Floating o'er Judea's plains

Floating o'er Judea's plains

Author: Albert Durrant Watson
Tune: SYRIAN STARS
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

1 Floating o'er Judea's plains,
And down the echoing height,
Hark, the love-evangel strains
Are blending with the night,
Angel voices from the sky
With music fill each vale and glen:
"Glory be to God on high,
On earth, good will to men."

2 Still is heard the shepherd's quest
That rose to Bethlehem's walls,
Burdened with a great unrest,
The world for Christ still calls,
From the vales and hills He trod,
Still rings the song that ne'er shall cease:
"Glory, glory be to God,
To men, good will and peace."

3 Evermore that wondrous strain
The door of hope unbars,
Whether in the cloistered fane
Or 'neath the Syrian stars,
Sing the joy-notes once again,
And let them echo to the sky:
"Peace on earth, good will to men,
Glory to God on high."

4 Angel harps, our souls inspire
With grace to conquer wrong,
Fill us with a deep desire
To live the angel song,
Till the life of love be found
In every land beneath the sky,
Till the whole wide world resound:
"Glory to God on high."



Source: Methodist Hymn and Tune Book: official hymn book of the Methodist Church #129

Author: Albert Durrant Watson

Watson, Albert Durrant. (Dixie, Ontario, January 8, 1859--May 3, 1926, Toronto, Ont.). Methodist. Victoria University, M.D., C.M., 1883; Edinburgh, P.R.C.P., 1883. While practising medicine in Toronto, he published nine books of prose and verse, culminating in Poetical Works (1924), and served on the compilation committee of the 1917, Methodist Hymn and Tune Book. For it, he wrote "Lord of the lands" to fit Calixa Lavallee's tune for "O Canada", since no English version of its French words had yet to gain general acceptance, and its Quebec origin worked against its use in Protestant churches. His words were widely used on patriotic occasions for the next fifty years, but only in church services, never in state celebrations. --Hugh D. McK… Go to person page >

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First Line: Floating o'er Judea's plains
Author: Albert Durrant Watson

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Methodist Hymn and Tune Book #129

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