Category: The Psalms of Davey – My hymns

The Psalms of Davey is a cycle of ten hymns written by me many years ago, in England and in Russia. I may add to them one day, but in the main I said in these hymns what I wanted to say in the main, and they make up a cycle I am happy with. Please go ahead and sing them in your meetings. The links to the tunes are given in the posts wherever possible.

Psalm of Davey #6 – For Me To Live Is Christ

This is the sixth of my cycle of ten Hymns, called “The Psalms of Davey”. They are being reproduced in a special category on this blog one after another. In only one case is the tune my own (that’ll be number ten). In other cases, please follow the links to get to the midi for the tunes, courtesy of http://www.cyberhymnal.org

6. “FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST”

Words Uncle Davey, Voronezh, Russia, 10th October 1985. Music Robert Jackson (1842-1914) Tune name “Trentham”. The tune appears to be named after the village of Trentham near Stoke-on-Trent, England, which has a pleasant lake backed by hills and the river Trent and the canal nearby. It is my favourite of the four famous tunes we have from this composer. It is of course a Short Meter tune, and ideal for meditative hymns. Most commonly it is sung to “Breathe on me breath of God”.

First published on the net on 24th April 2004

(NB. The picture to the right was taken in 1985, this is how I looked when I wrote this hymn.)

1.
For me to live is Christ,
For me to die is gain
Lord, may this blessed truth me guide,
In comfort and in pain.

2.
Not I it is who live
But Christ doth dwell within.
My former, carnal self hath died
And I am dead to sin.

3.
The life which now I live
I live by faith alone,
In Christ who loved me and gave
Himself, me to atone.

4.
So may the Lord restrain
Me from all other plea
And may the cross of Christ my God
My only glory be.

“”For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”(Philippians 1 v 21) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2 v 20) “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6 v 14)

Psalms of Davey #5 – O Lord of Hosts, I bow to Thee

This is the fifth of my cycle of ten Hymns, called “The Psalms of Davey”. They are being reproduced in a special category on this blog one after another. In only one case is the tune my own (that’ll be number ten). In other cases, please follow the links to get to the midi for the tunes, courtesy of http://www.cyberhymnal.org

5. “O LORD OF HOSTS, I BOW TO THEE”

(Words Uncle Davey, Voronezh, Russia, 5-7 October 1985. Music Dmitry Stepanovich Bortniansky (1751-1825) Tune name “Russia”. The tune is well known in both Protestant and Catholic Churches, one of the more frequent songs of worship heard in Poland , though to a slightly different arrangement. The tune will also go well with “Ombersly” (see the previous hymn) by William Henry Gladstone. I also composed a tune for this called “Alexandra”, but as yet I have no midi for it.)

First published on the net on 4th April 2004
(NB. The picture to the right was taken in 1985, this is how I looked when I wrote this hymn.)

1.
O Lord of Hosts, I bow to Thee
With all my heart, on bended knee
But Lord, my soul is dank and dim,
Like foisty tinder, soiled by sin.

2.
Fain would I, Lord, to Thee make haste
Pour forth my prayer, nor moment waste.
Yet deep within my soul I glare
And see vague guilt still lurking there.

3.
O search me, Lord, and try my heart
O sift my soul in every part!
O may I all the substance see
Of how I have offended thee.

4.
O how unworthy I have been
My very nature how unclean;
How selfish, hard and proud and cold
How full of vanities untold.

5.
Yet all this wrong, O Lord of might,
Is not too much for Thee to right:
For Christ the Lamb who bore my pain
Could not have suffered death in vain.

6.
Whilst I consider, by Thy grace,
This spotless Lamb who took my place
And bore my curse, may I begin
To brim with thankful love within.

7.
Then may I pour forth raptured praise
And bless the Lord’s most holy ways,
For He, my strength and shield and song
Now my salvation is become.

“The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.”(Psalm 118 v 14)

The Psalms of Davey #4 – O Precious Saviour Draw Thee Near

This is the fourth of my cycle of ten Hymns, called “The Psalms of Davey”. They are being reproduced in a special category on this blog one after another. In only one case is the tune my own (that’ll be number ten). In other cases, please follow the links to get to the midi for the tunes, courtesy of http://www.cyberhymnal.org

4. “O PRECIOUS SAVIOUR, DRAW THEE NEAR”

Words Uncle Davey, Voronezh, Russia, 2nd October 1985. Music William Henry Gladstone (1840-1892) Tune name “Ombersley”. The composer was the eldest son of British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone, and was himself a member of parliament for twenty years. The tune is named for his political constituency, but despite the political aspect, I have to say I consider it to be one of the finest gentle devotional tunes, borne out of the composer’s painstaking study of the history of sacred music.)

First published 4th April 2004

1.
O precious Saviour, draw thee near,
For Thy sweet mercy’s sake, me hear
I am a sinner, lost and lone,
Gracious Lord, take me for Thine own.

2.
O blessed Saviour, in Thy grace
Within mine heart take sovereign place.
O Lord, accept this lowly throne:
Gracious Lord, take me for Thine own.

3.
Lord Jesus, Thou dost reign on high
Yet dost to my poor soul draw nigh,
And Thou dost hear my sin-sick groan
And Thou dost take me for Thine own.

4.
Lord! Hold me back from tempting schemes
And from fulfilling sinful dreams.
How can I now such sin condone?
For I am Thine, and not mine own.

5.
Lord, of my will, and mind and heart,
O take control in every part!
Make me no more to satan prone:
I am not his, I am Thine own.

6.
Lord, since Thou dost within me dwell
Do Thou me keep from pow’rs of hell.
For Thou hast suffered to atone
All those whom Thou dost call Thine own.

7.
And at times end, when sinners all
Before God’s judgement seat shall fall,
Those who ne’er did repent shall moan
That they remained, till death, their own.

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Corinthians 6 vv 19-20)

Psalms of Davey #3 – Thou Art The Lord Who Art Highly Exalted

This is the third of my cycle of ten Hymns, called “The Psalms of Davey”. They are being reproduced in a special category on this blog one after another. In only one case is the tune my own (that’ll be number ten). In other cases, please follow the links to get to the midi for the tunes, courtesy of http://www.cyberhymnal.org

3. “THOU ART THE LORD WHO ART HIGHLY EXALTED”

Words Uncle Davey, Voronezh, Russia, 1985. Music Alexey Fyodorovich Lvov Tune name “Russian Hymn”, also known as “The Tsarist national anthem” – the pre-Revolutionary Russian National Anthem. This is one of the finest national anthems in the world and not currently used as an anthem by any country, but the first two lines of the verse will be familiar from Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture, where it is mixed with the crash of the cannon and snatches of ‘La Marsellaise’ to produce one of the most evocative pieces of classical music ever composed. At present, Russia, being a republic, chose after the dismantling of the Soviet Union by the power of God and the prayer of the Church, to retain for itself instead of a Tsarist hymn, the old Soviet anthem known as “Soyuz nerushimy” but with new, pluralist words. The Tsarist hymn is not even widely known among the youth of Russia today, the most the man in the street is likely to remember are the three opening words; “Bozhe, tsarya khrani!” (“God save the King”) To which I can only say that the Tsar of all the Russias now cannot be saved by God. For God himself, the LORD Jesus Christ, is Tsar of all the Russias and of all earthly and heavenly dominions, and Vladimir Putin, who is to my mind a very good President for the Russian Federation, is but an instrument in His hands. So the best use for this majestic piece of music is as a hymn to God. It is widely sung in English speaking Churches throughout the world to the hymn “God of the covenant, triune Jehovah”, and also for “God the omnipotent king who ordaineth” which are both much finer hymns than this is, but nevertheless, maybe this will catch someone at the right mood and be a source of comfort or inspiration.

1.
Thou art the Lord who art highly exalted,
Far over earth and Thy creatures below
Thou art the sov’reign of all creation,
Thou standest sure when to ashes we go.

2.
We are rebellious, thou art yet sov’reign
Thou hast our life breath in Thine holy hand
Sinners, we howl in our hard-hearted stupor
Still Thou art king, and Thy statutes all stand.

3.
We are idolatrous, Thou art the true God
Thou art o’erall and Thou rulest in pow’r.
Search, Lord, our hearts, and, saviour, within us
Shatter the brickwork of Babylon’s tow’r.

4.
Thou art almighty, Thou art all-holy
All heathen gods are but ashes and dust.
Thou art the Judge and Thou art the Saviour
Thy works declare Thou art perfect and just.

“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18v25b)

Psalms of Davey 2/10 “Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation”

 


The above shows the only recorded actual use of one of my hymns in public worship, and it is this very hymn.  Many thanks to John Sapieha and the congregation of Primeira Igreja Batista em Botafogo (First Baptist Church in Botafogo) at an English language service on 16th Dec 2018.
This is the second of my cycle of ten Hymns, called “The Psalms of Davey”.  They will be reproduced in a special category on this blog one after another. In only one case is the tune my own (that’ll be number ten). In other cases, please follow the links to get to the midi for the tunes, courtesy of http://www.cyberhymnal.org

2. “ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, HOLY NATION”

This one was written in Hemel Hempstead on August 1985, but verse 3 was added in November 1988. Music Franz J. Haydn 1797 Tune name “Austria“, also known as “Das Deutschlandlied” – the German National Anthem. When I wrote this I had a mind to use the East German national anthem “Auferstanden aus Ruinen und der Zukunft zugewandt” for this hymn, and in this way to reclaim for God a Communist tune, but since shortly afterwards the prayers of many people were answered and Communist hegemony in East Germany crumbled away as all the principalities that ruled Luther’s land at any time, the point became moot, and I prefer the anthem of the united Germany for this hymn. They became a united nation, but one day the elect from all over the world will be united as one.)

1.
Royal Priesthood! Holy Nation!
Shew forth praises of your God!
Hail Him, chosen generation,
Who hath washed you in His blood!
From before the ages’ dawning
He His own elect hath known
Who, on Resurrection’s morning
Worshipping, shall throng His throne.

2.
Ye were bound in sin’s perdition
Wand’ring lost in blackest night
Jesus called you to contrition
Shone you o’er with marvellous light!
On that threshold of salvation
Lo! Your hearts felt newborn thrill;
There ye joined the Holy Nation
And that Nation waxeth still.

3.
Yea, the Lord himself hath claimed you
Through the work of God the Son.
In electing grace He named you
By Christ’s merit ye are won
In the extradition glorious
Ye shall meet Him face to Face
When the Church shall rise victorious
To her endless dwelling-place.

4.
What a calling! What redemption!
Thus our gracious God we bless.
How could we not sing His praises?
To His name give holiness!
Worship, chosen generation,
Praise, ye ransomed by His blood
Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation
Bow your hearts before your God!

“…But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10. Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)