Hymns about pilgrims and pilgrimage feature this week, including Light of the lonely pilgrim's heart, and John Bunyan's He who would valiant be.
One of the the bas-reliefs on the base of the statue of John Bunyan in Bedford, sculpted by Joseph Edgar Boehm. They each represent a scene from "The Pilgrim's Progress". Image by Simon Speed. Photo: Creative Commons
SONG: PRAISE, MY SOUL, THE KING OF HEAVEN
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Michael Leighton-Jones (dir), Jonathan Bradley (organ)
Words/Music: Lyte/Goss
Recording: ABC 476509
Praise, my soul, the king of heaven;
to his feet thy tribute bring;
ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
who like we his praise should sing:
Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him,
Praise the everlasting king.
Praise him for his grace and favour
to our fathers in distress;
praise him still the same as ever,
slow to chide and swift to bless:
Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him,
Glorious in his faithfulness.
Father-like, he tends and spares us;
well our feeble frame he knows;
in his hand he gently bears us,
rescues us from all our foes.
Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him,
Widely as his mercy flows.
Angels, help us to adore him,
you behold him face to face;
sun and moon bow down before him,
dwellers all in time and space,
Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him,
Praise with us the God of grace.
SONG: GOD THAT MADEST EARTH AND HEAVEN
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Michael Leighton-Jones (dir)
Words/Music: Heber, Whatley/Trad arr Vaughan Williams
Recording: NZ Hymnbook Trust 941300
God, that madest earth and heaven,
darkness and night,
who the day for toil has given,
for rest the night;
may thine angel-guards defend us,
slumber sweet thy mercy send us,
holy dreams and hope attend us,
this livelong night.
Guard us waking, guard us sleeping;
and, when we die,
may we in thy mighty keeping
all peaceful lie;
when the last dread call shall wake us,
do not thou our God forsake us,
but to reign in glory take us
with thee on high.
SONG: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
Artist: Choir of Norwich Cathedral
Words/Music: Heber/Dykes
Recording: QED QED276
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
who wert and art and evermore shalt be.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye made blind by sin thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love, and purity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty,
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
SONG: JESUS, GOOD ABOVE ALL OTHER
Artist: Choir of St Edmundsbury Cathedral
Words/Music: Dearmer/Trad
Recording: Priory PRCD 712
Jesus, good above all other,
gentle child of gentle mother,
in a stable born our brother,
give us grace to persevere.
Jesus, cradled in a manger,
for us facing every danger,
living as a homeless stranger,
make we thee our King most dear.
Jesus, for thy people dying,
risen Master, death defying,
Lord in heaven, thy grace supplying,
keep us to thy presence near.
Jesus, who our sorrows hearest,
all our thoughts and hopes thou sharest,
thou to us the truth declarest;
help us all thy truth to hear.
Lord, in all our doings guide us;
pride and hate shall ne'er divide us;
we'll go on with thee beside us,
and with joy we'll persevere.
SONG: PSALM 121
Artist: Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge
Words/Music: Psalm 121/Howells
Recording: Hyperion 712810
I will lift up my eyes unto the hills -
from whence cometh my help?
My help cometh from the Lord,
who hath made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot be moved;
and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord himself is thy keeper;
the Lord is thy defense upon thy right hand.
so that the sun shall not burn thee by day,
neither the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil;
yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
from this time forth forevermore.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
SONG: O HAPPY BAND OF PILGRIMS
Artist: Choir of St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham
Composer: Neale, St Joseph the Hymnographer trans Neale/Knecht
Label: Priory 723
O happy band of pilgrims,
if onward ye will tread
with Jesus as your fellow
to Jesus as your head!
O happy, if ye labour
as Jesus did for men:
O happy, if ye hunger
as Jesus hungered then!
The cross that Jesus carried
he carried as your due:
the crown that Jesus weareth
he weareth it for you.
The faith by which ye see him,
the hope, in which ye yearn,
the love that through all troubles
to him alone will turn,--
What are they, but forerunners
to lead you to his sight?
What are they, save the effluence
of uncreated light?
The trials that beset you,
the sorrows ye endure,
the manifold temptations
that death alone can cure,--
What are they, but his jewels
of right celestial worth?
What are they but the ladder,
set up to heaven on earth?
O happy band of pilgrims,
look upward to the skies,
where such a light affliction
shall win so great a prize.
SONG: PILGRIM’S HYMN
Artist: Choir of St John’s, Elora
Words/Music: Browne/Paulus
Recording: Naxos 8.572540
Even before we call on Your name
To ask You, O God,
When we seek for the words to glorify You,
You hear our prayer;
Unceasing love, O unceasing love,
Surpassing all we know.
Glory to the father,
and to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit.
Even with darkness sealing us in,
We breathe Your name,
And through all the days that follow so fast,
We trust in You;
Endless Your grace, O endless Your grace,
Beyond all mortal dream.
Both now and forever,
And unto ages and ages,
Amen.
SONG: LIGHT OF THE LONELY PILGRIM’S HEART
Artist: Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, David Rowland (dir), Simon Jacobs (organ)
Words/Music: Denny/Stewart
Recording: Priory PRCD 721
Light of the lonely pilgrim's heart,
Star of the coming day,
Arise, and with Thy morning beams
Chase all our griefs away.
Bid the whole earth, responsive now
To the bright world above,
Break forth in rapturous strains of joy
In memory of Thy love.
Thine was the cross, with all its fruits
Of grace and peace Divine:
Be Thine the crown of glory now,
The palm of victory Thine.
See how they fair creation groans,
The sky, the earth, the sea,
In unison with all our heart,
And calls aloud for thee.
Come, blessed Lord, let every shore
And answering island sing
The praises of thy royal name,
And own thee as their king.
SONG: HE WHO WOULD VALIANT BE
Artist: Choir of Christ’s College, Cambridge, David Rowland (dir), Simon Jacobs (organ)
Words/Music: Bunyan, Dearmer/Trad arr Vaughan Williams
Recording: Priory PRCD 721
He who would valiant be
'Gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy
Follow the Master.
There's no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.
Who so beset him round
With dismal stories,
Do but themselves confound
His strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might,
Though he with giants fight;
He will make good his right
To be a pilgrim.
Since, Lord, thou dost defend
Us with thy Spirit
We know we at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then, fancies, flee away!
I'll fear not what men say,
I'll labour night and day
To be a pilgrim.
