Thus speaks the high and lofty One

Representative Text

1 Thus speaks the high and lofty One;
ye tribes of earth, give ear;
The words of your Almighty King
with sacred rev’rence hear:
2 amidst the majesty of heav’n
my throne is fixed on high;
and through eternity I hear
the praises of the sky:

3 Yet, looking down, I visit oft
the humble hallow'd cell;
and with the penitent who mourn
’tis my delight to dwell;
4 the downcast spirit to revive,
the sad in soul to cheer;
and from the bed of dust the man
to heart contrite to rear.
5 With me dwells no relentless wrath
against the human race;
the souls which I have form'd shall find
a refuge in my grace.

Source: The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook #R27

Author: John Logan

Logan, John, son of a farmer, born at Fala, Midlothian, 1748, and educated at Edinburgh University, in due course entering the ministry of the Church of Scotland and becoming the minister of South Leith in 1770. During the time he held this charge he delivered a course of lectures on philosophy and history with much success. While he was thus engaged, the chair of Universal History in the University became vacant; but as a candidate he was unsuccessful. A tragedy, entitled Runnamede, followed. He offered it to the manager of Covent Garden Theatre, but it was interdicted by the Lord Chamberlain "upon suspicion of having a seditious tendency." It was subsequently acted in Edinburgh. In 1775 he formed one of the Committee by whom the Translati… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Thus speaks the high and lofty One
Author: John Logan
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Thus speaks [saith] the high and lofty One. J. Logan. [God with the Humble.] Published in theScottish Translations and Paraphrases, 1781, No. 27, on Is. lvii. 15,16, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. In Miss Jane E. Leeson's Paraphrases & Hymns, 1853, this text is given in an altered form as, "Thus saith the high and lofty One."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Instances

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Hymns of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States, as authorized by the General Convention #207

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Scottish Psalter and Paraphrases #R27

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Selections from the Psalms of David in Metre #H207

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The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook #R27

Exclude 4 pre-1979 instances
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