Scripture Verse

…teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16

Introduction

Words: Phi­lip Dodd­ridge (1702–1751). Pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly in Hymns Found­ed on Va­ri­ous Texts in the Ho­ly Scrip­tures, by Job Or­ton (Shrop­shire, Eng­land: Jo­shua Ed­dowes & John Cot­ton, 1755), num­ber 69: Sing­ing in the ways of God.

Music: State Street Jo­na­than C. Wood­man, 1844 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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

portrait
Philip Doddridge (1702–1751)

Lyrics

Now let our voic­es join,
To form one plea­sant song,
Ye pil­grims in Je­ho­vah’s ways,
With mu­sic pass along.

How straight the path ap­pears,
How op­en, and how fair!
No lurk­ing sins t’en­trap our feet,
No fierce de­stroy­er there.

But flow­ers of pa­ra­dise
In rich pro­fu­sion spring;
The Sun of Glo­ry gilds the path,
And dear com­pan­ions sing.

See Sa­lem’s gold­en spires
In beau­te­ous pros­pect rise;
And bright­er crowns than mor­tals wear,
Which spar­kle through the skies.

All hon­or to His name,
Who drew the shin­ing trace,
To Him, who leads the wan­der­ers on,
And cheers them with His grace.

Reduce the na­tions, Lord,
Teach all their kings Thy ways,
That earth’s full choir the notes may swell,
And Heav’n re­sound the praise.