The Commission

Go, preach my gospel, saith the Lord; Bid the whole earth My grace receive

Author: Isaac Watts
Published in 258 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, MusicXML
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 “Go, preach My gospel,” saith the Lord.
“Bid the whole earth My grace receive.
Explain to them My sacred word;
Bid them believe, obey, and live.

2 “I’ll make My great commission known,
And ye shall prove My gospel true
By all the works that I have done
And all the wonders ye shall do.

3 “Go, heal the sick; go raise the dead;
Go, cast out devils in My name;
Nor let My prophets be afraid,
Though Greeks reproach and Jews blaspheme.

4 “While thus ye follow My commands
I’m with you till the world shall end;
All power is trusted in My hands;
I can destroy and can defend.”

5 He spake, and light shone round His head,
On a bright cloud to heaven He rode.
They to the farthest nation spread
The grace of their ascended God.

Source: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #220

Author: Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster, and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. In 1712, he accepted an invitation to visit Sir Thomas Abney, at his residence of Abney Park, and at Sir Thomas' pressing request, made it his home for the remainder of his life. It was a residence most favourable for his health, and for the prosecution of his literary… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Go, preach my gospel, saith the Lord; Bid the whole earth My grace receive
Title: The Commission
Author: Isaac Watts
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

TRURO (Williams)

TRURO is an anonymous tune, first published in Thomas Williams's Psalmodia Evangelica, (second vol., 1789) as a setting for Isaac Watts' "Now to the Lord a noble song." Virtually nothing is known about this eighteenth-century British editor of the two-volume Psalmodia Evangelica, a collection of thr…

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RETREAT (Hastings)


MISSIONARY CHANT (Zeuner)


Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #2007
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 6 of 6)
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African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal #220

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Lift Every Voice and Sing II #161

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Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal #378

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The A.M.E. Zion Hymnal #360

The Baptist Hymnal #559

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #2007

Include 252 pre-1979 instances
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