I give immortal praise

The English hymn "I give immortal praise" was written by the celebrated nonconformist minister and poet Dr. Isaac Watts as a structured trinitarian doxology.

The hymn made its first appearance in the second edition of Watts's landmark collection, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, published in 1709. Inserted within Book III as entry Number 38, the text was structured in 4 stanzas of 8 lines and bore the explicit header, "A Song of Praise to the Blessed Trinity." Each stanza is mathematically balanced, traditionally dedicating the first to God the Father, the second to God the Son, the third to God the Holy Spirit, and the fourth concluding with a unified chorus of praise to the triune deity.

Textual Alterations and Congregational Use

While Watts originally composed the text utilizing the singular first-person perspective, it is rarely found in that exact format within modern church collections. Instead, the hymn achieved universal circulation across all English-speaking nations via a subtle, corporate alteration:

"We give immortal praise" represents the dominant text variant used in public worship. By shifting the opening pronoun from the singular to the plural, historic editors made the text more suitable for congregational singing. This altered version was rapidly adopted by prominent leaders of the eighteenth-century evangelical revival. It was included in George Whitefield’s Psalms and Hymns (1753), Martin Madan’s Psalms and Hymns (1760), and Augustus Toplady’s Psalms and Hymns (1776), establishing a textual tradition that carried forward into twentieth-century hymnbooks.

An alternative, more radical recast of the text appeared in Benjamin Hall Kennedy's Hymnologia Christiana (1863). Kennedy altered the opening movement to read "To God the Father yield." This specific variant failed to secure a foothold in mainstream church collections and remained restricted to limited regional use.