In Patient Faith, Till Christ Shall Come

In pa­tient faith

till Christ shall come

To call His du­te­ous serv­ants home

Our hearts and minds we keep;

Still look­ing for that glo­ri­ous day

When heav’n and earth shall melt away

And saints awake from sleep.

And signs there be

in this late time

Once more of hopes re­viv­ing prime

As in re­demp­tion’s morn;

The fev­er­ish earth doth shake again

Groaning and tra­vail­ing in pain

Till some new change be born.

With no un­heed­ful hearts we hear

The mut­ter­ings of con­vul­sion near

And ter­ror soon to be.

Hosts ga­ther­ing for the fi­nal strife

Of light and dark­ness

death and life

With breath­less awe we see.

We know that fear­ful dark­ness soon

Shall veil the face of sun and moon

The stars for­sake their spheres;

The pow­ers of heav’n

with fear aghast

They trem­ble

quake

un­til at last

Christ’s sign in heav’n ap­pears.

Then earth’s re­bel­lious tribes shall wail

And sin­ful hearts with ter­ror fail:

While saints

des­pised so long

From east and west

and south and north

By an­gel trum­pets sum­moned forth—

Raise one tri­umph­ant song.