Tag Archives: Sunday Hymn

The God of Abraham Praise ~ Hymn

The God of Abraham Praise

The God of Ab­ra­ham praise,
Who reigns en­throned above;
Ancient of ev­er­last­ing days,
And God of Love;
Jehovah, great I AM!
By earth and Heav’n con­fessed;
I bow and bless the sac­red name
Forever blessed.

The God of Ab­ra­ham praise,
Whose all suf­fi­cient grace
Shall guide me all my hap­py days,
In all my ways.
He calls a worm His friend,
He calls Him­self my God!
And He shall save me to the end,
Thro’ Je­sus’ blood.

He keeps His own se­cure,
He guards them by His side,
Arrays in gar­ments, white and pure,
His spot­less bride:
With streams of sac­red bliss,
With groves of liv­ing joys—
With all the fruits of pa­ra­dise
He still sup­plies.

The God who reigns on high
The great arch­an­gels sing,
And Holy, ho­ly, ho­ly! cry,
Almighty King!
Who was, and is, the same,
And ev­er­more shall be:
Jehovah—Fa­ther—great I AM,
We wor­ship Thee!

Before the Sav­ior’s face
The ran­somed na­tions bow;
O’erwhelmed at His al­migh­ty grace,
Forever new:
He shows His prints of love—
They kin­dle to a flame!
And sound thro’ all the worlds ab­ove
The slaugh­tered Lamb.

The whole tri­umph­ant host
Give thanks to God on high;
Hail, Fa­ther, Son, and Ho­ly Ghost,
They ev­er cry.
Hail, Ab­ra­ham’s God, and mine!
(I join the heav’n­ly lays)
All might and ma­jes­ty are Thine,
And end­less praise.

Words: Thomas Olivers, 1765.

Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending

Lo! He Comes With Clouds Descending

Lo! He comes with clouds des­cend­ing,
Once for fa­vored sin­ners slain;
Thousand, thou­sand saints at­tend­ing,
Swell the tri­umph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hal­le­lujah! Hal­le­lu­jah!
God ap­pears on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now be­hold Him
Robed in dread­ful ma­jes­ty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wail­ing, deep­ly wail­ing, deep­ly wail­ing,
Shall the true Mes­si­ah see.

Every is­land, sea, and mount­ain,
Heav’n and earth, shall flee away;
All who hate Him must, con­found­ed,
Hear the trump pro­claim the day:
Come to judg­ment! Come to judg­ment!
Come to judg­ment! Come to judg­ment!
Come away!

Now redemp­tion, long ex­pect­ed,
See in so­lemn pomp ap­pear;
All His saints, by man re­ject­ed,
Now shall meet Him in the air:
Hallelujah! Hal­le­lu­jah! Hal­le­lu­jah!
See the day of God ap­pear!

Answer Thine own bride and Spir­it,
Hasten, Lord, the ge­ne­ral doom!
The new Heav’n and earth t’in­her­it,
Take Thy pin­ing ex­iles home:
All cre­ation, all cre­ation, all cre­ation,
Travails! groans! and bids Thee come!

The dear to­kens of His pas­sion
Still His daz­zling bo­dy bears;
Cause of end­less ex­ul­ta­tion
To His ran­somed wor­ship­ers;
With what rap­ture, with what rap­ture,
With what rap­ture
Gaze we on those glo­ri­ous scars!

Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee,
High on Thine eter­nal throne;
Savior, take the pow­er and glo­ry,
Claim the king­dom for Thine own;
O come quick­ly! O come quick­ly!
O come quick­ly!
Everlasting God, come down!

Charles Wesley

O Light That Knew No Dawn ~ Hymn

O Light That Knew No Dawn

O light that knew no dawn,
That shines to end­less day,
All things in earth and Heav’n
Are lus­tered by Thy ray;
No eye can to Thy throne as­cend,
Nor mind Thy bright­ness com­pre­hend.

Thy grace, O Fa­ther, give,
That I might serve in fear;
Above all boons, I pray,
Grant me Thy voice to hear;
From sin Thy child in mer­cy free,
And let me dwell in light with Thee.

That, cleansed from stain of sin,
I may meet hom­age give;
And pure in heart, be­hold
Thy beau­ty while I live;
Clean hands in ho­ly wor­ship raise,
And Thee, O Christ my Sav­ior, praise.

In sup­pli­ca­tion meek
To Thee I bend the knee;
O Christ, when Thou shalt come,
In love re­mem­ber me,
And in Thy king­dom, by Thy grace,
Grant me a hum­ble serv­ant’s place.

Thy grace, O Fa­ther, give,
I hum­bly Thee implore;
And let Thy mer­cy bless
Thy serv­ant more and more.
All grace and glo­ry be to Thee,
From age to age eter­nal­ly.

Words: Gregory of Nazianzus, (325-390).

See Amid the Winter’s Snow ~ Hymn

See Amid the Winter’s Snow

See amid the win­ter’s snow,
Born for us on earth be­low,
See, the gen­tle Lamb ap­pears,
Promised from eter­nal years.

Refrain

Hail thou ev­er bless­èd morn!
Hail re­demp­tion’s hap­py dawn!
Sing through all Je­ru­sa­lem:
Christ is born in Beth­le­hem!

Lo, with­in a man­ger lies
He who built the star­ry skies;
He who, throned in height sub­lime,
Sits amid the cher­ub­im!

Refrain

Say, you ho­ly shep­herds, say,
Tell your joy­ful news to­day;
Wherefore have you left your sheep
On the lone­ly mount­ain steep?

Refrain

As we watched at dead of night,
Lo, we saw a won­drous light;
Angels sing­ing Peace on earth
Told us of the Sav­ior’s birth.

Refrain

Sacred In­fant, all di­vine,
What a ten­der love was Thine;
Thus to come from high­est bliss
Down to such a world as this.

Refrain

Teach, O teach us, ho­ly Child,
By Thy face so meek and mild,
Teach us to re­sem­ble Thee,
In Thy sweet hu­mil­ity!

Refrain

Words: Edward Caswall, 1851.

Once He Came in Blessing ~ Hymn

Once He Came in Blessing

Once He came in blessing,
All our ills redressing,
Came in likeness lowly,
Son of God most holy;
Bore the cross to save us,
Hope and freedom gave us.

Still He comes within us,
Still His voice would win us
From the sins that hurt us;
Would to truth convert us
From our foolish errors,
Ere He comes in terrors.

Thus if Thou hast known Him,
Not ashamed to own Him,
Nor dost love Him coldly,
But will trust Him boldly,
He will now receive thee,
Heal thee, and forgive thee.

He who well endureth,
Bright reward secureth;
Come, then, O Lord Jesus,
From our sins release us;
Let us here confess Thee,
Till in Heav’n we bless Thee.

Words: Johann Roh, 1544.

When Shades of Night Around Us Close ~Hymn

When Shades of Night Around Us close

When shades of night around us close,
And weary limbs in sleep repose,
The faithful soul awake may be,
And longing sigh, O Lord, to Thee.

Thou true Desire of nations, hear,
Thou Word of God, Thou Savior dear;
In pity heed our humble cries,
And bid at length the fallen rise.

O come, Redeemer, come and free
Thine own from guilt and misery;
The gates of Heav’n again unfold,
Which Adam’s sin had closed of old.

All praise, eternal Son, to Thee,
Whose advent sets Thy people free,
Whom with the Father we adore
And Holy Ghost forevermore.

Words: Charles Cof­fin, Par­is Bre­vi­a­ry, 1736 (In noc­tis um­brâ de­sid­es); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by the com­pil­ers of Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1861.

O Love of God, How Strong and True ~ Hymn

O Love of God, How Strong and True

O love of God, how strong and true!
Eternal and yet ever new;
Uncomprehended and unbought,
Beyond all knowledge and all thought.

O love of God, how deep and great!
Far deeper than man’s deepest hate;
Self-fed, self-kindled, like the light,
Changeless, eternal, infinite.

O heav’nly love, how precious still,
In days of weariness and ill!
In nights of pain and helplessness,
To heal, to comfort, and to bless.

O wide embracing, wondrous love,
We read Thee in the sky above,
We read Thee in the earth below,
In seas that swell, and streams that flow.

We read Thee in the flowers, the trees,
The freshness of the fragrant breeze,
The song of birds upon the wing,
The joy of summer and of spring.

We read Thee best in Him who came
To bear for us the cross of shame;
Sent by the Father from on high,
Our life to live, our death to die.

We read Thee in the manger-bed,
On which His infancy was laid;
And Nazareth that love reveals,
Nestling amid its lonely hills.

We read Thee in the tears once shed,
Over doomed Salem’s guilty head,
In the cold tomb of Bethany,
And blood-drops of Gethsemane.

We read Thy power to bless and save,
E’en in the darkness of the grave;
Still more in resurrection light,
We read the fullness of Thy might.

O love of God, our shield and stay
Through all the perils of our way;
Eternal love, in Thee we rest,
Forever safe, forever blest!

Words: Horatius Bonar, 1861.

This hymn was sung at the 2004 fun­er­al of Am­eri­can pre­si­dent Ron­ald Rea­gan.

Come, O Come, Thou Quickening Spirit ~ Hymn

 

Come, O Come, Thou Quickening Spirit

Come, O come, Thou quick­en­ing Spir­it,
God from all eter­ni­ty!
May Thy pow­er nev­er fail us;
Dwell with­in us con­stant­ly.
Then shall truth and life and light
Banish all the gloom of night.

Grant our hearts in full­est mea­sure
Wisdom, coun­sel, pur­ity,
That we ev­er may be seek­ing
Only that which pleas­eth Thee.
Let Thy know­ledge spread and grow,
Working er­ror’s ov­er­throw.

Show us, Lord, the path of bless­ing;
When we tres­pass on our way,
Cast, O Lord, our sins be­hind Thee,
And be with us day by day.
Should we stray, O Lord, recall;
Work re­pent­ance when we fall.

With our spir­it bear Thou wit­ness
That we are the sons of God
Who re­ly up­on Him sole­ly
When we pass be­neath the rod;
For we know, as child­ren should,
That the cross is for our good.

Prompt us, Lord, to come be­fore Him
With a child­like heart to pray;
Sigh in us, O Ho­ly Spir­it,
When we know not what to say.
Then our pray­er is not in vain,
And our faith new strength shall gain.

If our soul can find no com­fort,
If de­spon­den­cy grows strong,
And the heart cries out in ang­uish,
Oh my God, how long, how long?
Comfort then our ach­ing breast,
Grant it cour­age, pa­tience, rest.

Holy Spir­it, strong and migh­ty,
Thou who mak­est all things new,
Make Thy work with­in us per­fect
And the ev­il foe sub­due.
Grant us wea­pons for the strife
And with vic­to­ry crown our life.

Guard, O God, our faith for­ev­er;
Let not Sa­tan, death or shame
Ever part us from our Sav­ior;
Lord, our re­fuge is Thy name.
Though our flesh cry ev­er: Nay!
Be Thy Word to us still Yea!

And when life’s frail thread is break­ing,
Then as­sure us more and more,
As the heirs of life un­end­ing,
Of the glo­ry there in store,
Glory nev­er yet ex­pressed,
Glory of the saints at rest.

Words: Heinrich Held, 1897-1957.

Thou Art the Way ~ Hymn

Thou Art the Way

Thou art the Way; to Thee alone
From sin and death we flee;
And he who would the Fa­ther seek
Must seek Him, Lord, by Thee.

Thou art the Truth; Thy Word alone
True wis­dom can im­part;
Thou on­ly canst in­form the mind,
And pu­ri­fy the heart.

Thou art the Life; the rend­ing tomb
Proclaims Thy con­quer­ing arm,
And those who put their trust in Thee
Nor death nor hell shall harm.

Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life;
Grant us that Way to know,
That Truth to keep, that Life to win,
Whose joys eter­nal flow.

Words: George Doane, 1824.

A Mighty Fortress is Our God ~Hymn

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Words and Music: Martin Luther, 1529.

This song has been called the great­est hymn of the great­est man of the great­est per­i­od of Ger­man his­to­ry, and the Bat­tle Hymn of the Re­for­ma­tion. It was sung at the fun­er­al of Am­er­i­can pre­si­dent Dwight Ei­sen­how­er at the Na­tion­al Ca­thed­ral in Wash­ing­ton, DC, March 1969.