Above:  Christ Pantocrator

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Text (1893) by Somerset Corry Lowry (1855-1932)

Hymn Source = The Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927), Presbyterian

This hymn, originally entitled “For Unity,” debuted in the February 1894 issue of Goodwill then graced The Christian Social Union Hymnbook (1895).

Lowry wrote more than 60 hymns, but this text has become the most popular and enduring one.

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Son of God, eternal Saviour,

Source of life and truth and grace,

Son of Man, whose birth incarnate

Hallows all our human race;

Thou, our Head, who, throned in glory,

For Thine own dost ever plead,

Fill us with Thy love and pity,

Heal our wrongs and help our need.

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As Thou, Lord, hast lived for others,

So may we for others live;

Freely have Thy gifts been granted,

Freely may Thy servants give.

Thine the gold and Thine the silver,

Thine the wealth of land and sea,

We but stewards of Thy bounty,

Held in solemn trust for Thee.

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Come, O Christ, and reign among us,

King of love, and Prince of peace;

Hush the storm of strife and passion,

Bid its cruel discords cease.

Ah, the past is dark behind us,

Strewn with wrecks and stained with blood;

But before us gleams the vision

Of the coming brotherhood.

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See the Christlike host advancing,

High and lowly, great and small,

Linked in bonds of common service

For the common Lord of all.

Thou who prayedst, Thou who willest

That Thy people should be one,

Grant, O grant our hope’s fruition:

Here on earth Thy will be done.