Glory Be to God on High

Representative Text

1. Glory be to God on high,
God whose glory fills the sky;
Peace on earth to man forgiven,
Man, the well-beloved of heaven.

2. Sovereign Father, heavenly King,
Thee we now presume to sing;
Glad, Thine attributes confess,
Glorious all, and numberless.

3. Hail, by all Thy works adored!
Hail, the everlasting Lord!
Thee with thankful hearts we prove
God of power, and God of love.

4. Christ our Lord and God we own,
Christ, the Father's only Son,
Lamb of God for sinners slain,
Saviour of offending man.

5. Bow Thine ear, in mercy bow,
Hear, the world's atonement, Thou!
Jesus, in Thy name we pray,
Take, O take our sins away!

6. Hear, for Thou, O Christ, alone
Art with God the Father one,
One the Holy Ghost with Thee,
One supreme, eternal Three.

Source: Methodist Hymn and Tune Book: official hymn book of the Methodist Church #32

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Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >

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Text Information

First Line: Glory be to God on high, God whose glory fills the sky (Wesley)
Title: Glory Be to God on High
Author: Charles Wesley
Meter: 7.7.7.7
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain
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Notes

Glory be to God on high, God Whose glory fills the sky. C. Wesley. [Holy Trinity.] This is a paraphrase of the Gloria in Excelsis of the Book of Common Prayer. The paraphrase is in J. & C. Wesley's Hymns & Sacred Poems, 1739, p. 128. In 1761 it was republished by J. Wesley in his Collection of 132 Select Hymns with Tunes Annext, but was not added to the Wesleyan Hymn Book till sometime after his death, and probably in 1800-1, although it had long been in use in the collections of Whitefield, Madan, Toplady, and others. In 1820 Cotterill included an altered and abridged version of the text in his Selection. In this, stanzas i.-iii.are altered slightly, stanza iv. greatly, and stanza v. is new. This version, again altered, and abridged, is found in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Psalms & Hymns, and other collections. (Original text, Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. i. p. 115.) Another hymn, beginning with the first stanza of this hymn, with the repetition of lines 1, 2, as a refrain, and the addition of 4 stanzas with the same refrain to each, was given in Beard's Manchester Unitarian Collection, 1837, and repeated without the refrain in Hedge & Huntington's Hymns for the Church of Christ, Boston, U. S. A., 1853, No. 12, and also in other American collections. The additions to C. Wesley's opening stanza were by John Taylor of Norwich.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Tune

(No tune is used in more than 10% of hymnals for this text.)
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Timeline

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Instances

Instances (1 - 2 of 2)

Hymns and Psalms #101

Hymns and Psalms #101
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The Cyber Hymnal #1711

The Cyber Hymnal #1711
Include 132 pre-1979 instances
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