Scripture Verse

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife…they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. Mark 10:7–9

Introduction

portrait
Christopher Wordsworth
(1807–1885)

Words: Chris­to­pher Words­worth, The Ho­ly Year (Lon­don: Riv­ing­tons, 1862), num­ber 110, alt.

Music: Jo­se­ph­ine Er­nest R. Kroe­ger, 1901 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Ernest Kroeger (1862–1934)

Lyrics

How blest are hearts, which Christ the Lord
Has joined, as with a sil­ver cord,
In spous­al uni­ty;
And an­im­at­ed are with love,
And in­spi­ra­tions from above,
O Ho­ly Ghost, by Thee!

When an­gels sang cre­at­ion’s birth,
Man, fash­ioned from the dust of earth,
In Ed­en was alone;
But God made Eve from Ad­am’s side,
And brought her to him as a bride,
And willed them to be one.

O ho­ly wed­lock, ra­ti­fied
In Heav’n; a knot for ev­er tied
By God in pa­ra­dise;
O hap­pi­ness be­yond com­pare,
What tongues of an­gels to de­clare
Thy bless­ed­ness suf­fice?

Anthems an­ge­li­cal were heard,
When Christ, the ev­er­last­ing Word,
To wed His spouse did come,
And take His con­se­crat­ed bride,
Cleansed by the life-blood from His side,
Unto His heav’n­ly home.

At Ca­na’s feast, that heav’n­ly Guest
Did first His God­head ma­ni­fest,
And wa­ter change to wine;
In wed­lock, tears of sor­row­ing earth
Are changed to wine of heav’n­ly mirth,
By pow­er and love di­vine.

Mirrored in nup­ti­al pu­ri­ty
The mar­riage of the Church we see,
And Christ the Bride­groom’s love;
Angels look down, and an­thems sing,
The ho­ly Dove, with gold­en wing,
Sheds bless­ings from above.

Bless, ev­er bless, Thy ser­vants, Lord,
Whom Thou dost join in sweet ac­cord.
The bride­groom and the bride;
In sor­row, sick­ness, and in health,
In tri­bu­la­tion and in wealth,
Be Thou their help and guide.

Be with them, Lord, as day by day
They with one heart to­ge­ther pray,
Thy Word to­ge­ther read,
Together at Thine al­tar kneel,
And with Thy blood their un­ion seal,
On Thee to­ge­ther feed.

May they for ever have Thee near,
Making them to Thy­self more dear,
And each to each in Thee;
So, when from earth­ly cares re­leased,
May they at Thine own mar­riage feast
Be blest eter­nal­ly.

To Fa­ther, whose pa­ter­nal love
Sends benedictions from above,
Eternal prais­es be;
And God the Son, in­car­nate Word,
With Holy Spir­it, be adored;
One God and Per­sons Three.