The Christian — Faith, Hope, and Charity

Though we could speak with angel tongues

No. 686
Metre C. M. D.
Tune BRATTLE STREET.
Words Anon.
Music Ignace Pleyel.
Key D major
Singing key C major
Time 4/4
3 stanzas

Words

Though we could speak with angel tongues,Or with prophetic skillSurvey the future at a glanceAnd read events at will;Had we a faith in God so strongAs mountains to remove,Yet all were fruitless, all in vain,If not inspired by love.

And though our goods to feed the poorOur liberal hands bestow,Or yield our bodies to the flamesOur ardent zeal to show;Our deeds, though like the noon-day sun,Of no avail would prove,No sacrifice a merit claimsThat is not crowned by love.

Love suffers long and envies not,Endures, forbears, believes,All things it hopes, all things forgives,It trusts but ne'er deceives;And now abide to every soulThese graces from above,—Faith, hope, and love,—immortal three,—But chief of all is love.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «THE CHRISTIAN—FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY.»; hymn number «686» (large), tune name «BRATTLE STREET. C. M. D.» centred over the music (condensed capitals; the «D.» in a smaller size), «IGNACE PLEYEL.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); an ink annotation «1 Cor. 13» by a former owner beside the number is not printed and not transcribed. Stanza 1 is interlinear: between the staves of system 1, in braces with «1.» before them, «Though we could speak with an-gel tongues, Or with pro-phet-ic skill» (first time, first ending «1st.») and «Sur - vey the fu - ture at a glance (omit.) . . . . . . .» (second time: «(omit.)» in italics = skip the first ending), continued right of the brace, under the second ending «2d.», by «And»; system 2 carries «read e - vents at will; Had we a faith in God so strong As mount-ains to re-», system 3 «move, Yet all were fruit - less, all in vain, If not in - spired by love.». Stanza 1 is assembled here in the order sung; syllables are joined into whole words («angel», «prophetic», «Survey», «future», «events», «mountains», «remove», «fruitless», «inspired»). No punctuation is printed after «skill» and «glance» (verse ends inside the braces); none is added. The reference line «83, 291.» (italics) under the music = the words may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 83 and 291. Stanzas 2–3 follow as text in the left column, numbered «2», «3» without a period (numbered «2.», «3.» here like stanza 1); lines 2, 4, 6, 8 of each stanza are indented in the print. «Anon.» in italics after stanza 3. The print sets a thin space before «;» («show ;», «deceives ;»); it is closed up here. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.