Come, let our voices join to raise

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 >

Come, let our voices join to raise. I. Watts. [Psalms xcv.] His L.M. version of the 95th Psalms, given in his Psalms of David, &c, 1719, in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "Canaan lost thro’ Unbelief; or, a "Warning to delaying Sinners." Its use in Great Britain is limited. In America it is found in a large number of hymnals. Sometimes, as in the Church Pastorals, Boston, 1864, it begins with stanza ii., "Come, let our souls address the Lord."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)