat sign and «Fine.») carries two lyric lines between the staves, enclosed in braces with «1.» before them — the first sung the first time, the second on the repeat — and, under them, in italics, the line headed «D. C.—» that is sung to system 1 after the D. C.; system 2 (closed by «D. C.») carries lines 5–6 of the stanza. «mountains,», «scattered» and «gathering» are printed as one word under their two notes. Stanzas 2–4 are printed as text in the left column below the music, under the reference line «501, 503, 412.» in bold italics (= the words may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 501, 503 or 412), eight lines each, lines 2, 4, 6 and 8 indented, numbered «2»–«4» without periods (written «2.»–«4.» here, as in the other deliveries of this book); «Annie R. Smith.» in italics after stanza 4. Stanza 1 is assembled here in the order it is sung (line 1, repeat line, system 2, D. C. line). The print sets a thin space before «;» and «!» («pursue ;», «sweet ;», «expansions ;», «pain ;», «descending ;», «arise ;», «appearing ;», «comes !», «come !», «hope !»); it is closed up here. «they 're» (stanza 2, twice) and «they 'll» (stanza 3) are printed with a space before the apostrophe and kept so (house convention, as «We 're», «I 'll» elsewhere in this book). The double space in «Come, O Saviour, quickly come!» is a spacing accident, written single. «He» (stanza 4) capitalized as printed. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.