Scripture Verse

Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. Jeremiah 33:18

Introduction

portrait
Emma F. Bevan (1827–1909)

Words: Ger­hard Ter­stee­gen, Geist­lich­es Blum­en­gärt­lein 2, num­ber 86 (Des Herr­en priest­er­lich Ge­schlecht soll ewig nicht ver­ge­hen). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Em­ma F. Be­van, Hymns of Ter Stee­gen, Su­so and Oth­ers (Lon­don: James Nis­bet, 1858), page 1.

Music: Ali­da D. B. Thomp­son, in Joy­ful Wing, ed­ited by John R. Swe­ney & Will­iam J. Kirk­pat­rick (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: John J. Hood, 1889), page 173 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a bet­ter pho­to of Be­van,

portrait
Gerhard Tersteegen (1697–1769)

Lyrics

The race of God’s an­oint­ed priests
Shall ne­ver pass away;
Before His glo­ri­ous face they stand,
And serve Him night and day.
Though rea­son raves, and un­be­lief
Flows on, a migh­ty flood,
They are, and shall be, till the end
The hid­den priests of God.

His chos­en souls, their earth­ly dross
Consumed in sac­red fire,
To God’s own heart their hearts as­cend
In flame of deep de­sire;
The in­cense of their wor­ship fills
His tem­ple’s ho­li­est place;
Their song with won­der fills the heav’ns,
The glad new song of grace.