The Interpreter

Top Text Author Text Info Tune Timeline Arrangements Page Scans Instances

Spirit of truth, essential God

Author: Charles Wesley
Published in 34 hymnals

Piano/Organ
	Reflections on the Holy Spirit (Hymns of…

Representative Text

1 Spirit of truth, essential God,
who did your ancient saints inspire,
shed in their hearts your love abroad
and touch their hallowed lips with fire,
to you that through all ages live
our worship without end we give.

2 Still we believe, almighty Lord,
whose presence fills both earth and heaven,
the meaning of the written word
is by your inspiration given;
you only do yourself explain,
the secret mind of God make plain.

3 Come then, divine Interpreter,
the scriptures to our hearts apply;
and, taught by you, we God revere
and in three persons magnify;
in each the triune God adore,
who was, and is for evermore.

Source: Together in Song: Australian hymn book II #426

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

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 >

^ top

First Line:	Spirit of truth, essential God
Title:	The Interpreter
Author:	Charles Wesley
Meter:	8.8.8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

^ top

Tune

SURREY (Carey)

STELLA (English)

First published in Henri Frederick Hemy's Easy Hymn Tunes for Catholic Schools (1851), STELLA was a folk tune from northern England that Hemy heard sung by children in Stella, a village near Newcastle-upon-Tyme. In modified bar form (AA'B), the tune has an interesting rhythmic structure. Antiphonal…

Go to tune page >

CLARK (Harris)

All tunes published with 'The Interpreter'^ top