Naylor, Bernard: Ash Wednesday


Ash Wednesday (1952)

O Lord, almighty God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed;
Who hast made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof;
Who hast bound the sea by the word of thy commandment;
Who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name; whom all men fear, and tremble before thy power;
For the majesty of thy glory cannot be borne,
and thine angry threatening toward sinners is importable:
But thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable;
For thou art the most high Lord, of great compassion, longsuffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men.

Words: from The Prayer of Manasses
Music: Bernard Naylor (1907–86)