The Church — Zeal and Union

I love thy kingdom, Lord

No. 1021
Metre S. M.
Tune SHIRLAND.
Words Timothy Dwight.
Music Samuel Stanley.
Key G major
Singing key F major
Time 2/2
5 stanzas

Words

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I love thy kingdom, Lord,—The house of thine abode,—The church our blest Redeemer savedWith his own precious blood.

I love thy church, O God!Her walls before thee stand,Dear as the apple of thine eye,And graven on thy hand.

For her my tears shall fall,For her my prayers ascend,To her my cares and toils be givenTill toils and cares shall end.

Beyond my highest joyI prize her heavenly ways,—Her sweet communion, solemn vows,Her hymns of love and praise.

Sure as thy truth shall last,To Zion shall be givenThe brightest glories earth can yield,And brighter bliss of heaven.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «THE CHURCH—ZEAL AND UNION.»; hymn number «1021» (large, left), tune name «SHIRLAND. S. M.» centred over the music (condensed capitals), «SAMUEL STANLEY.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). Stanza 1 is interlinear, between the staves, two verse lines per system, with «1.» before «I»: «king - dom», «a - bode», «Re - deem - er» and «pre - cious» are printed in syllables and joined here; the dash of «Lord,—» runs straight into «The» under the staff. Stanzas 2–5 are printed as text in the left column below the music, under the italic reference line «810, 558, 236.» (= the words may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 810, 558 or 236, all S. M.); «Timothy Dwight.» in italics after stanza 5. The stanza numbers of the text stanzas are printed without a full stop («2 I love»); they are numbered «2.» here like stanza 1. Lines 2 and 4 of each text stanza are indented in the print. The printer's thin space before «!» («O God !») and a double space in «thy church» are closed up here. In stanza 4, line 4, an ink blot of this copy covers the middle of «love» (the «l» and the «e» are visible; see `uncertainties.md`). Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.