Around the throne of God a band

Representative Text

1 Around the throne of God a band
of glorious angels ever stand;
bright things they see, sweet harps they hold,
and on their heads are crowns of gold.

2 Some wait around him, ready still
to sing his praise and do his will;
and some, when he commands them, go
to guard his servants here below.

3 Lord, give thy angels every day
command to guide us on our way,
and bid them every evening keep
their watch around us while we sleep.

4 So shall no wicked thing draw near,
to do us harm or cause us fear;
and we shall dwell, when life is past,
with angels round thy throne at last.

Source: Ancient and Modern: hymns and songs for refreshing worship #322

Author: J. M. Neale

John M. Neale's life is a study in contrasts: born into an evangelical home, he had sympathies toward Rome; in perpetual ill health, he was incredibly productive; of scholarly tem­perament, he devoted much time to improving social conditions in his area; often ignored or despised by his contemporaries, he is lauded today for his contributions to the church and hymnody. Neale's gifts came to expression early–he won the Seatonian prize for religious poetry eleven times while a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1842, but ill health and his strong support of the Oxford Movement kept him from ordinary parish ministry. So Neale spent the years between 1846 and 1866 as a warden of Sackvi… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Around the throne of God a band
Author: J. M. Neale (1842)
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Refrain First Line: Singing "Glory, glory, glory be to God on high"
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Around the throne of God, a band [in circling band]. J. M. Neale. [Children's Hymn.] This hymn appeared in Dr. Neale's Hymns for Children, First Series, No. xxxi., 1842, in 9 stanzas of 4 lines (with Bishop Ken's doxology), for Michaelmas Day. Two forms have been the outgrowth. The first, beginning with the same first line, is found, somewhat altered, in Harland's Church Psalter & Hymnal, No. 248; Thring's Collection,1882, in 4 stanzas,with "Thine" for "Thy," stanza 3,1.1, Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1875, No. 335, and other hymnals, and the second, " Around the throne in circling band" in the Sarum Hymnal, 1868, No. 312, and others.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #231
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 11 of 11)
Text

Ancient and Modern #322

TextPage Scan

Christian Worship (1993) #198

Text

Common Praise #245a

TextAudio

Common Praise #245b

Text

Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New #41

TextPage Scan

CPWI Hymnal #791

TextPage Scan

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #546

Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard Edition #320

Hymns Old and New #35

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #231

Text

The New English Hymnal #191

Include 53 pre-1979 instances
Suggestions or corrections? Contact us