177
The Church Has Waited Long
Verse 1
The church has waited long
Her absent Lord to see;
And still in loneliness she waits,
A friendless stranger she.
Her absent Lord to see;
And still in loneliness she waits,
A friendless stranger she.
Verse 2
How long, O Lord our God,
Holy and true and good,
Wilt Thou not judge Thy suffering church,
Her sighs and tears and blood?
Holy and true and good,
Wilt Thou not judge Thy suffering church,
Her sighs and tears and blood?
Verse 3
Saint after saint on earth,
Has lived, and loved, and died;
And as they left us one by one,
We laid them side by side.
Has lived, and loved, and died;
And as they left us one by one,
We laid them side by side.
Verse 4
We laid them down to sleep,
But not in hope forlorn;
We laid them but to slumber there,
Till the last glorious morn.
But not in hope forlorn;
We laid them but to slumber there,
Till the last glorious morn.
Verse 5
We long to hear Thy voice,
To see Thee face to face,
To share Thy crown and glory then,
As now we share Thy grace.
To see Thee face to face,
To share Thy crown and glory then,
As now we share Thy grace.
Verse 6
Come, Lord, and wipe away
The curse, the sin, the stain,
And make this blighted world of ours
Thine own fair world again.
The curse, the sin, the stain,
And make this blighted world of ours
Thine own fair world again.
A hymn of eschatological longing in the 1940 Church Hymnal with limited historical documentation.