1 Before thy throne, O God, we kneel:
give us a conscience quick to feel,
a ready mind to understand
the meaning of thy chastening hand;
whate'er the pain and shame may be,
bring us, O Father, nearer thee.
2 Search out our hearts and make us true;
help us to give to all their due.
From love of pleasure, lust of gold,
from sins which make the heart grow cold,
wean us and train us with thy rod;
teach us to know our faults, O God.
3 For sins of heedless word and deed,
for pride ambitions to succeed,
for crafty trade and subtle snare
to catch the simple unaware,
for lives bereft of purpose high,
forgive, forgive, O Lord, we cry.
4 Let the fierce fires which burn and try,
our inmost spirits purify:
consume the ill; purge out the shame;
O God, be with us in the flame;
a newborn people may we rise,
more pure, more true, more nobly wise.
Source: Hymnal 1982: according to the use of the Episcopal Church #574
William Boyd Carpenter KCVO (26 March 1841, Liverpool – 26 October 1918, Westminster) was a Church of England clergyman who became Bishop of Ripon and court chaplain to Queen Victoria.
William Boyd Carpenter was the second son of the Rev. Henry Carpenter of Liverpool, perpetual curate of St Michael's Church, Aigburth, who married (marriage license 1837 in Derry) Hester Boyd of Derry, sister of Archibald Boyd, Dean of Exeter. Her father was Archibald Boyd (born about 1764 of Saint Leonards, Shoreditch, London, England), who married Sarah Bodden there on 13 July 1789. Their eldest son was Archibald Boyd.
William Boyd Carpenter eventually fathered a total of 5 sons and 6 daughters. He married his first wife, Harriet Charlotte Peers, in… Go to person page >
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