San Francisco Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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84 God the Omnipotent

Our Hymn of Praise today is God the Omnipotent, and the words were originally written in 1842 by Henry Chorley, expressly for this tune. The song acknowledges our dangers, speaks of the rebellion, and prays for peace from the conflict this rebellion has caused; but it ends with a powerful statement of faith in the power and glory of God. Various writers contributed to its present words.

The tune was written by Alexis Lvoff, for Nicholas I, to be the Czarist Russian national anthem, �God Save the Czar.� Lvoff wrote it one evening on the spur of the moment, asked a friend to write some words, and it was performed for the Czar by a full orchestra and chorus the following morning!

God the Omnipotent! King, who ordainest
Great winds Thy clarions, the lightnings Thy sword;
Show forth Thy pity on high where Thou reignest,
Give to us peace, O most merciful Lord.

God the all merciful! earth hath forsaken
Thy precepts holy, and slighted Thy word;
Bid not Thy wrath in its terrors awaken;
Give to us peace, O most merciful Lord.

God the all righteousness One! man hath defied Thee;
Yet to eternity standeth Thy word;
Falsehood and wrong shall not tarry beside Thee;
Prosper the right, O most merciful Lord.

So shall we render Thee thankful devotion,
For Thy deliverance from peril and sword,
Singing in chorus from ocean to ocean,
"Thine is the power and the glory, O Lord."