We love the place, O Lord

We love the place, O Lord. William Bullock* (1798-1874).

This hymn was written in 1827, according to Percy Dearmer*, who described the circumstances of it composition in dramatic terms:

A young naval officer, ordered to survey the coast of Newfoundland, is so horrified at the condition of the settlers that he resigns his commission, and returns to Newfoundland as a missionary. At a small place called Trinity Bay he builds a humble mission chapel, and for its consecration he writes this little hymn. Seventy years afterwards, a church was build on the same site and the hymn was sung again, and Bullock’s original sermon was read to the people (Songs of Praise Discussed, 1933, p. 366).

It was considerably altered by Sir Henry Williams Baker* for the First Edition of A&M (see ‘We love the place, O God’*). It is in this version that the hymn has become widely known.

Bullock’s text is printed in JJ, p. 1243, followed by Baker’s, p. 1244:

                  Bullock                                                                        Baker

We love the place, O Lord,                                        We love the place, O God,
 Wherein Thine honour dwells,                                       Wherein Thine honour dwells,
 The joy of Thine abode                                              The joy of Thine abode
 All other joy excels.                                                        All earthly joy excels. 

We love the house of prayer,                                      It is the house of prayer,
 Wherein Thy servants meet,                                         Wherein Thy servants meet;
 For Thou, O Lord, art there,                                       And Thou, O Lord, art there
 Thy chosen ones to greet.                                              Thy chosen flock to greet. 

We love the sacred font                                               We love the sacred Font; 
Wherein the Holy Dove                                                    For there the Holy Dove 
Pours out, as He is wont,                                             To pour is ever wont 
The effluence from above.                                               His blessing from above. 

We love our Father’s board,                                         We love Thine Altar, Lord;
 Its altar steps are dear;                                                     O what on earth so dear?
 For there in faith adored                                               For there, in faith adored,
 We find Thy presence near.                                             We find Thy Presence near.

 We love Thy saints who come                                      We love to sing below
 Thy mercy to proclaim,                                                       For mercies freely given;
 To call the wanderers home,                                          But Oh! We long to know
 And magnify Thy name.                                                      The triumph-song of heaven. 

Our first and latest love                                                    Lord Jesus, give us grace
 To Zion shall be given -                                                        On earth to love Thee more,
 The House of God above,                                               In Heaven to see Thy Face,
On earth the Gate of Heav’n.                                                And with Thy saints adore.

Baker typically smoothed out some of Bullock’s awkward phrases, such as that in stanza 3, where the Holy Spirit pours out its ‘effluence from above’, and the reference to the Communion Table, ‘We love our Father’s board’. Baker also expanded Bullock’s neat reference to Zion in the final lines: ‘The House of God above,/ On earth the Gate of Heav’n’ into two stanzas, which makes the hymn more elegant but less forceful.

The hymn was commonly used in Britain, and in the USA and Canada, in Baker’s version.  For details, see the entry on ‘We love the place, O God’. 

JRW