Father of all, to Thee

Father of all, to Thee. John Julian* (1839-1913). Written in 1874, this was published in Godfrey Thring*s The Church of England Hymn Book* (1882) and in the 1889 Supplement to the Second Edition of A&M. It had four unpretentious and admirable stanzas, with a flash of true poetic insight in the imagery of an unstrung instrument in stanza 2: Father of all, to Thee   Our contrite hearts we raise, Unstrung by sin and pain,   Long voiceless in Thy praise; Breathe Thou the silent chords along, Until they tremble into song. The hymn appeared in a number of major hymnbooks in the first half of the 20th century. Percy Dearmer*, commenting on his inclusion of it in SofPE, wrote in 1933, perhaps...