Aug 4, 2023

Philip Doddridge (2)

The song, “O Happy Day” is positively joyful. Joy resounds from start to finish. The opening line of this repurposed 1755 hymn by Philip Doddridge (1702-1751) establishes an upbeat tone, “O Happy Day that fixed my choice on thee, My Savior and my God.”
Philip wrote the hymn to underscore the theme in his sermon from 2 Chronicles, “They entered into covenant to seek the Lord with all their heart and soul” (2 Chron. 15.12-14). He was reluctant to have his hymns published, but after his death, three hundred seventy of his hymns made it into print including “O Happy Day.” In the mid 1800’s, Edward Rimbault supplied an updated tune and added a chorus to the song. The words of the chorus inspired Edward Hawkins 1968 version of the song, “Happy Day, happy day when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day; happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.”

Philip Doddridge faithfully served his congregation in London for twenty-two years. His book The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul was dedicated to another well-known hymn writer. Isaac Watts. The great abolitionist William Wilberforce traced his spiritual awakening to Philip’s book. Yesterday, we reflected on the first half of his confessional prayer. Here is its fitting conclusion:

I am so barely animated by your love, or interested in serving you,
that a stranger might talk with me for a long while
and not have a clue that I knew you
or had even ever heard of you.
You call me to your house,
Lord, on your own day.
But my worship is heartless.
I present you with nothing more than my body.
My thoughts and affections are engrossed in other things.
I draw near you with my mouth,
and honor you with my lips,
but my heart is far from you.
You call me to your table,
but my heart is so frozen,
it hardly melts even at the fot [thought] of the cross.
It hardly feels any power in the blood of Jesus.
I am such a wretched creature,
unworthy of being called yours!
Unworthy of a place among your children,
even the lowest place in your family.
I am worthy to be cast out, forsaken, even utterly destroyed.
Lord, I am too ashamed to stand or kneel before you.
But pity me, I beg you, to help me.
My soul lays itself in the dust before you.
Give me life according to your word.
Do not let me waste any more time,
I am at the edge of a cliff.
Give me grace to turn toward your testimonies,
without further delay,
that I may keep your commandments.
Search me, Lord, and try me.
Get to the root of this disease
which spreads itself over my soul and heal me.
Show me my sin, Lord, that I may see its horror.
Show me Jesus in such a light
that I may look upon him and mourn,
that I may look upon him and love.
May I awaken from this lethargy
into which I am sinking,
and may Christ give me
a more abundant spiritual life than ever.
Alive in him, let me recover the ground I have lost
and then gain yet more!
Send your Spirit on me to dwell in a temple
consecrated to Jesus
and may he direct my holy and acceptable sacrifice of service.
May the incense be constant and fragrant!
May the sacred fire burn and blaze perpetually.
And may none of its vessels ever be profaned
by unholy or forbidden use.
Amen.

Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.