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1 Mighty God, while angels bless you,
may a mortal sing your name?
Lord of men as well as angels,
you are ev'ry creature’s theme.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
2 Lord of ev'ry land and nation,
ancient of eternal days,
sounded through the wide creation
be your just and lawful praise.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
3 For the grandeur of your nature,
grand beyond a seraph’s thought,
for created works of power,
works with skill and kindness wrought.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
4 But your rich, your free redemption,
dark through brightness all along,
thought is poor, and poor expression,
who dare sing that wondrous song?
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
5 Brightness of the Father’s glory,
shall your praise unuttered lie?
Fly, my tongue, such guilty silence,
sing the Lord who came to die.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
6 From the highest throne in glory,
to the cross of deepest woe,
all to ransom guilty captives,
flow my praise, forever flow.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #218
First Line: | Mighty God, while angels bless Thee |
Title: | Mighty God, While Angels Bless Thee |
Author: | Robert Robinson (1774) |
Meter: | 8.7.8.7 with alleluias |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Mighty God, while angels bless Thee . R. Robinson. [Glory of God. Christmas.] Miller, in his Singers and Songs of the Church, 1869, p. 267, says that Robinson in his manuscript Catalogue thus refers to this hymn as "A Christmas Hymn, set to music by Dr. Randall, and, with the notes, engraven on a copperplate half-sheet." The date added by Miller is 1774. The hymn is in J. Middleton's Hymns, 1793, No. 137, in 9 stanzas of 4 lines, with the refrain "Hallelujah, H. H. Amen," and the signature "Robinson." This text differs slightly from that given by Burrage in his Baptist Hymn Writers, &c, 1888, pp. 73, 74, which he regards as the original. (See also the Universalist Hymn Book, Boston, U. S. A., 1792.) Dr. Belcher (p. 133, i.) says the hymn was written by Robinson for Benjamin Williams, sometime deacon of the Baptist Church, Reading, England, when the latter was a boy, and asserts that he had the information from Williams himself. The hymn is widely used, as is also the cento therefrom from "Lord of every land and nation." (See Sturgeon's Our Own Hymn Book, 1866, for full text.)
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)