Scripture Verse

Our Father, who art in Heaven. Matthew 6:9

Introduction

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Edward Miller (1735–1807)
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: Is­aac Watts, Ho­ræ Ly­ri­cæ, Book 1, 1706, pag­es 141–42.

Music: Rock­ing­ham (Mill­er) Karl P. E. Bach. Ar­ranged by Ed­ward Mill­er, 1790 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

Dr. Beau­mont gave out the lines—

Thee, while the first arch­an­gel sings,
He hides his face be­hind his wings

I Wal­tham Street Cha­pel, Hull, on Sun­day morn­ing, Jan­ua­ry 23, 1855. It was the Sun­day school an­niv­er­sa­ry, and af­ter some in­qu­iry as to the schools, he went in­to the pul­pit and gave out the sec­ond verse of the hymn with so­lemn feel­ing. As the con­gre­ga­tion sang the sec­ond line he fell down lifele­ss in the pulpit.

Telford, p. 48

Lyrics

Eternal pow­er, whose high abode
Becomes the gran­deur of a God,
Infinite lengths be­yond the bounds
Where stars re­solve their lit­tle rounds.

The low­est step around Thy seat,
Rises too high for Ga­bri­el’s feet;
In vain the tall arch­an­gel tries
To reach Thine height with won­der­ing eyes.

Thy daz­zling beau­ties whilst he sings,
He hides his face be­hind his wings,
And ranks of shin­ing thrones around
Fall wor­ship­ing, and spread the ground.

Lord, what shall earth and ash­es do?
We would adore our mak­er, too;
From sin and dust to Thee we cry,
The Great, the Ho­ly, and the High!

Earth from afar has heard Thy fame,
And worms have learned to lisp Thy name;
But, O! the glo­ries of Thy mind
Leave all our soar­ing thoughts be­hind.

God is in Hea­ven, and men be­low;
Be short our tunes, our words be few;
A sac­red rev­er­ence checks our songs,
And praise sits si­lent on our tongues.