How welcome was the call

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How welcome was the call

Author: H. W. Baker
Tune: ST. GEORGE (Gauntlett)
Published in 35 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 How welcome was the call,
And sweet the festal lay,
When Jesus deign'd in Cana's hall
To bless the marriage-day.

2 And happy was the bride,
And glad the bridegroom's heart,
For he who tarried at their side
Bade grief and ill depart.

3 O Lord of life and love,
Come thou again to-day;
And bring a blessing from above
That ne'er shall pass away.

4 O bless, as erst of old,
The bridegroom and the bride;
Bless with the holier stream that flow'd
Forth from thy pierced side.

5 Before thine altar throne
This mercy we implore;
As thou dost knit them, Lord, in one,
So bless them evermore.

Source: Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America #246

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Author: H. W. Baker

Baker, Sir Henry Williams, Bart., eldest son of Admiral Sir Henry Loraine Baker, born in London, May 27, 1821, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated, B.A. 1844, M.A. 1847. Taking Holy Orders in 1844, he became, in 1851, Vicar of Monkland, Herefordshire. This benefice he held to his death, on Monday, Feb. 12, 1877. He succeeded to the Baronetcy in 1851. Sir Henry's name is intimately associated with hymnody. One of his earliest compositions was the very beautiful hymn, "Oh! what if we are Christ's," which he contributed to Murray's Hymnal for the Use of the English Church, 1852. His hymns, including metrical litanies and translations, number in the revised edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern, 33 in all. These were cont… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	How welcome was the call
Author:	H. W. Baker
Meter:	6.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

How welcome was the call. Sir H. W. Baker. [Holy Matrimony.] Appeared in Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1861, and the revised edition, 1875. It has attained to great popularity, especially in America, and is a favourite marriage hymn.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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How welcome was the call, p. 540, i. In the 1904 ed. of Hymns Ancient & Modern, st. ii. of the old edition is omitted, and the line "0 bless, as erst of old” is altered to "0 bless now, as of old." By this arrangement a copyright has been created for the hymn in this form.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

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