O God, the strength of those who war

Representative Text

1. O God, the strength of those who war,
The hope of those who wait,
Be with our sons gone forth to fight,
And those who keep the gate.

2. Give to our hosts in battle’s hour
Firm hearts and courage high,
Thy comfort give to those who fall,
Thy peace to those who die.

3. Breathe on our land the spirit calm
Which faith in right bestows,
And in the hours of dark suspense
A faith which stronger grows.

4. In Thee alone we place our hope,
Thou Keeper of the just,
And Thou, through fight and fire and fears
Wilt justify our trust.

5. Thy ways are wonderful, O God,
Who makest wars to cease:
O let this be the final war
That ushers in Thy peace.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #4910

Author: William Boyd Carpenter

William Boyd Carpenter KCVO (26 March 1841, Liverpool – 26 October 1918, Westminster) was a Church of England clergyman who became Bishop of Ripon and court chaplain to Queen Victoria. William Boyd Carpenter was the second son of the Rev. Henry Carpenter of Liverpool, perpetual curate of St Michael's Church, Aigburth, who married (marriage license 1837 in Derry) Hester Boyd of Derry, sister of Archibald Boyd, Dean of Exeter. Her father was Archibald Boyd (born about 1764 of Saint Leonards, Shoreditch, London, England), who married Sarah Bodden there on 13 July 1789. Their eldest son was Archibald Boyd. William Boyd Carpenter eventually fathered a total of 5 sons and 6 daughters. He married his first wife, Harriet Charlotte Peers, in… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: O God, the strength of those who war
Author: William Boyd Carpenter
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

ST. ANNE

Though no firm documentation exists, ST. ANNE was probably composed by William Croft (PHH 149), possibly when he was organist from 1700-1711 at St. Anne's Church in Soho, London, England. (According to tradition, St. Anne was the mother of the Virgin Mary.) The tune was first published in A Suppleme…

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ST. PETER (Reinagle)

Composed by Alexander R. Reinagle (b. Brighton, Sussex, England, 1799; d. Kidlington, Oxfordshire, England, 1877), ST. PETER was published as a setting for Psalm 118 in Reinagle's Psalm Tunes for the Voice and Pianoforte (c. 1836). The tune first appeared with Newton's text in Hymns Ancient and Mode…

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Timeline

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The Cyber Hymnal #4910
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The Cyber Hymnal #4910

Include 4 pre-1979 instances
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