Scripture Verse

I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim Your righteous deeds, Yours alone. Psalm 71:16

Introduction

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Edward Miller (1735–1807)
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: Ben­ja­min Bed­dome (1717–1795), alt. Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Adapt­ed to Pub­lic Wor­ship, ed­it­ed by R. Hall (Lon­don: Bur­ton & Briggs, 1818), num­ber 31. So­ver­eign and Mys­te­ri­ous.

Music: Rock­ing­ham (Mill­er) Karl P. E. Bach, ar­ranged by Ed­ward Mill­er, 1790 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Bed­dome (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

The King of glo­ry deigns to stoop,
And view His works be­neath the skies;
To Him all na­tions are a drop,
The dust that in the bal­ance lies.

The mount­ains at His pre­sence quake,
And burn­ing coals be­fore Him fly;
The floods re­tire, the ce­dars break,
And rocks and hills in ru­ins lie.

His judg­ments are a bound­less deep,
Beyond the reach of hu­man sense;
Unsearchable His works and ways,
Of na­ture and of pro­vi­dence.

The an­gel ar­mies, hosts of men,
But exe­cute His just de­crees;
He kills and makes al­ive again,
Works when and where and as He please.

The Lord of lords, and King of kings,
Through end­less ag­es still the same;
Let Heav’n and earth His glo­ry sing,
And all His match­less deeds pro­claim.