Skip to main content

Keep Silence

"Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" is probably my favourite hym in church. It has a haunting melody and it sets quite a tone. The words are here, and the melody can be heard here (it even works in Firefox, because the page uses Media Player instead of QuickTime, for which, it seems, there is no Firefox plugin as yet). I did not know before today that the words and the music originated independently. The words go back to the 4th century, while the tune is from 17th century France.
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence Let all mortal flesh keep silence And with fear and trembling stand Ponder nothing earthly minded For with blessing in His hand Christ our God to earth descendeth Our full homage to demand King of kings, yet born of Mary As of old on earth He stood Lord of lords, in human vesture In the body and the blood He will give to all the faithful His own self for heav'nly food Rank on rank the host of heaven Spreads its vanguard on the way As the Light of light descendeth From the realms of endless day That the pow'rs of hell may vanish As the darkness clears away At his feet the six-winged Seraph Cherubim, with sleepless eye Veil their faces to the presence As with ceaseless voice they cry Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia, Lord most high!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reuters joins CNN on the bench

Makes room for CanWest to join the majors Kudos to CanWest for calling a terrorist a terrorist . Many, including The Last Amazon , will be happy to hear it. Reuters is among the worst of the major western news services, where I would also place the BBC and the CBC. Unsurprisingly, Reuters is not happy about the changes CanWest made to Reuters wire stories: Our editorial policy is that we don't use emotive words when labeling someone," said David A. Schlesinger, Reuters' global managing editor. "Any paper can change copy and do whatever they want. But if a paper wants to change our copy that way, we would be more comfortable if they remove the byline." Mr. Schlesinger said he was concerned that changes like those made at CanWest could lead to "confusion" about what Reuters is reporting and possibly endanger its reporters in volatile areas or situations. "My goal is to protect

Where credit is due

A good'un from Sawyer Brown . Thank God for You Well I've been called a self-made man Girl don't you believe it's true I know exactly how lucky I am When I'm gettin' this close to you It's high time I'm giving some praise To those that got me where I am today Chorus I got to thank momma for the cookin' Daddy for the whuppin' The devil for the trouble that I get into I got to give credit where credit is due I thank the bank for the money Thank God for you A strong heart and a willing hand That's the secret to my success A good woman - I try to be a good man A good job - Lord I know I've been blessed I'm just a part of a greater plan It doesn't matter which part I am Chorus I got to thank momma for the teachin' Daddy for the preachin' The devil for the trouble that I get into I got to give credit where credit is due I thank the bank for the money Thank God for you

A very limited form of inquiry

Real Clear Politics is carrying commentary on James Q. Wilson's WSJ article on ID (got that?). Wilson, the respected social scientist, gets it mostly right when he says that ID is not science because it can't be tested: So ID is not science. Does this mean that science, in any way, implies the non-existence of God? No. Does this mean that belief in God is irrational and that we should all be "free thinkers"? No. Does this mean that it is impossible to arbitrate between various theories of the existence/non-existence of God and come to some reasonable conclusions? No. Does this mean that we cannot say that humanity is meant to exist? No. In other words, rationality outside of science is quite possible, and has been around for a long time. How do you think humanity invented science in the first place? We surely did not do it scientifically. Science as we know it is the product of millennia of philosophical debate -- from Aristotle to Lakatos. Science depends upon phi