To continue our recent trend of sharing forgotten hymns, today’s hymn was written by the great John Newton, “A Welcome to Christian Friends.” It talks of our unity and comfort in Christ. The recording of Bach’s “O Jesus sweet, O Jesus mild” is a potential tune for it. You’ll have to make the adaptation as you listen.

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Eph. 1:13-14 ESV)

1 Kindred in Christ, for his dear sake,
A hearty welcome here receive;
May we together now Partake
The Joys which only he can give!

2 To you and us by Grace ’tis giv’n,
To know the Saviour’s precious name;
And shortly we shall meet in Heav’n,
Our Hope, our Way, our End, the same.

3 May he, by whose kind Care we meet,
Send his good Spirit from above,
Make our Communications sweet,
And cause our hearts to burn with Love!

4 Forgotten be each worldly Theme,
When Christians see each other thus;
We only wish to speak of him,
Who liv’d and dy’d and rose for us.

5 We’ll talk of all he did and said,
And suffer’d for us here below;
The Path he mark’d for us to tread,
And what he’s doing for us now.

6 Thus, as the Moments pass away,
We’ll love, and Wonder and adore.
Lord, hasten on the glorious Day
When we shall meet to part no more!

The great John Newton (1725-1807) wrote “Let us love, and sing, and wonder” in 1774 with six verses. It doesn’t appear to be a very popular hymn, but it struck a chord with me when I heard a modern arrangement of it several years ago. It’s a marvelous praise song that doesn’t focus on our devotion or what I’m doing to worship the Lord. It focuses on the awesome work of Christ.

1 Let us love and sing and wonder,
let us praise the Savior’s name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,
he has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame:
he has washed us with his blood,
he has brought us nigh to God.

2 Let us love the Lord who bought us,
pitied us when enemies,
called us by his grace and taught us,
gave us ears and gave us eyes:
he has washed us with his blood,
he presents our souls to God.

3 Let us sing, though fierce temptation
threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong salvation,
holds in view the conqu’ror’s crown:
he who washed us with his blood
soon will bring us home to God.

4 Let us wonder; grace and justice
join and point to mercy’s store;
when thro’ grace in Christ our trust is,
justice smiles and asks no more:
he who washed us with his blood
has secured our way to God.

5 Let us praise, and join the chorus
of the saints enthroned on high;
here they trusted him before us,
now their praises fill the sky:
“You have washed us with your blood;
you are worthy, Lamb of God!”

6. Hark! the name of Jesus, sounded
Loud, from golden harps above!
Lord, we blush, and are confounded,
Faint our praises, cold our love!
Wash our souls and songs with blood,
For by Thee we come to God.

John Newton’s 1779 hymn is sung the world over. I believe some congregations sing it every Sunday. My congregation sings it after every communion, which we celebrate on the first Sunday of each month. Despite all of that singing, it’s still a good hymn for the new year.

The Hartford Selection of Hymns (1799) offers these three verses as 4-6, which may be where the most of the variations come in (they are not in the video above either).

The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess within the vzil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.