1 Indulgent Sovereign of the skies,
And wilt thou bow thy gracious ear
While feeble mortals raise their cries,
Wilt thou, the great Jehovah, hear?
2 How shall thy servants give thee rest,
Till Zion's mouldering walls thou raise?
Till thine own power shall stand confess'd,
And make Jerusalem a praise?
3 Look down, O God, with pitying eye,
And view the desolation round;
See what wide realms in darkness lie,
And hurl their idols to the ground.
4 Lord, let the gospel-trumpet blow,
And call the nations from afar,
Let all the isles their Saviour know,
And earth's remotest ends draw near.
5 Let Babylon's proud altars shake,
And light invade her darkest gloom;
The yoke of iron bondage break
The yoke of Satan and of Rome.
6 On all our souls let grace descend,
Like heavenly dew in copious showers,
That we may call our God our friend,
That we may hail salvation ours.
7 Then shall each age and rank agree.
United shouts of joy to raise:
And Zion made a praise by thee,
To thee shall render back the praise.
Source: Hymns, Selected and Original: for public and private worship (1st ed.) #582
First Line: | Indulgent Sovereign of the skies |
Author: | Philip Doddridge |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
Indulgent Sovereign of the skies. P. Doddridge. [Fast Day.] In the Doddridge Manuscript this hymn, No. 76, is headed "God intreated for Jerusalem. A hymn for a Fast Day, from Isa. lxii., 6, 7," and is dated "Jan. 4, 1739." It is also in the Brooke Manuscript. It was published in Doddridge's (posthumous) Hymns, &c, 1755, No. 120, in 10 stanzas of 4 lines, with the heading changed to “God intreated for Zion; Isaiah lxii., 6,7. For a Fast Day; or, A Prayer for the revival of Religion;" and repeated in J. D. Humphreys's edition of the same, 1839, No. 136. It is usually giver, in the hymn-books in an abridged form, and sometimes as "Thou glorious Sovereign of the Skies.”
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)