Almighty Father, hear our cry

Almighty Father, hear our cry

Author: Edward Henry Bickersteth
Tune: ROCKINGHAM (Miller)
Published in 16 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Almighty Father, hear our cry,
As o'er the trackless deep we roam;
Be Thou our haven always nigh,
On homeless waters, Thou our home.

2 O Jesus, Saviour, at Whose voice
The tempest sunk to perfect rest,
Bid Thou the fearful heart rejoice,
And cleanse and calm the trouble breast.

3 O Holy Ghost, beneath Whose power
The ocean woke to life and light,
Command Thy blessing in this hour,
Thy fostering warmth, Thy quickening might.

4 Great God of our salvation, Thee
We love, we worship, we adore;
Our refuge on times's changeful sea,
Our joy on heaven's eternal shore.

Amen.

The Hymnal: revised and enlarged as adopted by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the year of our Lord 1892

Author: Edward Henry Bickersteth

Bickersteth, Edward Henry, D.D., son of Edward Bickersteth, Sr. born at Islington, Jan. 1825, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. with honours, 1847; M.A., 1850). On taking Holy Orders in 1848, he became curate of Banningham, Norfolk, and then of Christ Church, Tunbridge Wells. His preferment to the Rectory of Hinton-Martell, in 1852, was followed by that of the Vicarage of Christ Church, Hampstead, 1855. In 1885 he became Dean of Gloucester, and the same year Bishop of Exeter. Bishop Bickersteth's works, chiefly poetical, are:— (l) Poems, 1849; (2) Water from the Well-spring, 1852; (3) The Rock of Ages, 1858 ; (4) Commentary on the New Testament, 1864; (5) Yesterday, To-day, and For Ever, 1867; (6) The Spirit of Life, 1868;… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Almighty Father, hear our cry
Author: Edward Henry Bickersteth
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Lord of the ocean, hear our cry. Bishop E. H. Bickersteth. [For Use at Sea.] Written in 1869 and first published in his Hymnal Companion, 1870; No. 392, as a hymn to be used at sea, with the note in the Annotated edition, "This hymn, by the Editor, was written for this work. It is to be sung by those at sea; the one which follows [‘Eternal Father, strong to save'] is for those at sea," In the Hymnal Companion, 1870, and the revised edition, 1876, Bp. Bickersteth's hymn begins, "Almighty Father, hear our cry," Its original form as "Lord of the ocean, hear our cry," is in Bp. Bickersteth's Two Brothers, 1871, p. 249.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

ROCKINGHAM (Miller)

Edward Miller (b. Norwich, England, 1735; d. Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, 1807) adapted ROCKINGHAM from an earlier tune, TUNEBRIDGE, which had been published in Aaron Williams's A Second Supplement to Psalmody in Miniature (c. 1780). ROCKINGHAM has long associations in Great Britain and North Amer…

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MARYTON

After various tunes had been set to this text, Gladden insisted on the use of MARYTON. Composed by H. Percy Smith (b. Malta, 1825; d. Bournemouth, Hampshire, England, 1898), the tune was originally published as a setting for John Keble's "Sun of My Soul" in Arthur S. Sullivan's Church Hymns with Tun…

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WAREHAM (Knapp)

William Knapp (b. Wareham, Dorsetshire, England, 1698; d. Poole, Dorsetshire, 1768) composed WAREHAM, so named for his birthplace. A glover by trade, Knapp served as the parish clerk at St. James's Church in Poole (1729-1768) and was organist in both Wareham and Poole. Known in his time as the "coun…

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The Cyber Hymnal #36
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The Cyber Hymnal #36

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