Turn, Turn to Him

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As panting in the sultry beam

Author: John Bowdler
Tune: [As panting in the sultry beam]
Published in 31 hymnals

Representative Text

1 As panting in the sultry beam,
The hart desires the cooling stream,
So to Thy presence, Lord, I flee,
So longs my soul, O God, for Thee;
Athirst to taste Thy living grace,
And see Thy glory face to face.

2 But rising griefs distress my soul,
And tears on tears successive roll;
For many an evil voice is near
to chide my woe and mock my fear;
And silent memory weeps alone
O'er hours of peace and gladness flown.

3 For I have walked the happy round
That 'circles Sion's holy ground,
And gladly swell'd the choral lays
That hymn'd my great Redeemer's praise,
What time the hallow'd arches rung
Responsive to the solemn song.

4 Ah, why, by passing clouds opprest,
Should vexing thoughts distract thy breast?
Turn, turn to Him, in every pain,
Whom never suppliant sought in vain,
Thy strength, in joy's ecstatic day,
Thy hope, when joy has pass'd away.

Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 1871

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Author: John Bowdler

John Bowlder was born in London, in 1783. He was educated at Winchester College, and entered the legal profession. As a barrister, he gave unusual promise of eminence; but died in 1815, at the age of thirty-two. His miscellaneous writings were published in 1816, by his father, under the title of "Select Pieces of Prose and Verse." --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A., 1872.… Go to person page >

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First Line:	As panting in the sultry beam
Title:	Turn, Turn to Him
Author:	John Bowdler
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	Turn, turn to him in every pain
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

As panting, in the sultry beam. John Bowler. [Ps. xlii.] A metrical rendering of Ps. xlii: from his Select Pieces in Verse and Prose, 1816, p. 60, in 2 parts, each containing 4 stanzas of 6 lines. The first part is found in some of the older collections, including Elliott's Psalms & Hymns, 1835, and others, but has almost entirely fallen out of use in Great Britain. It is still found in a limited number of American hymnals. Original text, Lyra Britannica, 1867, p. 83.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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