The Hidings of the Father's Face

Representative Text

1 From Calvary a cry was heard,
A bitter and heart-rending cry;
My Saviour! every mournful word
Bespeaks thy soul's deep agony.

2 A horror of great darkness fell
On thee, thou spotless, holy One!
And all the swarming hosts of hell
Conspired to tempt God's only Son.

3 The scourge, the thorns, the deep disgrace,--
These thou couldst bear, nor once repine,
But when Jehovah veiled his face,
Unutterable pangs were thine.

4 Let the dumb world its silence break;
Let pealing anthems rend the sky:
Awake, my sluggish soul, awake!
He died that we might never die.

Source: The Voice of Praise: a collection of hymns for the use of the Methodist Church #196

Author: J. W. Cunningham

Cunningham, John William, M.A., was born in London, Jan. 3, 1780, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in honours, and subsequently became a Fellow of his College. In 1802 he was ordained to the Curacy of Ripley, in Surrey. The following year he removed to Ockham, and later to Clapham, where he was curate to the Rev. John Venn, who was the original of Berkeley in The Velvet Cushion. In 1811 he was presented by his family to the Vicarage of Harrow, which he held for fifty years. He died Sept. 30, 1861. He published, in addition to pamphlets on various subjects:— (1) World without Souls, 1805; (2) The Velvet Cushion, 4th ed. 1814; (3) De Ranee, a Poem, 1815; (4) Morning Thoughts on the Gospel of St. Matthew, 18… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: From Calvary a cry was heard
Title: The Hidings of the Father's Face
Author: J. W. Cunningham
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

FEDERAL STREET

Henry Kemble Oliver (b. Beverly, MA, 1800; d. Salem, MA, 1885) composed FEDERAL STREET in 1832, possibly as an imitation of earlier psalm tunes in long meter. He took it to a music class taught by Lowell Mason (who may have contributed to the harmony); Mason (PHH 96) published it in his Boston Acade…

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HAMBURG

Lowell Mason (PHH 96) composed HAMBURG (named after the German city) in 1824. The tune was published in the 1825 edition of Mason's Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music. Mason indicated that the tune was based on a chant in the first Gregorian tone. HAMBURG is a very simple tune with…

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The Cyber Hymnal #1623
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The Cyber Hymnal #1623

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