Words: John El­ler­ton, A Li­tur­gy for Mis­sion­a­ry Meet­ings, 1870. Queen Vic­tor­ia chose this hymn to be sung at the 60th an­ni­vers­a­ry of her reign in 1897; it was al­so sung at the cer­e­mo­ny when Bri­tain re­turned con­trol of Hong Kong to Chi­na in 1997. Music: St. Cle­ment, Cle­ment C. Schole­field, writ­ten for this text, and ap­pear­ing in Church Hymns with […]

Words: Scot­tish Psal­ter, 1650. Music: Cri­mond, Jes­sie S. Ir­vine, 1872. Al­ter­nate tunes: Bel­mont, Will­iam Gar­din­er, 1812 Evan, Wil­liam H. Hav­er­gal, 1847; ar­ranged by Low­ell Ma­son, 1850 Mar­tyr­dom, Hugh Wil­son, 1800; ar­ranged by Ralph E. Hud­son, cir­ca 1885 Or­ling­ton, John Camp­bell (1807-1860)  (re­peats third line of each verse) Wilt­shire, George T. Smart, 1795 The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want. He makes me down to lie In pastures green; He […]

Words: Hen­ry F. Lyte, Spir­it of the Psalms, 1834. This hymn was sung at the wed­ding of the fu­ture Queen Eliz­a­beth II of Bri­tain, in West­min­ster Ab­bey, Lon­don, 1947. Music: Lauda An­i­ma, John Goss, in Sup­ple­ment­al Hymn and Tune Book, third edi­tion with new Ap­pen­dix, by Ro­bert Brown-Borth­wick, 1869. Al­tern­ate tunes: Benediction (Hay­dn), Franz J. Haydn (1732-1809) Regent Square, Hen­ry T. Smart, 1867  […]

Words: John Q. Adams (1767-1848). Music: Ham­burg, Low­ell Ma­son, 1824; first ap­peared in The Bos­ton Han­del and Hay­dn So­ci­e­ty Coll­ect­ion of Church Mu­sic, third edi­tion, 1825. O Lord my God! how great art Thou! With honor and with glory crowned; Light’s dazzling splendors veil Thy brow, And gird the universe around. Spirits and angels Thou hast made; Thy ministers a […]

Words: Ju­lia W. Howe, 1861, alt. This hymn was born dur­ing the Amer­i­can ci­vil war, when Howe vis­it­ed a Un­ion Ar­my camp on the Po­to­mac Riv­er near Wash­ing­ton, D. C. She heard the sol­diers sing­ing the song “John Brown’s Body,” and was tak­en with the strong march­ing beat. She wrote the words the next day: I […]