Till He come - O let the words

Till He come - O let the words. Edward Henry Bickersteth* (1825-1906). Written in 1861, this was first published in Bickersteth’s The Blessed Dead (1862), and later in the Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer (1870, 1876, 1890). According to Bickersteth himself, it was intended to present two clauses of the service of Holy Communion, ‘Ye do show forth the Lord’s death till He come’, and ‘We bless thy holy Name for all Thy servants departed this life in Thy faith and fear’ (JJ, p. 1177). The second of these accounts for its appearance in The Blessed Dead, and for stanzas 2 and 3 below. JJ describes it as being ‘in several hymn-books.’ In Britain it was in the Church Hymnary...