Sovereign and transforming grace

Representative Text

1 Sovereign and transforming Grace,
we invoke your quickening power;
Reign the spirit of this place,
bless the purpose of this hour.

2 Holy and creative Light,
we invoke your kindling ray;
Dawn upon our spirit's night,
as the darkness turns to day.

3 To the anxious soul impart
hope, all other hopes above;
Stir the dull and hardened heart
with a longing and a love.

4 Work in all; in all renew,
day by day, the life divine;
All our wills to you subdue,
all our hearts to you incline.

Source: The New Century Hymnal #512

Author: Frederick Henry Hedge

Hedge, Frederick Henry, D.D., son of Professor Hedge of Harvard College, was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1805, and educated in Germany and at Harvard. In 1829 he became pastor of the Unitarian Church, West Cambridge. In 1835 he removed to Bangor, Maine; in 1850 to Providence, and in 1856 to Brookline, Mass. He was appointed in 1857, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge (U.S.), and in 1872, Professor of German Literature at Harvard. Dr. Hedge is one of the editors of the Christian Examiner, and the author of The Prose Writers of Germany, and other works. In 1853 he edited, with Dr. F. D. Huntington, the Unitarian Hymns for the Church of Christ, Boston Crosby, Nichols & Co. To that collection and the supplement (1853) he con… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Sovereign and transforming grace
Author: Frederick Henry Hedge
Meter: 7.7.7.7
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

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Text

The New Century Hymnal #512

Hymns of the Saints #12

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Singing the Living Tradition #33

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