Creator of the earth and skies

Here is my 26th entry in the Lenten Hymn-of-the-Day project.

The words are by David W. Hughes (1911-1967) and the music is taken from a melody and bass by Jeremiah Clarke (1670-1707), with the harmony coming from "Songs for Liturgy and More Hymns and Spiritual Songs", 1971.

Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674 – 1 December 1707), English baroque composer and organist is thought to have been born in London around 1674, Clarke was a pupil of John Blow at St Paul's Cathedral. He later became an organist at the Chapel Royal. He is best remembered for a popular keyboard piece: the "Prince of Denmark's March", which is commonly called the "Trumpet Voluntary", written about 1700.

"A violent and hopeless passion for a very beautiful lady of a rank superior to his own" caused him to commit suicide. Before shooting himself, he considered hanging and drowning as options, so to decide his fate, he tossed a coin; however, the coin landed in the mud on its side. Instead of consoling himself, he chose the third method of death, and performed the deed in the cathedral churchyard. Suicides were not generally granted burial in consecrated ground, but an exception was made for Clarke, who was buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral.

ONE FULL VERSE of INTRODUCTION.

Creator of the earth and skies,
To whom the words of life belong,
Grant us your truth to make us wise;
Grant us your power to make us strong.

We have not known you: to the skies
Our monuments of folly soar,
And all our self-wrought miseries
Have made us trust ourselves the more.

We have not loved you: far and wide
The wreckage of our hatred spreads,
And evils wrought by human pride
Recoil on unrepentent heads.

For this, our foolish confidence,
Our pride of knowledge and our sin,
We come tp you in penitence;
In us the work of grace begin.

Teach us to know and love you, Lord,
And humbly follow in your way.
Speak to our souls the quickening word,
And turn our darkness into day.