All the Earth doth worship Thee, the Father Everlasting.
He paused, and from the lips of the baptized disciple came the response,—
To Thee all the angels cry aloud: the heavens and all the powers therein.
To Thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry,
“Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and Earth are full of the majesty of Thy glory!”
and so, stave by stave, in alternating strains, sprang that day from the inspired lips of Ambrose and Augustine the “Te Deum Laudamus,” which has ever since been the standard anthem of Christian praise.
Whatever the foundation of the story, we may at least suppose the first public singing* of the great chant to have been associated with that eventful baptism.
* The “Te Deum” was first sung in English by the martyr, Bishop Ridley, at Hearne Church, where he was at one time vicar.