Christ's Care of Ministers and Churches

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We bless the eternal Source of light

Author: Philip Doddridge
Tune: LAFAYETTE (Herbert)
Published in 14 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 We bless the eternal source of light,
Who makes the stars to shine;
And, thro' this dark beclouded world
Diffuseth rays divine.

2 We bless the churches sovereign king,
Whose golden lamps we are;
Fix'd in the temples of his love
To shine with radiance fair.

3 Still be our purity be preserv'd;
Still fled with oil the flame;
And in deep characters inscrib'd
Our heavenly master’s name.

4 Then while between our ranks he walks,
And all our state surveys,
His smiles shall with new lustre deck
The people of his praise.

Source: A Selection of Hymns: from the best authors, intended to be an appendix to Dr. Watt's psalms and hymns. (1st Am. ed.) #CDXII

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Author: Philip Doddridge

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 >

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First Line:	We bless the eternal Source of light
Title:	Christ's Care of Ministers and Churches
Author:	Philip Doddridge
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain