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| THE LORD 1 is come! On Syrian soil, | |
| The child of poverty and toil— | |
| The Man of Sorrows, born to know | |
| Each varying shade of human woe! | |
| His joy, His glory to fulfil, | 5 |
| In earth and heav’n His Father’s will; | |
| On lonely mount, by festive board, | |
| On bitter cross, despised, adored. | |
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| The Lord is come! Dull hearts to wake, | |
| He spake, as never man yet spake, | 10 |
| The Truth that makes His servant free, | |
| The royal law of Liberty. | |
| Though heaven and earth shall pass away, | |
| His living word our spirits stay, | |
| And from His treasures, new and old, | 15 |
| Th’ eternal mysteries unfold. | |
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| The Lord is come! With joy behold | |
| The gracious signs, declar’d of old; | |
| The ear that hears, the eye that sees, | |
| The sick restored to health and ease; | 20 |
| The poor that from their low estate | |
| Are rous’d to seek a nobler fate; | |
| The minds with doubt and dread possess’d, | |
| Thus find in Him their perfect rest. | |
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| The Lord is come! The world’s great stage | 25 |
| Begins a better, brighter age! | |
| The old gives place unto the new; | |
| The false retires before the true, | |
| A progress that shall never tire, | |
| A central heat of sacred fire, | 30 |
| A hope that soars beyond the tomb, | |
| Reveal that Christ has truly come. | |
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| The Lord is come! In Him we trace | |
| The fulness of God’s truth and grace; | |
| Throughout those words and acts divine | 35 |
| Gleams of th’ eternal splendour shine; | |
| And from His inmost Spirit flow, | |
| As from a height of sunlit snow, | |
| The river of perennial life, | |
| To heal and sweeten Nature’s strife. | 40 |
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| The Lord is come! In ev’ry heart, | |
| Where Truth and Mercy claim a part! | |
| In every land where Right is Might, | |
| And deeds of darkness shun the light, | |
| In every church, where Faith and Love | 45 |
| Lift earthward thoughts to things above, | |
| In every holy, happy home, | |
| We bless Thee, Lord, that Thou hast come. | |
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| The Lord shall come! Where’er the day | |
| Bids earthly shadows flee away; | 50 |
| Where’er across the list’ning sky | |
| The lightning of God’s truth shall fly, | |
| Where’er the gathering eagles sweep | |
| Around corruption’s mould’ring heap, | |
| There, twice and thrice and yet again, | 55 |
| We hear or see the Son of Man. | |
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| The Lord shall come! His still small voice | |
| Bids every human heart rejoice, | |
| By each closed door He stands and knocks; | |
| Oh, turn for Him these rusted locks; | 60 |
| Clear from each home the dust of sin | |
| That He may freely pass within; | |
| Give ample verge—give ready room, | |
| For He to be thy guest shall come. | |
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| The Lord shall come! In that great day, | 65 |
| When heaven and earth shall pass away, | |
| May we in armour pure and bright | |
| Flash back His own eternal light, | |
| And join at last the white-robed band, | |
| Whose spirits round their Saviour stand, | 70 |
| Where, when this weary world is o’er, | |
| He comes with them to part no more. | |
