JOY UNSPEAKABLE

JOY UNSPEAKABLE

This song was published in 1900.   I remember singing this as a child in church. 

I was reading in I Peter today, Chap 1:8   Whom [Jesus Christ], having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.      This is probably the basis for the author’s writing the words since he uses the last phrase in the chorus.

Barney Elliott Warren                     1867-1951;  or B E Warren.   According to HymnTime:  http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/a/r/warren_be.htm,  Mr. Warren wrote lyrics to 280 Hymns.  They list 4 to which he wrote both the words and music.   There are at least 5 others in the list of 280 to which he wrote both the words and the music:  “Beautiful”[Robes], “Victory”, “It Is Truly Wonderful”, “Joy Unspeakable”, and “When The Bridegroom Cometh”.

Warren was con­verted in 1884 at a re­viv­al near Bang­or, Mi­chi­gan. Two years lat­er he joined Dan­i­el Sid­ney War­ner and his evan­gel­is­tic sing­ing com­pa­ny as a bass sing­er. The group was part of the Church of God Re­form­a­tion Move­ment in An­der­son, In­di­a­na. War­ren Is cred­it­ed with writ­ing over 7000 songs. His wife was Nan­nie Ki­gar, who be­longed to the sing­ing group that tra­veled the coun­try­side in the late 1800’s.
Warren was a Church of God min­is­ter as well as a song writ­er, and pas­tored sev­er­al con­gre­ga­tions. He al­so worked on pro­duc­ing song books and hymn­als for the Gos­pel Trum­pet Com­pa­ny from 1888 un­til 1940. His works in­clude

• Echoes From Glo­ry, with Dan­i­el War­ner (Grand Junc­tion, Mi­chi­gan: The Gos­pel Trump­et Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1893)[1]

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/o/y/joyunspk.htm   The tempo of the music played at HymnTime is, to me, a good tempo.   I think this song should always be sung joyfully.  Just read the words to the stanzas and let the words soak in:

JOY UNSPEAKABLE                        Key:  Bb    4/4

     W & M By Barney E Warren            (1900)

1. I have found His grace is all complete, He supplieth every need;

 While I sit and learn at Jesus' feet, I am free, yes, free indeed.

CHORUS:

It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, Full of glory, full of glory;

It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, Oh, the half has never yet been told.

2. I have found the pleasure I once craved, It is joy and peace within;

What a wondrous blessing I am saved, From the awful gulf of sin.

3. I have found that hope so bright and clear, Living in the realm of grace;

Oh, the Savior's presence is so near, I can see His smiling face.

4. I have found the joy no tongue can tell, How its waves of glory roll!

It is like a great o'erflowing well, Springing up within my soul.

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[1] Schwanz, Keith. The Birth of a Hymn. Kan­sas Ci­ty, Mis­sou­ri: Lil­le­nas Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1997.