Come, Thou Almighty King

Words: Unknown, but some sources credit Charles Wesley.

Music:  Unable to initialize MIDI player  "Italian Hymn," Felice de Giardini
(If your computer has sound but the music is not playing, click here.)

 1  Come, Thou almighty King,
    Help us Thy Name to sing, 
    help us to praise!
    Father all glorious, 
    over all victorious,
    Come and reign over us, 
    Ancient of Days!

 2  Come, Thou incarnate Word,
    Gird on Thy mighty sword, 
    our prayer attend!
    Come, and Thy people bless, 
    and give Thy Word success,
    Spirit of holiness, 
    Our prayer attend!

 3  Come, holy Advocate,
    A pure heart in us create 
    In this glad hour.
    Thou who almighty art,
    Open our minds to see,
    What Christ would have us be, 
    Spirit of power!

The original version of this hymn contains a fourth verse that begins (in some versions) "Come holy one in three."  Herbert Armstrong decided that the hymn was too good to leave out, so they deleted the fourth verse (the words of which which were contrary to our doctrines) and retained the other three verses.

On a lighter note: supposedly, during the American revolution a detachment of British soldiers burst in on some unsuspecting worshippers in a Long Island congregation. The commanding officer demanded that the congregation sing "God Save The King."  The congregation sang the right tune but they sang the words to this song. According to some sources, "God Save the King" was the original tune intended for this song.

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Page last modified on: 07/29/2004