Hymn
O Happy Band of Pilgrims
O happy band of pilgrims,
If onward ye will tread
With Jesus as your fellow,
To Jesus as your head!
O happy if ye labour
As Jesus did for men!
O happy if ye hunger
As Jesus hungered then!
The cross that Jesus carried,
He carried as your due:
The crown that Jesus weareth,
He weareth it for you.
The faith by which ye see Him,
The hope in which ye yearn,
The love that through all troubles
To Him alone will turn.
The trials that beset you,
The sorrows ye endure.
The manifold temptations
That death alone can cure;
What are they but His jewels,
Of right celestial worth?
What are they but the ladder
Set up to heaven on earth?
O happy band of pilgrims,
Look upward to the skies,
Where such a light affliction
Shall win so great a prize!
To Father, Son, and Spirit,
The God Whom we adore,
Be loftiest praises given,
Now and for evermore.
O Happy Band of Pilgrims — Text from The Church Hymnal, 1920. Public domain. https://yeshuanow.com/hymns/o-happy-band-of-pilgrims
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Questions about this hymn
Who wrote O Happy Band of Pilgrims?
The words of O Happy Band of Pilgrims are credited to St. Joseph the Hymnographer and J. M. Neale; the version here was published in 1920.
Is O Happy Band of Pilgrims public domain?
Yes. The words here are taken from The Church Hymnal, published in 1920. Works published before 1931 are out of copyright in the United States, so you can print, project, perform and record this hymn freely. How we source and check every hymn.
What is the metre of O Happy Band of Pilgrims?
O Happy Band of Pilgrims is in 7.6.7.6. Hymns in the same metre can usually be sung to the same tunes — for example, O that the Lord's salvation, Sometimes a light surprises and The Voice that Breathed Over Eden.