Scripture Verse

The glory of man [is] as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. 1 Peter 1:24

Introduction

Words: Will­iam C. Bry­ant, 1875. Bry­ant wrote this hymn for the 50th an­ni­ver­sa­ry of the Church of the Mes­si­ah in Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts. It was al­so sung at his fun­er­al.

Music: Go­shen (Gaw­ler) from Hymns and Psalms, by Will­iam Gaw­ler, 1789 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Gaw­ler (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
William C. Bryant (1794–1878)

Lyrics

As sha­dows cast by cloud and sun
Flit o’er the sum­mer grass,
So, in Thy sight, Al­migh­ty One,
Earth’s ge­ne­ra­tions pass.
And as the years, an end­less host,
Come swift­ly press­ing on,
The bright­est names that earth can boast
Just glist­en and are gone.

Yet doth the star of Beth­le­hem shed
A lus­ter pure and sweet;
And still it leads, as once it led,
To the Mes­si­ah’s feet.
O Fa­ther, may that ho­ly star
Grow ev­ery year more bright,
And send its glo­ri­ous beams afar
To fill the world with light.