This beautifully structured hymn was written in April 1947 by Albert Frederick Bayly (1901-1984; see Biographies). It is virtually a paraphrase of various scriptures describing the action of God penetrating human hearts.

SONG 13 is from George Wither’s Hymns and Songs of the Church, 1623, a book that was unique for its time because it was not a psalter. All of Gibbons’ tune were in this one book, and each of them was originally written in two parts. In Wither’s book, which was never published because it contained unauthorized hymns, each tune was named after a particular “song” or text to which it should be sung, according to their number. This one was for the thirteenth song, which had stanzas of six lines, but the melody for the last two pairs of lines was repeated so the tune is equally suitable as a four-line melody.  Also called CANTERBURY for the place of Gibbons’ death, it is used again at SDAH 374 for “Jesus, With Thy Church Abide.”

Orlando Gibbons was baptized Christmas Day, 1583, at St. Martin’s Church, Oxford. His father was one of the town musicians.  Orlando was in Kings’ College Choir, Cambridge, at age 13, and in 1605 became organist of the Chapel Royal. He held that position for the rest of his life (20 years). He received the B.Mus. from Cambridge in 1606, and in 1622 the honorary D.Mus. was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford. Becoming organist at Westminster Abbey in 1623, he conducted of music for the funeral of King James I. Unfortunately, he fell ill and died at Canterbury Cathedral, June 5, 1625, at the early age of 42, and was buried there. His compositions include anthems, several services for worship, and a wealth of polyphonic choral music. Somehow, his hymn tunes were not appreciated until Ralph Vaughan Williams (see Biographies) introduced them in the English Hymnal, 1906; this brought about their revival, which has lasted until the present time.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.