Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Charles Wesley wrote over 6,500 hymns.  He went through a stretch in his life where he wrote a hymn per day as a devotional exercise.  We know that many of these hymns were quite lengthy.  Just for example, he wrote one hymn titled On the Anniversary of a Conversion that was eighteen stanzas in length.  Seventeen of these are printed in poetical form as #58 in The United Methodist Hymnal.  The middle six verses are printed on the previous page and has the more familiar title O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.

So, it is noteworthy that Wesley took a little two-stanza that he originally composed as a prayer based on Haggai 2:7:

and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendour, says the Lord of hosts.  (NRSV)

and published it as a hymn by and for the struggling poor, especially children living in poverty.

He first published it in Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord in 1744.  It has been a part of most Methodist hymnals and song-books since that date.

It is truly a prayer for the Second Coming and is most appropriate for this season.

Come, thou long expected Jesus,

born to set thy people free;

from our fears and sins release us,

let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,

hope of all the earth thou art;

dear desire of every nation,

joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,

born a child and yet a King,

born to reign in us forever,

now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal spirit

rule in all our hearts alone;

by thine all sufficient merit,

raise us to thy glorious throne.