Thou art coming, O my Saviour

Thou art coming, O my Saviour. Frances Ridley Havergal* (1836-1879). This Advent hymn was written in 1873, probably at about the time that Havergal had her experience of ‘the blessedness of true consecration’. It was published in a religious newspaper, The Rock, in 1873, and in Under the Surface (1874) with the title ‘Advent Song’. It had seven enthusiastic stanzas, whose rhythms, repetitions and punctuation (with an abundance of exclamation marks) indicate Havergal’s ardent response to the imminent arrival of the one whom she calls ‘my glorious Priest’: Thou art coming, O my Saviour!  Thou art coming, O my King!In Thy beauty all-resplendent,In Thy glory all-transcendent;  Well may we...