The Cyber Hymnal ‎#1806

1806. Give Me the Wings of Faith

1. Give me the wings of faith to rise
Within the veil, and see
The saints above, how great their joys,
How bright their glories be.

2. Once they were mourning here below,
And wet their couch with tears:
They wrestled hard, as we do now,
With sins, and doubts, and fears.

3. I ask them whence their victory came:
They, with united breath,
Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,
Their triumph to His death.

4. They marked the footsteps that He trod,
His zeal inspired their breast;
And following their incarnate God,
Possess the promised rest.

5. Our glorious Leader claims our praise
For His own pattern giv’n;
While the long cloud of witnesses
Show the same path to Heav’n.

Another arrangement, by Walter Kittredge (1834-1905), adds this refrain:

Many are the friends who are waiting today,
Happy on the golden strand,
Many are the voices calling us away,
To join their glorious band.
Calling us away, calling us away,
Calling to the better land,
Calling us away, calling us away,
Calling to the better land.

Text Information

• First Line: Give me the wings of faith to rise
• Title: Give Me the Wings of Faith
• Author: Isaac Watts (1709)
• Meter: CM
• Language: English
• Source: Hymns and Spir­it­u­al Songs, 1707-9, Book II, num­ber 140
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: Dr. Dod­dridge wrote to Watts, ‘I was preach­ing in a barn last Wed­nes­day, to a com­pa­ny of plain count­ry peo­ple. Af­ter a ser­mon from Heb. vi. 12, we sang one of your hymns, Give me the wings of faith to rise, and had the sa­tis­fac­tion to see tears in the eyes of sev­er­al of the au­di­to­ry. Af­ter the ser­vice some of them told me they were not able to sing, so deep­ly were their minds af­fect­ed with it; and the clerk in par­ti­cu­lar told me he could hard­ly ut­ter the words of it. These were most of them poor peo­ple wo work for their liv­ing.’ Telford, pp. 407-8. Alternate tunes: BEATITUDO, John B. Dykes, 1875; BALLERMA, François H. Barthélémon, 1741-1808, adapted by Robert Simpson; published 1833; CRITCHLOW, Thoro Harris, before 1911

Tune Information

• Name: BINGHAM
• Composer: Anonymous
• Meter: CM
• Key: B♭ Major
• Source: Public Domain