The Cyber Hymnal ‎#8873

8873. How Hast Thou, Lord, From Year To Year

1 How hast Thou, Lord, from year to year,
Our land with plenty crowned!
And generous fruit and golden grain
Have spread their riches round.

2 But we Thy mercies have abused
To more abounding crimes;
What heights, what daring heights in sin
Disgrace and mark our times!

3 Equal, though awful, is the doom,
That fierce descending rain
Should into inundations swell,
And crush the rising grain!

4 How just, that in the autumn’s reign,
When we had hoped to reap,
Our fields of sorrow and despair
Should lie a hideous heap!

5 But Lord, have mercy on our land,
Those floods of vengeance stay:
Dispel these glooms, and let the sun
Shine in unclouded day!

6 To Thee alone we look for help;
None else of dew or rain
Can give the world the smallest drop
Or smallest drop restrain.

Text Information

• First Line: How hast Thou, Lord, from year to year
• Title: How Hast Thou, Lord, From Year To Year
• Author: Thomas Gibbons, 1720-1785 (alt.)
• Meter: CM
• Language: English
• Notes: "On a year of threat­en­ing rain."

Tune Information

• Name: MAITLAND
• Composer: George Nelson Allen (1844)
• Meter: CM
• Key: A♭ Major
• Source: The Oberlin Social and Sabbath Hymn Book
• Copyright: Public Domain