King, Messiah, Long Expected

King

Mes­si­ah

long ex­pect­ed

Thou art come un­to Thine own!

Promised seed of the elect­ed

Heir fore­told of Da­vid’s throne!

Long for Thee they watch­ed and heark­ened—

King and pa­tri­arch

priest and seer;

Faith waxed cold

and hope was dark­ened;

When men looked not—Thou wert here.

In the time and place ap­point­ed

When the or­dered years had sped

Came the Prince

the true An­oint­ed

To His throne

the man­ger bed:

There the in­fant King

ful­fill­ing

All things for His peo­ple’s sake

Learned to­day obe­di­ence will­ing

Deigned the co­ve­nant seal to take.

Surely in that hour of won­der

Faithful Ab­ra­ham in his rest

Saw the sha­dows part asun­der

Saw Thy dawn­ing

and was blest!

Surely then the gra­cious vi­sion

Through Thine un­seen king­doms thrilled;

And in Je­su’s cir­cum­ci­sion

Ages saw their hope ful­filled!

Father of the new cre­ation!

Prophet of the lat­ter time!

Leader of the ran­somed na­tion

To the bet­ter Ca­naan’s clime!

Though

from Gen­tile stock aris­ing

Alien branch­es once were we

Thou hast said

in our bap­tiz­ing

We are cir­cum­cised in Thee.

So this day with new thanks­giv­ing

Shall Thy faith­ful seed draw near;

So

’mid pray­ers for ho­li­er liv­ing

Praise shall deck our op­en­ing year;

Praise

be­cause our feast day sees us

Built on Thee

the Cor­ner­stone;

And the migh­ty name of Je­sus

Binds to­day the world in one.