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On the Passion

Come, all ye chosen saints of God

Author: J. Hart (1759)
Tune: CONFIDENCE (Turner)
Published in 26 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Come, all ye chosen saints of God,
That long to feel the cleansing blood,
In pensive pleasure join with me,
To sing of sad Gethsemane.

2 [Gethsemane, the olive press!
(And why so called, let Christians guess;)
Fit name! fit place! where vengeance strove,
And griped and grappled hard with love.]

3 ’Twas here the Lord of life appeared,
And sighed, and groaned, and prayed, and feared;
Bore all incarnate God could bear,
With strength enough, and none to spare.

4 The powers of hell united pressed,
And squeezed his heart and bruised his breast;
What dreadful conflicts raged within,
When sweat and blood forced through the skin!

5 [Dispatched from heaven an angel stood,
Amazed to find him bathed in blood;
Adored by angels, and obeyed,
But lower now than angels made.

6 He stood to strengthen, not to fight;
Justice exacts its utmost mite,
This Victim vengeance will pursue;
He undertook, and must go through.]

7 [Three favoured servants, left not far,
Were bid to wait and watch the war;
But Christ withdrawn, what watch we keep!
To shun the sight, they sank in sleep.]

8 Backwards and forwards thrice he ran,
As if he sought some help from man;
Or wished, at least, they would condole
(’Twas all they could) his tortured soul.

9 [Whate’er he sought for, there was none;
Our Captain fought the field alone;
Soon as the Chief to battle led,
That moment every soldier fled.]

10 Mysterious conflict! dark disguise!
Hid from all creatures’ peering eyes;
Angels, astonished, viewed the scene;
And wonder yet what all could mean.

11 O Mount of Olives, sacred grove!
O Garden, scene of tragic love!
What bitter herbs thy beds produce!
How rank their scent, how harsh their juice!

12 [Rare virtues now these herbs contain;
The Saviour sucked out all their bane;
My mouth with these if conscience cram,
I’ll eat them with the paschal Lamb.]

13 O Kedron, gloomy brook, how foul
Thy black, polluted waters roll!
No tongue can tell, but some can taste,
The filth that into thee was cast.

14 In Eden’s garden there was food
Of every kind for man while good;
But banished thence we fly to thee,
O garden of Gethsemane.


Source: A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #153a

Author: J. Hart

Hart, Joseph, was born in London in 1712. His early life is involved in obscurity. His education was fairly good; and from the testimony of his brother-in-law, and successor in the ministry in Jewin Street, the Rev. John Hughes, "his civil calling was" for some time "that of a teacher of the learned languages." His early life, according to his own Experience which he prefaced to his Hymns, was a curious mixture of loose conduct, serious conviction of sin, and endeavours after amendment of life, and not until Whitsuntide, 1757, did he realize a permanent change, which was brought about mainly through his attending divine service at the Moravian Chapel, in Fetter Lane, London, and hearing a sermon on Rev. iii. 10. During the next two years ma… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Come, all ye chosen saints of God
Title: On the Passion
Author: J. Hart (1759)
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Come, all ye chosen saints of God. J. Hart. [Passion Week.] The following account of the origin of this hymn is given in the author's "Experience," which accompanies his Hymns:—

"The week before Easter, 1757,1 had such an amazing view of the agony of Christ in the garden, as I know not well how to describe. I was lost in wonder and adoration, and the impression it made was too deep, I believe, ever to be obliterated. I shall say no more of this, but only remark that notwithstanding all that is talked about the sufferings of Jesus, none can know anything of them but by the Holy Ghost; and, I believe, he that knows most knows but very little. It was upon this I made the first part of hymn 1, ‘On the Passion,' which, however, I afterwards mutilated and altered."

The hymn was published in his Hymns composed on Various Subjects, 1759, in 2 parts of 24 stanzas in all. As given in modern collections, as in Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book, it is a cento from the original with variations in the text.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 26 of 26)

A Choice Selection of Hymns. 2nd ed. #d38

A Choice Selection of Hymns. 6th ed. #d45

Page Scan

A Collection of Hymns and Sacred Songs #151

Text

A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. In four parts (10th ed.) (Gadsby's Hymns) #153a

A Selection of Hymns, from the Best Authors, Designed as a Supplement to Dr. Watts' Psalms and Hymns #d85

Page Scan

Christian's Duty, exhibited in a series of hymns #43

Page Scan

Evangelical Hymns #331

Hymns and Psalms, Original and Modern, Selected and Revised #d77

Hymns for Social Worship, Compiled for the Use of Canadian Baptist Churches #d43

Hymns, etc. composed on various subjects #1

TextPage Scan

Hymns, etc. #1

Page Scan

Hymns #1

Old School Sonnets, or a Selection of Choice Hymns #d50

Page Scan

The Baptist Hymn Book #415

Page Scan

The Boston Collection of Sacred and Devotional Hymns #114

Page Scan

The Christian's Duty #XLIII

TextPage Scan

The Christians Duty, exhibited, in a series of Hymns #XLIII

Page Scan

The Cluster of Spiritual Songs, Divine Hymns and Sacred Poems #XIV

The Ebenezer Selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, with an appendix Consisting of Miscellaneous Pieces. 6th ed. #d84

The Good Old Songs #d82

The Good Old Songs #329

The Primitive Hymns #d90

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