Above:  Dark Night

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Text (1907) by Allen Eastman Cross (1864-1942)

Allen Eastman Cross was a Congregationalist minister in the United States.  His title for this text was “The Great Companion.”  According to the author, quoted in Handbook to the Hymnal (1935), the circumstances of the writing of the hymn were strain and worry.  He explained:

I felt the ineffectualness of my prayer life and the ineffectiveness of workaday service.  The Son of Man seemed to possess all I lacked.  I was drawn to him by sheer difference as well as by far-off kinship.  I turned to him as to a superlative companion and spoke of my need.

The hymn debuted at the Old South Church, Boston, Massachusetts, where Cross was the Assistant Minister, in April 1907.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1.  Jesus, kneel beside me

In the dawn of day;

Thine is prayer eternal–

Teach me how to pray!

2.  Master, work beside me

In the shining sun;

Gently guide Thy servant

Till the work be done.

3.  Saviour, watch beside me

In the closing light;

Lo, the evening cometh–

Watch with me this night!

4.  Birds are winging homeward,

Sun and shadow cease;

Saviour, take my spirit

To Thy perfect peace.

Above:  Apotheosis of War, by Vasily Vereshchagin

Image in the Public Domain

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is a hymn for use in time of war.  Sadly, we human beings keep acting is ways which keep the sentiments of the hymn current.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is one of those great Anglican contributions to English-language hymnody.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PART THE FIRST:  THE BEGINNING

The story begins with Henry Fothergill Chorley (1808-1872), a Quaker-born novelist, playwright, libretticist, and literary and music critic in London, England, the United Kingdom.  In 1842 he published a hymn, “God, the All-Terrible! Thou Who Ordainest.”  My sources identified the the publication as having occurred in Part Music (1842), by John Pike Hullah (1812-1884).  A search at hymnary.org led me to my reprint of the Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes (Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn, New York, 1855), where I found these verses:

1.  God, the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest

Thunder Thy clarion, and lightning Thy sword;

Show forth Thy pity on high where Thou reignest,

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

2.  God, the Omnipotent! mighty Avenger,

Watching invisible, judging unheard;

Save us in mercy, O save us from danger,

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

3.  God, the all-merciful! earth hath forsaken

Thy ways all holy, and slighted Thy word;

But not Thy wrath in its terror awaken,

Give to us pardon and peace, O Lord.

4.  So will Thy people with thankful devotion,

Praise Him who saved them from peril and sword;

Shouting in chorus, from ocean to ocean,

Peace to the nations, and praise to the Lord.

(Hymn #1101)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PART THE SECOND:  UNITARIANS DURING THE CIVIL WAR

Hymns of the Spirit (American Unitarian Association, 1864), included an abbreviated and different version of the text, starting with the second stanza.  Thus the hymn became “God, the Omnipotent! Mighty Avenger!”  The context of the U.S. Civil War was evident:

1.  God the Omnipotent! mighty Avenger!

Watching invisible, judging unheard!

Save Thou our land in the hour of her danger,

Give to us peace in Thy time, O Lord!

2.  Thunder and lightnings Thy judgment have sounded;

Letters of flame have recorded Thy word,

‘Only in righteousness true peace is founded’:

Give us that peace in Thy time, O Lord!

3.  So shall the people, with thankful devotion,

Praise Him who saved them from peril and sword;

Shouting in chorus, from ocean to ocean,–

‘Peace to the nation, and praise to the Lord!’

(Hymn #262)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PART THE THIRD:  ENTER JOHN ELLERTON

In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), John Ellerton (1826-1893), a priest of The Church of England and author of no fewer than 86 hymns, wrote “God the Almighty One, Wisely Ordaining,” based on Chorley’s hymn.  The text debuted in Robert Brown-Borthwick’s Select Hymns for Church and Home (The Church of England, 1871).  I found the original version of that hymn via Google Books.

1.  God the Almighty One, wisely ordaining

Judgments unsearchable, famine and sword;

Over the tumult of war Thou are reigning;

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord!

2.  God the All-righteous One! man hath defied Thee;

Yet to eternity standeth Thy word;

Falsehood and wrong shall not tarry beside Thee;

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord!

3.  God the All-pitiful, is it not crying,

Blood of the guiltless like water outpoured?

Look on the anguish, the sorrow, the sighing;

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord!

4.  God, the All-wise! by the fire of Thy chastening

Earth shall to freedom and truth be restored;

Through the thick darkness Thy kingdom is hast’ning,

Thou wilt give peace in Thy time, O Lord!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PART THE FOURTH:  THE JOINING AND SUBSEQUENT VARIATIONS AND ALTERATIONS

The first joining of the Chorley and Ellerton texts occurred in the 1874 revision of Church Hymns (The Church of England, 1871), as one can read for oneself by following the hyperlink and seeking hymn #262.  Since then many hymnals have contained various composites of the Chorley and Ellerton texts, frequently with alterations to them.  The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) contained the hymn, but listed it as “God, Lord of Sabaoth, Thou Who Ordainest.”  The hymn was “God the All-Merciful! Earth Hath Forsaken” in the Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church (1917) but “God the Omnipotent! King, Who Ordainest” in the Service Book and Hymnal (1958).  The influential Hymnal (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1895) and its successor from 1911 listed the hymn as “God, the All-Terrible,” but The Hymnal (1933) changed the title to “God the Omnipotent.”  Among more conservative Presbyterians (especially in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in America) who use either the 1961 or the 1990 versions of the Trinity Hymnal, God remains “All-terrible.”  God was “All-terrible” in The Methodist Hymnal (Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1905), but “Omnipotent” in The Methodist Hymnal of 1935 (Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Protestant Church, and Methodist Episcopal Church, South; later The Methodist Church, 1939-1968).  As late as The Hymnal of 1918 (Episcopal Church, authorized in 1916) God was “All-Terrible,” but the deity was “Omnipotent” instead in The Hymnal 1940 (published in 1943).  The consensus among hymnal committees is that God is “Omnipotent,” not “All-terrible.”

The variation on the hymn in The Hymnal 1982 (Episcopal Church, 1985) contains four stanzas–two from Chorley, two from Ellerton, and all of them altered.  This is the version I sing in church:

1.  God the Omnipotent! King, who ordainest

thunder thy clarion, the lightning thy sword;

show forth thy pity on high where thou reignest:

give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

2.  God the All-merciful! earth hath forsaken

thy ways all holy, and slighted thy word;

bid not thy wrath in its terrors awaken:

give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

3.  God, the All-righteous One! earth hath defied thee;

yet eternity standeth thy word,

falsehood and wrong shall not tarry beside thee:

give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

4.  God the All-provident! earth by thy chastening

yet shall to freedom and truth be restored;

through the thick darkness thy kingdom is hastening:

thou wilt give peace in thy time, O Lord.

Hymn writer Brian Wren (1936-) wrote of hymns in Praying Twice:  The Music and Words of Congregational Song (Louisville, KY:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2000, page 297):

I have shown that congregational songs are communal.  Though they usually originate from particular authors, their primary purpose is to give shared expression to shared experience, not parade the author’s personality.  Because they are communal a faith community may, in principle amend them.

The story of “God the Omnipotent!” fits that statement well.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PART THE FIFTH:  DROPPING THE HYMN

Denominations revise their official hymnals from time to time.  In so doing they add some texts and remove others.  Here is a partial list of denominations which have removed “God the Omnipotent!” (however they have listed it) from their official hymnody as of 2015, based on hymnals of which I own physical copies:

1. the American Baptist Churches U.S.A., during their transition from the Hymnbook for Christian Worship (1970) to no official hymnal;
2. the Anglican Church of Canada, during the transition from The Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada (1971) to Common Praise (1998);
3. the Evangelical Covenant Church of America, during the transition from The Covenant Hymnal (1973) to The Covenant Hymnal:  A Worshipbook (1996);
4. the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, during the transition from the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006);
5. The Evangelical Lutheran Synod, during the transition from The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) to the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (1996);
6. the Free Methodist Church of North America and the Wesleyan Church, during their transition from Hymns of Faith and Life (1976) to no official hymnal;
7. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, during its transition from The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) to Lutheran Worship (1982) and the Lutheran Service Book (2006);
8. the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), by way of its predecessors, the Presbyterian Church in the United States and The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., during the transition from The Hymnbook (1955) to The Worshipbook–Services and Hymns (1972);
9. the Reformed Church in America, during its transition from Rejoice in the Lord:  A Hymn Companion to the Scriptures (1985) to Lift Up Your Hearts:  Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (2013);
10. the Southern Baptist Convention, during the transition from Baptist Hymnal (1956) to Baptist Hymnal (1975); the text is absent even from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship‘s Celebrating Grace Hymnal (2010);
11. the Unitarian Universalist Association, sometime after Hymns of the Spirit (American Unitarian Association, 1864) and before Hymns of the Spirit (American Unitarian Association and Universalist Church of America, 1937);
12. The United Methodist Church, during its transition from The Hymnal of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (1957) and The Methodist Hymnal/The Book of Hymns (1966) to The United Methodist Hymnal:  Book of United Methodist Worship (1992); and
13. the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, during the transition from The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) to Christian Worship:  A Lutheran Hymnal (1993); neither is the hymn present in Christian Worship:  Supplement (2008).

That list covers a wide theological range.  So does the list of denominations which have retained it–from The Episcopal Church to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to the United Church of Christ to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in America.  The list of denominations which have never added it to their official hymnody is also diverse, ranging from the Christian Reformed Church of North America to the Church of Nazarene.  Sometimes the presence or absence of the hymn indicates more about tastes in hymnody and worship style than about theology.

Another piece of supporting evidence for that conclusion comes from two non-denominational Evangelical hymnals Tom Fettke edited:  The Hymnal for Worship & Celebration (1986) and The Celebration Hymnal:  Songs and Hymns for Worship (1997).  The former contains the hymn which is the subject of this post, but the latter does not.  A Victorian hymn set to the majestic former Russian national anthem does not fit with contemporary worship, with its seven-eleven songs, does it?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 21, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF J. B. PHILLIPS, BIBLE TRANSLATOR AND ANGLICAN PRIEST

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Ocean Sunset, by Petr Kratochvil

Image in the Public Domain

Words (1839) by J. B. Clipston (1777-1852), an unassuming English curate who published under the nom de plume “John Bull”

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

I found this hymn last night; it was an example of serendipity.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1.  Let my life be hid in Thee,

Life of life and Light of light!

Love’s illimitable sea!

Depth of peace, of power the height!

Let my life be hid in Thee

From vexation and annoy;

Calm in Thy tranquility,

All my mourning turned to joy.

2.  Let my life be hid in Thee

When alarms are gathering round,

Covered with Thy panoply,

Safe within Thy holy ground.

Let my life be hid in Thee,

In the world and yet above;

Hid in Thine eternity,

In the ocean of Thy love.

Above:  St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia, September 13, 2014

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Words by Richard Watson Gilder (1844-1909)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Through love to light!

O wonderful the way

That leads from darkness to the perfect day.

From darkness and from sorrow of the night

To morning that comes singing o’er the sea!

Through love to light!

Through light, O God, to Thee,

Who art the Love of love, th’eternal Light of light!

Above:  Good Friday Pilgrimage, Atlanta, Georgia, April 18, 2014

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://plus.google.com/photos/114749828757741527421/albums/6003693870076348721/6003732661277397378?banner=pwa&pid=6003732661277397378&oid=114749828757741527421)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Words (between 1909 and 1915) by Walter John Mathams (1853-1931)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1.  Christ of the Upward Way,

My Guide divine,

Where Thou hast set Thy feet

May I place mine;

And move and march wherever Thou hast trod,

Keeping face forward up the hill of God.

2.  Give me the heart to hear

Thy voice and will,

That without fault or fear

I may fulfill

Thy purpose with a glad and holy zest,

Like one who would not bring less than his best.

3.  Give me the great stout arm

To shield the right,

And wield Thy sword of truth

With all my might,

That, in the warfare I must wage for Thee,

More than a victor I may ever be.

4.  Christ of the Upward Way,

My Guide divine,

Where Thou hast set Thy feet,

May I place mine;

And when Thy last call comes serene and clear,

Calm may my answer be, “Lord, I am here.”

Above:  The Right Reverend Robert C. Wright, Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta, at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Snellville, Georgia, June 29, 2014

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://plus.google.com/photos/114749828757741527421/albums/6030647925079226657/6030648166631662034?banner=pwa&pid=6030648166631662034&oid=114749828757741527421)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Original Latin words anonymous; English translation (1869) by the Reverend Philip Schaff (1819-1893), U.S. German Reformed

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1.  O Bread of life from heaven,

To saints and angels given,

O Manna from above!

The souls that hunger, feed Thou,

The hearts that seek Thee, lead Thou,

With Thy sweet, tender love.

2.  O fount of grace redeeming,

O river ever streaming,

From Jesus’ holy side!

Come, Thou, Thyself bestowing,

On thirsty souls, and flowing,

Till all are satisfied.

3.  Jesus, this feast receiving,

Thy word of truth believing,

We Thee unseen adore!

Grant, when the veil is rended,

That we, to heaven ascended,

May see Thee evermore.

Above:  Temptations of Christ

Image in the Public Domain

Words (1873) by Claudia Frances Ibotson Hernaman (1838-1898)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1.  Lord, who throughout these forty days,

For us didst fast and pray,

Teach us with Thee to mourn our sin,

And close by Thee to stay.

2.  As Thou with Satan didst contend,

And didst the victory win,

O give us strength in Thee to fight,

In Thee to conquer sin.

3.  And through these days of penitence,

And through Thy Passiontide,

Yea, evermore, in life and death,

Jesus! with us abide.

4.  Abide with us, that so, this life

Of suffering overpast,

An Easter of unending joy

We may attain at last!

Above:  Sunset, Lake Champlain, Burlington, Vermont, 1900-1920

Publisher = Detroit Publishing Company

Image Source = Library of Congress

(http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994021732/pp/)

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-det-4a25377

Words (1825) by John Bowring (1792-1872), British statesman, social reformer, British Unitarian Hymn Writer, and genius

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1.  Father and Friend!  Thy light, Thy love,

Beaming through all Thy works we see;

Thy glory gilds the heavens above,

And all the earth is full of Thee.

2.  Thy voice we hear, Thy presence feel,

While Thou, too pure for mortal sight,

Involved in clouds, invisible,

Reignest the Lord of life and light.

3.  Thy children shall not faint nor fear,

Sustained by this exalted thought:

But this we know, that where Thou art,

Strength, wisdom, goodness dwell with Thee.

4.  Thy children shall not faint nor fear,

Sustained by this exalted thought:

Since Thou, their God, art everywhere,

They cannot be where Thou art not!

Above:  The Hymn, from The Pilgrim Hymnal (1904)

A Scan I Made from My Copy of That Volume

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sometimes a little historical research goes a long way.

I noticed this hymn this morning, for we were singing “A Mighty Fortress” in church.  Opposite that hymn in The Hymnal 1982 is this one.  This reality led me to the listed source, The Pilgrim Hymnal (1904), the first U.S. hymn book to include the text.  The hymn debuted on page 142 of Holy Songs, Carols, and Sacred Ballads (1880), the hymn’s author listed as Anonymous.  Yet the range of estimated dates of composition includes

• 1878 (as in The Methodist Hymnal/The Book of Hymns, 1966, The Methodist Church–later The United Methodist Church– as well as the Psalter Hymnal, 1987, Christian Reformed Church),
• 1880 (as in Hymns of Faith and Life, 1976, the Wesleyan Church and the Free Methodist Church),
• 1887 (as in the Psalter Hymnal, 1934, Christian Reformed Church), and
• 1890 (The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989, The United Methodist Church.)

One reason for post-1880 estimates is the erroneous date of 1889 for the publication of Holy Songs.

Who was Anonymous?  Although Frank Sealy, editor of Common Praise (1913), listed the author as Anonymous in that hymnal, the handbooks to The Hymnal (1933, Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.) and the Pilgrim Hymnal (1958, United Church of Christ) suggest that the author was poet Jean Ingelow (1820-1897).  In fact, the former says that Sealy suggested that Ingelow was the author of the text.  We do not know for certain who wrote the hymn, however.  And does that person’s identity really matter?  For the text stands on its own merit.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 9, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT SOPHRONIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC PATRIARCH

THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY OF NYSSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF MARY ANN THOMPSON, EPISCOPAL HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ROBERT HALL BAYNES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MADAGASCAR

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1.  I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew

He moved my soul to seek him, seeking  me;

It was not I that found, O Saviour true,

No, I was found of thee.

2.  Thou didst reach forth thy hand and mine enfold;

I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea,–

‘Twas not so much that I on thee took hold,

As thou, dear Lord, on me.

3.  I find, I walk, I love, but, O, the whole

Of love is but my answer, Lord, to thee;

For thou wert long beforehand with my soul,

Always thou lovedst me.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Part of the Hymn

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Words (1871) by Eliza Scudder (1821-1896)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1.  Thou Life within my life, than self more near,

Thou veiled Presence infinitely clear,

From all illusive shows of sense I flee,

To find my center and my rest in Thee.

2.  Below all depths Thy saving mercy lies,

Through thickest gloom I see Thy light arise;

Above the highest heavens Thou art not found

More surely than within this earthly round.

3.  Take part with me against these doubts that rise

And seek to throne Thee far in distant skies;

Take part with me against this self that dares

Assume the burden of these sins and cares.

4.  How shall I call Thee who art always here?

How shall I praise Thee who art still most dear?

What may I give Thee save what Thou hast given,

And whom but Thee have I in earth or heaven?