January 28, 2005
O Zion, Haste
Mary Ann Faulkner Thomson, 1834-1923
May Your ways be known on earth. Your salvation among all nations. Psalm 67:2.
Mary
Ann Faulkner Thomson, was born in London, England, but spent most of her life in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was active in the Church of the
Annunciation. She wrote a number of hymns and poems, this being the only one to
survive, however.
Mary Ann Faulkner Thomson says she wrote the greater part of
the hymn, O, Sion, Haste, in the year 1868. I had written many hymns
before, and one night, while I was sitting up with one of my children who was
ill with typhoid fever, I thought I should like to write a missionary hymn to
the tune of the hymn, Hark, Hark, My Soul, Angelic Songs are Swelling, as
I was fond of that tune, but as I could not then get a refrain I liked, I left
the hymn unfinished and about three years I finished it by writing the refrain,
which now forms a part of it.
O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling,
To tell to all the world that God is light,
That He who made all nations is not willing
One soul should perish, lost in shades of night.Behold how many thousands still are lying
Bound in the darksome prison house of sin,
With none to tell them of the Savior’s dying,
Or of the life He died for them to win.Proclaim to every people, tongue, and nation
That God, in Whom they live and move, is love;
Tell how He stooped to save His lost creation,
And died on earth that we might live above.’Tis thine to save from peril of perdition
The souls for whom the Lord His life laid down:
Beware lest, slothful to fulfill thy mission,
Thou lose one jewel that should deck His crown.Give of thy sons to bear the message glorious;
Give of thy wealth to speed them on their way;
Pour out thy soul for them in prayer victorious;
O Zion, haste to bring the brighter day.He comes again! O Zion, ere thou meet Him,
Make known to every heart His saving grace:
Let none whom he Hath ransomed fail to greet Him,
Through thy neglect, unfit to see His face.Chorus:
Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;
Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.