56. How gentle God’s commands
Philip Doddridge, 1702-51
This hymn, beautiful in poetic imagery, is based on I Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon Him: for He careth for you.” When it first appeared, posthumously, in a book of hymns by the author, it bore the title, “God’s care a remedy for ours.”
Philip Doddridge was born in London, the youngest of a family of twenty, most of whom died in childhood. His father was an oil merchant. Before he could read, he had learned from his mother the stories of the Bible by the aid of Bible pictures on the Dutch tiles that covered a portion of the living room. Doddridge became a minister in the Congregational Church and devoted his life not only to preaching, but to writing books and teaching young men for the ministry. In 1751, he went to Lisbon to seek relief from tuberculosis but died there. He is the author of over 400 hymns, a few of which have survived, and are found in most hymn books. The Hymnary contains six of his compositions.
MUSIC. DENNIS. For comments on this tune see [Hymn 41].