Eternal Spirit, by whose power

Author: William Hiley Bathurst

Bathurst, William Hiley , M.A., son of the Rt. Hon. Charles Bragge (afterwards Bathurst) some time M.P. for Bristol, born at Clevedale, near Bristol, Aug. 28, 1796, and educated at Winchester, and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1818. From 1820 to 1852 he held the Rectory of Barwick-in-Elmet, near Leeds. Resigning the Rectory in the latter year, through his inability to reconcile his doctrinal views with the Book of Common Prayer, he retired into private life, and died at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, Nov. 25, 1877. His works include, The Georgics of Virgil: Translated by W. H. B., 1849; Metrical Musings; or, Thoughts on Sacred Subjects in Verse, 1849; and Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Use, 1831 (2nd ed. 1842). This last… Go to person page >

Eternal Spirit, by Whose power. W. H. Bathurst. [Whitsuntide.] Appeared in his Psalms & Hymns for Public & Private Use, 1831 (2nd ed., 1842), Hy. 57, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled, "Offices of the Spirit." Since its introduction into the Baptist Psalms & Hymns, 1858-80, it has attained to a good position in modern hymn-books in Great Britain. It is also in use in America. Dr. Hatfield gives in his Church Hymn Book, 1872, the original text, with the date of the Preface [Nov. 15], 1830, and not the date of the publication of the Psalms & Hymns.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)