A voice upon the midnight air

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A voice upon the midnight air

Author: James Martineau (1840)
Tune: CRUX CRUDELIS
Published in 44 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

Piano/Organ
	In the Cross of Christ

Representative Text

1 A voice upon the midnight air,
Where Kedron's moonlit waters stray,
Weeps forth in agony of prayer,
"O Father, take this cup away."

2 Ah! Thou who sorrowest unto death,
We conquer in Thy mortal fray;
And earth for all her children saith,
"O God, take not this cup away."

3 O Lord of sorrow, meekly die:
Thou'lt heal or hallow all our woe;
Thy Name refresh the mourner's sigh,
Thy peace revive the faint and low.

4 Great Chief of faithful souls, arise:
None else can lead the martyr-band,
Who teach the brave how peril flies,
When faith, unarmed, lifts up the hand.

5 O King of earth, the cross ascend;
O'er climes and ages 'tis Thy throne:
Where'er Thy fading eye may bend,
The desert blooms, and is Thine own.

6 Thy parting blessing, Lord, we pray:
Make but one fold below, above;
And when we go the last lone way,
O give the welcome of Thy love.

Amen.

The Hymnal: Published by the authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1895

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Author: James Martineau

Martineau, James, LL.D., D.D., born at Norwich, April 21, 1805, the son of a manufacturer and wine merchant of Huguenot descent. After four years at the Norwich grammar school, and two as a pupil of Dr. Lant Carpenter, at Bristol, and a short experience in the shops of a mechanical engineer at Derby, he entered as a Divinity student in Manchester College, York. His first ministry was at Eustace St. Chapel, Dublin [1828-32], as assistant to his cousin, the Rev. Philip Taylor. From 1832 to 1857 he was in Liverpool, as minister of the congregation meeting in Paradise St. Chapel, and from 1849 in the new Hope St. Church. In 1840 he was appointed professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Economy in Manchester New College and in 1857… Go to person page >

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First Line:	A voice upon the midnight air
Author:	James Martineau (1840)
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Publication Date:	1840
Copyright:	Public Domain

Matthew 26:36-39
(hymns)

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Notes

A voice upon the midnight air. [Passiontide.] Dr. Martineau informs us that this hymn was contributed to his Hymns for the Christian Church & Home, 1840. It is No. 218, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and is given as "Anonymous." It has since appeared in many Unitarian collections in Great Britain and America.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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