How shall I sing that majesty? (StF 53)
- Authors & translators:
- Mason, John
- Theme:
- The Adoration of God
- Metre:
- 86.86.D. Double Common Metre
- Composers & arrangers:
- Wilson, John
- Tune:
- Soll 's sein
- Source:
- Singing the Faith: 53 (CD3 #3&4)
- Verses:
- 3
- STF Number:
- 53
Alternative tune: Coe Fen
1
How shall I sing that majesty
which angels do admire?
Let dust in dust and silence lie;
sing, sing, ye heavenly choir.
Thousands of thousands stand around
thy throne, O God most high;
ten thousand times ten thousand sound
thy praise; but who am I?
2
Thy brightness unto them appears,
whilst I thy footsteps trace;
a sound of God comes to my ears,
but they behold thy face.
They sing because thou art their sun;
Lord, send a beam on me;
for where heaven is but once begun
there alleluias be.
3
How great a being, Lord, is thine,
which doth all beings keep!
Thy knowledge is the only line
to sound so vast a deep.
Thou art a sea without a shore,
a sun without a sphere;
thy time is now and evermore,
thy place is everywhere.
John Mason (c. 1645–1694)