God Is Working His Purpose Out
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| God Is Working His Purpose Out | |
|---|---|
 Arthur Campbell Ainger, Vanity Fair, 1901 | |
| Genre | Hymn |
| Written | 1894 |
| Text | Arthur Campbell Ainger |
| Based on | Habakkuk 2:14 |
"God Is Working His Purpose Out" is an English Christian hymn. It was written in 1894 by Arthur Campbell Ainger as a tribute to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson.[1] The original music for the hymn was written at the same time by Millicent D. Kingham but a number of other pieces of music have been used for the hymn in recent times.[1][2]
In 1894, Ainger was a Master at Eton College, where he had a reputation for being a fair teacher and had the respect of his pupils for a reasonable approach to discipline at the school. As the son of a vicar, he had written a number of songs and hymns for the school in English and in Latin. Ainger wrote "God Is Working His Purpose Out" as a tribute to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson, who was a former Master at Rugby School and headmaster at Wellington College.[3] it was also written as a hymn for the boys of Eton. The hymn was first published in a leaflet with a tune composed by Kingham titled "Benson".[3]
"God Is Working His Purpose Out" was then published nationwide in the Church of England's "Church Missionary Hymn Book".[4] It also started to be published within public school hymnals, however when it was published in "Public School Hymn Book" the tune was changed from "Benson" to a newly commissioned tune titled "Alveston". Some modern hymn books also do not use "Benson" as the tune, instead using "Purpose", written by Martin Shaw in 1953.[1][3] although Common Praise (the successor to Hymns Ancient and Modern) continues to do so.