Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

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Jesus Christ the Apple Tree (1803)
Richard Hutchins (attributed)

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also known as Christ Compared to an Apple Tree, is a commonly used title for a British poem beginning The tree of life my soul hath seen. It appeared in the September 1761 issue of The Spiritual Magazine published in London by J. Fuller and in the annual compilation Divine Moral and Historical Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, Vol. 1, in December 1761. The author is listed as R.H., believed to be Rev. Richard Hutchins, a Calvinist Baptist clergyman then at Long Buckby in Northamptonshire, England. It has been set to music by a number of composers, including Jeremiah Ingalls (1764–1838) and Elizabeth Poston (1905–1987). Because of its popularity in New England psalmody, the text has sometimes been attributed to an anonymous early American poet or to the hymn compiler Rev. Joshua Smith. The version below shows the poem as printed in the 1803 edition of Divine Hymns.

772481Jesus Christ the Apple Tree1803Richard Hutchins (attributed)

The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit, and always green;
The trees of nature fruitless be,
Compar'd with Christ the Appletree.

This beauty doth all things excel,
By faith I know, but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see,
In Jesus Christ the Appletree.

For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought;
I miss'd of all; but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the Appletree.

I'm weary'd with my former toil—
Here I will sit and rest awhile,
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the Appletree.

With great delight I'll make my stay,
There's none shall fright my soul away;
Among the sons of men I see
There's none like Christ the Appletree.

I'll sit and eat this fruit divine,
It cheers my heart like spirit'al wine;
And now this fruit is sweet to me,
That grows on Christ the Appletree.

This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the Appletree.

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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