Father of mercies, in Thine house. P. Doddridge. [Ordination.] First published in J. Orton's posthumous edition of Doddridge's Hymns, &c, 1755, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "The Institution of a Gospel Ministry from Christ, Eph. iv. 11, 12. For an Ordination." In 1839, it was published from the original manuscript by J. D. Humphreys in his edition of the Hymns, &c, No. 315, as "Father of mercies, in Thy house," and with several additional differences. It is curious that Orton retained the original first line in the index of the 1st edition of the Hymns, &c, but altered it in the body of the book. Orton's text is followed by all compilers. In the Supplement to the Wesleyan Hymn Book, stanzas ii., iii., v.-vii., were given as "The Saviour, when to heaven He rose." This cento is retained in the re¬vised edition, 1875.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Father of mercies, in Thine house, f. 370, i. Since the published of this Dictionary, in 1892 the following facts concerning this hymn have come under our notice:—
At the Ordination of Abraham Tozer at Norwich, June 20, 1745, the sermon was preached by the Rev. R. Frost, and the Charge delivered by Dr. Doddridge. The Sermon and Charge were published together the same year. At the end of the Charge this hymn is printed together with this "Postscript," by Dr. Doddridge:—
"As the Want of Psalms or Hymns, peculiarly suitable to these Occasions, has often been regretted on our ordination days, when we have generally been confined to the 132nd or 133rd Psalms, I was desired by several of my Brethren to publish that which followed this Charge; and I accordingly do it without any further Apology. The Reader will easily perceive it is a Kind of Devoute Paraphrase on Eph. iv. 8 and seq. And it is One of some Hundreds lying by me on a Variety of Scripture Subjects."
The original pamphlet is in the Church House Library. See there Frost, Richard.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
Philip Doddridge (b. London, England, 1702; d. Lisbon, Portugal, 1751) belonged to the Non-conformist Church (not associated with the Church of England). Its members were frequently the focus of discrimination. Offered an education by a rich patron to prepare him for ordination in the Church of England, Doddridge chose instead to remain in the Non-conformist Church. For twenty years he pastored a poor parish in Northampton, where he opened an academy for training Non-conformist ministers and taught most of the subjects himself. Doddridge suffered from tuberculosis, and when Lady Huntington, one of his patrons, offered to finance a trip to Lisbon for his health, he is reputed to have said, "I can as well go to heaven from Lisbon as from Nort… Go to person page >
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