The Church — Ministry and Missions

From Greenland's icy mountains

No. 1055
Metre 7s & 6s. D.
Tune MISSIONARY HYMN.
Words Reginald Heber.
Music Lowell Mason.
Key F major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 2/2
3 stanzas

Words

From Greenland's icy mountains,From India's coral strand,Where Afric's sunny fountainsRoll down their golden sand,From many an ancient river,From many a palmy plain,They call us to deliverTheir land from error's chain.

What though the spicy breezesBlow soft o'er Ceylon's isle;Though every prospect pleases,And only man is vile;In vain with lavish kindnessThe gifts of God are strown;The heathen in his blindness,Bows down to wood and stone.

Can we, whose souls are lightedWith wisdom from on high,—Can we, to men benighted,The lamp of life deny?Salvation, O, salvation!The joyful sound proclaimTill earth's remotest nationHas heard Messiah's name.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «THE CHURCH—MINISTRY AND MISSIONS.»; hymn number «1055» (large), tune name «MISSIONARY HYMN. 7s & 6s. D.» centred over the music (condensed capitals and small capitals; the «D.» in a smaller size), «LOWELL MASON.» at the right (capitals and small capitals). Pen annotations of the scanned copy («CH 445» beside the running head, a stroke across «7s», a wavy line under «Reginald Heber») are not printed and not transcribed. Stanza 1 is interlinear: between the staves of system 1, in braces with «1.» before them, «From Greenland's i - cy mountains, From In-dia's cor - al strand,» (first time, first ending «1st.») and «Where Af - ric's sun-ny fount - ains(omit.) . . . . . .» (second time: «(omit.)» in italics = skip the first ending), continued right of the closing brace, under the second ending «2d.», by «Roll down their gold-en sand, From»; system 2 carries «many an an-cient riv - er, From many a palm - y plain, They call us to de - liv - er Their land from error's chain.». Stanza 1 is assembled here in the order sung; syllables are joined into whole words («icy», «India's», «coral», «Afric's», «sunny», «fountains», «golden», «ancient», «river», «palmy», «deliver»). No punctuation is printed after «fountains» (the verse ends inside the braces); none is added. The reference line «833, 998.» (italics) under the music = the words may also be sung to the tunes of hymns 833 and 998. Stanzas 2–3 follow as text in two columns, 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. «Reginald Heber» in italics after stanza 3 (no final period visible). The print sets a thin space before «;», «?» and «!» («isle ;», «deny ?», «salvation !»); it is closed up here. The printer's curly apostrophe is written straight. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's («strown», «Ceylon's»).