On a Year of Threatening Drought

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The spring great God at thy command

Author: Thomas Gibbons
Tune: BANGOR (Tansur)
Published in 19 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

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	Wondrous Love: Five Hymn Settings for Or…

Representative Text

1 The spring, great God, at thy command,
Leads forth the smiling year;
Gay verdure, foliage, blooms and flowers
To adorn her reign, appear.

2 But soon canst thou in righteous wrath
Blast all the promis'd joy,
And elements await thy nod
To bless or to destroy.

3 The sun, thy minister of love,
That from the naked ground
Calls forth the hidden seeds to birth,
And spreads their beauties round:

4 At the dread order of his God,
Now darts destructive fires;
Hills, plains, and vales, are parch'd with drought,
And blooming life expires.

5 Like burnish'd brass, the heaven around
In angry terror burns,
While the earth lies a joyless waste,
And into iron turns.

6 Pity us, Lord, in our distress,
Nor with our land contend;
Bid the avenging skies relent,
And showers of mercy send!

Source: Hymns, Selected and Original: for public and private worship (1st ed.) #604

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Author: Thomas Gibbons

Gibbons, Thomas, was born at Beak, near Newmarket, May 31, 1720; educated by Dr. Taylor, at Deptford; ordained in 1742, as assistant to the Rev. Mr. Bures, at Silver Street Chapel, London; and in 1743 became minister of the Independent Church, at Haberdashers' Hall, where he remained till his death, Feb. 22, 1785. In addition to his ministerial office he became, in 1754, tutor of the Dissenting Academy at Mile End, London; and, in 1759, Sunday evening lecturer at Monkwell Street. In 1760 the College at New Jersey, U.S., gave him the degree of M.A. and in 1764 that of Aberdeen the degree of D.D. His prose works were (1) Calvinism and Nonconformity defended, 1740; (2) Sermons on various subjects, 1762; (3) Rhetoric, 1767; (4) Female Worthies,… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	The spring great God at thy command
Title:	On a Year of Threatening Drought
Author:	Thomas Gibbons
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Tune

BANGOR (Tansur)

Traditionally used for Montgomery's text and for Peter Abelard's "Alone Thou Goest Forth, O Lord," BANGOR comes from William Tans'ur's A Compleat Melody: or the Harmony of Syon (the preface of which is dated 1734). In that collection the tune was a three-part setting for Psalm 12 (and for Psalm 11 i…

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