All Things Created For His Glory

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Great First of beings, mighty Lord

Author: Simon Browne
Tune: KENT (Mornington)
Published in 48 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Great First of beings! mighty Lord
Of all this wondrous frame!
Produced by thy creating word,
The world from nothing came.

2 Thy voice sent forth the high command,
'Twas instantly obeyed;
And through thy goodness all things stand,
Which by thy power were made.

3 Lord! for thy glory shine the whole;
They all reflect thy light:
For this in course the planets roll,
And day succeeds the night.

4 For this the sun disperses heat,
And beams of cheering day;
And distant stars, in order set,
By night thy power display.

5 For this the earth its produce yields,
For this the waters flow;
And blooming plants adorn the fields,
And trees aspiring grow.

6 Inspired with praise, our minds pursue
This wise and noble end--
That all we think, and all we do,
Shall to thine honor tend.

Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #29

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Author: Simon Browne

Simon Browne was born at Shepton Mallet, Somersetshire, about 1680. He began to preach as an "Independent" before he was twenty years of age, and was soon after settled at Portsmouth. In 1716, he became pastor in London. In 1723, he met with some misfortunes, which preyed upon his mind, and produced that singular case of monomania, recorded in the text-books of Mental Philosophy; he thought that God had "annihilated in him the thinking substance, and utterly divested him of consciousness." "Notwithstanding," says Toplady, "instead of having no soul, he wrote, reasoned, and prayed as if he had two." He died in 1732. His publications number twenty-three, of which some are still in repute. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins,… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Great First of beings, mighty Lord
Title:	All Things Created For His Glory
Author:	Simon Browne
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

Psalm 65:9
(hymns)

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Notes

Great First of beings, Mighty Lord. S. Browne. [Creation.] First published in his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1720, and repeated in later editions, as No. 39, in 8 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "All things made for God." In the American Prayer Book Collection, 1826, 6 stanzas were given as No. 3, and this arrangement (sometimes with further omissions) is also found in other American collections.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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