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O worship the King, all glorious above,
O gratefully sing His pow'r and His love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.
O tell of His might, O sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.
The earth, with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, Thy pow'r hath founded of old,
Hath stablished it fast by a changeless decree,
And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.
Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender! how firm to the end!
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.
O measureless might! Ineffable love!
While angels delight to worship Thee above,
The humbler creation, though feeble their lays,
With true adoration shall all sing Thy praise.
Story:
Everybody has heard of the great Austrian composer Franz Joseph
Haydn, who lived from 1732-1809.
Haydn was one of the great composers of all time and is credited with,
among other things, the invention of the modern string quartette.
Not many people, however, have heard of his equally musical brother,
Johann Michael Haydn.
Both were the sons of a wheelwright who was also a great lover of
music. He played the harp without knowing a note of music and when the
boys were small he taught them to sing.
When Franz Joseph was only seven years old the chapel-master heard his
weak but pleasant voice and put him in the choir at St. Stephens in
Vienna.
There, until he was 18, he sang soprano, but then, his voice changed
and his singing career ended. His younger brother, however, took his
place and learned the same musical and composing skills.
Between the two of them, the brothers Haydn gave to the world some of
the finest music ever to fall upon the ears of man.
Amongst other things, Johann Michael wrote some 360 pieces of music
for the church.
He was past middle age and an accomplished composer when a child was
born to a Member of Parliament in Scotland.
When he grew up, Robert Grant followed his father into Parliament and
into the East India Company, of which his father was chairman. He too
became a director of the company and was eventually appointed governor
of Bombay and given a knighthood.
Mr. Grant Sr. had encouraged the sending of missionaries to India. His
son, Robert did more. He supported the missionaries and wrote hymns
for them to sing. He wrote little but he wrote well.
Sir Robert Grant died in 1839 but a year later his twelve hymn-poems
were published through the good offices of his brother Charles. They
were given the not too original title "Sacred Poems."
Set to various tunes they found their place in a number of hymnals but
none of them ever took the world by storm. None, that is, except this
one.
Based on the words of Psalm 104 the hymn exhorts us:
O worship the King all glorious above,
And gratefully sing his wonderful love;
Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise.
As you can see, Sir Robert had a way with words , and the rest of the
hymn continues in the same vein.
Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.
This hymn always reminds me of the years I spent at grammar school in
Belfast. It seems as though we sang it almost every week in that most
wonderful of public school traditions, morning assembly.
I'm sure our rendering of it was by no means melodious but it
certainly left a lasting impression upon me.
Some say that the majestic words written by the governor of Bombay
would never have become popular but for the beautiful tune written by
the son of an Austrian carriage wheel maker.
For my part, I agree that the words and music combine beautifully, but
have no doubt that the words by themselves would stand up very well.
They are, after all, a paraphrase of the Word of God.
Bible Verses
Psalm 104:1,2 -
O Lord my God, You are very great; You
are clothed with splendor and majesty.
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