Lyrics:

1. Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing;
Fill our hearts with joy and peace.
Let us each, thy love possessing,
Triumph in redeeming grace.
Oh, refresh us, oh, refresh us,
Trav’ling thru this wilderness.
Oh, refresh us, oh, refresh us,
Trav’ling thru this wilderness.

2. Thanks we give and adoration
For the gospel’s joyful sound.
May the fruits of thy salvation
In our hearts and lives abound.
Ever faithful, ever faithful
To the truth may we be found.
Ever faithful, ever faithful
To the truth may we be found.

Text: John Fawcett, 1740-1817
Music: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778

-History: (Source: Wikipedia)

Written By: John Fawcett

John Fawcett (1740-1817) was a British theologian, pastor and hymn writer.

In 1765, John Fawcett became pastor of a small Baptist church at Wainsgate in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England. He served faithfully for seven years, despite a small income and a growing family much too large to be supported by his meager wages. It seemed only practical that he move to a church that paid a larger salary. When he received a call in 1772 to the large and influential Carter’s Lane Baptist Church in London^[1] he planned to accept the call.

After pastor John Fawcett had preached his farewell sermon at Wainsgate he and his family loaded up all their belongings to move to his new church in London. But, his parishioners begged him to stay and because of his bond with these fellow believers, he unloaded the wagon and made the decision to continue to serve God there instead of moving to the larger church. To commemorate this event he later wrote the words to “Blessed Be the Tie that Binds”^[2], possibly his most famous hymn.

Music By: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712  – 2 July 1778) was a major Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-centuryRomanticism. His political philosophy heavily influenced the French Revolution, as well as the American Revolution and the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.

His novel, Émile: or, On Education is a seminal treatise on the education of the whole person for citizenship. His sentimental novel, Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse, was of great importance to the development of pre-romanticism^[1] and romanticism in fiction.^[2] Rousseau’s autobiographical writings: his Confessions, which initiated the modern autobiography, and his Reveries of a Solitary Walker were among the pre-eminent examples of the late 18th-century movement known as the Age of Sensibility, featuring an increasing focus on subjectivity and introspection that has characterized the modern age. His Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and his On the Social Contract are cornerstones in modern political and social thought and make a strong case for democratic government and social empowerment.

Rousseau also made important contributions to music as a theorist. During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophes among members of the Jacobin Club. He was interred as a national hero in the Panthéon in Paris, in 1794, 16 years after his death.