O Word Of God Incarnate
O Word of God Incarnate
O Word of God incarnate, O Wisdom from on high,
O Truth unchanged, unchanging, O Light of our dark sky:
We praise Thee for the radiance that from the hallowed page,
A lantern to our footsteps, shines on from age to age.
The Church from Thee, her Master, received the gift divine,
And still that light she lifteth o’er all the earth to shine,
It is the sacred casket where gems of truth are stored;
It is the heaven-drawn picture of Thee, the living Word.
It floateth like a banner before God’s host unfurled;
It shineth like a beacon above the darkling world.
It is the chart and compass that o’er life’s surging sea,
Mid mists and rocks and quicksands, still guides, O Christ, to Thee.
O make Thy Church, dear Savior, a lamp of purest gold,
To bear before the nations Thy true light as of old.
O teach Thy wandering pilgrims by this their path to trace,
Till, clouds and darkness ended, they see Thee face to face.
THERE WAS a down-to-earth simplicity about William Walsham How. He served a rural congregation on the Welsh border for twenty-eight years and then ministered in London’s East End. He loved children and wrote hymns for them. One of them began like this: “It is a thing most wonderful, almost too wonderful to be, that God’s own Son should come from heaven, and die to save a child like me.”
William How also loved the Bible. On his symbolic pastoral staff, he engraved the words of St. Bernard: “Pasce verbo, Pasce vita,” which means “Feed with the Word, feed with the Life.” So it is not surprising that he should write a hymn of praise to God’s Word.
Teach me your decrees, O Lord; I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart. Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found. Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money! Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.
Psalm 119:33-37
From the book
