1 Disposer supreme, and Judge of the earth,
who choosest for thine the meek and the poor;
to frail earthen vessels, and things of no worth,
entrusting thy riches which ay shall endure;
2 Those vessels soon fail, though full of thy light,
and at thy decree are broken and gone;
thence brightly appeareth thy truth in its might,
as through the clouds riven the lightnings have shone.
3 Like clouds are they borne to do thy great will,
and swift as the winds about the world go:
the Word with his wisdom their spirits doth fill;
they thunder, they lighten, the waters o'erflow.
4 Their sound goeth forth, 'Christ Jesus the Lord!'
then Satan doth fear, his citadels fall;
as when the dread trumpets went forth at thy word,
and one long blast shattered the Canaanite's wall.
5 O loud be their trump, and stirring their sound,
to rouse us, O Lord, from slumber of sin:
the lights thou hast kindled in darkness around,
O may they awaken our spirits within.
6 All honour and praise, dominion and might,
to God, Three in One, eternally be,
who round us hath shed his own marvellous light,
and called us from darkness his glory to see.
Source: Ancient and Modern: hymns and songs for refreshing worship #295
Isaac Williams was born in London, in 1802. His father was a barrister. The son studied at Trinity College, Oxford, where he gained the prize for Latin verse. He graduated B.A. 1826, M.A. 1831, and B.D. 1839. He was ordained Deacon in 1829, and Priest in 1831. His clerical appointments were Windrush (1829), S. Mary the Virgin's, Oxford (1832), and Bisley (1842-1845). He was Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, from 1832 to 1842. During the last twenty years of his life his health was so poor as to permit but occasional ministerial services. He died in 1865. He was the author of some prose writings, amongst which are Nos. 80, 86 and 87 of the "Oxford Tracts." His commentaries are favourably known. He also published quite a large num… Go to person page >
Santeüil, Jean-Baptiste de, was born in Paris of a good family on May 12, 1630. He was one of the regular Canons of St. Victor, at Paris, and, under the name of Santolius Victorinus, was distinguished as a writer of Latin poetry. Many of his hymns appeared in the Cluniac Breviary 1686, and the Paris Breviaries 1680 and 1736, and several have been translated into English, and are in common use in Great Britain and America. He was very jocose in disposition and singular in his habits. When on a journey he died at Dijon, Aug. 5, 1697. His Hymni Sacri et Novi were published at Paris in 1689, and again, enlarged, in 1698. [George Arthur Crawford, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Go to person page >
My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files
