Scripture Verse

If the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Romans 11:16–17

Introduction

portrait
Charles H. Gabriel (1856–1932)

Words: Is­aac Watts, Hymns and Spi­ri­tu­al Songs, Book 1, 1707, num­ber 114. Ab­ra­ham’s bless­ing on the Gen­tiles.

Music: Sar­ah (Ga­bri­el) Charles H. Ga­bri­el, 1901 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Cornelius the Centurion
Gioacchino Paglie, 1878

Lyrics

Gentiles by na­ture, we be­long
To the wild ol­ive wood;
Grace took us from the bar­ren tree,
And grafts us in the good.

With the same bless­ings grace en­dows
The Gen­tile and the Jew;
If pure and ho­ly be the root,
Such are the branch­es, too.

Then let the child­ren of the saints
Be de­di­cate to God;
Pour out Thy Spi­rit on them, Lord,
And wash them in Thy blood.

Thus to the par­ents and their seed
Shall Thy sal­va­tion come,
And nu­mer­ous house­holds meet at last
In one eter­nal home.