For all the servants of the King
In earth and heaven are one.
This hymn, one of Wesley’s greatest, has had wide use throughout the English speaking world in times of sorrow and loss of loved ones. It is an exposition of the words of the ancient Creed, “I believe in the communion of saints.”
The third and fourth verses, containing the idea of One Church, are among the finest in the whole range of hymnody.
The hymn was a great favorite of John Wesley. It so happened that he gave it out to be sung at a service he was conducting, at the very hour of the death of his brother Charles, giving the hymn a peculiarly pathetic interest.
For comments on Charles Wesley see [Hymn 6].
MUSIC. DUNDEE. For comments on this tune see [Hymn 297].
CHURCH UNITY
320. In Christ there is no East or West
John Oxenham, 1852-1941