EYIN TE FE OLUWA

Text: Isaac Watts

Eyin t'e fe Oluwa E fi ayo yin han E jumo ko orin didun/2x K'e si y'ite na ka/2x A n yan lo si Sion Sion t'o dara julo A n yan goke lo si Sion Ilu Olorun wa Awon ti ko korin Ni ko m'Olorun wa Sugbon awa omo Oba/2x Yio so ayo won ka/2x Oke Sion n mu Egberun adun wa Ki a to de gbangba orun/2x Pelu ita wura/2x Nje k'a maa korin lo K'omije gbogbo gbe A n yan n'ile Emmanuel/2x Saye didan loke/2x Source: Yoruba Baptist Hymnal #285

Come, ye that love the Lord, And let your joys be known; Join in a song with sweet accord, And thus surround the throne. We’re marching to Zion, Beautiful, beautiful Zion; We’re marching upward to Zion, The beautiful city of God. The sorrows of the mind Be banished from the place; Religion never was designed To make our pleasures less. Let those refuse to sing, Who never knew our God; But children of the heav’nly King May speak their joys abroad. The men of grace have found Glory begun below; Celestial fruits on earthly ground From faith and hope may grow. The hill of Zion yields A thousand sacred sweets Before we reach the heav’nly fields, Or walk the golden streets. Then let our songs abound, And every tear be dry; We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground To fairer worlds on high.

Scholars often ascribe the title “Father of English hymnody” to Isaac Watts (1674-1738). Though this title is exceptional, it is not undeserved. Watts was raised in the Independent Congregational Church, part of the dissenters tolerated under the official Church of England (Anglican). From an early age, he showed his dissatisfaction for the established common practice of metrical psalms, the strict poetic versification of the psalms for congregational singing in worship. He pioneered a newer approach by composing hymns that “Christianized” the texts of the Psalter. Even though “Come, we that love the Lord” is not based on a psalm, it still follows Watts’ practice of adapting Scripture for use as devotional poetry.

The original hymn, “Come, we that love the Lord,” can be found in Watts’ Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II (1707) in ten, four-line stanzas entitled “Heavenly Joy on Earth.” Because he loved it so much, John Wesley later used it as a part of hisPsalms and Hymns, ‘Charlestown’ Collection (1737) – the first hymnal published in America during the Wesleys’ trip to the colony – with a revised structure of eight-line stanzas, omitting stanzas two and nine. Since then, many alternations have been made according to current editorial needs, culminating with most modern hymnals using a four-line, four-stanza version, as well as a further altered setting by gospel song writer Robert Lowry (1826-1899) with an added refrain. (Read on.)