Scripture Verse

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. Revelation 21:3

Introduction

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Edward Miller (1735–1807)
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: Phi­lip Dodd­ridge (1702–1751). Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Found­ed on Va­ri­ous Texts in the Ho­ly Scrip­tures, by Job Or­ton (Shrop­shire, Eng­land: Jo­shua Ed­dowes & John Cot­ton, 1755), num­ber 49: The church the birth place of the saints, and God’s care of it. Dodd­ridge wrote these words for the op­en­ing of a cha­pel at Oak­ham.

Music: Rock­ing­ham (Mil­ler) Karl P. E. Bach, ar­ranged by Ed­ward Mill­er, 1790 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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Philip Doddridge (1702–1751)

Lyrics

And will the great eter­nal God
On earth es­tab­lish His abode?
And will He, from His ra­di­ant throne,
Accept our tem­ple for His own?

We bring the tri­bute of our praise,
And sing that con­des­cend­ing grace,
Which to our notes will lend an ear,
And call us sin­ful mor­tals near.

Our Fa­ther’s watch­ful care we bless,
Which guards our sy­na­gogues in peace,
That no tu­mul­tu­ous foes in­vade,
To fill our wor­ship­pers with dread.

These walls we to Thy hon­or raise;
Long may they ec­ho with Thy praise;
And Thou des­cend­ing fill the place
With choic­est to­kens of Thy grace.

Here let the great Re­deem­er reign,
With all the grac­es of His train;
While pow­er di­vine His Word at­tends
To con­quer foes, and cheer His friends.

And in that great de­ci­sive day,
When God the na­tions shall sur­vey,
May it be­fore the world ap­pear
That crowds were born to glo­ry here.