Sovereign of all the worlds on high. P. Doddridge. [Adoption.] This is No. 78 in the D. MSS., in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, is headed, "Adoption argued from a filial temper, on Gal. iv. 6," and is dated "June 17, 1739." It was repeated, without alteration, in Job Orton's posthumous edition of Doddridge's Hymns, &c, 1755, No. 281, but with the title changed to "A filial Temper the Work of the Spirit, and a proof of Adoption. Gal. iv. 6." In J. D. Humphreys's edition of the same, 1839, No. 307, the 1755 heading is repeated, but the text is changed in stanzas iv. 1. 3, from "Thou know'st, I Abba, Father, cry," to "And thus, I Abba, Father, cry." It is in common use in its original form, and as, “ My Father God! how sweet the sound" (stanzas ii.).
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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 >
My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files