Above:  Apotheosis of War, by Vasily Vereshchagin

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1930) by Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal (1941), Evangelical and Reformed Church

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The Prince of Peace His banner spreads,

His wayward folk to lead

From war’s embattled hates and dreads,

Its bulwarked ire and greed.

O marshal us, the sons of sires

Who braved the cannon’s roar,

To venture all that peace requires

As they dared death for war.

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Lead on, O Christ!  That haunting song

No centuries can dim,

Which long ago the heavenly throng

Sang over Bethlehem;

Cast down our rancor, fear, and pride,

Exalt goodwill again!

Our worship doth Thy name deride,

Bring we not peace to men.

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Thy pardon, Lord, for war’s dark shame,

Its death-strewn, bloody fields!

Yet thanks to Thee for souls aflame

Who dared with swords and shields!

O Christ, who died to give men life,

Bring that victorious hour,

When man shall use for peace, not strife,

His valor, skill, and power.

©Photo. R.M.N. / R.-G. OjŽda

Above:  Saint John on Patmos

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1918) by Allen Eastman Cross (1864-1942)

Hymn Source = American Hymns Old and New (1980)

The tune is that of “America the Beautiful.”

The context of the writing of the hymn was World War I (1914-1918), of course.

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1.  Though Fatherland be vast and fair,

Though heaven be e’er so near,

Yet there’s a land, a land, a land,

That is to God more dear.

There is no gulf, there is no sea,

And shore is touching shore,

And mountains bow and borders blend,

And hatreds are no more.

2.  So, while we face the common sun

Upon this ancient star,

And dawn and dusk swing over us,

We’ll hail our dreams afar;

We’ll greet the glory of a land

Where love shall never tire,

We’ll light a flame, a flame, a flame,

To set the world on fire.

3.  O land of lands, dear brotherland,

The country of our dream,

The home of fealty and faith,

How marvelous you seem!

Your rivers flow in shining peace,

Your trees have healing worth,

Your stones are gentleness and grace,

Your mercy fills the earth.

4.  O Christ of freedom and of faith,

O Flame of Pentecost,

Thou hast a name o’er every name

To lead the marching host,

Till wrong be bound, and peace be crowned,

And love be on a throne,

Thou hast a name, a name, a name,

To make the stars thine own.

Above:  Map of Europe (1911)

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1908) by William Merrell Vories (1880-1964), in response to German militarism

Hymn Source = The Pilgrim Hymnal (1931/1935), General Council of Congregational and Christian Churches

Alas, warmongers never cease to exist, do they?–KRT

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1.  Let there by light, Lord God of Hosts!

Let there be wisdom on the earth!

Let broad humanity have birth!

Let there be deeds, instead of boasts!

2.  Within our passioned hearts instill

The calm that endeth strain and strife;

Make us thy messengers of life;

Purge us from lusts that curse and kill.

3.  Give us the peace of vision clear

To see our brothers’ good our own,

To joy and suffer not alone:

The love that casteth out all fear!

4.  Let woe and waste of warfare cease,

That useful labor yet may build

Its homes with love and laughter filled!

God, give thy wayward children peace!

World War I Memorial. Conceived by Washington architect Frederick H. Brooke in association with architects Horace W. Peaslee and Nathan C. Wyeth, the World War I Memorial commemorates the 26,000 citizens of Washington, D.C. who served in World War I. The domed peristyle Doric temple is located on the National Mall in West Potomac Park and intended to be used as a bandstand large enough to accommodate the 80-member U.S. Marine Corps Band.

Above:  World War I Memorial, Washington, D.C., 2006

Photographer = Carol M. Highsmith

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-highsm-04253

Hymn Source = The Pilgrim Hymnal (1931/1935), General Council of Congregational and Christian Churches

Text (1914) by John Haynes Holmes (1879-1964), U.S. Unitarian minister

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1.  God of the nations, near and far,

Ruler of all mankind,

Bless thou thy people as they strive

The paths of peace to find.

2.  The clash of arms still shakes the sky,

King battles still with king;

Wild thro’ the frighted air of night

The bloody tocsins ring.

3.  But clearer far the friendly speech

Of scientists and seers,

The wise debate of statesmen and

The shouts of pioneers.

4.  And stronger far the clasped hands

Of labor’s teeming throngs,

Who in a hundred tongues repeat

Their common creeds and songs.

5.  O Father! from the curse of war

We pray thee give release,

And speed, oh, speed the blessed day

Of justice, love, and peace.

Above:  Apotheosis of War, by Vasily Vereshchagin

Image in the Public Domain

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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.

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

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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)

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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)

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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!

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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.

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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

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A Map of Ancient Galilee

Image Source = Wikipedia

Words by S. (Samuel) Ralph Harlow (1885-1972), in 1931; Harlow was a Congregationalist then United Church of Christ minister and Professor of Religion and Social Ethics at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Hymn Source = The United Methodist Hymnal:  The Book of United Methodist Worship (1989)

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1.  O young and fearless Prophet of ancient Galilee,

thy life is still a summons to serve humanity;

to make our steadfast thoughts and actions less prone to please the crowd,

to stand with humble courage for truth with hearts uncowed.

2.  We marvel at the purpose that held thee to thy course

while ever on the hilltop before thee loomed the cross;

thy steadfast face set forward where love and duty shone,

while we betray so quickly and leave thee there alone.

3.  O help us stand unswerving against war’s bloody way,

where hate and lust and falsehood hold back Christ’s holy sway;

forbid false love of country that blinds us to his call,

who lifts above the nations the brotherhood of all.

4.  Stir up in us a protest against our greed for wealth,

while others starve and hunger and plead for work and health;

where homes with little children cry out for lack of bread,

who live their years sore burdened beneath a gloomy dread.

5.  O young and fearless Prophet, we need thy presence here,

amid our pride and glory to see thy face appear;

once more to hear thy challenge above our noisy day,

again to lead us forward along God’s holy way.

Ruins of Old St. Michael’s Cathedral, Coventry, England, with the New Cathedral to the Right

Image Source = Wikipedia

The Official Website of the Cathedral:

http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/

Hymn Source = Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Words (in 1996) by the Reverend Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr. (1923-2007), a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and President of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (1976-1989)

(http://www.wfn.org/2007/03/msg00237.html)

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1.  Where armies scourge the countryside,

and people flee in fear,

where sirens scream through flaming nights,

and death is ever near:

O God of mercy, hear our prayer:

bring peace to earth again!

2.  Where anger festers in the heart,

and strikes with cruel hand;

where violence stalks the troubled streets,

and terror haunts the land:

O God of mercy, hear our prayer:

bring peace to earth again!

3.  Where homes are torn by bitter strife,

and love dissolves in blame;

where walls you meant for shelt’ring care

hide deeds of hurt and shame:

O God of mercy, hear our prayer:

bring peace to earth again!

4.  O God, whose heart compassionate

ev’ry human pain,

redeem this violent, wounding world

till gentleness shall reign.

O God of mercy, hear our prayer:

bring peace to earth again!

Apotheosis of War (1871), by Vasily Vereshchagin

Image in the Public Domain

Language updated and some punctuation altered from The Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965), of The Methodist Church:

O God, you have made of one blood all the nations of the world, and have set the boundaries of their habitation that they might seek after you and find you.  Mercifully hear our supplications, and remove from us the menace of war.  Guide the rulers with your counsel and retrain the passions of the people, so that bloodshed may be averted and peace be preserved.  And, by the pouring forth of your Spirit upon all flesh, quicken the sense of our common brotherhood and sisterhood.  Bring the nations into a new bond of fellowship, and hasten the time when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.