Scripture Verse

Ye…shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28

Introduction

Words: Ad­am of St. Vic­tor (?–1182) (Sto­la reg­ni lau­re­at­us). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Jack­son Ma­son & the com­pil­ers of Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1889.

Music: Sto­la Re­gia John Stain­er, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1889 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Ma­son or Ad­am of St. Vic­tor (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
John Stainer (1840–1901)

Lyrics

In roy­al robes of splen­dor,
Before the great King’s feet,
The princ­es of His king­dom,
The crowned apos­tles, meet;
To Him their songs ad­or­ing
With heart and tongue they bring,
Pure hearts and migh­ty voic­es—
E’en as the an­gels sing.

This or­der sheds its lus­ter
O’er all the hu­man race;
A court of right­eous judg­ment,
The rock of Gos­pel grace;
Rock of His Church, for ag­es
Elected and fore­known;
Whose glo­ri­ous mas­ter build­er
Is head and cor­ner­stone.

These are the Na­za­re­ans,
Famed her­alds to the world,
Who, preach­ing Christ, His ban­ner
Of vic­to­ry un­furled;
Day un­to day shows know­ledge;
Night ut­ters speech to night;
So these to earth’s four cor­ners
Their won­drous tale re­cite.

Christ’s bur­den light they prof­fer,
His ea­sy yoke pro­claim;
The seed of life they scat­ter,
That all may own His name.
The earth brought forth and bud­ded,
Where’er their plough­share ran,
And fruits of in­crease fol­lowed
The faith of God made man.

These are the sure foun­da­tion
On which the Tem­ple stands;
The liv­ing stones com­pact­ing
That house not made with hands;
The gates by which man en­ters
Jerusalem the new;
The bond which knits to­ge­ther
The Gen­tile and the Jew.

Let er­ror flee be­fore them,
Let truth ex­tend her way;
Let dread of fi­nal judg­ment
To faith and love give way;
That, loosed from our of­fens­es,
We then may num­bered be
Among Thy saints in glo­ry
Around the throne with Thee.