Come, Lord Jesus

Author: Horatius Bonar

Horatius Bonar was born at Edinburgh, in 1808. His education was obtained at the High School, and the University of his native city. He was ordained to the ministry, in 1837, and since then has been pastor at Kelso. In 1843, he joined the Free Church of Scotland. His reputation as a religious writer was first gained on the publication of the "Kelso Tracts," of which he was the author. He has also written many other prose works, some of which have had a very large circulation. Nor is he less favorably known as a religious poet and hymn-writer. The three series of "Hymns of Faith and Hope," have passed through several editions. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872… Go to person page >

The Church has waited long. H. Bonar. [Advent.] Published in the Bible Hymn Book, 1845, No. 299, in 5 stanzas of 8 lines, with the refrain "Come then, Lord Jesus, come." It was repeated in the 3rd edition of the author's Songs for the Wilderness, Kelso, 1850, p. 39, and again in his Hymns of Faith and Hope, 1857, p. 31. It is in extensive use in Great Britain and America, sometimes without the refrain.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)