We Saw Thee Not When Thou Didst Come

Above:  Icon of Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Hymn Source = Hymns of the Ages for Public and Social Worship (1891), Presbyterian Church in the United States

Text (1851) by John Hampden Gurney (1802-1862)

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We saw Thee not when Thou didst come

To this poor world of sin and death,

No e’er beheld Thy humble home

In that despised Nazareth;

But we believe Thy footsteps trod

Its streets and plains, Thou Son of God.

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We did not see Thee lifted high

When foes were many, friends were few,

Nor heard Thy meek, imploring cry,

“Forgive, they know not what they do:”

Yet we believe, the deed was done,

Which shook the earth and veiled the sun.

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We stood not by the empty tomb

Where once Thy sacred body lay,

Nor sat within that upper room,

Nor met Thee in the open way;

But we believe that angels said,

“Why seek the living with the dead?”

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We did not mark the chosen few,

When Thou didst through the clouds ascend,

First lift to heaven their wondering view,

Then to the earth all prostrate bend;

Yet we believe that mortal eyes

Beheld that journey to the skies.

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And now that Thou dost reign on high,

And thence Thy waiting people bless,

No ray of glory from the sky

Doth shine upon our wilderness;

But we believe Thy faithful word,

And trust in our redeeming Lord.