How Beautiful the Sight

How beautiful the sight
Of brethren who agree
In friendship to unite,
And bonds of charity;
’Tis like the precious ointment, shed
O’er all his robes, from Aaron’s head.

’Tis like the dews that fill
The cups of Hermon’s flowers;
Or Zion’s fruitful hill,
Bright with the drops of showers,
When mingling odors breathe around,
And glory rests on all the ground

For there the Lord commands
Blessings, a boundless store,
From His unsparing hands,
Yea, life forevermore;
Thrice happy they who meet above
To spend eternity in love!

Author: John Needham

Year: 1768

This is a metrical paraphrase of Psalm 133. It first appeared in John Needham's Hymns, Devotional and Moral, on Various Subjects (Bristol, 1768). Some later hymnals have attributed it to 'Needham' without a first name or occasionally to other authors, but John Needham (d. 1786) is the accepted writer.