Great God! thy kingdom come

1. Great God! thy kingdom come,
With reverence would we pray,
May the eternal Three-in-One
His sovereign sceptre sway.

2. May grace triumphant reign,
And Christ exalted be;
Sinners, deserving endless pain,
Thy great salvation see.

3. May mercy, truth, and peace,
Fill each believer’s soul,
And the sweet kingdom of thy grace,
Their raging lusts control.

4. May love and harmony
Among thy saints abide,
Thy presence set each bosom free
From enmity and pride.

5. Go on, thou mighty God,
Thy wonders to make known,
Till every sinner bought with blood,
Shall trust in thee alone.

6. Thus let thy kingdom come,
And free salvation reign,
Till all thy saints arrive at home,
And never part again.

(Written by William Gadsby, this is #683 in A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship)

William Gadsby (1773-1844) was a minister of the Strict and Particular Baptists in England. For 38 years he was pastor of the Strict Baptist church at Manchester, England. He was the first editor of The Gospel Standard periodical. He compiled a selection of hymns (including many of his own) and published them in a hymnbook entitled A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship in 1814. It is one of the oldest English hymnbooks still used for congregational worship.

Gadsby was the son of John Gadsby and Martha Lingard, born January 3, 1773 in Warwickshire. In 1793 he was baptized by the Particular Baptist church at Cow Lane in Coventry. He was ordained in 1800 and became the pastor of St. Georges Road Particular Baptist Chapel in 1805. Gadsby died January 27, 1844 at age 71 and was buried at the Rusholme Road Cemetery in Manchester. For more information on William Gadsby and his hymnbook, see the doctoral dissertations “Engaging the Heart: Orthodoxy and Experimentalism in William Gadsby’s A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship,” by Deborah A. Ruhl.

As a common meter hymn, it can be effectively set with most any good common meter tune.