Oh, whither shall my troubled Muse encline? [When]1 not the glorious scaffolde of the skies, Nor highest heaven's resplendent hierarchies, Where heav'nly soldiours in pure armor shine; Nor ayer which thy sweete Spirite doth refine, Nor earth thy precious [bloud]2 unworthy prise, Nor seas which, when thou list, ebbe and arise; Nor any creature, profane or divine, Can blaze the flourish of thy tearmelesse praise; Surreaching farre, by manifold large space, All divine fabricke of thy sacred hands; [Even thither shall my Muse her musicke raise, Where my soule's everlasting pallace stands, -- Sweete refuge of salvation ! court of grace!]3
O whither shall my troubled muse incline
Set by George Dyson (1883 - 1964), "O whither shall my troubled muse incline", 1945-9, from Quo Vadis: a Cycle of Poems, no. 3  [sung text checked 1 time]
Note: this setting is made up of several separate texts.
Authorship:
- by Barnabe Barnes (c1568?9 - 1609), "Sonnet XCIX"
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View original text (without footnotes)Note: the title given in publications is "Sonnet LXXXXIX" [sic], but we have translated that to conventional Roman numerals.
1 Dyson: "If"
2 Dyson: "blood's"
3 not set by Dyson.
Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson
Weigh me the fire; or, canst thou find A way to measure out the wind; Distinguish all [those]1 floods that are Mixt in [that]1 watrie theater; And tast thou them as saltlesse there, As in their channell first they were; Tell me the people that do keep Within the kingdomes of the deep; Or fetch me back that cloude againe, Beshiver'd into seeds of raine; Tell me the motes, dust, sands, and speares Of corn, when summer shakes his eares; Shew me [that]1 world of starres, and whence They noiselesse spill their influence; This if thou canst, then shew me Him That rides the glorious Cherubim.
Authorship:
- by Robert Herrick (1591 - 1674), "To finde God"
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Dyson: "the"
Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson
See! through the heavenly arch
With silent stately march
The starry ranks for ever sweep;
In graduate scale of might
They all are sons of light,
And all their times and orders keep.
O glorious, countless host,
Which shall I praise the most,
Your lustrous groups, or course exact ?
Ye on your way sublime
Defy confusing time
Your light to dim, your path distract.
[Earth's early fathers saw
The gospel and the law
In the firm beauty of the skies :]1
O thou unswerving Will,
The unveiled heavens still
Show Thee [as]1 glorious, good, and wise.
[ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Thomas Toke Lynch (1818 - 1871), no title, appears in The Rivulet : A Contribution to Sacred Song, in Hymns for Heart and Voice, no. 30, first published 1856
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View original text (without footnotes)1 not set by Dyson.
Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson
The Lord descended from above, And bow'd the Heavens high, And underneath his Feet he cast The Darkness of the Sky. On [Cherubs and on Cherubims]1 Full royally he rode, And on the Wings of mighty Winds Came flying all abroad.
Authorship:
- by Thomas Sternhold (d. 1549)
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View original text (without footnotes)A source from 1739 indicates this is an "antient translation of the Psalms"
1 Dyson: "Cherubim and Seraphim"
Researcher for this page: Harry Joelson