10. "O BLEST AND ONLY POTENTATE"

(Words and music, Uncle Davey, Cambridge, 1986. Tune name "Alexandra".) In fact this is the only one of the hymns where I prefer my own tune, Alexandra, which is also an 8888 metre tune, but you can also use an 8886 metre tune such as Saffron Walden by omitting the repetition of words, or the words 'for me' 'spotless' and 'till death' respectively, in the last line of each verse. This midi is inferior to the others, which I sourced I have said from cyberhymnal.org , as I did it myself and neither my equipment nor my skill is anything to write homepage about...

My suggested chord progression, if the melody starts on E, is C, C, d, e, C / C, G, e, F, G7 / d, d, e, F, G7 / d, F, d, F, C, (G7).

The hymn was written as a one-off, at a different time, rather later than the others, after it seemed that I had stopped writing hymns. I did not even keep it over the years in the same book with the others. Nevertheless, it must be evident that it is much of a muchness with the other hymns written by me, possibly the best of them from a poetic viewpoint, with much theology. Probably if someone felt they could take only one hymn from my collection and add it to a hymn book for use in churches, I suppose I would most rather that this one were chosen, especially as it has its own tune, with number six as possibly second choice.

As befits a closing hymn, this one is based on a New Testament doxology, in this case a pauline doxology to Timothy, that tells us among many other verses that Christ is God. If you have been looking at all the hymns from the beginning of the collection to this, the end, thank you for your patience in bearing with me. I consider it a tremendous priviledge to have a readership, and am always delighted with any feedback, either by mail or on the site's bulletin board. Do feel free as I said at the outset to send similar hymns, and I will in due course extend the collection to contain other old-style hymns by modern authors. Another project I have in mind for the not-too-distant future is a page linking to my most favorite hymns of all time. God bless, and please enjoy the articles and other parts of my site.

First published 27th June 2004, Tune first published 23rd January 2005.Go back to list of hymns, Go back to home page or Go to Bulletin Board
(NB. The picture to the right was taken in 1985, this is almost how I looked when I wrote this hymn.)

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1.
O blest and only Potentate,
Thou King of Kings and Lord of Lords
I look unto Thy mercies great
And I am lost, am lost for words.

2.
Thou didst in kindness set Thy love
Upon this wicked soul of mine
E'en or Thou camest from above
E'en or the sun, the sun did shine.

3.
Thou hast in anguish lovéd me
When beat the sun upon Thy brow
When nailéd to the accurséd tree
For me at Calvary wast Thou.

4.
T'was then all bleeding on the rood
That Thou didst mine atonement make
Thou didst eclipse the wrath of God
In dying, dying for my sake.

5.
Although Thou righteous art alway
And glorious in Thine holiness
Yet didst Thou take my plague away
And clothe me, clothe me in Thy dress.

6.
Christ, Thou hast scanned mine inmost thought
Yea, known mine every grief and care
And Thou hast intercession wrought
And holy, spotless made my prayer.

7.
Shall I not say; Thou art my King?
My Lord and God I shall adore
Thy name proclaim, thy glories sing
Henceforth, till death, and evermore.

Direct links to the other hymns in the collection:

Hosted by www.nkjv.org. Member of On-line Christ Centred Ministries. Midi and links to composers' biographies are referenced entirely from www.cyberhymnal.org (courtesy of their kindly copyright policy).

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