What service shall we render thee
What service shall we render thee. Ernest James Dodgshun* (1876-1944)
Written shortly before the outbreak of World War I for inclusion on a ‘Peace Hymn Sheet’, and printed in a Supplement (1920) to the 1909 Fellowship Hymn Book. It was then included in RCH and MHB . It is a fine expression of Dodgshun’s Quaker pacifism, turning the normal demands of the love of one’s own country (‘O Fatherland we love’) into peaceful channels:
The service of the commonwealth Is not in arms alone; A nobler chivalry shall rise Than war has ever known; Glad rivalries in arts of peace, True ministries of life, Shall supersede the arts of war And calm our feverish strife.
The hymn is a strong statement...
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MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "What service shall we render thee."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 13 Apr. 2026.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/what-service-shall-we-render-thee>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "What service shall we render thee."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed April 13, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/w/what-service-shall-we-render-thee.