Providence; or God Working All Things After the Council of His Own Will

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Thy ways, O Lord, with wise design

Author: Ambrose Searle (1786)
Published in 85 hymnals

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	Six Preludes for the Church Year

Representative Text

1 Thy ways, O Lord, with wise design,
Are framed upon Thy throne above,
And ev'ry dark and bending line,
Meets in the center of Thy love.

2 With feeble light, and half obscure
Poor mortals Thine arrangements view,
Not knowing that the least are sure,
And, the mysterious just and true.

3 Thy flock, Thine own peculiar care,
Tho' now they seem to roam uneyed,
Are led or driven only where
They best and safest may abide.

4 They neither know nor trace the way:
But whilst they trust Thy guardian eye,
Their feet shall ne'er to ruin stray,
Nor shall the weakest fail or die.

5 My favored soul shall meekly learn
To lay her reason at Thy throne;
Too weak Thy secrets to discern,
I'll trust Thee for my Guide alone.

Amen.

Source: The Lutheran Hymnal #530

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Author: Ambrose Searle

Serle, Ambrose, a Commissioner in the Government Transport Office, was b. Aug. 30, 1742, and d. Aug. 1, 1812. He published Horae Solitariae: or Essays upon some remarkable Names and Titles of Jesus Christ, &c, 1786. In this work short hymns are appended to some of the articles, and of these, "Jesus commissioned from above" (Redemption), and "Thy ways, O Lord, with wise design" (Providence), have passed into several collections. Serle was also the author of other works. The Rev. E. Bickersteth published Selections from the Works of Ambrose Serle, in 1833. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907) Go to person page >

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First Line:	Thy ways, O Lord, with wise design
Title:	Providence; or God Working All Things After the Council of His Own Will
Author:	Ambrose Searle (1786)
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Source:	Rippon's Collection
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain