1 Now while we gather here round the altar,
May every heart be filled with gladness and praise,
No tongue be silent, no accents falter,
While to redeeming love our voices we raise.
Refrain:
Oh, how he loved us—this blessed Savior!
Think that to save us he came down to die!
Come, let us serve him, and in his favor
Find new delight on earth and glory on high.
2 Once more our praises to him who sought us
When we were wand’ring far away from his love;
Sing of the ransom with which he bought us,
And of the heavenly mansions waiting above. [Refrain]
3 All we can offer for his protection
Will be as naught compared with his loving care;
Yet we may bring him our best affection,
And in his cause and kingdom our portion bear. [Refrain]
Root, George F., MUS. DOC, born in Sheffield, Berkshire County, Mass., Aug. 30, 1820. He is much more widely known as a composer of popular music than as a hymn writer. Four of his hymns are in I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs & Solos, 1878. Nos. 16, 100, 293, and 297. A sympathetic biographical sketch, with portrait, is in The Tonic Sol-Fa Reporter, Sep. 1886. He died Aug. 6, 1895.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)… Go to person page >
Display Title: Now while We GatherFirst Line: Now while we gather here round the altarTune Title: [Now while we gather here round the altar]Author: G. F. R.Date: 1885
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