God Moves in Mysterious Ways
“Light Shining out of Darkness” is a 1773 poem and hymn lyric by William Cowper,[1] which is commonly better known in hymn settings as "God Moves in Mysterious Ways". The poem is the likely source for the phrase "God moves in mysterious ways", although the first line of the poem actually runs "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm."[2] The poem, the last hymn text that Cowper wrote, was written following his attempted suicide while living at Olney. John Newton published the poem the next year in his Twenty-six Letters on Religious Subjects; to which are added Hymns (1774).
Tunes
Cowper's poem is usually set to the hymn tune Dundee, from Scottish Psalter (1615)[3] Alternate tunes include Belmont, by William Gardiner (1812), London New, from Psalms (Edinburgh 1635), Manoah, as arranged by Henry Greatorex (1851), St. Anne, by Chapel Royal composer William Croft (1708) as well as Union, from Select Number of Plain Tunes, by Andrew Law (1781).
References
- ^ The Columbia Anthology of British Poetry p.383 edited by Carl Woodring, James Shapiro
- ^ David Wilkinson When I Pray, What Does God Do? 2015 0857216058- Page 75 "The phrase is known perhaps most famously in William Cowper's 1774 hymn which has this first verse: God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm."
- ^ LindaJo H. McKim The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion 0664251803 1993 p.192 "Dundee appears in the Scottish Psalter (1615). For comments on the tune, see hymn 234. 270 O God, in a Mysterious Way Tune: Dundee The text was written by William Cowper in 1773 after he attempted suicide while living at Olney. This, the last hymn Cowper wrote, was first published in John Newton's Twenty-six Letters on religious Subjects; to which are added Hymns (1774). "
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