1 Father, we come not as of old,
Distrustful of Thy law,
Hoping to find Thy seamless robe
Marred by some sudden flaw—
Some rent to let Thy glory through
And make our darkness shine,
If haply thus our souls may know
What power and grace are Thine.
2 Thy seamless robe conceals Thee not
From earnest hearts and true;
The glory of Thy perfectness
Shines all its texture through;
And on its trailing hem we read,
As Thou dost linger near,
The message of a love more deep
Than any depth of fear.
3 And so no more our hearts shall plead
For miracle and sign;
Thy order and Thy faithfulness
Are all in all divine;
These are Thy revelations vast
From earliest days of yore;
These are our confidence and peace;
We cannot wish for more.
Chadwick, John White, was born at Marblehead, Mass., U.S., Oct. 19, 1840; graduated at the Cambridge Divinity School, July 19, 1864, and ordained minister of the Second Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 21, 1864. A frequent contributor to the Christian Examiner; The Radical; Old and New; Harper's Magazine; and has published many poems in American periodicals. His hymn on Unity, "Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round," was written for the graduating class of the Divinity School, Cambridge, June 19, 1864. It is in Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884. It is a hymn of superior merit. [Rev. W. Garrett Horder]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)… Go to person page >
Display Title: Father, We Come Not As Of OldFirst Line: Father, we come not as of oldTune Title: BETHLEHEMAuthor: John W. ChadwickMeter: CMDSource: A Book of Poems by John White Chadwick (Boston: Roberts brothers, 1876