Words: , in the Yattendon Hymnal, 1899, number 61, with this note on p. 18: “after [Hubert and Jan] Van Eyck’s picture of the ‘Worship of the Lamb.’” This picture, finished around 1432, hung in the Cathedral of St. Bavon in Ghent.
Music: University, (1725-1785), in A Collection of Psalms for the Use of Parish Churches, by P. Hellendaal, p. 90.
The Church of God a kingdom is,
Where Christ in power doth reign;
Where spirits yearn till, seen in bliss,
Their Lord shall come again.
Glad companies of saints possess
This Church below, above;
And God’s perpetual calm doth bless
Their paradise of love.
An altar stands within the shrine
Whereon, once sacrificed,
Is set, immaculate, divine,
The Lamb of God, the Christ.
There rich and poor, from countless lands,
Praise God on mystic rood;
There nations reach forth holy hands
To take God’s holy food.
There pure life-giving streams o’erflow
The sower’s garden-ground:
And faith and love fair blossoms show,
And fruits of love abound.
O King, O Christ, this endless grace
To us and all men bring,
To see the vision of Thy face
In joy, O Christ, our King.