Words: , 1905.

Music: Wor­ship (Har­ring­ton), adapt­ed from , cir­ca 1905. Al­ter­nate tune:

  • Gilder, , 1905

In response to an ad­mir­ing let­ter re­gard­ing this hymn, Gil­der wrote:

I am ve­ry much sur­prised and touched that you should write as you have of the Thanks­giv­ing hymn. In an­swer to your in­quir­ies I would say that it was in­spired by the same event as the Wes­ley­an poem. I had be­gun it be­fore reach­ing Mid­dle­town to take part in the ex­er­cis­es there—and would have fin­ished it there had I not been so oc­cu­pied with other mat­ters—and I did not, of course, wish to force it, so to speak. When, soon af­ter, it was com­plet­ed, it showed it to Pro­fess­or Win­ches­ter, at whose house I had stayed; and as you know, he asked to lay it be­fore your com­mit­tee. I think some other Hymn­al has since used it (one for schools), and it will ap­pear in my book, “The Fire Di­vine,” now go­ing through the press. So you see it had a Meth­od­ist ori­gin, as Wes­ley was in my mind, and it was first print­ed in the new Meth­od­ist Hymn­al.


To Thee, Eternal Soul, be praise!
Who, from of old to our own days,
Through souls of saints and prophets, Lord,
Hast sent Thy light, Thy love, Thy Word.

We thank Thee for each mighty one
Through whom Thy living light hath shone;
And for each humble soul and sweet
That lights to heaven our wandering feet.

We thank Thee for the love divine
Made real in every saint of Thine;
That boundless love itself that gives
In service to each soul that lives.

We thank Thee for the Word of might
Thy Spirit spake in darkest night.
Spake through the trumpet voices loud
Of prophets at Thy throne who bowed.

Eternal Soul, our souls keep pure,
That like Thy saints we may endure;
Forever through Thy servants, Lord,
Send Thou Thy light, Thy love, Thy Word.