Scripture Verse

He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Colossians 1:17

Introduction

portrait
Daniel A. McGregor (1847–1890)

Words: Da­ni­el A. Mc­Gre­gor, 1889. This work is al­so known as The Mc­Mas­ter Hymn be­cause it is the of­fi­cial hymn of Mc­Mas­ter Uni­ver­si­ty, Ham­il­ton, On­tar­io, Ca­na­da. Mc­Gre­gor is thought to have writ­ten these words dur­ing Ad­vent 1889. His fa­mi­ly do­nat­ed the orig­in­al man­us­cript to Mc­Mas­ter Uni­ver­si­ty in 1921.

Music: Fran­co­nia (Hast­ings) Tho­mas Hast­ings (1784–1872) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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Thomas Hastings
(1784–1872)

Lyrics

Jesus, won­drous Sav­ior! Christ, of kings the king!
Angels fall be­fore Thee, pros­trate wor­ship­ing;
Fairest they con­fess Thee in the Heav’n above.
We would sing Thee fair­est here in hymns of love.

Fairer far than sun­light un­to eyes that wait
Amid fear and dark­ness, ’til the morn­ing break;
Fairer than the day-dawn, hills and dales among,
When its tide of glo­ry wakes the tide of song.

Sweeter far than mu­sic quiv­er­ing from keys
That un­bind all feel­ing with strange har­mo­nies.
Thou art more and dear­er than all min­strel­sy;
Only in Thy pre­sence can joy’s full­ness be.

All earth’s flow­ing plea­sures were a win­try sea,
Heav’n it­self with­out Thee dark as night would be.
Lamb of God! Thy glo­ry is the light above.
Lamb of God! Thy glo­ry is the life of love.

Life is death if se­vered from Thy throb­bing heart.
Death with life abun­dant at Thy touch would start.
Worlds and men and an­gels all con­sist in Thee:
Yet Thou cam­est to us in hu­mil­ity.

Jesus! All per­fect­ions rise and end in Thee;
Brightness of God’s glo­ry Thou, eter­nal­ly,
Favored be­yond mea­sure they Thy face who see;
May we gra­cious Sav­ior, share this ec­sta­sy.