Scripture Verse

The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Job 38:7

Introduction

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James Montgomery
(1771–1854)
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: James Mont­go­me­ry, Songs of Zi­on 1822. This is a short­ened ver­sion of Mont­go­me­ry’s Spir­it of Pow­er and Might, Be­hold.

Music: New­bold George Kings­ley (1811–1884) (🔊 pdf nwc). Ap­peared in Songs for the Sanc­tu­ary, ed­it­ed by Charles S. Ro­bin­son (New York: A. S. Barnes, 1868), page 81.

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

Lyrics

Almighty Spir­it, now be­hold
A world by sin de­stroyed:
Creating Spir­it, as of old,
Move on the form­less void,
Move on the form­less void.

Give Thou the Word: that heal­ing sound
Shall quell the dead­ly strife;
And earth again, like Ed­en crowned,
Bring forth the tree of life,
Bring forth the tree of life.

If sang the morn­ing stars for joy,
When na­ture rose to view,
What strains will an­gel harps em­ploy,
When Thou shalt all re­new,
When Thou shalt all re­new!

And if the sons of God re­joice
To hear a Sav­ior’s name,
How will the ran­somed raise their voice
To whom that Sav­ior came,
To whom that Sav­ior came!

Lo, ev­ery kin­dred, ev­ery tribe,
Assembling round the throne,
The new cre­ation shall as­cribe
To so­ver­eign love alone,
To so­ver­eign love alone!