Gibbons was ed­u­cat­ed by a Dr. Tay­lor at Dept­ford, Eng­land. Or­dained in 1742, he served as as­sist­ant to Rev­er­end Thom­as Bures at Sil­ver Street Cha­pel, Lon­don. In 1743, he be­came suc­ceed­ed Ro­bert Wright as min­is­ter of the In­de­pend­ent Church at Hab­er­dash­ers’ Hall, where he re­mained un­til his death. In ad­di­tion to his min­is­ter­i­al of­fice, he be­came, in 1754, tu­tor of the Dis­sent­ing Acad­e­my at Mile End in Lon­don; and in 1759, Sun­day ev­en­ing lec­tur­er at Monk­well Street. In 1760, the Coll­ege of New Jer­sey gave him an MA de­gree; in 1764, the Coll­ege of Aber­deen award­ed him a DD. His works in­clude:

• Calvinism and Non­con­for­mi­ty De­fend­ed, 1740
• Juvenilia; Po­ems on Var­i­ous Sub­jects of De­vo­tion and Vir­tue, 1750
• Sermons on Var­i­ous Sub­jects, 1762; in­clud­ed 15 hymns, one for each ser­mon
• Rhetoric, 1767
• Hymns Adapt­ed to Di­vine Wor­ship in Two Books, 1769 & 1784
• The Christ­ian Min­is­ter in Three Po­et­ic­al Epis­tles to Phi­lan­der, 1772
• An Eng­lish Ver­sion of the La­tin Epi­taphs on the Non­con­form­ist’s Me­mor­i­al, 1775
• Female Worth­ies, 2 vol­umes, 1777
• Memoirs of the Rev. Isaac Watts, D.D., 1780
• Select Por­tions of Scrip­ture, and Re­mark­a­ble Oc­cur­renc­es, 1781

Sources

Lyrics

1. And Be It So That Till this Hour
2. Angels, Roll the Rock Away
3. Assist Us, Lord, Thy Name to Praise
4. Eternal Life, How Sweet the Sound
5. Father, Is Not Thy Promise Pledged?
6. Forgiveness, ’Tis a Joyful Sound
7. From Winter’s Barren Clods
8. Great God, the Na­tions of the Earth
9. Happy the Man in Ancient Days
10. Lord God, Omnipotent to Bless
11. Now Let Our Souls on Wings Sublime
12. Now May the God of Peace and Love
13. O What Stupendous Mercy Shines
14. On Zion, His Most Ho­ly Mount
15. Our Father, High Enthroned Above
16. Thy Goodness, Lord, Our Souls Confess
17. To Thee, My God, Whose Presence Fills
18. When Jesus Dwelt in Mortal Clay