Reward of Saints

We've no abiding city here

No. 977
Metre L. M.
Tune ANDRE.
Words Thomas Kelly.
Music Unknown.
Key G major
Singing key F major
Time 4/4
4 stanzas

Words

We've no abiding city here;Sad truth, were this to be our home;But let this thought our spirits cheer,We seek a city yet to come.

We've no abiding city here,We seek a city out of sight;Zion its name,—the Lord is there,—It shines with everlasting light.

O sweet abode of peace and love,Where pilgrims, freed from toil, are blest!Had I the pinions of a dove,I'd fly to thee, and be at rest.

But hush, my soul! nor dare repine;The time my God appoints is best:While here, to do his will be mine,And his to fix my time of rest.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «REWARD OF SAINTS.»; hymn number «977» (large), tune name «ANDRE. L. M.» centred over the music (condensed capitals), «UNKNOWN.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). Stanza 1 is interlinear, between the staves, one line per system, with «1.» before «We've»: «1. We've no a - biding cit - y here; Sad truth, were this to be our home ; But let this thought our» / «spir - its cheer, We seek a cit - y yet tocome, We seek a cit - y yet to come.» The music sings the fourth line twice, printed out in full under the staves (first «come,», then «come.») — stanza 1 below gives the four verse lines once, as a poem, with the final reading «come.» (see `lyrics_syllables.txt` for the line exactly as printed). Under the staves «biding» is printed whole under two notes (only «a - biding» is hyphenated), and «to come,» of the first statement is set without a visible word space («tocome,»); the words are separated here. Stanzas 2–4 are printed as text in the left column below the music, under the reference line «212, 301, 347.» in bold italic figures (= the words may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 212 PARK STREET, 301 ROCKINGHAM or 347 WARD, all L. M.; the PDF text layer reads «801», but the figure is the italic 3 — see uncertainties.md), numbered «2»–«4» without periods (written «2.»–«4.» here, as in the other deliveries of this book), followed by «Thomas Kelly.» in italics. Line 2 of stanza 3 is too long for the column: «are» ends the line and «blest !» is turned over, indented, below it — one verse line here. Lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are indented in the print. The print sets a thin space before «;», «!» and «:» («home ;», «sight ;», «blest !», «soul !», «repine ;», «best :»); it is closed up here. Apostrophes («We've», «I'd») are written straight. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's (stanza 2 repeats the first line of stanza 1, «We've no abiding city here,», as printed).