Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:26
Words: Charles Coffin, in the Paris Breviary, 1736 (Jam sanctius moves opus). Translated from Latin to English by John Chandler and the compilers of Hymns Ancient and Modern.
Music: Windsor Christopher Tye, 1533. Arranged in the Booke of Musicke, by William Daman, 1591 (🔊 pdf nwc).
Today, O Lord, a holier work
Thy secret counsels frame,
A king to rule Thy new made world,
To praise Thy glorious name.
Thou formest man: Thy Spirit breathes
Life into dust of earth:
Man, in Thine own true image made,
From Thee receives his birth.
And henceforth he dominion holds
O’er all in earth and sea;
Yet mindful whence his being came
Must humbly walk with Thee.
Alas! his willful heart rebels
Against Thy gentle sway;
Proud dust of earth would fain be like
The God whom all obey.
O griefs and sorrows numberless,
Which hence the world o’erspread;
Jesu, Thy mercy succored us,
Or hope itself had fled.
O praise the Father, and the Son
Who saved us by His death,
And Holy Ghost who quickens us
With His life giving breath.