Scripture Verse

Go…teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Matthew 28:20

Introduction

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John Rippon (1751–1836)

Words: Ano­ny­mous. Ap­peared in A Se­lect­ion of Hymns from the Best Au­thors, by John Rip­pon, 15th edi­tion, 1800, num­ber 418. Re­flect­ing the hymn’s Brit­ish source, the last line of the third verse was orig­in­al­ly To this dis­tin­guish’d is­land came.

Music: Whit­by Ab­bey R. Frank Leh­man, 1901 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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R. Frank Lehman (1859–1931)

Lyrics

Go, said the voice of hea­ven­ly love,
My Gos­pel preach to ev­ery land;
Lo! I am with you to the end;
Observe and fol­low My com­mand.

With joy the first dis­ci­ples heard,
And told the ev­er gra­cious news
As they from Him re­ceived in charge,
First, to the un­be­liev­ing Jews:

Then to the Gen­tiles, far and near,
Published sal­va­tion in His name,
And the glad tid­ings of His grace
To many far flung is­lands came.

But ah! to spread their sac­red theme,
How few have our at­tempts been found!
What hea­then lands from us have heard
The glo­ri­ous heart re­viv­ing sound?

To us their du­ty they be­queathed;
And left the pro­mise on re­cord;
And had our ar­dor eq­ualed theirs,
The same had been our blest re­ward.

We too had mul­ti­tudes be­held
Forsake the gods their hands had made,
And the bright beam of hea­ven­ly day
Their yet be­night­ed realms per­vade.

Savior di­vine, our guilt for­give!
Inspire our souls with warm­er zeal!
Pour out Thy Spir­it from on high,
And let us all His in­flu­ence feel!