Once more before we part. [Close of Service.] The details concerning this hymn, and others which have grown out of it, are as follows:--
1. Once more before we part. By J. Hart, in his 1762 Supplement to his Hymns, &c, No. 79, as follows:—
"Once more, before we part,
We'll bless the Saviour's name ;
Record His mercies every heart,
Sing every tongue the same.
"Hoard up His sacred word,
And feed thereon and grow;
Go on to seek, to know the Lord,
And practice what you know.”
This is in common use in Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book 1866, and other collections.
2. Once more before we part. By J. Hart and R. Hawker. In 1787 R. Hawker opened a Sunday School at Charles, Plymouth; and then, or shortly after, he published his Psalms & Hymns Sung by the Children of the Sunday School in the Parish Church of Charles, Plymouth, &c. N.D.. In this Collection Hart's hymn appeared in this form:—
”Once more before we part,
Bless the Redeemer's name;
Write it on every heart.
Speak every tongue the same.
Chorus. Jesus the sinners' friend,
Him Whom our souls adore:
His praises have no end;
Praise Him for evermore.
“Lord, in Thy grace we came;
That blessing still impart;
We met in Jesus' name,
In Jesus' name we part.
Jesus the sinners' friend, &c.
“Still on Thy holy word,
We'd live, and feed, and grow;
Go on to know the Lord,
And practice what we know.
Jesus the sinners' friend, &c.
“Here, Lord, we came to live,
And in all truth increase;
All that's amiss forgive,
And send us home in peace.
Jesus the sinners' friend, &c.
"Now, Lord, before we part,
Help us to bless Thy name;
May every tongue and heart
Praise and adore the same.
Jesus the sinner's friend," &c.
The portions above in italics are from Hart's hymns, and the last stanza is also Hart's stanza i. rewritten; the rest of the hymn is by Dr. Hawker. This text was repeated in several later collections.
3. Come, brethren, ere we part. This, as No. 610 in the Comprehensive Rippon, 1844, is composed of stanzas i. and ii. with the chorus from the Hart-Hawker text, and a new stanza as stanza iii. This text is repeated in Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book, 1866, No. 1049: but in the ascription the fact that stanza iii. is from the Comprehensive Rippon, 1844, is ignored.
4. Come, children, ere we part. This text in some American collections for children, and the English Methodist Sunday School Hymn Book, 1879, is composed of stanzas i. and iii. of the Comprehensive Rippon text slightly altered. [William T. Brooke]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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