O Prophet Souls of All the Years

Representative Text

1 O prophet souls of all the years,
speak yet to us in love;
your far-off vision, toil, and tears
to their fulfillment move.

2 From tropic clime and zones of frost
they come of every name;
this, this our day of Pentecost,
on us the tongues of flame.

3 One Life together we confess,
one all-in-dwelling Word,
one holy Call to righteousness
within the silence heard:

4 One Law that guides the shining spheres
as on through space they roll,
and speaks in flaming characters
on Sinais of the soul:

5 One Love, unfathomed, measureless,
an ever-flowing sea,
that holds within its vast embrace
time and eternity.

Source: Singing the Living Tradition #272

Author: Frederick Lucian Hosmer

Hosmer, Frederick Lucian, B.A., was born at Framingham, Mass., in 1840, and educated at Harvard, where he graduated B.A. in 1869. Entering the Unitarian Ministry in 1872 he has held charges in Quincy, Ill., 1872-77; Cleveland, Ohio, 1878-92; St. Louis, 1894-99; and since 1899, at Berkeley, Cal. His Way of Life, 1877, was a compilation of Prayers and Responsive Services for Sunday Schools. Of Unity Hymns and Carols, 1880, he was joint editor with W. C. Gannett and J. V. Blake. His hymns were published jointly by him and W. C. Gannett (q.v.), as The Thought of God in Hymns and Poems (Boston: Little, Brown & Co.), 1st Series, 1885; 2nd Series, 1894. Of his 56 hymns in this work the following have come into common use, for the most part during… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: O prophet souls of all the years
Title: O Prophet Souls of All the Years
Author: Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1893)
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

BALERMA (Barthélemon)


WINCHESTER OLD

WINCHESTER OLD is a famous common-meter psalm tune, presumably arranged by George Kirbye (b. Suffolk, England, c. 1560; d. Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England, 1634) from a melody in Christopher Tye's Acts of the Apostles and published in T. Este's The Whole Book of Psalmes (1592) set to Psalm 84. Ki…

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BANGOR (Tansur)

Traditionally used for Montgomery's text and for Peter Abelard's "Alone Thou Goest Forth, O Lord," BANGOR comes from William Tans'ur's A Compleat Melody: or the Harmony of Syon (the preface of which is dated 1734). In that collection the tune was a three-part setting for Psalm 12 (and for Psalm 11 i…

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Timeline

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Singing the Living Tradition #272

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