“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”

This last Sunday, the worship team and I presented a classic, liturgical, Christmas hymn called “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.” The song “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” reminds us to receive with deep humility the incredible blessing of Christ’s incarnation, who humbled Himself to be born among us. Yet, the hymn also venerates Christ’s incredible power, a power so great that all of heaven bends to the will of Jesus, our “Lord Most High.” Below are the full 4 verses of the original song with Scripture references: 

Verse 1 (Hab. 2:20; Zech. 2:13) 

Let all mortal flesh keep silence
And with fear and trembling stand 
Ponder nothing worldly minded 
For with blessing in His hand 
Christ our God
To earth descendeth 
Our full homage to demand  

Verse 2 (Rev. 19:16; Luke 22:19–20)
King of kings yet born of Mary 
As of old on earth He stood 
Lord of lords in human vesture 
In the body and the blood 
He will give to all the faithful 
His own self for heav'nly food  

Verse 3 (Matt. 16:27) 
At His feet the six-winged seraph 
Cherubim with sleepless eye 
Veil their faces to the Presence 
As with ceaseless voice they cry 
Alleluia alleluia alleluia 
Lord Most High  

Verse 4 (Isa. 6:2–3)
Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way 
As the Light of light descendeth 
From the realms of endless day 
That the pow'rs of hell may vanish 
As the darkness clears away  

Like I mentioned during my preface of the song on Sunday, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” has history – a lot of it. The Psalter Hymnal Handbook written by Emily R. Brock explains that this chanted Greek hymn was believed to have been derived from the 5th century “Liturgy of St. James,” a Syrian rite attributed to the early church father James the Less, better known in Scripture as James the son of Alphaeus, one of the twelve disciples. While this chant, originally known as the “Cherubic Hymn,” was initially used during the communion portion of the liturgy, it has become a staple song of the Christmas season within modern liturgical churches such as Anglican, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches. 

The lyrics were poetically translated and paraphrased in 1864 by Gerald Moultrie. His translation was first published in Orby Shipley's Lyra Eucharistica (1864) and entitled "Prayer of the Cherubic Hymn." The tune “Picardy” is a late Medieval French folk song from the mid-15th century. The tune “Picardy” and Gerard Moultrie’s translation “Prayer of the Cherubic Hymn” were combined and arranged for the English Hymnal (1906) by the famous English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. 

Like I said, this song has history. Christ’s Church worship team had our opportunity to make this arrangement our own. We used Charlie Sinclair’s fantastic acoustic arrangement as our template, and with the help of Tony Flying Squirrel and Brian Beausoleil for the awesome electric solos and builds, and my 4-part vocals, we turned that acoustic arrangement into something a lot more rocking. Not only was it super fun to play, but it was a truly worshipful and humbling experience to reflect on the majesty of our Lord Most High. We hope you enjoy this fantastic hymn as much as we do.