1 Awake, my tongue, thy tribute bring
To Him who gave thee pow'r to sing;
Praise Him who is all praise above,
The source of wisdom and of love.
2 How vast His knowledge! How profound!
A deep where all our tho'ts are drowned;
The stars He numbers and their names
He gives to all those heav'nly flames.
3 Thro' each bright world above, behold,
Ten thousand thousand charms unfold;
Earth, air, and mighty seas combine
To speak His wisdom all divine.
4 But in redemption, O what grace!
Its wonders, O what tho't can trace!
Here wisdom shines for ever bright:
Praise Him, my soul, with sweet delight.
Needham, John, was the son of John Needham, Baptist Minister, of Hitchin, Herts, but the date of his birth is unknown. He would doubtless be educated by his father, who was a tutor and in repute as a learned man. In 1750 Needham became co-pastor with John Beddome at the Baptist meetinghouse in the Pithay, Bristol; but, two years later, Beddome having retired through age, a violent controversy arose in the Church with regard to a continuance of the plan of co-pastorship. As the result, Needham and a number of his friends removed to a Baptist meetinghouse in Callowhill Street, where a Mr. Foot was pastor. For a time the two societies used the same builing at different hours, but in 1755 they were united, with Mr. Needham and Mr. Foot as co-pa… Go to person page >
First published anonymously in Henry Boyd's Select Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1793), DUKE STREET was credited to John Hatton (b. Warrington, England, c. 1710; d, St. Helen's, Lancaster, England, 1793) in William Dixon's Euphonia (1805). Virtually nothing is known about Hatton, its composer,…
Display Title: Awake, My Tongue, Thy Tribute BringFirst Line: Awake, my tongue, thy tribute bringTune Title: DUKE STREETAuthor: John Needham, d. 1786Meter: LM