Gracious Lord, incline Thine ear. W. Hammond. [Christ desired.] First published in his Psalms & Hymns, 1745, p. 258, in 10 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed "I am sick of love. Cant. ii. 5," the opening stanza reading: —
“Gracious Lord, incline Thine Ear,
My Complaint vouchsafe to hear;
Faint and Sick of Love am I,
Give me Christ, or else I die."
In 1787 Dr. Rippon, on including the hymn in his Baptist Selection, No. 296, omitted stanzas ii., vii. and ix., and re-wrote stanza i., thus:—
"Gracious Lord, incline Thine ear,
My request vouchsafe to hear;
Hear my never-ceasing cry;—
Give me Christ, or else I die."
This form of the hymn is in use amongst the Baptists, both in England and America. Another form in 6 stanzas (omitting stanzas ii., vi., vii., ix. was given in Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody,1833, No. 644, with stanza i. as:—
“Gracious Lord, incline Thine ear,
My request vouchsafe to hear;
Burden'd with my sins I cry,
Give me Christ, or else I die."
This form of the hymn is in limited use in the Church of England.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)