Here we suffer grief and pain. T. Bilby. Heaven anticipated.] Published in The Infant School Teachers’ Assistant, 1832, in 6 stanzas of 3 lines, with the refrain, "O that will be joyful." Although suited in sentiment more to the aged than the young, yet mainly through the tune to which it is set and the refrain, it has become a very popular hymn with children, and is in extensive use in Sunday schools. Authorised text from the author's manuscript in Lyra Britannica, 1867, p. 62.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)