The Cyber Hymnal ‎#12910

12910. Two Thousand Troubled Years

1 Two thousand troubled years
Time’s weary brow have worn,
Since that strange star to shepherds told
The Prince of Peace was born.

2 Two thousand years of gloom,
Of groping toward the light,
Of prophets scorned and martyrs slain,
And battle done for right.

3 But year by year the bells
The old glad tidings bring,
And men forget their strife, to keep
The birthday of the King.

4 Christ’s kingdom yet will come,
And good prevail o’er ill,
Though often with a crown of thorns
We mock the Master still.

5 But He will not forsake
The world for which He died,
Till all mankind be gathered home
At the great Christmastide.

Text Information

• First Line: Two thousand troubled years
• Title: Two Thousand Troubled Years
• Author: Alfred Hayes (circa 1896)
• Meter: SM
• Language: English
• Source: Worship Songs by Horder
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: From an in­ci­dent oc­cur­ring in one of the South­ern States dur­ing the yel­low fever. Pos­sib­ly the words were in­spired by the 1873 and 1878 yel­low fe­ver ep­i­de­mics in Mem­phis, Ten­nes­see, which killed over 7,000.

Tune Information

• Name: POTSDAM
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1750, adapt.)
• Meter: SM
• Key: E Major
• Source: Church Psalter, 1854
• Copyright: Public Domain