What Though no Flowers the Fig Tree Clothe

Representative Text

1 What though no flow’rs the fig-tree clothe,
though vines their fruit deny,
the labour of the olive fail,
and fields no meat supply?
2 Though from the fold, with sad surprise,
my flock cut off I see;
though famine pine in empty stalls,
where herds were wont to be?

3 Yet in the Lord will I be glad,
and glory in his love;
in him I’ll joy, who will the God
of my salvation prove.
4 He to my tardy feet shall lend
the swiftness of the roe;
till, rais'd on high, I safely dwell
beyond the reach of woe.

5 God is the treasure of my soul,
the source of lasting joy;
a joy which want shall not impair,
nor death itself destroy.

Source: The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook #R32

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Alterer: John Logan

Logan, John, son of a farmer, born at Fala, Midlothian, 1748, and educated at Edinburgh University, in due course entering the ministry of the Church of Scotland and becoming the minister of South Leith in 1770. During the time he held this charge he delivered a course of lectures on philosophy and history with much success. While he was thus engaged, the chair of Universal History in the University became vacant; but as a candidate he was unsuccessful. A tragedy, entitled Runnamede, followed. He offered it to the manager of Covent Garden Theatre, but it was interdicted by the Lord Chamberlain "upon suspicion of having a seditious tendency." It was subsequently acted in Edinburgh. In 1775 he formed one of the Committee by whom the Translati… Go to person page >

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Text Information

First Line: What though no flowers the fig tree clothe
Title: What Though no Flowers the Fig Tree Clothe
Alterer: John Logan
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain
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Tune

BISHOPTHORPE (Clarke)


AZMON

Lowell Mason (PHH 96) adapted AZMON from a melody composed by Carl G. Gläser in 1828. Mason published a duple-meter version in his Modern Psalmist (1839) but changed it to triple meter in his later publications. Mason used (often obscure) biblical names for his tune titles; Azmon, a city south of C…

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SAWLEY (Walch)

This tune was composed by James Walch in 1857 for a children's anniversary, and was published in 1860 with other tunes for private circulation. It was wrongly assigned, in the early editions of [The Free Church Hymnal, 1888] to the Rev. F. Pigou. Scottish church music: its sources and composers, 189…

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All tunes published with 'What Though no Flowers the Fig Tree Clothe'^ top

Timeline

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Media

The Cyber Hymnal #9032
  • PDF (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer Score (NWC)
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Instances

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The Cyber Hymnal #9032

The Cyber Hymnal #9032
TextPage Scan

The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook #R32

The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook #R32
Include 58 pre-1979 instances
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