Favourite Music

DEAR LORD AND FATHER OF MANKIND

Words

1 Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper rev’rence praise, in deeper rev’rence praise.

2 In simple trust like theirs who heard, beside the Syrian sea,
the gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word,
rise up and follow thee, rise up and follow thee.

3 O Sabbath rest by Galilee! O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love! interpreted by love!

4 With that deep hush subduing all our words and works that drown
the tender whisper of thy call, as noiseless let thy blessing fall
as fell thy manna down, as fell thy manna down.

5 Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace, the beauty of thy peace.

6 Breathe through the heats of our desire thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small voice of calm! O still small voice of calm!

Background Information

The tune Repton, which it is usually sung to, is from C H H Parry’s oratorio Judith (1888) - ‘Long since in Egypt’s plenteous land’. This tune was first used to the words of Dear Lord and Father of mankind in The Repton School Hymn Book in 1924. Repton is a famous English public school. (Parry died in 1918).

The background to the words is somewhat amusing! They were written by John Greenleaf Whittier, who was a poet, and as a devout Quaker didn’t intentionally write hymns. ‘Hymn notes for church bulletins’ by Arthur C Lovelace (GIA Publications Inc) goes on to explain that the words came from a poem entitled The Brewing of Soma. After describing the religious frenzy produced by drinking Soma, he prays that God will ‘forgive our foolish ways’ and ‘reclothe us in our rightful mind’. The words that follow are full of allusions to Scripture and very beautiful. (Whittier died in 1892.)

This is a favourite hymn of many (as seen by its popularity on Songs of Praise) and it is interesting that the words were never intended to be sung, and the tune and words were not linked until after both the composer and author were dead.