Dear friend of friendless sinners, hear

Dear friend of friendless sinners, hear. Rowland Hill* (1744-1833). In Hill’s A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, chiefly intended for Public Worship (1783) this hymn is entitled ‘A prayer for the promised Rest’. It had five 6-line stanzas, each ending with the same phrase, ‘the promis’d rest’ or ‘thy promis’d rest’, with the final one as ‘my promis’d rest’. The first is a good example of the hymnody of the evangelical revival: Dear friend, of friendless sinners hear And magnify thy grace divine: Pardon a worm that would draw near, That would his heart to thee resign. A worm, by self and sin opprest, That pants to reach thy promis’d rest. It was commonly found in hymnbooks in the...