Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
18th century English hymn by John Newton
"Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken", also called "Zion", or the "City of God", is an 18th-century English hymn written by John Newton, who also wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace". Shape note composer Alexander Johnson set it to his tune "Jefferson" in 1818, and as such it has remained in shape note collections such as the Sacred Harp ever since. However, the hymn is most often set to the tune of Joseph Haydn's "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" (referred to in hymnals as "Austria"). In recent decades it has been sometimes replaced by "Abbot's Leigh". This was written for this text by Cyril Vincent Taylor in 1942 while he was a producer of Religious Broadcasting at the BBC and stationed at the village of Abbots Leigh. Multiple other tunes have also been used with the hymn.
History
The hymn was written by Newton after he had asked for assistance from his friend and neighbour, classical writer William Cowper, while he was the Church of England parish priest of Olney Church. With Cowper's assistance, Newton was able to publish the Olney Hymns Hymnal, which included "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken", in 1779. The hymn is based upon Psalm 87:3 and Isaiah 33:20–21. "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" is considered to be Newton's best composition and was the only joyful hymn in the publication.
“Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” enters the record as 18th century English hymn by John Newton. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Glorious, Things and Thee can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Glorious, Things and Thee provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15616533. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1818, 1942 and 1779.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken primary sources, Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken archive and Glorious research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.