"The sheep hear His Voice." -- John x.3.

T. S. M.

tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899

O Holy and mighty and marvellous Word

That speakest ever to me;

As of old in the silence of Eden heard

In the shade of the sacred Tree --

O Word from the depths of the ancient years,

From deserts Thy pilgrims trod,

From the hidden chambers of saints and seers,

From the secret place of God --

From the well of Sychar, the gate of Nain,

From the winds of the midnight sea,

Thou speakest in marvellous songs again

In the stillness of night to me.

From the noonday darkness the solemn Voice

Tells of my judgment borne --

And it calls to my soul to sing and rejoice

From the glow of the First-day morn.

Unsilenced yet to the ear that hears,

Thou Voice of eternal bliss,

Thou speakest in speech that is deeper than tears,

And sweet as the Father's kiss.

In Heaven the marvellous song ascends,

And in chambers mean and dim,

Where over the dead the mourner bends,

There steals the eternal Hymn.