1. A thousand oracles divine
Their common beams unite,
That sinners may with angels join
To worship God aright.
2. To praise a Trinity adored
By all the hosts above,
And one thrice holy God and Lord
Through endless ages love.
3. Triumphant host! they never cease
To laud and magnify
The triune God of holiness,
Whose glory fills the sky.
4. Whose glory to this earth extends,
When God Himself imparts,
And the whole Trinity descends
Into our faithful hearts.
5. By faith the upper choir we meet,
And challenge them to sing
Jehovah on His shining seat,
Our maker, God and king.
6. But God made flesh is wholly ours,
And asks our nobler strain;
The Father of celestial powers,
The friend of earth born man!
7. Ye seraphs nearest to the throne,
With rapturous amaze
On us, poor ransomed worms look down
For Heaven’s superior praise.
8. The king whose glorious face ye see,
For us His crown resigned;
That fullness of the Deity,
He died for all mankind!
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #6670
First Line: | A thousand oracles divine |
Title: | Praise to the Trinity |
Author: | Charles Wesley |
Meter: | 8.6.8.6 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
A thousand oracles divine. C. Wesley. [Holy Trinity .] In his Hymns on the Trinity, 1767, this hymn is given as No. xvii. in the division of "Hymns and Prayers to the Trinity” in 4 stanzas of 8 lines, p. 100. It was repeated in the Wesleyan Hymn Book 1780, and later editions with the simple alteration of "His hosts" to “the hosts" in stanza i. line 6. From that collection it has passed into all the principal hymnals of the Methodist bodies in most English-speaking countries, but is seldom found elsewhere. Few hymns are more dogmatic on the doctrine of the Trinity. The lines, "The Friend of earth-born man," and "For heaven's superior praise," are borrowed from Young's Night Thoughts . Night iv. 11. 603. 440. Original text as above, and Poetical Works of J. & C. Wesley, 1868-1872, vol. vii. pp. 312-13.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)