Therefore With Angels

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 >

Lord and God of heavenly powers. C. Wesley. [Praise.] Appeared in Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739, pt. ii., as a metrical paraphrase of "Therefore with Angels and Archangels," &c. from the Office for Holy Communion in the Book of Common Prayer. (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. i. p. 114.) It is in 3 stanzas of 4 lines. In its original form it is not in frequent use; but stanza iii.—

" 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord,
Live by heaven and earth adored!'
Full of Thee they ever cry,
Glory be to God most high,'"

is sometimes used in centos, as in Mercer's version of "Sons of God, triumphant rise" (q.v.).

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)