Source of Wesley's words

Ask for the old paths, where is the good way

For ask now of the days that are past...

Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

Peter Schinske

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Apr 10, 2026, 7:49:22 PM (13 days ago) Apr 10

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Hi Robert,

I searched that line and found it in a few church service bulletins, like this one from 2020: https://stdunstans.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/BulletinSunApril26.pdf

Then I found it on hymnary.org. They currently have it as "To our Father and King", but if you check an old copy of the website, they used to have it as "to the heaven's high King": https://web.archive.org/web/20211026090452/https://hymnary.org/text/come_away_to_the_skies

They give as a source "Common Praise (1998)", which is a hymnal for the Anglican Church of Canada. It appears as "Father and King" in The Hymnal 1982 (the US Episcopal hymnal) so this seems to be a uniquely Canadian Anglican thing, and probably got into the Sacred Harp by virtue of being the default text on hymnary.org.

Interestingly, Lowell Mason also seems to have altered that verse: "Hallelujah we sing, / Unto Jesus our King, / In the praise of his wonderful love: / To the Lamb that was slain; / Hallelujah again, / Till with angels we praise him above." https://hymnary.org/hymn/CUCC1833/page/270

--Peter Schinske

Robert Vaughn

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Apr 10, 2026, 8:39:23 PM (13 days ago) Apr 10

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Thanks, Peter.

Will Fitzgerald and I found some of the same information today. I did a Google Search for "come away to the skies" and "to the heaven's high king" and got several of the church bulletins which eventually trace back to Common Faith. And, like you, Will found it on Hymnary. I had previously searched Hymnary and did not find it, but perhaps that is because none of the scans are from Common Faith, since it is still under copyright (I think I checked every one of them, unless I missed something). I had previously checked The Hymnal 1982 and found the Wesley original there. I don't think I mentioned it in the previous email, but another variation I found on Hymnary was "Hallelujah we cry, To the King of the sky."

So I think you are correct that Common Faith and Hymnary are probably the original source of this variation. Interestingly, if the transcriptions of it are correct in the bulletins and on Hymnary, they used the word "heaven's" (singular possessive).

Thanks again. I appreciate your research.

Sing On,

Robert Vaughn

Mount Enterprise, TX

Ask for the old paths, where is the good way

For ask now of the days that are past...

Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

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Wade Kotter

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Apr 10, 2026, 9:32:53 PM (13 days ago) Apr 10

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In case people are interested, here is a scan of the original 8 verse version of this text from Wesley's Hymns for the Use of Families, and on Various Occasions (1767)

https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_hymns-for-the-use-of-fam_wesley-charles_1767/page/n177/mode/2up

I believe Steven Brett is from the UK and I suspect he chose the text. Perhaps one of our list members from the UK can ask him what source he used for the text.

Wade

Dr. Wade Kotter

Retired Librarian

Independent Hymnologist and Unrestrained Loud Treble

South Ogden, UT

"Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord"

Will Fitzgerald

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Apr 10, 2026, 9:57:15 PM (13 days ago) Apr 10

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Pedantry alert.

Following up on Robert's note, Robert pointed out to me that "the heaven" is relatively common in the King James Version of the Bible. Thus, "the heaven's" is good King James English, even if it is odd in modern, standard American English (more or less, what the target language of the 2025 edition is). For example (again from Robert), here is Isaiah 66:1 in the KJV: "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne..."Contrast this with the New Revised Standard Version: "Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne..." "Heaven" is what is found in (most?) other translations https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Isaiah%2066%3A1

Standard American English is more or less what is used in the 2025 edition of The Sacred Harp.

My jihad to get rid of all apostrophes in written English would take care of this problem. 🌞

Will

Robert Vaughn

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Apr 10, 2026, 11:09:53 PM (13 days ago) Apr 10

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The original 1611 printing of King James Bible did not have apostrophes, so there's that... I'm on board.

And it seems to me that there is a lot of non-standard (non-American?) English in the hymns of the Sacred Harp. For example, this hymn alone has Wesley's "thou wast" rather than our "you were."

Sing On,

Robert Vaughn

Mount Enterprise, TX

Ask for the old paths, where is the good way

For ask now of the days that are past...

Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

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Will Fitzgerald

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Apr 10, 2026, 11:23:25 PM (13 days ago) Apr 10

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Robert asks:

And it seems to me that there is a lot of non-standard (non-American?) English in the hymns of the Sacred Harp. For example, this hymn alone has Wesley's "thou wast" rather than our "you were."

In the immortal words of Barbossa in The Pirates of the Caribbean, “The code is more what you'd call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.” Would removing all (non-divine) thous make it a better book with better poetry?

Also, 𝕷𝖊𝖙'𝖘 𝖇𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖇𝖆𝖈𝖐 𝖇𝖑𝖆𝖈𝖐𝖑𝖊𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗!

All best,

Will

Robert Vaughn

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Apr 11, 2026, 10:40:11 AM (12 days ago) Apr 11

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I certainly don't think removing all the thous, yes, verbs with -eth endings, etc. would improve the poetry. Individual mileage may vary, but in my opinion it would degrade it.

Sing on,

Robert Vaughn

Mount Enterprise, TX

Ask for the old paths, where is the good way

For ask now of the days that are past...