Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

Lyrics

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
thy justice like mountains high soaring above
thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all life thou givest, to both great and small;
in all life thou livest, the true life of all;
we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
and wither and perish, but naught changest thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight
all laud we would render: O help us to see
'tis only the splendour of light hideth thee.

History

The words are by Walter Chalmers Smith, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He was born in Aberdeen on 5 December 1824, trained at New College, Edinburgh, held charges in London, Milnathort, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and from 1876 was minister of the Free High Church in Edinburgh. In 1893 he was elected Moderator of the Free Church's General Assembly. He also published novels and several volumes of poetry, and died at Kinbuck, near Dunblane, in 1908.

The hymn is based on 1 Timothy 1:17 and was first published in 1867, in Smith's Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life (Macmillan). The hymn did not stay as he wrote it: the hymnologist Erik Routley notes that the original ran to six stanzas and that it never now appears as its author wrote it. W. Garrett Horder revised it for Congregational Hymns (1884), and Percy Dearmer cut it to four stanzas for The English Hymnal (1906). That four-stanza form is the standard one today, and the hymn appears in more than 250 hymnals.

The text is usually sung to ST. DENIO, a Welsh melody. It is traced to a traditional ballad, 'Can mlynedd i nawr' ('A Hundred Years from Now'), and it was published in 1839 by John Roberts (known by his bardic name Ieuan Gwyllt, 1822-1877) in his Welsh collection Caniadau y Cyssegr ('Hymns of the Sanctuary'). The tune is also known by the alternative name JOANNA. Both words and tune are in the 11.11.11.11 metre.

Performance

The page's video, 'Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise, St. Martin's Voices, Worship video with lyrics', runs about 2 minutes 37 seconds; its description names St Martin's Voices of St Martin-in-the-Fields as the performers. A second video on the channel, titled 'Immortal, invisible, God only wise | Hymn with Lyrics', runs about 3 minutes 17 seconds.

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