The Church Has Waited Long

1The church has waited long Her absent Lord to see;
And still in loneliness she waits,
A friendless stranger she.

2How long,
O Lord our God,
Holy and true and good,
Wilt Thou not judge Thy suffering church,
Her sighs and tears and blood?

3Saint after saint on earth,
Has lived and loved and died;
And as they left us, one by one,
We laid them side by side.

4We laid them down to sleep,
But not in hope forlorn;
We left them but to slumber there,
Till the last glorious morn.

5We long to hear Thy voice,
To see Thee face to face,
To share Thy crown and glory then,
As now we share Thy grace.

6Come,
Lord, and wipe away The curse, the sin, the stain,
And make this blighted world of ours Thine own fair world again.