1. Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
2. Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.
This simple hymn reads and feels like an Advent Maranatha. It is sometimes sung as two 8 line stanzas, as printed above. The second stanza is possibly based on a prayer current at the time, around 1744 when the hymn was published. The whole hymn is a cry of the heart in the face of a world restless, joyless and afraid. The suggestion that it was written in response to the plight of the poor, and especially of orphans, is part of a broader argument about hymns and social issues – see especially Class and idol in the English Hymn, Lionel Adey.
The first line, "Come, Thou long-expected Jesus" is a prayer rooted in explanations of who Jesus is, culminating in the final line, 'Joy of every longing heart'. Long-expected and longing, two words linked by assonance, and a bracket holding prayer and promise together – one of Wesley's characteristic word-plays.
The three lines that begin with 'Born' are laden with divine intention behind that recurring paradox in Wesley's hymns, "Born a child, and yet a King." And they find their fulfilment and resolution in the first word of the line that follows them, Now! Immediacy of experience is one of the Wesleyan emphases in spirituality – truth is felt as well as telt!
The carol finishes with a prayer of transferred sovereignty as the true Ruler of human hearts brings to fulfilment human longings for freedom, joy and assurance of God's love under the rule of Christ in the Kingdom of God. Though having said that, the word 'love' doesn't occur in this carol – however, it is implicit as the energising motive behind the Incarnation.
A cover of this hymn appears in the album Midnight Clear by Christian metal band Wolves at the Gate. You can listen to it on the link below. But promise to listen to the end – how's that for click bait?? As music this is a solar system beyond my comfort zones, but I do sense the power of the words sung against a background of what sounds like rage at full volume. Advent words sung in defiance of background Thrash music, come through with powerful, forceful longing.
If I'm half-way right, then the words of the 18th Century Oxford Classics scholar Charles Wesley, are set in a musical context so incongruous as to revive their accessibility for 21st Century sensibilities which, in the end, have the same concerns of fear, despair and longing for a world more just, compassionate and free from the fears of human indifference to suffering.
"Come, Thou long expected Jesus…Hope of all the earth Thou art." Amen
The link to the Wolves at the Gate version is here
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