Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee is a poem written by Henry van Dyke in 1907.

Poem

Van Dyke wrote this poem while in Williams College, Massachusetts while staying at the home of Harry Augustus Garfield. It was first published in 1911 by "The Pres­by­ter­i­an Hymn­al". [http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/j/o/joyful.htm] Van Dyke wrote of this hymn:

These vers­es are sim­ple ex­press­ions of com­mon Christ­ian feel­ings and de­sires in this pre­sent time—hymns of to­day that may be sung to­ge­ther by peo­ple who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that any truth of sci­ence will de­stroy re­li­gion, or any re­vo­lu­tion on earth over­throw the kingdom of hea­ven. There­fore this is a hymn of trust and joy and hope.

Music

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee is most often sung as a hymn with the tune "HYMN TO JOY" , which is an adaptation of the final movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's final symphony, Symphony No. 9.

Text

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed,
Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, all who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began;
Father love is reigning o’er us, brother love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us Sunward in the triumph song of life. [http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Joyful_Joyful_We_Adore_Thee/]

note: the final stanza is omitted in some hymnals.