Thomas Baldwin › Texts

Baldwin, Thomas, D.D., born at Bozrah, or Norwich, Connecticut, 1753, was representative for some time of his native State in the Legislature. In 1783 he was ordained to the Baptist ministry, and from 1790 till his death, in 1825, he was Pastor of the Second Baptist Church, Boston. His best known hymns are:—
1. Almighty Saviour, here we stand. Holy Baptism. This hymn "For Immersion " was contributed to a Collection of Sacred and Devotional Hymns, Boston, 1808, from whence it has passed into later Collections, including the Baptist Praise Book, N. Y., 1871, and others.
2. From whence does this union rise? Communion of Saints. First found in J. Asplund's New Collection, Baltimore, 1793, beginning, "O whence does this union rise." Formerly very popular, and still in use as in the Baptist Hymn [and Tune] Book, Phila., 1871, No. 638. In the Church Pastorals, Boston, 1864, No. 981, it is altered to "From whence doth this union arise.”
3. Ye happy saints, the Lamb adore. Holy Baptism. For Immersion, first appeared in a Collection of Sacred and Devotional Hymns, Boston, 1808, from whence it passed in an altered form as:—"Come, happy souls, adore the Lamb," into Winchell's Supplement to Watts, 1819. It is found in Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book, 1866, and many modern American Baptist collections. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)