tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73446776927148760922024-03-08T05:33:22.395-06:00David's Hymn BlogDavid Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.comBlogger196125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-18787376849881874832023-10-29T19:50:00.001-05:002023-10-30T05:39:01.393-05:00William James Kirkpatrick (1838-1921)<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNagkCkzZQNAQvVeyxHmG2jfyYAz8KozWpy_z6WDipt9QsGeYcYPRspbFuOrTtLnbyftfmSy2XY7PyD6T_pvA4AZncyqhqNL8DtZm_xOvQvZqr6TxPRWFM4jzz4OrpkP-QWDoPKeADnFYUVUtreBTHY6QJAiT6SBFeOBm6LR51_9Ek3LPQytpRAdV0iHL/s604/biographyofgospe00hall_0154.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="411" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNagkCkzZQNAQvVeyxHmG2jfyYAz8KozWpy_z6WDipt9QsGeYcYPRspbFuOrTtLnbyftfmSy2XY7PyD6T_pvA4AZncyqhqNL8DtZm_xOvQvZqr6TxPRWFM4jzz4OrpkP-QWDoPKeADnFYUVUtreBTHY6QJAiT6SBFeOBm6LR51_9Ek3LPQytpRAdV0iHL/s320/biographyofgospe00hall_0154.jpg" width="218" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From Hall, page 154</span></td></tr></tbody></table>William James Kirkpatrick (1838-1921) was one of the most important composers of gospel songs in the history of the genre. Just how important can be seen first in his prodigious number of songs. From a download of individual song data listed in Hymnary.org, some 97,000 songs in all, I consolidate the various names under which a composer might be identified (William J. Kirkpatrick, Wm. J. Kirkpatrick, W. J. Kirkpatrick, etc.) and ranked the top composers by number of songs. <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12ebVnslJoOh8pu2YIJrAOyOJGcWLXXDo2T73Xb1xM7k/edit?usp=sharing">The results are available here.</a> To be sure, this is an imperfect measure, because it is unknown how representative the sample is; but to my knowledge it is the largest data set available. William J. Kirkpatrick had 1,412 tune credits, second only to Charles H. Gabriel at an amazing 2,333. Kirkpatrick's output was more than the Biglow & Main team of W. H. Doane (570) and Robert Lowry (465) put together; it was twice as many as all the songs the Fillmores of Cincinnati wrote put together; and if we consider Kirkpatrick and his longtime editorial partner John R. Sweney as a songwriting team, they dominate the list with a combined 2,614 tunes. This makes it all the more puzzling to me that there has been so little serious study of Kirkpatrick's career. <div><br /></div><div>Hymnologist Mel Wilhoit has said, "The scope, length, and influence of his life and work demand a strong consideration of William J. Kirkpatrick as one of the major figures in the gospel song movement of the late nineteenth century" (175). It appears there is still a dissertation topic here for the taking! For this essay, I will start from J. H. Hall's <i>Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers</i> as a major contemporary source of Kirkpatrick's biography, adding details and corrections as I am able. This of course is much the same ground explored by Wilhoit in the Kirkpatrick chapter from his 1982 dissertation, <i>A Guide to the Principal Authors and Composers of Gospel Song of the Nineteenth Century</i>, but I hope to expand on Dr. Wilhoit's work using the online resources unavailable to him at that time.<div><p></p><p><b>From Northern Ireland to Philadelphia</b></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_nSQvJGTb95EYyUnfU9v7iQKwPyHL1shFbPUu0BNWLb69zO3c78GxxytFPa4YsCoH07SKrGjP7YNE-lQgzLlOV3Ydk8eCytwGqyxn-9_JAw6WDj9KAb40E_wHWZ0R4KJhoayvkcgzdnyxpxb768kxhBFZSrXPK9ecl4rsuXEkPmgw7l6p2q-op18CQMk3" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_nSQvJGTb95EYyUnfU9v7iQKwPyHL1shFbPUu0BNWLb69zO3c78GxxytFPa4YsCoH07SKrGjP7YNE-lQgzLlOV3Ydk8eCytwGqyxn-9_JAw6WDj9KAb40E_wHWZ0R4KJhoayvkcgzdnyxpxb768kxhBFZSrXPK9ecl4rsuXEkPmgw7l6p2q-op18CQMk3" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Errigle looking to the North" by Kenneth Allen<br /><span style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa;">used under license: </span></span><a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #3366bb; font-family: sans-serif; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: none;">CC BY-SA 2.0</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Hall is silent on the subject of Kirkpatrick's birthplace, beginning with the subject's leaving his home in Duncannon, Perry County, Pennsylvania (155). In fact, William James Kirkpatrick was born in 1838 in the parish of Errigal Keerogue, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland (<a href="https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/27B8-MCN">Kirkpatrick, William James, family tree</a>). One "William Kirkpatrick" was present in Errigal Keerogue as early as 1631 (Ingram 91), so the family had likely come over from the Scottish Lowlands during the early "plantation" of Ulster with Protestants by King James. The Kirkpatricks were members of the Church of Ireland (Ingram 171, 309) and Loyalists in politics; William's great-grandfather Francis wrote a fiery tract in 1804 titled <i>Loyalty and the Times</i>, dedicated to his brothers in the Orange Order (Powell). In later and (relatively) quieter days, Thompson Kirkpatrick, William's father, was the first regular schoolmaster of the Errigoal Keerogue parish, which meager salary he supplemented with farming (Ingram 309). <p></p><p>The Thompson Kirkpatrick family came to the U.S. in August of 1840, but it is unclear whether William was with them; he is not listed as traveling with the family (Passenger manifest, <i>William & James</i>). Second-hand information--from his wife's passport application in 1921--says that he did emigrate in 1840 along with his family (Kirkpatrick, Lizzie E. Sweney, Application for passport), but he is missing in the 1850 census of the Thompson Kirkpatrick household in Petersburg (later renamed Duncannon), Pennsylvania (Kirkpatrick, Thompson, U.S. Census, 1850). I have been unable to find out more; among his biographers, George C. Stebbins says that he "came to Pennsylvania at an early age" (289), and Hall says that he left the family home at Duncannon, Pennsylvania in 1854 (155). The claim that William J. Kirkpatrick was actually <i>born </i>in Duncannon, repeated in a number of Internet resources, does not bear up under examination. His birthplace is identified as "Ireland" in the U.S. Censuses for 1860, 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920; only in 1870 is his birthplace given as "Pennsylvania," one of those anomalies of census data that could result from clerical error or even a census taker being given inaccurate information from a second-hand source (Kirkpatrick, William James, family tree).</p><p></p>From 1854 on Hall's information is more detailed. The 16-year-old Kirkpatrick moved to Philadelphia that year to apprentice as a carpenter (Hall 155, cf. Gabriel 39). By 1861, aged 23, he was listed in the city directory as a carpenter (<i>McElroy's 1861</i> 531); the 1867 directory said more specifically that he was a cabinetmaker (<i>McElroy's 1867</i> 500). But according to Hall he was soon also working with the choir and in the Sunday School program of the Wharton Street Methodist Episcopal Church (155). His musical training had no doubt begun under his father, who taught music as well as general subjects (Corbit 2:392). In Philadelphia, Kirkpatrick had the advantage of a broad range of musical opportunities. Hall states that he studied vocal music with "Prof. T. Bishop" (156)--surely the Thomas Bishop who was music teacher for the Philadelphia Normal School (<i>Annual Report</i> 39 (1858):25), and who sang a leading role in an 1852 production of Donizetti's <i>La fille du régiment</i> (Scharf and Westcott 2:1083). </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPIBQPr3oN6GY48vIHVI6CGVnj0Pjb9FjYWBox4qUru8KcR7OHUcLTvuadZq8bhQ9-1sGiUx94z9dFE3ZQVa5132SJDQUYM8BDed93n0tiAAPgFmnBTeVyM4QqZhT1oq-yq_RG0sKrSeFh72ycWjBVKP78OuyyWMUuERo1U14wxGvpjtfpHv4M7_x8xk0v" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="By Beyond My Ken - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26417440" data-original-height="1164" data-original-width="1920" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPIBQPr3oN6GY48vIHVI6CGVnj0Pjb9FjYWBox4qUru8KcR7OHUcLTvuadZq8bhQ9-1sGiUx94z9dFE3ZQVa5132SJDQUYM8BDed93n0tiAAPgFmnBTeVyM4QqZhT1oq-yq_RG0sKrSeFh72ycWjBVKP78OuyyWMUuERo1U14wxGvpjtfpHv4M7_x8xk0v=w320-h194" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26417440">Philadelphia Academy of Music, built in 1857</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Kirkpatrick was also involved with musical societies such as the Harmonia Society and the Handel and Haydn Society (Hall 156), which tended to use amateurs alongside professional musicians as a necessity. Especially important among these contacts was the conductor Leopold Meignen, with whom Kirkpatrick studied music theory and composition (Hall 157). Meignen, a Frenchman whose musical experience began as a bandsman in Napoleon's army, was an excellent teacher whose students included such later luminaries as Septimus Winner. Another student, William Henry Fry, stated that "until Mr. Meignen came here, there was no such regular instruction in counterpoint" (Swenson-Eldridge 151ff.). Kirkpatrick also studied organ with David D. Wood, organist at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (Hall 157). Wood was one of the earliest American proponents of the works of J. S. Bach (whose music was just becoming widely known again after decades of relative obscurity), and was one of the founders of the American Guild of Organists (Osborne). All of this shows that despite Kirkpatrick's lack of a formal academic education in music, he was as well instructed (or better) as many of his peers in the gospel music field.<p></p><p><b>First Steps in Gospel Music</b></p><p>Hall says that Kirkpatrick associated with the Wharton Street Methodist Church from the time of his move to Philadelphia in 1855, where he assisted in some capacity with the choir and Sunday School programs (155). It was here that he met Abraham S. Jenks, one of the Sunday School teachers, who put Kirkpatrick to work leading the singing for his class of young ladies (Metcalf 333). Jenks was a prominent businessman, member of the Board of Education, and dedicated philanthropist (Jenks marriage notice; Jenks obituary). Among his other interests, Jenks dabbled in publishing supplementary songbooks for Sunday Schools and prayer meetings, and caught on to the idea of singing religious texts to popular tunes. His first effort was a words-only volume titled <a href="https://archive.org/details/chorusorcollecti00jenk"><i>The Chorus, or, A Collection of Choruses and Hymns</i></a> (Philadelphia: A. S. Jenks, 1858). As he began gathering material for a second book, this time with musical notation instead of just suggested tunes, Jenks encountered the 20-year-old Kirkpatrick and was impressed with his ability, not only to write down a tune by ear, but also to provide it with a four-part harmonization on the spot (Hall 156). Jenks's <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/devotionalmelodi00jenk">Devotional Melodies</a></i> appeared in 1859, with a prominent acknowledgment "to Mr. W. J. Kirkpatrick, for the simple and appropriate arrangement of a large number of the musical compositions found in the work" (Publisher's notice). In fact Kirkpatrick's arrangements, together with his eleven original contributions, make up 86 of the 192 tunes in the book; George Stebbins called this <i>Kirkpatrick's</i> "first collection of songs" (290), suggesting that he was integrally involved in the work as a whole. Some of it is unusual--for example, the recasting of Stephen Foster melodies such as <a href="https://archive.org/details/devotionalmelodi00jenk/page/116/mode/2up">"Gentle Annie"</a> as gospel songs--but Kirkpatrick carries it off well. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhihLqLo3ukAOHrA33u-XcVuT9x80C_ltfTYyNNYID_W5K03eHl3Ed9fQEucCjaKbuuytJjtp3r6SnNeWUkLq9yvDqhDPaE1Vk5JvQPjTieiChg3sQt55aZvOUHe5M8l6hMxW_F3uu58BDPw2APDsdNKG8-TBqF4mSHrCAwJbIiV0z3EqhWRJTk9YhtGdab/s371/91st%20PA%20band.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="371" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhihLqLo3ukAOHrA33u-XcVuT9x80C_ltfTYyNNYID_W5K03eHl3Ed9fQEucCjaKbuuytJjtp3r6SnNeWUkLq9yvDqhDPaE1Vk5JvQPjTieiChg3sQt55aZvOUHe5M8l6hMxW_F3uu58BDPw2APDsdNKG8-TBqF4mSHrCAwJbIiV0z3EqhWRJTk9YhtGdab/w400-h246/91st%20PA%20band.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">91st PA Volunteers regimental band in 1861. The 4th rank has drums on the <br />near end, bass horns on the far end; the man at the far end of the 1st rank<br />might be William J. Kirkpatrick. <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/268181">NY Metropolitan Museum of Art.</a><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>According to the information recorded in Lizzie Kirkpatrick's passport application, previously mentioned, William Kirkpatrick did not become a U.S. citizen until October of 1860. One can only wonder if this decision was influenced by the looming conflict surrounding the November election, but by December it was certainly clear which side Kirkpatrick was on. At the outbreak of the Civil War Kirkpatrick enlisted in the 91st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, U.S., and was assigned to the field & staff company as fife major ("Kirkpatrick, William J.", <i>Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System</i>). He mustered in 4 December 1861, but was "mustered out of service by order of War Dept." ("Muster-Out Roll"), probably in the summer of 1862. The older tradition of the fife and drum corps was giving way to the modern military band, but there was also an economic reason to let him go: the true scale and length of the war had become more apparent to the nation's leaders. In July 1862 the Army issued General Order No. 91, which among other measures cut the number of bands from one per regiment to one per brigade (Manjerovic and Budds). According to George Stebbins, Kirkpatrick spent the remainder of the war in the Philadelphia shipyards (290); the Pennsylvania state census of 1863 supports this, listing him as a carpenter in Philadelphia. With the Navy's rapid buildup underway, his skills made him more valuable at home.</p><p>On Christmas Eve of 1861, the recently enlisted Kirkpatrick had married Susannah J. Doak, a member of the Wharton Street congregation whose father was a well known preacher ("Memorial Notice"). (Did they meet in A. S. Jenks's Bible class as teenagers?) They were blessed with three children, George (1862), Martha (1864), and Mary (1868) (Kirkpatrick, Familysearch.com). In the years immediately following the Civil War, Kirkpatrick took a position in a furniture factory (Hall 158) where he remained for about ten years (Gabriel 39ff.). But his heart was in church music, and he also received an appointment as organist and music director at Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church in 1865, where he continued to serve off and on through the early 1880s (Hall 157). Later he would also direct the music program at Grace Methodist Episcopal Church (Stebbins 289). </p><p>Kirkpatrick's songwriting was still somewhat sporadic during this period. He assisted A. S. Jenks in another collection in 1865, <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/heartvoiceorsong00jenk">Heart and Voice</a></i> (Philadelphia: Perkinpine & Higgins), a pioneering work coordinated with the Methodist hymnal and but with words and music on the same page (Stebbins 290). Of the 400-plus tunes, all but a few dozen are in the old-fashioned open score, with the melody in the "tenor" voice and a "treble" part on top. Kirkpatrick's contributions make up about one-eighth of the work, primarily consisting of sturdy, workable tunes for the traditional metric hymns. Only a few toward the back of the book are in a more modern style. Other than this work, Kirkpatrick does not appear to have contributed songs in great numbers to any collections until the mid-1870s. </p><p><b>Making Connections: Kirkpatrick Meets Sweney</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPw5Uzlyi4wspKOHCBDzlXNbKoLp59kNbEB9IkADeUGzsiNAzG8HNEO2h2XTB5F23N8XYgMXjGoK41z0H8W3xgTGqZuUjuUQtZ3a-8ncYEA8STjIuBd0m3Cd_tbIHUtHi85QA2a-tSFN-ZeigpeUVKcRhQwJ8gecXP7gZOgYwVi8u0_i0rN2xXjCHHH-fn" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="763" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPw5Uzlyi4wspKOHCBDzlXNbKoLp59kNbEB9IkADeUGzsiNAzG8HNEO2h2XTB5F23N8XYgMXjGoK41z0H8W3xgTGqZuUjuUQtZ3a-8ncYEA8STjIuBd0m3Cd_tbIHUtHi85QA2a-tSFN-ZeigpeUVKcRhQwJ8gecXP7gZOgYwVi8u0_i0rN2xXjCHHH-fn=w181-h200" width="181" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Robson_Sweney.jpg">John R. Sweney</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Kirkpatrick's rise to the top tier of gospel songwriters was by no means assured at this point, but as is so often the case in life, acquaintance with the right people and opportunity for his skills to be noticed opened the necessary doors. The first of these circumstances was met through his acquaintance with John R. Sweney (1837-1899). The two had a lot in common--both had directed regimental bands at the start of the Civil War before being mustered out (Sweney was in the 3rd Delaware Infantry), and both had a strong interest in church music, especially Sunday School music. When Sweney came to teach at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, and began leading music at various churches in Philadelphia, it was inevitable that they would meet (Hall 150ff.). Interestingly, though Sweney affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (Hall 151), his earliest songbooks--the <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/praisechoi00swen">Gems of Praise</a></i> series--were published by the Methodist press in Philadelphia. In 1875 Sweney issued <a href="https://archive.org/details/goodlyp00swen" style="font-style: italic;">Goodly Pearls for the Sunday School</a>, the first of many published with John J. Hood of Philadelphia. W. J. Kirkpatrick contributed a dozen songs, a precursor to a partnership that would eventually be rivaled only by such giants as Biglow & Main in New York City.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Gospel songwriter Edmund S. Lorenz (1854-1942), in his interesting survey of the history of gospel song in <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/MN41689ucmf_1/">Church Music: What a Minister Should Know about It</a></i>, notes that Sweney and Kirkpatrick represented "the more devout side of the 'spiritual' among the Methodists" (335). Certainly this was also reflected in their association with parachurch organizations such as Sunday School conventions and especially the "grove meetings," yearly encampments at natural beauty spots that might be described as the "glamping" version of the frontier camp-meeting. The most important of these in the Philadelphia area was the Ocean Grove encampment on the Jersey shore, founded in 1869 (Woodard 68). (A few years later a similar institution was founded at Lake Chautauqua in New York, and "chautauqua" would become another generic term for this blend of religious devotion, adult education, and recreation.) </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLwP7Z-y1_MzS90PgHBLAudGzoHMEKPUBhHN0m0edrHEEdSb3vfNGyQYYgau5p92gQWxo5KPKBGw7tuGWdbZz4oDE6tUoog7RXfPF7S6ZtXjyIiqIunTnB7tIq7wN9KI2kX2oeV7_nKMRg7wYIvkxadmWL2oLRI8GDT0dnKxr1WyJz5upaoqK51uUOo009" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="241" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLwP7Z-y1_MzS90PgHBLAudGzoHMEKPUBhHN0m0edrHEEdSb3vfNGyQYYgau5p92gQWxo5KPKBGw7tuGWdbZz4oDE6tUoog7RXfPF7S6ZtXjyIiqIunTnB7tIq7wN9KI2kX2oeV7_nKMRg7wYIvkxadmWL2oLRI8GDT0dnKxr1WyJz5upaoqK51uUOo009=s16000" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ocean_Grove_1876.jpg">Ocean Grove seaside service, 1876</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In 1873 John Sweney was invited to lead the singing at Ocean Grove, with such success that in advertisements for future sessions the main songleader was promoted alongside the featured speakers. Naturally Sweney brought along his new <i>Gems of Praise</i> songbook, and the production of small collections of new music became part of the yearly tradition at these events (Woodard 72). Kirkpatrick published similar collections in 1875-1876 titled <i>Leaflet Gems</i> nos. 1 and 2, published by Eli Mansfield Bruce (1825-1898) of Philadelphia. Bruce was primarily occupied with the sale of Estey organs (Bruce, <i>Findagrave</i>), but like many music store proprietors of the time he also did some publishing on the side. Bruce was engaged in 1875 to lead singing for the sunrise services at Ocean Grove, and used this platform to promote Kirkpatrick's new collection (Woodard 74). An advertisement from the <i>Ocean Grove Record</i> in the summer of 1875 shows the networking that was going on during these otherwise quiet years in Kirkpatrick's career:</div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Music books continue to fall from the press like leaves in autumn, and are eagerly bought up, sung through, and what they contain of real value receives the stamp of approbation and immortality. <i>Leaflet Gems</i>, published by E. M. Bruce & Co., a ten cent volume, gives us over fifty pieces, mostly the production of that excellent composer, W. J. Kirkpatrick, whose tunes are among the best adapted to the active religious operations of these active times. It may be ordered from 1308 Chestnut street or at Ocean Grove. <i>Goodly Pearls</i> has also been issued in an enlarged form by John J. Hood, who has been assisted in its getting up by Prof. J. R. Sweney. Many very choice and popular pieces will be found in its pages (Review of new music 31 July 1875).</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Fanny Crosby visited Ocean Grove as well, and attested to the circle of influence being formed in gospel music:</div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">How can I fittingly describe my impressions of Ocean Grove? The first evening that I was there was clear and calm ; and as we silently rowed across Wesley Lake some music from the camp-grounds was wafted to us with a delightful cadence. Among the lasting friendships formed at Ocean Grove were those of John R. Sweney and William J. Kirkpatrick (Crosby 139).</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><b>A Combination of Crises and a New Direction</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But just as acquaintance and opportunity often lead to a turn in one's path in life, so also do tragedy and hardship. Kirkpatrick's wife Susannah died 29 May 1878, at the age of 37, from peritonitis following "Battey's normal ovariotomy" (Susannah Kirkpatrick, death certificate). At the time, Dr. Robert Battey's procedure was viewed by some as a cure-all for menstrual problems (and even for mental illness!) though medical opinion soon turned against it because of the high risk involved and poor evidence for its effectiveness ("Robert Battey"). It is somewhat unusual that William and Susannah had no more children after Mary, born in 1868 when Susannah was just 27; this may indicate some extended illness for which Battey's operation was used a last resort.</div><br /></div>William Kirkpatrick was now a single father at the age of 40 with three children: George (aged 15), Martha (aged 13), and Mary (aged 9). A month later, the furniture company for which he had worked went out of business (Hall 158). (If anyone with access to archives in Philadelphia will pursue this, I suspect it may have been Swan, Clark & Co.. who appear in the <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hn77ev?urlappend=%3Bseq=206%3Bownerid=115967501-222">1876 <i>Gopsill's Philadelphia Business Directory</i></a> but not in the <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102672413">1879 edition</a>. They were on the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Federal_Reporter/rTYcXXkmF-oC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22swan%20clark%20%26%20co%22%20philadelphia&pg=PA817&printsec=frontcover">losing side of an 1878 case</a> seeking the recovery of ore than $300,000 in today's dollars.) Though Kirkpatrick would certainly land on his feet, these sudden blows at midlife seem to have prompted him to consider a new direction. According to Hall he spent the summer traveling, and by the fall had decided to work full-time in church music (158).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Philadelphia Triumvirate of Gospel Music: Kirkpatrick, Sweney, and Hood</b></div><div><br /></div><div>John J. Hood (1845-1922) was an immigrant from Glasgow who came to Philadelphia about 1868, establishing a music business in the 1870s that he directed until his death (Hood, obituary). </div><div><i>Gopsill's </i>directory for 1876 shows that he had a music store at 608 Arch Street (273), and <i>Goodly Pearls</i>, apparently his first book with Sweney, was published at that address as early as 1875 (front cover). For a time, however, he was also working in the music typography firm of John H. Armstrong, or at least depended on the use of his equipment for the actual printing (<i>Goodly Pearls</i> 160). This relationship came to an abrupt end in the same fateful year of 1878 with the murder of Armstrong by a business associate. Hood was in fact called to testify as to the time that Armstrong left the printing office on the evening he was killed ("Benjamin Hunter's trial"). </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhScJt1YKiCljUzMd6y9lyvxkPkJ9ZLLCuGVPaFkKVki41H_fING-nb1EjnH6FBdUqifyqKqjRfqurJRnR1UNcqnQX2riCe8UKmOtJ3Y21dxAq9kMEJxn4GM4BF37q0mDnGp26vV772OBFKZUn6FAGo8W9K-HGpEUzEY7Y8gLJ8gnz579zg1Z1epNmqPnJK" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhScJt1YKiCljUzMd6y9lyvxkPkJ9ZLLCuGVPaFkKVki41H_fING-nb1EjnH6FBdUqifyqKqjRfqurJRnR1UNcqnQX2riCe8UKmOtJ3Y21dxAq9kMEJxn4GM4BF37q0mDnGp26vV772OBFKZUn6FAGo8W9K-HGpEUzEY7Y8gLJ8gnz579zg1Z1epNmqPnJK=w202-h320" width="202" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">From </span><i style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/royalfountainno300swen">The Royal Fountain no. 3</a></i></td></tr></tbody></table>Hood, Sweney, and Kirkpatrick were at a crossroads together, and joining their forces began a series of publications that appeared at an impressive rate--nearly 50 titles from 1880 to 1895. (I have found 48 in OCLC WorldCat and Hymnary.org; Hall says there were 49 from 1880-1897 (158), and Stebbins says there were 50 in the same period (290)). For comparison, I found only 40 unique titles in the WorldCat database published by Hood during this period that <i>did not</i> feature both Sweney and Kirkpatrick as editors; seven of these were edited by Sweney with a variety of different editors, and another handful were collections of songs "as used in the evangelistic services of" a well-known preacher, who was credited as the compiler. Hood also published a few collections edited by other well-known gospel songwriters such as Charles Gabriel, Edwin O. Excell, and others. My analysis of this body of work is based on information I gathered and documented in the spreadsheet <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12QlIAGuiENPzUPCFqtNCM51TiAd19wnye3aglGNc1yQ/edit?usp=sharing">Sweney and Kirkpatrick songbooks published by Hood</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sweney, Kirkpatrick, and Hood published between one and five books per year from 1880-1896 (not counting their individual publications or works co-edited with others), averaging 2.75 books per year with a mode of 3 books per year. Years with three or more books published were often followed and/or preceded by years with just one or two, suggesting that books were delayed or completed early and bled over into an adjacent year. Some publications, such as <i>The Trio </i>(1882) and <i>The Quartet </i>(1884), were compilations of earlier books and did not require much editorial work; additionally, there are a few special occasion titles in the list, such as <i>Over the fields: a service for Children's Day</i> (1894) that were much smaller efforts.</div><div><br /></div><div>Using copyright records and newspaper announcements, I have identified the month and year the works were published in order to determine which books borrowed from each other. This also gives an interesting insight into the publication schedule; publication was most frequent in July and December (6 books each) and least frequent in October and November (1 book each). Of the four quarters of the church year, December-February was the busiest (15 books), followed by slightly fewer publications in March-May (12 books), a busy summer in June-August (14 books), and a much slower September-November (4 books). The concentration of publications in the spring and summer (19 books were published in April-July, the highest 4-month span) probably reflects the demand for new books at Ocean Grove and other summer “grove meetings.”</div><div><br /></div><div>In order to probe deeper into the contents of these books, I have analyzed 29 of these books that are indexed at Hymnary.org. These books contain 4,833 songs altogether, with 3,037 unique titles. The books range in size from 83 to 240 songs, with an average and median of 167. In evaluating the percentage of songs repeated from previous volumes, I began with the third book in the series to account for the lack of data for earlier publications in the first two books. The average percentage of repeated songs was 39%, with a median of 33%. The lowest percentage was 6%, and the highest percentage was 87%. Generally speaking, a couple of publications with a higher percentage of repeated songs were followed by publications with a higher percentage of new songs. Some books with a high percentage of previously published songs are explained by special circumstances; the contents of Precious Hymns for Times of Refreshing and Revival (80% repeats), for example, were selected by the revivalist Thomas Harrison, and Temple Songs: Seaside Edition (85% repeats) was a reissue of an 1888 publication.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi129BHwBDv2jmB9siPpYxPpW06JNOa3tIQ6HTLeDc97b6R-ack_vFQj3p4n0aGi0epLTKRQMJbdIO6WIDheOtgekeUgeQYLnob18tFRQzuFH41xeB3dcUztbRN9dN8wGbkyd_YufztcQJhykKsDV7h5im44iIWfzHHng3H2XCcz-Is73whnbufuEcnoJyJ/s721/royalfountainno300swen_0113.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="453" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi129BHwBDv2jmB9siPpYxPpW06JNOa3tIQ6HTLeDc97b6R-ack_vFQj3p4n0aGi0epLTKRQMJbdIO6WIDheOtgekeUgeQYLnob18tFRQzuFH41xeB3dcUztbRN9dN8wGbkyd_YufztcQJhykKsDV7h5im44iIWfzHHng3H2XCcz-Is73whnbufuEcnoJyJ/s320/royalfountainno300swen_0113.jpg" width="201" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/royalfountainno300swen">The Royal Fountain no. 3</a></i></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><div><br /></div><div>Of the lyricists represented, Fanny Crosby leads the way with 919 instances of her songs, followed by Eliza Hewitt at 577. No one else is close–Priscilla J. Owens, with 88 song instances, is tied in third place with Charles Wesley. It is noteworthy, though not that surprising if one is familiar with the repertoire, that the top three lyricists are women. In assessing the relative importance of different lyricists, it is critical to note that Fanny Crosby’s songs appeared in every one of these publications from beginning to end, whereas Eliza Hewitt’s songs appeared first in 1887. A comparison of the two beginning at the time Hewitt’s songs first began to appear shows that they were nearly tied, with Crosby at 596 song instances to Hewitt's 577. Of the seventeen publications in the series from 1887 and later, Hewitt’s songs in fact made up the highest percentage of work by a single lyricist on seven occasions, and Hewitt and Crosby were tied in another. Though the total number of songs contributed by Crosby slightly increased across the entire span from 1880 to 1896, her percentage of the total in each book dropped significantly as the books became larger and as Hewitt’s contributions dramatically increased.</div><div><br /></div><div>Among the composers, John R. Sweney just barely edges out William J. Kirkpatrick, 1,230 tune instances to 1,220. Between them they wrote just over 50% of the music in the 29 songbooks analyzed. In third place, by comparison, is H. L. Gilmour with 225 tune instances. (Gilmour would take an increasing role in editorship at John J. Hood during the 1890s.) The co-editors seem to have shared the load of songwriting equally throughout this series of publications, with no significant difference over time. Of the 1,220 instances of Kirkpatrick compositions, 290 were for Fanny Crosby lyrics and 276 were for Eliza Hewitt lyrics. In third place was Priscilla Owens with 72 instances of lyrics set to music by Kirkpatrick. Hewitt’s numbers here are remarkable considering that she was not contributing to these books until 1887, appearing in only 17 out of the 29 books analyzed, and still nearly tied Crosby among Kirkpatrick’s settings. Kirkpatrick’s number of settings of Crosby lyrics did not change dramatically over the course of these publications, but his settings of Hewitt lyrics skyrocketed. Of the 17 songbooks from 1887 on, settings of Hewitt lyrics outpace those of Crosby in all but four. In five of these songbooks Kirkpatrick set more than twice as many lyrics by Hewitt as by Crosby. </div><div><br /></div><div>Part of this was no doubt the increasing demand for material–this series of songbooks shows Kirkpatrick and Sweney were contributing an increasing percentage of the songs, and the books were getting longer. From 1880 through 1885, the average number of songs was 129, with a low of 84 and a high of 170. From 1886-1890, the average was 162, with a low of 83 and a high of 206. If the outlier <i>Prohibition Melodist</i> with only 83 songs is removed, the average is 173 with a low of 122. From 1891 through 1896, the average number of songs is 204, with a low of 125 and a high of 240. Again, if one outlier is removed (<i>Dew Drops</i>, with only 125 songs, closer to the average from a decade earlier), the average shifts to 212 songs with a low of 183. The increasing demand through the late 1880s and into the 1890s meant that even though Crosby’s songs were coming in at the same rate, the Hood company’s new muse Eliza Hewitt was supplying an even greater share of lyrics. Since Crosby was based in New York and was primarily associated with a rival publishing house, Biglow & Main, it was a significant coup to find a similarly prolific writer based in Philadelphia who would write primarily for John J. Hood publications.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The End of the Kirkpatrick-Sweney-Hood Era</b></div><div><br /></div><div>What brought this dynamic era to an end? Patricia Woodard's intriguing study of the musical life of Ocean Grove notes that a rift had begun to show in the community over the role of gospel songs in the proceedings. Some had always objected to the "ditties" being used instead of the traditional hymns of the official Methodist hymnal (Woodard 74-75), and by the middle 1890s the increasingly modern and sophisticated sensibilities of the attendees had begun to look askance at the enthusiastic revival-style song-leading of Sweney (Woodard 76-77). In addition, the completion of the Great Auditorium in 1894 provided a major venue for much larger performances. When Walter Damrosch of the New York Symphony conducted Handel's <i>Messiah</i> with a 400-voice choir, the writing was on the wall (Woodard 76). In 1896 a new choral director, Tali Esen Morgan, shared the stage with Sweney, and Damrosch--now a fixture at the Great Auditorium--announced that Morgan would direct the Ocean Grove Chorus in upcoming performances of <i>Messiah</i> and Haydn's <i>Creation</i> (Woodard 77). The death of Ellwood Stokes in 1897, first president of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association and a perennial booster of gospel songs, probably also contributed to Sweney's retirement in 1898--"the end of an era" (Woodard 78).</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSbFTrt_jvXY1RpUBEl6UR-U7qkW6yB3ZOxRxBo3T2VaJxtxWtjvuRNnnYQc_ozJ9pdFDWz9izyauipSa-dN_QRr5OmuWcbDxnve8bkTas78YCYH7SSVsZ4Suuv6GxCcryZp5T-xl59Gsmg5aAiZNP3NxRzCuM9IL74ioHe8oTuAu0gJL-4xPRHQVHiFnL" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="800" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgSbFTrt_jvXY1RpUBEl6UR-U7qkW6yB3ZOxRxBo3T2VaJxtxWtjvuRNnnYQc_ozJ9pdFDWz9izyauipSa-dN_QRr5OmuWcbDxnve8bkTas78YCYH7SSVsZ4Suuv6GxCcryZp5T-xl59Gsmg5aAiZNP3NxRzCuM9IL74ioHe8oTuAu0gJL-4xPRHQVHiFnL=w640-h382" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annual_report_(1869)_(14577698009).jpg"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Great Auditorium at Ocean Grove, 1894</span></a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />William J. Kirkpatrick had been through some major events in his personal life through the 1890s as well. In 1893 he married a New York widow, Sarah Kellogg Bourne, with the wedding breakfast hosted by the bride's first cousin Phoebe Palmer Knapp, composer of "Blessed Assurance" (Sarah Lankford Kellogg family tree ; "Gotham by phone"). Though Fanny Crosby was not in attendance, it would not be surprising if William and Sarah met through her circle of acquaintance; "Kirkie" was a dear friend to Crosby (Crosby 138). Tragedy was not far behind, however; Kirkpatrick lost his younger daughter Mary to tuberculosis in April of 1895 (Mary D. Kirkpatrick death certificate). 1896 brought a happier event, the marriage of his remaining daughter Martha; but this too brought loss when the couple moved away to Maine (Kirkpatrick, Martha Lankford). By the time of Sweney's retirement in 1898 from activities at Ocean Grove, Kirkpatrick had also "retired from most of his public activities" according to Stebbins (290). The death of Sweney in 1899 was particularly hard of course, and J. H. Hall agrees that Kirkpatrick turned away from public appearances after this time and focused on editing and composition (159).</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Editorial Work with Other Publishers</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Even during the years he was editing for John J. Hood, Kirkpatrick also co-edited songbooks for other publishing houses, such as <i>Songs of Joy and Gladness</i> for McDonald & Gill of Boston (no. 1 in 1885, no. 2 in 1890), and <i>Finest of the Wheat</i> for R. R. McCabe of Chicago (no. 1 in 1887, no. 2 in 1894). In the post-John J. Hood era, Kirkpatrick actually increased in his editorial output slightly, with 59 new titles from 1897 to 1915. Initially these were for a variety of publishers, favoring in particular the new Hall-Mack Company. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgi02rm7CfiCXuwXgjslxq_vo5QXQcX0x_MGO1To4vHdR8okvH4mEmvv5KLQXVoHCGSU-Kp8IEkI5rpu52H7fZOjvxYtV0sfous2pz1eVd2lW3tkjd1Pw1JaDNszdBcFlDh7Lkaq8HAGn93b8XFccKSKl3xE1kaRa9npqtEgrUFdkRjcDrOC27upNSvuHCJ" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="509" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgi02rm7CfiCXuwXgjslxq_vo5QXQcX0x_MGO1To4vHdR8okvH4mEmvv5KLQXVoHCGSU-Kp8IEkI5rpu52H7fZOjvxYtV0sfous2pz1eVd2lW3tkjd1Pw1JaDNszdBcFlDh7Lkaq8HAGn93b8XFccKSKl3xE1kaRa9npqtEgrUFdkRjcDrOC27upNSvuHCJ" width="160" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/triumphantpraise00kirk"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Triumphant Praises </i>(1901)</span></a></td></tr></tbody></table>Founded by J. Lincoln Hall and Irwin H. Mack, this Philadelphia-based company appears to have begun publishing sheet music as early as October 1894 (<i>Catalog of Title Entries</i> no. 173 page 14), though their first gospel songbook, <i>Boundless Love</i>, only appeared in 1896. They would become a major force in gospel music during the early 20th century, and were bought out in 1936 by Homer Rodeheaver, eventually becoming part of Word Music (McNeil "Rodeheaver" 322). Kirkpatrick's books edited for Hall-Mack all involved H. L. Gilmour, with whom he had worked for John J. Hood. Five of these eight books are indexed at Hymnary.org, and an analysis of their contents shows that of 1,160 songs, Kirkpatrick wrote 226, more than the next three most-represented composers combined (J. Lincoln Hall with 84, H. L. Gilmour with 77, and C. Austin Miles with 63). Eliza Hewitt lyrics continued to predominate in Kirkpatrick's songs, making up a third of his contributions (73 lyrics), followed by Fanny Crosby at 31 lyrics. An interesting feature of Kirkpatrick's Hall-Mack books was the prominence of a younger generation of new songwriters, in particular Lelia N. Morris (Mrs. C. H. Morris), who contributed sixty songs. Unusually for the time, she wrote both words and music, and was thus the fourth-highest contributor of tunes to the books analyzed. Another young lyricist found in this series, Thomas O. Chisholm, had his first widely successful song, "O to be like Thee," with a William Kirkpatrick tune.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another feature of Kirkpatrick's career after the partnership with Sweney was his involvement with songbooks developed for particular religious groups. These included <i>Cheerful Praises</i> (1900) and aa third number of <i>The Young People's Hymnal</i> (1906) for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, where he filled the music editing role of the recently deceased Rigdon McIntosh, a southerner with strong publishing connections in the northeast. This work in Nashville probably led to Kirkpatrick's connection with T. B. Larimore, one of the most prominent preachers among the Churches of Christ in that era. Together they brought forth <i>Seventy-Seven Sweet Songs</i> (Nashville: McQuiddy, 1906) and <i><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19RFtoLQSFttD6moWdfVkwAl2LOZwsVaJwzsw0bMiUjQ/edit?usp=sharing">The New Christian Hymn Book</a></i> (Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1907). </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Praise Publishing: Kirkpatrick on His Own</b></div><div><br /></div><div>By 1906 William Kirkpatrick had founded his own publishing house in Philadelphia, the Praise Publishing Company (<i>The Old Story in Song</i>; <i>Directory of Publishers</i> 1908 xxxix). (I have not been able to substantiate McNeil's statement in his <i>Encyclopedia of Gospel Music</i> that Praise Publishing went back as far as 1878.) I have identified nine songbooks from Praise Publishing, dated from 1906 to 1914. Not surprisingly, H. L. Gilmour was involved in each, but other recurring names are Arthur S. Magann, who is named as compiler for two of the later collections, with Kirkpatrick and Gilmour as music editors; Melvin J. Hill; Charles H. Marsh, who appears as an additional music editor in two of the later volumes; and George W. Sanville, who was a manager and road representative ("Prof. Sanville"). An announcement in 1911 of the twentieth anniversary celebration of the Methodist church in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania advertises "a service of song and sermon; this will be conducted by Mr. G. W. Sanville in the new book, 'The Message in Song'" Interestingly, this article also teases that "it is expected that Prof. William J. Kirkpatrick, the famous hymn and music writer, will be present" ("Founding of Ridley Park"). By 1911, it seems, Kirkpatrick was letting others be the public face of the company.</div><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhR_AMbbQQB0amGe9GeTPrdDoYNizH7g73E1MZpUca_ARxFQGm3rqd3rzDBOlor8D_wm7y8l-5wjbbX2CNeblVp-H2dU5FqESaErlABnoOQdP7xMtXmJKSV4BGgR-0x0yLn4KMhPm7EJWzqE285ur4-y-vJuxxAxGKWWA3UjKrzyJWVjGerEYYtPrgRc6bi" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="504" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhR_AMbbQQB0amGe9GeTPrdDoYNizH7g73E1MZpUca_ARxFQGm3rqd3rzDBOlor8D_wm7y8l-5wjbbX2CNeblVp-H2dU5FqESaErlABnoOQdP7xMtXmJKSV4BGgR-0x0yLn4KMhPm7EJWzqE285ur4-y-vJuxxAxGKWWA3UjKrzyJWVjGerEYYtPrgRc6bi" width="159" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://archive.org/details/oldstoryinsongnu00kirk">Old Story in Song no. 2</a></i> (1908)</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Four of the nine Praise Publishing songbooks are indexed in Hymnary.org, and from this limited sample it is at least possible to observe that Kirkpatrick still supplied more music than any other one composer, 129 out of 849 total songs. In a clear second place, however, is Lelia N. Morris, who supplied 92 instances to these collections--more than twice as many as any of the remaining composers. She dominated among the lyricists as well, more than doubling Eliza Hewitt's contributions. Praise Publishing appears to have been a successful enterprise in its time, and certainly helped further the careers of some younger gospel songwriters. <p></p><p>The last Praise Publishing book I have found appears in 1914, and it seems that once again tragedy punctuated a turn in Kirkpatrick's career: in March 1915 his second wife, Sarah, passed away (Kellogg, Sarah Lankford). Whatever the reason, when Kirkpatrick was ready to sell his business he had an eager buyer at hand--Homer Rodeheaver. The two men knew each other from Ocean Grove, and one can imagine that the older Kirkpatrick was reminded of his own youth by the dynamic young songwriter and songleader for Billy Sunday's evangelistic crusades. Rodeheaver was a keen businessman, and had already tried unsuccessfully to lure G. W. Sanville away from Kirkpatrick; but in 1917 he made an even better deal and bought Praise Publishing. By doing this Rodeheaver got Sanville to manage his Philadelphia interests, added the prestige of Kirkpatrick's legacy to his own ventures, and secured a considerable catalog of copyrights (Mungons 101). Though Kirkpatrick's songwriting career was far from over, he was now largely out of the editing business.</p><p><b>Kirkpatrick as a Composer</b></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZpqm6RI230iv2TlCbCzDjdJwJI4AlOapztr_d-juO_eQo14JA29-CV3Dz4aBESnobBL6TeUOs01QJa2RYlX8j_ccUpg79DJWXW4uGhbQlQYvrI17b9jCFwCeuCYHilyP_RQIAIJqE3kAtmC-YFmc7NRoeG1_oOEx2PYuYnv6C2GyEYxZstk7ypy7hDf54" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZpqm6RI230iv2TlCbCzDjdJwJI4AlOapztr_d-juO_eQo14JA29-CV3Dz4aBESnobBL6TeUOs01QJa2RYlX8j_ccUpg79DJWXW4uGhbQlQYvrI17b9jCFwCeuCYHilyP_RQIAIJqE3kAtmC-YFmc7NRoeG1_oOEx2PYuYnv6C2GyEYxZstk7ypy7hDf54=w203-h320" width="203" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From <i><a href="https://hymnary.org/hymn/SoRL1882/page/90">Songs of Redeeming Love</a></i>, 1882</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Looking at Kirkpatrick's output as a composer, the years in partnership with Sweney and Hood comprised his era of greatest and most lasting success. Of his 1,641 tunes I have counted from Hymnary.org, 1,158 first appeared from 1880 to 1896, but only 462 in the years from 1897 to 1921. He averaged around 68 tunes a year in the 1880-1896 period, exceeding this number in nine out of the seventeen years; afterward he exceeded it only once, in 1899, and averaged half as many songs per year until 1908, when running a business reduced his composing efforts even further. In terms of the quality of his tunes, the Hood-Kirkpatrick-Sweney era saw the introduction of nearly all of his best-known songs, such as "Jesus saves!," "Lord, I'm coming home," "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus," "A wonderful Savior," "Will your anchor hold?," "Redeemed! How I love to proclaim it," "Stepping in the light," and "Meet me there," all of which have over 100 instances in Hymnary.org. Such lasting contributions were less frequent in the later period: "Lead me to Calvary," a posthumously published work, has 90 instances; and there was "Give me thy heart, says the Father above" (1898) with 65 instances, "O to be like Thee!" (1897) with 58 instances, and "Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah" (1899) with 42 instances. There is a problem in comparing the success of songs in the two eras, of course, when the former period brought out so many more songs overall. Granting that success in songwriting is a hit-and-miss business, if he wrote twice as many songs in one period of time as in another, it would be logical to expect that more of his "hits" would be from the first period. There is also the problem that as an editor of numerous songbooks he freely reused his own work, inflating the numbers of his instances recorded at Hymnary.org. <p></p><p>I attempted two different approaches to find a more balanced view of his compositions. In the first, I added together all the Hymnary.org instances of all Kirkpatrick's songs appearing in a year, divided by the number of songs appearing that year--a sort of average overall success rate for the year. The average number of Hymnary.org instances for a song from the 1880-1896 years was a little over seven; the average for a song from the later years was a little over four. As could be expected, there were "banner years" such as 1882 ("Jesus saves!," "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus," and "Redeemed! How I love to proclaim it"), for which the average was over 16 instances per song, but even avoiding such outliers, the data show clearly that Kirkpatrick's songs from the decade he was running Praise Publishing (1908-1917) averaged 2.5 instances in Hymnary.org, with none higher than 6 and more than two-thirds of them at just 2 instances. Viewing Kirkpatrick's success from another perspective, however, I took Kirkpatrick's top 100 songs in terms of Hymnary.org instances and narrowed the group to those songs that have been reprinted in a hymnal in the 21st century. Of these 29 songs, 21 are from the 1880-1896 period and 8 are from the later period, more or less proportional to the number of songs written overall during these eras. From this point of view, Kirkpatrick managed to write long-lasting, successful songs throughout his career, but simply had less opportunity in his later years. </p><p>Kirkpatrick's songwriting may also reflect a larger trend in the gospel music business at the turn of the century, as noted by Fanny Crosby biographer Bernard Ruffin. He found that although Crosby remained an industry favorite, demand for her lyrics was not as great in the 1890s as in the 1880s (173). Ruffin also noted that by 1905 Biglow & Main was not publishing as many songbooks, and relied increasingly on reprinted material (215). Although there were health factors that also began to curb Crosby's lyrical output, the available data support Ruffin's conclusion that the New York titan of gospel music publishers was no longer needing her services as often. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9HcG5mAHAGFjpYg29n1YCZM7BBNoz_MIWSZmJFWSnk10wJTX87AGWQqFuOMJIxPqLT2m5r5nMgQQ5qFlA2J6bdbAq0WRcb5XPzRtDIjcV1qJ808X5saCylQpjRBb-38jXpRvJcreVkhlNkBAt36azHDwxgO1yBWtoylgjgPnqJzVWc629EIjPCmOJ4_TT" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="1287" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9HcG5mAHAGFjpYg29n1YCZM7BBNoz_MIWSZmJFWSnk10wJTX87AGWQqFuOMJIxPqLT2m5r5nMgQQ5qFlA2J6bdbAq0WRcb5XPzRtDIjcV1qJ808X5saCylQpjRBb-38jXpRvJcreVkhlNkBAt36azHDwxgO1yBWtoylgjgPnqJzVWc629EIjPCmOJ4_TT=w554-h255" width="554" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Biglow & Main publications per year in Hymnary.org (trend line is 5 year rolling average)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>On the other hand, by the turn of the century newer firms such as Hope Publishing of Chicago and the Rodeheaver Company of Winona Lake, Indiana were on the rise. They would eventually buy up the East-coast gospel music giants: Biglow & Main went to Hope Publishing, and Hall-Mack to Rodeheaver, who also bought out Kirkpatrick's Praise Publishing. The center of gravity of gospel music in the Northern U.S. was shifting to the Midwest and a new era of leadership, and the heyday of Southern shape-note gospel was well underway. but the "Yankee" era of gospel music, of Ocean Grove and Chautauqua, was coming to a close. As for Kirkpatrick, much of his music would live on in the new publishing centers, but he was no longer a major player.</p><p><b>Kirkpatrick and His Lyricists</b></p><p>In order to examine Kirkpatrick's output through the lens of the different authors whose lyrics he set, I selected ten of the Kirkpatrick lyricists in Hymnary.org (out of 346 total) whose lyrics Kirkpatrick used at least 20 times, and whose Kirkpatrick settings had at least 80 songbook instances in total (roughly the top 5% of the 346 as far as total instances).</p><table border="2"><tbody><tr><td>Author</td><td>Total instances</td><td>No. of lyrics</td><td>Avg. instances</td></tr><tr><td>Hewitt, Eliza E.</td><td>1,877</td><td>396</td><td>4.74</td></tr><tr><td>Crosby, Fanny J.</td><td>1,984</td><td>264</td><td>7.52</td></tr><tr><td>Owens, Priscilla J.</td><td>667</td><td>62</td><td>10.76</td></tr><tr><td>Turner, Mrs. R. N.</td><td>137</td><td>35</td><td>3.91</td></tr><tr><td>James, Mary D.</td><td>173</td><td>32</td><td>5.41</td></tr><tr><td>Reed, Ida L.</td><td>87</td><td>30</td><td>2.9</td></tr><tr><td>Kirkpatrick, William J.</td><td>617</td><td>25</td><td>24.68</td></tr><tr><td>Oatman, Johnson, Jr.</td><td>169</td><td>25</td><td>6.76</td></tr><tr><td>Barnes, Edward A.</td><td>97</td><td>25</td><td>3.88</td></tr><tr><td>Breck, Carrie Ellis</td><td>131</td><td>21</td><td>6.24</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfpKsw22xcAHEMeSaqQ_6ahfmIO6HivjiwtEmGc7_Garg-TsfUkgmaf3DruyNlIQOUxbVvytiSXaP6i5a-FSvUcimcX2Gh0B31jqjrBzLS9M5dSo-xGZWmAhaYw-ATmWTj4koaZaukPhXJ9wJ-WZeVhy3HGmnTrrXqUj0oiZTpGrhYPbEgVBhryn42RZJF" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfpKsw22xcAHEMeSaqQ_6ahfmIO6HivjiwtEmGc7_Garg-TsfUkgmaf3DruyNlIQOUxbVvytiSXaP6i5a-FSvUcimcX2Gh0B31jqjrBzLS9M5dSo-xGZWmAhaYw-ATmWTj4koaZaukPhXJ9wJ-WZeVhy3HGmnTrrXqUj0oiZTpGrhYPbEgVBhryn42RZJF=w133-h200" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fanny J. Crosby<br /></span><a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/r/o/s/crosby_fj.htm" style="font-size: small;">from Hymntime.com</a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>It is interesting to note that although Eliza Hewitt wrote half again as many lyrics for Kirkpatrick as did Fanny Crosby, the Crosby-Kirkpatrick songs still outpaced the Hewitt-Kirkpatrick songs, 1,984 to 1,877 in overall Hymnary.org instances. Crosby's numbers are bolstered, however, by the success of a small number of songs that achieved marked long-term success--"A wonderful Savior" (164 instances), "Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it" (118 instances), and "On the happy golden shore (109 instances). Hewitt had only one Kirkpatrick setting that came near these, "Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior (Stepping in the light)," with 114 overall instances. Sitting in third place in the above table is the other Philadelphia school teacher, Priscilla J. Owens, whose total Hymnary.org instances with Kirkpatrick tunes are about a third as many as those of Crosby or Hewitt. But then Owens was nowhere near as prolific a writer as Crosby and Hewitt, and Kirkpatrick set far fewer of her lyrics--only 64, compared to 396 from Hewitt and 264 from Crosby. By a certain measure, Owens's collaboration with Kirkpatrick was actually more successful, with an average of 10.76 overall Hymnary.org instances per song to 7.52 for Crosby and 4.74 for Hewitt. Being prolific gave more opportunity for success, but it also meant many more lyrics that did not catch on in the long run. Owens, with a smaller number of lyrics overall, produced two lasting successes--"We have heard the joyful sound (Jesus saves!)" (303 instances) and "Will your anchor hold?" (120 instances). These two account for more than half her total instances in the table above. A top 10 list of Kirkpatrick's songs by total instances in Hymnary.org shows the importance of these three ladies to Kirkpatrick's career:</p><p></p><table border="2"><tbody><tr><td>First line</td><td>First published</td><td>Total instances</td><td>Lyricist</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>We have heard the joyful sound</td><td>1882</td><td>303</td><td>Priscilla J. Owens</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>I've wandered far away from God</td><td>1892</td><td>272</td><td>William J. Kirkpatrick</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus</td><td>1882</td><td>256</td><td>Louisa M. R. Stead</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>O spread the tidings 'round (Kirkpatrick arr.)</td><td>1890</td><td>171</td><td>Francis Bottome</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>A wonderful Savior</td><td>1890</td><td>164</td><td>Fanny J. Crosby</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Away in a manger</td><td>1895</td><td>123</td><td>Martin Luther (attributed)</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Will your anchor hold</td><td>1885</td><td>120</td><td>Priscilla J. Owens</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Redeemed how I love to proclaim it</td><td>1882</td><td>118</td><td>Fanny J. Crosby</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior</td><td>1889</td><td>114</td><td>Eliza E. Hewitt</td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td>On the happy golden shore (Meet me there)</td><td>1885</td><td>109</td><td>Fanny J. Crosby</td></tr><tr></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;">But as usual, anomalies emerge--in third place is Louisa M. R. Stead, a one-hit wonder who to my knowledge wrote no other song lyrics. And though Kirkpatrick did not write a lot of lyrics himself, and his average of instances per lyric was no doubt influenced by the ease with which he could repeat his own material in his books, he produced one long-lasting success: "I've wandered far away from God (Lord, I'm coming home)" (272 instances). The simple and heartfelt nature of this song, and its usefulness as an invitation or altar call (depending on your terminology), has probably contributed to its longevity.</p></div><p>Looking at how these top ten lyricists interacted with Kirkpatrick over time also gives a new insight into his career. The chart below shows the huge gap between Crosby's output of lyrics for Kirkpatrick (gray line) compared to the other lyricists, at least during the 1880s. This supports Ruffin's assertion that Crosby's most successful hymns were in the 1880s with the Hood-Sweney-Kirkpatrick connection, rather than with Biglow & Main (159). But beginning the late 1880s Hewitt (yellow line) equaled and then far surpassed Crosby in supplying Kirkpatrick with lyrics. </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjywhhIkN5wHm6278EtXjFrnpbWuOIfPmmWU45DnICtpAW-y1GNaNK25ifiK94mtNx6IrMZvCd2B_6uNDDGFb9DxeX_j1WhoKZfW5IzMv3fN89fNBve8jDgNJIcDVvm224Rw1MxfbR5Pv8O4HbFn35yFkAY85ThG77TqFEcpe5RVap9mRvmZAmBQojOSgkl" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="702" data-original-width="1970" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjywhhIkN5wHm6278EtXjFrnpbWuOIfPmmWU45DnICtpAW-y1GNaNK25ifiK94mtNx6IrMZvCd2B_6uNDDGFb9DxeX_j1WhoKZfW5IzMv3fN89fNBve8jDgNJIcDVvm224Rw1MxfbR5Pv8O4HbFn35yFkAY85ThG77TqFEcpe5RVap9mRvmZAmBQojOSgkl=w604-h215" width="604" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Number of songs set by Kirkpatrick each year (top ten lyricists)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxt6n6pbU4IE9KspUzqMRRxdChODIIS7p-IcGRdIGjWZISeYHNjQIb7jfsT7MLh7mGd20-O7wVanALdRZEGeqdExfvbkfHuZq7v5vndPgf3cqeEDpfwyKXZNnwRpbhf-oKC1hU5-3lzT5MgUmmiKR_7PA6N-ufJlw-RXeEhBQMc5D0ZiqH-TEGhFFkrHwS" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="208" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjxt6n6pbU4IE9KspUzqMRRxdChODIIS7p-IcGRdIGjWZISeYHNjQIb7jfsT7MLh7mGd20-O7wVanALdRZEGeqdExfvbkfHuZq7v5vndPgf3cqeEDpfwyKXZNnwRpbhf-oKC1hU5-3lzT5MgUmmiKR_7PA6N-ufJlw-RXeEhBQMc5D0ZiqH-TEGhFFkrHwS=w138-h200" width="138" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Eliza E. Hewitt<br /><a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/e/w/i/hewitt_ee.htm">from Hymntime.com</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Ruffin suggests that by the 1890s Crosby was "written out" (165-166); though she still had some great songs left to write, her attention turned increasingly toward ministry to the poor and public speaking. Hewitt, by contrast, was just hitting her stride in 1887 with the success of "More about Jesus" (music by John Sweney), and would supply a huge proportion of the Sweney-Kirkpatrick songs toward the end of their writing for John J. Hood (see my post on </div><div><a href="https://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2023/08/for-christ-and-church.html">"For Christ and the Church"</a> for more background on Hewitt's career). Lest we think of these women as rivals, however, it should be noted that Crosby first met Hewitt at Kirkpatrick's home (Ruffin 172), and spoke of a later visit with Hewitt as a "gracious benediction" that gave them opportunity to converse on the work "dear to both of us" (Crosby 199). In 1897 Crosby had a serious fall and then a heart attack, and after a bout of pneumonia in 1900 was convinced by her sister that she ought to leave New York to live with them (Ruffin 183, 193). The chart above shows that Hewitt supplied Crosby's place as Kirkpatrick's muse from that point; they continued to collaborate until Hewitt's death in April 1920, a little over a year before Kirkpatrick's own demise.<p></p><b>Reassessing Kirkpatrick's Contribution</b><br /><p></p><p>William James Kirkpatrick was never one to emphasize his own importance, and to some extent that may have obscured his contribution to gospel music compared to men who were more in the limelight. John C. Hunterton, recalling Kirkpatrick's work with Abram Jenks on the <i>Devotional Melodies</i> in the 1850s, described him as "a useful member among us; a young man of unobtrusive manner" (<i>Memorial Record</i> 62). Edmund S. Lorenz, who as a fellow professional knew Kirkpatrick in his later years and as a man of business, said he was "a man of quieter and less commanding temperament" than his peers in gospel music (336). But regardless of the man's modesty, one must agree with Mel Wilhoit's assessment of the man's true impact on his field:</p><p></p><blockquote>William James Kirkpatrick occupies a central position in the history of the gospel song. As an editor, compiler, publisher, and composer, he exerted a wide and lasting influence on the course and development of the gospel song in the nineteenth century. During his long and distinguished career he influenced both lyrics and music in his role as editor and publisher. Kirkpatrick's nearly one hundred collections; which were published by a score of different publishers, enjoyed a widespread popularity within a number of different denominational and religious groups, although Kirkpatrick was closely aligned with Methodism. In addition, his role as composer has earned him a lasting place for over a century in many American hymnals (Wilhoit 177-178).</blockquote><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkgJqMp_bJHJS4mFum1FhjFukFdC4EkRKZL-ZX_AcAxT-FWO4AlgdvqLMmajx1EMp85HJMrOsL9ICB6zWK_Mg7u1VebDony-_7Pa-I9qZH0W1vqcrzgzghfMMc1Rr0etEro9wnJrzrKLAOKKhjGiNE4HPmHVg-9Yi5q0LaFwcUbYYqmD87RU5UqNKmX_-/s497/Lizzie%20E.%20Sweney.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="497" data-original-width="361" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkgJqMp_bJHJS4mFum1FhjFukFdC4EkRKZL-ZX_AcAxT-FWO4AlgdvqLMmajx1EMp85HJMrOsL9ICB6zWK_Mg7u1VebDony-_7Pa-I9qZH0W1vqcrzgzghfMMc1Rr0etEro9wnJrzrKLAOKKhjGiNE4HPmHVg-9Yi5q0LaFwcUbYYqmD87RU5UqNKmX_-/w145-h200/Lizzie%20E.%20Sweney.png" width="145" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/172912038?cid=mem_copy">Lizzie Kirkpatrick in 1921</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Though William Kirkpatrick's career was drawing to a close in the 1910s, he was by no means retired. Charles H. Gabriel described him in 1916 as "seventy-seven years young, hale, hearty, and busy at his work" (40). In January of the following year Kirkpatrick married a third time, to someone he had doubtless known for decades--Lizzie Hinkson Sweeney, the widow of Kirkpatrick's partner John R. Sweney (WJK family tree). They would have known each other for more than forty years by that time, and seem to have had a happy few years together in what time remained. Kirkpatrick continued to write songs, including one that appeared only after his death: "Lead Me to Calvary," with lyrics by the Quaker poet Jennie Hussey. This would become the standout song from his later years, and continues in use today.</p><p>George C. Stebbins, whose warm friendship with Kirkpatrick is obvious from his biographical sketch, gives this detail of Kirkpatrick's final hours (293), certainly a fitting end for one so devoted to his work:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>Mr. Kirkpatrick died suddenly, at his residence in Germantown, Philadelphia. Mrs. Kirkpatrick found her husband sitting in his favorite chair fast asleep--as she supposed--about four o'clock on the morning of September 29, 1921. On the floor at his feet was found a manuscript bearing the notation "9-29, 2 A.M."--which would indicate that he had heard his Master's call while yet in the midst of his last prayer, or doubtless he would have written a third stanza:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>Just as Thou wilt, Lord, this is my cry: <br />Just as Thou wilt, to live or to die. <br />I am Thy servant; Thou knowest best; <br />Just as Thou wilt, Lord, labor or rest.</p><p>Just as Thou wilt, Lord,--which shall it be, <br />Life everlasting waiting for me,<br />Or shall I tarry here at Thy feet?<br />Just as Thou wilt, Lord, whate'er is meet.</p></blockquote><p></p><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><hr /><p><i>References:</i></p><p>"Benjamin Hunter's trial, second week." <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, 18 June 1878, page 2. Newspapers.com.</p><p>"Bourne, Annie F." Hymnary.org. <a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Bourne_A">https://hymnary.org/person/Bourne_A</a></p><p>Bruce, Eli Mansfield. <i>Findagrave.com</i>. <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104189848/eli-mansfield-bruce">https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104189848/eli-mansfield-bruce</a></p><p><i>Catalog of Title Entries of Books Etc. July 2-Dec 29 1894, nos. 157-182</i>. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Copyright Office, 1894. <a href="https://archive.org/details/catalogoftitleen22918libr">https://archive.org/details/catalogoftitleen22918libr</a> (multiple issues bound together)</p><p>Corbit, R. M. <i>History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present</i>. Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1910. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008652826">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008652826</a></p><p>Crosby, Fanny J. <i>Memories of Eighty Years</i>. Boston: James H. Earle, 1906. <a href="https://archive.org/details/eightyyrs00cros">https://archive.org/details/eightyyrs00cros</a></p><p><i>Devotional Melodies</i>, compiled by A. S. Jenks. Second edition. Philadelphia: A. S. Jenks, 1859. <a href="https://archive.org/details/devotionalmelodi00jenk">https://archive.org/details/devotionalmelodi00jenk</a></p><div><i>Directory of Publishers Issuing Books in the United States</i>. New York: Publishers' Weekly, 1900-1908. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/C2pGs4NNUTMC">https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/C2pGs4NNUTMC</a> (multiple issues bound together)</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>"Founding of Ridley Park M. E. Church." <i>Delaware County Daily Times</i> (Pennsylvania) 14 October 1911 page 12. Newspapers.com</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Gabriel, Charles H. <i>Gospel songs and their writers</i>. Chicago: Rodeheaver, 1915. </div><div><a href="https://archive.org/details/gospelsongstheir00gabr">https://archive.org/details/gospelsongstheir00gabr</a></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Goodly Pearls for the Sunday School</i>, edited by John R. Sweney and John J. Hood. Philadelphia: J. J. Hood, 1875. <a href="https://archive.org/details/goodlyp00swen">https://archive.org/details/goodlyp00swen</a></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Gopsill's Philadelphia Business Directory</i>. Philadelphia: J. Gopsill. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hn77ev">https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hn77ev</a></div><div><br /></div><div>"Gotham by phone". <i>The Philadelphia Inquirer </i>24 October 1893, page 4. Newspapers.com.</div><p>Hall, J. H. <i>Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers</i>. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1914. <a href="https://archive.org/details/biographyofgospe00hall">https://archive.org/details/biographyofgospe00hall</a></p><p>Ingram, Cecil Brett. <i>Ulsterheart, an Ancient Irish Habitation</i>. Dunn Loring, Virginia: All-Ireland Heritage, 1989. Electronic form created by Tom McFarland, October 2011. <a href="https://math.uww.edu/~mcfarlat/pictures/ulsterheart/ulsterheart.htm">https://math.uww.edu/~mcfarlat/pictures/ulsterheart/ulsterheart.htm</a></p><p>Jenks, A. S. (obituary). <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, 23 September 1895, page 1. Newspapers.com.</p><p>Jenks, A. S. (marriage notice). <i>Philadelphia Times</i>, 13 December 1894, page 4. Newspapers.com.</p><p>Hood, John J. (obituary). <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, 16 November 1922, page 27. Newspapers.com.</p><p>Kellogg, Sarah Lankford, family tree. Familysearch.com. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/27B6-S13">https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/27B6-S13</a></p><p>Kirkpatrick, Lizzie E. Sweney, Application for passport, sworn 20 April 1921. Source certificate #23585, <i>Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925</i>, 1578. Familysearch. <a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDF-LT6K">https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDF-LT6K</a></p><p>Kirkpatrick, Martha Lankton, person page. Familysearch. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/MGN4-ZKM">https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/MGN4-ZKM</a></p><p>Kirkpatrick, May [i.e. Mary] D. (death certificate). <i>Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915</i>. Familysearch. <a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JDGS-4ZZ">https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JDGS-4ZZ</a></p><p>Kirkpatrick, Susannah J. (death certificate). <i>Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915</i>. Familysearch. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J6SZ-WLZ">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J6SZ-WLZ</a></p><p>Kirkpatrick, Thompson. U.S. Census, 1850. Familysearch. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4CC-2W7">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4CC-2W7</a></p><p>"Kirkpatrick, William J." <i>Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System</i>. National Park Service. <a href="https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=B4EE5AB0-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A">https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=B4EE5AB0-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A</a></p><p>Kirkpatrick, William J. 1863 Pennsylvania Septennial Census. Pennsylvania, U.S., Septennial Census, 1779-1863. Ancestry.com</p><p>Kirkpatrick, William James, family tree. Familysearch.com. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/27B8-MCN">https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/27B8-MCN</a></p><p>Lorenz, Edmund S. <i>Church Music: What a Minister Should Know about It.</i> New York: Revell, 1923. <a href="https://archive.org/details/MN41689ucmf_1/">https://archive.org/details/MN41689ucmf_1/</a></p><p>Mahood, J. W. <i>The Master Workman</i>. Philadelphia: Praise Publishing, 1910. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009777982">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009777982</a></p><p>Manjerovic, Maureen, and Michael J. Budds. "More than a Drummer Boy's War: a Historical View of Musicians in the American Civil War". <i>College Music Symposium </i>vol. 42 (2002), pages 118-130. <a href="https://symposium.music.org/index.php/42/item/2190-more-than-a-drummer-boys-war-a-historical-view-of-musicians-in-the-american-civil-war">https://symposium.music.org/index.php/42/item/2190-more-than-a-drummer-boys-war-a-historical-view-of-musicians-in-the-american-civil-war</a></p><p><i>McElroy's Philadelphia City Directory</i>, 1861. Philadelphia: A. McElroy, 1861. <a href="https://archive.org/details/mcelroysphiladel1861amce">https://archive.org/details/mcelroysphiladel1861amce</a> </p><p><i>McElroy's Philadelphia City Directory</i>, 1867. Philadelphia: A. McElroy, 1867. <a href="https://archive.org/details/mcelroysphiladel1867amce">https://archive.org/details/mcelroysphiladel1867amce</a> </p><p>McNeil, W. K. "Kirkpatrick, William James," <i>The Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music</i>. New York: Routledge, 2005.</p><p>McNeil, W. K. "Rodeheaver, Homer Alvan," <i>The Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music</i>. New York: Routledge, 2005.</p><p>"Memorial Notices." <i>Christian Advocate </i>(New York) 11 July 1878, page 442.</p><p><i>Memorial Record of Wharton Street M. E. Church, Philadelphia</i>, compiled by John C. Hunterson. Philadelphia: W. H. Pile's Sons, 1892. <a href="https://archive.org/details/memorialrecordof00whar/">https://archive.org/details/memorialrecordof00whar/</a></p><p>Metcalf, Frank J. <i>American Writers and Compilers of Sacred Music</i>. New York: Abingdon, 1925. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Writers_and_Compilers_of_Sacred/wPklAAAAMAAJ">https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Writers_and_Compilers_of_Sacred/wPklAAAAMAAJ</a></p><p>Mungons, Kevin, and Douglas Yeo. <i>Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry</i>. University of Illinois Press, 2021.</p><p>"Muster-Out Roll of Field & Staff Company, Ninety-First Regiment." <i>Pennsylvania, U.S., Civil War Muster Rolls, 1860-1869</i>. Ancestry.com.</p><p><i>The Old Story in Song: for Evangelistic Meetings, Prayer Services, Sunday Schools and the Young People's Meetings</i>, edited by Arthur S. Magann, Wm. J. Kirkpatrick, H.L. Gilmour. Philadelphia: Praise Publishing, 1906. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100319938">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100319938</a></p><p>Osborne, William. "Wood, David D(uffle)." <i>Grove Music Online</i>. Oxford University Press. Date of access 15 May 2023.</p><p>Passenger manifest, <i>William & James</i>, from Londonderry to Philadelphia, 20 August 1840. <i>Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1882</i>. Familysearch. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8C3-LTM">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8C3-LTM</a></p><p>Powell, David. "Kirkpatricks & Kilpatricks of Co Tyrone, Ireland." <a href="https://tolharndor.org/ft/kirkpatrick.html">https://tolharndor.org/ft/kirkpatrick.html</a></p><p>"Prof. Sanville will conduct song services." <i>The Allentown Democrat</i> (Pennsylvania) 17 February 1912 page 1. Newspapers.com.</p><p>Review of new music. <i>Ocean Grove Record</i> (New Jersey) 31 July 1875 page 3. Newspapers.com.</p><p>"Robert Battey." <i>Wikipedia</i>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Battey">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Battey</a></p><p>Ruffin, Bernard. <i>Fanny Crosby</i>. Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1976. <a href="https://archive.org/details/fannycrosby00bern/">https://archive.org/details/fannycrosby00bern/</a></p><p>Scharf, John Thomas, and Thompson Westcott. <i>History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884</i>. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts, 1884. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012298026">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012298026</a></p><p>Stebbins, George C. <i>George C. Stebbins: Reminiscences and Gospel Hymn Stories</i>. New York: AMS Press, 1971. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001414329">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001414329</a></p><p>Swenson-Eldridge, Joanne. <i>The Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia and the Emergence of String Chamber Music Genres Composed in the United States (1820--1860)</i>. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1995.</p><p>Wilhoit, Mel R. <i>A Guide to the Principal Authors and Composers of Gospel Song of the Nineteenth Century</i>. D.M.A. dissertation, Southern Baptists Theological Seminary, 1982. <a href="https://repository.sbts.edu/handle/10392/5717">https://repository.sbts.edu/handle/10392/5717</a></p><p>Woodard, Patricia. "Musical Life at Ocean Grove, New Jersey: The First Fifty Years, 1869-1919 Part I." <i>Methodist History</i>, vol. 44, no. 2, Jan. 2006, pp. 67–79. <a href="https://archives.gcah.org/handle/10516/6648">https://archives.gcah.org/handle/10516/6648</a><br /></p><p>Woolston, Clarence Herbert. <i>Seeing Truth: a Book of Object Lessons with Magical and Mechanical Effects. </i>Philadelphia: Praise Publishing, 1910. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100695630">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100695630</a></p></div></div>David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-29879777087533719072023-08-05T11:31:00.001-05:002023-08-05T11:33:30.276-05:00For Christ and the Church<p> <i>Praise for the Lord </i>#156</p><p>Words: Eliza E. Hewitt, 1890<br />Music: William J. Kirkpatrick, 1890</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEje7vEqKO_vCcf3W_9CeEznEzEgAlidc-yg6-1j7l0hlwPnQBJduGmG18HdxgUwkEAGK3tYnzZhgKI4rokYb0bGDIqZnHSKcheggKKou_3Kk2V0Pio4PgSEDxEhk5oQmwr4O0DCj9S8wEd7GnLE2njWevi61CkkVhrXQ3vXaDSAql3FL0FenXo9f2RisQ" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="208" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEje7vEqKO_vCcf3W_9CeEznEzEgAlidc-yg6-1j7l0hlwPnQBJduGmG18HdxgUwkEAGK3tYnzZhgKI4rokYb0bGDIqZnHSKcheggKKou_3Kk2V0Pio4PgSEDxEhk5oQmwr4O0DCj9S8wEd7GnLE2njWevi61CkkVhrXQ3vXaDSAql3FL0FenXo9f2RisQ=w139-h200" width="139" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Eliza Edmunds Hewitt<br /><a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/e/w/i/hewitt_ee.htm">photo from Cyber Hymnal</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>The May 1923 celebration of "Music Week" in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania must have been an amazing time--churches, schools, factories, and clubs went all out to put on programs, three different bands played an hour each in one night, and a mass choir concert directed by famed music educator Hollis Dann exclusively featured music by Pennsylvania composers. Newspaper coverage also mentioned several Pennsylvania notables in sacred music to be featured, including James McGranahan, Philip P. Bliss, Elisha A. Hoffman, Robert Lowry--and Miss E. E. Hewitt, the only woman composer mentioned ("State supervisor"). Though Eliza E. Hewitt did not attain the degree or longevity of fame as her friend Fanny J. Crosby, she was a highly prolific lyricist and sometime composer who was recognized as a major figure in gospel music of her era. Some of her songs have lasted through the decades, such as "More about Jesus," "There is sunshine in my soul today," "Stepping in the light," "A blessing in prayer," and the perennial "When we all get to heaven." A. J. Showalter wrote in 1904 that Hewitt was "the author of more popular hymns for gospel songs and Sunday School use than any other one writer except Fanny J. Crosby" (Showalter 280). Based on a rough tabulation from Hymnary.org, this was true at the time (James Rowe's prolific career was just beginning), and Hewitt still holds a solid third place for number of gospel song lyrics written.<p></p><p>Eliza Edmunds Hewitt (1851-1920) was born in Philadelphia to James and Zeruiah Hewitt of Cape May, New Jersey (<a href="https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KLJK-TRN">"Eliza Edmunds Hewitt"</a>). Her middle and last names link her to the old Colonial families of Cape May, possibly even to Mayflower Pilgrims (cf. Howe). James S. Hewitt was a sea captain, successful enough eventually to own an eponymous schooner ("Marine miscellany"), and saw his children go into learned professions in the Philadelphia area. George Ayres Hewitt, the oldest, graduated from Jefferson Medical College and was a regular contributor to medical journals ("George Ayres Hewitt, M.D."); younger brother Luther Edmunds Hewitt was the librarian of the City Hall Law Library (<i>Gopsill's</i> 2573); and Eliza Edmunds Hewitt was a public school teacher before an debilitating injury changed the course of her life.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5q-_vzY2OZYmGvvgglnOhaVPWXqNTmDMSM0oNKMseTERhgMON5k_FhFxtAxuqiI926nJM89veCnPOoWnb3eyovWP8dKNApFlTn76UiF3AZafE-qrsAvKaAuYdZoUEfLd5De8wDSZnjUoBfh2hkFotOBxggN8JB0HnYanl9fsTJPQtbCLo5ee5GdxjYQ" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="1000" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5q-_vzY2OZYmGvvgglnOhaVPWXqNTmDMSM0oNKMseTERhgMON5k_FhFxtAxuqiI926nJM89veCnPOoWnb3eyovWP8dKNApFlTn76UiF3AZafE-qrsAvKaAuYdZoUEfLd5De8wDSZnjUoBfh2hkFotOBxggN8JB0HnYanl9fsTJPQtbCLo5ee5GdxjYQ=w320-h218" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/8163">Lyons Public School in 1912</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Eliza Hewitt was admitted to the Girl's High and Normal School in 1865 (<i>Annual Report</i> 47(1865):225), and graduated with distinction in 1868 having just turned seventeen ("Girls' Normal School"). By 1871 she was the second assistant teacher at Girls School No. 6 (Annual Report 53(1871):132). From 1873-1878 she taught at Girls School No. 3 near Catharine & 10th streets (later the Lyons Public School), beginning as a third assistant and then as second assistant in 1875 (<i>Annual Report</i> 55(1873):132, 56(1874):125, 57(1875):152, 59(1877):144, 60(1878):111). She does not appear in the Philadelphia Public Schools <i>Annual Report</i> of 1879 or thereafter.<p></p><p>Biographers during her lifetime were not very specific about the injury that ended her public school career; Showalter says only that she was forced to resign by illness (280), and J. H. Hall specifies "serious spinal trouble" that forced her to resign and made her a shut-in for "a number of years" (345). It was not until 2003 that more details came to light: Dan Graves, writing about Hewitt for <i>Christianity Today</i>, was contacted by C. Edmunds Rhoad (grandson of Eliza's brother Luther) who revealed that Eliza was injured by a "reckless student striking her with a piece of slate" (Graves). Whether this was a student's writing slate or a loose slate from a roof is unclear, as well as the circumstances under which this happened.</p><p>As has been the case with a number of other hymnwriters, it seems that this forced retirement from public activity focused Hewitt's mind on devotional poetry. Hewitt had one hymn published already, in the words-only <i>Hymns for Christian Worship</i> (Cincinnati: Bosworth, Chase & Hall, 1871). But during her convalescence in the 1880s she began to show her prodigious ability in producing lyrics, and to make the connections that would get them set to music. Hewitt was becoming well known in Philadelphia Presbyterian circles; according to Hall, one of her hymns was placed in the cornerstone of the new Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in West Philadelphia, built in 1884 (Hall 345; Tabernacle United Church). John R. Sweney, choir director of Bethany Presbyterian in Philadelphia and music director for the popular religious encampment in Ocean Grove, New Jersey (Eskew), read some of Hewitt's lyrics and asked for more that he could set to music (Hall 345). Among the first of her lyrics widely published was "More about Jesus," set to music by Sweney; the invalid former teacher had written a song that was on the lips of Sunday School children across the country, and would go on to be her most widely-known contribution to gospel song.<br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVc6AbL9PJ8I8ymWNeEL_wIwFkUr7SUqGGgWm0-rCE7-N17WZoO2w6Y2u9Zt5z3pvVnEf7bTb8Xt9ZTwsq2XWiNgYWWHI9_NDOr05Th_BQAYqE-RAToaX7WA5QY7Sgvxw_QN1UqKGVt7oeK1KfbjRkVQSIl2seocG5unHm6Y0sMrE1OVcGNa3q04RTDg/s1296/Untitled.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1087" data-original-width="1296" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVc6AbL9PJ8I8ymWNeEL_wIwFkUr7SUqGGgWm0-rCE7-N17WZoO2w6Y2u9Zt5z3pvVnEf7bTb8Xt9ZTwsq2XWiNgYWWHI9_NDOr05Th_BQAYqE-RAToaX7WA5QY7Sgvxw_QN1UqKGVt7oeK1KfbjRkVQSIl2seocG5unHm6Y0sMrE1OVcGNa3q04RTDg/w320-h269/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/infantpraisescol00swen"><i>Infant Praises</i> (Philadelphia: John J. Hood, 1887)</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Sweney (1837-1899) and his partner William J. Kirkpatrick (1838-1921) had begun editing songbooks for the John J. Hood Company in Philadelphia around 1880, and over the next two decades the pair would produce more than a hundred sacred music publications. During the period of collaboration with Kirkpatrick and Sweney, from 1887 to Sweney's death in 1899, Hewitt saw 819 new songs introduced in 109 different books. Of these songs, 421 were published in songbooks by by John J. Hood, all but a handful of which were edited by Sweney and/or Kirkpatrick. The next most prominent publisher of Hewitt's works in this period, by comparison, was the Hall-Mack Company (also of Philadelphia) with 48 new songs. William J. Kirkpatrick composed the music for 281 of these 819 new songs, and John R. Sweney composed for 213, bringing their total to 60% of all Hewitt's new songs from this period. The next most prolific composer for Hewitt's texts in this era was Adam Geibel with only 27 settings.<p></p><div>The information available on gospel music publishers from this era is frustratingly uneven; but in my estimation from WorldCat holdings, John J. Hood was second only to Biglow & Main of New York in the 1880s and 1890s. And just as Biglow & Main kept the ever-prolific Fanny Crosby on retainer, Sweney & Kirkpatrick had found their muse in Eliza Edmunds Hewitt. Of the 1,881 songs by Hewitt listed on Hymnary.org, I can identify the composer for 1,573; out of these, 369 were set to music by Kirkpatrick and 244 by Sweney. Together they wrote the music for 40% of her songs for which a composer can be identified. A full 433 of Hewitt's songs, about 23% of the total, were first published by John J. Hood. Following Sweney's death John J. Hood greatly reduced its offerings of gospel music books, but by that time Hewitt's popularity among composers and publishers was firmly established.</div><div><br /></div><div>There would naturally be some ebb and flow in the publication of new songs, depending on external factors such as the length of time from writing the lyrics to being set to music and the timing of publication on the part of the publisher. Looking at Hewitt's output of new songs from 1887 through 1923 (when the last significant cluster of new texts appears, three years posthumously), the mean number was 50 songs per year and the median was 47. Breaking this down into different periods, however, the true range of her output becomes apparent. From 1887 through 1893, the mean and median are again 50 and 47 per year; but from 1894 through 1901, Hewitt's numbers skyrocket to a mean of 81 songs a year and a median of 90. Along with this increase in output was an increase in the number of different composers setting Hewitt's texts each year, which went from a mean average of 6 in 1887-1893 to 23.5 in 1894-1901. There was a corresponding change in the number of publishers Hewitt's songs appeared with each year, which averaged only 4 from 1887 through 1893 but averaged 10 different publishers each year in 1894-1901. This shows that even though Hewitt's relationship with John J. Hood and the Sweney-Kirkpatrick editorship was a huge part of her work in the 1890s, she was also gaining popularity with other composers and publishers, and was thus unfazed (professionally at least) by the loss of Sweney and the departure of John J. Hood from the gospel music field.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsL_nf06F1dDp7Q1IL3ehO3RYEBXkoe5hBI-UTvhmzVOFjHWUeL5gIoUc3cV8Vr7WWbeJDnXRrJj0enEQXr6bcDelbcNeVzwtNW0n9y3A-csN-dnr0mnSg8V_qtGlxw5Z1KoOmDfjrW4eozEgI1ralYwI3vUsJNaETWOnB83XW7pU6D_UsXXl9ibcdjQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="1389" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsL_nf06F1dDp7Q1IL3ehO3RYEBXkoe5hBI-UTvhmzVOFjHWUeL5gIoUc3cV8Vr7WWbeJDnXRrJj0enEQXr6bcDelbcNeVzwtNW0n9y3A-csN-dnr0mnSg8V_qtGlxw5Z1KoOmDfjrW4eozEgI1ralYwI3vUsJNaETWOnB83XW7pU6D_UsXXl9ibcdjQ=w555-h271" width="555" /></a></div><br />The chart above also shows that while Hewitt's number of different publishers, books, and composers for her new material held steady throughout the rest of her career, her overall output decreased significantly during the first four years of the new century. Ironically, this may have been related to her improved health; her old injury no longer kept her home and at her writing desk, and she devoted much of her time to the Sunday School department at Olivet Presbyterian Church (Showalter 280), and later at the Calvin Presbyterian Church (Gabriel 13). At one time she had charge of as many as 200 pupils (Hall 346), though certainly not without assistance! The rapid growth of Calvin Presbyterian from its beginnings at a tent revival in 1902 to a large, established congregation by 1904 corresponds with Hewitt's decrease in songwriting. The congregation has been described as "the outgrowth of a Sunday School" (Presbyterian Historical Society), and Hewitt was becoming directly involved with teaching and organizing in addition to writing songs and curriculum. She continued to lead the primary department as late as 1916 (Gabriel 13).</div><br />Something caused Hewitt's songwriting to increase again in the middle 1910s--whether she had more time to spend on it, or there was greater demand for her songs, is uncertain. The volume of publishing by Hall & Mack in Philadelphia remained strong during this decade, and Hewitt's songs were now also sought by a younger generation of gospel publishers such as Charles H. Gabriel and Homer Rodeheaver. The year 1917 saw the publication of 94 new songs by Eliza Hewitt, her biggest year since 1900 and sixth-highest yearly total. The following year shows a rapid falling off of writing, probably a result of declining health prior to her passing in 1920.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Hewitt's public profile was never as great as that of Fanny Crosby, but she was certainly among the top handful of gospel song lyricists of the 19th-early 20th centuries. Her output of songs shows a growth from the early association with John J. Hood and the Sweney-Kirkpatrick editorship to engagement with a broad range of songwriters and publishers across the country, including significant collaborations with the Fillmore Brothers in Cincinnati and a number of contributions to the Southern Methodist songbooks published in Nashville by Rigdon McIntosh. It would be no exaggeration to call her the "Fanny Crosby" of the Philadelphia gospel songbook business, and Crosby spoke of her as an esteemed friend and peer:</div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">Miss Eliza E. Hewitt, who has written many beautiful hymns and poems for Mr. Kirkpatrick and other composers, several years ago called on me while I was in Philadelphia; and her visit was indeed a gracious benediction. At Assembly Park, New York, recently we renewed the friendship then so favorably begun; and there we spent many delightful hours in conversation about subjects dear to both of us (Crosby 199).</div></blockquote><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://hymnary.org/page/fetch/LH1890/i/low" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="538" height="320" src="https://hymnary.org/page/fetch/LH1890/i/low" width="215" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From Hymnary.org</span></td></tr></tbody></table>"For Christ and the church" first appeared in 1890 in two different publications: <i>Living Hymns</i>, edited by John Wanamaker with John R. Sweney, published by John J. Hood of Philadelphia, and <i>Crowning Glory no. 2</i>, edited by Peter Bilhorn and issued from his press in Chicago. I have not found any evidence which one appeared first. It was reprinted 16 more times by the end of the 1890s, returning in later works from John J. Hood and Peter Bilhorn, but also turning up in Ira Sankey's <i>Christian Endeavor Hymns </i>(Biglow & Main), as well as in works by the Fillmore Brothers, Edwin O. Excell, and the then-fledgling Hope Publishing Company. During the 20th century the song faded away along with many others from the Northeastern gospel/Sunday school tradition, and it does not seem to have taken root in the Southern gospel world, at least in the paperback shape-note books. It did, however, settle into the regular hymnals of some religious fellowships, particularly the Church of the Brethren, Mennonites, and the Churches of Christ ("For Christ and the Church." Hymnary.org). Among the Churches of Christ in this country the song is unusual in that it was a northern Gospel song that was not included in <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>, but instead appears to have made entry by way of L. O. Sanderson's <i>Christian Hymns no. 2</i> (Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1948). These ubiquitous little tan books (sometimes blue) that filled the pew racks during the postwar boom in church growth had a huge influence across the southern U.S. and probably spread the song to the Slaters (<i>The Crown</i>, 1949) and Firm Foundation (<i>Majestic Hymnal</i>, 1959). How Sanderson came by the song is unknown, but it was in the Christian Church songbooks as far back as the <i>Praise Hymnal</i> (Fillmore Bros., 1896) and had recently appeared in Standard Publishing's <i>Favorite Hymns no. 2</i> (1942).</div><br /><i>Stanza 1:</i></div><p><i>For Christ and the Church let our voices ring,<br />Let us honor the name of our own blessed King;<br />Let us work with a will in the strength of youth,<br />And loyally stand for the kingdom of truth.</i></p><p>There used to be signs outside of many small towns across the United States that advertised the locations and meeting times of various religious bodies, with an underlying text "Attend the Church of Your Choice." No doubt this was more practical than a string of individual signs (like the old Burma-Shave ads), and I heartily appreciate the sentiment that I may attend the church of my choice--as opposed to a state church, or a list of government-approved churches. But there also seemed to be an underlying message that although church attendance was socially desirable, it didn't really matter much where you joined up. Through the years I have encountered people who profess a belief in God and put their faith in Christ as Savior, but don't believe in what one friend called "organized religion" (to which I should have said, paraphrasing Will Rogers, "I am not a member of any organized religion; I attend the Church of Christ.") Another coworker once expressed his view that he and the Lord "had an understanding," which apparently excused a lot of behavior that my own less enlightened upbringing would not have tolerated. I suspect a number of things lie behind such sentiments. In the first case, my friend may have disillusioned by the behavior of church members or leadership. In the latter case, there may have been more of a desire not to be accountable to anyone else in his walk with Christ, or to simply feel reassured that his spiritual condition was fine and did not require attention.</p><p>The crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of painful decisions about church gatherings, and as an elder in my congregation (at the time) I was in the middle of them. Given the vulnerable health of many of our members, and our location in the middle of a major metropolitan area where cases were rapidly multiplying, we opted to hold online services only for a period of time. But we had to get back together in person--no question about it, it was just a matter of when. Just as people had to go back to their jobs at some point for physical life to go on, it was clear that the church had to assemble together again for spiritual life to go on. So as carefully as we could, waving across a "buffer pew" between us and sometimes shouting to be understood from behind masks, we came together again. It was a time that really caused one to reflect on the church and its role in the Christian life. What part does it play in my life? What part do I play in it?</p><p>These questions probably would have sounded odd to Eliza Hewitt. Alexis de Tocqueville had noted earlier in the 19th century that,</p><blockquote><p>Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form associations. They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies, in which all take part, but associations of a thousand other kinds--religious, moral, serious, futile, extensive, or restricted, enormous or diminutive. The Americans make associations to give entertainments, to found establishments for education, to build inns, to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries to the antipodes ; and in this manner they found hospitals, prisons, and schools. If it be proposed to advance some truth, or to foster some feeling by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society (2:114).</p></blockquote><p>This importance of clubs, associations, and other kinds of organizations was still very strong through Hewitt's time, and in fact down through the middle of the 20th century. An American simply took it as a given that a major part of life was participation in the community through clubs, societies, and of course through one's church. Does it need to be said that this is not who we are any more, at least for much of the population of the country? But the church still stands, whether our society embraces it or rejects it; and the questions above still stand. What have I to do with the church, and what does it have to do with me?</p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).</p></blockquote><p>In such momentous fashion we first encounter the word "church" (Greek <i>ekkl</i><i>ē</i><i>sia</i>) in the New Testament, from the lips of Christ himself. Whether Jesus actually spoke the Greek word <i>ekkl</i><i>ē</i><i>sia </i>in the moment or an equivalent Aramaic word, it was this term that Matthew, our eyewitness, uses in the inspired text. He had already used <i>synagōgē</i> seven times in his gospel, and the verb form <i>synagō </i>an additional seven times, in the general sense of "gathering" or "collecting" something; the choice of a new and different word here emphasizes the newness of the concept (Porter 160). And for what it is worth, the extant Aramaic/Syriac versions of Matthew 16:18 use the term <i>lˁēḏtā</i>, which historically carried the notion of a group called as witnesses (<a href="https://cal.huc.edu/oneentrytr.php?cits=all&lemma=%28dh+N" target="_blank">"ˁdh, ˁdtˀ," <i>Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon</i></a>), and not the usual Aramaic term for synagogue (Payne-Smith, cf. 402, 218).</p><p>But what did His listeners hear in that word? The Liddell-Scott-Jones lexicon (1940 revision) defines it as an "assembly duly summoned, less general than [<i>sullogos</i>]." In the Greek cities, it was the assembly of citizens for civic business; by extension, in the Septuagint it was applied to the "congregation of Israel" as the nation called out by God (1:509). A quick Google search of <i>sullogos</i> shows that it is even today the Greek term for a professional association or or social club, such as a <i>sullogos athlitikon</i> (athletic club). Though <i>ekkl</i><i>ē</i><i>sia</i> could also refer to a general assembling of people, as it does in Acts 19:32 describing the rushing together of the citizens of Ephesus to protest Paul's preaching, even in that context the city clerk chides his fellow citizens for not being a "lawful" <i>ekkl</i><i>ē</i><i>sia </i>(Acts 19:39). Being part of an <i>ekkl</i><i>ē</i><i>sia</i>, then, was more serious than being part of some accidental gathering around a common interest or voluntary social organization. For the citizen of a Greek city it was a defining part of one's identity--one might have a lot in common with those in the same trade, or followers of the same philosophy, who were from other cities--but a fellow Athenian, or fellow Spartan, was practically family. Citizenship in the <i>ekkl</i><i>ē</i><i>sia </i>was a brotherhood and heritage, an obligation and a privilege. </p><p>Which no doubt raised the question in the apostles' minds, what could Jesus mean by building His own new <i>ekkl</i><i>ē</i><i>sia</i>? Though He had been proclaiming the "kingdom of heaven," Jesus had already rejected the notion of becoming an earthly king (John 6:15, following events also recorded in Matthew 14). He maintained this to the end, telling Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36), but explaining further, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice" (John 18:37). Citizenship in Christ's kingdom is not something determined by ancestry or boundaries on a map; it is an <i>ekkl</i><i>ē</i><i>sia </i>made up of those who are called out of the "domain of darkness" (Colossians 1:13) by the foundational truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Matthew 16:16). It is a "kingdom of truth," as Hewitt puts it in her opening stanza, an expression that is not found in Scripture but is certainly scriptural.</p><p>So it is "Christ and the church" or nothing at all; they cannot be taken separately. A church without Christ at its head--that is not in submission to His will--is a building suspended in air without a foundation, or even worse, a grotesquely animated body without a head (Ephesians 1:22). It may have impressive numbers and great works, but it would be better off reorganized as a social club or charitable foundation. And a Christian without the church is (somehow?) rejecting the the will of God who "added to their number day by day those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47), and is missing out on the called-out group of believers the Lord founded, "which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23).</p><p><i>Chorus:</i></p><p><i>For Christ our dear Redeemer,<br />For Christ the crucified;<br />For the Church His blood hath purchased;<br />The Church, His holy bride.</i></p><p>In the chorus of this song, Hewitt rightly emphasizes Christ and His work first, because without Him the church would not and could not exist:</p><blockquote><p>He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:15-20).</p></blockquote><p>It is not uncommon among the Churches of Christ to be reminded, especially among congregational leadership, to "remember whose name is on the sign outside." It is Christ's church, not mine, not yours, not the preacher's; and those who serve in roles of leadership must remember that we are just stewards and servants for a little while, who must someday report in to the "Chief Shepherd" (1 Peter 5:4). It is His church because He bought and paid for it at a price we cannot comprehend. He is the Head of the church, the will that directs it just as the brain in my head commands my fingers to type these words. </p><p>The last line of the chorus introduces another curious metaphor of Christ and His church, based on Paul's words in Ephesians 5:25-32.</p><blockquote><p>Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of His body. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. </p></blockquote><p>Here the picture of Christ and the church as a Head and body is transformed to a different perspective; so closely does Christ cherish and treasure His church that it is compared to the powerful, transformative union of husband and wife. We cannot help but see a foreshadowing here also of the words of the angel in Revelation 21:9, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." With what respect and awe, then, ought we to treat the Bride of Christ? Now, I try to be tolerant and forgiving to everyone, but mistreat my wife and I am liable to become downright unreasonable. I can forgive a lot when it is directed toward me, but my wife is entirely another matter. I suppose most husbands feel the same. How dare we then to do any anything to mistreat or upset the Bride of Christ? Let us always show the respect to the church that its Head and Husband commands, and never do anything to harm it!</p><p><i>Stanza 2:</i></p><p><i>For Christ and the Church be our earnest pray’r,<br />Let us follow His banner, the cross daily bear;<br />Let us yield, wholly yield, to the gospel’s pow’r,<br />And serve faithfully ev’ry day, ev'ry hour.<br />(Chorus) </i></p><p>In the 11th chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul takes a few paragraphs to "speak as a fool" (v. 17), detailing some of his hardships--not for a "pity party" but to remind the readers of the genuineness of his calling and his commitment to the gospel. As an afterthought to the privations and punishments he had experienced, he adds in verse 28, "and, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches." "Earnest prayer" for the church is evident throughout Paul's letters:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you (Romans 1:9-10).</p><p>But we pray to God that you may not do wrong--not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for (2 Corinthians 13:7-9).</p><p>I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now (Philippians 1:3-5).</p><p>And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (Colossians 1:9).</p><p>We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).</p><p>To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12).</p><p></p></blockquote><p>How much stronger could the local church be, if every member were offering up such prayers on its behalf?</p><p>The next line of Hewitt's stanza brings up another turn of phrase intimately connected with Jesus' announcement of the church in Matthew 16:18--the requirement that His followers bear their crosses (Luke's account records this with the adverb "daily," 9:23). Familiarity has probably led us to miss how out-of-place this seemed in context, but the disciples didn't have that problem. Jesus had started out by stating His own purpose to go to Jerusalem where He would bear a cross to His death, and Peter could not accept that the Son of God who had just previewed the founding of His church would go to such an ignominious end. Jesus rebuked Peter sharply, then spoke these words that ring in every disciple's ears since: "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me" (Mat 16:24).</p><p>What does it mean to bear that cross daily? Perhaps it will help us to understand first what it meant to Jesus, as recorded in the beautiful language of Philippians 2:</p><blockquote><p>Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (v. 5-8).</p></blockquote><p>By bearing the cross to His death, Jesus would do (to an infinitely greater degree) what He required of His followers: He denied self. "Denying self" in this context is not some matter of refusing to partake of something we want; though that may be necessary in some particulars, Paul rejected mere asceticism on its own as "of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh" (Colossians 2:23). The denial spoken of here is the same language used of Peter in Matthew 26:70, "But he denied it, saying "I do not know the Man." Jesus was "in the form of God" but gave up His former condition of "equality with God" (Philippians 2:6), effectively denying connection to His former state and saying "I do not know the Man." He was in a new relation to His Father and to humanity. In the same way (though such a pale comparison!), if I have "put off the old self, which belongs to your former manner of life" and have "put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24), I can say of my old self, "I do not know the man; I do not acknowledge his will, because I follow Christ now." Whatever cross He may call on me to bear, I can only take up by first kneeling under it in submission and acknowledging that I am no longer in charge here.</p><p>Now consider on the other hand what the cross does for us: it reconciles us to God and to fellow humanity (Ephesians 2:16); it takes away the debt of sin (Colossians 2:14); it makes peace (Colossians 1:20); "it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). The "gospel's power" of which Hewitt speaks in this stanza began at the cross, as Jesus promised: "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32). Christ's church helps to carry out this wonderful mission, "not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power" (1 Corinthians 1:17), but through "Christ crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23). It is the honor and duty of the church to carry this cross to the world, so that "through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known," even "to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 3:10)</p><p><i>Stanza 3:</i></p><p><i>For Christ and the Church willing offerings make,<br />Time and talents and gold for the dear Master’s sake;<br />We will render the best we can bring to Him,<br />The heart’s wealth of love, that will never grow dim.<br />(Chorus)</i></p><p>This stanza addresses the subject of giving in a well-considered, comprehensive way. People typically think of offerings as the weekly contribution to the church treasury, so it is notable that Hewitt puts "time and talents" before "gold." In my experience those who give their time and talents to the Lord's service are also generous with their monetary contributions (if they are able), a phenomenon Paul pointed out long ago when he praised the Macedonian churches for their generosity: "they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us" (2 Corinthians 8:5). It is wonderful to see Christians who are well blessed in worldly goods and then dedicate those riches to the Lord, and I am glad to know some who hear of a brother or sister in financial difficulty and ask simply, "How much do they need?" But financial contributions alone are no substitute for the "time and talents" the church requires; money cannot buy sincere prayer and encouragement for the struggling, or the example and instruction of the mature Christian to the younger. Money cannot buy the listening ear or the honest criticism of someone who wants only the best for us. Money cannot buy someone to sit with us in the "Gethsemanes" of life. Who will do these things? (And don't say that's what you pay the preacher for!) We have all needed brothers and sisters like this, and conversely, there is someone in the church who needs me, and needs you, to be this brother or sister to them.</p><p>With that broader view of giving to the church in mind, Paul's great text on the subject from 2 Corinthians 9:6-12 takes on even deeper meaning:</p><blockquote><p>The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, "He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God (2 Corinthians 9:6-12)</p></blockquote><p>God promises that if we sincerely wish to give, He will provide us the means to do it. Surely that applies as much to giving our time and effort as to giving money. It is a personal decision, of course; just as we would be poor stewards if we gave our rent money in the collection plate, we would be poor stewards to commit our time and effort to the church beyond what we can manage. (And if you are raising children, or caring for elderly family members, God has already given you a large assignment!) But let us start first with the attitude of "What can I do?" and not "What do I have to do?"</p><p><i>Stanza 4:</i></p><p><i>For Christ and the Church let us cast aside,<br />By His conquering grace, chains of self, fear, and pride;<br />May our lives be enriched by an aim so grand;<br />Then happy the call to the Savior’s right hand.<br />(Chorus)</i></p><p>The final stanza of the song may be an oblique reference to Hebrews 12:1, but in more of a community sense than that of the individual: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." What holds back the individual, of course, holds back the church. There are many things that can keep us in chains--"you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness" (Romans 6:16)--and thank God there is One stronger yet who came to "proclaim liberty to the captives" and "set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18, cf. Isaiah 61:1-2). But first, of course, we have to realize we are in chains! "Self" and "pride" are two of the most powerful shackles by which we can be imprisoned; as Isaac Watts noted, "Pride is one vice but it supports a hundred" (<i>Humility</i> 41). </p><p>Pride in the church works in many ugly ways. Those in positions of public prominence who become puffed up by the members' praise and start "believing their own press" can develop a complacency about their work, a hostility to necessary criticism, and most dangerously, a blind spot toward their own faults and weaknesses. These individuals can become easy pickings for the Devil, and sometimes give him the satisfaction of wrecking an entire congregation as well. But pride can also haunt people who are not in such positions and think they should be. Bitterness can set in and stop them from even accomplishing those works which are right in front of them and begging for their talents. Their downfall is not as dramatic or as fast as the first group, but for very little effort on his part the Devil has effectively neutralized their usefulness to Christ's church.</p><p>The problem of pride is so critical that Paul addressed it multiple times, twice using the metaphor of the human body to illustrate the spiritual body of Christ:</p><blockquote><p>For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another (Romans 12:3-5).</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose (1 Corinthians 12:14-18).</p></blockquote><p>Note the transition in the Romans passage from "thinking with sober judgment" about our place in the church, to the metaphor of the body. It is human nature to compare ourselves with others; but if we truly have different functions, as do the parts of the body, how relevant will that comparison be? Which is more important, a hand or a foot? We probably consider a hand more important because we can do so many things with it, whereas the lowly foot can only do a few things. But those few things include standing and walking! If you have ever had a broken toe, you know just how much we depend on all those little parts in the foot (which we take for granted) to do their jobs every day. Remember that the Head of the church himself took the role of the lowliest servant to wash the feet of His own followers, and never doubt the value of every role in the church.</p><p>These passages also have the common theme of God's hand in this sorting out of roles: this is something He "assigns" and "arranges," even though it is not always apparent to us what He is doing. It takes time to find our roles, or to grow into them, and sometimes they will change. Like everything else in the Christian life, it requires patience and humility.</p><blockquote><p>I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-2).</p></blockquote><p>Being a church of Christ isn't easy, and it's not what people often think. It isn't a group of people who are always in agreement, bubbling over with joy in each other's company and so spiritually elevated that they are floating a little off the ground. But most of the really important and satisfying things in life aren't easy. Is marriage easy? Is raising children easy? Even at their best, these parts of life are hard work, because they involve other people, and dealing with people (even people we love the most) sometimes means frustration, tears, and a lot of apologizing and trying again. But God placed us in the church for a reason, and He knows best. In His wisdom He decided that we would have to get through this together, the weak and the strong, the mature and the novices, the introverts and the extroverts. None of us is so strong that we can go it alone; none of us is so weak that we cannot help someone else. </p><p><i>About the music:</i></p><p>My attempt to summarize William Kirkpatrick's career for this post finally grew so complicated that I decided to treat him in a separate essay; for now I have just a few observations about the music he contributed to this particular text. The style is that of a march, but a marching song such as Kirkpatrick would have known from his Civil War days, rather than the modern American march genre as it was being redefined by John Philip Sousa and others. "For Christ and the church" is actually contemporary with Sousa's classics <i>Washington Post</i> and <i>High School Cadets</i>, but sounds more like such wartime marching songs as George Frederick Root's "Battle Cry of Freedom" and "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! the Boys are Marching" (which survives today as "Jesus Loves the Little Children"). </p><p>Not that Kirkpatrick was necessarily old-fashioned; the American instrumental march style was developing its own personality, with a characteristic swagger and bravura that did not lend itself to sacred topics. But perhaps some of that spirit comes through in this tune after all, with the dramatic octave leap at the end of the second measure and the sudden pause at the end of the second phrase, as though gathering energy for the next surge forward. It is meant to excite, and one can only imagine how well received it was in its time, when it was still new and very much within the musical styles familiar to congregations. It sings easily even today, and has a forward motion that tends to keep the beat moving as if under its own power.</p><hr /><p><i>References</i></p><div><div><i>Annual Report [of the School District of Philadelphia]</i>). Philadelphia: Board of Education, 1818- . <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100575840/Home">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100575840/Home</a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon</i>. Hebrew Union College. https://cal.huc.edu/</div><div><br /></div><div>Crosby, Fanny. <i>Memories of Eighty Years</i>. Boston: James H. Earle, 1906. <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924022206878/">https://archive.org/details/cu31924022206878/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Edmunds, Franklin Davenport, 1874-1948, photographer. <i>The Lyons Public School</i>. 8/7/1912. Glass plate negatives. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. Accessed 24 March 2023. <a href="https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/8163">https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/8163</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>"Eliza Edmunds Hewitt." Familysearch.com person page. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KLJK-TRN">https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KLJK-TRN</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Eskew, Harry, and Mel R. Wilhoit. "Sweney, John R(obson)." <i>The Grove Dictionary of American Music</i>. <i>Oxford Reference</i>. Date accessed 26 March 2023.</div><div><br /></div><div>"For Christ and the Church." Hymnary.org. <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/for_christ_and_the_church_let_our_voices">https://hymnary.org/text/for_christ_and_the_church_let_our_voices</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Gabriel, Charles H. <i>Gospel Songs and Their Writers</i>. Chicago: Rodeheaver, 1915. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008407138">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008407138</a></div><div><br /></div><div>“George Ayres Hewitt, M.D.” Obituary in <i>The Medical Bulletin</i> (Philadelphia) XXVII:8 (August 1905), page 304.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>"Girls' Normal School." <i>Evening Telegraph</i> (Philadelphia), 3 July 1868, page 8.</div><div><br /></div></div><div><i>Gopsill's Philadelphia City Directory for 1900</i>. Philadelphia: James Gopsill's Sons, 1900. </div><div><a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hwrff5">https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hwrff5</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Graves, Dan. "Eliza Edmunds Hewitt: songs from a bed of pain." Christianity.com. Last updated July 2007. <a href="https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/eliza-edmunds-hewitt-songs-from-a-bed-of-pain-11630486.html">https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/eliza-edmunds-hewitt-songs-from-a-bed-of-pain-11630486.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Hall, J. H. <i>Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers</i>. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1914. <a href="https://archive.org/details/biographyofgospe00hall">https://archive.org/details/biographyofgospe00hall</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Howe, Paul Sturtevant. <i>Mayflower pilgrim descendants in Cape May County, New Jersey</i>. Cape May, NJ: A. R. Hand, 1921.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, and Henry Stuart Jones. <i>A Greek-English Lexicon</i>. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. <a href="https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0001">https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0001</a> </div><div><br /></div><div><div>"Marine Miscellany." <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, 10 October 1877, page 6.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Payne Smith, Jessie. <i>A Compendious Syriac Dictionary</i>. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903. <a href="https://archive.org/details/ACompendiousSyriacDictionary">https://archive.org/details/ACompendiousSyriacDictionary</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Porter, Stanley E. <i>The Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research: Previous Discussion and New Proposals</i>.<i> Journal for the Study of the New Testament: Supplement Series </i>191<i>.</i> Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000.</div><div><br /></div><div>Presbyterian Historical Society. "1902: Calvin Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA." <a href="https://www.history.pcusa.org/blog/2012/07/1902-calvin-presbyterian-church-philadelphia-pa">https://www.history.pcusa.org/blog/2012/07/1902-calvin-presbyterian-church-philadelphia-pa</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Showalter, A. J. <i>The Best Gospel Songs and Their Composers</i>. Dalton, Ga.: A. J. Showalter Co., 1904. <a href="https://archive.org/details/bestgospelsongst00show/">https://archive.org/details/bestgospelsongst00show/</a></div><div><br /></div><div>"State supervisor of music to direct community sing." <i>The Evening News </i>(Harrisburg, Pennsylvania), 1 May 1923, page 17.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tabernacle United Church. "History." https://tabunited.org/about/history/</div><div><br /></div><div>Tocqueville, Alexis de. <i>Democracy in America</i>, translated by Henry Reeve. New York: Colonial Press, 1900. <a href="https://archive.org/details/democracyin02tocq/">https://archive.org/details/democracyin02tocq/</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>Vincent, Marvin R. <i>Word Studies in the New Testament</i>. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1948.</div><div><br /></div><div>Watts, Isaac. <i>Humility Represented in the Character of St. Paul</i>. London: R. Hart, 1737.</div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Humility_Represented_in_the_Character_of/l9pbAAAAQAAJ">https://www.google.com/books/edition/Humility_Represented_in_the_Character_of/l9pbAAAAQAAJ</a></div>David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-49739434814364471152023-01-31T21:04:00.001-06:002023-01-31T21:04:48.873-06:00For All the Saints<p><i>Praise for the Lord </i>#155</p><p>Words: William Walsham How, 1864<br />Music: S<span style="font-size: x-small;">INE</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">OMINE</span>, Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Bishop_William_Walsham_How.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="639" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Bishop_William_Walsham_How.jpg" width="160" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31367999"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Bishop How, c. 1870</span></a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Obviously, William Walsham How (1823-1897) was a gifted and energetic man. By the age of 24 he had graduated Wadham College, Oxford with an M.A. in classics, completed theological studies at Durham University, and had served as a deacon, curate, and been ordained a priest in the Church of England. No doubt he could have done many things and gone many other places, but he also had that admirable trait of committing his talents to service where he felt he was needed, rather than using them for his personal advancement. Family responsibilities called him back to his native Shropshire, and this rising young star served for the next 28 years as the rector of Whittington. Not to say that he was buried in obscurity; he became well known, in fact, for his books of sermons and devotionals, and as a writer and lecturer on practical pastoral work. He turned down several opportunities for more prestigious appointments over the years; it was only the opportunity to be of greater service that drew him away. In 1879 he became the Bishop of Bedford, a suffragan (sort of an assistant) bishop to the Bishop of London, with particular responsibility for the impoverished East End. It became a "crusade" to him, in the description of an associate, and How was unparalleled in his fund-raising for benevolent projects. In his years in London he became known as "the children's Bishop" for his commitment to youth programs, and was appointed to a royal commission on working-class housing. Following the death of his wife in 1887, and finding increasing disagreements with the new Bishop of London, How accepted the position of Bishop of Wakefield, a Yorkshire industrial town, where he continued his ministry to the poor and working classes (Overton & Curthoys).<p></p><p>William Walsham How wrote around <a href="https://hymnary.org/person/How_William">seventy-five hymn texts</a>, many of which continued in use for decades, and a handful of which remain in wide use today. According to Hymnary.org his most widely published text is <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/o_jesus_thou_art_standing">"O Jesus, Thou art standing"</a>, found in 632 hymnals, including 21st-century examples such as the <i>Baptist Hymnal</i>. Other well known hymns by How, in addition to "For all the Saints", are "O Word of God incarnate" (<i>PFTL</i> #503) and "We give Thee but Thine own" (<i>PFTL</i> #724). In all of these we can see the truth of John Julian's assessment of William Walsham How's hymn-writing: "Those compositions which have laid the firmest hold upon the Church, are simple, unadorned, but enthusiastically practical hymns” (I:540). </p><div>Julian's opinion echoes the thoughts of How's fellow bishop William Boyd Carpenter, who contributed the essay "Bishop Walsham How as a hymn-writer" to <i>Bishop Walsham How: A Memoir</i> (pages 411-417). Boyd Carpenter's thoughts on good hymn-writing are worthwhile far beyond the insight they give to the individual's hymns who prompted them:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">The great poet is not necessarily a good hymn-writer. This will be apparent to any one who studies our collections of hymns. Two things will strike such a student. He will find that among the hymn-writers there are few men of first-class literary rank. He will further find that the most popular hymns are not from the pens of these few. In other words, the highest poetic gift does not ensure the power of writing a good hymn. Less gifted men succeed where men of higher endowments fail (F. D. How 412).</div></blockquote><p>This reminds me of a conversation with Dr. John Parker of Lipscomb University, as he was beginning work on what would become his lovely book <i>Abide with Me: A Photographic Journey Through Great British Hymns</i> (New Leaf Press, 2009). As a professor of English literature he was frankly surprised at how little overlap he found between the "greats" of English literature and the "greats" of English hymn-writers; for example, Isaac Watts's foundational role in English hymnody is hardly matched by his reputation in English literature in general. (Perhaps the best known reference to Watts in the latter context is in fact poking fun at him, when Lewis Carroll has Alice misquote "How doth the little busy bee" as "How doth the little crocodile"!) And on the other hand, where are the hymns of Milton, or Donne, or Bunyan, great spiritual writers though they were in other genres? We have some fine hymns adapted from the literary greats ("Dear Lord and Father of mankind" from Whittier, for example), but they tend to be the exception. Boyd Carpenter wisely continues, however:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">On the other hand, it would be a mistake to infer that success in hymn-writing needs no literary qualities. There have been cases in which men of little or no cultivated literary capacity have produced an admirable hymn; but an examination of our hymn-books will show that the bulk of our best hymns have been the work of devout men who have possessed natural poetic feeling and a cultivated taste (412).</p></blockquote><p>The trick is, from Boyd Carpenter's perspective, to bring these things into balance: "Next to true devotional feeling, good sense is the first requisite of a good hymn. There are other requisites, no doubt, but eccentricity is the ruin of a hymn" (412). The congregation that sings a hymn will often consist of several well-read people but many others with only minimal exposure to or interest in literature, just as it will consist of children (physical and spiritual) and elders (physical and spiritual). The difficult task of a hymn-writer is to reach them all with something worthwhile that they can use to worship God. A thorough knowledge of and skill in literary composition gives the writer the range and depth to communicate; good sense makes sure it is used for the right purpose, rather than to show off the author's skill. This dedication to service is well summed up by Boyd Carpenter, and is high praise to his friend William Walsham How:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">It is the fate of a hymn-writer to be forgotten. Of the millions who Sunday after Sunday sing hymns in our churches, not more than a few hundreds know or consider whose words they are singing. The hymn remains: the name of the writer passes away. Bishop Walsham How was prepared for this; his ambition was not to be remembered, but to be helpful. He gave free liberty to any to make use of his hymns. It was enough for him if he could enlarge the thanksgivings of the Church or minister by song to the souls of men. There will be few to doubt that his unselfish wish will be fulfilled (416).</p></blockquote><p>"For all the saints" first appeared in a small collection titled <i>Hymn for Saints’ Day and Other Hymns</i>, published by Earl Nelson in 1864, and then (as Julian put it) "in nearly every hymnal of importance published in Great Britain" and "in the best collections of all English-speaking countries" (I:380). It is a hymn for All Saints' Day, celebrated in the Western calendar on November 1st (or by some on the first Sunday in November). Despite its original association with the veneration of saints, many Protestant groups retained the hymn as a memorial to departed Christians in general, and one could easily see this hymn used at a Homecoming Sunday, New Year's Service, or even at a funeral service. It is a topic not much addressed in our hymnals, and deserves to be used.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Idq2LCQJ2dc" width="320" youtube-src-id="Idq2LCQJ2dc"></iframe></div><br /><p><i><u>Stanza 1:</u></i></p><div><p><i>For all the saints, who from their labors rest,<br />Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,<br />Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.<br />Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p>In the today's world the "saints" that come to most people's minds are those who are formally recognized by a religious tradition for an exceptional life of holiness and service. Admirable though many of these people are for their examples and contributions, however, this obscures the "ordinariness" of the Biblical use of the term. After all, Paul called the Christians in Corinth "saints" before proceeding to take them to the woodshed over their multiple and egregious errors! An important clue to New Testament usage of this word, in fact, is woven into Paul's opening statement of the letter:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours (1 Corinthians 1:2). </p></div></blockquote><div><p>They are not saints by virtue of their superior holiness or service; they are "called to be saints," and not they alone, but "all those . . . in every place" who "call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." They are "sanctified" (made saints), then, not by their own lives or by popular acclaim, but "in Christ Jesus." The passive voice of the phrases "sanctified in Christ Jesus" and "called to be saints" ought not to be missed, for "the holiness derives from Christ" (Kittell 1:107).</p><p>Even so, this status of being cleansed from sin and set apart for God's service ought to inspire us to such a life of holiness and service that would be worth remembering when we are gone. "To be a saint is not directly and primarily to be good but to be set apart by God as His own, yet the godly and holy character ought inevitably and immediately to result" (Estes). And certainly there is nothing wrong with remembering those saints who have set this kind of example: "Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith" (Hebrews 13:7). </p><p>In the opening stanza of this hymn, then, we are offering our thanks to the Lord for those saints who have gone before us. They confessed Jesus before the world, making the "good confession" of belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior (1 Timothy 6:14). The King James Version gives this as "good profession", and that is what it became (in the modern sense of the word) for these saints--their calling and purpose in life. This daily confession, by word and deed, was rooted in faith in the One confessed: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23). He was faithful to them in this life, and promises to be faithful in the world to come, saying, "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 10:32). </p><div>These faithful saints who have passed on also enjoy the great reward of rest, a true rest that this world cannot offer: </div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!" (Revelation 14:12-13)</p></div></blockquote><div><p>In light of these things we can take heart, "always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58).</p><div><i><u>Stanza 2:</u></i></div><p><i>Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;<br />Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;<br />Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.<br />Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p>Though this hymn is an expression of thanksgiving and appreciation for the saints who preceded us, it is addressed to the Lord through whom they gained their victory. As one of the most famous of these saints said, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1); and through this life lived in dependence on and in imitation of Christ, Paul was assured of that "crown of righteousness" at the end (2 Timothy 4:8). </p><p>William How describes the saints' reliance on Jesus using a number of metaphors from Biblical sources. The first line appears to paraphrase the opening of the lyric in 2 Samuel 22 (duplicated with minor differences as Psalm 18), which David wrote in thanksgiving for the recent victories that had secured his kingship: </p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; You save me from violence" (2 Samuel 22:2-3).</p></div></blockquote><p>There is a reference to the same ideas in Psalm 61:1-3, though in a less triumphant tone:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for You have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.</p></blockquote><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVt-mzeuho1AIfgw3TQG06SPaI3rAGodPC_I6OR21bJATyzNEq-es_Kdo8ZhzrXTIGlpi4GCYuO313QjKlAzyuJO7YuKY5ooUBcrW4rGIjUDSplmy_s0015tjxTvvFlQZTnRbwz1KEvTs5oSzSUy7GLX79Oas0LBcGwC-CuutarWc4rIWqRZigSN2beA" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVt-mzeuho1AIfgw3TQG06SPaI3rAGodPC_I6OR21bJATyzNEq-es_Kdo8ZhzrXTIGlpi4GCYuO313QjKlAzyuJO7YuKY5ooUBcrW4rGIjUDSplmy_s0015tjxTvvFlQZTnRbwz1KEvTs5oSzSUy7GLX79Oas0LBcGwC-CuutarWc4rIWqRZigSN2beA=w216-h320" width="216" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:89721_mezed_zohar_PikiWiki_Israel.jpg">Roman-era fort in the Judean Desert <br />(Heritage Conservation Outside <br />The City Pikiwiki Israel)</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Perhaps David had in mind the "Rock of Escape" (1 Samuel 23:28), a hideout in the Judean Desert where he had evaded King Saul. These rocky badlands provide multiple hiding places and routes for attack and retreat, but most of all they provide natural defensive battlements. It is probably this aspect that called for comparison to our God; man-made walls can be undermined or breached, but these rock fortresses are still in place 2,000-plus years later and would still serve that purpose quite well.<p></p><div><p>In the New Testament, Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with a memorable parable about the stability of rock and the instability of sand (a fact well known to his listeners, who were well familiar with flash flooding and erosion). Though the reference is to His words, rather than to himself or His Father, the meaning is the same: what is your "life founded upon? The saints whose memory is honored knew this: Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock" (Matthew 7:24-25).</p></div><div><p>The next line of this stanza compares Jesus to the Captain of an army, a metaphor also founded in Scripture. To begin with, in the King James Version Hebrews 2:10 refers to Him as "the Captain of [our] salvation." More modern translations render this as "Author", "Founder", or "Pioneer", which rightly bring out the original word's fuller meaning of a leader who blazes the way ahead of his followers; "He is the leader of all others who tread that path" (Vine 80). If we use the metaphor of a military captain to describe Him, we ought to remember that Jesus is not safely behind the lines at headquarters; like the ancient Roman centurion, He is at the head of His troops going into battle.</p><p>Though His kingdom is "not of this world" (John 18:36), and we "do not wrestle against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12), the followers of Jesus have a battle to fight. Paul, who grew up in a Roman city and became personally acquainted with a number of soldiers in his lifetime, used the military metaphor often. The "well-fought fight" is the consuming purpose of the Christian life, and requires our utmost. Only near the end was Paul able to look back and say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). The stanza closes with a picture of these fighting, struggling saints pressing on through the darkness toward the light. "This present darkness" through which they fought and we still fight (Ephesians 6:12) seems overpowering, but we are assured that "the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining" (1 John 2:8). We can overcome the darkness if we keep our focus on that undying Light. "So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light" (Romans 13:12).</p><p><i><u>Stanza 3:</u></i></p><p><i>O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,<br />Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,<br />And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.<br />Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p>How's lyric turns now to us, the soldiers still in the field, who draw encouragement from those who have gone before. As Paul fought his own "good fight," so we are to "Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Timothy 6:12). It is awe-inspiring to think of being a fellow soldier with men such as Paul, but he frequently called his co-workers in the church by these terms (Philippians 2:25, Philemon 2).</p><p>Paul also calls us to consider our responsibilities as Christians in comparison to those of earthly soldiers. Soldiers are expected to be fully committed to their mission, to the exclusion of other matters. "No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him" (2 Timothy 2:4). The armed forces of the U.S. rely heavily today on Reserves and the National Guard, members of which pursue their civilian occupations with occasional training periods; but when they are deployed to active duty they leave these things behind and become full-time soldiers. Christians in a sense are always on active duty, and need to focus on the mission. We do not know how long our own fight will be, or what the gains and losses will look like in the individual moment. But like the saints who went before us, we need to keep our minds on the fight, and not get bogged down with things that will hinder our service:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God (1 Peter 4:1-2).</p></blockquote><p>Part of the ongoing duty of soldiers is to make sure all their necessary equipment is prepared for action. I am reminded of a somewhat humorous item in the news several years ago, a photograph depicting a U.S. soldier in a combat zone who was attired in his helmet, boots, a T-shirt, flak jacket, and a pair of shorts emblazoned with "I [heart] NY". In his defense, he was off duty and had stripped down to take a nap in the shade, seeking relief from the desert heat; but when the position came under attack he put on his armor, took up his weapon, and ran to his position in the defenses. Even in a half-awake state he would not let himself become separated from his most essential pieces of equipment for fighting and survival on the battlefield. Paul tells Christians also to wake up and get our armor on: </p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:11-12).</p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm (Ephesians 6:13).</p></div></blockquote><div><p>The saints who went before us also remind us that there is an end to this spiritual fight someday, a day we will be released from this service and called up to a more joyful purpose. The victory is guaranteed:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:57-58).</p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith (1 John 5:4).</p></div></blockquote><div><p>And at the end there is "the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him" (James 1:12).</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPBTUHg_YOChXmGcuTuz2SfRBwilZ3_LE4zI1vbE6zsph7Lnz19A-sRe6HytiMa4W8v96xllf7RfhccFYurkTbMckUI9Ie8Gr27m80dHjmryr_-hEwiFDs2hUNa-kgHUhe1NLFam6GY_D5xX8KzFWeSR3ttDI2t6Q_SNhGQX6e0YcWomVBkbaN3Votg/s1200/1200px-Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPBTUHg_YOChXmGcuTuz2SfRBwilZ3_LE4zI1vbE6zsph7Lnz19A-sRe6HytiMa4W8v96xllf7RfhccFYurkTbMckUI9Ie8Gr27m80dHjmryr_-hEwiFDs2hUNa-kgHUhe1NLFam6GY_D5xX8KzFWeSR3ttDI2t6Q_SNhGQX6e0YcWomVBkbaN3Votg/s320/1200px-Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations118.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Roman-era laurel. <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museum_of_Anatolian_Civilizations118.jpg">Photo by Georges Jansoone.</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>The next three stanzas from How's original text are usually omitted, but add an interesting backdrop to the key ideas in the hymn: </p><p><i>For the Apostles’ glorious company,<br />Who bearing forth the Cross o’er land and sea,<br />Shook all the mighty world, we sing to Thee:<br />Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p><i>For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,<br />Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,<br />Is fair and fruitful, be Thy Name adored.<br />Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p><i>For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,<br />Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,<br />And seeing, grasped it, Thee we glorify.<br />Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p>These have a strong similarity to the opening section of the ancient "Te Deum" prayer, even borrowing the phrasing "glorious company of the Apostles": </p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">We praise Thee, O God; we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.<br />All the earth doth worship Thee, the Father everlasting.<br />To Thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.<br />To Thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry,<br />Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;<br />Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy glory.<br />The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee.<br />The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise Thee.<br />The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee.<br />The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge Thee;<br />The Father, of an infinite Majesty;<br />Thine honourable, true and only Son;<br />Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.</p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">(Traditionally this was believed to be an inspired joint composition by Ambrose and Augustine on the occasion of the latter's baptism in 387 A.D., though modern scholarship has found circumstantial evidence pointing toward the 4th-century bishop Nicetas of Remesiana (Bela Palanka, Serbia). Hugh T. Henry, however, pointed out more than a century ago that there are strong parallels in a text by Cyprian of Carthage from 252 A.D. (Henry).)</div></blockquote><p>How's stanza says the apostles "shook all the mighty world" with their message, perhaps referencing Haggai's prophecy of the Messiah who would shake things up: "For thus says the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> of hosts: 'Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations . . ." (Haggai 2:6-7a). The Apostles continued His work so well that they also certainly "shook the world"; Paul's enemies in Thessalonica described them as "These men who have turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6). And for this, Paul remarks to the church in Corinth, </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">We have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things (1 Cor 4:9b-13).</p></blockquote><p>To which I can only respond in the words of the author of Hebrews, speaking of the prophets of old: "Of whom the world was not worthy!" (Hebrews 11:38). Thanks be to God for these men of courage and faith, who saw the church firmly planted across the accessible world of their day.</p><p>We can also be thankful for the four Evangelists, the writers of the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. Matthew, the outcast from his people who yet wrote the most Jewish of all the accounts, presenting the evidence from the Hebrew Testament that Jesus is the promised Messiah; Mark, the well-traveled man of the world (and perhaps the recorder for Peter), who writes with such energy and focus that his account is still perhaps the most accessible place to start for the secular reader; Luke, the well-educated Greek physician, who recorded in clinical detail things that defied the scientific worldview of his day (and ours); and John, who contemplates the cosmic sweep of all that Christ is, interlaced with touching personal memories of the Man he knew so well. Together they give us a portrait of Christ that bursts with dimension, texture, and color.</p><p>The third stanza of this section based on the Te Deum remembers the martyrs for Christ, a subject addressed very directly in the Revelation:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been (Revelation 6:9-11).</p></blockquote><div>This was important to John's readers because it was entirely possible these could be someone they knew. From what we know by history and tradition, all of the apostles save John met with violent deaths. Persecution on a mass scale had already taken place during the reign of Nero (see the <i>Annals</i> of Tacitus, <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_(Tacitus)/Book_15#44">book 15 section 44</a>), and a similar pattern would follow Christianity in the decades to come. They were a convenient scapegoat whenever required, and what politician doesn't need one from time to time? And as the Roman Empire continued to hollow out and fray, enforced patriotism became all the more important to its leaders, making the Christians' unswerving loyalty to their own King look suspicious.</div><div><br /></div><div>If only the world had changed! There are countries today where Christians are a despised underclass, easily set up as the culprits whenever an outlet for social unrest is needed. There are totalitarian governments today for whom loyalty to anything higher than the state is considered seditious. God only knows how many have been added to the ranks of the martyrs even in this young century; and God forbid that we in the U.S. should consider ourselves persecuted because we are facing some headwinds from a secularized culture that was never that genuinely Christian to start with. A contemplation of the real courage of martyrs, both ancient and modern, ought to shake us from complacency and cause us to give thanks for their examples. </div><p>The next stanza is omitted in <i>Praise for the Lord</i>, though it is usually retained in other hymnals.</p><p><i>O blest communion, fellowship divine!<br /></i><i>We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;<br /></i><i>Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.<br /></i><i>Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p>This stanza reminds us that even in contemplation of such famous and exalted spiritual company as the apostles, evangelists, and martyrs, the ground is level at the foot of the cross; we are a fellowship of believers. Consider the numerous times that Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, spoke of someone as his "fellow worker" or "fellow soldier". Or hear the words of John in his first epistle: "That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). Perhaps the most dramatic instance of this equality of fellowship is demonstrated in the closing chapter of John's Revelation, when the apostle himself is struck with awe at being in the company of a mighty angel:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God" (Revelation 22:8-9).</p></blockquote><p>What an encouraging thought, that even the angelic beings in God's presence invite us to stand and worship alongside them as fellow creations!</p><p><i><u>Stanza 4:</u></i></p><p><i>And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,<br />Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,<br />And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.<br />Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p>The U.S. Navy has a tradition of naming the destroyer class of vessels after its heroes, and many of the names could be chapter headings in the history of that institution: <i>John Paul Jones</i>. <i>Decatur</i>. <i>Farragut</i>. <i>Dewey</i> and <i>Gridley</i>. <i>Halsey</i> and <i>Spruance</i>. These names are kept in remembrance in honor of those individuals, but also for the sake of those currently serving--from Jones's "I intend to go in harm's way" to Farragut's "Full speed ahead!" (preceded by a dismissive remark about torpedoes), their words and actions encapsulate the values of the service.</p><p>The writer of Hebrews gave us a similar list of heroes in the 11th chapter of that treatise, followed by the exhortation, </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).</p></blockquote><p></p><p>These are names worth remembering, the writer says: Abel. Enoch. Noah. Abraham and Sarah. And to these we can add the heroes, both famous and ordinary, of the New Testament; but also we can take courage from the saints we have known personally, whose examples have touched our lives directly and continue to inspire us. It is one of the "features" of middle age, I suppose, that more and more people I have loved are now gone from this life. But I remember their faces, their smiles, their words of encouragement, their patient and steady examples of Christian manhood or womanhood. I could begin listing them, but I don't know how or when I could stop. Suffice it to say, I think of one and remember his optimism and energy in spite of his loneliness in later years; I think of another and remember her gentleness and desire to see the best in people; I think of yet another and remember his humility and sweetness in a world that treated him poorly for so long. I remember them, and am ashamed of my own complaints, and am encouraged again to take up my part in the labors they carried forward so well. </p><p>The next two stanzas, depicting the current and future state of the departed saints, are omitted in <i>Praise for the Lord</i>. </p><p><i>The golden evening brightens in the west;<br />Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;<br />Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.<br />Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p>"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on; blessed indeed, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!" (Revelation14:13). It was with this courage and satisfaction that Paul faced his approaching death, saying "there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day" (2 Timothy 4:8), concluding that "the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:18). As the author of Hebrews argued, "there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from His" (Hebrews 4:9-10). </p><p>This is the current state of the departed saints, now in paradise awaiting the end of all things; but the next stanza begins How's depiction of the amazing climax of history, when Jesus returns in His glory. </p><p><i>But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;<br />The saints triumphant rise in bright array;<br />The King of glory passes on His way.<br />Alleluia, Alleluia!</i></p><p>The phrase "King of Glory" is found in an unusual passage that makes up the second half of the 24th Psalm: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Lift up your heads, O gates!<br />And be lifted up, O ancient doors,<br />that the King of glory may come in.</p><p>Who is this King of glory? <br />The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, strong and mighty, <br />the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, mighty in battle!</p><p>Lift up your heads, O gates! <br />And lift them up, O ancient doors, <br />that the King of glory may come in. </p><p>Who is this King of glory? <br />The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> of hosts, <br />He is the King of glory! <br />(Psalm 24:7-10)</p></blockquote><div>The psalm portrays a festive processional in which the approaching throng calls for the gates of a city to open up for the King; the gatekeepers (presumably) ask the identity of the King, and the throng gives answer. Some have suggested that this originated with, or was in reenactment of, David's transportation of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (Eaton 126). In that case, a symbol of God's presence was brought into a tabernacle that symbolized God's dwelling among His people, in a city that symbolized God's sovereignty over them. In the final triumphal entry of the Jesus, surrounded by His people, will enter in the gates of "the city that is to come" (Hebrews 13:14) and into the presence of the Father himself . </div><div style="font-style: italic; text-decoration-line: underline;"><i><u><br /></u></i></div><u style="font-style: italic;">Stanza 5:</u><br /><i>From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,</i><br /><i>Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,</i><br /><i>Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:</i><br /><i>Alleluia, Alleluia!</i><p>The final stanza captures the grand sweep of this procession, portraying the faithful from all nations and all eras in a final culmination of that promise to Abraham, "and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 22:18) and extended throughout the ages of the prophets:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14).</p></blockquote><p>Now we see in the mind's eye that fulfillment that John saw by his vision: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands (Rev 7:9).</p></blockquote><p>May we remember the great legacy of faithfulness left to us by those saints who have gone before, and may we take courage from them to continue in the path they took, knowing that we too can be part of this glorious company.</p><div><i>About the music:</i></div><div><br /></div><div>"For all the saints" was associated with the tune <a href="https://hymnary.org/hymn/HSPP1874/page/361">S<span style="font-size: x-small;">ARUM</span></a> by Joseph Barnby as early as the 1870s, and according to <a href="https://hymnary.org/search?qu=textAuthNumber%3A%22%5Efor_all_the_saints_who_from_their_labors%24%22%20in%3Atunes&sort=matchingInstances">Hymnary.org</a> actually edges out the instances of S<span style="font-size: x-small;">INE</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">OMINE</span> in their database. The Ralph Vaughn Williams tune (the title of which simply means "without a name") first appeared in the 1906 <i>English Hymnal</i>, one of the most influential English-language hymnals of the 20th century. How Ralph Vaughan Williams, an atheist (or at most an agnostic) came to edit music for a hymnal, and thus to contribute this tune, is a story of converging religious, cultural, and political trends that may only have been possible in that time and place.</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams_1910.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams_1910.png" width="193" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ralph_Vaughan_Williams_1910.png">Vaughan Williams ca. 1910</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Vaughan Williams began work on the <i>English Hymnal</i> in 1904 at a time when he was just beginning to make his mark as a composer; it was during this period that his iconic <i>Songs of Travel </i>were premiered, when he first completed <i>In the Fen Country</i> and <i>Toward the Unknown Region</i>, and was beginning work on the <i>Sea Symphony</i>. He had worked as a church organist, and was becoming known as a choral composer and festival organizer. But most importantly, he had met famed folklorist Cecil Sharp (1859-1924) and joined his efforts through the Folk Song Society to record the oral traditions of folk music throughout rural England (Day 272ff.). Vaughan Williams's love for folk music (along with his fascination with the choral music of the Tudor era) helped create his distinct style, and inform most of the compositions for which he is remembered today.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was Cecil Sharp, in fact, who recommended Vaughan Williams to Percy Dearmer (1867-1936) when the London vicar was looking for a music editor for a new hymnal. Vaughan Williams later said that he had heard of Dearmer as "a parson who invited tramps to sleep in his drawing-room" but was surprised that he was approached about the work. He protested to Dearmer that he really knew very little about hymns (probably a major understatement even then), but was convinced to take on the task when he was given to understand that, as he put it, "if I did not do the job it would be offered to a well-known church musician with whose musical ideas I was very much out of sympathy" (Vaughan Williams "Reminiscences" 115).</div><div><br /></div><div>Vaughan Williams actually had some rather specific ideas about church music, even if he was not as familiar with the hymn tunes at the beginning. He generally shared Dearmer's socialist views, and as Katie Heathman has pointed out, "Vaughan Williams's atheism did not prevent him from embracing the Church as the type of corporate body and its music as the kind of communal expression that he believed would be vital in shaping this new society" (190). Vaughan Williams saw in the <i>English Hymnal </i>an opportunity to share great music with audiences that would rarely enter a concert hall (Heathman 186). In his finely crafted arrangements of the folk songs he had collected, as well as selections from the great hymn tunes of the past (with an emphasis on the neglected works of pre-Victorian English composers), he aimed to create "a thesaurus of all the finest hymn tunes in the world." Even so, on occasion the need to find another tune for an unusual meter such as "For all the saints" meant that Vaughan Williams sometimes, "contrary to my principles, contributed a few tunes of my own, but with becoming modesty I attributed them to my old friend, Mr Anon" (Vaughan Williams "Reminiscences"116).</div><div><br /></div><div>The character of S<span style="font-size: x-small;">INE</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">OMINE </span>is that of the processional, as though the final stanza was in Vaughan Williams's mind: "Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host." The melody is solemn and dignified yet has a restrained energy, a quality well cultivated by British composers for the various ceremonies of state. (Consider the famous "Land of hope and glory" section from Edward Elgar's <i>Pomp and Circumstance Marches </i>No. 1, known in the U.S. from countless repetitions at graduation exercises; or William Walton's <i>Crown Imperial</i>, written for the coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth II.) In the case of this hymn tune, however, the royal procession is not a select few, but the body of Christ as a whole, "from earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast." As Aaron Copland's <i>Fanfare for the Common Man </i>celebrated the ordinary laborer, S<span style="font-size: x-small;">INE</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">OMINE</span> honors not only the famous saints of old but those unknown (sine nomine?) hosts of the faithful who served God's purpose in their day and passed from the scenes of this life without fanfare. </div><div><br /></div><div>Those who have studied or performed much of Vaughan Williams's music have likely noticed the recurring melodic ideas that he favored, even using them in multiple different works. James Day notes that the opening four-note motive of S<span style="font-size: x-small;">INE</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">OMINE</span>, as well as the final two "Alleluia" phrases, turn up frequently in his other compositions (264). The "Alleluia" section is referenced almost verbatim, for example, in the Benedictus section of his Mass in G Minor from 1921, an acapella work for double chorus written in Vaughan Williams's unique modern interpretation of English Renaissance church music (Day 129). Even more interesting is the use of the opening phrase of S<span style="font-size: x-small;">INE</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">OMINE</span>. This melodic idea first turned up in "Love's last gift", the final song of the cycle <i>House of Life</i> from 1903; it appears again in <i>Toward the Unknown Region</i> at the words "Then we burst forth," starting the final triumphant section of this setting of Walt Whitman's "Darest thou now, O soul" (Kennedy 114). It is also prominent in his Fifth Symphony of 1943, which also borrowed heavily from his still-in-development operatic setting of <i>Pilgrim's Progress</i> (Day 204ff). The combination of these elements led Kennedy to label this the "Symphony of the Celestial City" (283). Certainly this musical idea often came to mind when Vaughan Williams was writing of a final triumph over a long struggle; it "runs through Vaughan Williams's music at times of relation or release" (Kennedy 113-114), and is "a key-motive for expressing jubilation throughout Vaughan Williams's life" (Kennedy 85).</div><div><br />
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<i>References:</i> <div><br /></div><div>Day, James.<i> Vaughan Williams</i>. Oxford University Press, 1998.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eaton, John H., et al. <i>The Psalms : A Historical and Spiritual Commentary with an Introduction and New Translation</i>, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2003.</div><div><p>Estes, David Foster. "Saints." <i>International Standard Bible Encyclopedia</i>. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1939. https://www.internationalstandardbible.com/S/saints.html</p><div>Heathman, Katie Palmer. "Lift up a living nation: community and nation, socialism and religion in The English Hymnal, 1906." <i>Cultural and Social History </i>14:2, 183-200.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Henry, Hugh. "Te Deum." <i>Catholic Encyclopedia</i>. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14468c.htm</div><div><br /></div><div>How, Frederick Douglas. <i>Bishop Walsham How: a Memoir.</i> London: Isbister and Co., 1898. https://archive.org/details/bishopwalshamhow00howf </div><div><br /></div><div>Julian, John. <i>A Dictionary of Hymnology</i>. New York: Dover Publications, 1957.</div><div><br /></div><div>Kennedy, Michael. <i>The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams</i>. New edition. London: Oxford University Press, 1980.</div><div><p>Kittel, Gerhard, et al. <i>Theological Dictionary of the New Testament</i>. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964. </p></div><div>Overton, J. H., and M. C. Curthoys. "How, William Walsham (1823–1897), bishop of Wakefield." <i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</i>. Oxford University Press, date of access 4 December 2022. https://www-oxforddnb-com/ref:odnb/13882</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Vaughan Williams, Ralph. "Preface to the English Hymnal," <i>Vaughan Williams on Music</i>, edited by David Manning. Oxford University Press, 2007, 31-37.</div><div><br /></div><div>Vaughan Williams, Ralph. “Some reminiscences of the English Hymnal,” <i>Vaughan Williams on Music</i>, edited by David Manning. Oxford University Press, 2007, 115-118.</div><div><br /></div><div>Vine, W. E., et al. <i>The expanded Vine's expository dictionary of New Testament words</i>. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1984. </div>David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-10885548674387078872022-12-03T19:05:00.002-06:002022-12-03T19:05:45.042-06:00Give Me the Bible<p> <i>Praise for the Lord</i> #154</p><p>Words: Priscilla J. Owens, 1883<br />Music: Edmund S. Lorenz, 1883</p><p>Priscilla Jane Owens (1829-1907) is best remembered today for her songs "We have heard the joyful sound (Jesus saves!)" and "Will your anchor hold?", both set to stirring music by William J. Kirkpatrick and published in 1882. These are remarkably successful examples of gospel song and hold up well (as does the song under consideration here), but her name has otherwise faded from memory. It is worthwhile to note, then, that an editorial in a Methodist journal in 1911 mentioned “Priscilla J. Owens, Mrs. Joseph F. Knapp, Josephine Pollard, and Fannie Crosby” as examples of notable women hymnists ("Let us sing"). Mrs. Knapp is Phoebe Knapp, better known as the composer of Fanny Crosby's "Blessed assurance", and Josephine Pollard was a nationally known children's author as well as a hymnwriter. By comparison to Crosby, of course, Owens wrote "only" 200+ lyrics; but this was never the focus of her very full life of community and church service.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4Y-rSTEZmbmPLGNwlj8jy4GTNaOX3fQFnHLZHWqFbXtIXzkHVOemGkZA-k9xN03Jyh1VvUKebqISaaGsMcXObzgIpYbQ-5EMOIDWjElo3FOFI_w4kNC04XC-daPj9yV1Hu6b7fxemH2Hm5E_5NMfZm0kLit8fZAwRsmB5nv2rWZbb0QICX6zstEnCyg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="519" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4Y-rSTEZmbmPLGNwlj8jy4GTNaOX3fQFnHLZHWqFbXtIXzkHVOemGkZA-k9xN03Jyh1VvUKebqISaaGsMcXObzgIpYbQ-5EMOIDWjElo3FOFI_w4kNC04XC-daPj9yV1Hu6b7fxemH2Hm5E_5NMfZm0kLit8fZAwRsmB5nv2rWZbb0QICX6zstEnCyg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3844b.pm002540/">P.S. 10 at Hollins & Schroeder, from an 1869 map</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Priscilla Owens was born and raised in Baltimore, the daughter of Isaac Owens, a commercial merchant on the old Dugan's Wharf (<i>Matchett's</i> <i>1851</i> 205). He was prosperous enough to provide her an education at the Patapsco Institute, followed by secondary education at the Ladies' Collegiate Institute (Perine 206), and eventually the family moved into the more fashionable environs of Lombard Street and the Union Square district. Priscilla never married, instead pursuing a career in the public schools, where she served for an impressive half-century. Her first appointment, in the 1852/53 school year, was as an assistant teacher at Female Primary School No. 9 (<i>Ordinances 1853</i> 243). She must have made an impression; within three years she was moved up to fill a vacancy for principal at Male Primary School No. 7 (<i>Twenty-Seventh Annual Report</i> 27). She remained ten years, then took over as principal at Male Primary School No. 10, where she and three assistants taught 199 boys (<i>Thirty-Seventh Annual Report</i> 172). Owens was still principal there in 1880 (<i>Woods' Baltimore City Directory 1880</i> 1139), but that fall was reassigned as an assistant teacher at Female Primary School No. 8 ("Sitzung" 7 July 1880). She was only 51, so this seems an early retirement, but she had already been a principal for 25 years. She may have wanted a less demanding position that allowed more time for her growing Sunday School work; another possibility is that the school board wanted to use Owens as a mentor to younger teachers. As late as 1880 she was serving as an assistant teacher to a group of schools ("Sitzung" 7 July 1880).<p></p><p>Priscilla Owens's gospel song career began with a bang in 1871, when composer and publisher Asa Hull published no fewer than 34 of her lyrics in a single book. Though his name has faded from the modern repertoire, William Reynolds placed Hull alongside William Bradbury, George F. Root, William H. Doane, and Robert Lowry as founders of the Sunday school gospel song (104), and Benson narrows it further, speaking of "Sunday school songs of the Hull and Bradbury school" (484). Though they were based in different cities, Hull and Owens likely knew each other--or of each other--though their work in the Methodist Sunday school organizations. Asa Hull's works found in WorldCat show that he was publishing Sunday school songbooks in Boston as early as 1862 and moved his operations to Philadelphia by 1865. His <i>Casket of Sunday School Melodies</i> (1865) was successful enough to warrant a supplemental issue, then was reissued in 1869 in a combined format. Though Hull generally issued a new book every year, his output slowed in the late 1860s. His 1871 offering, <i>Sparkling Rubies</i>, has the appearance of striking off in a new direction, and it is here that Priscilla Owens enters the picture:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>In presenting "Sparkling Rubies" for public consideration and popular favor we feel called upon merely to state that much care has been exercised in the selection of hymns and the proper adaptation of the music to the same, as well as the appropriateness of the whole to the existing wants of the Sunday-School, which seem to be in the direction of new but sound evangelical hymns set to pure yet enthusiastic and inspiring music.</p><p>The several contributors whose names appear over their respective contributions are writers of experience and ability, and the editors feel under great obligations to them for their kind assistance as well as for their manifested interest in the success of the work.</p><p>They feel especially indebted to Miss Priscilla J. Owens for the great variety of excellent Hymns written expressly for this work, and bespeak for her contributions that generous appreciation on the part of the public, to which they are justly entitled (<i>Sparkling Rubies</i> preface).</p></blockquote><p></p>Hull's assistant in this work, Harry Sanders, was a Baltimore musician and piano seller whose Sanders & Stayman Co. would become a mainstay of Baltimore musical life ("Fifth Avenue"). He also published a couple of small hymn collections through the Methodist Episcopal Book Room of that city, and sometimes led the singing for the Methodist Episcopal General Conference in Baltimore (<i>Journal of the General Conference 1876</i> 359), so he was likely well known to Priscilla Owens. Sanders wrote the music for the majority of Owens's songs in <i>Sparkling Rubies</i> (27 out of 34).<div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_N5tK9CXor-eK0Tb1qVv7kvEaQUgvdK-2pz5fO7iULSupcYs1pDbQW99HMyvzZyW7H4i_1lVmgbp5l1LifK2KJFYMyEvNVtgr40KE9Y8P3AJTZUrEMgxuaE6N39O8nYxLlt0zKDdTKhwJ3z740vPBEOfEjIite-wsKA26pb5K2lvYYkVXHc9f4tcFqA/s477/sparklingrubiesc00hull_0001.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="477" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_N5tK9CXor-eK0Tb1qVv7kvEaQUgvdK-2pz5fO7iULSupcYs1pDbQW99HMyvzZyW7H4i_1lVmgbp5l1LifK2KJFYMyEvNVtgr40KE9Y8P3AJTZUrEMgxuaE6N39O8nYxLlt0zKDdTKhwJ3z740vPBEOfEjIite-wsKA26pb5K2lvYYkVXHc9f4tcFqA/w400-h316/sparklingrubiesc00hull_0001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><p></p><p>Owens's songs from <i>Sparkling Rubies</i> were reprinted in other Asa Hull publications during the 1870s, and a few new songs appeared during that decade, but it was not until the 1880s that Priscilla Owens produced another large body of works for a single publication. (Interestingly, this was when she moved to an assistant teacher position instead of being a principal; perhaps she had more time to focus on writing.) In 1880 two publications appeared that show her entering into a different orbit of gospel song publishing: <i>Missionary Songs</i> (New York: Lorenz & Co., 1880), edited by Edmund S. Lorenz, and <i>The Quiver of Sacred Song</i> (Philadelphia: John J. Hood, 1880), edited by John R. Sweney and William J. Kirkpatrick. Once again, the songs themselves were not lasting favorites, but it was the first time her lyrics came into the hands of the two composers who would set her most popular songs. William J. Kirkpatrick, who set to music "We have heard the joyful sound" and "Will your anchor hold?", would eventually be responsible for the music of 57 of Owens's 240+ hymns; Edmund Lorenz, who set "Give me the Bible", would write the music for 52 of them.</p><p>"Give me the Bible" first appeared in <i>Holy Voices for the Sunday School</i><i> </i>(Dayton, Ohio: W. J. Shuey, 1883), edited by Edmund S. Lorenz and Isaiah Baltzell. This book contained 29 new songs by Priscilla Owens, and though she is not singled out in the preface, her contributions far outnumber those of any other author and the first song in the book is one of hers. The 1880s proved to be Owens's most productive period, averaging a dozen new songs published each year; but though her output fell to four or five each year in later years, new Priscilla Owens songs were still appearing even in the decade following her death. She also lived to see some of her most popular songs published in German, Spanish, Norwegian, and Swedish, and sung around the world.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://hymnary.org/page/fetch/LHLS1905/28/low" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="714" data-original-width="480" src="https://hymnary.org/page/fetch/LHLS1905/28/low" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From <i>Himmelwaerts</i> (Dayton, Ohio: Lorenz & Co., 1899). German-speaking churches <br />were common in the Midwestern U.S. during the late 19th century.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p>Now for the text itself.</p><p>Christians who hold the Bible as the only authoritative source of doctrine and practice, and who take a high view of inspiration, are sometimes accused of "Bibliolatry." It is certainly a problem to be taken seriously, because Jesus took it seriously. He had these chilling words for some of His listeners: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). With the first-century Pharisees and with us today, it is all too possible to have a dedication to Scripture and yet completely miss the point. But sometimes that accusation is a reflection of a culture, even among some who sincerely wish to follow Jesus, that resists recognizing an authoritative standard. This is equally wrong, and the Bible--the only objective source we have, when all is said and done, for the teachings of Jesus and His followers--is clear that it is to be taken as such a standard or not at all.</p><p>Jesus himself taught a high view of the Scriptures. In His temptation in the wilderness, He famously countered Satan's arguments with Scripture, stating first that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). In this He acknowledged that 1) there is a Word that comes from the mouth of God--as Paul would later say, "breathed out by God" (2 Timothy 3:16)--and that 2) that Word is just as important to spiritual life as bread is to physical life. Jesus said that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35), that the Word is truth (John 17:17), and that it alone will set us free (John 18:32). The Word spoken by Jesus is equally authoritative: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35); it will make us clean (John 15:3) and will be spirit and life to us (John 6:63).</p><div>Jesus conferred the same authority to the Scriptures to be revealed through His chosen spokesmen, according to His promise to the apostles in John 16:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you" (John 16:12-14).</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Paul reflected on this in addressing the Christians in Thessalonica: "And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers" (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Peter echoed these thoughts in his first letter, equating the gospel he preached with the inspired word of God spoken of in Isaiah 40:6, when he said:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you (1 Peter 1:23-25).</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Let us respect, love, and revere the Bible because of the One who gave it for our everlasting benefit. And for this reason, if we occasionally have a song that simply states this doctrine as a reminder of the importance of Scripture in our lives, no apology seems necessary.</div><p><i><u>Stanza 1:</u></i></p><p><i>Give me the Bible, star of gladness gleaming,<br />To cheer the wand'rer, lone and tempest-tossed;<br />No storm can hide that radiance peaceful beaming<br />Since Jesus came to seek and save the lost.</i></p><p>Printed below the title of this song in its first publication is the verse, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). Light as a metaphor for truth and righteousness, as well as for knowledge and wisdom, is found developed throughout the Scriptures. To this famous line from the great acrostic Psalm we may add the earlier Psalm 43, verse 3, "Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling!" The Proverbs add a note of progression out of darkness as one follows this light: "The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day" (4:18). </p><p>These thoughts are echoed by the New Testament writers, but pointing more specifically to the great Source of this light. Paul tells his readers that "God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Peter seems to echo the verse from Proverbs when he says, "We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19). </p><p>The "star of gladness gleaming" that guides the "wanderer, lone and tempest-tossed" first calls to mind the use of stars for navigation, fixed points that guided sailors to their destinations centuries before satellites and GPS. The stars don't lie; in fact, since the advent of electronic "GPS spoofing" the U.S. Navy has reinstated this skill requirement for officers. Spiritually speaking, the Bible is that fixed star that will always give us the true direction again no matter how confused our present course. But looking at the metaphorical (and actual) use of stars in Scripture, we might also consider how a star led three men to Jesus, and Peter's mention of the "morning star" that rises in our hearts. At the end of John's Revelation, Jesus declares himself "the bright morning star" (22:16); according to Peter, then, the word of God is a lesser light that guides us to the full glory of Jesus. </p><div>The power of this lamp's light is the power of the One who lit it, and "no storm can hide" it--"the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5). The promise toward which this light guides us is the salvation that comes through Him who declared himself "the Light of the World" and promised His followers "the light of life" (John 8:12). The Bible's great purpose is to lead us to the light of salvation though Jesus's sacrifice; "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). </div><p><i><u>Chorus:</u></i></p><p><i>Give me the Bible, holy message shining,<br />Thy light shall guide me in the narrow way;<br />Precept and promise, law and love combining,<br />Till night shall vanish in eternal day.</i></p><p>Psalm 119:130 also draws on the metaphor of the Word as light: "The unfolding of Your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple." It shines the light of knowledge--of God's will, of ourselves, and of this fallen world--on our surroundings, and makes it possible to choose our way with certainty. "When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to Your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep Your commandments" (Psalm 119:59-60). The "narrow way" here of course refers to Jesus' words in Matthew 7:14, "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Not surprisingly, both the Hebrew Testament and the New Testament emphasize the need to keep this lamp of truth close at hand in daily life:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth (Deuteronomy 11:18-21).</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:14-17).</p></blockquote><p>Priscilla Owens found a happy turn of phrase with "precept and promise, law and love combining." Twenty-one times in the 119th Psalm the word "precepts" is found (in the KJV), emphasizing the necessity of keeping God's appointed "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots". (Let those who scoff at the idea of commandments have one of the Ten broken <i>against </i>them, and they are usually found on God's side of the matter!) But if the Bible tells us in precepts what we must and must not do, it is also full of God's promises of what He will do. In the preface to his <i>All the Promises of the Bible</i>, Herbert Lockyer notes that people have come up with widely varying numbers when trying to count all of God's promises in Scripture. One even claimed over 30,000 promises, nearly equal to the number of verses in the Bible, which in a certain sense is correct. As Joshua said in his farewell address to Israel, </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed (Joshua 23:14).</p></blockquote><p>Joshua had seen his people enslaved to a great world power and had seen that power humbled by the judgment of God. He had seen the Red Sea parted and the terrifying presence of the Lord at Sinai. He had been through the wilderness where by all rights the nation should have perished from thirst and hunger and had seen God provide for them every time. He had seen the sun stand still in the sky, the flood of the Jordan parted, and the walls of Jericho fall down. In all of it he could clearly see that "not one word failed" of what God had promised.</p><p>The Bible also perfectly blends law and love. Law without love is legalism; but love without law is equally undesirable, for our understanding of love is a work in progress, still warped by selfishness. The core of the discussion of this topic in Romans 13 is this:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:9-10). </p></blockquote><p>But lest we take from this the idea that "just love one another" is the only law we need to observe, John has a rejoinder: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">Whoever says "I know Him" but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him (1 John 2:4-5).</p></blockquote><p></p><p>Keeping the law without love is missing the point; but our love must be guided and guarded through the wisdom of God's Word. And from God's side, the Word demonstrates that perfect example of steadfast love exhibited through firm guidance.</p><p><u><i>Stanza 2:</i></u></p><p><i>Give me the Bible when my heart is broken,<br />When sin and grief have filled my soul with fear;<br />Give me the precious words by Jesus spoken,<br />Hold up faith's lamp to show my Savior near</i>.<br /><i>(Chorus)</i></p><p>In the second stanza Miss Owens points out the role the Bible has always played in times of trial and anxiety. I think of how Psalm 4:8 came to my mind as I waited to fall under the effects of anesthetic before a lengthy surgery: "In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for You alone, O L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, make me dwell in safety." I remember visiting an elderly neighbor in the hospital on what turned out to be his last night in this world, and how he, being unable to speak, pointed to his Bible and signed "2... 3..." I understood then that he wanted me to read the 23rd Psalm. We could all multiply instances in which we opened our Bibles in the depths of despair and found a solid place upon which to stand. Psalm 119:28 says well, "My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to Your word!" And in times of anxiety, especially in those small hours of the morning when we feel most alone, how often we echo the words of Psalm 130:5, "I wait for the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, my soul waits, and in His word I hope." A friend nearby is a blessing, but for the wisdom of ages we turn elsewhere: "Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors" (Psalm 119:24).</p><p>Most comforting of all, of course, are the words of Jesus himself--because He understands where we are crying out from. His heart was broken. His grief over the sins of the world sometimes overwhelmed His soul. He faced the horror of His upcoming Crucifixion in Gethsemane. Whatever you are going through, however dark the night of the soul, <i>Jesus knows</i>. And as we read His words in time of need, we hear again the steady voice that said so often "Be not afraid." To Jairus, who had just heard that his precious daughter had died, Jesus said, "Do not be afraid, only believe" (Mark 5:36). To the terrified disciples in an early-morning storm on Galilee, He said "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid" (Matthew 14:27). To His troubled followers on the night of His betrayal He said, "Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid" (John 14:27b). The words of Jesus are comfort and encouragement, instruction and guidance. We need to keep close to those words at all times, remembering Peter's amazed statement, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). </p><p><i><u>Stanza 3:</u></i></p><p><i>Give me the Bible, all my steps enlighten,<br />Teach me the danger of these realms below;<br />That lamp of safety o'er the gloom shall brighten,<br />That light alone the path of peace can show.<br />(Chorus)</i></p><p>It is an interesting exercise to go through the clearance section of a used bookstore and spot the titles of yesterday's best-seller self-help books. For decades now there has been no end of "7 Habits of X" or "The Power of Y", and though I am sure some of them are helpful, I can't help but think that many of them were chiefly helpful to the author's own finances. A common thread, of course, is that most are accessible, quick reads that promise positive results with a few easy steps. </p><p>The Bible doesn't come with that guarantee. Some of it is more accessible, of course; many people in the world recognize the truth of some of the Proverbs or the famous sayings of Jesus, even if they do not know the source. But the Bible doesn't come a la carte, and we must reckon also with the difficulties of the Word, such as God described in His call to Isaiah:</p></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><p style="text-align: left;">And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me." And He said, "Go, and say to this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." (Isaiah 6:8-10).</p></div></div></blockquote><div><p>Part of this, of course, is that the Bible says some things we understand perfectly well and just don't want to hear. But the greater part is an actual inability to grasp the meaning (as Jesus referenced when quoting this passage). Receiving the Bible's wisdom and guidance requires us to put aside a lot of what the world holds as truth, and to learn to think in God's way with God's values. It is a lifetime of unlearning and learning as we become more the kind of people God means us to be.</p><p>But as difficult as it sounds (and is), it is the only sure path. The second section of the 119th Psalm begins with a famous passage on the guidance of a young man, which is just as true for any person of any age:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word. With my whole heart I seek You; let me not wander from Your commandments! I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You (Psalm 119:9-11).</p></blockquote><p> The time to look at a map is before, not after, you get lost. Though we will often be looking to the Bible to find guidance in correcting the messes we have gotten ourselves into, it is a better policy to commit its wisdom to our hearts ahead of time. Paul advised Timothy to work at this diligently: "Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 1:13). The power in the Word is from God, but it does not just magically jump into our minds. Even Paul and Timothy had to apply themselves to study. "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). Only an instrument of such power can cut through the devil's lies and reveal the right path; only an instrument of such power can strike fire again in a stony heart. </p><p>But like anything so powerful, one must learn to use it correctly. When soldiers in training are issued their rifles, they are expected to learn not only to fire them accurately, but to operate them safely and maintain them correctly. They are taught each part and its function, and are drilled in each action to be taken with the weapon. Each rifle is someone's individual responsibility, and woe to the recruit who fails to use and maintain the weapon correctly! Paul shows the same seriousness toward the Scriptures: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15). It is our reliable roadmap, a trusty tool that will be ready for any occasion, and it will be worth every minute of time we take in learning how best to benefit from it.</p><p><i><u>Stanza 4:</u><br />Give me the Bible, lamp of life immortal,<br />Hold up that splendor by the open grave;<br />Show me the light from heaven's shining portals,<br />Show me the glory gilding Jordan's wave.<br />(Chorus)</i></p><p>The final stanza of this song shows the help the Bible brings at the final crisis of earthly life, with a frankness that may be startling to non-Christians. Was such casual discussion of "open graves" appropriate in what was after all a Sunday School song? In the time Priscilla Owens wrote this text, of course, people far more often died at home, and the care of the body was more likely to be handled by family and friends. Given the higher mortality rates from what are today preventable diseases, the child in that environment would have seen bodies, funerals, and graves multiple times by the time they were old enough to read this text.</p><p>But there is more to it than that; the Christian even in a modern first-world setting is confronted with death, talks about death, and sings about death as a matter of course. Physical death is appointed for us all (Hebrews 9:27), and the problem of death (physical and spiritual) could be said to underlie all of Scripture. We do not deny death and pretend it isn't there; instead, we can look in the "open grave" (whether of a loved one, or considering our own someday) with understanding, grieving but not grieving "as others do who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We understand because we have this word from the Lord:</p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p style="text-align: left;">For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18).</p></div></blockquote><div><p>And how often have Christians carried out the exhortation in that last verse? How many times have these words gotten someone through the hardest day of their life? Many other passages could be suggested as well, that have been tried and true in comforting the dying and the bereaved. The light of that "lamp unto our feet" shines far enough to "gild Jordan's wave," reflecting its light on the dark waters to be crossed and spying out the better land on the other side, the source of all light. Christians, hold onto that lamp and follow its guidance, it is the only sure way to end up at last with the great Author of the Book!</p><p><i>About the music:</i></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVZWdSEt_Bit-xy5NemyCJZCSVjFFnBhVZ_SZKPC31XW_II-CqMdmy5s6MkdcxuYcbfnXLS02uYnX7ichxCPyaOQrZdRU66UkDUrkVTmXvaocIjrVl3ojgpdiOJKmoNtXsmT7PpIUF4r8rnKOeSvRDCyMbCdZtDCnxH2Gg_dmCxBIBgnGgJ8Kkwgi5EA" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1231" data-original-width="729" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVZWdSEt_Bit-xy5NemyCJZCSVjFFnBhVZ_SZKPC31XW_II-CqMdmy5s6MkdcxuYcbfnXLS02uYnX7ichxCPyaOQrZdRU66UkDUrkVTmXvaocIjrVl3ojgpdiOJKmoNtXsmT7PpIUF4r8rnKOeSvRDCyMbCdZtDCnxH2Gg_dmCxBIBgnGgJ8Kkwgi5EA" width="142" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edmund_Simon_Lorenz_(page_319_crop).jpg">From Wikimedia Commons</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Edmund Simon Lorenz (1854-1942) was a man of amazing intellectual vitality. His father, a German immigrant, was a newspaper editor and preacher for the United Brethren, and no doubt raised his son in an environment of learning and inquiry. But though Edmund would eventually follow in his father's footsteps as an ordained minister, the demand for his musical and editorial abilities started early. Lorenz became the music editor for the United Brethren Publishing House in Dayton, Ohio when he was just 19 years old, and from 1876 on he supplied them with numerous Sunday school and revival songbooks, not to mention the popular <i>Otterbein Hymnal</i> (1890) and the official <i>Church Hymnal</i> of 1934. Somehow, he also found time to complete a B.A. and M.A. (simultaneously, of course) at Otterbein University, then a Bachelor of Divinity at Yale, all by 1883. His composing and editing continued while he was pastor of the High Street Brethren congregation in Dayton from 1884-1886, and during a brief stint as president of Lebanon Valley College (Porter).<p></p><p>An unspecified health crisis forced Lorenz to resign from Lebanon Valley College in 1889, and in 1890 he turned to church music as a full-time endeavor. The Lorenz Corporation, founded that year and still going strong, became a major force in gospel music publishing, and in choral music publishing in general. Lorenz also wrote several books on church music, most notably <i>Practical Church Music</i> (1909) and <i>The Singing Church</i> (1935) (Porter). Though he primarily published gospel music, Lorenz's writings show that he also had a deep respect for the classical hymn tradition; he simply wanted the best music for the purpose people at hand. Blessed with a long life, he was a living link from the earliest days of gospel music, and a reminder of the sometimes neglected part that the Northern states played in its development. Some of his other well-known compositions are "Come, let us all unite to sing", "Tell it to Jesus", and "Thou thinkest, Lord, of me", for all of which he provided the music.</p><p><i>Holy Voices</i>, published in 1883 by W. J. Shuey (a publishing agent within the United Brethren house), was co-edited with Isaiah Baltzell, a well-known church leader in the United Brethren as well as a songwriter (best remembered for "I want to be a worker for the Lord"). Baltzell was from Maryland and preached in Baltimore during the late 1850s (Hall 116), so it is possible that he might have been the connection with Priscilla Jane Owens. (The Brethren and Methodists shared a lot of history in Baltimore through the friendship of Philip Otterbein and Francis Asbury, leaders in their respective denominations in the late 1700s.)</p><p>The tune of "Give me the Bible" shows the usual economy of means that often marks a well-constructed gospel song. The rhythm of the first two measures flows naturally from a reading of the first line of text, and these two rhythms (<i>long-short-short-long-long</i> and <i>short-short-short-short-long-long</i>) provide the moderate but steady forward motion of the melody throughout. The four lines of the stanza are set as a parallel period (abab'), while the chorus begins with a little more contrast before repeating the closing two phrases of the stanza (cdab'). The overall form of the stanza and chorus together, then, might be represented as AA'BA', with interlocking parallel structures on two levels. (Or, put more simply, it sings well; but I can't resist analyzing <i>why</i> it sings well.)</p><p>A particularly good use is made of the range and voicing of the chords at the opening of the chorus, on the phrase "Give me the Bible". Throughout the stanza, the parts are written in typical ranges for congregational singing. The soprano stays within the treble staff. The alto circles around the bottom line of the treble staff, dipping a couple of notes below and rising a couple of notes above. The tenor does the same with the top line of the bass staff, and the bass is within the staff. There is a lot of range to work with in this format, and Lorenz takes advantage of it by having first the alto move in parallel with the melody ("star of gladness gleaming"), and then the tenor ("lone and tempest-tossed"). But at the opening of the chorus--and the restatement of the key idea of the text--all the voices are pushed into the upper end of their ranges. The alto leaps up to an A-flat, the beginning of a higher section of the voice's range, and the tenor is above the staff in the range where it comes through more brightly. These five chords ring out like a trumpet call, calling attention to the plea of the text.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
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<i>References</i><div><br /></div><div><div><i>Twenty-Seventh Annual Report of the Commissioners of Public Schools</i>. Baltimore: Samuel Sands Mills, 1856. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Board_of_School_Com/QiBDAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA1-PA1</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Commissioners of Public Schools</i>. Baltimore: James Young, 1866. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433076003528</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Benson, Louis F. <i>The English Hymn: Its Development and Use in Worship</i>. New York: Hodder & Stoughton, George H. Doran company, 1915. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001413176</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div>"The 'Fifth Avenue' piano store of Baltimore." <i>The Music Trade Review</i> 63:10 (2 September 1916), page 15. https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1916-63-10/</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Hall, John Jacob. <i>Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers</i>. New York: Revell, 1914. https://archive.org/details/biographyofgospe00hall/</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Holy Voices for the Sunday School, and other services of the church</i>, edited by Edmund S. Lorenz & Isaiah Baltzell. Dayton, Ohio: W. J. Shuey, 1883. https://archive.org/details/holyvoices00lore/</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Journal of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in Baltimore, Md., May 1-31, 1876. </i>New York: Nelson & Phillips, 1876. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112051963186</div><div><br /></div><div><div>“Let us sing Psalms exclusively.” <i>The Church School Journal</i> (Cincinnati: Methodist Book Concern), 43:7 (July 1911), 478. N.B. The title of the editorial is meant sarcastically, in response to criticism of Sunday School music.</div></div><div><br /></div></div><div>Lockyer, Herbert. <i>All the Promises of the Bible</i>. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1962.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Matchett's Baltimore Directory 1851</i>. Baltimore : R.J. Matchett, 1851. https://archive.org/details/matchettsbaltimo1851balt/page/205/mode/1up </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Ordinances and Resolutions of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore 1853</i>. Baltimore: Jos. Robinson, 1853. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ordinances_and_Resolutions_of_the_Mayor/PSQ_AQAAMAAJ</div><div><br /></div><div>Perine, George Corbin. <i>The Poets And Verse-writers of Maryland: with Selections from Their Works</i>. Cincinnati: The Editor Publishing Co., 1898. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011408101/Home</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Porter, Ellen Jane Lorenz. "Edmund S. Lorenz." Hymnary.org. https://hymnary.org/person/Lorenz_Edmund</div><div><br /></div><div>Reynolds, William Jensen. <i>A Survey of Christian Hymnody</i>. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001459006</div><div><br /></div><div>"Sitzung der Stadt-Schulbehörde." <i>Der Deutsche Correspondent</i> (Baltimore), 7 July 1880, page 4. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045081/1880-07-07/ed-1/seq-4/</div><div><br /></div><div><div>"Sitzung der Stadt-Schulbehörde." <i>Der Deutsche Correspondent</i> (Baltimore), 24 January 1901, page 2. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045081/1901-01-24/ed-1/seq-4/</div><div><br /></div></div></div><div><div><i>Sparkling Rubies: a Choice Collection of New Sunday-School Music</i>, edited by Asa Hull, assisted by Harry Sanders. Philadelphia: A. Hull & Co., 1871. https://archive.org/details/sparklingrubiesc00hull</div><div><br /></div></div><div><i>Woods' Baltimore City Directory</i> <i>1880</i>. Baltimore, Md : John W. Woods, 1880. https://archive.org/details/woodsbaltimoreci1880balt/page/1139/mode/1up </div></div>David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-67095420413764130092022-09-27T20:07:00.004-05:002022-09-27T20:07:57.860-05:00Footsteps of Jesus<p> <i>Praise for the Lord</i> #153</p><p>Words: Mary B. C. Slade, 1871<br />Music: Asa Brooks Everett, 1871</p><p>The <a href="https://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-gospel-songs-of-mary-b-c-slade-and.html">author</a> and <a href="https://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2022/08/asa-brooks-everett.html">composer</a> of this hymn having been covered at length in two earlier posts, I will add just a little more here about the history and reception of this song, variously titled "Footsteps of Jesus" or "Footprints of Jesus" (the latter is the phrase actually used in the refrain, but the former is more commonly used as the title). Statistics from the <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/sweetly_lord_have_we_heard_thee_calling">Hymnary.org page for this text</a> show that it has actually increased in average popularity over the years, appearing in 25% of the indexed hymnals from the late 20th century. In our current century it appears in the <i>Baptist Hymnal</i> (2008 edition), the <i>Worship and Service Hymnal</i> from Hope Publishing, <i>The New National Baptist Hymnal</i>, <i>Rejoice Hymns</i> (Fundamental Baptist), <i>Celebrating Grace Hymnal</i> (Baptist), and <i>The Christian Life Hymnal</i> (Hendrickson Publishing), to name a few.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXhFBEYSau6NRE4sjXI7ErsnlFUYGWhQ1UJFeuQql0zvBSM4AA_FcadI7jJHI4vxpRNGNcwUw2uF5Cd2ZN8P3j0jDckyp8OFnRm8f34ijQXqDVvnBAU0RbWEgy1m6G7KO9ARDxPgv_nSvDNu18GmUm1QRhp-4cqnozYCkBfaeh0ktAuz0D2qj8lzpzQ/s600/Screenshot%202022-08-16%20125330x.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXhFBEYSau6NRE4sjXI7ErsnlFUYGWhQ1UJFeuQql0zvBSM4AA_FcadI7jJHI4vxpRNGNcwUw2uF5Cd2ZN8P3j0jDckyp8OFnRm8f34ijQXqDVvnBAU0RbWEgy1m6G7KO9ARDxPgv_nSvDNu18GmUm1QRhp-4cqnozYCkBfaeh0ktAuz0D2qj8lzpzQ/s16000/Screenshot%202022-08-16%20125330x.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>It first appeared, along with many other Slade-Everett songs, in <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/156/mode/1up">Good News</a></i> (Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1876), edited by Rigdon McIntosh. It originally appeared with seven stanzas and a refrain:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Stanza 1:</i></div><div><i>Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling,<br />Come, follow Me!<br />And we see where Thy footprints falling,</i></div><div><i>Lead us to Thee.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Refrain:</i></div><div><i>Footprints of Jesus, that make the pathway glow;</i></div><div><i>We will follow the steps of Jesus wheree'er they go.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Stanza 2:</i></div><div><i>Though they lead o'er the cold dark mountains,</i></div><div><i>Seeking His sheep;</i></div><div><i>Or along by Siloam's fountains,</i></div><div><i>Helping the weak.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Stanza 3:</i></div><div><i>If they lead through the temple holy,</i></div><div><i>Preaching the word;</i></div><div><i>Or in homes of the poor and lowly,</i></div><div><i>Serving the Lord.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Stanza 4:</i></div><div><i>Though, dear Lord, in Thy pathway keeping,</i></div><div><i>We follow Thee;</i></div><div><i>Through the gloom of that place of weeping,</i></div><div><i>Gethsemane!</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Stanza 5:</i></div><div><i>If Thy way and its sorrows bearing,</i></div><div><i>We go again,</i></div><div><i>Up the slope of the hill-side, bearing</i></div><div><i>Our cross of pain.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Stanza 6:</i></div><div><i>By and by, through the shining portals,</i></div><div><i>Turning our feet,</i></div><div><i>We shall walk with the glad immortals,</i></div><div><i>Heaven's golden streets.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Stanza 7:</i></div><div><i>Then at last when on high He sees us,</i></div><div><i>Our journey done,</i></div><div><i>We will rest where the steps of Jesus</i></div><div><i>End at His throne.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>An abbreviated version appeared in McIntosh's next Sunday School publication, <i><a href="https://hymnary.org/hymn/NLST1879/">New Life</a></i> (Nashville: M.E. Church South, 1879), which used stanzas 1, 2, 3, 6, 7. The 4th and 5th stanzas have tended to be the most often omitted, and later hymnals have differed chiefly in whether they have the 6th or 7th as the final stanza, or use both. Southern Baptist collections began using stanzas 1, 2, 3, 7, with popular books such as <i><a href="https://hymnary.org/hymn/GSoC1921/">The Modern Hymnal</a></i> (Nashville: Broadman, 1926) and <i><a href="https://hymnary.org/hymnal/BH1940">The Broadman Hymnal</a></i> (Nashville: Broadman, 1940). This seems to have become the standard for Baptist publications and many others over time. </div><div><br /></div><div>Among Churches of Christ, however, there was greater variation. Gospel Advocate Publishing's 1889 <i>Christian Hymns</i>, with Rigdon McIntosh as music editor, had a large number of Slade-Everett songs, including "Footsteps" with all seven of the original stanzas. <i>Choice Gospel Hymns</i>, from the same publisher in 1923, still carried all seven stanzas, but <i>Greater Christian Hymns</i> (1931) had reduced it to 1, 2, 3, 5, 7. The same reduced selection of stanzas was used in <i>Christian Hymns</i> (1935), the first of that series from Gospel Advocate edited by L. O. Sanderson. <i>Christian Hymns #2</i> (1944) reduced the stanzas to 1, 2, and 7; but <i>Christian Hymns III</i> (1966) had a different selection, 1, 3, and 7. Songbooks from west of the Mississippi followed much the same pattern; one early Firm Foundation title, <i>The New Gospel Songbook</i> (Austin, Texas, 1914) has all seven original stanzas, but later editors cut it down to five. The numerous books published by Will Slater in Arkansas and Texas used stanzas 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and Tillit Teddlie's early books <i>Spiritual Melodies</i> (Dallas, Texas, 1938) and <i>Standard Gospel Songs</i> (Sulphur Springs, Texas, 1944) use 1, 2, 3, 5, 7. Common to all of these so far is the retention of stanza 7 as the conclusion of the song, which would seem to be natural.</div><div><br /></div><div>For reasons unclear, however, Elmer Jorgenson used stanzas 1, 2, 3, and 6 in his <i>Great Songs of the Church</i> (Louisville, Kentucky: Word and Work, 1921). The longevity and influence of the "old blue book" made this version widely known, and many later hymnal editors among the Churches of Christ followed suit. Firm Foundation's popular <i>Majestic Hymnal: Number Two</i> (1959) used this selection of stanzas, as did Tillit Teddlie's <i>Great Christian Hymnal</i> (1965). It was also used in the hugely successful <i>Songs of the Church</i> books by Alton Howard (1973-1977), and in the next generation of hymnals, <i>Praise for the Lord</i> (Praise Press, 1992) and <i>Songs of Faith and Praise </i>(Howard Publishing, 1994). There remain exceptions--the selection of stanzas 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 appears in <i>Sacred Selections</i> (1960) and in later songbooks by M. Lynwood Smith, and Dane K. Shepard's <i>Hymns for Worship</i> (1987) uses 1, 2, and 7 only. The majority of Churches of Christ, however, probably know this sing only with stanzas 1, 2, 3, and 6. It seems a little unusual to lose the final stanza of a song, but it happens. Now for the text itself.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><u>Stanza 1:</u></i></div><div><i>Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling,</i></div><div><i>Come, follow Me!<br />And we see where Thy footprints falling,</i></div><div><i>Lead us to Thee.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>The earliest "followers" of Jesus seem to be Andrew and another unnamed disciple of John the Baptizer, found in John 1:35-39.</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to Him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.</div></div></blockquote><div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>This was not the formal beginning of their discipleship, however, as we see from Matthew 4:18-22. Here, and in a few other passages, we are given a glimpse of the occasions when Jesus personally said the words quoted in the opening stanza of this song.</div><div><i><br /></i></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">While walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. </div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1394" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJo59MLOuBQH_KUZD4cg0oIHhf3UcLjmBzfKfmlcU-uU5kcuA_AaFWYM8kF_GMg7krh8QwvQQOe5xxD8NW_LcAbf2fbEq9KVSCkvCuqbdEaV0VuF54jmOvkCiaI4qwqH45mWek-vD4nRNkaNGPKW-Ppk1pAVas6sHM7_AuP8Ix9YBfARBKc7VH3jUbDw=w320-h235" width="320" /></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sea-of-Galilee-1900.jpg">Galileean fishing boat, c. 1900</a><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div>Gracin & Budiselić note that would-be disciples usually sought out a rabbi and requested to join his circle (as a scribe asks of Jesus in Matthew 8:19). It was apparently unusual, and a considerable honor, to be recruited by the rabbi as Jesus did with the Twelve (218). Does this help explain their immediate response? Peter and Andrew had perhaps been considering it, but still, it was a major commitment to walk away from their livelihood. Shmuel Safrai, noted scholar of Jewish history, says that disciples of a rabbi typically practiced a trade, or raised support from family and friends (965). We do not read of Jesus or the Twelve working during the time of His ministry, though Luke 8:1-3 lists some women who gave them financial support. Whatever it was, was not much; Jesus was very like the "wandering sages" Safrai describes among the rabbis of ancient times, who along with their full-time disciples depended on local charity from town to town (966). The fact that the hungry disciples sometimes made a meal of raw grain gleaned along the road (Matthew 12:1) indicates that this was not always a certainty.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>In the case of the fishermen, perhaps, they could return to the family business at some point in the future (as Peter does briefly in John 21). But in Mark 2:14 we read, "And as [Jesus] passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed Him." Levi (known better to us as Matthew) walked away from a coveted government job, probably with no guarantee he could return, yet still with the social stigma associated with the work. </div><div><br /></div><div>That call of "Come, follow Me," then, was serious, life-changing business. Safrai's comments on the rabbi-disciple relationship are worth quoting at length:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Learning by itself did not make a pupil, and he did not grasp the full significance of his teacher's learning in all its nuances except through prolonged intimacy with his teacher, through close association with his rich and profound mind. The disciples accompanied their sage as he went to teach, when he sat in the law court, when he was engaged in the performance of meritorious deeds such as helping the poor, redeeming slaves, collecting dowries for poor brides, burying the dead, etc. The pupil took his turn in preparing the common meal and catering for the general needs of the group. He performed personal services for his teacher, observed his conduct and was his respectful, loving, humble companion. Some laws could not be studied theoretically or merely discussed, but could only be learned by serving the teacher (964).</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>Book learning was a prerequisite, and part of the disciple's task was to commit his rabbi's teachings to memory; but it was just as important to learn how the rabbi lived out his teachings, and to imitate his example (Gracin & Budiselić 213). A man who remained unchanged by the experience was no disciple at all, but a dabbler. Certainly the Twelve were forever altered, as was impressed on the Jewish leaders in Acts 4:13 "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus."</div><div><br /></div><div>In looking back on the decades that have passed since I myself answered that call, "Come, follow Me," I have to ask: Have I made following His path the focal point of my life, to which all else is either a necessary support to this central aim, or an avocation? Have I gone beyond learning the facts of what He said and did, to practicing this Way and knowing it through application? Have I really changed, so that people who knew me at an earlier point can see that I have been following Jesus? </div><div><br /></div><div><i><u>Refrain:</u></i></div><div><i>Footprints of Jesus, that make the pathway glow;</i></div><div><i>We will follow the steps of Jesus wheree'er they go.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>The last words of the refrain introduce the theme Slade develops through the remainder of the stanzas. If we say we will follow the footsteps of Jesus "wheree'er they go," where might we end up? We have before us a simple song for children, but a deep and serious subject for adults. Matthew 8:19-20 tells us of one person who made this promise and was cautioned to think about it:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">And a scribe came up and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."</div></div></blockquote><div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>That was an understatement of what Jesus' true disciples went through during His ministry. Over those three years the Twelve would follow Jesus in poverty, through increasing opposition from their society's leaders, and in one case right to the foot of the Teacher's cross. James was the first to be martyred, and according to tradition all but his brother John would follow him in turn. In the intervening time, as Paul recorded of his fellow Apostles,</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">We hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things (1 Corinthians 4:11-13 )</div></div></blockquote><div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>But as Peter said, as if in counterpoint:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:20-21)</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>At the same time we should never lose sight of why this path is so worth following, and what it is that "makes the pathway glow"--"I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). We follow these footsteps because, however hard the way may be, they are the only way that leads to eternal life. Are we ready for where the footsteps of Jesus will lead us? </div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsCwJ-1hX0O_b3JghO6oORFLcQEuxD6coA0cHIprN9zQLa7XbT46OvssKnYQlzmg9YztLh61nfLMND1dMgsqFO5nIzWpDPihOGtOknDmcaWr8zNeRr5BN_0UfU2MqTL8213qtYUSJi8ZhzBhFkbzdMh_tn4D8DE-QPi91ZVeK_FfiKeNV-fSGVVpndQA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1182" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsCwJ-1hX0O_b3JghO6oORFLcQEuxD6coA0cHIprN9zQLa7XbT46OvssKnYQlzmg9YztLh61nfLMND1dMgsqFO5nIzWpDPihOGtOknDmcaWr8zNeRr5BN_0UfU2MqTL8213qtYUSJi8ZhzBhFkbzdMh_tn4D8DE-QPi91ZVeK_FfiKeNV-fSGVVpndQA" width="315" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northern_views._Thermal_baths,_Tiberias._American_Colony,_Jerusalem._1898-1914._Matson.jpg">Walking the road down to Tiberias, ca. 1910?</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i><u>Stanza 2:</u></i></div><div><i>Though they lead o'er the cold dark mountains,</i></div><div><i>Seeking His sheep;</i></div><div><i>Or along by Siloam's fountains,</i></div><div><i>Helping the weak.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>The first two lines refer of course to the parable of the lost sheep, found in Matthew 18 and in Luke 15. </div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish (Mathew 18:12-14 ).</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>Back of this was a common understanding of the shepherd's relationship to the flock. This was not industrial animal husbandry; it was a family business, with generations of shepherds and generations of sheep living in interdependence. The sheep were identified not by number but by name, as we read in another passage where Jesus used this metaphor:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers (John 10:1-5).</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>He continued the metaphor by drawing comparisons to the shepherd's commitment to the welfare of the sheep. The shepherd did not see them merely as assets that could be written off, but as individuals for which he was responsible. The passage reminds us of young David's defense of his flock, even against deadly predators (1 Samuel 17).</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep (John 10:11-15).</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>Much of this applies to Jesus in a unique way, of course. You and I are not called on to lay down our lives for the lost sheep in the way that He knew He would; we could never have filled that role. But the followers of Jesus still have a responsibility to His sheep. Jesus prepared Peter for this in that memorable final chapter of John's gospel:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div style="text-align: left;">When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Feed My lambs." He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" and he said to Him, "Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep" (John 21:15-17).</div></div></div></blockquote><div><div><div><br /></div></div><div>Though there was a special shepherding role for apostles (and in our time, for church elders), the point should not be lost on all the rest of us: one proof of our love for Jesus is to love His sheep, both the found ones and the lost ones. In Mark 9:36 we get this stirring insight into the mind and heart of Jesus : </div><div><div><div>"When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Our world is full of people just like them; may we learn to see them with compassion, as Jesus did, and help them find their way.</div><div><br /></div></div></div><div>The second half of the stanza tightens the focus to show Jesus in the action of reaching out to His lost sheep through the healing of physical infirmities. The relief of suffering was a positive good, but also became an opportunity to uncover deeper problems of a spiritual nature (often found in the onlooking critics, rather than the sick person). It was certainly the case in John 9, where "Siloam's fountains" direct our attention:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">As [Jesus] passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the World." Having said these things, He spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then He anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing (John 9:1-7).</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9qmOcZW2Xbm-TGThB5ftSAObtIYcHvbgY7HKr8MRRk4jhNWWILVzS7aCIWL1AlOdKJtnnMkHhrn0KT4HnxHcCEb14jLz0it9jwYo_UVj9Vf6H4-hbeI2Jo3mwbpa-YJLd-g5p6hKFNUW-9jhxEfU3rR6ZQ49f_LwjDz20d4cEpWqL1OnVrClyMr-baw" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pool of Siloam" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="957" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9qmOcZW2Xbm-TGThB5ftSAObtIYcHvbgY7HKr8MRRk4jhNWWILVzS7aCIWL1AlOdKJtnnMkHhrn0KT4HnxHcCEb14jLz0it9jwYo_UVj9Vf6H4-hbeI2Jo3mwbpa-YJLd-g5p6hKFNUW-9jhxEfU3rR6ZQ49f_LwjDz20d4cEpWqL1OnVrClyMr-baw=w238-h320" title="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siloe3.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pool of Siloam, rediscovered in 2006<br /><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siloe3.jpg">Photo released to public domain by creator.</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>The disciples were not at their best here, appearing to see only a question for debate rather than a man in need. The Pharisees who examined his case after he was healed were even worse, accusing him of lying because they dared not admit that Jesus had actually done this. Even his own parents were cowed into inaction by their fear of offending their religious leaders. Jesus alone saw what was important--not how the man got into his situation, but how God could be glorified through his situation by helping him get onto a better path in life.</div><div><br /></div><div>This stanza's mention of "helping the weak" also calls to mind another healing connected with a pool in Jerusalem:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids--blind, lame, and paralyzed. ... One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked (John 5:2-9).</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>John continues, "Now that day was the Sabbath," and students of the life of Christ need not be told what happened next. Once again the critics of Jesus were more concerned about the technicalities of Sabbath law (and their traditions) than about a man whose ability to work and supply his own needs had been restored. But Jesus saw the person behind the problem, even before healing him, as we see again in His interaction with a leper:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">When [Jesus] came down from the mountain, great crowds followed Him. And behold, a leper came to Him and knelt before Him, saying, "Lord, if You will, You can make me clean." And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed (Matthew 8:1-3).</div></div></blockquote><p>In response to the leper's sweet, humble statement of faith, Jesus did what most dared not to do--He reached out His hand and touched him. If the common person was afraid of coming in contact with the uncleanness of leprosy, how much more should a rabbi avoid it? But Jesus stepped past the barriers that tradition and society had made between the community and people in such desperate need. He did it again with an unnamed woman in the following chapter:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, for she said to herself, "If I only touch His garment, I will be made well." Jesus turned, and seeing her He said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well (Matthew 9:20-22).</div></div></blockquote><p>For a woman to approach a rabbi and touch him in this way was shocking, and was compounded by the even greater taboo associated with her condition. With any another rabbi it certainly could have resulted in a humiliating spectacle; but instead Jesus responds in words of tender compassion and reassurance. He tells her to "take heart" and calls her "daughter," accepting her into His presence. Instead of rebuking her, He praises her faith; imperfect as it may have been, it was enough.</p><div><div>Following the footsteps of Jesus may lead us into situations we would rather not have to see, and places we would rather not go. It may challenge our ability to relate to people who have followed a different path and come to a dead end. Will the followers of Jesus reach out to those whose lives have fallen apart and give them hope? Will we look first for how to help, rather than where to cast blame? Will we reach across the barriers that divide people, and help them with kind words and a gentle touch? It would have been far easier for Jesus to have walked past these situations. It would have been easiest, of course, for Him never to have come to this fallen world in the first place.</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><u>Stanza 3:</u></i></div><div><i>If they lead through the temple holy,</i></div><div><i>Preaching the word;</i></div><div><i>Or in homes of the poor and lowly,</i></div><div><i>Serving the Lord.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>On His first trip to a feast in Jerusalem, the twelve-year-old Jesus stayed behind and got separated from His family, who finally found Him where they should have looked first--in the temple, discussing the Scriptures with the rabbis who held their schools there (Luke 2:41-52). It was a sweet and memorable scene--and also the last time He got a favorable reception from the temple leadership.</div><div><br /></div><div>The week of the Crucifixion was more typical, starting off with a sound thrashing of the crooked money-changers who made merchandise of the worship of God:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them (Matthew 21:12-14).</div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>It is tempting to take this as an invitation to indulge in righteous indignation, but we should respect the unique nature of Jesus' relationship to the temple. He of all men on earth had the authority to say what should go on in that house, and He set it to rights by throwing out the profiteers and returning it to its proper function as a place of worship, healing, and learning. We can however imitate His respect for the house of God--the spiritual temple of His church (Ephesians 2:19-21)--and for its holy purposes of worship, teaching, and charity.</div><div><br /></div><div>The power of Jesus' preaching could not help but provoke a reaction. On the part of the innocent children, it was "Hosanna to the Son of David!" (Matthew 21:15); on the part of the religious leadership, it was "By what authority are You doing these things? (Matthew 21:23). This is one of the times when these opponents of Jesus, who so often engaged with Him in bad faith to catch Him in His words, were actually asking a relevant, important question. If we would follow the example of Jesus' teaching, we will respect the same standard of authority for that teaching that He presented: "The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works" (John 14:10b). </div><div><br /></div><div>We can also learn from Jesus' teaching in the temple that presenting the truth will sometimes result in strong opposition. Though the common people "heard Him gladly" (Mark 12:37), His opposition came in waves that day to try to show Him up or trap Him in some statement they could use against Him. The Pharisees had their go at Him, then the Herodians, then the Sadducees; and each in turn was confounded by the power of His answers. At the end, "no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions" (Matthew 22:46). </div><div><br /></div><div>There is great satisfaction in reading of how Jesus shut down His detractors, and if one is called on to deal with such situations, He sets the ultimate example--His answers were calm, well-reasoned, and clear, and He refused to stoop to name-calling or pettiness. If the truth, presented reasonably and kindly, must answer opposition, let it be in this manner. But Jesus did not come to win arguments with these hard-hearted opponents; He came "to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10). In this midst of this whirlwind of mean-spirited challenges, we also read of an honest questioner whom Jesus heard out and pointed in the right direction:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that He answered them well, asked Him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." And the scribe said to Him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that He is one, and there is no other besides Him. And to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to Him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God" (Mark 12:28-34a)</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>It was this man who could be reached, and Jesus focused on him for the moment that he needed. Let us be sure that winning arguments does not become our focus to the detriment of reaching out with the positive message of God's love and grace.</div><div><br /></div><div>The second half of the stanza turns once again to the good works that accompanied Jesus' good teaching. His presence graced the homes of the "poor and lowly", for healing, teaching, and fellowship far more often than those of the rich and important. In fact His visits to the homes of the latter sort usually turned out awkwardly:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div style="text-align: left;">One of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him, and He went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that He was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind Him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed His feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "Say it, Teacher." </div></div></div></blockquote><div><div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps the Pharisee had hoped to engage Jesus in some religious discussion, but it was about to become much more personal than he had imagined!</div><div><br /></div></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div style="text-align: left;">"A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And He said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven--for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little" (Luke 7:36-47).</div></div></div></blockquote><p>We can also see that Jesus was not treated with as much respect as might have been expected for a visitor, much less a visiting rabbi. Another such invitation seems to have been a setup from the beginning:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div style="text-align: left;">One Sabbath, when He went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching Him carefully. And behold, there was a man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" But they remained silent. Then He took him and healed him and sent him away. And He said to them, "Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?" And they could not reply to these things." (Luke 14:1-6)</div></div></div></blockquote><div><div><div><br /></div></div><div>How much more easily did Jesus interact with the "poor and lowly"! Perhaps it was known that He began His earthly sojourn in a feed trough; certainly it was known that He was a "self-taught" Rabbi from a working-class background, whose companions were "uneducated, common men" (Acts 4:13). He was dependent on charity for His room and board when He could get it, and He seems to have had no possessions beyond what a man might carry on his person. Above all He was "lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29) and treated the common people with dignity and respect; though He frankly acknowledged the past character of the woman before Him in the Pharisee's house, He also praised her repentance and current spiritual state before one of the leading men of the community. How her heart must have been lightened of its weight of guilt, and her head held a little higher with this restoration of dignity, as she made her way home!</div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus' willingness to enter the homes of the outcast began early in His ministry with the calling of Matthew, which also illustrated the discomfort this created for the religious community around Him:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">After this He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And He said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything, he rose and followed Him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:27-32 ).</div></div></blockquote><p>Jesus did not only wait for people to come hear Him teach; if opportunity presented itself, He went to them where they were. Matthew, because of his association with the Roman occupation, was a pariah to the Pharisees. Naturally his friends were of the same sort as himself. It was an odd group for a Rabbi to sit down with; but how long had it been, for many of them, since they had heard any spiritual teaching? And who needed it more than these? Jesus is even more explicit in His handling of a similar situation with another tax collector:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div style="text-align: left;">[Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried and came down and received Him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."" (Luke 19:1-10)</div></div></div></blockquote><div><div><div><br /></div></div><div>Here was a man who was willing not only to welcome Jesus into his home, but into his life and his heart. He was far closer to the kingdom than those who criticized Jesus for associating with him.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the fourth chapter of John's gospel, Jesus also reached across social barriers of race and gender--at the same time. Intersectionality existed, of course, long before it was recognized as a term.</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans) (John 4:7-9).</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhc_LLZr_IJRjPj4FAUVoqkNrdZmmu4CTiguU0SxMwzMlD0Bn2lEl0a0dN7YZpKrHLBi3XQSG8Ean4AVkuEkdBZNJjsDWFeRXHVJByFKf00rWJzmwhflUhSv_MbJzFDq80BW_-v2qksy0S0SZkkhwDjTH_tqKpBrIJvLj3synII1jrm5wMvvtZ8lm6dkg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="663" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhc_LLZr_IJRjPj4FAUVoqkNrdZmmu4CTiguU0SxMwzMlD0Bn2lEl0a0dN7YZpKrHLBi3XQSG8Ean4AVkuEkdBZNJjsDWFeRXHVJByFKf00rWJzmwhflUhSv_MbJzFDq80BW_-v2qksy0S0SZkkhwDjTH_tqKpBrIJvLj3synII1jrm5wMvvtZ8lm6dkg" width="177" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_well_of_the_samaritan_(Shechem),_Napulus,_Holy_Land,_(i.e.,_Nablus,_West_Bank)-LCCN2001699270.jpg">Jacob's Well, 1890s</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>The woman is shocked that a Jewish man would, first, recognize and speak to a Samaritan on purpose, and second, recognize and speak to a woman on purpose (at least one not of His own family). As the conversation continues, we learn that she had another strike against her in the ledgers of social acceptability--her history of illicit relationships. A rabbi could hardly be expected even to look at this woman; but Jesus engages her in a light-hearted conversation that quickly turns to the deepest spiritual questions. The end result showed that this Samaritan community was more receptive of Jesus than were the spiritual leaders of the Jews.</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days (John 4:39-40).</div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>All this because Jesus was willing to ignore the barriers set up by society (rather than by God), and to look past this person's sinful background to see the truly lovely person she really was. It is also a reasonable assumption that Jesus dined and spent the night in a Samaritan home. If that was not horror enough to His Pharisee opposition, we can see from another incident that He was willing to go even further:</div><div><br /></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue." And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof" (Luke 7:2-6). </div></div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div><div>The centurion's message continued with a statement of faith that was perhaps limited in understanding, but overflowing with humble submission. Jesus took this as an opportunity to demonstrate both His power to heal and the power of such self-sacrificing faith; But had Jesus not been stopped by the centurion's message, would He not have gone into the home of a gentile, and a Roman soldier of the occupying army? </div><div><br /></div><div>Even when there were not such high stakes, the presence of Jesus was a blessing to any home. In the home of Peter He brought healing to His disciple's mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-15). We also think especially of the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha in Bethany, where Jesus sometimes retreated from the hostility He faced in Jerusalem. Martha, of course, was one of those invaluable people who is good at organizing things, and on one occasion chided her sister for not helping her with all the preparations she thought were necessary to host their Visitor. But Jesus gently corrected her; the time spent with Him and His teaching was more important by far (Luke 10:38-42). Let us make sure that the spirit of Christ and the desire to follow Him is the guiding principle of our own homes, and let us bring His gracious presence to any home we visit by showing His compassion and concern.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><u>Stanzas 4 & 5</u></i></div><div><i>Though, dear Lord, in Thy pathway keeping,</i></div><div><i>We follow Thee;</i></div><div><i>Through the gloom of that place of weeping,</i></div><div><i>Gethsemane!</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><br /></div><div><div><div><i>If Thy way and its sorrows bearing,</i></div><div><i>We go again,</i></div><div><i>Up the slope of the hill-side, bearing</i></div><div><i>Our cross of pain.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>In these "lost stanzas" (as far as current use goes), Mrs. Slade turns from Christ's interactions with others to His suffering and death. Following Jesus has already been shown to require a change in our attitudes toward others and our obligations toward them; now it will require ourselves as well. In Mark 10:32, at the beginning of His determined march toward Jerusalem and His death, Jesus warned the Twelve again what was about to happen; "and those who followed were afraid." </div><div><br /></div><div>Following Jesus to Gethsemane that night must have been a strange journey. Surely some of the disciples might have questioned to themselves whether going into an isolated outdoor setting was the wisest thing to do, considering the plots being made against Jesus' life. And though they had been there before for periods of prayer, nothing could have prepared them for what they saw in Jesus that night. </div><div><br /></div></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div style="text-align: left;">And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And He said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch." And going a little farther, He fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him (Mark 14:33-35).</div></div></div></blockquote><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfTJjH7R1pyUWn5AsVIwdlT1OqIPn8ZYunXB-AlVduvHGkYq8vTRtPDzouW2cDIROglzdYkyMUOvjdZ5CW9ToLCW9xwy5oYMIJisyMVkqNsfxhU4ZEEsPixlWHy3cGqklkU-Ydj9gg9TLM7fzWVtRmxI9UlSyEetuNyqjyQHd-20PJDTrg1mdbOZ2yvw" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfTJjH7R1pyUWn5AsVIwdlT1OqIPn8ZYunXB-AlVduvHGkYq8vTRtPDzouW2cDIROglzdYkyMUOvjdZ5CW9ToLCW9xwy5oYMIJisyMVkqNsfxhU4ZEEsPixlWHy3cGqklkU-Ydj9gg9TLM7fzWVtRmxI9UlSyEetuNyqjyQHd-20PJDTrg1mdbOZ2yvw" width="160" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9Eld_Olive_trees_in_the_Garden_of_Gethsemane,_06.jpg">Ancient olive trees <br />in Gethsemane</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>It is not easy to witness someone going through deep grief, and Peter, James, and John were not able to keep watch with Jesus that night; Luke tells us that they were "sleeping for sorrow" at the end (Luke 22:45). In their defense, we do not know how long Jesus was there; it was at least an hour (Mark 14:37) and probably longer. We might also consider that hours in Gethsemane, then and now, pass by much more slowly. It is a comfort to know, when we go through our own versions of Gethsemane--those endless hours of uncertainty, grief, or despair that can accompany a crisis in one's life--that Jesus has been there too. But how often one longs for another person to there during these hours! It is a blessing to be able to provide that comfort too. Yet that also comes with a cost; waiting with a person in Gethsemane, helping to share their burden, is not easy work. </p><div><div><div>There was fear as well as grief that night, and for most of the Twelve their following of Jesus came to an end temporarily. Simon Peter, of course, denied any fear or weakness. At the Last Supper, he had declared again his willingness even to die for Jesus' sake (John 13:37). The events that actually transpired, however, proved too much for his bravado. When the disciples reached Gethsemane, Jesus warned, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation" (Luke 22:40), and rightly so; before the night was over, Peter's willingness to follow Jesus was reduced to "following Him at a distance" (Matthew 26:58). Peter followed closely enough to keep Jesus in sight, but not closely enough that he might be mistaken for a disciple. That kind of following, unfortunately, is all too common even today. In fact, other than the apostle John (John 19:26). it was the women among Jesus' followers who stayed with Him all the way to the Cross (Matthew 27:55-56).</div><div><div><br /></div></div><div>Peter stated his willingness to die for Jesus, and no doubt he was sincere, as at least one of the high priest's servants could attest (John 18:10). But Jesus called on him instead to do something that was in this case more difficult--to live for Him. Peter's larger-than-life personality was strangely matched with a fear of mockery, as he showed in the courtyard of the high priest later that night. But though he still had his stumbles (cf. Galatians 2:11-13), Peter eventually rose to the challenge and became a bold proclaimer of the gospel. The standard Jesus set was this: "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 16:24-25). Peter's original goal of a glorious last stand in Gethsemane was serving his own ideas and led to humiliation; when he put self aside and took up the cross of patience and obedience he became truly great.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><i><u>Stanzas 6 & 7:</u></i></div><div><i>By and by, through the shining portals,</i></div><div><i>Turning our feet,</i></div><div><i>We shall walk with the glad immortals,</i></div><div><i>Heaven's golden streets.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>Then at last when on high He sees us,</i></div><div><i>Our journey done,</i></div><div><i>We will rest where the steps of Jesus</i></div><div><i>End at His throne.</i></div><div><i>(Refrain)</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>In the preceding stanzas, Mary Slade's lyrics have explored some of the applications of the principle Jesus stated so succinctly in John 12:26, "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also." In these final two stanzas, we see the final and happiest outcome of following Jesus, as we consider the end of the journey. As Jesus said to His fearful disciples on the night of His betrayal,</div></div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also" (John 14:1-3).</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>The follower of Jesus is likely to pass through a lot of different terrain on the journey, and to encounter many people and situations, some encouraging, some difficult, but all providing an opportunity to imitate our Lord and grow more like Him. When we are perplexed and discourage, let us remember His next words to the hesitant disciple Thomas:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;">Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:5-6).</div></blockquote><div><div><br /></div></div><div>Even when we have difficulty seeing the path ahead of us, as long as we keep Jesus in view, we can walk in His steps and find our way.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><u>About the music:</u></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>When evaluating this music, it is important to remember for whom it was composed: Sunday School children. Asa Brooks Everett was a capable composer of sacred choral music, as evidenced by his anthems, and also a fairly successful writer of popular parlor songs that remained in print for several years. He had also worked for years with his brothers in teaching vocal music to both adults and children, and had clear ideas of what he wanted to write for each. For children, the goal was to write within their developing capabilities, while offering them interesting melodies of good quality. Fortunately for following generations, this style also adapts well to the average congregational singer, especially when sung acappella.</div><div><br /></div><div>The melody begins with a simple scale movement moving from MI to RE and then DO, but rather suddenly leaps up a major 6th (from "heard" to "Thee" in the first stanza). This is the first skip in the melody, and perhaps its most memorable feature. After reaching this highest note of the tune, the next phrase ("Come, follow Me") descends through the notes of the tonic chord (SOL-MI-DO). The rhythm plays a part in contrasting these phrases as well; the first moves along primarily in quarter notes with a steady pace, then "Come, follow Me" is in a more arresting "long-short-short-long" rhythm. For the first stanza at least, it suggests the steady footsteps of the follower followed by the commanding tones of Christ to His disciples. The third and fourth phrases ("And we see... Lead us to Thee") parallel the first two; the third phrase in fact is identical to the first, and the fourth differs only in pitch in order to bring the musical period to a close on the keynote.</div><div><br /></div><div>The refrain begins by returning to the high note reached in the 1st and 3rd phrases of the stanza, by the same leap of a major 6th. The rhythm of the fist two phrases ("Footprints of Jesus / That make the pathway glow") is a reversal of that found in the stanza, however; the long-short-short-long rhythm is in the first phrase, while the marching quarter notes are in the second phrase. The 3rd and 4th phrases of the refrain are of course the same as those of the stanza. Overall, then the stanza and chorus together make a double period of four sections, a a' b a'.</div><div><br /></div><div>The harmony is notably simple. There is not a single accidental in sight, and the chords are the common tonic (E-flat), subdominant (A-flat), and dominant (B-flat) except for a lone submediant (C minor) at the beginning of the 4th phase of the stanza ("LEAD us to Thee"). Everett avoided the sometimes excessive chromaticism of the gospel song style in general, choosing instead a simple, folk-like approach with a strong, singable melody supported by simple, logical harmony. It is a style of writing worth imitation!</div><div><br /></div><div>p.s. As much as I like Everett's writing in general, I would be remiss if I did not mention the alto part in this song. It consists almost exclusively of a single note, E-flat, relieved by a change to D exactly four times, once every other phrase. Here the altos pay the price for relatively interesting parts in the other voices. I suggest that this is in fact the Most Boring Alto Part Ever Written, and I invite the reader to name another if it is not.</div><div><br /></div><div><hr /><i>References:</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Gracin, Martina, and Ervin Budiselić. “Razumijevanje Učeništva u Kontekstu Židovstva Isusova Vremena - 1. Dio. = Discipleship in the Context of Judaism in Jesus' Time - Part I." <i>Kairos: Evangelical Journal of Theolog</i>y, vol. 13, no. 2, July 2019, pp. 207–226. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.ezproxy.tcu.edu/10.32862/k1.13.2.3.</div><div><br /></div><div>Safrai, Shmuel. "Education and the study of the Torah." <i>The Jewish people in the first century: historical geography, political history, social, cultural and religious life and institutions</i>, ed. Shmuel Safrai and Menahem Stern. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974.</div>David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-18878068740717751972022-08-09T20:36:00.002-05:002022-08-10T11:10:18.362-05:00Asa Brooks Everett (1828-1875) <div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">
<i>N.B. The following account discusses drug abuse and possible
suicide.</i>
</div>
<br />In an earlier post I examined the gospel songs of Mary
Bridges Canedy Slade, many of which were set to music by the relatively obscure composer Dr. Asa
Brooks Everett. I had originally thought to look at both lyricist and
composer together, but the difficulty of researching Everett’s history led
to putting his story off for a post of its own. For example, in a post a few years ago on the Slade-Everett song “Beyond this land of parting”, I suggested
that Everett’s honorific “Dr.” might have been the customary title assumed
by many American musicians in the 19th century who could claim some sort of
European training. It is typical of the confusing case of Everett that on
the one hand, I am less sure now that he ever studied in Europe, but on the
other hand, there is convincing evidence that he was actually an M.D.
Several points in his biography, in fact, are confusing and questionable. My goal here is to present what facts I can, with some reasonable speculation, in
hopes that it may provide a starting point for someone else with more time
and access to primary sources. A. B. Everett would seem to be ripe for an academic
thesis, and so far as I can tell has not been studied in that depth.<br />
<p class="MsoNormal">
Asa Brooks Everett was born in 1828 to Nathan and Sarah Everett in
Randolph County, Virginia (now West Virginia), at the heart of the
Monongahela National Forest in the Allegheny Mountains (Nathan Everett
Pedigree Resource File; 1830 Census). Nathan Everett was a Primitive
Baptist preacher, holding services in a log building a few miles south of
Beverly (Hu, 313). Asa Brooks had ten older brothers and sisters, most of
whom were considerably older. He would work closely, however, with his
next oldest sibling, Lemuel Charles Everett (1818-1866), and also with
Benjamin Holden Everett (1809-1889), both of whom were composers, music
teachers, and publishers. His closest sibling was probably Sarah, his
little sister by two years. Their mother passed away the same year,
perhaps in childbirth (Nathan Everett Pedigree Resource File), and Asa
Brooks would be raised by his stepmother Rebecca, who gave birth to his
younger brother Walter in about 1840 (1850 census).<o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
By 1839 the Everetts had moved to Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
(“Hymeneal”), first settling in Todd Township, about 150 miles northeast
along the Allegheny range (1840 Census). Nathan Everett was pastor of the
Huntingdon Baptist Church (Africa 240) and identified politically with the
Whigs (“Whig Club”). Some of the family remained in this area or returned
over the years, such as Asa's older brother Benjamin Holden Everett (1870
Census). It is worth noting that then-western Virginia (now the state of West Virginia) and the
mountainous central region of Pennsylvania were--and still are--more
similar to each other than to the coastal cities of their respective
states, both culturally and politically. Though Asa Brooks Everett was a
Virginian by birth and would be remembered chiefly for his teaching and
publishing in the Southern states, his background was considerably more
complicated.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7mEoAUiO8iGV0jNl8QxrOR-6CdvaHKoBx-mrNy8Qrvxch7iZFLbxvzepTpqXhSDLj38zuAygo44vQvxbB0CB6sQlQpt-BzbJQ_iLuT18K7fy5ohrHhm94MU75UhbtdPXl-NRt9uWZ6XZW7Pl-YSFXKtdwWXR-Cj9Cweajbp3efAMuuREslCbe3RlBGA/s433/biographyofgospe00hall_0096.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="297" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7mEoAUiO8iGV0jNl8QxrOR-6CdvaHKoBx-mrNy8Qrvxch7iZFLbxvzepTpqXhSDLj38zuAygo44vQvxbB0CB6sQlQpt-BzbJQ_iLuT18K7fy5ohrHhm94MU75UhbtdPXl-NRt9uWZ6XZW7Pl-YSFXKtdwWXR-Cj9Cweajbp3efAMuuREslCbe3RlBGA/w274-h400/biographyofgospe00hall_0096.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Asa Brooks Everett, date unknown, from Hall's <br /><i>Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Of Asa Brooks Everett’s childhood I have found nothing else, except the
somewhat disconcerting notice in the <i>Huntingdon Journal </i>that he was
tried for “larceny of a horse” in 1845 at the age of approximately
seventeen. Though he was judged not guilty, it was not his last brush with
the law (“Proceedings”). In 1850 Asa and his older brother Lemuel were
arrested in Cass Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania for "seduction"
and assault and battery, escaped custody and fled the state (Bowman). ("Seduction" meant a lady's character had been compromised, so to speak, under pretenses of matrimony; the assault and battery was likely a natural consequence of the former charge and probably involved her male relatives.) I
have been unable to find any more information on this event, and can
only wonder what actually happened. Other than these two incidents just mentioned, A. B. Everett was spoken of very highly; an 1858 editorial from the
<i>Baltimore American</i> claimed, "we have the pleasure of knowing
the Messrs. Everett personally," and described them as "high toned,
honorable and noble hearted gentlemen" (reprinted in "Sacred music"). The
trouble in Pennsylvania, however, may have had a part in their "coming
south before the war" as Rigdon McIntosh put it (Oswalt 11).</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
Where A. B. Everett spent the late 1840s to the middle 1850s is a puzzle.
The notice of the 1850 arrest in Cass states that the Everett brothers
"lately came here from Virginia or the neighborhood of Washington City,
and were engaged teaching singing school" (Bowman), so he had already left home. "L. C. Everett & Co." were organizing classes in
Alexandria, Virginia in December of 1849 (Everett, L. C., "Vocal music"),
and the association of the Everetts with the Washington, D.C. environs
would last for many years. But when and where did A. B. Everett receive his
musical education? And when and where did he become a medical doctor?
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
The primary source of information about Asa Brooks Everett has been Jacob
H. Hall's <i>Biography of Gospel Song Writers</i> (New York: Revell,
1914). Hall (1855-1941) was a Virginian and closely associated with the music publishers Ruebush & Kieffer, actually taking Aldine Kieffer's place
as editor during the 1890s (Morrison 153). Though there is no evidence of his direct contact with A. B. Everett, Hall was twenty at the time of Everett's death, was well acquainted with people who had worked with
Everett , and could be expected to be familiar with his
career. Hall claims that,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Everetts and McIntosh were to the music of the South what
Mason, Hastings, Bradbury and others were to the music of the North. . .
. (97)
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
In early manhood they were broadly and liberally educated, the one for
the Christian ministry and the other for the practice of medicine.
During this time Mr. L. C. Everett gave much attention to the study of
church music . . . His example influenced his younger brother, and
together they pursued their studies and investigations of the subject.
Being passionately fond of music, they became intensely interested and
finally decided to forego their original purposes and to adopt music as
their profession.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
On the strength of this decision they went to Boston, and took a pretty
thorough course of musical instruction. . . Returning South they began
teaching vocal music in classes and soon became famous. Being desirous
of still further musical study, Dr. A. B. Everett went to Leipzig,
Germany, and took a four years' course. He then returned to America and
joined his brother in an effort to develop an easy practical and
scientific method of elementary class instruction. "The Everett System"
was the final outcome, and was exceedingly popular in its day.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
The L. C. Everett Co., which consisted of L. C. and A. B. Everett, and
R. M. Mcintosh, had prior to the Civil War in their employ over fifty
teachers of vocal music in the Southern and Middle Atlantic states . . .
(98)
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
For a time they made Richmond, Va., their headquarters. Later the
Everett family moved to Pennsylvania. . .
</p>
<p>
Dr. A. B. Everett composed many excellent hymn tunes and anthems, and
devoted the latter years of his life almost entirely to writing gospel
songs. The following are considered among his most popular : ''Footsteps
of Jesus," "Knocking at the Door," "Come Unto Me," "To that City Will
You Go ?," " Hear Him Calling," and "Summer Land." . . . (99)
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
Prof. L. C. Everett was a member of the M. E. Church South, and Dr. A.
B. Everett a communicant of the Christian Church (100).
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Some details are obviously incorrect and imply sketchy, second-hand
knowledge--for example, Hall is correct that the Everetts moved from
Virginia to Pennsylvania, but implies that it was after the Everett Company's heyday in Richmond during the 1850s, when in fact Asa Brooks had grown to manhood in Pennsylvania in the 1840s. Hall telegraphs an uncertainty about the facts in the opening
of the chapter:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
It is greatly to be regretted that the records we have of the lives of
the Everetts are so meagre. Strange to say, and strange as it may seem,
there was but little record kept of the work and lives of these great
men of the southland (97).
</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
With this in mind, I propose to examine Hall's basic outline of events,
with the caveat that he may have been misinformed of their order,
location, or extent:
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>
Asa Brooks Everett trained in medicine, and earned the title "Doctor" in
that profession.
</li>
<li>
A. B. followed L. C. Everett into music and received musical training in
Boston.
</li>
<li>
They returned south, founded the L. C. Everett Company in Richmond, and
taught the "Everett System" across the South.
</li>
<li>
A. B. went to Leipzig (or to Germany at least--DRH) for a few years of
instruction.
</li>
<li>They later moved to Pennsylvania (or back North--DRH).</li>
<li>
Though A. B. Everett wrote traditional hymn tunes and anthems, in his last
years he turned to writing gospel songs.
</li>
<li>
A. B. Everett died in Nashville, Tennessee in 1875 (actually Alamo,
TN--DRH).
</li>
</ol>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">1. Asa Brooks Everett's medical training<i>. </i></h4><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Thanks to the ever-expanding
digitization of archival documents, it is now evident that A. B. Everett was
a student in the M.D. program at the University of Nashville Medical
Department in 1857-58. His sponsor was the National Medical College of
Washington D.C. (<i>Catalogue 1857-8</i>, 13). The role of the "sponsor"
(today more commonly called a preceptor) is to provide clinical
experience, and was either an individual doctor's practice or, as in
Everett's case, a hospital or other institution. As already mentioned, his
brother L. C. Everett was in the Washington area as early as 1849, and an
1853 notice of hotel arrivals in Washington places L. C. Everett there
again, listing his residence in Maryland ("List of arrivals"). It is
possible that A. B. lived with his brother while studying at the National
Medical College (today the Georgetown University School of Medicine)
during the 1850s or even the late 1840s. I have not been able to find
evidence that he received a degree there, but he may have completed his
clinical training. </div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
Though clinical experience is typically the latter stage of medical
training today, in the less standardized era of the antebellum U.S. it
would not have been unusual for Everett to spread out various parts of his
medical education. Robert Slawson's excellent article "Medical Training in
the United States Prior to the Civil War" points out that during the era,
"Only between 25% and 40% of medical school attendees ever graduated. In
1830, probably no more than 40% of practitioners had medical degrees. As
late as 1850, as many as 25% of physicians had no degree" (17).
Requirements for an M.D. were generally two years of classes and three
years of preceptorship (14), and "many started practice with minimal
preceptorship and/or minimal attendance at a medical school." In addition,
Slawson notes that "In the United States, in contrast to the situation in
Europe, the majority of medical practitioners were called 'doctor'" (14);
that is, "Doctor" was sometimes a courtesy title for anyone who practiced
medicine, and not reserved for those with certain medical degrees.
</div>
<div><br /></div>
<div>
This may explain why Everett referred to himself as "Dr. A. B. Everett" in music
book advertisements as early as 1855 (<i>New York Musical Review</i>, 2
June 1855, VI:12, 192), but as "Asa Brooks Everett, M.D." in his 1859 song
"I love the little laughing rill", after his graduation. Interestingly, in
a University of Nashville medical lecture published in November 1857, "A.
Brooks Everett, M.D., Va." is listed a member of the "Medical Class" that
fall (Buchanan). His obituary in the <i>Staunton Vindicator</i> (Staunton, Virginia) claimed he was an 1857 graduate ("Sad death"),
and the University of Nashville catalogue does not list him as a graduate
in 1857-58, so perhaps he graduated in the spring of 1857 and continued
postgraduate study. It is unknown whether Everett actually practiced
medicine, but he obviously did not give up his medical education in favor
of music; rather, he pursued them simultaneously, or perhaps in
alternation.
</div>
<p></p>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
2. Asa Brooks & Lemuel C. Everett's musical training in Boston. </h4><div><br /></div><div>I have
found no trace of the Everetts in Boston other than some published works
in the later 1850s, but its was certainly the place to be for aspiring
music educators in the 19th century. Boston was a center of the "better
music movement" (read "European" for "better") that was gathering steam in
the coastal cities, and in church music and music education it found a
champion in Lowell Mason (1792-1872). Recognized today as the founder of music education in the U.S., Mason recognized the critical need to
first teach the teacher, and in 1834 added a teacher education department
to the Boston Academy of Music. By 1845, this program of eight- to ten-day
seminars had more than 500 aspiring teachers enrolled (Hash 268). Though
the Academy itself ceased operations in 1847, its influence was carried
forward by a multitude of other organizations. The Musical Education
Society, for example, was composed of Boston Academy students who met
weekly to sing more challenging music and for further training from Mason
or his colleague George Webb. This organization outlived the Academy by
another decade (Pemberton 184). Teacher training seminars
based on the Boston Academy plan began to be offered all along the East
Coast and through the upper Midwest, and in the early 1850s these gave way to more structured summer-long "normal institutes" such as the
Normal Musical Institutes conducted by Mason, George F. Root, and William
Bradbury (Hash 268-270). </div>
<p class="MsoNormal">
In support of the Everetts' possible association with Lowell Mason and the
Boston Academy of Music is the later appearance of the "Everett teaching
system", detailed through at least the first eight lessons in A. B. Everett's
<i>The Sceptre</i> of 1871. Though it is far narrower in scope than,
for example, Lowell Mason's <i>Manual of the Boston Academy of Music</i> (1839), this is by design: Everett explains that he has stripped
the material down to that which will make decent sight-singers for typical
church music of the day, leaving out many of the more complex concepts
that would rarely if ever be needed for that repertoire. Even so,
Everett's approach is often similar to that of Mason, based on the
inductive learning approach of Pestalozzi (as stated in the full title of
Mason's work). The Everett System was even sometimes called the "Everett
induction method" ("Prof. G. W. Linton"). Little more can be said on this
point until further information is discovered, except that as earlier
noted, L. C. Everett was organizing music classes of his own by the end of
1849, and A. B. Everett was involved by 1850. Asa's time in Boston,
therefore, was probably the last few years of the 1840s; if he arrived in
1846 at the age of eighteen (being in company of his much older brother),
he might even have attended the Boston Academy itself. And, suggestively,
the Everetts' first church music collection,
<i>The Progressive Church Vocalist</i>, was published in 1855 in New York
by Mason Brothers--a publishing firm recently founded by Lowell Mason's
sons.
</p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;">
<tbody>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifY0RUdk2g34XsNmZPVRpCJTnWtMA9fgo-EQcvqdJYr7H6-rVr3UxRPaiBKZup8-uz4L6MbOtUW5QKdU-AstXWyNj2oNSwDGzqyKvoCEYMeTl6aaT0Nn8JaQWpuuoGEsdoFQ1ZbfdLWdBdSy2MLfoyzXf9UzqzTSLf3z_ZGbFOqjCLhOhOMEmX-k9ZKA" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="999" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEifY0RUdk2g34XsNmZPVRpCJTnWtMA9fgo-EQcvqdJYr7H6-rVr3UxRPaiBKZup8-uz4L6MbOtUW5QKdU-AstXWyNj2oNSwDGzqyKvoCEYMeTl6aaT0Nn8JaQWpuuoGEsdoFQ1ZbfdLWdBdSy2MLfoyzXf9UzqzTSLf3z_ZGbFOqjCLhOhOMEmX-k9ZKA=w640-h163" width="640" /></a>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The hymn "RYLAND", dated 1849, is the earliest work by Everett I
have found. From <i><a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t69320c3d?urlappend=%3Bseq=152">The Tabor</a></i> (1866).<br />N.B. Following the custom in American church music at the time, the tenor is on top, the soprano above the bass.<br /></span>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">3. Return to the South, the L. C. Everett Co., and the "Everett System".<i> </i></h4><p class="MsoNormal">As previously mentioned, in December 1849 L. C. Everett was organizing
vocal classes in the Alexandria, Virginia area with the aim to "stir up a
reformation throughout the State of Virginia" ("Vocal music"). Though the
Everett brothers were teaching in Pennsylvania in 1850 (prior to their
hasty and illegal departure), their sights were set on the South. The next
mention of their activities I have found is in Charleston, South Carolina,
where they held a course of lessons in vocal music in Rev. Dr. Smyth's
lecture room on Society Street in mid-November. The next definite mention
of Asa Brooks's whereabouts is a notice of hotel arrivals placing him in Richmond
in early March of 1853, and noting his place of residence as Staunton,
Virginia ("Arrivals at the principal hotels"). Staunton, favorably located
at a major crossroads in the Shenandoah Valley, would have been an ideal
base, with major roads to Richmond, Washington, and points south and west.
It was also the home of another brother, Elijah G. Everett, a lawyer ("E.
G. Everett") and occasional composer (McIntosh, <i>Tabor</i>, 61). When
the Everett brothers' first publication appeared,
<i>The Progressive Church Vocalist</i> (New York: Mason Brothers,
1855), it was available in the South from Elijah Everett in Staunton
("Progressive Church Vocalist", <i>New York Musical Review</i>).
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
The first definite mention of the Everetts operating from Richmond is the
publication of the <i>Thesaurus Musicus</i> in 1856. Though it was
again published by Mason Brothers in New York City, it was simultaneously
published in Richmond by the editors, L. C. and Dr. A. B. Everett.
Oswalt's invaluable dissertation on Rigdon McIntosh notes that it was 1856
when McIntosh actually moved to Richmond to join the Everett Company, and
the Virginia capital was the publishing home of this enterprise until it
ceased operation during the Civil War. The <i>New Thesaurus Musicus </i>appeared in 1858, and <i>Everett's Sabbath Chime</i> in 1860, followed by
reprints even through the war years. (When A. B. published under his own
name alone, however, he often used other publishers.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
The Everetts' intention to "stir up a reformation" of musical literacy in
the South was to some extent quixotic, primarily because they refused to
employ the already entrenched shape-note tradition. William Walker's
<i>Southern Harmony</i> (1835), and the then-new <i>Sacred Harp</i> (1844) from Georgia, carried the traditional four-shape system
further south and west, while the seven-shape system of future Southern
gospel was already getting notice with Joseph Funk's 1851 edition of
<i>Harmonia Sacra </i>in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Lewis Oswalt's
description of Rigdon McIntosh's early publications
<i>The Tabor</i> (1866) and <i>Hermon</i> (1973) is illustrative
of the situation faced by the Everetts:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
McIntosh was trained by the Everetts in a style of music and a form of
notation that were used by a minority of southern people, and although
he adopted the Everetts' approach and taught their system, he was always
aware that some southerners did not appreciate the interference of
"outsiders". <i>Tabor</i> and <i>Hermon</i> were representative of that
"outsider" style and form of notation, and while there was a
considerable amount of music by southern composers in both books, it was
representative of the tradition of Lowell Mason and other northern
tunebook compilers. Thus McIntosh's tunebooks were in stark contrast to
the shape-note books popular in the South with their indigenous tunes,
open harmonies, contrapuntal inner voices, and other folk elements
(Oswalt 93ff.).
</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">Based on the descriptions and
actions of their contemporaries, however, the Everetts made a considerable impact
in the South in spite of these difficulties. McIntosh had just begun a career as a teacher in Triana,
Alabama (near Huntsville) in 1854, when the opportunity to attend a
session of the Everetts' traveling music institute caused him to change
careers. They received outstanding reviews in the newspapers of the larger
cities, as seen in an article from the <i>Memphis Daily Appeal</i>, 6
February 1857, which is worth quoting at length:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
The proper effect of Divine worship is greatly improved and rendered
more salutary and imposing by a correct and expressive vocal performance
of the psalms and hymns. Its magic influence upon the minds and hearts
of worshipping congregations, in bringing them to sober and solemn
contemplation, and in preparing them for an attentive and prayerful
hearing of the Word of God, is universally admitted; and we cannot
conceive how it is possible for any one to feel a deep and lively
interest in the culture of morality and religion, and, at the same time,
entertain feelings of indifference in regard to the general cultivation
of sacred vocal music, which, in all ages of the world, has, very
justly, been regarded as the hand-maid of virtue and piety.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
That the moral and religious portion of our community attach due
consequence to this important subject, we do not pretend to doubt; but,
that there is a universal deficiency in the music of our churches, no
one will venture to deny. Then it becomes our duty, if possible, by a
careful and intelligent investigation, to ascertain the true cause of
the deficiency, and to take early and efficient measures to remedy the
evil. The means of acquiring all necessary information on this important
subject are now placed within the grasp of our entire church-going
population, and all others interested, through the medium of a series of
two or three illustrative lectures, proposed to be given by Prof. L. C.
and Dr. A. B. Everett, in each of our churches--the object being to
prepare the way for the establishment of congregational classes for
elementary and practical training. One of the above gentlemen, Prof. L.
C. E., gave an introductory lecture to an unusually attentive and
delighted audience, in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, on Tuesday
night last. The force of the Professor's arguments and vocal
illustrations upon this occasion was such as to convince, we believe,
even the most skeptical of his audience of the feasibility of his
propositions, and the prompt action of the interested audience in the
formation of a large class gave abundant evidence of the high degree of
satisfaction realized from the lecture.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
These gentlemen enjoy an enviable and well merited reputation as
composers and teachers of sacred Music, and are conjointly the authors
of two valuable works on this subject. The first of which known as "The
Progressive Church Vocalist" issued two years since, of which several
large editions have been exhausted, is still held in very high
estimation, while the second, entitled "Thesaurus Musicus," which first
appeared in August last, has run through an extensive edition, and is
destined to become the standard work of the South. From the various
notices which we have seen of Prof. L. C. and Dr. A. B. Everett, we have
become deeply interested in them, and feel much anxiety for the success
of the laudable and praiseworthy enterprise in which they, in connection
with two of their brothers, are so zealously engaged. They have
associated themselves together for the purpose of elevating the standard
of Sacred Music in the Southern States; and, being southerners
themselves, (hailing from the ''Old Dominion") and possessing the
highest qualifications in their profession, they richly deserve the
universal patronage and co-operation in this great work of every
community in the South; and we are pleased to see them endorsed by many
of the most eminent clergymen, and other prominent citizens of our
section of the Union. We would here add that in order to the successful
bringing about of this important reformation they have employed at their
own expence a large number of highly qualified assistant teachers who
are at present laboring in various parts of the South for the promotion
of the cause. We esteem the opportunity now offered the citizens of
Memphis for improvement in this sacred and too much neglected science as
one of rare occurrence and which should be eagerly embraced by all whose
circumstances will admit of their so doing ("Vocal music",
<i>Memphis Daily Appeal</i>).
</p>
</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCroIptqw_MhlBGnyrnaTPhvLomc2DpMldxStreT2mCebWfFZwwaDjTBX_BvuRy9WMrtLvzmsD9zjchw1ycYHsajguGirFY2YJpkUryzDbLqEXeEKikYS5QxYFh0vCaAFkWFgKgBUrfokiqWWlLgzFG4R9hHjTle8a35kPqQ2wf9u5PJR2zn7tuz1ag/s246/churches-photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="246" data-original-width="199" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCroIptqw_MhlBGnyrnaTPhvLomc2DpMldxStreT2mCebWfFZwwaDjTBX_BvuRy9WMrtLvzmsD9zjchw1ycYHsajguGirFY2YJpkUryzDbLqEXeEKikYS5QxYFh0vCaAFkWFgKgBUrfokiqWWlLgzFG4R9hHjTle8a35kPqQ2wf9u5PJR2zn7tuz1ag/w259-h320/churches-photo.jpg" width="259" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The old 1st Cumberland Presbyterian Church, <br />Memphis, where the Everetts taught in 1857<br />From <a href="http://historic-memphis.com">historic-memphis.com</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal">An even more flattering picture comes from a letter to the
<i>Home Journal</i> of Winchester, Tennessee in December of the same
year: </p>
<blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">Mr. Editor:</p></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
Having always been a lover of Music, having always appreciated its
utility as a science, and looked upon it as one of the most necessary
branches of education, and as one of the greatest embellishments
belonging to an educated lady or gentleman; and especially, believing
good Vocal Music one of the most indispensable parts of Divine
Service–at the same time forced to regret the glaring deficiency in the
execution of Sacred Music in our churches generally–often having to
witness and feel the mortification of discord and jargon, instead of the
soul-inspiring, animating and expressive performance, that may be truly
termed singing “with the spirit and the understanding”--I would ask a
little space in your paper for a few paragraphs touching its great
importance, and the golden advantages we are at this time honored with
in this community, for elevating the standard of vocal music, and adding
much to the interest of divine service in our churches.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
For the last 18 or 20 years, many courses of instruction have been given
in this place in church music; many hundreds of dollars have been
expended for furnishing good and efficient choirs in our churches, while
some few of our citizens who had made themselves sufficiently acquainted
with its principles, have kindly given much of their time to the
instruction of others, and they are entitled to the gratitude of all the
lovers of religious worship and friends to morality and refinement in
this community–but they have had to labor under many disadvantages, such
as the early imbibed habit of dragging or drawling in performance, a
want of general and deep interest being felt, and consequently the want
of a better and livelier appreciation of the beauties and real worth of
efficient vocal performance, &c., and more or less incapacity to
feel the charm and power "that sways the breast; Bids every passion
revel or be still," and tunes the soul to harmony, has prevailed.
Indeed, we are far behind, here, in vocal music. But I am pleased to
know we have an auspicious opportunity now of cultivating the taste and
improving the ear, thus enabling us to elevate the standard of church
music, and exert a moral and refining influence in our midst, that will
tell for the honor of our community, when many of us who worship at its
shrine now, shall have left the walks of men.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
Now, while we have so good an opportunity for such decided improvement,
I trust it will be seized with avidity.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
In the course of the twelve lessons given by Prof. L. C. Everett, just
ended, the fact is already established here, that almost every person
can learn to sing and read music with great facility; even in less than
a dozen lessons. I had the pleasure of being present on two occasions of
taking lessons, and I have no hesitancy in asserting, that never before
have I witnessed such rapid improvement. To see a class of respectable
size, each one in the class taking up pieces entirely new to the whole
class, and singing the four parts off with remarkable ease, at sight,
and with more tact, grace and expression than is common in old choirs,
is what I have never before seen in Winchester, nor anywhere else; and I
have been present on many similar occasion of vocal performance.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
Prof. L. C. Everett's manner of lecturing and imparting instruction is
decidedly superior to anything I have ever witnessed from any other
teacher of vocal music. His easy and instructive illustrations on the
black board, his forcible and lucid manner of explanation, the
attractive manner in which the pupil is led on, step by step, in the
delightful and heavenly science, the lively interest he so happily
infuses in the class, and the entire control he naturally and agreeably
exercises over them, at once give him a decided superiority, and ensure
rapid and thorough improvement.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
No humbug in his case--though this is an age of humbuggery and
deception. On the contrary, he goes beyond his pledges, and surpasses
the expectation of the most sanguine.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
Never before have I known the Chromatic scale introduced. It is a new
thing to us here.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
I find that even we who thought we knew a thing or two about music are
just beginning to see "its nameless graces" and feel its
inspiration.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
It is truly gratifying that another and larger class has been raised,
and that, too, principally by the agency of several of our clever
ladies, to whom we should feel under lasting obligations for their noble
and praiseworthy conduct in this, as in every instance where failure is
about to be made and they come up to our rescue!--for they are always
more energetic and successful in any good cause than we poor men, after
we think we have done our very best.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
The many notices of Profs. L. C. & A. B. Everett, in connection with
two other brothers, to be seen in most of the leading papers North and
South, speak of them in the highest and most commendable terms, of their
already successful efforts as teachers and composers of sacred music,
and their great and laudable enterprise of effecting a reformation
throughout the South in the knowledge and practice of a science so much
neglected, and of such incalculable importance and utility.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
The brothers Mason, who have done so much for the musical world, are not
more highly complimented by the papers of their own latitude than the
brothers Everett now are by the same papers, and by the press wherever
they have been.--In Washington, Baltimore and Richmond, and other cities
still farther North, the press is only awarding to them what they richly
merit--the preference over all others engaged in teaching the science of
vocal music.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
Success to them in an enterprise so noble–so elevated–so sublime in
itself, as that of elevating to its legitimate position the beauty and
efficacy of a science that engages the attention of celestial choirs in
harmonious strains of sublimity beyond description, and beyond mortal
conception.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal">
AN OBSERVER ("Vocal music", <i>Winchester Home Journal</i>).
</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div>
Oswalt's research on Rigdon McIntosh, however, shows the somewhat cooler
reception they may have received outside the cities. According to
McIntosh, it was his own rural Tennessee roots that helped break the ice
for the Everett brothers; he could "give them a kind of southern status by
uniting with them in business and traveling with them through the southern
states" (Oswalt 11). This notwithstanding, they appeared to have been
thriving in the late 1850s. In addition to the engagements already
mentioned in Memphis and in Winchester, the Everett Company had classes in
Nashville in January 1858 ("Vocal music", <i>Nashville Union</i>), in
Macon, Georgia in June of that year ("Sacred Music"), and in Raleigh,
North Carolina in April 1859 ("Singing in church"). Though these are
obviously just a few of the places they may have taught, it is interesting
that all of them were major cities or college towns where the Everetts
would find well-established churches and well-educated audiences.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">4. Asa Brooks Everett's education in Germany.</h4><div><br /></div><div>Hall claims
that A. B. Everett "went to Leipzig, Germany, and took a four years' course" (98)
soon after the Everetts began their music teaching career. Elam D.
Bomberger's dissertation on 19th-century American music students in
Germany lists Everett as having studied in Leipzig, but Bomberger found no
information as to when or with whom (411). It is interesting to note that
William Mason, the son of Lowell Mason and later publisher of the
Everetts' first sacred music collection, was a student in Leipzig
1849-1850, studying with Ignaz Moscheles, Moritz Hauptmann, and Ernst
Friedrich Richter (Bomberger 357). Other gospel music composers who
studied in Leipzig include William B. Bradbury in the 1840s (55 n. 30) and
Charles C. Converse in 1855-1856 (357). Unfortunately Bomberger did not discover any more specific evidence for A. B. Everett's presence there beyond the received tradition in the standard
reference works, which themselves generally refer back to Jacob H. Hall.</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQBX7nHOWk-ddvP5e_lywLmyEHDnSD8xvgOKe8oK7sZkRsJ0GfYfQ2ed5CrETH1ke9qA5tyOu1pDA-VM2zGOizsdw6eWkE9miR3l6NNnCGYpTDmgp_H3Kttorzt5T-TSfECz9fs0Lr-Zirvqwmcug6gGIQdnDXO60abmHjQ77eynFeT4gRfa5pLHAN5w" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="627" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQBX7nHOWk-ddvP5e_lywLmyEHDnSD8xvgOKe8oK7sZkRsJ0GfYfQ2ed5CrETH1ke9qA5tyOu1pDA-VM2zGOizsdw6eWkE9miR3l6NNnCGYpTDmgp_H3Kttorzt5T-TSfECz9fs0Lr-Zirvqwmcug6gGIQdnDXO60abmHjQ77eynFeT4gRfa5pLHAN5w" width="188" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Adolph Bernhard Marx<br /><a href="https://www.lbi.org/griffinger/record/247344">Courtesy of Leo Baeck Institute</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Another source has surfaced, however, that casts this problem in a
different light. In an 1897 retrospective, the venerable shape-note
gospel publisher Aldine S. Kieffer told of his one and only meeting with A. B. Everett. It was the summer of 1859 at Halifax Courthouse, Virginia, and (not
surprisingly) in the company of Rigdon McIntosh. Kieffer quotes Everett as
saying of his early training, "I was for a long time a student with Dr.
Marx, of Germany" (Kieffer). This is almost certainly Adolph Bernhard Marx
(1795-1866), best known today as one of the earliest scholars to make a serious study of the works of Beethoven.
Marx lectured in music at the University of Berlin (today the Humboldt
University of Berlin) from the 1830s, and in 1850 was a co-founder of what
became the Stern Conservatory. Better known today as a music theorist and
historian than as a composer, Marx "rejected the idea of music theory
as specialized knowledge for professional musicians, arguing instead that
it was an opportunity for any human being to grow and develop as a whole
person as he or she progressed through an organically constructed course
of musical instruction" (Pederson 14). This approach to music education
parallels the inductive method of Mason and the Everetts, and shows a
similar spirit in thinking of musical training as a social good. If A. B. Everett studied with Marx, he almost certainly did so in Berlin, and
probably prior to 1856 when Marx had a falling out with the conservatory
faculty that led to his departure (Pederson 14). No contemporary records
have been discovered so far to positively indicate A. B. Everett's presence
in either Berlin or Leipzig; but Bomberger notes that records for the
period 1850-1900 are missing from the Stern Conservatory (316).
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
It is reasonable to suppose, then, that A. B. Everett went to Germany sometime
during 1850-1855. Bomberger found that the average sojourn of an American
studying at the German conservatories was two to three years (208), so
this event would easily fit between Asa's known activities around 1850 and
his more obvious presence in the South from 1855 onward. Additionally, his
sacred music activities were paralleled in the second half of the 1850s by
the publication of secular songs for solo voice and piano,
reflecting a classical music education beyond the sacred vocal music of
his earlier years. Similar to the better-known works of Stephen Foster,
these parlor songs are intended for a popular audience of home
music-makers, and do not reflect the full extent of Everett's abilities.
They are simple, perhaps even simple enough to be played and sung by the
same performer, but in my opinion they would be respectable work for an
average student in the second year of study. They flow naturally, and
already show the gift of easy, singable melody that would make A. B. Everett's gospel songs last for generations.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_LeiRPxfOruKeY8DV470tvyFlq-sNUwZ3sJVRDGo4BI9-D5KxJ1telTlFdyhJ-4xHOcF6GRdbrfJtW15XsK6WH_MFJsEX4F-0TIW7YvxRCbFW5vldz8Nnl3zQHdOD0B1YOLBjvS1gDXvAeHeuYjn9BgTwZQlJa99tH6n2gLeCEVGgiB_R7zyYw-HhtA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1791" data-original-width="1360" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_LeiRPxfOruKeY8DV470tvyFlq-sNUwZ3sJVRDGo4BI9-D5KxJ1telTlFdyhJ-4xHOcF6GRdbrfJtW15XsK6WH_MFJsEX4F-0TIW7YvxRCbFW5vldz8Nnl3zQHdOD0B1YOLBjvS1gDXvAeHeuYjn9BgTwZQlJa99tH6n2gLeCEVGgiB_R7zyYw-HhtA=w485-h640" width="485" /></a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/101777527">"The Willow Cot"</a>, lyrics by J.H. Hewitt, music by A.B. Everett, 1859</span>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
</div>
<div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">
<b>5. The Everetts return North. </b></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">Jacob H. Hall's account mentions
nothing of the effects of the Civil War on the fortunes of the Everett
brothers, but fortunately we have an1872 letter from Rigdon McIntosh to the
New York publisher F. J. Huntington that is more direct:
</div>
<blockquote>
<div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">
While they were in the south the war came on--I went into the southern
army--they went to Canada. Why they did so, I never asked, and never knew.
When the war ended we were still friends and I never lost an opportunity
to forward their interests and popularity, even at the risk of injuring my
own (Oswalt 15).<br />
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>
With the facts previously established we can now see that although
the Everetts had lived in the South for a decade and made it their field of
work, their sectional ties were complicated. We have no idea what their
thoughts were on the greater moral questions of the conflict, but like many
others, their loyalties were divided. Their roots were in the part of
Virginia that was rapidly separating into West Virginia--the mountain people
being less than enthusiastic for what they saw as a war to preserve the
privilege of the lowland planters. Much of the Everetts' family lived in
Pennsylvania (or possibly in the Washington D.C. vicinity), and they had
many musical and publishing colleagues in the North. But above all, their younger half-brother, Walter, mustered into the Union Army in June 1861 as
part of the 34th Pennsylvania Regiment (Africa 118, 121). He was fatally
wounded in the battle of Fredericksburg and died four days later on 17
December, 1862 (Africa 121). In 1863 L.C. and A. B. Everett
published <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100312046"><i>The Canadian Warbler</i> </a> in Toronto, and notes in that songbook indicate their activity in
Canada started as early as the fall of 1861 (34).
</p>
<p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVltFsUmdUO5enVB6s1vkTIgeY1_TwszcZBa-HiFLllThhIMdbZHKuPl5LB-6_ROokxi8K8O3o8l7DfH-1HYVHkAdqrtMaWZajOE3xCF0Uw2mXJvdLkIyoRqn-T0TlSQM5IGjQwgtqUK9iTa8mjWRCIbldIQpIsTeUONhTuHYEm6v_OhEKC-cJ9zjY6w/s231/biographyofgospe00hall_0096%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="205" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVltFsUmdUO5enVB6s1vkTIgeY1_TwszcZBa-HiFLllThhIMdbZHKuPl5LB-6_ROokxi8K8O3o8l7DfH-1HYVHkAdqrtMaWZajOE3xCF0Uw2mXJvdLkIyoRqn-T0TlSQM5IGjQwgtqUK9iTa8mjWRCIbldIQpIsTeUONhTuHYEm6v_OhEKC-cJ9zjY6w/s1600/biographyofgospe00hall_0096%20(1).jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lemuel C. Everett, from Hall's </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Biography <br />of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers</span> </i></td></tr></tbody></table>After the war A. B. Everett next turns up in Elmira, New York as a music teacher (<i>Elmira City Directory</i>, 1866, 187). It was here, as Hall reported, that Lemuel C. Everett, Asa Brooks's older
brother and senior partner, passed away (Hall 97; but in 1866, not 1867, cf.
"Joshua Greenland"). In the late 1860s Asa Brooks was back in Pennsylvania
teaching and lecturing. In the fall of 1867 he lectured in Mifflintown, in the neighboring county to his old home in Huntingdon County ("Dr. A. B. Everett"). In
January of 1868 he advertised for submissions to a new songbook, with
correspondence to be sent to him at Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania.
In the fall of 1868 he had mail waiting at the post office at Clearfield,
Pennsylvania ("Letters"). And although it is uncertain whether he ever lived
in the Cass vicinity again, there was some form of estate left in his name there after his
death ("Letters of Administration"). It appears, therefore, that Jacob H.
Hall was essentially right in saying that A. B. Everett returned to Pennsylvania, and
kept his work in the Northern states in the period immediately following the
war.
</p>
<p>
But in December 1867 A. B. Everett returned, however briefly, to the area of
Virginia that had once been his home. The Shenandoah Valley Musical
Convention met in Woodstock, Virginia from the 24th to the 27th, organized
by Rigdon McIntosh. A. B. Everett lectured on the subject, "The History,
Utility, and Influence of Sacred Music." Though shape-note instruction was
gaining ground in the South and would soon outstrip the work the Everetts
had done in teaching traditional notation, he was still highly regarded by
the musical luminaries of the South and apparently had occasional
engagements there.
</p>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">6. Asa Brooks Everett's turn from metrical hymns & anthems to gospel songs.</h4>
<p>A. B. Everett's first editorial work, mentioned previously, was with his
brother in <i>The Progressive Church Vocalist </i>(New York: Mason
Brothers, 1855). It was followed in 1856 by the <i>Thesaurus Musicus</i> (Richmond, Virginia: L.C. & A.B. Everett) and then the <i>New Thesaurus Musicus</i> (Richmond, 1858). I have not been able to examine these, but
McIntosh's <i>Tabor </i>(New York: Huntington, 1866) identifies
two hymns reprinted from <i>Thesaurus Musicus</i> and seven from
<i>New Thesaurus Musicus</i>. These are essentially similar to the metrical
hymns of their other, better-studied works of the next few years. A review
of the <i>New Thesaurus Musicus</i> in the
<i>North Carolina Journal of Education</i> noted that it contained
"Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Sentences, Anthems, Chants, &c., for the use of
the Choir, the Congregation, and the Singing School." The reviewer also
noted that the new compositions in the book "are plain and simple, yet they
are excellent congregational tunes"--which I would argue is characteristic
of Everett's later gospel songs ("New Thesaurus Musicus" [Review]). </p>
<div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">
During the late 1850s both Lemuel and Asa Brooks Everett would independently
undertake denominational hymnal projects that were among the first of their
kind in the Southern U.S. Though singing-school tunebooks were becoming
widely available in the South, the hymnals prepared by the various religious
bodies for formal worship had typically appeared in text-only form, with the
psalms and hymns fitted to tunes known by heart. This reduced cost and
accommodated local preferences in tunes; some had also considered the presence
of notes on the page an unwelcome distraction to the act of worship. In 1859
Lemuel C. Everett edited the musical selections for <a href="https://archive.org/details/wesleya00meth" style="font-style: italic;">The Wesleyan Hymn and Tune Book</a> (Nashville: Southern Methodist Publishing House), based on the
existing Methodist hymnal. Though traditional Southern folk hymns were
included, L. C. Everett also used a number of his own hymns as well as those of Asa Brooks. The Everetts' junior partner, Rigdon McIntosh, assisted in this work
and would draw on it in his later Methodist hymnals.
</div>
<div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">
<div>
<br />The very same year, A. B. Everett edited the music for Basil
Manly's <a href="https://archive.org/details/baptistchoralstu00manl" style="font-style: italic;">Baptist Chorals</a> (Richmond: T. J. Starke). Whereas L. C. Everett and
Rigdon McIntosh were Methodists prior to their involvement with the
Southern Methodist hymnals, Asa's work with Manly seems to indicate a
continuing adherence to the Baptist faith of his father. (Hall claims that A. B. Everett was a "communicant of the Christian Church" (100), but no
further information on this subject has come to light.) Basil Manly, Jr.,
the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Richmond, was one of the most
influential Baptists in the South, and had published the important
words-only collection <i>Baptist Psalmody</i> in 1850
(Stoutamire 236ff.). His collaboration with A. B. Everett produced what
David Music & Paul Richardson named the "most significant ante-bellum
Southern effort to provide a collection of tunes for Baptist worship"
(300). As usual, most of the music was written by A. B. Everett himself and his
brothers (Music & Richardson, 301).<br /><br />Incidentally, the
notation of both <i>The Wesleyan Hymn and Tune Book</i> and <i>Baptist Chorals</i> is an example of the
transition in American hymnals from open score (each of the four parts on separate staffs) to close score (soprano & alto on a staff,
tenor & bass on a staff). The former is still used in the <i>Sacred Harp</i> books, as in the example below (from the <a href="https://archive.lib.msu.edu/AFS/dmc/ssb/public/all/sacredharp/harp.html">digital copy at Michigan State University Libraries</a>):<br /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LIiWcgI_7shrUbFGbsQ1OTgki-sepE_PutdA3yosh23dxJxDi0ZyF4znOtkEatS78DNORCpNZD7G4gRQJak72q7TL_JDY0Z5awDo8peBGN2HLdbayLK3J7-hvqlNpWXUz3KLWnZA0AgA/s1600/harp062.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="531" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LIiWcgI_7shrUbFGbsQ1OTgki-sepE_PutdA3yosh23dxJxDi0ZyF4znOtkEatS78DNORCpNZD7G4gRQJak72q7TL_JDY0Z5awDo8peBGN2HLdbayLK3J7-hvqlNpWXUz3KLWnZA0AgA/s1600/harp062.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Note again that the melody is in the "tenor" part, above the bass, while the
part sung by tenors today is in the top staff, called the "treble"
in <i>Sacred Harp</i> terminology. Having the melody in the
tenor voice with harmony parts above it is a holdover from the earliest
beginnings of part-writing in the Middle Ages, and though melody-on-top
writing had long since become the norm in other styles of music, it
persisted in American hymn-singing as well as some folk music contexts.</div><div><br />In A. B. Everett's <i>Baptist Chorals</i>, the part we would recognize as tenor is still on a
separate staff at the top, but the alto voice is placed beneath the melody on the middle staff--what some have called "semi-close
score", which is as good a term as any: </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjX3xW5aEIBNxhyphenhyphendhwqBsRyalIcoDSblQYjR4s_i9XLRGozWQUZaCDgiA8BKuYJUJ4L5B6bYHup0iKVCWY2-Ygec3uKv4XN8P2H82gwie-dD1NqKEBuNXjgDF8ojG7kIaK-8D8vyTN7kSF/s1600/baptistchoralstu00manl_0076.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="530" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjX3xW5aEIBNxhyphenhyphendhwqBsRyalIcoDSblQYjR4s_i9XLRGozWQUZaCDgiA8BKuYJUJ4L5B6bYHup0iKVCWY2-Ygec3uKv4XN8P2H82gwie-dD1NqKEBuNXjgDF8ojG7kIaK-8D8vyTN7kSF/s1600/baptistchoralstu00manl_0076.jpg" /></a></div>
</div><br />I have not found a thorough study of
this phenomenon, but my initial observations from a sampling of 19th-century
hymnals suggests that it dates mostly from the 1850s-1860s, and corresponds
to the trend away from the oblong hymnals (such as the <i>Sacred Harp</i>) toward the modern "book-format" hymnal. From a practical standpoint it
saved space; perhaps it was reluctance to force the "trebles" (singing the modern tenor part) to read a
different clef that delayed the move to fully "close score" all at once.
</div>
<div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">
In the "Music editor's preface" to <i>Baptist Chorals </i>(pages iv-v), A. B. Everett describes his ambitious plan: for each hymn, he would provide a familiar old tune on one side of the page opening, and a brand new tune on the other side. He took particular care to increase the selection of Short Meter tunes, citing a general lack of them in current practice. Everett also called attention to the Southern-ness of the new selections, thanking McIntosh in particular, and modestly acknowledging that "we have been compelled to insert a good many of our own compositions" (which, to be fair, was pretty common at the time). In the process of assembling a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17b5HZHygSJ3I3pRy671BSoAUXvTphj9KEOkp0JizVto/edit?usp=sharing">works list for Asa Brooks Everett</a>, I have identified 35 A. B. Everett works in <i>Baptist Chorals</i>. All are metrical hymns, and as indicated in his preface he took pains to expand the variety of meters available. The traditional long, common, and short meters make up only half of these contributions, and the remainder are divided among 12 different "peculiar" meters. There are no chants, sentences, or anthems; Everett remarked toward the end of his preface that he intended to publish a volume of these to accompany <i>Baptist Chorals</i>, but there is no evidence that this came to pass (<i>Baptist Chorals</i>, v). Interestingly, 24 of A. B. Everett's metrical hymns appear in his brothers <i>Wesleyan Hymn & Tune Book</i>, and 14 of these appear in both brothers' hymnals. It would be logical and economical to collaborate in their work, especially since their projects were intended for different denominations.</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">At some point before 1866 A. B. Everett contributed a significant number of works to a volume titled <i>The Church Peal</i>, which has proven as elusive a volume as I have ever tried to track down. It is credited as a source in <i>Tabor</i>, edited by Rigdon McIntosh in 1866--and that is all I know. All but three of the pieces McIntosh took from it are by A. B. Everett, and all but three of these are in the traditional meters, making this a far more conservative group than his contributions to <i>Baptist Chorals</i>. This might suggest an earlier date, perhaps even the early 1850s.</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">Rigdon McIntosh, separated from his former partners by the Civil War, brought out his first independently edited work in 1866. <i>Tabor</i> was published in New York (probably owing to the lack of available facilities in the South), but made pains to appeal to the Southern audience (Oswalt 42ff.) As part of this effort, and reflecting his long association with the Everett brothers, he included a large number of their works. (He may also have already had ownership of, or an arrangement to use, their copyrights, but it is unclear when this transfer took place.) Out of roughly 550 works in the collection, 109 are confirmed as works by A. B. Everett, a far greater portion than was contributed by McIntosh himself. Of his 96 metrical hymns included, about two-thirds are in the traditional meters, the remainder being scattered across a wide variety of peculiar meters. The remainder of Everett's contribution includes chants, sentences, and anthems. Notable examples are the sentence "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord" and the anthem <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t69320c3d?urlappend=%3Bseq=240">"Serve the Lord with gladness"</a>, the most extended choral work by A. B. Everett I have found so far.</div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_GNiaDHQEnvOsXSdo1myMEXq5zSm1TMyKqDOihRR7wpWAE3HVe-DoMSKqIyC1q8dB2n-BU3f-j93SeKWmIAAgJswUiOL0o7QqaZo3LkyhBUpk6VoAJ4H8BTY52RPHf8Ay2qEd1frbqGD8tHVVbIxE1lmuwyEjsTb-BUAk4UXhTjBn5ECCuSxeY0Y66A" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="989" data-original-width="1360" height="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh_GNiaDHQEnvOsXSdo1myMEXq5zSm1TMyKqDOihRR7wpWAE3HVe-DoMSKqIyC1q8dB2n-BU3f-j93SeKWmIAAgJswUiOL0o7QqaZo3LkyhBUpk6VoAJ4H8BTY52RPHf8Ay2qEd1frbqGD8tHVVbIxE1lmuwyEjsTb-BUAk4UXhTjBn5ECCuSxeY0Y66A=w640-h467" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h4><p style="text-align: left;">After the death of his brother Lemuel C. in 1866, Asa Brooks Everett was at a crossroads again. McIntosh's <i>Tabor</i> was popular (Oswalt 16), and put A. B. Everett's works in front of the American public again after the wartime hiatus. But he no longer had his brother, apparently the businessman of the family, and no longer had his right-hand man McIntosh (for reasons unknown they never edited a songbook together). A report in the <i>Musical Advocate and Singer's Friend</i> (forerunner to the venerable <i>Musical Million </i>published in Virginia by Ruebush & Kieffer) indicated that Everett was working on a new book in January 1868 ("Musical intelligence"). Everett actually published a notice about it in the <i>New York Pioneer and Chorister's Budget</i> that month:</p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">We earnestly solicit our brother composers to send us contributions of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Senetences, Anthems, Chants, etc., four our new Book of Church Music. It is our design to make the work, so far as it is possible, the honest exponent of American taste and talent (musically considered), and we shall thankfully receive contributions from any and every competent source. Of course we cannot promise to insert every composition that may be sent us, but will give it a careful and impartial examination, and use all that we think calculated to do credit to the book and the composer.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>If this notice should meet the eye of any of our numerous professional friends in Canada, we express the hope that they have not forgotten the "Days of Old Lang Syne," and trust they will send us some sparkling gems form the icy North.</p></blockquote><blockquote><p>N.B.--All music must be sent in by the first of February next. . . (Everett, A.B., "Card")</p></blockquote><p>Of note is the fact that Everett's book was on the lips of Aldine Kieffer in Singer's Glen, Virginia, and also advertised in the heart of Northern music publishing, with a special appeal to Canada. Everett was casting the net far and wide, instead of emphasizing his Southern-ness as McIntosh was wont to do. But for reasons unknown, this book never appeared. In October of 1868, John P. Morgan, reviewing his new book <i>The Tonart</i> (published by Huntington in New York and co-edited with Edward Roberts) noted that A. B. Everett was involved "by special arrangement" and that <i>The Tonart</i> "takes the place of" the work that Everett had sought to bring out earlier that year (Morgan, "<i>Tonart</i> [review]"). It would be a few more years before Everett achieved his goal. </p><p><i>The Tonart</i> includes 42 pieces by Everett, 33 of which appear for the first time in this work. All but four are metrical hymns, leaning strongly into Long Meter and Common Meter. One of Everett's two new anthems in this work, <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044077925915?urlappend=%3Bseq=318%3Bownerid=8810966-330">"Plunged in a gulf of dark despair"</a>, shows Everett's continuing experimentation with the available forms: the first section is actually his <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t69320c3d?urlappend=%3Bseq=76">MELOS</a>, a striking Aeolian tune in a G minor setting, which breaks off mid-stanza for a modulation to the parallel major and an entirely new, through-composed rendition of the remaining text. Incidentally, <i>The Tonart</i> is also the first occasion in which Everett is known to have used anagrams of his name as pseudonyms, including "Asa Bettever" and "E. A. Brooks" (the latter of which, being less obvious, carried over into some later hymnals). In a later work, <i>The Sceptre</i>, he also used "B. A. Teveret".</p><p><a href="https://archive.org/details/sceptresu00ever/"><i>The Sceptre</i> (New York: Biglow & Main, 1871)</a> would appear to be Asa Brooks Everett's crowning work. It is the only church music collection, in fact, for which he took chief credit, being "assisted by" his brother Benjamin Holden Everett. It was 300 pages, containing 527 pieces of music, and was printed in the oblong or "longboy" format of the traditional tunebook. Semi-close score predominates, with close score used for pages that pack in old familiar hymn tunes in smaller print with a single stanza of text. The work begins with a "Student's Compend of Musical Notation", an 18-page summary of basic music reading with exercises, followed by "The 'Everett System' of Teaching Vocal Music in Elementary Classes: A Guide for Young Teachers". In 27 pages, Everett gives detailed lesson plans for the first eight lessons in a vocal music class, concluding with an encouragement to the teacher to adapt these techniques for introducing new musical concepts as they are encountered in practice. He concludes this section with another 13 pages of musical works keyed to the lessons, including metrical hymns and secular choruses.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibPPMLbD49vLS-uFH_gWeaPABHBaCwn2Sobx0yyciqve5KqAyyNyl7qL4jwXAEsGQszooReNytbKYRr9_OPTUAD04FW9LfGBqQHSZRdyfpqkj-qhCEgGDEMIJOPbT9gLLEuIRXGo9RyJSqfp2NNNNktQlbdJr5HDzE5FprYKNd5FDFkQnh5lFwtXG4Gg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="1608" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibPPMLbD49vLS-uFH_gWeaPABHBaCwn2Sobx0yyciqve5KqAyyNyl7qL4jwXAEsGQszooReNytbKYRr9_OPTUAD04FW9LfGBqQHSZRdyfpqkj-qhCEgGDEMIJOPbT9gLLEuIRXGo9RyJSqfp2NNNNktQlbdJr5HDzE5FprYKNd5FDFkQnh5lFwtXG4Gg=w640-h438" width="640" /></a></div><br /><i>The Sceptre</i> proper begins with metrical hymns, arranged in subsections by meter: 104 Long Meter tunes (pages 61-93), 81 Common Meter tunes (pages 94-118), and 93 Short Meter tunes (pages 119-145), followed by 146 tunes in a variety of other meters (pages 146-205). Everett himself contributed hymn tunes in more than 40 different meters. The final section of the book (pages 206-300) contains 71 works, of which 20 are labeled as anthems or "hymn-anthems", 9 are labeled sentences, and 15 are labeled chants. The first three are not always distinct in style; though generally one expects more complexity in an anthem, most of the interest is created from alternating pairs of voices, and from tempo changes, rather than from imitative counterpoint. The differences arise from text (and length): the anthem will usually treat at stanza of text (at least four lines), where the sentence is usually no more than a couplet. Thus the anthems tend to be at least two pages of music, where a sentence usually takes only one. <p></p><p>Almost half of the content of <i>The Sceptre</i> (248 works) was written by A. B. Everett himself, often under his anagrammatic pseudonyms, and though some of them dated back to <i>Baptist Chorals</i>, 161 of these works were appearing in print for the first time. It was a huge body of work, the largest by far that A. B. Everett would ever publish. The other half of the contents was drawn from a wide variety of composers. Everett included 27 works by his late brother L. C., and 12 by Rigdon McIntosh. Curiously, his brother and co-editor Benjamin H. Everett is credited with only one song. Other composers with multiple contributions tended to be Northerners, such as William Bradbury, J. H. Tenney, and Hubert P. Main. Older works by Lowell Mason and Thomas Hastings were also prominent. </p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Looking at <i>The Sceptre</i>'s place in Everett's career, it shows that as late as the 1870s--his final five years--his ideal book was still very much in line with the high-minded educational works of the Lowell Mason circle of his younger days. I have not found a song in <i>The Sceptre</i> that I am comfortable with labeling "gospel" in the Ira Sankey/Philip Bliss vein (or even "Sunday School" in the style of William Bradbury). Though Everett made more important contributions to gospel songs, he appears never to have wavered from his ideals of a broad, classical musical education first and foremost.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Identifying a "gospel song" can be difficult in the first place. Shearon & Eskew emphasize that it has a strophic text and "often" a refrain, simple harmony with a slow rate of chord change (relative to the classical hymn), and often uses lively rhythms in the manner of popular music. The lyrics, taken from contemporary writers, also tend to be more personal and subjective than those of the traditional hymns. The Evangelical revival movement in Northern cities after the Civil War fostered this new type of church music, exemplified by Philip Bliss and Ira Sankey in the <i>Gospel Hymns</i> series beginning in 1875, but it was foreshadowed to a great extent by the Sunday School songbooks as far back as the 1840s ("Gospel Music"). </p><p style="text-align: left;">The Everett brothers were not unaware of these developments, of course, and in 1860 published <i>Everett's Sabbath Chime</i> in Richmond, subtitled "A new collection of Sabbath school hymns and tunes, for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South." I have not been able to examine this (only three copies are listed in WorldCat), but it shows their openness at an early date to working in this genre as well as the traditional hymns and choral church music. Fortunately, a digital copy exists (though of imperfect quality) for their next foray into Sunday School music, <i>The Canadian Warbler</i>, published in Toronto and Montreal in 1863 during their Canadian exile. (It is apparently coincidence that A. B. Everett was involved in a bird-themed Sunday School book just three years prior to the Root & Cady series <i>Our Song Birds</i>, for which Mary B. C. Slade--later to be Everett's most significant lyricist--was a major contributor.) L. C. Everett's preface makes clear the intent of the work:</p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">Convinced, by long experience and observation in training the young in vocal music, that their tastes require the frequent introduction of new tunes, and those, too, of a more sprightly and pleasing flow of melody than those heavy, dignified compositions ordinarily heard in the regular service of the sanctuary, with the view of gratifying his young friends, he has thought it best to employ tunes of the former character mainly for this work, while of the latter class a sufficient number have been inserted for all occasions requiring their use (3).</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">The <i>Canadian Warbler</i> was published in the smaller 12 cm by16 cm oblong format, which seems to be typical of the early Sunday School books (the "longboy" tunebooks such as the <i>Sacred Harp </i>are closer to 18 cm by 26 cm). It contains 192 songs, primarily in semi-close score but with a significant number of three-voice songs in close score. (In these the soprano and alto are on the upper staff, and the bass is alone on its staff.) Approximately 3/4 of the tunes indicate a meter, but given L. C. Everett's statement about the contents, these cannot all be assumed to be "metrical hymns" in the classical sense. On the other hand, only about 30 songs have a chorus, the easiest distinctive mark of a gospel song. Many more have a musical structure that is similar to stanza-chorus (two musical periods of equal closure), but continues the stanza across what could have been a chorus section (cf. "Jesus, keep me near the cross" and "Sweet hour of prayer"). The prevalence of dotted rhythms, root position harmonies, and a liberal use of compound meters make this collection certainly "proto-gospel" at the very least. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeB8xUNRBsrZShK-lYXCJO9XciV3pljdd544-o0VCKqDW0WnbDMhBjLmsottPjRN2BA4PnfcN3RJeBrTL1146pqRfuqPqv-o-w9gYVCc0T5xcXlw3iCWR5g-ndbk2GsJ32JxMHG-eSMttL1TXKrGpTyVYdQSbUrzjgvM6_W_g8LtUV46fGnpJPy3E2oA/s1229/cihm_89407_0005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1229" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeB8xUNRBsrZShK-lYXCJO9XciV3pljdd544-o0VCKqDW0WnbDMhBjLmsottPjRN2BA4PnfcN3RJeBrTL1146pqRfuqPqv-o-w9gYVCc0T5xcXlw3iCWR5g-ndbk2GsJ32JxMHG-eSMttL1TXKrGpTyVYdQSbUrzjgvM6_W_g8LtUV46fGnpJPy3E2oA/w400-h316/cihm_89407_0005.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">A. B. Everett's identifiable contributions to <i>Canadian Warbler</i> number 28 songs (the copies available online come from a poorly photographed microfilm, and the top quarter of the pages is unreadable in about 25% of the book). Three of these are metrical hymns from the <i>Baptist Chorals</i>; the remainder appear to have been written for the collection. These new songs are primarily in 2/4 time, with a few in 6/8 or 3/4, and a smaller number in 4/4. The quarter note (or dotted quarter) has the beat, and in all but a couple the rhythm runs along in sprightly eighth notes. In other words, these are more like gospel songs than the metrical hymns which Everett had written earlier and would continue to write for <i>The Sceptre</i>. Notable examples of songs that approach the post-Civil War gospel song are <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/aeu.ark:/13960/t6543mp6t?urlappend=%3Bseq=129">"Will you go?"</a> with its refrain after each line of the stanza; <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/aeu.ark:/13960/t6543mp6t?urlappend=%3Bseq=71">"I will fear no evil"</a> with its lilting dotted rhythms in 6/8 time; and Everett's arrangement of the classic <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/aeu.ark:/13960/t6543mp6t?urlappend=%3Bseq=18">"I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger."</a> Another interesting development is the presence of a few songs that are clearly more revival songs than for the Sunday School, such as "Sinner, come, mid thy gloom / All thy guilt confessing"; "Come, sinner, come / Why longer roam?"; and "Delay not, delay not / O sinner, draw near". These would fit easily into the Sankey-Bliss era, and forecast some of Everett's better known compositions such as "There's a fountain free".</p><p style="text-align: left;">Everett's songs in the <i>Canadian Warbler</i> (and the songbook as a whole) do not seem to have had a great deal of reach, but he continued to contribute to the Sunday-School genre through the 1860s, with a couple of songs turning up in post-Civil War collections. It was his old associate Rigdon McIntosh, however, who would bring Everett's gospel songs to widespread use. In 1867 the ever-industrious McIntosh edited a Sunday School book published by Newton Kurz in Baltimore. Only a text index is available at present from Hymnary.org, but there are 16 texts out of this collection that had been set to music by A. B. Everett, many of them in the <i>Canadian Warbler</i>; it is possible that there are a number of Everett songs in this work, but I have not been able to examine it. </p><p style="text-align: left;">In 1870, McIntosh became acquainted with Atticus Haygood, an up-and-coming Southern Methodist minister who occupied the newly created position of Sunday School Secretary. The General Conference had authorized him to bring out a new Sunday School songbook, the first such publication for the Nashville-based denomination. In the course of the next two years McIntosh relocated to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, close enough to Nashville to work closely with Haygood on this project (Oswalt 16ff.). The result was <i>The Amaranth</i>, published in 1872 (Oswalt 181ff.). Everett contributed only 11 new songs, but among them were his first settings of lyrics by Mary B. C. Slade, 8 in all. Among these were two that survived well into the 20th century, and one that is still in wide use: "Where the jasper walls are beaming" and "Footsteps of Jesus" ("Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling"). And significantly, all but one of Everett's contributions were in the stanza-chorus format that had become a hallmark of the emerging gospel style.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The Southern Methodists were quite pleased with <i>The Amaranth</i>, and McIntosh followed up with <i>The Emerald</i> in 1873, also from their publishing house in Nashville. In this volume he included only 7 works by Everett, four of which had lyrics by Mary Slade. Despite this small contribution (McIntosh had promised not to repeat any material from <i>The Amaranth</i>), <i>The Emerald</i> saw the first publication of "Hark, the gentle voice of Jesus falleth", a perennial invitation song among the Churches of Christ. Everett was also appearing in major denominational songbooks again for the first time since <i>Baptist Chorals</i>, and alongside prominent gospel composers such as William Doane, Philip Bliss, and Horatio Palmer. In the next few years McIntosh forged ahead with an even bigger project that would bring Everett and Slade songs to a nationwide audience, and Everett was supplying him with new material; unfortunately he would not live to see how popular his gospel music became.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOF6EefK26uY8LzAQNrEm00Inma0RWGE1hEGoz59BLvcsjlF4Blax9L2fVRE-dDC4uAbfzkChbJM4xEIsaGIvCt9KFw6610K1C2uynhV3QNXFQ7zWEkp0uJ90yPEDBXO_F-0Y6ABQWP9fqcKXRd5yGSc63VsCzQIux8fcIIfy2uOeYE_lms61_ADPiaw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1107" height="507" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOF6EefK26uY8LzAQNrEm00Inma0RWGE1hEGoz59BLvcsjlF4Blax9L2fVRE-dDC4uAbfzkChbJM4xEIsaGIvCt9KFw6610K1C2uynhV3QNXFQ7zWEkp0uJ90yPEDBXO_F-0Y6ABQWP9fqcKXRd5yGSc63VsCzQIux8fcIIfy2uOeYE_lms61_ADPiaw=w640-h507" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><i>Good News</i> was Rigdon McIntosh's next major Sunday School collection, published by Oliver Ditson, one of the largest music publishers in the country. (Oswalt speculates that McIntosh may have leveraged a copyright dispute with the Boston giant to get this deal (206-208).) McIntosh was probably working on this by 1874 (Oswalt 206), and perhaps had unused material from the Methodist collections. The preface of <i>Good News</i> also indicates that Everett was closely involved until his untimely death in late 1875. McIntosh's comments are worth quoting at length:</p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">It will be noticed that we have inserted a large number of vigorous compositions from the able and experienced pen of Dr. A. Brooks Everett, who, when we commenced this work was in his usual health, and, as he had so often done before, kindly gave us free access to his well filled portfolio, with a promise to furnish more, if necessary. But before the selections were all made we received the intelligence of his sudden death, which so saddened our heart that for a time we felt as though we could never finish the book. God grant that "T<span style="font-size: x-small;">HE</span> M<span style="font-size: x-small;">EETING</span> P<span style="font-size: x-small;">LACE</span>" may verily be in heaven, our "B<span style="font-size: x-small;">EAUTIFUL</span> H<span style="font-size: x-small;">OME</span>."</p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">McIntosh dedicated one of Everett's songs, "Loved one, farewell" (page 127) with the words, "In memoriam--Tuesday morning, Nov. 23, 1875", referring to the date and time of Everett's death. In a note at the bottom of the page he gives this interesting insight into the interaction of Everett, McIntosh, and lyricist Mary Slade:</p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">This is one of several beautiful "songs without words" that my true and well tried friend, Dr. A. Brooks Everett, contributed for these pages only a short time before his death; and to me, it is as sweet as anything Schumann ever wrote. The words are Mrs. Slade's and I thank her for them: the dedication is mine.--R. M. McIntosh.</p></blockquote><p>McIntosh surely is saying that Everett wrote music that was later matched up with words, at least part of the time; it also appears that at least in this instance, Mary Slade wrote lyrics to the music instead of the other way around. The syllabic structure is 5.4.5.4.6.6.6.4, and it is curious to think that a composer would write such an unusual piece with the expectation that the lyricist would work around it. But we will likely never know what their arrangement was, or how much McIntosh was involved in pairing word and music.</p><p><i>Good News</i>, then, is practically a memorial to Asa Brooks Everett's work in the gospel genre, and a worthy one it is. He is represented by no fewer than 36 works in a book of 160 pages; it seems as though the eye falls on his name at every turn of the page. Only eight of the works are reprints, drawing especially from <i>The Amaranth</i> or <i>The Emerald</i>; the remainder were, so far as I can tell, new works made for this publication. Some of the lyrics are settings of traditional hymns from authors such as Frances R. Havergal, Horatius Bonar, Reginald Heber, and Frederick William Faber. The outstanding group, however, are the dozen songs with lyrics by Mary B. C. Slade:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/are_you_staying_safely_staying">Are you staying, safely staying</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/beyond_this_land_of_parting_losing_and">Beyond this land of parting, losing and leaving</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/birds_are_rejoicing">Birds are rejoicing</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/hark_the_gentle_voice_of_jesus_falleth">Hark! the gentle voice of Jesus falleth</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/if_i_like_galilee_fishers">If I, like Galilee fishers</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/over_the_desert_and_dreary_way">O'er the desert and dreary way</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/praise_the_lord_praise_the_lord_happy_ch">Praise the Lord! praise the Lord</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/say_have_you_read_in_the_story_olden">Say, have you read in the story olden</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/sweetly_lord_have_we_heard_thee_calling">Sweetly Lord have we heard Thee calling</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/theres_a_fountain_free_tis_for_you_and_m">There's a fountain free, 'tis for you and me</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/we_are_marching_to_canaan_through_the_de">We are marching to Canaan</a></li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/who_at_my_door_is_standing">Who at my door is standing?</a></li></ul><p>To the earlier pair of classics from <i>The Amaranth</i> ("Sweetly, Lord have we") and <i>The Emerald</i> (Hark! the gentle voice"), McIntosh adds another three: "Beyond this land of parting", "There's a fountain free", and "Who at my door is standing?", all of which are still in use among many of the Churches of Christ, and appear in the hymnals of many other groups.</p><p>In estimating the impact of Everett's different genres of church music, it is instructive to look at the <a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Everett_Asa?tab=tunes&sort=desc&order=Instances">number of instances his tunes are found in hymnals</a> at Hymnary.org. His top five gospel songs, in descending order (using the more accurate number of instances from the <a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Slade_Mary">Mary Slade texts page</a>):</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/sweetly_lord_have_we_heard_thee_calling">Sweetly Lord have we heard Thee calling</a> (198 instances)</li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/who_at_my_door_is_standing">Who at my door is standing?</a> (95)</li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/hark_the_gentle_voice_of_jesus_falleth">Hark! the gentle voice of Jesus falleth</a> (39)</li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/theres_a_fountain_free_tis_for_you_and_m">There's a fountain free, 'tis for you and me</a> (37)</li><li><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/beyond_this_land_of_parting_losing_and">Beyond this land of parting, losing and leaving</a> (32)</li></ul><p></p><p>By contrast, his most popular metrical hymn tunes in the Hymnary.org database were <a href="https://hymnary.org/tune/richmond_everett">R<span style="font-size: x-small;">ICHMOND</span></a> (13 instances) and <a href="https://hymnary.org/tune/ashville_everett">A<span style="font-size: x-small;">SHVILLE</span></a> (11 instances), and none of his anthems, sentences, or chants are listed at all. Everett's metrical hymns did linger in a few places; the Southern Methodist Church continued to use some of this material until their reunification with the Northern denomination, and for reasons unknown <i>The Brethren Hymnal</i> of 1901 (Old German Baptist Brethren) used no fewer than 25 metrical hymns by A. B. Everett. But for the most part Everett's metrical hymns passed into disuse within a generation or two.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_4nQRFYFmextiTbmgFVt2CNKPrynPc31mUmIbPEFRSdjG0sJHj12c8PjEY23G97z3SUgCrp3FBZ9NV4pzDkQFIDF3bszP-ZBzUibuVuLf0N4jKh6VuXBiDf2q7EvitDYtYHebwzsy2Dj-0ec761kycDw1nLEIi64nRr663svWwtIxAMFV3AlPkFGHzg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="186" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_4nQRFYFmextiTbmgFVt2CNKPrynPc31mUmIbPEFRSdjG0sJHj12c8PjEY23G97z3SUgCrp3FBZ9NV4pzDkQFIDF3bszP-ZBzUibuVuLf0N4jKh6VuXBiDf2q7EvitDYtYHebwzsy2Dj-0ec761kycDw1nLEIi64nRr663svWwtIxAMFV3AlPkFGHzg" width="179" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mary B. C. Slade, 1870s?<br />hymntime.com/tch</span></td></tr></tbody></table>The greater longevity of Everett's gospel songs can probably be explained as a happy combination of several factors. First, he had a gift for simple and pleasant melody and harmony. When I mentioned above that I could sing and play his parlor songs at sight, it was no boast about my (modest) abilities as a performer, and neither was it a slight against the music as if it were trite or simplistic. Ease of singing at sight often indicate that the music is logical and elegant--poorly written music is far harder to read! Everett wrote the gospel songs in a simple, folk-like manner, avoid chromaticism or complex melodic figures, because he was writing for children. In the same vein, Mary Slade's lyrics are easily scanned and easily sung, but also thoughtful; she avoided flowery turns of phrase in favor of direct and simple language. Both Everett and Slade were capable of more complex expressions, but instead put the best of their abilities into the simple framework of a children's song. Not surprisingly, then, as the gospel genre worked its way from the Sunday School to the revival meeting, and eventually into the regular worship service, these well-written songs survived. They offer thoughtful words and singable tunes, for adults as well as for children.</p><p>Whether this move into gospel songs was Everett's goal, or was just a matter of opportunity and the need for work, is an interesting question. For one thing, he got into the gospel genre much earlier than I realized before beginning this study. <i>The Canadian Warbler</i> was a forward-looking sort of book for its time, and showed at least a willingness to engage the genre long before McIntosh's books in the 1870s. It would be illuminating, no doubt, to get a look at <i>Everett's Sabbath Chime</i> to see how much A. B. Everett contributed to that volume as well. On the other hand, he obviously put a great deal of effort into <i>The Sceptre</i>, from1871, which may be the book he was unable to publish back in 1868. He might well have been writing gospel songs for McIntosh's <i>Amaranth</i> while he was finishing up his own testament to the Lowell Mason-style tunebook. Given the breadth of the types of composition he took on, it is believable that he saw the value of both genres when they were written well.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">7. Asa Brooks Everett's death.</h4>
<p>
Obviously the last five years of A. B. Everett's life were highly productive--he
brought out his first and only sacred music collection as chief editor,
<i>The Sceptre</i> (New York: Biglow & Main, 1871), and he was writing gospel songs for Rigdon McIntosh's books, set to Mary Slade's lyrics, that would become his
true legacy in church music. But something was amiss in Asa Brooks
Everett's life, and we are likely never to know exactly what that was. The
events leading up to his death on November 23, 1875, are as follows.</p>
<p>Everett had organized a vocal music class in Humboldt, Tennessee by at
least the 11th of November, 1875 (McIntosh, <i>Good News</i> #22).
(Humboldt is about 20 miles north of Jackson, so closer actually to
Memphis than to Nashville.) He was still teaching there on the 18th ("Over
the county"). On Saturday the 20th he arrived in Alamo, Tennessee
(13 miles east of Humboldt) and announced his intention to begin a series
of vocal music classes on Monday the 22, beginning with an evening
lecture (Johnson). What actually transpired on the 22nd is best described by
Isaac M. Johnson, a leading citizen of the town, who wrote an account for
the Nashville <i>Tennessean</i> in an effort to inform A. B. Everett's family of his fate:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Our little town was thrown into a state of unwonted excitement last
Monday, when it became known that Dr. A. Brooks Everett, a professor of
music, had taken about 12 grains of morphine, for the purpose of
destroying his life. He took it in the presence of one of our citizens,
who made an effort to get the deadly drug from him, but failed. All the
physicians of our town went to his assistance, and everything that skill
and close attention could suggest was done to counteract the effect of
the poison, but without success. Dr. Everett died at a quarter past 2
A.M., on the 23rd inst. . . .
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>If this should ever reach [his family], it will no doubt be a
consolation to them to know that, though a stranger here, their brother
received every possible attention, and was decently buried in our town
cemetery, on the 24th inst. (Johnson)
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
The date of Everett's death was almost immediately confused by the
newspapers, some putting it on the 20th (the date he arrived in Alamo),
and some putting it on the 22nd, the day he took the fatal dose. His Pennsylvania certification of death said "on or about the 22nd day of Nov. 1875"
("Date of death"), but the person giving the statement probably did not know that he survived into the early hours of the next day. In the 1876
songbook <i>Good News</i>, his colleague and friend Rigdon McIntosh
dedicated the song "Loved one, farewell" (lyrics by Mary Slade, music by A. B. Everett) as follows: "In memoriam--Tuesday morning, Nov. 23, 1875."
</p>
<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2_STwdrtq2nCWZzUysOMNQdPpSkC9Nzcx66qdQgQ0P3CvZu69i5HZ1jpSAxgZ3cNKfa6oGprS9Uj66kam7p7vI3mfmb5D36ksqhYga16Px9aFhWNmXWvdo8WjwfWXTf5QuyM5yeeSpWpKYoD1NMBbgtDDXetexnkCOagFFeWp-02stQNgmR58uIkEGA" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2_STwdrtq2nCWZzUysOMNQdPpSkC9Nzcx66qdQgQ0P3CvZu69i5HZ1jpSAxgZ3cNKfa6oGprS9Uj66kam7p7vI3mfmb5D36ksqhYga16Px9aFhWNmXWvdo8WjwfWXTf5QuyM5yeeSpWpKYoD1NMBbgtDDXetexnkCOagFFeWp-02stQNgmR58uIkEGA" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">City Cemetery, Alamo, Tennessee<br /><a href="https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/445031/alamo-city-cemetery/photo">photo by Cristie at Findagrave.com</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Johnson's account of the cause of death states that Everett took the dose
"for the purpose of destroying his life," and another local news account simply said
he "committed suicide in Alamo last week" ("Tennessee news"), but there
was another interpretation given in the newspapers of the Shenandoah
Valley where he had lived and worked. In the <i>Staunton Vindicator</i>, it was described as an "overdose of morphine taken to quiet his nerves"
("Sad death"). This may have been softening the language out of concern
for his family's feelings, but also suggests that those better acquainted with him knew he used morphine for this purpose. That opens up the possibility that he was, like
many doctors of his era, an accidental addict.</p>
<p>
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlwOrn91vB4V1r4ltJM_q_u0F-EdYcrRtNf0HEZwF1-NcYJUeeycMV4S-fbKHmS5ta-cdK6BYew8yj0Qp1YTKpxgyBm5yETZscdvpw6jnBulLCpFiknzp4FNk-KEOVC1BJohwZ2CHG4mfD67AMXupNf5sWkeUh_-vij2pxBcayZODiJzw5lB5vtq6Vtg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhlwOrn91vB4V1r4ltJM_q_u0F-EdYcrRtNf0HEZwF1-NcYJUeeycMV4S-fbKHmS5ta-cdK6BYew8yj0Qp1YTKpxgyBm5yETZscdvpw6jnBulLCpFiknzp4FNk-KEOVC1BJohwZ2CHG4mfD67AMXupNf5sWkeUh_-vij2pxBcayZODiJzw5lB5vtq6Vtg=w320-h240" width="320" /></a></div>Barry Milligan's research has pointed out the rapid rise of the abuse of morphine in the middle of the 19th century, especially following
the Civil War when it emerged as a wonder drug for relieving pain.
Combined with the new technology of the hypodermic needle and easily
controllable doses, it was also perceived as a modern and scientific
(Milligan 542). Only in the closing decades of the century did the medical
community begin to sound the alarm over the danger of addiction, the
dynamics of which were still little understood. In 1883 J. B. Mattison
published a disturbing report in the New York
<i>Medical Record</i> titled "Opium addiction among medical men," in
which he claimed that "Physicians form a large proportion of opium
habitués in general." In his case records of treating doctors with
addiction, he found some taking as many as 12 grains a day, and one even
using 30 grains a day, reflecting the diminishing effect of the drug
over a lengthy period of abuse (Mattison). It is possible that A. B. Everett was a long-term addict, for whom higher and higher doses
were needed to achieve the desired effect, until he accidentally
overdosed. Whether intentional or accidental, it was a terrible way to lose such a gifted man, whose songs have lifted so many spirits over the years.<p></p>
<p><b>In Closing</b></p></div>
<div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">What exactly brought Asa Brooks Everett to this sad end will
never be known this side of eternity. We can only note the considerable
talents he demonstrated in his short life, and wonder what more he might
have done. I cannot help but think of great composers of years past whose lives were cut short--Henry Purcell, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, George Gershwin--and what they might have done with a few more decades. Perhaps a more appropriate comparison, however, would be Ludwig van Beethoven. In a letter to his brother, he once admitted that when he first learned of his declining hearing, he contemplated ending his life--in 1802. We would never have had the Waldstein Sonata, or the Rasumovsky quartets, or <i>Fidelio</i>. We would never have had the <i>Eroica</i> Symphony, or the 5th Symphony, or the 9th Symphony and its Ode to Joy. What the world would have been denied! And though most of us will never write a symphony--or perhaps even a moderately successful hymn--we will never know until eternity how much our presence and influence has meant to someone else, or how God's will may have been accomplished through us. May we all continue in His service until He calls us in His time.</div>
<div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention">https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention</a></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><a href="https://heal.nih.gov/">https://heal.nih.gov/</a></div><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><br />
<hr />
<i>References:</i><br /><br />
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Africa, J. Simpson.
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"Arrivals at the principal hotels." <i>Richmond Dispatch</i>, 9 March
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Bomberger, Elam D.
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Bowman, Michael. "$50 reward." <i>Huntingdon Journal</i> 23 July
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"Dr. A. B. Everett."
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Everett, A. B. <i>I Love the Little Laughing Rill</i>. Philadelphia: Lee
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Everett, A. B. <i>The Sceptre</i>. New York: Biglow & Main,
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<p class="MsoNormal">Everett, L. C. <i>The Canadian Warbler</i>. Toronto & Montral: A. & S. Nordheimer, 1863. https://archive.org/details/cihm_89407</p><p class="MsoNormal">
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Everett, L. C. & A. B. Everett. <i>Thesaurus Musicus</i>. New
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Kieffer, Aldine S. "A Reminiscence, a Review, and a Criticism."
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<p class="MsoNormal">Manly, Basil & A. B. Everett. <i>Baptist Chorals</i>. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1860. <br /><a href="https://archive.org/details/baptistchoralstu00man">https://archive.org/details/baptistchoralstu00man</a></p><p class="MsoNormal">
Mason, Lowell.
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Maxwell, Hu. <i>The History of Randolph County, West Virginia</i>.
Morgantown, West Virginia: Acme Pub. Co., 1898.
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</p>
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McIntosh, Rigdon M., editor.
<i>Good News : Or, Songs and Tunes for Sunday schools, Christian
Associations, and Special Meetings</i>. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Company, 1876
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</a></p>
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McIntosh, Rigdon M., editor.
<i>Tabor, or The Richmond Collection of Sacred Music</i>. New York:
F. J. Huntinton,
1866. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t69320c3d">https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nc01.ark:/13960/t69320c3d</a> (3rd ed., 1867)</p>
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"Messrs. L.C. Everett & Co."
<i>Charleston Daily Courier</i> (S.C.), 8 November 1851, page 3.
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Milligan, Barry. "Morphine-addicted doctors, the English Opium-Eater, and
embattled medical authority." <i>Victorian Literature and Culture </i>33.2
(2005), 541-53.
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Morrison, Charles Edwin.
<i>Aldine S. Kieffer and Ephraim Ruebush : Ideals Reflected in Post-Civil
War Ruebush-Kieffer Company Music Publications</i>. D.Ed. dissertation, Arizona State University, 1992.
</p>
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Music, David W., and Paul A. Richardson.
<i>I will sing the wondrous story: a history of Baptist hymnody in North
America</i>. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2008.<o:p></o:p>
</p>
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"A musical convention at the South." <i>New York Musical </i><i>Pioneer And Chorister's Budget</i> XII:12 (December, 1867).</p><p class="MsoNormal">“Musical intelligence.” <i>Musical Advocate and Singer's Friend</i> 4:1 (1 January 1868), page 32. [Virginiachronicle.com]</p><div>"New Thesaurus Musicus" [Review].
<i>North Carolina Journal of Education</i> 1.10 (October 1858),
322-323. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044102790250?urlappend=%3Bseq=342%3Bownerid=27021597764348020-348</div>
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November 1875, page 3. <i>Chronlicling America: Historic American Newspapers</i>. Library of Congress.
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Pederson, Sanna. "Marx, (Friedrich Heinrich) Adolf Bernhard." <i>The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians</i>, edited by Stanley Sadie ; executive editor, John Tyrrell. 2nd ed.
New York: Grove, 2001, vol. 19, pages 13-15.<i> </i>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
Pedigree Resource File for Nathan EVERETT (file 2:2:2:MM6F-HF6),
familysearch.org <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3VVN-2YF">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3VVN-2YF</a><o:p></o:p>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
Pemberton, Carol Ann. <i>Lowell Mason: His Life and Work</i>. University
of Minnesota, Ph.D. dissertation, 1971.
</p>
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page 3. Newspaperarchive.com.<o:p></o:p>
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"Prof. G. W. Linton." <i>Montreal Herald and Daily Commercial Gazette</i>,
19 October 1861, page
2. <a href="https://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3184435">https://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/3184435
</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
"The Progressive Church Vocalist."
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page 170.</p>
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Newspaperarchive.com.
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"Sad death." <i>Staunton Vindicator</i>, 10 December 1875, page 2.
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Congress. <a href="https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024653/1875-12-10/ed-1/seq-2/-">https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024653/1875-12-10/ed-1/seq-2/-
</a></p><p class="MsoNormal">Shearon, Stephen, Harry Eskew, James C. Downey, and Robert Darden. "Gospel music." <i>Grove Music Online</i>. Oxford University Press, date of access 5 Aug. 2022.</p>
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<div>
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</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH5N-2J9">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH5N-2J9</a><o:p></o:p>
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<a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHTY-B5K">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHTY-B5K</a><o:p></o:p>
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<a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZPC-XXJ">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZPC-XXJ</a><o:p></o:p>
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1857. <i>Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers</i>, Library of
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<br />
</div>
</div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-8156724697315299042022-05-23T14:26:00.003-05:002022-05-27T11:15:45.866-05:00The Gospel Songs of Mary B. C. Slade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In 1889 the <i>Gospel Advocate</i> magazine of Nashville, Tennessee released its first hymnal under the title <i>Christian Hymns</i>. It was a small book containing 276 songs, but it can be claimed as the first hymnal intentionally for the use of the Churches of Christ, as the conservative, non-instrumental wing of the Restoration Movement in the United States was beginning to be identified. And though much of its content would fall by the wayside in coming years, we can identify at least one cluster of songs introduced by this hymnal that are still widely used today--five memorable lyrics by Mary B.C. Slade, listed below:</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/beyond_this_land_of_parting_losing_and">Beyond this land of parting</a></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/hark_the_gentle_voice_of_jesus_falleth">Hark! the gentle voice of Jesus falleth</a></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/sweetly_lord_have_we_heard_thee_calling">Sweetly, Lord have we heard Thee calling</a> (tune name F<span style="font-size: x-small;">OOTSTEPS</span>, later F<span style="font-size: x-small;">OOTPRINTS</span>)</div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/theres_a_fountain_free_tis_for_you_and_m">There's a fountain free</a> (tune name F<span style="font-size: x-small;">REE</span> W<span style="font-size: x-small;">ATERS</span>)</div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/who_at_my_door_is_standing">Who at my door is standing?</a> (tune name A<span style="font-size: x-small;">LBERTA</span>)</div></div></div></blockquote><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Of the 276 hymns in <i>Christian Hymns</i>, in fact, 25 had lyrics by Mary Slade, almost twice as many as any other lyricist (including Watts, Wesley, and Fanny Crosby). Though the majority of her lyrics here were set to music by the prolific Methodist music editor, Rigdon McIntosh, 9 of them--including all five listed above--were set to music by McIntosh's late associate and mentor, Dr. Asa B. Everett. The combination of Slade's lyrics and Everett's music brought about a lasting group of songs that make this unlikely pair--a Northerner and a Southerner, who may have never met--worth a closer look. In this post, we will look at the contributions of Mrs. Slade; in a later post, we will address the career of Dr. Everett.</div>
<br />
<b>Mary Bridges Canedy Slade (1826-1882)</b><br /><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The 19th-century American hymnologist Hezekiah Butterworth offers this tribute to the life and work of Mary B. C. Slade, which serves as a fitting introduction to this interesting woman's career:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In music-books for young people and the fireside are to be found the initials "M. B. C. S." Few people are acquainted with the history of this lady out of her own city and State, except the mere fact that she was the editor of a school publication of much interest and worth, called "Good Times," and wrote much for young people, especially school songs. She died in Fall River, Mass., in the spring of 1882, at the age of fifty-six. In her early life she was a teacher. Out of this experience came two successful books, "The Children's Hour," and "Exhibition Days." She was one of the editors of the "Journal of Education," edited the "School Festival," and conducted a department in the Philadelphia "School Day Magazine." She was a most prolific writer of Sunday-school and day-school songs. Children were her delight. She worked for them to the last under the shadow of the sickness that ended her life. Her one ambition was to prepare the young for the highest duties of life. Millions of young people owe good influences to her.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"></blockquote>A lifelong resident of Fall River, Massachusetts, Mary Bridges Canedy was born into a prominent and progressive family in that city. Her grandfather, John Luther, was one of the first dozen or so residents (Phillips, I:73). Mary's father, William B. Canedy, appears again and again in connection with public works committees (Borden, 514ff.), and served as a selectman (1812-1813) and as town clerk (1814-1815) (<i>Centennial History</i>, 239ff.). He was especially involved in the schools, having been named to the committee that conducted the first school census and set up the districts (Borden, 605), and serving on the School Committee in 1808, 1812, 1826, and 1827 (<i>Centennial History</i>, 240ff.).<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Squire_William_B_Canedy_House.jpg/640px-Squire_William_B_Canedy_House.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="640" height="134" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/Squire_William_B_Canedy_House.jpg/640px-Squire_William_B_Canedy_House.jpg" title="Squire William B. Canedy House, by Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger) - Own work, Public Domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6128544" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Squire Canedy house,<br />Mary's childhood home</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">During Mary's youth Fall River rapidly became a major textile center, and was an early example of the social problems that came with industrialization. The town was divided between the old families and the increasing numbers of poor factory workers, many of them recent immigrants (Fowler, 63-65). The particular plight of child workers was brought forward by an <a href="http://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/750257">1842 petition to the Massachusetts Legislature</a> appealing for regulation of their working hours and better provision for their education. Mary followed the family tradition of public service, and was appointed the teacher for the Second Primary School in 1845 at the age of nineteen (Fall River School Committee Report, 14). In fact all seven of the Canedy daughters became teachers, two of them traveling south to teach Freedmen's schools after the Civil War (Champlin). </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzMlIfingOOM9BegJEAXa-B0AGYknEZagy5B5SZq_E-r0X6brMd6yKBRtDZbVMOL49Za31p9dc2NMFw8ByX3A8iw7XomGt8JaS1MBebhuokxoFQ0zQEBhGublmGbKKAPTUKt-kyEnSDp7-rFdgUVlGrwDbQyLIQ3r3hbKyrIUNt-bGDIrE5kFl8GiAA/s1139/sladehouse.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Albion & Mary Slade house, 190 Rock St. Fall River, Google street view" border="0" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="1139" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzMlIfingOOM9BegJEAXa-B0AGYknEZagy5B5SZq_E-r0X6brMd6yKBRtDZbVMOL49Za31p9dc2NMFw8ByX3A8iw7XomGt8JaS1MBebhuokxoFQ0zQEBhGublmGbKKAPTUKt-kyEnSDp7-rFdgUVlGrwDbQyLIQ3r3hbKyrIUNt-bGDIrE5kFl8GiAA/w320-h248/sladehouse.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Albion & Mary Slade home, today an office building</span></td></tr></tbody></table>In 1852 Mary married Albion K. Slade, a fellow teacher (some sources say he was a minister, and perhaps he was both). Though he was not from the wealthy side of the Slade family that owned the mills, he the grandson of the first ordained pastor of the First Baptist Church (Borden, 132; "AKS" <i>FamilySearch</i>). By 1855 he was appointed principal of the Maple Street Grammar School (Borden, 608), and in 1864 began a ten-year tenure as principle of the High School (Borden, 613). He would eventually become the director of the Fall River school system (Blood, 11) and served in the Massachusetts legislature (<i>Centennial History</i>, 245). </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5ppUhlXmQybxE6EAk80Islq4kMbIpN-1Twv-vU75BdMUXmhllumKjy-a5LAVy7m1GFuP5xLXjMiwhf8cMvu8RNEpfT8aXb-m6aJ-UMmGnWi9KXgjR2_d_6NLrYsKnW7-jqgxXtoo_xWrCEs9CcmstCdMlA0mQsQ5o2eo8BBsoQyySrNoJKsMTPUlew/s1428/unnamed.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1428" data-original-width="1159" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5ppUhlXmQybxE6EAk80Islq4kMbIpN-1Twv-vU75BdMUXmhllumKjy-a5LAVy7m1GFuP5xLXjMiwhf8cMvu8RNEpfT8aXb-m6aJ-UMmGnWi9KXgjR2_d_6NLrYsKnW7-jqgxXtoo_xWrCEs9CcmstCdMlA0mQsQ5o2eo8BBsoQyySrNoJKsMTPUlew/w260-h320/unnamed.png" width="260" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mary Slade ca. 1850, Collection of <br />the <a href="https://lizzieborden.org/" target="_blank">Fall River Historical Society</a></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">After her marriage, Mary no longer appeared in the School Committee Reports; married women of her class typically kept house instead of working in the public. Not to say that her life was dull--in the 1850s the Mary and Albion Slade became associated with the Underground Railroad, offering their home as a safe house for Blacks who had escaped slavery in the South (Snodgrass, 486). According to her granddaughter, Slade used her charming personality and gift of conversation to stall law officers who came to search the house, throwing them off the trail and giving the fugitives time to relocate (Champlin). Mary Slade's willingness to reach across social barriers is also seen in her interaction with Joseph Krauskopf (1858-1923), later an important rabbi of Reform Judaism, but at the time just a 14-year-old immigrant boy on his own looking for work. He walked into the Slade home by mistake one day, thinking it was the public library, and ended up with an open invitation to borrow from the Slades' own books. Mary mentored the young man, and wrote a reference letter encouraging his acceptance at the newly founded Hebrew Union College (Bloom, 11-13).</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0y3uiMp1u2NG1mzasngotZOOvA20kLfIOEyivaEKMvNWfUVGVvcycRYxqwpRHY1XXipiniy7PCfwf6tEH1cnYTywNucvOwhXsSNw-J_nLgLDEMkAmTE9XFbNyn7HbVoYqQh-Z-XzvR2mU45o7kHjeN81TchFgT09WM8XL7vaheYeHXAHDDvYaCJhp9g/s2085/Untitled4.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0y3uiMp1u2NG1mzasngotZOOvA20kLfIOEyivaEKMvNWfUVGVvcycRYxqwpRHY1XXipiniy7PCfwf6tEH1cnYTywNucvOwhXsSNw-J_nLgLDEMkAmTE9XFbNyn7HbVoYqQh-Z-XzvR2mU45o7kHjeN81TchFgT09WM8XL7vaheYeHXAHDDvYaCJhp9g/s2085/Untitled4.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100140246" border="0" data-original-height="2085" data-original-width="1360" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0y3uiMp1u2NG1mzasngotZOOvA20kLfIOEyivaEKMvNWfUVGVvcycRYxqwpRHY1XXipiniy7PCfwf6tEH1cnYTywNucvOwhXsSNw-J_nLgLDEMkAmTE9XFbNyn7HbVoYqQh-Z-XzvR2mU45o7kHjeN81TchFgT09WM8XL7vaheYeHXAHDDvYaCJhp9g/w131-h200/Untitled4.png" width="131" /></a></div>
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Though she never taught full-time again, Slade's heart was still in the classroom and her pen was rarely still. She filled up her spare time writing poetry, songs, plays, and other enrichment activities for young children. Her earliest publication appears to be "Birds and Angels," a moralizing poem published in <i>The Child's Friend and Family Magazine</i>,<i> </i>Feb 1, 1853 (American Periodicals, ProQuest). From that time on her various sobriquets "M. B. C. Slade", "Mary B. C. Slade", or just "M. B. C. S." turn up in a variety of education journals and children's and family magazines. For a sense of the variety of areas in which her work had an impact, she was published in the inaugural volume of the <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.096825121&view=1up&seq=256"><i>Indiana School Journal </i>in 1856</a>, was reprinted in <i>The Sunday School Teacher</i>,<i> </i>and was a frequent contributor to children's magazines such as <i>Our Young Folks</i>. She wrote a number of original teaching pieces for L. O. Emerson's <i><a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nc01.ark:/13960/t9z04s23b&view=1up&seq=5">Merry Chimes: A Collection of Songs, Duets, Trios, and Sacred Pieces</a></i> (Philadelphia: Charles Trumpler, 1865), and was prominently featured in the preface to that work. In the last decade of her life she edited the <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112084285755&view=1up&seq=218">"Department of Dialogues and School Entertainments"</a> in Boston University's prestigious <i>Journal of Education.</i> Her magnum opus was <i><a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t4nk4mt9q&view=1up&seq=5">The Children's Hour</a></i> (Boston: Henry A. Young, 1880), "containing dialogues, speeches, motion songs, tableaux, charades, blackboard exercises, juvenile comedies, and other entertainments, for primary schools, kindergartens, and juvenile home entertainments."<br />
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It was only natural that Mary B. C. Slade would try her hand at song lyrics. To the excellent <a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Slade_Mary" target="_blank">list at Hymnary.org</a> I have added a few other discoveries, documenting <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G2rRKSG68sCk9RTdj-GX9fGwaD_gp_4jkPx7XRDsGbI/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">158 unique lyrics by Mary Slade</a> (no doubt there were more) set to music by gospel song composers. In 1866 she broke into this field as a contributor to an interesting series called <i>Our Song Birds</i>, published by the Chicago firm Root & Cady. The children's music editor of Root & Cady, Benjamin R. Hanby, had the unusual concept of a children's secular song collection issued in quarterly parts, each named for a seasonal bird: <i>The Snow Bird</i> for January, <i>The Robin</i> (April), <i>The Red Bird </i>(July), and <i>The Dove</i> (October). Hanby's untimely death in 1867 brought the series to a close with two posthumous installments, <i>The Blue Bird </i>and <i>The Linnet</i>. Though it is uncertain if they ever met in person, Mary Slade corresponded with Hanby during the production of these songbooks (Gross, 70ff.). Slade contributed 16 lyrics to <i>The Snow Bird</i>, and 45 lyrics in all to a series that totaled 306 songs (Gross, Appendix C). (Coincidentally, the most famous result of this series was the Christmas song "Up on the house top" by B. R. Hanby in <i>The Dove</i>, but Mary Slade was not involved.)</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/George_Frederick_Root_cph.3a02045.jpg/330px-George_Frederick_Root_cph.3a02045.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="George F. Root. This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3a02045" border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="330" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/George_Frederick_Root_cph.3a02045.jpg/330px-George_Frederick_Root_cph.3a02045.jpg" width="138" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George F. Root</td></tr></tbody></table>During the same period she wrote eight lyrics for George F. Root's Temperance Movement songbook, <i><a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cr60022078">The Musical Fountain</a></i> (1866), and his Sunday School collection <i><a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044073549131">The Prize</a></i> (1870) contained three new Slade lyrics along with 16 reprints. No doubt her continued association with Root brought the Fall River homebody to the attention of church music publishers nationwide. Though best remembered today for the Civil War anthems "Battle Cry of Freedom" and "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp the Boys are Marching," G. F. Root was also co-founder of the New York Normal Institute with Lowell Mason, and was the first American composer in the genre of the secular cantata. He was a dynamic teacher, promoter, and publisher of church and school music, and not surprisingly was connected with just about everyone in that field (Fanny Crosby was a former student) (Wilhoit). In just a few years Mary Slade was contributing new lyrics to be set by prominent musicians such as Horatio Palmer (<i>Palmer's Sabbath School Songs</i>, 1868) and William O. Perkins (<i>Starry Crown of Sunday School Song</i>, 1869). Palmer was a publishing associate of Root (Root 152), and also the editor of the monthly musical magazine <i>Concordia </i>(Jones 127). Perkins was a European-trained choral conductor and composer, with more than 200 music conventions under his belt across the northern U.S. and in Canada (Jones 133).</div><div><br /></div><div>Slade's collaboration with Root came to a sudden halt with the destruction of the Root & Cady publishing plant in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Though Root would eventually recover, the company was forced to sell its catalogue of copyrights and printing plates. Most went to the John Church Company of Cincinnati, with some going to Brainard & Sons in Cleveland, Ohio (Root 157). From this point forward we see Slade's songs began to appear in reprints in a wider variety of songbooks from various publishers. Slade wrote ten new songs for the Brainard publications <i>Joyful Songs</i> and <i>Pure Diamonds</i>, both published in 1872, all of which were set to music by the book's editor James R. Murray. A protégé of Root, Murray was a gifted editor (Root 142), and had taken Hanby's place in completing <i>The Linnet</i>, the last of the <i>Song Birds</i> books. <i>Pure Diamonds</i> was said to have sold half a million copies (Jones 104). Murray would continue to reprint Slade's songs during his later association with the John Church Company. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvQFV9csO1n3oG5Z93WjQ78hs1xxx1hK0gvxnAK98XMrzU0wZzuWmf52dxN8BuPItbkUxOXFX9AmmQd-UTpa9spvNCynU75Kd2IJOcZY3GXuRKbHHxJPk7prid3z9MsnejmbYwqI4FneoO8IK9vDqSpQfn-Hm7uU6KPWIngyv7ZX1Vtk2pfSGOUN96A/s334/mcintosh_rm.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Rigdon McIntosh, photo from Hymntime.com" border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvQFV9csO1n3oG5Z93WjQ78hs1xxx1hK0gvxnAK98XMrzU0wZzuWmf52dxN8BuPItbkUxOXFX9AmmQd-UTpa9spvNCynU75Kd2IJOcZY3GXuRKbHHxJPk7prid3z9MsnejmbYwqI4FneoO8IK9vDqSpQfn-Hm7uU6KPWIngyv7ZX1Vtk2pfSGOUN96A/w120-h200/mcintosh_rm.jpg" width="120" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rigdon McIntosh</span></td></tr></tbody></table>But it was another collaboration in the early 1870s that would set Slade's legacy firmly in place as a hymnwriter, and with a somewhat unlikely partner: Rigdon M. McIntosh (1836-1899). McIntosh set out in life as a school teacher in his native Tennessee, but an opportunity to join the Virginia music teachers L.C. and Asa B. Everett (of whom more in a future post) set him on the course that would become his career. McIntosh proved to be a dynamic teacher, a capable composer, and an excellent businessman (Oswalt 11ff.). The partnership was abruptly ended, however, by the Civil War--the Everetts went to Canada, and McIntosh enlisted in the Confederate States Army. Though they remained cordial after the war and occasionally collaborated, McIntosh went his own way in business. Years later McIntosh confided to a friend that he did not know the reason for the Everetts' decision, and had never asked, but the fact that he brought it up at such a late date is suggestive of his lingering mixed feelings toward their decision (Oswalt 15ff.). </div><div><br /></div><div>How exactly the ex-Confederate McIntosh obtained the services of the abolitionist Mary Slade is unknown, but in 1871 she supplied eight new lyrics for <i>The Amaranth</i>, a Sunday School book that McIntosh was editing for the Southern Methodist Publishing House. It is interesting that all of these were set to music by Asa B. Everett instead of McIntosh, even though McIntosh was never shy about including his own compositions. Perhaps there was some prior connection between Slade and the Everett during his student days in Boston, or during his Canadian sojourn; perhaps also they were more sympathetic in political and social views. (Slade's connection with McIntosh was fruitful, regardless, and continued well after Everett's death.) Oswalt notes that <i>The Amaranth</i> included more songs by Mary Slade than by any other living writer, including Fanny Crosby. And though most have fallen by the wayside, this publication saw the first appearance of one of the timeless Slade-Everett hymns, "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling (Footsteps of Jesus)." Hymnary.org counts 200 hymnals that have reprinted this song over the years, the first of Mary Slade's lyrics to break double digits.</div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wbfKgYa_CgLi0b0axUvbmtxvFXriraPhFFAl8m56yoSazlXSTeq5QfsMgVBRu4RhvNAjTopV5UabxXWfscaH8P6BUiqyxX5-4KHH2vLC_PG9c1K5t6qlD6xUQB0UI9X_FtGeVr6joKXkWDQepyp4gxjJ-xoVGdi-nVOp8ekydyAgFqALI6b7y-666A/s793/amarfso00hayg_0106.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Footsteps of Jesus" border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="793" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wbfKgYa_CgLi0b0axUvbmtxvFXriraPhFFAl8m56yoSazlXSTeq5QfsMgVBRu4RhvNAjTopV5UabxXWfscaH8P6BUiqyxX5-4KHH2vLC_PG9c1K5t6qlD6xUQB0UI9X_FtGeVr6joKXkWDQepyp4gxjJ-xoVGdi-nVOp8ekydyAgFqALI6b7y-666A/w400-h307/amarfso00hayg_0106.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">from <i>The Amaranth </i>(Nashville: Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1871)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Atticus Haygood, the denomination's Sunday School Secretary, noted in 1873 that <i>The Amaranth</i> had sold 50,000 copies in a little over a year (<a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/n6/mode/1up"><i>The Emerald</i>, preface</a>). Though this was just a fraction of what the most successful Sunday School books might sell in the North, it was an encouraging number for a denominational press in the recovering post-war economy of the South. Encouraged by this reception, it seems, McIntosh was commissioned to bring out a companion book, <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/n6/mode/1up">The Emerald</a></i>. His co-editor Haygood remarked that this effort "excels in the number of what we have called subject-songs . . . most written expressly for this book," where were "as useful in impressing the lessons as they are beautiful in expression and evangelical in sentiment" (Oswalt 192, quoting <i>Sunday School Magazine</i> 2 (April 1872): 110). Though these songs are not specifically marked in the songbook, there is a group of 25 selections that have instructions to read a Scripture selection before singing the song based upon that text. All of these are by Mary Slade, and it seems likely that she was asked to produce songs on these particular passages to fit with the Sunday School lessons. Anyone who has taught children's classes can see the usefulness of such songs, especially those dealing with specific events in the life of Christ. </div><div><br /></div>
<div><table><tbody><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">TITLE</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">FIRST LINE</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">SCRIPTURE</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/124mode/1up">Sinful cities</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Thou Bethsaida, the lovely</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Mt. 10:13-15</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/126mode/1up">Come unto Me</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Hark, the gentle voice of Jesus falleth</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Mt. 11:28-30</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/107mode/1up">The sower</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Hear how a sower</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Mt. 13:1-8,18-23</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/13mode/1up">The mustard seed</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Liken the kingdom to the springing</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Matt. 13:31-32</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/39mode/1up">The lost sheep</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">The ninety and nine, his dear ones that stay</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Matt. 18:12-14</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/14mode/1up">The two sons</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">A man had two sons</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Matt. 21:28-31</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/50mode/1up">The marriage of the king's son</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Once a feast was made</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Matt. 22:1-14</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/46mode/1up">The ten virgins</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Once, forth to meet the bridegroom</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Matt. 25:1-13</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/95mode/1up">The seed growing silently</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">So is the kingdom</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Mark 4:26-29</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/8mode/1up">Peace, be still!</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Rocked upon the raging billow</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Mark 4:37-41</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/37mode/1up">Blind Bartimeus</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">As forth from the city</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Mark 10:46-52</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/10mode/1up">Mary's memorial</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Mary her dear Master sought</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Mark 14:3-9</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/42mode/1up">The barren fig-tree</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">In the vineyard of the Master </td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Luke 13:6-9</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/20mode/1up">The prodigal son</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">The younger son, unto his father</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Luke 15:11-32</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/12mode/1up">The Pharisee and the publican</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Into the temple of God, one day</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Luke 18:10-14</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/129mode/1up">Let them come</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">O I love to think how Jesus</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Luke 18:15-16</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/92mode/1up">Jesus at Jacob's well</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">O come to the beautiful valley with me</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">John 4:4-42</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/18mode/1up">The Master calleth for thee</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Her sad vigil keeping</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">John 11:28-29</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/21mode/1up">Behold I stand at the door</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Knock! knock! hear Him knock!</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Rev. 3:20</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/48mode/1up">Happy pilgrims</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">To the heavenly Jerusalem</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Rev. 21:2, 18-27</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/72mode/1up">The golden city</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Say, have you read in the story olden</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Rev. 21:18-23</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/139mode/1up">To Canaan</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">We are marching to Canaan</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Ps. 7:14, 15, 25-29</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/128mode/1up">Praise the Lord!</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Praise the Lord, happy children</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Ps. 149:1,2, 100:2, 18:1</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/16mode/1up">The kingdom coming</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">From all the dark places</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Isa. 11:9, Rev. 11:15,</div><div>Ps. 20:5</div></td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/page/73mode/1up">The living waters</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">The prophet stands and he lifts his voice</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><div>Isa. 55:1, John 7:37,</div><div>Rev. 22:17</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>
<div><br /></div><div>Most of Slade's texts in <i>The Emerald</i> (29 in all, by far the most by any single author) were set by Rigdon McIntosh this time. In the list above, however, we see the first appearance of another Slade/Everett perennial, "Hark, the gentle voice of Jesus falleth". Though it appears in only 38 hymnals in Hymnary.org, it is probably still immediately familiar to anyone from the Churches of Christ in the U.S. Part of this popularity is owed to its usefulness as a song for "extending the invitation" at the end of a sermon (what others may refer to as an "altar call"). Its later publishing history was typical of Slade's more successful songs--retention by the Methodist hymnals, early adoption to Cincinnati/Louisville publishers associated with the Disciples, Christian Churches, and Churches of Christ, and adoption by the Southern Baptist publishers. But her most prominent new song from this collection would become "From all the dark places", a missionary call set to music by "Emilius Laroche" (a pseudonym of Rigdon McIntosh (Oswalt 41)--Hymnary.org lists <a href="https://hymnary.org/text/from_all_the_dark_places?extended=true#instances">102 hymnals with this song</a>. It should be noted that despite Slade's progressive views, the opening lines "From all the dark places / Of earth's heathen races" betrays something of the unfortunately typical Eurocentric conception of mission work in that era; that may be why it fell out of use in the 1960s after so many years of popularity.</div><div><br /></div><div>McIntosh issued another Sunday School book for the Southern Methodists in 1873, titled <i>The Gem</i>. I have not had the opportunity to examine it, but according to Oswalt this was just a compilation from the previous two (with only 12 new songs) and done in shape notes (200ff.). This undoubtedly helped Mary Slade's songs reach an even greater audience in the South. McIntosh's next "new" endeavor, however, would turn to the Northern markets, in a publication that relied even more openly on the strength of Mary Slade's writing.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0iz_FZwt9KyUJAtMQm1thf7xDtti8-U0RH5cziTQzLjDhNabvxfkJkov-T6F7u9eDkOqpM2IBlwZcUeYrHea5mvmaHlyQgSgqCHNgdjp6M1eFtx7GqCaRU_MD3GIqd_6HN-HgDO_gTjOnw9AQ1FMRpKvqSZ60HNWj7k96tSEFlfhV2FUZST9Z3OVAw/s1319/goodnewsorsongst00mcin_0001.jpg"><img alt="Cover of Good News (see References below)" border="0" data-original-height="1022" data-original-width="1319" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo0iz_FZwt9KyUJAtMQm1thf7xDtti8-U0RH5cziTQzLjDhNabvxfkJkov-T6F7u9eDkOqpM2IBlwZcUeYrHea5mvmaHlyQgSgqCHNgdjp6M1eFtx7GqCaRU_MD3GIqd_6HN-HgDO_gTjOnw9AQ1FMRpKvqSZ60HNWj7k96tSEFlfhV2FUZST9Z3OVAw/w400-h310/goodnewsorsongst00mcin_0001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Good News</i> was publised in 1876 by the Oliver Ditson Company of Boston, one of the most prominent music publishers in the United States at the time. Oswalt provides evidence that McIntosh may have had leverage with Ditson because of an earlier copyright dispute (206-208), and that Ditson may have seen this as an opportunity to enter the Southern church music market with a recognized editor from the region (210). But McIntosh was also a proven success in producing good Sunday School music, not least because of the relationships he had built with lyricists. He noted in the preface of the work:</div><blockquote><div>Most of the new hymns have been written by Mrs. Mary B. C. Slade, of Fall River, Mass., and Rev. Jos. H. Martin, of Atlanta, Ga., both of whom already occupy assured and leading positions in the hymnic literature of the country.</div></blockquote><p>Mary Slade's work appears in 29 selections out of the 156 titles in <i>Good News</i>, and though she was exceeded in number by the aforementioned Joseph H. Martin with 35 songs, several of her new works proved to be far more lasting.</p><div><br /></div><div><table><tbody><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Title</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">First Line</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Composer</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/14/mode/1up">The one astray</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Ninety nine in the safe fold abiding</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">R. M. McIntosh</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/24/mode/1up">Tell it again</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Into the tent where a gypsy boy lay</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">R. M. McIntosh</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/36/mode/1up">Beautiful Christmas</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">O'er the hills and adown the snowy dells</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">R. M. McIntosh</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/38/mode/1up">Bring the children</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">How happy were they</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">R. M. McIntosh</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/58/mode/1up">Christmas carol</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Once o'er Judea's hills by night</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">R. M. McIntosh</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/62/mode/1up">To whom shall we go?</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Hear, now, the blessed Jesus</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">R. M. McIntosh</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/102/mode/1up">Song for Centennial Day</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Let us raise a song</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">R. M. McIntosh</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/108/mode/1up">Our choice</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Thou, O Lord, all our sin and sorrow</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">R. M. McIntosh</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/110/mode/1up">Knocking at the door</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Who at my door is standing</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">A. B. Everett</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/112/mode/1up">Seeking</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">What saith Jehovah, the holy one</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">R. M. McIntosh</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/117/mode/1up">Free waters</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">There's a fountain free</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">A. B. Everett</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/120/mode/1up">Hear Him calling</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Are you staying, safely staying</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">A. B. Everett</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/125/mode/1up">Summer land</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Beyond this land of parting</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">A. B. Everett</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/127/mode/1up">Loved one, farewell</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">Birds are rejoicing</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">A. B. Everett</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/146/mode/1up">Follow thou me</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">If I, like Galilee fishers</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">A. B. Everett</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/147/mode/1up">"Whosoever"</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">O'er the desert and dreary way</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); padding: 5px;">A. B. Everett</td></tr></tbody></table>
</div><div><br /></div><div>One notable feature of this group is the strong contribution by Asa Everett. Looking at Slade's total output as recorded in Hymnary.org, Everett was the most frequent composer for her hymn lyrics after George F. Root, and she was the most frequently set author in Everett's output. McIntosh noted in the <a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin/page/n4/mode/1up">preface of <i>Good News</i></a> that Everett's death in late 1875 had interrupted the completion of the volume for a time, so perhaps it had been planned for Everett to compose even more of Slade's texts.</div><div><br /></div><div>The most widely popular of these new songs (by number of instances recorded in Hymnary.org) was one I had never heard of: "Into the tent where a gypsy boy lay", with music by Rigdon McIntosh, appearing in 95 hymnals. A missionary song like "From all the dark places", it avoids some of the more overt condescension of the former but falls into the 19th-century poetic trope of the dying child. (To her credit, Slade more often than not avoided the overwrought sentimentality of popular lyrics in her era.) The next most popular of this batch of songs would be the perennial "Who at my door is standing" (88 instances in Hymnary.org), set to music by Asa B. Everett. Less widely used, but successful enough to still be sung today, were "Beyond this land of parting" and "There's a fountain free", also set by Everett. </div><div><br /></div><div>Rigdon McIntosh published another Sunday School book with Ditson in 1881, but with a much smaller contribution by Mary Slade--only 7 new songs and 2 reprints. It was their final active collaboration, for Slade's health was failing; we know at least that she was ill for "many months" prior to her her death on 15 April 1882. According to her obituary in Boston University's <i>Journal of Education</i> (for which she had edited a department), Slade was in the process of putting together another volume of her own Sunday School material and devoted her final months to that unfinished work ("Current events" 255). In addition to touching tributes in her home town, Mary B. C. Slade's death was noted in the <i>Boston Globe</i> (15 April 1882, page 4), <i>The Brooklyn Union </i>(15 April 1882, page 4), and <i>The Montreal Star</i> (17 April 1882, page 2). Thus came too soon to a close, at the age of 56, of a busy career of service to children's education.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOQ7gBsywPvtGeGwFuniPFMy_jAT3IjC8_eE3Qj4kkgFBjNEABba4aAKysBYwy9pFXc-9YsQR-wh7Ag7qDSzGwQV9BrxYR4Wji0fAuzu99q4un4ciViDs5cZt_2US-Zjq_d6CzZe-BUCgkQU6sBldw-0E2Q7Kn5E49clyKfi_64T79sfAsWc7Qs1WBw/s300/slade_mbc.jpg"><img alt="Mary B. C. Slade, photo from Hymntime.com" border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOQ7gBsywPvtGeGwFuniPFMy_jAT3IjC8_eE3Qj4kkgFBjNEABba4aAKysBYwy9pFXc-9YsQR-wh7Ag7qDSzGwQV9BrxYR4Wji0fAuzu99q4un4ciViDs5cZt_2US-Zjq_d6CzZe-BUCgkQU6sBldw-0E2Q7Kn5E49clyKfi_64T79sfAsWc7Qs1WBw/s16000/slade_mbc.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div>But her songs, of course, live on. Though the death of Rigdon McIntosh in 1899 seems to have ended the preferential use of her songs in Methodist songbooks, her work became enough a part of the Methodist repertoire that it crossed over from Sunday School songbooks to the official hymnal. The <i>Methodist Hymnal</i> editions of 1905 and 1935, published jointly by the Northern and Southern denominations prior to their reunification, included her missionary song "From all the dark places". And though her songs did not appear in the 1966 <i>Methodist Hymnal</i> or the 1981 <i>United Methodist Hymnal</i>, the popular <i>Cokesbury Hymnal</i> (1923) included "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling", as did <i>Spiritual Life Songs</i> (1930) and <i>Upper Room Hymns</i> (1942), jointly published by Cokesbury and Abingdon presses. </div><div><br /></div><div>Mary Slade's songs simultaneously fanned out beyond denominational borders into the burgeoning gospel music publishing in the North, and into the growing shape-note gospel tradition in the South. Two of her earlier works appeared in the six-part Biglow & Main <i>Gospel Hymns </i>series edited variously by Ira Sankey, Philip Bliss, and James McGranahan, and one of these, "With His dear and loving care" with music by James Murray, appeared in <i>One Hundred Select Gospel Hymns</i> in 1883. The missionary song "Into the tent where a gypsy boy lay" appeared in several late 19th-century publications by the John J. Hood Company in Philadelphia, edited by John R. Sweney, William J. Kirkpatrick, Tullius O'Kane, and others. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://ia600208.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/9/items/crowningdayno2co00hall/crowningdayno2co00hall_jp2.zip&file=crowningdayno2co00hall_jp2/crowningdayno2co00hall_0001.jp2&id=crowningdayno2co00hall&scale=4&rotate=0" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Cover of Crowning Day no. 2 from Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/crowningdayno2co00hall" border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="506" height="200" src="https://ia600208.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/9/items/crowningdayno2co00hall/crowningdayno2co00hall_jp2.zip&file=crowningdayno2co00hall_jp2/crowningdayno2co00hall_0001.jp2&id=crowningdayno2co00hall&scale=4&rotate=0" width="132" /></a></div>In the South, Ruebush & Kieffer included Slade's "Hark! the gentle voice", "Who at my door is standing?", "From all the dark places", "Let them come", "There's a wail from the islands of the sea", and "Where the jasper walls are beaming" in their six-volume <i>Crowning Day</i> series (Dayton, Virginia, 1894-1904). Other regional shape-note publishers soon joined in, such as H. N. Lincoln's Songland Company in Dallas (<i>Songland Melodies</i>, 1900), and <i>Eureka Carols</i>, 1901, the first book from Indian Territory's Stephen Jesse Oslin. Anthony J. Showalter included Mary Slade's "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling" in his anthology <i>Best Gospel Songs and Their Composers</i> (Dalton, Georgia, 1904). Her songs continued to appear in the following decades in books by the next generation of shape-note publishers, such as James D. Vaughan of Tennessee and Robert H. Coleman of Dallas, Texas. Coleman included "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling" in 12 of his annual paperback songbooks between 1922 and 1939, often accompanied with "From all the dark places" or "Who at my door is standing?" </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/8f/47/8f477552707540e593154305877426f41514141_v5.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="360" height="200" src="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/8f/47/8f477552707540e593154305877426f41514141_v5.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>A prominent Baptist leader in Texas, Coleman also edited hymnals for Broadman Press in Nashville, including the influential <i>Modern Hymnal</i> of 1926, in which he was assisted by his bright young employee B. B. McKinney (Music & Richardson 411-412). McKinney would later edit the widely popular <i>Broadman Hymnal </i>(1940), and Broadman Press would include Mary Slade's songs in <i>Song Evangel</i> (1940), <i>Look and Live Songs</i> (1945), <i>Songs of Life</i> (1946), <i>Voice of Praise</i> (1947), <i>Evangelistic Songs</i> (1948), <i>Songs for Juniors</i> (1953), <i>Crusade Songs</i> (1954), and <i>Christian Praise</i> (1964) as well. "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling" appeared in all of these, and "From all the dark places" in all but a few. When the Southern Baptist Convention brought out its larger committee-edited <i>Baptist Hymnal </i>in 1956, these two Mary Slade songs were included, and "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling" has appeared in each of the following editions down to the most recent in 2008.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was among the Disciples of Christ, Christian Churches, and Churches of Christ, however, that Slade's songs found the widest and most lasting popularity. Though the <i>Christian Hymnal </i>(descended from Alexander Campbell's venerable <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i>) was still the "unofficial-official" hymnal in the immediate post-war era, the lack of a central organization meant that congregations adopted whatever was available and appealing, whether as supplementary to the <i>Hymn Book </i>or as a substitute. In addition to the Central Book Concern in Cincinnati (later the Bethany Press, then the Chalice Press), hymnals for these churches were often published by the religious papers, such as <i>Christian Standard</i> (Standard Publishing, Cincinnati), <i>Christian Guide </i>(Guide Publishing, Louisville, Kentucky), and <i>Christian-Evangelist</i> (Christian Publishing, St. Louis) (Mott 80). There were also significant contributions by independent music editors and publishers such as the Fillmores of Cincinnati, who issued hymnals and Sunday School books for their own brethren as well as a broader range of school and choral music (Wakefield).</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/b0/7f/b07f62fedd68aa1596f426a7077444341587343_v5.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Christian Sunday School Hymnal, cover image from LibraryThing" border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="440" height="200" src="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/b0/7f/b07f62fedd68aa1596f426a7077444341587343_v5.jpg" width="139" /></a></div>"Beyond this land of parting" appeared in the 1882 <i>Christian Hymnal</i>, but overall Mary Slade's songs were not widely used in the hymnals of the Central Book Concern and its successors, which were predominantly used in the (later named) Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) denomination (Wakefield). There may have been greater hesitation among these congregations to include the lighter gospel songs in the main hymnal, because a few more of her songs do appear in supplementary publications. <i>The Morning Star</i>, edited by Knowles Shaw had four of her songs, and <i>The Christian Sunday School Hymnal</i> (St. Louis, Christian Publishing Co., 1883) was even more generous with eight of Mary Slade's songs included:</div><div><div></div></div><blockquote><div><div>Who at my door is standing<br />Beyond this land of parting</div><div>From all the dark places</div><div>If I like Galilee fishers<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div><div>Are you staying, safely staying</div><div>Praise the Lord</div><div>There's a beautiful place</div><div>We are marching to Canaan</div></div><div></div></blockquote><div>Among the publishers later associated with the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (instrumental), however, her songs were taken up more enthusiastically. <i>Popular Hymns</i> (Louisville, Kentucky, 1883), edited by Christopher Columbus Cline and later published by the Guide Publishing Company of that city, included the following songs:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Who at my door is standing</div><div><div>Hark! the gentle voice</div><div>Beyond this land of parting</div><div>From all the dark places</div><div>In the desert days of old<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div><div>Where the jasper walls are beaming</div></div><div></div></blockquote><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfHJSWUMVAd2bLc38dpkOBeZd1ZwTJYlc-b2_C4rnBXAjW-T_8VYghQJ8kMGRrTIKcwt3J9ieOAyYTrojUhDYuDvLdkYkV5OaHVOhFidXdkpd8TewfYhG30F0FvUpEYdK-vN2j0BUjfz5c3xJwU7U6rw5QGqIC3WEO03sU-ieIic3f5T4EJVcTj2Yiw/s290/cline_cc.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo of C. C. Cline, from Hymntime.com" border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="195" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvfHJSWUMVAd2bLc38dpkOBeZd1ZwTJYlc-b2_C4rnBXAjW-T_8VYghQJ8kMGRrTIKcwt3J9ieOAyYTrojUhDYuDvLdkYkV5OaHVOhFidXdkpd8TewfYhG30F0FvUpEYdK-vN2j0BUjfz5c3xJwU7U6rw5QGqIC3WEO03sU-ieIic3f5T4EJVcTj2Yiw/w134-h200/cline_cc.jpg" width="134" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">C. C. Cline</td></tr></tbody></table>At around 300 songs, this book was a cheaper choice than the <i>Christian Hymnal</i> and was well received among smaller and less affluent congregations, which tended to be concentrated in the South. David Lipscomb, editor of the <i>Gospel Advocate</i> in Nashville, Tennessee and one of the leading voices among the most conservative congregations (later identified as the acapella Churches of Christ), endorsed <i>Popular Hymns</i> in an 1895 editorial (Bowman 62ff.). </div><div><br /></div><div>Cline carried over this usage of Mary Slade hymns into his editorial work for Standard Publishing of Cincinnati, which carried the imprimatur of the influential <i>Christian Standard</i> magazine and would become the unofficial house publisher for the Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (instrumental). The <i>Standard Church Hymnal</i> (1888) included "Who at my door is standing?", "There's a wail from the islands of the sea", "Where the jasper walls are beaming", and "Rocked upon the raging billow." A companion book published the same year, the <i>Standard Sunday School Hymnal</i>, went much further into Mary Slade's catalog, with more of her songs than I have yet to find outside a songbook not edited by Rigdon McIntosh:</div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>From all the dark places</div><div>In the vineyard of the Master</div><div>Rocked upon the raging billows</div><div>Come down beside the waters</div><div>Liken the kingdom to the springing</div><div>As forth from the city</div><div>Hear how a sower once</div><div>The Master stood at the vineyard gate</div><div>Once a feast was made</div><div>Her sad vigil keeping</div><div>Thou Bethsaida, the lovely</div><div>In the desert days of old</div><div>O I love to think</div><div>If I like Galilee fishers</div><div>Say, who hath sorrows</div><div>The sun is rising o'er the ocean</div></blockquote><div></div></div><div>This regard for Mary Slade's songs would continue in Standard Publishing songbooks in the early 20th century, such as the <i>Christian Church Hymnal</i> (1906) edited by H. R. Christie, and though the usage dropped off as the decades went by, the <i>Favorite Hymns</i> songbooks of mid-century still carried "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling" and "Hark! the gentle voice".</div><div><br /></div><div>The conservative acappella congregations, predominantly Southern and later to be identified as the Churches of Christ, generally used publications from Standard Publishing or the Fillmore Bros. in the post-Civil War era (Bowman 57). But as the 19th century drew to a close, the rift over the evolving role of the American Christian Missionary Society (which controlled the <i>Christian Hymnal</i> following the death of Alexander Campbell), and the growing discord between Isaac Errett of the <i>Christian Standard</i> and David Lipscomb of the <i>Gospel Advocate</i>, caused the conservatives to sour on the Cincinnati publishers and seek their own hymnal. Lipscomb, in fact, had retained the services of C. C. Cline as early as 1884 to edit such a songbook, but after numerous delays Cline instead threw in his lot with Errett as editor of the <i>Standard Church Hymnal</i> and <i>Standard Sunday School Hymnal</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/DavidLipscomb2.jpg?20070116224221" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo of David Lipscomb, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DavidLipscomb2.jpg" border="0" data-original-height="211" data-original-width="150" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/DavidLipscomb2.jpg?20070116224221" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Lipscomb</td></tr></tbody></table>Cline did, however give Lipscomb the valuable advice to seek the services of Rigdon McIntosh (Bowman 63ff.) McIntosh had delivered the <i>Southern Methodist Hymn and Tune Book</i> (1874) less than a year after he was brought in to revive the floundering project (Oswalt, 100ff.), and Lipscomb probably saw McIntosh as the solution to his own similar difficulties. Typical for the practical- and profit-minded music editor, McIntosh supplied much of the material from his own recent publications, employing his own works and those of his cadre of favorite lyricists and composers (Oswalt 142). The result was the previously mentioned <i>Christian Hymns</i> (Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1889), with its group of 25 Mary Slade songs that made her the largest contributor of lyrics in the book:</div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling</div><div>Who at my door is standing?</div><div>Hark! the gentle voice</div><div>Beyond this land of parting</div><div>There's a fountain free</div><div>From all the dark places</div><div>There's a beautiful place </div><div>I've stayed till late</div><div>Are you staying, safely staying</div><div>Rocked upon the raging billow </div><div>In the desert, days of old</div><div>Look abroad o'er the fields</div><div>Liken the kingdom to the springing </div><div>The ninety and nine</div><div>As forth from the city</div><div>Say, who hath sorrow</div><div>Where the jasper walls are beaming</div><div>Say, have you read </div><div>In the vineyard of the Master</div><div>To the heavenly Jerusalem </div><div>Once a feast was made </div><div>There's a wail from the islands of the sea</div><div>Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!</div><div>Once, forth to meet the bridegroom</div></blockquote><div></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/c8/08/c80852535c0b5a25930534f5877444341587343_v5.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Great Songs of the Church, 1921, cover image from LibraryThing" border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="435" height="200" src="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/c8/08/c80852535c0b5a25930534f5877444341587343_v5.jpg" width="137" /></a></div>Of course the presence of the songs does not mean they were learned and sung, but they were in the hands of the congregations for many years; despite some flaws, <i>Christian Hymns</i> was reasonably successful, and <i>Gospel Advocate </i>was still advertising it for sale as late as 1921 (Bowman 67). In the meantime Mary Slade's songs had begun to appear in the songbooks by <i>Firm Foundation</i> in Austin, Texas: the <i>New Gospel Song Book</i> (1914), edited by Austin Taylor and G. H. P. Showalter, included "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling" and "There's a fountain free", and their <i>Gospel Songs no. 2</i> (1919) added to these "Beyond this land of parting" and "From all the dark places". In 1921 the first edition of the influential <i>Great Songs of the Church</i> edited by Elmer Jorgenson was published, and included "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling", "Who at my door is standing?", and "Hark! the gentle voice". Most familiar in its "No. 2" edition with the dark blue cover, this hymnal was the most widely used in Churches of Christ during the 20th century, and was taken up in some Independent Christian Churches as well.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the 1920s the hymnal business at <i>Gospel Advocate</i> fell to the able hands of Charles Mitchell Pullias, a noted preacher and writer who was also a gifted song leader. Pullias continued the strong representation of Mary Slade's songs in <i>Choice Gospel Hymns</i> (1923) with the following lyrics:</div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling</div><div>Who at my door is standing?</div><div>Hark! the gentle voice</div><div>There's a fountain free</div><div>From all the dark places</div><div>There's a beautiful place</div><div>Are you staying</div><div>Where the jasper walls are beaming</div></blockquote><div></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/c1/38/c1384079758a06d596f52746877444341587343_v5.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="425" height="200" src="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/c1/38/c1384079758a06d596f52746877444341587343_v5.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>Pullias brought out a completely new <i>Christian Hymns </i>in 1935 with the help of a young assistant named Lloyd Otis Sanderson, who would take over hymnal editing for the <i>Christian Hymns no. 2</i> (1948) and <i>Christian Hymns III</i> (1966). All three editions contained the classic five Mary Slade songs that would be common repertoire in the Churches of Christ for the rest of the century:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling</div><div>Who at my door is standing?</div><div>Hark! the gentle voice</div><div>Beyond this land of parting</div><div>There's a fountain free</div></blockquote><div></div><div>All five would appear in later hymnals from a variety of publishers:</div><div><div><i></i></div></div><blockquote><div><div><i>New Wonderful Songs for Work and Worship </i>(Firm Foundation, 1938)</div></div><div><div><i>Standard Gospel Songs </i>(Tillit S. Teddlie, 1940?)</div></div><div><div><i>Gospel Songs and Hymns </i>(Will W. Slater, 1944)</div></div><div><div><i>Sacred Selections for the Church </i>(ed. Ellis J. Crum, 1956)</div><div><i>The Hymnal </i>(Marion Davis Co., 1957)</div></div><div><div><i>Majestic Hymnal no. 2 </i>(Firm Foundation, 1959)</div></div><div><div><i>Christian Hymnal </i>(ed. J. Nelson Slater, 1963)</div></div><div><div><i>The Great Christian Hymnal </i>(ed. Tillit S. Teddlie, 1965)</div></div><div><div><i>Songs of the Church </i>(Howard Publishing, 1977)</div></div><div><div><i>Church Gospel Songs & Hymns </i>(ed. V. E. Howard, 1986)</div></div><div><div><i>Hymns for Worship </i>(ed. R. J. Stevens & Dane K. Shepard, 1988)</div></div><div><div><i>Praise for the Lord </i>(Praise Press, 1992)</div><div><i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs </i>(Sumphonia, 2012)</div></div><div></div></blockquote><div>I would list <i>Songs of Faith and Praise</i> (Howard Publishing, 1994) as well, but it inexplicably omits "Who at my door is standing?", perhaps through editorial oversight. </div><div><br /></div><div>What enabled Mary Slade's songs to catch on, and to continue in use for so long? I can suggest a variety of reasons:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Her language is direct and simple, but not childish. Slade was writing for youth, and mostly avoided the rhetorical flourishes of Victorian poetry, but she also avoided "cutesiness" and talking down to her readers. Her lyrics are understandable to children and still relevant to adults.</li><li>She wrote close to Scriptural subjects, often with specific Scripture readings in mind, and led the reader to make application. When Jesus said "Follow Me," what might that require us to do? When He said, "I stand at the door and knock," what will be our answer?</li><li>She often captured a certain spiritual longing, yet without becoming maudlin. In "There's a fountain free" the inclusiveness of the gospel call combines with a weariness and longing for rest and fellowship: "'Tis for you and me, and its stream I see / Let us hasten joyfully there." The third stanza of "Who at my door is standing?" plaintively expresses the frustration of a struggling believer, asking, "Jesus, art Thou not weary / Waiting so long for me?"</li><li>Many of her best lyrics were set to attractive, singable, and appropriate music by Asa B. Everett, who will be the subject of a later post.</li></ul><div>In closing this review of some of the contributions of this remarkable lady, I can do no better than to quote from her obituary in Boston University's <i>Journal of Education</i>, a department of which she edited for a number of years. Her peers noted her editorial work and contributions to teaching material, and closed their tribute with the thought-provoking observation that, "Her life was so full of good works that we cannot call it short" ("Current events" 255). May we all live lives of such usefulness, to be so remembered! </div></div><div><br /></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>References:</i><br />
<br />"Albion King Slade", <i>FamilySearch</i>. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LHKS-LT6<br /><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Blood, William W. <i>Apostle of Reason: a Biography of Joseph Krauskopf</i>. Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co., 1973. <a href="https://kenesethisrael.org/sites/default/files/uploaded_documents/apostle_of_reason_-_krauskopf_-_12_0.pdf">https://kenesethisrael.org/sites/default/files/uploaded_documents/apostle_of_reason_-_krauskopf_-_12_0.pdf</a><br />
<br />Borden, Alanson. <i>Our Country And Its People: a Descriptive And Biographical Record of Bristol County, Massachusetts</i>. [Boston]: Boston History Company, 1899. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009833153/">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009833153/</a><br /><br />Bowman, John. <i>Sweetly the Tones are Falling: a Hymnal History of Churches of Christ</i>. Brentwood, Tennessee: Penmann Press, 1984.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><i>A Centennial History of Fall River, Mass</i>. New York: Atlantic Publishing, 1877.<br />
<a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t0000rt2m">https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t0000rt2m</a><br />
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Champlin, Kenneth. <i>The Underground Railroad in Fall River</i>, supplemented by the Fall River Historical Society. <a href="https://lizzieborden.org/exhibits/black-history-month-2017/">https://lizzieborden.org/exhibits/black-history-month-2017/</a><br />
<br />"Current events." <i>Journal of Education</i> (Boston University, School of Education), vol. 15, no. 16 (20 April 1882), page 255. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951000712620i?urlappend=%3Bseq=265%3Bownerid=13510798902710298-284">https://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951000712620i?urlappend=%3Bseq=265%3Bownerid=13510798902710298-284</a><br /><br /><i>The Emerald</i>, edited by Atticus G. Haygood and R. M. McIntosh. Nashville, Tennessee: Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1873. <a href="https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/">https://archive.org/details/emeson00hayg/</a><br /><br />
Fall River, Massachusetts. School Committee. Report of the General School Committee of the town of Fall River, 1845-46. Accessed via Sabin Americana Collection, Galenet.org.<br />
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Fowler, Orin. <i>History of Fall River: With Notices of Freetown And Tiverton</i>. Fall River, Massachusetts: Almy & Milne, Printers, 1862. <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008733076/">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008733076/</a><br />
<br /><i>Good News</i>, edited by Rigdon McIntosh. Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1876. <a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin">https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin</a><br /><br />
Gross, Jeanne Bilger. Benjamin Russel Hanby, Ohio Composer-Educator, 1833-1867: His Contributions to Early Music Education. Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1987.<br />
<a href="https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu148758461216499&disposition=attachment">https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu148758461216499&disposition=attachment</a><br />
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Hall, J. H. <i>Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers</i>. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1914.<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/biographyofgospe00hall/">https://archive.org/details/biographyofgospe00hall/</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Harp, Scott. "Charles Mitchell Pullias." <i>History of the Restoration Movement</i>. <a href="https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/texas/pullias,cm.htm">https://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/texas/pullias,cm.htm</a> </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div>Jones, F. O. <i>A Handbook of American Music and Musicians</i>. Canaseraga, N.Y.: F. O. Jones, 1886. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Handbook_of_American_Music_and_Musicia/iJ3tteJkp6cC">https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Handbook_of_American_Music_and_Musicia/iJ3tteJkp6cC</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Massachusetts. General Court. House of Representatives. 1842 House Bill 4. Petition of Citizens of Fall River regarding children in factories. <a href="http://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/750257">http://archives.lib.state.ma.us/handle/2452/750257</a></div>
<br />McIntosh, Rigdon M., editor. <i>Good News : Or, Songs and Tunes for Sunday schools, Christian Associations, and Special Meetings</i>. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Company, 1876<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin">https://archive.org/details/goodnewsorsongst00mcin</a><br />
<br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Mott, Frank Luther. <i>A History of American Magazines</i>. [vol. 3], <i>1865-1885</i>. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1956.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Music, David W., and Paul A. Richardson. <i> I Will Sing the Wondrous Story : a History of Baptist Hymnody in North America</i>. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2008.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Oswalt, Lewis Earl. <i>Rigdon McCoy McIntosh: Teacher, Composer, Editor, and Publisher</i>. D.M.A. dissertation, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1991.<br /><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on">Pappas, Nikos. "Rigdon McCoy McIntosh and the Tabor." <i>Commonplace: the Journal of Early American Life</i>. Accessed 2 May 2022. <a href="http://commonplace.online/article/rigdon-mccoy-mcintosh-and-the-tabor/">http://commonplace.online/article/rigdon-mccoy-mcintosh-and-the-tabor/</a></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Root, George F. Story of a Musical Life: an Autobiography. Cincinnati: John Church Co., 1891. <a href="https://archive.org/details/storyofmusicall00root/">https://archive.org/details/storyofmusicall00root/</a></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. <i>The Underground Railroad: an Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Operations</i>. London: Routledge, 2008.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Wakefield, John C. "Stone/Campbell Movement: Early Years through 1955." <i>Dictionary of North American Hymnology</i> (now part of Hymnary.org). <a href="https://hymnary.org/files/denom_files/stn-cmp%20hmnls%20early.doc">https://hymnary.org/files/denom_files/stn-cmp%20hmnls%20early.doc</a> (Word document download)</div><div>
<br />Wilhoit, Mel R. "Root, George Frederick (1820-1895), composer and music educator." <i>American National Biography</i>. Oxford University Press. Date of access 1 May. 2022 <a href="https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1801003"> https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1801003</a> </div></div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-32960677638512584222020-08-16T17:14:00.001-05:002020-08-16T17:14:18.337-05:00Stephen J. Oslin and the Eureka Music Company<p> The following video is a recording of a presentation I gave at the 2020 meeting of the Mountain Plains Music Library Association, as part of my day job.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S9X4hFsHmCw" width="320" youtube-src-id="S9X4hFsHmCw"></iframe></div><p><br /></p>David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-48423159799647993992019-07-20T18:32:00.000-05:002019-07-20T18:32:20.126-05:00Fight the Good Fight<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord </i>#152<br />
<br />
Words: John S. B. Monsell, 1853<br />
Music: William Boyd, 1864<br />
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John Samuel Bewley Monsell (1811-1875) was an Irish Anglican born at St. Columb's, Londonderry, the son of Archdeacon of Londonderry Thomas Bewley Monsell. He attended Trinity College in Dublin, receiving a doctorate in 1856, and served parishes in Ireland and England (Julian 762). Monsell was a prolific writer, producing eleven volumes of poetry between 1837 and 1874, with approximately 300 hymns to his credit (Julian 762). According to the instances listed at Hymnary.org, his most popular work by far is the hymn under discussion, as well as "<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/worship_the_lord_in_the_beauty_of_bow">Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness</a>," both found in many hymnals published in our century. Other still popular hymns by Monsell include "<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/sing_to_the_lord_of_harvest">Sing to the Lord of Harvest</a>" and "<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/ask_ye_what_great_thing_i_know">Ask Ye what Great Thing I Know</a>."<br />
<br />
John Julian said of Monsell's hymns,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Dr. Monsell's hymns are as a whole bright, joyous, and musical; but they lack massiveness, concentration of thought, and strong emotion. A few only are of enduring excellence (763). </blockquote>
For Julian, in my experience, this is nearly a compliment! D. J. O'Donoghue, writing in the <i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</i>, stated it in kinder fashion: "He urged that hymns should be fervent and joyous, and that congregations should abandon their sense of distance and reserve in singing." Monsell himself was characteristically modest about his abilities, stating with wry humor in the preface to one of his hymnals:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The Parish Hymnal</i> claims, above those Hymnals which have preceded it, these advantages only: i. It is the latest; ii. The simplest; iii. The shortest extant (Monsell <i>PH</i> 1873).</blockquote>
But his earnest commitment to hymn-singing, as well as his bright, cheery nature, is evident from the preface to the work in which "Fight the Good Fight" appears:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The following Hymns were written to illustrate an idea which has long filled their author's mind, that such portions of our Divine worship should be more fervent and joyous, more expressive of real and personal love to God than they are in general found to be.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We are, alas! too distant and reserved in our praises. We sing not, as if our hearts were on fire with the flame of Divine love and joy; as we should sing to Him, and of Him, Who is Chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. If we loved Him as we ought to do, we could not be so cold.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Toward the removal of this dulness and formality, few things are more helpful than glowing tender Hymns; they quicken as well as convey the desires of the soul, they say for us what many are unable to say for themselves, what a lifted eye, a voiceless breathing, has often said to God for us all; and in the use of them the spirit catches their heavenly fervour, and draws nearer to Him it is adoring (<a href="https://archive.org/details/hymnsloveandpra01monsgoog/"><i>Hymns of Love and Praise for the Church's Year</i>, London: Bell and Daldy, 1862</a>, preface). </blockquote>
With respect to Dr. Julian's exacting critical opinion, I believe a careful look at this hymn by Monsell reveals not only a cheery and positive attitude, but a solid intellectual and doctrinal underpinning based on Scripture. It is an admirable combination.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="File:St John the Baptist, Egham - geograph.org.uk - 1521104.jpg" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/St_John_the_Baptist%2C_Egham_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1521104.jpg/428px-St_John_the_Baptist%2C_Egham_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1521104.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="285" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. John's Church, Egham, where <br />Monsell served as vicar 1853-1870. <br /><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_John_the_Baptist,_Egham_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1521104.jpg">Photo by Michael Ford, Wikimedia Commons. </a></td></tr>
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<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Fight the good fight </i><br />
<i>With all thy might; </i><br />
<i>Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right;</i><br />
<i>Lay hold on life, and it shall be</i><br />
<i>Thy joy and crown eternally.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>The first line is a direct quotation of Paul's command to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:12, and ties as well to Paul's self-description in 2 Timothy 4:7. This pair of related texts are central to the hymn, with recurring ideas in the succeeding stanzas.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Timothy 6:12). </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).</blockquote>
The Greco-Roman world of Paul's upbringing was as sports-minded as any culture today, and his home town Tarsus was no exception, having a stadium by the river Cydnus where games were periodically held (Taylor 5). Not surprisingly, Paul frequently borrows the language of competitive sports to illustrate aspects of the Christian life. In 1 Corinthians 9:26 he even refers to literal fighting as sport, drawing on the difference between training and the actual match: "I do not box as one beating the air." The kind of "fighting" he describes in the letters to Timothy is a different word in Greek, <i>agōnizomai</i>, which is obviously related to our English words "agony" and "agonize," depicting a sustained, punishing effort that requires both physical and mental toughness. In the context of boxing, I am reminded of Muhammad Ali's famous "rope-a-dope" strategy, in which he fought defensively through several rounds until his opponent had tired himself out, counting on his own reserves of strength and determination to bring about a late victory.<br />
<br />
Monsell, quoting Paul, reminds us that this is the Christian life--it is never a first-round knockout, you have to fight all the way to the end. Paul could speak of his fight in the past tense in 2 Timothy 4:7, because he knew he was near the end of his life and could do little more. The rest of us need to keep our heads in the game. How often have you seen an immature team become careless because they had built up a lead in the score, and then lose the game to an opponent that found a second wind? We need to be prepared for a long, hard fight, for however long our Lord sees fit to leave us in the game.<br />
<br />
This fight, says Monsell's hymn, must be fought with all our might. Fortunately it is not <i>our</i> might alone that is involved--Christ is our strength. Perhaps the author had in mind Paul's statements on this topic in Ephesians and Colossians, two letters that so often run in parallel thoughts:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father ... that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being (Ephesians 3:14, 16). </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be ... strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy (Colossians 1:9, 11).</blockquote>
Paul knew what it was to need this strengthening. Though his writing can give us the image of a strong, confident man with an overpowering personality, the same Paul admitted to the Corinthians that "I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling" (1 Corinthians 2:3). He was not a superman--he was just a man who relied on the Lord's strength in spite of his own weakness. In a far more dire situation in Rome, he informs Timothy of a similar situation:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth (2 Timothy 4:16-17).</blockquote>
To Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13) was much more than a motivational poster; it was how he survived day to day, hour to hour.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
The third line of the stanza makes a turn from the admonition to fight, to the prize for which we fight: not only is Christ our strength to fight, He is also the source of the "right" or righteousness to which we aspire. Paul wanted this: "[to] be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith" (Philippians 3:9). Jesus "became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30).<br />
<b><br /></b>
The end result of this fight is found in the second half of 1 Timothy 6:12, to "lay hold on eternal life." A little later in the chapter Paul expands on that theme, telling Timothy to admonish the Christians (the well-to-do especially) to make this their aim, rather than any lesser goal found in this life only:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life (1 Timothy 6:17-19).</blockquote>
Now by the circumstances of the life he had chosen, Paul was not likely to be tempted to turn back from his goal by mere material wealth. No, his struggles were with his own past--Paul, formerly Saul, described himself as once a "blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent" (1 Timothy 1:13), who "was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 26:9). Paul could not undo those things in his past, no matter how he wished he might; but instead of being paralyzed by the past, he "laid hold" on the future his Lord had promised, and fought on.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12-14).</blockquote>
In the Christian race, as in many athletic competitions, it is more important how we finish than how we began.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Stanza 2: </i><br />
<i>Run the straight race </i><br />
<i>Through God's good grace,</i><br />
<i>Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face;</i><br />
<i>Life with its way before us lies:</i><br />
<i>Christ is the path, and Christ the prize.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The second stanza of Monsell's hymn probably refers to another of Paul's passages regarding one of the favorite Greco-Roman sports, the foot race.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).</blockquote>
The Corinthians would have ample reason to relate to this topic, since their city hosted the Isthmian Games, one of the premier athletic and musical competitions of the ancient world. The city's location at a land and sea crossroads drew famous competitors from all of Greece, and it was understandably a major part of civic life (Taylor 10).<br />
<br />
Paul's quote implies the need for correct training, but adherence to the rules was also necessary to win; judges were chosen from among the most respected and prominent citizens of the community, and cheating was met with disdain. In Galatians 2:2 Paul explains that he discussed the gospel with the other apostles he met in Jerusalem, "in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain." This is the "straight race" of which Monsell writes, because it is possible to run in vain. Paul applies the metaphor to the Galatians themselves later, sounding very much like a frustrated coach: "You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?" (Galatians 5:7).<br />
<br />
The hymn encourages us to avoid missteps by lifting up our eyes. It seems obvious enough that we should look up when running, but I have had the unfortunate experience of running into trees, fences, and even a parked truck while jogging at night, because I tend to stare at the road right in front of me and let my attention drift off. Metaphorically speaking, this is even more common in daily living. It is not necessarily a major setback that will throw us off course (we may in fact draw closer to God under severe trials), but rather, the frustrations small and large that face us every day make it difficult to keep our eyes on the goal. We need to be reminded of what we are doing; as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews says (I almost wrote "as Paul says" since it sounds so much like him):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1).</blockquote>
When we remember why we are really here, we begin to seek that true path again, focusing on our goal--Jesus Christ. He is the goal we seek to meet someday in heaven, and He is the goal we seek (always imperfectly) to imitate. Not only is He the prize, He is also the path, because He is "Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). In His perfect life He shows us where we are headed, how to get there, and what to strive to become along the way.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 3: </i><br />
<i>Cast care aside, </i><br />
<i>Upon thy Guide</i><br />
<i>Lean, and His mercy will provide;</i><br />
<i>Lean, and the trusting soul shall prove</i><br />
<i>Christ is its life, and Christ its love.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The third stanza opens with a reference to the admonition of Peter:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:6-7). </blockquote>
It is such a beautiful Scripture, it is easy to miss the fact that it is a command! The same is true of Paul's well known statement,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6). </blockquote>
The words of Jesus are also imperative in Matthew 6:25, "Do not be anxious!"<br />
<br />
As my friend and brother Eddie Parrish has said many times from the pulpit, this has to be one of the most ignored commands Jesus ever gave, at least among Christians. I wish I could say he was talking about someone else. I have clung to my worries as desperately as an alcoholic holds on to his bottle. Like many an alcoholic, I have tried to do better, and fallen back into it, even though I know it is hurting me and everyone who loves. I'm not saying it is the same, because the mechanisms of addiction are at work in the one and not in the other; but it is convicting that I would recognize the seriousness of the struggle with alcohol and yet turn a blind eye to worry and anxiety as a "little sin." God help us to recognize our failings in this area personally, and to support one another in overcoming this sin by God's help.<br />
<br />
The Psalms in particular are full of language about God as our Guide and Leader. Perhaps David's experiences leading his sheep, and later leading his army, made him especially aware of the need for careful guidance in finding the right paths, which set this trend in the Psalter's description of God.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake (23:2-3).</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way (25:9).</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For You are my Rock and my Fortress; and for Your name's sake You lead me and guide me (31:3).</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will receive me to glory (73:24).</blockquote>
Instead of trusting our own wisdom and strength, Monsell's hymn tells us to lean upon God. No doubt the most often quoted verse on this subject is Proverbs 3:5,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Trust in the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> with all your heart,<br />And do not lean on your own understanding.</blockquote>
Along the same line of thought is this unusual proverb from Isaiah 50:10,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Who among you fears the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> and obeys the voice of His Servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> and rely on his God. </blockquote>
The quote from Proverbs tells us that just as a general principle, we should lean on God and not on ourselves. How much more so when we are in the darkness of uncertainty? Here is the help we need against worry and care--a God who is there, even when we cannot see the way ahead.<br />
<br />
The second half of the stanza reminds us of the strength and security of that upon which we lean and trust. "God will provide" echoes down through the ages, from Abraham on Mount Moriah when he declares in faith, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering" in place of Abraham's precious son Isaac. (How heavily those words and that scene should rest on us who view them from this side of the Cross!) God still provides. No matter how we are tempted in this world to think we provide for ourselves, Paul reminds the well-to-do "not to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17). Rather than trusting in ourselves or our own achievements, we need to trust in His promises and grow in the graces He sets before us as our goals; "for in this way there will be richly provide for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:11).<br />
<br />
In the final lines of this stanza we read that for the soul leaning upon God, "Christ is its life, and Christ its love." This is a goal far in advance of most of us (certainly myself), but one for which we strive. Paul could say that he had reached it--"for me, to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21)--but after how many years of struggle? We know from Romans chapter 7 that Paul struggled as we all do with sins that threatened to draw him away from his course, but we are confident from his inspired words that he achieved his goal, a life in which Christ was all that mattered. God grant us all such an end!<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 4:</i><br />
<i>Faint not, nor fear, </i><br />
<i>His arms are near;</i><br />
<i>He changeth not, and thou art dear;</i><br />
<i>Only believe, and thou shalt see</i><br />
<i>That Christ is all in all to thee.</i><br />
<br />
Monsell concludes his hymn with a final appeal to renewed courage and activity. Paul addressed this topic often, reminding the Galatians,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up (6:9). </blockquote>
It was a message for the individual Christian, and for the church as a whole; to the Thessalonian church Paul to "encourage the fainthearted" (1 Thessalonians 5:14) as well. But the call for Christian renewal is not just a hollow pep talk of positive thinking. This endurance is based on something much greater than ourselves and our own abilities:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted (Hebrews 12:3). </blockquote>
Our capacity for renewal relies (thankfully) in One whose mercies are "new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23). Isaiah addressed this topic beautifully in a well known passage:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:28-31).</blockquote>
Because God "changeth not" we need not fear change, whether in the world around us or in our personal lives.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet (Hebrews 12:12-13b). </blockquote>
The race lies clearly before us, and Jesus Christ who "fills all in all" will provide us the strength to reach the goal.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<i>About the music:</i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
William Boyd (1847-1928), an Anglican vicar by profession, had the unusual fortune to write one famous hymn tune--P<span style="font-size: x-small;">ENTECOST</span>--which became so associated with him that his obituary in the London Times was headlined "The Rev. William Boyd: composer of a famous hymn tune." Born in Jamaica to Scottish parents, he was tutored by Sabine Baring-Gould (author of "Onward, Christian soldiers), and came to be friends with such musical worthies as Sir Arthur Sullivan (who wrote the tune for Baring-Gould's famous hymn) (<i>Times</i> obituary).<br />
<br />
Though I ordinarily refrain from extensive quoting of another's work, in this case I can present no better background to this hymn tune than what was given by the composer in an interview published in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xyk5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA786#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i>The Musical Times </i>(1 December 1908, pages 786-787)</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Rev. William Boyd, who comes from old Scots stock of lowland border thieves--as he is wont to say--and is now Vicar of All Saints', Norfolk Square, Hyde Park, has been kind enough in pleasant conversation with the present writer, to tell the story of his popular tune. "I began to compose," he says, "when I was a boy of ten years of age. Some of my youthful attempts you will find in <a href="https://archive.org/details/icelanditsscene01barigoog/page/n392"><i>Iceland, its scenes and sagas</i> (1863)</a>, by Baring-Gould. He was my tutor at Hurstpierpoint, and during his stay in Iceland (in 1862) he wrote to me often, exemplifying his letters by characteristic pen-and-ink sketches to describe men and things. For that his first book, I put into harmonized shape some of the tunes he had noted down during his Icelandic tour. I went up to Oxford in 1864, and was organ scholar of my college (Worcester), and I also played at St. Edmund Hall, Trinity and Pembroke."</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Baring-Gould asked me to compose a tune to 'Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,' to be sung at a large meeting of Yorkshire colliers at Whitsuntide which he had organized. I walked, talked, slept and ate with the words, and at last I evolved the tune which I naturally named 'Pentecost,' which had an enormous vogue in Yorkshire. One day, during my undergraduate period at Oxford, G. A. B. Beecroft, a Christ Church man and an amateur musician, came to me and said: 'I want some fellows who write hymn tunes above the average to contribute to a book I am getting up--write me three.' I agreed and sent him four tunes from Clent, in Worcestershire, where I was spending Christmas with my friend John Amphlett--now a well-known literary figure in the country. One of these tunes was 'Pentecost,' which I had previously composed for Baring-Gould but which remained in manuscript. Beecroft's collection was published by Bowden, of Oxford, in the sixties."</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"How came the tune to be associated with 'Fight the good fight'?" we ask Mr. Boyd. "Ah! that is a funny thing," he replies. "One day as I was walking Regent Street, I felt a slap on my back, and turning round I saw my dear old friend Arthur Sullivan. 'My dear Billy,' he said, 'I've seen a tune of yours which I must have.' (He was then editing <i>Church Hymns</i>.) 'All right,' I said, 'Send me a cheque and I agree.' No copy of the book, much less a proof, was sent to me, and when I saw the tune I was horrified to find that Sullivan had assigned it to 'Fight the good fight'! We had a regular fisticuffs about it, but judging from the favour with which the tune has been received, I feel that Sullivan was right in so mating words and music."</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The tune was printed in the 1875 edition of <i>Hymns Ancient and Modern</i> without my permission. In their last edition they turned me out, also without my permission. Still they had to come back, I rejoice to say, for people said 'the old was better.' Since then it has found its way into most collections, Church of England and Nonconformist, and has gone all over the English-speaking world. There is hardly a week that I do not get a couple of letters from far or near asking me to allow of its insertion in some new publication. And I do, in most cases, allow it, but with the proviso that the tune must be set to the words 'Fight the good fight'."</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3OQuUaPmc6eZT7_INwv0GyWfow4j9GCbz5xDYqC1cGYGneFIHecanARGVzo8K4fE-qhv0y3Q21MwqeT-llthCs-jI11hAz4FH11ZW06wi_DODKiTzdirMT8ZcLyGtJHaJTtCZ6eoZJKr/s1600/williamboyd.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="https://books.google.com/books?id=xyk5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA786" border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="284" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3OQuUaPmc6eZT7_INwv0GyWfow4j9GCbz5xDYqC1cGYGneFIHecanARGVzo8K4fE-qhv0y3Q21MwqeT-llthCs-jI11hAz4FH11ZW06wi_DODKiTzdirMT8ZcLyGtJHaJTtCZ6eoZJKr/s320/williamboyd.png" title="" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">William Boyd, 1847-1928</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<i>References:</i><br />
<br />
Taylor, Elias L. "The Christian Marathoner: Athletic References in Paul's Epistles." <i>Journal of Arts and Humanities</i>, vol. 4, no. 11, 2015.<br />
<a href="https://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/article/view/814/421">https://www.theartsjournal.org/index.php/site/article/view/814/421</a><br />
<br />
"Fight the good fight." <i>The Musical Times</i> (London), no. 790, vol. 49 (1 December 1908), pages 786-788.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xyk5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA786#v=onepage&q&f=false">https://books.google.com/books?id=xyk5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA786#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
<br />
Julian, John. <i>A Dictionary of Hymnology</i>. New York: Dover, 1957.<br />
<br />
Monsell, John S. B. <i>Hymns of Love and Praise for the Church Year</i>. London: Bell and Daldy, 1863. <a href="https://archive.org/details/hymnsloveandpra01monsgoog/">https://archive.org/details/hymnsloveandpra01monsgoog/</a><br />
<br />
Monsell, John S. B., editor. <i>The Parish Hymnal</i>. London: Bell and Daldy, 1873.<br />
<a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044077927366?urlappend=%3Bseq=53">https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044077927366?urlappend=%3Bseq=53</a><br />
<br />
O'Donoghue, D. J. "Monsell, John Samuel Bewley," revised by Leon Litvack. <i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</i>. Published online 2009. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/18982<br />
<br />
"The Rev. William Boyd." <i>Times </i>(London), 17 Feb. 1928, page 19. From <i>The Times Digital Archive,</i> accessed 13 May 2019.</div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-88859519252886367512019-04-20T18:04:00.000-05:002019-04-20T18:04:08.831-05:00Follow Me<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>Praise for the Lord </i>#150<br />
<br />
Words & Music by Ira F. Stanphill, 1953<br />
<br />
By the 1940s the Southern gospel music phenomenon was transitioning from the traveling singing-school teachers, selling their songbooks at country churches from the trunk of a car, to well-organized singing conventions advertised on radio by nationally famous quartets. A new generation of songwriters was coming of age as well, such as Mosie Lister (1921-2015), Vep Ellis (1917-1988), Lee Roy Abernathy (1913-1933), Elmo Mercer (born 1932 but with a career starting in his teens), and the author of the song under consideration, Ira Forest Stanphill (1914-1993). Having grown up with radio, and thus being familiar with a broad range of American popular music, they often wrote songs that were as effective as solos on the radio or in concert as they were for congregational singing. The emerging generational difference in Southern gospel was highlighted in the disappointing assessment Frank Stamps delivered to a young Ira Stanphill: "Ira, these pieces don't really fit into our publishing standards. They aren't Southern gospel. That's not to say that they aren't good; it's just that they... they don't fit our mold" (Stanphill 44). Despite this gentle rejection (and others less so), Stanphill stuck to his muse and eventually found widespread success. His "Follow me," "Room at the cross," and "I know who holds tomorrow" are prime examples of this new gospel style and have even been recorded by secular artists.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://hymntime.com/tch/img/s/t/a/stanphill_if.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="200" src="https://hymntime.com/tch/img/s/t/a/stanphill_if.jpg" /></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hymntime.com/tch/img/s/t/a/stanphill_if.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="portrait" border="0" src="http://hymntime.com/tch/img/s/t/a/stanphill_if.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ira Stanphill (photo from <a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/index.htm">CyberHymnal</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The occasion of writing "Follow me" was told by Stanphill in an interview summarized by Lindsay Terry in his <i>Stories Behind 50 Southern Gospel Favorites</i>. Stanphill had attended a missionary conference in Grand Prairie, Texas, where he heard the famous Assemblies of God missionary Charles Greenaway speak of the difficulties he and his wife Mary had faced in their early years in Africa. At one point, Greenaway indicated, the slow progress of the work, and Mary's chronically poor health, had brought him to the point of admitting defeat. But after a time in prayer, he believed that he had received his answer from the Lord: "Why don't you just follow Me, and leave the results in My hands?" (Though I do not subscribe to the belief in modern-day direct revelation, I can understand the sentiment, which after all could be a paraphrase of Jesus' words to Peter in John 22.) Ira Stanphill, who had faced a great deal of heartbreak and discouragement in his own life from his troubled first marriage (<a href="http://ifphc.org/pdf/Heritage/1994_02.pdf">Gaer 8, 25</a>), was deeply moved by Greenaway's words. He took the words "Follow me" as inspiration and wrote the song the next morning (Terry 1:131).<br />
<i><br />
</i>"Follow me" is one of those songs that I have changed my mind about over the years. At first encounter it seemed to be one of those gospel songs that follow what could be called the "Oh poor me" trope, in which the writer describes a life of misery and unfairness. (Granting of course that for some people life is in fact full of misery and unfairness, this seems a disturbingly frequent theme in the genre.) I was somewhat chagrined when, with a more mature and thoughtful reading, I realized that Stanphill is in fact saying quite the opposite. In each stanza of the imagined conversation between a Christian and Jesus, the Lord replies in a gently ironic tone that re-contextualizes the Christian's complaint from a more spiritually mature point of view.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>I traveled down a lonely road</i><br />
<i>And no one seemed to care,</i><br />
<i>The burden on my weary back</i><br />
<i>Had bowed me to despair,</i><br />
<i>I oft complained to Jesus</i><br />
<i>How folks were treating me,</i><br />
<i>And then I heard Him say so tenderly,</i><br />
<br />
Up to this point there is nothing unusual in the lyrics; I could point to a dozen other gospel songs on the same theme. The typical continuation would be a chorus looking forward to the joys of heaven. Instead, Stanphill gives us this to think about:<br />
<br />
<i>"My feet were also weary, </i><br />
<i>Upon the Calv'ry road;</i><br />
<i>The cross became so heavy, </i><br />
<i>I fell beneath the load,</i><br />
<i>Be faithful weary pilgrim, </i><br />
<i>The morning I can see,</i><br />
<i>Just lift your cross and follow close to Me."</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> Before we begin to think our burdens our heavy, let us consider the treatment faced by One who deserved nothing but the best in this world:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">He was despised and rejected by men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not (Isaiah 53:3). </blockquote>If I look at my problems honestly, I can see that in some of them I have myself to blame, in part or in whole; but He was completely without fault. Instead,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:5-6).</blockquote>All of this mistreatment came to a head in His crucifixion, when Jesus, who had once silenced every debater, refused to raise an argument in His own defense against the unjust accusers.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth (Isaiah 53:7). </blockquote>Instead He "went out, bearing His own cross" (John 19:17). At one point Simon of Cyrene was pressed into service to carry the cross instead (Mark 15:21), and from this we surmise that Jesus' physical body had reached its limits and was no longer able to carry it. Even then He not yet begun the worst that day would bring.<br />
<br />
In consideration of what Jesus went through for my sake, through no deserving of His own, how can I even begin to compare my suffering to His? Yet He bore it with grace, without complaint. The writer of Hebrews reminds us to "consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood" (Hebrews 12:3-4). We know that some Christians in some parts of the world today have in fact resisted to that point; I have not had to, and may God help me to keep my troubles in perspective.<br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>"I work so hard for Jesus," </i><br />
<i>I often boast and say,</i><br />
<i>"I've sacrificed a lot of things</i><br />
<i>To walk the narrow way,"</i><br />
<i>I gave up fame and fortune;</i><br />
<i>I'm worth a lot to Thee,"</i><br />
<i>And then I hear Him gently say to me,</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>"I left the throne of glory</i><br />
<i>And counted it but loss,</i><br />
<i>My hands were nailed in anger</i><br />
<i>Upon a cruel cross,</i><br />
<i>But now we'll make the journey</i><br />
<i>With your hand safe in Mine,</i><br />
<i>So lift your cross and follow close to Me."</i><br />
<i><br />
</i>Most of us will have some difficulty with the idea that we have given up "fame and fortune" for Christ, but in the context of Ira Stanphill's life this rings true. He obviously had the talent to write in the popular and country-western styles; he could have followed his first wife's inclinations toward secular music and found a much broader career as a performer and songwriter. But Stanphill was committed to serve in ministry, which proved a far less lucrative field and often just as uncertain. In addition, after his first wife divorced him and left with another man, Stanphill felt he must hold out hope that they would reconcile someday. Despite his loneliness and the difficulty of raising a son on his own, he was committed to remain single as long as she lived. Though the churches generally seemed to accept the situation, it was a painful hardship on his ministry. The cost of following Jesus according to his conscience was personally pretty high for Ira Stanphill.<br />
<br />
But the point of the stanza is that the Christian's perspective on loss is fundamentally transformed by two factors. First, the good things of this world are blessings we enjoy by the Lord's goodness, and not because of our own deserving. It is a hard lesson to hear, but there was truth in Job's words, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> gave, and the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> has taken away; blessed be the name of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>" (Job 1:21). Job's understanding of the situation was incomplete, but his attitude was correct--he was never owed those blessings in the first place. As Job told his wife in the following chapter, "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" (Job 2:10).<br />
<br />
In the second place, the Christian's perspective on loss is transformed by the example of Jesus. Peter did not yet understand this, as a disciple still in training, when he declared, "See, we have left everything and followed you" (Mark 10:28). One can only imagine, on hearing that statement, what might have gone through the mind of One who,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Though He was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7). </blockquote>In typical fashion, Jesus put self aside and made it a moment to teach His eager but immature disciples, who had not even begun to realize the cost of following Him. An older, tougher, and wiser Peter would say:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed (1 Peter 4:12-13).</blockquote>The apostle Paul concurred, in a verse that probably inspired Stanphill's lyrics:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:8).</blockquote><i>Stanza 3:</i><br />
<i>O, Jesus if I die upon</i><br />
<i>A foreign field some day,</i><br />
<i>'Twould be no more than love demands,</i><br />
<i>No less could I repay,</i><br />
<i>"No greater love hath mortal man</i><br />
<i>Than for a friend to die;"</i><br />
<i>These are the words He gently spoke to me,</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>"If just a cup of water</i><br />
<i>I place within your hand,</i><br />
<i>Then just a cup of water</i><br />
<i>Is all that I demand,"</i><br />
<i>But if by death to living</i><br />
<i>They can Thy glory see,</i><br />
<i>I'll take my cross and follow close to Thee.</i><br />
<br />
The final stanza's turn to missionary work ("a foreign field") is much easier to understand in context of the song's background, discussed earlier. Mary Greenaway, wife of the missionary whose words inspired this song, endangered her life by remaining in the field instead of returning home during her extended illness. No doubt her husband Charles could have faced death more easily himself, than to risk hers; but they continued in spite of the cost. In contemplation of this spirit of self-sacrifice, Stanphill quotes Jesus' words from John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends," and remarks that in view of all that Christ has done for us, there is nothing we can begrudge Him in return. Whatever the suffering of this life demands of us will be far less than He deserves from us, in return for His sacrifice. In contrast to the tone of complaint in the earlier stanzas, the Christian now expresses a wish to sacrifice his all in gratitude to his Lord.<br />
<br />
At the midpoint of each stanza thus far, there has been an imagined corrective response from Jesus, which suggests that (if the songwriter is consistent) even the noble sentiments of the preceding lines need an adjustment of perspective. I believe that continues to be the case in the second half of the final stanza. As noble as it is to offer everything--even one's life--to the cause of Christ, with every noble intention there is a subtle danger of pride. That risk was wisely noted by the early nineteenth-century missionary Adoniram Judson in his "Advice to Missionary Candidates":<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Beware of pride; not the pride of proud men, but the pride of humble men--that secret pride which is apt to grow out of the consciousness that we are esteemed by the great and good. This pride sometimes eats out the vitals of religion before its existence is suspected (Judson, 579).</blockquote>Harsh words but true! Never doubt that Satan is clever enough to take even our proper satisfaction in providing service to God and our fellow humanity, as an opportunity to tempt us into sin!<br />
<br />
The imagined response from Jesus is a little ambiguous. The Scripture reference, of course, is obvious:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward (Matthew 10:40-42).</blockquote>The relevant aspect of this passage is that services done in Jesus' name, whether small or great, will receive their reward: in fact, Jesus points out, "even a cup of cold water" (a comparatively minor act) will not be unrewarded. But what is the intent of the reference in the context of this song? I see two different possible readings of this stanza. Perhaps it is as though Jesus said, "You are right to be willing to sacrifice everything up to and including your life, but beware of pride; by comparison to My sacrifice, it is no greater than the cup of cold water." Or. perhaps, it is as though He said, "It is all very well to dream of doing great things, but do not neglect the simple acts of kindness that I place in your grasp every day."<br />
<br />
Either interpretation is Scriptural and appropriate. If we are called upon to do great things in God's service, and to make great sacrifices, let us do so humbly and say in Christ's words, "We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty" (Luke 17:10). And in the desire to do more in God's service, let us never neglect the "small" acts of service that are right before us (and of course they may not be small acts at all to those whom they benefit). Charles Spurgeon memorably spoke to this topic in his commentary on Psalm 131:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Many through wishing to be great have failed to be good: they were not content to adorn the lowly stations which the Lord appointed them, and so they have rushed at grandeur and power, and found destruction where they looked for honour. ... </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Such is the vanity of many men that if a work be within their range they despise it, and think it beneath them: the only service which they are willing to undertake is that to which they have never been called, and for which they are by no means qualified. What a haughty heart must he have who will not serve God at all unless he may be trusted with five talents at the least! (<i>Treasury of David</i>, VII, 87).</blockquote>May we humbly accept each trial with the faith that God will bring us through it, the assurance that Jesus knows personally what human suffering is like, and the determination to glorify God by how we respond to it.<br />
<br />
<i>About the music:</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> Stanphill's music is simple but well-written, and whether he did so purposely or intuitively, he structured it with certain unifying ideas that make it an excellent example of the modern gospel style. First of all, the opening half of the melody is built with phrases that descend stepwise (mostly) through a narrow range. This is mirrored in the alto with a descending chromatic line through the first phrase. Along the way, the alto's C-flat turns the harmony from major to minor mode just before the first cadence.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[The following musical excerpts are provided for analysis and criticism under the terms of fair use for educational purposes.]</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Qp68AqW4gG2vaJZwD3wU6-okp0SiZ6A21zvs68yuml9fOXODzeDw57adLVkyTMe8RGCT8fyl_qZ87KxRPZbRTI97CSNg_cay81L7dovuWRM9ZNegIZvwjQ2DiuM3abhutj2zWrqtPG93/s1600/follow+me-line+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: block; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="132" data-original-width="535" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Qp68AqW4gG2vaJZwD3wU6-okp0SiZ6A21zvs68yuml9fOXODzeDw57adLVkyTMe8RGCT8fyl_qZ87KxRPZbRTI97CSNg_cay81L7dovuWRM9ZNegIZvwjQ2DiuM3abhutj2zWrqtPG93/s1600/follow+me-line+1.png" /></a>The narrow and constricted nature of the melody is amplified by moving from open to close harmony by the end of each of the first three phrases. In the final phrase of the first half, the harmony remains close, and the alto's previous chromatic descent is reflected in the bass line.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXzbdUUMPFkz85gm3gDsI7l2AiYIdsLnex3suU0q2Pf-2Jh7Gf04HwHmD_7x4h81MsxwOM0uhrTV9ltZ9mvCWA9AawIRX1fVDbmDXjHlwDf6QPpl9yT_QPdzBja5WMecoy_VKJ7_wIGXK/s1600/follow+me-line4.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: block; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="131" data-original-width="535" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXzbdUUMPFkz85gm3gDsI7l2AiYIdsLnex3suU0q2Pf-2Jh7Gf04HwHmD_7x4h81MsxwOM0uhrTV9ltZ9mvCWA9AawIRX1fVDbmDXjHlwDf6QPpl9yT_QPdzBja5WMecoy_VKJ7_wIGXK/s1600/follow+me-line4.png" /></a>Musical gestures such as these--descending chromatic lines, unexpected minor chords, and melodic phrases that seem trapped within a narrow range--convey a sense of sadness and despair, which suits the text in the first half of each stanza. If Stanphill had continued the entire song in this cast, it would have been a pretty dismal project indeed! But the structure of the text turns at this point to the imagined corrective reply from Jesus, and the music follows suit:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhve7u1E5nwYthJOdvZuL9v17ZhdIKFglbIUxkgYTXsOCS86XwAjgL9nv_8euAoQwQfqkEAUnodGAYBP__MgxWswJt5jsL5U8mcZKShnehsrMAMIaMDoP7_Oa00zQuHSBjBvjSjPYV46HVi/s1600/follow+me-line5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: block; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="124" data-original-width="535" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhve7u1E5nwYthJOdvZuL9v17ZhdIKFglbIUxkgYTXsOCS86XwAjgL9nv_8euAoQwQfqkEAUnodGAYBP__MgxWswJt5jsL5U8mcZKShnehsrMAMIaMDoP7_Oa00zQuHSBjBvjSjPYV46HVi/s1600/follow+me-line5.png" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmOZ-71qE-AIvvQgKJwn56Yf6ppiqhLUSNXLgKQQP-zyzjwswLvXVaR7kXosVsBbYjSmPtfvQHuyj_dEaTc8Ri8G0sCSg_L86yHM6VPOxDZFOVHYGFcCiojKhkvOJ4zdvli5TxN7xP5oD0/s1600/follow+me-line6.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="132" data-original-width="535" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmOZ-71qE-AIvvQgKJwn56Yf6ppiqhLUSNXLgKQQP-zyzjwswLvXVaR7kXosVsBbYjSmPtfvQHuyj_dEaTc8Ri8G0sCSg_L86yHM6VPOxDZFOVHYGFcCiojKhkvOJ4zdvli5TxN7xP5oD0/s1600/follow+me-line6.png" /></a>In a sudden (and gutsy) change of pace, Stanphill kicks the melody up into the upper half of the octave. Where we previously had descending chromatic notes, now they ascend, invigorating the harmony (the F-sharp in the alto before the end of the first phrase, and the A-naturals in the next-to-last measure of the next phrase). The majority of the harmony is written in open position, especially in the second phrase. Stanphill also builds up to the highest note of the melody toward the end of this section. The overall musical effect is as if someone flipped the lights on!<br />
<br />
The final two phrases of the text of each stanza turn from the perspective of Jesus back to the resulting change of heart in the Christian. The music follows, repeating the 3rd and 4th phrases of the opening half; but after the dramatic contrast of the preceding section, and with the chastened tone of the text, the music now comes across differently. What initially sounded like despair and complaining is reinterpreted as calm resignation. This was exactly the point of the text, of course.<br />
<br />
Once again, I am not suggesting the Stanphill sat down and decided to do these things, although they may have crossed his mind during the writing process. Some may have been intuitive choices, or even a fortuitous combination of notes that struck him as appropriate as he composed. I suspect, however, that good songwriters put more thought into these things than is sometimes apparent.<br />
<br />
<hr /><i>References:</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> Gohr, Glenn. "This side of heaven: the story of Ira Stanphill and his popular gospel songs." <i>Assemblies of God Heritage</i> volume 14, number 2 (Spring 1994): 5-9, 24-26. <a href="http://ifphc.org/pdf/Heritage/1994_02.pdf">http://ifphc.org/pdf/Heritage/1994_02.pdf</a> (PDF download)<br />
<br />
Judson, Edward. <i>The Life of Adoniram Judson</i>. New York: A.D.F. Randolph & Co, 1883. <a href="https://archive.org/details/lifeofadoniramju00judsiala">https://archive.org/details/lifeofadoniramju00judsiala</a><br />
<br />
Spurgeon, Charles H. <i>The Treasury of David</i>, ? vols. New York, Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls, 1892 (reprint). <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007114227/">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007114227/</a><br />
<br />
Stanphill, Ira. <i>This Side of Heaven</i>. Fort Worth, Texas: Hymntime Ministries, 1983.<br />
<br />
Terry, Lindsay. <i>Stories Behind 50 Southern Gospel Favorites</i>. Volume 1. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel, 2002.</div>David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-72536287905354677212019-03-17T16:58:00.001-05:002019-03-17T16:58:34.315-05:00Fear Not, Little Flock<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #149<br />
<br />
Words: Mary A. Kidder, 1882 [1880?]<br />
Music: James G. Dailey, 1882<br />
<br />
Mary Ann (Pepper) Kidder was a Civil War widow in New York City whose pastime of writing poetry became the primary support of her family. In addition to patriotic and temperance-themed works, she became a prominent writer of gospel song lyrics. Fanny Crosby recalled that she, Kidder, and Josephine Pollard were referred to as "the Trio" at the Biglow & Main publishing house because of their standing as the go-to lyricists (Crosby, 136). Further information about Kidder's career is available in my earlier post on the song "<a href="https://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2012/11/did-you-think-to-pray.html">Did you think to pray?</a>."<br />
<br />
The stanzas of "Fear not, little flock" appear in <i><a href="https://hymnary.org/hymn/SSST1880/74">Sunday School Songs: a Treasury of Devotional Hymns and Tunes for the Sunday School</a></i> (Cleveland, Ohio: Publishing House of the Evangelical Association, 1880), with a different chorus made from the original 4th stanza (now usually omitted), and with music by Joseph Garrison. The current setting with music by Dailey first appeared in <i>Sing the Gospel</i> (Chicago: E.O. Excell, 1882). (Though I have not been able to view a copy, the Dailey version is found in Excell's 1885 <i><a href="https://hymnary.org/hymn/GSSG1885/102">The Gospel in Song</a></i>, which incorporates the contents of <i>Sing the Gospel </i>and gives an 1882 copyright date for this setting.)<br />
<br />
The earliest hymnal used among Churches of Christ to include this song was <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/MN41689ucmf_2">The New Christian Hymn and Tune Book</a></i> (Cincinnati: Fillmore Bros., 1887), edited by James H. Fillmore. This hymnal became a major competitor to the <i>Christian Hymnal</i>, the "official" hymnal begun by Alexander Campbell, having much the same content at a lower price (McCann 18). No doubt the fact that the <i>Christian Hymnal </i>was owned by and benefited the Missionary Society was additional incentive for conservative congregations to adopt Fillmore's book. "Fear not, little flock" did not appear in the original 1889 <i>Christian Hymns</i> published by Gospel Advocate, but was in the 1935 reboot of that title and has been included in most hymnals among the U.S. Churches of Christ since that time.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Fear not, little flock, says the Savior divine,</i><br />
<i>The Father has willed that the kingdom be thine;</i><br />
<i>O soil not your garments with sin here below:</i><br />
<i>My sheep and my lambs must be whiter than snow.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The first couplet is obviously from Luke 12:32, and introduces the first of two metaphors that underlie the lyrics: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). The original context is the Christian's relationship to material wealth (Luke 12:13-34, paralleled in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:19-34). The "fear" in question is a concern over material necessities. Jesus commands, "Do not be anxious about your life" (Luke 12:22), "nor be worried" (verse 29); instead, "Seek His kingdom and these things will be added to you" (verse 31).<br />
<br />
Interestingly, Kidder lifts verse 32 from this context and applies it instead to a different area of anxiety: the assurance of salvation. The image of the "little flock" in need of rescue is a common one from the Hebrew Testament; God "led [His] people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron" through the wilderness (Psalm 77:20), and David defended a literal flock of sheep from the depredations of wild animals before he delivered his nation from the Philistines (1 Samuel 17). The prophets later used this imagery to describe the captivity and ultimate return of the people from Babylon: "I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply" (Jeremiah 23:3). Prophets speaking of the Messiah naturally used this comparison to describe the coming Son of David. "I will set up over them one Shepherd, my servant David, and He shall feed them: He shall feed them and be their Shepherd" (Ezekiel 34:23).<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Jesus came fulfilling that prophecy as "a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel" (Matthew 2:6, cf. Micah 5:2-4), proclaiming the kingdom of God to those whom He saw were "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). In His compassion He reached out especially to the poor and outcast, to the sinners, Samaritans, and even Gentiles. He fulfilled the promise of Ezekiel 34:12, "As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out My sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered." As seen in the 23rd Psalm, He promises to lead His kingdom-flock through every phase of life, good and bad, and to bring them at last into the culmination of His kingdom in heaven, where "the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:17).</div>
<br />
In view of these wonderful promises, the metaphor shifts in the second half of the verse to that of keeping our garments clean, so that we will be always ready for the King's return. The reference is doubtless to the Lord's letters to the seven churches at the beginning of the Revelation:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels (Revelation 3:4-5). </blockquote>
The white garment is a symbol of holiness and purity throughout the Bible. At the Transfiguration Jesus was seen to be clothed in dazzling white (Mark 9:3), and in the first chapter of the Revelation He appears to John in the form described first in Daniel 9:7: "His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool." Angels were also identified by this kind of clothing in Mark 16:5 and Acts 1:10.<br />
<br />
In the main body of the Revelation, white garments appear on the twenty-four elders surrounding the throne (4:4), are given to the Christian martyrs (6:11), and clothe the multitudes from every nation that are later seen to stand before the Lamb (7:9). An elder addresses John and explains, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (7:14). The white garment, then, represents holiness and purity before God, obtained not by our own efforts but through the cleansing blood of Christ.<br />
<br />
Our goal, once cleansed, should be to keep the garments clean; but when they are soiled with sin, we can seek to renew them through Jesus, even as He encouraged the Christians at Laodicaea:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see" (Revelation 3:18).</blockquote>
<i>Chorus:</i><br />
<i>Whiter than snow (I long to be, dear Savior),</i><br />
<i>Whiter than snow (I long to be).</i><br />
<i>Whiter than snow (I long to be, dear Savior),</i><br />
<i>Whiter than snow (Whiter than the snow).</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
The chorus continues the theme of white garments and the purity they represent. It particularly references Psalm 51:7, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." It is from the famous Psalm of David that records his repentance after his terrible sins toward Bathsheba and her husband Uriah. Here David pours out his heart, a broken man pleading for a return to his former relationship with God. Despite all he had done, and the consequences he would suffer for the rest of his days, he still had hope of spiritual restoration. As Isaiah would say to a later generation,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Seek the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> while He may be found;<br />
call upon Him while He is near;<br />
let the wicked forsake his way,<br />
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;<br />
let him return to the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, that He may have compassion on him,<br />
and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)</blockquote>
<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>Far whiter than snow, and as fair as the day, </i><br />
<i>For Christ is the fountain to wash guilt away;</i><br />
<i>O give Him, poor sinner, that burden of Thine,</i><br />
<i>And enter the fold with the ninety-and-nine.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>(Chorus)</i><br />
<br />
The metaphor of Christ as a fountain naturally calls to mind other hymns, in particular the great American folk hymn "Come Thou Fount of every blessing." But the image is rooted in Scripture, starting (at least) with Jesus' unusual conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in John chapter 4. Moving deftly from the subject of physical thirst and wells to the spiritual equivalents, Jesus says in verse 14, "But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." There was "water in the plan" from the beginning, for nourishment and for cleansing; in a similar unusual encounter, Jesus told the Jewish leader Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). Paul was told in similar fashion by Ananias, "And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16).<br />
<br />
The second half of the stanza promises that Christ will take away the burden of sin, recalling Jesus' words in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." In one sense this statement is hard to reconcile with some of Jesus' own descriptions of following Him, such as Matthew 7:14, "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few," or Matthew 16:24, "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." To this question one can only answer that the burdens of sin lead to far worse, in this life and beyond, than anything Jesus will demand.<br />
<br />
The final line references the famous parable of the lost sheep, which becomes the chief topic of the third stanza.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 3:</i><br />
<i>Yon sheep, that was lost in the valley of sin,</i><br />
<i>Was found by the Shepherd, who gathered him in;</i><br />
<i>With songs of thanksgiving the hills did resound,</i><br />
<i>"My friends and my neighbors, the lost sheep is found."</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>(Chorus)</i><br />
<br />
The well known parable is found in Luke 15:4-7:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What man of you, having a
hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the
ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost,
until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his
shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his
friends and his neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, for I have
found my sheep that was lost." Just so, I tell you, there will be more
joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine
righteous persons who need no repentance. </blockquote>
This perennially popular story touches the heart in several ways. There is the determination of the Shepherd to recover the lost sheep, however long it takes. There is the realization that no matter how many other sheep He has, each one is valuable enough to receive His individual attention, as if it were His only one. And finally, there is the tender care with which He brings the missing one home; not with rebuke or punishment, but with gentleness and joy.<br />
<br />
Another stanza, now often omitted, preceded the final stanza:<br />
<br />
<i>Look up, O my brother, and be not cast down,</i><br />
<i>While heavy the cross, you are sighting the crown;</i><br />
<i>Go, wash in the fountain, while waiting below;</i><br />
<i>Your sins shall, though scarlet, be whiter than snow.</i><br />
<br />
The final line references Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together, says the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." This colorful and thought-provoking Scripture reference is predicated on the "washing in the fountain" referenced in the second stanza, but the effect is weakened by the awkward introduction of the image of cross-bearing in the same context. The singer is first encouraged as one struggling under the cross, then is told to wash in the fountain. Bearing the cross is an act of obedience, however, and the difficulty found therein is not the result of unforgiven sin, but of the inherent cost of following Jesus. The confused message may be the reason this stanza is often omitted.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 4:</i><br />
<i>Ride over temptation and cease your alarms;</i><br />
<i>Your Shepherd is Jesus, your refuge His arms;</i><br />
<i>He'll never forsake you, a Brother and Friend,</i><br />
<i>But love you and save you in worlds without end.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <i>(Chorus)</i><br />
<br />
In conclusion, Mrs. Kidder exhorts the singer to take courage from the knowledge of this Shepherd's desire and ability to care for His own. When we think of the metaphor of the ancient shepherd, we tend to focus on the gentle, careful attention given to the flock, as expressed in Psalm 23. But the shepherd also had to be strong, as David proved by his defense of his flocks against wild animals. In the less famous Psalm 28, the shepherd-king of ancient Israel described his God in terms of the Savior-Shepherd:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Blessed be the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>!<br /> For He has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.<br />The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> is my strength and my shield;<br /> in Him my heart trusts, and I am helped;<br />my heart exults,<br /> and with my song I give thanks to Him. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> is the strength of His people;<br /> He is the saving refuge of His anointed.<br />Oh, save Your people and bless Your heritage!<br /> Be their Shepherd and carry them forever.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
(Psa 28:6-9)</blockquote>
Micah predicted that the Son of David would fulfill this desire, in the same passage in which Bethlehem is named as the Messiah's birthplace: "And He shall stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, in the majesty of the name of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> His God. And they shall dwell secure, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth" (Micah 5:4). In such hints and shadows the faithful Israelites could see a Good Shepherd coming; how much more should we, with the full revelation of His gospel to reassure us, trust in Him and follow His example? Peter so exhorts us, expanding on the language of Isaiah 53:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For to this you have been called, because Christ
also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow
in His steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His
mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He
suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to Him
who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in His body on the
tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds
you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have
now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1Peter 2:21-25).</blockquote>
<i>About the music:</i><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp6HYY1BUqHG_h_F6vknrcVWUDsJ3Evck_gLsBQ_1O1TStD3SKsdBLG2HvjnBDNMlP9cauipLiO_Xt8jX20lA1ddZPd4o1tFkbhC5VVUzvyGon0wXm89jAqTbLYUcbG8FWZeeFE1180h7k/s1600/dailey.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Picture of James G. Dailey" border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="205" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp6HYY1BUqHG_h_F6vknrcVWUDsJ3Evck_gLsBQ_1O1TStD3SKsdBLG2HvjnBDNMlP9cauipLiO_Xt8jX20lA1ddZPd4o1tFkbhC5VVUzvyGon0wXm89jAqTbLYUcbG8FWZeeFE1180h7k/s200/dailey.png" title="" width="132" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <i>Simpson's Daily <br />Leader</i>, Kittaning, Pa., <br />
12 May 1916.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><br /></i>James Gerald Dailey was born March 22 1854 in Rockland, Delaware, north of Wilmington ("James Gerald Dailey, Sr.," <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174973711/">FindAGrave.com</a>) to Irish immigrants James and Eliza Dailey. His father passed away when James was only four, and the family relocated to the western end of the state, settling in "Brockwayville," as Brockway, Pennsylvania was then called ("Eliza Dailey," <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19454064/eliza-jane-dailey">FindAGrave.com</a>). In the 1870 census James is listed as an apprentice shoemaker, and curiously, is indicated to be "blind, deaf, insane, or idiotic" (1870 census). There is no other information that Dailey had any such disabilities, so this remains a mystery. By 1876 he had married (1900 census), and the 1880 census shows him to have been working as a shoemaker in Brockway for a time, supporting his widowed mother in his household.<br />
<i><br /></i>How and where Dailey acquired his musical training is yet to be discovered; but his rise in the field of sacred music coincided with the rise of the temperance movement, with which he held a lifelong association. In a <i>New York Times </i>article from 28 October 1887 describing the traveling tent-meetings of the Prohibition Party, we find this (rather snarky) report of James G. Dailey's leading a Sunday service:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Professor's presence is calculated to lend sanctity to Gospel temperance meetings such as were held on Sundays in the tent. It diffuses also the solemnity necessary to the success of secular gatherings. He is tall and dark-complexioned, and has a mournful expression which well befits an evangelist wedded to his calling. His voice is mellow and melodious, two qualities indispensable to a singer of sweet prohibition songs.</blockquote>
<i>Times</i> reporters could make fun all they wished; Dailey was becoming known for his temperance songs, which led to a string of publications:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>What's the News? A Collection of Gospel, Temperance and Prohibition Songs</i>. Brockwayville, Pa. and Buffalo: J. G. Dailey, c1889. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/20569029</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Love: for Use in the Sunday-School, Home, Social, and all Kinds of Religious Services</i>. Brockwayville, Pa.: J. G. Dailey, 1892. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/35303952</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Popular Pearls for Gospel Temperance Meetings. </i>Brockwayville, Pa.: J. G. Dailey, 1894. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/39141117</blockquote>
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<i>Prohibition Chimes: for Temperance, Prohibition and all Reform Meetings. </i>Fredonia, New York: Dailey & Mead, [1900?] http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33005380</blockquote>
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<i>"But now abide faith, hope, love; these three, howbeit the greatest of these is love." </i>Philadelphia: J. G. Dailey,<i> </i>[1914?] http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/953416393</blockquote>
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<i>The Prohibition Wringer. </i>Philadelphia: J.G. Dailey Music Company, c1915. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/893059890</blockquote>
The 1910 census shows that Dailey eventually settled in Philadelphia, a center of music publishing. Though he is remembered today for his hymn tunes--including the winsome music for "Why did my Savior come to earth"--he was best known in his own time for the temperance songs. In one of his better known efforts in this genre, written in 1911, Dailey made the following prediction:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Public domain, from Hymnary.org https://hymnary.org/hymn/WS1916/page/157</td></tr>
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Dailey got the last laugh on the <i>New York Times</i>, which had to admit at Dailey's death in 1927 the prophetic accuracy of his song (<i>NYT</i>, 16 November 1927, p. 5). On January 27, 1920, the Volstead Act took effect, making alcoholic beverages illegal and beginning the Prohibition Era in the United States.<br />
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<i>References:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Crosby, Fanny. <i>Memories of Eighty Years</i>. Boston: James H. Earle, 1906.<br />
<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=MpoYAAAAYAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=MpoYAAAAYAAJ</a><br />
<i><br /></i>McCann, Forrest M. <i>Hymns and History: an Annotated Survey of Sources</i>. Abilene, Texas: ACU Press, 1997.<br />
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"James G. Dailey, songwriter, dies." <i>New York Times</i>, 16 November 1927, page 5.<br />
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"James Gerald Dailey, Sr." <i>FindAGrave.com</i>, page created by Jeff Donaldson.<br />
<a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174973711/">https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174973711/</a><br />
<br />
"Eliza Jane Morrison Dailey." <i>FindAGrave.com.</i><br />
<a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19454064/eliza-jane-dailey">https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19454064/eliza-jane-dailey</a><br />
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"J. G. Dailey." <i>Hymnary.org</i>. <a href="https://hymnary.org/person/Dailey_JG">https://hymnary.org/person/Dailey_JG</a><br />
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"James Dailey." <i>United States Census, 1860</i>.<br />
<a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4SW-WVS">https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4SW-WVS</a><br />
<br />
"James Dailey." <i>United States Census, 1870</i>.<br />
<a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZP6-QGF">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZP6-QGF</a><br />
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"James G. Dailey." <i>United States Census, 1880</i>. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWFK-BT8">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWFK-BT8</a><br />
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"James G. Daily." <i>United States Census, 1900</i>. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS6V-Z3L">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MS6V-Z3L</a><br />
<br />
"James G. Dailey." <i>United States Census, 1910</i>. <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGH3-3B7">https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGH3-3B7</a><br />
<br />
"Bailey's tent campaign." <i>New York Times</i> 28 October 1887, page 1. </div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-69422608765307288762018-11-15T18:05:00.003-06:002018-11-15T18:29:26.544-06:00Flee as a Bird<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord #151</i><br />
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Words by Mary S. B. Dana Shindler, 1842</div>
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Music: Spanish air<br />
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Mary Stanley Bunce Palmer Dana (1810-1883) grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, the daughter of a Congregationalist minister who saw that she received as much abundance in educational and cultural opportunities as she did in middle names. His investment was not in vain, for young Mary showed early signs of a sharp wit and a talented pen (Woodard 74). It would seem to have been a charmed life, until a series of personal losses turned her world upside down. From 1837 to 1839, she lost a sister, a brother, then her husband Charles E. Dana, and at last their only child (Woodard 76).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Used by permission:<br />
www.hymntime.com/tch</td></tr>
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By the norms of her era and station in life, Dana would have been expected to retreat to the home of her parents or other relatives. But Mary S. B. Dana instead turned her hand to what had formerly been her pastime of music and verse, and compiled a songbook titled <i>The Southern Harp</i>. In September 1840 she was able to get an initial run of 500 copies published by the prominent Boston music firm Parker & Ditson (Woodard 77). Its full title is descriptive of her approach: <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/southernharpcons00shin">The Southern Harp: Consisting of Original Sacred and Moral Songs Adapted to the Most Popular Melodies: for the Piano-forte and Harp</a>. </i>These are parlor songs on religious themes, providing a more wholesome entertainment than the usual music hall fare while using much of the same music. The success of the first book soon led to <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002482915" style="font-style: italic;">The Northern Harp</a>, graced with a preface by New England clergyman Edward William Hooker in which he even suggested the suitability of Dana's songs for social gatherings on the Sabbath, when entertainment was generally forbidden.<br />
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Mary Dana (later remarried as Mary Shindler) would go on to publish several other collections, and devoted her talents to the causes of temperance, education, and other social reforms, but her most enduring work was <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015007914966?urlappend=%3Bseq=78">"Flee as a bird"</a> from the 1842 <i>Northern Harp</i>. Hymnary.org shows that another song from this collection, "I'm a pilgrim," has actually more instances in hymnals over the years, but the unusual melody of "Flee as a bird" caused it to be taken up by secular musicians as well, appearing as piano variations and even as a jazz standard (Woodard 92ff.).<br />
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<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Flee as a bird to your mountain,</i><br />
<i>Thou who art weary of sin;</i><br />
<i>Go to the clear flowing fountain</i><br />
<i>Where you may wash and be clean.</i><br />
<i>Fly, for the avenger is near thee;</i><br />
<i>Call and the Savior will hear thee;</i><br />
<i>He on His bosom will bear thee,</i><br />
<i>O thou who art weary of sin.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>The opening line is from Psalm 11:1, but curiously, Dana has simply borrowed the simile and placed it in a completely different context. As Cat Quine's excellent article has demonstrated from Biblical and ancient Assyrian texts, the "bird fleeing to the mountain" was a common picture of a hasty and undignified retreat from battle; but the speaker in Psalm 8 roundly rejects the call to "flee as a bird," declaring instead his trust in God's deliverance. Dana instead turns her metaphorical focus to the helplessness and isolation of a lone bird, as seen in other Hebrew texts: "Like a bird that strays from its nest, is a man who strays from his home" (Proverbs 27:8); "I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause" (Lamentations 3:52). This bird gladly flies to its mountain refuge, seeking escape.<br />
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In Dana's poem, of course, the enemies are not the physical foes of the Psalmist, but rather one's own sins. Perhaps there are shades here of Psalm 6:6-7, one of the seven traditional Penitential Psalms:<br />
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I am weary with my moaning;<br />
Every night I flood my bed with tears;<br />
I drench my couch with my weeping.<br />
My eye wastes away because of grief;<br />
It grows weak because of all my foes.</blockquote>
When Jesus said, "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28), He did not mean that following Him would be no work at all; but in comparison to the compounding weight of sins, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:30). The sinner in Dana's poem is as helpless in this plight as a small bird among its predators, or in the snare of a hunter; the only solution is to fly to safety where there is relief from sin.<br />
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The need to be washed clean from sin recalls another of the Penitential Psalms, Psalm 51:1-2:<br />
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Have mercy on me, O God,<br />
According to Your steadfast love;<br />
According to Your abundant mercy<br />
Blot out my transgressions.<br />
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,<br />
And cleanse me from my sin!</blockquote>
The cleansing fountain is recalled in the Messianic language of Zechariah 13:1, "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." Paul touches on the same theme with his reassuring words to the Corinthians: "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11).<br />
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The second half of the stanza is set apart musically by the change from the minor key to its relative major key, and suggests a shift of mood from contemplation to urgency. The command to flee is repeated with the new impetus of an immediate threat to safety: the avenger. Our first thought in a Bible context is the cities of refuge described in Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 19, and Joshua 20. In cases of murder, the Hebrew Testament allowed the slain person's next-of-kin to deal retribution in kind; but if it were manslaughter, the guilty party could go to a city of refuge and receive sanctuary from the avenger. Only inside the city was the offender safe from the dreadful sentence.<br />
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We who are pursued by the guilt of sins today also need a place of refuge, where there is mercy from the law. This language is used in the letter to the Hebrews, describing God's steadfast love as that "city of refuge" in which we can trust:<br />
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So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us (Hebrews 6:17-18).</blockquote>
In addition to seeking refuge, we are also advised to "call on" the Savior, another Biblical image of rescue. Joel spoke of this prophetically, saying, "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> calls" (Joel 2:32). Peter preached at Pentecost that the day of salvation of which Joel spoke had arrived (Acts 2:16-21), and ever since then the Lord has been calling on us to call on Him. As Ananias told Saul of Tarsus, "And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name" (Acts 22:16).<br />
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The stanza concludes with the touching image of being carried in the Lord's arms. We see this promised in the Isaiah 46:<br />
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"Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save" (Isaiah 46:3-4).</blockquote>
The prophecy is all the more powerful in its context, promising the deliverance of the people out of future bondage. God reminds them that He has carried them all along the way, and is not about to fail them, either at that time or in the future.<br />
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<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>He will protect thee forever, </i><br />
<i>Wipe every falling tear;</i><br />
<i>He will forsake thee, O never,</i><br />
<i>Sheltered so tenderly there.</i><br />
<i>Haste, then, the hours are flying,</i><br />
<i>Spend not the moments in sighing,</i><br />
<i>Cease from your sorrow and crying:</i><br />
<i>The Savior will wipe every tear.</i></div>
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Scripture is perfectly frank about the sorrows of this life. An entire book of the Hebrew Testament, after all, is titled "Lamentations." But it is worth noting that in the very center of that book of tears is this statement:</div>
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The steadfast love of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> never ceases;<br />
His mercies never come to an end;<br />
They are new every morning;<br />
Great is Your faithfulness.<br />
"The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> is my portion," says my soul,<br />
"Therefore I will hope in Him."</blockquote>
How ironic that this text, which has become a well-known song of praise, comes from the middle of such a book! The sorrow is real, but so is the steadfast love; God knows our tears, and cares. As David said, "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?" (Psalm 56:8). The prophets were clear, also, that a day was coming when tears would be dried forever. Isaiah 25:8 promises that someday,<br />
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He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord G<span style="font-size: x-small;">OD</span> will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> has spoken (Isaiah 25:8). </blockquote>
Though there has already been a historical fulfillment of this prophecy with the restoration of the Jewish people from exile in Babylon, the Revelation picks up this language again in a far greater scope:<br />
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He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4).</blockquote>
There is comfort available even in the midst of sorrow in this life, and greater comfort to come. God promises a day when there will be no more tears, when everything will be made right. Mary Dana's hymn encourages us not to be overwhelmed by the sadness--which she certainly could have been herself--but instead to seek the "God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3) who is able to "bring [us] safely into His heavenly kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:18).<br />
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<i>About the music:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>In my day job I have had the opportunity to catalog bound collections of sheet music from well-to-do ladies of the antebellum United States, and Mary Dana's arrangements are exactly what I would expect from a (previously) amateur musician of this era: a mix of light classical works and popular songs from composers famous at the time but seldom heard today, and arrangements of folk songs of a distinctive national character (Scottish, Spanish, and Swiss songs seem to have been particularly favored). Whatever her own considerable musical skills may have been, she knew her audience, and even adapted well known secular tunes to her spiritual lyrics. This appears to have been the case with "Flee as a bird," which bears a strong resemblance to the song "Llegó il instante amargo" which was also adapted by <a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/101754543">John T. S. Sullivan as "Break, my heart!"</a> (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZS0VtSDTGd9yrr1SHYxuvwg9wZxE1CS4/view?usp=sharing">Click here for a computer-generated rendition.</a>)<br />
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This publication by Sullivan and Blessner was copyrighted in 1842, and is thus unlikely to be the source of Mary Dana's arrangement; but it does at least give a name to the "Spanish air." Further exploration of the Spanish title leads in unexpected directions. It appears to be a lyric published by Peruvian man-of-letters José Rossi y Rubí (1765-1803) in the first volume of the journal <a href="http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/mercurio-peruano--15/html/027f4668-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_85.html"><i>Mercurio Peruano</i> (Lima, 1791, 1:55)</a>. This text was not original, but was a translation from the Italian canzonetta La Partenza, written by the classical opera librettist Pietro Metastasio (Fuentes 8:228). Where the tune itself joined up with the Spanish words is unclear, but it seems at least as likely to be Peruvian as Spanish.<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">Dana's arrangement of this tune with her original lyrics proved very popular, leading to an individual sheet music reprint by Ditson & Co. as late as 1857. The earliest four-part harmony version I have found is from William Bradbury's </span><i style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://hymnary.org/hymn/CM1859/580">Cottage Melodies</a></i><span style="text-align: left;"> (New York: Carlton & Porter, 1859), where it is designated as "arranged for this work," presumably by Bradbury himself. Here the familiar repetition of the final line is present (not found in Dana's original), and a few other details of wording and melody are altered to the form found in most hymnals today. "Weary" replaces "sick" in the second line of the first stanza, the melody at "and be clean" is A-A-D instead of the original A-C#-D, and the dotted-eighth to sixteenth rhythms are slightly altered in places. The closing phrase of the melody continued to evolve in the hands of different hymnal editors until reaching its current version, a descending arpeggio, as can be observed through the </span><a href="https://hymnary.org/text/flee_as_a_bird_to_your_mountain" style="text-align: left;">numerous scans available at hymnary.org</a><span style="text-align: left;">.</span><br />
<span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-align: left;">Not surprisingly, this somewhat unusual hymn entered the repertoire of the Churches of Christ via Elmer Jorgenson's <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>, in the 1930 edition. For most of my youth it was the only minor-key tune in the hymnals we used (depending on how you describe the tonality of "O sacred Head"). It has been recorded several times over the years by the choirs of our Christian colleges, which helped its popularity to spread.</span><br />
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<i>References</i>:<br />
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Woodard, Patricia. “‘Flee as a Bird’: Mary Dana Shindler's Legacy.” <i>American Music</i>, vol. 26, no. 1, 2008, pp. 74–103. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40071689">https://www.jstor.org/stable/40071689</a><br />
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Quine, Cat. "The Bird and the Mountains: A Note on Psalm 11." <i>Vetus Testamentum</i>, vol. 67 (2017), 470-479.<br />
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Fuentes, Manuel A. <i>Biblioteca peruana de historia, ciencias y literatura</i>. Lima: Bailly, 1861. <a href="https://archive.org/details/bibliotecaperuan08fuen">https://archive.org/details/bibliotecaperuan08fuen</a></div>
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David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-13040466750897507942018-10-14T19:05:00.000-05:002018-10-14T19:05:40.111-05:00Fanny Crosby and the "Raptured Soul"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <i>Songs of Devotion for Christian Associations </i>(New York: Biglow & Main, 1871)</td></tr>
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<i>In the cross, in the cross,</i><br />
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<i>be my glory ever;</i></div>
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<i>till my raptured soul shall find</i></div>
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<i>rest beyond the river.</i></div>
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-- Fanny Crosby, "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross" (1869)</div>
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This popular old hymn is sung very widely among Churches of Christ, and as far as I have ever heard, the only widespread controversy about it is over the exact notes to be sung in the last phrase of the melody (let the reader understand). But I must thank my sister Laura for setting me puzzling again about another question that has occurred to me and probably others over the years--was Fanny Crosby's "raptured soul" referring to "The Rapture" as that term is used in Premillennial doctrine?<br />
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<b>The Rapture and the Hymnal</b><br />
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The majority of Churches of Christ rejected this teaching several decades ago as impossible to reconcile with several plain, straightforward Scriptures. I recognize that this will surprise some readers who may assume that any group as conservative as we (generally) are would share the "end times" views of most fundamentalists. To put this as briefly as possible: Paul teaches that the faithful living will not leave this world with Christ before the resurrection of the faithful dead (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17), and Jesus teaches that the resurrection of the faithful will occur along with the resurrection of the unfaithful in a common judgment (John 5:28-29). The simplest solution is that all of this occurs at once, when Jesus comes again--"and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him" (Revelation 1:7). What about Matthew 24:40-41, where "one shall be taken, and the other left"? We already know from 1 Thessalonians 4 that the faithful living and the faithful dead will "meet the Lord in the air," a blessing not promised to the unfaithful. The emphasis of the Matthew 24 passage is that judgment will come suddenly, in the midst of life, separating the righteous from the wicked as the judgment begins. By way of contrast, and I mean this kindly, compare this straightforward explanation to the labyrinth of frequently contradictory doctrines that have arisen from Premillennialism. For further study on this topic, I recommend Don Blackwell's video presentation <a href="http://thetruthabout.net/video/No-One-Left-Behind">"No one left behind"</a> as a good, clear summary.<br />
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But did we let something slip past us in the hymnal? I have never encountered a serious objection to this hymn myself, but it has been altered in several hymnals down through the years. A search of the available instances in Hymnary.org shows that the most common alteration is simply to say "ransomed soul" instead of "raptured soul," as found in <i>Tabernacle Hymns no. 4</i> (Chicago: Tabernacle Publishing, 1960), <i>The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration</i> (Nashville: Word Music, 1986), <i>The Baptist Hymnal</i> (Nashville: Convention Press, 1991 and Lifeway, 2008 editions), <i>The New Century Hymnal</i> (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1995), <i>The African American Heritage Hymnal</i> (Chicago: GIA Publications, 2001), <i>Evangelical Lutheran Worship</i> (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press, 2006), and the <i>Celebrating Grace Hymnal</i> (Macon, Ga.: Celebrating Grace, 2010). The alteration of this single word in the refrain suggests that as the Rapture doctrine became more widely talked about in the late 20th century, at least some people wanted to avoid that implication. Interestingly, among the hymnals used by the churches of Christ, I have not found one that used this alteration--even <i>Sacred Selections</i> uses "raptured soul," and if any editor were going to change the words, it would have been Brother Crum! From a practical standpoint, though, "ransomed soul" is a neat solution, and many people would not notice the difference.<br />
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<b>The Changing Meanings of "Rapture": The Verb</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Oxford English Dictionary</i>, <br />
1989 edition (Wikipedia)</td></tr>
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Regardless of modern sensibilities about the word, what did Fanny Crosby mean when she wrote it in the chorus of this hymn? This makes an interesting study in the history of doctrines and the changing meanings of words. To understand what Mrs. Crosby meant by a "raptured soul," we need to know first what common usage was when the hymn was written in 1869. The <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i> is the most thorough and scholarly descriptive dictionary of the English language (20-plus massive volumes in the print version), and has the useful feature of tracking the history of a word through the centuries. The entry for "rapture" as a verb indicates that one might be "raptured," in the sense of being carried away with excitement, as early as 1636:</div>
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If he heare a strange Preacher, he at his comming down, as raptur'd with his Doctrine, salutes him with a cringe. --T. Heywood <i>True Disc. Two Infamous Upstart Prophets</i></blockquote>
By contrast, the use of this verb in the Premillennial sense ("to cause (believers) to ascend into heaven as part of the rapture of the Church," <i>OED</i>) is first quoted from 1865:<br />
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To rise from the carnal with so little memory of earth--to be raptured as a blessed babe through the gates of Paradise. --J. H. Carroll in G. Hallock, <i>History of the South Congregational Church</i></blockquote>
The <i>OED</i> is careful to note that in this instance, however, it may only mean "to cause to ascend into heaven after death." A clearer occurrence of the term in its specific, modern usage comes from 1899:<br />
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We shall in glory, by and by . . . Be raptured up; then as thy own Blood-purchased Bride, wilt share thy throne. --J. H. Garratt, <i>Coming Judgment</i></blockquote>
This is a definite use of the word in connection with being physically taken up from this earth, obviously referencing 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17.<br />
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For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.</blockquote>
Though the verb "to rapture" does not appear in any major English Bible translations, we find that in the Latin Vulgate, "will be caught up" in verse 17 is "rapiemur," the participle of which is "raptura" from which we derive our English word. (It should be noted, of course, that the Catholic Church has never taught a Premillennial Rapture.) It is likely that the influence of the Latin text led to the later use of "raptured" and "rapture" in reference to the teaching in this passage. The Rheims Bible of 1582 uses another form of this Latin root in 2 Corinthians 12:2, as Paul describes his experience of paradise: "I know a man in Christ above fourtene yeres agoe (whether in the body, I know not: or out of the body, I know not: God doth know) such a one rapt even to the third heaven." In the 1 Thessalonians 4 passage, however, the Rheims translators used "taken up" (<i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IYNPAAAAYAAJ">English Hexapla</a></i>).<br />
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<b>The Changing Meanings of "Rapture": The Noun</b><br />
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As for the use of "rapture" as a noun, it obviously has a long history in describing "a state, condition, or fit of intense delight or enthusiasm" (<i>OED</i>), a definition that need not concern us here, and a more recent history in describing a specific eschatological event--"the transport of believers to heaven at the Second Coming of Christ." (Note that even the <i>OED</i> dodges the question of "pre-tribulation," etc.!) The <i>OED</i>'s earliest cited example of the noun "rapture" in this context, complete with capital "R," is from 1768:<br />
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We have determined likewise, from the Circumstance of the Rapture of the Saints , . . that the Air or Atmosphere will be the Place of the Judgement. -- T. Broughton, <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/prospectoffuturi00brou">Prospect of Futurity</a></i> iii. viii. 357</blockquote>
This is not a Premillennial Rapture; read in context, Broughton placed the Rapture at the time of the general Judgment of all humanity. And though Broughton's writing is notable for using "the Rapture" repeatedly as a concept-word, he was not the first. Joseph Mede (1586-1638), a controversial Cambridge professor, used the the term "Rapture" in the early 17th century, but placed it <i>after </i>a Millennial reign of Christ on the earth:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Suppose therefore this </span><span class="rend-italic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">Rapture</span><span style="background-color: white;"> of the Saints </span><span class="rend-italic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">into the Aire</span><span style="background-color: white;"> be to translate them to Heaven; yet it might be construed thus, </span><span class="rend-italic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">The dead in Christ</span><span style="background-color: white;"> (that is, </span><span class="rend-italic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">for Christ,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> namely, the Martyrs) </span><span class="rend-italic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">shall rise first; afterwards,<span style="color: #cc6600;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white;">(</span><span class="rend-italic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">viz.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> a thousand years after) </span><span class="rend-italic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">we which are alive and remain shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, and meet the Lord in the Aire, and so</span><span style="background-color: white;"> (from thenceforth) </span><span class="rend-italic" style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">we shall ever be with the Lord</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span>(<a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A50522.0001.001/1:72.22?rgn=div2;view=fulltext"><i>Works</i>, book 4, epistle 22</a>; italics in original).</blockquote>
Matthew Henry's commentary on the New Testament letters, published after his death in 1714, also uses the term "rapture" in <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc6.iTh.v.html">his discussion of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.</a><br />
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Those that shall be found alive will then be changed. They shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, v. 17. At, or immediately before, this rapture into the clouds, those who are alive will undergo a mighty change, which will be equivalent to dying.</blockquote>
Henry, a prominent Postmillennialist, also placed the Rapture at the same time as the Judgment (Blaising, Gentry, Strimple 18). A similar use of the word by an early U.S. writer may be found in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=_BBdAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false">Samuel Blatchford's sermon "The excellency of the Scriptures,"</a> published in Albany, New York in 1811, though it is also possible that it might just refer to a state of ecstasy:</div>
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Where but in the sacred scriptures is the veil torn asunder, which concealed from mortals the great consummation of all things? The dissolving heavens--the melting elements--the burning globe--the resurrection of the dead--the erection of the throne of judgment--the assembling of the universe--the rapture of the saints as they pass through the portals of celestial glory--and the groans of the damned as they sink under the sentence of their God into the prison of despair? (Blatchford 25)</blockquote>
<b>The Origins of the Capital-R "Rapture" in the Premillennial Context</b><br />
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The next instance given by the <i>Oxford English Dictionary</i>, however, is definitely describing "the Rapture" as it is spoken of today:<br />
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I am not aware that there was any definite teaching . . . that there would be a secret rapture of the saints at a secret coming (W. Kelly, <i>Rapture of Saints</i>, 1903).</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Nelson Darby (Wikipedia)</td></tr>
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It is important to note, for sake of clarity, that Kelly was in fact quoting someone with whom he disagreed, though he does not identify the source of the quote. Kelly <a href="http://www.stempublishing.com/authors/kelly/7subjcts/rapture.html">defended the concept of the Premillennial Rapture</a>, and was speaking of the history of the doctrine within the Plymouth Brethren, and in the teachings of John N. Darby (1800-1882) in particular, of whom more in a moment. In this case the limited space of any dictionary, even the mighty <i>OED</i>, could lead to the incorrect conclusion based on the Kelly quote that the Premillennial Rapture was an invention of the last decades of the 19th century. As much easier as that would make the task of my inquiry, it should be noted that the concept of a Premillennial Rapture was taught in some circles, at least in the British Isles, considerably before the time Fanny Crosby wrote the hymn under discussion.<br />
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David Malcolm Bennett tells that Morgan Edwards (1722-1795), a Welsh Baptist who later settled in the American colonies, wrote of this concept in the 18th century (<i>Origins</i>, 172ff.). Edwards did not, however, use the term "Rapture" in his writings. The earliest clear usage of "Rapture" in a Premillennial context is apparently an essay in the September 1830 issue of Edward Irving's <i>Morning Watch</i>, written by one "T.W.C." (likely T. W. Chevalier), who describes the "rapture unto the Lord in the air" (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1ng3AAAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AmbOGmG_Ttl8C&pg=PA590#v=onepage&q&f=false">T.W.C. 590</a>). At this point the terminology seems to have stuck; a search of books.google.com for the phrase "rapture of the saints" yields several instances from the 1830s, primarily from the press of John Nisbet, an Irving associate. One of the most dramatic evidences of this rise in popularity of the term and of the concept of a Premillennial Rapture is found in William Cuninghame's <i>Dissertation on the Seals and Trumpets of the Apocalypse</i>; from the second edition of 1817 to the third edition of 1832, Cuninghame added a new chapter: "On the order of the events connected with the Second Advent of Our Lord," with a subsection on "The sudden advent of our Lord--the rapture of the saints" (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031427944?urlappend=%3Bseq=557">491 ff.</a>; cf. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6348sr24?urlappend=%3Bseq=37">2nd ed. contents</a>, <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031427944?urlappend=%3Bseq=47">3rd ed. contents</a>)<br />
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It was not Irving and his immediate circle, however, who would popularize the concept of a pre-Tribulation Rapture as the doctrine is understood by its adherents today; Irving's embrace of tongue-speaking, new revelations, and especially his controversial views on Christ's humanity, placed him too far outside the mainstream (<a href="http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/apocalypse/irvingite.html">Landow</a>). The torch of Premillennialism would be picked up instead by the Anglo-Irish minister and scholar, John N. Darby (<a href="http://www.stempublishing.com/authors/kelly/7subjcts/rapture.html">William Kelly's article cited above</a> goes to considerable lengths to argue against the direct influence of Irving on Darby). Darby was naturally most influential in the British Isles, but he also traveled to the United States and Canada in 1859, 1865-65, 1866-68, 1870, 1872-73, and 1874 (Schaff-Herzog). His influence apparently grew only slowly within the mainstream of American Evangelical thought, however, and did not begin to make inroads until the 1870s. The slower acceptance of this teaching in the U.S. might have been caused by the lingering impact of the "Great Disappointment" of 1844, when William Miller's widely publicized prediction of Christ's return failed to materialize (Court 122-123). Darby did however receive speaking invitations from such luminaries as Dwight Moody, who was certainly influenced by him (Schuck 517). Despite its relatively slower start, Premillennialism was in the air in the post-Civil War United States. Beginning with an informal meeting in New York in 1868, leaders from various denominations began to meet to discuss prophecy, leading to an annual meeting called the Niagara Prophecy Conference. With the publication of the 1878 "Niagara Creed," Premillennialism was undeniably an established movement in the United States (Stone 507-508).<br />
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<b>Fanny Crosby and Her Theological Circle</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portrait of Fanny Crosby and songwriter <br />
Ira Sankey (Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
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But what was Fanny Crosby's relationship to such doctrinal issues, and to the people who espoused them? At this point it is useful to note a quote attributed to Crosby after her death by journalist William Hale Beckford: "I have never thought much about theology. The two all-important things, it seems to me, are character and kindness" (Beckford 247). Whether Crosby was really so theologically naive is debatable, but it fits with her generally non-doctrinaire hymns and personal associations. She was raised a "Calvinistic Presbyterian" (Crosby <i>Memories</i> 28), but an experience at a Methodist revival meeting in 1850 was the spiritual turning point in her life (<i>Memories</i> 96). One of the leading lights among New York City Methodists during this time, who no doubt influenced and reinforced Crosby's conversion, was Phoebe Palmer, author of <i>The Way of Holiness</i> and a founding theologian of the Wesleyan Holiness movement in the U.S. (Blumhofer 108ff.). (Palmer was the mother of Phoebe Palmer Knapp, composer of the music for "Blessed Assurance"). Crosby however still "frequently attended" the Dutch Reformed Church on 23rd Street (<i>Memories </i>114).<br />
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In the course of writing Fanny Crosby's <i>Story of Ninety-Four Years</i>, her nephew Samuel Trevena Jackson asked Crosby to tell him about the great ministers she had known (chapter 9, "My notable preachers"). Her response to this prompt reveals a distinguished list of acquaintances among the Methodist leadership of her day, as well as a smattering of prominent Episcopalians, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians:<br />
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Randolph S. Foster<br />
J. O. Peck<br />
James M. Buckley<br />
Charles Cardwell McCabe<br />
Thomas Bowman<br />
Edward Andrews<br />
John P. Newman<br />
John Fletcher Hurst<br />
Phillips Brooks<br />
Charles H. Fowler<br />
Matthew Simpson<br />
Henry Ward Beecher<br />
Richard Salter Storrs<br />
John Hall<br />
Howard Crosby<br />
Adolphus J. F. Behrends<br />
Theodore L. Cuyler</blockquote>
Given the state of flux on the question of the Millennium among Evangelicals at the close of the 19th century, it is risky to say that none of these ever held Premillennial views. I can say at least that I found no evidence that any of these men did hold to those doctrines, and in some cases could show that they did not. Behrends, for example, said in <i>The World for Christ</i> (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1896):<br />
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It is equally clear that social and institutional changes are most directly and powerfully affected through changes in moral ideals and religious convictions. The process may be too slow for enthusiastic reformers who would bring in the millennium at a stroke, but it is the only steady and sure one. The Gospel is like leaven, working from within outward and leavening the whole lump (65).</blockquote>
This was classic Postmillennialism, a more common 19th-century view that looked for the return of Christ after a "Christian millennium" in which the gospel would convert the whole world. (That some Restoration Movement leaders believed the same is evident from Alexander Campbell's well known journal title <i>Millennial Harbinger</i>.) The same view is apparent in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uU0nAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false">"The Second Coming of Our Lord" (Homiletic Review 21:1, 46-50)</a> by Presbyterian John Hall, who takes Premillennialism to task kindly but firmly. Gillis Harp's biography of Phillips Brooks, yet another of Crosby's favorites, notes that his eschatology was defined in part by his reaction against Premillennialism during the 1870s (Harp 187). John Fletcher Hurst's <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=vsIXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA77#v=onepage&q&f=false">Outline of Church History</a> </i>also treats the Premillennial movement as a disruption of Presbyterian unity.<br />
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Looking at the question from a different angle, we can know at least by 1878 who the leading lights were in Premillennialism. The Prophetic Conference held that year in New York City was thoroughly documented in a published record of the minutes, including a <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hn1fdi?urlappend=%3Bseq=18">list of 114 clergy who endorsed the conference</a>. Of this number, only six were Methodists, Fanny Crosby's own denomination; the majority were Presbyterians and Baptists. Premillennialism was just not that prominent in mainstream Methodism, either then or now. Not surprisingly, none of the churchmen Crosby listed for her nephew were involved, though the Prophetic Conference list does include Daniel W. Whittle (author of "I know Whom I have believed"), with whom Crosby was friends (Crosby <i>Memories</i> 137).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://hymnary.org/page/fetch/WT1877/143/low" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="640" height="321" src="https://hymnary.org/page/fetch/WT1877/143/low" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <i>Welcome Tidings </i>(New York: Biglow & Main, 1877)</td></tr>
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Another factor to consider is that Crosby saw herself as much as a crusader for social reform as a hymnwriter. She supported the Women's Christian Temperance Movement in songs such as "Onward! Onward! Temperance Band!" and "Cold Water Army" in 1870 (Blumhofer 195), and became a well known figure in the Bowery and other blighted neighborhoods of New York through her speaking engagements and one-on-one efforts to reach out to the physically and spiritually destitute (Blumhofer 285ff.). These "social gospel" efforts toward reforming the sinful world fit in with the older tradition of Postmillennialism, which saw the church reaching toward a golden Millennial age before the return of Christ. They were more or less at odds, however, with Premillennialism's apocalyptic view of the approaching end times, when the world would get worse and worse (Deichmann 104). It certainly appears that Crosby, though she probably never made a public statement one way or the other, identified with the more traditional views espoused by the leading clergy she mentions in her biography.<br />
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There remains one significant influence to be accounted for--Dwight Lyman Moody. There is no question that the famous evangelist became convinced of Premillennialism; as noted above, he encountered John Darby during the 1870s and invited him to speak in his pulpit (Schuck 517), and was preaching Premillennialism himself by the end of the decade (Findlay 250). For the purposes of assessing Fanny Crosby's view of the Rapture doctrine in 1869 at the time of writing "Near the Cross," these facts are not especially relevant; Moody did not yet embrace the doctrine himself at that time. But it is worth asking--why did Crosby not list the most famous evangelist of the day among the luminaries recounted to her nephew at his prompting? Yes, there is a chapter devoted to Moody and Sankey in her <i>Memories of Eighty Years</i>, titled "Two Great Evangelists," but most of the chapter is devoted to the songleader Ira Sankey, whom Crosby clearly counted as a dear friend. By contrast her description of Moody is rather brief, though admiring. Then there is this interesting statement: "Dwight Lyman Moody was a wonderful man; and he did his own work in a unique way, which was sometimes no less daring than original" (<i>Memories </i>131). It is possible to read too much into the statement, but is there a hint of ambivalence?<br />
<br />
<b>Fanny Crosby's Use of the Words "Rapture" and "Raptured" in Her Hymns</b><br />
<br />
Turning back now to the more concrete question of how Crosby actually did use the term "rapture" in her hymns, we need to establish a baseline for the use of the word in general. In the broadest view, the Google Books Ngram Viewer shows that out of the billions of words indexed in Google Books, "rapture" or "raptured" occured in about .001% of American English publications in the very early 1800s, gradually declining through the century and then dropping off more sharply in the early 20th century to their present level at about .0002%. "Rapture" is the blue line, and "raptured" is the red line.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiy7Zjt-ULb1V3PJ81qENgnlFoWIhesYIbP9AbvQRUJM27ICDcbKR8M8FcG1nGIfdX82YEYckSzM5p3w6OrCjL-VqbefpaUklhpAqcbhritH5tAILmna4HODoqatPWqMFiWdkiWO5MIhlc/s1600/ngram.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiy7Zjt-ULb1V3PJ81qENgnlFoWIhesYIbP9AbvQRUJM27ICDcbKR8M8FcG1nGIfdX82YEYckSzM5p3w6OrCjL-VqbefpaUklhpAqcbhritH5tAILmna4HODoqatPWqMFiWdkiWO5MIhlc/s1600/ngram.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=rapture%2Craptured&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=17&smoothing=5&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Crapture%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Craptured%3B%2Cc0">Click here to view the Ngram Viewer page</a> (WARNING: HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Using the <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/graph">graphing function at Hymnary.org</a>, we see hymns using the terms "rapture" and "raptured" experienced a similar decline when viewed as a percentage of the entire database of hymns (depicted in the red line and shaded area). The blue line is the number of actual instances of "rapture" in the indexed hymnals; the peak around 1880-1899 simply reflects the larger overall number of texts in the database from the late 1800s through the early 1900s.<br />
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But the bigger story told by these numbers is the percentage of hymns using the word "rapture" compared to the percentage of overall publications seen in the Google Books Ngram--the usage in hymns is dramatically higher, ranging from 1%-4%. Hymnwriting is to some extent an insular field, separated even from the broader field of poetry, and one supposes that the influence of previous generations holds greater sway--a supposition worth further study at another time.<br />
<br />
The graph below shows the use of any form of "rapture" as a percentage of hymns in Hymnary.org dating from the 1860s, when Crosby began her professional career in hymnwriting, to her death in 1915. Both the mean and median of these percentages round off to 2.5%. Of the 2,955 hymns by Fanny Crosby indexed in full text by Hymnary.org, there are 90 hymns that use some form of the word "rapture," about 3.1% of her indexed total. This is higher than the overall average usage by her contemporaries, but only by 0.6%, and the average usage represented in the graph below actually met or exceeded Crosby's average in the periods 1866-1870, 1881-1890, and 1901-1905.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiomKRFhyK5RBEuNOoxUTa_VRqXsYDn0wYmyxAEN3ozd74vozDyHG6GDCEUG9SB5-ZKN5sbdlRXecL-sSofsapvlI3w6E1QYF39J4OjQyfyXfTi_Sdeiu3D6-RmWRUM80r-HCid3uHsLsp/s1600/rapture1861.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiomKRFhyK5RBEuNOoxUTa_VRqXsYDn0wYmyxAEN3ozd74vozDyHG6GDCEUG9SB5-ZKN5sbdlRXecL-sSofsapvlI3w6E1QYF39J4OjQyfyXfTi_Sdeiu3D6-RmWRUM80r-HCid3uHsLsp/s1600/rapture1861.png" /></a></div>
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From this it appears that Crosby's use of the word "rapture" was in line with that of her contemporaries; certainly there was nothing unusual in her choice of the word. It remains now only to survey her hymns using the word "rapture" in its various forms and meanings, to see if she ever employed it in an eschatological context.<br />
<br />
Hymnary.org provides <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/texts?qu=personName:fanny%20crosby%20fullText:rapturous|rapture|rapt|raptured%20in:texts&sort=firstLine">90 full-text hymns</a> by Fanny Crosby that include some form of the word "rapture." Reviewing the possible meanings of the word discussed in preceding sections, most instances are clearly using "rapture" in the common sense of excitement (or "raptured" in the sense of being caught up in excitement). Some of the better known examples follow:<br />
<br />
<i>Perfect submission, perfect delight,<br /> visions of rapture now burst on my sight;<br /> angels descending, bring from above<br /> echoes of mercy, whispers of love.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Only the most rabid hobbyist (and I have known a few) could coax out an eschatological meaning from "Blessed assurance;" the "visions of rapture" are even explained in the succeeding lines, as the blind poet imagines "angels descending" and "whispers of love." The overwhelming joy is rooted in the here and now, as expressed in the refrain:<br />
<br />
<i>This is my story, this is my song; </i><br />
<i>praising my Savior all the day long.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Or consider this stanza from "A Wonderful Savior":<br />
<br />
<i>With numberless blessings each moment He crowns, </i><br />
<i>and filled with His fullness divine, </i><br />
<i>I sing in my rapture, oh, glory to God </i><br />
<i>for such a Redeemer as mine!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Unless this is looking forward to singing during the actual process of Rapture, the obvious meaning is that the speaker, being in a state of rapture or heightened emotion, is singing praises. Common sense also must prevail in the reading of the following stanza of this well known song:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,</i><br />
<i>no language my rapture can tell</i><br />
<i>I know that the light of His presence</i><br />
<i>with me doth continually dwell.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div>
<div>
Even in songs that do speak of the transition to the future life, there are abundant examples such as "After the mist and shadow" in which Crosby obviously speaks of "rapture" in its common usage:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>After the pilgrim journey,</i><br />
<i>Rapture that ne’er shall cease,</i><br />
<i>Over the silent river,</i><br />
<i>Rest in the land of peace.</i></div>
<div>
<br />
The timing of the event is perhaps viable, but a "rapture that ne'er shall cease" hardly matches the popular eschatological doctrine. The examples could go on and on--in other texts Crosby speaks of "heights of rapture," "the rapture of pardon," "the rapture of redeeming love," "heights of sacred rapture," and "songs of rapture." These songs use "rapture" in its common sense of an intense state of joy, as it would most likely be understood by within the poetic style of the time, and really need no further comment.<br />
<br />
There remain some two dozen texts that use the term "rapture" in connection with the end times, which deserve a closer look. Again, most of these upon examination are clearly not referring to the capital-R Rapture.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/behold_the_dawn_is_breaking">Behold, the dawn is breaking</a>." The third stanza speaks of the "dawn of rapture," but the context of the hymn is clearly the final revelation of Christ to all the earth in the Second Coming: "When all the earth awaking / At Jesus' name shall bow."<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/theres_a_friend_that_abides_evermore">There's a Friend that abides</a>." The final stanza includes the lines:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>O, the song that will break,</i><br />
<i>when to rapture I wake,</i><br />
<i>and in glory with Him I shall be!</i><br />
<br />
"Waking" to the eschatological Rapture seems an odd expression, whereas "waking from the sleep of death" (that is, in resurrection) to see Jesus will certainly be an event of rapturous joy. The same situation exists in the next hymn.<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/o_the_changes_constant_changes">The near tomorrow</a>." The "rapture, holy rapture" is found in the final stanza:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>When our pilgrim life is ended,</i><br />
<i>and we view the setting sun,</i><br />
<i>when the labors of the harvest</i><br />
<i>we have finished one by one.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Oh the rapture, holy rapture;</i><br />
<i>Oh the shout of glad surprise,</i><br />
<i>in the near and bright tomorrow</i><br />
<i>when we ope our waking eyes.</i><br />
<br />
Again the singer speaks of waking from sleep, the common Christian metaphor for death; the fourth line also indicates that it is a rest from labors that "we have finished one by one," reinforcing the context of individual death and then a common resurrection.<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/hark_the_song_of_holy_rapture">Home at last</a>." Crosby uses the unusual phrase "holy rapture" in this song as well, in the context of a song heard from the saints we meet on the other side:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Hark the song of holy rapture,</i><br />
<i>hear it break from yonder strand</i><br />
<i>where our friends for us are waiting,</i><br />
<i>in the golden summer land.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The songs of heaven are by nature "rapturous" in the emotional sense, but it hardly seems likely that Crosby referenced an imagined song about the Rapture event.<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/o_morn_of_bliss_eternal">O morn of bliss eternal</a>." This hymn starts out with a "rapture" reference, but rather soon clarifies the setting. The eschatology is actually rather traditional.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>O morn of bliss eternal,</i><br />
<i>what will our rapture be,</i><br />
<i>when clothed in power and glory,</i><br />
<i>our blessed Lord we see.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>When He in clouds descending</i><br />
<i>shall come to claim His own</i><br />
<i>and gather all, both great and small,</i><br />
<i>around His Father's throne.</i><br />
<br />
There are some of Crosby's texts in which the meaning is uncertain, at least once the question is in mind. What Crosby intended will have to be judged on the preponderance of the evidence about her own beliefs on the subject, as we are attempting to ascertain.<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/slumber_not_slumber_not">The midnight cry</a>." This little known text builds on the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), and includes the lines:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Then, with rapture complete, </i><br />
<i>our Beloved we shall meet,</i><br />
<i>when midnight shall echo the cry.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Obviously the question is, does this mean "when the Rapture is complete," or "with complete rapture as an emotional state." How one reads it depends on one's beliefs. The parable beginning Matthew 25 is read in context of Matthew 24, and often figures in debates within the Premillennial community over the nature of the Rapture. If I were a believer in the Rapture doctrine, I might well read this text in that meaning.<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/in_my_fathers_dwelling_above">In my Father's dwelling above</a>." The passage in question is the refrain:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>O the rapture, O the rapture,</i><br />
<i>when I reach my Father’s dwelling bright and fair!</i><br />
<i>O the rapture, O the rapture,</i><br />
<i>when the King shall receive me there.</i><br />
<br />
I take this also as "a state of rapturous joy," because reading it as referring to the Rapture event makes it sound a little unnatural. Once again, however, I am not sure how much my own bias is reflected.<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/o_the_bliss_the_holy_rapture_when_from_e">O the bliss, the holy rapture!</a>"<br />
<br />
Again I am strongly inclined to read this at face value--an equating of "bliss" and "holy rapture," especially after the use of "holy rapture" in that context in other hymns mentioned above. The title phrase is used at the beginnings of the first and final stanzas, as well as in the refrain.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>O the bliss, the holy rapture </i><i>when from earth we glide away</i><br />
<i>to the realms of endless splendor, </i><i>t</i><i>o the soul’s eternal day;</i><br />
<i>to the golden fields of Eden </i><i>with the pure and blest above,</i><br />
<i>where the saints of all ages </i><i>sing of His redeeming love.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Refrain:</i><br />
<i>O the bliss, the holy rapture!</i><br />
<i>when array’d in garments fair,</i><br />
<i>we shall dwell amid the glory</i><br />
<i>of the King who bro’t us there.</i><br />
<i>...</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>O the bliss, the holy rapture, </i><i>when we see Him on His throne,</i><br />
<i>in the land where death and sorrow </i><i>shall forever be unknown;</i><br />
<i>Nevermore will clouds oppress us, </i><i>nevermore will shadows come,</i><br />
<i>for eternal day surrounds us </i><i>in that everlasting home.</i><br />
<br />
Again, if I knew that Fanny Crosby believed in the Rapture doctrine, I might be inclined to take her language in that sense. Her connection to that belief being unproven, and even shown to be unlikely, I can only say that I believe these songs are not likely to have been intended in that sense.<br />
<br />
The final few songs to examine are those that actually use the phrase that started this inquiry in the first place, "raptured soul." In addition to the ubiquitous Crosby favorite "Jesus, keep me near the cross," there are four other songs in which she uses this expression.<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/i_know_not_what_a_day_may_bring">I know not what a day may bring</a>." This little known Crosby song has much to recommend it, speaking as it does of daily faith in the face of a life of difficulty. The line in question here occurs in the final stanza:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I know not if my waking eyes</i><br />
<i>another day may see;</i><br />
<i>but angel wings will quickly bear</i><br />
<i>my raptured soul to thee.</i><br />
<br />
The writer seems to speak not of a Rapture in the midst of life, but of death and the transport of the soul to paradise. The expression "waking eyes" implies contrast with the "sleep" spoken of in other songs already mentioned.<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/once_more_at_rest_my_peaceful_thoughts">Once more at rest</a>." This hymn was published with music by Ira Sankey in <i>Sacred Songs No. 2</i>, in 1899. The physical and financial difficulties of Crosby's later years are apparent in the lyrics. The passage in question is in the final stanza:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Once more at rest, I view the silent river,</i><br />
<i>whose placid waves Thy love will bear me o’er;</i><br />
<i>there, home at last, my raptured soul for ever</i><br />
<i>will fold her wings, where sorrow comes no more. </i><br />
<br />
The "silent river" is a common metaphor for death. The soul is "raptured" in the sense of experiencing bliss on the other side, but cannot refer to a Premillennial Rapture.<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_savior_hear_my_call_sinful">Lord, abide with me</a>." Here also we find a "raptured soul" in heaven following death, in the final two stanzas:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>When the shades of death prevail,</i><br />
<i>Father, let me cling to Thee;</i><br />
<i>when I pass the gloomy vale,</i><br />
<i>Lord, abide with me.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Then, O then, my raptured soul</i><br />
<i>heav’n’s eternal rest shall see;</i><br />
<i>there, while endless ages roll,</i><br />
<i>live and reign with me.</i><br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/on_joyful_wings_our_raptured_souls">On joyful wings</a>." This hymn speaks of "our raptured souls" in the context of a desire to depart for heaven:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>On joyful wings our raptured souls</i><br />
<i>would mount and spread their flight,</i><br />
<i>and from Mount Pisgah’s top behold</i><br />
<i>the land of pure delight.</i><br />
<br />
"<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/source_from_whence_the_streams_of_mercy">Keep me ever close to Thee</a>." For the last of these examples, we have a hymn in which "raptured" is used in two different contexts, one eschatological and one not:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>There in holy, sweet communion</i><br />
<i>with Thy Spirit day by day,</i><br />
<i>faith to realms of light and glory</i><br />
<i>bears my raptured soul away.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Close to Thee, O Savior, keep me,</i><br />
<i>till I reach the shining shore,</i><br />
<i>till I join the raptured army,</i><br />
<i>shouting joy forevermore.</i><br />
<br />
The second of the two stanzas speaks of joining a "raptured army" in heaven. Nothing in this stanza alone seems to point toward either interpretation. The prior stanza, however, uses "raptured soul" in an obviously figurative sense and in the context of the here and now: the soul's departure to heaven (by whatever means) is not spoken of until the final stanza. In the preceding stanza, the writer speaks of our "day by day" walk with the Spirit, and says that "faith... bears my raptured soul away... to realms of light and glory." The "bearing away" of the soul is purely figurative, and the adjective "raptured" can hardly mean other than a state of joy.<br />
<br />
<b>A Final Point of Comparison</b><br />
<b><br />
</b> In addition to the hymns of Fanny Crosby herself, it is interesting to look at the use of such terms as "raptured soul" in the hymns that preceded her body of work.<br />
<br />
Charles Wesley, "<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/while_midnight_shades_the_earth_oersprea">A hymn for midnight</a>" (1739). Crosby's Methodist faith makes Wesley particularly important. Here is an example of the phrase "raptured soul" from the founding hymnist of that tradition himself:<br />
<br />
<i>Aid me, ye hovering spirits near,</i><br />
<i>angels and ministers of grace;</i><br />
<i>who ever, while you guard us here,</i><br />
<i>behold your heavenly Father’s face!</i><br />
<i>gently my raptured soul convey</i><br />
<i>to regions of eternal day.</i><br />
<br />
Whether "raptured" here means full of joy, or carried off to heaven (either makes sense in context), Wesley was certainly not Premillennial in his views.<br />
<br />
Samuel Stennett, "<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/on_jordans_stormy_banks_i_stand">On Jordan's stormy banks</a>" (1787). Here is a more obvious usage, from a perennial favorite :<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Filled with delight my raptured soul</i><br />
<i>would here no longer stay;</i><br />
<i>though Jordan's waves around me roll,</i><br />
<i>fearless I'd launch away.</i><br />
<br />
Not only does the writer contemplate death rather than capital-R Rapture, but his "raptured soul" is a present, not future, state of being.<br />
<br />
Philip Doddridge, "<a href="https://hymnary.org/text/eternal_and_immortal_king">Eternal and immortal King</a>" {1755, posthumous publication). Here the "raptured soul" is a response to contemplation of the Almighty:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Then every tempting form of sin,</i><br />
<i>shamed in Thy presence, disappears;</i><br />
<i>and all the glowing raptured soul</i><br />
<i>the likeness it contemplates, wears.</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
<b><br />
</b> From all the above it appears obvious that there is little reason to suppose that Fanny Crosby believed in a Premillennial Rapture, or that she referred to this in her songs. Hopefully this inquiry demonstrates, however, some of the issues surrounding the difficulty of determining the intent of hymn lyrics, and some strategies for approaching the question.<br />
<br />
In the end however, we have to admit that even clear, everyday communications between friends can be misinterpreted; much more the poetic stylings of more than a century ago, when the author is unavailable for comment! Let us always be thoughtful about the words we sing in worship, and let us be reasonable in our judgment when we find fault.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <br />
<hr />
<i>References:</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> <br />
<div>
"Rapture, n." <i>OED Online</i>. Oxford University Press, June 2015. Web. 6 July 2015.<br />
<br />
"Rapture, v." <i>OED Online</i>. Oxford University Press, June 2015. Web. 6 July 2015.<br />
<br />
Kelly, William. "The Rapture of the Saints: who suggested it, or rather on what Scripture?" <i>The Bible Treasury</i>, New Series, volume 4, pages 314-318; also published by T. Weston, 1903.<br />
<a href="http://www.stempublishing.com/authors/kelly/7subjcts/rapture.html">http://www.stempublishing.com/authors/kelly/7subjcts/rapture.html</a><br />
<br />
Court, John M. <i>Approaching the Apocalypse : A Short History of Christian Millenarianism</i>. London: I.B. Tauris, 2008.<br />
<br />
"Darby, John Nelson." <i>The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge</i>. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1909-1914, volume 3, pages 356-357.<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/stream/NewSchaffHerzogEncyclopediaOfReligious/03.NewSchaffHerzogEncycReligKnowl.v3.1909.Jackson.Sherman.Gilmore.1909.#page/n378/mode/1up">https://archive.org/stream/NewSchaffHerzogEncyclopediaOfReligious/03.NewSchaffHerzogEncycReligKnowl.v3.1909.Jackson.Sherman.Gilmore.1909.#page/n378/mode/1up</a><br />
<br />
Stone, Jon R. "Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century American Millennialisms." <i>The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism</i>. Oxford University Press, 2011, pages 492-514.<br />
<br />
Schuck, Glenn R. "Christian Dispensationalism." <i>The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism</i>. Oxford University Press, 2011, pages 515-528.<br />
<br />
Beckford, William Hale. "Memories of a great singer: Fanny Crosby-Van Alstyne." <i>Book News Monthly</i> volume 36, number 3 (March 1918), pages 247-248.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=HAU3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA247">https://books.google.com/books?id=HAU3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA247</a><br />
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Findlay, James F., Jr. <i>Dwight L. Moody: American Evangelist</i>. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 1969.<br />
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Behrends, Adolphus. <i>The World for Christ</i>. New York: Eaton & Mains, 1896.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xW9IAAAAYAAJ">https://books.google.com/books?id=xW9IAAAAYAAJ</a><br />
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Gillis J. Harp. <i>Brahmin Prophet: Phillips Brooks and the Path of Liberal Protestantism</i>. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.<br />
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Hall, John. "The Second Coming of Our Lord." <i>Homiletic Review</i> volume 21, number 1 (January 1891), pages 46-50.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uU0nAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false">https://books.google.com/books?id=uU0nAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
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Hurst, John Fletcher. <i>Outline of Church History</i>, revised edition. New York: Phillips & Hunt, 1886.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=vsIXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA77#v=onepage&q&f=false">https://books.google.com/books?id=vsIXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA77#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
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Prophetic Conference (New York City : 30 October-1 November, 1878). <i>The Second Coming of Christ: Premillennial Essays of the Prophetic Conference</i>. Chicago: F. H. Revell, 1879.<br />
<a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn1fdi;view=1up;seq=7">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn1fdi;view=1up;seq=7</a><br />
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Deichmann, Wendy J. "American Methodism in the Twentieth Century: Reform, Redefinition, and Renewal." <i>The Cambridge Companion to American Methodism</i> New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013, pages 97-118<br />
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Blatchford, Samuel. <i>The Excellency of the Scriptures: a sermon delivered before the Albany Bible Society</i>. Albany: Websters and Skinner, 1811.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=_BBdAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false">https://books.google.com/books?id=_BBdAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
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Mede, Joseph. <i>The Works of the Pious and Profoundly Learned Joseph Mede, B.D., Sometime Fellow of Christ's Colledge in Cambridge</i>, edited by John Worthington.<br />
<a href="http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A50522.0001.001/1:72.22?rgn=div2;view=fulltext">http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A50522.0001.001/1:72.22?rgn=div2;view=fulltext</a><br />
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<i>The English Hexapla: Exhibiting the Six Important English Translations of the New Testament Scriptures: Wiclif, Tyndale, Cranmer, Genevan, Anglo-Rhemish, Authorised</i>. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1841.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IYNPAAAAYAAJ">https://books.google.com/books?id=IYNPAAAAYAAJ</a><br />
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Broughton, Thomas. <i>A Prospect of Futurity in Four Dissertations on the Nature and Circumstances of the Life to Come</i>. London: T. Cadell, 1768.<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/prospectoffuturi00brou">https://archive.org/details/prospectoffuturi00brou</a><br />
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Henry, Matthew. <i>Commentary on the Whole Bible. Volume 6: Acts to Revelation</i>. Online edition by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.<br />
<a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc6.iTh.v.html">http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc6.iTh.v.html</a><br />
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Blasing, Craig A., Kenneth L. Gentry, Robert B. Strimple. <i>Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond</i>. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1999.<br />
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Bennett, David Malcolm. <i>Origins of Left Behind Eschatology</i>. [Florida?]: Xulon Press, 2010.<br />
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T.W.C. "On the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Gathering of His Elect." <i>Morning Watch</i>, volume 2, (September 1830), pages 587-593.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1ng3AAAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AmbOGmG_Ttl8C&pg=PA587#v=onepage&q&f=false">https://books.google.com/books?id=1ng3AAAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AmbOGmG_Ttl8C&pg=PA587#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
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Cuninghame, William. <i>A dissertation on the seals and trumpets of the Apocalypse</i>, 2nd ed. London: Cadell & Davies, 1817. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6348sr24">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t6348sr24</a><br />
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Cuninghame, William. <i>A dissertation on the seals and trumpets of the Apocalypse</i>, 3rd ed. London: Cadell, 1832. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031427944">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015031427944</a><br />
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Landow, George P. "Edward Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Church." <i>The Victorian Web</i>. 2005.<br />
<a href="http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/apocalypse/irvingite.html">http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/apocalypse/irvingite.html</a><br />
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Blumhofer, Edith L. <i>Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby</i>. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2005.<br />
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Crosby, Fanny J. <i>Memories of Eighty Years</i>. Boston: James H. Earle, 1906.<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/memoriesofeighty00cros">https://archive.org/details/memoriesofeighty00cros</a></div>
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David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-11511537538166872042017-10-19T18:49:00.001-05:002017-10-19T18:49:31.135-05:00Father, Whate'er of Earthly Bliss<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #148<br />
<br />
Words: Anne Steele, 1760<br />
Music: N<span style="font-size: x-small;">AOMI</span>, Johann Nageli, 1836, arr. by Lowell Mason, 1836<br />
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Anne Steele (1717-1778) was a leader among the first generation of English hymn writers to follow in the tradition begun by Isaac Watts, and was the most prominent woman hymn writer in the English language during her era (Watson). Julian rated her, in fact, "by far the most gifted Baptist hymn-writer of this period" (112). The landmark Ash & Evans <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=W7tVAAAAcAAJ">Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship</a></i> (1769), also known as the "Bristol Hymnal," included 62 hymns by Steele out of 412 (%15), under her pen name "Theodosia." The only authors to exceed this number were Philip Doddridge (87) and of course Isaac Watts (122); no one else came even close. This was all the more unusual in an era when women did not yet commonly publish on religious topics (Aalders 23). Her continuing importance to English Baptists is reflected in the 27 hymns included in <a href="http://gadsbyshymns.neocities.org/" style="font-style: italic;">Gadsby's Hymns</a>, a 19th-century collection that is still in use among some churches, and 13 hymns in the American Baptist hymnal published by Judson Press in 2012--an impressive feat after 250 years. Steele published the majority of her works in the 1760 collection <i>Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional</i> (<a href="https://archive.org/details/ubjectsc01stee">vol. 1</a>, <a href="https://archive.org/details/subjectsc02stee">vol. 2</a>), to which her friend and champion Caleb Evans added the posthumous <a href="https://archive.org/details/poectsc03stee"><i>Miscellaneous Pieces in </i><i>Verse </i><i>and </i><i>Prose</i></a> (Watson).<br />
<br />
Despite the obvious importance of her contributions, Anne Steele's reputation as a hymnwriter was long a victim of her own admirers. Dr. Cynthia Aalders hits the nail right on the head in the introduction of her excellent study of Steele:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Prior to recent scholarly advancements in the study of hymnody, hymns were treated as a kind of folk genre; writing about hymns typically was limited to stories related to the circumstances or personalities behind the composition of particular hymns. For this reason, perhaps, the biographical stories typically relayed about Steele tend to capitalize on the dramatic, despite dubious archival evidence... It would seem that the approach most often taken toward the telling of Steele's life story has had more to do with hagiography than biography (8-9).</blockquote>
A typical summary of Steele's biography often includes her retiring nature, a weak physical condition that left her nearly an invalid, and the tragedy that changed her life when her fiance drowned on the morning of their wedding day. Not only are those items exaggerated (and the last one demonstrably false), they make her story into a sympathetic tale of the "brave little woman," as though her accomplishments were not sufficient on their own. Perhaps there was even some tendency to make her an oddity, a gifted recluse whose art grew out of intense suffering, instead of recognizing that she was simply a woman who wrote hymns better than most men of her generation. (The same could be said of much that is written about Fanny Crosby--she was not a remarkable songwriter "for a blind woman," she was a remarkable and influential songwriter, period.)<br />
<br />
Michael Dixon and Hugh Steele-Smith made a study of Anne Steele's health on the basis of contemporary letters and diaries, concluding that she likely suffered from malaria, with other complications multiplying in her later years, that frequently left her weak and unable to be as active as she wished (353). But her health did not enter a serious decline until the last decade of her life (Aalders 107), well after the publication of her first volume of hymns. There was even greater exaggeration of the star-crossed lovers trope. The basic facts of the death of James Elcomb of Ringwood by drowning on May 23, 1737 are accurate as given by the earliest Baptist historians (Ivimey 4:312), but Dixon and Steele-Smith found a letter written to Anne's father by James Manfield, a family friend, reporting the event as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I heartily wish the Subsequent part of my letter may not be an Unseasonable surprize to any of your Family and therefore tis with very great concern that I acquaint You that this Evening our dear friend Mr Elcomb was unfortunately drown'd in the River . . .</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I submitt to your Prudence to Communicate this Unhappy Accident to the rest off your Family in a Suitable manner & not knowing how far he may have prevail'd in the Affections of Miss Steele I send my Man on purpose to prevent any Shock that may attend her hearing It in too sudden a manner (352). </blockquote>
Elcomb therefore had at least paid court to Anne; but surely such a thoughtful friend of the family would have known had they actually been engaged to marry the next day! In fact there is no evidence that Anne Steele reciprocated Elcomb's feelings, and she later turned down at least two other offers of marriage (Aalders 21 n.51). (One of these, coincidentally, was from Benjamin Beddome, author of the hymn "God is the fountain whence.")<br />
<br />
The reality of Anne Steele's life was far from that of the "wounded dove." She was the daughter of a well-to-do merchant in Broughton, Hampshire whose family connections included many prominent thinkers among the Dissenters, and as was the custom of the day for her social circle, Anne and her relations spent extended visits in their homes in neighboring towns (Aalders 10-13). Though she lost her mother at age 3, she had a reasonably good relationship with her stepmother, who supported her father's decision to let Anne go to school. In addition to a formal education, Anne Steele benefited from the wide range of intellectuals she encountered through visits and among her parents' guests (Aalders 18-20). And though she had great difficulties later in life and was never in robust health, most of the personal tragedies she encountered were <i>after</i> the bulk of her written work was done: her stepmother passed in 1760, months after the publication of her two-volume collection (Whelan), followed by her father in 1769 and her half-sister in 1772 (Aalders 12). Though these losses hit her hard, they could not in themselves have been an influence on the bulk of her hymns.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
The hymn "Father, whate'er of earthly bliss" was adapted from the last three stanzas (out of ten) in Steele's poem titled "<a href="https://archive.org/stream/ubjectsc01stee#page/134/mode/1up">Desiring Resignation and Thankfulness</a>," the first line of which is "When I survey life's varied scene." Its first appearance in its current form was in Augustus Toplady's <i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/psalmsandhymnsf00toplgoog#page/n203/mode/1up">Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Worship</a></i> (1776) (Julian 1269). The famed opponent of John Wesley apparently did not find Steele's language sufficiently Calvinist for his taste, altering "Thy sovereign hand" to "Thy sovereign will" in the first stanza, and changing "let me live to Thee" to "<i>make</i> me live to Thee" at the end of the second stanza. Toplady also changed the second line of the third stanza from "My path of life attend" to the more sobering "My life and death attend," but perhaps that is attributable to his illness at the time (which did in fact lead to his death in 1778) (Bennett).<br />
<br />
The omitted stanzas of Steel's poem follow:<br />
<br />
<i>When I survey life's varied scene,</i><br />
<i>Amid the darkest hours,</i><br />
<i>Sweet rays of comfort shine between,</i><br />
<i>And thorns are mix'd with flowers.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>Lord, teach me to adore thy hand,</i><br />
<i>From whence my comforts flow;</i><br />
<i>And let me in this desert land</i><br />
<i>A glimpse of Canaan know.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>Is health and ease my happy share?</i><br />
<i>O may I bless my God;</i><br />
<i>Thy kindness let my songs declare,</i><br />
<i>And spread thy praise abroad.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>While such delightful gifts as these,</i><br />
<i>Are kindly dealt to me,</i><br />
<i>Be all my hours of health and ease</i><br />
<i>Devoted Lord to thee.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>In griefs and pains thy sacred word,</i><br />
<i>(Dear solace of my soul!)</i><br />
<i>Celestial comforts can afford,</i><br />
<i>And all their power control.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>When present sufferings pain my heart,</i><br />
<i>Or future terrors rise,</i><br />
<i>And light and hope almost depart</i><br />
<i>From these dejected eyes:</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>Thy powerful word supports my hope,</i><br />
<i>Sweet cordial of the mind!</i><br />
<i>And bears my fainting spirit up,</i><br />
<i>And bids me wait resign'd.</i><br />
<br />
The preceding stanzas are the context, and the hymn is just the summary. In the first stanza, Steele proposes to examine both "thorns and flowers" in life, referencing that timeless irony so often made the subject of poetry and song. Both are part of every life, and the presence of one does not take away from the other. Neither does their presence in various combinations negate the fact that God remains sovereign. As Job said to his wife's remonstration against his continuing faith, "Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" (Job 2:10). Though his understanding of the situation was incomplete, his attitude was right. He had earlier said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Naked I came from my mother's womb,<br />And naked shall I return.<br />The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> gave, and the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> has taken away;<br />Blessed be the name of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>.<br />(Job 1:21)</blockquote>
It was not the Lord who had taken everything away, but Job was correct in his long-range view: we bring nothing into this life, we are promised nothing while we are here, and we will take nothing away from it. Humanity has long asked, "Why is there so much evil?" but we may as well ask, "Why is there so much good?" Anne Steele reminds us to look at both sides.<br />
<br />
The next stanza introduces the Biblical image of God's hand, providing for his people. Steele calls up the image of God's provision for His people in the Sinai wilderness, where they were became dependent on Him alone, traveling through a land that could not sustain such a multitude by natural means. As David said generations later, "You open your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing" (Psalm 145:16). Additionally, the "hand of God" suggests His authority, as in Psalm 123:2, where the servant of God waits on His good time.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,<br />
As the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress,<br />
So our eyes look to the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> our God,<br />
Till He has mercy upon us.</blockquote>
This image ties into the original wording of the first stanza of the hymn, "Thy sov'reign <i>hand</i>," which perhaps unfortunately was altered by Toplady.<br />
<br />
The third and fourth stanzas of Steele's original poem promise gratitude for the good times. She would have us remember to be thankful, and "making the best use of the time" (Colossians 4:5). It is an odd but widely understood truth, that it is harder to be grateful during times of plenty than when we are in need. The fifth, sixth, and seventh stanzas examine the times of "griefs and pains," and the less specific but often more troubling "future terrors." How often is the fear of what may happen, worse than the bad things that actually do! In these Steele encourages us to find solace in Scripture, which gives "hope" in the midst of these troubles and can "all their powers control." Though we cannot live here without sorrows, we can find that help that Paul promised in Romans 15:4, "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." These stanzas not included in the modern hymn conclude with another reference to "waiting on the Lord," that hopeful and patient attitude that appears throughout the Psalms and Prophets, even in the darkest of circumstances.<br />
<br />
Now to the hymn as we have it:<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Father, whate'er of earthly bliss</i><br />
<i>Thy sov'reign will denies,</i><br />
<i>Accepted at Thy throne of grace,</i><br />
<i>Let this petition rise:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>This stanza needs careful reading. The first two lines alone might cause us to think this is another of those hymns which expound on the author's suffering in life in a sort of self-congratulatory manner that implies, "Yes, Lord, I am suffering so much! But I'm not complaining." I confess that I have long overlooked the quality of this hymn by just such an assumption, and by not knowing more of Anne Steele's quality of hymn-writing. Having seen the stanzas that originally preceded this, however, it is obvious that self-pity or self-righteousness is the furthest thing from her intent. She has acknowledged that both good and ill are our lot in life, in different measures and at different times, and accepts it as God's will.<br />
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In this stanza, however, she poses a direct request. Regardless of whatever else she may be denied in this life ("whate'er of earthly bliss / Thy sov'reign will denies"), she asks that "this petition" (the requests detailed the final two stanzas) be "accepted at Thy throne of grace." She has narrowed down her list of wants to those things a Christian needs, and asks boldly for God's will to grant them. It recalls the beautiful statement of David in the 27th Psalm:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
One thing have I asked of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>,<br />
That will I seek after:<br />
That I may dwell in the house of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span><br />
All the days of my life,<br />
To gaze upon the beauty of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span><br />
And to inquire in his temple.<br />
(Psalm 27:4)</blockquote>
We find our wants and needs easily confused, especially in wealthy countries where even a middling income allows luxuries that would have made us fabulously rich a few generations ago. It is often necessary for circumstances to force us to rethink our needs and realize what is truly necessary. During the recent hurricane in southern Texas a picture made the rounds, showing a dog named Otis carrying a bag of dog food in his mouth. I believe I understand its popularity. Not only did people recognize Otis as a survivor, they also saw in him an illustration of the pragmatism that takes over in a time of need. Otis could only carry one thing in his mouth, and he chose wisely. He might have liked to carry his bed, or a favorite toy, but he would definitely <i>need</i> that bag of food. Human beings in similar circumstances found themselves equally concerned with the basics of food and shelter. At that moment, the rich and poor alike saw the value of a cup of hot soup and a warm bed.<br />
<br />
There are needful things on the spiritual level as well, as necessary as food, clothing, and shelter. People seek them in many places, and find as many disappointments, but keep looking. The final two stanzas are Anne Steele's conclusions about what these spiritual needs truly are.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>Give me a calm, a thankful heart,</i><br />
<i>From ev'ry murmur free;</i><br />
<i>The blessings of Thy grace impart,</i><br />
<i>And let me live to Thee.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>The first line of this stanza could serve as a paraphrase for Paul's reminder to the Colossians, "And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful" (Colossians 3:15). For someone who saw so much conflict in his life, Paul spoke a great deal of his peace; yet following the Hebrew concept of <i>shalom</i>, a Christian's peace is not an absence of external conflict, but the presence of an internal wholeness and balance. It is not a passive state; we must pursue peace (Romans 14:19, 2 Timothy 2:22), and the writer of Hebrews even calls us (counter-intuitively!) to "strive for peace" (12:14). This active, deliberate quality is "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding," that "will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).<br />
<br />
Thankfulness is intertwined with this frame of mind in at least two ways; it is enabled by the peace of mind just described, and it reinforces it at the same time. It is all too easy--and I know this too well--to count our sorrows instead of our blessings. The losses and hurts of this life are real. But if we would not be consumed by them, we need to learn thankfulness for every good thing, great and small. Thankfulness for small things is the opposite of the "murmuring" described in the second line of the stanza. This word recalls the Exodus (two-thirds of the instances of "murmur" in the King James Version are found from Exodus through Deuteronomy, and many of the remaining third look back to that period). The open rebellions against Moses and Joshua were relatively few; it was the slow burn of low-key but persistent complaining that dragged things down. (Parents of small children will understand.)<br />
<br />
What if we could do the same thing, but with thanksgiving? What if we could train ourselves to give thanks for every small blessing that comes our way? "Lord, thank you that I can get out of bed this morning" (as I listen to the various creaks and pops that accompany that action). "Lord, thank you for coffee" (this is not humorous). "Lord, thank you that I have a job to go to, and that I got here safely in that traffic." This won't solve all our problems, but perhaps a constant practice of giving thanks for the good things that happen day by day will keep us from dwelling on the disappointments.<br />
<br />
Paul's ever-present wish for his readers was "Grace and peace," as expressed at the beginning of nearly every letter, and Steele counts the blessings of God's grace as needful things to the Christian. It may be no accident that Paul always speaks of grace first, and then peace, for there is no true peace before God's grace is received. God's grace first provided a means of salvation: "redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7). His grace continues to sustain the Christian, as the Hebrews writer says, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16). Paul shared this lesson that came from his thorn in the flesh, when God's answer to his pleas for help was "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9). This is the life--at peace, thankful, and dependent on God's grace day to day, that is "lived to the Lord" (Romans 14:8).<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 3:</i><br />
<i>Let the sweet hope that Thou art mine</i><br />
<i>My life and death attend,</i><br />
<i>Thy presence through my journey shine,</i><br />
<i>And crown my journey's end.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>The final thing that Steele's petition asks is for hope. Hope, of course, is an intangible. "For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience" (Romans 8:24-25). Just because it has not yet arrived, however, does not mean that it is of no present use. The present effect of hope is very real. In Paul's figure of the Christian armor, the "hope of salvation" is the helmet (1 Thessalonians 5:8). It is a necessary protection every day. Setting that hope as our focus is part of "preparing [our] minds for action, and being sober-minded" (1 Peter 1:13). It is a chief part of our motivation: "For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe" (1 Timothy 4:10).<br />
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It is also worth noting that the Christian's "hope" is a far cry from a mere "wish." We may hope in that sense for things in which we have little assurance, such as fair weather or a good seat on the bus. The Christian's hope is backed up by the unchanging character of God himself:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of His purpose, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us (Hebrews 6:17-18).</blockquote>
Our "blessed hope" is in "the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), a return promised by Christ himself. It is a hope "laid up for you in heaven," in the keeping of One whose bank will never fail, with a written guarantee in "the Word of Truth" (Colossians 1:5). This is a hope that sustains through "life and death," as Steele says, providing the strength and energy for each passing day and "crowning the end" with serenity that can only be found in such assurance. No wonder it was so often part of Paul's prayers for the saints:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints (Ephesians 1:16-18).</blockquote>
Cynthia Aalders has well noted the underlying strength and joy of Steele's hymn, in spite of the serious tone of the subject matter:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Despite her prolonged meditations on earthly suffering and human inarticulacy--despite her perception of God as ineffable--Steele's hymnody remains essentially hopeful, enabling her to make affirmations about God and the spiritual life . . . Steele's confidence that a sovereign God deals both joy and sorrow persuades her that the appropriate spiritual posture is consistently one of thankfulness and calm acceptance, whether life is characterized by "health and ease" or "griefs and pains" (Aalders 159, 161).</blockquote>
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<i>About the music:</i></div>
<i><br /></i>Hans Georg Nägeli (1773–1836) was a German Swiss composer, music publisher, and music educator of considerable importance in his time. He was contemporary to Beethoven, and was the first publisher of Beethoven's op. 31 piano sonatas, groundbreaking works in that composer's famed middle period. Nägeli's compositions were primarily choral music and solo songs, prefiguring the rapid expansion of the latter genre in the hands of his younger contemporary Franz Schubert (Grove).<br />
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Nägeli was firm believer in "music for the masses," and did much to found the Liederkranz tradition ("singing circle," more or less) in Switzerland. These were men's (sometimes women's) amateur choirs, and in an age in which clubs and societies were very popular to begin with, they became a fixture of middle-class entertainment. The music was essentially popular but made occasional forays into the classical realm, and was a mixture of sacred and secular works. A somewhat similar tradition in the United States is the glee club and the barbershop chorus.<br />
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Lowell Mason, the great "improver of public taste" and founding father of American music education, took a great deal of inspiration from Nägeli's theories about music education. On his 1837 trip to Europe he carried a letter of introduction to the Swiss composer, and traveled to Zurich specifically to meet him. Unknown to Mason, Nägeli had passed away prior to his arrival. Mason's travel journal reports that he bought all of Nägeli's published works that he did not already possess (Mason, 9). He also met with Nägeli's widow and son to offer his condolences. The son gave Mason a copy of one of his own songs (Mason, 96), and Eva O'Meara's 1971 report on the Lowell Mason collection at Yale University indicates that Mason acquired over fifty titles in all from Nägeli's family (O'Meara, 200). It is possible that some of these materials worked their way into hymns that Mason attributed to Nägeli. Given the difficulty of unraveling Mason's attributions even with composers whose works are thoroughly studied (how exactly is A<span style="font-size: x-small;">NTIOCH</span> arranged from Handel?), this may remain unresolved.<br />
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The hymn tune which Mason named N<span style="font-size: x-small;">AOMI</span> first appeared in his periodical <i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/occasionalpsalmh00maso">Occasional Psalm and Hymn Tunes</a></i>, issue no. 3 (1836).<br />
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This is considerably altered in its next appearance, in Mason's <i><a href="https://hymnary.org/hymn/CSBC1841/page/53">Carmina Sacra, or, Boston Collection</a> </i>(Boston: Wilkins & Carter, 1841).<br />
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Given the degree of alteration from the first to the second arrangement--a complete change of the rhythmic foot in the opening line, and a revision of the cadence ending the second phrase--Mason certainly took a free hand in his arrangements.</div>
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<i>References:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>Aalders, Cynthia Y. <i>To Express the Ineffable: The Hymns and Spirituality of Anne Steele</i>. <i>Studies in Baptist History and Thought</i>, no. 40 (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2009).<br />
<br />
Ivimey, Joseph. <i>A History of the English Baptists</i>, 4 volumes. London, 1811-1830.<br />
<a href="https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001593283">https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001593283</a><br />
<br />
Wilkinson, John. "The Farming of Hampshire." <i>Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society</i> volume 22 (1861), pages 239-371. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IU7OAAAAMAAJ">https://books.google.com/books?id=IU7OAAAAMAAJ</a><br />
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Dixon, Michael F. & Hugh F. Steele-Smith, "Anne Steele's Health: A Modern Diagnosis." <i>Baptist Quarterly</i> 32:7 (July 1988), 351-356. <a href="http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bq/32-7_351.pdf">http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bq/32-7_351.pdf</a><br />
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Watson, J. R. "Steele, Anne (1717-1778)." <i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</i>, online edition. Oxford University Press, 2005, viewed 12 May 2016.<br />
http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy.tcu.edu/view/article/26343<br />
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Julian, John. <i>A Dictionary of Hymnology</i>, 2nd revised edition (1907). New York: Dover, 1957.<br />
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Benson, Louis FitzGerald. <i>The English Hymn: Its Development and Use in Worship</i>. New York: Hodder & Stoughton, 1915. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=An9UAAAAYAAJ">https://books.google.com/books?id=An9UAAAAYAAJ</a><br />
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Whelan, Timothy. "Steele, Anne Cator--Biography." <i>Nonconformist Women Writers, 1650-1850</i>. Accessed 11 September 2017. <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/georgiasouthern.edu/nonconformist-women-writers-1650-1850/anne-cator-steele-1689-1760/steele-anne-cator----biography">https://sites.google.com/a/georgiasouthern.edu/nonconformist-women-writers-1650-1850/anne-cator-steele-1689-1760/steele-anne-cator----biography </a><br />
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Hadden, James Cuthbert. "Steele, Anne." <i>Dictionary of National Biography</i>. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1895-1900. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Steele,_Anne_(DNB00)">https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Steele,_Anne_(DNB00)</a><br />
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Bennett, Henry Leigh. "Toplady, Augustus." <i>Dictionary of National Biography</i>. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1895-1900. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Toplady,_Augustus_Montague_(DNB00)">https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Toplady,_Augustus_Montague_(DNB00)</a><br />
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"Nägeli, Hans Georg." <i>The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians</i>, ed. Stanley Sadie, 20 vols. London: MacMillan, 1980.<br />
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Mason, Lowell. <i>A Yankee Musician in Europe: The 1837 Journals of Lowell Mason</i>, ed. Michael Broyles. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1990.<br />
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O'Meara, Eva. "The Lowell Mason Library." <i>Notes</i>, Second Series, vol. 28, no. 2 (Dec., 1971), pp. 197-208.<br />
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David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-27081021575069342762016-01-30T21:01:00.000-06:002016-04-29T06:03:02.648-05:00Father, Hear Thy Children's Call<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #147<br />
<br />
Words: Thomas B. Pollock, 1870<br />
Music: G<span style="font-size: x-small;">OWER'S</span> L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ITANY</span>, John H. Gower, 1890<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkW0FZaCusKaaNMehg5-Oe5CV4nEUDKgTWLzsWy7RZWzuZI6OVdod3h4-wGYCvqt-JI8GtUfsHAcxPd3EG9ON2KIPeRrbv9_JI51aS33gS0nym3KzkeetJdPELo0sKxGiINSKkhcwM_rs/s1600/New+Picture+%252856%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkW0FZaCusKaaNMehg5-Oe5CV4nEUDKgTWLzsWy7RZWzuZI6OVdod3h4-wGYCvqt-JI8GtUfsHAcxPd3EG9ON2KIPeRrbv9_JI51aS33gS0nym3KzkeetJdPELo0sKxGiINSKkhcwM_rs/s200/New+Picture+%252856%2529.png" width="140" /></a>Thomas Benson Pollock (1839-1896) and his brother James Samuel Pollock (1834-1895) were well known in the Church of England of their day for their work at St. Alban the Martyr, Birmingham, ministering to the poor of this large industrial city. James was also a prolific writer on the doctrinal issues of the day (<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no94019298/">see a list of his works</a>). Thomas, however, has had a more lasting popularity as an author through his contributions to the Anglican liturgy in the form of litanies.<br />
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The Pollock brothers grew up in the Isle of Man, sons of a prominent army officer from the Napoleonic wars (<a href="https://archive.org/stream/fatherpollockand00unknuoft#page/3/mode/1up">Anonymous 3</a>). Both studied at Trinity College of Dublin, where Thomas received his B.A. degree in 1859 and his M.A. in 1863. He was also awarded with the Vice-Chancellor's Prize for English verse. Though Thomas had trained to become a doctor, eventually both brothers took Anglican orders (Anonymous 7-8). Within a few years the elder brother James was taken with the idea of a mission chapel for a largely unchurched area of sprawling Birmingham. Thomas came to join him "for a fortnight," as James once described it, "that has extended to twenty-five years" (Anonymous 11-12). Their anonymous biographer described them as follows:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Men of high intellect, culture, and refinement, more fitted, seemingly for the quiet of a cathedral close or a university quadrangle than for Mission Priests, must have found much that was uncongenial in the grimy slums of Vaughton's Hole. But none could have guessed it, for the heart of each was in S. Alban's (48).</blockquote>
The beginning of their work was not easy, for the Pollock brothers were very much part of the Oxford Movement, which aimed to reinvigorate the Church of England by reconnecting it to its pre-Reformation roots. Some in the community viewed this as returning to Roman Catholicism (which in the famous case of John Henry Newman actually happened). The Pollocks at first faced violent opposition to their more "high church" services in Birmingham, sometimes even to the point of riots, though the fervor eventually died down (Wakeling 261).<br />
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With his background in medicine, Thomas was kept busy tending to the sick, and championed sanitation and public health reform (Anonymous 50ff.). But writing seems to have been a compulsion for him, and his witty rhymed "prologues" reviewing the past year's doings in the parish were a highlight of the Christmas season (Anonymous 55). His brother James described Thomas as often walking around the house humming tunes, working out lyrics, to the point that the older brother teasingly warned the younger about the dangers of insanity brought on by compulsive rhyming (Anonymous 80). And if Thomas Pollock was not actually "the inventor of the metrical litany," as his anonymous biographer credited him (72), he was certainly a prominent modern exponent of the form; John Julian called him "a most successful writer," whose works "have greatly enriched modern hymn-books" (2:900). For Julian, this is high praise, and the hymnologist listed no fewer than eleven of Pollock's litanies in his article on the subject (1:677ff.). But Pollock described himself thus: "I am only a rhymer, and I do not profess to be more than a mechanical builder up of lines" (Anonymous 72). The present hymn and <a href="https://archive.org/stream/fatherpollockand00unknuoft#page/117/mode/1up">other selections provided by his biographer</a> certainly call this humble assessment into question!<br />
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The word "litany" may be better known to the general public today through its appropriation as a term for a lengthy list of troubles or complaints, but the Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek lexicon shows that λιτανεία (<i>litaneía</i>, <a href="http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/#eid=65700">LSJ</a>) derives from the verb λιτανεύω (litaneúō), to make an entreaty (<a href="http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/#eid=65703">LSJ</a>). Its ancient roots are in the very serious business of begging the favor of a ruler (<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0135:book=7:card=107&highlight=lita%2Fneuen"><i>Odyssey</i> 7:145</a>) or a god (<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133:book=23:card=192&highlight=lita%2Fneuen"><i>Iliad</i> 2:23:196</a>). In the Koine Greek era, the term was used by the author of 2 Maccabees to describe the Jewish nation's prayers to God for deliverance from enemies (3:20, 10:16). The litany as a lengthy listing of supplications, however, is a Christian invention; it emerged in the first few centuries of the church in the form of a prayer in which the leader would make a number of requests of God, each of which was followed by a repeated phrase from the congregation affirming their agreement with what was said (Alexopoulos). (Mershman points to the 135th Psalm as a possible inspiration for this practice, with its retelling of God's deeds punctuated by the phrase "For His mercy endures forever.") An early example of the Christian litany is found in the <a href="https://archive.org/stream/liturgyeighthbo00cresgoog#page/n43/mode/2up/">"Clementine Liturgy"</a> of the 4th-century Apostolic Constitutions, in which each line of a prayer by the deacon is followed by the congregational response, "Lord, have mercy" (Alexopoulos). Litanies came to be used in both the Orthodox and Roman liturgies for special feast days, and in this function became associated with processionals (Mershman).<br />
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With the separation of the Church of England during the reign of Henry VIII came an official English language liturgy, developed by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1544. This included a <a href="http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Litany1544/Litany_1544.htm">litany</a> drawn partly from existing English Catholic traditions, the Orthodox litanies, and from Martin Luther's modifications of Roman Catholic litany tradition. This litany was incorporated into the Book of Common Prayer (Wohlers). During the ebb and flow of "high church" and "low church" squabbles in the Church of England, the lengthy and elaborate litany was often omitted from services, but the Oxford Movement of the 19th century reinstated it a central feature, and in time even more litanies were added. Julian states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Metrical Litanies of the modern hymn-books began in 1854 with one or two in rhythmical prose on the Childhood and Passion of Jesus . . . By slow degrees these have been increased . . . until provision has been made for most of the Fasts and Festivals of the Church. . . . </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Amongst the the earliest writers of Metrical Litanies were Dr. F. G. Lee, Dr. Littledale, and G. Moultrie; and amongst the later Bp. H. E. Bickersteth, Sir H. W. Baker, and T. B. Pollock (1:677ff.) </blockquote>
Pollock's litanies were published in two volumes: <i>Metrical Litanies for Special Services and General Use </i>(1870), and the <i>Litany Appendix</i> (1871). Five of these (and parts of another) were included in the <a href="http://imslp.org/wiki/Hymns_Ancient_and_Modern_(Monk,_William_Henry)">1875 edition of <i>Hymns Ancient and Modern</i></a>, making up fully half of the "Litanies" section at the back of the hymnal. "Father, hear Thy children's call" appears as Hymn 465, the first of two Litanies of Penitence, and appears in three sections: 9 stanzas followed by an Amen, 6 stanzas followed by an Amen, and 9 more stanzas followed by an Amen. Though some of the more liturgical traditions have kept the entire litany in its three sections, over the years most hymnal editors have adapted it into a single hymn by selecting a group of stanzas. Looking over the instances available for view at <a href="http://hymnary.orghttp//www.hymnary.org/text/father_hear_thy_childrens_call">Hymnary.org</a>, it is actually fairly difficult to find two hymnals that have the same set of stanzas.<br />
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Though it is often intriguing to examine omitted stanzas, in this case I will just cover those five stanzas that are used in <i>Praise for the Lord</i> (in the original litany: part 1, stanzas 2, 3, 7, and 8, and part 2, stanza 6). This reduced version was introduced to the churches of Christ, so far as I can discover, with <a href="https://archive.org/stream/greatsonchur00jorg#page/n43/mode/1up">Jorgenson's 1921 <i>Great Songs of the Church</i></a>, and remained in this form in the hymnals that adopted it next, such as <i>Majestic Hymnal</i> (Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation, 1959) and <i>Songs of the Church</i> (West Monroe, Louisiana: Howard Publishing, 1971). From the latter, and through the various incarnations of <i>Great Songs</i>, it came down to <i>Praise for the Lord</i> in the 1990s, though it was omitted from Howard Publishing's <i>Songs of Faith and Praise</i>.<br />
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<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Father, hear Thy children’s call;</i><br />
<i>Humbly at Thy feet we fall,</i><br />
<i>Prodigals, confessing all:</i><br />
<i>We beseech Thee, hear us.</i><br />
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Pollock's litany begins with an appeal to the Heavenly Father from His children. It is well worth considering: we address the God who created the cosmos, who has existed from all eternity, as our Father. To address Him by this name is so frequently done, in fact, that there is a risk of forgetting the startling claim made by this simple word. It takes no thought at all to use this word of my earthly father; it is a simple statement of biology and relationship. Yet even on this human level we know it really is more complicated. I can also call Patrick Hamrick (1684-1784) my "father" in the sense of the origin of my family line in this hemisphere, but I have no personal relationship with that individual. His day-to-day impact on my life is limited to an often misspelled surname. The contrast with my actual father could not be greater, for (as we jokingly say) I have known him all my life. Though I do not resemble him much physically, I bear the stamp of his influence throughout my life, in my beliefs, character, attitudes, and interests. Being a father in that sense is much more than a biological or a legal relationship.<br />
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It was this human relationship that Jesus chose to describe our relationship to God. The Hebrew Testament does not often speak in this way, though the occasional passage does appear, as in Deuteronomy 32:6b, "Is not He your father, who created you, who made you and established you?" But in most of these instances, the Fatherhood of God is mentioned only briefly, and often in connection with other metaphors that portray the relationship in different lights (for example, the "Father" metaphor in Jeremiah 3:19 is followed immediately by a comparison to the husband/wife relationship in the following verse). By contrast, Jesus referred to God as "Father" in some 165 instances in the gospel accounts. Not only was this markedly different from the practice of the ancient Scriptures, it was out of the ordinary for the religious thought of the 1st century (Stein).<br />
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Though the Greek of the New Testament uses the generic term <i>Pater</i> for all but three of these instances, the Aramaic term <i>Abba</i> is retained in Jesus' impassioned prayer in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36), so we need not step into the academic mire of second-guessing Jesus' "original words" to say that this was the term He used in everyday speech. The equivalence of <i>Abba</i> and <i>Pater</i> is cemented in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6, where the Greek word is given as a gloss for the less familiar Aramaic. The implication of the term <i>Abba</i> has been discussed for years, of course, and doubtless most of us have heard it equated to the English "Daddy" or "Papa." <a href="http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-does-abba-mean-daddy">Glenn Stanton's "Factchecker" article</a> provides a good summary of the history of this line of thought, which was pretty thoroughly debunked among scholars of Biblical languages by the 1980s, though it has continued in popularity down to the present. The New Testament use of the Greek <i>Pater</i> instead of the informal <i>Pappas</i> also weighs heavily against this idea.<br />
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But if God is not described in Scripture as "Daddy," even by Jesus himself, "Father" carries more than enough weight! He is the Creator, of whom all people can say, "we are His offspring" (Acts 17:28), but He wants to be a Father to us in the fullest sense of that word. We cannot have the same relationship to Him that His Son Jesus has, because of the uniqueness of the "only begotten Son" (John 3:16, KJV), but "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" (Galatians 4:6). The word the Holy Spirit chose to explain this relationship to us was "adoption."<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. (Rom 8:15-17)</blockquote>
The Christians in Rome to whom Paul wrote would have understood this metaphor immediately. Among the noble and wealthy classes in Roman society, adoption was a means not only of providing a male heir if none were present, but also of building advantageous bonds between families. The most famous example, even today, is the great Augustus Caesar, who was adopted as a young man by Julius Caesar. Though born into a less prominent family, young Octavian was immediately recognized as the right-hand man of his adoptive father, and the intended heir of both his name and his empire. The right to call Caesar "father" was incredibly significant, and though the Caesar eventually came to be viewed as the "father to his people" in a national sense, no one could mistake the significance of the unique relationship this term denoted within the imperial family.<br />
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Consider then, by comparison, the honor and privilege that Christians enjoy to call the Creator of heaven and earth our Father! We can "with confidence draw near to the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16), because He is not only our Lord, He is our Father. We are assured that He will hear us, because we are not only His subjects and servants (also Scriptural metaphors!), we are His children. But will the Father hear when His children call? If you are a parent, you know the answer. The voice of your child, especially if raised in alarm, will cut through a noisy crowd in an instant. If my phone shows an incoming call from one of my children, it will be answered, even if I have to interrupt a conversation or leave in the middle of a meeting.<br />
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Our confidence in this relationship with God, however, should not lead us to carelessness, but to consideration. Even in my relationship with my earthly father, there are boundaries of respect. In my family we refer to him as "Dad," denoting a relationship that I have with no other person on earth. I did not call him by his first name when I was a child, or even to this day. (Actually I did once, in a moment of childish rebellion and curiosity, but I immediately regretted it.) Should we not show far greater respect in how we speak to the Creator who privileges us to call Him Father? Even Jesus, whose relationship to the Father is far beyond ours, sometimes addressed Him with additional honorifics: "O Father, Lord of heaven and earth" (Luke 10:21, Matthew 11:25), "Holy Father" (John 17:11), and "Righteous Father" (John 17:25). He thanked the Father for hearing Him (John 11:41), and praised His glory (John 12:28, 17:1-5). The early Christians continued this attitude of reverence in prayer, calling on God as the "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them" (Acts 4:24).<br />
<br />
Pollock's litany shows this reverence as well, with the addition of confession: "Humbly at Thy feet we fall / Prodigals confessing all." The attitude of humility comes not only from a recognition that God is the Creator and we are the creation, but also from acknowledging our moral bankruptcy before Him. We need the attitude of the prodigal son in Luke 15:21, who openly admitted that his sins had broken the relationship he once had with his father. He appealed not for recognition as a son, but simply for mercy; the father of course gave him both. David reminds us in Psalm 138:6, "For though the Lord is high, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar." It is notable that this call to humility was spoken by a king! The truly great leaders of the Bible always showed this attitude in prayer. Nehemiah, in the prayer of supplication at the very beginning of the book bearing his name, began with fasting and prayer, confessing the sins of his nation in God's sight. King Hezekiah, when confronted with the army of Assyria at his gates, took their demand for surrender not to his generals, or to his political advisers, but to the house of the Lord, where he humbly appealed to the God "of all the kingdoms of the earth" (2 Kings 19:15-16). (Would that we had leaders in this nation, and all nations, who so humbled themselves before God!) It is the one who approaches God in humility--"God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" (Luke 18:13)--who can anticipate being heard.<br />
<br />
The refrain of Pollock's litany, "We beseech Thee, hear us," has a Scriptural parallel in Solomon's dedicatory prayer for the temple (1 Kings 8, 2 Chronicles 6), which continually returns to the petition, "Hear in heaven Your dwelling place." 2 Chronicles 7 recounts the Lord's answer to Solomon's prayer during a vision:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. (2 Chronicles 7:12-15)</blockquote>
How comforting to know that we as Christians are the living temple of God, both as individuals (1 Corinthians 6:19) and collectively (Ephesians 2:19-22), and that His "eyes will be open" and His "ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place" (2 Chronicles 7:15)!<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>Christ, beneath Thy cross we blame</i><br />
<i>All our life of sin and shame,</i><br />
<i>Penitent, we breathe Thy name:</i><br />
<i>We beseech Thee, hear us.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
For some reason the opening lines of this stanza have long confused me, and perhaps that has been the case for the reader; if not, I ask indulgence while I explain. When Pollock says that "we blame / All our life of sin and shame," my immediate thought is, "For<i> what</i>?" The ordinary use of the word "blame" implies that someone is being held responsible for a negative result of his or her actions. Is the consequence of our actions in view in this stanza? I believe so, though it was not immediately apparent to me. In the first line Pollock establishes a setting that may give our answer: "beneath Thy cross."<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:6-8).</blockquote>
It was I, and it was you, who deserved to be there instead. When we think of the awful treatment of One who even in His death prayed for forgiveness of His tormentors (Luke 23:34), the blame lies squarely on me and you--"All our life of sin and shame."<br />
<br />
Another older meaning of "blame" may be in play as well. In early Modern English, it could also mean generally "to reprove" or "to bring into disrepute" (<i>Oxford Universal Dictionary</i>). We see this a few times in the King James Version, such as 2 Corinthians 6:3, "Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed." Here Pollock may also be saying that we come to the cross reproving and renouncing our "lives of sin and shame," for as he says in the following line, "Penitent, we breath Thy name." "Penitent," of course, is a cousin of the word "repent," meaning to be in a state of repentance--making the mental determination to change direction from the wrong to the right. The cross of Christ has that effect on those who will allow themselves to see it for what it really means. Jesus said, "When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32), and like magnetic north, the pull of the cross shows us when we have drifted off our course.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 3:</i><br />
<i>Sick, we come to Thee for cure,</i><br />
<i>Guilty, seek Thy mercy sure,</i><br />
<i>Evil, long to be made pure:</i><br />
<i>We beseech Thee, hear us.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Among the mighty works Jesus performed to confirm His words was the healing of the sick. "And wherever He came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored Him that they might touch even the fringe of His garment. And as many as touched it were made well" (Mark 6:56). This was motivated in great part, of course, by His character: "He had compassion on them and healed their sick" (Matthew 14:14b). But as is so often the case with Jesus' actions, there is a deeper meaning. It was not His plan to heal all the sick among His people; in fact He pointed out that such miracles had never been intended in that manner: "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian" (Luke 4:27). The miracles of healing were acts of compassion and were immediate help to those who received them, but a greater lesson was to be learned. When the paralyzed man was lowered through the roof of a house before Jesus, His first action was not to heal the body, but the soul, saying "Take heart, My son; your sins are forgiven" (Matthew 9:2). In a similar incident, Jesus told the man He healed by the pool of Siloam, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you" (John 5:14). To be lost spiritually is a far worse condition than any physical illness or injury, and Jesus came to heal something far more deadly and insidious than even the terrible contagion of leprosy. "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:17).<br />
<br />
Spiritual sickness is one thing, but Pollock goes further. Do we think of ourselves as "guilty?" Do we see "evil" in our lives? "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Romans 3:19). Lest we quibble with Paul about which "law" he means, verse 23 makes plain that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The corruption of evil has been with humanity since Genesis chapter 3, when the "knowledge of good and evil" became all too real through sin, and individually we have followed in the footsteps of our first ancestors. Even after forgiveness through Christ that takes away the guilt and sin, we still struggle to remain free it--at least Paul did, and I do not fancy we are any better.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing (Romans 7:18-19).</blockquote>
This is no excuse for remaining in sin, but a hard, painful look at the reality of our weakness. Yet as Pollock says, we "long to be made pure." We need to "hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Matthew 5:6), striving after it in spite of our weakness, and trusting in God to help us in our weakness to do His will. Pollock is not interested in beating us down, but rather in encouraging us to look realistically at our absolute dependence on Christ, rather than on our own strength.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Stanza 4:</i><br />
<i>Blind, we pray that we may see,</i><br />
<i>Bound, we pray to be made free,</i><br />
<i>Stained, we pray for sanctity:</i><br />
<i>We beseech Thee, hear us.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The first two lines of this stanza call to mind one of the most stunning events in the ministry of Jesus, when He was invited to give the Scripture reading at the synagogue in his home town, Nazareth:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,<br />
because He has anointed Me<br />
to proclaim good news to the poor.<br />
He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives<br />
and recovering of sight to the blind,<br />
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,<br />
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:17-21, cf. Isaiah 61:1-2).</blockquote>
What miraculous work could have been more shocking than these words? This talk of liberty for the captive and oppressed was the language of revolution, as was prophesied by Simeon when Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus to the temple:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35).</blockquote>
Some, of course, looked for an outward and physical revolution in that generation, but as Jesus told the local representative of secular authority, Pontius Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting" (John 18:36). This was never meant as an excuse to ignore unjust behavior by worldly authorities, of course, and down through the centuries the spirit of Christ has worked to end such oppression. But the revolution Jesus led begins on the inside--and as Paul could well attest, especially given his extensive experience with incarceration, the prisons built in our minds and hearts are often the hardest to escape:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:21-25).</blockquote>
Jesus came to loose us from bondage that no earthly liberator can relieve. An impressive instance is seen in the man possessed by the legion of demons; we are told that this tortured individual "had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him" (Mark 5:4). Though he was able to free himself from physical restraints, he was just as much a prisoner of his situation as if he had been in the most secure dungeon in the world. After Jesus freed him, however, he was "sitting there, clothed and in his right mind" (Mark 5:15). Jesus delivers us from spiritual bondage first, giving us the freedom to be the true selves that God meant us to be.<br />
<br />
The restoration of sight to the blind is one of the marks of the authenticity of Jesus' ministry, as He remarked in response to the question of His cousin John: "The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them" (Matthew 11:5, cf. Isaiah 35:5-6). Several instances of this particular miracle are given in the gospel accounts, but the one that brings the matter into the sharpest focus is found in John chapter 9 with a man who had been blind from birth. As the narrative unfolds the question shifts from how a man was miraculously healed of physical blindness, to the much more difficult issue of the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees when the evidence of God's power was right in front of them. Showing once again that uncanny knack for asking rhetorical questions that pointed directly to their own problems, they asked, "Are we also blind?" To which Jesus replied, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains" (John 9:40-41). Problems of physical sight, of course, are always more obvious to us. I would never go out and drive my car without my glasses, because I know that I cannot navigate safely on the basis of large blurry shapes, which is how anything further than a block away appears. Sadly, it is all too easy to navigate spiritually with flawed vision, and the results are ultimately more disastrous.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 5:</i><br />
<i>By Thy love that bids Thee spare,</i><br />
<i>By the heav’n Thou dost prepare,</i><br />
<i>By Thy promises to prayer,</i><br />
<i>We beseech Thee, hear us.</i><br />
<br />
After two stanzas in which he built up a series of adjectives describing our needy state--"Sick . . . Guilty . . . Evil" and "Blind . . . Bound . . . Stained"--Pollock turns in the closing stanza to three things that give us assurance that our prayers do not go unheeded. We are reminded first of the fact of God's love, demonstrated in His willingness to provide a means to spare us from our sins. A good definition of "spare" in this sense is "to abstain from visiting (a sin, etc.) with due punishment" (<i>Oxford Universal Dictionary</i>). Essential to the meaning is the concept of "due punishment;" if we say that we were "spared" from a destructive storm, of course we do not mean that we deserved to suffer from it, or that the storm took pity on us. Ironically, the "love that bade Him spare" sinful humanity, prevented Him from doing the same for His Son: "He ... did not spare his own Son but gave Him up for us all" (Romans 8:32a), though He alone among humanity did not deserve it.<br />
<br />
The second fact to which our attention is drawn is the promise of a heavenly realm in preparation for the redeemed. In one of the darkest hours of His time with the apostles, Jesus promised them,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also (John 14:2-3).</blockquote>
In another passage Jesus explained that this kingdom was "prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34). We are assured that it is God's desire for us to be with Him; it is not a concession granted grudgingly, but was His plan all along. When sin seemed to wreck His plan, He went to unimaginable lengths to shows us a way back to Him. Will not our God, who "is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9b), who longs to bring us into His eternal home, hear the prayers of those who seek Him according to His will?<br />
<br />
Finally, Pollock brings before us the promises that God has made regarding prayer itself. In the kingdoms of this world, it is typically the person with influence and connections whose wishes are heard by those in power. The Lord, however, promises to hear the prayers of His people on the basis of sincere and repentant hearts: "If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14). However lowly one may be in the eyes of the world, he or she can approach the King of Creation, for "He regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer" (Psalm 102:17).<br />
<br />
When Jesus came into the world to show us the Father, He spoke more expansively on God's promises in prayer:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11).</blockquote>
Not only do we have the ear of the Creator when we pray, but He is well disposed toward our requests and encourages us to ask Him for help. But what of the times when we have difficulty praying? I have known these times, and perhaps the reader has as well. Sometimes I am so shocked or bewildered by an event that I have no idea what to say. Sometimes I am struggling in my faith and do not "feel" as close to God as I would wish when I pray. The best advice I have heard on this is, pray anyway, the best you can. We can be greatly reassured by Paul's words in Romans 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." I do not understand exactly how this works, and I do not have to--I just gratefully accept it, because I know there have been many times when I needed this help.<br />
<br />
The Lord promises in James 5:16 that "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." We typically think of this in terms changes in circumstances--a need fulfilled, a sickness relieved, a problem solved--but prayer also works powerfully on the heart of the one who prays. It humbles us and causes us to recognize God's mercy. It makes us think more clearly about what it is that we really need. It pokes and prods at our weaknesses and makes us realize how far we have to go. It encourages us by giving us a ready audience with a God who promises that things will get better if we will talk to Him. Pollock's litany, in bringing these things to mind, is an excellent preparation for corporate or individual prayer.<br />
<br />
<i>About the music:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
John Henry Gower was born in Rugby, Warwickshire in 1855, and was assistant organist at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, from the tender age of 12. In 1874 he became organist and choirmaster of St. Paul's Church, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. In 1876 he completed the Bachelor of Music degree at Balliol College, Oxford, and served as the organist for Trent College in Derbyshire for the space of a little over 10 years (Humphreys & Evan 132). During this time he also served in the 12th Derbyshire Rifles, a volunteer regiment, where his status as a gentleman afforded him a commission as a 2nd lieutenant (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rugRAAAAYAAJ&vq=gower&pg=PA404#v=onepage&q=%22john%20h%20gower%22&f=false"><i>United Service Magazine</i>, March 1879, 404</a>). He eventually rose to the rank of captain. In addition to his organ recitals, he was conductor of a local philharmonic society. He continued his studies at Oxford and received the Doctor of Music degree in 1883 (Humphreys & Evans 132). Porchea claims that Gower was the youngest ever to receive a doctorate in music at Oxford (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=UXlNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA124#v=onepage&">124</a>), but whether this is true or not, it was a remarkable achievement for such a young man.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=scVEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA726&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U36NTPWtdHYlZ0pG7JFZwLUta9tIQ&ci=580%2C809%2C358%2C215&edge=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://books.google.com/books?id=scVEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA726&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U36NTPWtdHYlZ0pG7JFZwLUta9tIQ&ci=580%2C809%2C358%2C215&edge=0" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The original St. John's in the Wilderness, destroyed by fire <br />
in 1903. Photo from Jerome C. Smiley's <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=scVEAQAAMAAJ">History of Denver</a></i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In 1887 Gower emigrated to the U.S., and settled in Denver, Colorado (Humphreys & Evans 132), where he married Jean Milne Taylor (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4nfOl6a6QSkC&vq=gower&pg=PA584#v=snippet&q=gower&f=false"><i>Who's Who in America</i> 584</a>). He was one of the earliest organists at St. John's in the Wilderness in its old building on Welton Street (<a href="http://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/Researchers/ColoradoMagazine_v21n3_May1944.pdf">Williams 81</a>), but for reasons yet undiscovered was replaced a year or so later by Henry Houseley (Porchea 84). Porchea's account of the music at St. John's during those years suggests that the rough-and-tumble Western city was a difficult adjustment for the English musicians who were imported by the cathedral's Dean (89ff.). In the <a href="http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16079coll28/id/35145/rec/6">1891 <i>Denver City Directory</i></a> Gower was listed in a real estate partnership (593, 1677), though he was still involved in the music scene as conductor of the new Denver Select Choir (Porchea 57). From time to time he was looking for a church position (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=e18xAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA632#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i>The Churchman </i>(New York City) 6 May 1893, 620</a>), and his biography in <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4nfOl6a6QSkC&vq=gower&pg=PA584#v=snippet&q=gower&f=false" style="font-style: italic;">Who's Who in America</a> indicates that he served as organist at the Chapel of the Epiphany in Chicago, as well as the Central Presbyterian Church in Denver (584). By the turn of the century the Gowers were living part of the time in England, and part of the time in Denver, where Gower had turned his hand to the booming mining business as well (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=I-wRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA528#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i>Who's Who in the World</i> 528</a>). Gower's bitterness at his perceived treatment in Denver is evident in a wittily acerbic letter to the editor of the <i>Musical News</i> of London, 26 May, 1900:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
S<span style="font-size: x-small;">IR</span>.-- I guess I'll sell my Mus. Doc. racket. Can you do anything with it? In the Western States they don't understand it, and after the daily papers at Denver got it so mixed up, as to style me "J. H. Gower <i>Musk Ox</i>," and J. H. Gower assisted by <i>Miss Doe</i>, I calculated it about time to "chuck" the business. So I took to digging.</blockquote>
Whatever his feelings about Denver, he seems to have settled down there in his older years. He is listed in the <a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQXH-H3L">1910</a> and <a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX22-KTQ">1920</a> U.S. censuses as teaching music from his home. He passed from this life 30 July 1922 in Denver, and is buried in the Fairmount Cemetery (<a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=33814387">Find-a-grave</a>).<br />
<br />
Gower's range of compositions was fairly extensive, including oratorios, cantatas, and anthems, of course, but also secular works for chamber ensembles and even an opera, intriguingly titled <i>The Man from Mars</i>. Some of his contributions to the world of hymn tunes are found in <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044073467318"><i>The Evening Service Book </i>(Denver: Denver Music Publishing Co., 1891)</a>, of which he was the music editor, including M<span style="font-size: x-small;">EDITATION</span> (one of the common tunes for "There is a green hill far away") and the setting of "Father, hear Thy children's call" that came to be known as <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044073467318?urlappend=%3Bseq=195">G<span style="font-size: x-small;">OWER'S</span> L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ITANY</span></a>.<br />
<br />
The tune is very singable and relatively simple, building up in a rising sequence through the first three phrases, the last of which reaches the peak of the melody, then relaxing in the refrain. This is a typical form for hymn tunes, of course, but in this case has the added value of matching the rhetorical structure of Pollock's stanzas. The harmony is considerably more complex, and is an excellent example of Romantic-era harmony applied to the miniature scale of the hymn tune.<br />
<br />
The first chromatic chords arrive in the 3rd beat of the 3rd measure, a D-sharp fully diminished 7th chord that serves merely as decoration (not as a leading-tone structure to the following chord), but also sets up the harmonically ambiguous slide into the 4th beat by the bass and alto. The arrival of the A7 chord on the 4th beat is then subverted from its likely goal in the 4th measure (the tonic, D major), by yet another chromatic slide in the bass and alto voices, now introducing an E-sharp fully diminished 7th. This diminished 7th chord, however, is functional, serving as leading tone to the F-sharp minor chord at the end of the phrase (measure 4, beat 3). The series of events manages to produce a cadence in F-sharp minor, a related but rather unexpected key, evidence of the strength of good part-writing.<br />
<br />
The next patch of chromaticism begins on the 4th beat of the 5th measure, creating a series of secondary dominants (F#maj7 to Bmaj to Emaj) leading toward the final phrase. There is one standout moment, however, when the tenor voice hits a C-natural in beat 3, measure 6; it creates an F-sharp diminished triad for a moment, before the upper voices resolve down into the E major chord, and gives the harmony a touch of pathos by referring to the parallel key of D minor. This prominent feature in the tenor line seems to be an echo of the peak in the melody at the same spot in the preceding measure.<br />
<br />
The part-writing is also worth noting, because the style varies so widely between the two halves of the tune. In the first half the alto, tenor, and bass are practically static, moving primarily by step and often in parallel with the melody. (This is especially noticeable in the <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044073467318;view=1up;seq=195">original version of the tune</a>, in which the bass stays on an E throughout the 2nd measure. Later versions would have the bass leap down to A, the root of the chord, perhaps in deference to the music theory maxim not to leave a second-inversion chord hanging as Gower does. In his defense, keeping the bass on E makes the bass part much more singable, and the uneasiness of the harmony is in keeping with the chromaticism of the later part of the phrase.) In the second half of the tune the harmony is more straightforward, with more root position chords (and thus more leaps in the bass). It is risky to make this kind of interpretation of the composer's intent, but: the general sense of the tune seems to be a pensive, hesitant beginning, building in tension and yet also in confidence toward the refrain: "We beseech Thee, hear us."<br />
<br />
<hr />
<i>References:</i><br />
<div>
<i><br /></i>
Anonymous. <i>Father Pollock and his Brother: Mission Priests of St. Alban's Birmingham</i>. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1911. </div>
<div>
<a href="https://archive.org/stream/fatherpollockand00unknuoft#page/n9/mode/2up">https://archive.org/stream/fatherpollockand00unknuoft#page/n9/mode/2up</a><br />
<br />
Julian, John. <i>A Dictionary of Hymnology</i>, 2nd rev. ed. (1907), 2 vols. New York: Dover, 1957.<br />
<br />
Alexopoulos, Stefanos. "Litany." <i>New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship</i>, edited by Paul Bradshaw. London: SCM Press, 2013, 281-283.<br />
<br />
Mershman, Francis. "Litany." <i>The Catholic Encyclopedia</i> (1910). <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09286a.htm">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09286a.htm</a><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>LSJ : The Liddell-Scott-Jones Greek English Lexicon</i>. <i>Thesaurus Linguae Graecae</i>. University of California Irvine. <a href="http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/">http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/</a><br />
<br />
Wohlers, Charles. <i>Exhortation and Litany (1544): The First Liturgy in English.</i><br />
<a href="http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Litany1544/Exhortation&Litany_1544.htm">http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Litany1544/Exhortation&Litany_1544.htm</a><br />
<br />
Wakeling, G. <i>The Oxford Church Movement: Sketches and Recollections</i>. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1895. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=I7MzAQAAIAAJ">https://books.google.com/books?id=I7MzAQAAIAAJ</a><br />
<br />
<i>Hymns Ancient & Modern</i>, revised and enlarged edition, edited by William Monk. London: William Clowes and Sons, 1875. <a href="http://imslp.org/wiki/Hymns_Ancient_and_Modern_(Monk,_William_Henry)">http://imslp.org/wiki/Hymns_Ancient_and_Modern_(Monk,_William_Henry)</a><br />
<br />
"Promotions and Appointments." <i>United Service Magazine</i> 149/604 (March 1879), 387-408.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rugRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA404">https://books.google.com/books?id=rugRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA404</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_1739336239"></a><br />
<br />
Humphreys, Maggie, and Robert Evans. <i>Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland</i>. London: Mansell Publishing Ltd., 1997.<br />
<br />
Williams, Alice Roeschlaub. "Recollections of music in early Denver." <i>The Colorado Magazine</i> XXI/3 (May 1944), 81-93.<br />
<a href="http://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/Researchers/ColoradoMagazine_v21n3_May1944.pdf">http://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/files/Researchers/ColoradoMagazine_v21n3_May1944.pdf</a><br />
<br />
Porchea, Paul. <i>The Musical History of Colorado</i>. Denver: Charles Westley, 1889.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=UXlNAAAAYAAJ">https://books.google.com/books?id=UXlNAAAAYAAJ</a><br />
<br />
<i>1891 Corbett & Ballenger's 19th Annual Denver City Directory</i>.<br />
<a href="http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16079coll28/id/35145/rec/6">http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16079coll28/id/35145/rec/6</a><br />
<br />
<i>Who's Who in America</i> III (1903-1905), edited Albert Nelson Marquis & John W. Leonard. Chicago: Marquis, 1905. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4nfOl6a6QSkC">https://books.google.com/books?id=4nfOl6a6QSkC</a><br />
<br />
<i>Who's Who in the World, 1912</i>, edited by H. L. Motter. New York: International Who's Who Publishing, 1912. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=I-wRAAAAYAAJ">https://books.google.com/books?id=I-wRAAAAYAAJ</a><br />
<br />
Stein, Robert H. "Fatherhood of God." <i>Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology</i>, ed. Walter A. Elwell. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1997.<br />
<a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/fatherhood-of-god.html">http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/fatherhood-of-god.html</a><br />
<br />
Stanton, Glenn T. "Factchecker: Does Abba mean Daddy?" The Gospel Coalition, 2013.<br />
<a href="http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-does-abba-mean-daddy">http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/factchecker-does-abba-mean-daddy</a><br />
<br />
<i>The Oxford Universal Dictionary on Historical Principles</i>, 3rd edition revised. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955.</div>
</div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-4577532150622731672015-12-29T19:38:00.000-06:002015-12-29T19:44:37.849-06:00Father, We Thank Thee for the Night<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #144<br />
<br />
Words: Rebecca Weston, ca.1875?<br />
Music: Jorgenson's <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>, 1930<br />
<br />
This little morning prayer-hymn first appeared in hymnals in the 1890s, and has maintained a presence even into the present century (<a href="http://www.hymnary.org/instances?qu=in%3Ainstances%20textAuthNumber%3Afather_we_thank_thee_for_the_night&sort=publicationDate">Hymnary.org</a>). Though originally conceived as a children's song and published primarily in Sunday school hymnals, its simple but earnest language is suitable for adults as well, and deserves to be better known. It came into use among the churches of Christ by way of Elmer Jorgenson's <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>, first appearing (to the best of my knowledge) in the 1930 edition. From this source, no doubt, it came into other hymnals such as <i>Our Leader </i>(Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation, 1941) and L. O. Sanderson's <i>Christian Hymns III</i> (Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1966), the Howard Publishing hymnals, and others. But however popular it became in the churches, "Father, we thank Thee" did not begin there--it started in the schoolroom. The origin of this hymn reaches back to the 1870s and an interesting chapter of United States history, especially as it pertains to children: the flowering of the Kindergarten movement.<br />
<br />
Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel (1782-1852), the founder of the movement, was the son of a Lutheran minister in Germany. An intellectual jack-of-all-trades, he eventually was drawn to teaching and studied under the Swiss education reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Generations before "learning styles" entered the popular vernacular, these men recognized the value in learning through all the different senses, using play, investigation, songs, and games, in addition to the traditional tools of teaching. But after establishing his own school, Fröbel felt something was missing from the philosophy of his mentor. His evolving concept of the Kindergarten became rooted in the principle that God is the source of knowledge, and therefore, that true education should lead to God (Muelle 87-88). The spread of the Kindergarten to the United States came through the misfortune of the 1848 revolution in Germany, which prompted a tide of German immigration to the farming country of the Midwestern U.S. The first American Kindergarten was actually taught in German, by a Fröbel-trained teacher in Watertown, Wisconsin, Margarethe Schurz. This school was in existence five years before Elizabeth Peabody opened the first English-language Kindergarten in Boston in 1860. A chance meeting between the two teachers convinced Peabody to travel to Germany to study Fröbel's methods first-hand, and as the Kindergarten movement spread in the English-speaking urban centers, it retained a firm connection with its German founder (Muelle 88).<br />
<br />
A critical point to observe in the early spread of Kindergarten in the United States was its close association with the needs of a new demographic, the urban working poor. Industrialization and immigration in the late 1800s caused the cities to swell with workers, and the uncertainties of life away from the farm made it more likely for mothers and older children to enter the workforce. Kindergarten was promoted as a way to give the younger children not only a boost in their education, but also a place to develop good moral habits and citizenship. In the early 1900s it became more aligned with emerging American education philosophies which tended toward a more secular and pragmatic approach, but in its early decades Kindergarten was seen as a spiritual as well as an intellectual education (Muelle 88-89). It is hardly surprising that a children's hymn emerged from this milieu, which paralleled the temperance movement, the Young Men's Christian Association, and other "social gospel" efforts.<br />
<br />
Rebecca Jane Weston, who would become a pioneer in the Kindergarten movement in the U.S., was born on 31 May 1835 in Reading, Massachusetts, to James B. Weston and Rebecca (Baldwin) Weston (<i><a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWQR-7QC">Massachusetts deaths</a></i>). An <a href="http://bcd.lib.tufts.edu/view_text.jsp?urn=tufts:central:dca:UA069:UA069.005.DO.00012&chapter=d.1885.su.Weston">1885 Boston city directory</a> gives her name as "R. Jennie Weston," and she is once referred to as "Jane Weston" (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10j2h?urlappend=%3Bseq=352">Peabody "Miss Garland's" 21</a>). Her father James Weston of Reading was a clock dealer and maker (cf. <a href="http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16057coll32/id/42">1850/51 city directory</a> 324, <a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDSD-Q7K">1850 census</a>), a business inherited by Rebecca's brothers (<a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD3G-KQD">1870 census</a>). The Westons moved to Boston in 1836-37 (<a href="http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16057coll32/id/34/rec/8">1837 city directory</a> 389), so Rebecca was essentially raised in the city. She attended the Johnson Grammar School, and in 1850, at age 15, she was awarded a City Medal for scholarship (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435057125239?urlappend=%3Bseq=232"><i>Annual report 1857</i> 222</a>). From 1853-1855 she attended Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary, though she does not appear to have graduated (<i><a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101007789082?urlappend=%3Bseq=46">Mount Holyoke catalogues</a></i>).<br />
<br />
Lucy H. Symonds, a fellow schoolteacher and later an associate in Kindergarten work, said that Weston taught in the Boston schools for eighteen years (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=n4A-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA321#v=onepage&q&f=false">M.L.G. 321</a>). If she began her full-time Kindergarten work in 1873 ("Notes and discussions" 146), she must have begun teaching around 1855 when she was 20 years old. The earliest documentation I can find shows that she taught in the Newbern Place primary school in 1858 (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112044125448?urlappend=%3Bseq=81"><i>Rules of the School Committee 1858</i> 11</a>), where she remained until 1863, when she moved to the Warren Street primary school (street name later changed to Warrenton) (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.li2mep?urlappend=%3Bseq=364"><i>Annual report 1863</i> 92</a>). She remained there until 1870, when she moved to the Tennyson Street primary school (later named the Starr King school after the noted Unitarian minister). At Tennyson Street she taught alongside Lucy H. Symonds (<a href="https://archive.org/stream/annualreportsch04bostgoog#page/n406/mode/1up"><i>Annual report 1870</i> 403</a>), remaining there through 1872 (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.li2mf4?urlappend=%3Bseq=411"><i>Annual report 1872</i> 405</a>). Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (1804-1894), the founder of English-language Kindergarten in the U.S., reckoned Weston and Symonds among "the very most valued of the primary-school teachers of Boston" (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10j2h?urlappend=%3Bseq=41">Peabody 11</a>).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5IlbtN_2OtIhHDTh3zvReRcmEExvimJ52r9jltZgDZ-zEsyHH45vRSvsEB9OkedjH6_lNh7jFPsSXhps6xUoMELtpNiTNpzbdoeMu1YpJxgWkWAlmzvr7dCNsuanCmUiqhYfXXwZ2FjG2/s1600/ChestnutSt_ca1869_Boston.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5IlbtN_2OtIhHDTh3zvReRcmEExvimJ52r9jltZgDZ-zEsyHH45vRSvsEB9OkedjH6_lNh7jFPsSXhps6xUoMELtpNiTNpzbdoeMu1YpJxgWkWAlmzvr7dCNsuanCmUiqhYfXXwZ2FjG2/s320/ChestnutSt_ca1869_Boston.png" width="292" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chestnut Street, Boston, circa 1869.<br />
Photographer unknown. From <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ChestnutSt_ca1869_Boston.png">Wikimedia Commons</a>.</td></tr>
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Over the years Weston spent in the public schools, she became impressed by the impact of Kindergartens on the students she received from such programs. In 1872-1873 she made a life-changing choice--she left public school teaching and undertook intensive study of Kindergarten teaching under Mary Garland ("Notes and discussions" 146). Mary J. Garland (1834-1901) was a disciple of Matilda Kriege, the German founder of the first Kindergarten teacher training program in the U.S., and was also associated with such notables as Elizabeth Peabody and Mary (Mrs. Horace) Mann (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.098209389?urlappend=%3Bseq=215">"In memoriam" 199-200</a>). (Garland's school later evolved into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garland_Junior_College">Garland Junior College</a> for women, which closed in 1976.) Upon Weston's graduation she became Garland's partner in the Kindergarten school and teacher training program ("Notes and discussions" 146), and around 1875, Rebecca moved into quarters at Garland's school on Chestnut street (<a href="http://bcd.lib.tufts.edu/view_text.jsp?urn=tufts:central:dca:UA069:UA069.005.DO.00020&chapter=d.1875.su.Weston">"Weston, 1875"</a>). The two women, fast friends and partners in a cause, lived and worked together for the remainder of Weston's life. The impact of their partnership was such that a eulogist of Garland described them as "a double star in the educational firmament" (<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rfUBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA186#v=onepage&q&f=false">Wiltse 186</a>). Weston passed away on 7 August 1895 in Concord, Massachusetts, where she and Garland were spending the summer vacation ("Notes and discussions" 146).<br />
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Weston's interest in music education was evident early in her career. Luther W. Mason, speaking at her memorial service, remembered that during his time as music supervisor in the Boston schools, Weston was one of the strongest advocates for his efforts to introduce systematic music instruction in the primary schools (M.L.G. 321). Elizabeth Peabody's firsthand description of the graduation exercises of Garland's first class of Kindergarten teachers, which included Weston and her friend Lucy Symonds, notes that "The young ladies began with singing a hymn, which one of them had composed" (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10j2h?urlappend=%3Bseq=39">Peabody "Exhibition" 10</a>). (Was it Rebecca?) They also read their graduation essays; Weston's was <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10j2h?urlappend=%3Bseq=127">"Froebel as builder,"</a> reprinted by Peabody as the lead article in <i>Kindergartner Messenger</i> No. 6 (October 1873). Music was an increasingly important part of Kindergarten work in general and of Weston's contributions to its development. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4Oo-AAAAYAAJ" style="font-style: italic;">Songs and games for little ones</a> (Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1887), a pioneering music book for Kindergartens, includes this statement in the preface of the 3rd edition:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Kindergartners* will find that songs and games which have hitherto been obtainable only in manuscript form, many of them kindly supplied to us by Miss GARLAND and Miss WESTON, are here newly arranged and harmonized.<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"> *That is, Kindergarten teachers, or "child-gardeners," in the German sense of "Gartner"--DRH. </span></blockquote>
The first song in this collection is Weston's "Father, we thank Thee." It is uncertain how many others she wrote, but in the Garland Junior College records curated by the archives of Simmons College, there is a group of notebooks described as "Songs for Kindergartens" (no author indicated), alongside a notebook containing other teaching materials by Rebecca Weston (<a href="http://beatleyweb.simmons.edu/collectionguides/ManuscriptsCollection/MS104.html#adminlink">Garland Junior College records</a>). I am much obliged to archivist Jason Wood for searching this material on my behalf. Unfortunately it yielded no references to "Father we thank Thee," but it does provide evidence of songwriting activity in the Garland & Weston school.<br />
<br />
There is little to no question of Weston's authorship of the text of "Father, we thank Thee." Though it often appeared without attribution, as popular songs learned by rote will do, I have found no competing claims, and those who knew Weston best testify that she wrote the song for the use of her Kindergarten classes taught in Garland's school on Chestnut Street (M.L.G. 321). The first appearance of "Father, we thank Thee" in a songbook is in the teacher's manual for the 1885 <i>Tonic sol-fa music course for schools</i> by Daniel Batcheller and Thomas Charmbury (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000006254575?urlappend=%3Bseq=24">Batcheller & Charmbury 18</a>), but the text was definitely known at least a few years earlier, and most likely was written during the 1870s. It is quoted, oddly enough, in a novel by Kate Douglas (Smith) Wiggin, <i>The story of Patsy</i> (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t2j679h5w?urlappend=%3Bseq=37">Wiggin 27</a>), copyrighted 1882. The song plays out over the death scene of the woebegone titular protagonist, for whom the Kindergarten was one of the few joys of life. Though Weston is not credited, naturally enough, the story nonetheless shows the currency of this hymn in the Kindergarten curriculum:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And in a voice choked with tears, as Jim came in the door, and lifted Patsy in his arms, I sang the hymn that he had sung, with folded hands and reverent mien, every morning of his life in the Kindergarten (<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t2j679h5w?urlappend=%3Bseq=36">Wiggin 26</a>).</blockquote>
(In her defense, it was her first novel, and Wiggin would more than redeem herself with her 1903 classic <i>Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm</i>.) Wiggin's knowledge of the hymn at such an early date might have come from her period of study with Elizabeth Peabody in 1880 (<a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Kate-Douglas-Wiggin">"Kate Douglas Wiggin"</a>), but it also suggests that the hymn had already become quite familiar, perhaps even at a national level. An even earlier reference to this hymn comes from Weston's associate Lucy Wheelock, who remembered hearing a Kindergarten class sing at Chauncy Hall School while she herself was a student there. It was a moment that made her determined to pursue a career in early childhood education herself (<a href="https://archive.org/stream/pioneersofthekin009710mbp#page/n55/mode/2up">Wheelock 26</a>). Wheelock attended Chauncy Hall during 1875 (<a href="http://issuu.com/wheelockarchives/docs/my_life_story_wheelock"><i>My life</i> 10</a>), so if her memory some fifty years later was accurate, she heard Weston's song in use in that year.<br />
<br />
One final note on Rebecca Weston: like many, many people who have chosen early childhood education as a career (including my grandfather, my mother, and two of my sisters), she was acting out her Christian faith. Alice H. Putnam, yet another education luminary from Weston's circle, said in her memory, "I never met her without being deeply impressed with the genuineness of her Christian character" ("Notes and discussions" 147). In a meeting of the Eastern Kindergarten Association where Weston's life and work were honored, noted minister and author Edward Everett Hale said that Weston was a teacher whose philosophy was "founded on three eternities--faith, hope and love. Religion was central in her life, she lived to bring in the kingdom of God" (M.L.G. 321-322).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bookplate from the library dedicated in <br />
Weston's memory at the (original) Peabody <br />
House, an innovative center for community <br />
education. Reprinted in the <i>Journal of the <br />Ex Libris Society</i> XIV (1904), page 93.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
"Father, we thank Thee for the night" is in that unfortunately small class of really great children's hymns. (All the more reason to revive the use of the good ones, with or without the King James English). It is inherently difficult to wrap a profound truth in simple vocabulary, and much easier to write something catchy but shallow. Add to that the struggle of the adult to think in terms that relate to a child, and it is remarkably challenging. But Jesus told us: "Of such are the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:14). It is well worth the while of adults to consider what aspects of childhood the Savior meant by that, and this hymn touches on some of them very well.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Father, we thank Thee for the night,</i><br />
<i>And for the pleasant morning light;</i><br />
<i>For rest and food and loving care,</i><br />
<i>And all that makes the day so fair.</i><br />
<br />
Thanks are given first of all for the night, usually not the child's favorite time of day. But it is quickly paired with thanksgiving for rest in the third line, gently reminding the child (and us) that we need rest, and that it is a blessing. "He gives to His beloved sleep," Psalm 127:2 tells us, and "Sweet is the sleep of a laborer" (Ecclesiastes 5:12). This is no news, of course, to those of us who wake up in the middle of the night and want nothing more than to go back to sleep! But during those times I try to remind myself how blessed I am that at least I have a bed to lie in, and peaceful nights without fear. I have known people who slept on the floor on the weekends to avoid the stray bullets passing through their neighborhoods, and too many people around the world fear a knock on the door in the night from criminal gangs (official or otherwise). My childhood nighttime fears (Boggy Creek Monster stalking the streets of Tulsa, the headless motorcyclist from <i>Kolchak: the Night Stalker</i>) were fantasy--would that this were true for every child! Let us appreciate the blessing of rest and peace.<br />
<br />
The "pleasant morning light" is something so fundamental to human understanding as to need no explanation. Scripture is full of allusions to this fact. The distressed soul in Psalm 130:6 "waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning," reflecting the near-universal experience of a tense night of watching in anxiety that will only be relieved by the arrival of day. Whether it is logical or not, things often do seem better by the light of day than by the dark of night. Scripture also tells us that "joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5b), and in the promise of a new day with all its potential yet untold, perhaps there is a dim echo of that creative excitement that followed the first time this occurred: "And there was evening and morning, the first day" (Genesis 1:5). (I cannot help but think of my firstborn, aged two, who announced to us one morning upon arising, "I have <i>one hundred</i> ideas today!") But over the years, the routine of work and the unforgiving din of the alarm clock can dull our sense of wonder at this event called "morning." When my feet hit the floor in the morning (well before the morning light actually), I try to remember to make my first thought of this--"Lord, thank You for this new day." I have often heard the sentiment, but do not know the author: "God woke you up this morning, He still has something for you to do." A variation of the proverb says, "God woke you up this morning, He is giving you another chance to get it right." No matter what the challenges we face, every day is another chance to do better; every day is another chance to glorify God. "Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul" (Psalm 143:8).<br />
<br />
"Rest and food and loving care" are further aspects of the child's simple world that are good for adults to consider carefully. My children know this routine by heart, having heard it many times--if you have clothes on your back, food on your table, and a roof over your head, you have everything you really need, and are better off than many, many people in this world. The small child who has not yet acquired the adult qualities of avarice and self-importance is generally satisfied with simple food, comfortable clothes, and a warm blanket to sleep under. It does not occur to the child to wish for more, when there is enough. The "loving care" of a trusted guardian is the final thing needed. I remember one night distinctly when my childhood nightmares were getting the best of me, and every shadow was a monster waiting to catch me, until I made the long, dark trek to my parents room and knocked on the door. On that night, at least, my father sat up in a chair in my room until I fell asleep. I woke up later, worried, fully expecting to be alone again--then saw that he was still there, asleep in that uncomfortable chair. If he was there, what did I have to worry about? If only we could keep that childlike trust in our heavenly Father! He "will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4). Peter encourages us to "cast all your anxieties upon Him, because He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>Help us to do the things we should,</i><br />
<i>To be to others kind and good;</i><br />
<i>In all we do in work or play,</i><br />
<i>To grow more loving every day.</i><br />
<br />
The second stanza of Weston's morning hymn turns from thanksgiving to supplication, and it is the best kind of supplication--asking God's help to live our lives in a manner pleasing to Him. "Help us to do the things we should" reminds us that sin is not just a matter of wrong done, but of good neglected. The familiar old lines from the General Confession in the Book of Common Prayer put it well: "We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done." One can avoid active evildoing all day long, yet fail to be "kind and good." One proof of kindness, as it is described in Scripture, is to whom it is demonstrated. Jesus described the Father in Luke 6:35 as "kind to the ungrateful and the evil." Our treatment of those who mistreat us shows the active presence of this godly kindness in our lives, because as Jesus points out, "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them" (Luke 6:32). Ephesians 4:32 also associates kindness with the ability to rise above the other person's behavior: "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." It is easy to be kind to the coworker whose company I enjoy, or the cashier in the store who is always friendly. It is much harder to go out of my way to be kind to the difficult and critical coworker, or to the cashier who is always surly.<br />
<br />
Weston concludes, naturally enough for a Kindergarten teacher, with the wish for continued growth. Among the metaphors Scripture uses to describe the Christian life (a walk, a race, a fight) one of the most prominent is the metaphor of biological growth. Some of Christ's most memorable parables--the Sower and the Soils, the Mustard Seed, the Wheat and the Tares--set the precedent for this imagery, where the gospel seed unfolds progressively in the life of a Christian. The body of Christians as a whole is compared to a growing physical body, differentiated yet united:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love (Ephesians 4:15-16).</blockquote>
We recognize the necessity of growth and progress in the physical realm. Though we might wish in a way that our children could stay little just a while longer, in reality, we are concerned (often unreasonably so!) if they do not reach the expected milestones of physical and mental development on schedule. If we plant fruit trees, but get little or no fruit at the expected times, we examine the health of the trees and the soil, and try to make changes to increase the yield. Would that there were equal concern for spiritual growth! In the beginning of John's third epistle, he wishes for Gaius: "that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul" (3 John 2). I wonder sometimes how I would look, if my physical health actually reflected my spiritual health? God help us to pay closer attention to our spiritual growth, which is eternal, so that we can say with Paul, "Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16).<br />
<br />
It is worth noting in conclusion that Weston placed the desired growth of her Kindergarten pupils in the context of "work and play." Part of the lasting contribution of Fröbel and the Kindergarten movement was the understanding that learning takes place, not only through the passive reception of knowledge via teacher-student instruction, but also through the many different activities of life in which that knowledge is put into practice. In the same way, spiritual growth occurs not only through reception of knowledge--though that is absolutely necessary--but also through actively applying that knowledge in every aspect of life. Colossians 3:17 tells us, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Often the discussion of this verse is focused on the authority for practices in the Lord's church, and certainly the question is just as relevant today as ever--"By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" (Matthew 21:23); "By what power or by what name did you do this?" (Acts 4:7). But the context of the verse within the chapter, which addresses personal morality and interpersonal relations, shows that it applies equally to the individual Christian in every other aspect of life. Yes, the worship of the church must be done "in the name of the Lord," under His authority as delegated through His inspired writers; but so also must my business practices. The organization of the church must be "in the name of the Lord," and so also must the organization of my time and where I spend it.<br />
<br />
Obviously if I am doing something in my personal life that is overtly contrary to the Lord's will, I cannot do it "in the name of the Lord," living under His authority. But even those things that are morally neutral need to be done in a way that respects the Lord's authority over my life. I was amused recently to read in the compendium <i>Queries and Answers</i> (Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1911), drawn from the editorial pages of the <i>Gospel Advocate</i> from more than a century ago, an <a href="https://archive.org/stream/queriesanswers00lip#page/27/mode/1up">article by Elisha G. Sewell</a> in response to an earnest young Christian's question: Was it appropriate to join in the game (relatively new at that time) called "base ball?" Sewell's answer is just as timely today, and applies to pastimes never imagined in his day (video games, Facebook, etc.). All other things being equal, Sewell opined that playing a sport would be a better use of leisure time than would idleness. But would the time spent in baseball keep him from worship, or from other Christian activities? Would his participation, and the people he would associate with, help or hurt his reputation? Would he be more likely to influence the ungodly through this association, or the other way around? These questions are still important, as we strive to "take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5), submitting to His authority over our whole lives, in "work and play" as well as in worship.<br />
<br />
<i>About the music:</i><br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/text/father_we_thank_thee_for_the_night">Hymnary.org page for "Father, we thank Thee"</a> shows that the <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/pst.000006254575?urlappend=%3Bseq=24">tune by Daniel Batchellor</a> that first appeared with this text in 1885 has remained the most widely used. Daniel Batchellor (1845-ca. 1928), a Englishman, brought the British <a href="http://www.australian-music-ed.info/Curwen/index.html">"tonic sol-fa" or Curwen system</a> to the U.S. with the zeal of a religious reformer, and though he was ultimately unsuccessful in making this music-reading system a permanent part of American life, he was a strikingly innovative leader in early childhood music education (Southcott 60ff.). From what I have gathered, tonic sol-fa (the musical notation method, not the singing group) is to the U.K. what shape-notes are to the U.S., in the sense that it was invented to teach music reading as quickly as possible to those without any formal musical education, using a method of notation that signifies scale steps rather than letter-name pitches.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLhEvI9TBQ-r161ZZhMTQ8WazyQPpgcMuFaBhjdFM1Rfg5EvowY5UTEekbPb8zNfH1ZIBd9pQhCITwiXBjWKm3Vo2MlJkHktnJxRnNkftNtUKh6f4Rir2Z_C13oxC-l6dYwmnJvnZgK8D/s1600/New+Picture+%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLhEvI9TBQ-r161ZZhMTQ8WazyQPpgcMuFaBhjdFM1Rfg5EvowY5UTEekbPb8zNfH1ZIBd9pQhCITwiXBjWKm3Vo2MlJkHktnJxRnNkftNtUKh6f4Rir2Z_C13oxC-l6dYwmnJvnZgK8D/s1600/New+Picture+%25281%2529.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from<i> Manual for teachers, and rote songs, to accompany the <br />Tonic sol-fa music course for schools </i>(1885)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Below is the common four-part setting, in traditional notation:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=LygXfTaCFKQC&pg=PA6&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3m1j7IYDrnYQLJYg4GN2vHcW0r_Q&ci=124%2C601%2C806%2C499&edge=0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://books.google.com/books?id=LygXfTaCFKQC&pg=PA6&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3m1j7IYDrnYQLJYg4GN2vHcW0r_Q&ci=124%2C601%2C806%2C499&edge=0" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from <i><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=LygXfTaCFKQC">Childhood Songs</a></i>, ed. Mabel Rowland, 1898</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The upward leaps of a 6th in the opening phrase and third phrase, and the busy final phrase, make this tune a little awkward to sing, though it is pretty enough.<br />
<br />
A few hymnals have paired "Father, we thank Thee for the night" with the tune H<span style="font-size: x-small;">URSLEY</span> (known to churches of Christ in the U.S. with the text "Sun of my soul, Thou Savior dear"), which is a charming fit. There is <a href="https://www.lds.org/music/library/childrens-songbook/father-we-thank-thee-for-the-night?lang=eng">another setting of this text</a> with music by Grietje Terburg Rowley (b. 1927), found in some Latter Day Saints hymnals, with very interesting harmony. There is also a <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ks/landzastanza/kdwkc009.html">setting of this text by Kate Douglas Wiggin</a> from her <i>Kindergarten Chimes </i>(1885), but it borrows a little too obviously from S<span style="font-size: x-small;">T.</span> G<span style="font-size: x-small;">EORGE'S</span> W<span style="font-size: x-small;">INDSOR</span> ("Come, ye thankful people, come").<br />
<br />
Jorgenson's setting of this text first appeared in the 1930 edition of <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>. A recording of "Father, we thank Thee" sung to this tune was recorded by the Harding University Concert Choir on their album <i>Harding 100 Hymns</i>. <a href="http://www.searchforbiblicaltruth.com/library/audio/harding/harding100/Father,%20We%20Thank%20Thee.mp3">An MP3 version is available here.</a><br />
<br />
<hr />
<i>Genealogical References for Rebecca J. Weston</i><br />
<br />
<u>Notice of Death, Obituaries:</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
"Rebecca J. Weston, 07 Aug 1895." <i>Massachusetts deaths, 1841-1915.</i> <i>FamilySearch </i>(2015), citing <i>Concord, Massachusetts</i> v. 455, p. 172, State Archives, Boston, FHL microfilm 961,516.<br />
<a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWQR-7QC">https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWQR-7QC</a><br />
<br />
"Notes and discussions." <i>Kindergarten Magazine</i> (Chicago) VIII/2 (October 1895), 146-147.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=XvpJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA146#v=onepage&q&f=false">https://books.google.com/books?id=XvpJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA146#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
M. L. G. "In memory of of Miss Weston." <i>Kindergarten News</i> (Springfield, Mass.) V/9 (November 1895), 320-322.</div>
<div>
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=n4A-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA320#v=onepage&q&f=false">https://books.google.com/books?id=n4A-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA320#v=onepage&q&f=false</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<u>Census data:</u><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"James Weston." <i>U.S. Census, 1850. FamilySearch</i> (2015), citing NARA microfilm M432, p. 612, household 45 (Massachusetts, Suffolk, Boston, Ward 10).<br />
<a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDSD-Q7K">https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDSD-Q7K</a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"James Weston." <i>Massachusetts State Census, 1855. FamilySearch </i>(2015), citing State Archives, Boston, FHL microfilm 953,959, Suffolk County, Boston, Ward 8, household 70.</div>
<div>
<a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQWK-72W">https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQWK-72W</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"James Weston." <i>U.S. Census, 1860. FamilySearch </i>(2015), citing NARA microfilm M653, p. 210, household 1627 (Massachusetts, Suffolk, Boston, Ward 10).<br />
<a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZHK-WDV">https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZHK-WDV</a> </div>
<div>
(view microfilm image: <a href="https://archive.org/stream/populationschedu523unit#page/n390/mode/1up">https://archive.org/stream/populationschedu523unit#page/n390/mode/1up</a>)</div>
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Rebecca J. Weston." <i>Massachusetts State Census, 1865. FamilySearch</i> (2015), citing State Archives, Boston, FHL microfilm 954,377, Suffolk County, Boston, Ward 10, household 2259.</div>
<div>
<a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQHZ-JNR">https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQHZ-JNR</a></div>
<div>
<br />
"Rebecca J. Weston." <i>U.S. Census, 1870. FamilySearch </i>(2015), citing NARA microfilm M593, p. 66, household 480 (Massachusetts, Suffolk, Boston, Ward 8).<br />
<a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD3G-KQD">https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MD3G-KQD</a><br />
<br />
<u>City directories:</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
<i>1837, Stimpson's Boston directory. </i>Boston: Stimpson & Clapp, 1837. Digital version from the <i>Collection of the Boston Athenaeum</i>.<br />
<u><a href="http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16057coll32/id/34/rec/8">http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p16057coll32/id/34/rec/8</a></u><br />
<u><br /></u>
<i>1850-1851, The directory of the city of Boston</i>. Boston: George Adams, 1850. Digital version from the <i>Collection of the Boston Athenaeum.</i><br />
<a href="http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16057coll32/id/42">http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16057coll32/id/42</a><br />
<br />
"Weston, 1875." <i>Boston streets: mapping directory data</i>. Tufts University (2015), citing the <i>Boston directory </i>(Sampson, Davenport & Co., 1875) <a href="http://bcd.lib.tufts.edu/view_text.jsp?urn=tufts:central:dca:UA069:UA069.005.DO.00020&chapter=d.1875.su.Weston">http://bcd.lib.tufts.edu/view_text.jsp?urn=tufts:central:dca:UA069:UA069.005.DO.00020&chapter=d.1875.su.Weston</a><br />
<u><br /></u>
"Weston, 1885." <i>Boston streets: mapping directory data</i>. Tufts University (2015), citing the <i>Boston directory</i> (Sampson, Murdock & Co., 1885). <a href="http://bcd.lib.tufts.edu/view_text.jsp?urn=tufts:central:dca:UA069:UA069.005.DO.00012&chapter=d.1885.su.Weston">http://bcd.lib.tufts.edu/view_text.jsp?urn=tufts:central:dca:UA069:UA069.005.DO.00012&chapter=d.1885.su.Weston</a><br />
<div>
<br />
<u>Boston Schools documents:</u><br />
<br />
<i>Annual report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1857</i>. Boston: Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 1858. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435057125239">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/osu.32435057125239</a><br />
<br />
<i>Rules of the School Committee and regulations of the Public Schools of the City of Boston 1858</i>. Boston: Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 1858. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112044125448?urlappend=%3Bseq=81">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112044125448?urlappend=%3Bseq=81</a><br />
<br />
<i>Annual report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1863</i>. Boston: J. E. Farwell & Co., 1863. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.li2mep?urlappend=%3Bseq=364">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.li2mep?urlappend=%3Bseq=364</a><br />
<br />
<i>Annual report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1869</i>. Boston: Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 1870. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/annualreportsch05bostgoog#page/n472/mode/1up">https://archive.org/stream/annualreportsch05bostgoog#page/n472/mode/1up</a><br />
<u><br /></u>
<i>Annual report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1870</i>. Boston: Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 1871. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/annualreportsch04bostgoog#page/n406/mode/1up">https://archive.org/stream/annualreportsch04bostgoog#page/n406/mode/1up</a><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Annual report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1871</i>. Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, 1872. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/annualreportsch08bostgoog#page/n551/mode/1up/">https://archive.org/stream/annualreportsch08bostgoog#page/n551/mode/1up/</a><br />
<br />
<i>Annual report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 1872</i>. Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, 1873. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.li2mf4?urlappend=%3Bseq=411">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.li2mf4?urlappend=%3Bseq=411</a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Annual catalogues of the teachers and pupils of the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary</i> [1837-1847, 1847-1857]. [South Hadley, Mass.?]: published for the Memorandum Society, 1847-1857.</div>
<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101007789082">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101007789082</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Other References</i></div>
<div>
<br />
Muelle, Christina More. <i>The history of Kindergarten: from Germany to the United States</i>. South Florida Education Research Conference, 2015. Florida International University Digital Commons.<br />
<a href="http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/sferc/2005/2005/1/">http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/sferc/2005/2005/1/</a><br />
<br />
"In memoriam : death of friends of the Kindergarten." <i>Seventieth annual report of the Trustees of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind, for the year ending August 31, 1901</i>,<i> </i>190-216. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.098209389?urlappend=%3Bseq=206">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.098209389?urlappend=%3Bseq=206</a><br />
<br />
Wiltse, Sara E., "Boston memorial service to Mary J. Garland." <i>Kindergarten Magazine </i>XIV/3 (November 1901), 185-187.<br />
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rfUBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA185#v=onepage&q&f=false">https://books.google.com/books?id=rfUBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA185#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
<br />
Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer. "Exhibition of the trained Kindergartners instructed by Miss Garland, in the Boston class of 1872-3." <i>Kindergarten Messenger</i> I/2 (June 1873), 9-14.<br />
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10j2h?urlappend=%3Bseq=39<br />
<br />
Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer. "Miss Garland's Kindergarten training class of 1873-74." <i>Kindergarten Messenger</i> II/6 (June 1874), 20-22.<br />
<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10j2h?urlappend=%3Bseq=352">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10j2h?urlappend=%3Bseq=352</a><br />
<br />
<i>Songs and games for little ones</i>, prepared by Gertrude Walker and Harriet S. Jenks, 3rd edition. Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1887. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4Oo-AAAAYAAJ">https://books.google.com/books?id=4Oo-AAAAYAAJ</a><br />
<br />
"Guide to the Garland Junior College records, 1872-1984," Simmons College Archives.<br />
<a href="http://beatleyweb.simmons.edu/collectionguides/ManuscriptsCollection/MS104.html#adminlink">http://beatleyweb.simmons.edu/collectionguides/ManuscriptsCollection/MS104.html#adminlink</a><br />
<br />
Batcheller, Daniel, and Thomas Charmbury, editors. <i>Manual for teachers, and rote songs, to accompany the Tonic sol-fa music reader for schools. </i>Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1885.<br />
<a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000006254575;view=1up;seq=24">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000006254575;view=1up;seq=24</a><br />
<br />
Smith, Kate Douglas. <i>The story of Patsy</i>. San Francisco: C. A. Murdock, 1883.<br />
<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t2j679h5w">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t2j679h5w</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
"Kate Douglas Wiggin." <i>Encyclopædia Britannica Online</i>.<br />
<a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Kate-Douglas-Wiggin">http://www.britannica.com/biography/Kate-Douglas-Wiggin</a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Wheelock, Lucy. "Miss Peabody as I knew her." <i>Pioneers of the Kindergarten in America</i>, edited by the Committe of Nineteen of the International Kindergarten Association. New York: Century Co., 1924, 26-38.</div>
<div>
<a href="https://archive.org/stream/pioneersofthekin009710mbp#page/n55/mode/2up">https://archive.org/stream/pioneersofthekin009710mbp#page/n55/mode/2up</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
Wheelock, Lucy. <i>My life story</i> (unpublished manuscript, 1940s). Wheelock College Library Archives. <a href="http://issuu.com/wheelockarchives/docs/my_life_story_wheelock">http://issuu.com/wheelockarchives/docs/my_life_story_wheelock</a><br />
<br />
Southcott, Jane. "Daniel Batchellor and the American tonic sol-fa movement." <i>Journal of Research in Music Education</i> 43/1 (Spring 1995), 60-83.</div>
</div>
</div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-48078017396850516532015-10-06T22:13:00.000-05:002015-10-06T22:13:22.009-05:00Father, Forgive Us<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #145<br />
<br />
Words & music by Gene C. Finley, 1973<br />
<br />
Gene Cleveland Finley was born in 1929 near Gilt Edge, Tennessee, a small farming community along the Mississippi River north of Memphis (Finley 196). He comes from a well-known family of singers, songleaders, and songwriters among the churches of Christ in Arkansas, including his brother E. D. Finley (1919-1987) and their father, Hiram Cleveland Finley (1884-1970). Brother Gene C. Finley is probably best known, however, through his book <i>Our Garden of Song</i> (1980), which compiled his invaluable research on songwriters among the churches of Christ in this country. Much of the information he gathered, especially on the lesser-known writers, probably would have been lost but for his efforts. Remembering that this research was conducted in the old-fashioned pre-Internet way--by letter, telephone, and traveling for personal interviews--it becomes all the more obvious what a labor of love this was.<br />
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Gene C. Finley's songs have appeared in a number of publications over the years, in hymnals used by the churches of Christ and in the yearly paperback songbooks of the Southern gospel shape-note publishers. "The wondrous city" and "Come to Jesus" (written together with his father) appeared in Stamps-Baxter collections in 1950 (<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21919080" style="font-style: italic;">Songs for All</a>; <i><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1892940">Better Songs</a></i>). Another pair of his songs was published by the Jeffress Music Co. (today Jeffress-Phillips) of Crossett, Arkansas: "Just a Few More Days to Travel" in <i><a href="http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/EoH1957/d53">Echoes of Heaven</a></i> (1957) and "A House not Made with Hands" in <i><a href="http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/BoH1959/d15">Bells of Heaven</a></i> (1959). Two of Finley's songs were in Alton Howard's 1971 <i>Songs of the Church</i>, "Oh what love!" and "Lord, dismiss us in Thy care", the latter of which has been widely used and has appeared in other more recent hymnals. "Father, forgive us" first appeared in <i>Hymns of Praise</i>, (1978), published by Firm Foundation in Austin, Texas (<a href="https://hymnstudiesblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/quotfather-forgive-usquot/">Walker</a>).<br />
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Since it is a custom of long standing among churches of Christ to offer an invitation for individual response to the gospel at every public meeting, our hymnals have a good number of songs designed to call the unbeliever to repent. But it is a more difficult task to find songs calling the <i>believer</i> to repentance--and it is this subject that Brother Finley decided to address in "Father, forgive us". It is certainly an appropriate topic, for the words of Jesus to the church in Ephesus ring true all too often, on an individual and a congregational level: "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first" (Revelation 2:5). Even the apostle Paul, the paragon of dedicated Christian service, said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:22-25).</blockquote>
Though he went on to express his assurance in salvation through the grace of Jesus Christ, Paul made it plain that he struggled with sin. And if <i>he</i> struggled, should we not be mindful of our own need to repent?<br />
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Despite his confidence in his salvation, Paul said, "I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:27). It is the Christian who thinks he or she is beyond temptation who is most at risk! In comparison to the world around us, we may have overcome many temptations (or perhaps have never been seriously tested by some of them). But we cannot afford to congratulate ourselves on avoiding the kinds of sins that would cause us to be featured on the evening news. It does not take a "big" sin to make a sinner; a "little sin" will do just as well. Perhaps it suits the devil even better to catch us that way, because a "little sin" will go longer unnoticed. It is just such "little sins" (in the world's view) that Brother Finley's hymn calls us to confess as we come before the Father.<br />
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<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Father, forgive us when in our weakness</i><br />
<i>We let the tempter lead us astray.</i><br />
<i>We bow our hearts in shame and in meekness,</i><br />
<i>Father, have mercy, save us we pray.</i><br />
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Though we should pray as Jesus taught us, "Lead us not into temptation" (Matthew 6:13), we know from the rest of Scripture (and from personal experience) that the problem is not with God's guidance but with our lack of willpower, if not our outright rebellion. God does not provide us a pathway without temptations--it is hard to conceive what such a world would be like!--but He does promise us that,<br />
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No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).</blockquote>
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Paul, through whom God revealed that message, knew this firsthand from his own "thorn in the flesh." As much as this unknown problem tormented Paul, he understood God's promise that "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9). The same is true for us in facing temptations--James tells us,</div>
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Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire (James 1:13-14).</blockquote>
So it is quite correct when Brother Finley says, "We <i>let</i> the tempter lead us astray." Though Christians are promised that "neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39), we are also warned, "your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). The straying sheep that lags behind the Shepherd makes itself easy prey; for this reason Peter prefaces his comment, "Be sober-minded; be watchful." Being oblivious to temptations that enter our lives--not to mention deliberately flirting with them--is a losing proposition. As the old saying goes among the sidewalk hucksters, "Never play the other man's game."<br />
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<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>Father, forgive us when we grow weary,</i><br />
<i>And we find time to grieve and complain.</i><br />
<i>Give us the power to see things more clearly;</i><br />
<i>Father of lights, make everything plain.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>Weariness of the body and mind is a part of life. There is a satisfying weariness, of course, when we have exerted ourselves in some necessary labor and can rest a while--Ecclesiastes 5:12 remarks, "Sweet is the sleep of the laboring man." Often, however, we may be forced to press on through weariness, and it begins to compound our problems. The brain slows down, judgment becomes cloudy, and mistakes become more frequent. Worse yet, the barriers that normally restrict our behavior begin to degrade. We may become more irritable, and more likely to say or do things that we would not have said or done had we thought more clearly.<br />
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The flesh is weak, as Jesus said to his sleepy disciples (Matthew 26:41), and we need to realize its effects on us. Regular rest and exercise, a healthy diet, and moderation in all things, are necessary to keep these imperfect "earthen vessels" in working order so that we may serve God and others as effectively as possible. An improved physical state improves the mental outlook! So often a solution that seemed impossible to find in the tired hours of the evening before, falls into place in the morning with a fresh outlook; so often a discouragement that seems overwhelming at the moment, recedes into a proper perspective after a good night's sleep. Even Jesus, in the busy three years of His earthly ministry, told His disciples to "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while" (Mark 6:31).<br />
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But sometimes there is a weariness of soul that is not so easily cured. Repeated disappointments, frustrations with people we care about who will not care for their own souls, and the seemingly overwhelming opposition to good in our world can break us down. In this case, rest may not be the answer at all, but rather the opposite. Paul reminded Christians more than once, "do not grow weary in doing good" (2 Thessalonians 3:13; Galatians 6:9). There is always something good we can do, someone who needs a visit or call, someone who needs an encouraging word. Even if it is "just" offering up a prayer for a person in need, there is something positive we can do every day. And when we find ourselves complaining, "consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted" (Hebrews 12:3).<br />
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The ability to see the situation clearly, as Brother Finley says, is a quality much to be desired. We can endure a great deal if we know it is only for a little longer, and that relief is near at hand. In 2 Kings 6:15-17 we read the wonderful incident in which Elisha's servant had his vision miraculously corrected:<br />
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When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see." So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.</blockquote>
God had the situation under control all along, but the young servant did not see it. In the same sense, the disciples of Jesus were unable to see clearly during the storm on Galilee (Matthew 8:23-27), when Jesus rebuked them saying, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Common sense, and the experience of professional sailors, told them to be very much afraid; but the reality of Jesus Christ and His power should have overcome their fears. We need to use our common sense, of course (see the entire book of Proverbs), but I am afraid that sometimes our "common sense" can get in the way of living by faith. Jesus calls us to do all kinds of things--loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, taking up a cross--that make no common sense. God help us to look with the eyes of faith!<br />
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<i>Stanza 3:</i><br />
<i>Father, forgive us when in our blindness</i><br />
<i>We hurt our loved ones with things we say.</i><br />
<i>Give us the patience, give us the kindness,</i><br />
<i>Give us the love we need for today.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> My brother Eddie Parrish once taught his sons a memorable lesson about our words. He gave the youngsters each a tube of toothpaste and told them to squeeze all the toothpaste out, as fast as they could. They were bewildered, but given the paternal blessing to make a mess, they proceeded to do so with vigor until every last bit of toothpaste was squeezed from the tubes. "Now," their father said, "put it all back."<br />
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This is what our words are like--they are easily spoken, but impossible to recall. And how many of them we speak! A study conducted in 2007 by Matthias Mehl <i>et al</i>. at the University of Arizona found that a test group of university students averaged around 16,000 words spoken per day (<i>Science</i> 6 July 2007 p. 82). (And contrary to popular belief, no statistically significant difference was found between men and women!) 16,000 words is a sobering thought. For a point of rough comparison, the words of Jesus recorded by Matthew, in a red-letter edition of the King James Version, run to only about 13,500. When I think how those (relatively) few words have changed the world, I shudder to imagine what nonsense I spend my words on in a day's time. The book of Proverbs has many memorable sayings on this theme: "When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent" (Proverbs 10:19). And who can forget the sharp wit of Proverbs 17:28? "Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent." But most importantly of all, we hear from Jesus himself, "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak" (Matthew 12:36).<br />
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Brother Finley drives this home in the second line, reminding us that these careless words (or sometimes, sadly, deliberate words) can hurt others. We will answer for them, surely, but that does not take away the harm that words can do to another person. I can remember clearly--surely the reader can as well--the exact words and tone of voice when someone's speech cut me to the heart as a child. I still remember how that hurt. And yet, I confess--and I am sure the reader does as well--that I can also remember things that I have said to others, that I would do anything to take back. Even when I have asked their forgiveness, and it has been granted, I am still ashamed that it ever came between us through my carelessness or pettiness. The old song says, "You always hurt the one you love," and perhaps it is because we lower our guard at home and around our loved ones that we are sometimes prone to speak to them without thinking. Again, the Proverbs have strong advice for us: "There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing" (Proverbs 12:18). Words spoken in heat or in haste are not for the child of God. We need to inscribe the words of James on our hearts: "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God" (James 1:19-20). It is better to speak wisely and well than to speak first; a shallow well brings the bucket to the top faster, but a deep well gives better water.<br />
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<i>Stanza 4:</i><br />
<i>Father, forgive us when thoughts indecent</i><br />
<i>Enter our minds and we let them stay.</i><br />
<i>Cleanse us and make us fit for Thy Spirit,</i><br />
<i>In Jesus' name we earnestly pray.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> Indecent thoughts are not a new problem; in every case of indecent behavior, from the book of Genesis forward, the thought preceded the action. As Jesus teaches us,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person. (Mark 7:21-23).</blockquote>
This principle lies behind Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount about indecent thoughts: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28). It was a problem, then, in ancient times as well as today. The loose morals of Greco-Roman culture in the 1st century, from the Caesars down to the servant classes, meant that many early Christians lived in a world permeated with indecency. Sadly, much of the Western world has slipped back into this lascivious lifestyle as the moral standards of past generations have lost their influence. Even if we choose to avoid the trash on television, in the movies, and on the Internet, through selective viewing, it is impossible to avoid all such temptations. How then do we deal with this problem?<br />
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Gene Finley answers this question in a thoughtful turn of words--<i>"Father, forgive us, when thoughts indecent / Enter our minds, and we let them stay." </i>The example of David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 brings this into sharp focus. David was on his roof, looking down over the city, and saw a beautiful woman bathing. We cannot suppose that he went on the roof intending to peep into people's houses. We cannot even blame him much for noticing Bathsheba--if I may put this delicately, it would be nearly impossible for him to not at least <i>notice</i>. But at some point between seeing her (verse 2) and sending for her (verses 3-4), he did more than notice. The "thought indecent," as Finley says, had entered David's mind, and he "let it stay." He looked at her and desired her, and "desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death" (James 1:15).<br />
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But what if David had resolutely turned his gaze away as soon as he saw her, and had gone back in the palace? David, Bathsheba, Uriah, and many others could have avoided a great deal of misery. His decision to continue looking, however, fed his desire, and his desire led him to think about things that were indecent; then, having once given in to temptation in his thoughts, it was just the matter of asking a question and giving an order to have Bathsheba brought to the palace. Did David hesitate when he actually saw her there? Did he consider just once again that perhaps he shouldn't do what was in his heart? We are not told. But if he did have pangs of conscience, they were not sufficient to stop him at that point. Yes, God assures that "He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:13). But He does not promise to continue providing new ways of escape if we keep ignoring them. Ephesians 4:27 warns us, "Give no opportunity to the devil," and when David first let those thoughts linger in his mind, he gave Satan all the opportunity he needed.<br />
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Brother Finley's hymn accomplished what I believe must have been his purpose--to make us uncomfortable. There are many, many songs in the traditional gospel style that tell us to rejoice in our hope, and to be encouraged in our struggles, and these are worthy topics. This hymn, on the other hand, throws a bucket of ice-water on our heads and dares us to deny its truth. All too often we do in fact go astray, we complain, we say hurtful things, and we engage in the world's lusts. (If this is not true of you personally, please accept my apologies; but I imagine it hits close enough to home for most of us.) Songs of confession are not as common as is the need for them, and we could use more!<br />
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<i>About the music:</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> The musical setting for "Father, forgive us" is reminiscent another of Finley's better-known hymns, "Lord, dismiss us in Thy care". Both keep the melody within a narrow range, no more than a sixth except for the former's downward leap in "We let the tempter lead US astray," which rather surprisingly dips below the tonic note. Both tunes are in F major, and have a certain similarity in the SOL-LA-SOL peaks at the beginnings of the 2nd and 4th phrases of each. In both settings the composer uses a descending chromatic line in an inner voice--in the alto in "Father, forgive us", and in the tenor in "Lord, dismiss us in Thy care"--which gives the harmony a similar feel. Not having access to more of Finley's songs, I cannot suggest this is a characteristic style; I suspect, rather, that it is his style when writing music for slow, contemplative songs of this sort.<br />
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<i>References:</i><br />
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Finley, Gene C., ed. <i>Our Garden of Song</i>. West Monroe, La.: Howard Publishing, 1980.<br />
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Walker, Wayne S. "Father, Forgive Us." <i>hymnstudiesblog</i>. -<a href="https://hymnstudiesblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/quotfather-forgive-usquot/">https://hymnstudiesblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/quotfather-forgive-usquot/</a>0</div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-36180758018005242622014-10-27T19:13:00.000-05:002014-10-27T19:13:03.364-05:00Father, Hear the Prayer We Offer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #144<br />
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Words: Love Maria (Whitcomb) Willis, 1859; alt. Samuel Longfellow, 1864<br />
Music: S<span style="font-size: x-small;">T</span>. S<span style="font-size: x-small;">YLVESTER</span>, John B. Dykes, 1862<br />
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The original poem from which this hymn was fashioned was written by Love Maria (Whitcomb) Willis (1824-1908), an accomplished poet and editor from Hancock, New Hampshire. She was named after her mother, Love Foster, daughter of a prominent Unitarian minister (Hayward, 1001). Her father, Henry Whitcomb, and her uncle John Whitcomb were among the leading men of the community, and the families were very close. Henry and John married on the same day, and started their families in what must be the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=DjEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q&f=false">most impressive duplex ever</a> (Hayward, 1002). But fortunate as they were in so many things, tragedy was no stranger to the Whitcomb households. By the time Maria wrote this hymn, she had lost one of her two siblings and three of her four first cousins (all of whom had grown up under the same roof) to early and unexpected deaths. The heaviest blow of all, however, was the death of her father in an accident while handling a horse. He died in 1831, at the age of 44, when Love Maria was just six years old. In the words of Hayward, who attributes his account to Love M. Willis herself, "The cloud so suddenly gathered never quite left the household" (Hayward, 1004ff).<br />
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Perhaps it was this early and frequent loss of loved ones that turned Love Maria Whitcomb towards the Spiritualist movement; or perhaps it was simply the current of the times, fueled further in her case by the liberal theology of her upbringing. (How ironic that so many in that generation began by turning away from the inspiration of the Living Word, and ended up seeking for messages from the dead!) Love M. Whitcomb wrote extensively for the Spiritualist magazine <i>Tiffany's Monthly</i> (edited by the abolitionist lawyer Joel Tiffany), including essays on such diverse topics as aesthetics, theology, logic, philosophy, and psychology. (Several of her articles and poems may be read in the 3rd volume of the magazine, available through <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=lP3QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false">Google Books</a>.) She was later the editor of the children's department in <i>Banner of Light</i>, a Spiritualist magazine in Boston (Hull, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/questionsettledc00hull#page/n247/mode/1up/search/willis">back matter</a>), and co-edited the New York department of <i>The Present Age</i>, a Chicago-based Spiritualist journal (<i>The Present Age</i>, <a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/present_age/present_age_v2_n26_dec_11_1869.pdf">11 December 1869</a>, p. 2).</div>
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Among the acquaintances that Maria Love Whitcomb made in the Spiritualist movement was Frederick D.H. Willis, a childhood friend of the famed Alcott sisters, and believed by some to have been the inspiration for the character Theodore "Laurie" Laurence in the book <i>Little Women</i>. Frederick Willis had promising prospects as a minister, but his growing involvement in Spiritualism led to his expulsion from Harvard Divinity School in 1857 (Morris, 27). He would spend the next several years re-educating himself for a career in medicine, graduating from the New York Medical College in 1865 (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=fMxLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i>Directory of Alumni, 1902</i>, 62</a>).<br />
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<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=lP3QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP7&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1-77Nw3fLcck_2F-frhYiGZN8Rdg&ci=3%2C1%2C990%2C1521&edge=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://books.google.com/books?id=lP3QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP7&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1-77Nw3fLcck_2F-frhYiGZN8Rdg&ci=3%2C1%2C990%2C1521&edge=0" height="400" width="256" /></a></div>
It was during the throes of this event that Maria Love Whitcomb first published the poem simply titled "Prayer," the first line of which read, "Father, hear the prayer I offer" (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=lP3QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA359#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i>Tiffany's monthly</i>, vol. 3 (1857), p. 359</a>). The same volume contained a defense of Frederick Willis, and a critique Harvard's action, by the prominent Unitarian minister and anti-slavery activist Thomas Wentworth Higginson, (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=lP3QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA283#v=onepage&q&f=false">p. 283-285</a>). And in 1858, just a year into Frederick Willis's change of plans, Maria Love married him (<i><a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FLFD-2VY">New Hampshire Marriage Records</a></i>).<br />
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I am not suggesting that Mr. Willis's situation had anything to do with the writing of the poem, but perhaps it does reflect a state of mind in the author that is worth considering. Though I certainly do not share her Spiritualist or Unitarian beliefs, Love Maria showed a strength of character and a faith in God that seemed to grow stronger as the challenges mounted against her. I also respect her determination to stand by the man she loved when everything was against him and his prospects were at their lowest. It is a grown-up, mature faith that understands that the greater the trial, the greater the opportunity to glorify God by standing the test in a Christ-like manner.<br />
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Love Maria Whitcomb's poem first appeared as a hymn in <a href="https://archive.org/stream/psalmsoflifecomp00adam#page/129/mode/1up"><i>Psalms of Life</i>, 4th ed.</a>, published in 1857 by John Stowell Adams, a Boston Spiritualist publisher. The changes were minor, limited almost entirely to the recasting of the singular pronouns to plural, to make the hymn more appropriate to congregational singing. The version we sing today, however, benefited from passing under the critical eye of one of the great American poets of the age. Mrs. Willis's hymn next appeared in the 1860 <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044054144852;view=1up;seq=69" style="font-style: italic;">Book of Hymns and Tunes</a>, edited by Samuel Longfellow. (This preceded its oft-cited appearance in the <i>Hymns of the Spirit</i>, co-edited by Samuel Longfellow and the clergyman Samuel Johnson in 1864, and settles the question of whose editorial hand was involved). The current form of the hymn was established in this publication, with the exception of the final stanza beginning "<i>Let our path be bright or dreary</i>." The revision by Longfellow (at least it is reasonably assumed it was he) was a masterful work of editing, polishing the best parts of Willis's original and smoothing out its imperfections with many happy turns of phrase. According to Julian (v.1, 367), the aforementioned closing stanza was added anonymously in William G. Horder's <i>Congregational Hymns</i> (London, 1884). It is present in the influential <a href="https://archive.org/details/theenglishhymnal00milfuoft" style="font-style: italic;">English Hymnal</a> of 1906 (no. 385), and likely gained a great deal of currency from that source, even back in its native country.<br />
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<i>Stanza 1:</i></div>
<i>Father, hear the prayer we offer:</i><br />
<i>Nor for ease that prayer shall be,</i><br />
<i>But for strength, that we may ever</i><br />
<i>Live our lives courageously.</i><br />
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Mrs. Willis's original stanza was the following:<br />
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Father, hear the prayer I offer;<br />
For sweet peace I do not cry,<br />
But for grace that I may ever<br />
Live my life courageously.<br />
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The most obvious change, perhaps, is harmonizing the endings of the 2nd and 4th lines by changing "cry" to "be", a more natural rhyme (especially when spoken instead of read) with "courageously". But the most significant change, I think, is altering Willis's "cry for peace" to a "prayer for ease." We would sympathize with a distressed soul's cry for peace, even though she says that is not what her prayer intends; but Longfellow's wording digs deeper into our consciences, scolding those of us who take for granted the "ease" we already have, and yet pray for more. Peace we are promised (John 14:27), but "ease" is comparative. Jesus said, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light"--compared to the burden of sin and despair (Matthew 11:30)--but if we are seeking the "easy" road in life for its own sake, we will end in destruction (Matthew 7:13). It was the rich fool who said, "Soul, take your ease" (Luke 12:19); it was the holy apostles who left their quiet livelihoods to be persecuted and martyred.<br />
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Longfellow's choice of "strength" instead of the original "grace" suits the overall character of the hymn, and reinforces a recurring theme. Paul wished God's grace upon the recipients of his letters in almost every opening address, and there is no question that we are in need of it every day; but there are times when a sterner message needs to be added as well. Perhaps because of his upbringing in Tarsus, the capital of a Roman province, Paul was familiar with the language of athletic contests and of warfare, pursuits in which the Romans and Greeks excelled. His exhortation in Ephesians 6:10 could be the words of a coach or a general, seeking to whip up the fighting spirit of his men before the decisive hour: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might."<br />
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In his exuberance, Paul uses three different terms for "strength" in the original Greek. "Be strong" is a verb form (<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1743&t=ESV">Strong's G1743</a>) of the noun δυναμόω (<i>dynamis</i>, <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G1412&t=ESV">Strong's G1412</a>), from which we get the English words "dynamic" and "dynamite". It is an active, energetic quality that brings about change. The "strength" is κράτος (<i>kratos</i>, <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2904&t=ESV">Strong's G2904</a>), having to do with authority; it is the stem of the words we use to describe types of government ("democracy," for example, in which authority derives from the "<i>demos</i>", the people). In Scripture it is used almost exclusively to describe the authority of God. The "might" at the end of the verse is ἰσχύς (<i>ischys</i>, <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2479&t=ESV">Strong's G2479</a>), derived from a form of the verb ἔχω (<i>echo</i>, <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G2192&t=ESV">Strong's G2192</a>), meaning "to hold"--in this case, to maintain something or to hold fast (<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Eph&c=6&t=ESV#s=t_conc_1103010"><i>Blue Letter Bible </i>Eph. 6:11</a>)<br />
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Fortunately it is not our own strength upon which we depend! The coach or general may have to instill a false sense of power and ability in his charges by dint of his own charisma; but through a similar grouping of these "strength" expressions in Ephesians 1:19, Paul shows us the true scale of the power upon which we can call: "the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might." My own strength is not much to speak of--I am all to aware of my limitations. But if my strength is augmented by such a reserve of power, and is constantly resupplied, who knows what God might do through me?</div>
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<br />
It is in this light that Longfellow's emphasis on "strength" coincides so well with M. Love Willis's wish to live life "courageously." When we were children, we thrilled to hear the stories of the Bible heroes--examples of physical courage, such as the warriors David and Jonathan, and also the examples of moral courage, such as Esther and Ruth. We knew we were never likely to stand alone in a winner-take-all duel against a giant, or to go before an emperor to plead for the life of a people; but those heroes gave us a standard against which to measure our aspirations.<br />
<br />
In Ephesians 6:12, however, Paul tells us that we may yet have giants to fight, and emperors to stare down! "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." We may not be called upon for the kind of thrilling heroics we read about as children, but ask a godly parent if it takes strength and courage to labor, year after year, to bring up a child "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). Ask the addict struggling against drugs, or porn, or alcohol, if it takes strength and courage to set a daily course that keeps clear of those temptations. Ask the young person at school, or in a new job, if it takes strength and courage to live a "transformed" life in Christ when surrounded by pressure to "be conformed" to this world (Romans 12:2). Ask the caregiver who watches over an invalid in declining health, day after day, if it takes strength and courage to be the support that loved one needs. There are heroic deeds enough to be done; let us live courageously!<br />
<br />
The Longfellow revision kept the following stanza, but some hymnals omitted it over the years, and I have not seen it in the hymnals used among Churches of Christ, at least in this country:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Not forever in green pastures</i><br />
<i>Do we ask our way to be,</i><br />
<i>But the steep and rugged pathway</i><br />
<i>May we tread rejoicingly.</i><br />
<br />
Maria Love Willis's original was:<br />
<br />
Not within the fresh green pastures,<br />
Will I ask that I may lie,<br />
But the steep and rugged pathway,<br />
That I tread rejoicingly.<br />
<br />
This and the following stanza are of a piece, thematically, so it is a shame that one of them is generally omitted. But at least we are left with the following:</div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>Not forever by still waters</i><br />
<i>Would we idly, quiet stay;</i><br />
<i>But would smite the living fountains</i><br />
<i>From the rocks along our way.</i><br />
<br />
Mrs. Willis's original was:<br />
<br />
Not beside the clear, still waters,<br />
Do I pray thou wilt me guide,<br />
But I'd smite the rocky pillar,<br />
Whence the living spring may glide.<br />
<br />
Longfellow's work here, simplifying and smoothing the text, is like a master jeweler bringing out the facets of a diamond--for here begins Love Maria Willis's masterstroke, the juxtaposition of two very familiar images from the Hebrew Testament. The 23rd Psalm is obviously one of the best known passage of all the Scriptures, even among unbelievers. Generation after generation has looked to it for comfort. Jesus' self-identified role as the "Good Shepherd" (John 10:11) lends even greater relevance to this description of a shepherd's tender care for his flock. The word-pictures themselves are so pleasant; who would not want to lie down for a moment in that green pasture, or walk beside those still waters?<br />
<br />
And so it is all the more striking when Willis deliberately turns from these peaceful scenes and embraces the hardships of another great scene of Hebrew history, the Exodus. Moses was likewise a shepherd of his people (Isaiah 63:11), but was forced to lead them across deserts instead of green pastures, and had to "<i>smite the living fountains</i>" from the bare rock of the wilderness (Exodus 17:6). The Exodus experience certainly does not have the same immediate appeal to us as Psalm 23; but if we look further into the 23rd Psalm, we find that here, too, is a "valley of the shadow of death." The ancient shepherds did not keep their sheep in just one pasture, but led them from place to place depending on the season, sometimes crossing difficult terrain. We need the times of peaceful refreshment that God sends, but we cannot stay there forever. The simple fact is, there is no easy express lane to glory. The closest thing to an express highway in life is the one Jesus mentioned in Matthew 7:13, but we will find the toll too high at the end! We must take that narrow and difficult path instead if we would reach the destination we seek.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
The following two stanzas from Maria Love Willis's original poem were omitted from Longfellow's version:<br />
<br />
If I go where flowers of summer<br />
Still the ragged path adorn,<br />
Let me weave them into garlands,<br />
Tho' each one should bear a thorn.<br />
<br />
Not the glorious sunlight only<br />
Will I crave, oh God, of Thee,<br />
But to see Thy fiery pillar<br />
In the darkness guiding me.<br />
<br />
Longfellow may have omitted the first of these simply because it deviates somewhat from the imagery already invoked in the hymn; weaving garlands (superfluous objects in a wilderness wandering!) from thorn-bearing flowers does not fit well with the overall themes of strength and courage in the Christian journey. The second of these omitted stanzas reinforces the Exodus theme, however, and one can imagine that Longfellow might have tweaked this into another fine hymn stanza. The point is well taken, that it was only at night that the Hebrews could see the full glory of the fiery pillar leading them; and it is often in the darker times of life that we learn to appreciate the brilliance of the Light of the World.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 3:</i><br />
<i>Be our strength in hours of weakness,</i><br />
<i>In our wanderings be our Guide;</i><br />
<i>Through endeavor, failure, danger,</i><br />
<i>Father, be Thou at our side.</i><br />
<br />
Love M. Willis's original was:<br />
<br />
Be my strength in every weakness;<br />
In my doubt be Thou my guide;<br />
Through each peril, through each danger,<br />
Draw me nearer to Thy side<br />
<div>
<br />
This was the end of Maria Love Willis's original poem, and is the end of the hymn in Longfellow's adaptation. The change of "my doubt" to "wanderings" was wise, as the introduction of doubt at this late stage is a complication the original poem does not go on to address. Longfellow instead ends on a note of resolve, and recalls again the theme of "wilderness wandering" that underlies the hymn. His choice of "endeavor" in the third line may have just been intended to smooth over the break created by two parallel phrases within the original line ("Through each peril / Through each danger"). But it also introduces an interesting note of variety--asking God to be at our side through the endeavor itself, when success is still in question, as well as in failure, when defeat is already known. It reminds me of my favorite line from Rudyard Kipling's poem, "If": "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two imposters just the same; . . ." Our successes in this life are rarely as glorious and as lasting, and our defeats are rarely as utterly disastrous, as we believe they are at those particular moments.<br />
<br />
The appeal, then, is for God's presence, assistance, and protection in every phase of life, from the good and quiet times to the difficult and chaotic. Paul spoke to this in his famous saying, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). As with any Scripture, we must not take this single verse out of the context of its original passage, or out of the larger context of the totality of New Testament teaching. I have seen this verse on inspirational posters with sports themes, and other such associations, that sometimes push it beyond the bounds of good sense. Paul surely meant that he could "do all things" that were within God's will for him, and that were necessary to serving his Lord. God's will for you on the football field surely extends no further than to do your best (Colossians 3:23) and to conduct yourself in a Christlike manner (Colossians 4:5).<br />
<br />
But in its proper context, Paul's assurance reminds us that we are not alone in the spiritual warfare of this life. God allows us to face some exceedingly large challenges, but He also promises us an exceedingly large helping of strength to overcome them. Paul assured the church of Ephesus of this fact in these beautiful words:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19).</blockquote>
If it is something God wills you to do, He will provide you the strength to do it.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 4:</i></div>
<i>Let our path be bright or dreary,</i><br />
<i>Storm or sunshine be our share;</i><br />
<i>May our souls in hope unweary</i><br />
<i>Make Thy work our ceaseless prayer.</i><br />
<br />
This final stanza, as found in most hymnals among the Churches of Christ in the U.S., became attached to this hymn considerably later--Julian (v. 1, 367) found it no earlier than 1884, in Horder's <i>Congregational Hymns</i>). Here is yet another stanza that has been added in some versions of this hymn:<br />
<br />
Ours to sow the seed in sorrow,<br />
Thine to bid it spring and grow;<br />
And the golden days of autumn<br />
Will a precious harvest show.<br />
<br />
This was actually the closing stanza in the earliest instance of "Father, hear the prayer we offer" in a hymnal associated with the Churches of Christ (at least in the U.S.), Elmer Jorgenson's original 1921 edition of <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>. In the classic "<i>Great Songs no. 2"</i> in 1937, Jorgenson switched instead to the stanza beginning "Let our path be bright or dreary," which has been the usual closing stanza in our usage since that time.<br />
<div>
<br />
Life gives everyone both bright and dreary, storm and sunshine, and though some certainly receive more of one than the other, on the balance we will all have these times of trial in different ways. The question is not whether we will experience the dreary or stormy times, but how we will respond to them. Paul's thorn in the flesh caused him to realize a truth about his own dependence on God: "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). The devil may have thought he would beat Paul down with suffering and persecution; but the more he suffered, the more Paul trusted in God's power and not his own, and the greater a tool he became in God's hands!<br />
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Part of Paul's secret, of course, was that he possessed "<i>hope unweary</i>." Any kind of hope is better than no hope at all, and even the faintest glimmer of hope will cause people to bear up under difficult circumstances. But the hope of a Christian is more than just wishful thinking; we are "born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). It is a "living hope" in a living Lord, and that confident hope spurs us on to greater efforts. The writer of Hebrews tells us,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:11-12).</blockquote>
The works to which this hope drives us are not works "unto salvation," but rather, <i>because</i> of salvation. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). His work for us should be our "<i>ceaseless prayer</i>," and when we focus on pleasing God through accomplishing the work He has set before us, we will find the journey through the hard times passes much more easily.</div>
<br />
<i>About the music: </i><br />
<br />
The hymn page for "Father, hear the prayer we offer" at <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/text/father_hear_the_prayer_we_offer_not_for">Hymnary.org</a> shows that this hymn has been paired with many tunes over the years. The tune with which the hymn is generally known among Churches of Christ in the U.S. is John B. Dykes's S<span style="font-size: x-small;">T.</span> S<span style="font-size: x-small;">YLVESTER</span> (1862). (<a href="http://www.searchtv.org/streams/musicfiles/FatherHearthePrayerWeOffer-SearchTVReel20.mp3">Click here</a> to listen to a recording of the Edmond Church of Christ (Edmond, Oklahoma) singing this hymn on the television program <i><a href="http://www.searchtv.org/">In Search of the Lord's Way</a></i>.) The first instance I have found of this hymn paired with this tune is in <i><a href="http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/NCHT1882/page/170">The New Christian Hymn and Tune Book</a></i>, an 1882 publication by Fillmore Brothers of Cincinnati. Though the Fillmores would end up on the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ side of the Restoration Movement after the turn of the century, their songs and songbooks were always very popular among the more conservative Churches of Christ. J.H. Fillmore still included "Father, hear the prayer we offer" with the S<span style="font-size: x-small;">T.</span> S<span style="font-size: x-small;">YLVESTER </span>tune in his 1920 <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=w4g_AQAAMAAJ">Hymns for Today</a></i>, and it is a safe guess that this was the source of Jorgenson's usage in <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>. Fillmore, however, used the added closing stanza beginning "Let our path be bright or dreary"; it is unknown why Jorgenson went with a different non-original stanza at first ("Ours to sow the seed in sorrow"), only to change back to what the Fillmores had done all along.<br />
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The tune S<span style="font-size: x-small;">T.</span> S<span style="font-size: x-small;">YLVESTER</span> was written for <i><a href="http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Congregational_Hymn_and_Tune_Book_(Chope,_Richard_Robert)">The Congregational Hymn- and Tune-Book</a></i> (London: Wm. Mackenzie, 1862), edited by Richard Robert Chope, and first used with Edward Caswall's hymn "Days and moments quickly flying" (Fowler, 323). It is an extremely simple tune, never exceeding the range of a 5th (F up to C), and moving by step throughout except for just three skips of a 3rd (end of the first line, C to A, and the beginning of the third line, F-A-C). The first half of each line is sung on a single repeated pitch, giving the melody a chant-like quality. By comparison, the harmony has more variety, especially in the tenor part which generally drives the harmonic motion forward. It is a good example of why Dykes has received criticism as a tunesmith, and yet has remained quite popular: the melody alone is not much to speak of, but for congregations that sing in parts (and have the voices to cover all of them) Dykes's chromatic harmonies are very enjoyable.<br />
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<i>References</i><br />
<br />
<i>A book of hymns and tunes</i>, ed. Samuel Longfellow. Boston: Walker, Wise & Co., 1860.<br />
<a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044054144852">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044054144852</a><br />
<br />
Fowler, J.T., ed. <i>Life and letters of John Bacchus Dykes</i>. London: John Murray, 1897.<br />
<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=39pEAAAAYAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=39pEAAAAYAAJ</a><br />
<br />
Hayward, William Willis. <i>The history of Hancock, New Hampshire, 1764-1889.</i> Lowell, Mass.: Vox Populi Press, 1889.<br />
<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=STcTAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">http://books.google.com/books?id=STcTAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
<br />
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth. "A statement of facts." <i>Tiffany's monthly</i>, vol. 3, 1857, p. 283-285.<br />
<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=lP3QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA283#v=onepage&q&f=false">http://books.google.com/books?id=lP3QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA283#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
<br />
Hull, Moses. <i>The question settled: a comparison of Biblical and modern Spiritualism</i>. Boston: W. White & Co., 1869. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/questionsettled00hullgoog#page/n13/mode/2up">https://archive.org/stream/questionsettled00hullgoog#page/n13/mode/2up</a><br />
<br />
<i>Hymns of the Spirit</i>, ed. Samuel Longfellow & Samuel Johnson. Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1864.<br />
<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=RMpVAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA384#v=onepage&q&f=false">http://books.google.com/books?id=RMpVAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA384#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
<br />
Julian, John. <i>A dictionary of hymnology</i>, 2 vols. Mineola, New York: Dover, 1957.<br />
<br />
Morris, Dee. <i>Boston in the golden age of Spiritualism: séances, mediums and immortality.</i> Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2014.<br />
<br />
New York Medical College. <i>Directory of the Alumni</i>. 1902. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=fMxLAAAAMAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=fMxLAAAAMAAJ</a><br />
<br />
<i>The present age</i>, 11 December 1869. (Kalamazoo, Mich.).<br />
<a href="http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/present_age/present_age_v2_n26_dec_11_1869.pdf">http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/present_age/present_age_v2_n26_dec_11_1869.pdf</a><br />
<br />
<i>Psalms of Life</i>, ed. John S. Adams, 4th ed. Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1857.<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/stream/psalmsoflifecomp00adam#page/129/mode/1up">https://archive.org/stream/psalmsoflifecomp00adam#page/129/mode/1up</a><br />
<br />
<i>Tiffany's monthly</i>, vol. 3, 1857. (New York, N.Y.)<br />
<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=lP3QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false">http://books.google.com/books?id=lP3QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
<br />
"Willis, Frederick L. H." <i>New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947</i>. Familysearch.org.<br />
<a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FLFD-2VY">https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FLFD-2VY</a></div>
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David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-19886297125934230582014-04-30T23:51:00.000-05:002014-05-07T18:08:04.170-05:00Alexander Campbell's Original Hymns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Churches of Christ reject wearing any man's name, as a religious body, beside that of the Man to whom the church belongs. But when others have insisted on labeling us in that human fashion, it has traditionally been with the appellation "Campbellite"--at least in the United States--and not without reason. Alexander Campbell (1788-1866) was no more the founder of a church, in his estimation or ours, than was the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 1:12-15). He was, however, a skilled orator and writer who helped to articulate the ideals of the growing "Restoration Movement"--an effort to do no more nor less than to restore the Christianity of the apostolic age.<br />
<br />
Campbell has sometimes been portrayed as a cold and pragmatic logician of the schools of John Locke and the Scottish "common sense" philosophers. But when I recently read through his magnum opus, <i>The Christian System</i>--a difficult task, and something I wonder if some of his critics have done themselves--I encountered a much more complex man. Yes, Campbell was in part the product of a rigorous education at the University of Glasgow, and he was clearly an admirer of logic and common sense. The formal presentation of arguments that occupies much of the book is rather foreign to our day. Yet at times Campbell rises to heights of emotional pleading with his fellow humanity, and of almost mystical awe in his reverence for God, that one would hardly expect from a cursory examination of the opening chapters of that book.<br />
<br />
For an example of this blend of emotion and intellect, consider this passage from the preface of Campbell's own hymnal, <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i> (p. 7-8):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The powers and faculties of the <i>man</i> are neither lost nor metamorphosed in the <i>Christian</i>. They are all consecrated. They are now instruments of righteousness. We sing now as formerly--the same voice, the same tune; but a different song. And this brings us just to the inquiry, What are the subjects on which <i>men</i> are disposed to sing? Love-songs, the praises of heroes, and the triumphs of wars. These are the chapters comprehending the chief topics deemed <i>worthy of song</i>. No <i>man</i> thinks the weaving of a web, the planting of a cornfield, or the sweeping of a house worthy of a song. Why, then, have we so many <i>mean</i> topics--so many childish and frivolous songs--sung by <i>Christians</i>? In consecrating our singing powers, God has not debased them. He has rather exalted them. Still the subjects worthy of Christian song are specifically of the same kind as those worthy of the songs of men. The Christian, as well as the man, has his love-songs--the praises of his hero, the Captain of his salvation--the triumphs of his glorious warfare. These, then, are worthy of sacred song. And thus, in general terms, the question is answered, <i>What is worthy of the Christian's song?</i> Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs should, therefore, be founded upon such noble themes. Let the love of God our Father, the praises of the character, and the glories of the achievements of the Captain of our salvation, animate our strains. Let our sentimental songs be of the same exalted character with the subjects of faith, hope, and love; and let not the little, low, selfish, schismatical, and sectarian topics find a place in this sublimest of all exercises known among men. Let not the rhapsodies of enthusiasm, nor the moonshine speculations of frigid abstraction, characterize what we, as Christians, call the praises of our God--</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<i>To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.</i>" </blockquote>
Whether Campbell's own poetic efforts achieved such lofty aims or not, he was a man who cared deeply about heartfelt, spiritual worship. His second wife, Selina Huntington Campbell, remembered that his singing was more of a "joyful noise" than a tune, which was often heard as he went about his daily work or rode across the fields of his property (Mankin, 12). But whatever his own musical limitations, Campbell's belief in the beneficial power of Christian song led him to compile a hymnal, originally titled <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i> (1828). When congregations in Campbell's sphere of influence joined in fellowship with those affiliated through another reformer, Barton W. Stone, Campbell proposed the combination of his hymnal with Stone's <i>Christian Hymn Book</i> as a step toward greater unity. The 1834 edition retained Campbell's title, <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i>, and also seems to have remained rather firmly under his editorial control (Mankin 11). Not surprisingly, a man of Campbell's powerful intellect and leadership could also be at times quite opinionated and controlling.<br />
<br />
It was in this edition that Campbell first included the five hymn texts known to have come from his pen (Mankin, 11ff.), which will be the subject of the remainder of this post. Campbell's choice of subjects shows a typical seriousness of thought and concern for faithfulness to Scripture, as well as an eye for supplementing neglected subjects:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>"On Tabor's top the Savior stood" is a hymn about Christ's Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36).</li>
<li>"The fall of Babylon" is a hymn about the Second Advent of Christ, using imagery from Revelation chapter 18 (which echoes Isaiah 21:9 and Jeremiah 51:8).</li>
<li>"Upon the banks of Jordan stood" is a hymn about John the Baptizer and his mission to point Israel to the Christ (Matthew 3; John 1:29-34).</li>
<li>"Jesus is gone above the skies" is a hymn for the Lord's Supper, and the only one of Campbell's hymns not obviously based on any specific passage of Scripture.</li>
<li>"'Tis darkness here, but Jesus smiles" is a hymn inspired by the midnight praises sung by Paul and Silas in the jail at Philippi (Acts 16:25).</li>
</ul>
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The earliest facsimile edition of Campbell's hymnal that I have been able to discover online is the <a href="https://archive.org/details/psalmnsspiri43camp">"14th edition" from 1843</a>. Like many hymnals of its day, it has texts only, and no music. For many hymnal editors, it was the cost and inconvenience of finding a printer who could type-set music that drove this decision; but for Campbell, it was a matter of firm conviction that nothing should distract the worshiper from the meaning of the words (Mankin, 11). By the time of the 5th edition, however, suggested tunes were listed for many of the hymns. Tune names, of course, are notoriously unreliable--the same tune may be called by multiple names, and the same name may describe different tunes. The first task in reconstructing Campbell's hymns, then, is to find the most likely source or sources of his tunes. I compiled the results of my research into a spreadsheet (<a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajnby7wW6ZCidHlDelpPZm41bUpkRDdoY1hta0t3SFE&usp=sharing">click here to view</a>) listing the suggested tunes in the 1843 edition of <i>Psalm, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i>, with two additional sheets attached: the first comparing them to various popular tune-books of the day, and the second listing all the suggested tunes in alphabetical order, to highlight the frequency of particular tunes.<br />
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It was not surprising to find that a tune-book by Amos Sutton Hayden (1813-1880), his <i>Introduction to Sacred Music</i>, was almost certainly the source of the tunes suggested in Campbell's hymnal. Though only the revised edition of 1838 is extant, it is known that the first edition appeared in 1835, just a year after the newly revised <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i>, and that it received the endorsement of Campbell himself<i> </i>(Fletcher 94). Hayden's preface indicates that his tune-book was "elicited by the circumstances attending the present crisis," perhaps a reference to the recent merger of the Stone and Campbell movements, which had occasioned the new edition of Campbell's hymnal (Fletcher 94, 98). From my own investigation, I can add that Hayden's <i>Introduction to Sacred Music</i> contains more of the suggested tunes than any other book examined--101 matches, compared to 47 in William Walker's <i>Southern Harmony</i> and 42 in Allen Carden's <i>Missouri Harmony</i>, the closest contenders aside from other, later books by Hayden himself. Even more telling is the Campbell hymnal's suggestion of tunes such as R<span style="font-size: x-small;">OYALTA</span> and R<span style="font-size: x-small;">OCK</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">OF</span> S<span style="font-size: x-small;">ALVATION</span>, written by Hayden's brother William (Fletcher 464), and to my knowledge found only in Hayden publications.<br />
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Hayden is best remembered today for his classic <a href="https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofdi00hayd" style="font-style: italic;">Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, Ohio</a>, and to a lesser extent as the founder of Hiram College and as a mentor of the future President James Garfield; but in his own time he was widely known within the Restoration Movement as a singing-school teacher and music publisher. Dr. Harold Fletcher's dissertation, <i>Amos Sutton Hayden: Symbol of a Movement</i>, is a monumental survey of the career of this diversely talented man through a time of rapid change in politics, society, and religion. Hayden's musical evolution is equally apparent; Dr. Fletcher has identified a steady progression from the frontier folk-hymn styles of the early <i>Introduction to Sacred Music</i> to a more sophisticated, European-oriented repertoire in his later hymnals, such as the 1860 <i>Hymnist</i>. Even the physical layout of the books tells a story. The <i>Introduction to Sacred Music</i> is printed in open score (each voice on a separate staff), with the melody in the tenor, and in the old four-shape "fa-sol-la-mi" notation--a format known today primarily through the surviving <i>Sacred Harp</i> tradition. <i>The Hymnist</i>, some 25 years later, was printed with more than one voice on a staff (though still not always the soprano-alto, tenor-bass layout of modern hymnals), with the melody frequently in the soprano, and in round notes. Like the <i>Sacred Harp</i> or <i>Southern Harmony</i>, Hayden's <i>Introduction to Sacred Music</i> had the characteristic "long-boy" shape, wider than it was tall, to accommodate two open score staff systems on each page; <i>The Hymnist</i>, with its more compact staff systems, was printed in the book-form typical of modern hymnals, taller than it was wide (Fletcher, 478ff.).<br />
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But regardless of his later change in musical tastes, back in the 1830s and 1840s when tunes from his <i>Introduction to Sacred Music </i>were recommended for Campbell's <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i>, Hayden drew from that heady mix of frontier folk hymns, 18th-century New England singing-school music, and even older Psalm-tunes, that constituted the first phase of shape-note music. The tunes suggested for Campbell's own hymns are themselves a fine representation of this variety, including two older pieces from the 18th-century New England phase of singing-school music, as well as three folk hymns, one of them an obvious arrangement of a secular folk song.<br />
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<b>"On Tabor's Top the Savior Stood"</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Listed as Psalm 12, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/psalmnsspiri43camp#page/n26/mode/1up">page 21 in the 1843 edition</a>.<br />
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<i>T<span style="font-size: x-small;">HE </span>T<span style="font-size: x-small;">RANSFIGURATION</span></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>On Tabor's top the Saviour stood</i><br />
<i>With Peter, James, and John;</i><br />
<i>And while he talk'd of Calv'ry there,</i><br />
<i>His face resplendent shone.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>While on his suff'rings he convers'd,</i><br />
<i>And spoke of griefs to come,</i><br />
<i>His countenance assum'd a light</i><br />
<i>Much brighter than the sun.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>In dazzling brightness all array'd</i><br />
<i>Jesus transfigur'd stands,</i><br />
<i>From heav'n descends the man who gave</i><br />
<i>To Israel God's commands.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Elijah, too, of burning zeal,</i><br />
<i>Who did that law restore,</i><br />
<i>Appear'd with Moses on this mount</i><br />
<i>And talk'd his suff'rings o'er.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Transported with this glorious scene,</i><br />
<i>The witnesses exclaim,</i><br />
<i>'Tis good, Lord, with such guests to dwell;</i><br />
<i>Here let us still remain.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Three tents with joyful hands we'll raise,</i><br />
<i>And place them side by side,</i><br />
<i>For these celestials, and for thee,</i><br />
<i>And here let us abide.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>While thus they spoke, a cloud descends</i><br />
<i>And takes them from their sight;</i><br />
<i>But Jesus yet remains with them,</i><br />
<i>The Father's chief delight.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This is my Son, his voice declares,</i><br />
<i>Hear him in all he says,</i><br />
<i>Not Moses nor Elijah now</i><br />
<i>Shall guide you in my ways.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>With joy this more illustrious guide</i><br />
<i>Henceforth we'll still obey,</i><br />
<i>Till we behold the glorious light</i><br />
<i>Of an eternal day.</i><br />
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The first thing that may strike the modern reader is the number of stanzas, but that was not uncommon in Campbell's day. Isaac Watts, whose influence on Campbell is implied by the number of his hymns included in <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i>, not infrequently wrote hymns of eight or more stanzas. Yet there is certainly a penchant for thoroughness here, as though Campbell the teacher sometimes got the better of Campbell the poet. The didactic nature of the hymn is not limited, either, to the simple reinforcement of a well-known Bible story; the final stanza applies the lesson the Transfiguration by reminding us to follow the New Covenant of Jesus, rather than the Covenant of Moses and Elijah.</div>
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The tune indicated in the 1843 hymnal is P<span style="font-size: x-small;">LEASANT</span> H<span style="font-size: x-small;">ILL</span>; the image below is from Hayden's <i>Introduction to Sacred Music</i> (1838).<br />
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For those unfamiliar with shape-note music of this tradition, some guidance is in order:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Both men and women may sing any of the upper parts.</li>
<li>The melody is in the tenor voice, 2nd from the bottom.</li>
<li>The uppermost part is called "treble," and fills a role in the harmony similar to that of the tenor in the modern SATB format.</li>
<li>The part between the treble and tenor, if present, is the alto.</li>
<li>The harmony and part-writing is very different from the European "common practice era" found in most modern hymns and gospel songs, and may include parallel 5ths and octaves, incomplete "open-5th" chords, and unresolved dissonance.</li>
<li>Sharps and flats are frequently ignored, except for the key signature.</li>
<li>The only shapes are FA, SOL, LA, and MI. These have the same shapes as in the 7-shape system, but a scale is sung FA - SOL - LA - FA - SOL - LA - MI - FA. This was a holdover from the much earlier hexachordal system of solfege, prior to the DO-RE-MI system.</li>
<li>Scales are very often pentatonic (5-note), the scale you get if you play only the black notes on a piano.</li>
<li>For much more information, see <a href="http://www.fasola.org/">http://www.fasola.org</a>.</li>
</ul>
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P<span style="font-size: x-small;">LEASANT</span> H<span style="font-size: x-small;">ILL</span> first appeared in print in Ananias Davisson's <i>Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony</i> in 1820. It was picked up in William Walker's <i>Southern Harmony</i> and later in B.F. White's <i>Sacred Harp</i>, two of the most influential books in the four-shape tradition, which guaranteed its permanence in the repertoire (Music, xlv). Hayden's version differs from that of <a href="http://www.shapenote.net/berkley/022%20Pleasant%20Hill.pdf">Davisson</a> or <a href="http://www.ccel.org/ccel/walker/harmony2/files/gif/PleasantHill.gif">Walker</a>, especially in the alto part.<br />
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The video below is my own attempt to render what Campbell's hymn might have sounded like with the indicated tune from Hayden's book. My voice type is best described as "bass, adequate," so I obviously cannot reproduce the full range of octaves that would do the music justice. But in my defense, Campbell's Bethany College was male-only in the days when these hymns were sung, so their early chapel singing might not have sounded much different.<br />
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<b>"The Fall of Babylon"</b><br />
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Song 151, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/psalmnsspiri43camp#page/223/mode/1up">page 223 in the 1843 edition</a>.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<i>Come, let us sing the coming fate</i><br />
<i>Of mystic Babylon the Great--</i><br />
<i>Her doom is drawing near:</i><br />
<i>Jesus now comes on earth to reign,</i><br />
<i>His cause and people to maintain--</i><br />
<i>For them he'll soon appear.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Before him flows a fiery stream,</i><br />
<i>The heav'ns above with lightnings gleam,</i><br />
<i>A thousand thunders roar:</i><br />
<i>A heav'nly host with him descends,</i><br />
<i>His voice to all the earth extends,</i><br />
<i>His saints now grieve no more.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Eclips'd by glory so divine,</i><br />
<i>Sun, moon, and stars refuse to shine,</i><br />
<i>The spheres now cease to roll:</i><br />
<i>Earth, wrapt in darkness deep as night,</i><br />
<i>With horror stricken at the sight,</i><br />
<i>Now quakes from pole to pole.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Angels of light, at his command,</i><br />
<i>Ten thousand times ten thousand, stand</i><br />
<i>Waiting his voice to hear:</i><br />
<i>The fiery cherubs spread their wings,</i><br />
<i>The air with loud hosannas rings,</i><br />
<i>While all his saints draw near.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The day of recompense has come,</i><br />
<i>His people all are gath'ring home,</i><br />
<i>With joy they hear his voice:</i><br />
<i>The promis'd curse, the threaten'd woes,</i><br />
<i>Combin'd, now fall upon his foes,</i><br />
<i>The martyrs all rejoice.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>She who the Twelve Apostles griev'd,</i><br />
<i>And by her sorceries deceiv'd</i><br />
<i>All nations of the world,</i><br />
<i>Now looks with anguish at their bliss,</i><br />
<i>Then sinks into the vast abyss,</i><br />
<i>To endless ruin hurl'd.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The living saints, and all the dead,</i><br />
<i>Now gather round their glorious head,</i><br />
<i>And reign with him below;</i><br />
<i>An endless age of perfect peace,</i><br />
<i>Of love, and joy, and righteousness,</i><br />
<i>Exempt from every wo[e].</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Then let us keep the end in view,</i><br />
<i>And ever on our way pursue,</i><br />
<i>The crown is yet before:</i><br />
<i>A few short days the conflict's done,</i><br />
<i>The battle's fought, the prize is won,</i><br />
<i>And we shall toil no more.</i><br />
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Mankin proposes that this text was particularly connected to Campbell's debate with the Catholic bishop John B. Purcell, and that the "mystic Babylon" of this text refers to the Roman Church--a forced interpretation of the relevant passages in the Revelation, but historically not an uncommon belief among Protestants. Campbell did in fact follow this line in his debate, making it one of his points of argument (<a href="https://archive.org/stream/adebateontheroma00purcuoft#page/n37/mode/2up">Campbell-Purcell Debate, p. vii</a>). But in this hymn one should note that Campbell is closely following the language of Scripture, in particular the 18th chapter of the Revelation. The 6th stanza's opening lines, "<i>She who the Twelve Apostles griev'd, / </i><i>And by her sorceries deceiv'd / </i><i>All nations of the world</i>" references Revelation 18:20, "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her," and 18:23, "for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived." The "Babylon" of Revelation 18 is clearly (if one may speak so of an apocalyptic image!) depicting a secular authority, rich in economic as well as political power. Following Campbell's own sources, we should not be too quick to assume any limitation of this imagery to a religious authority. For that matter, though Campbell did sometimes use the trope of "mystic Babylon" to describe religious bodies, he did not always mean any one denomination. Sometimes he applied the term to the whole confused, divided, and self-contradictory morass of Christian groups that he sought to reunite in primitive apostolic Christianity. The following statement sums up his willingness to stand for what he saw as truth, regardless of who opposed him: "As to the <i>Fama Clamosa</i>--the <i>cry of heresy</i> or of <i>false teaching</i>, echoed and re-echoed, through the streets, and lanes, and avenues of mystic Babylon, Catholic or Protestant, we <i>personally</i> care nothing" ("Prefatory remarks," 99).<br />
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Campbell's views on the end times were complex, and the title one of his journals--<i>Millennial Harbinger</i>--is evidence enough of the importance of the subject in his thinking. Like many of his contemporaries, his beliefs evolved over time, but his most consistently held position was that the millennial reign of Christ on earth would be representative, through His church, and prior to His final return at the Judgment (Rollmann). The reign of Christ through His church is more clearly articulated in <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/christiansystem00camp">The Christian System</a></i> of 1835. It is interesting as well to compare the "reign of Jesus" depicted in this hymn with that described in Campbell's "Upon the banks of Jordan stood," given in full in the next section below.<br />
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The tune indicated in Campbell's hymnal is H<span style="font-size: x-small;">ARMONY</span>, a composition by the Massachusetts composer Abner Ellis (1770-1844), who also worked as a teacher, tavernkeeper, and state legislator. Ellis contributed this work to Stephen Jenks's <i>Delights of Harmony</i> (1805). It is a staple of the <i>Sacred Harp</i> repertoire to this day (Steel, 116). Hayden's version differs only slightly from that found in the <a href="http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/ssb/display.cfm?TitleID=610&Format=jpg&Pagenum=171">1860 <i>Sacred Harp</i></a>. The chief differences are in the harmonies in the next to last measure.<br />
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H<span style="font-size: x-small;">ARMONY </span>is a fun example of the "fuging tune" (yes, it should be "fuguing," but by long-standing tradition the old vernacular spelling is retained). This invention of the 18th-century New England school begins with all the parts in similar rhythm, as in a traditional hymn, for the first few lines of a stanza. Then, at the midpoint of the stanza, the voices enter one at a time in imitation, repeating the next line of text until all voices have come in. The final line of text is presented with all the voices regrouped into a similar rhythm, as at the beginning. The video below is the <i>Sacred Harp </i>version, with the traditional text, "Wake all ye soaring throngs and sing."<br />
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This was by far the most difficult of the Campbell hymns to record, but the video below will give some sense of how it might have sounded. It is very sprightly music for a text about the judgment of "mystic Babylon," but on the other hand, it fits the other more celebratory themes of the text quite well.<br />
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<b>"Upon the banks of Jordan Stood"</b><br />
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Song 149, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/psalmnsspiri43camp#page/220/mode/1up">page 220 in the 1843 edition</a>.<br />
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<i>JOHN'S BAPTISM</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Upon the banks of Jordan stood</i><br />
<i>The great reformer, John,</i><br />
<i>And pointed to the Lamb of God,</i><br />
<i>The long expected one.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>He loud proclaim'd the coming reign,</i><br />
<i>And told them to reform;</i><br />
<i>If they God's favor would obtain,</i><br />
<i>And shun the gath'ring storm.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>He bade all those who would repent,</i><br />
<i>Forthwith to be immers'd,</i><br />
<i>Assuring them that God had sent</i><br />
<i>The message he rehears'd.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Forsake your sins, the Baptist said,</i><br />
<i>That you may be forgiv'n;</i><br />
<i>Forsake them now, and be immers'd,</i><br />
<i>For near's the reign of heav'n.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Thus did the man of God prepare</i><br />
<i>A people for the Lord;</i><br />
<i>To him did all the Jews repair,</i><br />
<i>Who trusted in his word.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>But now the reign of God has come,</i><br />
<i>That reign of grace below,</i><br />
<i>And Jesus reigns upon God's throne,</i><br />
<i>Remission to bestow.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>He bids all nations look to him,</i><br />
<i>As Prince of Life and Peace;</i><br />
<i>And offers pardon to all them</i><br />
<i>Who now accept his grace.</i><br />
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This is probably the best known of the Campbell hymns, because it touches on the theme of baptism, so central to the doctrinal debates of his time, and because it has been included in a few modern hymnals. Brother Max Wheeler wrote a setting in 1986 that was included in V. E. Howard's <i>Church Gospel Songs and Hymns</i>, and more recently in <i>Praise for the Lord</i>. In the first five stanzas of this hymn, Campbell summarizes the evangelistic work of John the Baptist. The final two stanzas are addressed to the modern reader, however, living this side of Calvary, and stress the far greater significance of baptism into Christ. Particularly apparent is Campbell's preference for the term "immerse" to represent the Greek <i>baptizo</i> as used in the New Testament, rather than the English transliteration "baptize."<br />
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Finding the suggested tune for this hymn, M<span style="font-size: x-small;">OUNT</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">EBO</span>, was the beginning of this fascinating and frustrating effort to recreate Alexander Campbell's hymns. My brother Mark Teske, of the Gospel Broadcasting Network, contacted me with the question, "What was the original music for 'Upon the banks of Jordan' by Campbell?" Since the 1843 <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i> gave a suggested tune, this seemed not to be too difficult a thing to find out. Unfortunately I found not one but three M<span style="font-size: x-small;">OUNT</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">EBO</span> tunes! There is a tune by that name from an 18th-century English collection, but it did not fit the text. There is also a <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=JGQ5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA118#v=onepage&q&f=false">M<span style="font-size: x-small;">OUNT</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">EBO</span></a> in Lowell Mason's <i>Carmina Sacra</i> of 1840, which actually fits Campbell's text rather nicely. But the tune given in Hayden's <i>Introduction to Sacred Music</i> is the obvious choice:<br />
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I can find no antecedent to this tune, though I have the nagging feeling that I have heard it before.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwuw8FUT2ixM5H3rZtv9YTPNpzc2EoMkPADeM9aF0TzezoRkLbswxIAdUJwcapnNy6p7SIR6mpRh3Np5q8RFQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b>"Jesus is Gone Above the Skies"</b><br />
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Hymn 135, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/psalmnsspiri43camp#page/112/mode/1up/">page 112 in the 1843 edition.</a><br />
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<i>Jesus is gone above the skies,</i><br />
<i>Where our weak senses reach him not;</i><br />
<i>And carnal objects court our eyes</i><br />
<i>To thrust our Saviour from our thought.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>He knows what wand'ring hearts we have,</i><br />
<i>Apt to forget his lovely face;</i><br />
<i>And to refresh our minds he gave</i><br />
<i>These kind memorials of his grace.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The Lord of life this table spread</i><br />
<i>With his own flesh and dying blood; </i><br />
<i>We on thy rich provision feed,</i><br />
<i>We taste the wine and bless our God.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>While he is absent from our sight,</i><br />
<i>'Tis to prepare for us a place;</i><br />
<i>That we may dwell in heav'nly light,</i><br />
<i>And live forever near his face.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Our eyes look upwards to the hills,</i><br />
<i>Whence our returning Lord shall come;</i><br />
<i>We wait thy chariot's awful wheels</i><br />
<i>To fetch our longing spirits home.</i><br />
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Here is a lovely hymn for the Lord's Supper, a subject on which Campbell wrote with great feeling:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Upon the loaf and upon the cup of the Lord, in letters which speak not to the eye, but to the heart of every disciple, is inscribed, "<i>When this you see, remember me.</i>" Indeed, the Lord says to each disciple, when he receives the symbols into his hand, "This is my body broken for <i>you</i>. This is my blood shed for <i>you</i>." The loaf is thus constituted a representation of his body--first whole, then wounded for our sins. The cup is thus instituted a representation of his blood--once his life, but now poured out to cleanse us from our sins. To every disciple he says, "For <i>you</i> my body was wounded; for <i>you</i> my life was taken." In receiving it the disciple says, "Lord, I believe it. My life sprung from thy suffering; my joy from thy sorrows; and my hope of glory everlasting from thy humiliation and abasement even to death." Each disciple, in handing the symbols to his fellow-disciple, says, in effect, "You, my brother, once an alien, are now a citizen of heaven; once a stranger, are now brought home to the family of God. You have owned my Lord as your Lord, my people as your people. Under Jesus the Messiah we are one. Mutually embraced in the Everlasting arms, I embrace you in mine" (<i>Christian System</i>, 310).</blockquote>
This was the only one of Campbell's hymns in the 1843 book that did not have a tune suggested. My survey of the tune suggestions throughout Campbell's hymnal showed that the most common Long Meter tunes are Z<span style="font-size: x-small;">ION</span> (6), W<span style="font-size: x-small;">INDHAM</span> (5), and M<span style="font-size: x-small;">AJESTY</span> N<span style="font-size: x-small;">EW</span> (5). Z<span style="font-size: x-small;">ION</span> obviously doesn't fit the text well at all; between the other two, the stately minor-key melody of W<span style="font-size: x-small;">INDHAM</span> seems the best fit for Campbell's serious and thoughtful tone. Hayden's version differs from <a href="http://people.bethel.edu/~rhomar/TunePages/Windham.html">the original</a> only in the lengths of some of the notes.<br />
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W<span style="font-size: x-small;">INDHAM</span> was composed by Daniel Read (1757-1836), part of the older generation of New England singing-school composers. A veteran of the Revolutionary War, Read was a native of Massachusetts but settled in New Haven, Connecticut, where he conducted singing schools and published hymn books (<a href="http://www.hymnary.org/tune/windham_read">Hymnary.org</a>). W<span style="font-size: x-small;">INDHAM </span>was a popular hymn tune in its day, first appearing in Read's <i>American Singing Book</i> of 1875. Read is probably best remembered, however, for his dynamic fuging tune S<span style="font-size: x-small;">HERBURNE</span>, associated with the text "While shepherds watched their flocks by night." The video below is a historic field recording of <i>Sacred Harp</i> singing from the 1940s, and captures the power of these slow, minor-key tunes.<br />
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The minor-key tunes of the old shape-note tradition often show the lingering influence of the modal scales of earlier centuries, before major and minor became the two default scales of Western music. (The Celtic duo Standing Stones has a great introduction to <a href="http://www.standingstones.com/modeharm.html">modal scales in European folk music</a>.) W<span style="font-size: x-small;">INDHAM</span> is in the Aeolian mode, commonly called "natural minor"; unlike the modern Western use of the minor scale, no adjustment is made to the 7th scale step to make it a leading tone. In keeping with the practice I have learned singing with <i>Sacred Harp</i> groups, I have omitted even the D-sharps that are written in the score. Some singers of the old shape-note traditions add an additional twist--they raise the 6th step of the minor scale as well, making it Dorian mode. In the video below I have given first an Aeolian, and then a Dorian rendition.<br />
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<b>"'Tis Darkness Here, But Jesus Smiles"</b><br />
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Song 150, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/psalmnsspiri43camp#page/221/mode/1up">page 221 in the 1843 edition.</a><br />
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<i>'Tis darkness here, but Jesus smiles,</i><br />
<i>His presence ev'ry pain beguiles;</i><br />
<i>He has the wine that cheers the soul,</i><br />
<i>The oil that makes the wounded whole.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>While silence reigns as in the tomb,</i><br />
<i>And midnight spreads her deepest gloom;</i><br />
<i>Come, let our tongues an anthem raise,</i><br />
<i>And sing our great Physician's praise.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Though fast our feet within these stocks,</i><br />
<i>Our hands secur'd with numerous locks,</i><br />
<i>No iron chains our thoughts can bind,</i><br />
<i>There are no fetters for the mind.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Though we are bound, the word is free,</i><br />
<i>The truth cannot imprison'd be;</i><br />
<i>The word shall visit ev'ry land,</i><br />
<i>Though kings and people all withstand.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The word of life which Jesus sent,</i><br />
<i>Jail, chains, and swords cannot prevent;</i><br />
<i>Man cannot keep the world in night,</i><br />
<i>For God has said, Let there be light.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>To Jesus let our praise ascend,</i><br />
<i>His care for us shall never end;</i><br />
<i>He felt our griefs, he bore our pains,</i><br />
<i>His blood has wash'd us from our stains.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>From all our sins he set us free,</i><br />
<i>The light of life he made us see,</i><br />
<i>From Satan's bondage gave release,</i><br />
<i>And fill'd our souls with joy and peace.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>He bade us speak his love abroad,</i><br />
<i>And tell the mercies of our God;</i><br />
<i>And shall we cease to spread his fame,</i><br />
<i>Because of prisons, stripes, or shame?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>No--'tis our choice to bear his cross;</i><br />
<i>For him all things we count but loss;</i><br />
<i>Our joy, for him to suffer shame;</i><br />
<i>Our honor, still to bear his name.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>One smile from him all pains repays,</i><br />
<i>One word of peace all griefs allays;</i><br />
<i>With him in glory to appear</i><br />
<i>Will compensate our suff'rings here.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>His presence now this prison cheers,</i><br />
<i>Relieves our pains, dispels our fears;</i><br />
<i>His presence, then, our heads will crown</i><br />
<i>With endless glory and renown.</i><br />
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Once again Campbell makes a very detailed treatment of a Scripture passage, in this case the incarceration of Paul and Silas in the jail at Philippi (Acts 16). There are several specific references to other Scriptures as well:<br />
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<li>The oil and wine of the 1st stanza may come from the Good Samaritan's care for the wounded man in the parable from Luke 10.</li>
<li>The 4th stanza paraphrases 2 Timothy 2:9, "I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!"</li>
<li>The last line of the 5th stanza, of course, is from Genesis 1:3, but also calls to mind the "Light of the World" imagery used by John in his gospel and first epistle.</li>
<li>The 2nd line of the 9th stanza is almost a direct quote of Philippians 3:8, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."</li>
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But unlike "On Tabor's top" or "Upon the banks of Jordan", which address their subjects didactically, this hymn is more of a rhapsody on the faith in Christ shared by the two prisoners. The key point is that Paul and Silas, having been beaten and thrown in jail, were singing praises at midnight--long before the earthquake that set them free. They had no expectation of such a deliverance, yet they were singing praises.</div>
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The tune recommended by <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i> is S<span style="font-size: x-small;">COTCH</span> A<span style="font-size: x-small;">IR</span>, which I have not found in any tune-book of this era except Hayden's <i>Introduction to Sacred Music</i>. This may be one of Hayden's own arrangements; since he did not put his name to any of the tunes in his book, we can only speculate about which anonymous pieces might have come from his pen (Fletcher 464).<br />
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This melody became famous through its connection to a beautiful lyric by Robert Burns (1759-1796), "Ye banks an' braes o' bonnie Doon." I can attest to the sweetness and charm of this tune; I rocked my children to sleep with it many times!</div>
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<a href="https://archive.org/stream/cu31924021782879#page/n738/mode/1up">Frank Kidson's article</a> for the 1910 <i>Grove's Dictionary of Music</i> is an excellent summary of the various theories around the origins of the tune. It is an odd choice for a hymn setting, perhaps; but when paired with Campbell's text about perseverance through suffering, the melancholy sweetness of this old melody seems rather fitting. </div>
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<b>Conclusion</b><br />
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Campbell's hymn texts did not have the impact one might have expected, considering the influence he exerted on the Restoration Movement in almost every other area of his work. Less than two years before his death in 1866, Campbell turned over his hymnal to an editorial committee for the first major revision in more than a decade--ironically, they omitted all of his hymns. Though they had always previously been included (as an editor's own hymns usually are), they were apparently never widely used (Fletcher, 294). Still, they are an interesting window into his ideas of Christian worship music, and into the frontier hymnody in the Midwest that was the soundtrack of this era of the U.S. Restoration Movement.</div>
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References:<br />
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"Bonnie Doon." <i>LYCO Sheet Music Archive</i>. Last updated 2013.<br />
<a href="http://sheetmusic.lyco.org.au/Bonnie%20Doon/">http://sheetmusic.lyco.org.au/Bonnie%20Doon/</a><br />
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Campbell, Alexander. "Prefatory remarks to Bro. Moses E. Lard's review of Dr. Jeter's books." <i>Millennial Harbinger</i> series 4, vol. 7, no. 2 (February 1857), 94-100.<br />
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Campbell, Alexander. <i>Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</i>, 14th ed. Bethany, Va.: Campbell, 1843.<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/details/psalmnsspiri43camp">https://archive.org/details/psalmnsspiri43camp</a><br />
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Campbell, Alexander, and John B. Purcell. <i>A Debate on the Roman Catholic Religion</i>. New York: Benziger Bros., 1837. <a href="https://archive.org/details/adebateontheroma00purcuoft">https://archive.org/details/adebateontheroma00purcuoft</a><br />
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Fletcher, William Harold. <i>Amos Sutton Hayden: Symbol of a Movement</i>. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oklahoma, 1988. Available for order through ProQuest Dissertations, UMI #8808071.<br />
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Kidson, Frank. "Ye banks and braes o' bonny Doon." <i>Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians</i>, ed. J. Fuller Maitland, 6 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1904-1910, vol. 6, pp. 671-672.<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/stream/cu31924021782879#page/n738/mode/1up">https://archive.org/stream/cu31924021782879#page/n738/mode/1up</a><br />
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Mankin, Jim. "Alexander Campbell's contributions to hymnody." <i>The Hymn</i>, vol. 49, no. 1 (January 1998), pp. 10-14.<br />
<a href="http://www.hymnary.org/files/articles/Mankin,%20Alexander%20Campbell's%20Contributions%20to%20Hymnody.pdf">http://www.hymnary.org/files/articles/Mankin,%20Alexander%20Campbell's%20Contributions%20to%20Hymnody.pdf</a><br />
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Music, David W., ed. <i>A Selection of Shape-Note Folk Hymns: From Southern United States Tune Books, 1816-1861</i>.<i> </i>vol. 52 of <i>Recent Researches in American Music</i>. Middleton, Wisc.: A-R Editions, 2005.<br />
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Rollmann, Hans. "Eschatology." <i>Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement</i>. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eedrmans, 2004, 304-307.<br />
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Steel, David Warren, and Richard H. Hulan. <i>The Makers of the Sacred Harp</i>. University of Illinois Press, 2010.<br />
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"W<span style="font-size: x-small;">INDHAM</span>." <i>Hymnary.org</i>. <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/tune/windham_read">http://www.hymnary.org/tune/windham_read</a><br />
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"W<span style="font-size: x-small;">INDHAM</span>." <i>American Hymn-Tune Repertory</i>, ed. Mark Rhoads.<br />
<a href="http://people.bethel.edu/~rhomar/TunePages/Windham.html">http://people.bethel.edu/~rhomar/TunePages/Windham.html</a></div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-5813144722669414502014-04-17T19:30:00.002-05:002014-04-17T19:30:17.171-05:00Father, We Praise Thee<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #143<br />
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Words: Medieval Latin hymn; trans. Percy Dearmer, 1906<br />
Music: C<span style="font-size: x-small;">HRISTE</span> S<span style="font-size: x-small;">ANCTORUM</span>, <i>Paris Antiphoner</i>, 1681; arr. La Feillée's <i>Nouvelle Methode</i>, 1782<br />
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This is a translation of the Medieval hymn "Nocte surgentes vigilemus omnes" (Rising up by night, let us all keep vigil") from the Roman Catholic liturgy, originally sung during the nighttime prayer hours in the summer months (Walpole 265). Dearmer's English translation tweaked the original to make it a morning prayer, more suitable for his Anglican audience. Christopher Gray's excellent <a href="http://liberhymnarius.org/index.php/Nocte_surgentes">Liber Hymnarius</a> website has the full Latin text and a good literal translation, which is worth comparison to Percy Dearmer's rather free rendering.<br />
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These lyrics are traditionally attributed to Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540-604), whose work in organizing the music of the Roman Catholic liturgy caused his name to be attached to the entire repertoire still known today as "Gregorian" chant. The earliest documented instances of "Nocte surgentes" are found, however, from only the 10th century forward (<a href="http://webserver.erwin-rauner.de/crophius/ah_images_plus.asp?volumen=51&suchdatei=0026.gif"><i>Analecta Hymnica</i> 51:24</a>). Walpole, in his classic study <i>Early Latin Hymns</i>, notes that it does not seem to fit with the simpler style of chants known to date from Gregory's era. Its meter is a particularly unusual and sophisticated "Sapphic mode" (so-called because of its use by the ancient Greek poet Sappho) of four-line stanzas in the syllable pattern 11.11.11.5. Walpole notes instead the hymn's strong similarity to another work in Sapphic mode by the 9th-century scholar Alcuin of York (c.735-904); if it is not a work of Alcuin himself, it at least seems to fit better in the hymn-writing style of his era (265).<br />
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The translation before us is a paraphrase by Percy Dearmer (1867-1936). Brought up under the influence of the Oxford Movement, Dearmer advocated the recovery of specifically English Catholic traditions from earlier eras, and though he was undeniably Anglo-Catholic, his <i>Parson's Handbook</i> (1899) was widely influential across the spectrum of Anglicanism (Southwell). He was vicar of St. Mary's of Primrose Hill in London when he recruited Ralph Vaughan Williams to assist him in compiling <i>The English Hymnal</i> (1906), a watershed moment in the hymnology of the 20th century. In addition to continuing the Oxford Movement's penchant for translating medieval works, Dearmer carefully excised what he considered the worst excesses of Victorian hymnody. Vaughan Williams matched this "treasures old and new" approach with a selection of music from all eras, including many folk tunes, and with a focus on strong melodic contours. When one entered an Anglican place of worship in the early 20th century, the distinctive light green binding of <i>The English Hymnal</i> was an immediate indicator of a certain kind of "high church" progressivism, just as the more soberly bound <i>Hymns Ancient & Modern</i> signified the more traditional mainstream (Atwell).<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Father, we praise Thee, n</i><i>ow the night is over;</i><br />
<i>Active and watchful, s</i><i>tand we all before Thee;</i><br />
<i>Singing, we offer prayer and meditation: </i><br />
<i>Thus we adore Thee.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i>The opening phrase of this stanza in the original Latin, "Nocte surgentes," may have been inspired by the beginning of Psalm 119:62 in the Vulgate, "Medio noctis surgam," "At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, because of Your righteous judgments." But whether at midnight or morning, any time is a good time for prayer! Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and the examples are many of good servants of God who prayed on the spot, when the need arose. Nehemiah said a quick prayer before appealing to Artaxerxes for help in rebuilding Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:4). Hezekiah, on receiving the Assyrian demand for surrender, went immediately to the temple and prayed for God's favor and guidance (2 Kings 19:14-15). If you need to pray, God is always ready to listen. But there is a great value in planning times of prayer, so that our prayers do not become afterthoughts. Daniel prayed three times a day as a matter of habit (Daniel 6:10). The writer of Psalm 119 proclaimed, "Seven times a day I praise You for Your righteous rules" (Psam 119:164). Whether that is meant literally, or is figurative in the sense of "many times a day," we see a pattern of purposeful communion with our God on a daily basis.<br />
<br />
The early morning hours seem to have been a favorite time for daily prayer down through the ages. Perhaps there is something to be said for the freshness of mind that we may experience before the day's distractions begin. Perhaps it is simply a good way to set priorities--to make an appeal to God, and thanksgiving to Him, the first order of business for each new day. David's Psalms mention this idea several times:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
O L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, in the morning You hear my voice;<br />
In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for You and watch.<br />
(Psalm 5:3)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But I will sing of Your strength;<br />
I will sing aloud of Your steadfast love in the morning.<br />
(Psalm 59:16a)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Let me hear in the morning of Your steadfast love,<br />
For in You I trust.<br />
Make me know the way I should go,<br />
For to You I lift up my soul.<br />
(Psalm 143:8)</blockquote>
<div>
And when we look at the brief but busy years of Jesus' ministry, we find an incident mentioned that was very likely typical: "And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed" (Mark 1:35). Given the demands on His time, when there was not always even opportunity to eat a meal in peace (Mark 6:31), it is not surprising that Jesus sometimes set aside the quiet early morning hours for prayer.</div>
<br />
But just having the habit of wording a prayer in the morning is not enough; it can all too easily become a thoughtless routine. This hymn insists instead that we be "<i>active and watchful</i>" as we stand before God. One could compare this to the earnest statement of the 130th Psalm, "my soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning" (v. 6). Paul told the Colossians, "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving" (4:2). Genuine, powerful Christian prayer is a purposeful act in which we do our best to express our thanks and adoration to God, as well as unburdening our concerns and needs to Him.<br />
<br />
We know that Jesus is mediating on our behalf before the Father (1 Timothy 2:5), and that the Spirit of God is intervening when we do not know how to say what we mean (Romans 8:26), so we have more than enough assistance; but we also grow spiritually through the struggle to express our thoughts in prayer. Psalm 115:8 asserts that people become like what they worship--if we worship idols, the lifeless things of this earth, we become as dull and earthbound as any lump of wood or stone. Is not the same principle true of worshiping the Almighty? If we devote ourselves regularly to "<i>prayer and meditation</i>" toward the One who is perfect in holiness, compassion, justice, and faithfulness, will it not draw us toward these same qualities ourselves?<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>Monarch of all things, fit us for Thy mansions;</i><br />
<i>Banish our weakness, health and wholeness sending;</i><br />
<i>Bring us to heaven where Thy saints united</i><br />
<i>Joy without ending.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Dearmer's translation of this stanza is a significant departure from the sense of the original Latin:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That, to the Holy King together singing,<br />With His saints may we merit the hall<br />Of heaven to enter, and likewise a blessed<br />Life to lead.<br />(<a href="http://liberhymnarius.org/index.php/Nocte_surgentes">Liber Hymnarius</a>)</blockquote>
Lionel Adey notes that the idea of "merit" seems to have put Dearmer off, causing him to focus instead on the blessed life of "<i>health and wholeness</i>." This expresses a more Protestant view of the Christian as the passive recipient of sanctification, as well as a modern emphasis on moral and mental soundness rather than the supernatural overtones of the original (39-40). Now certainly we are unable to "merit" our salvation, and for that matter, the original language of the third stanza of this hymn clarifies its intent with the plea for God to "grant us this" salvation. But in another sense, Scripture repeatedly tells us to live in a manner that is <i>worthy</i>--"worthy of the calling to which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1); "worthy of the gospel of Christ" (Philippians 1:27); "worthy of the Lord" (Colossians 1:10).<br />
<br />
One of the ways that we behave in a manner worthy of such honors is to express our praise and gratitude. The Psalms are so full of such expressions that just a few will suffice to illustrate the point:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Be glad in the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, and rejoice, O righteous,<br />And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!<br />(Psalm 32:11)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
But the righteous shall be glad;<br />They shall exult before God;<br />They shall be jubilant with joy!<br />(Psalm 68:3)</blockquote>
Especially telling is the last phrase of Psalm 33:1,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Shout for joy in the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, O you righteous!<br />Praise befits the upright.</blockquote>
Expressing praise and thanksgiving in song "befits the upright"; it is one part, at least, of walking in a manner "worthy" of the halls of heaven. Failing to praise God for His blessings, and to rejoice in our salvation, is not only an unhealthy symptom, but is insulting to the extravagant grace He has given us. In Deuteronomy 28:47-48, the Israelites were told, "Because you did not serve the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies." (I am indebted for this last observation to a thoughtful sermon by brother Ben Williams on "<a href="http://glenpoolchurchofchrist.com/sermons/the-joy-of-the-lord/">The Joy of the Lord</a>.")<br />
<i><br /></i>
But if we embrace praise and thanksgiving as our duty and privilege as children of God, we will not only fulfill His commands; we will grow in the "<i>health and wholeness</i>" of the Christian life that is training us for a heavenly home. A Christian's song should spring from a heart "filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18-19), in which the "word of Christ dwells richly" (Colossians 3:16). It is a natural companion of Bible study and prayer. Basil of Caesarea wisely said, in his <a href="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/45167.htm">homily on the 1st Psalm</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When, indeed, the Holy Spirit saw that the human race was guided only with difficulty toward virtue, and that, because of our inclination toward pleasure, we were neglectful of an upright life, what did He do? The delight of melody He mingled with the doctrines so that by the pleasantness and softness of the sound heard we might receive without perceiving it the benefit of the words, just as wise physicians who, when giving the fastidious rather bitter drugs to drink, frequently smear the cup with honey.</blockquote>
Spiritual thoughts wedded with music reinforce those beneficial insights gained from study, and help us to express ourselves to God in return. Truly it was said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It is good to give thanks to the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>,<br />To sing praises to Your name, O Most High;<br />To declare Your steadfast love in the morning,<br />And Your faithfulness by night.<br />(Psalms 92:1-2).</blockquote>
<i>Stanza 3:</i><br />
<i>All-holy Father, Son and equal Spirit,</i><br />
<i>Trinity blessed, send us Thy salvation;</i><br />
<i>Thine is the glory, gleaming and resounding,</i><br />
<i>Through all creation.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
As this morning prayer-hymn draws to a close, its makes a final appeal for aid throughout the day from the God whose glory is "<i>gleaming and resounding / Through all creation</i>." The recognition of God as Creator is not just a fact to be learned, but a principle that underlies our relationship to Him in everything we do. It brings to mind the common phrase in the Psalms that describes the Lord as the One "who made heaven and earth" (Psalms 115:15; 121:2; 124:8; 134:3; 146;6). Artur Weiser, in his commentary on the Psalms, noted the consequences of this phrase:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Because all things are God’s handiwork, He has the power to help whatever may happen; for even now all things are still in His hand. The distinctive character of the Old Testament concept of creation . . . represents not a piece of knowledge but a decision to submit oneself to God’s creative will and power (747).</blockquote>
The evidence of God's glory is not hidden or subtle; it is "<i>resounding</i>" throughout His creation, "sounding" over and over again. Even in a world marred by sin, the goodness of God is evident every day in the beauty and abundance of His works. The writers of the Hebrew Testament frequently represented the creation as though it has a literal voice for us to hear:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sing, O heavens, for the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel (Isaiah 44:23).</blockquote>
Or as Jesus said, when His enemies criticized the praises being heaped upon Him by the crowds as He entered Jerusalem, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out" (Luke 19:40). All creation praises God, every day; all, that is, except those of His creatures who have chosen to ignore Him. But for those of us who have been redeemed by Him, enjoying the blessings of His love and grace, how can we keep silent?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The steadfast love of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> never ceases;<br />His mercies never come to an end;<br />They are new every morning,<br />(Lamentations 3:22-23a)</blockquote>
As we go through the day, we are moving through God's world, walking in God's ways. Yes, there is sin and corruption; yes, there is an adversary against us; but we are citizens of "a kingdom that cannot be shaken" (Hebrews 12:28). May God help us to remember this, and to give Him thanks for every new day He grants us!<br />
<br />
The video below is a good a cappella rendition of the hymn, but in a different harmonization from that found in <i>Praise for the Lord</i>, or the Vaughan Williams arrangement in the old <i>English Hymnal</i>. Still, it is a lovely recording, and a good way to learn the tune.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<br />
<i>About the music:</i><br />
<br />
The tune known as C<span style="font-size: x-small;">HRISTE</span> S<span style="font-size: x-small;">ANCTORUM</span> has an interesting and rather tangled history. So far as I can tell, it was first published under this name in the 1906 <i>English Hymnal</i>. That makes this all the harder to say: I think the music editor, Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of my very favorite composers, <i>made a mistake</i>.<br />
<br />
There are several plainchants beginning with the text "Christe sanctorum," but none of them correspond to this melody (<i>Hymnal 1982</i>, 2). In the "new revised edition" of François de La Feillée's <i>Méthode du plain-chant</i> (Lyon: Rusand, 1823), however, the melody is found with the text "Christe pastorum caput," as seen in the image below (144). The <i>English Hymnal </i>attributes the melody to La Feillée's collection (238-239), so it seems obvious that someone (let's blame the type-setter) misremembered and put "sanctorum" for "pastorum".<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Swj0fP8kgq0C&pg=PA144&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U05DDLSGqws7Hgw9S_HLopd01Lqhg&ci=137%2C104%2C837%2C619&edge=0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://books.google.com/books?id=Swj0fP8kgq0C&pg=PA144&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U05DDLSGqws7Hgw9S_HLopd01Lqhg&ci=137%2C104%2C837%2C619&edge=0" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>The Hymnal 1982 Companion</i> notes that this melody is probably not of medieval origin, but was more likely a relatively recent addition from the 17th century. (The musical notation, even of newly composed plainchant, was still traditionally written in the old Medieval style seen in the image above.) The melody is thought to trace back no further than the 1681 <i><a href="http://www.sudoc.fr/131254812">Antiphonarium Parisiense</a></i>, edited by François de Harlay de Champvallon (1625-1695), and published by Josse Fratres of Paris (2).<br />
<br />
Curiously, however, the editors of the <i>Companion</i> attribute the melody to the chant "Ceteri nunquam nisi vagiendo" in the 1681 Paris Antiphoner (2). That chant is also in La Feillée's <i>Nouvelle Methode</i>, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Swj0fP8kgq0C&pg=PA143#v=onepage&q&f=false">p. 143</a>, with a completely different tune. I was not able to examine the 1681 Paris Antiphoner--the only copy is in the library of the Sorbonne. But there is an online facsimile of a similar collection, the manuscript Antiphoner <i>RES-2293</i> held by the music section of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. In this collection the hymn "Ceteri numquam" (<a href="http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53048839h/f439.zoom">p. 442</a>) has the same minor-key tune found with that text in Feillée's <i>Nouvelle Methode</i>. Unfortunately, the Bibliothèque nationale manuscript does not appear to include the chant "Christe pastorum caput," but this seems enough to suggest that La Feillée's version might be the same in the 1681 Paris Antiphoner. Unfortunately I seem to have reached the limits of "armchair musicology" on this subject for the time being.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<i>References:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Adey, Lionel. <i>Hymns and the Christian Myth</i>. Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1986.<br />
<i><br />
</i> Antiphonarium Parisiense. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département Musique, <i>RES-2293</i>. ca. 1650-1725? <a href="http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53048839h/">http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b53048839h/</a><br />
<br />
Atwell, Robert. "The English Hymnal a hundred years on: the view from Primrose Hill." St. Mary's Primrose Hill. <a href="http://www.stmarysprimrosehill.com/our-church/percy-dearmer/">http://www.stmarysprimrosehill.com/our-church/percy-dearmer/</a><br />
<i><br /></i>
Basil of Caesarea. "On the value of singing Psalms" (from his Homily on the 1st Psalm). Православие.Ru.<br />
<a href="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/45167.htm">http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/45167.htm</a><br />
<i><br />
</i> De La Feillée, François. <i>Méthode du plain-chant, nouvelle </i><i>é</i><i>dition augment</i><i>é</i><i>e</i>. Lyon: Rusand, 1823. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Swj0fP8kgq0C">http://books.google.com/books?id=Swj0fP8kgq0C</a><br />
<br />
Dreves, Guido Maria. <i>Die Hymnen aus Thesaurus Hymnologicus</i> <i>H. A. Daniels</i>, vol. 51 of <i>Analecta hymnica medii aevii</i>. Leipzig: Reisland, 1908.<br />
<a href="http://webserver.erwin-rauner.de/crophius/ah_images_plus.asp?volumen=51&suchdatei=0026.gif">http://webserver.erwin-rauner.de/crophius/ah_images_plus.asp?volumen=51&suchdatei=0026.gif</a><br />
<br />
<i>The English Hymnal, with Tunes</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1906. <a href="https://archive.org/details/theenglishhymnal00milfuoft">https://archive.org/details/theenglishhymnal00milfuoft</a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
"Father, we praise Thee." <i>The Hymnal 1982 Companion</i>, v.3A, p. 1-2.<br />
<br />
Gray, Christopher. "Nocte surgentes." <i>Liber Hymnarius</i>. <a href="http://liberhymnarius.org/index.php/Nocte_surgentes">http://liberhymnarius.org/index.php/Nocte_surgentes</a><br />
<br />
Southwell, F. R., F. R. Barry, Donald Gray. "Dearmer, Percy." <i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</i>. Oxford University Press, 2004. <a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32763">http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32763</a><br />
<br />
Walpole, Arthur S. <i>Early Latin Hymns</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922.<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/stream/earlylatinhymns00walpuoft">https://archive.org/stream/earlylatinhymns00walpuoft</a><br />
<br />
Weiser, Artur. <i>The Psalms: A Commentary</i>, 5th revised edition, translated by Herbert Hartwell. The Old Testament Library. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1962.<br />
<br />
Williams, Benjamin J. "The joy of the Lord." Sermon delivered at the Glenpool Church of Christ, Glenpool, Okla., 3 September 2012. <a href="http://glenpoolchurchofchrist.com/sermons/the-joy-of-the-lord/">http://glenpoolchurchofchrist.com/sermons/the-joy-of-the-lord/</a></div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-38313817565333384312014-03-30T23:02:00.000-05:002014-03-30T23:02:50.797-05:00Father of Mercy, We Bow Before Thee<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Words: Unknown (st. 1); George William Walton, 1985 (st. 2)<br />
Music: Adapted from "Lascia ch'io pianga," from Handel's <i>Rinaldo</i><br />
<br />
This is another little gem handed down through "the old blue book," <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>. Wayne Walker notes that it was picked up by Tillit Teddlie in his <i>Great Christian Hymnal No. 2</i> (1965), and by Lloyd O. Sanderson in Gospel Advocate's <i>Christian Hymns III</i> (1966), which shows that it had some currency (Walker). A quick Internet search for the title shows that it is available in PowerPoint, and is in use by congregations today in that format as well.<br />
<br />
The original version published by Jorgenson in 1937 presented just one stanza, author unknown. It is an invocation of prayer, asking for audience with God and His blessing on our petitions.<br />
<br />
<i>Father of Mercy,</i><br />
<i>We bow before Thee;</i><br />
<i>Bless us, O bless us,</i><br />
<i>And hear our prayer.</i><br />
<br />
The expression "Father of Mercy," found in 2 Corinthians 1:3, was discussed at some length in the preceding post on the hymn "<a href="http://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2014/03/father-of-mercies-day-by-day.html">Father of Mercies, Day by Day</a>." That hymn, however was a hymn of praise of God's attributes, and thanksgiving for His care; "Father of Mercy, We Bow Before Thee" is an expression of our desire to enter into His presence in worship. In this context, there is greater emphasis on God's mercies as expressed in His willingness to reconcile a sinful humanity to Himself; because of His mercy, He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). The greatest measure of His mercy, of course, is that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Even before we showed the least inclination to return to Him, He made the way at His own terrible cost. And it is His mercy, "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Psalm 86:15), that causes Him to give this wicked world more time to repent, "not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).<br />
<br />
It is this "Father of Mercy" whom we approach in worship. He is loving and merciful, and approaching His presence should fill us with love, joy, and comfort. It should also fill us with respect and reverence for One who has done such things for us that He did not have to do, and that we did not deserve--the "fear of God" rightly understood. Robert Nisbet's commentary on Psalm 128 expresses the thought beautifully:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It is that [fear] which they who have been rescued from destruction feel to the benefactor who nobly and at the vastest sacrifice interposed for their safety--a fear to act unworthily of his kindness. It is that which fills the breast of a pardoned and grateful rebel in the presence of the venerated sovereign at whose throne he is permitted to stand in honor--a fear lest he should ever forget his goodness, and give him cause to regret it (150-151).</blockquote>
Coming into His presence in worship, then, we bow before Him. Americans in particular do not like to bow; we eliminated that custom from public life early on in our nation's history, replacing it with the more egalitarian handshake. But when we approach the Creator of the universe, we had better divest ourselves of any such notions. We can approach Him only because it is "His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself" for us to have fellowship with Him (Ephesians 1:9). And though Hebrews 4:16 assures us that we can come "boldly before the throne of grace" (or "with confidence", ESV), we dare not come casually or carelessly. Alexander Campbell wrote thoughtfully, in his <i>Christian System</i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Christians need not say, in excuse for themselves, that all days are alike, that all places and times are alike holy, and that they ought to be in the best frame of mind all the time. For even concede them all their own positions: they will not contend that a man ought to speak to God, or to come into the presence of God, as they approach men. They will not say that they ought to have the same thoughts or feelings in approaching the Lord's table, as in approaching a common table; or on entering a court of political justice, as in coming into the house of God. There is, in the words of Solomon the Wise, a season and time for every object and for every work: here is the Lord's day, the Lord's table, the Lord's house, and the Lord's people; and there are thoughts, and frames of mind, and behavior compatible and incompatible with all these (248).</blockquote>
The opening seven verses of the 95th Psalm give us an excellent exposition of what it means to bow down to God in worship. It begins with an intent to approach God, with a joyful purpose in separating from the world for a time in order to praise our Father:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Oh come, let us sing to the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>;<br />
Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation!<br />
Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving;<br />
Let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! </blockquote>
The Psalmist then considers the reason we worship, and just Who it is before whom we stand:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> is a great God,<br />
And a great King above all gods.<br />
In His hand are the depths of the earth;<br />
The heights of the mountains are His also.<br />
The sea is His, for He made it,<br />
And His hands formed the dry land.</blockquote>
And on consideration of these things, the Psalmist knows just what is appropriate:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;<br />
Let us kneel before the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, our Maker!<br />
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture,<br />
And the sheep of His hand.</blockquote>
It may or may not be demeaning to bow down to a fellow human being, but it is simply appropriate to bow down before our Creator! There is no shame in it, but rather joy, because He is truly worthy of our worship. And someday, of course, "we will all stand before the judgment seat of God," where, "'As I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God'" (Romans 14:10-11, cf. Isaiah 45:23). We will be the better prepared for that day, if we engage in frequent and sincere worship that humbles our hearts before our loving Father.<br />
<br />
<i>Additional stanzas:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
On two different occasions editors have added stanzas to "Father of Mercy", desiring to get more than just one stanza's use out of a very appealing tune. Lloyd O. Sanderson completely reworked the text for <i>Christian Hymns III</i> (Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1966), where it is titled "Father, Hear Our Prayer" (#166):<br />
<br />
<i>Father in heaven,</i><br />
<i>We come before Thee:</i><br />
<i>Possess us, and bless us,</i><br />
<i>And hear our prayer.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Father of mercy,</i><br />
<i>Grant us this favor:</i><br />
<i>Possess us, and bless us,</i><br />
<i>And hear our prayer.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Father, we need Thee,</i><br />
<i>Living and dying:</i><br />
<i>Possess us, and bless us,</i><br />
<i>And hear our prayer.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The trick of maintaining the last two lines of each stanza as a refrain was a good idea, and suits the simplicity of both the text and the music. But in my opinion the decision to alter the meter in the third line, requiring a pick-up note for the first syllable of "<i>Possess</i>", mars the great beauty of this music--the breathless silences between the phrases.<br />
<br />
"Father of Mercy" appeared in <i>Great Songs of the Church, Revised</i> (Abilene, Tex.: ACU Press, 1986) with supplemental stanzas written by George William Walton (b. 1941), former chairman of English at Abilene Christian University (McCann, 108).<br />
<br />
<i>We seek Thee, Father;</i><br />
<i>Reveal Thy glory.</i><br />
<i>Strengthen, O strengthen,</i><br />
<i>The vision that we share.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Lay hands upon us,</i><br />
<i>O risen Jesus.</i><br />
<i>Touch us, O touch us;</i><br />
<i>Our confidence increase.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Comforting Spirit,</i><br />
<i>Come and indwell us.</i><br />
<i>Breathe now, O breath now,</i><br />
<i>The promise of Thy peace</i>.<br />
<br />
In <i>Praise for the Lord</i> only the first of these stanzas is included; and though I cannot read the minds of the editors, I believe Walker is correct in guessing that they were concerned about possible objections to the content of the other stanzas. I have heard criticism of the contemporary song "Glorify Thy name" on the same grounds, that it directly addresses each Person of the Trinity, instead of addressing the Father as we are given example in the Lord's Prayer; for a thoughtful review of this question in general, I recommend Wayne Jackson's article <a href="https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1024-may-a-christian-address-christ-in-praise-or-prayer">"May a Christian address Christ in praise or prayer?"</a> from the <i>Christian Courier</i>. But if a hymn is clearly just affirming a traditional view of the Trinity, I do not see the problem with it in the first place; and it is curious that the same objections are not raised about the traditional Doxology, or William McKay's "Revive us again".<br />
<br />
Other concerns, however, may have caused these stanzas to have been deleted. The expression "<i>Lay hands upon us, / O risen Jesus</i>" is striking, but also puzzling. Jesus laid hands on the sick to heal them (Mark 6:5), and on the children to bless them (Mark 10:16); but the strongest association of "laying on hands" in the language of the New Testament is to the imparting of spiritual gifts. Though it certainly is meant in a metaphorical sense, it is a rather loaded expression. The final stanza probably raised some eyebrows as well; the line "<i>Come and indwell us</i>" broaches the question of when and how the Spirit enters into the heart of the believer. Reading it literally, one might object that the Spirit already indwells the Christian, individually (1 Corinthians 3:16) and as a part of the collective body of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19). Again, in a metaphorical sense, this expression says no more than does "Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me", but the way it is phrased could be problematic for some worshipers.<br />
<br />
<i>About the music:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>The music to which this text is set has frequently been misidentified as an aria from the opera <i>Semele</i> (1743) by George Frederick Handel. It is actually the opening 8 measures of a melody best known as "Lascia ch'io piango", a popular aria from Handel's opera <i>Rinaldo</i> (1711). In the video below it is sung by the French coloratura soprano, Patricia Petibon, an outstanding interpreter of Baroque repertoire.<br />
<br />
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Excerpt from the <a href="http://imslp.org/wiki/Rinaldo,_HWV_7b_(Handel,_George_Frideric)">Chrysander edition of <i>Rinaldo</i></a></div>
<br />
Like many other composers, Handel was not above repackaging a good tune from an earlier work. John Walter Hill discovered the earliest form of this melody in Handel's <i>Almira </i>(1705), Act 3, Scene 3, as an "Asiatic dance"(or what passed for a Western conception of an Asiatic dance in 1705). It was recast as an aria in the third part of his 1707 oratorio <i>Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno</i> ("The triumph of time and truth"), with the text "Lascia la spina" (Hill).<br />
<br />
Handel finally found the perfect fit for this music--if enduring popularity is any measure of its success--as "Lascia ch'io pianga" in the opera <i>Rinaldo</i> of 1711. But after looking through the score of <i>Semele</i>, the only trace of this melody I can find is a faint similarity to the opening phrase of the air "Your tuneful voice my tale would tell," Act I, Scene 2, no. 18. Even there, the minor key context obscures the resemblance. It seems clear that the source of our hymnlet under consideration is the well-known "Lascia ch'io pianga" from <i>Rinaldo</i>, and that the attribution to <i>Semele</i> is a simple error that has been frequently repeated.<br />
<br />
The dance origins of this melody may seem obscure to us today, but original audiences would have recognized it immediately as a <i>sarabande</i>, a slow and sedate dance in triple time with a trademark emphasis on the second beat. Long after it was out of fashion for actual dancing, the <i>sarabande</i> style continued as a purely instrumental genre for listening, as seen in the keyboard works of Handel and J.S. Bach, and in the revival of this style by 20th-century composers such as Ravel and Debussy.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<i>References:</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Campbell, Alexander. <i>The Christian System</i>. Nashville, Tenn.: Gospel Advocate, 1956.<br />
<i><br /></i>
Hill, John Walter. “Handel's retexting as a test of his conception of music and text relationship,” <i>Göttinger Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft</i>, III, <i>Gedenkschrift für Jens Peter Larsen</i> (1989); quoted in Gregory Barnett, "Handel's borrowings and the disputed 'Gloria'." <i>Early Music</i>, vol. 34, no. 1 (Feb. 2006), p. 91 n. 17.<br />
<div>
<br />
McCann, Forrest. <i>Hymns & History: An Annotated Survey of Sources</i>. Abilene, Tex.: ACU Press, 1997.<br />
<br />
Nisbet, Robert. <i>The Songs of the Temple Pilgrims</i>. London: Nisbet & Co., 1863.<br />
<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=QgY-AAAAcAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=QgY-AAAAcAAJ</a></div>
<i><br /></i>
Walker, Wayne S. "Father of Mercy (1)." <i>Hymn of the Day</i>. 2005.<br />
<a href="https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/hymnoftheday/conversations/topics/42?var=1">https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/hymnoftheday/conversations/topics/42?var=1</a></div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-60397359497521055842014-03-15T17:45:00.000-05:002014-03-23T19:18:34.008-05:00Father of Mercies, Day by Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #141<br />
<br />
Words: Frederick W. Faber, 1849 (st. 1, alt.); Alice Flowerdew, 1803 (st. 2, alt.); Gilbert Rorison, 1851 (st. 3, alt.)<br />
Music: E<span style="font-size: x-small;">LEOS</span>, English folk melody<br />
<br />
The lovely little hymn "Father of mercies, day by day" has a very unusual history, and seems to be little known outside of the Churches of Christ. (<a href="http://greatsongschapel.org/?page_id=1810">Click here to listen to a recording</a> made in Great Songs Chapel at Oklahoma Christian University.) It appears in just a handful of hymnals indexed at <i>Hymnary.org</i>, most notably <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>, which is probably the source from which it was picked up by other hymnals. It is actually a patchwork of stanzas from two hymns by different authors, the first of which is radically altered from its original intent, and the second of which was altered and added to by a third author even before this adaptation. The first stanza was originally thus:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Mother of mercy, day by day<br />
My love of thee grows more and more;<br />
Thy gifts are strewn upon my way<br />
Like sands upon the great seashore.</i></blockquote>
When we consider that it was written by Frederick Faber, the great Anglo-Catholic hymnwriter, it is hardly surprising. The stanzas that follow in <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/SSHB1907/45">Faber's original hymn</a> are an apologia for devotion to Mary, which remained a sticking-point within the Oxford Movement. Some enterprising individual, however, turned this first stanza to a hymn of praise to the Father with the stroke of a pen. The plural "mercies" instead of "mercy" may have been suggested by the large number of other hymns that begin with the line "Father of Mercies!" And though the balance of the hymn before us is from another work, written a generation earlier, the sweet, childlike faith so typical of Faber is the perfect way to start off this hymn.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Advertisement from Flowerdew's<br />
<a href="https://archive.org/stream/poemsonmoralreli00flowiala#page/n6/mode/1up">Poems on Moral and Religious Subjects</a>, 1803</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The remaining stanzas of this pastiche are based on Alice Flowerdew's popular hymn, "Fountain of mercy, God of love". According to <i>Julian's Dictionary</i> Alice Flowerdew was born in 1759 (Stevenson). She may have been the former <a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NFZM-W4K">Alice Ludlow</a> of Norfolk, who married Daniel Flowerdew, a widower, on 22 May 1785. Daniel Flowerdew served as a customs officer in Jamaica for a few years (<a href="http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/1790al05.htm">"1790 Almanac"</a>), where at least one child, <a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VH6D-QRP">Elizabeth</a>, was born to the couple. Josiah Miller, writing in 1869 with information from a living descendant, says that the Flowerdews returned to England prior to Daniel's death in 1801, and that Alice kept a ladies' boarding school in Islington (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=p-c-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA327#v=onepage&q&f=false">Miller, 327</a>).<br />
<br />
The reality of the situation appears to be a little more complicated. Later authors have tended to assume that Mrs. Flowerdew faced financial difficulties after the death of her husband, but the unnamed editor of <i>Fireside Poetry</i>, a late 19th-century American anthology, was closer to the truth of the situation: "After [Daniel Flowerdew's] return to England he was in such poor circumstances that Mrs. Flowerdew was obliged to keep a school at Islington" (<i>Fireside Poetry</i>, <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433076036916;view=1up;seq=721">vol. 2, p. 121</a>).<br />
<br />
The <i>European Magazine and London Review</i> fills in a missing critical detail, with a report in its obituary column for March-April, 1801: "Lately, in the Rules of the Fleet Prison, Daniel Flowerdew, esq." (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=qV83AAAAMAAJ&lpg=PT136&ots=ngJUxpCmuT&dq=%22daniel%20flowerdew%22%20jamaica&pg=PT136#v=onepage&q=flowerdew&f=false">vol. 39, p. 319</a>). Readers of Dickens will recognize the Fleet Prison as the debtors' jail where Mr. Pickwick found himself confined. The "rule" of the Fleet Prison was an area just outside the walls where favored prisoners were allowed to rent lodgings, provided they could post bond, pay a regular percentage against their debts, and pay a daily fee to the jailers (<a href="https://www.blogger.com/'The%20Fleet%20Prison',%20Old%20and%20New%20London:%20Volume%202%20(1878),%20pp.%20404-416.%20URL:%20http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45111">Thornbury</a>). Alice Flowerdew's ladies' school in Islington, three miles away, was a means of supporting the family and keeping her husband from the indignity of remaining inside the prison itself. Health conditions at the Fleet Prison and its environs were notoriously poor, of course, and may have hastened his death. Alice Flowerdew's statement in the <a href="https://archive.org/stream/poemsonmoralreli00flowiala#page/n8/mode/1up">preface to her 1803 poetry collection</a> takes on an added poignancy in light of these facts:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Poems which are now presented to the Public Eye, were written at different Periods of Life: some indeed at a very early Age, and others under the severe Pressure of Misfortune, when my Pen has frequently given that Relief which could not be derived from other Employments.</blockquote>
Flowerdew's original hymn was in <a href="https://archive.org/stream/hymnalcompanion00bickgoog#page/n78/mode/1up">six stanzas</a>, but was soon redacted "at sundry times and in divers manners" by many different hymnal editors. It first appeared in the 1819 edition of Thomas Cotterill's landmark series <i>A Selection of Psalms and Hymns</i>, with just five stanzas. Several of its later adaptations changed the first line to "Father of mercy, God of love", and one of these versions in particular caught on after being adopted in the influential <i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/modeance00chur#page/n312/mode/1up">Hymns Ancient & Modern</a></i>. It is from the 1st and 5th stanzas of this altered version of the text that the second and third stanzas of our "Father of Mercies" were drawn--and in yet another twist, the 5th stanza was actually a wholesale addition to Flowerdew's hymn by another writer.<br />
<br />
The earliest instance of this "Father of mercy" version appears to be in <i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/hymnsandanthems00hymngoog#page/n142/mode/1up">Hymns and Anthems: Adjusted to the Church Services throughout the Christian Year</a></i>, published in London in 1851, and edited by Gilbert Rorison (1821-1869), a Scottish curate at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Peterhead (Julian, "Rorison"). Rorison's note on "Father of Mercies" in the <a href="https://archive.org/stream/hymnsandanthems00hymngoog#page/n246/mode/2up">index of first lines</a> indicates that he both "altered considerably" and "added considerably;" and since the 5th stanza of his adaptation does not bear any discernible relation to Flowerdew's original, I believe he must be given credit for writing what we have as the closing stanza of the modern "Father of Mercies" hymn.<br />
<br />
Exactly who combined and arranged these different texts into the form used by many Churches of Christ is not certain, but I agree with Wayne S. Walker that it is most likely the work of Elmer Jorgenson, editor of <i>Great Songs of the Church</i> (<a href="https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/hymnoftheday/conversations/topics/463">Walker</a>). The "old blue book" is the only common thread I can find, from the citations in <i>Hymnary.org</i> to the scant appearances of this hymn on the Internet, and Jorgenson is known to have translated and adapted texts as well as arranging and adapting music. As he was gathering materials for his hymnal, Jorgenson must have hit upon the idea of changing Faber's opening stanza to "Father of mercies"; but, considering the subject of the rest of that hymn, he needed material from elsewhere to provide the rest of the stanzas. The Rorison version of Flowerdew's hymn (perhaps acquired from <i>Hymns Ancient & Modern</i>) begins almost identically, with "Father of mercy"; and with a slight rewriting of the opening of the 5th stanza, Jorgenson had a nice little hymn in three stanzas, each beginning with the same phrase.<br />
<br />
There was one problem, however, that required a novel solution: Faber's hymn is in Long Meter (each stanza has 4 lines of 8 syllables each), but Flowerdew's hymn is Common Meter (8 syllables, 6 syllables, 8 syllables, 6 syllables). To make them fit, Jorgenson (presumably) stretched out the 2nd and 4th lines of the two stanzas taken from Flowerdew's hymn, as indicated below in italics:<br />
<table align="center" border="0" style="width: 100%;"><tbody>
<tr> <td width="48%"><b><br />
</b> <b>Original:</b><br />
<br />
Father of mercies, God of love,<br />
Whose gifts all creatures share,<br />
Thy rolling seasons as they move<br />
Proclaim Thy constant care.<br />
<br />
Oh, ne'er may our forgetful hearts<br />
O'erlook Thy bounteous care;<br />
But what our Father's hand imparts<br />
Still own in praise and prayer.<br />
<br /></td><td></td><td width="52%"><br />
<b>Altered:</b><br />
<br />
Father of mercies, God of love,<br />
Whose <i>gentle </i>gifts all creatures share,<br />
Thy rolling seasons as they move<br />
Proclaim <i>to all </i>Thy constant care.<br />
<br />
<i>Father of mercies, may our hearts</i><br />
<i>Ne'er overlook</i> Thy bounteous care;<br />
But what our Father's hand imparts<br />
Still own in <i>grateful </i>praise and prayer.<br />
<br /></td><td></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If someone told me that they intended to combine hymn stanzas from three different writers and in two different meters, I would suggest they look for some easier outlet for their creative tendencies. But the alterations to the words of the Flowerdew hymn fit so beautifully, they might have been written that way originally. The addition of the words "gentle" and "grateful" fit the sentiment of this hymn perfectly, and tie these stanzas nicely into Faber's style in the 1st stanza.<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Father of Mercies, day by day</i><br />
<i>My love to Thee grows more and more;</i><br />
<i>Thy gifts are strewn upon my way</i><br />
<i>Like sands upon the great seashore.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> Though "Father of Mercies" was not the original wording of this stanza, it is an eminently appropriate expression, corresponding to Paul's language to the church at Corinth: "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). The language "Father of Mercies" recalls the Eastern habit of labeling a man the "father of" something, to indicate the prominence of that characteristic in the person. Jesus called Satan the "father of lies," not only as one who promotes lying, but one who lies "out of his own character" (John 8:44). God is elsewhere called "Father of Lights" (James 1:17), and "Father of Glory" (Ephesians 1:17); together with "Father of Mercies", we have a striking picture of the character of God.<br />
<br />
The "mercies" spoken of in 2 Corinthians 1:3 are the Greek οἰκτιρμός (<i>oiktirmos</i>), a somewhat stronger word than the more common ἔλεος (<i>eleos</i>). It is the word used in the odd but literal expression "bowels of mercies" used by the King James Version in Colossians 3:12 (cf. Philippians 2:1). To put it in more understandable (if somewhat uncouth) modern terms, it is a compassion so strong you "feel it in your gut" (<a href="http://www.studylight.org/dic/ved/view.cgi?n=1801">Vine</a>). We see a shadow of that kind of compassion in the devotion of parents to children, where the needs of a child can evoke nearly superhuman patience and endurance. This is a defining characteristic of God's nature as revealed in the Psalms, where the Hebrew equivalent (as seen in the usage of οἰκτιρμός in the Septuagint) occurs several times: "But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Psalm 86:15, cf. 103:8, 145:8, also Joel 2:13). In these passages His mercies are seen specifically in two areas: His "steadfast love" (the beautiful Hebrew word <span style="font-family: blbHebrew;"><span style="font-size: 20;">חֶסֶד</span></span>, <i>chesed</i>), is what causes Him gives us so much that we do not deserve; His "slowness to anger" is what spares us from so much that we do!<br />
<br />
The abundance of God's blessings is expressed here in a familiar Scriptural hypebole: "<i>Like sands upon the great seashore</i>." God's promises to Abraham included this expression: "I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore" (Gen 22:17). In Genesis 41:49 this simile describes the abundance of grain stored up in Egypt under the wise leadership of Joseph (and the blessing of God!). Psalm 78 uses this phrase in an extensive description of God's care for Israel in the wilderness:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He commanded the skies above<br />
And opened the doors of heaven,<br />
And He rained down on them manna to eat<br />
And gave them the grain of heaven.<br />
Man ate of the bread of the angels;<br />
He sent them food in abundance.<br />
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,<br />
And by His power He led out the south wind;<br />
He rained meat on them like dust,<br />
Winged birds like the sand of the seas;<br />
He let them fall in the midst of their camp,<br />
All around their dwellings.<br />
And they ate and were well filled,<br />
For He gave them what they craved.<br />
(Psa 78:23-29)</blockquote>
It is difficult even to begin to count our blessings, but always worthwhile. Today was a fairly ordinary week-day for me, but nonetheless filled with more blessings than I can name. To start with:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>I woke up.</li>
<li>I was under a roof.</li>
<li>I was in peace and safety.</li>
<li>I had a reasonably good night of sleep.</li>
<li>I was able to get out of bed.</li>
<li>I had breakfast with hot coffee.</li>
<li>I had a hot shower.</li>
<li>I had clean clothes to wear.</li>
<li>I had some left-over pizza to take for lunch.</li>
<li>I had a job to go to.</li>
<li>The car started.</li>
</ul>
<div>
This list could be much longer, and that is before I even left my house. I do these things every day, but how often do I think of what blessings they are? Many people do not have a safe shelter, and live in fear of harm every day. Many people do not have sufficient health to sleep soundly, or even to get out of bed in the morning. Many people do not have jobs, or do not make enough money to live on. Too many people do not even have clean water to drink, much less hot water for bathing. Too many people do not have enough food or clothing.</div>
<br />
These facts should make us think first, of course, about the need for those of us who are so richly blessed, to do what we can to improve the lot of the ones in need; as John says, "If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 John 3:17). Hard on the heels of that thought, however, should be an examination of the claim we make when we sing this hymn: "<i>Day by day, / My love to Thee grows more and more</i>." God blesses us day by day; and though our appreciation and love for Him cannot even begin to approach the magnitude of what He does for us, even in the mundane realm of daily blessings, can we at least say that we are growing in our love for Him? "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>Father of Mercies, God of love,</i><br />
<i>Whose gentle gifts all creatures share,</i><br />
<i>The rolling seasons as they move</i><br />
<i>Proclaim to all Thy constant care.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> I am happy to be writing on this stanza close to the beginning of spring in North Texas, when we are given a few weeks or at least days of respite between the freezing cold and the blistering heat. There is a hopeful feeling in the air, and though the mockingbird has not yet returned to take over as our local entertainer, this morning I heard the homely call of a red-winged blackbird who seemed optimistic that we have seen the last of our cold weather. (I have a longer memory than that bird, and have not yet put away my winter coat.)<br />
<br />
"<i>The rolling seasons as they move</i>" make for variety in life, but we know they are much more; if our planet did not tilt in just such a way to make these changes, not only would the habitable part of the earth be much more limited, but the entire cyclic nature of weather would not exist. There are forms of life that can survive in such a world, certainly, but not the intricate web of plant and animal species that we see in our world as it is. Interestingly, from the earliest verses of Genesis chapter 1 we see the provision for variation in the world God created; beginning with a world "formless and void" (v. 2), He created light, separated it from darkness, and imposed "evening and morning, the first day" (v. 4-5). From the "face of the deep" (v. 1) He separated land and sea (v. 9-10); and how little did we suspect, until the explorations and scientific studies of more recent times, the complicated and necessary relationship between these two domains! Finally, verse 14 tells us that God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years."<br />
<br />
In Psalm 65, David, who as a young shepherd had ample time to admire the handiwork of the Great Architect, extols the wonderful blessings of God through the natural world:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You make the going out of the morning<br />
and the evening to shout for joy.<br />
You visit the earth and water it;<br />
You greatly enrich it;<br />
The river of God is full of water;<br />
You provide their grain,<br />
For so You have prepared it.<br />
You water its furrows abundantly,<br />
Settling its ridges,<br />
Softening it with showers,<br />
And blessing its growth.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You crown the year with Your bounty;<br />
Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.<br />
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,<br />
The hills gird themselves with joy,<br />
The meadows clothe themselves with flocks,<br />
The valleys deck themselves with grain,<br />
They shout and sing together for joy.<br />
(Psa 65:8b-13)</blockquote>
Though in more recent centuries science has begun to explain the ways in which seasons, days, and years govern the processes of this world, it should only add to our wonder at things "too wonderful for us, which we did not know" (Job 42:3).<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But to what end should that wonder lead us? In the ages after the Fall, humanity strayed far from the knowledge of God and invented deities to account for these things--but deities they were, nonetheless, at least in our imaginations. Only in more recent times has learning advanced to the point that intelligent, well-educated people will argue that everything comes from nothing. The vaguest notion of a sun-god or sky-spirit held by our pagan ancestors was more reasonable and convincing than such a conceit! They understood at least that Something, or Someone, "<i>Proclaims to all His constant care</i>" through the provisions of nature. Psalm 19 reminds us,</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The heavens declare the glory of God;<br />
And the firmament shows His handiwork.<br />
Day unto day utters speech,<br />
And night unto night reveals knowledge.<br />
There is no speech nor language<br />
Where their voice is not heard.<br />
Their line has gone out through all the earth,<br />
And their words to the end of the world.<br />
(Psalm 19:1-4)</blockquote>
<div>
The power of God is obvious through His creation; but Mrs. Flowerdew's hymn also emphasizes the goodness of God demonstrated in the same. The remaining stanzas of the her hymn (remember that the concluding 3rd stanza of the version at hand was actually by another writer) consider in more detail the blessings of God's provision through the natural world. They are well worth reading:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>When in the bosom of the earth<br />
The sower hid the grain,<br />
Thy goodness marked its secret birth,<br />
And sent the early rain.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The spring's sweet influence was Thine,<br />
The plants in beauty grew;<br />
Thou gav'st refulgent suns to shine,<br />
And mild refreshing dew.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>These various mercies from above<br />
Matured the swelling grain;<br />
A yellow harvest crowns Thy love,<br />
And plenty fills the plain.</i></blockquote>
Particularly noteworthy is the following pithy reference to God's promise to Noah after the flood, "While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Seed-time and harvest, Lord, alone<br />
Thou dost on man bestow;<br />
Let him not then forget to own<br />
From whom his blessings flow.</i></blockquote>
In the revised form of the original 1st stanza, these ideas are summarized more generally: His "<i>gentle gifts</i>" and "<i>constant care</i>" are given to all creatures. When we think of God's care for the rest of His creatures, we naturally turn to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them" (Matthew 6:26a). Of course, the food does not just appear in front of them; they spend most of their day searching, scratching, and pecking, in order to get it. But instead of worrying about tomorrow, they get to work each morning making the most of what God has given for today.<br />
<br />
The point of Jesus' words, of course, is this comparison: "Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26b). God provides daily for humanity, even though most of us remain in rebellion against Him. "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). "Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17). The birds set us a fine example in their work ethic; but notice as well that in the hour before sunrise they take time to lift their voices in song before their busy day begins. It is a sentimental notion, but I cannot help thinking that they give us an example there as well. I believe Alice Flowerdew thought the same; though most hymnals that utilized Flowerdew's hymn in its original form ended after the stanzas given above, her original concluded with this additional thought:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Fountain of Love, our praise is Thine;<br />
To Thee our songs we'll raise,<br />
And all created nature join<br />
In sweet harmonious praise.</i></blockquote>
No doubt the simple joys of nature were a blessing to this woman who dealt with such hardship and disappointment in life. And though her contributions to this hymn as we have it in our particular version are somewhat truncated, her spirit of humble and faithful gratitude permeates it nonetheless.<br />
<br /></div>
<i>Stanza 3:</i><br />
<i>Father of Mercies, may our hearts</i><br />
<i>Ne'er overlook Thy bounteous care;</i><br />
<i>But what our Father's hand imparts</i><br />
<i>Still own in grateful praise and prayer.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> In the closing stanza added to his version of Flowerdew's hymn, Gilbert Rorison summarized some of the themes of the omitted stanzas. His lyric originally read, "<i>O ne'er may our forgetful hearts / O'erlook Thy bounteous care</i>," emphasizing the human tendency to forget the true source of our blessings, and to take them for granted. In my country, unless we are directly involved in food production, we tend to act as though food simply appears automatically on the shelves at a local grocery. But farmers know the truth--there are many steps along the way, any one of which could fail, but usually doesn't. Farmers live all year on faith (and credit), and can take nothing for granted until the crops are harvested and sold. We all need to keep such a close eye on our blessings, and realize our dependency on God's providence.<br />
<br />
Instead of neglecting our blessings, this hymn adjured us to "<i>own</i>" them "<i>in grateful praise and prayer.</i>" And as in all other things, Jesus set us the example, when "He took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks He broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds" (Matthew 15:36). God created food "to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth" (1 Timothy 4:3), and offering thanks before meals is an excellent custom that is worth continuing.<br />
<br />
No matter what "<i>our Father's hand imparts</i>" in this life, of course, it will be mixed with the sin and sadness of a fallen world. But if we will only stop to look at the good things He has provided, we cannot fail to see that His blessings far outweigh our sorrows. There is a lesson for us to learn from a passage in the Book of Lamentations, which is familiar to many of us as a praise song. Its placement in the book is key: it begins the middle third of the middle chapter. In the very midst of an entire book of Scripture devoted to lamentation, we are struck by this sudden burst of praise:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The steadfast love of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> never ceases;<br />
His mercies never come to an end;<br />
They are new every morning;<br />
Great is Your faithfulness.<br />
"The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> is my portion," says my soul,<br />
"Therefore I will hope in Him."<br />
(Lam 3:22-24)</blockquote>
Even in the darkest of times, God's mercies are with us; let us learn to look for them and focus on the good He does for us every day!<br />
<br />
<i>About the music:</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> The tune identified here as E<span style="font-size: x-small;">LEOS</span> (Greek for "mercy") is called an "English folk melody" by the editors of <i>Praise for the Lord</i>; Jorgenson's <i>Great Songs of the Church</i> identified it simply as a "traditional melody." Searches of melody databases have yielded no further information, except to point out the obvious similarity to the opening phrase of the classic English drawing-room song, "Drink to me only with thine eyes"; the pitches and rhythms are identical for the first six notes. Additionally, the distinctive harmony of the opening two measures of "Father of Mercies"--the bass holding the tonic while the melody and other parts ascend, creating a minor 7th chord--is also found in the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=PdIxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA108">earliest part-song arrangement</a> of "Drink to me only with thine eyes".<br />
<br />
Adaptation of a popular song into a hymn is not uncommon; the venerable tune to which we sing "O Sacred Head, now wounded" was originally a love song written by Hans Hassler (ironically, it was re-secularized in Simon & Garfunkel's "American Tune"). "Drink to me only with thine eyes" was included in early 19th-century editions of Rippon's <i>Selection of Psalm & Hymn Tunes</i> as the tune P<span style="font-size: x-small;">ROSPECT</span>, paired with Watts's text "There is a land of pure delight" (Mansfield, 42). The popularity of this melody as a hymn tunes is confirmed by an anonymous editorial in London's <i>Musical World</i>, 1 May 1845, titled "Church Music and Congregational Singing":<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What the Church wants is the calling forth of the voice of praise from her lay members. For this end there are no better means than good metrical versions of the Psalms and other portions of Scripture, set to tunes of an impressive character; not the trash which we too often find in favour in our churches, such as Wesley's and Watts's hymns sung to "Rousseau's Dream," and piracies upon "Drink to me only with thine eyes," and other profane airs, which, though pleasing in the concert-room, are out of place in ecclesiastical edifices.</blockquote>
I do not wish to make too much of slim evidence, but a "piracy on 'Drink to me only with thine eyes'" might be just how our hymn tune E<span style="font-size: x-small;">LEOS </span>began. "Drink to me only with thine eyes" was adapted by Rippon as a doubled Common Meter tune (Mansfield, 42), and would fit easily with Flowerdew's original "Father of mercies" hymn. Perhaps Jorgensen adapted the melody as well when he altered the hymn to Long Meter.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<i>References:</i><br />
<br />
"1790 Jamaica Almanac." <i>Jamaican Family Search</i>. <a href="http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/1790al05.htm">http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/1790al05.htm</a><br />
<br />
"Alice Ludlow." <i>England, Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941</i>. Familysearch.org.<br />
<a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NFZM-W4K">https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/NFZM-W4K</a><br />
<br />
Chappell, William. <i>A Collection of National English Airs</i>. London: Chappell, 1840. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=nxI2AQAAMAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=nxI2AQAAMAAJ</a><br />
<br />
"Church music and congregational singing." <i>Musical World</i> 20:17-18 (1 May 1845), p. 204-205.<br />
<br />
"Elizabeth Flowerdew." <i>Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1880</i>. Familysearch.org. <a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VH6D-QRP">https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VH6D-QRP</a><br />
<br />
<i>Fireside Poetry</i>. New York: American News Co., 1880s? <a href="http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001907787">http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001907787</a><br />
<br />
Flowerdew, Alice. <i>Poems on Moral and Religious Subjects</i>. London: Stower, 1803.<br />
<a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7024621M/Poems_on_moral_and_religious_subfects.">https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7024621M/Poems_on_moral_and_religious_subfects.</a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">N.B. This is the first edition, and does not include "Father of mercy". I have not found an online copy of the 1811 edition in which this hymn first appeared.</span><br />
<br />
"Fountain of Mercy." <i>Hymnary.org</i>. <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/text/fountain_of_mercy_god_of_love">http://www.hymnary.org/text/fountain_of_mercy_god_of_love</a><br />
<br />
<i>Hymns and Anthems: Adjusted to the Church Services throughout the Christian Year</i>. London: Hope & Co., 1851. <a href="https://archive.org/details/hymnsandanthems00hymngoog">https://archive.org/details/hymnsandanthems00hymngoog</a><br />
<br />
Julian, John. "Fountain of mercy, God of love." <i>Dictionary of Hymnology</i>, ed. John Julian, (2nd ed. rev, 1907), 2 vols. New York: Dover, 1957.<br />
<br />
Julian, John. "Rorison, Gilbert." <i>Dictionary of Hymnology</i>, ed. John Julian, (2nd ed. rev, 1907), 2 vols. New York: Dover, 1957.<br />
<div>
<br />
Mansfield, Orlando. "Rippon's tunes." <i>The Baptist Quarterly</i> 8:1 (January 1936), p. 36-43.<br />
<a href="http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bq/08-1_036.pdf">http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bq/08-1_036.pdf</a><br />
<br /></div>
"Merciful, Mercy." <i>Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.</i> Studylight.org. <a href="http://www.studylight.org/dic/ved/view.cgi?n=1801">http://www.studylight.org/dic/ved/view.cgi?n=1801</a><br />
<br />
Miller, Josiah. <i>Singers and Songs of the Church</i>, 2nd edition. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1869. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=p-c-AAAAYAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=p-c-AAAAYAAJ</a><br />
<br />
"Monthly obituary." <i>European Magazine and London Review</i>, vol. 39 (1801), April, p. 318-319. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=qV83AAAAMAAJ&pg=PT135#v=onepage&q&f=false">http://books.google.com/books?id=qV83AAAAMAAJ&pg=PT135#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
<br />
Stevenson, W. R. "Flowerdew, Alice." <i>Dictionary of Hymnology</i>, ed. John Julian, (2nd ed. rev, 1907), 2 vols. New York: Dover, 1957.<br />
<br />
Thornbury, Walter. "Fleet Prison." <i>Old and New London</i>, vol. 2 (1878), pp. 404-416.<br />
<a href="http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45111">http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45111</a><br />
<br />
Walker, Wayne S. "Father of Mercies." <i>Hymn of the Day</i>. <a href="https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/hymnoftheday/conversations/topics/463">https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/hymnoftheday/conversations/topics/463</a></div>
David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-68505093685545887402014-02-28T19:56:00.000-06:002014-02-28T19:56:23.657-06:00The Fruit of Our Lips: A Cappella Praise through the Centuries (Part 6)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The final installment of this <a href="http://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2012/04/fruit-of-our-lips-cappella-praise.html">overview</a> will focus on the history of a cappella worship in the United States. The very nature of Americans and religion--our strong tradition of religious liberty, from a legal standpoint, and the wide dispersal of independent communities--makes it nearly impossible to summarize the subject. I hope, however, to provide an introduction to a few of the major threads in this story, by following the history of a cappella singing in some of the major religious bodies, and by featuring those groups from within each that remain a cappella today.<br />
<b><br />
</b> <b>A Cappella Singing of the Anabaptist Churches</b><br />
<div>
<b><br />
</b> The <a href="http://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-fruit-of-our-lips-cappella-praise.html">third post in this series</a> introduces the interesting origins of the Anabaptist movement and its a cappella singing, which I will not repeat here. The best known Anabaptist groups in the United States, of course, are the "plain people", such as the Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites. Not surprisingly, all but a small minority of reform groups have retained the a cappella singing of their ancestors.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Old Order Amish</i></b><br />
<br />
The Old Order Amish still sing from the <i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/ausbunddasistetl00imbr#page/n3/mode/2up">Ausbund</a></i>, a German Anabaptist hymnal first published in 1564, supplemented by a few other later collections. The video below, repeated from the previous blog post, is a recording of the "Loblied" or "Praise Song" which is traditionally the second hymn in the service. This recording is audio only, out of respect for the Amish aversion to creating images. At the beginning of each line you will hear the leader "lining out" the opening phrase before the congregation begins, a practice common to many older a cappella traditions.<br />
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<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=VKZXSla-jKoC&ots=D4brlfn_hG&dq=ausbund&pg=PA770#v=onepage&q=ausbund&f=false">German lyrics from the <i>Ausbund</i></a></div>
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(recording begins with 2nd stanza)</div>
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<a href="http://amishamerica.com/ausbund/">English translation</a></div>
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<b><i>Mennonites</i></b><br />
<b><i><br />
</i></b> The Mennonite fellowships, being larger and more diverse, exhibit variety in worship practices just as they do in the manner of the observance of "plain living." Originally, however, they were strictly a cappella; the first pipe organ was not installed in a Mennonite church building in the U.S. until 1874. By 1890 the General Conference Mennonite Church allowed instruments, but the more conservative Mennonite Church opposed their use down to the 1950s. These two denominations merged in 2012 to form the Mennonite Church (USA), the largest denomination of Mennonites. Another Mennonite denomination, the Brethren in Christ, also refrained from instrumental music in worship until the 1950s (Krahn).<br />
<b><i><br />
</i></b> Many Mennonite congregations, however, remain a cappella. Not surprisingly, of course, the Old Order Mennonites ("horse and buggy Mennonites") continue to sing as they always had. The same stand has been maintained, however, by groups toward the middle of the Mennonite spectrum. As the larger conferences moved in the direction of using instruments (among other changes), these conservative-to-moderate Mennonites coalesced into what is loosely called "Conservative Mennonites" (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Mennonites">Wikipedia</a>).<br />
<br />
As might be expected, there is a diversity of repertoires and styles among the Mennonites, from the German hymns of the Old Order to contemporary praise choruses among the more modern conservatives. The video below presents an hour's worth of singing from the Sequoia Bible Fellowship in Squaw Valley, California, a conservative Mennonite congregation. (N.B. This is was a special singing night, so there were visitors present who did not adhere to the usual conservative Mennonite practice of head coverings for women.) The first song, "Behold the glories of the Lamb" (<a href="http://harmoniasacra.org/90t.html">S<span style="font-size: x-small;">T</span>. M<span style="font-size: x-small;">ARTIN</span></a>), goes back to the <i><a href="http://harmoniasacra.org/">Harmonia Sacra</a></i>, a Mennonite hymnal first published in Philadelphia in 1832. The style is very similar to that of <i>Sacred Harp</i> singing and other older shape-note traditions.<br />
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Later in the video one may hear more recent Southern gospel songs, such as "Higher ground", that are also common in the traditional repertoire of the Churches of Christ. </div>
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<b>A Cappella Singing in Methodist Churches</b></div>
<div>
<br />
Though Methodists are not usually thought of as an a cappella tradition, some were at one time opposed to the use of instrumental music in worship. At the 1846 conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and again in 1874, the formal Pastoral Address expressed disapproval of instruments in worship, though no formal action was taken (Westerfield Tucker, 167ff.). It is not surprising that it was the Southern branch of Methodism that was the last to adopt the use of instruments; Southerners of every religious stripe seem to have been more conservative in theology and practice than their Northern counterparts, perhaps reflecting the natural tendencies of a predominantly rural society with few major urban centers. This scenario played out among many religious groups, including, in its own way, the Restoration Movement.<br />
<br />
Two groups that refused to follow the Methodist Episcopal mainstream during this time, the Free Methodist Church and the Wesleyan Methodist Church (later just the Wesleyan Church), continued in a cappella singing for several more decades. The Free Methodist Church was organized at a meeting in 1860 on the basis of "primitive Methodism," part of which was stated to be "congregational singing, without instrumental music in all cases" (<a href="http://fmcusa.org/historical/2012/08/23/happy-152nd-birthday-free-methodist-church/">Fortner</a>). Half a century later, the <i>Doctrines and Discipline of the Free Methodist Church</i> still contained the frank statement, "In no case let there be instrumental music or choir singing in our public worship" (<i>D&D 1915</i>, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/doctrinesanddisc00unknuoft#page/42/mode/1up">p. 42</a>). This remained the position of the group until 1943, when the General Conference voted to allow local congregations to decide whether or not to introduce instruments (<i>Daily Times</i> (Beaver & Rochester, NY) <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1996&dat=19430619&id=baAiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bK8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2624,7104324">19 June, p. 2</a>).<br />
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The Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America, later just the Wesleyan Church, had a less united stance on this and many other issues. The <i>Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America </i>contained until 1896 this somewhat equivocal statement: "We recommend the churches to dispense with instrumental music." (<i>Discipline 1896</i>, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ldHhAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA115#v=onepage&q&f=false">p. 115</a>) It was omitted, however, from 1911 onward (<i>Discipline 1911</i>, <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015071469475?urlappend=%3Bseq=207">p. 205</a>). Many of the Holiness groups related to this tradition adopted instruments over the years, though others remain a cappella. One example of the latter is Christ's Sanctified Holy Church, which was organized in 1892 on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, and has spread through the southeastern U.S. as far as Mississippi (<a href="http://www.cshc.org/page/about_us_27572">"About us"</a>). The following video is from a singing in Leesburg, Georgia.
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<b> </b> The Pentecostal movement, rooted in Wesleyan Methodism, began with a surprisingly strong a cappella worship tradition. For at least the first decade after its beginning in 1906, the famous revival at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles did not have instrumental music (<a href="http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200602/200602_026_Azusa.cfm">Robeck</a>).<br />
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<b>A Cappella Singing in Baptist Churches</b><br />
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<b> </b> According to David W. Music and Paul A. Richardson, Baptists in the United States were opposed to instrumental music in worship well until the 19th century. Even then, "it is safe to say that few congregations introduced instruments without stirring controversy" (102). Baptists in the South, ancestors of the largest Protestant body in the U.S. today, were still in opposition in large numbers at mid-century. Music & Richardson cite the sentiments of Jeremiah B. Jeter of the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia, who wrote in 1840:
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I am not favorable to the use of instrumental music in the worship of God. It is warranted neither by precept, nor example, under the new dispensation. . . . On this there is but little difference of opinion among the Baptists of Virginia" (103)</blockquote>
Music & Richardson offer some instructive insights into the shift in Baptist thinking. Foremost was a change in thinking about how Scripture guides what is done in worship. Earlier generations had followed the "regulative principle", that is, they believed that Scripture regulates what is done in worship. But later generations adopted the "normative principle", assuming that anything not prohibited by Scripture is lawful. The authors also note that this change coincided with a rise in affluence and education, as well as an increasing desire to make the Baptist faith more attractive to a wider segment of the population (109ff.). Readers of Earl West's <i>Search for the Ancient Order</i> will recognize an almost identical transformation within the Restoration Movement, only a few decades later. But as can be seen with other major religious groups, there are still remaining branches of the Baptists practicing the a cappella singing that was once universal.<br />
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<b><i>Old Regular Baptists</i></b><br />
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Found primarily in the Appalachians along the borders of Kentucky and the Virginias, the "Old Regular" Baptists trace their heritage to the New Salem Association founded in 1825. Though their principal distinction is their stance on the relationship between grace and free will, they have also traditionally been among the most resistant to changes in congregational organization and worship, and continue many practices dating from the 18th century (Grammich & Young). In addition to continuing the a cappella practice, they have retained the "lining out" procedure of singing in which the leader chants the words of each line quickly, then leads the congregation through the line following the tune, usually in a very slow, almost arhythmic fashion. This is a tradition dating back to very early Protestant congregational singing, allowing one person with a hymnal (or just a good memory) to lead a congregation that may not have had hymnals, or the literacy to use them.
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<b><i>Primitive Baptists</i></b><br />
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<b> </b> Primitive Baptists began to be recognized as a distinct group during the 1820s as they rejected the introduction of the missionary societies, seminaries, and Sunday School organizations that were later accepted by the majority of Baptists. They were also known for being the strictest Baptist adherents to the doctrine of predestination, thus receiving the (not always kindly) nickname of "Hard-shell" Baptists. The moniker "Primitive" or "Old-School" is more generally accepted, reflecting the view that they have simply remained in the faith of their fathers while others have moved in more liberal directions (Young). A cappella singing in worship is one of the distinct practices strongly maintained and defended by mainstream Primitive Baptists. The article <a href="http://primitivebaptist.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1392&Itemid=36">"Instrumental music in the church"</a> by Elder Bill Walden, which is linked on several Primitive Baptist websites, presents a rather familiar approach to the topic!<br />
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Primitive Baptist hymnals include the <i>Old School Hymnal</i> and <i>Old Baptist Hymns</i>, <b> </b> The video below is a group of Primitive Baptists singing S<span style="font-size: x-small;">OAR</span> A<span style="font-size: x-small;">WAY</span>, a hymn from the <i>Sacred Harp</i> tradition of shape-note music (to be discussed later). The videographer starts the recording well outside the little church building and slowly walks inside, giving an excellent demonstration of how this vigorous style of singing could roll across the "hills and hollows" back in a less noisy age. It also shows the amazing acoustical properties of the small, high-roofed wooden buildings of an earlier era, which make the small group of singers sound much louder. <b> </b>
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<b> </b> <b>A Cappella Singing in Reformed & Presbyterian Churches</b><br />
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Those closest to the roots of Calvinism might be expected to hold onto his teachings about worship the longest, and to a great extent this was true. In 1842, the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the largest Presbyterian body in the country at that time, published <i>Questions on the Confession of Faith and Form of Government</i>, a brief work in question-answer format intended to instruct the faithful in the official positions of the denomination. It included this statement:
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[Sec. V.] Q. 6. Is there any authority for instrumental music in the worship of God under the present dispensation?</blockquote>
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A. Not the least; only the <i>singing</i> of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs was appointed by the apostles; not a syllable is said in the New Testament in favour of instrumental music; nor was it ever introduced into the Church until the eighth century, after the Catholics had corrupted the simplicity of the gospel by their carnal inventions. It was not allowed in the Synagogues, the parish churches of the Jews; but was confined to the <i>Temple</i> service, and was abolished with the rites of that dispensation (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=w6dHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA55#v=onepage&q&f=false">Weed 55</a>).</blockquote>
But this position did not hold. In 1845 the Synod of Cincinnati put forward an overture requesting a formal declaration from the General Assembly on the matter of instrumental music in worship; the Committee on Bills and Overtures stated,
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Whereas by our Constitution, (Form of Government chap. ix. sect. 6, and Directory for Worship, chap. iv. sect. 4,) the whole internal arrangement of a church as to worship and order, is committed to the Minister and Session, therefore,</blockquote>
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<i>Resolved</i>, That this Assembly do not feel themselves called upon and obliged to take any further order on this subject, but leave to each Session the delicate and important matter of arranging and conducting the music, as to them shall seem most for edification; recommending great caution, prudence, and forbearance, in regard to it" (<a href="https://archive.org/stream/minutesgenerala05assegoog#page/n28/mode/1up">UPC-USA Minutes 21-22</a>).</blockquote>
I am no expert in the ecclesiastical politics of mid-19th century Presbyterians, but I think I recognize a "punt" when I see one. The simple assertion that it was out of their hands left it open to the factions within each congregation to fight it out, and the recommendations, sincere though they must have been, say nothing about the Scriptural points of the matter--implying by their silence that it had become a matter of expedience.<br />
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The United Presbyterian Church of North America was more heavily influenced by the Scottish Covenanter tradition, and held out for another generation. Until 1882 the UPCNA's "Directory of Worship"--its approved regulations for conducting worship--explicitly forbade the use of instruments in worship. This was repealed at the 24th General Assembly (<a href="https://archive.org/stream/minutesgenerala02amergoog#page/n537/mode/1up/"><i>UPCNA Minutes</i>, 519</a>), over considerable protest. The following year saw the "<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ue0sAAAAYAAJ">Convention of United Presbyterians Opposed to Instrumental Music in the Worship of God</a>," held in Allegheny, Pennsylvania.<br />
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Eventually the two United Presbyterian bodies combined, and, through a further series of mergers, became today's Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the largest Presbyterian group in the United States. But other Presbyterian fellowships resisted this trend of merger for a number of reasons. The Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America, General Synod (an ancestor of today's conservative Presbyterian Church of America, and not to be confused with the modern "Covenanter" group, the Reformed Presbyterian Church <i>of</i> North America) did not allow instrumental music in worship until 1905, when the synod decided to allow the matter to be addressed at the congregational level (<a href="http://www.pcahistory.org/findingaids/rpces/history/03.pdf">Hutchison 92</a>). Other Presbyterian fellowships remain a cappella to this day.<br />
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<b> </b> <b><i>Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America</i></b>
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The largest of the Presbyterian groups in the U.S. that continue the a cappella practice of their forbears is the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, also known (like their Scottish counterparts) as "Covenanters" because of their historic connection to the Solemn League and Covenant dating from the English Civil War. (Not surprisingly, the Covenanters were some of the staunchest proponents of independence when the American Revolution came!) Organized in this country during the 1700s, the RPCNA has resisted merging into one of the larger Presbyterian conferences, though it has at times lost significant portions of its membership to these bodies (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformed_Presbyterian_Church_of_North_America">Wikipedia</a>). Following the original practice of Scottish Presbyterianism, they sing only the Psalms. The official position of the RPCNA on instruments in worship is expressed thus: "In keeping with the New Testament Church’s directive for heart worship, we sing without the aid of musical instruments" (<a href="http://reformedpresbyterian.org/convictions">"Convictions"</a>).</div>
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<b> </b> <b> </b> <b>Two Uniquely American A Cappella Traditions</b><br />
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The focus of this series has been on the practices of specific religious bodies, but a discussion of a cappella singing in worship in the United States would hardly be complete without mentioning two other vital traditions that are not associated with any particular religious group.<br />
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<b> </b> <b><i>The African American Tradition</i></b><br />
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During the period of slavery, music was a prized possession that could be shared but never taken away, and became a means of preserving the history and experiences of the community. The "spirituals" are a genre of great variety, combining uniquely African musical elements with those of the Protestant hymn tradition, and crafting lyrics that express a distinct voice of the African American Christian experience. The hymn "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" is a haunting and evocative text on its own; it becomes all the more powerful when one considers that it came from a people who had really seen men lashed, beaten, and executed. Yet the same spiritual tradition gave us songs of hope and joy, as well as such humorous but thoughtful lines as, "Everybody talking about heaven ain't going there."<br />
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The video below is a 1909 recording by the Fisk Jubilee Quartet, a group of African American singers from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. The song is one of the more lively of the spirituals, and prefigures much of the style of Southern gospel quartet singing in the 20th century.
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For African American slaves, who were typically forbidden by law to read or write, it was a matter of practicality to have a leader with a good memory "line out" the longer hymns for the congregation. It also gave vent to the typically African musical aesthetic of "heterophony", in which a group can sing the same song together but with great individual freedom. (There is a good argument to be made that a cappella congregational singing tends to be that way by nature!) This practice is still maintained among the African American Old Baptists; in the video below the song leader "lines out" the Isaac Watts hymn, "When I can read my title clear". <b> </b>
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<b><i>The Shape-Note Tradition</i></b></div>
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As we have seen, during the first 200 years or so of European settlement in North America, many of the largest Protestant religious bodies sang a cappella in worship. Because of this shared practice, it was not uncommon to have community hymn singings that were not under the auspices of a specific denomination. During the Colonial and early Federal era "singing-schools" became a big business, making full-time careers for composers such as William Billings and Jeremiah Ingalls. A hymn from this era that is still in many hymnals today is Oliver Holden's C<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORONATION</span>, "All hail the pow'r of Jesus' name". Below is a video of the original version of this hymn sung at a <i>Sacred Harp</i> singing in Stroud, Alabama. In keeping with the singing-school tradition, the group runs through the music with solfege syllables first, then sings the words. (WARNING: <i>Sacred Harp</i> singing is very loud and enthusiastic; adjust your volume accordingly!)</div>
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Though the more refined tastes of 19th-century urbanization gradually displaced this music from its cradle in New England, it found a welcome in the frontier states of the Midwest and South, and evolved into a musical tradition of its own. The invention of shape-note systems for indicating the scale steps made it easier to teach a basic level of music reading very quickly, and rural and frontier communities dearly appreciated this outlet for education, edification, and socializing.</div>
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The best-known book today from this tradition is the <a href="http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Sacred_Harp_%28Various%29"><i>Sacred Harp</i> (1860)</a>, but it was preceded by the equally important <a href="http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Southern_Harmony_(Walker,_William)"><i>Southern Harmony</i> (1835)</a>. (See the <a href="http://fasola.org/introduction/">"Introduction to Sacred Harp shape note singing"</a> at <a href="http://www.fasola.org/">www.fasola.org</a> for more information on these hymnals.) The composers of this early shape-note music were typically self-taught, or rather, taught by one another, in a rough-and-ready style that must have horrified Lowell Mason and the Bostonians but well suited the loud and enthusiastic singing of the little country meeting-houses. This genre was also deeply imbued with the modal scales of Anglo-Scots-Irish folk music, as can be heard in W<span style="font-size: x-small;">ONDROUS</span> L<span style="font-size: x-small;">OVE</span>.</div>
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By the dawn of the 20th century this music was largely crowded out by the new gospel genre, but in the folk music revival of the 1960s, and in the renewed study of American roots music coinciding with the Bicentennial, many people rediscovered this indigenous tradition. Today singings from the old four-shape books are held all over the nation. In the video below, singers in western Massachusetts, one of the states that gave birth to the singing-school movement, sing the most famous tune ever to come from the South, N<span style="font-size: x-small;">EW</span> B<span style="font-size: x-small;">RITAIN</span>.</div>
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<b>A Cappella Singing in the Restoration Movement</b><br />
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<b><i>The Rise of the "Organ Question"</i></b><br />
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<b> </b>It should come as no surprise that, at the beginning of the American Restoration Movement (or Stone-Campbell Movement, as some historians prefer), a cappella singing was the norm. Most of those involved came out of denominations that already eschewed instruments in worship, and in their pursuit of the restoration of an ideal New Testament Christianity, they found nothing to change their position on that subject. Musical instruments in worship are not documented among their congregations until two instances from the late 1850s, at Midway, Kentucky, and at the 6th Street congregation in Cincinnati. This practice was met with widespread disapproval, both at home and in the fellowship at large (Ferguson).<br />
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The instrument question was increasingly discussed in the second half of the century, however, beginning with an informal written debate between two formidable opponents, <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/davidsscriptorium/home/mcgarvey-hayden">Amos Sutton Hayden (1813-1880) and John W. McGarvey (1829-1911)</a>, carried out in the pages of the <i>Millennial Harbinger</i> during 1864-1865. Isaac Errett, editor of the <i>Christian Standard</i> (a leading journal among brethren in the North), wrote an editorial in May 1870 declaring his belief that the use of instruments was an expedient, but should not be adopted anywhere if it would cause division. Opposition quickly evaporated in most Northern congregations, however, and by the 1880s most had adopted instruments in worship. Meanwhile, the leading editor in the South, David Lipscomb of the <i>Gospel Advocate</i>, supported the view that instruments were an unauthorized addition to worship. Many more congregations in the South resisted the adoption of instruments than in the North, and the numerical strength of the non-instrumental Churches of Christ in the U.S. is concentrated in the South to this day (Ferguson).<br />
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Whatever impact sectional prejudice had in the resulting division, the facts seem better to support an economic and theological interpretation: the wealthier, more socially mobile, and more theologically liberal congregations tended to adopt instruments in worship, and these congregations were much more concentrated in the North. This was true of other religious groups as well; the Southern Baptists have remained much more conservative than most of their Northern counterparts, and the Presbyterian Church of America, composed of conservative Presbyterians who wished to remain separate from the PCUSA, is also concentrated in the South.<br />
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<i><b>The Hymnody of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.</b></i><br />
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The hymn repertoire of the early Restoration Movement sprang from the music common to the Baptist and Presbyterian churches of the Midwest, crystallized in Alexander Campbell's influential hymnal <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/psalmnsspiri43camp">Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs</a></i>. First published in 1828, this went through numerous editions before undergoing a more wholesale revision into the <i>Christian Hymnbook</i> in the 1860s. Though Campbell objected to the inclusion of musical notation as a distraction from worship, he did include suggested tunes for many texts (Mankin 11-12). A survey of these tune suggestions reveals a familiarity with the contemporary repertoire of Midwestern shape-note tunes (M<span style="font-size: x-small;">EAR</span>, P<span style="font-size: x-small;">LEASANT HILL</span>, S<span style="font-size: x-small;">TAR OF THE </span>E<span style="font-size: x-small;">AST</span>) as well as the more traditional psalm and hymn tunes from previous centuries.<br />
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Campbell's vision of a common hymnal for all the congregations was probably never realistic, but whatever hold it ever had was certainly broken during the "hymnal dispute" of 1866. Following the death of Campbell, the ownership of his hymnal went to the American Christian Missionary Society, which was disavowed by many of the more conservative congregations as an unauthorized innovation in church organization, and a step toward the loss of congregational autonomy. The hymnal underwent an extensive revision and enlargement, was renamed the <i>Christian Hymnbook</i>, and was put up for sale with the understanding that all proceeds would go to the Missionary Society. David Lipscomb and Tolbert Fanning, writing in the conservative <i>Gospel Advocate</i>, strongly objected to the common hymnal of the brotherhood being tied to support of an organization of which many disapproved. They also noted that the increase in price put it out of reach of many of the impoverished congregations of the war-ravaged South (Bowman 57-58).<br />
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<b> </b> By the 1880s Lipscomb had decided to publish hymnals through the <i>Gospel Advocate</i>, catering to the needs of the Churches of Christ. The first of these was <a href="http://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2013/03/christian-hymns-1889.html"><i>Christian Hymns</i> (1889)</a>, with texts edited by Lipscomb's associate E. G. Sewell and music edited by Methodist hymnwriter and publisher Rigdon McIntosh. The contents lean heavily toward the Southern gospel song; it is striking, in fact, just how "contemporary" this hymnal was when it appeared. It was certainly a marked departure from the Campbell hymnal, and raises the question of just how closely the Southern congregations were aligned with the "common hymnal" to begin with.<br />
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In the early 20th century, Churches of Christ in the U.S. were very active in the shape-note singing-schools of Southern gospel, and produced at least one famous gospel songwriter, Albert E. Brumley (1905–1977), author of songs such as "If we never meet again this side of heaven" and "I'll fly away." The latter is sung in the video below, recorded at a singing in Gadsden, Alabama.<br />
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Though not enjoying Brumley's commercial success, other songwriters such as Tillit Teddlie and Lloyd O. Sanderson contributed significant new gospel repertoire to the Churches of Christ during this era.<br />
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The introduction of Elmer Jorgenson's <i>Great Songs of the Church</i>, a tremendously popular hymnal first published in 1921, did more than anything else to swing the stylistic pendulum back toward a balance of gospel and classical hymns. His book was even arranged with that in mind: the "gospel songs" were in one section, and the "hymns" in another nearly equal section. (It is interesting to see which songs went in which section!) Though Jorgenson's book was initially resisted in some quarters because of his controversial Premillennial views, it took on a life of its own, and outlasted the hymnal series from publishers such as Gospel Advocate and Firm Foundation. No other hymnal has had such a profound impact on the repertoire sung by the Churches of Christ in this country and abroad.<br />
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In the second half of the 20th century, a new hymnal publisher, Alton H. Howard, captured a large portion of the market in the South with <i>Songs of the Church</i> (1971). The success of this hymnal led to another influential book, <i>Songs of Faith and Praise</i> (1994), which was the first major hymnal among the Churches of Christ to incorporate a significant selection of contemporary "praise and worship" music. The contributions of African American Churches of Christ were also significant during this era, particularly in the works of Sylvia Rose Cobb. Her popular "Mansion, Robe, and Crown" is featured in the video below, recorded at the lectureship held by the Southwestern Christian College.
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The trend toward using overhead projection instead of hymnals gathered momentum at the turn of the century, and early technologies which had only lyrics raised concerns over what would happen to congregational singing in parts. Fortunately, advances in desktop music publishing have made it possible to project both words and music--even in shape notes--in a practical and effective manner. The <a href="http://www.paperlesshymnal.com/">Paperless Hymnal</a> product offers songs in batches of 100-200 each, at about $1 per song; congregations can mix and match depending on the repertoire desired.</div>
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Resolving the issue of the <i>selection</i> of songs, however, is not amenable to a simple technological fix. The Churches of Christ have not been to the "worship wars" experienced by nearly every other religious group in our time; the main difference has been, where others fight their generational battles over the use of guitars vs. organs, we have sometimes argued over which particular style of a cappella music we will sing. Cool heads, open minds, and loving hearts will get us through these problems. </div>
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It is less easy to say what will happen with the small but increasing trickle of congregations that have begun to use instrumental music in their worship services. It is a disturbing trend--but in no case where I have been familiar with the congregation have I been taken completely by surprise. Just as it was in the late 1800s, the actual adoption of instrumental music in worship is typically a trailing indicator of a larger realignment in theology and practice. I pray that it is not as extensive in our day, as it was in the former.</div>
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<b>Conclusion</b><br />
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On reaching the end of this series, it seems useful to repeat its aims. It is not an attempt to argue the case of what kind of music is pleasing to God in Christian worship; others have done that exceptionally well over the years. In fact, I believe one could look at the literature on that subject today, fifty years ago, a century ago, and even further back, and find very little new to be said. My goals instead have been two in number: 1) to frame the argument in context of historical norms of worship practice, and 2) to introduce lovers of a cappella worship today to the rich variety of a cappella praise from ages past. The first goal is of course the more important, and can be restated more plainly as an attempt to encourage a cappella congregations not to accept the "born yesterday" mentality that views us as somehow odd and out of step, simply because we are in a minority at this particular moment in history.<br />
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I also hope to stir the honest consciences of those who practice instrumental worship, or those who may be undecided. Of course, the fact that any particular practice or point of view is accepted or rejected at some point in time is really beside the point; what matters is whether that practice or point of view is accepted or rejected by the Holy Spirit through His inspired Scriptures. But if we find that a matter has been settled among most of those calling themselves Christians, for much of the history of Christianity, and has only been changed in the last few centuries--with considerable acrimony and division--is it not worth a second look? </div>
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This was the approach taken recently by John Price in his <i>Old Light on New Worship: Musical Instruments and the Worship of God</i> (Avinger, Texas: Simpson, 2005). I do not agree with all his reasoning, and would hardly expect to, since he is an old-school Calvinist. But the criticisms his book has received are all too familiar (just check Amazon or GoodReads)--He is living in the past. This isn't relevant to today's problems. These arguments were settled a long time ago. Surely he doesn't mean to bring this up again. All of which amounts to what C. S. Lewis wittily called, "chronological snobbery."<br />
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When I gather with my brothers and sisters this Sunday--God willing--if we open our mouths to "sing with the spirit and the understanding" (1 Corinthians 14:15), "singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord" (Colossians 3:16), and "making melody" with no other instruments but hearts filled with love and gratitude (Ephesians 5:19), we can be sure that we are praising God in the way that He has appointed, that honors His will and is pleasing to His ears. We will also be joining, in spirit, the hosts of others who have done the same, down through the centuries, offering God "the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name" (Hebrews 13:15).<br />
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<br /><i>References:</i> <i> </i> "About us." <i>Christ's Sanctified Holy Church</i>. <a href="http://www.cshc.org/page/about_us_27572">http://www.cshc.org/page/about_us_27572</a><br />
<br />
<i> </i> Bowman, John. <i>Sweetly the Tones are Falling: A Hymnal History of Churches of Christ</i>. Brentwood, Tenn.: Penmann Press, 1984.<br />
<br />
"Conservative Mennonites." <i>Wikipedia</i>.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Mennonites">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Mennonites</a><br />
<br />
<i> </i> "Convictions." The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. <a href="http://reformedpresbyterian.org/convictions">http://reformedpresbyterian.org/convictions</a><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i> </i> <i>Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection (or Church) of America</i>. New York: A.W. Hall, 1896. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ldHhAAAAMAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=ldHhAAAAMAAJ</a><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i> </i> <i>Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection</i>. Syracuse, N.Y.: Wesleyan Methodist Publishing Association, 1911. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015071469475">http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015071469475</a><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i> </i> <i>Doctrines and Discipline of the Free Methodist Church</i>. Chicago: Free Methodist Publishing House, 1915. <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7138411M/Doctrines_and_discipline_of_the_Free_Methodist_Church.">https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7138411M/Doctrines_and_discipline_of_the_Free_Methodist_Church.</a><br />
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<i> </i> Ferguson, Everett. "Instrumental music." <i>The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement</i>. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2004.<br />
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<i> </i> Fortner, Cathy. "Happy 152nd birthday, Free Methodist Church." <a href="http://fmcusa.org/historical/2012/08/23/happy-152nd-birthday-free-methodist-church/">http://fmcusa.org/historical/2012/08/23/happy-152nd-birthday-free-methodist-church/</a><br />
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<i> </i> "Free Methodists to Have Church Music." <i>The Daily Times</i> (Beaver & Rochester, New York), 19 June 1943, p. 2. <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1996&dat=19430619&id=baAiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bK8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2624,7104324">http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1996&dat=19430619&id=baAiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bK8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2624,7104324</a><br />
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<i> </i> Grammich, Clifford A., Jr., & Chester Raymond Young. "Old Regular Baptists." <i>Encyclopedia of Religion in the South</i>. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2005, p. 570-572.<i> </i><br />
<br />
Hutchison, George. <i>The History Behind the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod</i>. <a href="http://www.pcahistory.org/findingaids/rpces/history/03.pdf">http://www.pcahistory.org/findingaids/rpces/history/03.pdf</a><br />
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Krahn, Cornelius, and Orlando Schmidt. "Musical Instruments." <i>Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online</i>. 1989. <a href="http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Musical_Instruments&oldid=102559">http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Musical_Instruments&oldid=102559</a><br />
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Mankin, Jim. "Alexander Campbell's contributions to hymnody." <i>The Hymn</i>, vol. 49, no. 1 (January 1998), pp. 10-14. <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/files/articles/Mankin,%20Alexander%20Campbell's%20Contributions%20to%20Hymnody.pdf">http://www.hymnary.org/files/articles/Mankin,%20Alexander%20Campbell's%20Contributions%20to%20Hymnody.pdf</a><br />
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Music, David W., and Paul A. Richardson. <i>I Will Sing the Wondrous Story: A History of Baptist Hymnody in North America</i>. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2008.<br />
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<i> </i> <i>Minutes of the . . . General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church of North America</i>, vol. 5 (1875-1883). Pittsburgh: United Presbyterian Board of Education, 1883. <a href="https://archive.org/details/minutesgenerala02amergoog">https://archive.org/details/minutesgenerala02amergoog</a><br />
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<i>Minutes of the . . . General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America</i>, vols. 15/2 & 16/2. Philadelphia: Clerk of the General Assembly, 1845. <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20454175M/Minutes_of_the_General_Assembly_of_the_Presbyterian_Church_in_the_United_States_of_America">https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20454175M/Minutes_of_the_General_Assembly_of_the_Presbyterian_Church_in_the_United_States_of_America</a><br />
<br />
<i> </i> "Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America." <i>Wikipedia</i>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformed_Presbyterian_Church_of_North_America">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformed_Presbyterian_Church_of_North_America</a><br />
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<i> </i> Robeck, Cecil M. "Azusa Street: 100 years later." <i>Enrichment Journal</i> (Springfield, Mo.). <a href="http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200602/200602_026_Azusa.cfm">http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200602/200602_026_Azusa.cfm</a><br />
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Weed, Henry Rowland. <i>Questions on the Confession of Faith and Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, with a Selection of Scripture Proofs : Designed for the Instruction of Classes in the Doctrines of Said Church</i>. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Education, 1842. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=w6dHAAAAYAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=w6dHAAAAYAAJ</a><br />
<br />
<i> </i> Westerfield Tucker, Barbara. <i>American Methodist Worship</i>. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Young, Chester Raymond. "Baptists, Primitive." <i>Encyclopedia of Religion in the South</i>. Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2005, p. 107-108.</div>
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David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-14954641984869527892014-02-15T08:29:00.001-06:002014-02-15T08:29:24.449-06:00Father and Friend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #140<br />
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Words: John Bowring, 1824<br />
Music: H<span style="font-size: x-small;">ESPERUS</span>, Henry Baker, 1866<br />
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Sir John Bowring (1792–1872), son of an Exeter wool merchant, was a man of remarkable accomplishments in a number of fields. His intelligence, energy, and uncanny ability to learn new languages led to a lengthy and often controversial career in international trade and politics, culminating in his appointment as the fourth governor of Hong Kong (1854-1859). Along the way he published translations of poetry in half-a-dozen different European languages and wrote major works on political science, history, linguistics, and prison reform (Stone).<br />
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Bowring's "Father and Friend" first appeared in the 1824 edition of his popular devotional collection <a href="https://archive.org/stream/matint00bowr#page/243/mode/1up/" style="font-style: italic;">Matins and Vespers</a> (London: G. & W.B. Whitaker), which was dedicated to fellow poet and sometime hymnwriter Anna Laetitia Barbauld ("Again the Lord of Light and Life"). The preface to this volume contains this worthwhile sentiment on the nature of good hymn-writing:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I trust I have never forgotten that the substance of piety is of higher interest than any of its decorations,--that the presence of truth is of more importance than the garment it wears (<a href="https://archive.org/stream/matint00bowr#page/n10/mode/1up">vii</a>).</blockquote>
Bowring understood the reason that so few of the great English poets have written great hymns, and that so few of the great English hymnists are considered great poets in the broader sphere of literature. Though a man of considerable literary accomplishments, in his hymns he spoke in an intimate, unassuming style that has worn well over the centuries. Other well-known hymns by Bowring include "God is love; His mercy brightens," "Watchman, tell us of the night," and "In the cross of Christ I glory."<br />
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John Bowring had a penchant for describing God as "Father and Friend." In his <i>Matins and Vespers</i>, his devotional poem for Tuesday evening <a href="https://archive.org/stream/matint00bowr#page/25/mode/1up">(p. 26ff.)</a> includes the stanza,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Appalling Power! Thy awful majesty<br />
Might scatter us in dust--but, lo! Thy grace,<br />
Milder and softer than the early dew,<br />
Invites us to Thy presence. Lord! forgive<br />
Thy trembling children--Father! Friend! receive<br />
Their tribute, humble and unworthy too.</blockquote>
And at the end of the same poem,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Source of joy!--my Friend! my Father!<br />
In Thy presence let me be,--<br />
Here the flowers of Virtue gather,<br />
Blooming for eternity.</blockquote>
The poem for Thursday morning opens with a similar theme:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Come forth in thy purple robes again,<br />
Thou brightest star of heaven!<br />
Another day the Guardian of men<br />
Has to His children given.<br />
Receive the gift with gratitude;<br />
My soul! to thy Maker ascend,<br />
And bear thy songs to the Source of good,<br />
To thy Father and thy Friend.</blockquote>
"Father and Friend" must have meant more to Bowring than just the pleasing assonance and rhythm of the phrase. It expresses both the immanence and transcendence of God--the fact that "the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, . . . is actually not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:24, 27). There is much more to say on the subject of how God chose to bridge the gap between Deity and humanity, but for now let us follow Bowring's text, which celebrates what we can learn through the "general revelation" of God through His creation.<br />
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<i>Stanza 1:</i><br />
<i>Father and Friend, Thy light, thy love,</i><br />
<i>Beaming through all Thy works we see;</i><br />
<i>Thy glory gilds the heav'ns above,</i><br />
<i>And all the earth is full of Thee.</i><br />
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Bruce Demarest's classic work, <i>General Revelation: Historical Views and Contemporary Issues</i> (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1982), suggests the following conclusions that a reasonable person can make from God's revelation through His creation (p. 242-243, quoted & summarized by <a href="http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4225695/k.8518/The_Doctrine_of_Revelation.htm">Rick Wade</a>):<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>He is uncreated and universal: "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man" (Acts 17:24).</li>
<li>He is transcendent: "When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place; what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him?" (Psalm 8:3-4).</li>
<li>He is immanent: "Yet he is actually not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27).</li>
<li>He is the Creator: "We bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them" (Acts 14:15).</li>
<li>He is self-sufficient, and our Sustainer: "Nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything" (Acts 17:25).</li>
<li>He is eternal: "Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting" (Psalm 93:2).</li>
<li>He is majestic: "The voice of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> is powerful; the voice of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> is full of majesty" (Psalm 29:4)</li>
<li>He is powerful: "For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made"(Romans 1:20).</li>
<li>He is wise: "O L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures" (Psalm 104:24).</li>
<li>He is good: "Yet He did not leave himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17).</li>
<li>He has a sovereign will: "He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place" (Acts 17:26).</li>
<li>He has standards of right and wrong: "For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them" (Romans 2:14-15).</li>
<li>He should be worshiped: "For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you" (Acts 17:23).</li>
</ul>
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Bowring opens with the claim that God's "<i>light</i>"<i> </i>and "<i>love</i>" are seen "<i>through all </i>[His]<i> works</i>." He expands on the idea in the last two lines of the first stanza: "<i>Thy glory gilds the heav'ns above</i>," that is, God's physical creation of light is seen in the heavens; "<i>And all the earth is full of Thee</i>," suggesting that the love of God is observed directly in His provision for our physical needs on this earth.<br />
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Light was the subject of the first recorded command of God, in His first recorded words: "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3). Light was the positive, energetic exercise of God's will. The earth was "without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep" in verse 2, but God's voice brought forth light and made things begin to happen. Without the light of our sun, this earth would be a dead world, lost in the dark. Its life-giving energy allows us to see where we are and what we are doing, and provides warmth, energy, and growth without which we could not long continue. But God's light, in its metaphorical sense, is even more important. It is a favorite theme in the Psalms:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling! (Psalm 43:3).</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence (Psalm 90:8).</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105)</blockquote>
Without the light of God's truth, we would be just as lost and dead as a world without a sun. But God was not content to reveal this light through the words of Scripture; He also sent His Son, "to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:79). When Jesus made that wonderfully outrageous claim, "I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12 ESV), He was declaring himself to be the life-giving sun of our spiritual world. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:4-5). When we see glory of the physical sun that "<i>gilds the heavens above</i>," we can be reminded that Jesus' glory fills a heavenly realm that "has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb" (Revelation 21:23).<br />
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Just as God has revealed His glory in the heavens, He has revealed His goodness in the fullness of good things in this earth. When the creation account in Genesis 1 comes to the actual shaping of this earth into a home suitable for humanity (v. 10), we read after each phase that "He saw that it was good." The Hebrew word for "good" in these instances, טוֹב (<i>towb</i>), could also be used to describe a "good" field, or "good" tree, a "good" herd, in the sense of fertility and productiveness (<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2896">Strong's H2896</a>). God did not just make it "good enough!" Genesis goes on to tell us that, "the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food" (Gen 2:8-9a). It was a good world when it was made, but God prepared something even better when He made Eden--a perfect home for the humanity He had created.<br />
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Even though this world is fallen (Genesis 3:17-19), and we have often done a sorry job of its stewardship, it is still an amazingly beautiful and abundant place. We need only look to the other planets in our solar system, and then back at our earth again, to see what a precious and beautiful thing it is--teeming with life, abundant with provision and care from our heavenly Father. Truly the Psalmist said, "The earth is full of the steadfast love of the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>" (Psalm 33:5; cf. Psalm 119:64).<br />
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<i>Stanza 2:</i><br />
<i>Thy voice we hear, Thy presence feel,</i><br />
<i>While Thou, too pure for mortal sight,</i><br />
<i>Enwrapt in clouds, invisible,</i><br />
<i>Reignest the Lord of life and light.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i>Though in one sense God's "ways are past finding out" (Romans 11:33)--we do not, and really cannot, understand <i>everything</i> He has done--He "did not leave himself without witness" (Act 14:17). David's beautiful 19th Psalm affirms,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The heavens declare the glory of God,<br />
And the sky above proclaims His handiwork.<br />
Day to day pours out speech,<br />
And night to night reveals knowledge.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
There is no speech, nor are there words,<br />
Whose voice is not heard.<br />
Their voice goes out through all the earth,<br />
And their words to the end of the world.<br />
(Psalm 19:1-4)</blockquote>
But in a way, our knowledge of Him is similar to Robinson Crusoe's discovery of the footprints in the sand. We conclude from the evidence of His works that there is a God, and that He has certain qualities; but "no one has seen God" (John 1:18), at least not in His true splendor. One of the few approaches to that kind of encounter is revealed in this strikingly odd event in the Hebrew Testament:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Moses said, "Please show me Your glory." And [God] said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you My name 'The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," He said, "you cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live." And the L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> said, "Behold, there is a place by Me where you shall stand on the rock, and while My glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen" (Exodus 33:18-23).</blockquote>
There is a similarity here to the Transfiguration of Christ, and also to Jesus' appearance to John at the beginning of the Revelation:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, and His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah." For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified (Mark 9:2-6).</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the midst of the lampstands one like a Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around His chest. The hairs of His head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead (Rev 1:13-17).</blockquote>
In both the latter cases, we are struck by the fact that the true appearance of Jesus in His glory inspired terror; how remarkable it must have been, to see a familiar Friend so transformed! We have to conclude that we humans simply cannot handle the truth of God's glory. We cannot stare at the sun (at least not for very long) because its power can destroy our sight. How much more would it be to look on the Creator of that sun? He is the One "who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see" (1 Timothy 6:16).<br />
<i><br />
</i>The reason we cannot stand this light, of course, is simple: "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5), but "people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil" (John 3:19). We need to be "delivered . . . from the domain of darkness" (Colossians 1:13); but how would the light of God's infinite holiness be mediated to "those who walk in darkness" (Isaiah 9:2, cf. Matthew 4:16)? More on this later!<br />
<br />
<i>Stanza 3:</i><br />
<i>We know not in what hallowed part</i><br />
<i>Of the wide heav'ns Thy throne may be;</i><br />
<i>But this we know, that where Thou art,</i><br />
<i>Strength, wisdom, goodness, dwell with Thee.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i>I once asked my daughter, when she was a small child, where she thought God lives. She was fairly certain that He does not live on a cloud up in the sky (as seen in many artistic portrayals for children), because they are just made of water. Since she was very interested in outer space--at the time she could name not only the planets of our solar system, but many of their moons--I asked her if she thought God lives in space. After one of those sidelong looks that precede her more thoughtful statements, she said cheerfully, "God lives on top of space!" That answer settled the question in her mind, and after nearly two decades I cannot improve on it. The Creator of this universe was somewhere before the universe existed, and will be there (wherever, and whatever, "there" is) when this universe comes to an end.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but You are the same, and Your years have no end. (Psalm 102:25-27).</blockquote>
With this in mind, we have to agree with Bowring that, "<i>We know not in what hallowed part / Of the wide heav'ns Thy throne may be</i>." We know vastly more about the "<i>wide heav'ns</i>" than did the science of Bowring's day; but the more we learn about the depths of space around us, the more we realize how little we know, even about the physical universe. It should be a lesson to us that, if we really understand so little of what we can see, we should be hesitant to make pronouncements about what might be beyond that. I read somewhere recently the profound statement that "science cannot prove the existence of an afterlife." No, it cannot, for the same reason that a yardstick cannot give you the temperature. It's the wrong tool for the job.<br />
<br />
Unlike almost all of the ancient systems of belief, the followers of Jehovah never even tried to locate their God on the top of a high mountain, or in some remote sanctuary on this earth. Isaiah 40:22 expresses the Hebrew concept of God's relationship to this world: "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in." Isaiah speaks poetically, of course, but the point is clear: God is so great that He cannot be properly described in terms of having a dwelling place on this earth. As our horizons have expanded beyond this planet, just in this moment of time in human history, we find that Scripture anticipated us: His glory is "above the heavens" as well (Psalm 8:1).<br />
<br />
Leaving aside the question of where it is located, what do we know about the dwelling of God? John's Revelation gives us word-pictures of extravagant beauty, but Bowring's hymn chooses to focus on qualities and ideas rather than physical appearances: "<i>Strength, wisdom, goodness, dwell with Thee</i>." Scripture tells us that God's presence is characterized by many such qualities, of which these are just a few:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>It is a place that is eternal: "Thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity" (Isaiah 57:15).</li>
<li>It is a place of goodness and purity: "I dwell in the high and holy place" (Isaiah 57:15).</li>
<li>It is a place of justice and righteousness: "L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span>, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart" (Psalm 15:1-2).</li>
<li>It is a place of peace and refuge: "Let me dwell in Your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of Your wings!" (Psalm 61:4).</li>
<li><div>
It is a place of fellowship: "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God himself will be with them as their God" (Revelation 21:3).</div>
</li>
</ul>
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Certainly it is a far cry from any place we know upon this earth--but if we follow His will, and He dwells in us, we can see glimpses of it. A good Christian home, and a good Christian congregation, can be a little bit of heaven on earth, if God dwells in them. But God does not choose to force His way into our homes, or into our assemblies; if we want God to dwell with us, we will have to submit to His will, and make our homes and congregations places where God's presence is welcome.<br />
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<i>Stanza 4:</i><br />
<i>Thy children shall not faint nor fear,</i><br />
<i>Sustained by this delightful thought:</i><br />
<i>Since Thou, their God, art everywhere,</i><br />
<i>They cannot be where Thou art not.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> The fact that we cannot physically locate God does not detract from our ability to be connected with Him; far from it! Tacitus records that when the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem and entered the temple in 63 <span style="font-size: x-small;">B.C.</span>, "it became commonly known that the place stood empty with no similitude of gods within, and that the shrine had nothing to reveal" (<a href="http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah../Tacitus/TacitusHistory05.html"><i>Histories</i>, bk. 5, para. 9</a>). Worthy historian though he was on other topics, Tacitus had no grasp of what the Jews really believed. When the temple was first built on that site, Solomon said in his dedicatory prayer, "But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house that I have built!" (2 Chronicles 6:18). God manifested His presence there in a special way, in keeping with the religious economy of that dispensation; but the ancient Hebrews had a far more expansive view:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. (Psalm 139:7-10)</blockquote>
How one feels about that watchfulness, of course, depends on one's relationship with God. C. S. Lewis summed it up rather well in <i>Mere Christianity</i> when he described the difference between an impersonal "creative force" behind the cosmos (shades of <i>Star Wars</i>?) and the personal God of Scripture:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white;">When you are feeling fit and the sun is shining and you do not want to believe that the whole universe is a mere mechanical dance of atoms, it is nice to be able to think of this great mysterious Force rolling on through the centuries and carrying you on its crest. If, on the other hand, you want to do something rather shabby, the Life-Force, being only a blind force, with no morals and no mind, will never interfere with you like that troublesome God we learned about when we were children (27).</span></blockquote>
Those who walk with God take comfort in that omnipresence, of course, and can say with David:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Hear my cry, O God,<br />
Listen to my prayer;<br />
From the end of the earth I call to you<br />
When my heart is faint.<br />
Lead me to the rock<br />
That is higher than I<br />
(Psalm 61:1-2)</blockquote>
But how does the sinful, imperfect creation get into such a close relationship with the all-wise, all-powerful, and terribly holy Creator? Can He truly be "<i>Father and Friend</i>?" This is a problem that any serious religion has to address. If God is wise enough and powerful enough to create the cosmos, how can we who are so weak and limited in wisdom and power expect to understand Him, and why would we expect Him to care about us? Throughout history people have vaguely understood the necessity of that distant, dimly understood Deity, and have tried to approach Him through lesser gods and demi-gods that are more like us and less like Him. But "friendship" with God is not the friendship of equals. In fact, references to friendship between God and humanity are very scant in the Hebrew Testament. Abraham is twice called the אָהַב (<i>'ahab</i>, "friend") of God , (2 Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8), in the sense of one who loves God and is loved by God (<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H157">Strong's H157</a>). James tells us that "The Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"--and he was called a friend of God (2:23). God favored the obedient Abraham with His friendship in the sense that Abraham was in a special relationship, under God's protection and care. But only once in the Hebrew Scriptures is the common term for "friend" or "companion" (רֵעַ <i>rea`</i>) used to describe God's relationship to a human being: "The L<span style="font-size: x-small;">ORD</span> used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11).<br />
<br />
Yet even this "face to face" relationship, as mentioned previously, was qualified; Moses could only see the "back" of the Lord's glory (Exodus 33:18-23). There was just no bridging that gap from Creator to Friend, until God presented His solution. That solution was even more unexpected: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which means, God with us" (Matthew 1:23; cf. Isaiah 7:14). If it was odd for Moses to see God's "back" from a cleft in the mountain, it was even more wonderfully strange that night when common shepherds looked down into a feeding trough and saw the Creator of the Universe. John's gospel account states with simple grandeur: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The beloved apostle went on at greater length in the opening of his first letter:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life--the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us--that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1-3)</blockquote>
Perhaps the rambling style of that paragraph-sentence conveys the difficulty of describing what it was actually like to know Jesus as a Man upon this earth! But certainly John gets across the main point: He was my Friend; I saw Him, I touched Him.<br />
<br />
Jesus Christ is the means by which God chose to become our Friend as well as our Father. (Ironically, Bowring, the author of this hymn, was Unitarian.) This new intimacy with God is perhaps best revealed in the 15th chapter of John, when Jesus told His disciples:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15:12-15).</blockquote>
The Son of God is the living bridge between Creator and the created; He was human in every physical way, yet "in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Colossians 1:19). The "unapproachable light" of God's glory is mediated through His Son, the "Light of the World" (John 8:12). "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).<br />
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<i>About the music:</i><br />
<i><br />
</i>Henry Baker (1835-1910)--not to be confused with Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877), editor of <i>Hymns Ancient & Modern--</i>read for the Bachelor of Music degree at Oxford (New College), graduating in 1867. Among his fellow students was the well-known English composer Charles Hubert Parry (1848-1918), future teacher of Vaughan Williams and Holst (Williams 109). Baker, however, turned to a career in civil engineering, eventually traveling to India where he worked in the railroad business (<a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/k/baker_h.htm">Cyberhymnal</a>). Such a mix of interests is really not that surprising--the ancient Greeks placed the study of music theory alongside mathematics, geometry, and astronomy, and some of the best music students I have taught were also math or engineering majors.<br />
<br />
Baker apparently wrote this tune early in his student days and laid it aside; James Love dates it to 1854 (69). Later, a friend submitted it without his knowledge to a competition, sponsored by London's <i>Penny Post</i>, to find a suitable tune for John Keble's hymn "Sun of my soul". Baker's tune was first published in the <i>Hymnal for Use in the English Church</i> (London, 1866) compiled by John Grey (<a href="http://www.hymnary.org/tune/quebec_baker">Q<span style="font-size: x-small;">UEBEC</span></a>).<br />
<br />
Bowring's text presents a bit of a problem for matching with a tune; it is Common Meter (8.8.8.8), but the first two lines substitute trochees for the initial iambs:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>Fa-</b> ther and <b>Friend, </b>Thy <b>light, </b>Thy <b>love <br />
Beam- </b>ing through <b>all</b> Thy <b>works </b>we <b>see.</b></blockquote>
This creates an initial triplet rhythm with a heavy downbeat, unlike the usually strictly iambic Common Meter rhythm:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Praise <b>God </b>from <b>whom </b>all <b>bles- </b>sings <b>flow</b>;<br />
Praise <b>Him </b>all <b>crea- </b>tures <b>here </b>be- <b>low.</b></blockquote>
Bowring does not maintain this substitution in all the stanzas, which makes a musical setting all the more tricky. Triple meter makes the best of the situation, giving the opening lines a strong rhythmic cast and glossing over the inconsistencies in later stanzas. The same kind of tune is employed to help with similar problems in the hymns "Father of Mercies", "Jesus, Thou joy of loving hearts", and "Faith of our Fathers".<br />
<br />
Baker's tune manages these rhythmic wobbles (which are even more pronounced in "Sun of my soul", the text with which it was originally matched) through a crafty use of repeated notes. Each line of music, in fact, begins with three repeated pitches in even quarter notes, which allow the emphasis to shift according to the demands of the poetry. The range of the tune is remarkably simple; with the exception of one note, it could be played on the piano in a "five-finger" position (the thumb resting on tonic and each successive finger on the next note of the scale), covering a mere five steps of the scale.<br />
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<hr />
<i>References:</i><br />
<i><br />
</i> Bowring, John. <i>Matins and Vespers: with hymns and occasional devotional pieces</i>. 2nd ed. London: G. & W.B. Whitaker, 1824. <a href="https://archive.org/details/matint00bowr">https://archive.org/details/matint00bowr</a><br />
<br />
"Henry Baker (1835-1910)." <i>Cyberhymnal</i>. <a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/k/baker_h.htm">http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/a/k/baker_h.htm</a><br />
<br />
Lewis, C. S. <i>Mere Christianity</i>. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.<br />
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Love, James. <i>Scottish Church Music: Its Composers and Sources</i>. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood, 1891. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=AAc6AAAAIAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=AAc6AAAAIAAJ</a><br />
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"Q<span style="font-size: x-small;">UEBEC</span>." <i>Hymnary.org</i>. <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/tune/quebec_baker">http://www.hymnary.org/tune/quebec_baker</a><br />
<br />
Stone, Gerald. "Bowring, Sir John (1792–1872)." <i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</i>. Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., May 2009. <a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3087">http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3087</a><br />
<br />
Strong's H157 (הַב <i>'ahab</i>). <i>Hebrew Lexicon. </i>Blue Letter Bible. <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H157">http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H157</a><br />
<br />
Strong's H2897 (טוֹב <i>towb</i>). <i>Hebrew Lexicon</i>. Blue Letter Bible.<br />
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2896">http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2896</a><br />
<br />
Strong's H7453 (רֵעַ <i>rea`</i>). <i>Hebrew Lexicon</i>. Blue Letter Bible.<br />
<a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7453">http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H7453</a><br />
<br />
Tacitus. <i>Histories</i>, from <i>The Complete Works of Tacitus</i>, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. New York: Random House, 1942. <a href="http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah../Tacitus/">http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah../Tacitus/</a><br />
<br />
Wade, Rick. "The doctrine of revelation: how God reveals His nature and His will." Probe Ministries.<br />
<a href="http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4225695/k.8518/The_Doctrine_of_Revelation.htm">http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4225695/k.8518/The_Doctrine_of_Revelation.htm</a><br />
<br />
Williams, Charles Francis Abdy. <i>A Short Historical Account of the Degrees in Music at Oxford and Cambridge</i>. London: Novello, 1893. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=N-gsAAAAYAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=N-gsAAAAYAAJ</a><br />
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David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344677692714876092.post-7523702358983929372014-01-31T21:04:00.001-06:002014-01-31T21:06:50.907-06:00Far and Near<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Praise for the Lord</i> #139<br />
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Words: John O. Thompson, 1885</div>
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Music: J. B. O. Clemm, 1885</div>
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"Far and near" first appeared in <i><a href="http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/EHCS1885/255">The Epworth Hymnal</a></i> (New York: Hunt & Eaton, 1885), a Methodist hymnal named for the town of Epworth in Lincolnshire, where John and Charles Wesley were born (<a href="http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/EHCS1885/page/7"><i>Epworth Hymnal</i> 2</a>). It was not connected to the Epworth League, the Methodist young people's association founded around the same time, though there were hymnals associated with that organization.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=kNPXhbGzZigC&pg=PA360&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3d9dA7G24mpBs1CTsBcyktOccVvA&ci=163%2C699%2C333%2C311&edge=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://books.google.com/books?id=kNPXhbGzZigC&pg=PA360&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3d9dA7G24mpBs1CTsBcyktOccVvA&ci=163%2C699%2C333%2C311&edge=0" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J. O. Thompson in 1903</td></tr>
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The author of "Far and near" was James Oren Thompson (1834-1917), a Methodist preacher and newspaperman from Maine who saw quite a few "fields" of different kinds during his life. He was a lieutenant in the 17th Maine Infantry that held the center in the infamous "Wheatfield" engagement in the Battle of Gettysburg, forever preserved in Timothy O'Sullivan's photograph titled "Harvest of Death" (<i>17th Maine at Gettysburg</i>, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/seventeenthmaine00np#page/30/mode/2up">p. 30</a>). Thompson received a medical discharge for unspecified reasons near the end of the war, and seems to have suffered from poor health for the remainder of his life. After the war he attended the Methodist Biblical Institute at Concord, New Hampshire, just prior to its re-chartering as Boston University (<i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/menwestvirginia01compgoog#page/n366/mode/1up">Men of West Virginia</a></i>). His relatively brief career as a full-time preacher included appointments in Elliot, Maine; Woodford's Corner, Maine; and Compton, Rhode Island (<a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tG8LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5VMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4841%2C2463908">Obituary</a>). Poor health forced his retirement from the pulpit in 1883; but then, odd as it seems for a man who had grown up with the sea, he moved to Keyser, West Virginia, where he edited <i>The Mountain Echo</i> for nearly two decades.<br />
<br />
It was during this period of his life, after his health forced him to give up regular preaching, that he wrote his great evangelistic hymn "Far and near". Perhaps that is a lesson for us not to assume we are used up or useless when our circumstances thwart our original plans; like the church in Thyatira, Thompson's "latter works exceeded the first" (Revelation 2:19). Ironically, Thompson's later career involved writing on harvests of the literal kind; his administrative and communication skills next brought him to the attention of the West Virginia State Board of Agriculture, which elected him its Secretary in 1901 (<i><a href="https://archive.org/stream/menwestvirginia01compgoog#page/n366/mode/1up">Men of West Virginia</a></i>). He resigned from this position in 1905, again because of health, and moved to St. Petersburg, Florida (<i>Biennial Report</i>, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ClVNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20#v=onepage&q&f=false">p. 20</a>). There he associated with the First Avenue Methodist Church (today Christ United Methodist) as a pastor emeritus until his death (<a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tG8LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5VMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4841%2C2463908">Obituary</a>).<br />
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As a hymnwriter James Oren Thompson was yet another "one-hit wonder"--I cannot find another hymn written by him, though he must have written other verse--but what a hit it was! One of the features at <i>Hymnary.org</i> is the ability to generate graphs showing the inclusion of a hymn over time in the hymnals indexed in that database. The <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/person/Thompson_JO">page for James O. Thompson</a> shows a remarkable exception to the usual rule: instead of gradually declining in popularity over the years, his "Far and near" has steadily gained ground. There may be several factors at play in that circumstance. First, it is a song about evangelism, which is a smaller category than most, and thus gives editors fewer hymns from which to choose. Second, it has a very good tune, simple and folklike, which wears well over the years and does not appear markedly outdated. But third--and most importantly--it is thoroughly grounded in and inspired by Scripture, which automatically gives it an edge.</div>
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<i>Stanza 1:</i></div>
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<i>Far and near the fields are teeming</i></div>
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<i>With the waves of ripened grain;</i></div>
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<i>Far and near their gold is gleaming</i></div>
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<i>O'er the sunny slope and plain.</i></div>
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<i><br />
</i></div>
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The first stanza and refrain, which set forth the basic premise of the opportunity and need for evangelism, are based respectively on two significant statements on that subject by Jesus. The first of these is in the fourth chapter of John's gospel account, when Jesus met with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well and found a more receptive audience than He would find among most of His Jewish brethren. It seems no mere coincidence that John related this event immediately after Jesus' interview with Nicodemus, who, good man though he was at heart, reflected the closed-minded attitudes that led to Jesus' rejection by the Jewish leadership.<br /><br />Not only was the Samaritan woman willing to listen and believe, she was willing to tell others; in John 4:29 her words are recorded, "Can this be the Christ?" Something about her words and her manner (or perhaps the fact that this message was coming from a woman not known for being overly religious) stirred up her entire community with curiosity about this Man at the well. Imperfect as their understanding was, they believed that "Messiah is coming," and that "when He comes, He will tell us all things" (John 4:25). In this they were at least looking for a spiritual leader, and not a political or military leader as were so many others. The disciples of Jesus, upon returning, were all too typically thinking of short-range, earthly matters (in other words, acting just like me) when Jesus told them to look again:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Do you not say, "There are yet four months, then comes the harvest"? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, "One sows and another reaps." I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor (John 4:35-38)</blockquote>
John 4:30 tells us that at that very moment, the Samaritans "went out of the town and were coming to Him." Many have noted that the sight of the crowd coming down the road, turbans and head-scarves bobbing as they walked, probably in animated conversation, may have suggested the image of a field of ripe grain waving in the wind. John goes on to recount what followed:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His word. (Jhn 4:39-41)</blockquote>
Jesus would later upbraid the cities of Galilee for their lack of response to His preaching (Matthew 11:20-24); yet here among the Samaritans, who had every reason to reject a Jewish teacher, was a city full of people ready to listen, many of whom believed in His message. When the evangelist Philip went to Samaria some years later, the people listened to the gospel message "with one accord" (Acts 8:6). Perhaps some of those Samaritans who obeyed the gospel at the preaching of Philip, had first heard the good news from the lips of Jesus Himself; many more, no doubt, had heard of Jesus because of the earlier incident at Jacob's Well. Philip's evangelistic success in Samaria, the first outside of Jerusalem, was a case of entering into the labors of others (John 4:41).<br /><br /></div>
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The lessons for us in this incident are many, and James O. Johnson did not miss them in his hymn. First of all, the fields are ripe both "<i>far and near</i>." Why did Jesus take His disciples into Samaria? John 4:4 gives us only the cryptic statement, "He had to pass through Samaria." From a practical standpoint, of course, this was not the case; He could have taken the Roman road along the coast, or the roads east of the Jordan, without setting foot in Samaria. Some Jews actually did that, and from the reception Jesus and His disciples received in Luke 9:52-53, some Samaritans preferred to keep it that way. Something else made Jesus go through Samaria. Certainly it was for the benefit of the Samaritans; but perhaps it was also for the benefit of His disciples. They needed to see that opportunity for spreading the gospel was not only for those near at hand, but "for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself" (Act 2:39).<br />
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The distance between the Jews and Samaritans was not merely one of geography; in fact, that was the least of the things that divided them. They held each other at arm's length as a matter of habit, and part of Jesus' lesson to His disciples was that receptiveness to the gospel is, like its Author, "no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34). Certainly we need to do our best to understand the different worldviews of people to whom we would introduce Jesus; but we should not be overly daunted by that fact, and should never let it become an excuse. Deep down we are all children of God, who "made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, . . . that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him" (Act 17:26-27).<br />
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Second, we see that sometimes we, like Jesus' disciples, are poor judges of the harvest opportunities around us. Paul was very discouraged after his early efforts in Corinth, but the Lord revealed to him in a dream, "I have many people in this city" (Acts 18:10). In time it became one of the great congregations of the early church, and despite its problems, had a large impact for good. And certainly Paul and Silas must have been surprised when, after being arrested, beaten, and put in jail in Philippi, they ended up converting their jailer to Christ! From such difficult beginnings grew one of Paul's most beloved congregations, and another center of the early church's strength (Acts 16).<br />
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Opportunities are sometimes where we might least expect them. In my father's work with <a href="http://www.glenpoolchurchofchrist.com/prisons/">Glenpool Prison Ministries</a>, one of the courses of study begins with a simple essay question for the inmate to answer: "How did I get here?" It really is a question we should all ask ourselves, but sometimes it is those who have "hit bottom" in life who are the most ready to be honest in their answers. People who know their lives are broken, and who have tried just about everything else, may be ready to turn it over to Jesus--and many do.<br />
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I once heard mentioned a peculiarity of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), that I had never noticed before: didn't the sower waste a lot of seed, spreading it over so much soil that was unlikely to produce? This is not the intended lesson of the parable, of course, so it is a little beside the point to begin with. But for what it is worth: Did the sower know what each soil was going to produce? And was it his job to choose the soil? All we know is that he sowed the seed, and it was up to condition of the soils to do the rest. Perhaps there is something there for us to consider--should we not cast the seed as "<i>far and near</i>" as we can? There is a time for focusing our efforts, of course, but we should always be ready to share our faith (1 Peter 3:15).<br />
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<div>
<i>Refrain:</i></div>
<div>
<i>Lord of Harvest, send forth reapers!</i></div>
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<i>Hear us, Lord, to Thee we cry;</i></div>
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<i>Send them now the sheaves to gather,</i></div>
<i>Ere the harvest time pass by.</i><br />
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Thompson's refrain takes its theme from another major statement by Jesus on the need for evangelism:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." (Matthew 9:35-38; cf. Luke 10:2)</blockquote>
The words of Jesus are so vivid and arresting that it is easy to overlook a significant point revealed even before He speaks. Verse 36 gives us the motivation behind His words: "When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them." First, He really <i>saw </i>the people around Him. This was characteristic of Jesus, and should be characteristic of those who follow Him. The Samaritan woman did not expect to be seen as a person; being a Samaritan, and being a woman, were each reason enough for a Jewish man of her time to ignore her very existence. She was surprised that He asked her for a drink of water (John 4:9); how much more surprised she must have been when He spoke to her kindly, and listened to her questions, treating her as a person worth His time?<br />
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Second, Jesus had compassion for the lost souls He saw around Him (Matthew 9:36). Even on the cross, when temptation would be at its greatest to think only of Himself, Jesus heard the plea of the penitent thief crucified next to Him (Luke 23:42). He even looked on those who were putting Him to death and said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). I do not think I could have done that; I am afraid my thoughts would instead run along the lines of, "Father, be sure to give them what they have coming to them!" But Jesus calls us to look on others with compassion, and the more we do, the more we will seek opportunities to bless them with the knowledge of Jesus' love for them.<br />
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The plea, "<i>Lord of Harvest, send forth reapers!</i>" is a response to Jesus' own command for us to pray for more workers in evangelism. We need more missionaries, and more gospel preachers. But at the same time, let us ask ourselves if we have done all we can ourselves. If a local congregation fails to even attempt to evangelize, it isn't the Lord's fault. He gave us the gospel, "the power of God for salvation" (Romans 1:16). He died on the cross to put that power into it, and handed that truth down through the inspired writers of Scripture. The power is still there. Why has the Bible so often been banned and burned down through history (as it is even in some places today)? Because the enemies of that gospel--whether they realize it or not--fear its power. Have we taken advantage of that "power to save" in our own circles of influence?<br />
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The refrain of this hymn also reminds us of the urgency of the case: we need more reapers, "<i>Ere the harvest time pass by</i>." This too is found in the language of Jesus, whose parable of the wheat and tares concluded with, "Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, 'Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn'"(Matthew 13:30). Lest we misunderstand, Jesus later explained this to His disciples:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear (Matthew 13:39b-43).</blockquote>
It is a sobering, awful picture, but these too are the words of Jesus. The day will come when the harvest is ended, and it will be too late to send more reapers.<br />
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<i>Stanza 2:</i></div>
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<i>Send them forth with morn's first beaming,</i></div>
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<i>Send them in the noontide's glare;</i></div>
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<i>When the sun's last rays are gleaming,</i></div>
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<i>Bid them gather everywhere.</i></div>
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<i><br />
</i></div>
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<i>(Refrain)</i></div>
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<br />
The second stanza may reference another of Jesus' parables about harvesting, this time set in a vineyard rather than a grain field:</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, "You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you." So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, "Why do you stand here idle all day?" They said to him, "Because no one has hired us." He said to them, "You go into the vineyard too." (Matthew 20:1-7)</blockquote>
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The point of this parable, as Jesus makes clear in the verses that follow, is the equal standing of the laborers in the sight of the master, for they all received the same daily wage at sunset. Concluding with the maxim, "So the last shall be first, and the first last" (v. 16), it reminds us that whether we give a lifetime of labor or an hour of labor in God's kingdom, the final reward--our salvation--is the result of the Master's grace, not our deserving (v. 14).<br />
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But even though it is not the main point of the parable, it is hard not to be struck by the urgency of the master's efforts to find more workers. He went to the marketplace, where unemployed men gathered to make themselves available for day labor, and hired as many as he could. Again and again he went out; he could never find enough. When he found men still waiting for work at the eleventh hour, his exclamation says it all: "Why do you stand here idle all day?" In their defense, of course, they had only just heard his offer; but does Jesus ever say that about those of us already in His vineyard? There will never be enough workers compared to the size of the task; and the old saying is true, "No one can do everything, but everyone can do something."<br />
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<i>Stanza 3:</i></div>
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<i>O thou, whom thy Lord is sending,</i></div>
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<i>Gather now the sheaves of gold;</i></div>
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<i>Heav'nward then at evening wending,</i></div>
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<i>Thou shalt come with joy untold.</i></div>
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<i><br />
</i></div>
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<i>(Refrain)</i></div>
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<i><br />
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One the greatest examples of a faithful worker in the Lord's harvest was the apostle Paul. He used this agricultural metaphor himself, speaking to the Christians in the city of Rome:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. (Romans 1:13-15 ESV)</blockquote>
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As busy as he was, Paul was always thinking ahead to a new work. At the time he wrote to Rome, he had not yet been to the great capital city, but already planned to visit there. (Little did he know that in a few years he would in fact go there, with all expenses paid, courtesy of Caesar!) His earlier letters are full of references to travel plans, and from 13th chapter on--more than half of the book--the Acts of the Apostles becomes essentially the Acts of Paul. In that second half, in fact, Luke's account of Paul's journeys gives us one of the best Mediterranean travelogues to come down to us from that era. To the Corinthians Paul would write, "For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" (1 Corinthians 9:16).<br />
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When he was arrested in Jerusalem and held for years without a trial, it must have frustrated Paul enormously to see his reach so shortened. But we know he preached where he could; even when he was supposed to be arguing his own defense in court, he preached the gospel instead. He made no inroads, so far as we know, with the jaded officials who heard his appeals; but it was not for lack of trying. He even said before the amazed king Agrippa, "I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am--except for these chains." (Act 26:29)<br />
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While in prison in Rome, Paul continued his efforts, writing to the churches and to individuals, and directing the efforts of his protégés such as Timothy and Titus. He was always one to look for what he <i>could</i> do, instead of lamenting what he could not. He wrote to the church at Philippi, for example:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear (Philippians 1:12-14).</blockquote>
Most of us would consider it a terrible situation to be under round-the-clock watch, sometimes even chained to a guard; Paul considered it a captive audience. And if Paul's enemies thought that locking him up would silence him, they must never have read his letters; indeed, very little in inspired Scripture, except for the words of the Lord Himself, reaches the grandeur and power of Paul's writings from prison. He would say to Timothy, late in his life and facing death, "I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the Word of God is not bound!" (2 Timothy 2:9).<br />
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Looking at Paul's example, we should respond as did his brethren in Rome described in the passage above, who became bolder in their preaching because of Paul's chains. Now, certainly there was nothing about seeing a brother in Christ put in prison for preaching, that would cause them to be less concerned about their own safety; but rather, their resolve was stiffened by seeing Paul's brave service under his circumstances. If Paul continued to serve under his conditions, they must have reasoned, surely the rest of us can!<br />
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We will never earn our salvation by our service in the kingdom of Christ; but just the same, we should remember that we were "bought at a price" from bondage to sin, and now serve a new Master (1 Corinthians 6:20). The harvest is passing by, day by day, and His barns are not yet full. Every day, really, we are sowing and reaping a harvest of one sort or another, based on how we spend our time and effort: "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life" (Galatians 6:9). Will we "lift up our eyes" to the Lord's harvest, and answer His "Call for Reapers"? "Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9)<br />
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<i>About the music:</i></div>
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James B. O. Clemm (1855-1927) was the town recorder in Keyser, West Virginia in the 1880s, and would certainly have been well known to Thompson, the newsman (<a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M6TM-9LN">U.S. Census, 1880</a>). He was the son of the well-known Methodist preacher William T. D. Clemm (<a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KX1T-978">J.B.O. Clemm will</a>), and was a cousin of Virginia Eliza Clemm, the wife of Edgar Allan Poe (<a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/l/e/clemm_jbo.htm">Cyberhymnal</a>). His father, in fact, preached Poe's funeral (<a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30B12F6395911738DDDAD0994DA405B8585F0D3">W.T.D. Clemm obituary</a>). James Clemm was probably born in Cumberland, Maryland where his father was assigned to preach during 1854-1855 (<i>General Minutes</i> <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=BG4zAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA328#v=onepage&q&f=false">328</a>, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=BG4zAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA499#v=onepage&q&f=false">499</a>). Keyser, West Virginia is a little over 20 miles to the southwest, just across the Potomac River. Though his father returned to Baltimore by the 1870s (as evidenced by his presence in <a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=baltimore%20city%20directory">city directories</a>), James apparently returned to the area of his birth and lived his adult life in Keyser. He was buried in the family plot in Mt. Olivet Cemetery of Baltimore (<a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KX1T-978">J.B.O. Clemm will</a>).<br />
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Clemm wrote music for a <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/person/Clemm_JBO">few other hymns</a> during the 1880s and 1890s, none of which caught on. Musically they are on a par with "Call for Reapers", written with a facile "singability". The melodies are logical and even catchy, the harmonies are easily learned, and if they are not especially memorable, they are a good deal better than the work of many other composers. The stanza of "Call for Reapers" is set in four phrases, with the familiar pattern: <i>a b a b'</i> (the 1st & 3rd phrases are identical, and the 2nd & 4th phrases differ only as much as is necessary to make the final cadences). The four-phrase refrain begins at a much higher pitch, corresponding with the dramatic plea, "Lord of Harvest! Send forth reapers!" The last two phrases of the refrain are the same as the last two phrases of the stanza, giving an overall form: <i>a b a b' / c d a b'</i>.</div>
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<i>References:</i></div>
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"Aged minister goes to reward." <i>St. Petersburg</i> <i>Evening Independent</i> 29 August 1917, p. 5.<br />
<a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tG8LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5VMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4841%2C2463908">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tG8LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5VMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4841%2C2463908</a><br />
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<i>Biennial Report of the State Board of Agriculture of West Virginia, 1905-1906</i>. Charleston, West Va.: Tribune Printing Co., 1906. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ClVNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20#v=onepage&q&f=false">http://books.google.com/books?id=ClVNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><br />
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"Death of the Rev. W. T. D. Clemm." <i>New York Times</i>,<i> </i>14 February 1895.<br />
<a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30B12F6395911738DDDAD0994DA405B8585F0D3">http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30B12F6395911738DDDAD0994DA405B8585F0D3</a><br />
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<i>The Epworth Hymnal: containing standard hymns of the Church, songs for the Sunday-School, songs for social services, songs for the home circle, songs for special occasions</i>. New York: Hunt & Eaton, 1885. <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/EHCS1885/255">http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/EHCS1885/255</a><br />
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<i>General Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church </i>(1852-1855). New York: Carlton & Phillips, 1852-1855. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=BG4zAQAAMAAJ">http://books.google.com/books?id=BG4zAQAAMAAJ</a><br />
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"Hon. J. O. Thompson." <i>Men of West Virginia</i>, 2 vols. Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, 1903, vol. 1, p. 360-361. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/menwestvirginia01compgoog#page/n366/mode/1up">https://archive.org/stream/menwestvirginia01compgoog#page/n366/mode/1up</a><br />
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"James Oren Thompson." <i>Cyberhymnal</i>. <a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/t/h/o/thompson_jo.htm">http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/t/h/o/thompson_jo.htm</a><br />
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"James Oren Thompson." <i>Hymnary.org</i>. <a href="http://www.hymnary.org/person/Thompson_JO">http://www.hymnary.org/person/Thompson_JO</a><br />
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"J. B. O. Clemm, U.S. Census, 1880." <i>Familysearch.org</i>. <a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M6TM-9LN">https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M6TM-9LN</a><br />
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"James B. O. Clemm, Maryland Probate Estate and Guardianship Files, 1796-1940." <i>Familysearch.org</i>. <a href="https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KX1T-978">https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KX1T-978</a><br />
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"James Bowman Overton Clemm." <i>Cyberhymnal</i>. <a href="http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/l/e/clemm_jbo.htm">http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/l/e/clemm_jbo.htm</a><br />
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<i>Seventeenth Maine Regiment at Gettysburg.</i> Published 1880. <a href="https://archive.org/details/seventeenthmaine00np">https://archive.org/details/seventeenthmaine00np</a></div>
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David Russell Hamrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12410543431669138559noreply@blogger.com0