Scripture Verse

Make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Psalm 98:6

Introduction

portrait
Isaac Woodbury (1819–1858)

Words: Ma­ry C. Bour­dil­lon, A Mo­ther’s Hymns for Her Child­ren, 1849.

Music: Near­er Home Is­aac B. Wood­bu­ry, 1852; har­mo­ny by Ar­thur S. Sul­li­van, 1874 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Bour­dil­lon (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Above yon clear blue sky,
Beyond our fee­ble sight,
The God of glo­ry dwells on high
In ev­er­last­ing light.
Around His glo­ri­ous throne
The ho­ly an­gels stand;
In songs of praise their king they own,
Or fly at His com­mand.

And we may praise Him, too,
And serve Him here be­low;
He stoops to mark what child­ren do,
Their in­most thoughts to know;
And though He reigns above,
Where an­gels cease­less praise,
He will ac­cept our hum­ble love,
And lead us in His ways.

O may we hum­bly seek
To do His ho­ly will,
And try, with thank­ful hearts and meek,
To sing His prais­es still;
And then for Je­sus’ sake,
Who came for us to die,
Our hap­py spir­its He will take
To praise Him in the sky.