Lo! The Desert Depths Are Stirred

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Lo! The desert depths are stirred

Author: Charles Coffin; Translator: William John Blew (1850)
Tune: GROSVENOR (Wesley)
Published in 1 hymnal

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Lo! The desert depths are stirred,
And the reeds of Jordan quiver;
At the Baptist’s herald word,
Shake the shores of that old river.

2 Nearer comes the Preacher’s cry,
Deeper sounds his voice and deeper,
Telling that the Christ is nigh,
In a tone to rouse the sleeper.

3 By their Maker’s coming feet
Moved, the earth, the air, the ocean
Joyously His advent greet,
With a strangely yearning motion.

4 Cleanse the heart—a highway strew
For the Godhead hither faring;
Cleanse the home—a dwelling, due
To the mighty Guest, preparing.

5 Jesu, Thou our solace art,
Thou our strength and our salvation;
Withered grass, from Thee apart,
Fades away man’s feeble nation.

6 Lift the lost, with hand of health,
Whom the plague is fast consuming;
Lift the veil—in all its wealth,
Lo! the beauteous world is blooming.

7 Thou, who comest man to free,
Son, be Thine all praise for ever;
Thine with Sire and Spirit be
Laud through ages ending never.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #12603

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Author: Charles Coffin

Coffin, Charles, born at Buzaney (Ardennes) in 1676, died 1749, was principal of the college at Beauvais, 1712 (succeeding the historian Rollin), and rector of the University of Paris, 1718. He published in 1727 some, of his Latin poems, for which he was already noted, and in 1736 the bulk of his hymns appeared in the Paris Breviary of that year. In the same year he published them as Hymni Sacri Auctore Carolo Coffin, and in 1755 a complete ed. of his Works was issued in 2 vols. To his Hymni Sacri is prefixed an interesting preface. The whole plan of his hymns, and of the Paris Breviary which he so largely influenced, comes out in his words. "In his porro scribendis Hymnis non tam poetico indulgendunv spiritui, quam nitoro et pietate co… Go to person page >

Translator: William John Blew

Blew, William John, M.A., son of William Blew, born April 13, 1808, and educated at Great Ealing School, and Wadham College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1830, and M.A., 1832. On taking Holy Orders, Mr. Blew was Curate of Nuthurst and Cocking, and St. Anne's, Westminster, and for a time Incumbent of St. John's next Gravesend. Besides translations from Homer (Iliad, bks. i., ii., &c.) and Æschylus (Agamemnon the King), and works on the Book of Common Prayer, including a paraphrase on a translation of the same in Latin, he edited the Breviarium Aherdonense, 1854; and published a pamphlet on Hymns and Hymn Books, 1858; and (with Dr. H. J. Gauntlett) The Church Hymn and Tune Book, 1852, 2nd ed. 1855. Tho hymns in this last work are chief… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Lo! The desert depths are stirred
Title:	Lo! The Desert Depths Are Stirred
Latin Title:	Jordanis oras praevia
Author:	Charles Coffin
Translator:	William John Blew (1850)
Meter:	7.8.7.8
Source:	Hymni Sacri, 1736
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain