ETERNAL FATHER STRONG TO SAVE – EMHB 917
Author: William Whiting (1825-1878)
Tune: Melita by Rev. John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876)
Scripture Reference: Psalm 121 : 4 “Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep – The Lord shall rescue your going out and your coming in”.
Introduction:
This Hymn is known throughout the world as the ‘Sailors or Travelers Hymn’ is the work of William Whiting (1825-1878), the son of a London grocer. Educated at Winchester Training Institution, a college for teachers. He became the first master of the Choristers of Winchester College – a group of boys who were supposed to sing in the Chapel. The story goes that Whiting wrote this Hymn for one of the Winchester Choristers who was about to sail to America. In 1860, Whiting submitted this Hymn as a possible entry for the forth coming ‘Hymn Ancient and Modern’ and it was included in it’s first edition in 1861 with some modifications. Whiting himself re-wrote the entire Hymn in 1869. Some of the imagery on the Hymn seems to have been taken from John Milton’s “Paradise lost”.
“Eternal Father strong to save” has been sung on many great Naval occasions in the last hundred years. When Churchill and Roosevelt had their secret meeting in the North Atlantic during the second World War. Churchill chose it to be sung on the ship H.M.S. Prince of Wales.
The tune ‘Melita’, universally associated with this Hymn was written by Rev. John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876), who then was a Minor Canon and Precentor of Durham Cathedral. The name Melita was taken from the Biblical story of St. Paul’s journey from Caesarea to Rome (Acts 28:1) records that after a ship wreck Paul and his fellow prisoners were able to swim to the Island of Melita the name by which Malta was then known.
This Hymn was reported to be played and sung when the great ship THE TITANIC was sinking.
Please join me in doing justice to this great Hymn.
EMHB 917
1. Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!
2. O Saviour, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard
Who walkedst on the foaming deep,
And calm amid its rage didst sleep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!
3. O Sacred Spirit, who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
Who bad’st its angry tumult cease,
And gavest light, and life, and peace:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!
4. O Trinity of love and power,
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe’er they go;
And ever let there rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
Adesegun Akitoye
Author: William Whiting (1825-1878)
Tune: Melita by Rev. John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876)
Scripture Reference: Psalm 121 : 4 “Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep – The Lord shall rescue your going out and your coming in”.
Introduction:
This Hymn is known throughout the world as the ‘Sailors or Travelers Hymn’ is the work of William Whiting (1825-1878), the son of a London grocer. Educated at Winchester Training Institution, a college for teachers. He became the first master of the Choristers of Winchester College – a group of boys who were supposed to sing in the Chapel. The story goes that Whiting wrote this Hymn for one of the Winchester Choristers who was about to sail to America. In 1860, Whiting submitted this Hymn as a possible entry for the forth coming ‘Hymn Ancient and Modern’ and it was included in it’s first edition in 1861 with some modifications. Whiting himself re-wrote the entire Hymn in 1869. Some of the imagery on the Hymn seems to have been taken from John Milton’s “Paradise lost”.
“Eternal Father strong to save” has been sung on many great Naval occasions in the last hundred years. When Churchill and Roosevelt had their secret meeting in the North Atlantic during the second World War. Churchill chose it to be sung on the ship H.M.S. Prince of Wales.
The tune ‘Melita’, universally associated with this Hymn was written by Rev. John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876), who then was a Minor Canon and Precentor of Durham Cathedral. The name Melita was taken from the Biblical story of St. Paul’s journey from Caesarea to Rome (Acts 28:1) records that after a ship wreck Paul and his fellow prisoners were able to swim to the Island of Melita the name by which Malta was then known.
This Hymn was reported to be played and sung when the great ship THE TITANIC was sinking.
Please join me in doing justice to this great Hymn.
EMHB 917
1. Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!
2. O Saviour, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard
Who walkedst on the foaming deep,
And calm amid its rage didst sleep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!
3. O Sacred Spirit, who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
Who bad’st its angry tumult cease,
And gavest light, and life, and peace:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!
4. O Trinity of love and power,
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe’er they go;
And ever let there rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
Adesegun Akitoye
No comments:
Post a Comment