When on the giddy cliff I stand

Author: Thomas Haweis

Thomas Haweis (b. Redruth, Cornwall, England, 1734; d. Bath, England, 1820) Initially apprenticed to a surgeon and pharmacist, Haweis decided to study for the ministry at Oxford and was ordained in the Church of England in 1757. He served as curate of St. Mary Magdalen Church, Oxford, but was removed by the bishop from that position because of his Methodist leanings. He also was an assistant to Martin Madan at Locke Hospital, London. In 1764 he became rector of All Saints Church in Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, and later served as administrator at Trevecca College, Wales, a school founded by the Countess of Huntingdon, whom Haweis served as chaplain. After completing advanced studies at Cambridge, he published a Bible commentary and a volume… Go to person page >

When on the giddy cliff I stand. T. Haweis. [The Sea in the hands of God.] Published in his Carmina Christo, 1792, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and based on Jeremiah v. 22. It passed into Collyer's Collection, 1812; H. W. Beecher's Plymouth Collection, 1855; and a few hymnals in Great Britain of a later date.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)