God of my life, through all its [my] days. P. Doddridge. [Praise for unfailing mercies.] This hymn is dated in the Baptist Psalm & Hymns, revised edition 1871 and 1880, " 1751," the year of Doddridge's death, but upon what authority it is not stated. Miller Singers and Songs, 1869, p. 172) evidently took this date as the foundation of his note which reads:—
"This hymn may be read autobiographically, especially verse 3, in reference to the peaceful thankfulness in his heart when the last wave of his life was ebbing out at Lisbon. The words are:—
“When death o'er nature shall prevail,
And all its powers of language fail,
Joy through my swimming eyes shall break,
And mean the thanks I cannot speak.'"
No evidence beyond these unauthorised statements is forthcoming to show that this was the author's death-bed hymn, as this date, and Miller's note would imply. It was published in Doddridge's (posthumous) Hymns, &c, by J. Orton, 1755, No. 71, in 6 st! of 4 line, and headed, "Praising God through the whole of our existence, Psalm cxlvi. 2." In 1839 it was reprinted by J. D. Humphreys in his edition of Doddridge's Hymns, &c, and accompanied by the following note:—
"It is interesting to remember, that, when pressed iown by the hand of disease and tottering on the brink of eternity, the pious author of this hymn realized the divine consolations its perusal may inspire," p. 61.
This note seems to imply that the hymn was written before the author's illness at Lisbon, in 1751, and probably the date of 1740, given to it by Dr. Hatfield in his Church Hymn Book, N. Y., 1872, No. 182, is correct. In a few collections it is given as "God of my life, through all my days." Its use in all English-speaking countries is extensive.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (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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