Scripture Verse

They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. 2 Chronicles 15:12–14

Introduction

portrait
Edward F. Rimbault (1816–1876)

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 23: Re­joic­ing in our co­ve­nant en­gage­ments to God. The re­frain is from Wes­ley­an Sac­red Harp, 1854. Prince Al­bert of Bri­tain re­quest­ed this hymn be sung at his child­ren’s con­fir­ma­tion.

Music: Ano­ny­mous; re­frain at­trib­uted to Ed­ward F. Rim­bault, 1854 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

  • Ayrton in Car­mi­na Sac­ra, by Low­ell Ma­son (Bos­ton Mas­sa­chu­setts: John H. Wil­kins & Ri­chard B. Car­ter, 1844), page 56 (🔊 pdf nwc)
portrait
Philip Doddridge
(1702–1751)

Anecdote

The his­tor­ic scene at Shang­hai, Chi­na, when the head of the Chi­nese Re­pub­lic, Ge­ne­ral Chiang Kai Shek, re­ceived the rite of Christ­ian bap­tism, has been pre­served for us by the Rev. J. C. Hawk, a mis­sion­ary of the Me­tho­dist Church (at that time the Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, South). This was the re­port gi­ven in some Am­eri­can pe­ri­od­icals at the time:

“On Oc­to­ber 23, 1930, at 3 o’clock, P. M., mem­bers of the im­me­di­ate fa­mi­ly and a few spe­ci­al­ly in­vit­ed friends, Chi­nese and for­eign, joined in this ser­vice at the home of Mrs. Chiang’s mother, Mrs. K. T. Soong…Dr. Z. T. Kaung, pas­tor of the All­en Me­mor­ial Church, Shan­ghai, was in charge of the ce­re­mo­ny.

The ser­vic­es were held in the large re­cep­tion room…All sang to­ge­ther ‘Hap­py Day.’ Then the ri­tu­al ce­re­mo­ny of the Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, South, for bap­tism and re­ception in­to the church was read by Dr. Kaung. Mr. [sic] Chiang stood by the side of Ge­ne­ral Chiang, and he…followed the ser­vice and an­swered quiet­ly, but ve­ry clear­ly, each quest­ion as it was asked by the min­is­ter. The sac­ra­ment of the Lord’s sup­per was then ad­min­is­tered.

Singularly strange and deep­ly im­press­ive must it have been when that lit­tle com­pa­ny in Chi­na, on such a me­mo­ra­ble oc­ca­sion, unit­ed in sing­ing

Happy day, hap­py day,
When Jesus washed my sins away.

Hart, pp. 27–28

Lyrics

O hap­py day, that fixed my choice
On Thee, my Sav­ior and my God!
Well may this glow­ing heart re­joice,
And tell its rap­tures all abroad.

Refrain

Happy day, hap­py day,
When Je­sus washed my sins away!
He taught me how to watch and pray,
And live re­joic­ing ev­ery day
Happy day, hap­py day,
When Je­sus washed my sins away.

O hap­py bond, that seals my vows
To Him who mer­its all my love!
Let cheer­ful an­thems fill His house,
While to that sac­red shrine I move.

Refrain

’Tis done: the great trans­act­ion’s done:
I am the Lord’s and He is mine;
He drew me, and I fol­lowed on;
Charmed to con­fess the voice di­vine.

Refrain

Now rest my long di­vid­ed heart,
Fixed on this bliss­ful cen­ter, rest;
With ash­es who would grudge to part
When called on an­gels’ bread to feast?

Refrain

High Heav­en, that heard the so­lemn vow,
That vow re­newed shall dai­ly hear,
Till in life’s lat­est hour I bow
And bless in death a bond so dear.

Refrain