Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Each Step of the Way

Praise for the Lord #130

 Words & Music: Thelma M. Jordan, 1962

Thelma M. Jordan was a gospel songwriter active during the 1960s, who published through the R. E. Winsett Company in Dayton, Tennessee, and the Stamps-Baxter publishing house in Dallas, Texas. Her songs that I have been able to discover so far are these:
In Vict'ry Songs her name is given as "Thelma O. Mullinex Jordan." The copyright entry mentioned above places her in Palestine, West Virginia in the 1960s. Based on this information, I believe she can be identified with Thelma O. Jordan (1901-1988), who is buried at the Bethesda Baptist Church Cemetery in Palestine, Wirt County, West Virginia, and also the Thelma M. Jordan recorded by the Social Security Administration with the same dates of birth and death (SSDI record). At the time she wrote these songs she was married to Lester M. Jordan, and like my own wife, sometimes used the initial of her given middle name and sometimes the initial of her maiden name.

According to the 1910 U.S. Census, Thelma was born to Jason L. and Mary J. Mullinex of Washington, West Virginia, in 1901. She married Holly Rhodes when she was 18, on 15 December 1919 (Marriage certificate). In 1930 they lived in Curtis, West Virginia, between Parkersburg and Charleston (1930 U.S. Census). According to a family group sheet at the West Virginia Pioneers site, they had three children, one of whom lived in Palestine, West Virginia, as late as the 2000s.

Thelma and Holly separated in the early 1930s; by 1932, the Polk's City Directory for Parkersburg, West Virginia, shows "Thelma O. Mullinex" boarding near the American Viscose Corporation's rayon milling plant (Ancestry.com). In the 1940 census her occupation is given as a "spooler" at the rayon plant, which employed both single and married women in a variety of roles. Holly Rhodes remarried in 1935 (Marriage certificate). I have not found a date for Thelma's marriage to Lester Jordan, but it was at least by 1937, when they were listed together in the Parkersburg city directory (p. 285, Ancestry.com). The 1940 census record for the Jordan family also indicates that an adult child from her previous marriage lived with them for a time (1940 U.S. Census). Successive Parkersburg directories showed Thelma and Lester remaining in that city at least through 1960, the latest directory examined. Since Thelma's 1968 copyright on "Only the best" was submitted from Palestine, one may assume they had retired to that more rural spot.

Thus far I have not found evidence for other Thelma Jordan songs in current use, though presumably some are in the collections published by the Brentwood-Benson company, which owns her catalog. "Each step of the way" probably came into the repertoire of the Churches of Christ in the southern U.S. by way of the Howard Publishing books, beginning with Songs of the Church in the 1970s and continuing through Songs of faith and praise.

A perennial danger of blogging through a (nearly) alphabetically arranged hymnal is the chance of coming upon two or more songs in a row with nearly identical titles and themes. My previous post on Elmo Mercer's "Each step I take" exhausted most of what I have to say on the subject of "walking with God;" but looking at Jordan's lyrics again, there is a different focus that bears examining the subject again. The CCLI page for this hymn notes 1 Corinthians 15:50-52 as somehow connected:
I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
Though I do not know whether this passage was associated with this hymn by Jordan herself or by another, it does fit with the general theme of the lyrics. Where Mercer's "Each step I take" dealt broadly with the idea of "walking with Jesus" on a day to day basis, Jordan's song is more focused on the assurance that Jesus will lead us step by step through the end of life and into His glory.

Stanza 1:
I walk with the Savior each step of the way,
I trust Him to guide me by night and by day;
Not dreading tomorrow nor what it may bring,
I'm safe in the keeping of Jesus the King.

How do you think about tomorrow? Most of us, probably, have some plan in mind; I try not to be excessively tied to a schedule, though many people like having everything planned to the minute. But regardless of our level of planning for tomorrow, James 4:13-14 reminds us,
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"--yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
The week gone by in the United States has been a solemn reminder of this fact. No one expected the famous Boston Marathon to come to an end with two bomb blasts, and the death and maiming of innocent people. My brothers and sisters in the Church of Christ in West, Texas did not expect their Bible study Wednesday night to be interrupted by a terrible industrial explosion that cost many of them their homes, and took the lives of friends and family. On Friday, as we paused to remember the bombing in Oklahoma City on 19 April 1995, I was reminded again of an acquaintance who missed his 9:00 appointment with eternity at the Murrah Federal Building that morning--because his automobile would not start. Though we have to make sensible plans and preparations for the future, we obviously cannot control what happens tomorrow. People who deny this fact are kidding themselves. Isaiah 56:12 describes them as those who say, "tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure;" but Proverbs 27:1 said long ago, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."

Among those who accept the uncertainty of tomorrow, however, there are many who follow a philosophy that is not much better: they focus only on the present, and what pleasure they can find in it. Though there is a proper contentment and gratitude to be found in receiving "our daily bread," Isaiah 22:13 identified the common abuse of this principle even in ancient times: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." That isn't much of a philosophy, and we know it. That is the principle by which my cat lives, and it is fine for her, because that is the existence God has appointed for animals. But the heavenly part of us, that image of God that is not spoiled, tugs at us and tells us there must be more to life. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:32 that, "If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'" But if we believe in a life beyond this existence, then tomorrow becomes a very different matter.

What lies ahead in that life, how do we get there, and how do we prepare? For as long as human history records, people have wondered about these matters and made their conjectures. Job 14:14 asks bluntly, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" Ecclesiastes also asks, in 3:21, "Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?" Though both these books contain statements that support an understanding of some sort of reward or punishment after this life, there were clearly many more questions than answers.

How different is the viewpoint of the Christian! Though we still cannot know, without personal experience, what it is like to pass beyond the veil between this life and the next, we know Someone who does. And here, I think, is the message of this first stanza: "Not dreading tomorrow." Whatever may happen to us in this life, if our future life is secure with Christ, we need not fear. Like Paul we can say, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Timothy 1:12). Many things in this life will fail us--riches, status, health, even family and friends--but there is one trust in which we can be certain. Jesus promises to be there "each step of the way," in this life and into the next.

Refrain:
Each step of the way, by night and by day;
Leads nearer the home eternally fair,
Where we shall meet loved ones, awaiting us there,
Who walked here with Jesus each step of the way.

The refrain reminds us that this step-by-step guidance is not just something to help us through our daily lives (though it is that as well); we are going somewhere purposefully. We "do not run aimlessly" (1 Corinthians 9:26), but instead are directed toward a goal. It is true that we do not see the goal ahead ourselves, but that is why we have a Shepherd to lead us.

 Abraham understood this when he left the sophisticated and urbane culture of ancient Ur, to take up the nomadic life of a shepherd in a land he had never seen. Hebrews 11:8-9 tells us,
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
It would be interesting to know how many friends and family members tried to talk him out of this. But the next verse from Hebrews 11 tells us why Abraham did it: "For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." In the same way, we go through life toward a goal none of us has ever seen with our own eyes; but like Abraham, we trust the One who leads us there.

Paul understood this idea too, and spoke of it often:
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 and 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--that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:8-14).
The refrain of this song also reminds us of one of the blessings of heaven that ranks among the dearest in our anticipation--reunion with the saints who have gone before. Those who followed "each step of the way" to the end of this road have become an inspiration and encouragement to us in our own walk with Jesus. Hebrews 12:1 encourages us to think this way: "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." And those who have set a good example before us, though they are still far below the greatest example, Christ, are an extra encouragement to us when we falter. As Paul said in Philippians 3:17, "Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us."

Stanza 2:
With joy we shall enter the city, up there,
Of wonderful beauty and mansions all fair;
His own shall be changed and made like Him that day,
Because we've walked with Him each step of the way.

 (Refrain)

Where is your home town? The whole concept of a "home town" is complicated to me, because I am a preacher's kid, and we moved fairly often. Each of us siblings spent early childhood in a different state, and we moved away from the town of my birth when I was six. When people ask me where I am from, I say Tulsa, Oklahoma, because that is where I attended school and grew to adulthood, but deep down I know I don't share the attachment that others feel to a place where they have always lived. I can't even imagine the attachment felt by those whose families have lived for generations in the same community.

In that sense it is perhaps easier for me to accept the truth of 1 Peter 1:17, that we are just "sojourning" in this life; but there is a place promised to the Christian that will be a permanent home. We will belong there, and we will never have to say goodbye again. John's description of the heavenly city in the 21st chapter of the Revelation gives us some idea of the beauty of the place. In verses 19-20 he lists twelve different precious stones that serve as its foundations. In verse 21 he tells us that each of the twelve gates is made of a single pearl. The dominating image, however, is that of pure reflective surfaces such as crystal or polished gold. The most pure, precious, and rare materials we know from this life are expanded to immensities that are beyond the limits of our natural world. (At the very least, it would take a prodigious oyster to produce those gates made of single pearls!)

One lesson from this description of heaven's beauty, I believe, is that not only is heaven beautiful, but it is composed entirely of the most precious and blessed things we can experience in this life. Looking at it spiritually, we have relatively few of those "golden moments" in life; we seek after "pearls of wisdom" and may have just a few treasured friends who we consider "precious gems." But the sweetest and rarest joys we know from this existence, are just an "average day" in heaven!

The other future blessing explored in this stanza is one that is even more mysterious to us. Paul hints at it in Philippians 3:20-21: "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to himself." What kind of body is it? The most extensive discussion of this idea is found in 1 Corinthians 15, the passage with which we began discussion of this hymn.
But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body (1 Corinthians 15:35-38)
One part of this I understand completely: it is a "foolish person" who expects to understand this in its entirety, and to compare it to anything in our prior experience. Paul's point, however, is simple: a seed is planted, but the end result is amazingly different. We see this all around us. Pick out the nearest tree you can see, and look at its structure: how tall is the trunk, and how much is its weight? How many branches, and of how many sizes? How many leaves? But all of this came from a seed small enough to fit in the palm of your hand (unless it is a coconut palm, of course). Something rather plain and unimpressive is replaced by something unbelievably more complex and beautiful. Paul continues a little later,
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
In Genesis 1:11 we read what Pasteur later identified as the law of biogenesis: every seed reproduces after its kind. Our fleshly bodies are mortal and limited, because we are reproduced after the "kind" of our original ancestor. In the same way, the spiritual body will be reproduced after the "kind" of its Original: "Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the Man of heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:49).

Paul brings the theme to a climax with these powerful words that have given so much comfort over so many years:
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 
When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).
In view of these promises, what should we do here and now? Paul tells us in conclusion: "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 15:58). "Each step of the way" leads us nearer to that wonderful transformation, and to that blessed home where we will be forever with our Shepherd who led us.

About the music:

Jordan's musical setting of this text is simple and functional, lending itself easily to congregational singing. The melody stays almost entirely within the range of a 6th above the tonic, and moves predominantly in stepwise motion. The soprano and alto are harmonized in parallel 3rds throughout the stanza, with the exception of just two or three notes. The bass supports the typical three-chord harmony by supplying the roots of the chords, but is saved from monotony in the stanza by walking up from dominant to tonic ("by night and by day"), and then from tonic to subdominant ("what it may bring").

The alto lead in the refrain is written in the same extremely simple style, moving almost entirely by step and remaining within a narrow range. In such a spare style of writing nearly any deviation will stick out; a melodic "hook" may be seen in the sudden leap up and stepwise descent. This occurs in the stanza with the text, "by night and by day," and again with, "nor what it may bring." It is echoed in the alto lead on the words, "eternally fair."

References:

Thelma M. Jordan song list. Brentwood, Tenn.: Music Services. http://musicservices.org/song/list/%20/0/thelma%2Bjordan

Library of Congress. Catalog of Copyright Entries. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1968, series 3, part 5 (music).
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015085477472;seq=503;num=493;view=1up

Bethesda Baptist Church Cemetery [Wirt Co., W. Va.]. Find-A-Grave.com. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=106354331&CRid=2327950&

Thelma M Jordan, 17 February 1988. United States Social Security Death Index. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J191-RW5

Jason L. Mullinex. United States Census, 1910. FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MPNH-B4B

Holly Rhodes & Thelma Mullinex marriage certificate. Vital Records Research. West Virginia Archives & History. http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.aspx?Id=11191617&Type=Marriage

Holly W. Rhodes. United States Census, 1930. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XMC7-TPY

Holly Wilson Rhodes. West Virginia Pioneers, ed. Betty Briggs. http://wvpioneers.com/getperson.php?personID=I9353&tree=WVP

Holly Rhodes & Edna Hester Knapp marriage certificate. Vital Records Research. West Virginia Archives & History. http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.aspx?Id=10263053&Type=Marriage

Lester M. Jordan. United States Census, 1940. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-27898-3630-83?cc=2000219&wc=MMYH-7BZ:n1152680990

"Each step of the way." Song Search. Christian Copyright Licensing International. http://www.ccli.com/Licenseholder/Search/SongSearch.aspx?s=1299682
Posted by David Russell Hamrick at Tuesday, April 23, 2013 0 comments

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Each Step I Take

Praise for the Lord #129

Words & Music: W. Elmo Mercer, 1953

The songwriting career of W. Elmo Mercer (b. 1932) is proof of how a little opportunity and encouragement can pay off in a huge way. His formal musical training consisted of two years of piano lessons in the 4th-5th grades. At age 14 he wrote his first gospel song, which was published by the John T. Benson company in Nashville, Tennessee; by age 19, he had a contract as a staff writer. At age 29 he became the music editor, a position he held for more than two decades. He also arranged music for the Gaithers for nearly a decade. Mercer has written more than 1,600 songs, which have been recorded by many of the most famous names in commercial gospel music (Fred Bock). So, parents, if your child asks to take piano lessons...

Mercer actually wrote "Each step I take" when he was just 19 years old, an amazing accomplishment for such a young person. And though he went on to write many other songs that have been popular, this remains the song by which he is best known. It was a commercial success, first recorded by Slim Whitman, the cowboy crooner, in 1959. It would later be covered by George Beverley Shea, Ira Stanphill, and others (Fred Bock). Of more lasting impact, however, has been its worldwide popularity for use in worship. The video below is one of many posted to Youtube by the Church of Christ in Ipoh, Malaysia; the song leader is brother Ting Kong Eyo.




Mr. Mercer has received many awards during his long career, but I can't think of a better honor to a gospel songwriter than for one of his songs to give voice to the praises of Christ on the other side of the world, more than a half century after that 19-year-old boy set pencil to paper! We greatly need to encourage musically talented young Christians (and older ones as well) to try their hands at songwriting; the blessings could be more than we imagine.

Stanza 1:
Each step I take my Savior goes before me,
And with His loving hand He leads the way.
And with each breath I whisper "I adore Thee,"
O, what joy to walk with Him each day.

One of the distinctive ideas in this song is that Jesus is not only with us, but leading us. When I think of leadership, I am reminded of some of my early work experiences on custodial cleaning crews. One of my crew chiefs considered his duties fulfilled if he sat and watched the rest of us work, usually while smoking a cigarette and swearing profusely. On my next assignment, however, I had a crew chief who worked alongside us just as hard as anyone else, setting the pace and showing us what was expected. He made his instructions clear and took time to train the new employees. Need I say which crew was the happier group, or which crew did better work? Looking at it from a different angle, it is helpful, when we have to go through a difficult or uncertain situation, just to have someone with us for moral support; but it is an even greater blessing to have someone with us who has been in the situation before and can lead us through it.

Jesus described His own style of leadership in John 10:2-4.
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.
Americans, used to herding on a larger scale, tend to think of driving livestock rather than leading them. But in the shepherding practice of ancient Palestine, a herder led his sheep, and the sheep learned from their infancy up to follow him by sight and by voice. (Odd as this sounds to those of us who have not been around sheep, research published by Kendrick et al. in Animal Behaviour, June 1995, confirms that some breeds of sheep are quite good at distinguishing faces and voices, both of their own kind and of humans.) The ancient shepherd led his sheep to good pasture and water, brought them to places of safety for rest, and protected them from harm. This is beautifully applied to God in the following passage from Ezekiel. It describes His restoration of the exiles to their homeland, but also looks forward, perhaps, to the application of this metaphor by Jesus:
For thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I, I myself will search for My sheep and will seek them out. 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 on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the Shepherd of My sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.(Ezekiel 34:11-15)
We see Jesus doing this from the beginning of His ministry; though he would later send His disciples out on their own, He first told them, "Follow me." He showed them the character He wished them to have, and gave them the teaching He wished them to teach. Every day He presented Himself as an exemplar (John 13:15) for their imitation, and through their record of His deeds and character He remains so for us today. Even His last recorded words in the gospel according to John were, "Follow Me!" (John 21:22).

This command is equally incumbent on His followers today. There are no exceptions to the Lord's statement, "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also" (John 12:26). But where else would we rather follow, than in the steps of that gentle Shepherd? He promises again, "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). Every day Jesus leads His sheep, in His infinite wisdom and love; and every day, we sheep are blessed to find light and life under His care.

Refrain:
Each step I take I know that He will guide me;
To higher ground He ever leads me on.
Until some day the last step will be taken,
Each step I take just leads me closer home.

The theme of walking with Jesus has inspired many, many songs; a search of the keyword "step" in Hymnary.org returns 802 hits. Though most of these songs have fallen by the wayside over the decades, many Christians are still familiar with "Stepping in the light" by Eliza Hewitt, "Only a step" by Charles H. Gabriel, or "One step at a time, dear Savior" by T. J. Shelton. The term "walk" results in 2,980 hits, and the term "follow" yields 1,907, giving further evidence of the prevalence of this idea.

It has strong roots in Biblical language as well. The best of the ancient Hebrews were described as those who "walked with God," such as Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Noah (Genesis 6:9). Jacob spoke of "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my Shepherd all my life long to this day."(Genesis 48:15) Perhaps it is the fact that a walk is a journey composed of many individual steps, that makes this such an appropriate metaphor; a "walk of life" is the result of many individual decisions, moment by moment. It was not a single "leap of faith" that defined these godly men, but rather their daily choices, step by step, to follow God's will.

King David spoke in these terms often in the Psalms: "My steps have held fast to Your paths; my feet have not slipped" (Psalm 17:5). He understood that the walk of a righteous person had to be according to knowledge of God's will, for when "the law of his God is in his heart, his steps do not slip" (Psalm 37:31). He also knew that it was necessary to trust in the Lord's guidance, even when the way ahead was not clear. In Psalm 26:1 he said, in a time of trial, "Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering."

David knew that it was only in God that he could walk in safety through life: "You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip" (Psalm 18:36). Was he thinking of the rocky paths through the hills around his native Bethlehem? And though David committed grave sins at one stage of his life, his character overall was one of humbly seeking to follow God's ways. It is a testimony to David's walk with God, that his descendant Josiah was thus described: "And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left" (2 Kings 22:2).

As we live day by day we will "walk" through life whether we mean to or not; it may be in a determined direction, or simply in circles, but we all will walk after some fashion. How many people are walking aimlessly, or in the wrong direction? How many people can identify with the saying of "going nowhere fast?" The image presented in Mercer's song is one of a deliberate following of Jesus, looking to His guidance, and trusting in the direction He leads. It is always in a determined progression toward "higher ground." God help us not to "turn aside to the right or to the left!"

Stanza 2:
At times I feel my faith begin to waver,
When up ahead I see a chasm wide.
It's then I turn and look up to my Savior;
I am strong when He is by my side.

 (Refrain)

 What makes our steps falter in the Christian walk? The apostle Peter gave us a lesson in this, however unwittingly, when he walked across the sea of Galilee to Jesus. Though he alone had the faith and courage to step out of the boat--for which he deserves our admiration--"when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" (Matthew 14:30). The perilous circumstances overcame his faith; even though he had been walking on the sea a moment before, his doubt and fear took over.

Fear in itself is not a bad thing; a reasonable amount of fear about the right things is healthy, and keeps us from taking senseless risks. Reasonable fear causes me to slow down when I am driving in the rain. Reasonable fear causes me to be careful handling a knife, and keeps me from petting an angry dog. But in spiritual matters, we seem habitually to fear the wrong things. Jesus told us this in the shockingly blunt statement,
I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! (Luke 12:4-5)
This is all the more powerful when we remember all the times Jesus said instead, "Be not afraid." Part of coping with fear and doubt in this life is learning to keep our attention focused on what is of eternal, not temporal concern.

But Jesus "is not unable to sympathize with our weaknesses" (Hebrews 4:15). He does what all good leaders do: He stays close to those who are following, to make sure we can see the safe path and are not left behind. In Mark 10:32-33, when the Savior began to explain to His disciples that they must go up to Jerusalem where He would be killed, "Jesus was walking ahead of them." He did not send them on any path where He was not willing to go first. And before His crucifixion, preparing them for the persecution they were about to endure, Jesus said, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you" (John 15:18).

In this way we "look up to our Savior" when we are faced with trials, and stay close to His side; we know that He has endured the same things, and is leading us through them with the assurance of One who has traveled this way before. In a passage from Hebrews that sounds very much like one of Paul's sports metaphors, we are given this picture of following Jesus:
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. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted (Hebrews 12:1-3).
If I may be permitted to extend the racing metaphor, it is as if we looked ahead in a moment of weariness at the distance yet to be run, and became discouraged. But then in the distance we see the finish line--and there is Jesus, having already finished the race, cheering us on and exhorting us not to give up. We have come too far to quit now!

Stanza 3:
I trust in God, no matter come what may,
For life eternal is in His hand.
He holds the key that opens up the way,
That will lead me to the promised land.

 (Refrain)

Perhaps Elmo Mercer was thinking of John 10:27-28, in which Jesus continues the Good Shepherd theme to its heartwarming conclusion: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand." The image of a key that opens the way to eternal life may have been borrowed from the risen Lord's words to John in the Revelation: "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the Living One. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades (Revelation 1:17-18).

We trust in Him, "no matter, come what may," because He is "the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 22:13). And when it comes to the question of the end of this mortal life, who else is there to trust? Shakespeare called what follows, "The undiscovered country, from whose bourn / No traveller returns." Whitman called it "the Unknown Region," and admitted,
I know it not, O Soul;
Nor dost thou—all is a blank before us;
All waits, undream’d of, in that region—that inaccessible land.
("Darest thou now, O soul," bk. 30, Leaves of Grass)
Though the poets offer no answers, they do at least acknowledge the question, which is more than can be said for the modern materialist worldview. But compare now the words of Paul:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
This is not the raving of a lunatic, or the wishful thinking of a man confronting oblivion; this is a reasoned answer, given within a framework of understanding our God, our existence, and the relationship between the two. "Life eternal is in His hand," because it is part of His inherent nature. But the wonderful news is that it is meant for us as well; it is this life that is the obscurity, the bad dream. In His mercy, God sent His own Son to lead us, a step at a time, "out of darkness and into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). May God help us all to follow!

About the music:

To tell the truth, this style of music is not my favorite; I am not much fan of the commercial Southern gospel style. But Mercer's song has obviously been a favorite for many decades, and I can see why. He tied the tune together in a surprising number of ways, and showed an innate skill for melody even at such a young age. 

"Each step I take" has certain musical "hooks" that give it a coherence and logic. I could not say whether or not these things are done consciously. In my own limited experience of composing, sometimes a certain turn of melody or rhythm will stick in my head as the beginning of something larger, and I will consciously develop a piece of music around that idea. It certainly seems, however, that the great melodists can do this almost without thinking; perhaps it is a level of intuitive skill in which the same process happens without conscious effort.

Whatever the answer may be to that question, there is something in the music of this song that sets it apart from the average gospel song. As I look at it more closely, I see at least two unifying features. To begin with, the first four notes of the stanza ("Each step I take") is a tonic chord outline, beginning and ending on the 5th of the chord (SOL-DO-MI-SOL). At the musical and textual climax of the refrain ("Un-til some day") there is another four-note outline of the tonic chord, but now in root position (DO-MI-SOL-DO). This may seem like a small thing, but the placement of this broad chord outline within the musical and textual structure, and its sense of fulfilling an idea stated at the very opening, creates a powerful moment.

The second recurring idea is the three-note descending chromatic line first heard in the second phrase of the stanza ("lov-ing hand"), on MI-RI-RE (G / F-sharp / F-natural). In the corresponding spot in the second phrase of the refrain ("high-er ground") there is a similar motif, SOL-FI-FA (B-flat / A-natural / A-flat). And in the last phrase of the refrain, on the textual hook "Each step I take," the idea returns on the original pitches, the same as in the stanza (MI-RI-RE or G / F-sharp / F-natural). As is so often the case, a simple reference to an earlier idea gives the music a satisfying unity, even if many singers do not appreciate the fact consciously.


References:

"Biography." Elmo Mercer Music. http://www.elmomercermusic.com/bio.html

Mercer, Elmo. Composer information page. Fred Bock Music Companies. http://www.fredbock.com/Promo.asp?page=262

Kendrick, Keith M., Khia Atkins, Michael R. Hinton, Kevin D. Broad, C. Fabre-Nys, Barry Keverne. "Facial and vocal discrimination in sheep." Animal Behaviour 49:6 (June 1995), 1665-1676.
Posted by David Russell Hamrick at Saturday, April 06, 2013 0 comments

Monday, March 25, 2013

Eternal Father, Strong to Save

Praise for the Lord #128

Words: William Whiting, 1860
Music: John B. Dykes, MELITA, 1861

As a hymnist William Whiting (1825-1878) is the classic "one-hit wonder," remembered through one well-known hymn. Though Julian lists a dozen of his hymns, a search of Hymnary.org shows that only one or two others found any degree of circulation. He also published a few minor books of poetry such as Rural Thoughts (Julian 1276).

Whiting spent his entire adult career in one employment. In 1842 (at the ripe old age of 17) he became Master of the Quiristers [choristers] at Winchester College, the oldest of the British public schools, and remained in that position until his death at the age of 52 (Leeson). Established at the founding of the college in 1382, the Quiristers are a boys' choir of sixteen voices, originally engaged for singing at college chapel services but known today for their broad repertoire of sacred and secular choral music.

During Whiting's time the master was responsible for their general education in addition to rehearsals and performances, and also served as housemaster in their separate boarding facility ("Quiristers"). It is a wonder he found time to write at all! Though they are internationally recognized today, during Whiting's time the quality of the Quiristers was varied, because the rules dictated admission according to financial need rather than musical aptitude. Still, he was well regarded by his charges, and was honored by the Old Quiristers' Association many years later by a memorial plaque in the college chapel (Page).

According to the Annotated Anthology of Hymns from Oxford Press, Whiting wrote "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" in 1860, and submitted it to the editors of the forthcoming Hymns Ancient and Modern for their consideration. The editors included it, but took considerable liberties with Whiting's lyrics, the more significant of which are addressed below. Overall, their changes made it a stronger hymn, bringing the inherent strengths of his work into sharper focus (302). They also matched it with the tune MELITA, which gave Whiting's text just the right vehicle for its unique niche in hymnody.

It was quickly adopted by the Royal Navy as the "Sailor's Hymn," sung at every Sunday service on board ship; and before long, "no. 222" in Hymns Ancient and Modern could be heard in every corner of the globe (Annotated Anthology 303). By 1879 it had caught on with the United States Navy as well, when it became the traditional closing hymn for Sunday services at the U.S. Naval Academy (HNNC). In the century-and-a-half since "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" first appeared, Whiting has received the "sincerest form of flattery" as a plethora of new stanzas have adapted the hymn to various branches of the armed services of the U.K., the Commonwealth nations, and the U.S. For a sampling of these, see Barry E. Scott's page on the Royal Navy Hymn and the article on this hymn in Wikipedia. It is traditionally sung at the funerals of naval and marine personnel; in the U.S. it is remembered  particularly for its use in the funeral services of Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy (HNNC).

Stanza 1:
Eternal Father! strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

Thanks to the availability of a digital edition of Louis Coutier Biggs's Hymns Ancient and Modern with Annotations, we can look over the shoulders of the editors as they revised Whiting's text. Sometimes a good hymn needs just a little adjustment to make it a great hymn. The first stanza originally read:

O Thou who bidd'st the ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep,
Thou who dost bind the restless wave,
Eternal Father, strong to save,
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.
(Biggs 270)

The revision is stronger in its presentation of ideas, first introducing the infinite nature of the Creator. He is "eternal," infinite in His existence, and He is "strong to save," infinite in His power and ability. The ocean is terrifying in its vastness and power, but the Eternal Father has an arm powerful enough to "bind the restless wave." Each of the succeeding stanzas begins with a similar reference to the power of the Creator over His creation.

The Annotated Anthology of Hymns from Oxford Press connects these opening four lines to Milton's Paradise Lost, book VII, lines 166-167, where the Father commands the Son: "Ride forth, and bid the deep / Within appointed bounds be heaven and earth" (Anthology 302). But as Biggs points out (270), both Milton and Whiting are actually referencing Job 38:8-11.
Who shut in the sea with doors,
When it burst forth and issued from the womb;
When I made the clouds its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling band;
When I fixed My limit for it,
And set bars and doors;
When I said, "This far you may come, but no farther,
And here your proud waves must stop!"
A related thought is expressed in Proverbs 8:29, where the personification of wisdom describes God's actions in creation, "When He assigned to the sea its limit, / So that the waters would not transgress His command."

The ancient Israelites, like most of the ancient Near Eastern cultures, viewed the sea as a dangerous, chaotic force (Cornell 1). Though the tribe of Dan was known for its ships (Judges 5:17), and the more successful kings of Judah such as Solomon (1 Kings 9-10) and Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22) engaged fleets for the Red Sea trade, ancient Israel as a whole was never a true seafaring nation. In the Hebrew Scriptures the sea is often a metaphor for loss of control to an inexorable, merciless foe:
In that day they will roar against them
Like the roaring of the sea.
(Isaiah 5:30)
They will lay hold on bow and spear;
They are cruel and have no mercy;
Their voice roars like the sea;
And they ride on horses,
As men of war set in array against you,
O daughter of Zion.
(Jeremiah 6:23)
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up" (Ezekiel 26:3). 
The sea has come up over Babylon;
She is covered with the multitude of its waves . . .
For the LORD is laying Babylon waste and stilling her mighty voice.
Their waves roar like many waters;
The noise of their voice is raised.
(Jeremiah 51:42, 55).
But God is greater than this force of His creation; Cornell's study of Job 38 goes on to show the emphasis on God as Master of the sea (Job 38:8), and even its caretaker (Job 38:9), "swaddling" the sea like an unruly infant (Cornell 9). This view is reinforced in an even greater number of passages:
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
The God of glory thunders,
The LORD, over many waters.
(Psalm 29:3)
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
He puts the deeps in storehouses.
(Psalm 33:7)
When the waters saw you, O God,
When the waters saw you, they were afraid;
Indeed, the deep trembled.
(Psalm 77:16)
Thus says the LORD,
Who gives the sun for a light by day,
The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night,
Who disturbs the sea,
And its waves roar;
The LORD of hosts is His name.
(Jeremiah 31:35)
Based on this understanding of the true relationship between the creation and the Creator, many passages use God's deliverance from the dangers of the sea as a metaphor for His ability to deliver His people from every kind of misfortune:
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
(Psalm 46:1-3)
He sent from on high, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
(Psalm 18:16)
Therefore let everyone who is godly
Offer prayer to You at a time when You may be found;
Surely in the rush of great waters,
They shall not reach him.
(Psalm 32:6)
All of these ideas come together in the beautiful prayer of penitence spoken by that most famous of ancient Hebrew seafarers, Jonah:
I called out to the LORD,
Out of my distress, and He answered me;
Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.
For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the flood surrounded me;
All Your waves and Your billows passed over me.
Then I said,
"I am driven away from Your sight;
Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple."
The waters closed in over me to take my life;
The deep surrounded me;
Weeds were wrapped about my head
At the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever;
Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.
(Jonah 2:2-6)
Thus the Bible makes the sea the servant of God; terrifying in its power, yes, but under the watchful care of One whose power makes it His tool. And where the sea is merciless and no respecter of persons, the God who created it and masters it is full of mercy and concern for His children. Here, I believe, is the message of Whiting's hymn.

It is a fine hymn, of course, for those who travel by sea, or make their living on the sea, or protect those who do so. Who knows how many sailors, and sailors' loved ones, have sung these words, whether in formal services or just between themselves and God? But I think we land-lubbers can gain from this song as well, even as we (rightly) remember those who ply the seas for our benefit and protection. Like the ancient Hebrews, we also sometimes use the chaotic danger of the ocean as a metaphor for the sudden upsets of life. We are all traveling the unknown ocean of life, and in this sense we are all "in peril on the sea;" how wonderful to know that our Eternal Father is "strong to save!"

Stanza 2:
O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walkedst on the foaming deep,
And calm amid the storm didst sleep:
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

The second stanza draws on Christ's memorable association with the Sea of Galilee and its commercial fishermen, most notably the apostles Peter, James, and John. Like all sailors, these men knew that every trip could be their last; but like all sailors, they continued to go out because they depended on that treacherous body of water for their livelihoods. They were not men who worried over a common little squall, and that fact makes the events with Jesus on Galilee all the more powerful.

The first two lines of Whiting's second stanza reference the episode of Jesus sleeping through a storm, recorded in Mark 4:35-41 (also in parallel passages in Matthew and Luke):
On that day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took Him with them in the boat, just as He was. And other boats were with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.
And they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
The second pair of lines in this stanza refer to a separate episode mentioned in Matthew 14:22-33, as well as in Mark and John. It is told in the greatest detail by Matthew:
Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds. And after He had dismissed the crowds, He went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. [Mark 6:48 tells us, significantly, "He saw that they were making headway painfully."]
And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." And Peter answered Him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to You on the water." He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Jesus immediately reached out His hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. [John 6:21 adds mysteriously, "Immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going."] And those in the boat worshiped Him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
These events have many similarities: using a boat to avoid being followed by the crowds, a storm rising up during the evening crossing, Jesus calming the storm, His reproach of the disciples' lack of faith, and their worshipful response. But the differences are equally significant: in one, Jesus is asleep in the boat, and in the other He walks across the water to the boat. And in the first instance, the disciples respond with puzzlement, asking, "Who is this?" and "What kind of man is this?"; but in the latter, they have come to understand: "Truly you are the Son of God."

Obviously these two occasions are among the most memorable and striking events of Jesus' earthly ministry; they are object lessons writ large in excitement, danger, and amazement, and for this reason are favorites of the earliest grades of Sunday School. Even the smallest child may get the basic message: Jesus is powerful, and Jesus can keep you safe. An older child might notice more of the details: "Why was Jesus asleep?" (Because He wasn't afraid), or, "Why did Jesus decide to walk on the water?" (Because He can).

As adults, we see even more: The words of Jesus are more powerful than the forces of nature, because He, after all, spoke nature into existence. Peter sank because he lost his focus on Jesus, and was overwhelmed by his fear of the immediate circumstances. Jesus criticized the disciples for their lack of faith before He calmed the storm; His presence with them was enough to protect them. We also notice the question the disciples ask after the first incident, and their answer after the latter: "Who is this? What manner of man is this?" He is the Son of God.

Men well schooled in the Hebrew Scriptures would have recognized, in these two incidents, prominent themes found throughout the poetic and prophetic books:
He stirs up the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He breaks up the storm.
(Job 26:12)
You who still the noise of the seas,
The noise of their waves,
And the tumult of the peoples.
(Psalm 65:7)
You rule the raging of the sea;
When its waves rise, You still them.
(Psalm 89:9)
The LORD on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea.
(Psalm 93:4)
And even more specific to Jesus' second miracle on Galilee:
He alone spreads out the heavens,
And treads on the waves of the sea.
(Job 9:8)
Your way was in the sea,
Your path in the great waters,
And Your footsteps were not known.
(Psalm 77:19)
A strongly associated thought, of course, is God's provision of a path through the Red Sea, and across the Jordan River:
He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up;
So He led them through the depths,
As through the wilderness.
(Psalm 106:9)
Perhaps no other passage sums up the situation better than Psalm 135:6,
Whatever the LORD pleases He does,
In heaven and in earth,
In the seas and in all deep places.
In the end, as we contemplate Jesus asleep in the boat or walking on the sea, calming the storm and bringing His disciples safely to shore, the first lesson we learned as children is still the most important: Jesus is powerful, and Jesus can keep you safe.

Praise for the Lord omits the following very fine stanza, which completes the appeals to each Person of the Trinity:

Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give for wild confusion, peace;
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

This stanza obviously refers to Genesis 1:2, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Every phrase of this interesting verse is loaded with meaning:
  • "Without form and void." Also translated "waste" and "empty," this expression in Hebrew is found in only two other instances, Jeremiah 4:23 and Isaiah 34:11, where it is used to describe the absolute disarray that followed God's judgment on sinful nations. This is the state of things, of course, where the stabilizing order of God's will is rejected, "in Whom all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17).
  • "Darkness was upon the face of the deep." It was dark, of course, because light had yet to be made; but the darkness goes with the formlessness as well, because (at least in human understanding) light communicates information: perspective, dimension, and the relationship of one thing to another, all of which was yet lacking. What there was, thus far, is described as "the deep," not just the common Hebrew term for "sea" as used later in the chapter, but the ocean depths, an abyss. There was no light, and there was really nothing to see.
  • "The Spirit of God." In Hebrew, ru'ach elohim, the "wind," "breath," or "spirit" of God, depending on context, similar to the Greek pneuma in the New Testament. The fact that this was the Spirit of God is obvious, however, from what He was doing.
  • "Moved upon the face of the waters." The Hebrew rachaph is found only seldom in the Scriptures, but its meaning is clear enough from cognates in related languages. Its most simple and literal meaning is found in Deuteronomy 32:11, describing a mother eagle that "flutters over its young" (Strong's H7363). Genesis 1:2 uses this metaphorically, just as we do in English when we say a person is "brooding" over something, when they are thinking about it with concern and intent.
Many ancient cultures believed in a primordial struggle between a creator and chaos, from which the present order of nature was established; but it is significant that in Genesis, 1) God himself is the Creator of the chaotic deep, and, 2) instead of fighting against it, God's Spirit hovers over it like a nurturing mother, preparing to bring it to mature order. Again, not only is God's power greater than that of the mighty deep, but it is His creation and His servant, to be respected but not to be feared.

Stanza 4:
O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go:
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

The final stanza was also significantly edited from its original form. It originally read:

O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest them defend,
To safety's harbour them attend.
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
(Biggs 271)

The alteration of the 3rd line not only introduces a nice parallelism, but intensifies the dangers observed. The new 4th line indicates an ongoing protection in the midst of danger, rather than a single episode of deliverance. Biggs suggests some inspiration may have been found in Isaiah 43:1-2,
But now thus says the LORD,
He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are Mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
And through the rivers,
They shall not overwhelm you;
When you walk through fire
You shall not be burned,
And the flame shall not consume you.
Whiting's hymn has much to tell all of us regarding the need to trust the Lord in the storms of life; but of course we should never forget the hymn's original purpose. Coming from Oklahoma as I do, I naturally do not share an Englishman's native attachment to the sea; but even from my home state, far inland, barges carry our grain down the rivers to the sea, and from there to ports around the world. As our world becomes smaller and more interdependent, we should remember the important service of "those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters" (Psalm 107:23), and of those who guard their safety and freedom on the seas.


U.S. Navy Sea Chanters

About the music:

This is another tune by the prolific John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876), an Anglican clergyman from Hull. Despite his later stature among Victorian hymn-tune composers, he seems never to have pursued any formal training in music. During his tenure at Durham Cathedral, however, he proved an excellent choir director and a fine organist when the need arose, and his hymn tunes were quite popular in local circles. He might have remained little known, however, had not a landmark hymnal brought him into the churches of nearly all English-speaking people: Hymns Ancient and Modern, the ubiquitous "unofficial official hymnal" of the Church of England during the Victorian era and long afterward (Hutchings & Temperley).

Dykes submitted seven of his tunes to William H. Monk, the music editor, in hopes of being included in the 1861 "first edition" (there had been smaller collections in previous years, but this was the first thorough-going edition for general use). Monk accepted all of Dykes's tunes and requested more! In all, Dykes contributed 60 tunes to the early editions of Hymns Ancient and Modern (Hutchings & Temperley). A number of his tunes can be found in hymnals used among the U.S. Churches of Christ, including BEATITUDO ("O for a closer walk with God"), LUX BENIGNA ("Lead kindly light"), ST. AGNES ("Jesus, the very thought of Thee"), and ST. SYLVESTER ("Father, hear the prayer we offer"), not to mention the perennial NICAEA ("Holy, holy, holy"). In church music traditions more closely tied to the English tradition, of course, this number is much higher!

In the 20th century there was a strong reaction against the Victorian hymn tunes, of which Dykes was one of the most prominent composers (Hutchings & Temperley). His settings were criticized in particular for their focus on harmony rather than melody; the melody of NICAEA ("Holy, holy, holy"), for example, is hardly the most flowing, ear-catching tune in the hymnal, but dressed in its accompanying harmony it is quite powerful. Ironically, it may be this very quality--Dykes's powerful harmonic writing--that causes his works to remain popular for congregational SATB singing. After listening to a few dozen of his tunes in MIDI format, I am struck by two things: 1) many of his tunes sound very much alike; and, 2) I wish we sang more of them! They are solid, well-crafted compositions that serve their purpose well.

The tune MELITA is named for the island (modern-day Malta) on which Paul and his shipmates wrecked during their journey to Rome, as recorded in Acts 27. The melody is very stately and majestic, similar to NICAEA; but unlike that other well-known tune, MELITA is unusually adventurous in its harmony. At the end of the first two phrases (which include the thrilling parallel ascent of the tenor and bass on "strong to save," possibly the best part of the hymn!), Dykes cadences on the dominant chord, just as in NICAEA. But instead of returning to the tonic, he takes a rather different turn.

In the 3rd and 4th lines of the six-line stanza, Dykes begins a rising harmonic sequence that allows him to break away from the original key: G7 > C ("bids the might-y") / A7 > D ("o-cean deep") / B7 > Emin ("its own"). The modulation to E minor is supported by the rising chromatic scale in the bass at this same point, which turns into an E minor scale on "own appoint- ed." The end of the 4th line, "li-mits keep," is a strong cadence in the key of E minor, an unusual departure in such a short hymn.

To bring us back to the home key of C major, Dykes employs the same rising harmonic sequence, only starting in a different spot: C7 > F ("hear us when we") / D7 > G ("cry to Thee"). He also puts the bass on the roots of the chords, driving home the fact that we are heading back around the circle of 5ths from D to G and finally to C, the home key. After the tense chromaticism of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th lines, the straightforward C major key in the final phrase is like the sun coming out after a storm. As far as I know there is no evidence that Dykes wrote this music with Whiting's hymn in mind; more likely William Monk, editor of Hymns Ancient and Modern, deserves credit for that "Eureka!" moment in which these words and notes came together.


 References:

An Annotated Anthology of Hymns, ed. J. R. Watson. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Biggs, Louis Coutier, ed. Hymns Ancient and Modern, with Annotations. London: Novello, 1868.

Cornell, Collin R. "God and the sea in Job 38." Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 12:18.
http://www.jhsonline.org/Articles/article_180.pdf

"'Eternal Father, Strong to Save': the Navy Hymn." Naval History & Heritage Command. 1997.

Hutchings, Arthur & Nicholas Temperley. "Dykes, John Bacchus." New Grove Online. Oxford Music Online, 2013.

Julian, John. A Dictionary of Hymnology. London: J. Murray, 1892. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015073326483

Leeson, Spencer, et al. "Proposed Memorial to William Whiting." The Musical Times 79/1143 (May, 1938), 377. Accessed via JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/922780

Page, Ann. "Winchester, The Pilgrim’s School (Quiristers)." A History of Cathedral Choir Schools. http://www.ofchoristers.net/Chapters/WinchesterQuiristers.htm

"Quiristers." Winchester College. http://www.winchestercollege.org/quiristers

Posted by David Russell Hamrick at Monday, March 25, 2013 0 comments

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Christian Hymns 1889

In 1889, the Gospel Advocate Company of Nashville, Tennessee, produced the first hymnal compiled specifically by and for members of the more conservative wing of the American Restoration Movement, the a cappella Churches of Christ. Though the division that became apparent at the beginning of the following century was not yet come to a head, even the production of this hymnal was a symptom of the troubles brewing during the closing two decades of the 1800s.

At one time there was at least in theory a common hymnal among the churches: Alexander Campbell's Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, later also known as The Christian Hymn Book. This went through several editions, but by 1865 there was a desire on the part of many to give it a complete revision. Isaac Errett, editor of the Christian Standard and owner of the prominent Standard Publishing Company in Cincinnati, led a group of leaders of the American Christian Missionary Society to persuade Campbell to turn over the hymnal to that organization. An editorial team was appointed, and all proceeds were to go to missions (McCann, 30-31).

This might have seemed ideal to them, but concerns were expressed from several quarters. J. W. McGarvey, a supporter of the ACMS and cautiously in favor of the revision, was concerned that the book would become far too large for practical purposes (see "Hymns and Hymn Books"). One of the effects of this expansion was a rise in price; in 1843 the old edition sold for 37½ cents, but the new edition was 90 cents (McCann, 29-31). Much of this change, of course, was the result of inflation during the Civil War. Using a Consumer Price Index comparison (from www.measuringworth.com), the 1843 hymnal cost $11.80 in 2013 dollars, about the median cost of the hymnals advertised in the Gospel Advocate catalog today. The 1866 hymnal was $13.20 in 2013 dollars, which would place it among the more expensive hymnals, yet hardly at the top. But to brethren facing a difficult post-war environment, especially in the ruined economy of the Southern states, the increase in price was hard to accept.

A far more serious objection, to many conservatives, was the use of the proceeds to support the ACMS. Some argued that the Missionary Society was in fact an unscriptural innovation, creating a level of church organization beyond that outlined in the Bible; others considered it a matter of expediency in itself but believed it would tend toward the same result in loss of local autonomy. Of course each congregation decided for itself whether to participate in the Missionary Society, but when purchasing the hymnal meant giving de facto funding, it seemed to some as though the "Society brethren" were coercing support through what had been a symbol of unity for many years. The fact that the revision committee included no representatives from the Southern states, where opposition to the Society was strongest, also did not help.

David Lipscomb of the Gospel Advocate in Nashville, Tennessee, was one of the most influential voices among these objectors. On 24 April 1866 he wrote, "In my judgement the church had better do without a hymn book for the next fifty years, than fasten upon herself the fatal and corrupting influence of a political organization" (quoted in Bowman 57). ("Political" may here refer to the ACMS's partisan statements during the Civil War, which rankled Lipscomb, who was a determined pacifist. Several prominent politicians did in fact emerge from the ACMS, most notably President James Garfield.) Lipscomb and Errett ended up on opposite sides of this and many other controversies in the following decades, and I will not attempt to detail this "hymnbook controversy" until I have had access to more of the primary sources; but the obvious result of this disagreement was that Lipscomb saw no future in the "common hymnal" and began to promote alternatives.

There had always been other hymnals used within the Restoration movement. Most notable during this period were the publications of the Fillmore Brothers in Cincinnati, who may have been the most influential songwriters of all among the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, as far as their impact on the gospel music genre is concerned. Another very prominent hymnal was Popular Hymns, compiled by C. C. Cline and published by Guide Publishing in Louisville, Kentucky. In its revised edition of 1883 this little book offered 332 hymns in a cheap paperback binding for 30 cents a copy, which made it appealing to Southern congregations (see back cover of the digital copy linked above). But when Guide Publishing merged with Errett's Standard Publishing, the price went up and Lipscomb stopped advertising it. In 1884 he instead opened a dialogue with Cline about compiling a new hymnal to be published by the Gospel Advocate. According to Lipscomb, Cline suggested they also bring on board Rigdon McIntosh, the music editor of the Southern Methodist Publishing House in Nashville (Gospel Advocate 24 Nov 1892, quoted in Bowman 62-63).

What happened next certainly looks bad, at least from Lipscomb's account; I would very much like to hear Cline's side of the story. What is certain is that the project was at first delayed, and then fell through completely. According to Lipscomb, James A. Harding encountered Cline in 1888 at a gospel meeting in Missouri and asked him about the progress of the hymnal. Cline informed him that he had instead arranged to publish the new hymnal with Standard Publishing in Cincinnati (Bowman 63). In fact Cline brought out two new hymnals for Standard Publishing that year, the Standard Church Hymnal and the Standard Sunday School Hymnal. Once again, I would love to hear Cline's side of this; not that I believe Lipscomb misrepresented anything, but because there may have been more to the entire story.

Lipscomb in turn took Cline's advice recruited Rigdon McIntosh, the editor of several popular gospel songbooks from the Southern Methodist Publishing House. McIntosh's biography may be read in brief in Hall's Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers. In addition to his connections through the Southern Methodist house, McIntosh was the surviving partner of the L.C. Everett Company, founded by his mentors L.C. and A.B. Everett, and thus held the copyrights of all their works. J. H. Hall described these men as the Lowell Masons of the South because of their thorough training in classical music (Hall 97). As lead editor, obviously in charge of reviewing texts for scripturalness, Lipscomb appointed his co-editor at Gospel Advocate, Elisha G. Sewell. The popular young songleader Leonard Daugherty was brought in as well, though it is hard to determine what role he played.

In recent weeks I have been able to examine a copy of the Gospel Advocate's 1889 Christian Hymns, and intend to write on it at more length, the Lord willing, in the future. From a preliminary examination, however, it appears that at least the following is true:
  • A huge proportion of the contents (as much as 80%) had previously appeared in hymnals edited by Rigdon McIntosh, most of them published by the Southern Methodist Publishing House. This is hardly surprising, since access to copyrights was a major financial hurdle.
  • Additionally, a large proportion (25%) were McIntosh's own musical settings. Ironically, the Churches of Christ sing relatively few of his songs today, most notably his setting of "Take my life and let it be" and his tune MCANALLY, sung to "Am I a soldier of the cross?" and "The gospel is for all."
  • McIntosh also included a good number of songs (16) by the Everetts, which have survived much better into the modern repertoire. Given their (and his) preference for the texts of Massachusetts poet Mary B. C. Slade, this means that her representation in the lyrics is enormous, almost 10% of the total hymnal and far more than any other author. Mary Slade & Asa B. Everett songs still sung today include: "There's a fountain free," "Who at my door is standing?," "Hark, the gentle voice of Jesus falleth," "Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling," and "Beyond this land of parting."
  • Of the 32 older hymns included without music, most of the texts match closely to the form found in the old Campbell hymnal. Distinctive text variants, peculiar to the Restoration movement, are also found in hymns such as "O Thou Fount of every blessing."
  • A significant number of hymns are included from the leading lyricists and composers of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ in that day, such as Jessie Brown Pounds, the Fillmores, Knowles Shaw, and even C. C. Cline himself.
  • About two thirds of the hymns had a living lyricist or composer at the time of publication. I would guess that probably the same proportion of hymns were written within thirty years of the date of publication. By comparison, this would be like a hymnal today in which two-thirds of the hymns had been written since 1983!
  • A surprising number of these songs have cues for a keyboard instrument; several of McIntosh's original compositions have a solo or duet in the stanza followed by SATB chorus, and have a keyboard accompaniment for the stanza. Considering that the Gospel Advocate was one of the era's strongest opponents of instrumental music in worship, this is puzzling to say the least! All of these songs could still be sung a cappella, of course, and they may not have been available in any other format.
In a future post I hope to look further into the contents of this hymnal, its relation to its competition, and its long-term impact on the repertoire of the Churches of Christ. For now, I hope readers will enjoy this look at a "virtual reconstruction" of the 1889 Christian Hymns.

Below is a transcription of the front cover, title page, and back cover of the copy of Christian Hymns located in the Music Library of the Mary Couts Burnett Library at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas.
[Cover:]

[At top of cover, stamped: PROPERTY OF FT. WORTH CHRISTIAN CHURCH]






CHRISTIAN
HYMNS

EDITED BY
E. G. SEWELL AND R. M. McINTOSH,
ASSISTED BY
LEONARD DAUGHERTY.











GOSPEL ADVOCATE PUBLISHING CO.
213 Union St., Nashvill, Tenn.

The J. M. Armstrong Co. Engs.




[Back cover:]

Christian Hymns.

Music Edition--Bound in Boards.
Single copy, postage prepaid...
$.50
Per dozen, by express, not prepaid...
$4.80
"      "       , by mail, prepaid...
$5.60
Per hundred, by express, not prepaid...
$35.00

Music Edition--Cloth.
Single copy, postage prepaid...
$.60
Per dozen, by express, not prepaid...
$6.00
"      "       , by mail, prepaid...
$6.80
Per hundred, by express, not prepaid...
$45.00

Word Edition--in Boards.
Single copy, postage prepaid...
$.20
Per dozen, by express, not prepaid...
$2.00
"      "       , by mail, prepaid...
$2.40
Per hundred, by express, not prepaid...
$12.00

Word Edition--Cloth.
Single copy, postage prepaid...
$.25
Per dozen, by express, not prepaid...
$2.75
"      "       , by mail, prepaid...
$3.10
Per hundred, by express, not prepaid...
$18.00

Specimen copy of Music Edition, either [illegible], by mail, prepaid...

$.40
Specimen copy of Word Edition, by mail, prepaid ...
$.20

GOSPEL ADVOCATE PUBLISHING CO.
213 Union Street,
NASHVILLE, TENN.


[Title page:]

CHRISTIAN HYMNS:

A COLLECTION

OF

HYMNS AND TUNES

FOR

ALL OCCASIONS

OF

CHRISTIAN WORK AND WORSHIP.

____________


EDITED BY
E. G. SEWELL AND R. M. McINTOSH.

ASSISTED BY
LEONARD DAUGHERTY.

____________


NASHVILLE, TENN:
GOSPEL ADVOCATE PUBLISHING COMPANY.



[Title page verso:]

[Copyright, 1889, by GOSPEL ADVOCATE PUB CO.]




PREFACE.

____________

     IN preparing this volume for the use both of regular worshiping assemblies and of the Lord's day school, we have earnestly striven to accomplish three important ends; first to get up a selection of hymns, the sentiment of which should be in harmony with the Word of God; and in the second place, such as should make song service instructive and edifying to all engaging therein; and thirdly, such a selection for the use of the Lord's day school as shall impart life and animation to the young, and at the same time to impress their young and tender hearts with the goodness and mercy of God and of Christ, and with the importance of an early surrender of the heart and life to the Lord. We appreciate the truth that if people would "sing with the Spirit, and with the understanding also," the songs they sing must in a good degree reflect the teaching of the Lord's word, so that they may not at any time sing sentiments that are not in agreement with revealed truth. We know moreover that deep and lasting impressions are made upon the young by the sentiment of the songs they sing; hence eternity alone can develop the extent of the good that may be done by the use of such hymns as shall impress Scripture sentiments. We have tried to include in the collection the best of the old standard hymns, giving such number and variety as will satisfy the lovers of the songs of by-gone days, and the choicest and best of the new, enough we trust to satisfy those who love the more recent style of sacred song. Song service will never cease to be impressive and instructive; not even when we sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb in the eternal home of the blest. We leave it with those who shall use this book to determine to what extent we have succeeded in our undertaking; humbly trusting that many hearts may be benefitted, elevated, purified and made glad thereby, and that sadness and gloom may be taken from many a sad and care-worn soul, and that in all the purposes for which it is intended, the blessing of the heavenly Father may rest upon it.

PUBLISHERS.

______________________________
The J. M. ARMSTRONG COMPANY,
Music Typographers,
710 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, Penna.


[Inside cover: Donated by Mrs. Ida V. Jarvis, May 1916,
to Brite College of the Bible. Date written in pencil: 1892.]


[Page numbers begin with page 3, where there is a caption title before hymn #1: "CHRISTIAN HYMNS. FIRST PART." There is a second caption title on page 131 before hymn #151.: "CHRISTIAN HYMNS. SECOND PART." There are 276 numbered hymns on pages 3-282 (no. 38 is presented twice with different tunes, bringing the actual total to 277). An index of title and first lines is included on pages 283-288.]



Below is a list of the contents of Christian Hymns 1889, with links to images of these songs from other hymnals. A few could not be located; in the case of some well known texts listed as "not found," this means I could not find that text with the same music used. The copy of Christian Hymns I have examined is in round notes, but many of these images are in shape notes.

For a more detailed description of each hymn, with links to each hymn's page at Hymnary.org when available, click here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajnby7wW6ZCidE5xOUM4TjVGOUI4YVFfeHhNOUFHaEE&usp=sharing




References:

McCann, Forrest W. "The Hymnals Of The Restoration Movement." Restoration Quarterly 19.1 (1976): 23-38.

Bowman, John. Sweetly the tones are falling: a hymnal history of Churches of Christ. Brentwood, Tenn.: Penmann Press, 1984.

Hall, F. C. Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers. New York: Revell, 1914.
http://www.archive.org/stream/biographyofgospe00hall
Posted by David Russell Hamrick at Saturday, March 16, 2013 0 comments
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