1 God of the prophets, bless the prophets' heirs!
Elijah's mantle o'er Elisha cast:
each age for your own solemn task prepares;
make each one stronger, nobler than the last.

2 Anoint us prophets! Teach us your intent:
to human need, our quickened hearts awake;
fill us with power, our lips make eloquent
for righteousness that shall all evil break.

4 Anoint us kings! Help us do justice, Lord!
Anoint us with the Spirit of your Son:
ours not a monarch's crown or tyrant's sword;
ours by the love of Christ a kingdom won.

5 Make us apostles, heralds of your cross;
forth may we go to tell all realms your grace:
by you inspired, may we count all but loss,
and stand at last with joy before your face.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = 2 Kings 2:8-14
st. 3 = 1 Pet. 2:5,9
st. 5 = Rom. 1:1-6

Denis Wortman (b. Hopewell, NY, 1835; d. East Orange, NJ, 1922) wrote the poem "God of the Prophets! Bless the Prophets' Sons" in 1884 for the one-hundredth anniversary of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, from which he had graduated in 1860. Wortman entitled his poem "Prayer for Young Ministers" and sent it with the following note to the seminary:

May I take the liberty of sending you the enclosed verses; a very humble attempt
to express the prayer that our Class of 1860, and indeed all loyal sons of New Brunswick Seminary, lift to God at this unusual anniversary, for his blessing upon her and all who go forth from her instructions.

Also educated at Amherst College, Wortman served a number of Reformed Church in America congregations, mainly in New York State. He was the denomination's secretary of ministerial relief from 1901 to 1922 and served as president of General synod in 190 I. His publications include Reliques of Christ (1888), The Divine Processional (1903), and this one hymn text.

His hymn text was first published in the Episcopal Church Hymnal (1892) in six stanzas. Of those, stanzas 1-2 and 4-5 are retained with many revisions. Carl P. Daw,Jr. (PHH 193), wrote the third stanza in 1981 for The Hymnal 1982.

All the stanzas were originally cast in third person ("Anoint them") since the hymn was written for clergymen; the revised text in first person ("Anoint us") now includes all God's people as ministers or servants. The text refers to various biblical offices to depict Christian ministries: prophets, priests, kings (all Old Testament offices), and apostles (the only New Testament office mentioned in this text).

Liturgical Use:
Renewal services; for commissioning the entire congregation at the beginning of a church season; for an ordination service one or several of the middle stanzas could be sung in the older form–“Anoint them prophets…”

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

TOULAN was originally an adaptation of the Genevan Psalter melody for Psalm 124 (124). In one melodic variant or another and with squared-off rhythms, the tune was used in English and Scottish psalters for various psalm texts. It was published in the United States in its four-line abridged form (called MONTAGUE) by Lowell Mason (PHH 96) and George Webb (PHH 559) in The National Psalmist (1848). That version, now called TOULON, is named quite arbitrarily after the French city. Sing the outer stanzas in unison and the middle stanzas in harmony. On the fifth stanza add the descant by Emily R. Brink (PHH 158). TOULON is a fine tune for accompaniment by brass quartet. It should be sung and played with power and dignity.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook