Once More Before We Part

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Once more before we part, O bless the Savior's name

Author: Joseph Hart
Published in 302 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 Once more, before we part,
Oh, bless the Saviour's name!
Let every tongue and every heart
Adore and praise the same.

2 Lord, in thy grace we came,
That blessing still impart;
We met in Jesus' sacred name,
In Jesus' name we part.

3 Still on thy holy word
Help us to feed, and grow,
Still to go on to know the Lord,
And practice what we know.

4 Now, Lord, before we part,
Help us to bless thy name;
Let every tongue and every heart
Adore and praise the same.

Source: Laudes Domini: a selection of spiritual songs, ancient and modern for use in the prayer-meeting #76

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Author: Joseph Hart

Hart, Joseph, was born in London in 1712. His early life is involved in obscurity. His education was fairly good; and from the testimony of his brother-in-law, and successor in the ministry in Jewin Street, the Rev. John Hughes, "his civil calling was" for some time "that of a teacher of the learned languages." His early life, according to his own Experience which he prefaced to his Hymns, was a curious mixture of loose conduct, serious conviction of sin, and endeavours after amendment of life, and not until Whitsuntide, 1757, did he realize a permanent change, which was brought about mainly through his attending divine service at the Moravian Chapel, in Fetter Lane, London, and hearing a sermon on Rev. iii. 10. During the next two years ma… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Once more before we part, O bless the Savior's name
Title:	Once More Before We Part
Author:	Joseph Hart
Meter:	6.6.8.6
Source:	The Collection, London, 1774
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

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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Tune

SWEET DAY (Unseld)

DENNIS (Nägeli)

Lowell Mason (PHH 96) arranged DENNIS and first published it in The Psaltery (1845), a hymnal he compiled with George. Webb (PHH 559). Mason attributed the tune to Johann G. Nageli (b. Wetzikon, near Zurich, Switzerland, 1773; d. Wetzikon, 1836) but included no source reference. Nageli presumably pu…

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SCHUMANN (51567)

SCHUMANN is one of many hymn tunes arranged by Lowell Mason (PHH 96). He first published the arrangement in Cantica Laudis (1850), a collection he edited with George J. Webb (PHH 559). First called WHITE, the tune was marked "Arr. from Schumann" and was thus ascribed to the German composer Robert A.…

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