Retirement and Meditation

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Far from the world, O Lord, I flee

Author: William Cowper
Published in 268 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Piano/Organ
	Easy Organ Library, Vol. 52

Choral
	O God of Life

Instrumental
	The Peace of Christ

Representative Text

1 Far from the world, O Lord, I flee,
From strife and tumult far;
From scenes where Satan wages Still
His most successful war.

2 The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With prayer and praise agree;
And seem by thy great bounty made
For those who follow thee.

3 There, if thy Spirit touch the soul,
And grace her mean abode;
Oh! with what peace, and joy, and love,
She then communes with God.

4 Author and Guardian of my life!
Sweet Source of light divine,

Source: Laudes Domini: a selection of spiritual songs, ancient and modern for use in the prayer-meeting #37

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Author: William Cowper

William Cowper (pronounced "Cooper"; b. Berkampstead, Hertfordshire, England, 1731; d. East Dereham, Norfolk, England, 1800) is regarded as one of the best early Romantic poets. To biographers he is also known as "mad Cowper." His literary talents produced some of the finest English hymn texts, but his chronic depression accounts for the somber tone of many of those texts. Educated to become an attorney, Cowper was called to the bar in 1754 but never practiced law. In 1763 he had the opportunity to become a clerk for the House of Lords, but the dread of the required public examination triggered his tendency to depression, and he attempted suicide. His subsequent hospitalization and friendship with Morley and Mary Unwin provided emotional st… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Far from the world, O Lord, I flee
Title:	Retirement and Meditation
Author:	William Cowper
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Far from the world, O Lord, I flee. W. Cowper. Retirement.] In 1765, when the poet had recovered his balance of mind and had to leave the charge of Dr. Cotton at St. Albans, under whose care he had been placed by his family, his friends

"Subscribed amongst themselves an annual allowance, such as made his own diminished means just sufficient to maintain him respectably, but frugally, in retirement, and left him to follow his own course. His resolution to withdraw from the business of the world, and from its society, occasioned those poems which, because of the circumstances that gave rise to them, belong properly to the personal history of an author.

Far from the world, O Lord, I flee,
From strife and tumult far;
From scenes where Satan wages still
His most successful was.'"

Southey, from whose Life and Works of William Cowper, edition 1853, vol. i. pp. 105-6, the above is taken, quotes the complete hymn, and then goes on to say:—

“After many unsuccessful attempts to procure lodgings nearer Cambridge, John Cowper wrote to say he had found some at Huntingdon, which he believed might suit him."

On Saturday, June 22, 1765, Cowper was taken to Huntingdon by his brother, and there left alone.

"No sooner," says Cowper, "had he left me, than finding myself surrounded by strangers, and in a strange place, my spirits began to sink, and I felt (such was the backsliding state of my heart) like a traveller in the midst of an inhospitable desert, without friend to comfort, or a guide to direct him. I walked forth, towards the close of the day, and in this melancholy frame of mind, and having wandered about a mile from the town, I found my heart, at length so powerfully drawn towards the Lord, that having a retired and secret nook in the corner of a field, I kneeled down under a bank and poured forth my complaints before him. It pleased my Saviour to hear me, so that this oppression was taken off, and I was enabled to trust in him that careth for the stranger, to roll my burden upon him, and to rest assured that wheresoever he might cast my lot, the God of all consolation would still be with me. But this was not all. He did for me more than either I had asked or thought.”

The following day, Sunday, June 23, 1765, Cowper attended church for the first time after his recovery. He was specially impressed by the devotion of one of the worshippers, and with the reading of the Gospel of the day (1st S. after Trinity), which contained the parable of the Prodigal Son. He says:—

"I went immediately after church to the place where I had prayed the day before, and found the relief I had there received was but the earnest of a richer blessing. How shall I express what the Lord did for me, except by saying,that he made all his goodness to pass before me. 1 seemed to speak to him face to face, as a man conversing with his friend, except that my speech was only in tears of joy, and groanings which cannot be uttered. I could say indeed with Jacob, not 'how dreadful,' but how lovely, ’is this place! This is none other than the house of God.' "—Southey, i. pp. 108-9.

Although Southey does not say that this hymn was written on this special occasion, and although he quotes the hymn three pages before he gives these details, yet, when we read in stanza ii.,

"The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With prayer and praise agree;
And seem, by Thy sweet bounty, made
For those who follow Thee,"

we feel that these must have been the circumstances and this the birthplace of the hymn. If so, its date will be June 23, 1765.
The publication of this hymn we have not been able to trace beyond the Olney Hymns, 1779, Book iii., No. 45, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed "Retirement." We have seen it stated that it appeared in the Gospel Magazine prior to this, but this is an error. Its use is extensive for a hymn of so personal a character. It is very beautiful, and its associations with the poet's personal history give it a position of historical importance.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Tune

WELLINGTON (Gauntlett)

ABINGTON

REDHEAD No. 66

All tunes published with 'Retirement and Meditation'^ top

Timeline

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Media

Scores
Audio

The Cyber Hymnal #10485

PDF (PDF)
Noteworthy Composer Score (NWC)

MIDI file from The Cyber Hymnal #10485

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Page Scans

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University Hymns: with tunes arranged for men's voices (1907), p.61

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Instances

Instances (1 - 100 of 268)

A Selection of Hymns, adapted to the devotions of the closet, the family, and the social circle; and containing subjects appropriate to the monthly concerns of prayer for the success... #136

Additional Hymns set forth by the House of Bishops at the request of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, in General Convention, October 1865; to be used in the congregations of the Protestant Ep.. #266

Congregational Hymn and Tune Book; containing the Psalms and Hymns of the General Association of Connecticut, adapted to Suitable Tunes #613

Hymns, Selected and Original, for Public and Private Worship, published by General Synod for the Evangelical Lutheran Church. 68th ed. (8th rev. ed.) #d189

Selection from Tate and Brady's Version of the Psalms; with Hymns by Various Authors, for the Church in Brattle-Square #d63

Pages

Exclude 267 pre-1979 instances

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Piano/Organ Easy Organ Library, Vol. 52 CREATIVE ORGANIST II, THE The Peace of Christ More Piano/Organ...
Choral O God of Life Good Shepherd, You Are Ever Near More Choral...
Instrumental Praise...With Stringed Instruments Sing It Simply (25 Congregational Hymn Accompaniments for Piano, with opt. Guitar, Bass, and Handbells) More Instrumental...
Handbells The King of Love My Shepherd Is The King of Love My Shepherd Is SONGS OF THE SHEPHERD More Handbells...

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Retirement and Meditation

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Far from the world, O Lord, I flee

Representative Text

Author: William Cowper

Text Information

Notes

Tune

Timeline

Arrangements

Piano/Organ

Choral

Instrumental

Handbells

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #10485

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Instances

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