O Holy Ghost, the Comforter

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O Holy Ghost, the Comforter

Author: Jane Euphemia Saxby
Tune: CHESTER (Hastings)
Published in 23 hymnals

Printable scores: MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 O Holy Ghost, the Comforter,
How is thy love despised,
While the heart longs for sympathy
And friends are idolized.

2 O Spirit of the living God,
Brooding with dove-like wings
Over the helpless and the weak
Among created things!

3 Where should our feebleness find strength,
Our helplessness a stay,
Didst thou not bring us hope and help,
And comfort, day by day?

4 Great are thy consolations, Lord,
And mighty is thy power,
In sickness and in solitude,
In sorrow's darkest hour.

5 Oh, if the souls that now despise
And grieve thee, heavenly Dove,
Would seek thee, and would welcome thee,
How would they prize thy love!

Source: Laudes Domini: a selection of spiritual songs ancient & modern (Abr. ed.) #243

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Author: Jane Euphemia Saxby

Saxby, Jane Euphemia, née Browne, daughter of William Browne of Tallantire Hall, Cumberland, and sister of Lady Teignmouth, was born Jan. 27, 1811, and married, in 1862, to the Rev. S. H. Saxby, Vicar of East Clevedon, Somersetshire. Her work, The Dove on the Cross, was published in 1849. It has passed into numerous editions, and from it several hymns have come into common use. This was followed by The Voice of the Bird, in 1875; and Aunt Effie’s Gift to the Nursery, 1876. Sometimes Mrs. Saxby's Dove on the Cross is dated 1819, but in error. The compilation known as Hymns and Thoughts for the Sick and Lonely, by a Lady, London, J Nisbet & Co., 1848, although it contains several of her hymns in an altered form, is ascribed to her in error… Go to person page >

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