Baptist preacher Joseph Swain wrote “Mutual Encouragement.” It first appeared in his Walworth Hymns (London: J. Matthews, 1792), Hymn XLVII, beginning on page 56. It consists of three stanzas in 7s. meter (8 lines). The last two lines of each stanza encourages the believer to look beyond the sins, snares, fears, and foes, to hear the joyful news, “Child, your Father calls—Come home!” The hymn has passed down relativity intact, appearing in such American Baptist hymnals as The Psalmist (Supplement, 62), and The Primitive Hymns (397).[i] Walworth Hymns suggests it be sung with Bath Abbey Tune.[ii] Bath Abbey was composed by Benjamin Milgrove (1731-1808) and published in 1781 as “Hymn X” in Twelve Hymns and a Favourite Lyric-Poem written by Dr. Watts. Milgrove served as precentor and organist at Lady Huntingdon’s Chapel in Bath, England. The tune was perhaps first called Bath Abbey in John Rippon’s A Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (147). Apparently the suggested tunes in Swain’s hymn book were those used in the Walworth Chapel.
Fight we must, but should not fear;
Foes we have, but we’ve a Friend,
One that loves us to the end;
Forward, then, with courage go;
Long we shall not dwell below;
Soon the joyful news will come,
“Child, your Father calls—Come home!”
2. In the way a thousand snares
Lie, to take us unawares;
Satan, with malicious art,
Watches each unguarded part:
But, from Satan’s malice free,
Saints shall soon victorious be;
Soon the joyful news will come,
“Child, your Father calls—Come home!”
3. But of all the foes we meet,
None so oft mislead our feet,
None betray us into sin,
Like the foes that dwell within.
Yet let nothing spoil our peace,
Christ will also conquer these;
Then the joyful news will come,
“Child, your Father calls—Come home!”
Joseph Swain was born at Birmingham, England in 1761. His parents died while he was very young, and here he was apprenticed to an engraver. He later removed to London to work with his brother. He was convicted of sin and converted in 1782. John Rippon baptized Swain on May 11, 1783. A newly-formed Baptist congregation at Walworth called Swain to pastor in December 1791, and he was ordained to the ministry February 8, 1792. His pastorate here was barely over four years, ended by his death April 14, 1796. He was survived by his widow and four children. It was while pastor here at Walworth that Swain compiled and published Walworth Hymns. He also published these works:
- A Collection of Poems on Several Occasions, London, 1781
- Redemption, a Poem in Five Books, London, 1789
- Experimental Essays on Divine Subjects, London, 1791
- Walworth Hymns, with a supplement, London, 1794
- A Pocket Companion and Directory, London, 1794
- Redemption, a Poem in Eight Books, London, 1797 (published posthumously)[iii]
Joseph Swain is buried at the Bunhill Fields Burying Ground. His gravestone, dislodged by a bomb during World War II, now resides between markers for Daniel Defoe and William Blake.
Other hymns by Joseph Swain include: “How sweet, how heavenly is the sight” (XXV, Walworth), “Love is the sweetest bud that blows” (VI, Walworth), “O thou in whose presence my soul takes delight” (Redemption, in Five Books), “On earth the song begins” (XXXVII, Walworth), and “Pilgrims we are, to Canaan bound” (LII, Walworth).
[ii] Bath Abbey was recommended in the Baptist collections of Swain, Benjamin Beddome, and John Rippon, and probably others. Matthew Spring wrote about Milgrove in “Benjamin Milgrove, the musical ‘Toy man’, and the ‘guittar’ in Bath 1757–1790,” Early Music, Volume 41, Issue 2, May 2013, pp. 317–329. This tune is presented in shaped notes in A Compilation of Genuine Church Music (208). [Thanks to Ethan Hardy and Wade Kotter for information about this tune.]
[iii] This book contains a memoir of Joseph Swain’s life.
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