Thomas Jervis › Hymnals

Jervis, Thomas, son of a Presbyterian Minister of the same name, was born at Ipswich in 1748, and educated for the Ministry at Hoxton. In 1770 he was appointed classical and mathematical tutor at the Exeter Academy. From 1772 to 1783 he was tutor to the sons of the Earl of Shelburne, at Bowood, where Dr. Priestley was librarian. In the latter year Jervis succeeded Dr. A. Rees at St. Thomas's Southwark, moving in 1796, after the death of Dr. Kippis, to the Princes' St. Chapel, Westminster. From 1808 to 1818 he was minister at the Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds. After his retirement he lived in the neighbourhood of London, and died there in 1833. Jervis was one of the four editors of A Collection of Hymns & Psalms for Public & Private Worship, London, 1795. He contributed 17 hymns to the 1st ed., and 4 to its Supplement, 1807. Of these several are found in later Unitarian collections in Great Britain and America, including:—
1. God to correct a guilty world. Divine Providence.
2. Great God, Thine attributes divine. Confidence in God.
3. Lord of the world's majestic frame. Praise a Duty.
4. Shall I forsake that heavenly Friend? Constancy desired.
5. Sweet is the friendly voice which [that] speaks. Peace to the Penitent.
6. Thou, Lord, in mercy wilt regard. Penitence.
7. With sacred joy we lift our eyes. Divine Worship. This is given in Laudes Domini, N.Y., 1884, as: "With joy we lift our eyes."
These hymns all date from 1795, and the most popular are Nos. 4 and 6. [Rev. Valentine D. Davis, B.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)