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JESUS CHRIST SDA HYMNAL (1985)

SDAH 225: God Is Working His Purpose Out

JESUS CHRIST >> KINGDOM & REIGN

SDAH 225

God is working His purpose out
As year succeeds to year;
God is working His purpose out,
And the time is drawing near;

Text
Text

1
God is working His purpose out
As year succeeds to year;
God is working His purpose out,
And the time is drawing near;
Nearer and nearer draws the time,
The time that shall surely be
When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

2
From utmost east to utmost west,
Where’er man’s foot hath trod,
By the mouth of many messengers
Goes forth the voice of God;
Give ear to me, ye continents,
Ye isles, give ear to me,
That the earth shall be filled with the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

3
March we forth in the strength of God
With the banner of Christ unfurled,
That the light of the glorious gospel of truth
May shine throughout the world:
Fight we the fight with sorrow and sin
To set their captives free,
That the earth shall be filled with the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

4
All we can do is nothing worth
Unless God blesses the deed;
Vainly we hope for the harvest tide
Till God gives life to teh seed;
Yet nearer and nearer draws the time,
The time that shall surely be,
When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea.

Hymn Info
Hymn Info


Biblical Reference
(a) Hab 2:14

Author
Arthur C. Ainger (1841-1919)

Year Published
1894

Copyright
Music from Enlarged Songs of Praise by permission of Oxford University Press

Hymn Tune
PURPOSE

Metrical Number
Irregular

Composer
Martin Shaw (1875-1958)

Year Composed
1931

Theme
KINGDOM & REIGN

Get the hymn sheet in other keys here

Notes

Each stanza of  this hymn ends with a refrain that is from Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” It was written in 1894 at the prestigious English school Eton, while the author was an assistant master (teacher) there. One can almost hear the glorious sound of 1,000 clear-voiced boys singing it in the resonant Eton chapel! Ainger dedicated the hymn to Archbishop Benson and published it in leaflet form before it was included in the Church Missionary Hymn Book, 1899. Author Campbell Ainger was born July 4, 1841, at Greenwich, Kent, and education at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained first class honors in classical studies. As assistant master at Eton for more than 35 years, he was remembered thus: “One of the most distinguished masters, a man of clear head, wind accomplishments, a fine scholar with a remarkable memory, punishment, and his justice, courtesy, and unruffled good humor won the respect and admiration of the boys.” Some of his poetry was set to music by Joseph Barnby, and he assisted in the publication of an English-Latin Verse Dictionary.

He died October 26, 1919. Martin Shaw (1875-1958; see Biographies) composed PURPOSE especially for the enlarged Song of Praise, 1931. The following, folk song-like unison melody is so skillfully put together that the bass line is an exact canon throughout, beginning on the downbeat of measure two.

-from Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White

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