Scripture Verse

The Lord knoweth them that are His. 2 Timothy 2:19

Introduction

portrait
John Ellerton (1826–1893)

Words: John El­ler­ton, Church Hymns 1871.

Music: Ev­er­ton Hen­ry T. Smart, in Psalms and Hymns, 1867 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Henry T. Smart (1813–1879)

Lyrics

King of saints, to whom the number
Of Thy starry host is known,
Many a name, by man forgotten,
Lives for­ev­er round Thy throne;
Lights, which earth-born mists have darkened,
There are shining full and clear,
Princes in the court of Hea­ven,
Nameless, unremembered here.

In the roll of Thine apostles
One there stands, Bartholomew,
He for whom today we offer,
Year by year, our praises due;
How he toiled for Thee and suffered
None on earth can now record;
All his saintly life is hidden
In the knowledge of his Lord.

Was it he, beneath the fig tree
Seen of Thee, and guileless found;
He who saw the good he longed for
Rise from Nazareth’s barren ground;
He who met his ris­en Mas­ter
On the shore of Ga­li­lee;
He to whom the word was spoken,
Greater things thou yet shall see?

None can tell us; all is written
In the Lamb’s great book of life,
All the faith, and prayer, and patience,
All the toiling, and the strife;
There are told Thy hidden treasures;
Number us, O Lord, with them,
When Thou makest up the jewels
Of Thy living diadem.