Come Let Us All Unite to Sing – Anonymous

Some songs’ meanings don’t need to be belabored, agreed? They’re too easily understood, and don’t need a windy (or wordy, in a writer’s case) explanation. Knowing what motivated the composer seems evident, so knowing that person’s story isn’t really crucial. This song, “Come Let Us All Unite to Sing”, is one of those. It appeared in a hymnal called Millennial Praises in 1812, which was edited by Seth Wells. Yet, its author remains a mystery. It was also published in other hymnals in the 19th Century – Millard’s and Badger’s Hymns in 1849; and in Happy Voices in 1865. Evidently, it was a popular hymn, so could that be a clue that its composer was well-known at the time, allowing its ready acceptance and inclusion in several hymnals? Some have speculated that Howard Kingsbury, a 19th Century hymnist, might have composed the words, since he wrote music for the words to the hymn in Happy Voices. The prolific Fanny Crosby also lived in the same century as Kingsbury, so how about her? The 1812 hymnal predates Kingsbury and Crosby, however, so neither of them could have composed the words. Could it have been Charles Wesley, a prolific songwriter of the late 18th Century? There are of course other hymnists of the late 18th\early 19th Century, and so various possibilities.

The song’s lyrical composer remains unknown, and perhaps that’s a good thing, in that the worshipper’s attention need not be distracted from the song’s fundamental message - God is Love. The composer, though unidentified, felt that acutely when he or she wrote this. Moreover, God’s nature unites people, and He wants it to be contagious – not much more basic than that. The hymn’s message verse-by-verse is progressive: Begin by leaving sin behind, then tell others about it, and rejoice in a new life. The song has a fourth verse that may not be well-known, but which appropriately tops off the other three verses with the ultimate aim of every believer:

In Canaan we will sing again: God is love! And this shall be our loudest strain: God is love! Whilst endless ages roll along, we’ll triumph with the heavenly throng. And this shall be our sweetest song: God is love! The following sites are the source of information discovered for this hymn: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/g/o/d/godislov.htm http://www.hymnary.org/hymnal/HSS11849