Hymn for a Fast-day

Representative Text

1 Great God! whose universal power
Through all the earth is known;
Who governs heaven and earth, nor sits
On a precarious throne;

2 No strange commotions on the earth,
No wars have taken place,
But what were ever in thy view,
Almighty God of grace.

3 Creatures of every sort and kind
Are all at thy control;
The God that fills immensity
Must reign from pole to pole.

4 Our wars and tumults all arise
As the effect of sin;
Sin is the cause of all the woes
The world has felt or seen.

5 Dear Lord, we fall before thy face;
Our guilt and folly own;
And pray thee, for thy mercy’s sake,
To make thy goodness known.

6 In mercy put a stop to war;
In mercy send us peace;
Nor let thy vengeance on us fall,
Almighty King of grace.

7 Yet, Lord, whate’er thy will may be,
We pray to be resigned;
We know thou art too wise to err,
Too good to be unkind.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #646

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Author: William Gadsby

Gadsby, William , was born in 1773 at Attleborough, in Warwickshire. In 1793 he joined the Baptist church at Coventry, and in 1798 began to preach. In 1800 a chapel was built for him at Desford, in Leicestershire, and two years later another in the town of Hinckley. In 1805 he removed to Manchester, becoming minister of a chapel in Rochdale Boad, where he continued until his death, in January, 1844. Gadsby was for many years exceedingly popular as a preacher of the High Calvinist faith, and visited in that capacity most parts of England. He published The Nazarene's Songs, being a composition of Original Hymns, Manchester, 1814; and Hymns on the Death of the Princess Charlotte, Manchester, 1817. In 1814 he also published A Selection of Hymn… Go to person page >

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