1 O Holy Jesu, Prince of Peace!
Thy peace be with us gathering round Thy board,
Here, where the presence of an unseen Lord
Waits to be gracious, charged with full release
To every heavy-laden soul
Which here remembers Thee.
2 Once more, as in that upper room,
Thou Who didst love Thine own until the end,
Thou Whose dear voice to every sorrowing friend
Spoke the great promise through the deepening gloom,
Thou bidd'st us, Master of the feast,
To-day remember Thee!
3 And e'en as in our hands we take
This broken bread, this precious cup of love,
Thy dying testament, which from above
Thou deignest ever new and fresh to make,
A fount of grace and life to all;
We do remember Thee!
4 Ours is the bond of love divine,
Which knits us each to all and all to each;
That love whose ever-lengthening cords can reach
From the white choir around Thy heavenly shrine
To those who come in faith to-day
Here to remember Thee.
5 Thy banquet over, as we go,
Strong in the strength of this celestial meat,
To tread the path of life with firmer feet,
To work the works which Thou hast bid us do,
Abide with us, O Lord, that still
We may remember Thee!
Amen.
First Line: | O Holy Jesu, Prince of Peace! |
Author: | Robert Brown-Borthwick (1870) |
Meter: | Irregular |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
O Holy Jesu, Prince of Peace. R. Brown-Borthwick. [Holy Communion.] Written in 1870, and first published in his Sixteen Hymns with Tunes, &c, the same year, in 6 stanzas of 6 lines, and again in his Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Church Hymns, with the omission of stanza iv. In the author's 2nd edition with Appendix of his Select Hymns, &c, 1885, stanza iv. is bracketed for omission, a slight alteration in stanza i., 1. 3, is introduced, and the following note is added:—
"This is not a congregational hymn, but a meditation, to be read while non-communicants are retiring, or to be sung by the choir alone, anthem-wise, kneeling."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)