Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round

Representative Text

1 Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round
of circling planets singing on their way;
guide of the nations from the night profound
into the glory of the perfect day;
rule in our hearts, that we may ever be
guided and strengthened and upheld by thee.

2 We are of thee, the children of thy love,
the brothers of thy well-belovèd Son;
descend, O Holy Spirit, like a dove,
into our hearts, that we may be as one:
as one with thee, to whom we ever tend;
as one with him, our Brother and our Friend.

3 We would be one in hatred of all wrong,
one in our love of all things sweet and fair,
one with the joy that breaketh into song,
one with the grief that trembles into prayer,
one in the power that makes thy children free
to follow truth, and thus to follow thee.

4 O clothe us with thy heavenly armour, Lord,
thy trusty shield, thy sword of love divine;
our inspiration be thy constant word;
we ask no victories that are not thine:
give or withhold, let pain or pleasure be;
enough to know that we are serving thee.

Source: Ancient and Modern: hymns and songs for refreshing worship #244

Author: John W. Chadwick

Chadwick, John White, was born at Marblehead, Mass., U.S., Oct. 19, 1840; graduated at the Cambridge Divinity School, July 19, 1864, and ordained minister of the Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 21, 1864. A frequent contributor to the Christian Examiner; The Radical; Old and New; Harper's Magazine; and has published many poems in American periodicals. His hymn on Unity, "Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round," was written for the graduating class of the Divinity School, Cambridge, June 19, 1864. It is in Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884. It is a hymn of superior merit. [Rev. W. Garrett Horder] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)… Go to person page >

Tune

SONG 1


YORKSHIRE

John Wainwright (b. Stockport, England, 1723; d. Stockport, 1768) wrote YORKSHIRE for [the] text [Christian's awake, salute the happy morn, by John Byrom] in 1750. The tune was first sung on Christmas Day, 1750, in the parish church of Stockport; it was first published in Caleb Ashworth's Collection…

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Timeline

Media

The Book of Common Praise: being the hymn book of The Church of England in Canada (revised 1938) #562b
The Cyber Hymnal #1366
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Instances

Instances (1 - 20 of 20)
Text

Ancient and Modern #244

Anglican Hymns Old and New (Rev. and Enl.) #162

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Church Hymnary (4th ed.) #269

Common Praise (1998) #497

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Common Praise #181a

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Common Praise #181b

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Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New #154

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CPWI Hymnal #305a

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CPWI Hymnal #305b

Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard Edition #353

Text

Hymns of Glory, Songs of Praise #269

Hymns of the Saints #458

Hymns Old and New #115

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Rejoice in the Lord #402

The Book of Hymns (A fresh anthology of favourite hymns) #4

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #1366

The Greenwood Harmony (2nd ed.) #22

Text

The Hymnal 1982 #617

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The New English Hymnal #355

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Voices United #571

Include 103 pre-1979 instances
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