Scripture Verse

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19–20

Introduction

portrait
William Collyer (1782–1854)

Words: Will­iam B. Coll­yer, Hymns Part­ly Col­lect­ed and Part­ly Orig­in­al (Lon­don: 1812), num­ber 965.

Music: Arn­heim Sam­uel Ho­ly­oke, 1785. Ap­peared in Har­mon­ia Am­eri­ca­na (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: 1791) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Ho­ly­oke (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Assembled at Thy great com­mand,
Before Thy face, dread King, we stand;
The voice that mar­shaled ev­ery star
Has called Thy peo­ple from afar.

Constrained by love to Him who died
Thy church­es pour th’o’er­flow­ing tide;
Midst con­gre­gat­ed thou­sands here,
In all Thine an­cient pow­er ap­pear!

We meet through dist­ant lands to spread
The truth for which the mar­tyrs bled;
Along the line—to ei­ther pole—
The thun­der of Thy praise to roll.

First, bow our hearts be­neath Thy sway,
Then, give Thy grow­ing em­pire way
O’er wastes of sin, o’er fields of blood,
Till all man­kind shall be sub­dued.

Our pray­ers as­sist—ac­cept our praise—
Our hopes re­vive—our cour­age raise—
Our coun­sels aid—and oh! im­part
The sin­gle eye—the faith­ful heart!

Forth with Thy chos­en her­alds come;
Recall the wan­der­ing spir­it home;
From Zi­on’s mount send forth the sound,
To spread the spa­cious world around.