Popular Advent hymn, also suitable for holy communion, by Charles Wesley and Martin Madan (about 1760), based on an earlier text by John Cennick (1752). The usual tune is 'Helmsley', but 'Bryn Calfaria', 'Holywood' and 'Regent Square' are also used. In the case of Helmsley, the fifth line of each verse is repeated three times. The text which follows in the one in common use today:
Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favoured sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Alleluia!
God appears on earth to reign.
Every eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.
Those dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshippers;
With what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!
Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee,
High on Thine eternal throne;
Saviour, take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for Thine own;
O come quickly!
Alleluia! Come, Lord, come!
An alternative version is known which begins 'Jesus comes'. The following text is Wesley's original version:
Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign.
Every eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.
Every island, sea, and mountain,
Heav"n and earth, shall flee away;
All who hate Him must, confounded,
Hear the trump proclaim the day:
Come to judgment! Come to judgment!
Come to judgment! Come away!
Now redemption, long expected,
See in solemn pomp appear;
All His saints, by man rejected,
Now shall meet Him in the air:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
See the day of God appear!
Answer Thine own bride and Spirit,
Hasten, Lord, the general doom!
The new Heav"n and earth t"inherit,
Take Thy pining exiles home:
All creation, all creation,
Travails! groans! and bids Thee come!
The dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshippers;
With what rapture, with what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!
Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee,
High on Thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for Thine own;
O come quickly! O come quickly!
Everlasting God, come down!
And finally, Cennick's original original:
Lo! He cometh, countless Trumpets,
Blow before his bloody Sign!
"Midst ten Thousand Saints and Angels,
See the Crucified shine,
Allelujah! Welcome, welcome bleeding Lamb!
Now his Merits by the Harpers,
Thro" the eternal Deeps resounds!
resplendent shine his Nail Prints,
Ev"ry Eye shall see his Wounds!
They who pierc"d Him, shall at his appearing wail.
Ev"ry Island, Sea, and Mountain,
Heav"n and Earth shall flee away!
All who hate him must ashamed,
Hear the Trump proclaim the Day:
Come to Judgement! Stand before the Son of Man!
All who love him view his Glory
Shining in his bruised Face:
His dear Person on the Rainbow,
Now his Peoples Heads shall raise:
Happy Mourners! Now on Clouds he comes! He comes!
Now Redemption long expected,
See, in solemn Pomp appear;
All his People, once despised,
Now shall meet him in the Air:
Allelujah! Now the promis"d Kingdom"s come!
View him smiling, now determin"d,
Ev"ry Evil to destroy!
All the nations now shall sing him,
Songs of everlasting Joy!
O come quickly! Allelujah! Come Lord, come!
Everything Hymnal