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.». 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), 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).