Hark, What a Sound

Lyrics

Hark what a sound, and too divine for hearing,
Stirs on the earth and trembles in the air!
Is it the thunder of the Lord's appearing?
Is it the music of his people's prayer?

Surely he cometh, and a thousand voices
Shout to the saints, and to the deaf are dumb;
Surely he cometh, and the earth rejoices,
Glad in his coming who hath sworn: I come!

This hath he done, and shall we not adore him?
This shall he do, and can we still despair?
Come, let us quickly fling ourselves before him,
Cast at his feet the burden of our care.

Through life and death, through sorrow and through sinning,
He shall suffice me, for he hath sufficed:
Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning,
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ.

History

The words are taken from St Paul, a long poem that Frederic Myers published in 1867. Sung as an Advent hymn, they speak of a sound 'too divine for hearing' that may be 'the thunder of the Lord's appearing' or 'the music of his people's prayer', the promise 'Surely he cometh', and the closing lines that turn on the beginning and the end — 'Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning, / Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ.' Hymnary.org lists the text in modern hymnals including Ancient and Modern (2013), sung to the tunes HIGHWOOD and WELWYN.

Frederic William Henry Myers was born on 6 February 1843 at St John's parsonage, Keswick, in Cumberland, and educated at Cheltenham College and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1872 he became an inspector of schools. He is remembered above all as one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research; his Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death was published after his death. He died of pneumonia in Rome on 17 January 1901.

Performance

This recording by St Martin's Voices runs to a little over three minutes, with four verses.

Sources: hymnary.org · en.wikipedia.org · St Martin's Voices recording and Words book