Scripture Verse

Hear Thou from Thy dwelling place, even from Heaven; and when Thou hearest, forgive. 2 Chronicles 6:21

Introduction

portrait
Horatius Bonar
1808–1889

Words: Ho­ra­ti­us Bo­nar, Hymns of Faith and Hope 1866.

Music: In­ter­ces­sion New Will­iam H. Call­cott, 1867 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Callcott (head-and-shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), would you ?

His son says, ‘My fa­ther was asked to pro­vide words to the mu­sic, and was spe­cial­ly re­quest­ed to fur­nish a fit­ting re­frain to the two love­ly lines of Men­dels­sohn’s, with which Call­cott’s tune “In­ter­cess­ion” ends.

In search­ing for a Scrip­ture theme con­taining some re­it­er­at­ed phrase al­most of the na­ture of a re­frain, he was struck with Sol­o­mon’s pray­er at the ded­i­ca­tion of the temp­le (2 Chron. vi.), in which ev­ery sep­a­rate pe­ti­tion con­cludes with sub­stan­ti­al­ly the same words

This idea was ta­ken for the start­ing point, and Sol­o­mon’s words, Hear Thou from hea­ven Thy dwell­ing place, and for­give, be­came the fa­mil­iar coup­let…This foun­da­tion once pro­vid­ed, the rest of the hymn was built up­on it.

This hymn my fa­ther liked, as he oft­en told me, as well as any he had ever wri­tten; for though he saw flaws in the po­et­ry, the sub­ject and work­ing out and whole tone of it seemed to him far bet­ter than ma­ny oth­er of his piec­es which had at­tained great­er po­p­ula­r­ity’ (Hymns of Ho­ra­ti­us Bo­nar, p. xxii.).

It was Bi­shop Fras­er of Man­ches­ter’s fa­vour­ite hymn.

Telford, pp. 362–63

Lyrics

When the weary, seeking rest,
To Thy goodness flee;
When the heavy laden cast
All their load on Thee;
When the troubled, seeking peace,
On Thy name shall call;
When the sinner, seeking life,
At Thy feet shall fall:

Refrain

Hear then in love, O Lord, the cry
In Heav’n, Thy dwelling place on high.

When the child, with grave fresh lip,
Youth, or maiden fair,
When the agèd, weak and grey,
Seek Thy face in prayer;
When the widow weeps to Thee,
Sad and lone and low;
When the orphan brings to Thee
All his orphan woe:

Refrain

When the stranger asks a home,
All his toils to end;
When the hungry craveth food,
And the poor a friend;
When the sailor on the wave
Bows the fervent knee;
When the soldier on the field
Lifts his heart to Thee:

Refrain

When the man of toil and care,
In the city crowd,
When the shepherd on the moor,
Names the name of God;
When the learnèd and the high
Tired of earthly fame,
Upon higher joys intent,
Name the blessèd name:

Refrain

When the worldling, sick at heart,
Lifts his soul above;
When the prodigal looks back
To his Father’s love;
When the proud man, in his pride,
Stoops to seek Thy face;
When the burdened brings his guilt
To Thy throne of grace:

Refrain