Hello, everyone, I thought I would post an old essay of mine about Songs of Thankfulness and Praise.
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There is a hymn that captures very well the sentiments of the Magnificat antiphon for the second Vespers of Epiphany: "Three mysteries mark this holy day."
It's called Songs of Thankfulness and Praise, by Christopher Wordsworth. It's in most of the hymnals but not done often enough, in my opinion. Probably because it's good for one Sunday of the year--not an "economical" choice, maybe, for congregational participation. But it goes with a lot of tunes, at least one of which most congregations are likely to know. I like it best set to Salzburg, as here.
First is mentioned the mystery of the day:
Songs of thankfulness and praise,
Jesus, Lord, to thee we raise,
manifested by the star
to the sages from afar;
branch of royal David's stem
in thy birth at Bethlehem;
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in man made manifest.
Then the appearance to the Magi is linked to those of the Baptism and the Wedding Feast at Cana:
Manifest at Jordan's stream,
Prophet, Priest and King supreme;
and at Cana, wedding guest,
in thy Godhead manifest;
manifest in power divine,
changing water into wine;
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in man made manifest.
Finally there is an intercessory/ hortatory verse. Note the very high and correct view of salvation, in which we are both changed--by God, of course--into his likeness, and also given over totally to praise at the same time:
Grant us grace to see thee, Lord,
mirrored in thy holy Word;
may we imitate thee now,
and be pure, as pure art thou;
that we like to thee may be
at thy great Epiphany;
and may praise thee, ever blest,
God in man made manifest.
Throughout the hymn a fairly unfamiliar word falls over and over like a hammer or a drumbeat: manifest, manifest.
I think that those three verses stand alone as a unity for this feast, although I confess an affection for the following verse which deals with Jesus' public ministry:
Manifest in making whole
palsied limbs and fainting soul;
manifest in valiant fight,
quelling all the devil's might;
manifest in gracious will,
ever bringing good from ill;
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in man made manifest.
A nice theological moment in lines 5 & 6 above. Both Sts. Augustine and Thomas (and many others, I'm sure) agree that God permits evil only to bring out a greater good. So this is one of the marks of his "showing forth" upon the earth: drawing good out of evil. But the use of the word "ill" for bad touches upon the form that the Son's power took most often in the Gospels: physical healings. Very nice. Note the compactness of the phrase: "ever bringing good from ill." A very admirable line.
This is followed by a verse I'd not seen before, regarding the manifestation yet to come, the Epiphany to bring into one all Epiphanies, full of good scripture:
Sun and moon shall darkened be,
stars shall fall, the heavens shall flee;
Christ will then like lightning shine,
all will see his glorious sign;
all will then the trumpet hear,
all will see the Judge appear;
thou by all wilt be confessed,
God in man made manifest.
If you don't sing this in your parish tomorrow, please ask for it next year. It's uplifting and doctrinally sound--really worthy of wide usage.
**********
There is a hymn that captures very well the sentiments of the Magnificat antiphon for the second Vespers of Epiphany: "Three mysteries mark this holy day."
It's called Songs of Thankfulness and Praise, by Christopher Wordsworth. It's in most of the hymnals but not done often enough, in my opinion. Probably because it's good for one Sunday of the year--not an "economical" choice, maybe, for congregational participation. But it goes with a lot of tunes, at least one of which most congregations are likely to know. I like it best set to Salzburg, as here.
First is mentioned the mystery of the day:
Songs of thankfulness and praise,
Jesus, Lord, to thee we raise,
manifested by the star
to the sages from afar;
branch of royal David's stem
in thy birth at Bethlehem;
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in man made manifest.
Then the appearance to the Magi is linked to those of the Baptism and the Wedding Feast at Cana:
Manifest at Jordan's stream,
Prophet, Priest and King supreme;
and at Cana, wedding guest,
in thy Godhead manifest;
manifest in power divine,
changing water into wine;
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in man made manifest.
Finally there is an intercessory/ hortatory verse. Note the very high and correct view of salvation, in which we are both changed--by God, of course--into his likeness, and also given over totally to praise at the same time:
Grant us grace to see thee, Lord,
mirrored in thy holy Word;
may we imitate thee now,
and be pure, as pure art thou;
that we like to thee may be
at thy great Epiphany;
and may praise thee, ever blest,
God in man made manifest.
Throughout the hymn a fairly unfamiliar word falls over and over like a hammer or a drumbeat: manifest, manifest.
I think that those three verses stand alone as a unity for this feast, although I confess an affection for the following verse which deals with Jesus' public ministry:
Manifest in making whole
palsied limbs and fainting soul;
manifest in valiant fight,
quelling all the devil's might;
manifest in gracious will,
ever bringing good from ill;
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in man made manifest.
A nice theological moment in lines 5 & 6 above. Both Sts. Augustine and Thomas (and many others, I'm sure) agree that God permits evil only to bring out a greater good. So this is one of the marks of his "showing forth" upon the earth: drawing good out of evil. But the use of the word "ill" for bad touches upon the form that the Son's power took most often in the Gospels: physical healings. Very nice. Note the compactness of the phrase: "ever bringing good from ill." A very admirable line.
This is followed by a verse I'd not seen before, regarding the manifestation yet to come, the Epiphany to bring into one all Epiphanies, full of good scripture:
Sun and moon shall darkened be,
stars shall fall, the heavens shall flee;
Christ will then like lightning shine,
all will see his glorious sign;
all will then the trumpet hear,
all will see the Judge appear;
thou by all wilt be confessed,
God in man made manifest.
If you don't sing this in your parish tomorrow, please ask for it next year. It's uplifting and doctrinally sound--really worthy of wide usage.