The author of this hymn, Philip Doddridge, was born in London in 1702, the youngest of twenty children. Philip’s mother died when he was eight, and his father died when the boy was thirteen, leaving Philip an orphan. Only one of his siblings, a sister, lived to adulthood.
He was reared by caring neighbors. Samuel Clarke, a Presbyterian minister, supported him in his studies as a young man. Doddridge was offered an education that would prepare him for ordination in the Church of England, but he chose instead to become a nonconformist pastor. He eventually became one of the most influential English Dissenters of the eighteenth century. He was pastor of the same church in Northampton for twenty years, where he also established a school for training nonconformist pastors and taught most of the subjects himself. In 1751, he contracted tuberculosis and went to Portugal in hopes of improving his health. It was too late, and he died there within a few months at the age of forty-nine.
Both of Philip’s grandfathers were pastors who died before he was born, but their legacy had a profound influence on him. His paternal grandfather was a Church of England pastor. In 1662, Parliament passed the “Act of Uniformity” that required all clergy and public officials to conform to the Church of England's revised Book of Common Prayer. When Philip’s grandfather and about 2,000 other pastors refused to conform, they were ejected from the Church. Many became nonconformist pastors and endured many restrictions and persecutions imposed on Dissenters. His maternal grandfather was a Lutheran pastor in Prague who had to flee to England in 1626 to escape persecution when Emperor Ferdinand II tried to force Catholicism on all of his subjects.
Doddridge served as a pastor at a time of great religious turmoil. He did much to encourage and unite the nonconformists. Part of his ministry that has been almost forgotten is his hymn writing. As his friend Issac Watts, a fellow pastor and hymnwriter, did, Philip also wrote about 400 hymns to accompany his sermons, but they weren’t published during his lifetime. Historian Bernard Lord Manning claimed that Doddridge’s hymns, along with those of Watts’, were “the crowning glory of Independent hymnology.”
“How Gentle God’s Commands” was published in 1755 after Doddridge’s death. This comforting hymn reflects the author’s unusual ability to convey doctrinal truth in a warm, caring way. It reminds the believer that God’s commands are not burdensome but gentle and kind. Christians are encouraged to bring every burden, fear, and sorrow to the Lord, knowing that He cares for them. Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. (1 Peter 5:7)
1. How gentle GOD’s commands!
How kind his precepts are!
“Come, cast your burdens on the LORD,
And trust his constant care.”
2. While providence supports,
Let saints securely dwell;
That hand, which bears all nature up,
Shall guide his children well.
3. Why should this anxious load
Press down your weary mind?
Haste to your heav’nly Father’s throne,
And sweet refreshment find.
4. His goodness stands approved
Down to the present day;
I’ll drop my burden at his feet,
And bear a song away.
All rights reserved. Without the express written permission of the publisher, this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted, whether in whole or in part, in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopy, storage retrieval system, recording, or any other.
Subscribe to our emails