Above:  Henley-on-Thames, England, 1890

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-08588

Greville Phillimore (1821-1884) was a priest of The Church of England.  He wrote hymns, translated hymns from Latin, and co-edited two editions (1863 and 1875) of the Parish Hymn Book.

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Darkly Frowns the Ev’ning Sky:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/darkly-frowns-the-evning-sky/

Every Morning Mercies New:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/every-morning-mercies-new/

Not for Three or Four Transgressions:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/not-for-three-or-four-transgressions/

O God, Before Thy Sun’s Bright Beams:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/o-god-before-thy-suns-bright-beams/

O God, This Weary Path of Life:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/o-god-this-weary-path-of-life/

O Lord of Glory King of Saints:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/o-lord-of-glory-king-of-saints/

O Lord of Health and Life:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/o-lord-of-health-and-life/

Peace Be in the House of Death:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/peace-be-in-the-house-of-death/

Saul, Why Furious Hate, Such Blinded Zeal:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/saul-why-such-furious-hate-such-blinded-zeal/

The Star of Morn Has Risen:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/the-star-of-morn-has-risen/

Summer Ended, Harvest O’er:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/summer-ended-harvest-oer/

Thou Art Gone Up On High:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/thou-art-gone-up-on-high/

We Pray Thee, Jesus, Who Didst First:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/we-pray-thee-jesus-who-didst-first/

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Above:  The Ascension of Christ

Image in the Public Domain

Text by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source = In Memoriam (1884)

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Thou art gone up on high!

Why gaze they upwards there

Into the silent air,

That holy band?

Is it in grief, or doubt, or love

With eyes upturned to heaven

Wondering they stand?

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Thou art gone up on high!

Yet to their weary sight,

Clothed as in heaven bright,

The angels came;

They bring the warning words below,

And His Apostles needs must go

Without Him home.

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Thou art gone up on high!

Yet shall the Holy One

Not leave on earth alone

Whom He doth send;

These comfort, truth, and inward power,

Strengthen for the trial and the hour

Ever defend.

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Thou art gone up on high!

Help us our souls to raise,

Upwards on Thee to gaze,

Strength to obtain;

So to go forth and do Thy will,

And reach at last that holy hill

Where Thou dost reign.

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Above:  The Conversion of St. Paul, by Michelangelo Buonarroti

Image in the Public Domain

Text by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source = In Memoriam (1884)

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Saul, why such furious hate, such blinded zeal?

Lift up thine eyes, the dazzling light behold;

Lo, Christ doth once again Himself reveal;

To stay the wolf which leaps into His fold!

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O tender love, that had such watchful care

From the fierce foe His chosen ones to keep;

O wondrous grace, which could the foe ensnare,

And send him on, a shepherd to the sheep.

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O Lord, shew forth Thy mercy and Thy might,

From zeal misguided keep Thy servants free;

Send from Thy holy hill Thy truth and light,

And call the disobedient back to Thee.

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So shall Thy saving health on earth be known,

So shall Thy work Thy faithful Church employ;

Cast down not forsaken–not alone,

Her day of mourning shall be turned to joy.

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Be, then, O Saviour, her defence and shield,

In the mad warfare of this world below;

Teach her on earth the Spirit’s sword to wield,

And in the world to come the crown bestow.

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Above:  Funeral, 1926

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-hec-34270

Text by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source = In Memoriam (1884)

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Peace be in the house of death!

When we lay us down to sleep,

Lord, receive the fleeting breath,

Dry the eyes of those that weep.

Thou hast made our grave a bed,

Thou that livest and wast dead.

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We will lay us down in peace,

And in safety take our rest,

Thou hast won the great release,

In Thy triumph we are blest;

Yet the human spirit quails;

Jesu! strengthen when it fails–

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Be the stronghold of that hour,

Be our solace, hope and stay.

Arm of might, and Rock of power,

Chase the doubt, and still dismay;

When we yield the dying breath,

Peace be in the house of death.

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Above:  The Prayer of Confession, Holy Eucharist Rite II, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source = In Memoriam (1884)

The title of this hymn in In Memoriam (1884) is “In the Time of Cattle Plague,” with a reference to Amos 1:3.

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Not for three or four transgressions,

But for added sin to sin,

Lord, we pour our late confessions,

Pardon from our Judge to win;

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For our pride and self-reliance,

For intemperance and shame;

For the lusts, and evil-speakings

Which profane Thy holy name;

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For each cold and lukewarm service,

For each false and loveless word;

For the cross, despised and slighted,

On which hung our dying Lord.

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God have mercy! God have pity!

Hear our earnest, contrite prayer;

Ere thine anger turn to vengeance,

God of life and healing, spare.

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Spare our sheep and spare our cattle,

Spare the now plague-stricken land;

Spare man made in Thy own image;

Bid Thine angel stay his hand.

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Pour upon us supplication.

All our hearts to fear Thee move;

And, on Thy repentant people,

Send down still the gifts of love.

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Maker of this earth and heaven,

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

Unto Thee our praise is given,

Through the Saviour of the lost.

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Above:  Icon of the Second Coming

Image in the Public Domain

Text by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source = In Memoriam (1884)

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O Lord of glory, King of saints

In earth and heaven above,

Thou, Who didst save the sons of men

By Thy great act of love;

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Hear Thou our song, Who didst not scorn

To own the ties of earth,

Thou First-born of the brethren, hear

Those born of Thy new birth.

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Hear, whilst we praise Thee for the wise,

The holy and the just,

For all who in Thy faith and fear

Departed, dust to dust.

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O blessed sheep! Their wakening eyes

Gazed on the rest of God,

The hidden garden of the Lord

Prepared for their abode.

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O great assembly of the Church

Upon the happy shore,

Where in the midst of all His saints

Christ walketh evermore!

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Keep us in their communion high,

O everlasting Son,

Grant us in life their holiness,

Their rest, when life is done.

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Above:  Good Samaritan Health and Wellness Center, Jasper, Georgia

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Text by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source = In Memoriam (1884)

Website of the Good Samaritan Health and Wellness Center

Feeding on the “bread which feeds the soul” carries the imperative of loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.  Many of those neighbors lead lives laden with care.  There is a moral imperative to engage in good works.

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone….For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.

–James 2:24, 26, Revised Standard Version–Second Edition (1971)

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O God, this weary path of life

Is crossed with sin and care;

Here in Thy house we shun its strife,

And find our rest in prayer.

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For here, when two or three shall meet

To worship in Thy Name;

We know Thee on the mercy-seat

Still present, still the same.

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Give here the bread which feeds the soul,

Bid doubt and murmur cease;

Here make the broken-hearted whole,

Here give the jaded peace.

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Arise and hear, draw near to bless,

Speak with the still small voice;

Clothe Thou Thy priests with righteousness,

And bid Thy saints rejoice.

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Before Thy ark of strength and love

We worship Thee, our King;

God of the glorious courts above,

Where happy angels sing.

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Above:  Bishops Robert Wright and Keith Whitmore with Newly Ordained Priests, the Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, Georgia, June 22, 2015

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Text (1863) by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source =Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum), Moravian Church in America

The first stanza in the version from In Memoriam (1884) reads:

Guide Thou, O God, the guardian hands,

Which rule Thy ransomed sheep;

And may they still fit shepherds choose

Thy flock to keep.

The subsequent stanzas in that version of the text are identical to the hymn text from the Moravian Hymnal and Liturgies (1923).

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We pray Thee, Jesus, Who didst first

The sacred band ordain,

In order due and holy life,

Thy Church sustain.

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We pray Thee, Jesus, with Thy gifts

Thy chosen servants bless,

With doctrine incorrupt and pure,

And righteousness.

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We pray Thee, Jesus, that their course

May still be clothed with power,

With miracles of love and strength,

Meet for the hour.

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O Holy Ghost, Anointer, come,

Pastor and people fill,

Till all the happy tribes of earth

Shall do Thy will.

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Then to the Father, and the Son,

And Holy Ghost, her praise

One living, undivided Church

Shall ever raise.

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Above:  Autumn Trees

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1863) by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source = The Presbyterian Hymnal (1874), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

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Summer ended, harvest o’er,

Lord! to thee our song we pour,

For the valley’s golden yield,

For the fruits of tree and field;

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For the promise ever sure

That while heaven and earth endure

Seed-time, harvest, cold and heat

Shall their yearly round complete;

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For the care which, while we slept,

Watch o’er field and furrow kept,

Watch o’er all the buried grain,

Soon to burst to life again.

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When the reaping angels bring

Tares and wheat before the King,

Jesus! may we gathered be

In the heavenly barn to thee.

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Then the angel-cry shall sound,

Praise the Lamb; the lost are found;

And the answering song shall be,

Alleluia, praise to thee–

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Praise to thee, the toil is o’er;

Blight and curse shall be no more;

Lo! the mighty work is done:

Glory to the three in one.

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Above:  Christ Cleansing a Leper, by Jean-Marie Melchior Doze

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1863) by Greville Phillimore (1821-1884)

Hymn Source = The Lutheran Hymnary (1913), the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America/The Evangelical Lutheran Church (1917-1960) and its immediate predecessors

Congregations of the Norwegian Synod of the American Evangelical Lutheran Church/The Evangelical Lutheran Synod (1918-present) also used The Lutheran Hymnary for many years.

The Lutheran Hymnary specifies this as a hymn for the Third Sunday after Epiphany.

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O Lord of health and life, what tongue can tell,

How at Thy word were loosed the bands of hell;

How Thy pure touch removed the leprous stain,

And the polluted flesh grew clean again?

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O wash our hearts, restore the contrite soul,

Stretch forth Thy healing hand, and make us whole;

O bend our stubborn knees to kneel to Thee,

Speak but the word and we once more are free.

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Yea, Lord, we claim the promise of Thy love,

Thy love, which can all guilt, all pain remove;

Nigh to our souls Thy great salvation bring,

Then sickness hath no pang, and death no sting.

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We hail this pledge in all Thy deeds of grace,

As once disease and sorrow fled Thy face,

So when that face again unveiled we see,

Sickness, and tears, and death no more shall be.

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Then grant us strength to pray, “Thy kingdom come,”

When we shall know Thee in Thy Father’s home,

And at Thy great Epiphany adore

The co-eternal Godhead evermore.

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