Sunday School

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Blest is the man whose heart expands

Author: Joseph Straphan
Published in 54 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Blest is the man whose heart expands
At melting pity's call,
And the rich blessings of whose hands
Like heavenly manna fall.

2 Mercy, descending from above,
In softest accents please;
Oh may each tender bosom move
When mercy intercedes.

3 Be ours the bliss in wisdom's way
To guide untutored youth,
And lead the mind that went astray
To virtue and to truth.

4 Children our kind protection claim,
And God will well approve,
When infants learn to lisp His name,
And their Creator love.

5 Delightful work! your souls to win,
And turn the rising race
From the deceitful paths of sin,
To seek redeeming grace.

6 Almighty God! thy influence shed
To aid this good design:
The honours of thy name be spread,
And all the glory thine.

Source: The Book of Worship #403

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Author: Joseph Straphan

Straphan, Joseph. This author contributed 3 hymns to Rippon's Baptist Selection, 1787 (see p. 149, i.), viz.:—(1) "Blest is the man whose heart expands" (Education of the Young, (2) "On wings of faith mount up, my soul, and rise" (Heaven anticipated); and (3) "Our Father, Whose eternal sway" (Divine Worship). From No. 1 two centos have been taken:—(1) "Blest work the youthful mind to win," in several collections in Great Britain; and (2), "Delightful work, young souls to win," in use in America. Straphan's birth is given as 1757. From a hymn in the Gospel Magazine, we find that he resided at that time at Hanley. Further details are wanting. [Rev. W. R. Stephenson] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (190… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Blest is the man whose heart expands
Title:	Sunday School
Author:	Joseph Straphan
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Blest is the man whose heart expands. J. Straphan. [For Sunday Schools.] First published in Rippon's Selection, 1787, No. 523, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines. The form in which it usually appears in 4 stanzas was included by Cotterill in his Selection, 1819, No. 218, where it is appointed to be sung "At a Sermon for Charity Schools." A cento from this hymn, "Blest work, the youthful mind to win," is composed of stanzas v., iv., iii., and vi. considerably altered. It is found in this form in Baldwin's Preston Set of Psalms & Hymns, 1831, No. 21, and has been frequently repeated in later collections. A second cento, beginning with an alteration of stanza iii., as “Blest is the work in wisdom's ways," has also come into use. In these varying forms this hymn has attained to an extensive circulation.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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