I the Lord Will Hasten it

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Down the dark future, through long generations

Author: Henry W. Longfellow
Tune: MARLBOROUGH (Sullivan)
Published in 20 hymnals

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Representative Text

Down the dark future, through long generations,
The sounds of war grow fainter and then cease;
And, like a bell with solemn, sweet vibrations,
I hear once more the voice of Christ say, “Peace!”

Peace! and no longer, from its brazen portals,
The blast of war’s great organ shakes the skies;
But beautiful as songs of the immortals,
The holy melodies of love arise.

Source: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #421

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Author: Henry W. Longfellow

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth , D.C.L. was born at Portland, Maine, Feb. 27, 1807, and graduated at Bowdoin College, 1825. After residing in Europe for four years to qualify for the Chair of Modern Languages in that College, he entered upon the duties of the same. In 1835 he removed to Harvard, on his election as Professor of Modern Languages and Belles-Lettres. He retained that Professorship to 1854. His literary reputation is great, and his writings are numerous and well known. His poems, many of which are as household words in all English-speaking countries, display much learning and great poetic power. A few of these poems and portions of others have come into common use as hymns, but a hymn-writer in the strict sense of that term he… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Down the dark future, through long generations
Title:	I the Lord Will Hasten it
Author:	Henry W. Longfellow
Meter:	11.10.11.10
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain