O Lord, our languid souls inspire

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O Lord, our languid souls inspire

Author: John Newton
Tune: LANCASTER (Howard)
Published in 84 hymnals

Representative Text

1 O Lord, our languid souls inspire,
For here we trust thou art!
Send down a coal of heavenly fire,
To warm each waiting heart.

2 Show us some token of thy love,
Our fainting hope to raise;
And pour thy blessing from above,
That we may render praise.

3 Within these walls let holy praise,
And love and concord dwell;
here give the troubled conscience ease,
The wounded spirit heal.

4 The feeling heart, the melting eye,
The humble mind bestow;
And shine upon us from on high,
To make our graces grow!

5 May we in faith receive thy word,
In faith present our prayers;
And in the presence of our Lord,
Unbosom all our cares.

6 And may the gospel's joyful sound,
Enforced by mighty grace,
Induce dead sinners all round,
To come and fill the place.

The Hartford Selection of Hymns from the most approved authors, 1799

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Author: John Newton

John Newton (b. London, England, 1725; d. London, 1807) was born into a Christian home, but his godly mother died when he was seven, and he joined his father at sea when he was eleven. His licentious and tumultuous sailing life included a flogging for attempted desertion from the Royal Navy and captivity by a slave trader in West Africa. After his escape he himself became the captain of a slave ship. Several factors contributed to Newton's conversion: a near-drowning in 1748, the piety of his friend Mary Catlett, (whom he married in 1750), and his reading of Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and, in association with William Wilberforce, eventually became an ardent abolitionist. After becoming a tide… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	O Lord, our languid souls inspire
Author:	John Newton
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

O Lord, our languid souls inspire. J. Newton. [Opening of a Place of Worship.] This hymn was written at the same time and under the same circumstances as Cowper's "Jesus, where'er Thy people meet." Full details are given in the note on that hymn. "O Lord, our languid souls," &c., was published in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Book ii., No. 43, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "On opening a Place for Social Prayer." It is rarely found in its full form. The abbreviated texts sometimes begin with the first stanza, but the most popular arrangements are:—
1. Dear Shepherd of Thy people, hear. This is usually composed of four stanzas of the original, beginning with stanza ii.
2. Great Shepherd of Thy people, hear. This is the most popular form of the hymn. Bickersteth included it in his Christian Psalmody, 1833.
3. Kind Shepherd of Thy people, hear. This arrangement appeared in J. H. Gurney's Collection of Hymns, &c., 1838, and is repeated in later hymnbooks.
The use of this hymn in these various forms is extensive.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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