OJO NLA

Words: Philip Doddridge, refrain from Wesleyan Sacred Harp

Ojo ayo l’ ojo ti mo Yan O, 'Wo Olugbala mi; O to ki okan mi ko yo, K’o si sayo re kakiri. Ojo nla l’ ojo na! Ti Jesu we ese mi nu O ko mi ki n ma gbadura Ki nma sora ki nsi ma yo Ojo nla l’ ojo na! Ti Jesu we ese mi nu. A ti pari ise nla naa Emi t'Oluwa O'n temi O fa mi mo si tele O Mo yo lati gba ipe naa. Simi aisokan, okan mi, Simi lori ipinnu yi; Mo ripa to lola nibi, Ayo orun kun mi laya. Orun giga to gbeje mi, Yoo gbo lotun lojojumo, Titi n o fi fibukun fun, Idapo yi loju iku.

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. 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. It’s 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. Now rest, my long-divided heart, Fixed on this blissful center, rest; Here have I found a nobler part; Here heav’nly pleasures fill my breast. High heav’n, 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.

Doddridge, Philip, D.D., was born in London, June 26, 1702. His grandfather was one of the ministers under the Commonwealth, who were ejected in 1662. His father was a London oilman. He was offered by the Duchess of Bedford an University training for ordination in the Church of England, but declined it. He entered Mr. Jennings's non-conformist seminary at Kibworth instead; preached his first sermon at Hinckley, to which Mr. Jennings had removed his academy. In 1723 he was chosen pastor at Kibworth. In 1725 he changed his residence to Market Harborough, still ministering at Kibworth. The settled work of his life as a preceptor and divine began in 1729, with his appointment to the Castle Hill Meeting at Northampton, and continued till in the last stage of consumption. He sailed to Lisbon, in 1751, where he died October 26, the same year. Two hundred pupils in all, gathered from England, Scotland and Holland, were prepared in his seminary, chiefly for the dissenting ministry, but partly for professions. The wide range of subjects, including daily readings in Hebrew and Greek, Algebra, Trigonometry, Watts' Logic, outline of Philosophy, and copious Divinity, is itself a proof of Doddridge's learning. He was presented with his D.D. degree by the University of Aberdeen. His fame as a divine, combined with his wide sympathies and gentle, unaffected goodness, won for him the friendship of Watts, Col. Gardiner and Hervey, and the esteem of Seeker and Warburton. He welcomed the work of Wesley and Whitefield, and entertained the latter on his visit to Northampton. His Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul and The Family Expositor both did good work in their day. For criticism of his hymns see English Hymnody, Early, § XIV. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.]. Read on here.