O Lord, turn not thy face away

Author: John Marckant

Marckant, John, fl. 1562; one of contributors to the Sternhold & Hopkins metrical psalter of 1562; inducted vicar of Clacton-Magna 1559; Vicar of Shopland, Essex 1563-8. LOC Name Authority Files… Go to person page >

Alterer: Reginald Heber

Reginald Heber was born in 1783 into a wealthy, educated family. He was a bright youth, translating a Latin classic into English verse by the time he was seven, entering Oxford at 17, and winning two awards for his poetry during his time there. After his graduation he became rector of his father's church in the village of Hodnet near Shrewsbury in the west of England where he remained for 16 years. He was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823 and worked tirelessly for three years until the weather and travel took its toll on his health and he died of a stroke. Most of his 57 hymns, which include "Holy, Holy, Holy," are still in use today. -- Greg Scheer, 1995… Go to person page >

O Lord, turn not Thy face away. J. Marckant. [Lent.] This hymn, known as The Lamentation of a Sinner, is first found in J. Daye's edition of Sternhold and Hopkins, 1560-61 but without signature. In the edition of 1565, the authorship is given to Marckant. This name, sometimes written Market, appears also in the editions of 1595 and 1606. The first stanza is:—

"O Lord, turn not Thy face away From him that lies prostrate, Lamenting sore his sinful life Before Thy mercy gate.”

In The Whole Book of Psalms, &c, by J. Playford, 1677, p. 285, it begins "O Lord, turn not away Thy face." The authorship of this hymn is given by Miller (Singers and Songs, 1869, p. 46) and by Lord Selborne (Book of Praise, 1862, p. 239, and note) to John Mardley, although Miller adds a "?" in his Index. These conclusions are based upon Farr's note in his Select Poetry Chiefly Devotional of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, &c, 1845, vol. i. p. 1., where the signature "M" in the Old Version is thought to represent John Mardley. A second rendering of The Lamentation is that by Tate and Brady, in the 6th edition of the Supplement of the New Version, 1708. It is the Old Version text rewritten in 9 stanzas of 4 lines. The first stanza reads:—

0 Lord, turn not Thy face from me, Who lie in woeful state, Lamenting all my sinful life Before Thy mercy gate."

This text continued in use as a part of Tate and Brady until that work was superseded by modern hymnbooks. It is also found in a considerable number of the latter, but usually in an abridged form. A third rendering of The Lamentation, by Bishop R. Heber, was given in his posthumous Hymns, 1827, p. 104, in 12 double lines. The opening lines are:—

"Oh Lord, turn not Thy face away From them that lowly lie, Lamenting sore their sinful life With tears and bitter cry."

This rendering, signed in Heber's Hymns "Sternhold" in error, is given in full in Lord Selborne's Book of Praise, 1862, p. 239. It is considerably altered from the Old Version original. In several modern hymnbooks, including the Scottish Presbyterian Hymnal, 1876, it is slightly altered, as "O Lord, turn not Thy face from us." Other altered forms of the text are (1) "Turn not Thy face away, O Lord," in the American Sabbath Hymn Book, 1858, and others; and (2) "Turn not, O Lord, Thy face from me," in Alford's Psalms & Hymns, 1844, and his Year of Praise, 1867. The original texts of the Old and the New Versions may be found bound up with old copies of the Book of Common Prayer. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)