Scripture Verse

My kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36

Introduction

portrait
Percy Dearmer (1867–1936)

Words: Cae­li­us Se­du­li­us, cir­ca 450 (Hos­tis He­rod­es im­pie). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Per­cy Dear­mer in The Eng­lish Hym­nal (Lon­don: Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty Press, 1906).

Music: St. Ve­nan­ti­us Rou­en church me­lo­dy (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

illustration
Turning Water to Wine
Carl H. Bloch (1834–1890)

Lyrics

Why, im­pi­ous He­rod, shouldst thou fear
Because the Christ is come so near?
He who doth hea­ven­ly kingdoms grant
Thine earth­ly realm can ne­ver want.

Lo, sag­es from the East are gone
To where the star hath new­ly shone:
Led on by light to Light they press,
And by their gifts their God con­fess.

The Lamb of God is ma­ni­fest
Again in Jor­dan’s wa­ter blest,
And He who sin had ne­ver known
By wash­ing hath our sins un­done.

Yet He that rul­eth ev­ery­thing
Can change the na­ture of the spring,
And gives at Ca­na this for sign—
The wa­ter red­dens in­to wine.

Then glo­ry, Lord, to Thee we pay
For thine Epi­pha­ny to­day;
All glo­ry through eter­ni­ty
To Fa­ther, Son, and Spi­rit be.