Scripture Verse

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13

Introduction

Words: Ben­ja­min Beddome, in the Bris­tol Bap­tist Col­lection of Ash and Ev­ans, 1769.

Music: Boyl­ston Lo­well Ma­son, The Choir, or Un­ion Col­lect­ion of Church Mu­sic (Bo­ston, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Car­ter, Hen­dee, 1832) (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Commentary

This hymn of Rev. Ben­ja­min Bed­dome sounds like a prel­ude to the grand ral­ly of the Chris­tian Church­es a ge­ne­ra­tion lat­er for unit­ed ad­vance into for­eign fields. It was an af­ter-ser­mon hymn— like so ma­ny of Watts and Dodd­ridge—and spoke a good man’s long­ing to see all sects stand shoul­der to shoul­der in a com­mon cru­sade.

Brown, p. 169

Lyrics

Let par­ty names no more
The Chris­tian world o’er­spread;
Gentile and Jew, and bond and free,
Are one in Christ, their head.

Among the saints on earth,
Let mu­tu­al love be found,
Heirs of the same in­her­it­ance
With mu­tu­al bless­ings crowned.

Let bit­ter­ness and wrath
Be ban­ished far away:
Those should in strict­est friend­ship dwell
Who the same Lord ob­ey.

Thus will the church be­low
Resemble that above,
Where streams of plea­sure ev­er flow,
And ev­ery heart is love.