Happiness, thou lovely name

Happiness, thou lovely name

Author: Augustus Toplady
Tune: RAMOTH (Calkin)
Published in 19 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Happiness! thou lovely name,
Where's thy seat? O tell me where?
Learning, pleasure, wealth, and fame,
All cry out, "It is not here."

2 Lord, it is not life to live,
If thhy presence thou deny.
Lord, if thou thy presence give,
'Tis no longer death to die.

3 Source and giver of repose,
Mine it is, if thou art mine.
Singly from thy smile it flows;
Peace and happiness are thine.

4 Whilst I feel thy love to me,
Ev'ry object yields me joy.
Here O may I walk with thee,
Then into thy presence die.

5 Let me but thyself possess,
Real bliss I then shall prove--
Total sum of happiness,
Heav'n below, and heav'n above!

Source: A Collection of Hymns and Prayers, for Public and Private Worship #351

Author: Augustus Toplady

Toplady, Augustus Montague, the author of "Rock of Ages," was born at Farnham, Surrey, November 4, 1740. His father was an officer in the British army. His mother was a woman of remarkable piety. He prepared for the university at Westminster School, and subsequently was graduated at Trinity College, Dublin. While on a visit in Ireland in his sixteenth year he was awakened and converted at a service held in a barn in Codymain. The text was Ephesians ii. 13: "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." The preacher was an illiterate but warm-hearted layman named Morris. Concerning this experience Toplady wrote: "Strange that I, who had so long sat under the means of grace in England, should b… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Happiness, thou lovely name
Author: Augustus Toplady
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Happiness, thou lovely name. A. M. Toplady. [Happiness.] First printed in the Gospel Magazine, Oct., 1774, in 4 stanzas of 8 lines. It was not given by Toplady in his Psalms & Hymns, 1776; but appeared in 1793 in Hymns Compiled by Joseph Middleton, London, No. 27line In Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody, 1833, No. 147, stanzas i.-iii. were given as "Happiness! delightful name! " This form of the text is also in later collections. There are also "Man to happiness aspires," in Kennedy, 1863, and "Lord, it is not life to live;" but the most popular form of the hymn is stanzas ii., iii., as, "Object of my first desire." This is in extensive use in Great Britain and America. Full text in D. Sedgwick's reprint of Toplady's Hymns & Sacred Poems, &c, 1860, p. 158.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Happiness, thou lovely name, p. 483, ii. The cento "Saviour, Whom I fain would love" is in the Anglican Hymn Book, 1868; and the S.P.C.K. Church Hymns, 1871. A second cento is "Source and Giver of repose," in the American Sabbath Hymn Book, 1858. In H. M. Macgill's Songs of the Christian Creed and Life, 1876, No. 74. Sts. ii-iv. ("Object of &c") are translated as "Jesu! ter desiderate."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 19 of 19)
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A Collection of Hymns and a Liturgy #579

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A Collection of Hymns and Prayers, for Public and Private Worship #351

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A New Selection of Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs #884

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Baptist Hymn Book #a399

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Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church #521

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Hymns of the Church Militant #454b

Hymns, Selected from Various Authors, for the Use of Young Persons 3rd Am. from 9th London ed. #d82

Hymns, Selected from Various Authors, for the Use of Young Persons #d74

Psalms and Hymns Adapted to Social, Private and Public Worship #d276

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Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs #B90

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The Baptist Hymn Book #399

The Halifax Selection of Hymns #d171

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The Primitive Baptist Hymnal #472

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