O Christ, Our Hope, Our Heart's Desire Latin Hymn, 7th or 8th century

BRADFORD (C.M.) George F. Handel (1685-1759)

O Christ, our hope, our heart's de-sire,
   Re-demp-tion's on-ly spring!
Cre-a-tor of the world art Thou,
   Its Sav-ior and its King.

How vast the mer-cy and the love
   Which laid our sins on Thee,
And led Thee to a cru-el death,
   To set thy peo-ple free.

But now the bands of death are burst,
   The ran-som has been paid;
And Thou art on Thy Fa-ther's throne,
   In glo-rious robes ar-rayed.

O Christ be Thou our last-ing joy,
   Our ev-er great re-ward!
Our on-ly glo-ry may it be
   To glo-ry in the Lord.