Written at the request of the society for the propagation of the Gospel, to be used in the service on the Day of Intercession, this hymn first appeared in a Pollock’s appendix Metrical Litanies for Special Services and General use, 1871. The original had 18 stanzas. Pollock rewrote it for inclusion in the 1875 edition of Hymn Ancient and Modern, with the title “Litany of the Church.” Webster says, a litany is “a form of liturgical (a rite of public worship) prayer, consisting of a series of invocations and supplications with alternate responses in which clergy and congregation join.” In this litany 18 three-line stanzas, the congregational response “we beseech thee, hear us” is printed up the side of the pages with a large bracket including all the stanzas, showing clearly the author’s intent. SDAH’s fourth stanza is not to be found in Pollock’s book. Thomas Benson Pollock (1836-1896) also wrote SDAH 291, “We Have Not Known Thee” (see for comments on his life). 

        SONG 13 is one of 16 tunes composed by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625; see SDAH 263) and rented in the 1623 Hymns and Songs of the Church, by George Wither (1588-1667). It was originally written in two parts, each marked with the number of the song for which Gibbons composed it. Routley notes in The Music Christian Hymns, 1981, that he could not have written this tunes for a congregation, because it would have been illegal to sing Wither’s hymn texts in church. However, a good number of them are still in use today, testifying to their singability. Ralph Vaughan Williams (see Biographies) composed an organ chorale prelude on this melody. As musical editor of English Hymnal, 1906 he also introduced 11 of Gibbons’ tunes to congregational singing, arranging them in four parts.