"Come Thou Almighty King" is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

of unknown authorship, which is attributed to

Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English Anglican cleric and a principal leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include "And Can It ...

by Victorian and

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

hymnologists, but whose authorship is predominantly stated as "anonymous" in modern hymnals.

History and authorship

The earliest known publication of this hymn is a leaflet that was bound into the 6th edition of George Whitefield's ''Collection of Hymns for Social Worship'', 1757. In this leaflet, the hymn had five verses of seven lines each, and was titled "An Hymn to the Trinity." The leaflet also contained the hymn "Jesus, Let Thy Pitying Eye" by

, and because of this hymnologist Daniel Sedgwick attributed "Come Thou Almighty King" to Wesley as well. However, there is no record of this hymn in any of Wesley's collections of hymns, nor is there any hymn known to be Wesley's that uses the same

meter The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

as this hymn does (6,6,4,6,6,6,4).

Tune

The text is metrically adapted to the then new British royal anthem and was initially sung with its tune. Felice Giardini after Giovanni Battista Cipriani

Felice Giardini after Giovanni Battista Cipriani

Presently, "Come Thou Almighty King" is usually sung to the tune "Italian Hymn" (also called "Moscow" or "Trinity"), which was written as a musical setting for this hymn by

Felice Giardini Felice de Giardini (12 April 1716 – 8 June 1796) was an Italian composer and violinist. Early life Felice Giardini was born in Turin. When it became clear that he was a child prodigy, his father sent him to Milan. There he studied singing, h ...

at the request of Countess Selina Shirley. This hymn tune along with three others of Giardini's were first published in Martin Madan's ''Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes'', 1769. << << \new Staff \new Staff >> >> \layout \midi

Lyrics (1783)

Come, thou Almighty King, Help us thy name to sing, Help us to praise! Father all glorious, O'er all victorious! Come and reign over us, Antient of days! Jesus our Lord, arise, Scatter our enemies, And make them fall! Let thine Almighty aid Our sure defence be made, Our souls on thee be stay'd; Lord hear our call! Come, thou incarnate word, Gird on thy mighty sword — Our pray'r attend! Come! and thy people bless, And give thy word success, Spirit of holiness On us descend! Come, holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear, In this glad hour! Thou who Almighty art, Now rule in ev'ry heart, And ne'er from us depart. Spirit of pow'r. To the great one in three Eternal praises be Hence — evermore! His sov'reign Majesty May we in glory see, And to eternity Love and adore!

References

External links

{{authority control English Christian hymns 18th-century hymns Songs with unknown songwriters Year of song unknown