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SDA HYMNAL (1985) WORSHIP

SDAH 064: Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing

WORSHIP >> CLOSE OF WORSHIP

SDAH 64

Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing;
fill our hearts with joy and peace;
let us each, thy love possessing,
triumph in redeeming grace.

Text
Text

1
Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing;
fill our hearts with joy and peace;
let us each, thy love possessing,
triumph in redeeming grace.
O refresh us, O refresh us,
traveling through this wilderness.

2
Thanks we give and adoration
for thy gospel’s joyful sound.
May the fruits of thy salvation
in our hearts and lives abound;
ever faithful, ever faithful
to the truth may we be found.

Hymn Info
Hymn Info


Biblical Reference
(a) Num 6:24, 26 (b) Isa 52:7, Gal 5:22

Author
John Fawcett (1730-1817)

Year Published
1773

Hymn Tune
SICILIAN MARINERS

Metrical Number
8.7.8.7.4.7.

Tune Source
Tattersall’s Improved Psalmody / 1794

Theme
CLOSE OF WORHIP

Hymn Score

Piano Accompaniment


Notes

Get to know the hymns a little deeper with the SDA Hymnal Companion. Use our song leader’s notes to engage your congregation in singing with understanding. Even better, involve kids in learning this hymn with our homeschooling materials.

This hymn first appeared in A Supplement to the Shawbury Hymn Book, 1773, but without signature or credit given to the author, which was not uncommon at that time. The first indication as to the author comes in a Nonconformist collection entitled Selection of Psalms for Social Worship, 1786, where it is signed “F”, which in the authors’ list represents J. Fawcett. The editor does admit that the accuracy of this list is only as good as his memory. However, in 1791, in the seventh edition of A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, compiled by J. Harris, a Nonconformist minister from Hull, the full name of Fawcett is given. Seeing that John Fawcett himself was a Baptist minister, it is likely that the identification is correct.

The hymn recalls the Aaronic blessing “The LORD bless thee, and keep thee… and be gracious unto thee… and give thee peace” (Num 6:24, 25). This is all the more apt, as the last line of the first stanza has been changed to “Wilderness” from the original “in this dry and barren place.” Fawcett also wrote SDAH 350, “Blest Be the Tie That Binds.”

John Fawcett was born on January 6, 1740, near Bradford, Yorkshire. At the age of 16 he was converted by the evangelist George Whitefield. In 1765 he was ordained as a Baptist minister, serving at Wainsgate (see SDAH 350). In 1782 he published a collection of 166 of his own hymns, Hymns Adapted to the Circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion, although this hymn and other that he wrote are not included. In his preface to this book, he wrote: “When I have digested my thought on some portion of God’s Word, I have frequently attempted to sum up the leading ideas, in a few plain verses, to be sung after the sermon; that so they might be more impressed on my own heart and on the heart of my hearers.” In 1811 Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, granted him an honorary D.D. degree. He died at Hebden Bridge, Halifax, Yorkshire, July 25, 1817.

SICILIAN MARINERS was included in The European Magazine and London Review of November 1792, where it is set to  “The Sicilian Mariner’s Hymn to the Virgin.” It appeared later in other collections, taking with it the tune name SICILIAN MARINERS. Today in Sicily the tune is unknown, but it does resemble some folk tunes of southern France. The European Magazine says that Sicilian sailors sing the hymn when the sun sets, and an 1866 source says that the Venetian gondoliers sang it, especially on St. Mary’s Day.

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