Scripture Verse

Unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Isaiah 45:23

Introduction

Words: Ab­el C. Tho­mas, in the Uni­ver­sal­ist Hymn Book, third edi­tion, ed­it­ed by George Ro­gers (Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: R. P. Brooks, 1843), num­ber 660.

Music: Ban­nock­burn, ano­ny­mous, in Church Har­mo­nies (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Uni­ver­sal­ist Pub­lish­ing House, 1876), page 129 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

If you know the com­pos­er, or where to get a good pic­ture of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Abel C. Thomas (1807–1880)

Lyrics

Thou, whose wide ex­tend­ed sway
Suns and sys­tems e’er ob­ey!
Thou, our guard­ian and our stay,
Grace and peace im­part;
May Thy word its pow­er dis­play,
And Thy love-en­kind­ling ray
Warm, en­light­en, and as­say
Every wait­ing heart.

Thine we are, and hum­bly we
Lift the voice and bend the knee!
Thou art wor­thy, and shalt be
Evermore ad­ored:
In pro­spect­ive, Lord, we see
Jew and Gen­tile, bond and free,
Reconciled in Christ to Thee,
Holy, ho­ly Lord!

Thou by all shalt be con­fessed,
Ever bless­ing, ev­er blest,
When to Thy eter­nal rest,
In the courts above,
Thou shalt bring the sore op­pressed;
Fill each joy-de­sir­ing breast;
Make of each a wel­come guest,
At the feast of love.

When de­stroy­ing death shall die,
Hushed be ev­ery ris­ing sigh,
Tears be wiped from ev­ery eye,
Never more to fall;
Then shall prais­es fill the sky,
And an­gel­ic hosts shall cry,
Holy, ho­ly, Lord, most high,
Thou art all in all!