Scripture Verse

Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. Jeremiah 28:15–17

Introduction

portrait
Philip Doddridge
1702–1751

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 134: The poss­i­bil­i­ty of dy­ing this year.

Music: Tru­ro from Psal­mo­dia Ev­an­gel­i­ca, by Tho­mas Will­iams, 1789 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

God of my life, Thy constant care,
With blessings crowns each opening year;
This guilty life Thou dost prolong,
And wake anew mine annual song.

How many precious souls are fled
To the vast regions of the dead,
Since from this day the changing sun
Through his last yearly pe­ri­od run.

We yet survive; but who can say,
Or through the year, or month or day,
I will retain this vital breath;
Thus far at least in league with death.

That breath is Thine, eternal God,
’This Thine to fix my soul’s abode;
It holds its life from Thee alone,
On earth, or in the world unknown.

To Thee our spirits we resign,
Make them and own them still as Thine;
So shall they smile, secure from fear,
Though death should blast the rising year.

Thy children eager to be gone,
Bid time’s impetuous tide roll on,
And land them on that blooming shore,
Where years and death are known no more.