Thy Hand, O God, Has Guided

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Thy hand, O God, has guided

Author: E. H. Plumptre (1864)
Tune: THORNBURY
Published in 55 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

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	Festival Hymns for Organ, Brass, and Tim…

Choral
	One Church, One Faith (Your Hand, O God)

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Representative Text

1 Your hand, O God, has guided
your flock from age to age;
your faithfulness is written
on history's open page.
Our fathers owned your goodness,
and we their deeds record;
and both to this bear witness:
one church, one faith, one Lord!

2 Your heralds brought the gospel
to greatest and the least;
they summoned men and women
to share the great King's feast.
And this was all their teaching
in ev'ry deed and word,
to all alike proclaiming:
one church, one faith, one Lord!

3 Your mercy will not fail us
nor leave your work undone;
with your right hand to help us
the vict'ry shall be won.
And then by earth and heaven
your name shall be adored;
and this shall be our anthem:
one church, one faith, one Lord!

Source: Trinity Psalter Hymnal #416

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Author: E. H. Plumptre

Edward H. Plumptre (b. London, England, August 6, 1821; d. Wells, England, February 1, 1891) was an eminent classical and biblical scholar who gained prominence in both church and university. Educated at King's College, London, and University College, Oxford, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1846. Plumptre served as a preacher at Oxford and a professor of pastoral theology at King's College, and held a number of other prestigious positions. His writings include A Life of Bishop Ken (1888), translations from Greek and Latin classics, and poetry and hymns. Plumptre was also a member of the committee that produced the Revised Version of the Bible. Bert Polman… Go to person page >

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Related Texts

First Line:	Thy hand, O God, has guided
Title:	Thy Hand, O God, Has Guided
Author:	E. H. Plumptre (1864)
Meter:	7.6.7.6 D
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	One church, one faith, one Lord
Copyright:	Public Domain

Year A, Easter season, Fourth Sunday

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Notes

Scripture References:
ref. = Eph. 4:4-6

Edward H. Plumptre (PHH 363) wrote this text entitled "Church Defence" and published it in Plumptre's Lazarus and Other Poems (1865). Republished in the 1889 Supplement to Hymns Ancient and Modern, the text has gained much popularity in England. Of the original six stanzas, the Psalter Hymnal provides stanzas 1, 2, and 6 in modern language.

The text affirms God's faithful hand of guidance and blessing on the church (st. 1), a church that has continually proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom (st. 2), and that, by God's power, will ultimately be victorious in its mission (st. 3). Each stanza leads directly into the powerful refrain line taken from Ephesians 4:4-5: “There is one body [the church of Christ] . . . one Lord, one faith. . . .”

Liturgical Use:
Festivals of the church; church anniversaries; mission services; Reformation celebrations; ordination/ commissioning services.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988

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