Words: John But­tress, prob­ab­ly 1778, alt.

This hymn in the Am­eri­can [Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal] Hys. 1849, 1879, and oth­ers, is giv­en in [Low­ell] Ma­son and [Da­vid] Greene’s [Church] Psal­mo­dy, 1831, as from the Ev­an­gel­ic­al Mag.

It is es­sen­ti­al­ly dif­fer­ent from the hymn Hail, sac­red truth, thou source of peace, in the Gos­pel [Ma­ga­zine], 1778, p. 55, and there signed John But­tress.

John Ju­li­an, p. 1568

Music: Bal­ler­ma Fran­çois H. Bar­thé­lé­mon (1741–1808). Adapt­ed by Ro­bert Simp­son in A Se­lect­ion of Or­ig­in­al Sac­red Mu­sic, 1833 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you have ac­cess to a good pic­ture of But­tress (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or a bet­ter one of Bar­thé­lé­mon,