Christ My Song - 485
He must grow greater - He must increase, I must decrease
(Horatius Bonar/Johannes Thomas Rüegg)
He must increase, I must decrease.
1. He must grow greater, I grow less and less:
I like the mist which o'er the mountain flies,
and in the rising glory vanishes;
he like the sun in yon fair morning skies; –
amen, amen, I would not have it otherwise. (PDF - Midi)
2. His name among the nations shall go forth,
above all names that earth has ever known;
a name for ages, name of matchless worth,
enduring when each other name is gone,
and this poor name of mine to dark oblivion thrown.
3. His story over earth shall yet be told,
a story for the universe to hear, –
a wondrous story, which shall ne'er grow old,
but fresher yet shall grow, and yet more dear,
when my brief tale is told of sin and want and fear.
4. His love, the more than sunshine for all things
and beings, or above or here below,
shall fly abroad on everlasting wings,
gladdening all space and time with its swift flow,
till this cold love of mine be lost in its bright glow.
5. His voice, that fills the heaven of heavens with bliss, –
the more than music of each listening ear,
itself the melody of melodies, –
swells out o'er space, entrancing sphere on sphere,
till this frail voice of mine is hushed with love and fear.
6. His throne, before whose majesty so few
on earth now bow, shall be of thrones the throne,
its splendour ever bright and ever new;
while on his head there rests the eternal crown,
when from each brow of earth the glittering gold has gone.
Horatius Bonar, Hymns of the Nativity, 1879, 17-18.