1 O King of saints, we give Thee praise and glory
For the bright cloud of witnesses unseen,
Whose names shine forth like stars, in sacred story,
Guiding our steps to realms of light serene;
2 And for Thy hidden saints, our praise adoring,
Fount of all sanctity, to Thee we yield,
Who in Thy treasure-house on high, art storing
Jewels who lustre was, on earth, concealed.
3 Thine arm sustained them all in conflict mortal
With sin, the world, and all the powers of hell;
Thy hand hath oped for all, the shining portal
To realms where peace and joy forever dwell.
4 There they are throned and white-robed elders, casting
Before the King of kings their crowns of gold;
And there are crowns and mansions everlasting,
And palms and harps for multitudes untold.
5 Though, in Thy service, we too oft have slumbered,
Like the ten virgins, foolish ones and wise;
Yet with Thy saints, may we at last be numbered,
And at Thy call with burning lamps arise.
Amen.
The Hymnal: revised and enlarged as adopted by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the year of our Lord 1892
Thomson, Mary Ann, wife of Mr. John Thomson, Librarian of the Free Library, Philadelphia, was born in London, England, December 5, 1834. She has written about forty hymns, which have appeared mostly in the Churchman, New York, and in the Living Church, Chicago. Four of her hymns are found in the Protestant Episcopal Hymnal, 1892. Of the origin of the missionary hymn by Mrs. Thomson which is found in our Hymnal she writes as follows:
I wrote the greater part of the hymn, "O Zion, haste," in the year 1868. I had written many hymns before, and one night, while I was sitting up with one of my children who was ill of typhoid fever, I thought I should like to write a missionary hymn to the tune of the hymn beginning "Hark, hark, my soul, angelic… Go to person page >
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