The Presbyterian Hymnal: Hymns, Psalms, and Spiritual Songs

453

O Holy City, Seen of John

1.  O holy city, seen of John,
    Where Christ, the Lamb, does reign,
    Within whose four-square walls shall come
    No night, nor need, nor pain,
    And where the tears are wiped from eyes
    That shall not weep again!

2.  O shame to us who rest content
    While lust and greed for gain
    In street and shop and tenement
    Wring gold from human pain,
    And bitter lips in blind despair
    Cry, "Christ has died in vain!"

3.  Give us, O God, the strength to build
    The city that has stood
    Too long a dream, whose laws are love,
    Whose ways are servanthood,
    And where the sun that shines becomes
    God's grace for human good.

4.  Already in the mind of God
    That city rises fair.
    Lo, how its splendor challenges
    The souls that greatly dare,
    And bids us seize the whole of life
    And build its glory there.

WORDS: Walter Russell Bowie, 1909;
MUSIC: alt.Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, 1813 Harm. C. Winfred Douglas, 1940
Scripture: Revelation 21 Revelation 22
Theme: Church