To The Lord Forever Glorious
For Epiphany
Words:
"Majestati sacrosanctĉ," from Trench's Sacred Latin Poetry
Translation from Lyra Messianica
Music: König, 1738. From Layriz.
Source: J. H. Hopkins, ed., Great Hymns of the Church Compiled by the Late Right Reverend John Freeman Young (New York: James Pott & Company, 1887), #83, p. 128.
1. To the Lord forever glorious,
Saints on earth with Saints victorious
Swell the shout of holy Joy:
lest the soul sink down in slumbers
Let the lips, in tuneful numbers,
Hail the Bliss without alloy.
2. See the Branch a new Bud bearing;
See the Star new Day declaring;
Monarchs to the manger run;
Wand'rers they, yet never turning
Whence the Star, before them burning,
Guides them to the New-Born Sun.
3. Three the Kings, threefold their Offering;
He, Who takes what they are proffering,
God in Man is One to see;
By the mystic adoration
Is revealed to all creation
Thus the Triune Deity.
4. Gold, Myrrh, Incense are their Treasure;
But beyond what eye can measure
Is the Truth therein that lies:
Incense is for God from heaven;
To the King the Gold is given;
And the Myrrh to Him Who dies.
5. Sweet the Incense upward streaming;
Bright the Golden Circlet gleaming
On a King's majestic Brow;
Shews the Myrrh, by time unblighted,
That the Word to Flesh united
Never shall corruption know.
6. From this vale, wherein we wander,
Lead us, Lord, O lead us yonder
Where the Kings are gone before:
Where, by Thine abounding merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
We may praise for evermore. Amen.
Sheet Music from J. H. Hopkins, ed., Great Hymns of the Church Compiled by the Late Right Reverend John Freeman Young (New York: James Pott & Company, 1887), #83, p. 128.
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