Lovely him that takes me back to my high school, boarding school days in the early 1960s, in Africa, a hymn not only an awakening call but one of praise that also calls for one’s dedication to the mission of propagating the Gospel. May He reign for ever and ever, amen.
A sure assurance hymn that draws me closer and to God and family. Make me feel his presence. It reminds me of my mother - Doris Mumba Mwansa who had a closer walk with her God and her favourite Psalm 94:9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear? ... A hymn that stands a test of time.
One of the earliest hymns written with a missionary emphasis. This is another of the more than 600 hymns written by Isaac Watts. When this text was written in 1719, the evangelical missionary movement had scarcely begun. It was not until 1779 that William Carey began to stir Christians with their responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission to the heathen. An Anglican Bishop once told Carey, “ Young man, if God wants to save the heathen, he will do so without any help from you. ”
This is considered one of the finest missionary hymns ever written and one of the most widely used. The text, one of the newer metrical versions of the psalms by Watts, is a paraphrase of Psalm 72. It has been sung by missionaries in many different languages.
The story is told of an event in the South Sea Islands in 1862 when 5, 000 natives sang this hymn as their native king replaced a pagan constitution with a Christian one.
The tune, ”Duke Street, ” was composed for this text by John Hatton in 1793. Nothing much is known about Hatton except that he was born in Warrington, England, and that he was killed in a stagecoach accident shortly after composing this tune. The tune is thought to be named after the street on which he lived in the village of St. Hellen’s England. The tune first appeared in Henry Boyd’s “A Select Collection of Psalms and Hymn Tunes in 1793. ” It was originally intended for use with Addison’s setting of Psalm 19.