To God with heart and cheerful voice

To God with heart and cheerful voice. George Wither* (1588-1667). This hymn appeared in Hymnes and Songs of the Church (1623), for Ascension Day, and, slightly altered, in Haleluiah, or Britans second Remembrancer (1641), where it is hymn 37 in the section, ‘Hymns Temporary’. It was included in SofP in the 1623 text, omitting stanza 2: The human nature, which of late Beneath the angels was, Now raisèd from that meaner state, Above them hath a place. And at man’s feet all creatures bow, Which through the whole world be, For at God’s right hand thronèd now, In glory sitteth he. SofPE omits stanza 3 also, beginning ‘Our Lord and brother, who hath on/ Such flesh as this we...