There the visitor blended his voice with some of those he had known in his boyhood days as they together worshipped in the village church. The preacher stood in the pulpit with the ease of one born to it, and “joined in the singing with the full-voiced enthusiasm of a thrush or mockingbird on a spring morning.”
This song is placed among the morning hymns in The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church (1940). Imaginative and impressive is the language used in the second verse:
“Come, let thy voice be one with theirs,
Shout with their shout of praise;
See how the giant sun roars up,
Great Lord of years and days!
So let the love of Jesus come
And set thy soul ablaze.”
“Woodbine Willie” was the name, for some reason, given to the author when he became a chaplain in World War I. His was a charmed name in the army, and his experiences there “made him an enthusiast for peace.” He became a rector in London, and in 1924 he made a visit to the United States and added many persons to the long list of friends already his. Death came to him in Liverpool in 1929. Someone characterized him as “the wholly lovable prophet of social righteousness.” Through coming years he will continue to speak to the hearts of many who joyfully sing his inspiring morning hymn with its lilting tune.