Priesthood of Christ

Representative Text

1 Now let our cheerful eyes survey
Our great High-Priest above,
And celebrate his constant care
And sympathetic love.

2 Though raised to heaven's exalted throne,
Where angels bow around,
And high o'er all the hosts of light,
With matchless honors crowned--

3 The names of all his saints he bears,
Deep graven on his heart;
Nor shall the weakest Christian say
That he has lost his part.

4 Those characters shall fair abide,
Our everlasting trust,
When gems and monuments and crowns
Have moldered down to dust.

5 So, gracious Saviour, on my breast
May thy loved name be worn,
A sacred ornament and guard,
To endless ages borne.

Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #233

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Author: Philip Doddridge

Philip Doddridge (b. London, England, 1702; d. Lisbon, Portugal, 1751) belonged to the Non-conformist Church (not associated with the Church of England). Its members were frequently the focus of discrimination. Offered an education by a rich patron to prepare him for ordination in the Church of England, Doddridge chose instead to remain in the Non-conformist Church. For twenty years he pastored a poor parish in Northampton, where he opened an academy for training Non-conformist ministers and taught most of the subjects himself. Doddridge suffered from tuberculosis, and when Lady Huntington, one of his patrons, offered to finance a trip to Lisbon for his health, he is reputed to have said, "I can as well go to heaven from Lisbon as from Nort… Go to person page >

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Text Information

First Line: Now let our cheerful eyes survey
Title: Priesthood of Christ
Author: Philip Doddridge
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain
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Notes

Now let our cheerful eyes survey. P. Doddridge. [Jesus, the High Priest.] This hymn is No. 67 in the D. MSS., but undated. It is placed between hymns which are dated respectively "April 10,1735," and "January 1,1737/8." The heading reads "Christ bearing the names of His people on His breastplate, from Exodus xxviii. 29." When included by Job Orton in his posthumous edition of Doddridge's Hymns, &c, 1755, No. 8, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, the heading was altered to "Christ's intercession typified by Aaron's Breastplate," and stanza i., l. 4, was changed from "With correspondent love," to "And sympathetic love." In J. D. Humphreys's edition of the Hymns, 1839, No. 9, the line reads, "His sympathy and love." He has also "And high o'er all the heavenly host" for "And high o'er all the shining train," in stanza ii. This hymn is in common use both in Great Britain and America, Orton's text being that commonly adopted. Sometimes, however, it reads, "Now let our trustful eyes survey."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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The Baptist Hymnal #148

The Baptist Hymnal #148
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The Cyber Hymnal #4556

The Cyber Hymnal #4556
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