Come, we that Love the Lord

with
MARCHING TO ZION
ST. THOMAS

I. Text: Sources

This hymn by Isaac Watts (1674–1748) was first published in his Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707 | Fig. 1), in ten stanzas of four lines, without music, and headed “Heavenly joy on earth.” In the second edition (1709), he revised stanzas eight and ten (Fig. 2). 

Fig. 1. Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707).

Fig. 2. Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 2nd edition (1709).

II. Text: Analysis

Although the title describes a hymn about earthly joys, only some of the stanzas speak about earthly worship gatherings, while the remainder of the hymn looks forward to celestial worship. Watts looked to the latter to inspire the former. The first stanza is a call to worship, thus this hymn is often used in that regard. The second stanza seems to respond to an ideology or complaint which sees religion as a barrier to earthly pleasure. Regarding these lines, David W. Music offered, “As Watts sees it, religion does not take pleasure away for Christians but simply diverts it from the things of the world to the things of God.”[1] The third stanza is an admonition to sing, and refers to singing as a proper sign of and response to knowing God; the natural response to his goodness is praise. Stanza four is a description of the God mentioned in stanza three, and it reflects biblical language pertaining to his power over creation, found in places like Psalm 104, Psalm 107, or Job 38, and it references storm and sea, like many other great hymns such as “Eternal Father, strong to save,” or “We'll understand it better by and by.” The fifth stanza continues the same thought and initiates the transition of focus upward into heavenly realms (“awful” should be interpreted as “awe-full” or “amazing”).

The rest of the hymn describes features of heaven, although stanzas seven and eight describe how the promise of heaven should provide seeds of joy during the present state. Zion is the name of the hill in Jerusalem on which the temple stood, but it also refers to the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22, Rev. 14:1; see also Ps. 2:6). A modern worshiper singing about a hill with “a thousand sacred sweets” might conjure images of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, but Watts likely had other treasures in mind. The final stanza calls on worshipers to put away sadness and march in confidence toward greater things above. J.R. Watson believed this stanza was reminiscent of Isaiah 35:10 (“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away”).

As with all of Watts’ hymns, the brackets indicate which stanzas should be omitted if the hymn is deemed to be too long to sing or print as a whole.

III. Text: Development

One notable variant of the text is from the editorial hand of John Wesley (1703–1791), who altered the text for his Collection of Psalms and Hymns (Charlestown, 1737), omitting stanzas two and nine, and changing the opening stanza from first person plural (“we”) to second person plural (“ye”). This was repeated with minor revisions in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780 | Fig. 3), and from there it was accepted into many Methodist collections in preference over Watts’ original text.

Fig. 3. A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists, ed. John Wesley (1780).

Another long-standing variant, changing “favorites of the heavenly King” to “children of the heavenly King,” is very old, tracing as far back as The Saint’s Divine Triumphs in Christ (1758), and it was included in A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1760), edited by Martin Madan.

IV. Tunes

1. MARCHING TO ZION

The hymn initially appeared with a multitude of tunes, with little agreement among collections and tune books. In the United States, the most popular setting has been MARCHING TO ZION, written by Robert Lowry (1826–1899), first published in The Victory (1869 | Fig. 4). It did not appear in his collection Silver Spray (1868), as is often reported in other hymnological commentaries. The original arrangement was written in four parts, with the melody in the second part. Lowry created a chorus, drawing words from Watts’ final two stanzas.

2. ST. THOMAS

Another common tune setting is ST. THOMAS, by Aaron Williams (1731–1776). This tune is an excerpt (phrases 5–8) of his longer tune, HOLBORN, from The Universal Psalmodist (1763 | Fig. 5). This setting was in four parts, melody in the third part, and it was paired with Charles Wesley’s “Soldiers of Christ, arise.”

In 1769 or 1770, Williams shortened the tune and renamed it ST. THOMAS’S for his Psalmody in Miniature (1769/70) and his New Universal Psalmodist (1770 | Fig. 6), where it was set to Isaac Watts’ paraphrase of Psalm 48, “Great is the Lord our God.” Williams might have either given this shortened tune idea to or taken it from Thomas Knibb’s The Psalm Singers Help (ca. 1769). Knibb had paired it with another Watts paraphrase, “Behold the lofty sky,” from Psalm 19. The exact progression of these collections is difficult to determine.

ST. THOMAS has proven to be more enduring and more useful than HOLBORN. It is known to many worshipers via the hymn “I love thy kingdom, Lord” by Timothy Dwight (1752–1817), and it can be found set to many other texts. The connection between this tune and “Come, we that love the Lord” seems to have started with John Cole’s The Beauties of Psalmody, 2nd ed. (1805), a connection which has now lasted over 200 years.

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
17 July 2018
rev. 27 October 2022

Footnotes:

1. David W. Music, “Come, we that love the Lord,” Repeat the Sounding Joy (2020), p. 71.

Related Resources:

Donald C. Brown, “Come, we that love the Lord,” Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), p. 112.

Carlton R. Young, “Come, we that love the Lord,” Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), pp. 302–303.

Nicholas Temperley, “ST. THOMAS,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3B (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), no. 411.

J.R. Watson, “Come, we that love the Lord,” An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), pp. 127–129.

Leland Ryken, “Come, we that love the Lord,” 40 Favorite Hymns on the Christian Life (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2019), pp. 34–37: Amazon

David W. Music, “Come, we that love the Lord,” Repeat the Sounding Joy: Reflections on Hymns by Isaac Watts (Macon, GA: Mercer, 2020), pp. 69–78: Amazon

Hymn Tune Index:
http://hymntune.library.uiuc.edu/default.asp

“Come, we that love the Lord,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/come_we_that_love_the_lord_and_let_our

ST. THOMAS, Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/tune/st_thomas_williams