Great God, how deep thy counsels lie

Representative Text

1 Great God, how deep thy counsels lie:
Supreme in power art thou;
All things to thy omniscient eye,
Are one eternal NOW.

2 Thy thoughts of peace to Israel’s race,
From everlasting flowed;
And when thou hid’st thy lovely face
Thou still art Israel’s God.

3 In ties of blood, and nothing less,
We view thee as our own;
And God the eternal Spirit bless,
Who makes the kindred known.

4 Long as the covenant shall endure,
Made by the great Three-One,
Salvation is for ever sure,
To every blood-bought son.

Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #757

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Author: John Kent

Kent, John, was born at Bideford, Devonshire, Dec. 1766, and died Nov. 15, 1843. As a working shipwright his opportunities for acquiring the education and polish necessary for the production of refined verse were naturally limited. His hymns are strongly worded, very earnest and simple, and intensely Calvinistic. A few were published in Samuel Reece's Collection, 1799. The first edition of his Collection of Original Gospel Hymns, was published in 1803, and the 10th edition, with "The Author's Experience," in verse, 264 hymns, 15 longer pieces, and a Life by his Son in 1861. The Calvinistic teaching so prominent in his hymns has restricted their use to a limited number of collections. The greatest use made of them in modern hymnbooks has bee… Go to person page >

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