Strong Son of God, immortal Love

Strong Son of God, immortal Love,
    Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
    By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;

Thine are these orbs of light and shade;
    Thou madest Life in man and brute;
    Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is on the skull which thou hast made.

Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:
    Thou madest man, he knows not why,
    He thinks he was not made to die;
And thou hast made him: thou art just.

Thou seemest human and divine,
    The highest, holiest manhood, thou:
    Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours, to make them thine.

Our little systems have their day;
    They have their day and cease to be:
    They are but broken lights of thee,
And thou, O Lord, art more than they.

We have but faith: we cannot know;
    For knowledge is of things we see;
    And yet we trust it comes from thee,
A beam in darkness: let it grow.

Let knowledge grow from more to more,
    But more of reverence in us dwell;
    That mind and soul, according well,
May make one music as before,

But vaster. We are fools and slight;
    We mock thee when we do not fear:
    But help thy foolish ones to bear;
Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light.

Forgive what seem'd my sin in me;
    What seem'd my worth since I began;
    For merit lives from man to man,
And not from man, O Lord, to thee.

Forgive my grief for one removed,
    Thy creature, whom I found so fair.
    I trust he lives in thee, and there
I find him worthier to be loved.

Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
    Confusions of a wasted youth;
    Forgive them where they fail in truth,
And in thy wisdom make me wise.

by Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) , no title, 1849, from In Memoriam A. H. H. obiit MDCCCXXXIII, published 1850

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by S. Glen Darst , "Strong son of God, immortal Love", published <<1974, opening lines. [SATB chorus and piano or organ]
by Filkins , "Strong Son of God", published <<1974, opening lines. [soprano and SATB chorus]
by Joseph Groocock , "Strong Son of God", published c1953, opening lines. [unison voices and piano]
by Clarence S. Hill , "Strong Son of God, immortal Love", published c1912, opening lines. [voice and piano]
by David H. Jones , "Strong Son of God, immortal Love", published 1934, opening lines. [SATB or SATTB chorus and piano or organ]
by Liza Lehmann (1862-1918) , no title, 1899, stanzas 1-3 [voice and piano], from In Memoriam, no. 13.
by James C. McCollum , "Strong Son of God", published 1951, opening lines. [SATB chorus with echo choir a cappella]
by Paul Nelson (1929-) , "Strong Son of God, immortal Love", 1967, rev. 1972, opening lines. [mixed chorus and strings or organ]
by Herbert Stanley Oakeley (1830-1903) , "Strong Son of God, immortal Love", published <<1893, opening lines. [chorus and organ]
by Henry Kemble Oliver (1800-1885) , "Strong Son of God, immortal Love", published 1917, opening lines. [voices and piano]
by Francis W. Snow , "Strong Son of God", published 1932, opening lines. [SATB chorus a cappella]
by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) , "Strong Son of God", published 1908, opening lines [voice and piano], from Six Songs of Faith, no. ?
by Rudolph Werther (1896-?) , "Strong Son of God, immortal Love", opening lines. [voice and piano]

Date added to the website: 2009-01-11.

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