Scripture Verse

Jesus Christ…the first begotten of the dead. Revelation 1:5

Introduction

Words: George H. Bourne, Se­ven Post Com­mun­ion Hymns 1874, alt.

Music: Bryn Cal­fa­ria Will­iam Ow­en, 1852 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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

Lyrics

Lord, en­throned in hea­ven­ly splen­dor,
First be­got­ten from the dead,
You alone, our strong de­fend­er,
Now lift up Your peo­ple’s head.

Refrain

Alleluia! Al­le­lu­ia! Al­le­lu­ia!
Jesus, true and liv­ing bread!
Jesus, true and liv­ing bread!

Here our hum­blest hom­age pay we,
Here in lov­ing re­ver­ence bow;
Here for faith’s dis­cern­ment pray we,
Lest we fail to know You now.

Refrain

Though the low­li­est form doth veil Thee
As of old in Beth­le­hem,
Here as there Thine an­gels hail Thee,
Branch and flow­er of Jes­se’s stem.

Refrain

Paschal Lamb, Your of­fer­ing fin­ished
Once for all when You were slain,
In its full­ness un­di­min­ished
Shall forev­er­more re­main.

Refrain

Great high priest of our pro­fess­ion,
Through the veil Thou went­est in,
By Thy migh­ty in­ter­ces­sion,
Grace and peace for us to win.

Refrain

Life im­part­ing hea­ven­ly man­na,
Smitten rock with stream­ing side,
Heaven and earth with loud ho­san­na
Worship You, the Lamb who died.

Refrain