Scripture Verse

God is a Spirit. John 4:24

Introduction

portrait
William Monk (1823–1889)
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: Sam­uel J. Stone, Ly­ra Fi­de­li­um; Twelve Hymns of the Twelve Ar­ti­cles of the Apos­tle’s Creed (Lon­don: Par­ker, 1866), pag­es 32, 34 and 36.

Music: Monk Will­iam H. Monk, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1889 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Samuel Stone (1839–1900)

Lyrics

God the Spir­it, we ad­ore Thee,
In the tri­nal God­head One,
One in love and pow­er and glo­ry
With the Fa­ther and the Son;
Prayer and praise to Thee we bring,
Our de­vo­tion’s of­fer­ing.

Once the de­so­late world-ocean
Quickened from its long death-sleep,
Woke to light and life’s emo­tion
At Thy brood­ing o’er its deep;
Spirit, ev­er may Thy breath
Quicken us from sleep and death!

Holy Fount of in­spi­ra­tion,
By whose gift the great of old
Spake the word of re­vela­tion,
Marvelous and ma­ni­fold,
Grant to us who see and hear
Reverence of eye and ear.

Priceless gift of Christ for ev­er,
Righteousness and peace and joy,
Which the ev­il world, that ne­ver
Can re­ceive, can­not de­stroy,
Shall the Church or faint or fear
While the Com­fort­er is near?

Author of our new cre­ation,
Giver of the se­cond birth,
May Thy cease­less re­no­va­tion
Cleanse our souls from stains of earth,
And our bo­dies ev­er be
Holy tem­ples meet for Thee.

When we wan­der, Lord, di­rect us,
Keep us in the Mas­ter’s way,
Let Thy strong, swift sword pro­tect us,
Warring in the ev­il day;
Paraclete for ev­ery need,
Come to strength­en and to lead!

Come, Thy glo­ri­ous gifts pro­vid­ing,
Foretaste of the fu­ture now,
Bring that sweet sense of abid­ing
Thou canst give and on­ly Thou,
One in Thee, we shall be one
In the Fa­ther and the Son. Amen.