Gracious Power, the world pervading
Gracious Power, the world pervading. William Johnson Fox* (1786-1864).
First published in Fox’s Hymns and Anthems (1841), in six 3-line stanzas. It is a characteristic Unitarian hymn, addressing God as the ‘Gracious Power’ that gives wisdom, light and love, ‘and the soul of thought and feeling’. Stanza 2 is normally omitted in modern books: it rejects ‘formal adorations’ and a penitential attitude, in favour of the human spirit at its finest:
Not in formal adorations, Nor with servile depredations, But in spirit true and free.
This noble hymn is understandably not found in many orthodox books, but it is included in the Unitarian Hymns of Worship Revised (1962) and in the more...
If you have a valid subscription to Dictionary of Hymnology, please log inlog in to view this content. If you require a subscription, please click here.
MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Gracious Power, the world pervading."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 16 Jun. 2019.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/g/gracious-power,-the-world-pervading>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Gracious Power, the world pervading."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed June 16, 2019,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/g/gracious-power,-the-world-pervading.