This hymn comes to us from the Englishman Samuel Medley (1738-99), set to a tune by Englishman John Hatton (1710-93).

1 I know that my Redeemer lives!
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead;
he lives, my everliving head!

2 He lives triumphant from the grave;
he lives eternally to save;
he lives all-glorious in the sky;
he lives exalted there on high.

3 He lives to grant me rich supply;
he lives to guide me with his eye;
he lives to comfort me when faint;
he lives to hear my soul’s complaint.

Today hymn is believed to have been originally written by Ignaz Franz (1719-1790), chaplain at Gross-Glogau and vicar of Glogau in Silesia, Poland, during the 1740s. Clarence A. Walworth (1820-1900) translated it from German.

1 Holy God, we praise thy name.
God of all, we bow before thee.
All on earth your scepter claim;
all in heav’n above adore thee.
Infinite thy vast domain,
everlasting is thy reign.

2 Hark, the loud celestial hymn,
angel choirs above are raising.
Cherubim and seraphim,
in unceasing chorus praising,
fill the heav’ns with sweet accord:
Holy, holy, holy Lord.

3 Lo! the apostolic train
join thy sacred name to hallow.
Prophets swell the glad refrain,
and the blessed martyrs follow,
and, from morn till set of sun,
through the church the song goes on.

4 Holy Author, Holy Word,
Holy Spirit, three we name thee;
still, one holy voice is heard:
undivided God, we claim thee,
and adoring bend the knee,
while we own the mystery.

Today’s hymn published in 1880 by the composer himself, Will L. Thompson (1847-1909) of Ohio. A member of the Church of Christ, Thompson started his own business to sell his music and later pianos, instruments, and other sheet music.

This performance by the Altar of Praise Chorale skips the third verse, which may be darker than some ministers want.

Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
passing from you and from me;
shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,
coming for you and for me. 

Come home, come home;
you who are weary come home;
earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
calling, O sinner, come home!

This long-favored hymn was written by Methodist Episcopal Fanny Crosby in 1868 to a tune by industrialist William H. Doane, who “wrote over twenty-two hundred hymn and gospel song tunes, and he edited over forty songbooks.”

Savior, Savior,
Hear my humble cry,
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.

I don’t know how many congregations sing this gospel song by Connecticut Methodist Jefferson Hascall, but Hymnary.org claims it has been published in 183 hymnals since 1860. This tune is not the original, but the meter of the lyric is so common, you could sing it any number of ways. William Batchelder Bradbury gave us the current tune, entitled, “The Land of Beulah,” published in 1862.

1 My latest sun is sinking fast,
my race is nearly run;
my strongest trials now are past,
my triumph is begun.

Refrain:
O come, angel band,
come and around me stand;
O bear me away on your snowy wings
to my immortal home.
O bear me away on your snowy wings
to my immortal home.