“God the Omnipotent! King who Ordainest!”

This eloquent plea for world peace was written in the middle of a century when Britain was involved in several conflicts round the world. It was written by Henry Chorley (d.1872), well known on the Victorian literary scene as a writer and journalist, and John Ellerton. Ellerton (d.1893) was a Church of England clergyman who served in parishes for 40 years but it is his work as a hymn writer (he wrote about 50 hymns, four are in CH4), hymnologist, and compiler of hymn books that he is remembered. He set standards for his time, warning against “being slaves to the latest novelty, the lilting chorus and the taking tune … Are we to sanction the trash which, alas, will find its way even into good hymn books: artificial bouts of enthusiasm … sentimental complaints … exaggerations and affections doing duty for precision in doctrine and sincerity in feeling?” It is interesting that a hymn about world peace should have been written specifically for the recently-composed tune (by Alexei Lvov, d.1871, a Russian general who became music director at St Petersburg) for the Russian Imperial National Anthem. (Church of Scotland, history of music).