Scripture Verse

The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion: rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. Psalm 110:1–2

Introduction

Words: Ed­ward W. Ben­son, in the Well­ing­ton Col­lege Hymn Book, 1860.

Music: Chartres 15th Cen­tu­ry French me­lo­dy (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Edward W. Benson
1829–1896
National Portrait Gallery

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Lyrics

Spake the glo­ri­ous Lord in Hea­ven,
Lord, be Thine this roy­al seat,
Till their ar­mies thun­der-riven
Bow the neck be­neath Thy feet.

Lo, Thy stan­dards proud­ly flow­ing,
Forth they fare the world to win,
Reign and pros­per, ov­erthrow­ing
All the lords of death and sin.

God with man, an in­fant ten­der
Of a stain­less maid­en born,
Elder than the day-star’s splen­dor,
Purer than the pearls of morn,
By the eter­nal oath ap­point­ed
Of the mys­tic or­der blest,
Thou art vest­ed, throned, anoint­ed,
Evermore a king­ly priest.

When the doom of sin is seal­èd
And the trump of judg­ment rings,
Darkly at Thy side re­vealèd
God shall bruise the god­less kings.
Thou shalt judge amongst the hea­then,
Thou shalt fill the world with dead;
Never shall Thy sword be sheath­en,
Till it smite the apos­tate’s head.

But Thy spell of end­less glo­ry
Is to suf­fer and to die;
Kedron with its bit­ter sto­ry,
And the vale of ag­ony.
Honor, bless­ing, vir­tue, mer­it
To the Fa­ther and the Son,
And the good and gra­cious Spi­rit,
While eter­nal ages run.