# 535 Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim

Text: Charles Wesley

Tune: Paderborn

Composer: Folksong arranged by Sydney Hugo Nicholson

The year this text was written, 1744, was a year of political and religious turmoil in Britain. The newly formed Methodist societies were suspected of being merely disguised Roman Catholic societies and were accused of attempting to overthrow the Crown. To strengthen and reassure his Methodist followers, Charles Wesley anonymously published Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution (1744). The original text, in seventeen stanzas, was the first of the "Hymns to be Sung in a Tumult." Of those stanzas,; the battle-song stanzas, which the small but heroic Methodist groups sang in the face of violent opposition, are now omitted.

The text is a hymn of thankful praise to Christ for his victorious reign and for providing salvation for his people. It reveals the cosmic scope of Christ's kingdom and helps us to join our voices with the great doxology to Christ, the Lamb, as foretold in Revelation.

Sir Sydney Hugo Nicholson MVO (1875 –1947) was an English choir director, organist and composer, now chiefly remembered as the founder of the Royal School of Church Music. He was organist at Barnet Parish Church, Lower Chapel, Eton College, Carlisle Cathedral, Manchester Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey. Combined with his organist posts he edited the 'Hymns Ancient and Modern' supplement that was published in 1916, a task in which he was still engaged when the 1950 revised edition was being prepared.

This hymn has been paired with a number of tunes but only one, Paderborn, found its way into our Hymnal for this text. You can find the other tunes in the Hymnal – Hanover {# 388]. Lyons [ # 533], and Laudate Dominum [ # 432] to name a few. If you do a search on YouTube of the hymn title, you can find some clips of the hymn being performed with a variety of tunes. You decide which you like best. Here’s the hymn sung to Paderborn by the Aquia Church in Stafford, Virginia. Listen to that organ! And the choir member singing harmony. YOUTUBE