Richer by far is the heart’s adoration

I knew that once I started posting Epiphany hymns, I wouldn't be able to stop. This is by Oxford's own Reginald Heber:


Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

Cold on his cradle the dewdrops are shining;
Low lies his head with the beasts of the stall;
Angels adore him in slumber reclining,
Maker and Monarch and Saviour of all.

Say, shall we yield him, in costly devotion,
Odours of Edom and offerings divine?
Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine?

Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
Vainly with gifts would his favor secure;
Richer by far is the heart’s adoration,
Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.

Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us Thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.


For some reason - perhaps they have similar tunes - I associate this hymn with the better-known 'O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness'. Personally I prefer 'Brightest and best', mostly because of that wonderfully evocative first verse, and because I always like hymns which have rhetorical questions in them (see also: 'Ye Holy Angels Bright', 'Thy hand O God has guided', 'My song is love unknown'), but also because the distinctive and unusual choice to rhyme all those words ending in -ness is almost too clever to be real. It's a tricky thing to do (I once tried it!) and it's a poetic tour de force, but I find it a little distracting. Nonetheless:


O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
Bow down before him, his glory proclaim;
with gold of obedience, and incense of lowliness,
kneel and adore him: the Lord is his Name!

Low at his feet lay thy burden of carefulness,
high on his heart he will bear it for thee,
and comfort thy sorrows, and answer thy prayerfulness,
guiding thy steps as may best for thee be.

Fear not to enter his courts in the slenderness
of the poor wealth thou wouldst reckon as thine;
for truth in its beauty, and love in its tenderness,
these are the offerings to lay on his shrine.

These, though we bring them in trembling and fearfulness,
he will accept for the Name that is dear;
mornings of joy give for evenings of tearfulness,
trust for our trembling and hope for our fear.

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
bow down before him, his glory proclaim;
with gold of obedience, and incense of lowliness,
kneel and adore him: the Lord is his Name!

John Monsell (1811-1875)