Trembling Solicitude

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My former hopes are fled

Author: William Cowper
Published in 128 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 My former hopes are fled,
My terror now begins;
I feel, alas! that I am dead
In trespasses and sins.

2 Ah! whither shall I fly?
I hear the thunder roar;
The law proclaims destruction nigh,
And vengeance at the door.

3 When I review my ways,
I dread impending doom
Until a friendly whisper says
"Flee from the wrath to come."

Source: The Seventh-Day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book: for use in divine worship #385

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Author: William Cowper

William Cowper (pronounced "Cooper"; b. Berkampstead, Hertfordshire, England, 1731; d. East Dereham, Norfolk, England, 1800) is regarded as one of the best early Romantic poets. To biographers he is also known as "mad Cowper." His literary talents produced some of the finest English hymn texts, but his chronic depression accounts for the somber tone of many of those texts. Educated to become an attorney, Cowper was called to the bar in 1754 but never practiced law. In 1763 he had the opportunity to become a clerk for the House of Lords, but the dread of the required public examination triggered his tendency to depression, and he attempted suicide. His subsequent hospitalization and friendship with Morley and Mary Unwin provided emotional st… Go to person page >

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First Line:	My former hopes are fled
Title:	Trembling Solicitude
Author:	William Cowper
Meter:	6.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

My former hopes are fled. W. Cowper. [Seeking God.] Appeared in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Bk. iii., No. 8, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed "The Shining Light." It was passed into common use in Great Britain and America, its use in the latter being somewhat extensive.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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