When heaven does grant at certain times

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When heaven does grant at certain times

Author: Ralph Erskine
Published in 6 hymnals

Representative Text

1 When heaven does grant at certain times,
Amidst a pow'rful gale,
Sweet liberty to moan my crimes,
And wand'rings to bewail--

2 Then do I dream my sinful brood
Is drown'd in the wide main
Of crystal tears and crimson blood,
And ne'er will live again.

3 I get my foes beneath my feet,
I bruise the serpent's head;
I hope the vict'ry is complete,
And all my lusts are dead.

4 But ah, alas! th'ensuing hour
My passions rise and swell;
They rage and reinforce their pow'r
With new recruits from hell.

Source: Hymns, Selected and Original: for public and private worship (1st ed.) #463

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Author: Ralph Erskine

Erskine, Ralph, was son of Henry Erskine who was Rector of Cornhill, Northumberland, before the Act of Uniformity in 1662, and after the Revolution of 1688 was Parish minister of Chirnside, Berwickshire. He was born at Moneylaws, Northumberland, March 15, 1685, his father being then in exile from Scotland for taking part in conventicles. He entered the University of Edinburgh in 1699, was licensed to preach in 1709, in 1711 ordained second minister of the Abbey Church, Dunfermline, and became first minister in 1716. Joining in 1737 with the "Four Brethren," who, protesting against the action of the General As¬sembly on Patronage, had been loosed from their charges by the Commission in 1733 and had formed themselves into a Presbytery at Gai… Go to person page >

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