The Lord Will Come and Not Be Slow

For Advent

Words: John Milton, 1648

Music: York, MIDI / Noteworthy Composer
St. Stephen, MIDI / Noteworthy Composer
Old 107th, Balfour, Coleshill
Meter: CM

1. The Lord will come and not be slow,
His footsteps cannot err;
Before Him righteousness shall go,
His royal harbinger.

2. Truth from the earth, like to a flower,
Shall bud and blossom then;
And justice, from her heavenly bower,
Look down on mortal men.

3. Surely to such as do him fear
Salvation is at hand!
And glory shall ere long appear
To dwell within our land.

4. Rise, God, judge thou the earth in might,
This wicked earth redress;
For thou art he who shalt by right
The nations all possess.

5. The nations all whom thou hast made
Shall come, and all shall frame
To bow them low before thee, Lord,
And glorify thy Name.

6. For great thou art, and wonders great
By Thy strong hand are done:
Thou in Thy everlasting seat
Remainest God alone.

Sheet Music "York" from Henry Sloane Coffin and Ambrose White Vernon, eds., Hymns of the Kingdom of God. New York: The A. S. Barnes Company, 1910

The version from Coffin and Vernon agree only in the first, second, and last verses, and have the following in lieu of those found above:

2. Mercy and truth, that long were missed,
    Now joyfully are met;
Sweet peace and righteousness have kissed,
    And hand in hand are set.

4. Rise, God, judge Thou the earth in might,
    This wicked earth redress:
For Thou art He who shalt by right
    The nations all possess.

Also found in

W. J. Birkbeck, et al., eds., The English Hymnal. London: Oxford University Press, 1906, #492.

Percy Dearmer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Martin Shaw, eds., Songs of Praise. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1931, 658.

Clarence Dickinson and Calvin Weiss Laufer, eds., The Hymnal. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Christian Education, 1933, 185.

The Methodist Hymnal. New York: The Methodist Book Concern, 1905, #642, which adds the following final verse:

5. Thee will I praise, O Lord, my God!
Thee honor and adore
With my whole heart; and blaze abroad
Thy name for evermore!

This final verse is also found in The Hymnal Of The Methodist Episcopal Church. New York: Nelson & Phillips, 1878, #915.

Also see: On The Morning of Christ's Nativity

Editor's Note: There is a contemporary composition by Sam Batt Owens (1928-1998), 1997; full score available from Selah Publishing Co. This version of the Advent anthem has the following text:

    Stir up your power, O God,
    and come among us.

The Lord will come and not be slow,
his footsteps cannot err;
before him righteousness shall go,
his royal harbinger.

God, judge thou the earth in might,
this wicked earth redress;
for thou art he who shall by right
the nations all possess.
    Stir up your power, O God,
    and come among us.

The nations all whom thou hast made
shall come, and all shall frame
to bow them low before thee, Lord,
and glorify thy Name.
    Stir up your power, O God,
    and come among us.

Text: Collect for Advent I, alt. (Book of Common Prayer) and John Milton (1604-1674), alt.

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