Christ, of all my hopes the ground. R. Wardlaw. [Christ All, and in all. ] This hymn appeared in the Supplement which he appended to the 5th edition of his Selection of Hymns, &c. (1st ed., 1803), in 1817, No. 458, in two parts, the 2nd part beginning," When with wasting sickness worn." Pt. i. is in 6 stanzas, and Pt. ii. in 7 stanzas of 4 lines. Both parts have been adopted in Great Britain and America. In the latter, however the most popular form of the hymn is a cento composed of stanzas i., vi., x.-xiii., as in Dr. Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, N.Y., 1872, No. 896; or the same cento reduced to 4 stanzas of 4 lines, as in several collections.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Wardlaw, Ralph, D.D. This venerable and (in his generation) influential Scottish divine contributed twelve hymns to the praise of the Church Universal that are likely to live in a humble and useful way. As having so done, and besides edited several collections of hymns, he claims a place of honour in this work. Critically, and regarded as literature, his hymns have little of poetry in them; no "winged words" to lift the soul heavenward. They reflect simply and plainly the lights and shadows of everyday experiences of the spiritual life, rather than its etherialities and subtleties. His "Lift up to God the voice of praise " is the most widely known; and there is a certain inspiriting clangour about it when well sung; yet it is commonplace. H… Go to person page >
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