Fr. Dwight Longenecker
3. When you sing hymns you join in the worship of heaven. The hymn, Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones is a perfect example of a fine hymn. We are not singing about ourselves or gathering in or making a difference or being nice people. We are lifting our voices and joining in with the worship of heaven. We are told that the angels sing and make music in praise of God, and when we sing our lives and heart and minds are lifted to join in this beautifully absurd action. Why do I say it is “beautifully absurd”? Because praise, like play has no real purpose. Worship like love, has its own purpose and meaning. We were made to praise and worship our Lord and a hymn helps us to do so. Consider the words of this splendid hymn by the Anglo Catholic cleric Athelstan Riley:
Ye watchers and ye holy ones,
Bright seraphs, cherubim and thrones,
Raise the glad strain, Alleluia!
Cry out, dominions, princedoms, powers,
Virtues, archangels, angels’ choirs:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
O higher than the cherubim,
More glorious than the seraphim,
Lead their praises, Alleluia!
Thou bearer of th’eternal Word,
Most gracious, magnify the Lord.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Respond, ye souls in endless rest,
Ye patriarchs and prophets blest,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Ye holy twelve, ye martyrs strong,
All saints triumphant, raise the song.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
O friends, in gladness let us sing,
Supernal anthems echoing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, Three in One.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Just look at the splendiferousness of this hymn! The first verse we learn the nine ranks of angels and sing with them. The second verse is a paen of praise the the Virgin drawing on the ancient Eastern Orthodox hymn to the Blessed Virgin who is “the bearer of the Eternal Word” and “higher than the seraphim and cherubim.” Immediately one not only praises God with the Virgin, but has confirmed a fully orthodox Christology, proper Marian devotion and her rank in heaven above all created beings. The third verse joins our voices with the dead and all saints, martyrs, prophets and patriarchs–teaching the ranking of salvation history, and the whole thing neatly concludes with eternal praise to the Most Holy Trinity. Compare such a hymn to this:
Here in this place new light is streaming,
now is the darkness vanished away;
see in this space our fears and our dreamings
brought here to you in the light of this day.
Gather us in, the lost and forsaken,
gather us in, the blind and the lame;
call to us now, and we shall awaken,
we shall arise at the sound of our name.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In