{"product_id":"elizabeth-scott","title":"1740 ELIZABETH SCOTT. 8 Stanza MSs Hymn by Signifanct Female Hymnist of Great Awakening.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn exceptional original manuscript by Elizabeth Scott (1708–1776), later Elizabeth Scott Williams Smith, a significant 18th-century female hymnwriter and poet who bridged British Nonconformist literary culture and colonial American intellectual history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBorn in England to Independent dissenting minister, theologian, and commentator, Thomas Scott, she composed a vast corpus of over ninety hymns before 1750. She was in fact one of the earliest English-speaking women to have a large body of original hymnody widely adopted across Baptist, Congregational, and Universalist hymnals in both Britain and North America, with her texts published in landmark compilations by John Ash, Caleb Evans, and John Dobell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis specific hymn, beginning \"When Abrah'm, full of sacred awe,\" is one of her most famous national intercessory works, written \"For a Fast Day\" and widely printed in late 18th- and 19th-century American and British hymnals. Drawing on Genesis 18, where Abraham pleads with God to spare Sodom for the sake of a righteous few, the text functions as a solemn, patriotic plea for divine mercy on behalf of a sinful nation. The hymn uses the biblical precedent of Abraham's bargaining to argue that God will spare a country if a faithful remnant continues to offer fervent prayer. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1751, Elizabeth Scott married Colonel Elisha Williams, a prominent Connecticut minister, legislator, and former Rector (President) of Yale College, subsequently emigrating with him to Wethersfield, Connecticut, in early 1752. Following Williams's death, she married the Honorable William Smith in 1761, a distinguished member of the New York Governor's Council and father of the prominent loyalist historian William Smith Jr. Scott lived out the rest of her life in Connecticut, dying in Wethersfield in June 1776 on the eve of American independence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer surviving personal archive of original poetry and hymn manuscripts was bequeathed to Yale University, cementing her status as an extraordinary transatlantic figure who connected English dissenting hymnody with the colonial elite of Connecticut and New York and making any manuscript material from her hand exceptionally rare. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBelow is the complete manuscript text. We don't trace stanza 7 as ever having been published. Dated c.1740. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1 When Abrah'm, full of sacred awe,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBefore Jehovah stood,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd with an humble fervent pray'r,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor guilty Sodom sued;\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2 With what success, what wondrous grace,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWas his petitions crown'd!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Lord would spare, if in the place\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTen righteous men were found.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e3 And could a single, pious soul\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSo rich a boon obtain?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGood God! and shall a nation cry,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd plead with thee in vain?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e4 Britain, all guilty as she is,\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHer several saints can boast;\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd now their fervent prayers ascend –\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd can those prayers be lost?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e5 Are not the righteous dear to thee,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNow, as in ancient times?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOr does this sinful land exceed\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGomorrah in its crimes!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e6 Still are we thine, we bear thy name,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHere yet is thine abode.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLong has thy presence blest our land:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eForsake us not, O God!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e7 Dread Lord, let not thine anger burn,\u003cbr\u003eIf we thy suppliants bow;\u003cbr\u003eAnd say till thou vouchsafe thy grace,\u003cbr\u003eWe will not let thee goe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e8 O may our people, rulers, priests,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThy choicest blessings share;\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd know thee by that glorious name,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"The God who heareth pray'r!\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn far condition, taped at folds, very minor losses. Still very attractive and a significant piece of evengalical, Great Awakening, and female literary history. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Specs Fine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51255900667940,"sku":null,"price":1250.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0093\/3910\/9435\/files\/08-13-2026SpecsFineBooks-85.jpg?v=1787086462","url":"https:\/\/specsfinebooks.com\/products\/elizabeth-scott","provider":"Specs Fine Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}