Best Loved Hymns and Readings
Martin Manser
An indispensable combination of 200 best loved hymns, poems and readings for every occasion, and ideal for personal reflection.Complete with a brief introduction to each piece and its author, this book is a wonderful personal reference and devotional guide. From Away in a Manger to God Save the Queen, and the famous Bible passage on love, 1 Corinthians 13, to Tennyson’s Crossing the Bar, it has passages suitable for every occasion, and has all you need to plan a baptism, a wedding or, should the need arise, a funeral.
Best
Loved
Hymns,
Poems &
Readings
Compiled by
Martin H. Manser
Associate Editor: David H. Pickering
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u82f2b566-c0c0-5a87-8e72-f8806c1c2a95)
Title Page (#u82f188c5-8f8d-5f8e-ae71-fc9749539ffa)
Introduction (#uf57a4f89-8d3e-5af8-92a4-4f56dc63efe5)
Abide with me (#u685ecb35-9e70-50b6-a6e7-5a6fa1db3cf2)
Adam and Eva (#u179d9687-3a36-5813-babc-97aef04073f4)
Adonais (#u028e6e79-0571-5932-8641-da5bc004b0ec)
Afterwards (#u0b3b7279-795c-5217-a776-e8821e18fdb1)
All creatures of our God and King (#ub4f1b9cb-fd70-5b2d-8857-78471f430f8b)
All people that on earth do dwell (#u2e6934ad-bd40-50ed-a58d-a7729b181ce3)
All things bright and beautiful (#u22db0c4d-ccea-5820-84ab-ffd762b76bff)
All we like sheep (#u74a8aa42-ca52-57fc-8e41-204067c78cdd)
Amazing grace (#uc2ad2e91-cc9d-5116-8ac0-356bb66cf5cd)
And can it be? (#ud1a40b44-091f-532b-8cda-4f4a3920adab)
Away in a manger (#u2dd3a41d-df92-59c5-a058-44fca7617880)
Be baptized (#u59a55e90-1bab-5cd7-bb7f-f228d34f9ff6)
Be still, my soul (#u4264c96b-bbef-5501-b012-418f2de4b18a)
Be Thou my vision (#uee6faca0-babf-5e47-a95e-4753942a7045)
Blessed are the poor in spirit (#u7234581a-046b-538f-92e6-8c196feac54a)
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine (#ua4d04d22-6abd-5602-9214-43d24f160c8e)
Blood, toil, tears and sweat (#u5e784915-3618-53f9-a7cb-f36b3100a0af)
Breathe on me, Breath of God (#u94661864-cbf7-5145-ab63-e493e20c65f7)
The burning bush (#u52a99f26-ae67-594a-ba38-fc3870e22a7f)
Christ, the Lord, is risen today (#u30e8eb7b-3c0e-5a34-aff5-ac144162c49a)
Christ triumphant (#u707c9f50-7e54-576a-9732-4f5d48813470)
The Church’s one foundation (#u3b28eef0-52ef-59dd-ab45-501cbae944d2)
Come, ye thankful people, come (#ub6f151ce-405e-58ec-aa35-4fbe4256a8b7)
Come down, O love divine (#uc4b62c63-6b99-5e2d-8a6e-3fcb3be239cb)
Come live with me and be my love (#u83f3350b-93c4-5fda-a21f-54bed17c38b4)
Crossing the bar (#u6a962cc9-eb45-5d21-84ea-78c0a230a563)
Crown Him with many crowns (#u0b67fb33-80b4-5437-bf3e-66aaca201c52)
Daniel in the lions’ den (#uf691be27-f4a9-5b6f-86a7-c73763617255)
David and Goliath (#u03d80035-bd5c-50e4-aca6-420d339608bc)
The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended (#ubb09442b-b35c-5575-8acd-d682381b8148)
Dear Lord and Father of mankind (#u964f6349-8163-5b9b-9588-c84c02308c58)
Death, be not proud (#u7d233078-e723-5f61-b5fd-b833a94605f9)
Death is nothing at all (#u60c285e7-0500-51f8-a30a-04303573b42b)
Do not go gentle into that good night (#ub70e03e3-c97b-5ae4-a5c8-4eff6354681b)
Do not stand at my grave and weep (#u553b467e-fe12-58d2-8ced-d75b683ab30d)
Do not worry (#u89fe61ea-2d99-52f0-844f-92f7c80a6d29)
Drink to me only with thine eyes (#u2926fbf6-a2f0-5dd7-80f4-2c42d48a8d93)
Each eve Earth falleth down the dark (#u6f8cdda0-6244-5a8e-9d30-70e059c43702)
Eternal Father, strong to save (#uf4371268-bb92-53f7-8dbf-4420261e0808)
Faith, hope, and love (#uedc4284b-1665-556a-a7e5-6d9a9edc8b5d)
Far above rubies (#u6e5ed6c4-5127-5d1e-ae50-a0679da6edb0)
Father, hear the prayer we offer (#ua6d76119-97ff-523a-b71d-29367004670c)
A father’s advice to his son (#uef4e66e3-3d1c-55e6-b8e2-ea7223ef7d97)
Fight the good fight (#u895d1f90-f534-5b17-aba3-912a7cfbdf68)
For all the saints (#u44d071c8-1c35-5534-ace7-b8bc80f51770)
For everything there is a season (#u4933ee33-61c2-5851-985e-19e9e23b2921)
For I dipt into the future (#uf4416513-63b9-55e9-a09f-71996fdefec6)
For the beauty of the earth (#ubefbffe1-2e0b-58e9-8aed-7782f860c02a)
For unto us a child is born (#ud6b10af8-1306-55a1-a830-34a30de9147e)
Friends, Romans, countrymen (#ud6f495ad-5a86-5789-a940-20e38ef9afa0)
Give a man a horse (#u1dff73e2-1c77-558c-88a2-8e513b66ee45)
Glorious things of thee are spoken (#ue9ba7e46-f83a-540f-984c-10824dc98542)
God be in my head (#u4889c4b4-fd7c-538f-bc09-e945688e608a)
God is our refuge and strength (#u8999901e-ff5e-50fa-97ab-34c0664d981b)
God moves in a mysterious way (#u5e185705-1d19-5061-8dad-b73e8016e7f6)
God save the queen (#u8a36348d-2ad7-5f83-90f9-2c9dd2c972af)
God’s grandeur (#ueab81cfa-8734-59c5-9189-86c4eb6f85e7)
The Good Samaritan (#ufa75b601-bb56-54a8-bb0d-32134505a63d)
Great is thy faithfulness (#u7d2ae6b5-203f-5e79-bd7b-af4cf9cd8fb7)
Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer (#u1e0970b6-9a0e-5a41-8b5c-0412d6654bc9)
Hallelujah, what a Saviour! (#ue97718a2-cdde-5462-9c13-c987f6ae6f01)
Hark! the herald-angels sing (#u3f92b4a3-88b4-59f3-a5e0-e76a31581d84)
Hills of the north, rejoice (#u58dea71c-a752-5071-96b7-bda779db4d78)
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty (#u076fb1a2-87f9-515e-976c-88b603817862)
Home, sweet home (#u860fe5b5-eac3-5b27-a4be-c3c5df9c310b)
Home-thoughts, from abroad (#u06574103-f689-58fa-a6b8-6faee1b818f9)
The hound of heaven (#u626798a8-d9b5-5234-b77b-dae8d729c79f)
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways (#uab8c8664-cb09-50c2-b696-7995a5b700de)
How great Thou art! (#ub2899474-6228-59d0-9b4c-0a63671ba370)
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds (#u15dc59df-5bc1-5cfc-8831-35675134d215)
I am the good shepherd (#u4d2be958-d61c-58cb-83a2-f8ac766e2ad1)
I am the resurrection and the life (#u93c56b34-d54a-55cb-8a95-f45ce3d114e1)
I felt my heart strangely warmed (#u962bb0f3-aeed-59ba-bb58-cc23ed4f8374)
I run toward the prize (#ucc6d1b55-77f8-5e9d-a80a-fb2b7a2cdf07)
I’ve found a friend (#uebb42cb1-be40-57f5-90ed-a558b53dc355)
I vow to thee, my country (#u2474073f-0442-53fb-b480-1963efc7a960)
I wandered lonely as a cloud (#u86191acb-794f-5be0-8276-a4cfb5ffe9f3)
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills (#u5a8d669e-491f-5f79-b772-a467bfcdb20a)
I will raise him up at the last day (#udfab3642-f179-5935-8426-66f74003c423)
If (#u82b7c803-eadd-58b9-a48f-f70dc36fd65e)
If I should go before the rest of you (#u0c353a49-4941-522a-a795-8306b60263a2)
Immortal, invisible, God only wise (#ubf707928-c4d1-5a05-a2e4-e8837ff7cf13)
In Memoriam (#ubf3c40bc-8f38-5878-b971-3d29267a685c)
In my house are many mansions (#u1da830c9-e793-51dd-93f4-ec6b9abf423d)
In the beginning (#u92934e95-9447-5e19-8640-da8c176bca7d)
Invictus (#uec5a7fbe-aa8e-565e-8940-c06718180f8d)
Jerusalem (#u4d75ddf1-0fa7-57b4-bf31-0fb56d4611bd)
Jerusalem the golden (#u85e5a328-fb43-5fda-8b54-df7a2ea53108)
Jesus Christ is risen today (#ubd0c569b-9e99-596a-b3e6-06edfc305c19)
Jesus loves me (#u0bcda6bc-0ef9-5bd8-b518-f83ed98b7337)
Jesus shall reign (#u0c248a15-aa77-588a-9c0d-6e3192d87ac4)
Joy to the world (#u7e8f4377-24f5-5f0e-8cea-db9ca185915d)
Just as I am (#ua3de1554-b1be-5077-a1ea-0b387ee7459e)
The King of love my Shepherd is (#u65f57a01-a019-526a-a0a4-00fb85e8ca40)
The Lake isle of Innisfree (#ub6afcb2f-c0b9-5e76-9647-e498719c2a04)
Land of hope and glory (#u988e952f-de4a-5bf6-a481-0840c87d67bd)
Land of my fathers (#u7081ef5b-06e7-5e98-8ace-651207e9753d)
Last lines (#u30517bf7-8b26-5a60-99cc-658bc66d91e2)
Lead, kindly light (#ue3bf4d37-d86b-5e02-b7cd-ae3f56ba529d)
Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us (#u38ca9d07-12cc-582f-b4cb-48ba7db3ecd2)
Let the little children come to me (#ue168bcde-42ab-5920-bb5c-2fa575c7852d)
Let us now praise famous men (#u73f6f8c7-49b7-50fc-aa8f-9265ea56ca3d)
Let us, with a gladsome mind (#ua6ba6ef8-9a2e-5546-8764-7e228ff8ecf5)
The Listeners (#u6029d3b4-4ced-51d7-a54e-bef963ccf616)
The Lord is my shepherd (#u6d11b9d1-ce43-5b62-8962-8826d101b196)
Lord of all hopefulness (#u88dbe737-af43-5942-87f2-c2899d6d72d1)
The Lord’s Prayer (#u1a0afb64-690a-5fb2-a7a2-f2d9b8ab8516)
Loud is the vale (#uf86804df-ddb7-50fb-a790-9a5947e6e551)
Love alters not (#udd3adb93-4613-5a01-8d04-f8b7ed3d77fc)
Love divine, all loves excelling (#u12046cbf-961d-5193-95ad-3740bcf89fcc)
Love lives beyond the tomb (#u9b6cd8b8-c4e3-5305-9bc2-8882176470e0)
Love seeketh not itself to please (#ub90410c1-5e19-53e6-bb2c-22c430a71978)
Make me a channel of your peace (#u46f7055f-e065-5354-b3db-92b405ebbcd6)
Many waters cannot quench love (#u865d146f-0788-5ca5-8992-6a73f427bc10)
May the road rise to meet you (#u88a022bd-24c0-5082-a5c4-e3e39371f91c)
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord (#u91c99d32-cc1a-5e51-8626-495860771d31)
Miss me – but let me go (#ucc304175-5fea-5d1f-b10e-a35544b2e5b6)
Morning has broken (#uaf7690c9-950d-5b05-ac9c-f1b8e0e663a9)
My God, how wonderful Thou art (#ud25d8762-4883-51ac-849e-633baa565b60)
My song is love unknown (#uf77a1872-f98f-5108-91f1-ea06503bbfd9)
Nearer, my God, to thee (#uaeab13a4-0a50-51c4-b955-d4228fc10cf4)
A new heaven and a new earth (#ub40302b2-5e33-59a0-b220-725515700d62)
No coward soul is mine (#u4f1203ba-95fb-5960-bee8-a41fcd86e2be)
No man is an island (#u3857af9c-0483-5128-b5b4-499eb88547f1)
No room at the inn (#u411867d2-7bb2-5955-9b83-21b02123372c)
No single thing abides (#u9eb415e4-5368-58cd-835e-dac112e03cda)
The noblest Roman of them all (#u5b54d7b0-5cdb-5b4f-927f-b42f8594eae0)
Now thank we all our God (#u7d42418c-63f6-5e73-890b-be11805193d2)
O captain! my captain! (#u2fd9d6b6-6da3-501c-a14b-efd788f66187)
O come, all ye faithful (#ubaa20de5-a807-5623-a407-e6feced7d756)
O come, O come, Emmanuel (#uf2df5efb-ee3c-5a29-8374-f74057836bd4)
O death, where is thy sting? (#udedf5fd6-06a6-5a76-951d-de2158e7bce6)
O for a closer walke with god (#ua8f1a126-bc96-5b51-b32d-5d7715509e40)
O for a heart to praise my God (#u70afe7df-3639-53de-8e44-51d1baa60cf2)
O for a thousand tongues to sing (#u2fed95e1-1f3b-5fc6-abbb-04d2f7ff3f30)
O God, our help in ages past (#u7314e0b7-7daa-5f6a-8cb0-7aa0525a5855)
O Jesus, I have promised (#ube355693-88fd-52b4-a583-980e94d1aa7e)
O little town of Bethlehem (#u3133afcb-963b-540e-a92c-a8417209a8a3)
O love divine (#u2f99b3b9-90c2-54fa-8a10-aa9ea2d68ee2)
O may I join the choir invisible (#u72927af9-83f2-5dda-8049-67d5817d4637)
O Thou who camest from above (#u0517940a-57fe-5d76-949e-ba0a565074ac)
The old rugged cross (#ufecb036c-76a7-55d5-a0e5-a953714983da)
The Old Vicarage, Grantchester (#u81edc6b8-7f0e-5939-b1c5-5871f5591e85)
Once in royal David’s city (#ude9c90a8-438f-5ce8-9146-1c6aa9d7db59)
Once more unto the breach, dear friends (#u5692bd41-af50-567e-b24a-bf86949c1cb3)
Onward, Christian soldiers (#uabe61a99-37a9-53e8-8aaf-fa5c73fb1bcb)
Our revels now are ended (#u7d8267e2-de72-54d3-912a-820e6edb7625)
The parable of the Sower (#u0a28874f-e9e3-5212-b048-80ccec57a711)
Pippa passes (#uda2712d7-6250-5208-99ed-cb80b74bbe2c)
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven (#u96ef58aa-857d-5a9a-bf4b-5eafd2c60d6f)
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (#u02915599-4d3b-5c37-9ce5-526c0be05d2e)
Prayer for generosity (#u847e29b7-85ec-5d42-aecd-7902853c557d)
The Prodigal Son (#u29728e98-9d79-56cf-a1f7-f97a0d81a2c9)
The quality of mercy is not strained (#u7920fcd2-22f0-5d59-905b-f2c01914d43a)
The race is not to the swift (#ub2cdfcb4-a49d-59bb-bcfd-58a452466629)
A red, red rose (#udcf582db-d87e-57ba-8beb-452396e1f391)
Rejoice, the Lord is King (#u23b18dee-a4d8-5d75-a704-7588cd187a8d)
Remember me when I am gone away (#ue4de0ffa-facb-554b-aaa6-c0eb19fc5dfc)
Remembrance of things past (#u1f079340-7adb-53e0-90a8-95565dee910e)
Requiem (#u85a14e36-5804-5e77-b35a-987b5614fb6e)
Resurrection hope (#u6b165244-f120-550e-b9ce-b04e7151d764)
The road to Emmaus (#uadbbdace-43f3-576b-9382-b21e3d3de1b7)
Rock of ages (#u4d972254-39f6-56b8-97c3-f4f08ef45c75)
Rule Britannia (#uff7f9819-3a89-5198-9e32-3a031b7aa01f)
Say not the struggle naught availeth (#u75f1aa41-a92b-5b28-805b-2118abad125b)
Search me, O God, and know my heart (#ubef25761-f639-5613-b57b-d7d883ff7c28)
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day (#uc65c2f00-2d19-5b25-a2b7-6de4bbda2a0f)
The shepherd boy sings in the valley of humiliation (#ufd3ae02b-edbe-55e9-9159-34eb46a7107d)
Silent night (#u75a0e486-4fa7-5b98-b8b5-4f3bae472570)
The Soldier (#uf1340970-f7a6-547a-92fe-05bdd53f653e)
Soldiers of Christ, arise (#ued1f6dbc-0f03-51aa-9cd3-b88ece48d6f1)
The Song of Solomon (#u574cb46c-6223-5e07-b36c-bfd12751dfeb)
Stand up! stand up for Jesus (#uec4bc2c0-1500-5a40-9588-b1945dd1cb50)
Stone walls do not a prison make (#udfa38cba-67e3-57fa-94c1-59b5f5d67940)
Sweet spirit, comfort me (#uc1bb1df1-6a7d-532d-ae98-80795b87b572)
Swing low, sweet chariot (#ub745f1fe-34ed-569f-8bab-b3faa5b198e7)
Take my life, and let it be (#ub00fde3a-a897-5dcc-8170-ee32b369aee3)
Tell me not, in mournful numbers (#u7e0a74ff-239f-5bb5-b392-be137bc08e92)
Tell me the old, old story (#u31e2ea5f-a5b8-53a4-aed4-28fbc338d5e7)
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord (#u9e82505a-adc6-5fee-844b-396e8a5bc270)
There is a green hill far away (#u28cd6b02-686e-5ebd-876c-d939311d6a1a)
There is no death! (#ua951dce7-125d-53a4-87d7-137e346bda08)
There is therefore now no condemnation (#u695b1764-ca83-509c-a254-18feaad9b8cf)
There’ll always be an England (#u91b8ef5b-937f-5eed-8410-53deab3e4c85)
They shall not grow old (#u0e123052-e7b7-5261-959a-cf9c26273f33)
Thine be the glory (#u3a55f509-1bdf-5cdd-af02-5705c3f8b78e)
Those who are first will be last (#u8120508d-970c-5643-8c59-a1d050cb33a2)
The three wise men (#uc1af4e1e-deeb-592e-919c-fe5172d461f7)
Through all the changing scenes of life (#u9c6f5ed2-14ee-5274-a746-c6bcadf361f3)
Till the sun grows cold (#u8394d222-c7c7-51c8-80e0-c71c3b1ffd03)
To a good man of most dear memory (#u771da182-102b-599f-b74d-b09169cfc387)
To God be the glory (#u53ca72ce-5f53-586e-88ef-94fb12e074db)
To his coy mistress (#uba9a9e40-e725-5210-b9bf-cda71ae57557)
To the virgins, to make much of time (#u196f39e0-568f-58c4-b9d0-5267e16336e7)
To thine own self be true (#u890d7a33-4218-50b7-91a4-7fb61ad76a40)
Trust and obey (#u8420b67b-8f2d-56b3-b57d-e4ded4952174)
Turn the other cheek (#u5c2691c1-0ea9-5a1b-8eba-42615eb7c6d1)
Vitaï Lampada (#u94817a3f-08a0-5d9f-98db-0605d2570fc8)
We brought nothing into this world (#u61c13cae-09b7-5013-b820-058c9d96a199)
We plough the fields, and scatter (#u490e08ae-c9c6-5ec4-baa0-22238f94acce)
We rest on Thee (#uf5674674-bd6d-58fa-bd4d-8baf6b7fc3b8)
We shall fight them on the beaches (#u5ca43cb9-25ca-5134-8971-7c0f5d7ec0ba)
The wedding at Cana (#u0ffa52a5-f5e9-5fae-9b0b-4a0dfa4dc775)
Were you there? (#udafca88a-0461-5e0b-8461-ba580c5252e4)
What a friend we have in Jesus (#u11a43c9a-1723-57ce-9fbd-deeb2db14614)
What is man? (#u26760fe4-4b8d-53f3-afa6-26bfba20107c)
What God has joined together, let no one separate (#ud9060df8-50ad-5b5d-a177-f084fe390892)
When I am dead, my dearest (#u08420080-942b-56ab-89b4-81f3db48558b)
When I survey the wondrous cross (#u182dbf71-f296-556e-824d-fcbfef6fca83)
When my hour is come (#ua31b7e81-584b-54b8-9c04-aa04d499db37)
Where you go I will go (#ua4d0d636-390e-5af3-a07e-bc006ff573b9)
While shepherds watched their flocks by night (#u35fbaa78-cd04-590c-9c67-d8f7355f29ea)
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? (#u52878f17-d0a8-5811-97b9-300b1353a1a9)
Who would true valour see (#u875ffe6d-6c8d-59f1-aa9f-4ec2e691f054)
Whoever welcomes one such child (#u5037fdc9-bca0-52f8-ba83-5592a921f0b0)
Wives and husbands (#uc453e927-a051-57d8-9e93-316216ae8d6f)
The wolf shall live with the lamb (#u5e9bb91e-f6ba-5ec0-aba7-f734be3feec5)
The Word became flesh (#u88059bf4-87bd-57d8-a0b7-c116013011a0)
Author Index (#u67d55519-0060-5a4b-b2eb-6b7b1aa49d31)
Index of Bible references (#u3bc5d026-f74b-5beb-9e4d-d8e897be5960)
Index of first lines (#u96cbfec3-4cd2-5523-a123-55550bd8c573)
Index of themes (#u56247be0-5cad-5a67-afe1-89afc480726e)
Acknowledgements (#u0d361be2-d333-5d26-a7d5-e13b954aa53b)
Copyright (#ub23d3763-acd1-5d54-862c-a39acda2cbcb)
About the Publisher (#u7a9161de-c1ec-5b62-90c5-64e98ab9659e)
Introduction (#ulink_635157dd-e5a4-52f9-8847-e02e58fe00d4)
This collection of Best-loved Hymns and Readings has been compiled as a resource for personal devotion and also as a reference work. It will be useful for making selections for such services as weddings, Christenings, or funerals. You will find here many favourite and traditional hymns, poems, readings, and extracts from the Bible (e.g., ‘Amazing Grace’ and Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan), together with less familiar ones (e.g., Shakespeare’s ‘The quality of mercy is not strained’). Each hymn, reading, poem, etc., is given an introduction which sets its background or gives interesting or helpful information. All the readings are arranged in alphabetical order of title (ignoring ‘A’ or ‘The’ at the beginning of a title). For ease of reference there are also indexes at the end of the book to enable you to find a particular item by reference to its first line, its author, its overall theme or, where appropriate, its Bible reference.
These extracts have been compiled in the hope that they will provide inspiration and encouragement both for everyday life and also at times of particular need and on special occasions.
Martin H. Manser
Abide with me (#ulink_eaa07b30-3bd8-5034-9785-c7a818a606a7)
Henry Francis Lyte was vicar of the fishing port of Brixham, Devon, and wrote a number of greatly loved hymns, of which ‘Abide with me’ is perhaps the most celebrated. He wrote it shortly after his last sermon, knowing that his own death (at the premature age of 54) was imminent, having been diagnosed with tuberculosis.
In 1915 Nurse Edith Cavell famously derived strength from this hymn by singing it in her cell the night before she was executed by a German firing squad. Today it is also a great favourite with crowds at football matches.
The original reference is to Luke 24:29, which runs ‘Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.’
Abide with me! fast falls the eventide,
The darkness deepens; LORD, with me abide!
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see:
O Thou, who changest not, abide with me!
I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me!
I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless:
Ills have no weight and tears no bitterness:
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still if Thou abide with me.
Hold then Thy cross before my closing eyes!
Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies!
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee:
In life and death, O Lord, abide with me!
Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847)
Adam and Eva (#ulink_da726a8e-2b70-5a73-9050-c4d584e4092e)
This passage from. Genesis 2:18-24 is sometimes used as a Bible reading at weddings. It illustrates the mutual companionship and interdependence that exist in a marriage relationship.
Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Adonais (#ulink_0274bc89-28bf-5c2e-ab53-8dc1823ed93c)
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s lament for fellow-poet John Keats ranks among his most celebrated poetic works. Written in 1821 in response to the news of Keats’s premature death from consumption in Rome, it is often quoted in part or in full at funerals (the extracts below comprise the more famous passages).
Many have commented upon the melancholy prescience of the final stanza in which Shelley describes how his own spirit is ‘driven far from the shore’: the following year he was himself drowned in a sudden storm while sailing in the bay of Lerici.
Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep;
He hath awakened from the dream of life.
‘Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep
With phantoms an unprofitable strife,
And in mad trance, strike with out spirit’s knife
Invulnerable nothings. We decay
Like corpses in a charnel; fear and grief
Convulse us and consume day by day,
And cold hopes swarm like worms within our living clay.
He has outsoared the shadow of our night;
Envy and calumny and hate and pain,
And that unrest which men miscall delight,
Can touch him not and torture not again;
From the contagion of the world’s slow stain
He is secure, and now can never mourn
A heart grown cold, a head grown grey in vain;
Nor, when the spirit’s self has ceased to burn,
With sparkles ashes load an unlamented urn.
He is made one with Nature; there is heard
His voice in all her music, from the moan
Of thunder to the song of night’s sweet bird;
He is a presence to be felt and known
In darkness and in light, from herb and stone,
Spreading itself where’er that Power may move
Which has withdrawn his being to its own;
Which wields the world with never-wearied love,
Sustains it from beneath, and kindles it above.
He is a portion of the loveliness
Which once he made more lovely: he doth bear
His part, while the one Spirit’s plastic stress
Sweeps through the dull, dense world, compelling there
All new successions to the forms they wear,
Torturing th’ unwilling dross that checks its flight
To its own likeness, as each mass may bear,
And bursting in its beauty and its might
From trees and beasts and men into the Heaven’s light.
The One remains, the many change and pass;
Heaven’s light for ever shines, Earth’s shadows fly;
Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass,
Stains the white radiance of Eternity,
Until Death tramples it to fragments. Die,
If thou wouldst be with that which thou dost seek!
Follow where all is fled! Rome’s azure sky,
Flowers, ruins, statues, music, words, are weak
The glory they transfuse with fitting truth to speak.
That Light whose smile kindles the Universe,
That Beauty in which all things work and move,
That Benediction which the eclipsing Curse
Of birth can quench not, that sustaining Love
Which, through the web of being blindly wove
By man and beast and earth and air and sea,
Burns bright or dim, as each are mirrors of
The fire for which all thirst, now beams on me,
Consuming the last clouds of cold mortality.
The breath whose might I have invoked in song
Descends on me; my spirit’s bark is driven
Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng
Whose sails were never to the tempest given;
The massy earth and sphered skies are riven!
I am borne darkly, fearfully, afar;
Whilst, burning through the inmost veil of Heaven,
The soul of Adonais, like a star,
Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
Afterwards (#ulink_6b499676-1539-5cc6-a9b1-809132465611)
This meditation by the poet and novelist Thomas Hardy upon the way a person might be remembered after they have died remains one of his most popular poetic works. It is sometimes recited at funerals.
When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous
stay,
And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,
Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk, will the neighbours say
‘He was a man who used to notice such things’?
If it be in the dusk when, like an eyelid’s soundless blink,
The dewfall-hawk comes crossing the shades to alight
Upon the wind-warped upland thorn, a gazer may think,
‘To him this must have been a familiar sight’.
If I pass during some nocturnal blackness, mothy and warm,
When the hedgehog travels furtively over the lawn,
One may say, ‘He strove that such innocent creatures should
come to no harm,
But he could do little for them; and now he is gone’.
If, when hearing that I have been stilled at last, they stand at the door,
Watching the full-starred heavens that winter sees,
Will this thought rise on those who will meet my face no more,
‘He was one who had an eye for such mysteries’?
And will any say when my bell of quittance is heard in the gloom,
And a crossing breeze cuts a pause in its outrollings,
Till they rise again, as they were a new bell’s boom,
‘He hears it not now, but used to notice such things’?
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
All creatures of our God and King (#ulink_25434340-b914-5898-9aac-59ff393ecaf9)
The words for this famous hymn were based upon lines written by St Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). Legend has it that the first four verses were inspired by the saint’s experiences after spending forty nights in a rat-infested hut at San Damiano. The fifth verse supposedly resulted from a quarrel between the church and civil authorities of Assisi, while the sixth stanza was written as the saint endured great suffering on his deathbed.
William Henry Draper, rector of a parish in Yorkshire, subsequently produced his celebrated translation of St Francis’s words for a Whitsuntide festival for school children in Leeds. The music was the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who based it upon a seventeenth-century tune from Cologne.
All creatures of our God and King,
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia, alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam:
0 praise Him, 0 praise Him,Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
Ye clouds that sail in heaven along,
O praise Him, alleluia!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice;
Ye lights of evening, find a voice:
Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
Make music for thy Lord to hear,
Alleluia, alleluia!
Thou fire, so masterful and bright,
That givest us both warmth and light:
Dear mother earth, who day by day
Unfoldest blessings on our way,
O praise Him, alleluia!
The flowers and fruits that in thee grow,
Let them His glory also show:
And ye that are of tender heart,
Forgiving others, take your part,
O sing ye, alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
Praise God, and on Him cast your care:
And thou, most kind and gentle death,
Waiting to hush our latest breath,
O praise Him, alleluia!
Thou leadest home the child of God,
And Christ our Lord the way has trod:
Let all things their creator bless,
And worship Him in humbleness;
O praise Him, alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One:
William Henry Draper (1855-1933)
All people that on earth do dwell (#ulink_f85ebd56-1ad1-53c9-b2d4-834d6f6c6377)
This hymn, published in 1561, is based on Psalm 100 and has therefore come to be popularly dubbed ‘The Old Hundredth’. Its author was a Scottish-born minister in the Church of England who fled the country after the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary.
All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice:
Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell;
Come ye before Him and rejoice.
The Lord, ye know, is God indeed;
Without our aid He did us make;
We are His flock, He doth us feed,
And for His sheep He doth us take.
O, enter then His gates with praise,
Approach with joy His courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless His name always,
For it is seemly so to do.
For why? the Lord our God is good,
His mercy is for ever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.
William Kethe (d.1594)
All things bright and beautiful (#ulink_ec07b773-d26f-5476-b09b-b46e1c359e01)
Cecil Frances Alexander was an Irish hymn writer and poet who married William Alexander, Protestant bishop of Derry, in 1850. She bore her husband four children and, among other good deeds, helped her family to establish a school for ‘deaf and dumb’ children. She wrote some 400 hymns, among them such classics as ‘There is a green hill far away’ and ‘Once in royal David’s city’. The original third verse of this hymn, running ‘The rich man in his castle, / The poor man at his gate, / God made them, high or lowly, / And ordered their estate’, has long since been omitted.
All things bright and beautiful,All creatures great and small,All things wise and wonderful,The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.
The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset, and the morning
That brightens up the sky:
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.
The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water
We gather every day.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-95)
All we like sheep (#ulink_41c25c32-28fe-5032-94ef-164cd4f03646)
Isaiah 53, perhaps more than anywhere else in the Old Testament, contains clear prophecy of the sufferings and coming to glory of Jesus Christ. This passage is seen as a description of the ‘Suffering Servant’, a role that, together with that of the conquering lordship of the expected Messiah, was uniquely fulfilled in Christ.
Handel used this passage in his oratorio, Messiah.
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
(Authorized [King James] Version)
Amazing grace (#ulink_765da04a-be9f-57b9-aef0-b8225e88e884)
The first six verses of this hymn were the work of hymn writer John Newton; the last was a later addition by John P. Rees (1825-1900). Newton turned to the church after a dissolute life in which he had even operated as a slave-trader. As curate in the Northamptonshire village of Olney he dedicated himself to God’s work, refusing to retire due to ill-health even in his eighties, arguing ‘My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour!’
This hymn is unique in having occupied the number one spot in the pop charts for a total of nine weeks in a version recorded by the pipes and drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in the early 1970s.
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me;
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come:
‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
Yes, when this heart and flesh shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine,
But God, who called me here below,
Will be for ever mine.
When we’ve been there a thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.
John Newton (1725-1807)
And can it be? (#ulink_9241dc7d-1378-5e14-aa21-70b5f3070ff1)
This hymn was among the very first of the 8000 or so hymns written by the great hymn writer Charles Wesley over the course of 50 years. It was probably conceived shortly after 21 May 1738, the day upon which Charles underwent a revelatory conversion to evangelicalism under the influence of the Moravian missionary Peter Boehler. It is also said to have been sung by Charles’ brother John on the evening of his own conversion some time later.
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my Lord, shouldst die for me?
He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace!
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For, O my God, it found out me.
‘Tis mystery all! th’ Immortal dies!
Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
‘Tis mercy all! let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke – the dungeon flamed with light!
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’ eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Charles Wesley (1707-88)
Away in a manger (#ulink_71b253a1-4797-5790-ba12-ae136417eb1e)
Extraordinarily, no one knows who wrote this hugely popular children’s Christmas carol, although the third verse is known to have been the work of John Thomas McFarland (1851-1913). Because it was first published in a Lutheran hymnal early in the nineteenth century it was assumed for many years that it was composed by Martin Luther himself, but this appears to be an erroneous attribution.
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head;
The stars in the bright sky looked down where He lay –
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.
I love Thee, Lord Jesus! Look down from the sky,
And stay by my side until morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus: I ask Thee to stay
Close by me for ever, and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And fit us for heaven to live with Thee there.
Anonymous
Be baptized (#ulink_fae02a41-2eec-5c7f-a624-27cb0c278ba6)
This passage from Acts 2:38-42 contains the best-known call to discipleship from the early church. Peter, who had been fearful and timid, denying Christ three times, has been empowered by the Holy Spirit and is now proclaiming the good news boldly and fearlessly. The results are dramatic as many come to believe in Jesus Christ.
Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the LORD our God calls to him.’ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Be still, my soul (#ulink_9034346d-17ad-5f74-a1a2-b1ff3ffdc806)
Katharina Amalia von Schlegel was the canoness of a women’s seminary in post-Reformation Germany and a leading figure in the Pietist movement. This hymn became a great favourite among English speakers after being translated by Jane Laurie Borthwick (1813-97), a dedicated member of the Free Church of Scotland. It owes much of its success to its setting to Sibelius’ music Finlandia.
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay,
From His own fullness, all He takes away.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Katharina Amalia von Schlegel (1697-1768)
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