Behold A Host, Arrayed In White (Great White Host)

Video recorded at First Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Racine, Wisconsin.r

Behold a host, arrayed in white,
Like thousand snowclad mountains bright;
With palms they stand.
Who is this band
Before the throne of light?
These are the saints of glorious fame,
Who from the great affliction came
And in the flood
Of Jesus' blood
Are cleansed from guilt and blame.
Now gathered in the holy place,
Their voices they in worship raise.
Their anthems swell
Where God does dwell
Mid angels' songs of praise.

Despised and scorned, they sojourned here;
But now, how glorious they appear!
Those martyrs stand,
A priestly band,
God's throne forever near.
So oft in troubled days gone by,
In anguish they would weep and sigh;
At home above
The God of love
Forever their tears shall dry.
They now enjoy the Sabbath rest,
The heavenly banquet of the blest;
The Lamb, their Lord,
At festive board
Himself is host and guest.

O blessed saints, now take your rest;
A thousand times you will be blessed
For keeping faith
Firm unto death
And scorning worldly trust.
For now you live at home with God;
You toiled and sowed the Word abroad.
Rejoice and bring
Your fruits and sing
Before the throne of God.
The myriad angels raise the song;
O saints, sing with that happy throng!
Lift up one voice;
Let heaven rejoice
In our Redeemer's song.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• organ
• 003

[85buickV8]

This hymn was sung quite a bit at our Lutheran church 20 or so years ago, I remember it well from being a kid. A lot of these great old hymns are being forgotten as time goes on, thanks for keeping them alive.

[texanrue]

@85buickV8 Thank you! During the summer, I had recorded some other hymns and I've tried to upload them but I haven't been successful in doing so. I have to keep trying and looking into what I can do to getting these videos up and going.

[85buickV8]

@texanrue It might be a software/hardware update issue with whatever camera you are using. I have some type of JVC and had to wait 3 months for a online downloadable update before I could begin posting to youtube again.

[texanrue]

@85buickV8 Possibly. I know my videos that are already up I used a different camera, but between then and this last summer, it broke and so I bought a new camera. I recorded a couple of things, downloaded them onto my computer, and they begin to upload on youtube, but about 10 minutes in, it says there was a connection error and could not continue the upload.

[Mnnvint]

What arrangement is it, texanrue? It's a nice one!

[texanrue]

@Mnnvint The hymn is played from the Christian Worship Hymnal from 1993 used by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.  The text was written by Hans A. Brorson and the tune is a Norwegian folk tune from the 17th century.

[Vortex421]

This hymn is also found in the 1941 Concordia "The Lutheran Hymnal", hymn 656.

[Kenchely]

Nice performance. It is one of the great Lutheran hymns. Two occasions will always remain with me.

One was at the Lutheran seminary at Ft. Wayne, IN, in January, 2005. The second verse was sung a cappella, in parts, by all present. You can imagine what 500 men's voices in parts sound like. The second was at my mother's funeral; I sang the first verse in Danish.

So this hymn carries powerful memories when I hear it.

[Jeeves1952]

Thank you! I grew up singing this song. Loved hearing it again. 

[oldtimeway1]

A wonderful old Scandinavian favorite, so often sung at funerals.