Come let us join our friends above
General information
This is an hymn by Charles Wesley, 1759, from Funeral Hymns, Hymn 1. It has been widely revised. Original meter is 86. 86. D (C.M.D.), often split into 86. 86 (C.M.).
"The use of the hymn, either in full or in altered or abbreviated form, has extended to all English-speaking countries. … there are also the following hymns which are derived therefrom:
- . “The saints on earth and those above.” This appeared in the Appendix to the 6th ed. of Cotterill’s Selection 1815, No. 227 … It is composed: Stanza i. From Isaac Watts’s Hymns & Spiritual Songs, 1709, Bk. 2, No. 152, St. 5, which reads: 'The saints on earth and all the dead / But one communion make; / All join in Christ, their living head, / And of His grace partake.' This is altered to: 'The saints on earth and those above / But one communion make: / Joined to their Lord in bonds of love, / All of His grace partake.' St. 2-5 are st. 2, 3 lines 1-4, and 5 lines 4-8, of [Wesley's hymn], slightly altered.
- . “Let saints below join saints above.” This appeared in Murray’s Hymnal, 1852, and is C. Wesley's text partly rewritten, and reduced to 6 st. of 4 lines.
- . "Let saints on earth in concert sing.” This … is Murray’s arrangement of Wesley’s text as above with the omission of [the first half of] st. 1. This is altered in the Harrow School Hymns, 1857, to “Let all below in concert sing.”
- . “Come, let us join our friends above, whose glory is begun.” This, in the Marlborough College Hymns, 1869, is C. Wesley’s text somewhat altered, and with many of the lines transposed.
The combined use of the original and these altered forms of the text is very extensive in all English-speaking countries" (John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology 1907, p. 248.
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- Anonymous — Let saints on earth in concert sing English SATB
Text and translations
English text Charles Wesley, 1759 |
Francis Murray, A Hymnal, 1857 |
The New English Hymnal, 1986 |
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