Scripture Verse

My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to You. Psalm 71:23

Introduction

portrait
Edward Hodges
(1796–1867)

Words: Hen­ry J. van Dyke, 1907. Van Dyke wrote this hymn while stay­ing at the home of Har­ry A. Gar­field at Will­iams Col­lege, Mas­sa­chu­setts. It was first pub­lished in the 1911 Pres­by­ter­ian Hym­nal. It al­so ap­peared in the Po­ems of Hen­ry van Dyke (New York: Charles Scrib­ner’s Sons, 1911), pag­es 232–33.

Music: Ode an die Freude, from the 9th Sym­pho­ny, 4th Move­ment, of Lud­wig van Beet­ho­ven, 1824. Ar­ranged by Ed­ward Hodg­es, 1864 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Henry J. Van Dyke
(1852–1933)

Background

These vers­es are sim­ple ex­press­ions of com­mon Chris­tian feel­ings and de­sires in this pre­sent time—hymns of to­day that may be sung to­ge­ther by peo­ple who know the thought of the age, and are not afr­aid that any truth of sci­ence will de­stroy re­li­gion, or any re­vo­lu­tion on earth over­throw the king­dom of hea­ven. There­fore this is a hymn of trust and joy and hope.

Lyrics

Joyful, joy­ful, we adore Thee,
God of glo­ry, Lord of love;
Hearts un­fold like flow­ers be­fore Thee,
Praising Thee, their sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sad­ness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of im­mor­tal glad­ness,
Fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy sur­round Thee,
Earth and Heav’n re­flect Thy rays,
Stars and an­gels sing around Thee,
Center of un­brok­en praise:
Field and for­est, vale and mount­ain,
Blooming mea­dow, flash­ing sea,
Chanting bird and flow­ing fount­ain
Call us to re­joice in Thee.

Thou art giv­ing and for­giv­ing,
Ever bless­ing, ev­er blest,
Well-spring of the joy of liv­ing,
Ocean-depth of hap­py rest!
Thou our Fa­ther, Christ our bro­ther,
All who live in love are Thine:
Teach us how to love each oth­er,
Lift us to the joy di­vine.

Mortals, join the migh­ty chor­us,
Which the morn­ing stars be­gan;
Father-love is reign­ing o’er us,
Brother-love binds man to man.
Ever sing­ing march we on­ward,
Victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful mu­sic leads us sun­ward
In the tri­umph song of life.