Godfrey Thring

Born: March 25, 1823, Alford, Somerset, England.

Died:  September 13, 1903, Shamley Green, Surrey, England.

Buried:  Shamley Green, Surrey, England.

    Son of Rev. John Gale Dalton Thring and brother of Lord Thring, Godfrey graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, England. He was ordained in the Anglican church, and was given the rectory at Alford-with-Hornblotton, near Glastonbury. Later, he became Prebendary at Wells Cathedral. While at Alford-with-Hornblotton, Thring wrote a number of hymn volumes, including:

    His Hymns and Poems for the Holy Days and the Festivals of the Church, became well known. Thring’s brother Edward wrote of this work:

Be sure that no painting, no art work you could have done, could have been so powerful for good…As long as the English language lasts, sundry of your hymns will be read and sung…and many a soul of God’s creatures will thrill at your words. What more can a man want? Very likely if you had had all that old heathendom rammed into you, as I had, and all the literary slicing and pruning, and been scissored like me, you would just have lost the freshness and simple touch which makes you what you are. No, my boy, I make a tidy schoolmaster and pass into the lives of many a pupil, and you live on the lips of the Church. So be satisfied. And what does it matter, if we do the Master’s will?

Hymns

  1. All That's Good, and Great, and True
  2. And Now, ’Mid Myriad Worlds Enthroned
  3. Beneath the Church’s Hallowed Shade
  4. Blessed Savior, Thou Hast Taught Us
  5. Blot Out Our Sins of Old
  6. Bowed Down with Sorrow, Sin and Shame
  7. Bulwark of a Mighty Nation
  8. Crown Him with Many Crowns
  9. Dead to Life, Yet Loath to Die
  10. Earth in Robes of Light Arrayed, The
  11. Fierce Raged the Tempest O'er the Deep
  12. For Mercy, Lord, I Cry
  13. Four Days Had Come and Gone to Rest
  14. From the Eastern Mountains
  15. Gird We, Soldiers, for the Battle
  16. God the Father, God the Son, Holy Spirit, Three
  17. Grant us, O Our Heavenly Father
  18. Great Architect of Worlds Unknown
  19. Hail! Sacred Day of Earthly Rest
  20. Hark! Hear Ye Not the Angel Song
  21. Hark! The Vault of Heaven Is Ringing
  22. Hast Thou Sinned? Sin No More
  23. Have We No Zeal for Him Who Died?
  24. Heal Me, O My Savior, Heal
  25. Hear Us, Thou Who Broodest
  26. I Heard a Sound of Voices
  27. In the Name of God the Father
  28. Jesus Came, the Heavens Adoring
  29. Jesu, Heavenly Shepherd
  30. Last Great Day of Work Had Come
  31. Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing
  32. Lord God Almighty, Who Hearest All
  33. Lord of Power, Lord of Might
  34. Lord, Who at Cana's Wedding Feast
  35. Make me Holy, O My Savior
  36. O Death, Thou Art No More
  37. O For the Faith That Knows No Doubt
  38. O God of Mercy, God of Might
  39. O God, the King of Glory, Who
  40. O Mighty God, Creator, King
  41. O Sing to the Lord with a Psalm of Thanksgiving
  42. O Thou Who Dwellest in Realms of Light
  43. O Thou, Who Every Change of Human Life
  44. O Thou, Who from One Blood Didst Make
  45. O Thou Who Madest Land and Sea
  46. O Thou, Who Sittest Enthroned above All Worlds
  47. Ocean Hath No Danger, The
  48. Radiant Morn Hath Passed Away, The
  49. Savior, Blessèd Savior
  50. See the Sun High Heaven Ascending
  51. So Grass, and Herb, and Fruitful Tree
  52. Thou That Sendest Sun and Rain
  53. Thou to Whom the Sick and Dying
  54. Thrice Happy He Whose Tranquil Mind
  55. Thy Love for All Thy Creatures
  56. To Thee, O God, We Render Thanks
  57. Watch Now, Ye Christians
  58. We Know Not, O We Know Not
  59. When o’er the Water’s Misty Deep
  60. With Azure Girdle Circled Round
  61. With Tears and Hearts Bowed Down with Sorrow
  62. Work Is Sweet for God Hast Blest