Thanks for being a Hymnary.org user. You are one of more than 10 million people from 200-plus countries around the world who have benefitted from the Hymnary website in 2024! If you feel moved to support our work today with a gift of any amount and a word of encouragement, we would be grateful.

You can donate online at our secure giving site.

Or, if you'd like to make a gift by check, please make it out to CCEL and mail it to:
Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 3201 Burton Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546
And may the promise of Advent be yours this day and always.

All Scripture Precious

Representative Text

1 How precious is the Book Divine,
By inspiration giv'n!
Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine
To guide our souls to heav'n,
To guide our souls to heav'n.

2 Its light, descending from above
Our gloomy world to cheer,
Displays a Savior's boundless love
And brings His glories near,
And brings His glories near.

3 It shows to us our wand'ring ways
And where his feet have trod,
And brings to view the matchless grace
Of a forgiving God,
Of a forgiving God.

4 O'er all the straight and narrow way
Its radiant beams are cast;
A light whose never weary ray
Grows brightest at the last,
Grows brightest at the last.

5 It sweetly cheers our drooping hearts
In this dark vale of tears,
Life, light, and joy it still imparts
And quells our rising fears,
And quells our rising fears.

6 This lamp through all the tedious night
Of life shall guide our way
Till we behold the clearer light
Of an eternal day,
Of an eternal day.



Source: Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #232

Author: John Fawcett

An orphan at the age of twelve, John Fawcett (b. Lidget Green, Yorkshire, England, 1740; d. Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, 1817) became apprenticed to a tailor and was largely self-educated. He was converted by the preaching of George Whitefield at the age of sixteen and began preaching soon thereafter. In 1765 Fawcett was called to a small, poor, Baptist country church in Wainsgate, Yorkshire. Seven years later he received a call from the large and influential Carter's Lane Church in London, England. Fawcett accepted the call and preached his farewell sermon. The day of departure came, and his family's belongings were loaded on carts, but the distraught congregation begged him to stay. In Singers and Songs of the Church (1869), Josiah Miller te… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: How precious is the book divine
Title: All Scripture Precious
Author: John Fawcett (1782)
Meter: 8.6.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

How precious is the book divine. J. Fawcett. [Holy Scriptures.] Published in his Hymns, &c, 1782, No. 41, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and based upon the words, "Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Its use is extensive, especially in America, but usually in an abbreviated form. In the New Congregational Hymn Book, 1859, No. 466, stanza iii. is by another hand. Original text in Lyra Britannica, 1867, p. 226.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

BELMONT (Gardiner)

This tune has been mis-attributed to various other composers, but is clearly the work of the above-named composer.

Go to tune page >


KNOX (51232)


Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #2599
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 15 of 15)

Ambassador Hymnal #266

Text

Christian Worship (1993) #284

Church Gospel Songs and Hymns #531

Church Hymnal, Mennonite #238

TextPage Scan

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #232

Hymns of the Christian Life #407

Text

Lutheran Worship #332

Praise for the Lord (Expanded Edition) #249

Praise! Our Songs and Hymns #126

Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs #278

Sacred Songs of the Church #314

Songs of Faith and Praise #443

The Baptist Hymnal #216

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #2599

TextPage Scan

Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.) #143

Include 625 pre-1979 instances
Suggestions or corrections? Contact us
It looks like you are using an ad-blocker. Ad revenue helps keep us running. Please consider white-listing Hymnary.org or getting Hymnary Pro to eliminate ads entirely and help support Hymnary.org.