Hope of our hearts, O Lord, appear,

Thou glorious star of day!

Shine forth, and chase the dreary night,

With all our tears, away.

2 Strangers on earth, we wait for thee;

O leave the Father’s throne;

Come with a shout of victory, Lord,

And claim us as thine own.

3 O bid the bright archangel now

The trump of God prepare,

To call thy saints—the quick, the dead,

To meet thee in the air.

4 No resting-place we seek on earth,

No loveliness we see;

Our eye is on the royal crown,

Prepared for us and thee.

The Church has waited long

Her absent Lord to see;

And still in loneliness she waits,

A friendless stranger she.

Age after age has gone,

Sun after sun has set,

And still in weeds of widowhood

She weeps a mourner yet.

Come, then, Lord Jesus, come!

2 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;

We laid them down to sleep,

But not in hope forlorn;

We laid them but to ripen there,

Till the last glorious morn.

Come, then, Lord Jesus, come!

When the King of kings comes,

When the Lord of lords comes;

We shall have a joyful day,

When the King of kings comes:

To see the nations broken down,

And kingdoms once of great renown,

And saints now suffering wear the crown,

When the King of kings comes.

2 When the trump of God calls,

When the last of foes falls;

We shall have a joyful day,

When the King of kings comes:

To see the saints raised from the dead,

And all together gatherÉd,

And made like to their glorious Head,

When the King of kings comes.

3 When the foe’s distress comes,

When the church’s rest comes;

We shall have a joyful day,

When the King of kings comes:

To see the New Jerusalem,

Its fullness and its matchless frame,

Surpassing all report and fame,

When the King of kings comes.

Saviour, haste: our souls are waiting

For the long expected day,

When, new heavens and earth creating,

Thou shalt banish grief away;

All the sorrow

Caused by sin and Satan’s sway.

2 Haste, O hasten thine appearing,

Take thy mourning people home;

’Tis this hope our spirits cheering,

While we in the desert roam,

Makes thy people

Strangers here till thou dost come.

3 Lord, how long shall the creation

Groan and travail sore in pain,

Waiting for its sure salvation

When thou shalt in glory reign,

And like Eden

This sad earth shall bloom again?

Lo! he cometh—countless trumpets

Wake to life the slumbering dead;

’Mid ten thousand saints and angels,

See their great exalted Head:

Hallelujah!—

Welcome, welcome, Son of God!

2 Full of joyful expectation,

Saints behold the Judge appear;

Truth and justice go before him—

Now the joyful sentence hear;

Hallelujah!—

Welcome, welcome, Judge divine!

3 “Come, ye blessÉd of my Father!

Enter into life and joy:

Banish all your fears and sorrows;

Endless praise be your employ;”

Hallelujah!—

Welcome, welcome, to the skies.

Lo! he comes, with clouds descending,

Once for favored sinners slain,

Thousand thousand saints attending,

Swell the triumph of his train!

Hallelujah!

Jesus now shall ever reign!

We wait for thee, all-glorious One;

We look for thine appearing;

We bear thy name, and on the throne,

We see thy presence cheering.

2 We wait for thee, through days forlorn,

In patient self-denial;

We know that thou our grief hast borne

Upon thy cross of trial.

And well may we

Submit with thee

To bear the cross and love it,

Until thy hand remove it.

3 We wait for thee; already thou

Hast all our heart’s submission;

And though the spirit sees thee now,

We long for open vision;

When ours shall be

Sweet rest with thee,

And pure, unfading pleasure,

And life in endless measure.

4 We wait for thee in certain hope—

The time will soon be over;

With child-like longing we look up,

The glory to discover.

O, bliss! to share

Thy triumph there,

When home with joy and singing,

The Lord his saints is bringing!