Waiting for Christ

Let every lamp be burning bright

No. 852
Metre 8s & 7s. P.
Tune DILIGENCE.
Words F. E. Belden.
Music F. E. Belden.
Key E-flat major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 3/4
4 stanzas

Words

Let every lamp be burning bright,The darkest hour is nearing;The darkest hour of earth's long night,Before the Lord's appearing.

Chorus.

Then trim your lamps, my brethren dear,Then trim your lamps with godly fear;The Master's coming draweth near,Let every lamp be burning.

Though thousands calmly slumber on,The last great message spurning,We 'll rest our living faith uponHis promise of returning.

His word our lamp, his truth our guide,We cannot be mistaken;Though dangers rise on every side.We shall not be forsaken.

Then let good works with faith appear,To shame the world around us;Obedience brings the blessing nearWhen faith has firmly bound us.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «WAITING FOR CHRIST—CLOSING WORK.»; hymn number «852» (large), tune name «DILIGENCE. 8s & 7s. P.» centred over the music (condensed capitals), «F. E. BELDEN.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); in the left margin, printed vertically and reading upward, «Copyrighted 1886» (beside system 3) and «by F. E. Belden.» (beside system 2). Stanza 1 is interlinear, one line per system, with «1.» before «Let»; «Chorus.» (bold) stands over the second half of system 2, where the chorus begins («Then trim your lamps, my brethren dear,»). Only «dark- est» and «Be - fore» are hyphenated under the staves; every other word is printed whole. The chorus is printed once, with stanza 1, and is sung after every stanza (the print gives no instruction). No reference line is printed for this hymn. Stanzas 2–4 follow as text in two columns (2 and 3 left, stanza 3 continuing at the top of the right column, then 4), numbered «2» … «4» without a period (numbered «2.» etc. here like stanza 1), lines 2 and 4 indented; «F. E. Belden.» in italics at the right under stanza 4 (the handwritten «Early Advent» of this exemplar runs over its first letter; it is not print and is not transcribed). The print sets a thin space before «;» («nearing ;», «fear ;», «mistaken ;», «around us ;»); it is closed up here, and a word space is given after «fear;» and «near,» where the interlinear line runs them into the next word («fear ;The», «near,Let»). «We 'll» (stanza 2) is set with a space before the apostrophe and is kept so, as in HT_0805. Stanza 3, line 3 ends with a full stop in the print («Though dangers rise on every side.»), kept as printed (see uncertainties.md). Straight apostrophes are used for the printer's curly ones. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.