God of Power, God of Right
20

Text: Wallace F. Bennett (1898–1993; LDS)
Music: Tracy Y. Cannon (1879–1961; LDS)
Tune name: ELSIE

Writing in 1986, Wallace F. Bennett recalled his intention in writing this hymn text sixty years earlier: “Each verse relates two attributes of God to a desired human quality. First verse: God of power, God of right— priesthood might; second verse: God of wisdom, God of truth— shape our souls; third verse: God of mercy, God of love— touch, humble, bless.”

At eighty- eight years of age, the author still remembered clearly how the hymn came to be written. “The committee that put out the previous hymnbook [1948/1950] met in our home. Someone suggested a lack of hymns especially suitable for priesthood meetings. Intrigued, I wrote this one, which was accepted and then set to music by Tracy Y. Cannon, chairman of the committee.”

In the early 1960s Wallace F. Bennett provided some additional details to J. Spencer Cornwall: “I worked at [this hymn] casually. However, one Sunday morning, I woke up with the feeling that I could sit down and write the whole text. There was no set of words clearly in my mind, but rather a string of ideas. Within an hour, the text of this hymn was written, and I struggled only over one word. The word ‘kindliness’ at the end of the [third] verse is the one thing in the text with respect to which I still feel somewhat uncertain.” In accordance with the author’s wishes, this word became holiness in the 1985 hymnal.

The author continued, “I am not prepared to go so far as to say this was inspiration, but certainly the hymn almost wrote itself, and I didn’t struggle over it as I have done over many of the other things I have written” (Stories of Our Mormon Hymns, 43).

Wallace F. Bennett reported that each year, on the Sunday nearest his birthday, his ward in Salt Lake City has made a point of singing this hymn in his honor.

The tune name, ELSIE, honors the first wife of composer Tracy Y. Cannon.