The Saviour's Coming Draws More Near

The Saviour's Coming Draws More Near

The Second Sunday In Advent
Celebrating The Age Of The Law¹

Music: Not Stated

Source: Rev. John Mason Neale, Hymns for the Young. Second Series of Hymns for Children (1844). New Edition. (London: Joseph Masters, 1854), #24, pp. 29-30.
See: Christmas in Neale's Hymns for Children

Genesis 12:8; Genesis 49:10; Genesis 22; Genesis 37

1. The Saviour's coming draws more near;
The word of prophecy grows clear:
’Tis meet that light should streak the skies
Before our glorious Sun shall rise.

2. Now know we that it stands decreed
The Christ must come of Abrabam’s seed;
We know, by prophecy divine,
That He shall come in Judah’s line.

3. Before the Church can see that day,
Must Judah’s sceptre pass away;
Till then the types, in shadows dim,
Must lead her on to look to Him.

4 O Thou true Isaac, patient still
To suffer all Thy Father’s will ;
To bear Thy cross with bitter pain,
On Mount Moriah to be slain;

5 O Thou true Joseph, sent to aid
Thine own, and by Thine own betrayed;
For thirty silver pieces sold,
And made to suffer pains untold ;

6 Those that had lov’d Thee from Thee fled:
They saw Thy griefs, they saw Thee dead;
“ An evil beast hath rent him sore,
Our Joseph cannot save us more.”

7 Why doubt, O ye of little faith!
This is the thing that Scripture saith:
The grief is past, the joy remains;
“Joseph is yet alive, and reigns!”

8 The hour shall soon draw nigh that we
Must leave the world and go to Thee ;
Then send to cheer us, from Thy hand,
Of the good things of that far Land;²

9 That when we see them in our pain,
Our spirits may revive again;
In holy hope, as death draws nigh,
To go and see Thee when we die !

10 Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow ;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Footnotes by Dr. Neale.

1, p. 28. The four Sundays in Advent represent the four ages of the world before the coming of Christ—that of the Patriarchs, that of the Law, that of the Prophets, and that after the return of the Jews from captivity, when Prophets were gradually withdrawn. Return

2., p. 30. “And to his father Joseph sent . . . ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt. And when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent, the spirit of Jacob . . revived; and Israel said, It is enough: Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die."—Genesis 45:23, 27, 28. Return

Editor's Note:

Genesis 12:8; Genesis 49:10; Genesis 22; Genesis 37

Because of the length, these citations were placed in a separate file: Genesis 12, 22, 37, & 49.

Also found in Mary Sackville Lawson, et al, eds., Collected Hymns, Sequences and Carols of John Mason Neale (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914), pp. 338-339.

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