Hath not thy heart within thee burned

Representative Text

Hath not thy heart within thee burned
At evening’s calm and holy hour,
As if its inmost depths discerned
The presence of a loftier power?

Hast thou not heard ’mid forest glades,
While ancient rivers murmured by,
A voice from forth the eternal shades,
That spake a present Deity?

And as, upon the sacred page,
Thine eye in rapt attention turned
O’er records of a holier age,
Hath not thy heart within thee burned?

It was the voice of God that spake
In silence to thy silent heart;
And bade each worthier thought awake,
And every dream of earth depart.

Voice of our God, O, yet be near!
In low, sweet accents, whisper peace;
Direct us on our pathway here,
Then bid in heaven our wanderings cease.



Source: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #90

Author: Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch

Bulfinch, Stephen Greenleaf, D.D. This Unitarian minister was born at Boston, June 18, 1809, and removed to Washington in 1818, his father being the architect of the Capitol. He graduated at Columbian College and the Cambridge Theological School. In 1831 lie was ordained at Charleston, S.C., as assistant to Dr. Gilman. Subsequently he was pastor at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Washington, 1838; Nashua, New Hampshire, 1845; Dorchester, Mass., 1852; and "East Cambridge, Mass., 1865. He died at the last place, Oct. 12, 1870. His works include:— (1) Contemplations of the Saviour; A Series of Extracts from the Gospel History, with Reflections and Original and Selected Hymns. Boston, Carter and Hendee, 1832. This has been reprinted in England. (… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Hath not thy heart within thee burned
Author: Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Hath not thy heart within thee burned? Presence of Christ. In the Contemplations, &c, p. 148, as the accompanying hymn to the Reflections on Jesus appearing to His disciples on their way to Emmaus, It is in 5 stanzas of 4 lines and is given in the Collections of Beard, Martineau, and others in Great Britain.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

WARD (Scottish)


QUEBEC (Baker)

Henry Baker (b. Nuneham, Oxfordshire, England, 1835; d. Wimbledon, England, 1910; not to be confused with Henry W. Baker) was educated as a civil engineer at Winchester and Cooper's Hill and was active in railroad building in India. In 1867 he completed a music degree at Exeter College, Oxford, Engl…

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ROCKINGHAM (Miller)

Edward Miller (b. Norwich, England, 1735; d. Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, 1807) adapted ROCKINGHAM from an earlier tune, TUNEBRIDGE, which had been published in Aaron Williams's A Second Supplement to Psalmody in Miniature (c. 1780). ROCKINGHAM has long associations in Great Britain and North Amer…

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Christian Science Hymnal #491

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