{"id":334,"date":"2015-07-03T06:04:06","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T10:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=334"},"modified":"2015-07-02T22:11:23","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T02:11:23","slug":"i-love-thy-kingdom-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/i-love-thy-kingdom-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"I Love Thy Kingdom Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cross<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the great hymns of the faith that has stood the test of time is Timothy Dwight\u2019s \u201cI Love Thy Kingdom, Lord.\u201d Dwight lived from 1752 to 1817 and was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. He was a young man in his twenties during the American Revolution. Licensed to preach in 1777, he served until the fall of 1778 as a chaplain in the Connecticut Brigade of the Continental Army. Later he\u00a0became pastor of a Congregational church in Fairfield, Connecticut and from 1795 to 1817 served as the 8th President of Yale College.<\/p>\n

While serving at Yale, Dwight revised and reprinted Psalms of David<\/em> (1719) by Isaac Watts, and included several of his own hymns\u00a0that paraphrased the Psalms. \u201cI Love Thy Kingdom Lord\u201d first appeared in print in the 1801 edition of Dwight\u2019s revision. It is the earliest known hymn by an American writer still in common use.<\/p>\n

Dwight\u2019s original title to hymn was \u201cLove to the Church.\u201d In the lyrics he celebrates our allegiance to the Kingdom of God and our love for Christ and His church. The hymn is based in part on two verses from Psalm 137:<\/p>\n

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
\nlet my right hand forget its skill!
\nLet my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
\nif I do not remember you,
\nif I do not set Jerusalem
\nabove my highest joy
\n(Psalm 137:5\u20136)<\/p>\n

If you know the hymn, the connection with the psalm may not be immediately evident.\u00a0Most hymnals include only four verses; Dwight originally composed eight. Unfortunately, the verses most often left out include the ones that tie the hymn to the psalm. Here are the original eight verses to the hymn:<\/p>\n

\n

I Love Thy Kingdom Lord<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love Thy kingdom, Lord,
\nThe house of Thine abode,
\nThe church our blessed Redeemer saved
\nWith His own precious blood.<\/p>\n

I love Thy church, O God.
\nHer walls before Thee stand,
\nDear as the apple of Thine eye,
\nAnd graven on Thy hand.<\/p>\n

If e\u2019er to bless Thy sons
\nMy voice or hands deny,
\nThese hands let useful skills forsake,
\nThis voice in silence die.<\/p>\n

Should I with scoffers join
\nHer altars to abuse?
\nNo! Better far my tongue were dumb,
\nMy hand its skill should lose.<\/p>\n

For her my tears shall fall
\nFor her my prayers ascend,
\nTo her my cares and toils be given
\nTill toils and cares shall end.<\/p>\n

Beyond my highest joy
\nI prize her heavenly ways,
\nHer sweet communion, solemn vows,
\nHer hymns of love and praise.<\/p>\n

Jesus, Thou Friend divine,
\nOur Savior and our King,
\nThy hand from every snare and foe
\nShall great deliverance bring.<\/p>\n

Sure as Thy truth shall last,
\nTo Zion shall be given
\nThe brightest glories earth can yield
\nAnd brighter bliss of Heaven.<\/p>\n

Timothy Dwight, 1801<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Download a PDF of the hymn \u201cI Love Thy Kingdom Lord\u201d<\/a> to the tune ST THOMAS with all 8 verses.<\/p>\n

Download a setting of the tune ST THOMAS<\/a> for Classical Guitar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the great hymns of the faith that has stood the test of time is Timothy Dwight\u2019s \u201cI Love Thy Kingdom, Lord.\u201d Dwight lived from 1752 to 1817 and was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. He was a young man in his twenties during the American Revolution. Licensed to preach in 1777, he served […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,22],"tags":[47,50,98,93,100],"class_list":["post-334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hymn","category-music-for-worship","tag-church","tag-church-music","tag-hymn","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-psalm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-5o","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions\/341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}