Scripture Verse

King of kings, and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:16

Introduction

Words: Hen­ry Bur­ton, 1887, alt.

Music: Rex Re­gum John Stain­er (1840–1901) (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
John Stainer (1840–1901)

Doctor Bur­ton was one of three to be asked to write an ode for the ju­bi­lee of Queen Vic­tor­ia. It was set to mu­sic by Sir John Stain­er, and sung at a spe­cial fes­ti­val of the Na­tion­al Child­ren’s Home and Orp­han­age, in the Roy­al Al­bert Hall, Lon­don, by a choir of a thou­sand voic­es, ac­com­pa­nied by an or­che­stra of se­ve­nty ins­tru­ments, Mad­ame An­toin­ette Stir­ling and Mr. John Po­bert tak­ing the solos.

Sir John Stain­er af­ter­ward wrote Doc­tor Bur­ton, ask­ing if he could not put it in an­oth­er form which would be suit­able for any oc­ca­sion, and he would adapt the mu­sic to it.

This Doc­tor Bur­ton did, and the hymn was evolved which has been des­cribed as the fin­est na­tion­al an­them of mo­dern times.

Price, p. 93

Lyrics

O King of kings, O Lord of hosts,
Whose throne is lift­ed high
Above the na­tions of the earth,
The ar­mies of the sky,
The spi­rits of per­fect­ed saints
May give their nob­ler songs
And we, Thy child­ren, wor­ship Thee,
To whom all praise be­longs.

Thy hand has hid with­in our fields
Treasures of count­less worth;
The light, the suns of other years,
Shine from the depths of earth;
The ve­ry dust, in­breathed by Thee,
The clods all cold and dead,
Wake into beau­ty and to life,
To give Thy child­ren bread.

Thou who hast sown the sky with stars,
And set Thy thoughts in gold,
Hast crowned our na­tion’s life, and ours,
With bless­ings ma­ni­fold;
Thy mer­cies have been num­ber­less;
Thy love, Thy grace, Thy care,
Were wid­er than our ut­most need,
And high­er than our pray­er.

O King of kings, O Lord of hosts,
Our fa­thers’ God and ours!
Be with us in the fu­ture years;
And if the tem­pest low­ers,
Look through the cloud with light of love,
And smile our tears away
And lead us through the bright­en­ing years
To Hea­ven’s eter­nal day.