The voice of God is calling

The voice of God is calling. John Haynes Holmes* (1879-1964).  Holmes’ text was commissioned in early 1913 by The Young People’s Religious Union of Boston, Massachusetts [Unitarian]. It was composed on board the S. S. Laconia during his voyage home from England. Holmes describes writing the hymn in his ‘Introduction’ to his Collected Hymns (p.18):    .  .  . here I was on a swift ship headed for New York, and not a line of my hymn written. I had tried my hand at composition several times without result, except failure. Then, suddenly, there came within me a veritable explosion of energy. In a few hours I had before me on paper just what I wanted, my promised hymn to be. In a few days I...

If you have a valid subscription to Dictionary of Hymnology, please log in to view this content. If you require a subscription, please click here.

Cite this article