Come, We That Love the Lord

This hymn, written by Isaac Watts and published around 1707, was a call to sing praise to God. It’s hard to believe today, but at one time the church warred within itself over what songs should be sung, or if there should be singing at all. Watts made his thoughts known in his third verse (typically sung as the second) when he said “Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God”.

Verse 1
Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.

Verse 2
The sorrows of the mind
Be banish’d from the place;
Religion never was design’d
To make our pleasures less.

Verse 3
Let those refuse to sing,
That never knew our God;
But fav’rites of the heav’nly King,
May speak their joys abroad.

Verse 4
The God that rules on high,
And thunders when he please,
That rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas;

Verse 5
This awful God is ours,
Our Father and our Love;
He shall send down his heav’nly powers
To carry us above.

Verse 6
There we shall see his face,
And never, never sin;
There, from the rivers of his grace,
Drink endless pleasures in.

Verse 7
Yes, and before we rise
To that immortal state,
The thought of such amazing bliss
Should constant joys create.

Verse 8
The men of grace have found
Glory begun below;
Celestial fruits on earthly ground
From faith and hope may grow.

Verse 9
The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Or walk the golden streets.

Verse 10
Then let our songs abound,
And ev’ry tear be dry;
We’re marching thro’ Immanuel’s ground
To fairer worlds on high.

From “The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts”

%d bloggers like this: