Words: Author unknown (Verbum Supernum prodiens); translated from Latin to English in Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1859.
Music: Breslau, As Hymnodus Sacer (Leipzig, Germany: 1625).
O heavenly Word, eternal Light,
Begotten of the Father’s might,
Who, in these latter days, art born
For succor to a world forlorn;
Our hearts enlighten from above,
And kindle with Thine own true love;
That we, who hear Thy call today,
May cast earth’s vanities away.
And when as Judge Thou drawest nigh,
The secrets of all hearts to try;
When sinners meet their awful doom,
And saints attain their heavenly home;
O let us not, for evil past,
Be driven from Thy face at last;
But with the blessèd evermore
Behold Thee, love Thee, and adore.
To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One,
Praise, honor, might and glory be
From age to age eternally.