
1 Praise to the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise;
in all His words most wonderful,
most sure in all His ways!
2 O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
a second Adam to the fight,
and to the rescue came.
3 O wisest love! That flesh and blood,
which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
should strive and should prevail.
4 And that the highest gift of grace
should flesh and blood refine;
God’s presence and His very self,
and essence all-divine.
5 Praise to the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise;
in all His works most wonderful,
most sure in all His ways!
Source: Our Great Redeemer's Praise #14
Newman, John Henry , D.D. The hymnological side of Cardinal Newman's life and work is so small when compared with the causes which have ruled, and the events which have accompanied his life as a whole, that the barest outline of biographical facts and summary of poetical works comprise all that properly belongs to this work. Cardinal Newman was the eldest son of John Newman, and was born in London, Feb. 21, 1801. He was educated at Ealing under Dr. John Nicholas, and at Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated in honours in 1820, and became a Fellow of Oriel in 1822. Taking Holy Orders in 1824, he was for a short time Vice-Principal of St. Alban's Hall, and then Tutor of Oriel. His appointment to St. Mary's, Oxford, was in the spring of… Go to person page >| First Line: | Praise to the Holiest in the height |
| Author: | John Henry Newman (1865) |
| Meter: | 8.6.8.6 |
| Language: | English |
| Notes: | French translation: "Gloire au Très-Hout, louange à Dieu" by Flossette Du Pasquier; German translation: "Lob sei dem Herrn in Himmelshöhn" by C. Lechler |
| Copyright: | Public Domain |
Praise to the Holiest in the height. Cardinal J. H. Newman. [Praise.] Written in 1865, and first published in the author's Verses on Various Occasions, in 1868. It forms part of a poem of some length, entitled The Dream of Gerontius. This Dream describes the journey of a disembodied soul from the body to its reception in Purgatory. Various hymns are introduced throughout the poem, and this is given as being sung by the Fifth Choir of Angelicals" as the disembodied soul is conducted into the presence chamber of Emmanuel previous to passing forward into Purgatory. In 1868 it was transferred to the Appendix to Hymns Ancient & Modern, the only change being the repetition of the first stanza at the close. From Hymns Ancient & Modern it has passed into a large number of hymn-books.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Praise to the Holiest in the height, p. 904, ii. The Dream of Gerontius appeared in The Month for May and June, 1865. This hymn is in the June number, p. 537, as sung by the First Choir of Angelicals. A copy of the rare first separate ed. of The Dream (1866) is in the British Museum, and another in the Church House, Westminster.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
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