Hymn of the Week: June 20, 2022

Hymn of the Week: Behold the Glories of the Lamb

Text Isaac Watts ca. 1690
Music Robert Wainwright 1770

1 Behold the glories of the Lamb
amidst His Father's throne!
amidst His Father's throne!
Prepare new honors for His name,
and songs before unknown,
and songs before unknown.

2 Let elders worship at His feet,
the church adore around,
the church adore around,
with vials full of odors sweet,
and harps of sweeter sound,
and harps of sweeter sound.

3 Now to the Lamb that once was slain
be endless blessings paid;
be endless blessings paid;
salvation, glory, joy, remain
forever on Thy head,
forever on Thy head.

4 Thou hast redeemed our souls with blood,
hast set the pris'ners free,
hast set the prisoners free,
hast made us kings and priests to God,
and we shall reign with Thee,
and we shall reign with Thee.

Isaac Watts

During the summer months, we will be looking at one hymn poet per month. For the month of June, we will be focused on 4 wonderful and seldom sung texts by one of the greatest hymn writers of this and every age, Isaac Watts.

As I mentioned last week, the hymn above is Isaac Watts’ first hymn written when he was just a teenager before he left Southhampton in 1696 for his university training in London and eventual position as pastor at Mark Lane Chapel.

Eric Routley, in his book, A Panorama of Christian Hymnody discusses this hymn text as a great hymn to look at because it is indicative of all the future 700 hymns he wrote.

He uses for this text what is known as a Psalm Meter. If you’re like me, you are asking yourself, What is a psalm meter? Here is a definition I found. This metrical form is of the pattern in which each verse is converted into four lines of syllable count 8-6-8-6, with a rhyme on the last syllable of the second and fourth lines. He used this meter so all the hymn tunes could carry

this text. Secondly, notice that the text comes from Revelation 5:6, 8, 9.10, 12. It is so close to the actual text that Isaac’s rendering of the scripture was used in 1781 for the Scottish Paraphrases. Finally, the final stanza gives the hymn an almost existential quality which is really the principle of the hymn’s liberation. In that stanza, the congregation is no longer reciting the biblical words but making its own prayer, and this is what truly unlocks the secret to hymnody in a nutshell.

Unfortunately, Isaac’s final verse did not make it into the hymn you hear today and is not listed in most hymns. Here is his final verse:

The worlds of Nature and of Grace
Are put beneath thy Pow’r;
Then shorten these delaying Days
And bring the promis’d Hour.

Watt’s style is close to that of the metrical psalters, but of course, was no longer bound by the necessity of packing in the words of the Authorized Version of the Bible, he did not need to strain his sentence structure and could write more freely.

Here is a brief bio about our hymn tune composer. Robert Wainwright (1748-1782), was an English church organist and composer. He was the son of John Wainwright whom he succeeded as organist at the Manchester Collegiate Church (later Manchester Cathedral) after his father’s death.

In 1775 Wainwright moved to Liverpool to become an organist at St Peter’s. In addition to church music, Wainwright wrote the oratorio, The Fall of Egypt, first performed in Liverpool in 1780, as well as sonatas and concertos.

Robert Wainwright’s daughter Harriet Wainwright (1766-1843) also became a composer and contrapuntist of note across Europe.

Enjoy this hymn with a truly lovely tune.