St. Michael New (Samuel Sebastian Wesley)

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Music files

• CPDL #15425: NoteWorthy Composer

Editor: John Henry Fowler (added 2007-11-15).   Score information: A4, 1 page, 25 kbytes   Copyright: Public Domain

Edition notes: SATB version from CyberHymnal - File Sizes: PDF: 25 KB, MIDI: 2 KB, NWC: 1 KB

General Information

Title: St. Michael New
Composer: Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Number of voices: 4vv  Voicing: SATB
Genre: Sacred, Hymns     Meter:  10 10. 66. 10 or 10 10. 12 10
Language: English
Instruments: piano/organ
Published: Tune: St. Mi­chael New, Sam­u­el S. Wes­ley, the Eur­o­pe­an Psalm­ist, 1872; Lyrics: Re­gi­nald He­ber, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in his Hymns, 1837, p. 133.

Description:

External websites:

• Cyber Hymnal entry for St. Michael New

Original text and translations

English text

1.

O Captain of God’s host, whose dreadful might

Led forth to war the armèd seraphim,

And from the starry height,

Subdued in burning light,

Cast down that ancient dragon dark and grim;

2.

Thine angels, Christ, we laud in solemn lays,

Our elder brethren of the crystal sky,

Who ’mid Thy glory’s blaze

The ceaseless anthem raise

And gird Thy throne in faithful ministry.

3.

We celebrate their love, whose viewless wing

Hath left for us so oft their mansion high,

The mercies of their King

To mortal saints to bring,

Or guard the couch of slumb’ring infancy.

4.

But Thee, the First and Last, we glorify,

Who, when Thy world was sunk in death and sin,

Not with Thine hierarchy,

The armies of the sky,

But didst with Thine own arm the battle win;

5.

Alone didst pass the dark and dismal shore,

Alone didst tread the winepress, and alone,

All glorious in Thy gore,

Didst light and life restore

To us who lay in darkness and undone.

6.

Therefore with angels and archangels we

To Thy dear love our thankful chorus raise,

And tune our songs to Thee

Who art, and art to be,

And, endless as Thy mercies, sound Thy praise.

Lyrics: Re­gi­nald He­ber, Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in his Hymns, 1837, Pg. 133.