As showers on meadows newly mown. T. Gibbons. [Divine Influence.] Printed in 1784 as No. 28 in Bk. i. of his Hymns adapted to Divine Worship, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines. It is founded on Ps. lxxii. 6, and headed "The Divine Influences resembled to Rain." In 1787 Dr. Rippon included it in his Selection, No. 209. It was repeated in later editions, ancl from thence passed into many collections. In America specially it has long been in common use in various forms, the most popular being stanzas iv., v., vi., as:—"As, in soft silence, vernal showers"—sometimes altered to—"As when in silence, vernal showers." [William T. Brooke]
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Gibbons, Thomas, was born at Beak, near Newmarket, May 31, 1720; educated by Dr. Taylor, at Deptford; ordained in 1742, as assistant to the Rev. Mr. Bures, at Silver Street Chapel, London; and in 1743 became minister of the Independent Church, at Haberdashers' Hall, where he remained till his death, Feb. 22, 1785. In addition to his ministerial office he became, in 1754, tutor of the Dissenting Academy at Mile End, London; and, in 1759, Sunday evening lecturer at Monkwell Street. In 1760 the College at New Jersey, U.S., gave him the degree of M.A. and in 1764 that of Aberdeen the degree of D.D. His prose works were (1) Calvinism and Nonconformity defended, 1740; (2) Sermons on various subjects, 1762; (3) Rhetoric, 1767; (4) Female Worthies,… Go to person page >
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