Scripture Verse

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive. 1 John 1:9

Introduction

Words: Un­known au­thor, 8th Cen­tu­ry (Is­te Con­fes­sor, Do­mi­ni sa­cra­tus). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Laur­ence Hous­man in The Eng­lish Hym­nal (Lon­don: Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty Press, 1906), num­ber 188.

Music: Iste Con­fess­or Poi­ti­ers An­ti­phon­er, 1746 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Laurence Housman
(1865–1959)

Lyrics

He, whose confession God of old ac­cept­ed,
Whom through the ag­es all now hold in hon­or,
Gaining his guer­don this day came to en­ter
Heaven’s high por­tal.

God-fear­ing, watch­ful, pure of mind and bo­dy,
Holy and hum­ble, thus did all men find him,
While, through his mem­bers, to the life im­mor­tal
Mortal life called him.

Thus to the wea­ry, from the life en­shrin­èd,
Potent in virtue, flowed hu­mane com­pas­sion;
Sick and sore la­den, how­so­ev­er bur­dened,
There they found heal­ing.

So now in chor­us, giv­ing God the glo­ry,
Raise we our an­them glad­ly to His hon­or,
That in fair kin­ship we may all be shar­ers
Here and here­af­ter.

Honor and glo­ry, power and sal­va­tion,
Be in the high­est un­to Him who reign­eth
Changeless in Hea­ven ov­er earth­ly changes
Triune, eter­nal.