Day 60 - Eternal Father, strong to save

The Lectionary Gospel for today from John 6:16-21 is a very brief telling of the account of Jesus walking on the water. The index of the Church of Scotland`s Fourth Edition of the Church Hymnary suggests, “Eternal Father, strong to save”, as an appropriate accompaniment to the reading. I`d like to share with you something about this well-known and indeed well-loved hymn.

The author, William Whiting was born in Kensington on November 1st 1807 and educated at Clapham. He was for several years Master of the Winchester College Choristers' School. His reputation as a hymnwriter is almost exclusively confined to his “Eternal Father, strong to save". A small number of other hymns by him were contributed to various collections, including another For Use at Sea, “Now the billows, strong and dark” but I am unfamiliar with any of them.

John Julian in his Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) notes that “Mr. Whiting's hymns, with the exception of his “Eternal Father," have not a wide acceptance. He died in 1878.”

Verse one is addressed to God the Father and references His dialogue with Job when he asks, “who shut up the sea with doors when it brake forth…. and said Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?”

Verse two is addressed to Christ, who not only walked on water but hushed a storm and was able to sleep through it.

Verse three is addressed to the Holy Spirit, who at Creation `moved upon the face of the waters` and bought order out of chaos.

The final verse, addressed to the Trinity, is a rousing doxology making the transition from “for those in peril on the sea” to “glad hymns of praise from land and sea.”

The hymn is of course forever associated with John Bacchus Dykes` tune Melita, named after the island of Malta, where St Paul was shipwrecked.

Eternal Father, strong to save,

Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

Who bidd`st the mighty ocean deep

Its own appointed limits keep;

O hear us when we cry to Thee

For those in peril on the sea.

O Christ, whose voice the waters heard

And hushed their raging at Thy word,

Who walkedst on the foaming deep,

And calm amid the storm didst sleep;

O hear us when we cry to Thee

For those in peril on the sea.

O Holy Spirit, who didst brood

Upon the waters dark and rude,

And bid their angry tumult cease,

And give, for wild confusion, peace;

O hear us when we cry to Thee

For those in peril on the sea.

O Trinity of love and power,

Our brethren shield in danger's hour;

From rock and tempest, fire, and foe,

Protect them wheresoe'er they go;

Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee

Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

(From Hymns Ancient & Modern Revised)

May the words and music be a blessing to you!

Alan Kennedy