December 2, 2012

Songs of Thankfulness and Praise

God in Man Made Manifest

Songs of Thankfulness and Praise, first published in 1862 was written by Christopher Wordsworth (1807-1855). Nephew of poet William Wordsworth, he was a Priest of the Church of England. He was a prolific author and hymn writer. His hymns often reflect the kind of mysticism and use of scripture present in the writings of the Early Fathers of the Eastern Church that he studied. Songs of Thankfulness and Praise is sung to the 1678 tune, Salzburg by Jakob Hintze (1622-1702). In the Liturgy of the Hours it is used on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.



SONGS OF THANKFULNESS AND PRAISE by Christopher Wordsworth, 1862 (Public Domain) 

1. Songs of thankfulness and praise
Jesu, Lord, to Thee we raise.
Manifested by the star
To the sages from afar;
Branch of royal David's stem
In Thy birth at Bethlehem;
Anthems be to Thee addressed,
God in Man made manifest.

 2. Manifest at Jordan's stream,
Prophet, Priest, and King supreme;
And at Cana, wedding-guest,
In Thy God-head manifest;
Manifest in power divine,
Changing water in to wine;
Anthems be to Thee addressed,
God in Man made manifest.

 3. Manifest in making whole
Palsied limbs and fainting soul;
Manifest in valiant fight,
Quelling all the devil's might;
Manifest in gracious will,
Ever bringing good from ill;
Anthems be to Thee addressed,
God in Man made manifest.

 4. Sun and moon shall darkened be.
Stars shall fall, and heavens shall flee;
Christ will then like lightning shine,
All will see His glorious sign:
All will then the trumpet hear;
All will see the Judge appear;
Thou by all wilt be confessed,
God in Man made manifest.

 5. Grant us grace to see Thee, Lord,
Present in Thy holy Word;
May we imitate Thee now,
And be pure, as pure art Thou;
That we like to Thee may be
At Thy great Epiphany;
And may praise Thee, ever blest,
God in Man made manifest.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Your comments are welcome, but they won't be published immediately. I moderate them first, just to weed out spam etc.

- Thanks