Bible Songs — Missionary Songs

Watch and Pray

Watch, for the time is short;

No. 1254
Tune WATCH AND PRAY.
Words Anon.
Music R. Lowry.
Key F major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

Watch, for the time is short;Watch while 'tis called to-day;Watch, lest the world prevail;Watch, Christian, watch and pray;Watch, for the flesh is weak;Watch, for the foe is strong;Watch, lest the Bridegroom come;Watch, though he tarry long.

Chorus.

O watch and pray, O watch and pray;O watch and pray, O watch and pray, O watch and pray, O watch and pray;O watch in the darkness, and watch in the day;Christian, watch and pray.

Chase slumber from thine eyes,Chase doubting from thy breast;Thine is the promised prizeOf heaven's eternal rest;Watch, Christian, watch and pray;Thy Saviour watched for theeTill from his brow there pouredGreat drops of agony.

Take Jesus for thy trust;Watch while the foe is near;Gird well the armor on;Watch till thy Lord appear.Now when thy sun is up,Make thou no more delay,In this accepted timeWatch, Christian, watch and pray.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1254» (large, left), title «WATCH AND PRAY.» centred (condensed capitals with larger initials); under it, in one line, «ANON.» at the left (words), the epigraph «"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith; quit you like men, be strong."—1 Cor. 16 : 13.» in the middle, and «R. LOWRY.» at the right (music), capitals and small capitals; no meter, no reference line and no running head. The three stanzas are interlinear, three lines between the staves of systems 1–3, numbered «1.»–«3.» in system 1; each stanza is eight verse lines of six syllables, given here as the verse lines of the poem (the staff breaks fall inside the third verse line, «pre-/vail;», and after the fifth). «CHORUS.» is printed over the treble staff at the start of system 4. The chorus has two lines of words in system 4 and under the first bar of system 5: the upper line, sung by the soprano in long notes, with dots where a syllable is held («O watch . . . and pray, . . . . O watch and . . pray; . . .»), and the lower line, sung at the same time by alto, tenor and bass in eighth notes («O watch and pray, O watch and pray, O watch and pray, O watch and pray;»); after that one line serves all voices. The chorus is given here once, after stanza 1: first the soprano's line, then the line of the lower voices, then the two lines sung by all. In stanza 3 the last verse line, «Watch, Christian, watch and pray.», is set in a small condensed type to fit under the music; in stanza 1 «is strong;» and «lest the» are condensed in the same way. Syllable hyphens are joined («to-day» is the print's own hyphenated spelling and stays; «pre-vail», «Chris-tian», «prom-ised», «e-ter-nal», «Je-sus», «ar-mor», «ap-pear», «de-lay», «ac-cept-ed», «ag-o-ny»). The print sets a thin space before «;» («short ;», «vail ;», «on ;»); it is closed up here. Under the music: «From "Fresh Laurels," by per. Biglow & Main.» (centred) and the page number «472». Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's («Bridegroom», «Saviour», «armor»; no comma after the first «Watch» of «Watch while 'tis called to-day;», «Watch while the foe is near;» and «Watch till thy Lord appear.»).