O Lord of hosts, all heaven possessing

O Lord of hosts, all heaven possessing. Edward Hayes Plumptre* (1821-1891). Written in May 1864 and first published in the author’s collection Lazarus and other poems (1864), this hymn was written primarily for use in schools. The original text included a penultimate verse, looking forward to old age, which is usually dropped. It was included in EH (1906 and 1933) with the tune NEUMARK. An amended version appears in NEH, heavily altered to remove several infelicities in phraseology and imagery. Among these are the ‘sapphire throne’ in the second line, the trite rhyme ‘thine’ and ‘shine’ at the end of the first verse, and the confusing position of ‘with thee’ in the phrase‘ ... that blest...