Reginald Heber
(1783-1826)
Hosanna to the living Lord!
Hosanna to the incarnate Word!
To Christ, Creator, Savior, King,
Let earth, let Heaven, Hosanna sing!
Hosanna! Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
Hosanna, Lord! Thine angels cry;
Hosanna, Lord! Thy saints reply;
Above, beneath us, and around,
The dead and living swell the sound,
Hosanna! Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
Oh, Savior! with protecting care
Return to this Thy house of prayer,
Assembled in Thy sacred name,
Where we Thy parting promise claim!
Hosanna! Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
But chiefest, in our cleansèd breast
Eternal! bid Thy spirit rest,
And make our secret soul to be
A temple pure and worthy Thee!
Hosanna! Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
So, in the last and dreadful day
When earth and heaven shall melt away,
Thy flock, redeem’d from sinful stain
Shall swell the sound of praise again:
Hosanna! Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
(Special thanks to our frient Pastor Bruce Wasson for his special gift of
The Poetical Works of Reginald Heber, Late Lord Bishop of Calcutta by M. A. DeWolfe Howe [1857],
from which this poem was taken.)
