Scripture Verse

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:34–35

Introduction

portrait
Charles Swain (1801–1874)

Words: Charles Swain, in A Se­lect­ion of Sac­red Songs, ed­it­ed by Eli­as Na­son (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Sax­ton & Pierce, 1842), num­ber 96.

Music: From Ori­ola, by Will­iam B. Brad­bu­ry (New York and Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio: Moore, Wil­stach, Keys & Com­pa­ny and Ivi­son & Phin­ney, 1860), num­ber 186 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Lyrics

Let us love one ano­ther,
Not long may we stay
In this brief world of mourn­ing,
So brief is life’s day;
Some fade ere ’tis noon,
And few lin­ger till eve;
O, there breaks not a heart
But leaves some­one to grieve.

And the fond­est, the pur­est,
The tru­est that met,
Ever still found the need
To for­give and for­get;
Then O, tho’ the hopes
That we nour­ished de­cay,
Let us love one ano­ther
As long as we may.

Thus we’ll love one ano­ther,
’Midst sor­row the worst,
Unaltered and fond
As we loved at the first;
Tho’ the false wing of plea­sure
May change and for­sake,
And the bright urn of wealth
Into par­ti­cles break.

There are some sweet af­fect­ions
That earth can­not buy,
That cling but the clos­er
When sor­row draws nigh,
And re­main with us yet,
Though all else pass away—
Yes, we’ll love one ano­ther
As long as we stay.