God of the covenant, Lord God Almighty

A further puzzle accompanies this hymn, as with the previous one, since apart from the author’s dates, virtually nothing is known of her beyond the strong theology of this text which again comes in CH and GH alone among recent books. There it is included in the Trinitarian sections; here it introduces a small group of hymns specifically devoted to God’s covenant. Jessie Webb seems to have come from nonconformist stock, and (like Fanny Crosby) lived for nearly a century, from 1866 to 1964. She thus spans the time between The church’s one foundation (or Tell me the old, old story) and Christ triumphant.

The popular EPIPHANY HYMN, also set to these words in CH (while GH has SPRINGFIELD) was composed when Joseph Thrupp was 21 but apparently not published until 1863. It featured in Turle’s Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship, but gained wide acceptance through the Bristol Tune Book. There is was set to Brightest and best of the sons of the morning (387) with which it has generally been associated ever since, and which gives it its name.

b 1866, d 1964. The only information we have about the author, as Cliff Knight notes, is that she lived to be 98, thus exceeding even Fanny Crosby (van Alstyne). No.274.