A Year of hymn stories : a primer of hymnology

BY

THE

SAME AUTHOR

THE

MUSIC AND

HYMNODY

OF THE METHODIST

HYMNAL

Crown 8vo.

Net, $1.25

A YEAR

^^1 OF fniiio^^

27 1933

HYMN STORlf^

o.rH^^''

A PRIMER OF HYMNOLOGY

BY

CARL F. PRICE

THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN

NEW YORK CINCINNATI

Copyright, 19 14, by
CARL F. PRICE

TO NATHANIEL STEELMAN GOFF,
FOR TWENTY YEARS A FAITH-
FUL SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2013

http://archive.org/cletails/fhymnstorieOOpric

preface

This little book is presented as a primer of
hymnolog}^ for the purpose of awakening among
Sunday school scholars a greater interest in our
hymns. It consists of a series of fifty-two hymn-
stories, one for each Sabbath of the year, told in
simple form without any attempt to give a critical
history of the hymns. The writer is grateful to
Professor Karl P. Harrington and the Rev. Dr.
Charles S. Nutter for helpful suggestions in the
preparation of these hymn-stories : and to Silas H.
Paine for access to his manuscripts. Some of the
stories have never before appeared in any book;
others, already well-known, have been drawn from
authoritative sources of hymnology. All of the
hymns are to be found in the new Methodist Sun-
day School Hymnal, and the number in parenthesis
following the first line of the hymn on each page of
this book refers to the number of the hymn in that
Hymnal.

Superintendents can profitably spend a few
minutes each Sunday in telling the school the story
of a hymn, preferably in their own words, adapting
to the audience the material on the printed page,
or reading it directly from this book. The story
should be followed by the singing of the hymn.
While the plan of this book follows a hypothetical
calendar, the occasional hymns will be found not
to fit the actual calendar of any year. Palm Sun-
day and Easter, for instance, are movable feasts,
and even our fixed holidays, to which certain hymns
refer, may fall nearer to some other Sabbath than
the one herein designated. Then, too, ^Missionary
Sunday sometimes falls on the fifth Sunday of the
7

8 PREFACE

month instead of the fourth ; or else regularly on
the first Sunday of the month. Therefore, the
superintendent may use his own discretion in plan-
ning the course of hymn-stories to fit the calendar
of his year, or to fulfill any other plan he may
devise.

The teacher may find it helpful to tell these
hymn-stories to his class, and thus to give
incentive to each scholar to memorize the great
hymns of the church. No one can ever measure
the influence in after-life of a hymn once fastened
in a child's memory. ^lany a sinful man has been
brought back to God by a hymn, learned in child-
hood, forcing its message upon his conscience in
some critical moment. Many a Christian has been
steadied through temptation or sorrow by such a
hymn. Let us not be derelict, therefore, in giving
our Sunday school scholars the full benefit of our
hymnodic heritage, that their lives may be enriched
by the spirit of Christian song.

Carl F. Price.

New York City, October i, 1914.

3ntrobuction

Happily the day of the irresponsible songbook is
past. With the advent of the new Methodist Sun-
day School Hymnal there has broken upon us a new
light. As we thumb its pages there dawns upon us
the consciousness that at last the church has recog-
nized the possibilities of song on the impression-
able nature when life is young, and has adapted
itself to utilize that method of spiritual conquest.
The simple dignity inherent in its mechanical
make-up allures the way to the rich fields that lie
within its covers. It appears that scarcely anything
of real value touching the needs of youth and
maturity, that might be expected in such a book, has
been ignored. The fullness of it is fountainlike —
overflowing. The wonder is that, in the relatively
small compass of less than three hundred hymns, it
is so near completeness. Its themes are diverse,
dealing with such structural truths as are essential
in the making of character and the enrichment of
life — the fact of God, God in Christ, personal ex-
perience, service, consolation. Scriptures, missions,
great days in the church, such as Christmas and
Easter, patriotism, and a long Hst of themes inter-
linked indissolubly with the symmetry of the Chris-
tian life. It has a hymn for every heart — a message
for every time of crisis — a melody for every emo-
tion.

To anyone who has given any considerable
thought to the effect of bright, sparkling, cheery
songs upon childhood and youth, rather than those
that are morbidly depressing, there will come a sense
of deep satisfaction by glancing over the titles of

10 INTRODUCTION

the hymns. Look at these luminous lines: ''Come,
let us join our cheerful songs/' 'Tairest Lord
Jesus/' **Now thank we all our God/' ''Singing for
Jesus, our Saviour and King/' "The joyful morn is
breaking/' "Hark! ten thousand harps and voices/'
"Joy, joy, immortal joy/' All these and more are
indicative of the radiant spirit that leaps up to meet
the fresh, young soul as it timidly faces the mys-
teries of life.

Richly fraught as the Hymnal is of itself, its worth
may well be emphasized. This is the happy con-
ception that lies at the heart of A Year of Hymn
Stories. To know the hymns in a crude, indifferent
way is not enough ; to sing them with no grasp of
their great meaning still fails to reach the desired
end ; frequently more must be added — a ray of
light, a touch of color, a flash of fire. What is
better than to group around a hymn here and there
an attractive cluster of illustrative material? A
Year of Hymn Stories tends to fix in one's mind
special hymns running through the year upon which
the emphasis is placed ; besides this — it is suggestive
of the importance of the Hymnal in the school.

With some hint of prophetic vision the Meth-
odist Sunday School Hymnal has been proclaimed
a lasting triumph. Not too great is the challenge
of its merit, for as a standard of hymnody it cannot
be ignored. Its spiritual message, outbreathed from
poetry of the finest lyric charm coupled w^ith a cer-
tain high musical excellence, gives it the quality of
permanence. It should become a fixed part of the
Sunday school curriculum — a musical standard of
religious instruction — an attractive aid in teaching
the wonderful truths of that Kingdom where song
itself shall have no end.

George W. Farmer.

Derry, New Hampshire.

A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES ii

Jf ir£it feunbap : ^eto gear's;

''Another year is dawning!" (263)
Frances Ridley Havergal, 1836-1879

Miss Havergal, who wrote the famous New
Year's hymn,

Another year is dawning!

Dear Master, let it be
In working or in waiting,
Another year with Thee,

spent her Hfe ^'in working and in waiting" for
the Master. In August, 1850, before she was four-
teen years old, she entered Miss Teed's school,
where the influences over her were very helpful.
The following year, she says, 'T committed my soul
to the Saviour, and earth and heaven seemed
brighter from that moment/' She earnestly strove
to make each year after that hallowed experience

Another year of service,
Of witness for Thy love.

Wherever she went in her frequent travels she
was constantly asking people whether or not they
knew the joys of salvation, and by thus being a wit-
ness she led hundreds of souls to the cross.

Another year of training
For holier work above.

Her heart was fixed upon the more glorious work,
which God has prepared for us to accomplish in
heaven. When, in 1878, she was taken seriously ill,
and was told her life was in danger, she replied :
''If I am really going, it is too good to be true!"
''Splendid ! To be so near the gates of heaven."

This hymn was written in 1874 and was first
published as a New Year's card, later in collections
of her own works, and finally in many hymn books.
It has proved to be an inspiration to thousands
standing at the threshold of a new year.

12 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

£>econti ^unbap: Cbangelisttic

*'Just as I am, without one plea" (125)
Charlotte Elliott, 1789-1871

Many unsaved souls imagine it is difficult to
come to Christ. And this at first was the thought
of Charlotte Elliott, the author of this hymn.
Shortly after she became an invalid, with a helpless-
ness lasting fifty years. Dr. Caesar Milan visited her
father and talked with her concerning her soul's
salvation. At first she rudely resented this, but
afterward repented and asked him how she might
find the way to Christ. He replied: "Dear Char-
lotte, cut the cable. It w^ill take too long to unloose
it. Cut it. It is a small loss anyway. You must
come to Christ just as you are." And so, just as
she was, she came and found the *'peace that passeth
all understanding," enabling her to bear her illness
with bravery.

Twelve years later, while everyone about her was
busy preparing for a bazaar, she was burdened with
the thought that as an invalid she was utterly use-
less herself, and brooded over this through the long
hours of the night. But the next day her faith pre-
vailed; and, remembering the words of Dr. Milan
which brought about her conversion, she took her
pen and wrote the wonderful hymn, beginning,
"Just as I am, without one plea." Later in the day
Mrs. H. V. Elliott entered the room to tell her how
the bazaar was progressing, and while there she
read the hymn and took a copy of it. The great
hymn was thus given to the world; and out of her
helplessness Charlotte Elliott wrought a blessing to
many souls that have been guided into salvation and
wonderfully strengthened by her hymn.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 13

t!rfittliS>unbap: (Cbanselisittc

"'Almost persuaded/ now to believe" (119)
Philip Bliss, 1838- 1876

In the year A. D. 62 a certain Roman citizen was
cast into prison because of a multitude of accusa-
tions against him. At his hearing before Festus he
appealed to Caesar for justice, and was held for trial
at Rome. Shortly afterward he was asked to state
his defense before King Agrippa and Bernice, who
were then visiting Festus. That defense, uttered by
Paul — for he was the accused prisoner — is found in
the twenty-sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles,
and is one of the greatest addresses to be found
in the Holy Scriptures. At the conclusion King
Agrippa said to Paul : ''Almost thou persuadest me
to be a Christian,'' to which Paul replied, 'T would
to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me
this day, w^ere both almost and altogether such as
I am, except these bonds.''

A clergyman by the name of Brundage was once
preaching upon this subject and concluded his
sermon with these solemn words :

"He who is almost persuaded is almost saved,
but to be almost saved is to be entirely lost." Philip
Bliss was present and was so deeply impressed by
these words that he wrote one of his most helpful
hymns, based on the phrase ''almost persuaded," as
a direct result of this sermon. During the Moody
revivals many souls, almost persuaded, were helped
by the appeal of this hymn to decide for Christ
before it was too late.

14 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

jFourtJ) g>unbap : iHiggionarp

"The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin" (120)
Philip Bliss, 1838-1876

Dr. S. Earl Taylor, now missionary secretary
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, has visited
Christian missions around the world, and has had
unusual opportunity to hear missionary hymns sung
in many different lands. But rarely has he ever
been so thrilled by hymn-singing, he declares, as
during an eclipse of the sun in the Orient. In India
the natives have a superstitious dread of an eclipse
of the sun. They fear that the sun is being
swallowed by a demon of some sort.

Once Dr. Taylor was in Calcutta during an eclipse
of the sun. For days before that event he saw the
city's streets crowded with pilgrims on their way
to various sacred places, w^here they hoped to wor-
ship and bathe in the Hoogly River just below the
Ganges during the time of the eclipse, expecting
thereby to ward off evil. When at last the fateful
hour of darkness arrived hundreds of thousands of
natives thronged the sacred waters, terrorized by
the eclipse and making a great clamor because they
feared that a great power of evil in the form of a
snake was about to swallow the sun-god. As Dr.
Taylor, looking from the Y. M. C. A. Building on
the heights above, witnessed this terrible evidence
of heathenish superstition, he heard a group of
native Christians singing in their meeting:

"The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin;
The Light of the world is Jesus."

The effect was thrilling ! For India's spiritual dark-
ness is due solely to the eclipse of Jesus, the Light
of the world, made by heathenism in the hearts of
her bcnic^hted millions.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 15

Jf iftl) g>unbap

"Blest be the tie that binds" (118)
John Fawcett, 1739-1817

The Rev. Dr. John Fawcett, pastor of the Baptist
church in Wainsgate, Yorkshire, had accepted a
call to a London church and had preached his fare-
well sermon, when the tender devotion of his pa-
rishioners compelled him to sacrifice his larger ambi-
tions for a career in London, and he remained with
them until his death. As a result of this expe-
rience he wrote the hymn, ''Blest be the tie that
binds."

A pale young man was once teacher of a class of
unruly girls in D. L. Moody's Sunday school. One
day he tottered into Mr. Moody's store, pale and
bloodless, and exclaimed: 'T have been bleeding at
the lungs, and they have given me up to die. I must
go away at once.'' ''But you are not afraid to die?"
asked Mr. Moody. *'No," he repHed, "but I must
soon stand before God and give an account of my
stewardship, and not one of my Sunday school
scholars has been brought to Christ."

Immediately he called on all the scholars, appeal-
ing to them to accept Christ; and for ten days he
worked and prayed with them as never before until
each member of the class was saved. On the night
when he left for the distant place, where he finally
died, says Mr. Moody, "we held a true love feast.
It was the very gate of heaven — that meeting.'' He
prayed and they prayed, and then with streaming
eyes they sang:

"Blest be the tie that binds

Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above."
Bidding each farewell at the train, the dying man
whispered that he would meet them all in heaven.

i6 A YEAR OF HYiMxN STORIES

S>txtt) ^unbap

"Be not dismayed whate'er betide,
God will take care of you" (i68)
C. D. Martin

A BLIND man was seen crossing the street at a
dangerous place in the Bronx, New York city. A
friend nearby overheard him singing softly, "God
will take care of you," and asked, ''Why are you
singing that hymn?" He replied: ''Because I must
cross this dangerous street, and maybe one of the
many wagons might strike me and I might get
killed. But the thought came to me that, even if
it did occur, my soul would go straight to God.
And if he led me across all right, it would be just
another evidence of his care of me. So I could not
help singing to myself, 'God will take care of you.'
Hallelujah!"

A little Sunday school girl once told her mother
she was never afraid to pass through a certain dark
hallway leading to their home, "because," she ex-
plained, "I simply sing, 'God will take care of you/
and I always come through safely."

This hymn was sung at each session of the State
Christian Endeavor Convention, Altoona, Pennsyl-
vania, in 19 10. At the close of one of the sessions
a man, touched by the song, inquired after salvation.
A little later some delegates, while singing this
song at their hotel, noticed several men at the door
of a nearby barroom attracted by the singing. One
had a glass of beer in his hand, which he quietly
poured into the gutter leading to the street before
the strains of the song were finished.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 17

g)cbentf) g)unbap : ^asfjinston's^ Pirtftbap

"O beautiful for spacious skies" (279)
Katharine Lee Bates, 1859-

IMiss Katharine Lee Bates, professor of Eng-
lish Literature in Wellesley College, is the author
of this hymn. She wrote it in 1893 while on a
Western tour that brought her first to the Colum-
bian Exposition in Chicago. The patriotic impres-
sions made upon her mind by the wonderful White
City she bore westward with her as she journeyed
to Colorado ; and when at last she stood on the
summit of Pike's Peak and beheld the far-spreading
panorama below and the spacious skies above, her
soul was stirred by the thought of the greatness and
the God-given destiny of America. These lines
were set ringing in her heart, and into a noble
poem she has woven the beauties of that mountain-
top vision :

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain !

Each verse is crowned with a prayer that to the
physical beauty of her native land God may add the
highest moral beauty:

America ! America !

God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea !

Horatio Parker, one of the greatest of contem-
porary American composers, wrote the music,
''America the Beautiful," to which this hymn is set ;
though it is frequently sung, and most effectively,
to the tune "Materna" (see No. 258).

i8 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

CiSdti) ^unbap : jtiiMionaxp

"Fling out the banner 1 let it float" (244)
George Washington Doane, 1799-1859

George \\^\shington Doane, once Protestant
Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey, was born the same
year in which General George Washington died —
1799. His life, which spanned the years until 1872,
was filled with remarkable activity. He graduated
at Union College in 18 18, began his ministry at
Trinity Church, New York, was a professor in
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, and later
rector of Trinity Church, Boston, when he was
elected to be Bishop of New Jersey.

Five years after he became bishop, he founded on
the banks of the Delaware River at Burlington,
New Jersey, a Protestant Episcopalian school for
girls, known as Saint Mary's Hall, about which the
best traditions of the Diocese of New Jersey have
centered. The Bishop took the liveliest interest in
the school, and watched over the destiny of his edu-
cational child with fatherly anxiety.

His successor, Bishop John Scarborough, who
inherited through his office this interest in the
school, once told the writer how Bishop Doane
came to write the famous missionary hymn, ''Fling
out the banner!'' In 1848 there was to be a flag-
raising at Saint Mary's Hall, and the girls of the
school appealed to Bishop Doane to write a song for
them to sing on that occasion. The result was the
writing of this hymn, which was sung for the first
time by the young ladies of the seminary, and has
been sung at thousands of missionary meetings
since then, to the spiritual stimulation of many souls.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 19

"Glory be to the Father" (282)

One of the most universally accepted forms of
worship among Protestants, who would praise the
Triune God in song, is the ancient "Gloria Patri."
This is, strictly within the meaning of the term, a
doxology, for a doxology is an alleluia or other ex-
pression of praise to the Three Persons of the Holy
Trinity. '*Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost" expresses the fundamental
doctrine of the Apostles' Creed, and at the same
time utters worshipful praise to God.

The story of the exact origin of the ''Gloria Patri"
is not known, though it is thought by many hymnol-
ogists to have come to us from the apostolic age.
The coming of Christ as a babe in Bethlehem was
heralded by a hymn of the angels in the first Christ-
mas gloria: ''Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will toward men." After the Last
Supper with the Saviour the apostles sang a hymn
and went out, as it is recorded in the gospel.
Hymn-singing was one of the peculiar customs of
the early Christians observed by secular writers of
that age. There is inspiration to us in the thought
that the Christians of this day make such frequent
use of the hymn to the Trinity, sung by Christians
in the apostolic age.

It is said that on May 26, A. D. 735, when his
death was approaching, The Venerable Bede, the
most eminent sacred scholar of his age, asked his
friends to carry him to that part of the room where
he usually prayed ; and there he sang the "Gloria
Patri" ; and when at last he had sung, "World with-
out end, Amen," his spirit fled to the land of eternal
Hfe.

20 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

Cent!) feunbap

**I was a wandering sheep" (143)
Horatius Bonar, 1808-1889

The Rev. Dr. Horatius Bonar, a graduate of the
University of Edinburgh, was one of the founders
of the Free Church of Scotland in 1843. He wrote
a great many hymns that are widely used. In his
hymn, 'T was a wandering sheep," he has told
the story of salvation in simple terms that a child
can understand.

Dr. Long has written an account of the revival
in a girls' school in ^Massachusetts, where many of
the girls had shown a great indifference to religion.
Among the girls who laughed at the meetings and

their results was one by the name of Helen B .

They sought to interest her in attending the prayer
meetings, but all they could do was to pray for her.
One evening, however, they w^ere surprised to see
Helen enter the meeting with eyes downcast and
face very pale. After a few hymns and prayers
each one quoted some favorite hymn verses. When
Helen's turn came there was a silence, and then she
began :

"I was a wandering sheep,
I did not love the fold.'

*'Her voice was low but distinct; and every w^ord,
as she uttered it, thrilled the hearts of the listeners.
She repeated one stanza after another of that beau-
tiful hymn of Bonar's, and not an eye, save her own,
was dry, as with sweet emphasis she pronounced
the last lines:

'No more a wayward child,
I seek no more to roam.'

That single hymn told all. The w^andering sheep,
the wayward child, had returned."

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 21

€lebent{| ^unbap

"Jesus, Lover of my soul" (167)
Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

In the Civil War of the sixties many drummer-
boys had left school to join the army. One of them,
named Tom, was called ''the young deacon," as he
was a great favorite and was respected by the sol-
diers for his religious life. Both his widowed
mother and his sister were dead, so he had gone to
war. One day he told the chaplain he had had a
dream the night before. In his sleep he was greeted
home again by his mother and little sister. ''How
glad they were!" he said. "My mother pressed me
to her heart. I didn't seem to remember they were
dead. O, sir, it was just as real as you are real
now !" 'Thank God, Tom," replied the chaplain,
"that you have such a mother, not really dead but
in heaven, and that you are hoping through Christ
to meet her again."

The following day in frightful battle both armies
swept over the same ground four times, and at night
between the two armies lay many dead and
wounded that neither dared approach. Tom was
missing; but when the battle roar was over they
recognized his voice singing, softly and beautifully,
"Jesus, Lover of my soul." When he had sung,

"Leave, ah ! leave me not alone.
Still support and comfort me,"

the voice stopped and there was silence. In the
morning the soldiers found Tom sitting on the
ground and leaning against a stump — dead. But
they knew that his "helpless soul" had found refuge
with Jesus, the Lover of the soul.

22 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

^tDelftb ^unbap

"When I survey the wondrous cross" (86)
Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

Matthew Arnold declared the greatest Chris-
tian hymn in the English language to be "When I
survey the wondrous cross." At least it is ad-
mittedly the greatest hymn of a great hymn-writer,
Isaac Watts, the father of modern English hym-
nody. He was the son of a deacon in the Independ-
ent Church, who had no sympathy with young
Watts's custom of making rhymes and verses when
a boy. At the age of eighteen Watts was one day
ridiculing some of the poor hymns then sung in the
churches, when his father said to him, sarcastically,
''Make some yourself, then.'' Accordingly, Watts
set himself, to writing a hymn, and produced the
lines beginning: ''Behold the glories of the Lamb."
That was the start of his eminent career as a hymn-
writer.

He became a clergyman, but illness compelled
him to give up the pastorate, and for thirty-six years
he remained at the home of Sir Thomas Abbey at
Theobaldo, continuing his hymn-writing, which had
reached its highest expression in this hymn, based
on Paul's words, "God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Once, after this hymn had been sung in the
Church of Saint Edmund, London, Father Ignatius
repeated to his congregation the last two lines of
the hymn impressively —

"Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all."

And he added: "Well, I am surprised to hear you
sing that. Do you know that altogether you put
only fifteen shillings in the collection bag this morn-
ing?"

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 23

aCijirteentf) g>unbap : ^alm g)unbap

"All glory, laud, and honor" (84)
Saint Theodulph, ? -821

Some of our best hymns were originally written
many centuries ago in the Latin language, and have
been brought into our English hymnody by devout
modern translators. In the year A. D. 820 Theo-
dulph, the Bishop of Orleans, was imprisoned at
Metz by King Louis, the Debonnaire, who was the
son of Charlemagne. The Bishop had been falsely
accused of disloyalty to his king, but he bore with
patience his captivity and the ignominy brought
upon him by suspicious gossipers.

While in prison his meditations were upon the
King of kings, and, taking the beautiful story of
Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem as his
theme, he wrote a Palm Sunday hymn that has sur-
vived to the Christian Church these eleven hundred
years :

All glory, laud, and honor to Thee, Redeemer, King,

To whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring.

Our translation was made by the Rev. Dr. John
Mason Neale.

An ancient tradition has it that the Bishop trained
a chorus within the cloisters to sing his hymn w4th
beautiful effect; and once they were singing it thus
while King Louis and his court were passing on
their way to the Cathedral. So enchanted was the
king by its beauty that he commanded that the
Bishop be released from his prison at once. The
following year he died; but his church canonized
him because of his preeminent piety. And to-day
he is known as "Saint Theodulph."

24 A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES

jFourteentf) ^unbap : (Easter 33ap

'The day of resurrection" (98)
John of Damascus, ? -780

Eastertide brings a worldwide joy, and its com-
ing is celebrated in many different ways. Dean
Stanley once penned a description of an Easter
celebration in the Greek Church in which the hymn,
"The day of resurrection," was sung in the original
Greek, as it was first written, and with all of its
original beauty:

"As midnight approached, the Archbishop with
his priests, accompanied by the king and queen, left
the church and stationed themselves on the plat-
form, w^hich was raised considerably from the
ground, so that they were distinctly seen by the
people. . . . Suddenly a single report from a cannon
announced that twelve o'clock had struck, and that
Easter Day had begun. Then the old Archbishop,
elevating the cross, exclaimed in a loud, exulting
tone: 'Cliristos anesti/ And instantly every single
individual of all that host took up the cry, . . . with
a shout, 'Christ is risen ! Christ is risen !'

**At the same moment the impressive darkness
was succeeded by a blaze of light from thousands
of tapers. . . . Everywhere men clasped each
other's hands and congratulated one another
and embraced with countenances beaming with de-
light, as though to each one separately some
wonderful happiness had been proclaimed ; and so
in truth it was. A.nd all the while, rising above the
mingling of many sounds, each one of which was
a sound of gladness, the aged priests were distinctly
heard chanting forth this glorious old 'hymn of
victory' in tones so loud and clear that they seemed
to have regained their youth to tell the world that
Christ is risen from the dead."

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 25

Jf ifteentf) ^unbap

'*A11 hail the power of Jesus' name!" (103)
Edward Perronet, 1726-1792

The Rev. Edward Perronet was a most devout
man, who had the courage of his convictions and
was not afraid to suffer for what he thought to be
right. He Hved in the days of the Wesleys and
was intimate with them, and the philanthropic Lady
Huntingdon was his patroness for a time. But
these friends he felt it necessary to surrender be-
cause he conscientiously differed with them on some
points of belief. His immortal hymn, ''AH hail the
power of Jesus' name/' has proved a blessing to
Protestants of all beliefs.

One of the most dramatic instances of its use was
found in the experience of the Rev. E. P. Scott in
India. His friends had urged him not to venture
near a certain barbarous inland tribe, whom he
wished to evangelize. But he went forward with
high courage, never wavering in his duty, and trust-
ing in God to protect him. When at last he reached
their country among the hills, he came upon a com-
pany of these savages. Immediately they sur-
rounded him, pointing their spears at him with
threatening scowls. He had nothing in his hands
but his violin ; and so, closing his eyes, he began
to play and sing, ''All hail the power of Jesus'
name." When at last he opened his eyes he expected
to be killed instantly. But his life had been spared
through the singing of the hymn. Their spears had
dropped, and they received him first with curiosity
and interest, and then later with eagerness, as he
told them the gospel story and won their hearts to
the will of Jesus Christ.

26 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

&>ixtttntt) ^unbap

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus!" (202)
George Duffield, Jr., 1818-1888

The hymn, *'Stand up, stand up for Jesus," was
written during the great revival of 1858, that came
to be known as ''The Work of God in Philadelphia."
It was based upon the dying words of the Rev.
Dudley A. Tyng, one of the most active ministers
in the revival. It is said that, when he preached
on March 30, 1858, at the noonday prayer meeting
in Jayne's Hall, five thousand men listened to his
sermon from the text, ''Go now, ye that are men,
and serve the Lord," and that before the close of
the meeting over a thousand expressed their purpose
to become Christians.

A few days later at "Brookfield," not far from
Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, he left his study for
a moment and went out to the barn, where a mule
w^as working, harnessed to a machine, shelling corn.
When he patted the mule on the head, his sleeve
caught in the cogs of the wheel and his arm was
frightfully torn.

After a painful but short illness, death finally
claimed him. As he was dying, his father asked
him if he had any message for his fellow ministers
in the revival. He replied, "Let us all stand up for
Jesus." That message was borne to them along with
the sorrowful news of his death. Dr. George
Dufiield, Jr., the following Sunday preached a
memorial sermon on his late friend, Tyng, taking as
his text Ephesians 6. 14; and he wrote this hymn,
based upon Tyng's dying w^ords, as a fitting climax
to the thought of his sermon.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 27

g>ebenteentf) g)unbap

"From Greenland's icy mountains" (249)
Reginald Heber, 1783- 1826

Bishop Reginald Heber, after years of longing
for the spread of the gospel in India, crowned his
career with a few years of most useful service as
Bishop of Calcutta. He made extensive visitations
among the struggling missions nearly a century ago
and ordained the first Christian native, Christian
David. At last he laid down his life, a victim of
fever, as a result of his labors in that benighted
land.

During the years of his life as rector of Hodnet,
while longing for a career in India, he wrote many
hymns, as well as other forms of literary produc-
tions, and won the respect and friendship of Milman,
Southey, and other litterateurs.

One Saturday afternoon, the day before Whit-
sunday, 1819, he was at Wrexham Vicarage with
his father-in-law, Dr. Shipley, Dean of Saint Asaph.
Dr. Shipley was planning to preach on the following
morning a sermon in aid of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and in
the evening Reginald Pleber was to begin a series
of lectures in the same church. As they sat together
with some friends the Dean asked him to write a
hymn on a missionary theme to be sung at the morn-
ing service. After Heber had retired for a while
he returned and the Dean asked him: ''What have
you written?'' Heber in reply read the first three
verses of 'Trom Greenland's icy mountains." The
Dean exclaimed that they were very satisfactory.
''No, no,'' replied Heber, "the sense is not com-
plete." And so he added one more verse — "Waft,
waft, ye winds, His story" — and the whole hymn
was sung the next morning at the service.

28 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

Ci5f)teentl) g>unbap

"O Love that wilt not let me go" (189)
George Matheson, 1842-1906

Dr. George Matheson was one of the most be-
loved clergymen in the Church of Scotland. His
writings were numerous and of a high order; but
the marvel of it all is that he was able to accom-
plish so much without his sight, for from the age of
•fifteen he was totally blind. His hymn beginning,
''O Love that wilt not let me go,'' was sung out of
his blindness and gives evidence of the courage with
which he bore his great affliction.

His own story of how he came to write the hymn
is well worth quoting: ''My hymn was composed in
the manse of Innellan on the evening of June 6,
1882. I was at the time alone. It was the day
of my sister's marriage, and the rest of the family
were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something had
happened to me, which was known only to myself ;
and which caused the most severe mental suffer-
ing. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in
my life. I had the impression rather of having it
dictated to me by some inward voice than of work-
ing it out myself."

William T. Stead quotes this letter from a cor-
respondent: ''At a time of great spiritual darkness,
when God, Christ, and heaven seemed to have gone
out of my life, ... I heard this hymn sung in a
little country chapel. The first two lines haunted
me for weeks, and at last brought light and comfort
to my dark soul."

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 29

i?ineteentf) ^unbap: iWotfjersi' 3©ap

"Now thank we all our God" (13)
Martin Rinkart, 1586-1649

The Thirty Years' War in Germany from 1618
to 1648 devastated the land and inflicted incredible
hardships on a long-suffering people. But the
German Protestants remained true to their faith
and bore their trials bravely for conscience' sake,
at last winning honorable respite from their suffer-
ings in the Peace of Westphalia, October 24, 1648.

Among the bravest of the suft'erers from the
war was the Rev. Martin Rinkart, who wrote the
hymn originally in German, "Now thank we all
our God." It is generally supposed that he wrote
it as a Te Deum of praise because of the restora-
tion of peace at the close of thirty years of horrible
strife.

Catherine Winkworth, who translated this hymn
into Enghsh, once wrote of him: "So great were
Rinkart's own losses and charities that he had the
utmost difficulty in finding bread and clothes for
his children, and was forced to mortgage 'his future
income for several years. Yet how little his spirit
was broken by all these calamities is shown by this
hymn and others that he wrote; some, indeed,
speaking of his own country's sorrows, but all
breathing the same spirit of unbounded trust and
readiness to give thanks.''

Rinkart was a skilled musician, as well as a poet ;
and, besides, he wrote seven dramas based upon
the Restoration Period which were produced at the
one hundredth anniversary of the Reformation.
But he is best known to posterity through his
hymns.

30 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

^TtDentietf) g>unbap : ^^ttMion

"Golden harps are sounding" (lOO)
Frances Ridley Havergal, 1836-1879

i\Iiss Frances Ridley Havergal was the
daughter of a clergyman of the Church of England,
the Rev. W. H. Havergal. He was both musician
and hymn-writer; and his gifted daughter, conse-
crating her life and her talents to the Master, wrote
many helpful hymns, setting some of them to her
own music, as is illustrated by the hymn, '^Golden
harps are sounding.''

Miss Anne Steele, who lived and wrote some of
the best hymns in the eighteenth century, frequently
signed her hymns with the name *'Theodosia.''
Miss Havergal has been compared with Miss Steele,
and is sometimes styled ''the Theodosia of the nine-
teenth century," so influential has her life proved
to be through her hymns as well as through her
many other good works.

The Havergal manuscripts contain the following
account of the writing of this hymn: ''When visit-
ing at Parry Barr/' Miss Havergal ''walked to the
boys' schoolroom, and being very tired she leaned
against the playground wall while Mr. Snepp went
in. Returning in ten minutes, he found her scrib-
bling on an old envelope. At his request she gave
him the hymn just penciled, 'Golden harps are sound-
ing.' Her popular tune, 'Hermas,' was composed
for this hymn."

At the age of forty-tw^o she died at Caswell Bay,
Swansea. But shortly before she passed away,
closing a life of rare usefulness in the salvation of
many souls, she gathered up her strength and sang :

"Golden harps are sounding,
Angel voices ring,
Pearly js^ates are opened . . ."

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 31

QTfcDentp-f irfiJt g>unbap : iHisiJiionarp

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun" (242)
Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

Among the many monuments of England's great-
est heroes in Westminster Abbey, London, there
stands a memorial tablet to Dr. Isaac Watts, upon
which the poet is represented with pen in hand writ-
ing at a table, and above him an angel is whispering
to him words of inspiration. Thus has England
honored the memory of the father of modern Eng-
lish hymns.

His missionary hymn, beginning ''J^sus shall
reign where'er the sun,'' has been used the world
over on missionary occasions. It was originally
entitled ''Christ's Kingdom Among the Gentiles,"
and is part of his admirable translation of the
second part of the seventy-second psalm.

Probably no instance of its use has been more
dramatic than when it was sung in one of the South
Sea Islands in 1862. The conversion of the South
Sea Islanders from cannibalism to Christianity is
one of the most brilliant pages in the history of mis-
sionary conquest. One of the tribal kings had
been with many of his people converted to Chris-
tianity, and he decided to proclaim a Christian con-
stitution for his government. Accordingly, he set
apart a certain day for the final ceremony. Over
five thousand natives of the islands of Tonga, Fiji,
and Samoa were present, rescued from the sav-
agery of heathenism; and during the ceremony they
all united their voices in singing:

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does His successive journeys run."

2,2 A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES

QTfcDentp-sJeconb S>unbap: JDecoration J3ap

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the

Lord" {27^)

Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910

Chaplain Charles C. McCabe, afterward a
bishop of the ]\Iethodist Episcopal Church, was con-
fined in Libby Prison during a part of the Civil
War. In his famous lecture on "The Bright Side
of Life in Libby Prison'' he used to tell this story
of the arrival of the news from the Battle of Gettys-
burg:

'T had a relative in Richmond, a stanch rebel.
The day they received the first tidings from Gettys-
burg he came to see me, his face wreathed in smiles :
*Have you heard the news?' 'What news?' 'Forty
thousand Yankee prisoners on their way to Rich-
mond!' I was astounded! In dumb amazement I
listened to the Confederate officers speculating
v/here the new prisoners should be stowed away,
and how they were to be fed. I went upstairs and
told the news. Despondency settled down into
every heart.

'That night as we assembled for 'family prayers'
and sang, as was always our wont, the Long-meter
Doxology, it trembled out from quavering voices up
to Him who has said, 'Glorify me in the fires.' I
slept none that night, listening wearily to the watch
calling the hours and singing out as he did so, 'All's
well.' When the day broke I waited for the foot-
steps of 'Old Ben,' a character well known to every
inmate of Libby. He was the prison news agent
and sold papers at twenty-five cents apiece. At last
his footfall came. He pushed the door ajar, looked
around for a moment on the sleepers, and then
raising his arms he shouted, 'Great news in de
papers!'

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 33

"Did you ever see a resurrection? I never did
but this once. O, how those men sprang to their
feet! And what was the news? The telegraph
operator at Martinsburg, when putting those ciphers
to the four, had cHcked the instrument once too
often. There was a mistake of thirty-six thousand!
More yet ! Lee was driven back, the Potomac was
swollen, the pontoons were washed away! I have
stood by when friends long-parted meet again with
raining tears and fond embrace, but never did I
witness such joy as swept into those strong men's
faces, where the deepest sorrow sat but a moment
before. Well, what did we do? Why, we sang;
sang as saved men do ; sang till Captains Flynn and
Sawyer, immured in the lowest dungeons below
and doomed to die within ten days, heard us and
wondered ; sang till the very walls of Libby quivered
in the melody as five hundred of us joined in the
chorus of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's 'Battle Hymn of
the Republic,' 'Mine eyes have seen the glory of the
coming of the Lord.' "

This hymn was written in 1861, at the beginning
of the Civil War in the United States, inspired
partly by the scene of troops hurrying from the
North to Southern battlefields. All during that ter-
rible struggle it was the great war song of the Union
armies.

34 A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES

(Ctoentp'tfjirb ^unbap

"Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom" (169)
John Henry Newman, 1801-1890

This prayer-hymn, cast in high poetic form, was
penned by John Henry Xewman, afterward a car-
dinal in the Roman Catholic Church, while on ship-
board on Sunday, June 16, 1833. It is said that the
ship had been compelled to proceed slowly because
of the dense fog that encompassed it. Dr. New-
man was returning to Marseilles, France, from a
visit he had made to Italy. While in Sicily he was
taken seriously ill and on his recovery he waited
for his ship in Palermo for three weeks.

Probably both of these facts entered somewhat
into the imagery of the hymn, as is evidenced by
such phrases as ''th' encircling gloom'' and ''The
night is dark, and I am far from home."

The thought and sentiment of the hymn, how-
ever, were wrought out of the mental darkness in
w^hich Newman was then groping. Some time
before, he wrote this note: "Now in my room in
Oriel College, slowly advancing, etc., and led on by
God's hand blindly, not knowing whither he is tak-
ing me." This darkness, beclouding his faith, had
become still deeper during the summer of his Italian
journey, during which he wrote "Lead, Kindly
Light." But the expression of his supreme trust in
God, which shines through these lines, so universally
popular, has helped many a soul that has yearned
for guidance "amid th' encircling gloom."

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 35

QCtoentj>=fourtfj ^unbap : Ctjilbren'j; Bap

"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild" (174)
Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

John B. Gough with a friend one day went up to
a small garret room. A feeble voice said, *'Corrie
in !" and they entered. Through the gloom they saw
a boy, ten years old, lying on a heap of chips.
''What are you doing there?" they asked. ''Hush !"
he rephed; "I am hiding." As he showed his
bruised and swollen arms, he added: "Poor father
got drunk and beat me because I would not steal.
. . . Once I went to ragged school and they taught
me 'Thou shalt not steal,' and told me about God in
heaven. I will not steal, sir, if my father kills me."

The friend said: "I don't know what to do wnth
you. Here's a shilling. I will see what we can do
for you." The boy looked at it a minute, and then
said: "But please, sir, wouldn't you like to hear my
little hymn?" They marveled that a lad suffering
from cold and hunger and bruises could sing a
hymn ; but they answered : "Yes, we will hear
you." And then in a low, sweet voice he sang,
"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild." At the conclusion
he said : "That's my little hymn. Good-by."

Next morning they mounted the stairs again,
knocking at the door, but there came no answer.
They opened the door and went in. The shilling
lay on the floor, and there too lay the boy — dead,
but with a brave smile on his face. His "Gentle
Jesus" had taken him home to heaven.

S6 A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES

*'In the cross of Christ I glory" (87)
John Bowring, 1792-1872

AMONii the hymn- writers represented in our
Sunday School Hymnal are to be found a shoe-
maker, a prisoner in bondage, an editor, several
bishops and a cardinal, a converted slave-trader, a
lawyer, a blind woman, a student, and a college
professor. None, however, bore greater distinc-
tion, or won higher glory in the public life of a
statesman, than did Sir John Bowring. He repre-
sented the English government in France at one
time. Later he was consul to Hongkong, and after-
ward governor of Hongkong. He became a great
factor in the political development of the Orient.
Twice he was a member of the British Parliament
and was knighted in 1854. Besides his distinctions
in statecraft, he won high literary honors and was
the master of thirteen different languages, having
made translations from all of them into English.

In spite of all these great earthly successes, and
in spite of the fact that he was a Unitarian by faith,
he humbled himself before the cross of Jesus Christ
and uttered his faith in the striking word-picture of
this hymn :

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time.

He lived to be over eighty years old, wTiting other
famous hymns, among them our well-known mis-
sionary hymn, ''Watchman, tell us of the night." At
length he died in 1872 at Exeter, his birthplace ; and
upon his tombstone you may read the inscription,
'Tn the cross of Christ I glory.''

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 37

W\x>tntp-9iixtit ^unbap : tlemperance

''Oft in danger, oft in woe" (217)

Henry Kirke White, 1785- 1806

Frances Sara (Fuller-Maitland) Colquhoun, 1809- 1877

Two authors are responsible for the hymn, ''Oft
in danger, oft in woe/' The first verse was written
by a young man, Henry Kirke White, who died
October 19, 1806, while still a student in Saint
John's College, Cambridge University. The other
verses were written by a fourteen-year-old girl,
Frances Sara Fuller-Maitland, who successfully
carried the spirit of White's fragmentary Hues into
the subsequent verses, first published by her mother,
Mrs. Bertha Fuller-Maitland in 1827.

White was born in Nottingham, England, March
21, 1785. Not wanting to become a butcher, like
his father, he became apprenticed to a weaver when
only fourteen years old, afterward entering a law
office. His genius as a poet began to blossom while
he was still a boy. A book of his poems that he
published at the age of seventeen showed that he
had become irreligious.

A dear friend of his, named Almond, had become
a Christian, and told White that they could no
longer associate together, because of White's scorn
of the Christian life. This hurt White so deeply
that he exclaimed: ''You surely think worse of
me than I deserve!" But Almond's courageous
stand brought White to his senses, and gradually
the young poet realized his lost condition and found
his way to the Saviour of mankind. The story of
his struggle toward the light is pictured in his hymn,
"When marshaled on the nightly plain." After his
death in college they found on some mathematical
papers his lines, beginning, "Much in sorrow, oft
in woe."

38 A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES

^toentp-siebentl) ^unbap: Snbepenbence 33ap

**My country, 'tis of thee" (274)
Samuel Francis Smith, 1808-1895

A STUDENT, twenty-three years old, studying in
Andover Theological Seminary for the Baptist min-
istry, wrote the American national hymn in less
than a half hour on the second day of February,
1832. His name was Samuel F. Smith, the author
also of *'The morning light is breaking." The words
were in part inspired by the tune we call ''America,"
which he had found in a German collection of
songs loaned to him shortly before by Lowell Mason,
that master editor of hymn-books in the early nine-
teenth century. Alason had secured the book from
William C. \\'oodbridge.

Authorities have disagreed as to where the tune
came from — whether Saxony, Russia, Sweden, or
England, in all of which countries it has been popu-
larly sung to patriotic words. Because of its strik-
ing similarity to certain ancient tunes, it has been
claimed by various writers to have come from an
old French tune or a still older Scottish carol. The
probabilities are — and on this most editors agree to-
day— that the first man to write the tune in nearly
its present form was Henry Carey, an English com-
poser, w^ho lived from 1685 until 1743. Once when
regret was expressed to Dr. Smith that his Amer-
ican national hymn is sung to the same tune as the
British hymn, he replied : 'T do not share this regret.
On the contrary, I deem it a new and beautiful bond
of union between the mother country and her
daughter." The hymn was first sung July 4, 1832,
at a children's patriotic celebration in Boston.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 39

"O say, can you see by the dawn's early light" (277)
Francis Scott Key, 1779-1843

Francis Scott Key, author of the ''Star-
Spangled Banner/' was born at Double Pipe Creek,
]\Iaryland, on the estate of his father, John Ross
Key, an officer in the Revolutionary War. He was
educated at Saint John's College, practiced law at
Frederick, Maryland, and for three terms served
as district attorney at Georgetown in the District of
Columbia under President Andrew Jackson.

During the War of 181 2 with England, Key vis-
ited the British ship, ''Minden, ' in order to secure
the release of some of the prisoners, one of them
being his friend, Dr. William Beanes, of Upper
Marlboro, Maryland. Alerely because of his sym-
pathy with the American cause. Dr. Beanes was
held by the British. Key was successful in getting
the prisoners released. But just as they were all
about to depart, the British decided not to let them
go that night because of the attack about to be made
upon Baltimore. Accordingly, they were taken on
board the frigate ''Surprise" and carried up the
Patapsco River to their own vessel, which was kept
under guard, lest they escape and give away in-
formation to their fellow countrymen. During the
battle between the ships and the forts their anxiety
was intense. And as Key walked the deck, eagerly
awaiting the dawn, which should tell him whether
or not over Fort McHenry the flag was still there,
he wrote on the back of a letter :

''O say, can you see by the dawn's early light.

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last
gleaming?"

On the rowboat that bore him shoreward in the
morning he completed the song now so famous.

40 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

Wmtntp-nintf) ^unbap

"Jerusalem the golden" (257)
Bernard of Cluny, — 12th Century

The pious monk, now known as Bernard of
Cluny, was born in the twelfth century in Morlaix,
France ; and upon maturity dedicated himself to
the service of God in the Abbey of Cluny. Whether
or not he was named after Saint Bernard of Clair-
vaux, as some suppose, it is known that he was
much younger than the author of ''Jesus, the very
thought of Thee/' From within the cloistered walls
of the Abbey the godly man looked out upon the
world about him, and w^as sick at heart to see so
much worldliness and sin in the life of the people
of his day.

As he meditated upon this sad condition, which
weighed so heavily upon his soul, he wrote in the
Latin language a great poem of three thousand
lines, entitled ''Concerning a Disdain of the World."
While it is largely a satire upon the sinful age, and
warns against the wrath to come, the poem by way
of contrast contains the most exalted passages,
expressing the poet's eager contemplation of the
glorious life awaiting the blessed in heaven. Dr.
John Mason Neale, an English clergyman and
scholar, has made exquisite translations into English
from these lines upon heaven, and from his trans-
lations, among others, has been taken our stirring
hymn, "Jerusalem the golden." It has been called
the "Hymn of heavenly homesickness," as it ex-
presses so tenderly the yearning of the devout soul
for "that sweet and blessed country."

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 41

3Rt)irtietf| ^unbap: illi£(siionarp

"O for a thousand tongues to sing" (5)
Charles Wesley, 1707- 1788

Charles Wesley, the greatest hymn-writer in
Methodist history, wrote over six thousand hymns,
some of which have attained the first rank in Eng-
lish hymnody. He and his brother, John Wesley,
admitted that they made more converts through
their hymns than through their preaching.

Charles Wesley usually celebrated each anniver-
sary of his birthday by writing a hymn of praise to
God. Little wonder, therefore, that the first anni-
versary of his conversion, his spiritual birthday,
should be celebrated by one of the most helpful
hymns in use among Methodists. The opening line
of the hymn, ''O for a thousand tongues to sing,"
is reminiscent of a remark of praise to God, once
uttered to Wesley by Peter Bohler : "Had I a thou-
sand tongues, I would praise Elim with them all."

When Charles Wesley was converted he had been
ill in bed for some time, and the fear of death had
often come into his mind. On Sunday, May 21,
1738, his brother and some friends came in and
sang a hymn. After they went out he prayed alone
for some time. In his journal we read: *'I was
composing myself to sleep in quietness and peace
when I heard one come in and say, 'In the name of
Jesus of Nazareth, arise, and believe, and thou shalt
be healed of all thine infirmities.' The words struck
me to the heart. I lay musing and trembling. With
a strange palpitation of heart, I said, yet feared to
say, T believe, I believe !' " These memories he has
woven into that wonderful third verse of the hymn :

Jesus ! the name that charms our fears.

That bids our sorrows cease ;
'Tis music in the sinner's ears,

*Tis life, and health, and peace.

42 A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES

QTftirtp'firsit ^unbap

"Glorious things of thee are spoken" (115)
John Newton, 1725-1807

When John Newton, an English preacher of the
eighteenth century, in his old age could no longer
read his texts, he was urged to give up preaching.
"What!'' said he, ''shall the old African blasphemer
stop while he can speak?'' And in these words he
correctly characterized himself as he had been be-
fore conversion. Newton could never forget that
the grace of God had rescued him from the depths
of sin. His godly mother had taught him the
Scriptures. But she died when he was only seven
years old, and at the age of eleven he went to sea
with his father. His life as a sailor was full of
exciting adventures and full of wickedness. He
became a sea captain and a slave-trader, and was
enslaved himself for a time. For years the only
good influence that he knew came through his love
for his future wife, Alary Catlett.

One frightful night, when he was twenty-three
years old, the waterlogged vessel he was steering
was almost lost. Thus facing death all night long,
he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ and turned
away from his sins. Later he came under the influ-
ence of Whitefield and the Wesleys, entered the
Christian ministry, and lived a Hfe of wide useful-
ness in the service of the Master. His influence
lives to-day chiefly in the hymns that he wrote,
many of them being first published with those of
Cowper in the "Olney Hymns" and similar collec-
tions. His hymn, ''Glorious things of thee are
spoken," which we sing to the Austrian national
tune, is one of the finest hymns of praise in the
English language.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 43

''Hark, my soul! it is the Lord" (145)
William Cowper, 173 1 -1800

William Cowper is regarded as the greatest
English poet who has contributed any consider-
able number of hymns to the wealth of our English
hymnody. His life was one of great suffering and
was tragic to a high degree. His early school life
was extremely unhappy. Later, while studying law,
he fell in love with Theodora Cowper, who was his
own cousin. His devotion to her he expressed in
several love poems. But to Cowper's great sorrow
their marriage was forbidden by her father. The
disease of melancholia fastened itself upon his
mind, and his sufferings became most acute.

Though he recovered, his life was beclouded
throughout by his mental depression, and he occa-
sionally lapsed into the most desperate forms of
melancholy.

Despite his great affliction, he wrote many of our
most beloved hymns. His association with John
Newton stimulated his interest in hymn-writing,
even though it may not have added much wholesome
cheer to his darkened soul. The hymn ''Hark, my
soul ! it is the Lord" is perhaps the tenderest that
fell from his pen. The last verse expresses simply,
but exquisitely, the anxieties and yearnings of his
spiritual hfe:

Lord, it is my chief complaint
That my love is weak and faint;
Yet I love Thee and adore :
Oh for grace to love Thee more I

44 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

"Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear" (46)
John Keble, 1792- 1866

One of the literary landmarks of the early nine-
teenth century, in sacred poetry at least, was The
Christian Year, the work of the Rev. John Keble.
A high churchman of the Church of England, he
was one of the founders of the Tractarian Move-
ment, which aimed at producing a higher spiritual
condition within the church. At one time he was
professor of poetry in Oxford University.

From his Christian Year was taken our hymn,
''Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear,'' which was
part of a long hymn entitled ''Evening."

In "Famous Hymns of the World,'' Allan Suther-
land tells this story of Keble's hymn: "In a wild
night a gallant ship went to her doom. A few
women and children were placed in a boat, without
oars or sails, and drifted away at the mercy of the
waves. Earlier in the evening, before the darkness
had quite settled down, brave men on the shore
had seen the peril of the vessel and had put out in
the face of the tempest, hoping to save human life,
but even the ship could not be found. After fruit-
less search, they were about returning to the shore,
when out on the water, and above the wail of the
storm, they heard a woman's clear voice singing:

*Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear.
It is not night, if Thou be near/

The work of rescue was quickly accomplished.
But for the singing, in all probability, this boatload
of Hves would have drifted beyond human help or
been dashed to pieces before morning."

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 45

ffif)irtp=fourtf) ^unbap: iflisfsiionarp

"The morning light is breaking" (246)
Samuel Francis Smith, 1808-1895

This missionary hymn of optimism and of chal-
lenge to the Christian Church was written in the
same year and by the same author as our national
hymn, ''My country, 'tis of thee." The author was
the Rev. Samuel Francis Smith, of whom his class-
mate in Harvard University, Dr. OHver Wendell
Holmes, wrote in the Class Poem of 1829:

And there's a fine youngster of excellent pith,
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith.

The year of its composition was 1832, w^hen the
author graduated from Andover Theological Semi-
nary, entered the Baptist ministry, and became
editor of the Baptist Missionary Magazine. Little
wonder that he should have wTitten a missionary
hymn in a year of such missionary interest to him-
self !

The hymn was first published in a hymnal that
was under preparation that same year, Hastings'
Spiritual Songs. In 1843 ^^^ author included it in
a collection of hymns entitled The Psalmist, which
he and Baron Stow prepared for American Bap-
tists— a hymenal that achieved wide popularity.

Though Dr. Smith two years later left the mis-
sionary editorship to enter the pastorate at Water-
ville, Maine, he did not lose his intense interest in
missions. And so after his pastorate in Newton,
Massachusetts, we find him editor of the publica-
tions of the Baptist Alissionary Union. Having
traveled widely among the foreign missions, Dr.
Smith w^as enabled to write that his hymn ''has been
a great favorite at missionary gatherings, and I
myself heard it sung in five or six different lan-
guages in Europe and Asia."

46 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

arf)irtp-fi(tl) g)unbap: labor feunbap

"Take my life, and let it be" (200)
Frances Ridley Havergal, 1836-1879

Of this hymn, written while visiting Areley
House, in England, 1874, the author, Frances Ridley
Havergal, once wrote : *'There were ten persons in
the house, some unconverted and long prayed for;
some converted, but not rejoicing Christians. He
gave me the prayer : 'Lord, give me all in this house/
And He just DID! Before I left the house every-
one had got a blessing. The last night of my visit,
after I had retired, the governess asked me to go
to the two daughters. They were crying, etc. Then
and there both of them trusted and rejoiced. It was
nearly midnight. I was too happy to sleep, and
passed most of the night in praise and renewal of
my own consecration; and these little couplets
formed themselves and chimed in my heart one
after another until they finished with 'Ever, onlv,
all for Thee !' "

Four years later she wrote : ''The Lord has shown
me another little step, and of course I have taken
it with extreme delight. 'Take my silver and my
gold' now means shipping off all my ornaments
(including a jewel cabinet, which is really fit for
a countess) to the Church Missionary House, where
they will be accepted and disposed of for me. I
retain only a brooch or two for daily wear, which
are memorials of my dear parents; also a locket
with the only portrait I have of my niece, who is
in heaven. But these I redeem so that the whole
value goes to the Church Missionary Society."

A YEAR OF HYAIN STORIES 47

QCl)irti>=siixtf) ^unbap

"I think, — when I read that sweet story of old" (82)
Jemima Luke, 1813-1906

Jemima Thompson^ who afterward married the
Rev. Samuel Luke, wrote this hymn in 1841. Like
many hymns, it w^as partly inspired by a tune —
in this case a Greek melody — the pathos of which
stirred the author's fancy as she read it at the
Normal Infant School at Gray's Inn Road. She
once wTOte: "I went one day on some missionary
business to the little town of Wellington, five miles
from Faunton, in a stagecoach. It was a beautiful
spring morning ; it was an hour's ride and there was
no other inside passenger. On the back of an old
envelope I wTote in pencil the first two of the verses
now so well known. . . . The third verse was
added afterward to make it a missionary hymn."

One day a newsboy in New York entered a bank
with a bundle of papers under his arrn and asked
two gentlemen sitting before a fire: 'Tapers, sirs?
Three more banks down!" *'No," repHed one of
them, ''we don't want any. But stop ! If you will
sing us a song we will buy one." The boy agreed;
and, expecting to hear a jovial song, they placed
the little ten-year-old on a table. But he surprised
them by singing, 'T think, — when I read that sweet
story of old." Soon they were both in tears. They
bought his papers and took his name and address ;
and the song of the Sunday school lad turned their
thoughts to the olden story, "When Jesus was here
among men."

48 A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES

Qrt)irtp=£(ebentf) feunbap

"A mighty fortress is our God" (22)
Martin Luther, 1483-1546

This great war song of the Reformation, written
by Alartin Luther, has heartened many a German
army going into battle, and has given courage to
many a son of Germany amid the hardships of
strange lands. It was sung every day by Luther
and his friends. Before the battle of Leipzig, Sep-
tember 17, 1631, the whole army of Gustavus
Adolphus sang the hymn.

The story is still repeated by the Germans of
Herkimer County, New York, of John Christian
Bush, who settled there with his family of six
children and founded the village of Shell's Bush.
On the afternoon of August 6, 1781, a band of In-
dians, led by Donald McDonald, a Scotch refugee,
attacked the village. Bush, who was working in
the field when they came, hurriedly assembled his
people within his block-house, all except two of
his children who were captured by the Indians.
All afternoon and far into the night they fought
furiously, Bush's wife doing valiant service in load-
ing the guns, so that the men might never be empty-
handed. Each time the Indians attacked the door
they were forced back. Once they broke down the
door, but the quick firing halted them. IMcDonald
was wounded and dragged within the fort by the
Germans, and the Indians fled. Then the patriots
sang:

"A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing."

Again the Indians attacked and again were repulsed,
while Bush and his victorious neighbors sang the
rest of the hymn as a paean of thankfulness to God
for preserving their lives in the midst of peril.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 49

(Et)irtp=eial)tfi^unbap: J^arbe^t

''Praise God, from whom all blessings flow" (281)
Thomas Ken, 1637-1710

The doxology of praise to the Holy Trinity was
written by the Rev. Thomas Ken, whom King
Charles H once made a chaplain to his sister, Mary,
Princess of Orange. Ken was so courageous in his
preaching at court that the king often said on the
way to chapel : 'T must go and hear Ken tell me my
faults. '* The king afterward made him Bishop of
Bath and Wells.

Bishop McCabe said that while the prisoners of
the Union Army during the Civil War were incar-
cerated in Libby Prison, day after day they saw
comrades passing away and their numbers increased
by living recruits. One night, about ten o'clock,
through the darkness they heard the tramp of feet
that soon stopped before the prison door, until ar-
rangements could be made inside. In the company
was a young Baptist minister, whose heart almost
fainted when he looked in those cold walls and
thought of the suffering inside. Tired and weary,
he sat down, put his face in his hands, and wept.
Just then a lone voice sang out from an upper
window, ^'Praise God, from whom all blessings
flow"; a dozen joined in the second line, more than
a score in the third line, and the words "Praise
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" were sung by nearly
all the prisoners. As the song died away on the
still night, the young man arose and sang:

"Prisons would palaces prove,

If Jesus would dwell with me there."

50 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

(Kllirtp^nintt) feunbap : QTcmperance

"What a Friend we have in Jesus" (153)
Joseph Scriven, 18201886

One of the most helpful hymns in popular use is
Joseph Scriven's hymn on the friendship of Jesus,
the comforter and burden-bearer. Scriven was a
native of Dublin, Ireland, born in 1820. He gradu-
ated from Trinity College in his native city. At the
age of twenty-five he emigrated to Canada, and
lived there until his death at Port Hope on Lake
Ontario, October 10, 1886.

When a young man, he was engaged to be married
to a lady whom he had known and loved for a long
time. All preparations had been made for the wed-
ding ceremony and the date had been fixed. But
shortly before the wedding day arrived his promised
bride was accidentally drowned, and he was plunged
into the deepest sorrow. From this sad experience
came a deep sense of his dependence upon Christ
and of the great truth so helpfully expressed in his
lines :

What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!

Out of the intense sympathy wrought in his heart by
this experience, he wrote the hymn to comfort his
mother in her own sorrow and sent it to l^er in
Ireland. How it came to be first published is not
known, as he had not intended it for general use.
Indeed, for some time after it was printed its
authorship was unknown, being sometimes incor-
rectly attributed to Dr. Horatius Bonar. After
Scriven's death, however, he became recognized as
the author of the hymn that has blessed so many
thousands of believers.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 51

Jfortietfi ^unbap: 3RaUp ©ap

"O God, my powers are Thine" (235)
Frederick Watson Hannan, 1865-

The Rev. Frederick Watson Hannan, now pro-
fessor of pastoral theology in Drew Theological
Seminary, Madison, New Jersey, was for eight years
the pastor of the Bushwick Avenue Central Meth-
odist Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, New York City,
which has a Sunday school of over thirty-three hun-
dred enrolled members. Each fall during Dr.
Hannan's pastorate there it was the custom to ob-
serve Sunday School Day as a Rally Day, when
special exercises were held not only in the school,
but also in the morning congregational service. A
sermon was preached especially to the teachers, and
a service of responsive readings was prepared, in
which the pastor and teachers took part. After the
sermxOn a consecration service for the teachers was
held, and for this service Dr. Hannan always wrote
a hymn, which was sung by the teachers as they
stood around the altar. The whole service was very
impressive.

The hymxn, *'0 God, my powers are Thine," was
the consecration hymn used on September 24, 1905,
and was especially written for that occasion. In
the Hymnal it is printed almost exactly as it was in
the weekly church calendar of that date. Now this
hymn is being used every year in similar consecra-
tion services for Sunday school teachers, for it
breathes in song the highest ideals of self-surrender
to God, which is the first condition for effective
service in the work of all truly devoted Sunday
school teachers.

52 A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES

Jfortp=firfi;t g>unbap

"Rock of Ages, cleft for me" (175)
Augustus Montague Toplady, 1 740-1778

The author, the Rev. Augustus M. Toplady, bit-
terly opposed the doctrines preached by the
Wesleys, who lived at the same time, but his sincere
Christian piety produced this great hymn, that has
become endeared to many generations of Wesleyan
followers.

Years ago the steamer Sewanhaka burned at sea.
One of the Fisk Jubilee singers was aboard. Be-
fore jumping into the sea he fastened hfe preserv-
ers on himself and his wife; but some one snatched
hers away from her. In the water, however, she
put her hands on his shoulders and thus kept afloat
until, almost exhausted, she said to her husband,
''I cannot hold on any longer!'' ''Try a little
longer,'' begged the agonized husband. ''Let us sing
'Rock of Ages.' " And as the hymn rang out over
the waves, others almost sinking took up the strains
of the pleading prayer to God. The hymn seemed
to give new strength to many in that desperate hour.
By and by a boat was seen approaching, and as it
came nearer the singing was renewed until with
superhuman efTorts they laid hold upon the life-
boats and were carried to safety. The singer, in
telling this story himself, declared that he believed
this hymn had saved many lives, besides his own
and his wife's, in that dreadful disaster.

Likewise, hundreds of stories might be told of
the saving of souls spiritually through the helpful
ministries of this, one of the greatest hymns ever
penned in the English language.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 53

jFortp=geconb ^unbap

"Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide" (53)
Henry Francis Lyte, 1793-1847

The Spirit of the walk of Christ with the dis-
ciples to Emmaus at eventide is reproduced in the
hymn, ''Abide with me." This has been sung at
the close of many a day, and, indeed, of many a
Christian life, as believers have uttered it as a
prayer for the presence of Christ. It was composed
one Sabbath evening in 1847 o^^ ^^ ^ deep sadness
that had settled down upon its author, the Rev.
Henry F. Lyte. He had conducted his last com-
munion service that day at the close of a pastorate
of twenty-four years at Brixham, England. A
fatal illness had already seized him and he was
about to leave England to prolong his life, if pos-
sible, in the South. Toward evening he walked
down his garden path to the seaside, and there
thought out the imagery and many of the lines of
his famous hymn. Into this he has woven the sense
of change and of helpfulness that one must feel in
the presence of death, and also the trustful depend-
ence upon Jesus Christ, the ''Help of the helpless,"
which every true Christian must feel in that solemn
hour. Returning to his home, he wrote out the
hymn, perfecting its lines and giving to the Chris-
tian world one of its tenderest prayer-hymns. He
left at once for the south of France, and soon
after his arrival in Nice his strength failed him, and
whispering the words "Peace! Joy!" while he was
pointing his hand upward, he died.

Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me !

54 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

jFortp-tf)irb ^unbap: iWiMionarp

"Christ for the world we sing" (247)
Samuel Wolcott, 1813-1886

The influence of a motto or slogan when used as
a rallying cry in a campaign can scarcely be meas-
ured. Many a . political election has been deter-
mined by the popularity of some striking phrase.
In many a war an army has been inspirited by a
battle cry, such as, ''On to Richmond !" We all
know^ the inspiration of the "Look up! Lift up!"
motto in Epworth League w^ork, and of "The
Evangelization of the World in this Generation"
in missionary work.

This hymn w^as suggested and partly inspired by
just such a motto, which had been adopted by the
Young Men's Christian Association of Ohio. And
at their meeting on February 7, 1869, this motto
was woven into a legend of evergreen letters over
the pulpit of the church where they met :
''CHRIST FOR THE WORLD AND THE
WORLD FOR CHRIST;'

There was a clergyman in attendance upon that
meeting, a native of South Windsor, Connecticut,
by the name of Dr. Samuel Wolcott. He had been
a missionary to Syria and also pastor of several
Congregational churches in New England and else-
where. He was nearly fifty-six years old, and
though he had not done much hymn-writing up to
that time, before he died seventeen years later he
had written over two hundred hymns. So impressed
was he on this occasion by the motto, and by all that
was said and done during the meeting to reenforce
it, that on his way home from the service, walking
through the streets, he composed the hymn, "Christ
for the world we sing."

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 55

Jf ortp=fourt}) g>unl)ia|>

"Forward ! be our watchword" (227)
Henry Alford, 1810-1871

Dean Henry Alford stood forth as one of the
^reat ecclesiastical scholars of his generation.
Twenty years of scholarly labor he devoted to his
edition of the Greek New Testament, and accom-
plished besides a great wealth of Hterary labors, in-
cluding many original hymns and translations of
hymns. Probably his most popular hymn is, "For-
ward ! be our watchword." The great Dean of
Canterbury, shortly before his death, was requested
by the Rev. J. G. Wood to write a hymn to be sung
at the tenth festival of parochial choirs of the
Canterbury Diocesan Union on June 6, 1871. His
first hymn so written did not seem to Mr. Wood to
be adaptable to processional use; and he suggested
that the Dean go into the cathedral and march up
and down the aisles, and so compose the proces-
sional hymn. Accordingly, the old Dean went into
the stately cathedral, and, slowly marching beneath
the high-vaulted roof and past the ancient shrines
of Canterbury, where many of England's greatest
men are sepulchered, he composed, while joining his
voice to his steps, the hymn,

Forward ! be our watchword,
Steps and voices joined.

It was sung by the Canterbury choirs at their
festival, but before that day had come the Dean had
passed on to the higher life, pressing

Forward through the darkness,
Forward into Hght !

56 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

Jfort|>=fiftf) ^unbap

"Come, Thou Almighty King" (i)
Author unknown

The national hymn of England, ''God save our
gracious king/' is supposed to have been published
first in 1743 or 1744. Within a couple of years,
sung to the melody to which we Americans sing
**My country, 'tis of thee,'' it attained great popu-
larity and gradually, by virtue of its widespread use,
became known as the English national hymn.

Whenever a song gains universal favor many
parodies and imitations are based upon it ; and our
hymn, ''Come, Thou Almighty King," was written
shortly afterward in imitation of "God save the
king" in both meter and style. Though it is attrib-
uted to Charles Wesley in this hymnal, the author
is really unknown.

In the days of the American Revolution a con-
gregation of patriotic colonists were worshiping in
their church on Long Island when the service was
interrupted by the arrival of a company of Hessian
troops. The captain stalked up the aisle and com-
manded the people to sing "God save the king."
The organist started the tune that we call "Amer-
ica" ; but the people, true to the cause of the Amer-
ican colonies and to their God, sang this hymn :

"Come, Thou Almighty King,
Help us Thy name to sing."

And the soldiers withdrew without enforcing their
demands.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 57

jFortp=s(ixtl) ^unbap

"He leadeth me I O blessed thought!" (177)
Joseph Henry Gilmore, 1834-

Dr. Joseph H. Gilmore, the son of a governor
of New Hampshire, began his career as pastor of a
Baptist church, later becoming professor of Hebrew
in Rochester Theological Seminary and afterward
professor of English literature in Rochester Uni-
versity, New York. In 1862, the year of his ordina-
tion, he w^as visiting in Philadelphia and conducted
the Wednesday evening prayer meeting in the First
Baptist Church of that city. He took for his subject
the Twenty-third Psalm, that most beloved hymn
from the world's first hymn book. After the meet-
ing Dr. Gilmore wrote this hymn on the text, ''He
leadeth me beside the still waters/' It came as a
result of a conversation in the home he was visiting
that evening on the theme of the prayer meeting.
Dr. Gilmore has described the occasion thus : ''Dur-
ing the conversation, the blessedness of God's lead-
ership so grev/ upon me that I took out my pencil,
wrote the hymn just as it stands to-day, handed it
to my wife, and thought no more about it. She sent
it, without my knowledge, to the JVatchman and
Recorder. Three years later I went to Rochester to
preach for the Second Baptist Church. On entering
the chapel, I took up a hymn book, thinking, 'I
wonder what they sing?' The book opened at 'He
leadeth me !' and that was the first time I knew my
hymn had found a place among the songs of the
church."

q8 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

Jf ort|>=s(ebent{) g>untiap : iHi£(£;ionarp

"Hail to the Lord's Anointed" (59)
James Montgomery, 1771-1854

James Montgomery, born in Scotland, the son
of a Moravian clergyman, was an editor by pro-
fession. Though as a child he had joined the Mo-
ravian Church, he lost his early piety when he
became a young man; but later in life he was con-
verted, and joined the Moravian Church again at
the age of forty-three. Thus, he became a Chris-
tian warrior, such as he describes, standing

In all the armor of his God;
The Spirit's sword is in his hand,
His feet are with the gospel shod.

He and Cowper hold the foremost place among
laymen of the church who are eminent hymn-
writers.

His hymn, ''Hail to the Lord's Anointed,'* he
wrote in 1821, seven years after he joined the church
a second time. It is a metrical version of the sev-
enty-second psalm. It was written as a Christmas
hymn and was first sung on Christmas Day, 1821,
at a great convocation of Moravians in their settle-
ment at Fulneck. At a Wesleyan missionary meet-
ing, held in Liverpool on April 14 of the following
year, 1822, when Dr. Adam Clarke presided, Mont-
gomery made an address and closed it by the recital
of this hymn with all of its verses, some of which
are omitted in this hymnal. Dr. Clarke later used
it in his famous Commentary in connection with
his discussion of the seventy-second psalm.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 59

jFortp=eiaf)tf) ^unbap: ^ftanfesiffibinB

"We plow the fields, and scatter" (271)
Matthias Claudius, 1740- 181 5

From the German have been translated many of
our richest hymns. Most of John Wesley's hymns
in use among Methodists are those he has trans-
lated from German hymns, and chiefly those express-
ing the mystical faith of the Moravians. This
harvest hymn of thanksgiving, *'We plow the fields,
and scatter/' was translated from the German hymn
of Matthias Claudius by Miss Jane Montgomery
Campbell in 1861. She was the daughter of an
English clergyman, and he was the son of a German
clergyman. Claudius lived to be seventy-four years
old and died in 1815, two years before Miss Camp-
bell was born.

This hymn w^as freely translated from a portion
of a longer poem of seventeen verses with chorus.
It appeared first in a sketch called Paul Erdmann's
Feast It was represented as the song that was sung
at Paul's home by the peasants after the harvest
was over.

As may be inferred from this hymn, there was a
wholesome cheer in the author's wTitings as well as
in his life, and this in spite of the fact that he was
not unaccustomed to hardships. Menzel has said
of him that his genius never reached its fullest de-
velopment because he was constantly harassed by
his poverty. But he was a man of great piety, and
his influence for good was very considerable. Me
chose to dwell upon the blessings with which God
enriches us, and from his very heart he sang:

"We thank Thee, then, O Father,

For all things bright and good."

6o A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

jFortp^nJntf) g>unbap

*'The God of Abraham praise" (23)
Thomas Olivers, 1725-1799

Thomas Olivers, when a boy orphaned and
friendless, fell into the company of bad companions
and won the reputation of being ''the worst boy in
that country in thirty years/' As a man, he learned
the trade of a shoemaker, but continued in his
wicked ways, until at last the preaching of White-
field got hold upon his soul, stirring him with a
message from the text, ''Is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire?"

Olivers became converted, and immediately set
about helping the Wesleys in the work of plucking
other brands from the fire. He assisted in setting
up type for the Wesleyan publications, he became
an efficient preacher and, as is evidenced by this
wonderful hymn, a hymn-writer of a high order.

One night in London, he was attracted to a serv-
ice in a Jewish synagogue, where he heard a great
singer, Leoni, sing an ancient Hebrew melody in
the solemn, plaintive mode and he became impressed
with a desire to write a hymn to that tune. The re-
sult was our hymn, "The God of Abraham praise,"
which is in a sense a paraphrase of the ancient
Hebrew Yigdal, or doxology, though Olivers gave
to it a distinctly Christian flavor.

The story is told of a young Jewess who had
been baptized into the Christian faith, and in con-
sequence was abandoned by her family. She fled to
the home of the minister, poured out her heart to
him, and as if to show that, after all, her joy in
her new-found Saviour was greater than all her
loss of home and family, she sang, "The God of
Abraham praise.''

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 6i

Jf ittietj) g>unbap

"Nearer, my God, to Thee" (i8o)
Sarah Flower Adams, 1805-1848

Benjamin Flower in 1798 published an article
in the Cambridge Intelligencer, attacking the atti-
tude of Bishop Watson toward the French Revolu-
tion, and so offended the reverend gentleman that
Flower was cast into prison. Among those who
visited him in prison to sympathize with him was
Miss Eliza Gould, who met him there for the first
time. After his release they were married. Their
youngest child, Sarah, became Mrs. Sarah Flower
Adams; and by that name she is known as the
author of ''Nearer, my God, to Thee."

In 1 841, deeply impressed by the story in Genesis
of Jacob's vision at Bethel of the ladder to heaven
with angels ascending and descending thereon, she
wrote her hymn that has since become so univer-
sally popular and helpful.

The Rev. Dr. Millard F. Troxell tells of the expe-
rience of a group of tourists, cloud-bound on the
summit of Pike's Peak, huddled about the fireplace
in the block-house : 'Tt was suggested that we sing
some popular melody. A voice began one of the
many sentimental songs of the day, but few knew
enough of it to join in, so the singer was left to fin-
ish it alone. Then some one began to sing softly,
'Nearer, my God, to Thee,' and before the second
line was ended it seemed as if all who had been
strangers now felt at home ; and, for the time-being,
the place seemed like a very Bethel." Before long
the mists rolled away and ^'before us stretched the
most wonderful of views."

This hymn is remembered as the dying prayer of
our martyred President McKinley.

62 A YEAR OF HYMX STORIES

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*'Hark I the herald angels sing" (6i )
Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

The only hymn of Charles Wesley's that has been
admitted to the Book of Common Prayer of the
Church of England is this Christmas hymn. This
is true in spite of the fact that, as an ordained
clergyman of that denomination, he was the great-
est hymn-writer ever produced by the Church of
England. But, of course, Charles Wesley and his
brother, John Wesley, belong to Methodism as well.
Until death came to them they remained clergymen
of the Established Church. The great religious
movement founded by John Wesley, and inspired
by the hymns of Charles Wesley, and known there-
fore as the Wesleyan Revival, was intended to
quicken the spiritual work of their church. But,
besides doing this, it developed into organized Meth-
odism as a separate church, and as such has proved
to be a tremendous religious force in the world.

This Christmas hymn was first written in 1739
and first published the same year in Hymns and
Sacred Poems by John and Charles Wesley, their
first joint hymnal; and it began with the lines:

Hark ! how all ^he welkin rings,
Glory to the King of kings.

Many revisions have been made in the original
hymn, some of which are contained in our Sunday
School Hymnal. This hymn has been more widely
published in hymn books than any other by Charles
Wesley, and is one of the most beloved hymns in
the English language. It gives such clear utter-
ance in poetic form to the doctrines of the incarna-
tion that the full meaning of the birth of Christ
fairly sings its way into the hearts and memories
of those who worship.

A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES 63

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"God be with you till we meet again" (41)
Jeremiah Eames Rankin, 1828- 1904

Dr. Rankin, a native of New Hampshire and a
graduate of Middlebury College, for many years
held the pastorates successively of several promi-
nent Congregational churches in New England and
Washington, D. C, until 1889, when he became
president of Howard University.

While pastor of a Congregational church in
Washington, D. C, he became so impressed with the
etymology of the farewell greeting, ''good-by,"
which really means ''God be with you," that he de-
termined that a hymn should be wrought out of
this beautiful idea. So he came to write "God be
with you till we meet again."

When he had written the first stanza he sent it to
two different composers, one quite famous, the
other little known, each of whom wrote a tune for
it. He chose the tune of the latter, W. G. Tom.er,
who was then teaching school in Washington. Dr.
Rankin submitted it to his organist, J. W. Bishoff,
a musical editor, and Bishoff approved of it, making
certain changes in it. In the words of the author:
''It was sung for the first time one evening in the
First Congregational Church, in Washington, of
which I was then the pastor and Mr. Bishoff the
organist. I attributed its popularity in no little part
to the music to which it is set. It was a wedding
of words and music."

God himself alone knows how many, many times
this hymn has been sung on parting by friends, who
have never again met upon this earth. But no hap-
pier farewell can be uttered by Christians than the
simple wish, "God be with you till we meet a^ain."

64 A YEAR OF HYMN STORIES

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PAGB

A mighty fortress is our God 48

Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide 53

All glory, laud, and honor 23

All hail the fwwer of Jesus' name! 25

"Almost persuaded." now to believe 13

Another year is dawning! II

Be not dismayed whate'er betide 16

Blest be the tie that binds 15

Christ for the world we sing 5^

Come, Thou Almighty King 55

Fling out the banner! let it float 18

Forward ! be our watchword 55

From Greenland's icy mountains 27

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild 35

Glorious things of thee are spoken 42

Glory be to the Father 19

God be with you till we meet again 63

Golden harps are sounding 30

Hail to the Lord's Anointed 58

Hark, my soul 1 it is the Lord 43

Hark! the herald angels sing 62

He leadeth me ! O blessed thought ! 57

I think, — when I read that sweet story of old 47

I was a wandering sheep 20

In the cross of Christ I glory 36

Jerusalem the golden 40

Jesus, Lover of my soul 21

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 31

Just as I am, without one plea 12

Lead, kindly Light, amid th* encircling gloom 34

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord 32

My country, 'tis of thee 38

Nearer, my God, to Thee 61

Now thank we all our God 29

O beautiful for spacious skies 17

O for a thousand tongues to sing 41

O God, my powers are Thine 51

O Love that wilt not let me go 28

O say, can you see by the dawn's early light 39

Oft in danger, oft in woe 37

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow 49

Rock of Ages, cleft for me 52

Stand up, stand up for Jesus! 26

Sun of my soul. Thou Saviour dear 44

Take my life, and let it be 46

The day of resurrection, 24

The God of Abraham praise 60

The morning light is breaking 45

The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin 14

We plow the fields, and scatter 59

What a Friend we have in Jesus 50

When I survey the wondrous cross 22