Wales

GREAT KING OF GLORY, COME

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Great King of glory, come,
And with Thy favor crown
This temple as Thy home,
This people as Thine own;
Beneath this roof, O deign to show
How God can dwell with men below.

Here may Thine ears attend
Our interceding cries,
And grateful praise ascend,
Like incense, to the skies:
Here may Thy Word melodious sound,
And spread celestial joys around.

Here may our unborn sons
And daughters sound Thy praise,
And shine, like polished stones,
Through long succeeding days;
Here, Lord, display Thy saving power,
While temples stand and men adore.

Here may the listening throng
Receive Thy truth in love;
Here Christians join the song
Of seraphim above;
Till all, who humbly seek Thy face,
Rejoice in Thy abounding grace.

About the writer: Benjamin Francis, an English Baptist minister, was born in Wales in 1734. He joined the Baptist Church at 15 and began preaching when only 19. He accepted a call to the Baptist Church at Shortwood in 1757 and remained there until his death in 1799. An earnest and popular preacher, he received calls from London and elsewhere, but refused them all in deep devotion to his flock at Shortwood, He published several small volumes of poetry, among them two books of Welsh hymns.

Key Verse: I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. –Revelation 21:3

Henry, Matthew

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Matthew Henry (1662-1714) was a renowned Bible commentator. He was born in Wales and was educated under the tutelage of his father, a Nonconformist minister. Henry began his career as a jurist but, in 1687, he was ordained a Presbyterian minister and he abandoned the practice of law. He served a church in Chester, England near Liverpool for nearly 25 years. During this time he wrote his multi-volume Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, later renamed Matthew Henry’s Commentaries. His commentaries were unique and greatly influential in that they contained applicational and devotional material in addition to textual exposition.