Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace (Luke 2:29-32),
by Simeon, and above all the Magnificat,
My soul doth magnify the Lord (Luke 1:46-55),
from the lips of the Virgin Mother, are among the most famous of early Christian hymns, which, together with the song of the angelic host at the birth of Jesus, the Gloria in excelsis,
Glory to God in the highest (Luke 2:14),
appear within the Gospel narratives.
In the remaining portions of the New Testament other hymn fragments are found. Some of these are direct quotations from known sources.[10] In the Book of Revelation (4:8), reference is made to the words of Isaiah (6:3),
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
a passage which has survived in the Western Church in the expanded form of the Tersanctus, and in the Eastern Church as the Hymnus Angelicus. In the same Book (Rev. 15:3), the Song of Moses (Ex. 15:1-10) is recalled. Some passages are considered parts of familiar pieces otherwise unknown. The quotation in the Epistle to the Ephesians,
Awake thou that sleepest (Eph. 5:14),