Scripture Verse

To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. 1 Timothy 1:17

Introduction

portrait
Walter C. Smith (1824–1908)

Words: Wal­ter C. Smith, Hymns of Christ and the Chris­tian Life (Lon­don & Cam­bridge, Eng­land: Mac­mi­llan, 1867), pag­es 210–11, alt.

Music: St. De­nio Welsh tune, from Can­iad­au y Cyssegr, by John Ro­berts, 1839 (🔊 pdf nwc).

This hymn was sung in West­min­ster Ab­bey, Lon­don, Eng­land, at the 2002 fun­er­al of Queen Eli­za­beth, the Queen Mo­ther.

Lyrics

Immortal, in­vi­sible, God on­ly wise,
In light in­ac­ces­si­ble, hid from our eyes,
Most bless­èd, most glo­ri­ous, the An­cient of Days,
Almighty, vic­to­rious,
Thy great name we praise.

Unresting, un­hast­ing, and si­lent as light,
Nor striv­ing, nor wast­ing, Thou rul­est in might;
Thy jus­tice, like mount­ains, high soar­ing above
Thy clouds, which are fount­ains
Of mer­cy and love.

To all life Thou giv­est, to both great and small;
In all life Thou liv­est, the true life of all;
We blos­som and flour­ish as leaves on the tree,
To wither and per­ish—
But naught chang­eth Thee.

Today and to­mor­row with Thee still are Now;
Nor trou­ble, nor sor­row, nor care, Lord, hast Thou;
Nor pas­sion doth fe­ver, nor age can de­cay,
The same God for ev­er
As on yes­ter­day.

Great Fa­ther of glo­ry, pure Fa­ther of light,
Thine an­gels adore Thee, all veil­ing their sight;
Of all Thy good grac­es, this grace, Lord, im­part—
Remove Thou the veil from
Our fac­es and heart.

All laud we would ren­der; O help us to see,
’Tis on­ly the splen­dor of light hid­eth Thee;
And now let Thy glo­ry to our gaze un­roll,
Through Christ in the sto­ry,
And Christ in the soul.

Though St. De­nio is al­most uni­ver­sal­ly used with this hymn to­day, the orig­in­al text is ir­re­gu­lar and fits this tune on­ly if al­tered. Here is Smith’s 1867 text:

Immortal, in­vi­si­ble, God on­ly wise,
In light in­ac­ces­si­ble, hid from our eyes,
Most bless­èd, most glo­ri­ous, the An­cient of Days,
Almighty, vic­to­ri­ous, Thy great name we praise.

Unresting, un­has­ting, si­lent as light,
Nor striv­ing, nor wast­ing, Thou rul­est in might;
Thy Jus­tice like mount­ains soar­ing above
Thy clouds which are fount­ains of mercy and love.

To all life Thou giv­est, both great and small;
In all life Thou liv­est, true life of all;
Thy blos­som and flour­ish on­ly are we,
To wither and per­ish—but nought chang­eth Thee.

To-day and To-mor­row with Thee still are Now;
Nor trou­ble, nor sor­row, nor care, Lord, hast Thou;
Nor pas­sion doth fe­ver, nor age can de­cay,
The same God for ev­er as on yes­ter­day.

Great Fa­ther of Glo­ry, Fa­ther of Light,
Thine an­gels adore Thee, veil­ing their sight;
But of all Thy good grac­es this grace, Lord, im­part—
Take the veil from our fac­es, the veil from our heart.

All laud we would ren­der; O help us to see,
’Tis on­ly the splen­dour of light hid­eth Thee;
And now let Thy glo­ry to our gaze un­roll
Through Christ in the sto­ry, and Christ in the soul.