Above:  Icon of PIetà

Image in the Public Domain

Text by George Thomas Coster (1835-1912); written for The Fellowship Hymnbook, National Council of Adult School Unions (founded in 1899)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927)

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O God our Father, throned on high,

Enrobed in ageless splenour,

To Thee, in awe and love and joy,

Ourselves we would surrender–

To live obedient to Thy will

As servants to each other,

And show our faithfulness to Thee

By love to one another.

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To serve by love! O teach us how;

Be this our great vocation–

To comfort grief, to seek the lost

With message of salvation;

In loving may our full hearts beat,

Our words be wise and winning;

In helping others may our joy

Have ever new beginning.

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Thee, Lord, for Thy dear Son we bless;

His heart for us was broken;

O love! upon the bitter Cross

Thy deepest word was spoken;

The echo of that word is heard

In love for every brother;

So test we, Lord, our love for Thee,

By loving one another.

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Above:  One of My Crucifixes

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927)

Text (1875) by Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877)

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O perfect life of love!

All, all is finished now,

All that He left His throne above

To do for us below.

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No work is left undone

Of all the Father willed;

His toils and sorrows, one by one,

The Scripture have fulfilled.

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No pain that we can share

But He has felt its smart;

All forms of human grief and care

Have pierced that tender heart.

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And on His thorn-crowned head,

And on His sinless soul,

Our sins in all their guild were laid,

That He might make us whole.

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In perfect love He dies;

For me He dies, for me!

I all-atoning Sacrifice,

I cling by faith to Thee.

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In every time of need,

Before the judgment throne,

Thy work, O Lamb of God, I’ll plead,

Thy merits, not my own.

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Yet work, O Lord, in me,

As thou for me hast wrought;

And let my love the answer be

To grace Thy love has brought.

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Above:  Part of My Biblical Studies Library, September 15, 2019

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (1861) by Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927)

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Lord, Thy word abideth,

And our footsteps guideth;

Who its truth believeth

Light and joy receiveth.

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When our foes are near us,

Then Thy word doth cheer us,

Word of consolation,

Message of salvation.

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When the storms are o’er us,

And dark clouds before us,

Then its light directeth,

And our way protecteth.

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Who can tell the pleasure,

Who recount the treasure,

By Thy word imparted

To the simple-hearted?

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Word of mercy, giving

Succour to the living;

Word of life, supplying

Comfort to the dying!

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O that we, discerning

Its most holy learning,

Lord, may love and fear Thee,

Evermore be near Thee!

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Above:  Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, Hanceville, Alabama

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Hymnary (1927)

Text (1875) by Henry Baker Williams (1821-1877)

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I am not worthy, holy Lord,

That Thou should’st come to me;

Speak but the word; one gracious word

Can set the sinner free.

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I am not worthy; cold and bare

The lodging of my soul;

How canst Thou deign to enter there?

Lord, speak, and make me whole.

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I am not worthy; yet my God,

How can I say Thee nay, —

Thee, who didst give Thy flesh and blood

My ransom price to pay?

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O come, in this sweet morning hour,

Feed me with food divine;

And fill with all Thy love and power

This worthless heart of mine.

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One may substitute “evening” for “morning” in the last stanza.

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Above:  Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (1893) by Somerset Corry Lowry (1855-1932)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927), Presbyterian

This hymn, originally entitled “For Unity,” debuted in the February 1894 issue of Goodwill then graced The Christian Social Union Hymnbook (1895).

Lowry wrote more than 60 hymns, but this text has become the most popular and enduring one.

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Son of God, eternal Saviour,

Source of life and truth and grace,

Son of Man, whose birth incarnate

Hallows all our human race;

Thou, our Head, who, throned in glory,

For Thine own dost ever plead,

Fill us with Thy love and pity,

Heal our wrongs and help our need.

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As Thou, Lord, hast lived for others,

So may we for others live;

Freely have Thy gifts been granted,

Freely may Thy servants give.

Thine the gold and Thine the silver,

Thine the wealth of land and sea,

We but stewards of Thy bounty,

Held in solemn trust for Thee.

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Come, O Christ, and reign among us,

King of love, and Prince of peace;

Hush the storm of strife and passion,

Bid its cruel discords cease.

Ah, the past is dark behind us,

Strewn with wrecks and stained with blood;

But before us gleams the vision

Of the coming brotherhood.

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See the Christlike host advancing,

High and lowly, great and small,

Linked in bonds of common service

For the common Lord of all.

Thou who prayedst, Thou who willest

That Thy people should be one,

Grant, O grant our hope’s fruition:

Here on earth Thy will be done.

Above:  Grace Episcopal Church, Gainesville, Georgia, July 7, 2018

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Text (1887) by Walter Chalmers Smith (1824-1908)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927), of various Presbyterian denominations

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One thing I of the Lord desire,–

For all my way hath miry been–

Be it by water for by fire,

O make me clean!

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If clearer vision Thou impart,

Grateful and glad my soul shall be;

But yet to have a purer heart

Is more to me.

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Yea, only as the heart is clean

May larger vision yet be mine,

For mirrored in its depths are seen

The things divine.

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I watch to shun the miry way,

And stanch the spring of guilty thought;

But, watch and wrestle as I may,

Pure I am not.

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O wash Thou me without, within,

Or purge with fire, if that must be,–

No matter how, if only sin

Die out in me.

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Above:  Clouds on the Horizon

Photographer = William Henry Jackson (1843-1942)

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-det-4a16709

Text (1867; subsequently modified) by Walter Chalmers Smith (1824-1908)

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Walter Chalmers Smith altered his text.  As best as I can determine, the original six-stanza version of the hymn was as follows:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,

In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,

Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,

Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

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Unresting, unhasting, silent as light,

Nor striving, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;

Thy justice like mountains soaring above

Thy clouds which are are fountains of goodness and love.

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All live thou givest–to both great and small;

In all life livest, true life of all;

Thy blossom and flourish only are we,

To wither and perish–but nought changeth thee.

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Today and tomorrow with Thee still are now;

Nor trouble, nor sorrow, nor care, Lord, hast thou;

Nor passion doth fever, nor age can decay,

The same God for ever as on yesterday.

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Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,

Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;

But of all Thy good graces this grace, Lord, impart–

Take the veil from our faces, the veil from our heart.

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All laud we would render; O help us to see,

‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee;

And now let Thy glory to our gaze unroll

Through Christ in the story, and Christ in the soul.

Sources:  

The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927), The Church of Scotland, The United Free Church of Scotland, The Presbyterian Church in Ireland, The Presbyterian Church of England, The Presbyterian Church of Wales, The Presbyterian Church of Australia, The Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, and The Presbyterian Church of South Africa

Moffatt, James, ed. Handbook to The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927)

Stulken, Mary Kay, and Catherine Salika.  Hymnal Companion to Worship–Third Edition (1998), Roman Catholic Church

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Since The English Hymnal (1906), however, the standard version has been four stanzas long.  This has resulted from various minor changes, the omission of the original fourth stanza, the omission of the second halves of the original fifth and sixth stanzas, and the creation of a new fourth stanza from the first halves of the original fifth and sixth stanzas.

I have italicized changes from the version above.

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Immortal, invisible, God only wise,

In light accessible hid from our eyes,

Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,

Almighty, Victorious, Thy great name we praise.

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Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,

Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;

Thy justice like mountains high soaring above

Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

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To all life Thou givest–to both great and small;

In all life Thou livest, the true life of all;

We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,

And wither and perish–but nought changeth Thee.

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Great Father of Glory, pure Father of Light,

Thine Angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;

All laud we would render; O help us to see

‘Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee.

Other Sources:

Moffatt, James, ed. Handbook to The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927)

Young, Carlton R.  Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal (1993)

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Above:  A Crucifix

Photograph by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (c. 1887) by Eustace Rogers Conder (1820-1892), for the Congregational Church Hymnal, or Hymns of Worship, Praise, and Prayer (1887), Congregational Union of England and Wales

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927), several Old World Presbyterian denominations

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Ye fair green hills of Galilee,

That girdle quite Nazareth,

What glorious vision did ye see,

When He who conquered sin and death

Your flowery slopes and summits trod,

and grew in grace with man and God?

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“We saw no  glory crown His head,

As childhood ripened into youth;

No angels on His errands sped;

He wrought no sign; but meekness, truth,

And duty marked each step He trod,

And love to man, and love to God.”

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Jesus! my Saviour, Master, King,

Who didst for me the burden bear,

While saints in heaven Thy glory sing,

Let me on earth Thy likeness wear;

Mine be the path Thy feet have trod,–

Duty, and love to man and God.

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Above:  Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (1811) by Reginald Heber (1783-1826)

Hymn Sources = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927), Presbyterian; and hymnary.org

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Lord of mercy and of might,

Of mankind the Life and Light,

Jesus, hear and save.

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Strong Creator, Saviour mild,

Humbled to a mortal child,

Captive, beaten, bound, reviled,

Jesus, hear and save.

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Lamb of God, for sinners slain,

Thou didst bear our grief and pain;

Cleanse us now from every stain;

Jesus, hear and save.

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Throned above celestial things,

Borne aloft on angels’ wings,

Lord of lords and King of kings,

Jesus, hear and save.

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Soon to come to earth again,

Judge of angels and of men,

Hear us now, and hear us then,

Jesus, hear and save.

Above:  A Baptismal Font

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1812) by Reginald Heber (1783-1826)

Hymn Sources = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927), Presbyterian; and Handbook to The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927)

The first line of the hymn in its original version is “By cool Siloam’s shady fountain.”  In the version published in 1827, however, “fountain” became “rill.”

Heber based the hymn on Luke 2:40 and entitled it “Christ a pattern for children.”

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By cool Siloam’s shady rill

How sweet the lily grows!

How sweet the breath, beneath the hill,

Of Sharon’s dewy rose!

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Lo! such the child whose early feet

The paths of peace have trod,

Whose secret heart with influence sweet

Is upward drawn to God.

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By cool Siloam’s shady rill

The lily must decay;

The rose that blooms beneath the hill

Must shortly fade away.

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And soon, too soon, the wintry hour

Of man’s maturer age

Will shake the soul, with sorrow’s power,

And stormy passion’s rage!

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O Thou whose infant feet were found

Within Thy Father’s shrine,

Whose years, with changeless virtue crowned,

Were all alike divine,

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Dependent on Thy bounteous breath,

We seek Thy grace alone,

In childhood, manhood, age, and death,

To keep us still Thine own.