The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38, Pt. 2: Praise to the Holiest in the height

choir of angelicals Praise to the Holiest in the height, And in the depth be praise: In all His words most wonderful Most sure in all His ways! angel Hark to those sounds! They come of tender beings angelical, Least and most childlike of the sons of God. choir of angelicals To us His elder race He gave To battle and to win, Without the chastisement of pain, Without the soil of sin. The younger son He willed to be A marvel in His birth: Spirit and flesh his parents were His home was heaven and earth. The Eternal blessed His child, and armed, And sent him hence afar, To serve as champion in the field Of elemental war. To be His Viceroy in the world Of matter, and of sense Upon the frontier, towards the foe A resolute defence. angel We now have passed the gate, and are within The House of Judgment. soul The sound is like the rushing of the wind, The summer wind among the lofty pines. choir of angelicals Glory to Him, who evermore By truth and justice reigns Who tears the soul from out its case, And burns away its stains! angel They sing of thy approaching agony, Which thou so eagerly didst question of: soul My soul is in my hand: I have no fear. But hark! a grand, mysterious harmony: It floods me, like the deep and solemn sound Of many waters. angel And now the threshold, as we traverse it, Utters aloud its glad responsive chant. choir of angelicals Praise to the Holiest in the height And in the depth be praise: In all His words most wonderful Most sure in all His ways! O loving wisdom of our God! When all was sin and shame, A second Adam to the fight And to the rescue came. O wisest love! that flesh and blood Which did in Adam fail, Should strive afresh against the foe, Should strive and should prevail And that a higher gift than grace Should flesh and blood refine, God's Presence and His very Self, And Essence all-divine. O generous love! that He who smote In man for man the foe, The double agony in man For man should undergo And in the garden secretly, And on the cross on high, Should teach His brethren and inspire To suffer and to die. Praise to the Holiest in the height And in the depth be praise: In all His words most wonderful Most sure in all His ways!"