O Israel, to thy tents repair

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O Israel, to thy tents repair

Author: Thomas Kelly
Tune: GROSTETTE
Published in 38 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 O Israel, to thy tents repair:
Why thus secure on hostile ground?
Thy King commands thee to beware,
For many foes thy camp surround.

2 The trumpet gives a martial strain:
O Israel, gird thee for the fight!
Arise, the combat to maintain,
And put thine enemies to flight.

3 Thou shouldst not sleep, as others do;
Awake, be vigilant, be brave!
The coward and the sluggard too,
Must wear the fetters of the slave.

4 A nobler lot is cast for thee;
A kingdom waits thee in the skies:
With such a hope, shall Israel flee,
Or yield, through weariness, the prize?

5 No! let a careless world repose
And slumber on through life's short day,
While Israel to the conflict goes,
And bears the glorious prize away!

Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #653

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Author: Thomas Kelly

Kelly, Thomas, B.A., son of Thomas Kelly, a Judge of the Irish Court of Common Pleas, was born in Dublin, July 13, 1769, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was designed for the Bar, and entered the Temple, London, with that intention; but having undergone a very marked spiritual change he took Holy Orders in 1792. His earnest evangelical preaching in Dublin led Archbishop Fowler to inhibit him and his companion preacher, Rowland Hill, from preaching in the city. For some time he preached in two unconsecrated buildings in Dublin, Plunket Street, and the Bethesda, and then, having seceded from the Established Church, he erected places of worship at Athy, Portarlington, Wexford, &c, in which he conducted divine worship and preached. H… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	O Israel, to thy tents repair
Author:	Thomas Kelly
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

O Israel, to thy tents repair. T. Kelly. [Advent.] Given in the 2nd ed. of his Hymns, &c, 1806, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. In Kennedy, 1863, No. 52, it is in great part re¬written by Dr. Kennedy.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

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