"Dear Lord and Father of Mankind"

After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still small voice.
I Kings 19:12

The American poet, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), wrote the words to this hymn as part of a longer poem. Sunday's Old Testament reading from I Kings was part of his inspiration.


Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.

Go here to see the text of all of the verses.

And be sure to go here to see this hymn sung by the Westminster Abbey choir and congregation. (Remember to first silence the blog music at the sidebar on the right.)

The music in this version of the hymn was written by British composer C. Hubert Parry (1848-1918). The photo is of Westminster Abbey.