338. How are Thy servants blest
Joseph Addison, 1672-1719
A hymn of the Christian traveller, particularly descriptive of the experience of many Christian missionaries. It is known as the “Traveller’s Hymn” and has been found useful as a part of the daily devotions by Christians journeying in foreign lands.
It appeared in ten stanzas in the Spectator for September 20, 1712, at the end of an article on “Greatness,” with special reference to the greatness and awesomeness of the sea. The hymn was “made by a gentleman upon the conclusion of his travels.” Returning in 1700 from the terrors of a voyage on the Mediterranean Sea, Addison gives here, years afterwards, a picture of his own trying experiences. The second stanza describes some of the hardships through which he passed. The omitted stanzas (3, 4, 5, 7, 8) of the hymn picture the storm at sea, its subsidence, and the traveller’s trust in God. They are as follows:
3.
Thy mercy sweetened every soil,
Made every region please:
The hoary Alpine hills it warmed,
And smoothed the Tyrrhene seas.
4.
Think, O my soul, devoutly think
How with affrighted eyes
Thou sawest the wide-extended deep
In all its horrors rise!
5.
Confusion dwelt in every face,
And fear in every heart;
When waves on waves, and gulfs on gulfs,
O’ercame the pilot’s art.
7.
When by the dreadful tempest borne
High on the broken wave,
They know Thou art not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.
8.
The storm is laid, the winds retire,
Obedient to thy will;
The sea, that roars at thy command,
At thy command is still.
For comments on Joseph Addison see [Hymn 50].
MUSIC. KILMARNOCK appeared in England as a Psalm tune in Parochial Psalmody: a New Collection of the Most Approved Psalm Tunes.... By J. P. Clark, Second Edition, 1831.
The composer, Neil Dougall, 1776-1862, son of a shipwright, went to school until he was 15, then took to the sea. Three years later he met with an accident which resulted in the loss of his eyesight and his right arm. He then took up the study of music and for 45 years was a successful teacher of singing classes. He wrote about 100 psalm and hymn tunes.