How beautiful the feet that bring

1 How beautiful the feet that bring
The gladsome tidings here!
What gracious messengers e'en now
To our blest eyes appear!
These are the stars which God appoints
For guides unto our way,
To lead to the true Bethlehem,
Where Christ is found alway.

2 these are our God's ambassadors,
By whom His mind we know;
God's angels in His nether heaven;
His heralds here below!
Sprinkled by them, the souls arise
That did in Adam die,
And, fed by them with bread from heaven,
Were train'd for rest on high.

3 Thy servants speak; Thou only dost
The hearing ear bestow:
They smite the rock, but Thou alone
Dost bid the waters flow.
They seek, but only Thou hast skill
To bring the wanderers home:
They call, but Thy love must compel,
And then the invited come.

4 Lord, Thou art in them of a truth,
Lest we should go astray:
The twelve bright banners march before,
And show us Canaan's way.
Bless we Thy Name Who granst us here
To sing in Sion's ways,
And then on heavenly Sion's hill,
To sing eternal praise.

Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 1871