How Gentle God's Commands

Representative Text

1 How gentle God’s commands!
How kind His precepts are!
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord,
And trust His constant care.

2 While Providence supports,
Let saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears all nature up
Shall guard His children well.

3 Why should this anxious load
Press down your weary mind?
Haste to your heavenly Father’s throne,
And sweet refreshment find.

4 His goodness stands approved,
Down to the present day:
I’ll drop my burden at His feet,
And bear a song away.

Source: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #81

Author: Philip Doddridge

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 >

Text Information

First Line: How gentle God's commands!
Title: How Gentle God's Commands
Author: Philip Doddridge (1755)
Meter: 6.6.8.6
Language: English
Notes: Spanish translation: See "Qué tierno padre de Dios" by Vernon L. Peterson
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

DENNIS (Nägeli)

Lowell Mason (PHH 96) arranged DENNIS and first published it in The Psaltery (1845), a hymnal he compiled with George. Webb (PHH 559). Mason attributed the tune to Johann G. Nageli (b. Wetzikon, near Zurich, Switzerland, 1773; d. Wetzikon, 1836) but included no source reference. Nageli presumably pu…

Go to tune page >


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The Cyber Hymnal #2368
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The American Baptist Sabbath-School Hymn-Book #167

The American Hymnal #d218

The American Hymnal for Chapel Service #d146

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The American Hymnal for Chapel Service #243

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The American Sabbath School Singing Book #132

The American Tune Book (Carmina Sacra, enlarged) #d151

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The American Vocalist #124c

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The Apostolic Christian Hymnal #d64

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The Baptist Hymn and Praise Book #d183

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The Baptist Hymn and Tune Book for Public Worship #661

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The Baptist Hymn and Tune Book, for Public Worship #233.661

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The Baptist Hymn and Tune Book #835

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The Baptist Hymn Book #661

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The Baptist Hymnal, for Use in the Church and Home #494

The Baptist Hymnal #494

The Baptist Hymnal. Shaped notes ed. #d231

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The Baptist Praise Book #238

The Baptist Sabbath School Hymn Book #d148

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The Best Gospel Songs and their composers #238

The Best Loved Hymns and Prayers of the American People #135

The Book of Hymns #d192

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The Book of Praise #d297

The Book of Worship #d189

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The Brethren Hymnody #18

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The Canadian Baptist Hymnal for the use of Churches and Families #d255

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The Chapel Hymn Book (4th ed.) #d161

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The Chapel Hymn Book. 5th ed. #d157

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The Chapel Hymnal #280

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The Christian Hymnal #d277

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The Christian Hymnal #116

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The Christian hymnal #409

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The Christian Lyre #d145

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The Church Hymn Book #d205

The Church Hymnal #d155

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The Church-Book #d162

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The College Hymn and Tune Book #d52

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The College Hymnal #434

The Congregation #d56

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The Congregational Hymn Book #420

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The Crowning Day #45

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The Cyber Hymnal #2368

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The Devotional Chimes #207a

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The Emory Hymnal #245

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The Epworth Hymnal No. 2 #31

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The Epworth Hymnal No. 3 #192

The Evangelical Hymn and Tune Book #d275

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The Evangelical Hymnal #326

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The Evangelical Hymnal with Tunes #350

The Evangelists' Songs of Praise No. 2 #13

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The Friends' Hymnal #d234

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The Friends' Hymnal, a Collection of Hymns and Tunes for the Public Worship of the Society #a331

The Golden Harp #d113

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The Golden Hymn Book #33

The Gospel Hymnal #d236

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The Gospel Hymnal #230

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The Gospel in Song #120

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The Gospel in Song #164

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The Gospel Pilot Hymnal #207

The Gospel Praise Book #d172

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The Gospel Psalmist #501

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The Harmonia Sacra. 14th ed. #d133

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The Harp #108

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The Haverford School Hymnal #d112

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Exclude 659 pre-1979 instances
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