Scripture Verse

Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. Exodus 28:29

Introduction

portrait
Philip Doddridge
(1702–1751)

Words: Phi­lip Dodd­ridge (1702–1751). Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Found­ed on Va­ri­ous Texts in the Ho­ly Scrip­tures, by Job Or­ton (Shrop­shire, Eng­land: Jo­shua Ed­dowes & John Cot­ton, 1755), num­ber 8: Christ’s in­ter­ces­sion ty­pi­fied by Aar­on’s breast­plate.

Music: South­well (Ir­ons) Her­bert S. Ir­ons, 1861 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Ir­ons (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Now let our cheer­ful eyes sur­vey
Our great high priest above,
And ce­le­brate His con­stant care,
And sym­pa­the­tic love.

Though raised to a su­per­ior throne,
Where an­gels bow around,
And high o’er all the shin­ing train,
With match­less hon­ors crowned;

The names of all His saints He bears
Deep grav­en on His heart;
Nor shall the mean­est Chris­tian say,
That he hath lost his part.

Those char­ac­ters shall fair abide
Our ev­er­last­ing trust,
When gems, and mon­uments, and crowns,
Are mol­dered down to dust.

So, gra­cious Sav­ior, on my breast,
May Thy dear name be worn,
A sac­red or­na­ment and guard,
To end­less ag­es borne.