Since Jesus freely did appear

Since Jesus freely did appear. John Berridge* (1716-1793). This is by far the best known of Berridge’s hymns. According to JJ (p. 1059), it appeared in the Gospel Magazine (August 1775), entitled ‘A Wedding Hymn’, and signed with Berridge’s pseudonym, ‘Old Everton’. It was included in Berridge’s Sion’s Songs or Hymns: Composed for the Use of Them that Love and Follow Jesus Christ in Sincerity (1785), prefaced with ‘“There was a marriage in Cana, and Jesus was invited to the Marriage,” John ii. 1, 2’, and entitled ‘At a christian wedding’. It began ‘Our Jesus freely did appear’, and had six stanzas, ending with a neat Old Testament reference: As Isaac and Rebecca give A pattern chaste and...