Plunged in a gulf of deep despair
Plunged in a gulf of deep despair. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
First published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), Book II, ‘Composed on Divine Subjects, Conformable to the Word of God’, where it was entitled ‘Praise to the Redeemer’. It had eight 4-line stanzas. It began:
Plung’d in a Gulph of dark Despair We wretched Sinners lay, Without one chearful Beam of Hope, Or Spark of glimmering Day.
With pitying Eyes the Prince of Grace Beheld our helpless Grief, He saw, and (O amazing Love) He ran to our Relief.
This dramatic opening, with Christ as a life-saver, was weakened by Martin Madan* in his Collection of Psalms and Hymns, Extracted from Several Authors (1760), who changed ‘ran’...
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The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 13 Feb. 2026.<
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Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Plunged in a gulf of deep despair."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed February 13, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/p/plunged-in-a-gulf-of-deep-despair.