O Holy City, Seen Of John
- Words:
- Walter R. Bowie
- Music:
- Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music
Sheet music
- 1O holy city, seen of John,Where Christ, the Lamb, doth reign,Within whose four-square walls shall comeNo night, nor need, nor pain,And where the tears are wiped from eyesThat shall not weep again.
- 2O shame to us who rest contentWhile lust and greed for gainIn street and shop and tenementWring gold from human pain,And bitter lips in blind despairCry, “Christ hath died in vain”
- 3Give us, O God, the strength to buildThe city that hath stoodToo long a dream, whose laws are love,Whose ways are brotherhood,And where the sun that shineth isGod’s grace for human good.
- 4Already in the mind of GodThat city riseth fair:Lo, how its splendor challengesThe souls that greatly dare,Yea, bids us seize the whole of lifeAnd build its glory there.
In the hymnals
- Written in 1909, the words are in 92 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
Words, music and setting are in the public domain. The sheet music and words are from PDHymns.com. The piano is the FluidR3 General MIDI sound font (MIT licence). How many hymnals print a hymn, and when it was written, is from Hymnary.org.