How blest the sacred tie that binds

How blest the sacred tie that binds. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1742-1825).  This was entitled ‘Pious Friendship’. It was written, when Barbauld and her husband were living in Suffolk, for the marriage of Sarah Rigby and Caleb Parry at Palgrave in October 1778. Parry was a graduate of the Warrington Academy (McCarthy and Kraft, 1994, p. 274). The hymn was published in Barbauld’s Poems (1792):  How blest the sacred tie that binds In union sweet according minds! How swift the heavenly course they run Whose hearts, whose faith, whose hopes are one!  To each, the soul of each how dear, What jealous love, what holy fear!How doth the generous flame withinRefine from earth and cleanse from...