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The Church’s Desolation 89
Tune: Arranged by Jesse T. White, 1844
Alto: Wilson Marion Cooper, 1844
Lyrics: The Sacred Harp, 1844
Meter: 8s,7s Double Iambic (8,7,8,7,8,7,8,7)
Well may Thy servants mourn, my God,
The Church’s desolation;
The state of Zion calls aloud
For grief and lamentation.
Once she was all alive to Thee,
And thousands were converted;
But now a sad reverse we see,
Her glory is departed.
Her pastors love to live at ease,
They covet wealth and honor;
And while they seek such things as these,
They bring reproach upon her.
Such worthless objects they pursue
Warmly and undiverted;
The church they lead and ruin, too—
Her glory is departed.
Her private members walk no more
As Jesus Christ has taught them;
Riches and fashion they adore,
With these the world has bought them.
The Christian’s name they still retain
Absurdly and false-hearted;
And while they in the church remain,
Her glory is departed.
And has religion left the Church
Without a trace behind her?
Where shall I go, where shall I search,
That I once more may find her?
Adieu, ye proud, ye light and gay,
I’ll seek the broken-hearted,
Who weep when they of Zion say,
Her glory is departed.
Some few, like good Elijah, stand,
While thousands have revolted,
In earnest for the heav’nly land;
They never yet have halted.
With such religion doth remain,
For they are not perverted;
O may they all through them regain
The glory that’s departed.