Through all the various shifting scene
Of life’s mistaken ill or good,
Thy hand, O God! conducts, unseen,
The beautiful vicissitude.
Thou givest with paternal care,
Howe’er unjustly we complain,
To all their necessary share
Of joy and sorrow, health and pain.
All things on earth, and all in heaven,
On Thine eternal will depend;
And all for greater good were given,
Would man pursue the appointed end.
Be this my care!—to all beside
Indifferent let my wishes be;
Passion be calm, and dumb be pride,
And fixed my soul, great God! on Thee.
Source: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (15th ed.) #261
First Line: | Through all the various shifting scenes |
Title: | Providence Equitable and Kind |
Author: | Samuel Collett |
Meter: | 8.8.8.8 |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Through all the various shifting scenes. [Divine Providence.] This hymn appeared anonymously in [Unitarian] Liverpool Collection, 1763, p. 57, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. It was repeated in later collections, including Martineau's Hymns of 1840 and 1873. In the latter it is given as by "S. Collett, 1763."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)