The Musician's Hymn

Thou God of harmony and love,
Whose name transports the saints above,
And lulls the ravish'd spheres:
On Thee in feeble strains I call,
And mix my humble voice with all
The heavenly choristers.

If well I know the tuneful art
To captivate a human heart,
The glory, Lord, be Thine:
A servant of Thy blessed will,
I here devote my utmost skill
To sound the praise Divine.

With Tubal's wretched sons no more
I prostitute my sacred power,
To please the fiends beneath;
Or modulate the wanton lay,
Or smooth with music's hand the way
To everlasting death.

Suffice for this the season past:
I come, great God, to learn at last
The lesson of Thy grace;
Teach me the new, the gospel song,
And let my hand, my heart, my tongue,
Move only to Thy praise.

Thine own musician, Lord, inspire,
And let my consecrated lyre
Repeat the psalmist's part:
His Son and Thine reveal in me,
And fill with sacred melody
The fibres of my heart.

So shall I charm the listening throng,
And draw the living stones along,
By Jesu's tuneful name:
The living stones shall dance, shall rise,
And form a -city in the skies,
The Neu Jerusalem!

O might I with Thy saints aspire,
The meanest of that dazzling choir,
Who chant Thy praise above;
Mix'd with the bright musician-band,
May I an heavenly harper stand,
And sing the song of love.

What ecstasy of bliss is there,
While all the' angelic concert share,
And drink the floating joys!
What more than ecstasy, when all
Struck to the golden pavement fall
At Jesu's glorious voice!

Jesus, the heaven of heaven He is,
The soul of harmony and bliss!
And while on Him we gaze,
And while His glorious voice we hear,
Our spirits are all eye, all ear,
And silence speaks His praise.

O might I die that awe to prove,
That prostrate awe which dares not move,
Before the great Three-One;

shout by turns the bursting joy,
And all eternity employ
Iii songs around the throne.