A few more years shall roll

Written about the year 1842 by the eminent Scottish Free Church minister and poet Dr. Horatius Bonar, "A few more years shall roll" stands as one of the most famous hymns associated with the transition of the Old and New Year.

The lyric was first printed on a simple fly-leaf for the members of Bonar's congregation in Kelso to sing on a New Year's Day. In 1844, he published it more formally in the second series of his Songs for the Wilderness. It was later preserved in the first series of his landmark collection, Hymns of Faith and Hope, in 1857 on page 101.

The original structure of the hymn consists of six stanzas of eight lines in Short Metre (S.M.), published under the title "A Pilgrim's Song." It has enjoyed remarkably extensive use in either its full or abbreviated forms across all English-speaking countries.

A notable element of this hymn is its exquisite refrain, which features delicate, progressive changes in its wording across the different stanzas:

"Then, O my Lord, prepare
My soul for that great day;
O wash me in Thy precious blood,
And take my sins away."

In some compilations, editors have chosen to omit this refrain to save space. Hymnologists have frequently noted that removing this chorus robs the hymn of one of its most beautiful, prayerful, and structurally striking features, which grounds each fleeting earthly milestone in a plea for divine grace.