O Zion, Haste, Thy Mission High Fulfilling

"He said unto them, it is not for you to become acquainted with
and know what time brings, the things and events of time and their
definite periods or fixed years and seasons, their critical niche in time,
which the Father has appointed, fixed and reserved by His own choice
and authority and personal power.

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea, and Samaria,
and to the very ends of the earth.

And when He had said this, even as they were looking at Him,
He was caught up and a cloud received and carried Him
away out of their sight."
(Acts 1:7-9)

Jesus Ascending Into Heaven

John Singleton Copley

(1738-1815)

Anglo-American painter

O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling,

To tell to all world that God is Light,

That He who made all nations is not willing

One soul should perish, lost in shades of night.

(Refrain)
Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;

Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.

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.

Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;

Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.

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 men may live above.

Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;

Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.

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;

And all thou spendest Jesus will repay.

Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;

Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.

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.

Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace;

Tidings of Jesus, redemption and release.

"O Zion, Haste, Thy Mission High Fulfilling"
(1870)
Mary Ann Thomson
(1834-1923)

The Story Behind The Song

Mary Ann Thomson (nee Faulkner) was born in London, England.
She and her husband John Thomson emigrated from there to
America in 1881 and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where John 
 became the first librarian of the Philadelphia Free Public Library.

The couple had twelve children together, five of whom died in infancy.

Mary Ann wrote the greater part of the hymn, "O Zion, Haste" one
night in 1868 while sitting up with one of her children who had been
stricken with typhoid fever.  She was trying to write a missionary
hymn to the tune of another favorite song called "Hark, Hark,
My Soul, Angelic Songs Are Swelling" however, due to other
circumstances which were most likely on her mind that night,
she left the hymn unfinished.  It was about three years later
that she did finish the song including the refrain as part of it.

Mary Ann was a member of the Church of the Annunciation
in Philadelphia.  She is buried in the city's historic Greenwood Cemetery.