How Fleet the Precious Moments Roll

Lyrics

Lyrics from A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Use of the Latter Day Saints, 1844

1. How fleet the precious moments roll,
How soon the harvest will be o'er;
The watchmen seek their final rest,
And lift a warning voice no more.

2. Another year has rolled away,
And took its thousands to the tomb:
Its sorrows and its joys are fled,
To hasten on the gen'ral doom.

3. And eighteen hundred thirty-five
Is rolling swiftly on the wing,
And soon the leaves and tendrils thrive;
A token of returning spring.

4. The fullness of the gospel shines,
With glorious and resplendent rays;
The earth and heav'ns show forth their signs
As tokens of the latter days.

5. Ye chosen twelve, to you are given,
The keys of this last minitry -
To every nation under heaven,
From land to land, from sea to sea.

6. First to the Gentiles, sound the news
Throughout Columbia's happy land,
And then before it reach the Jews,
Prepare on Europe's shores to stand.

7. Let Europe's towns and cities hear
The gospel tidings angels bring;
The Gentile nations far and near,
Prepare their hearts His praise to sing.

8. India's and Afric's sultry plains
Must hear the tidings as they roll -
Where darkness, death and sorrow reign -
And tyranny has long controled.

9. Listen, ye islands of the sea -
For every isle shall hear the sound:
Nations and tongues before unknown,
Though long since lost shall soon be found.

10. And then again shall Asia hear,
Where angels first the news proclaimed;
Eternity shall record bear,
And Earth repeat the loud amen.

11. The nations catch the pleasing sound,
And Jew and Gentile swell the strain,
Hosanna o'er the earth resound,
Messiah then will come to reign.