Scripture Verse

As seeing Him who is invisible. Hebrews 11:27

Introduction

Words: Li­on­el B. C. L. Mu­ir­head, in the Yat­ten­don Hym­nal, 1899, num­ber 61, with this note on page 18: Af­ter [Hu­bert and Jan] Van Eyck’s pic­ture of the Wor­ship of the Lamb. This pic­ture, fin­ished around 1432, hung in the Ca­thed­ral of St. Ba­von in Ghent.

Music: Uni­ver­si­ty Charles Col­lig­non (1725–1785), in A Col­lect­ion of Psalms for the Use of Par­ish Church­es, by P. Hel­len­daal, page 90 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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

Lyrics

The Church of God a king­dom is,
Where Christ in pow­er doth reign;
Where spir­its yearn till, seen in bliss,
Their Lord shall come again.

Glad com­pa­nies of saints pos­sess
This Church be­low, above;
And God’s per­pe­tu­al calm doth bless
Their pa­ra­dise of love.

An al­tar stands with­in the shrine
Whereon, once sac­ri­ficed,
Is set, im­ma­cu­late, di­vine,
The Lamb of God, the Christ.

There rich and poor, from count­less lands,
Praise God on mys­tic rood;
There na­tions reach forth ho­ly hands
To take God’s ho­ly food.

There pure life-giv­ing streams o’er­flow
The sow­er’s gar­den-ground:
And faith and love fair blos­soms show,
And fruits of love abound.

O King, O Christ, this end­less grace
To us and all men bring,
To see the vi­sion of Thy face
In joy, O Christ, our king.