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Lyrics and Information

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Words from the Liturgy of St. James, 4th centry. translated by Gerard Moultrie, 1864.
Tune: PICARDY, a French melody arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), 1906.
Key signature: D minor (1 flat)
Time signature: 2/2
Public Domain
Organ Performance at Hymns Without Words
1. Let all mortal flesh keep silence, And with fear and trembling stand; Ponder nothing earthly-minded, For with blessing in His hand, Christ our God to earth descendeth, Our full homage to demand.
2. King of kings, yet born of Mary, As of old on earth He stood, Lord of lords, in human vesture, In the body and the blood; He will give to all the faithful His own self for heav’nly food.
3. Rank on rank the host of heaven Spreads its vanguard on the way, As the Light of light descendeth From the realms of endless day, That the pow’rs of hell may vanish As the darkness clears away.
4. At His feet the six-winged seraph, Cherubim with sleepless eye, Veil their faces to the presence, As with ceaseless voice they cry: “Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Lord Most High!”