Let Us With A Gladsome Mind
Let Us with a Gladsome Mind
Let us with a gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for He is kind:
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
Let us sound His name abroad,
For of gods He is the God:
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
He, with all-commanding might,
Filled the new-made world with light:
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
All things living He doth feed;
His full hand supplies their need:
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
Let us then with gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for He is kind:
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure.
JOHN MILTON is best known for Paradise Lost, the magnificent epic recounting the fall of humanity. But he also wrote other poems and hymn texts for church use. As a student at Cambridge, he wrote “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.” But even earlier, at the age of fifteen, he penned this metrical version of Psalm 136. In its original form, Milton’s text had almost as many verses as the psalm, but most modern hymnbooks abbreviate it. In the psalm, each verse ends with “For his mercy endureth forever.” Milton embellished that with the stirring line “Ever faithful, ever sure.”
Milton became blind when he was forty-four. His first wife died that same year. He remarried four years later, and his second wife died within fifteen months. In these later, sorrowful years, Milton wrote his greatest works. No doubt he had to cling to his faith in the enduring mercies of God, “ever faithful, ever sure.”
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1-3
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