Scripture Verse

Praise the Lord, all His heavenly hosts, you His servants who do His will. Psalm 103:21

Introduction

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Johann M. Haydn (1737–1806)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns for Times of Trou­ble and Per­se­cu­tion (Lon­don: Stra­han, 1744), page 43, alt.

Music: Ly­ons, at­trib­ut­ed to Jo­hann M. Hay­dn (1737–1806). Ar­ranged by Will­iam Gar­di­ner, Sac­red Me­lo­dies (Lon­don: 1815) (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Origin of the Hymn

The year 1744 was a time of great op­po­si­tion to, and per­se­cu­tion of, the Me­tho­dists in Eng­land. The coun­try was at war with France. An in­va­sion for the pu­rpose of de­thron­ing George II, and crown­ing the ex­iled rep­res­ent­a­tive of the House of Stu­art was ex­pect­ed.

The Me­tho­dists were rep­re­sent­ed as Pap­ists in dis­guise, work­ing for the Pre­ten­der. Their meet­ings were brok­en up by mobs, and ma­ny of their preach­ers were im­pressed in­to the ar­my. Ev­en the Wes­leys were brought be­fore the ma­gis­trates for ex­am­in­ation.

In the midst of these per­se­cu­tions they pub­lished a pam­phlet con­tain­ing thir­ty-three piec­es and en­ti­tled Hymns for Times of Trou­ble and Per­se­cu­tion, 1744. This hymn was first pub­lished in that pam­phlet.

Nutter, p. 10

Lyrics

Ye ser­vants of God, your mas­ter pro­claim,
And pub­lish abroad His won­der­ful name;
The name all vic­to­ri­ous of Je­sus ex­tol,
His kingd­om is glo­ri­ous and rules ov­er all.

The waves of the sea have lift­ed their voice,
Sore trou­bled that we in Je­sus re­joice;
The floods they are roar­ing, but Je­sus is here;
While we are ad­or­ing, He al­ways is near.

Men, de­vils en­gage, the bil­lows arise,
And hor­ri­bly rage, and threat­en the skies:
Their fu­ry shall ne­ver our stead­fast­ness shock,
The weak­est be­liev­er is built on a rock.

God rul­eth on high, al­migh­ty to save,
And still He is nigh, His pre­sence we have;
The great con­gre­ga­tion His tri­umph shall sing,
Ascribing sal­va­tion to Je­sus our king.

Salvation to God, who sits on the throne,
Let all cry aloud and hon­or the Son!
The prais­es of Je­sus the an­gels pro­claim,
Fall down on their faces and wor­ship the Lamb.

Then let us adore, and give Him His right,
All glo­ry and pow­er, and wis­dom and might;
All hon­or and bless­ing, with an­gels above,
And thanks ne­ver ceas­ing, and in­fi­nite love.