Skip to main content

Full text of "The Methodist hymn-book illustrated"

See other formats 


k  y 

**  J    1 I ' 


THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK 
ILLUSTRATED 


THE 

METHODIST  HYMN-BOOK 
ILLUSTRATED 


JOHN   TELFORD,   B.A. 

AUTHOR  OF 

THE  LIFE  OP  JOHN  WESLEY,'  'THE  LIFE  OF  CHARLES  WESLEY 
'THE  STORY  OF  THE  UFFER  ROOM.'  ETC. 


Honfcon 
CHARLES    H.    KELLY 

2   CASTLE   ST.,   CITY   ROAD,    AND  26   PATERNOSTER   ROW,   B.C. 


BV 
415. 


T4- 


PRINTED    BY 

WILLIAM   CLOWES  AND   SONS,    LIMITED. 
LONDON   AND   BECCLES. 


PREFACE 


THK  preparation  of  such  a  volume  as  this  is  surrounded  by 
problems.  The  writer  makes  no  claim  to  have  solved  all  of 
them,  or  to  have  escaped  mistakes  and  errors.  He  has  had 
the  advantage  of  following  a  host  of  diligent  workers  in  such 
fields,  and  to  them  he  is  under  deep  obligation.  The  Dictionary 
of  Hymnology  has  been  constantly  at  his  side,  and  to  that 
unapproached  masterpiece  he  owes  a  debt  on  every  page. 
Mr.  G.  J.  Stevenson's  Methodist  Hymn-Book  has  often  sug 
gested  an  illustrative  incident ;  Mr.  S.  W.  Duffield's  English 
Hymns :  their  Authors  and  History,  kindly  lent  him  by  an 
old  friend,  the  Rev.  John  Rcacher,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  E. 
Gregory's  fascinating  Fernley  Lecture,  The  Hymn-Book  of  the 
Modern  Church,  have  been  of  great  service.  The  writer 
would  also  acknowledge  his  obligation  to  Mr.  F.  A.  Jones's 
Famous  Hymns  and  their  Authors j  the  Rev.  John  Brownlie's 
Hymns  and  Hymn-  Writers  of  '  The.  Church  Hymnary]  and 
other  books,  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  following  pages. 

Mr.  W.  T.  Brooke,  the  expert  in  hymnology,  began  the 
preparation  of  such  a  volume  as  this,  and  his  notes  have  helped 
the  writer  in  various  ways,  epecially  in  dealing  with  the 
problems  of  the  text  and  authorship  of  some  well-known 
hymns. 

The  plan  of  the  present  work  was  fixed  by  the  desire  to 
make  it  a  Companion  to  the  Hymn-Book.  The  introductory 
sections  on  'Wesley  Hymns  and  Hymn-Books'  and  'The 
Hymns  of  the  Christian  Church'  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  found 
useful  to  those  who  wish  to  gain  fuller  information  on  these 
subjects  than  it  was  possible  to  give  under  individual  hymns. 
The  area  covered  is  so  wide  that  it  has  been  necessary  to  deny 
oneself  the  luxury  of  extended  exposition  or  comment.  Any 
corrections,  facts,  or  hints  as  to  famous  uses  of  hymns  will 
be  welcomed  by  the  writer. 

January,  1906. 


'  Psalmody,  which  had  been  neglected  in  England  beyond 
what  some  readers  would  suppose,  the  Wesleys  took  up  from 
the  beginning,  with  a  clear-sighted  view  of  its  importance,  and 
with  a  zeal  that  ensured  success.  Methodism  never  could  have 
become  what  it  did  without  its  unparalleled  hymn-book.  That, 
perhaps,  has  been  more  effective  in  preserving  its  evangelical 
theology  than  Wesley's  Sermons  and  his  Notes  on  the  New 
Testament.  Where  one  man  read  the  homilies  and  the  ex 
position,  a  thousand  sang  the  hymns.  All  divisions  in  Chris 
tendom  have  a  stamp  imprinted  on  their  piety,  by  which  they  are 
easily  known.  As  to  the  fervour  of  Methodism,  there  can  be  no 
mistake ;  and  it  is  owing  largely  to  the  concrete  and  personal 
character  of  its  psalmody.  It  does  not  deal  in  the  calm,  in 
tellectual  contemplation  of  abstract  themes,  however  sacred  and 
sublime  ;  but  in  the  experience  of  believers,  as  soldiers  of  Christ, 
"fighting,"  "watching,"  "suffering,"  "working,"  and  "seeking 
for  full  redemption."  You  catch  in  them  the  trumpet-blast,  the 
cry  of  the  wounded,  the  shout  of  victory,  and  the  dirge  at  a 
warrior's  funeral.' 

DR.  STOUGHTON, 

Religion  in  England  in  1800-1850. 


CONTENTS 

fAGE 

INTRODUCTORY- 
WESLEY  HYMNS  AND  HYMN-BOOKS    ....          I 

THE  HYMNS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH        .  .      1 8 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  HYMNS  AND  THEIR  WRITERS  .      59 

ORIGINAL  SOURCES  OF  THE  WESLEY  HYMNS        .  .    497 

ALPHABETICAL  INDEX  TO  THE  HYMNS  .        .       .  .501 

INDEX  OF  AUTHORS .    523 

GENERAL  INDEX -5^7 


'  There  is  no  exercise  that  I  had  rather  live  and  die  in,  than 
singing  praises  to  our  Redeemer  and  Jehovah,  while  I  might  in 
the  Holy  Assemblies,  and  now  when  I  may  not,  as  Paul  and 
Silas,  in  my  bonds,  and  my  dying  pains,  which  are  far  heavier 
than  my  bonds.  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  praise  and  supplications 
first,  and  lastly,  my  departing  soul.  Amen.' 

RICHARD  BAXTER, 
Preface  to  Version  of  the  Psalms,  1692. 


THE 

METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK 
ILLUSTRATED 

INTRODUCTORY 


I 
WESLEY   HYMNS   AND    HYMN-BOOKS 


j- 


JOHN  WESLEY  is  the  father  of  Methodist  hymnody.  On  his 
voyage  to  Georgia  in  1735  ^e  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  quiet 
courage  of  the  German  emigrants  on  board.  He  refers  in  his 
Journal  to  the  way  in  which  they  calmly  sang  on  when  a 
great  sea  broke  over  the  vessel  at  the  time  they  were  holding 
service.  He  began  to  learn  German  three  days  after  he  went 
on  board  the  Simmonds  off  Gravesend,  'in  order  to  converse 
with  the  Germans,'  and  gave  his  mornings  from  nine  to  twelve 
to  this  study.  He  was  drawn  into  very  intimate  relations  with 
the  Moravians,  both  on  board  ship  and  at  Savannah.  He 
translated  many  of  their  hymns  '  for  the  use  of  our  own  con 
gregations.'  In  1 737,  Lewis  Timothy  printed  for  him  at  Charles- 
town  a  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  which  marks  the  birth 
of  Methodist  hymnody".^  Charles  Wesley  had  sailed  for  England 
in  October,  1736,  so  that  he  had  no  share  in  this  little  book. 
Its  existence  was  unknown  till  1878,  when  a  copy  was  purchased 
in  London  for  a  few  shillings.  Some  years  after  it  was  sold  for 
^5.  and  in  1894  £24  was  refused  for  it  at  a  sale  by  auction. 
Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  W.  T.  Brooke,  of  Hackney,  to 
whom  the  discovery  of  this  treasure  was  due,  a  reprint  was 
made  in  1882.  £ft  contains  forty  pieces  for  Sunday,  twenty  for 
Wednesday  or  Friday,  and  eighteen  (counting  each  part  as  a 
psalm  or  hymn)  for  Saturday.  Half  the  contents  are  from  Dr. 


2  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Watts ;  seven  from  John  Austen ;  six  are  based  on  Herbert's 
poems.  The  Watts  selection  includes — 

Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne. 

I'll  praise  my  Maker  while  I've  breath. 

Praise  ye  the  Lord  :   'tis  good  to  raisj. 

Awake,  our  souls ;  away,  our  fears. 

And  must  this  body  die  ? 

Come,  ye  that  love  the  Lord. 

O  Thou  that  hear'st  when  sinners  cry. 

With  joy  we  meditate  the  grace. 

How  sad  our  state  by  nature  is  ! 

The  three  hymns  by  Samuel  Wesley  junior  to  God  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  are  included,  and  his  father's 
'  Behold  the  Saviour  of  mankind.'  There  are  five  translations 
from  the  German — 

No.  14.  Thou  Lamb  of  God,  Thou  Prince  of  Peace. 
16.  O  God,  Thou  bottomless  abyss. 
20.  My  soul  before  Thee  prostrate  lies. 
26.  Jesu,  to  Thee  my  heart  I  bow. 
40.  O  Jesu,  Source  of  calm  repose. 

and  two  hymns  from  Addison — 

When  all  Thy  mercies,  O  my  God. 
The  spacious  firmament  on  high. 

Canon  Ellerton  says  Wesley's  voyage  to  Georgia  was  me 
morable  '  as  a  turning-point  in  the  history  of  English  hymnody.' 
The  Oxford  Methodists  soon  became  friendly  with  their 
Moravian  fellow  passengers.  '  John  Wesley's  impressible  nature 
was  especially  touched  by  the  bright  faith  and  humble,  cheerful 
piety  of  these  good  people,  who  sang  their  beloved  Lutheran 
hymns  day  by  day  through  the  most  tempestuous  weather. 
It  was  the  first  time  that  Anglicans  and  Lutherans,  singers  of 
psalms  and  singers  of  hymns,  had  worshipped  and  travelled 
together  in  familiar  intercourse  ;  and  one  of  the  results  of  their 
fellowship  undoubtedly  was  the  large  extent  to  which  hymn- 
singing  entered  into  the  devotions  of  the  future  Methodist 
Societies.' 

'  Hereby  my  passage  is  opened  to  the  writings  of  holy  men 
in  the  German,  Spanish,  and  Italian  tongues.  I  hope,  too, 
some  good  may  come  to  others  thereby.'  That  is  Wesley's 
description  of  one  of  the  benefits  conferred  on  him  by  the 
mission  to  Georgia. 


WELSEY  HYMNS  AND    HYMN-BOOKS  3 

In  1738,  after  his  return  to  England,  John  Wesley  published 
a  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns  (i2mo,  84  pp.,  %d.  stitched). 
In  this  appeared  his  version  from  the  Spanish — 

O  God,  my  God,  my  all  Thou  art ; 

and  from  the  German — 

Thou,  Jesu,  art  our  King. 

Shall  I,  for  fear  of  feeble  man. 

All  glory  to  the  eternal  Three. 

Thou  hidden  love  of  God,  whose  height. 

O  Thou,  to  whose  all-searching  sight. 

Dr.  Watts  and  the  New  Version  are  drawn  upon  freely,  and 
Bishop  Ken's  three  hymns  are  included. 

Up  to  this  moment  Charles  Wesley  had  been  silent.  His 
poetic  genius  really  awoke  on  Whit  Sunday,  1738,  when  he  found 
the  rest  of  faith.  In  the  previous  March  he  had  a  serious 
illness  at  Oxford,  and  on  his  recovery  wrote  two  tender  hymns. 
One  of  these,  now  omitted  from  the  Methodist  hymn-book,  may 
be  described  as  the  first-fruits  of  his  work — 

God  of  my  life,  what  just  return 
Can  sinful  dust  and  ashes  give  ? 

I  only  live  my  sin  to  mourn  ; 
To  love  my  God  I  only  live  ! 

After  his  conversion,  all  the  springs  of  Charles  Wesley's  nature 
burst  into  song.  The  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems  published  by 
John  and  Charles  Wesley  in  1739  is  a  I2mo  volume,  pp.  xvi, 
223.  It  consists  largely  of  selections  from  Gambold  and  Herbert. 
Charles  Wesley's  two  hymns  above  mentioned  are  included, 
and — 

Father  of  Lights,  from  whom  proceeds. 

Lord,  I  despair  myself  to  heal. 

Jesu,  the  sinner's  Friend,  to  Thee. 

Jesu !    my  great  High-priest  above. 

The  second  part  marks  the  beginning  of  Charles  Wesley's 
strength.  It  opens  with  the  Conversion  hymn,  'Where  shall 
my  wondering  soul  begin  ? '  and  soon  passes  into  a  realm  of 
pure  gold. 

Here  are  found — 

Thee,  O  my  God  and  King. 

O  Filial  Deity. 

And  can  it  be,  that  I  should  gain. 


4  THE   METHODIST  HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Glory  be  to  God  on  high. 

O  Thou,  who  when  I  did  complain. 

Eternal  Beam  of  Light  divine. 

My  God,  if  I  may  call  Thee  mine. 

Peace,  doubting  heart — my  God's  I  am. 

Arise,  my  soul,  arise,  Thy  Saviour's  sacrifice ! 

Saviour,  the  world's  and  mine. 

Jesu,  my  God  and  King. 

Servant  of  all,  to  toil  for  man. 

Summon'd  my  labour  to  renew. 

Then  follows  the  bevy  of  Festival  Hymns,  of  which  three  are 
immortal — 

Hark,  how  all  the  welkin  rings. 
Sons  of  men,  behold  from  far. 
Christ  the  Lord  is  risen  to-day. 
Hail  the  day  that  sees  Him  rise. 
Granted  is  the  Saviour's  prayer. 

Besides  some  already  published,  the  following  translations 
by  John  Wesley  are  included  : 

O  Thou,  who  all  things  canst  control. 

Jesu,  whose  glory's  streaming  rays. 

Into  Thy  gracious  hands  I  fall.. 

Commit  thou  all  thy  griefs. 

Monarch  of  all,  with  lowly  fear. 

O  God,  what  offering  shall  I  give? 

Jesu,  Thy  boundless  love  to  me. 

O  God,  of  good  the  unfathomed  sea. 

O  God  of  God,  in  whom  combine. 

Lo,  God  is  here  !  let  us  adore. 

O  Thou,  whom  sinners  love,  whose  care. 

Eternal  depth  of  love  divine. 

Thee  will  I  love,  my  strength,  my  tower. 

Come,  Saviour  Jesu,  from  above  (from  A.  Bourignon). 

Methodism  had  now  found  its  sacred  poet.    We  turn  over 
the  leaves  of  this  volume,  feeling  that — 

The  rock  is  smitten,  and  to  future  years 
Springs  ever  fresh  the  tide  of  holy  tears 
And  holy  music,  whispering  peace 
Till  time  and  sin  together  cease. 


WESLEY  HYMNS   AND    HYMN-BOOKS  5 

Another  volume  appeared  in  1740,  in  which  we  find- 
Christ,  whose  glory  fills  the  skies. 
Jesu,  if  still  the  same  Thou  art. 
Jesu,  Lover  of  my  soul. 
Depth  of  mercy  !    can  there  be. 
O  for  a  thousand  tongues  to  sing. 
How  do  Thy  mercies  close  me  round  ! 

Six  of  John  Wesley's   translations  'From  the  German'  are 
included — 

Extended  on  a  cursed  tree. 

I  thirst,  Thou  wounded  Lamb  of  God. 

Now  I  have  found  the  ground  wherein. 

Holy  Lamb,  who  Thee  receive. 

High  praise  to  Thee,  all-gracious  God  ! 

Jesu,  Thy  blood  and  righteousness. 

This  volume  shows  signs  that  the  Evangelical  Revival  has 
begun,  for  it  contains  the  '  Hymn  for  Kingswood  Colliers  '- 
'  Glory  to  God,  whose  sovereign  grace ' ;  and  one  headed,  '  To 
be  sung  in  a  Tumult' — 'Earth,  rejoice;  the  Lord  is  King.' 
The  '  Lovefeast '  hymns  are  also  here.  The  whole  collection 
bears  out  the  words  of  the  preface,  '  Some  faint  description  of 
this  gracious  gift  of  God  is  attempted  in  a  few  of  the  following 
verses.'  This  volume  was  never  separately  reprinted,  but  was 
incorporated  with  the  fourth  and  fifth  editions  of  the  1739  book. 
Thomas  Jackson  says  (Charles  Wesley,  i.  243),  '  The  original 
hymns,  among  which  are  some  of  the  finest  in  the  English 
language,  display  a  deep  pathos,  with  all  the  energy  and  daring 
of  Charles's  genius.' 

In  1741  Wesley  published  A  Collection  of  Psalms  and 
Hymns,  and  two  pamphlets  of  Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting 
Love,  one  issued  in  Bristol,  the  other  in  London.  In  1742  the 
first  Methodist  tune-book  was  published,  with  forty-two  tunes 
'  as  they  are  commonly  sung  at  the  Foundery.'  The  volume  of 
Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems  for  1 742  bears  the  names  of  John 
and  Charles  Wesley.  The  first  part  has  one  hymn  from  the 
German — 'High  on  His  everlasting  throne.'  In  the  second 
part  appears  '  Wrestling  Jacob,'  and  these  favourite  hymns — 

O  what  shall  I  do,  my  Saviour  to  praise? 
O  heavenly  King,  look  down  from  above. 
My  Father,  my  God,  I  long  for  Thy  love. 
Blessing,  honour,  thanks,  and  praise. 


6  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hark  !  a  voice  divides  the  sky. 

Omnipotent  Lord,  my  Saviour  and  King. 

To  the  haven  of  Thy  breast. 

Jesu,  my  strength,  my  hope. 

Happy  soul,  who  sees  the  day. 

Blest  be  the  dear  uniting  love. 

None  is  like  Jeshurun's  God. 

Vain  delusive  world,  adieu. 

Arise,  my  soul,  arise. 

Many  other  hymns  are  also  published  here  which  have 
rooted  themselves  in  the  life  of  Methodism.  The  preface  says 
that  Christian  perfection  is  '  the  subject  of  many  of  the  fol 
lowing  verses.' 

In  1742  Wesley  issued  twenty-four  of  the  choicest  pieces  in 
the  1739  volume  for  twopence,  to  bring  them  within  reach  of 
the  poor. 

From  this  time  the  stream  of  publications  followed  almost 
without  intermission.  Every  national  event,  every  Christian 
Festival,  called  for  its  pamphlet  of  hymns.  In  1747  appeared 
Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in 
the  Blood  of  Jes^ls  Christ,  which  the  Rev.  Richard  Green  says 
'  deserves  the  highest  place  amongst  the  group  of  hymn- 
pamphlets  of  which  it  may  be  regarded  as  the  last.'  John 
Wesley's  estimate  of  their  value  is  seen  from  the  fact  that  he 
selected  twenty-four  out  of  the  fifty-two  for  inclusion  in  the 
Large  Hymn-Book  in  1780.  Funeral  Hymns,  Hymns  for  the 
Watchnight,  Graces  before  Meat,  Hymns  for  Children,  followed 
each  other  in  quick  succession. 

In  1749  Charles  Wesley  published  Hymns  and  Sacred 
Poems  in  two  volumes.  A  list  in  his  own  writing  shows  that 
his  friends  subscribed  for  1,145  copies,  of  which  513  were  taken 
in  London,  136  in  Bristol,  129  in  Ireland.  Many  of  the 
Societies  subscribed  for  the  volumes.  The  price  was  6s. 
The  preachers  acted  as  agents,  and  the  money  helped  the  poet 
to  set  up  housekeeping  in  Bristol. 

John  Wesley  says,  '  As  I  did  not  see  these  before  they  were 
published,  there  were  some  things  in  them  that  I  did  not 
approve  of  (Works,  xi.  391).  The  volumes  contain  expositions 
of  Scripture,  memorials  of  events  in  the  lives  of  friends  and  in 
the  progress  of  Methodism  in  all  parts  of  England.  Many  were 
addressed  to  his  wife  before  and  after  their  marriage.  All  the 
Methodists  thus  shared  their  poet's  joy,  or,  as  he  aptly  puts  it, 


WESLEY   HYMNS   AND   HYMN-BOOKS  ^ 

'  Surely  both  Jesus  and  His  disciples  are  bidden.'  The  volumes 
closed  with  the  noble  poem  on  Primitive  Christianity.  How 
well  the  subscribers  were  repaid  may  be  seen  by  a  glance  at 
this  list  of  a  few  of  the  treasures  contained  in  the  volumes — 

Thou  God  of  glorious  majesty. 

O  Jesus,  let  me  bless  Thy  name. 

O  Love  divine,  how  sweet  Thou  art. 

Saviour,  Prince  of  Israel's  race. 

O  Jesus,  my  hope. 

Stay,  Thou  insulted  Spirit,  stay. 

All  ye  that  pass  by. 

Jesus,  Thy  far-extended  fame. 

Jesu,  let  Thy  pitying  eye. 

How  happy  are  they. 

Weary  of  wandering  from  my  God. 

Jesu,  Shepherd  of  the  sheep. 

But  can  it  be  that  I  should  prove. 

Omnipresent  God,  whose  aid. 

God  of  my  life,  to  Thee. 

Jesu,  my  Truth,   my  Way. 

My  God,  I  am  Thine. 

Jesus,  the  Conqueror,  reigns. 

Soldiers  of  Christ,  arise. 

Thou  hidden  Source  of  calm  repose. 

Forth  in  Thy  name,  O  Lord,  I  go. 

God  of  almighty  love. 

Ye  neighbours,  and  friends  Of  Jesus,  draw  near. 

See  how  great  a  flame  aspires. 

Master,  I  own  Thy  lawful  claim. 

Come  on,  my  partners  in  distress. 

Shepherd  divine,  our  wants  relieve. 

Come,  ye  followers  of  the  Lord. 

Again  we  lift  our  voice. 

Happy  soul,  thy  days  are  ended. 

Hark,  how  the  watchmen  cry  ! 

Ye  virgin  souls,  arise. 

Surrounded  by  a  host  of  foes. 

Jesus  comes  with  all  His  grace. 

Come,  let  us  ascend. 

And  are  we  yet  alive. 

In  1762  Charles  Wesley  published  Short  Hymns  on  Select 
Passages  of  Scripture,  in  two  volumes.  There  are  2,030  hymns, 
ranging  over  the  whole  Bible.  The  preface  says,  'God, having 


8  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

graciously  laid  His  hand  upon  my  body,  and  disabled  me  for 
the  principal  work  of  the  ministry,  has  therefore  given  me  an 
unexpected  occasion  of  writing  the  following  hymns.'  Several 
of  them  were  on  the  subject  of  Christian  Perfection,  and  John 
Wesley  had  to  caution  his  people  against  being  '  hurt  by  what 
they  might  find  in  these  volumes  contrary  to  the  doctrine  they 
had  long  received.'  This  referred  to  some  peculiar  expressions 
about  spiritual  darkness  being  sent  as  a  means  for  the  improve 
ment  of  the  Christian's  graces,  and  other  matters  which  showed 
that  the  poet  was  somewhat  morbid  and  mystical  in  his 
teaching. 

Charles  Wesley  took  a  watchful  interest  in  his  sales.  He 
mentions  that  Mr.  Salthouse,  who  was  to  have  been  his  com 
panion  to  Bristol,  could  not  leave  the  books  at 'London  without 
great  loss  and  '  disappointment  of  my  subscribers.'  J.  Jones 
proved  a  broken  reed,  and  the  poet  expresses  his  resolve  to 
'  look  after  his  books  himself  on  his  return  to  Bristol.'  During 
the  imprisonment  of  Earl  Ferrers  in  1760,  Miss  Shirley  gave 
Charles  Wesley  a  guinea  for  his  hymns. 

When  he  died  he  left  three  small  quarto  volumes  of  hymns 
and  poems,  a  poetic  version  of  a  considerable  part  of  the 
Psalms,  which  appeared  in  the  Arminian  Magazine.  But  the 
most  interesting  legacy  was  five  quarto  volumes  of  hymns  on 
the  Gospels  and  Acts  of  the  Apostles  in  manuscript,  with  notes  of 
revision.  'Finished,  April  24,  1765.  0.A.'  'The  revisal  finished, 
April  24,  1774.  0.A.'  'Another  revisal  finished,  January  28, 
1779.  0.A.'  'A  third  revisal  finished,  February  29,  1780.  0.A.' 
'A  fifth  revisal  finished,  August  26,  1783.  0.A.'  'A  sixth  finished, 
October  28,  1784.  0.A.'  'The  seventh,  if  not  the  last,  January 
n,  1786.  Gloria  Tri-uni  Deo!'  'The  last  finished,  May  n, 
1787.  Hallelujah.' 

John  Wesley  thought  '  some  of  them  bad  ;  some  mean  ; 
some  most  excellently  good.  They  give  the  true  sense  of 
Scripture,  always  in  good  English,  generally  in  good  verse. 
Many  are  equal  to  most,  if  not  to  any,  he  ever  wrote  ;  but  some 
still  savour  of  that  poisonous  mysticism,  with  which  we  were 
both  not  a  little  tainted  before  we  went  to  America.' 

Canon  Ellerton  says,  'No  English  hymn-writer  approaches 
Charles  Wesley  in  copiousness.  Of  course,  in  so  vast  a 
collection  there  must  be  many  repetitions,  and  many  pieces 
that  we  no  longer  remember  or  care  for ;  but  yet  it  is  only 
doing  justice  to  these  famous  men  to  say  that  the  depth  of 


WESLEY  HYMNS  AND    HYMN-BOOKS  9 

spirituality,  the  reverent  tone,  and   the   clear  grasp  of  truth 
which  as  a  whole  the  hymns  exhibit  is  truly  marvellous.' 

We  now  approach  the  question  of  Methodist  hymn-books. 
In  1741  Wesley  published  A  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
price,  bound,  is.  It  contained  160  pieces.  After  Wesley's 
death,  Dr.  Coke  doubled  it  by  adding  other  hymns,  and  the 
Conference  of  1816  recommended  it  to  the  'use  of  our  congrega 
tions  on  the  Lord's  Day  forenoon.'  It  thus  came  to  be  known  as 
The  Morning  Hymn-book.  It  fell  into  disuse  on  the  publication 
of  the  Supplement  of  1831.  In  1753  John  Wesley  issued  Hyvms 
and  Spiritual  Songs,  intended  for  the  use  of  real  Christians  of 
all  Denominations.  Col.  iii.  9-1 1  (i2mo,  pp.  viii.,  124).  It  was 
printed  by  William  Strahan,  London,  and  sold  for  is.  It  is 
a  collection  from  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739,  I74°,  174~- 
There  are  84  hymns,  or,  counting  each  part  separately,  114. 
This  was  the  Methodist  hymn-book  in  use  from  1753  to  1780, 
and  it  continued  to  be  used  in  the  smaller  and  poorer  societies 
long  after  1780.  Twenty-four  editions  were  issued  in  thirty- 
three  years.  The  Redemption  Hymns  (price  6d.}  were  fre 
quently  bound  up  with  this  collection.  Wesley  says  in  his 
preface  of  1780,  that  when  asked  to  prepare  a  new  hymn-book, 
he  replied,  '  You  have  such  a  collection  already  (entitled  Hymns 
and  Spiritual  Songs),  which  I  extracted  several  years  ago  from 
a  variety  of  hymn-books.'  There  was  also  a  volume  of  Select 
Hymns,  published  in  1761.  Wesley  described  it  as  '  a  collection 
of  those  hymns  which  are  (I  think)  some  of  the  best  we  have 
published.  This,  therefore,  I  recommend  preferable  to  all 
others.' 

In  1780  he  issued  A  Collection  of  Hymns  for  the  Use  of 
the  People  called  Methodists  (price  3-r.,  sewed,  I2mo,  pp.  xvi, 
504).  The  preface  is  dated  'October  20,  1779.'  Methodism 
had  never  lacked  hymn-books.  Wesley  says,  '  It  may  be 
doubted  whether  any  religious  community  in  the  world  has 
a  greater  variety  of  them.'  The  people  were,  in  fact,  '  be 
wildered  in  the  immense  variety.'  A  strong  desire  was  felt 
for  a  cheap  and  portable  book,  with  a  sufficient  selection  of 
hymns  for  all  ordinary  occasions.  Wesley  took  great  pains 
with  his  task.  '  It  is  not  so  large  as  to  be  either  cumbersome 
or  expensive  ;  and  it  is  large  enough  to  contain  such  a  variety  of 
hymns  as  will  not  soon  be  worn  threadbare.  It  is  large  enough 
to  contain  all  the  important  truths  of  our  most  holy  religion, 


TO  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

whether  speculative  or  practical ;  yea,  to  illustrate  them  all, 
and  to  prove  them  both  by  Scripture  and  reason  ;  and  this  is 
done  in  a  regular  order.  The  hymns  are  not  carelessly  jumbled 
together,  but  carefully  ranged  under  proper  heads,  according 
to  the  experience  of  real  Christians.  So  that  in  effect  this 
book  is  a  little  body  of  experimental  and  practical  divinity. 
In  what  other  publication  of  the  kind  have  you  so  distinct  and 
full  an  account  of  Scriptural  Christianity  ?  such  a  declaration 
of  the  heights  and  depths  of  religion,  speculative  and  practical  ? 
so  strong  cautions  against  the  most  practical  errors,  particu 
larly  those  that  are  now  so  prevalent  ?  and  so  clear  directions  for 
making  your  calling  and  election  sure,  for  perfecting  holiness 
in  the  fear  of  God?'  James  Martineau  (Life,  ii.  99)  abundantly 
confirmed  that  statement  :  '  After  the  Scriptures,  the  Wesley 
Hymn-book  appears  to  me  the  grandest  instrument  of  popular 
religious  culture  that  Christendom  has  ever  produced.' 

After  Wesley's  death,  the  book  went  through  a  succession 
of  alterations.  In  the  edition  of  1797,  twenty-four  of  the  hymns 
he  selected  were  omitted,  and  sixty-five  others  inserted.  The 
Conference  of  1799  appointed  a  committee  'to  reduce  it  to  its 
primitive  simplicity,  as  published  in  the  second  edition,'  but  it 
was  not  entirely  successful.  Methodism  had  to  wait  till  1904, 
when,  concurrently  with  the  new  Methodist  Hymn-Book,  an 
edition  was  published  which  is  an  exact  reprint  of  the  volume 
as  it  left  Wesley's  hands. 

In  1831  a  supplement  was  added  to  Wesley's  hymn-book, 
and  in  1875  it  was  revised,  and  a  new  supplement  prepared. 

The  fact  that  the  early  publications  of  the  Wesleys  bear 
the  name  of  both  brothers  has  made  it  difficult  to  distinguish 
between  their  work.  Dr.  Osborn  said  that  '  his  own  inquiries 
had  led  him  to  think  it  likely  that  Mr.  John  Wesley  contributed 
more  largely  to  these  joint  publications  than  is  commonly  sup 
posed  ;  and  that  the  habit  of  attributing  almost  everything 
found  in  them  to  his  brother,  is  scarcely  consistent  with  a  due 
regard  to  accuracy '  (Poetical  Works,  viii.  xv.). 

Against  this  may  be  set  John  Wesley's  statement  in  the 
preface  of  the  Large  Hymn-book,  1780  :  '  But  a  small  part  of 
these  hymns  is  of  my  own  composing.'  Richard  Watson,  in 
the  first  edition  of  his  Life  of  Wesley,  actually  attributed  all 
the  translations  to  Charles;  and  though  he  modified  this  in 
a  later  edition,  he  still  held  that  there  was  internal  evidence 
of  Charles  Wesley's  manner.  Miss  Wesley,  however,  doubted 


WESLEY   HYMNS  AND    HYMN-BOOKS  II 

whether  (Jackson's  Charles  Wesley,  ii.  456)  her  father  knew 
German.  Dr.  Julian  says,  '  It  has  been  the  common  practice 
for  a  hundred  years  or  more  to  ascribe  all  translations  from  the 
German  to  John  Wesley,  as  he  only  of  the  two  brothers  knew 
that  language  ;  and  to  assign  to  Charles  Wesley  all  the  original 
hymns  except  such  as  are  traceable  to  John  Wesley  through 
his  journals  and  other  works.  In  this  Dictionary,  this  course 
has  been  adopted  throughout.'  That  principle  has  been  followed 
in  the  index  to  The  Methodist  Hymn-Book  for  1904.  It  is 
possible  that  more  light  may  yet  be  thrown  on  this  difficult 
question  ;  but  if  John  Wesley  suffers  injustice,  substantial 
justice  is  at  last  done  to  his  brother.  „  The  Evangelical  Revival 
seems  to  have  silenced  John  Wesley's  muse,  whilst  it  woke  up 
Charles  to  a  poetic  fervour  which  only  ceased  with  his  last  breath. 
He  had  begun  to  write  poetry  in  Georgia.  General  Ogle- 
thorpe's  wife  told  her  husband's  father,  in  a  letter  from  America, 
that  Charles  Wesley  was  staying  with  them.  She  added,  he 
'has  the  gift  of  verse,  and  has  written  many  sweet  hymns 
which  we  sing.'  On  his  return  to  England,  he  was  making 
poetry  from  his  conversion  to  his  death-bed.  On  March  15, 
1744,  he  was  summoned  to  \Vakefield  to  answer  a  foolish 
charge  of  disloyalty,  and  wrote  on  the  way  a  hymn  in  which 
he  committed  himself  into  the  hands  of  his  Master  ;  when  he 
won  the  day,  he  poured  out  his  gratitude  in  a  hymn  of  thanks 
giving.  He  rode  with  a  loose  rein,  jotting  down  his  thoughts 
on  a  card.  He  tells  his  wife,  '  I  crept  on,  singing  or  making 
hymns,  till  I  got  unawares  to  Canterbury.' 

Canon  Ellerton  says,  'As  time  went  on,  the  hymn-writing 
passed  almost  entirely  from  the  hands  of  John  Wesley  into 
those  of  the  younger  brother.'  The  Rev.  John  Kirk  reckoned 
that  in  '  the  Selection  which  the  brothers  left  behind  them  for 
use  throughout  the  Wesleyan  congregations,'  out  of  771  hymns, 
626  were  by  Charles  and  33  by  John  Wesley. 

The  only  time  when  we  clearly  see  John  Wesley  burst  into 
poetry  is  when  Grace  Murray  was  torn  from  him.  John 
Wesley's  contribution  to  Methodist  worship-song  was  that 
unlocking  of  the  treasures  of  German  hymnody  in  which  he 
was  a  pioneer.  His  fine  taste  and  sound  judgement,  which  were 
greatly  needed  in  dealing  with  the  luscious  Moravian  hymns, 
were  also  employed  in  the  revision  of  his  brother's  work,  to 
its  advantage  and  to  the  formation  of  a  high  standard  in  such 
matters  in  Methodist  circles.  His  words  (Sermon  117,  Works, \\\. 


12  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

294)  written  in  August,  1789,  show  how  careful  he  was  to  avoid 
any  expression  that  savoured  of  familiarity  in  addressing  God. 

In  the  Index  of  1875  Charles  Wesley's  name  only  appeared 
once,  as  Mr.  C.  L.  Ford  points  out,  '  in  an  introductory  note, 
not  very  conspicuous,  which  probably  not  one  in  a  thousand 
reads.'  Also,  the  '  W  used  in  cases  of  uncertainty,  and  in  one 
case  where  there  is  no  doubt  at  all,  '  Jesu,  Lover  of  my  soul,' 
is  misleading.  For  in  almost  all  these  cases  the  probability  is 
very  largely  in  favour  of  Charles  Wesley's  authorship. 

For  some  years  a  strong  desire  had  been  felt  for  the  revision 
of  the  1875  hymn-book,  and  in  1900  the  Conference  appointed  a 
Committee  to  consider  the  principles  on  which  it  should  be 
carried  out.  After  careful  consideration,  it  was  felt  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  retain  Wesley's  Large  Hymn-book  in 
its,  separate  form,  as  many  pieces  in  it  had  passed  out  of  use, 
and  no  satisfactory  arrangement  could  be  secured  if  two  books, 
an  old  and  a  new,  were  thus  set  side  by  side.  The  Committee 
therefore  recommended  that  an  entirely  new  arrangement 
should  be  adopted.  Conference  approved  this  recommendation. 
Great  regret  was  felt  that  so  venerable  a  Methodist  manual  of 
devotion  and  of  theology — '  a  mirror  of  the  spiritual  activities 
of  the  Evangelical  Revival — a  poetical  Pilgrim's  Progress,' 
should  thus  be  recast,  but  provision  was  made  that  it  should  be 
issued  as  a  separate  volume  in  the  exact  form  it  left  John 
Wesley's  hands.  The  Conference  of  1901  appointed  a  Committee 
of  Revision,  which  acted  with  the  friendly  co-operation  of 
representatives  of  the  Methodist  New  Connexion  and  the 
Wesleyan  Reform  Union.  The  Methodist  Church  of  Australasia 
also  joined  in  the  work  by  correspondence. 

The  Committee  had  first  to  decide  what  hymns  should  be 
excluded  from  the  new  collection.  The  utmost  care  was  used 
to  retain  every  hymn  that  had  endeared  itself  to  the  Methodist 
people  or  become  recognized  as  an  embodiment  of  Methodist 
theology.  In  many  cases  the  omission  of  a  verse  or  verses 
rescued  a  whole  hymn  from  hopeless  neglect.  It  was  found 
that  about  300  hymns  might  safely  be  omitted.  When  this 
difficult  part  of  its  task  had  been  done,  the  Committee  set 
itself  to  study  hymn-books  and  other  sources  from  which 
new  hymns  might  be  drawn.  Special  pains  were  taken  to  make 
adequate  provision  for  the  growing  requirements  of  public 
worship  in  all  its  parts,  especially  for  the  Lord's  Day  and  the 
Seasons,  the  needs  of  children  and  young  people,  and  the  varied 


WESLEY   HYMNS  AND  HYMN-BOOKS  13 

aspects  of  Christian  service  and  philanthropy  in  all  their 
modern  developments.  The  addition  of  the  Canticles  has 
greatly  enriched  Methodist  services. 

Sir  Henry  H.  Fowler  paid  fitting  tribute  at  one  meeting  to  the 
pre-eminent  service  rendered  by  the  Rev.  W.  T.  Davison,  D.D., 
as  chairman  of  the  Committee.  '  His  tact,  his  impartiality,  his 
appreciation  of  strongly  conflicting  opinions,  his  vast  and  varied 
knowledge  of  hymnology,  and  his  unflinching  loyalty  to  Metho 
dism,  are  only  some  of  the  qualifications  which  added  distinction 
to  a  memorable  Presidency.'  The  work  of  the  Rev.  Nehemiah 
Curnock  as  senior  secretary  of  the  Hymn-book  Committee  and 
secretary  of  the  Tune-book  Committee  was  invaluable,  and 
earned  the  special  thanks  of  the  Conference.  An  enormous 
amount  of  labour  was  put  into  the  preparation  of  indexes.  The 
Index  of  Texts  in  the  1875  Hymn-book  contained  2,000 
references  to  its  5,000  verses  ;  the  present  index  has  about 
5,600,  though  the  hymns  have  a  hundred  fewer  verses.  Refer 
ences  to  the  Apocrypha  have  been  added,  and  intimation  given 
where  the  Prayer-book  Version  of  the  Psalms  bears  more 
directly  on  the  hymns  than  the  Authorized  Version.  Mr.  H. 
Arthur  Smith,  M.A.,  on  whom,  with  the  Rev.  G.  A.  Bennetts, 
B.A.,  and  Mr.  Tombleson,  the  burden  of  preparing  this  Index 
fell,  says,  '  To  preachers  who  are  careful  in  their  choice  of  hymns 
bearing  upon  their  subject  and  text,  the  benefit  of  such  references 
will  be  obvious  enough.  In  many  cases,  indeed,  it  will  be  found 
that  the  Bible  texts  referred  to  are  quoted  as  having  suggested 
the  language  rather  than  the  thought  of  the  hymn.  If  such 
cases  are  not  a  direct  help  to  the  preacher  as  such,  they  are 
certainly  of  interest  to  the  student,  especially  to  the  student  of 
the  Wesley  poetry,  illustrating,  as  they  do,  the  poet's  method 
and  mental  processes.  Extensive  as  this  collection  of  texts  now 
is,  it  might  have  been  added  to  indefinitely,  for  there  are  many 
cases  in  which  every  line  of  a  verse  of  Wesley  glances  at  a 
distinct  passage  of  Scripture.' 

The  Rev.  H.  Arnaud  Scott  had  the  main  responsibility  of 
preparing  the  Index  of  Subjects,  and  here  also  our  Church  will 
reap  the  benefit  of  much  laborious  work.  The  Biographical 
Index,  the  Alphabetical  Index,  and  the  Index  to  the  Verses  were 
prepared  by  the  present  writer  as  one  of  the  Secretaries.  Dr. 
Davison  was  responsible  for  the  Preface  and  the  arrangement 
of  the  hymns,  and  the  headings  of  the  various  sections  which 
so  skilfully  blend  the  new  headings  with  the  old,  and  preserve 


14  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

on  many  a  page  the  phrases  so  long  and  happily  familiar  in 
Methodist  worship. 

The  task  of  revising  the  old  hymns  so  as  to  remove  ex 
pressions  which  might  distract  attention  or  offend  a  modern 
taste  was  not  the  least  anxious  part  of  the  Committee's  work. 
It  has  been  done  with  the  minimum  of  change,  yet  it  has 
added  materially  to  the  value  and  effectiveness  of  the  book. 

The  Tune-book  Committee  took  the  utmost  possible  care  in 
the  adaptation  of  tunes  to  the  hymns.  It  was  an  untold  advantage 
to  have  so  distinguished  a  musical  editor  as  Sir  Frederick  Bridge, 
and  he  entered  with  enthusiasm  into  the  great  task  of  moulding 
Methodist  music  for  a  generation.  He  secured  the  co-operation 
of  nearly  all  the  leaders  in  the  musical  profession  of  the  day — 
Sir  C.  H.  H.  Parry,  Sir  A.  C.  Mackenzie,  Sir  George  C.  Martin, 
Sir  Charles  V.  Stanford,  Sir  Walter  Parratt,  Dr.  Keeton  of 
Peterborough,  Dr.  Peace  of  Liverpool,  Dr.  Bridge  of  Chester, 
Mr.  W.  G.  Alcock,  among  many  others.  '  There  is  no  man,  no 
matter  how  great  his  distinction  in  the  musical  world,  who  has 
not  counted  it  an  honour  to  be  asked  to  write  tunes  for  the 
Wesley  hymns.'  The  Appendix  of  old  tunes  such  as  '  Diadem,' 
'  Calvary,'  '  Sovereignty,'  '  Lydia,'  and  '  Praise,'  is  a  very  happy 
feature  of  the  book,  and  these  will  often  be  used  for  special 
services. 

The  Rev.  A.  E.  Sharpley  thinks  'the  outstanding  glory  of 
the  book  will  be  the  fine  treatment  of  those  old  Charles  Wesley 
hymns  which,  associated  with  specially  composed  tunes  by 
writers  of  the  highest  order,  will  renew  their  youth,  and  with  a 
new  lease  of  life  will  ring  out  again  their  fervid  message,  needed 
as  much  in  this  twentieth  century  as  in  the  eighteenth,  so  that 
the  characteristic  doctrines  of  Methodism,  emphasized  by 
these  old  hymns,  and  fragrant  with  their  breath  of  "  revival," 
will  once  more  become  popular  in  our  churches,  and  resound 
again  throughout  the  land.'  The  old  tunes  which  the  Wesleys 
sang,  reset  in  some  cases  by  the  skilful  hand  of  Sir  F.  Bridge, 
will  become  increasingly  popular. 


WESLEY   HYMNS   AND   HYMN-BOOKS 


r*      O 

HQ 
is 

o  -1 


w 


w  § 

H     h 


R 


a.  a.  cu^1-1.- 


•  —     .  ro  2 

••_;  ^  £:  a 


~e-e- 


1-1  «        r~»       «  i^ 


O   O         C 


C> 


S     O 


1 6  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 


:a 


"*"*  DH   Qj   CH   OH  £X  CH  *•*  *S     CH   C*M   C-j 

•  Q^  p^  ^H  p^  p ,  PJ    ^"-<    Q_|  p_|  PJ 

^  o  X  ^  o" 

o"  Sr    =    :  C  rgcoSir 


^  « 

-T    -  C  G 

:" 


.  . 

s  C     T3  O 

QPQ      P5)-) 


1 


u 


;M;;J;J<U;'^^:  JO^J 

"-3 rt'^51"      *  iC*"1 


o        rt 

6  .Q  .... 

'C'c1 ^sy'oj"         o-^"rGl^''i 

-g^^S        ftg     S-Sg     §     «fin~« 
"     '&  « ^?^S          E?  §«    -9  Sri     S     .2  H  S  .g  g 

^2      Q  •  91  *  '   •  u^     c/5:         ^      —  §  tl   :  Z^    :  ^     -^^G 

13^-^  -.a  •  •  "£°s-c  •     >;t;     a,Srt  -^  ->srtuS 

Z£  »^   1   I  a          5   «          ^2^         2         ^'gg^ 

r^^^1   :u5'S    :   •rtSa'"' 

">-io     '^jS     *     *_c 

ti  ii  -^3         £  ij         rj'^i'O 

gc^  CJ-S  8  „«  gjn-y 

5g£  :2^||l.glal 

oco    *Gc;'^;2-c-.^5rt 
^  £  £       £  •£  Ji  0 

c   ^^  i?        h^    i?  **^    ^    ^- '   QW  ^;   **1^  rt         u    r\     "  t-H  '^^    zz    "^  «•  •  ^r^   c   ^  *-*J    u    ^r 

KM,Ovo»JHtoa>.o^-i;Tlrt'— v  53      ,oy    "M      1or-L,^hHX't-'c,<^*>Si 

\J     v*  <*-(     ^j.  W-H      /-)  v*H  Q  QJ     C3  **H      Q  ""   »— i   U(-H   ^H     vj  tj  Q   v*»i   ^_^ 

t/;  ^    t/i   f^.'rt    w          tyjvjOJc/j^lw          yjyj          W   8   CO   .•»  M  *)•   M   M   5^   09  ^^ 

c.-riG«£c^ccT3c«a      CG      cic>>c2Gc>c^ 

^ s^^ ll^ll^l^ ^  1^    e^ a^    l^g  |J§ l^fj |^,|  1^8 


WESLEY   HYMNS   AND   HYMN-BOOKS 


ex  ex  a,  a,  a,  ex     a. 

CXexexeXexfX        SX 


O    O 

£  s 


£    £ 


II 

THE   HYMNS   OF  THE   CHRISTIAN 
CHURCH 

A  FEW  facts  concerning  the  Church's  praise  will  be  of  interest 
in  such  a  volume  as  this.  The  subject  may  be  pursued  with 
growing  delight  in  the  pages  of  Dr.  Julian's  monumental 
Dictionary  of  Hymnology.  The  vastness  of  the  subject  can 
be  gauged  when  we  remember  that  we  have  above  400,000 
hymns,  in  more  than  two  hundred  different  languages  and 
dialects. 

Augustine  says  a  hymn  '  is  a  song  with  praise  of  God.  If 
thou  singest  and  praisest  not  God,  thou  utterest  no  hymn.  A 
hymn,  then,  containeth  these  three  things  :  song,  and  praise, 
and  that  of  God.  Praise,  then,  of  God  in  song  is  called  a 
hymn.'  Gregory  Nazianzen  put  it  thus:  ' Modidata  laus  est 
hymnus?  A  definition  in  the  Cottonian  MS.  says  a  hymn  must 
be  praise  of  God  or  of  His  saints,  be  capable  of  being  sung,  and 
be  metrical.  Lord  Selborne,  in  his  Book  of  Praise^  holds  that 
1  a  good  hymn  should  have  simplicity,  freshness,  and  reality  of 
feeling ;  a  consistent  elevation  of  tone,  and  a  rhythm  easy  and 
harmonious,  but  not  jingling  or  trivial.  Its  language  may  be 
homely,  but  should  not  be  slovenly  or  mean.  Affectation  or 
visible  artifice  is  worse  than  excess  of  homeliness  ;  a  hymn  is 
easily  spoilt  by  a  single  falsetto  note.  Nor  will  the  most 
exemplary  soundness  of  doctrine  atone  for  doggerel,  or  redeem 
from  failure  a  prosaic,  didactic  style.' 

If  that  standard  were  strictly  applied,  all  our  hymn-books 
would  shrink  in  size,  and  many  of  her  cherished  treasures  would 
lose  their  place  In  the  Church's  praise.  Happily  for  us  all,  it  Is 
not  possible  to  apply  It. 

Lord  Byron's  tribute  to  the  first  great  leader  of  church  music 
gains  new  meaning  as  we  trace  his  influence  in  succeeding  ages. 
'  David's  lyre  grew  mightier  than  his  throne,'  conveys  after  all 
but  a  faint  expression  of  the  ever-growing  influence  of  that 


THE   HYMNS   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH  19 

minstrel  king  who  '  opened  a  new  door  in  the  side  of  sacred 
literature — a  Bible  within  a  Bible.'  The  Psalms  were  our  Lord's 
hymn-book,  from  which  He  and  His  disciples  gathered  comfort 
when,  '  having  hymned,'  they  went  forth  to  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
Ambrose  bears  witness  to  the  charm  of  the  Psalter  in  the  fourth 
century,  when  he  says  that  if  other  parts  of  the  Scripture  were 
read  in  church  you  could  scarce  hear  anything,  but  when  the 
Psalter  was  read  all  were  silent.  St.  Augustine  found  in  '  those 
faithful  songs  and  sounds  of  devotion,  which  exclude  all  swelling 
of  spirit,'  a  voice  to  express  his  most  intense  and  varied  feeling 
in  the  crisis  of  his  life  at  Milan.  'What  utterances  would  I 
send  up  unto  Thee  in  those  Psalms,  and  how  was  I  inflamed 
towards  Thee  by  them,  and  burned  to  rehearse  them,  if  it  were 
possible,  throughout  the  whole  world,  against  the  pride  of  the 
human  race'  (Confessions,  x.  4,  §  87).  The  Psalms  early  found 
their  place  in  English  church  life.  When  the  watchman  who 
had  been  posted  on  the  tower  of  Lindisfarne  saw  the  signal  of 
Cuthbert's  death  for  which  he  had  been  waiting,  and  hurried 
with  the  news  into  the  church,  the  brethren  of  Holy  Island 
were  singing  the  words,  '  Thou  hast  cast  us  out  and  scattered 
us  abroad  ;  Thou  hast  also  been  displeased  ;  Thou  hast  shown 
Thy  people  heavy  things  ;  Thou  hast  given  us  a  drink  of  deadly 
wine.' 

The  distinctively  Christian  hymn  has  its  root  in  the  poetry 
and  worship  of  the  Old  Testament,  whose  songs  and  rhythmical 
passages  passed  directly  into  the  services  of  the  Greek  Church. 
The  Alleluia  was  early  incorporated  with  Christian  song. 
Jerome  notes  how  the  Christian  ploughman  shouted  it  at  his 
work.  Sailors  encouraged  one  another  by  a  loud  alleluia  as 
they  plied  the  oar.  St.  Germanus  of  Auxerre  and  his  soldiers 
used  the  word  as  their  battle-cry  when  they  won  the  Alleluia 
victory  over  the  Picts  and  Scots  in  429.  It  became  the 
recognized  Easter  morning  salutation,  and  soon  gained  a  fixed 
position  in  the  liturgies  of  the  day,  especially  on  the  great 
festivals.  The  Ter  Sanctus,  derived  from  the  hymn  in  Isa. 
vi.  3,  had  also  been  used  in  Jewish  ritual.  'The  Hosanna 
which  so  constantly  accompanies  it  in  early  liturgies  was  partly 
the  echo  of  the  Triumphal  Entry,  but  partly  also  of  the  older 
refrain  used  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.'  Antiphonal  singing, 
which  Ignatius  introduced  among  the  Greeks  at  Antioch,  may 
be  traced  to  the  choir  of  the  old  Jewish  temple.  The  refrains 
and  short  ejaculations  of  praise  which  are  a  marked  feature  of 


2O  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Greek  hymns  are  also  a  legacy  from  the  Jewish  to  the  Christian 
Church. 

The  great  hymns  of  the  Nativity,  which  we  owe  to  St.  Luke's 
research,  were  probably  used  as  canticles  at  a  very  early  period. 
They  may  fairly  be  described  as  the  first  and  grandest  songs  of 
the  Christian  Church.  The  rhymic  fragments  in  the  Epistles 
throw  some  light  on  the  hymns  which  St.  Paul  bids  the 
churches  at  Ephesus  and  Colossae  use.  'Awake,  thou  that 
sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee 
light,'  perhaps  bears  the  evidence  of  such  use.  Two  of  the 
'  faithful  sayings  '  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  and  the  grand  frag 
ment  (i  Tim.  iii.  16),  'on  our  Lord's  Incarnation  and  triumph,' 
betray  a  similar  origin.  Clement  of  Alexandria's  '  Bridle  of 
Steeds  untamed,'  is  the  oldest  of  all  Christian  hymns.  Its 
phraseology  is  adapted  to  the  perfect  Gnostic  of  the  second 
century,  but  '  there  is  nothing  in  its  bright  versicles — full  of 
childlike  trust  in  Christ,  as  the  Shepherd,  the  Fisher  of  Souls, 
the  Everlasting  Word,  the  Eternal  Light — that  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  pages  of  Holy  Writ.'  The  greatest  early  hymnist, 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  who  wrote  in  classic  metres,  has  been  com 
pared  to  our  own  Ken.  Certain  passages  in  his  troubled  history 
furnish  a  striking  parallel  to  the  life  of  our  devout  and  high- 
souled  bishop.  Gregory's  morning  and  evening  hymns  are  far 
inferior  to  Ken's,  but  in  all  his  other  productions  the  Greek 
hymn-writer  distinctly  bears  the  palm. 

The  compositions  of  Synesius  lie  on  the  borderland  between 
Christianity  and  Neo-Platonism,  but  they  contain  many  fine 
specimens  of  speculative  adoration  of  the  Triune  Godhead, 
such  as  the  Platonic  philosophy  inspired.  Sophronius,  Patri 
arch  of  Jerusalem  in  629,  was  the  author  of  long  poems  on 
the  chief  events  of  New  Testament  history.  That  on  the 
'  Holy  Places '  has  special  interest  from  the  insight  it  gives  into 
the  appearance  of  Jerusalem  and  its  sacred  sites  in  the  seventh 
century.  Basil  speaks  of  the  '  Thanksgiving  at  Lamp-lighting,' 
which  was  already  old  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fourth  century. 
The  Greek  form  of  the  '  Gloria  in  Excelsis '  is  of  early  date, 
and  the  Te  Deum  seems  to  have  had  a  Gallican  origin.  These 
facts  form  landmarks  in  the  history  of  early  hymnody  in  the 
East. 

The  younger  Pliny  tells  us  in  his  famous  letter  to  Trajan 
that  the  Christians  were  accustomed  to  meet  before  day,  and 
to  sing  a  hymn  Christ  as  God,  'by  turns,  one  after  another.' 


THE   HYMNS   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH  21 

There  was,  however,  a  certain  reserve  as  to  their  general 
introduction  into  the  services  of  the  Church.  Antioch  indeed 
adopted  this  form  of  praise  so  early  as  269,  but  even  in  the 
fourth  and  fifth  centuries  the  more  conservative  monastics  had 
scruples  as  to  the  use  of  anything  save  the  Psalms.  The 
Council  of  Braga  in  Spain,  which  met  in  561,  actually  forbade 
the  use  of  hymns.  They  seem,  indeed,  to  have  made  their 
reputation  out  of  doors  among  the  people,  and  thus  gradually 
to  have  established  their  right  to  a  place  within  the  Church. 
Hymns  have  in  all  ages  been  a  favourite  means  of  propaganda. 
The  early  heretics  were  quick  to  perceive  their  efficacy  as  a 
vehicle  for  spreading  their  own  opinions.  The  Church  was  not 
slow  to  learn  the  same  lesson.  The  Gnostic  hymns  of  his  day 
led  Ephrem  the  Syrian  to  adopt  similar  metres  and  rhythms. 
His  metrical  homilies,  sung  in  the  religious  services,  were 
longer  than  hymns  and  more  distinctly  didactic  in  character, 
but  they  rendered  great  service  to  the  churches  of  Syria.  The 
Arians  of  Alexandria  and  Constantinople  taught  their  songs  to 
millers,  sailors,  and  merchants.  Athanasius  and  Chrysostom 
thus  learned  what  an  important  part  hymns  might  play  in  the 
service  of  orthodoxy,  and  used  the  weapon  with  great  success. 

Greek  hymnology  reached  its  most  splendid  development  at 
the  close  of  the  eighth  century.  St.  Andrew  of  Crete,  whose 
Great  Canon,  2,500  strophes  in  length,  is  sung  entire  on 
Thursday  in  Mid-Lent  'cum  labore  multo  et  pulmonum  fatiga- 
tione,'  is  one  of  the  chief  hymnists  of  the  time.  The  strophes 
of  his  canon  '  have  not  the  point  of  those  of  John  of  Damascus, 
and  make  no  use  of  refrains.  The  aim  of  it  is  penitential  ;  a 
spirit  of  true  penitence  breathes  through  it,  it  has  many  beauti 
ful  passages,  and  is  rich  in  allusions  to  the  personages  of  the 
Bible,  either  as  warnings  or  examples  to  the  penitent,  but  its 
excellences  are  marred  by  repetition  and  prolixity.'  The  Laura 
of  St.  Sabas,  between  Jerusalem  and  Bethlehem,  became  the 
centre  of  a  school  of  hymn-writers,  of  whom  Cosmas  and  John 
of  Damascus  hold  foremost  rank  among  the  Greek  ecclesiastical 
poets.  The  Canon  on  the  Ascension,  by  John  of  Damascus,  is 
full  of  triumph,  and  gladness,  and  dramatic  realization.  His 
Easter  Canon  is  the  grandest  effort  of  sacred  poetry  in  the 
Greek  Church.  A  spirit  of  rapt  contemplation  is  the  chief 
characteristic  of  Eastern  hymnody.  Where  an  English  hymn 
opens  up  the  human  blessings,  and  seeks  to  bring  home  the 
great  truths  of  religion  to  heart  and  conscience,  the  Greek 


22  THE  METHODIST   HYMX-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

hymnist  is  absorbed  with  the  doctrine  itself.  The  human 
aspect  is  either  made  secondary  or  entirely  overlooked.  The 
contrast  between  the  genius  of  the  Greek  and  the  Latin  race  is 
strikingly  evident  in  the  hymnology  of  the  two  churches,  as 
indeed  in  the  whole  course  of  their  history.  One  is  speculative, 
the  other  practical.  The  Eastern  hymns  on  the  divine  per 
fections  and  the  Incarnation  differ  widely  from  '  our  self- 
regarding  mode  of  praise.'  This  habit  of  thought  has,  however, 
its  disadvantages.  By  its  discouragement  of  the  development 
of  human  emotion,  aspiration,  and  benefit,  the  range  of  subjects 
and  reflection  is  narrowed,  and  in  the  later  poets  the  repetition 
of  the  same  types,  epithets,  and  metaphors,  issues  in  sameness, 
conventional  diction,  and  fossil  thought.  It  is  impossible  to 
avoid  the  conviction  that  the  great  bulk  of  Greek  hymns  would 
have  had  a  richer  value  if  inspiration  had  been  sought  in  the 
deep  spiritual  analysis  of  St.  Paul,  or  the  interpretation  of  the 
changing  moods  of  the  soul,  which  are  of  such  preciousness  in 
the  Psalms. 

We  have  dwelt  in  some  detail  on  Greek  hymnody  because 
the  East  first  taught  the  value  of  hymn-singing  to  the  Latin 
Church.  Hymns  made  their  way  with  Christianity  as  it  spread 
over  the  Roman  Empire.  Jerome,  indeed,  complains  in  the 
preface  to  his  Commentary  on  the  Galatians  that  they  were 
unacceptable  in  Northern  Gaul,  but  that  region  was  a  striking 
exception  to  the  rule.  The  hymns  were  at  first  sung  in  the 
original  Greek,  for  Latin  had  not  yet  come  into  common  use. 
It  is  somewhat  surprising  to  find  that  no  name  can  be  asso 
ciated  with  any  Latin  hymn  till  we  arrive  at  the  times  of  St. 
Hilary  and  Pope  Damasus.  Ambrose  of  Milan  is  the  founder 
of  Latin  hymnody.  It  was  he  who  taught  the  whole  congre 
gation  to  take  its  share  in  singing  the  psalms  and  hymns 
which,  up  to  that  time,  had  been  recited  by  individuals  singly 
or  by  clerks.  During  his  memorable  struggle  with  the  Arian 
Empress,  Justina,  the  Archbishop  and  his  faithful  people 
enlivened  their  long  vigils  with  hymns  of  praise  and  trust. 
Augustine  adds  that  this  singing  was  imitated  '  by  many,  yea, 
by  almost  all  of  Thy  congregations  throughout  the  rest  of  the 
world.3  The  effect  which  the  Ambrosian  hymnody  produced 
on  St  Augustine  finds  memorable  expression  in  the  Confessions. 
'  How  greatly  did  I  weep  in  thy  hymns  and  canticles,  deeply 
moved  by  the  voices  of  thy  sweet-speaking  Church !  The  voices 
flowed  into  mine  ears,  and  the  truth  was  poured  forth  into  my 


THE  HYMN'S  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH       23 

heart,  whence  the  agitation  of  my  piety  overflowed,  and  my 
tears  ran  over,  and  blessed  was  I  therein.'  A  learned  prefect 
of  the  Ambrosian  Library  at  Milan  has  paid  a  well-deserved 
tribute  to  the  style  of  the  great  prelate's  hymns — clear,  sweet, 
and  yet  vigorous,  grand,  and  noble.  Closeness  of  thought  is 
combined  with  singular  brevity  of  expression.  Archbishop 
Trench  shows  how  suitably  the  faith,  which  was  in  actual 
conflict  with  the  powers  of  the  world,  found  utterance  in  such, 
hymns  as  these,  '  wherein  is  no  softness,  perhaps  little  tender 
ness,  but  a  rock-like  firmness,  the  old  Roman  stoicism  trans 
muted  and  glorified  into  that  nobler  Christian  courage  which 
encountered,  and  at  length  overcame,  the  world.5 

Benedict  expressly  adopted  the  hymns  of  Ambrose  and  his 
successors  in  his  'Order  of  Worship.'  The  vast  community 
which  owned  the  rule  of  himself  and  his  successors  spread 
rapidly  over  Europe.  Its  customs  and  usages  of  worship  were 
followed  in  England  as  well  as  over  the  north  of  Europe,  '  and, 
with  local  variations,  in  the  remainder  of  Western  Christen 
dom.'  The  glorious  strains  of  the  hymn  '  Exultet  jam  angelica 
turba  coelorum,'  said  to  have  been  composed  by  Augustine 
when  a  deacon,  were  sung  by  the  deacon  at  the  Benediction 
of  the  Paschal  Candle.  The  name  of  Benedict  must  therefore 
be  linked  with  that  of  Ambrose  in  the  history  of  Latin  hymnody. 
Prudentius  of  Spain  wrote  some  noble  hymns,  which  found 
their  way  into  general  use.  Before  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries  closed  the  place  of  hymns  in  public  services  had  been 
fixed  and  settled.  They  found  their  way  into  the  Missals, 
Breviaries,  and  other  offices  of  that  time.  Each  church  also 
added  local  hymns  in  honour  of  its  own  founders  and  patrons. 
With  a  few  striking  exceptions,  the  clergy  and  the  monks  had 
become  the  chief  poets  of  the  age.  Their  verses  '  were  no 
longer  confined  to  the  direct  worship  and  praise  of  the  Creator, 
of  Christ,  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  to  the  honour  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  and  of  the  Apostles,  and  certain  principal  saints,  and 
appropriated  to  the  various  solemnities  of  the  Church  relating 
to  them,  such  as  were  those  of  Ambrose,  Gregory,  Prudentius 
Fortunatus,  and  their  successors.  They  became  amplified  and 
refined  into  eulogies,  descriptions  of,  and  meditations  upon,  the 
Passion  and  Wounds  of  Christ,  on  His  Sacred  Countenance, 
on  His  Cross,  on  His  Sweet  Name,  on  the  Vanity  of  Life,  on 
the  Joys  of  Paradise,  on  the  Terrors  of  Judgement ;  into 
penitential  exercises,  of  the  Holy  Sacrament,  of  the  lives  and 


24  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

sufferings  of  numerous  Saints — most  especially  into  praises  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  on  her  dignity,  on  her  Joys  and  Dolours.' 

When  Jumieges  was  destroyed  by  the  Normans  in  851, 
some  of  its  monks  took  refuge  at  St.  Gall,  bringing  their 
Gregorian  Antiphonary  with  them.  The  anthem  preceding  the 
Gospel,  which  was  known  as  the  Gradual,  ended  on  Festal 
days  '  with  a  long  Alleluia,  which  was  a  musical  jubilation  on 
a  certain  number  of  notes,  called  Neumes,  without  words,  on 
the  final  A ;  also  called  the  Sequentia,  as  following  thereon.' 
These  Neumes  owed  their  origin  to  two  chanters  sent  by  Pope 
Adrian  to  Charlemagne.  One  opened  a  school  at  Metz,  the 
other  became  musical  preceptor  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Gall, 
where  he  was  detained  by  illness.  The  Neumes  were  ex 
ceedingly  difficult  to  remember.  A  young  monk  called  Notker 
was  therefore  delighted  to  find  that  in  the  Jumieges  music 
words  had  been  attached  corresponding  to  the  number  of  the 
Neumes.  This  made  it  comparatively  easy  to  recall  the 
cadences.  He  set  himself  to  contrive  words  for  other  musical 
Sequences  sung  at  the  different  festivals  of  the  year.  Every 
note  now  had  a  corresponding  word  attached.  These  un- 
rhymed  Sequences  became  known  as  Notkerian  Proses. 
Gradually  they  were  rhymed,  and  increased  in  beauty  and 
popularity.  Then  an  entirely  novel  and  original  system  both 
of  versification  and  music,  derived  from  popular  airs,  was 
introduced  by  the  church  musicians  in  the  north  of  France. 
The  Sequences  composed  by  Adam  of  St.  Victor  are  singularly 
fine  and  impressive.  His  musical  and  flowing  verses  are 
saturated  with  Scriptural  truth  and  imagery.  The  Dies  Irae, 
almost  the  solitary  Sequence  which  Italy  has  produced,  and 
the  Stabat  Mater  dolorosa  are  among  the  most  precious 
treasures  thus  bequeathed  to  Christendom.  Its  latest  gems 
were  due  to  Thomas  Aquinas,  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  four 
teenth  century  the  glory  had  departed  from  Latin  hymnology. 

King  Alfred  tells  us  that  when  Aldhelm  saw  how  the  people 
who  had  flocked  to  attend  mass  at  Malmesbury  trooped  away 
from  the  church  before  the  sermon,  he  took  his  stand,  disguised 
as  a  gleeman,  on  a  bridge  which  they  must  cross,  and  gathered 
them  round  him  to  hear  his  songs,  with  which  he  generally 
managed  to  weave  a  little  instruction.  The  anecdote  suggests 
that  sacred  songs  formed  part  of  the  gleeman's  repertory.  The 
hymn  which  Ceedmon  composed  whilst  sleeping  in  the  stable 
is  the  earliest  piece  of  Saxon  poetry  extant.  Cuthbert  also 


THE  HYMNS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH       25 

refers  to  a  hymn  sung  by  Bede  in  his  last  illness.  No  collection 
of  mediaeval  English  hymns  has  yet  been  made.  If  some  one 
would  undertake  this  task,  considerable  light  might  be  thrown 
on  the  devotions  of  the  laity  in  olden  times.  But  if  we  know 
little  of  English  hymnody  in  these  early  days,  Latin  hymns 
were  widely  used  in  our  island  down  to  the  time  of  the  Refor 
mation.  The  English  Reformers  unhappily  refused  them  a 
place  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  even  though  they  formed 
an  integral  part  of  the  offices  on  which  that  book  was  based. 
Luther,  on  the  other  hand,  who  had  learned  to  love  these 
hymns  in  the  monastery,  freely  used  them  after  he  broke  with 
Rome.  Two  renderings  of  '  Veni  Creator '  are  the  only  traces 
of  Latin  hymnody  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  But  if  such 
hymns  were  dying  out,  '  the  fashion  of  Psalm-singing  was 
mastering  the  people.'  It  quickly  became  an  integral  part  of 
the  national  life.  On  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  the  enthusiasm 
aroused  by  the  Psalter  was  almost  as  great  as  that  with  which 
Clement  Marot's  version  had  been  greeted  in  France,  or  at  the 
field-preaching  in  the  Netherlands.  Sometimes  six  thousand 
voices  were  thus  raised  in  praise  at  St.  Paul's  Cross  after 
the  sermons  of  the  bishops.  Psalms  were  introduced  at  St. 
Antholin's,  and  quickly  spread  to  other  London  churches.  It 
is  amusing  to  read  that  certain  men  and  women  from  London 
disturbed  the  six-o'clock  matins  in  Exeter  Cathedral  by  singing 
psalms.  They  were  prohibited  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  but 
were  supported  by  the  Queen's  Visitors,  Jewel,  and  other  in 
fluential  men,  who  sharply  reproved  the  authorities.  The  Dean 
and  Chapter  appealed  to  Archbishop  Parker,  but  he  bade  them 
'  permit  and  suffer '  congregations  to  '  sing  or  say  the  godly 
Prayers  set  forth  and  permitted  in  this  Church  of  England.' 
This  use  of  godly  prayers  as  equivalent  to  psalms  is  interesting. 
In  June,  1559,  permission  to  sing  hymns  in  public  worship  was 
granted  by  a  royal  injunction.  'For  the  comforting  of  such 
as  delight  in  music,  it  may  be  permitted  that  in  the  beginning 
or  end  of  Common  Prayer,  either  at  morning  or  evening,  there 
may  be  sung  an  hymn  or  such-like  song  to  the  praise  of 
Almighty  God  in  the  best  melody  and  music  that  may  be 
devised,  having  respect  that  the  sentence  of  the  hymn  may 
be  understood  and  perceived.' 

Thomas  Sternhold,  the  father  of  English  metrical  psalmody, 
died  ten  years  before  this  injunction  was  issued.  He  was 
groom  of  the  robes  to  Henry  VIII,  who  bequeathed  him  a 


26  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

legacy  of  a  hundred  marks.  His  psalms  were  originally  com 
posed  for  his  own  '  godly  solace,'  and  sung  by  him  to  his 
organ.  His  young  master,  Edward  VI,  chanced  to  overhear 
them,  and  invited  Sternhold  to  repeat  them  in  his  presence. 
The  first  edition  of  nineteen  psalms  was  dedicated  to  the  King. 
Wood  says  that  Sternhold  had  musical  notes  set  to  the  Psalms, 
and  hoped  that  the  courtiers  would  sing  them  instead  of  their 
amorous  and  obscene  songs.  His  psalms  are  godly  ballads  in 
the  older  form  of  common  measure,  known  as  the  Chevy  Chace 
measure,  with  only  two  rhymes.  It  was  not  till  1562  that  the 
complete  Psalter  was  published  by  John  Daye.  It  was  some 
years  later  before  it  assumed  its  final  shape.  Sternhold  himself 
is  responsible  for  forty  versions.  John  Hopkins,  who  seems  to 
have  been  a  Gloucestershire  clergyman  and  schoolmaster, 
wrote  sixty,  which  are  also  in  common  metre,  but  with  four 
rhymes  to  a  stanza.  William  Whittingham  was  the  scholar  of 
the  company.  He  had  fled  from  the  Marian  persecution  to 
Geneva,  where  he  married  Calvin's  sister  and  succeeded  Knox 
in  the  pastorate  of  the  exiled  English  congregation.  He  had 
a  prominent  share  in  the  preparation  of  the  Genevan  Bible. 
On  his  return  to  England  he  was  made  Dean  of  Durham. 
During  his  tenure  of  office  he  protested  against  the  wearing  of 
habits,  and  is  said  to  have  destroyed  the  image  of  Cuthbert, 
but  he  has  the  merit  of  having  introduced  metrical  canticles 
into  the  Cathedral  services.  The  Old  Version  has  twelve 
psalms  of  Whittingham's.  'Few  books  have  had  so  long  a 
career  of  influence.'  Psalm-singing  soon  came  to  be  regarded 
as  the  most  divine  part  of  public  worship.  When  a  psalm  was 
read  the  heads  of  the  worshippers  were  covered,  but  all  men  sat 
bare-headed  when  the  psalm  was  sung. 

Thomas  Mace,  in  his  Musics  Monument,  1676,  speaks  of 
psalm-singing  in  York  Minster  before  the  sermon,  during  the 
siege  of  1644.  '  When  that  vast  concording  unity  of  the  whole 
congregational  chorus  came  thundering  in,  even  so  as  it  made 
the  very  ground  shake  under  us,  oh,  the  unutterable  ravishing 
soul's  delight  !  in  the  which  I  was  so  transported  and  wrapped 
up  in  high  contemplations,  that  there  was  no  room  left  in  my 
whole  man,  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  for  anything  below  divine  and 
heavenly  raptures  ;  nor  could  there  possibly  be  anything  to  which 
that  very  singing  might  be  truly  compared,  except  the  right  ap 
prehension  or  conceiving  of  that  glorious  and  miraculous  quire, 
recorded  in  the  Scriptures  at  the  dedication  of  the  Temple.5 


THE   HYMNS   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH  27 

In  the  revision  of  the  Prayer-book  in  1661-2  the  famous 
rubric  was  inserted  after  the  third  Collect  at  Morning  and 
Evening  Prayer,  '  In  quires  and  places  where  they  sing,  here 
followeth  the  Anthern.'  Authority  was  thus  given  by  Church 
and  State  to  the  introduction  into  the  service  at  this  point  of  an 
anthem,  which  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  minister.  Hymns  in 
verse  were  used  as  well  as  unmetrical  passages  of  Scripture,  set 
to  music  by  Blow,  Purcell,  and  other  composers.  There  was 
no  technical  meaning  such  as  we  now  attach  to  anthems,  but 
metrical  hymns  were  given  a  right  of  way  into  the  service. 

The  New  Version  by  Tate  and  Brady,  published  in  1696, 
did  not  easily  displace  the  Old.  Bishop  Beveridge,  in  1710, 
made  a  vigorous  onslaught  on  it  as  '  fine  and  modish,' '  flourished 
with  wit  and  fancy,'  'gay  and  fashionable.'  He  says  one  vestry 
had  cast  it  out  after  it  was  introduced  by  the  clergyman. 
Beveridge  strenuously  defends  the  Old  Version  as  a  venerable 
monument  of  the  Reformation. 

In  Scotland,  where  services  had  been  established  in  the  ver 
nacular  after  the  -breach  with  Rome,  the  metrical  psalm  was 
preferred  to  the  chanted  prose  psalm,  both  because  it  was 
more  convenient  for  popular  use  and  was  deemed  to  be  nearer 
to  the  Hebrew  structure.  The  Psalter  has,  indeed,  had  'a 
mighty  influence  upon  the  Scottish  mind  and  heart.'  So  late 
as  1749  metrical  psalmody  was  the  only  part  of  the  service  in 
which  Scotch  congregations  joined.  The  singing  of  hymns, 
other  than  the  Paraphrases  of  1741-81,  did  not  become  at  all 
general  among  the  United  Presbyterians  till  after  1852.  The 
Established  Church  was  eighteen  years  later,  and  the  Free 
Church  three  years  later  still.  Calvin  had  adopted  Marot's 
version  of  the  Psalms,  and  when  Marot  himself  fled  to  Geneva 
the  Reformer  induced  him  to  revise  his  earlier  versions  and 
add  new  ones.  After  his  death  Beza  continued  the  work.  In 
the  completed  Psalter  published  in  1562,  forty-nine  versions 
are  by  Marot,  the  rest  by  Beza.  French  tunes  and  French 
metres  found  their  way  from  this  collection  into  the  Scotch 
Psalter.  Sternhold's  psalms  were  also  known  at  Geneva,  and 
thence  exerted  some  influence  on  Scotland.  The  Dundie 
Psalmes,  or  Gude  and  Godlie  Ballates,  was  the  first  version 
used  in  Scotland.  The  book  was  probably  issued  in  a  rudi 
mentary  form  as  early  as  1568.  The  earliest  perfect  edition 
we  possess,  that  of  1578,  is  a  poetical  miscellany.  It  contains 
sixteen  '  spiritual  Sangis,'  eleven  from  the  German,  one  from 


28  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

the  Latin  ;  twenty  '  Ballatis  of  the  Scripture,'  one  of  which  is 
from  the  German.  Its  last  edition  is  entitled  Psalmes  of  David 
with  uther  new  pleasand  Ballatis  Translatit  out  of  Enchiridion 
Psalmorum  to  be  sung.  Twenty-two  psalm  versions  are  in 
cluded,  thirteen  of  them  being  from  the  German  ;  three  hymns 
from  the  German,  one  from  the  Latin  ;  seven  adaptations  from 
secular  ballads,  and  thirty-six  other  items.  '  Some  of  the  pieces, 
though  rude,  have  a  wonderful  pathos,  and  even  beauty.  Read 
ing  the  anti-papal  satires,  one  does  not  wonder  at  the  rage  they 
excited  among  the  Roman  ecclesiastics.' 

In  1564  appeared  the  complete  Scotch  Psalter,  prepared  by 
order  of  the  General  Assembly.  Thirty-nine  of  the  versions  were 
by  Sternhold,  thirty-seven  by  Hopkins,  sixteen  by  Whittingham, 
twenty-five  by  Kethe.  The  Assembly  ordained  that  every 
minister,  reader,  and  exhorter  should  have  and  use  a  copy. 
Charles  I  sought  to  enforce  the  use  of  another  version,  which  was 
largely  the  work  of  William  Alexander,  Earl  of  Stirling.  The 
opposition  aroused  led  Alexander  largely  to  rewrite  his  version. 
It  was  then  bound  up  with  Laud's  luckless  Service  Book  of  1637, 
which  was  indignantly  rejected  by  all  Scotland.  The  General 
Assembly  was  restored,  and  Alexander's  monopoly  came  to  an 
untimely  end.  When  the  Westminster  Assembly  met,  in  1643, 
Parliament  instructed  it  to  prepare  a  Psalter  for  use  in  both 
kingdoms.  This  was  done  with  much  care.  But  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
result.  It  therefore  appointed  four  persons  to  make  further 
revision.  The  book  was  published  in  1650,  and  is  to  this  day 
the  one  Psalter  used  by  Presbyterian  Scotland.  Even  though 
sometimes  rude  in  style,  its  faithfulness,  vigour,  and  terseness 
cannot  be  denied.  It  is  woven  into  the  very  fibre  of  the 
national  religion. 

The  popularity  of  psalm-singing  entirely  destroyed  the 
influence  of  Latin  hymnody  in  England.  During  the  Refor 
mation  epoch  we  catch  a  few  echoes  of  Luther's  muse.  With 
the  exception  of  two  pieces,  nearly  the  whole  of  Coverdale's 
Goostly  Psalmes  and  Spiritual  Songs  is  a  more  or  less  close 
rendering  from  the  German.  It  was  a  misfortune  that  Cover- 
dale's  example  was  not  followed  ;  but  Calvin's  influence  was 
dominant,  and  he  was  not  prepared  to  admit  anything  into 
public  worship  save  paraphrases  of  Scripture,  and  '  even  of 
Scripture  little  outside  the  Psalms  became  the  stern  rule  of  our 
hymnody  for  the  next  century  and  a  half.' 


THE    HYMNS   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN    CHURCH  2Q 

The  metrical  paraphrases,  which  were  partly  liturgical,  but 
mainly  drawn  from  Scripture,  gradually  prepared  the  way  for 
hymns.  'The  real  cradle  of  English  hymns  is  the  English 
Bible.'  That  volume  seemed  to  the  Reformers  the  divinely 
given  wellspring  of  praise.  Much  of  it  actually  consisted  of 
songs  of  praise,  and  in  those  days  of  heated  theological  debate 
rigid  adherence  to  the  actual  language  of  the  Bible  appeared 
to  be  the  one  safeguard  against  error.  The  Song  of  Solomon 
was  most  frequently  reproduced  in  these  paraphrases,  but 
twelve  chapters  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  St.  Paul's  Epistles, 
and  other  somewhat  unlikely  parts  of  Scripture  were  versified. 
It  was  thought  that  the  Bible  was  universally  capable  of  musical 
expression.  This  feeling,  though  strained  unnaturally,  bore 
good  fruit.  '  That  grand  note  of  our  greatest  hymns,  impreg 
nation  with  Scripture,  is  in  great  measure  the  heritage  of  the 
paraphrases.'  Dr.  Watts  is  careful  to  state  in  the  preface  to 
his  hymns  that  he  '  might  have  brought  some  text  .  .  .  and 
applied  it  to  the  margin  of  every  verse.'  To  the  paraphrases, 
also,  we  owe  the  division  of  our  hymns  into  objective  and  sub 
jective.  Their  free  and  joyous  praise  with  the  less  intro 
spective  expressions  of  sorrow  and  penitence  are  a  heritage 
from  the  Psalms  ;  the  delineation  of  more  subtle  emotions  and 
moods  is  mainly  the  reflection  of  the  New  Testament  para 
phrases.  The  free  grouping  of  texts  which  characterized  the 
later  paraphrases  naturally  led  to  the  type  of  hymn  with  which 
we  are  familiar  in  Watts.  '  The  habit  of  sermon  and  com 
mentary  made  it  an  almost  irresistible  impulse  to  interweave 
the  familiar  parallel  passages,  to  make  one  passage  a  theme  of 
expansion  by  others,  to  omit  and  combine  for  the  sake  of  unity  ; 
all  the  while,  as  they  believed,  keeping  within  the  letter  of 
Scripture.  Then  came  the  license  of  some  connecting  verse  as 
a  piece  of  machinery.  And  only  one  step  more  converted  the 
Scriptural  Paraphrase  into  the  Scriptural  Hymn.'  Dr.  Watts 
gave  a  somewhat  loose  interpretation  to  the  word  'paraphrase,' 
but  he  kept  the  thought  steadily  in  view.  His  first  hymn, 
'  Behold  the  glories  of  the  Lamb,'  is  based  on  Rev.  v.,  and  his 
best  poetry  bears  the  same  stamp. 

Before  the  publication  of  Wither's  collection  our  hymns 
were  few  in  number.  They  had  already,  however,  won  a  place 
in  English  devotion.  Dr.  Donne  often  had  his  own  verses, 
'  Wilt  Thou  forgive  that  sin  ? '  sung  in  his  presence  at  St.  Paul's. 
George  Herbert,  on  the  last  Sunday  of  his  life,  called  for  his 


30  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

viol  and  sang  to  its  accompaniment  his  own  words,  '  The 
Sundays  of  man's  life.'  F.  B.P.'s '  Hierusalem,  my  happie  home,' 
which  was  written  before  1601,  is  one  of  the  treasures  of  English 
hymnody.  In  1623,  George  Wither  gained  permission  to  have 
his  Hymns  and  Songs  of  the  Church  bound  up  with  every  copy 
of  the  Metrical  Psalms.  Besides  the  usual  paraphrases,  it  con 
tained  hymns  for  all  the  festivals.  Instead  of  fame  and  profit, 
however,  the  work  brought  him  persecution  and  loss.  In  1641, 
many  of  these  pieces  were  republished  in  Hallelujah,  Britairfs 
Second  Remembrancer,  dedicated  to  the  Long  Parliament. 
That  collection  cannot  be  accused  of  any  want  of  variety,  for 
'When  Washing,  On  a  Boat,  Sheep-shearing,  House-warming, 
For  Lovers,  Tailors,  Jailer,  Prisoner,  Member  of  Parliament,' 
are  some  of  its  headings. 

We  owe  to  this  period  some  fine  hymns.  Samuel  Cross- 
man,  Prebendary  and  afterwards  Dean  of  Bristol,  published 
in  1664  some  pieces  which  are  still  sung  with  delight  in  many 
a  congregation,  '  Jerusalem  on  high,'  and  '  Sweet  place,  sweet 
place  alone.'  Ken's  three  hymns  were  written  within  ten  years 
of  that  time  ;  Richard  Baxter's  tender  hymn  of  resignation, 
'  Lord,  it  belongs  not  to  my  care,'  appeared  in  1681. 

Singing  almost  became  a  lost  art  for  Nonconformity  during 
the  rigour  of  the  Conventicle  Act.  An  amusing  account  of  the 
way  in  which  Benjamin  Keach  succeeded  in  gradually  restoring 
it  to  the  worship  of  his  own  Baptist  church  is  given  in  Mr. 
Spurgeon's  history  of  his  Tabernacle.  Keach  had  risked  much 
for  devotional  music.  His  congregation  had  been  surprised  by 
its  singing.  He  had  himself  been  trampled  on  by  a  trooper's 
horse  and  thrown  into  prison,  but  his  conviction  that  singing 
the  praises  of  God  'was  a  holy  ordinance  of  Jesus  Christ'  was 
only  deepened  by  such  troubles.  He  wrote  a  little  book  in 
defence  of  hymns,  and  managed  at  last  to  get  them  safely 
restored  to  Dissenting  worship.  Keach  also  published  two 
volumes  of  hymns.  Other  collections  soon  sprang  up.  Dr. 
Watts  made  a  memorable  advance  on  his  predecessors.  Dr. 
Julian  pays  a  high  tribute  in  the  Dictionary  of  Hymnology  to 
the  soft  richness  of  his  diction  ;  his  free,  vigorous  rhythm, 
especially  in  his  long  metres  ;  and  to  the  pervading  joyfulness 
and  buoyant  faith  which  light  up  even  his  saddest  hymns. 
Watts  often  complained  of  the  fetter  put  on  him  by  'the  old 
narrow  metres,'  as  well  as  by  the  necessity  of  giving  each  line 
a  complete  sense  in  itself,  and  '  sinking  it  to  the  level  of  a  whole 


THE   HYMNS   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH  31 

congregation.'  His  faults  are  'bombast  and  doggerel,'  but  to 
him  we  owe  that  proportion  of  parts  and  central  unity  which 
have  become  so  marked  a  characteristic  of  our  hymns.  Those 
written  before  his  time  have  little  unity.  The  change  originated 
probably  in  the  slow  singing,  which  limited  the  number  of 
verses  ;  in  the  clerk's  habit  of  skipping  and  combining  verses 
in  the  metrical  psalms ;  and  in  the  preacher's  desire  to  con 
dense  into  a  closing  hymn  the  substance  or  application  of  his 
sermon.  Watts's  Psalms  and  Hymns  soon  took  the  place  of  all 
others  in  Nonconformist  worship,  and  long  held  undisputed 
possession. 

The  work  which  Watts  began  was  carried  on  by  the  Wesleys, 
who  are  '  almost  as  interesting  from  the  hymnologist's  as  from 
the  Church  historian's  point  of  view.'  The  old  Rector  of 
Epworth — Samuel  Wesley — was  the  author  of  the  Good  Friday 
hymn  — 

Behold  the  Saviour  of  mankind 
Nailed  to  the  shameful  tree, 

which  was  found  lying  singed  on  the  grass  after  his  parsonage 
had  been  burned  down  ;  Samuel  Wesley,  jun.,  usher  at  West 
minster  School,  wrote  '  The  Lord  of  Sabbath  let  us  praise,'  and 
other  hymns  of  high  merit  ;  John  Wesley's  translations  from 
the  German  relinked  English  hymnody  to  that  of  Germany, 
and  his  fine  classic  taste  raised  the  whole  tone  of  Methodist 
praise.  Dr.  Abel  Stevens  says,  'John  Wesley  was  rigorously 
severe  in  his  criticisms,  and  appeared  to  be  aware  that  the 
psalmody  of  Methodism  was  to  be  one  of  its  chief  providential 
facts — at  once  its  liturgy  and  psalter  to  millions.'  '  But  after 
all,'  says  Canon  Overton  in  his  interesting  biographical  article, 
*  it  was  Charles  Wesley  who  was  the  great  hymn-writer  of  the 
Wesley  family — perhaps,  taking  quantity  and  quality  into 
consideration,  the  great  hymn- writer  of  all  ages.'  His  evan 
gelical  conversion  opened  his  lips  in  praise,  and  to  the  end 
of  his  days  he  sang  on  with  undiminished  fervour.  He  is 
said  to  have  |  written  six  thousand  five  hundred  hymns,  '  and 
though,  of  course,  in  so  vast  a  number  some  are  of  unequal 
merit,  it  is  perfectly  marvellous  how  many  there  are  which 
rise  to  the  highest  degree  of  excellence.  ...  It  would  be 
simply  impossible  within  our  space  to  enumerate  even  those 
of  the  hymns  which  have  become  really  classical.  The  saying 
that  a  good  hymn  is  as  rare  an  appearance  as  that  of  a  comet 


32  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

is  falsified  by  the  work  of  Charles  Wesley  ;  for  hymns,  which 
are  really  good  in  every  respect,  flowed  from  his  pen  in  quick 
succession,  and  death  alone  stopped  the  course  of  the  perennial 
stream.' 

Charles  Wesley's  hymns  were  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  the 
making  of  Methodism.  Mr.  Garrett  Horder  says,  '  For  spon- 
taneityof  feeling,  his  hymns  are  pre-eminent.  They  are  songs 
that  soar.  They  have  the  rush  and  fervour  which  bear  the  soul 
aloft.'  Dr.  S chaff  writes,  '  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  some 
of  the  greatest  religious  revivals  in  the  Church — as  the  Refor 
mation,  Pietism,  Moravianism,  Methodism — were  sung  as  well 
as  preached,  and  written  into  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and 
that  the  leaders  of  those  revivals — Luther,  Spener,  Zinzendorf, 
Wesley — were  themselves  hymnists.'  The  force  of  those  words 
will  be  felt  by  every  student  of  church  history,  not  least  by  those 
who  are  familiar  with  the  work  of  Mr.  Moody  and  Mr.  Sankey 
in  England  and  Scotland.  Mr.  Sankey  said,  '  I  find  it  much 
more  difficult  to  get  good  words  than  good  music.  Our  best 
words  come  from  England ;  the  music  which  best  suits  our 
purpose  comes  from  America.' 

A  few  hymns  crept  into  the  Scottish  Psalter  of  1564-5, 
but  they  do  not  seem  to  have  received  direct  ecclesiastical 
sanction.  None  of  them  were  transferred  to  the  Psalter  of 
1650,  or  to  the  Translations  and  Paraphrases.  The  General 
Assembly  having  already  made  various  unsuccessful  attempts 
to  secure  a  suitable  collection  of  sacred  songs,  appointed  a 
Committee,  in  1742,  to  prepare  a  volume  of  Scripture  para 
phrases.  Some  of  the  Scotch  contributions  are  good,  but  the 
collection  of  1741-81  '  is  hardly  what  might  have  been  expected 
from  the  gifts  and  graces  of  the  ministers  of  the  Church  of 
Scotland '  at  that  time. 

The  article  on  Children's  Hymns  in  the  Dictionary  of 
Hymnology  by  Mr.  W.  T.  Brooke,  'whose  acquaintance  with 
early  English  hymnody,'  the  editor  says,  is  unrivalled,  will 
repay  careful  study.  The  early  vernacular  carols  and  hymns 
do  not  appear  to  have  been  composed  expressly  for  children, 
though  young  folk  naturally  rejoiced  to  sing  them.  The  history 
of  juvenile  hymnody  begins  with  the  Reformation.  Wither's 
Hallelujah  contains  a  hymn  or  two  for  the  young,  and  Herrick 
wrote  a  child's  grace.  Jeremy  Taylor's  Golden  Grove  contained 
some  '  Festival  Hymns '  '  fitted  to  the  fancy  and  devotion  of 
the  younger  and  pious  persons,  apt  for  memory,  and  to  be 


THE    HYMNS   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   CHURCH  33 

joined  to  their  other  prayers.'  Dr.  Watts  was  the  first  great 
hymn-writer  for  the  young.  His  Divine  and  Moral  Songs  for 
Children  mark  an  epoch  in  this  branch  of  our  hymnody.  The 
numerous  editions  published  in  town  and  country  for  more 
than  a  century  showed  what  a  need  these  songs  supplied. 
Charles  Wesley  also  remembered  the  children.  His  '  Gentle 
Jesus,  meek  and  mild '  is  perhaps  the  chief  classic  among  our 
nursery  hymns.  As  Sunday  schools  sprang  up  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  psalms  and  hymns  for  the  young  multiplied.  Jane 
and  Ann  Taylor's  Hymns  for  Infant  Minds  have  endeared 
themselves  to  every  generation  since  they  were  written.  Mr. 
Brooke  thinks  Mrs.  Alexander's  Hymns  for  Little  Children 
'  unequalled  and  unapproachable,'  whilst  the  Methodist  Sunday 
School  Hymn-Book  '  ranks  first  in  merit  of  any  collection  for 
children  yet  made.'  Certainly  the  Church's  later  gift  of  song 
has  been  abundantly  consecrated  to  the  service  of  the  nursery 
and  the  Sunday  school. 

Germany  surpasses  all  other  lands  in  its  wealth  of  hymns. 
The  number  cannot  fall  short  of  a  hundred  thousand ;  about 
ten  thousand  have  become  more  or  less  popular.  Ever  since 
the  Reformation,  Germany  has  been  adding  to  her  treasury  of 
sacred  song.  Some  of  the  most  exulting  strains  were  sung 
amid  the  conflicts  of  the  Reformation,  others  belong  to  later 
days  of  quickening  and  revival.  '  Thus  these  hymns  constitute 
a  most  graphic  book  of  confession  for  German  evangelical 
Christianity,  a  sacred  band  which  enriches  its  various  periods, 
an  abiding  memorial  of  its  victories,  its  sorrows,  and  its  joys, 
a  clear  mirror,  showing  its  deepest  experiences,  and  an  eloquent 
witness  for  the  all-conquering  and  invincible  life-power  of  the 
evangelical  Christian  faith.'  In  the  Middle  Ages  German 
hymnody  is  full  of  hagiolatry  and  Mariolatry.  Luther  was 
himself  the  first  evangelical  hymnist.  He  gave  the  people  the 
Bible,  through  which  God  spoke  to  their  hearts;  he  gave  them 
the  hymn-book,  by  which  they  poured  out  their  hearts  to  God. 
Dr.  Schaff  styles  Luther  the  Ambrose  of  German  hymnody. 
His  sacred  songs  proved,  next  to  the  German  Bible,  'the  most 
effective  missionaries  of  evangelical  doctrines  and  piety.'  Others 
caught  his  spirit,  and  used  their  gifts  of  sacred  song  to  promote 
the  Reformation  cause.  German  hymnody  had  its  dark  age 
between  1757  and  1816,  when  Rationalism  wrought  havoc  in 
the  country.  Purists  set  themselves  to  remove  the  uncouth 
language,  irregular  rhymes,  antiquated  words,  and  Latinisms, 

D 


34  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

which  disfigured  many  old  hymns.  Klopstock  altered  twenty- 
nine  of  them.  '  He  was  followed  by  a  swarm  of  hymnological 
tinkers  and  poetasters  who  had  no  sympathy  with  the  theology 
and  poetry  of  the  grand  old  hymns  of  faith  ;  weakened,  diluted, 
mutilated,  and  watered  them,  and  introduced  these  mis-improve 
ments  into  the  churches.  The  original  hymns  of  rationalistic 
preachers,  court  chaplains,  and  superintendents,  now  almost 
forgotten,  were  still  worse,  mostly  prosy  and  tedious  rhymes  on 
moral  duties.  .  .  .  Instead  of  hymns  of  faith  and  salvation,  the 
congregations  were  obliged  to  sing  rhymed  sermons  on  the 
existence  of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  delights  of 
reunion,  the  dignity  of  man,  the  duty  of  self-improvement,  the 
nature  of  the  body,  and  the  care  of  animals  and  flowers.'  Yet 
this  was  the  classic  age  of  German  literature.  A  better  time 
dawned  at  last ;  '  rich  in  hymns  which  combine  the  old  faith 
with  the  classical  elegance  of  form,  sound  doctrine  with  deep 
feeling.' 

Any  one  who  wishes  to  appreciate  the  labours  of  Dr.  Julian 
and  his  staff  of  helpers  should  turn  to  the  annotations  and 
biographical  sketches  which  form  the  staple  of  his  huge 
Dictionary.  Twelve  columns  deal  with  the  text  of  the  Dies 
Irae,  discuss  its  authorship,  liturgical  use,  and  translations,  of 
which  there  are  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty.  Daniel  says 
every  word  of  this  glorious  sequence  '  is  weighty,  yea,  even  a 
thunderclap.'  Archbishop  Trench  grows  enthusiastic  in  his 
description  of  the  triple  rhyme  falling  on  the  ear  like  blow 
following  blow  on  the  anvil.  Thomas  Celano's  confidence  in 
the  universal  interest  of  his  theme  made  him  handle  it  with  an 
unadorned  plainness  which  renders  it  intelligible  to  all.  His 
Great  Judgement  hymn  has  written  its  own  history  broad  and 
deep  on  the  Middle  Ages.  What  influence  a  hymn  may  exert  is 
seen  in  St.  Bernard's  'Jesu,  dulcis  memoria.'  It  was  probably 
written  when  he  was  in  retirement,  smarting  under  the  indig 
nation  of  his  contemporaries  over  the  disastrous  failure  of  the 
Second  Crusade,  of  which  he  had  been  the  preacher.  It  is 
true  that  his  'Joyful  Rhythm'  on  the  Name  of  Jesus  labours 
under  the  defect  of  a  certain  monotony  and  want  of  progress, 
but  the  fascination  of  the  theme  and  the  tenderness  and  warmth 
of  the  minstrel's  touch  have  made  the  hymn  a  sacred  heritage. 
A  few  hymns  have  been  more  extensively  translated  into  English, 
'  but  no  other  poem  in  any  language  has  furnished  to  English 
and  American  hymn-books  so  many  hymns  of  sterling  worth 


THE  HYMNS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH       35 

and  well-deserved  popularity.'  St.  Bernard  seems  as  if  he  had 
scattered  abroad  the  sacred  fire  and  raised  up  a  whole  choir  of 
singers  who  shared  his  own  devotion.  Around  Luther's  most 
famous  hymn — '  Ein'feste  Burgist  unserGott' — the  battle-song 
of  the  Reformation,  a  history  of  its  own  has  gathered.  '  Jesu, 
Lover  of  my  soul,'  is  one  of  Charles  Wesley's  lyrics,  the  popu 
larity  of  which  increases  with  its  age.  Few  hymns  have  been 
so  extensively  used.  The  transformations  of  its  first  four  lines 
make  them  unique  as  an  editorial  curiosity.  Dr.  Julian  knows 
no  portion  of  a  stanza  which  has  undergone  so  many  alterations. 
He  awards  the  palm  for  popularity  among  Charles  Wesley's 
hymns  to  '  Hark  !  how  all  the  welkin  rings.'  'Amongst  English 
hymns,  it  is  equalled  in  popularity  only  by  Toplady's  "  Rock  of 
Ages,"  and  Bishop  Ken's  Morning  and  Evening  hymns,  and  is 
excelled  by  none.  In  literary  merit  it  falls  little,  if  anything, 
short  of  this  honour.' 

Roman  Catholicism  during  the  second  half  of  this  century 
has  given  us  a  group  of  hymn-writers  whose  names  have  been 
household  words  among  all  the  churches.  It  is  a  significant 
fact  that  John  Henry  Newman,  Frederick  W.  Faber,  Edward 
Caswall,  and  Frederick  Oakeley,  the  chief  hymn-writers  of  that 
communion,  were  all  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  went  over  to  Rome.  Before  Newman's  accession  Roman 
Catholics  were  scarcely  aware  of  the  '  treasures  of  hymnody 
in  their  own  office-books,'  or  awake  to  the  vast  possibilities 
of  congregational  singing.  '  Considering  how  many  are  the 
hymns  of  singular  power  and  beauty,  venerable  also,  through 
their  long  use,  which  are  contained  in  the  Roman  Missal, 
Offices,  and  Breviary,  it  is  surprising  that  Roman  Catholic 
poets  did  not  long  before  the  present  century  render  them  more 
frequently  into  English  verse.'  There  were  some  attempts  in 
this  direction.  The  Jesuit  Southwell,  who  suffered  for  treason 
in  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  wrote  a  few  good  hymns  and  carols. 
The  English  Roman  Catholics  who  settled  on  the  Continent 
during  days  of  persecution  issued  some  translations  from  the 
Latin  with  versions  of  the  Old  Church  hymns.  Dryden's  trans 
lation  of  '  Veni,  Creator  Spiritus,'  and  Pope's  '  Vital  Spark,'  were 
notable  Romanist  contributions  to  the  general  service  of  praise. 
But  it  is  Cardinal  Newman  who  ranks  as  'one  of  the  great 
restorers  of  Roman  Catholic  hymnody.'  His  most  popular 
hymn,  '  Lead,  kindly  light,'  was  indeed  written  before  he  re 
nounced  Anglicanism,  and  his  Tract '  On  the  Roman  Breviary,' 


36  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

published  in  1836,  contained  translations  of  fourteen  Latin 
hymns.  He  carried  on  this  work  when  he  sought  a  new  home. 
Dr.  Julian  holds  that  his  influence  on  hymnody  has  not  been 
of  a  marked  character.  He  says,  '  two  brilliant  original  pieces, 
and  a  little  more  than  half  a  dozen  translations  from  the  Latin, 
are  all  that  can  claim  to  rank  with  his  inimitable  prose.'  We 
are  inclined  to  consider  this  a  just  verdict,  yet  much  may  be 
said  for  Mr.  Earle's  view  in  the  article  on  Roman  Catholic 
Hymnody.  He  thinks  Newman's  influence,  as  '  in  himself  a 
type  of  rhythmical  utterance,  and  the  author  of  several  hymns 
and  translations  of  supreme  [excellence,'  has  been  deep  and 
widespread.  His  '  Praise  to  the  Holiest  in  the  height,'  from 
the  '  Dream  of  Gerontius,'  is  also  a  noble  hymn,  though  it  has 
not  attained  the  popularity  of  the  earlier  piece.  Edward 
Caswall's  version  of  St.  Bernard's  'Joyful  Rhythm  '  on  the  Name 
of  Jesus  '  has  become  a  national  treasure.'  It  was  published  in 
his  Lyra  Catholica  two  years  after  he  resigned  his  living  and  in 
the  year  before  he  was  received  into  the  Roman  Catholic  com 
munion.  Caswall's  translations  of  the  Latin  hymns  are  only 
surpassed  in  popularity  by  those  of  Dr.  Neale.  His  faithfulness 
to  the  original  and  his  purity  of  rhythm  go  far  to  explain  the 
charm  of  his  renderings.  Frederick  Faber,  the  most  fruitful  of 
modern  Romanist  hymnists,  did  more  than  any  other  man  to 
promote  congregational  singing  in  his  adopted  communion. 
'  He  certainly  perceived  and  appreciated,  as  a  scholar,  and  from 
his  standpoint  as  a  Roman  Catholic,  the  double  advantage 
possessed  by  a  church  which  sings  both  in  an  ancient  and 
modern  tongue,  making  twofold  melody  continually  unto  God. 
He  did  not  prize  the  less  the  magnificent  hymns  of  Christian 
antiquity  in  Latin,  because  he  taught  congregations  to  sing  in 
the  English  of  to-day.'  In  the  preface  to  his  Jesus  and  Mary, 
he  says  it  was  natural  '  that  an  English  son  of  St.  Philip 
(Neri)  should  feel  the  want  of  a  collection  of  English  Catholic 
hymns  fitted  for  singing.  The  few  in  the  Garden  of  the  Soul 
were  all  that  were  at  hand,  and  of  course  they  were  not 
numerous  enough  to  furnish  the  requisite  variety.  As  to  trans 
lations,  they  do  not  express  Saxon  thoughts  and  feelings,  and 
consequently  the  poor  do  not  take  to  them.  The  domestic 
wants  of  the  Oratory,  too,  keep  alive  the  feeling  that  something 
of  the  sort  was  needed.'  Hence  Faber  became  a  hymnist.  He 
had  already  written  hymns  which  '  became  very  popular  with 
a  country  congregation.'  We  gather  that  he  refers  to  Elton  in 


THE    HYMNS   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN    CHURCH  37 

Huntingdonshire,  where  he  was  rector  before  he  left  the  Anglican 
Church.  He  had  been  taught  the  power  of  hymns  before  he 
went  over  to  Rome.  We  may  add  that  he  learned  his  art 
from  Protestant  models,  for  he  set  himself  to  emulate  the 
simplicity  and  intense  fervour  of  the  Olney  hymns  and  those  of 
the  Wesleys.  Speaking  of  them  as  a  whole,  Faber's  hymns  are 
too  luscious  and  sentimental  ;  nevertheless  some  of  them  are 
treasures  which  we  would  be  sorry  indeed  to  lack  in  our 
Common  Book  of  Praise.  Mr.  Earle  says,  '  To  these  three — 
Cardinal  Newman,  Caswall,  and  Faber — the  Roman  Catholic 
hymnody  in  England  principally  owes  its  revival.'  Anglicanism 
produced  them  all.  Roman  Catholic  congregations  thus  owe 
no  small  debt  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  in  some  sense 
they  have  well  repaid  it.  Our  noblest  hymns  are  dear  alike  to 
all  sections  of  the  Church.  They  show  that  deep  down  beneath 
all  our  differences  lie  great  fundamental  truths  in  which  true 
Christian  people  are  at  one.  Such  hymns  are  what  Dean 
Stanley  would  have  called  the  homely  facts  which  turn  away  the 
wrath  'kindled  by  an  anathema,  by  an  opinion,  by  an  argument.' 
The  hymns  which  Romanist  and  Protestant  alike  delight  to 
sing  are  a  step  towards  that  true  catholicity  of  spirit  which,  amid 
all  our  divergences,  we  delight  to  cultivate. 

As  Henry  Ward  Beecher  puts  it,  '  There  is  almost  no 
heresy  in  the  hymn-book.  In  hymns  and  psalms  we  have  a 
universal  ritual.  It  is  the  theology  of  the  heart  that  unites  men. 
Our  very  childhood  is  embalmed  in  sacred  tunes  and  hymns. 
Our  early  lives  and  the  lives  of  our  parents  hang  in  the  atmo 
sphere  of  sacred  song.  The  art  of  singing  together  is  one  that 
is  for  ever  winding  invisible  threads  about  persons.' 

England  is  a  nation  of  hymn-singers.  Mr.  Stead  says,  '  The 
songs  of  the  English-speaking  people  are  for  the  most  part 
hymns.  For  the  mmense  majority  of  our  people  to-day  the 
minstrelsy  is  that  of  the  hymn-book.  And  this  is  as  true  of  our 
race  beyond  the  sea  as  it  is  of  our  race  at  home.  Surely  those 
hymns  which  have  most  helped  the  greatest  and  best  of  our 
race  are  those  which  bear,  as  it  were,  the  hallmark  of  heaven.' 

A  guide  to  the  development  of  the  Church's  song  and  to  some 
of  its  national  divisions  may  be  found  by  studying  the  names 
and  numbers  that  follow. 

THE  PSALMS  :  Venite,  982  ;  Jubilate,  985  ;  Cantate,  987  : 
Deus  Misereatur,  989. 


38  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

THE  GOSPEL  HYMNS:  Benedictus,  984;  Magnificat,  986; 
Nunc  Dimittis,  988. 

LATIN  HYMNS. 

Ambrose,  902,  903  ;  Te  Deum,  983,  30 ;  Veni,  Creator 
Spiritus,  228,  751  ;  Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus,  237  ;  Dies  Irae, 
844,  845. 

St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  St.  Bernard  of  Cluny,  Notker, 
Santeiiil,  St.  Theodulph. 

Translators:  Cosin,  Dryden,  Chandler,  Irons,  Neale, 
Caswall,  Oakeley,  Ray  Palmer,  Williams,  Winkworth. 

THE  GREEK  CHURCH. 

St.  John  of  Damascus,  178  ;  Anatolius,  915  ;  St.  Joseph  the 
Hymnographer,  835.  Translator  :  Neale. 

GERMAN  HYMNS. 

Luther,  Weisse,  P.  Herbert,  Stegmann,  Lowenstern,  Rin- 
kart,  Gerhardt,  Scheffler,  Richter,  Neumark,  Schiitz,  Dessler, 
E.  Lange,  Schmolck,  Dober,  Freylinghausen,  J.  Lange,  Rothe, 
Zinzendorf,  Gellert,  Tersteegen,  Spangenberg,  Claudius, 
Bahnmaier,  Spitta. 

Translators :  John  Wesley,  Carlyle,  Winkworth,  Cox, 
Alexander,  Borthwick,  Findlater,  Foster  and  Miller,  Massie, 
Pope,  Campbell,  P.  Pusey. 

FRENCH  HYMNS  :  Bourignon,  Monod.  DANISH  :  Inge- 
mann.  SPANISH  :  Xavier  and  429. 

EARLIER  ENGLISH  HYMNS. 

Old  Version  :  Sternhold,  Kethe,  14,  2. 

New  Version:  Tate  and  Brady,  17,  20,  78,  131,  298,  510. 

Milton,  Grossman,  More,  Baxter,  Ken,  Addison,  Watts, 
Doddridge,  the  Wesleys,  Cowper,  Newton,  Cennick,  Byrom, 
Toplady,  Olivers,  Harvey. 

SCOTCH  HYMN-WRITERS  AND  TRANSLATORS  :  Bonar, 
Borthwick,  Bruce,  Clephane,  Cousin,  Findlater,  Small. 

IRISH  :  Kelly,  Denny,  Potter,  Mrs.  Alexander. 

WELSH  :  W.  Williams. 

AMERICAN  :  J.  W.  Alexander,  Bliss,  Bryant,  Brooks,  Coxe, 
Davies,  Doane,  Duffield,  Duncan,  Dwight,  Gladden,  Holmes, 
Hosmer,  Lathbury,  March,  Miller,  Ray  Palmer,  Rankin,  Sears, 
Whittier,  Wolcott. 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND 
THEIR  WRITERS 

( The  number  in  parentheses  which  follows  the  name  of  the  writer  of  a 
hyrr.n  indicates  the  hymn  under  which  a  biographical  sketch  of  that 
•writer  -will  be  found. ) 

Hymn  1.  O  for  a  thousand  tongues  to  sing. 
CHARLES  WESLEY. 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Poetical  Works  of  f.  and  C. 
IVesley,  vol.  i.  299,  headed,  '  For  the  Anniversary  Day  of  One's 
Conversion."  Eighteen  verses.  It  begins — 

Glory  to  God,  and  praise,  and  love 

Be  ever,  ever  given, 
By  saints  below  and  saints  above, 

The  Church  in  earth  and  heaven. 

On  this  glad  day  the  glorious  Sun 

Of  Righteousness  arose  ; 
On  my  benighted  soul  He  shone, 

And  fill'd  it  with  repose. 

The  seventh  verse  is — 

O  for  a  thousand  tongues  to  sing 
My  dear  Redeemer's  praise  ! 

Charles  Wesley  was  converted  on  May  21,  1738,  so  that  this 
hymn  was  probably  written  about  May  21,  1739.  The  poet  tells 
us  nothing  about  the  day,  save  that  at  Mrs.  Claggett's  he  met 
Whitefield,  Cennick,  and  other  friends.  It  is  said  that  in  May, 
1739,  Charles  Wesley  spoke  to  Bohler  about  confessing  Christ, 
and  received  the  reply,  '  Had  I  a  thousand  tongues,  I  would 
praise  Him  with  them  all.'  The  famous  verse  was  thus  sug 
gested  to  one  who  never  failed  to  make  use  of  good  material. 


40  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

George  Whitefield,  on  April  14,  1739,  after  receiving  letters 
from  some  of  his  Bristol  converts,  exclaims,  '  O  that  I  had  a 
thousand  tongues  with  which  to  praise  my  God.' 
Mentzer's  hymn — 

O   dass  ich  tausend  Zungen  hatte, 

had  been  published  in  1704,  and  may  have  suggested  Boiler's 
phrase.  It  takes  quite  a  different  line  from  Charles  Wesley's 
hymn. 

R.  Conyers  introduced  the  hymn  into  his  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
1767.  In  Wesley's  Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1753,  it  is  No. 
44,  and  is  headed  '  Invitation  of  Sinners  to  Christ.'  Its  premier 
place  in  the  Wesleyan  hymn-book  since  1780  has  given  it  a 
hold  on  universal  Methodism  such  as  scarcely  any  other  hymn 
possesses.  It  is  also  the  first  hymn  in  The  Methodist  Hymnal 
(1905)  of  America.  The  Rev.  E.  Theodore  Carrier  describes  it 
as  '  A  Church  bell  calling  to  Worship.'  The  sentiment  of  the 
first  verse  is  earlier  than  Bohler. 

And  if  a  thousand  tongues  were  mine, 
O  dearest  Lord,  they  should  be  Thine  ; 

And  scanty  would  the  offering  be, 
So  richly  hast  Thou  loved  me. 

Charles  Wesley  was  born  at  Epworth  on  December  8,  1707, 
and  died  in  Marylebone,  March  29,  1788.  He  was  educated  at 
Westminster  School  and  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  Mr.  Garret 
Wesley  offered  to  adopt  him,  and  he  had  what  his  brother 
John  used  to  call  'a  fair  escape'  from  being  drawn  into  the 
world  of  rank  and  fashion.  He  was  the  first  Oxford  Methodist, 
and  went  to  Georgia  as  secretary  to  General  Oglethorpe. 
He  was  'converted'  on  Whit  Sunday,  1738,  and  John  Wesley 
on  the  following  Wednesday.  The  first  effort  of  his  muse 
which  is  preserved  was  addressed  to  his  sister  Martha  before 
her  marriage.  His  conversion  unlocked  his  soul,  and  for  half 
a  century  he  was  the  poet  of  the  Methodist  revival.  John 
Wesley  said  truly  in  the  obituary  of  his  brother,  which  was 
read  at  the  Conference  of  1788,  '  His  least  praise  was  his  talent 
for  poetry.'  He  was  a  restless  evangelist,  a  glorious  preacher, 
a  brave  soldier  of  Christ.  It  is,  however,  as  the  '  Sweet  Singer' 
of  Methodism  that  he  will  always  be  remembered.  Poetry 
was  for  him  a  sixth  sense.  Every  experience  of  his  own  inner 
life,  every  phase  in  the  history  of  the  Evangelical  Revival,  every 
Christian  festival,  every  national  event,  furnished  him  with 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       41 

opportunities  for  song.  He  wrote  about  6,500  hymns,  and  only 
death  put  a  period  to  his  music.  His  most  touching  and  tender 
note  is  his  swan-song  on  his  death-bed  (821). 

At  Bristol  on  Saturday,  April  25,  1741,  Charles  Wesley 
says,  '  Our  thanksgiving-notes  multiply  more  and  more.  One 
wrote  thus :  "There  was  not  a  word  came  out  of  your  mouth 
last  night  but  I  could  apply  it  to  my  own  soul,  and  witness  it 
the  doctrine  of  Christ.  I  know  that  Christ  is  a  whole  Saviour. 
I  know  the  blood  of  Christ  has  washed  away  all  my  sins.  I 
am  sure  the  Lord  will  make  me  perfect  in  love  before  I  go 
hence,  and  am  no  more  seen. 

O  for  a  thousand  tongues  to  sing 
My  dear  Redeemer's  praise  ! ' 

Mr.  Stead  says,  'The  first  man  whom  this  hymn  helped 
was  Charles  Wesley  himself.  Given  the  first  place  in  the 
Methodist  hymn-book,  it  may  be  said  to  strike  the  key-note  of 
the  whole  of  Methodism,  that  multitudinous  chorus,  whose 
voices,  like  the  sound  of  many  waters,  encompassed  the 
world.' 

Mortimer  Collins  writes,  '  Wesley's  hymns  are  as  much 
in  earnest  as  Dibdin's  sea-songs.  I  suspect  Charles  Wesley 
the  poet  did  as  much  as  John  Wesley  the  orator  for  the  per 
manence  of  Methodism.  The  magnetism  of  personal  influence 
passes  away  ;  but  the  burning  life  of  that  wondrous  psalmody, 
sung  Sunday  after  Sunday  by  congregations  full  of  faith,  is 
imperishable.' 

Southey  says  of  the  Wesley  hymns,  '  Perhaps  no  poems 
have  ever  been  so  devoutly  committed  to  memory  as  these,  nor 
quoted  so  often  upon  a  death-bed.  The  manner  in  which  they 
were  sung  tended  to  impress  them  strongly  on  the  mind  ;  the 
tune  was  made  wholly  subservient  to  the  words,  not  the  words 
to  the  tune.' 

Isaac  Taylor  wrote,  'There  is  no  principal  element  of 
Christianity,  as  professed  by  Protestant  churches  ;  there  is  no 
moral  or  ethical  sentiment  peculiarly  characteristic  of  the 
gospel  ;  no  height  or  depth  of  feeling  proper  to  the  spiritual 
life,  that  does  not  find  itself  emphatically  and  pointedly  and 
clearly  conveyed  in  some  stanzas  of  Charles  Wesley's  hymns.' 

Earl  Selborne  regarded  Charles  Wesley  as  '  more  subjective 
and  meditative  than  Watts  and  his  school ;  there  is  a  didactic 
turn  even  in  his  most  objective  pieces  (as,  for  example,  in  his 


42  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Christmas  and  Easter  hymns)  ;  most  of  his  works  are  sup 
plicatory,  and  his  defects  are  connected  with  the  same  habit  of 
mind.  He  is  apt  to  repeat  the  same  thoughts,  and  to  lose  force 
by  redundancy — he  runs  sometimes  even  to  a  tedious  length  ; 
his  hymns  are  not  always  symmetrically  constructed,  or  well 
balanced  and  finished  off.  But  he  has  great  truth,  depth,  and 
variety  of  feeling  ;  his  diction  is  manly,  and  always  to  the 
point ;  never  florid,  though  sometimes  passionate  and  not  free 
from  exaggeration  ;  often  vivid  and  picturesque.' 

Canon  Overton  says,  '  Regarded  merely  as  literary  com 
positions,  many  of  Charles  Wesley's  hymns  attain  a  very  high 
standard  of  excellence.  They  will  bear,  and  indeed  require, 
the  closest  analysis,  in  order  to  discover  their  hidden  beauties.' 
— The  Evangelical  Revival,  Chap.  VI. 

Hymn  2.  All  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell. 

WILLIAM  KETHE. 

Appeared  first  in  Dayis  Psalter,  1560-1.  In  the  Angk-Genevan 
Psalter  of  1561  twenty-five  Psalm  versions  of  Kethe's  are  given, 
including  Psalm  c.  It  is  not  in  the  English  Psalter  of  1562,  but  was 
added  to  the  Appendix  in  1564. 

Ver.  I.  'Mirth,'  in  the  Scottish  Psalter  of  1650,  is  taken  from  the 
common  metre  version  of  the  psalm  in  the  older  English  Psalters. 

Ver.  2.  Kethe  wrote,  '  We  are  His  folcke,'  or  people.  The  printer 
turned  it  into  '  flocke  '  by  error,  and  it  has  kept  its  place. 

Kethe  is  said  to  have  been  a  Scotchman.  He  was  an  exile 
at  Frankfurt  1555,  at  Geneva  1557,  Rector  of  Childe,  Okeford, 
near  Blandford,  in  1561  ;  his  connexion  with  that  living  ceased 
about  1593. 

Dr.  Julian  says  the  '  Old  Hundredth '  first  appeared  in  the 
enlarged  edition  of  the  French  Genevan  Psalter  of  1551  as  the 
tune  to  Psalm  cxxxiv.  The  first  half  of  the  tune  is  a  musical 
phrase  found  in  various  combinations,  but  the  latter  part  and 
the  form  of  the  whole  was  by  Louis  Bourgeois,  editor  of  the 
Psalter.  Kethe's  version  was  apparently  written  for  this  tune. 

In  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (Act  ii.  sc.  i)  Mrs.  Ford 
says,  '  I  would  have  sworn  his  disposition  would  have  gone  to 
the  truth  of  his  words  ;  but  they  do  no  more  adhere  and  keep 
place  together  than  the  Hundredth  Psalm  to  the  tune  of  Green 
Sleeves.'  Bunyan  makes  '  our  country  birds  '  sing  the  last  verse 
to  Christiana  before  she  goes  down  into  the  Valley  of  Humiliation. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND    THEIR   WRITERS       43 

Longfellow  introduces  Priscilla,  in  the  '  Courtship  of  Miles 
Standish,'  iii.  40 — 

Singing  the   Hundredth  Psalm,  that  grand  old  Puritan  anthem, 
Music  that  Luther  sang  to  the  sacred  words  of  the  Psalmist.   .  .  . 
Open  wide  on  her  lap  lay  the  well-worn  psalm-book  of  Ainsworth, 
Printed  in  Amsterdam,  the  words  and  the  music  together, 
Rough-hewn,  angular  notes,  like  stones  in  the  wall  of  a  churchyard, 
Darkened  and  overhung  by  the  running  vine  of  the  verses. 
Such    was    the    book  from  whose  pages  she   sang  the   old   Puritan 
anthem. 


Hymn  3.  Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (1674-1748). 

From  The  Psalms  of  David  imitated  in  the  Language  of  the  New 
Testament,  1719. 

Watts's  version  marks  the  passage  from  psalm-singing  to  hymn- 
singing.  Nonconformists  felt  that  in  his  two  books  they  had  '  such  a 
provision  for  psalmody  as  to  answer  most  occasions  of  the  Christian's 
life.'  The  first  two  verses  ran — 

Sing  to  the  Lord  with  joyful  voice ; 

Let  ev'ry  land  His  name  adore ; 
The  British  isles  shall  send  the  noise 

Across  the  ocean  to  the  shore. 

Nations  attend  before  His  throne 
With  solemn  fear,  with  sacred  joy  ; 

Know  that  the  Lord  is  God  alone ; 
He  can  create  and  He  destroy. 

In  his  Charlestown  Collection,  I737»  Wesley  omitted  ver.  I,  and 
altered  the  first  part  of  ver.  2  to  the  form  now  adopted — 

Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne, 
Ye  nations,  bow  with  sacred  joy. 

Watts's  fourth  verse  is  omitted — 

We  are  His  people,  we  His  care, 
Our  souls  and  all  our  mortal  frame; 

What  lasting  honours  shall  we  rear, 
Almighty  Maker,  to  Thy  name? 

Isaac  Watts  was  born  at  Southampton,  and  was  the 
eldest  of  the  nine  children  of  Enoch  Watts,  a  Nonconformist 


44  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

schoolmaster,  who  twice  suffered  imprisonment  for  his  religious 
convictions.  The  poet's  grandfather,  Thomas  Watts,  sailed  with 
Blake,  and  blew  up  his  ship  during  the  Dutch  War  in  1656, 
perishing  along  with  her.  The  boy  was  taught  Greek,  Latin, 
and  Hebrew  by  Mr.  Pinhorn,  Rector  of  All  Saints,  Southampton, 
and  head  master  of  the  Grammar  School.  In  1690  he  entered 
the  Nonconformist  Academy  at  Stoke  Newington,  kept  by 
Rev.  Thomas  Rowe,  who  was  also  pastor  of  the  Independent 
Church  at  Girdlers'  Hall.  After  about  four  years  he  returned 
home  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  spent  two  years  in  Southampton. 
Large  part  of  his  Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  published 
1707-9,  was  written  during  these  two  years,  and  sung  from 
manuscript  at  the  Independent  chapel.  '  Behold  the  glories  of 
the  Lamb '  is  said  to  have  been  his  first  effort.  He  complained 
to  his  father,  one  of  the  deacons  at  the  meeting-house,  of  the 
jolting  metre  of  the  psalms  sung  and  the  dull  hymns  of  William 
Barton,  which  long  held  the  field  because  of  the  lack  of  good 
stuff,  and  was  told  somewhat  sharply  to  produce  something 
better.  The  result  was  seen  next  Sunday,  when  his  first  hymn 
was  sung,  with  a  little  allusion  to  his  reprover  at  the  end — 

Prepare  new  honours  for  His  name, 
And  songs  before  unknown. 

He  was  asked  to  write  another  hymn  for  the  following  week. 
For  two  years  he  produced  a  new  one  each  Sunday.  He  was  the 
first  to  understand  the  nature  of  the  want  in  public  worship,  and 
led  the  way  in  providing  for  it.  For  six  years  he  was  tutor 
to  Sir  John  Hartopp's  son  at  Stoke  Newington.  He  preached 
his  first  sermon  when  he  was  twenty- four,  and  in  1698  became 
assistant,  and  in  1702  pastor,  of  the  famous  Mark  Lane  Chapel, 
which  Sir  John  Hartopp  and  other  noted  persons  attended. 
His  health  soon  began  to  fail,  and  in  1712  he  became  the  guest 
of  Sir  Thomas  Abney.  In  the  Abney  family  he  remained  for 
thirty-six  years,  first  at  Theobalds,  in  Herts,  a  hunting  lodge  of 
James  I,  and  then  for  thirteen  years  at  Stoke  Newington.  Once 
when  Lady  Huntingdon  called  on  him,  he  said,  '  Madam,  you 
have  come  to  see  me  on  a  very  remarkable  day.  This  day 
thirty  years  I  came  hither  to  the  house  of  my  good  friend, 
Sir  Thomas,  intending  to  spend  but  a  week  under  his  hospitable 
roof,  and  I  have  extended  my  visit  to  thirty  odd  years.'  '  Sir,' 
said  Lady  Abney,  'what  you  term  a  long  thirty  years'  visit,  I 
consider  as  the  shortest  visit  my  family  ever  received.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       45 

His  Logic  was  once  a  famous  book,  and  his  Catechisms, 
Scripture  History,  and  other  works,  were  used  largely  in  the 
training  of  the  young.  He  was  buried  in  Bunhill  Fields,  and  a 
monument  was  erected  to  him  in  Westminster  Abbey.  It  is 
said  that  his  income  never  exceeded  ^100  a  year,  of  which  he 
spent  a  third  in  charity. 

Dr.  Watts  was  not  much  above  five  feet  in  height,  but  Dr. 
Johnson  says  the  'gravity  and  propriety  of  his  utterance  made 
his  discourses  very  efficacious.'  He  was  a  master  'in  the  art 
of  pronunciation,  and  had  wonderful  flow  of  thoughts  and 
promptitude  of  language.  Johnson's  praise  halts  when  he 
approaches  the  hymns.  '  His  devotional  poetry  is,  like  that  of 
others,  unsatisfactory.  The  paucity  of  his  topics  enforces  per 
petual  repetition,  and  the  sanctity  of  the  matter  rejects  the 
ornaments  of  figurative  diction.  It  is  sufficient  for  Watts  to 
have  done  better  than  others  what  no  man  has  done  well.' 

His  Horae  Lyricae  appeared  in  1706  ;  Hymns  and  Spiritual 
Songs,  1707  ;  Divine  and  Moral  Songs  for  the  Use  of  Children, 
prepared  for  Lady  Abney's  three  little  daughters,  1715  ;  Psalms 
of  David,  1719. 

James  Montgomery  called  him  the  inventor  of  hymns  in  our 
language.  The  extreme  poverty  of  hymns  at  that  time  ensured 
his  work  marvellous  popularity.  He  docs  not  always  rise  to  the 
height  of  his  task,  but  he  wrote  for  ordinary  people.  '  The  meta 
phors  are  generally  sunk  to  the  level  of  vulgar  capacities.  If  the 
verse  appears  so  gentle  and  flowing  as  to  incur  the  censure  of 
feebleness,  I  may  honestly  affirm  that  it  sometimes  cost  me 
labour  to  make  it  so.  Some  of  the  beauties  of  poesy  are 
neglected,  and  some  wilfully  defaced,  lest  a  more  exalted  turn 
of  thought  or  language  should  darken  or  disturb  the  devotions 
of  the  weakest  souls.' 

4  Few  have  left  such  a  solid  contribution  to  our  best  hymns 
as  Isaac  Watts,  and  no  one  has  so  deeply  impressed  himself  on 
their  structure.'  His  advance  beyond  his  predecessors  shows 
the  service  he  rendered  to  sacred  song.  '  His  faults  are 
bombast  and  doggerel.  Turgid  epithets  and  tawdry  orna 
ments  were  the  fashion  of  the  time  ;  and  they  probably  adver 
tised  his  hymns  in  literary  circles,  as  they  did  in  a  parallel 
case,  that  of  the  New  Version?  His  hymns  have  a  unity 
and  sense  of  proportion  which  were  lacking  in  earlier  hymns. 
This  arose  partly  from  the  slow  singing  of  the  day,  and  '  the 
preacher's  habit  of  condensing  into  a  hymn,  given  out  at 


46  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

the  close,  the  substance  or  application  of  his  sermon. 
Watts  is  the  real  founder  of  English  hymnody.  Josiah 
Conder  says,  '  He  was  the  first  who  succeeded  in  overcoming 
the  prejudice  which  opposed  the  introduction  of  hymns  into 
our  public  worship.'  Earl  Selborne  writes,  '  It  has  been 
the  fashion  with  some  to  disparage  Watts,  as  if  he  had  never 
risen  above  the  level  of  his  Hymns  for  Little  Children.  No 
doubt  his  taste  is  often  faulty,  and  his  style  very  unequal ;  but, 
looking  to  the  good,  and  disregarding  the  large  quantity  of 
inferior  matter,  it  is  probable  that  more  hymns  which  approach 
to  a  very  high  standard  of  excellence,  and  are  at  the  same  time 
suitable  for  congregational  use,  may  be  found  in  his  works  than 
in  those  of  any  other  English  writer.  As  long  as  pure  nervous 
English,  unaffected  fervour,  strong  simplicity,  and  liquid  yet 
manly  sweetness  are  admitted  to  be  characteristics  of  a  good 
hymn,  works  such  as  these  must  command  admiration.' 

Dr.  Watts's  Psalms  are  paraphrases  rather  than  translations. 
They  sometimes  lack  restraining  reverence,  and  are  disfigured 
by  turgid  epithets  and  gaudy  ornament,  but  they  are  often 
very  noble,  and  light  up  the  Psalms  with  gospel  meaning.  To 
use  his  own  words,  he  makes  David  a  Christian.  Four 
thousand  copies  were  sold  in  the  first  year  of  publication.  His 
Divine  Songs  for  Children,  with  a  woodcut  at  the  head  of  each 
hymn,  gave  the  young  their  distinct  place  in  worship. 

Doddridge  says,  in  his  Life  of  Colonel  James  Gardiner,  that 
the  brave  soldier  used  to  repeat  aloud  or  sing  hymns  as  he  rode 
on  his  military  duties.  He  quotes  a  letter  from  the  colonel  in 
reference  to  Dr.  Watts  :  '  How  often,  in  singing  some  of  his 
psalms,  hymns,  or  lyrics  on  horseback,  and  elsewhere,  has  the 
evil  spirit  been  made  to  flee 

Whene'er  my  heart  in  tune  is  found, 
Like  David's  harp  of  solemn  sound  ! ' 

The  version  of  Psalm  cxxvi.,  'When  God  revealed  His  gracious 
name,'  greatly  delighted  him,  and  that  of  Psalm  cxlvi.,  '  as  well 
as  several  others  of  that  excellent  person's  poetical  composures.' 
So  Doddridge  describes  them.  He  quotes  a  letter  in  which 
Colonel  Gardiner  says,  '  I  have  been  in  pain  these  several 
years,  lest  that  excellent  person,  that  sweet  singer  in  our  Israel, 
should  have  been  called  to  heaven  before  I  had  an  opportunity 
of  letting  him  know  how  much  his  works  have  been  blessed  to 
me,  and,  of  course,  of  returning  him  my  hearty  thanks.  I  desire 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       47 

to  bless  God  for  the  good  news  of  his  recovery,  and  entreat  you 
to  tell  him,  that  although  I  cannot  keep  pace  with  him  here  in 
celebrating  the  high  praises  of  our  glorious  Redeemer,  which  is 
the  greatest  grief  of  my  heart,  yet  I  am  persuaded  that  when  I 
join  the  glorious  company  above,  where  there  will  be  no  draw 
backs,  none  will  outsing  me  there,  because  I  shall  not  find  any 
that  will  be  more  indebted  to  the  wonderful  riches  of  divine 
grace  than  I.' 

When  Commodore  Perry  anchored  off  Japan  in  1853-4, 
service  was  held  on  his  flagship.  The  naval  band  struck  up 
this  hymn  to  the  Old  Hundredth^  while  thousands  listened  on 
the  shore. 

Dr.  Dempster,  of  Garrett  Biblical  Institute,  111.,  was  on  his 
way  with  his  wife  and  two  brother  missionaries  to  South  Africa. 
They  were  chased  for  three  days  by  a  pirate  vessel,  and  when 
there  seemed  no  hope  of  escape,  all  joined  in  singing  this  hymn 
and  in  prayer.  The  pirate  ship  changed  her  course,  and  left 
them  in  peace. 

Hymn  4.  O  worship  the  King,  all  glorious  above. 
SIR  ROBERT  GRANT. 

Suggested  by  Kethc's  version  of  Psalm  civ.  in  the  A nglo-  Genevan 
Psalter,  1561,  which  begins — 

My  Soule  praise  the  Lord, 

Speak  good  of  His  name. 
O  Lord  our  great  God, 

How  doest  Thou  appeare 
So  passing  in  glorie 

That  great  is  Thy  fame, 
Honour  and  majestie 

In  Thee  shine  most  cleare. 

Sir  Robert's  hymn  appeared  in  Bickersteth's  Church  Psalmody,  1833. 

Sir  R.  Grant,  born  in  1785,  was  the  son  of  Mr.  Charles 
Grant,  an  East  India  merchant,  called  to  the  English  Bar,  1807  ; 
M.P.  for  Inverness,  1826  ;  Governor  of  Bombay,  1834.  He  died 
at  Dapoorie,  in  Western  India,  in  1838.  Lord  Glenelg  published 
twelve  of  his  brother's  hymns  and  poems  under  the  title  Sacred 
Poems,  1839. 


48  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  5.  Eternal  Power,  whose  high  abode. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

The  'conclusion'  to  Horae  Lyricae,  1706. 

It  appeared  in  Wesley's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743.  He  altered 
'length'  in  ver.  I  to  'lengths,'  and  changed  'Thy  dazzling  beauties 
while  he  sings'  into  'Thee,  while  the  first  archangel  sings.' 

The  second  stanza  was  omitted — 

The  lowest  step  above  Thy  seat 

Rises  too  high  for  Gabriel's  feet ; 

In  vain  the  tall  archangel  tries 

To  reach  Thine  height  with  wondering  eyes. 

Dr.  Beaumont  gave  out  the  lines — 

Thee,  while  the  first  archangel  sings, 
He  hides  his  face  behind  his  wings, 

in  Waltham  Street  Chapel,  Hull,  on  Sunday  morning,  January 
23>  1%5S'  It  was  rt16  Sunday-school  anniversary,  and  after 
some  inquiry  as  to  the  schools,  he  went  into  the  pulpit  and  gave 
out  the  second  verse  of  the  hymn  with  solemn  feeling.  As  the 
congregation  sang  the  second  line  he  fell  down  lifeless  in  the 
pulpit. 

Hymn  6.  Conie,  sound  His  praise  abroad. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  xcv.  from  The  Psalms  of  David,  1719. 
It  is  headed  'A  Psalm  before  Sermon,'  and  closes  with  two  other 
verses — 

But  if  your  ears  refuse 
The  language  of  His  grace, 
And  hearts  grow  hard,  like  stubborn  Jews, 
That  unbelieving  race ; 

The  Lord,  in  vengeance  drest, 
Will  lift  His  hand  and  swear, 
'  You  that  despise  My  promis'd  rest 
Shall  have  no  portion  there.' 


THE    STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       49 

Hymn  7.  Praise,  Lord,  for  Thee  in  Zion  waits. 
HENRY  FRANCIS  LYTE. 

Psalm  Ixv.  from  The  Spirit  of  the  Psalms,  which  he  wrote  for  his 
own  church  in  1834,  and  enlarged  in  1836.  He  'endeavoured  to  give 
the  spirit  of  each  Psalm  in  such  a  compass  as  the  public  taste  would 
tolerate,  and  to  furnish  sometimes,  when  the  length  of  the  original 
would  admit  of  it,  an  almost  literal  translation ;  sometimes  a  kind  of 
spiritual  paraphrase,  at  others  even  a  brief  commentary  on  the  whole 
psalm.' 

Mr.  Lyte,  son  of  Captain  Thomas  Lyte,  was  born  at  Ednam, 
near  Kelso,  in  1793,  and  graduated  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
where  he  three  times  gained  the  prize  for  the  English  Poem. 
His  first  curacy  was  near  Wexford,  but  in  1817  he  moved  to 
Marazion,  Cornwall.  There  the  death  of  a  neighbouring 
clergyman  in  1818  led  him  to  look  at  life  with  new  eyes.  His 
friend  had  not  found  peace  in  Christ.  He  and  Lyte,  who  were 
not  yet  awake  to  spiritual  realities,  searched  the  Bible  together, 
and  learnt  the  way  of  salvation.  Lyte  says,  '  He  died  happy, 
under  the  belief  that  though  he  had  deeply  erred,  there  was  One 
whose  death  and  sufferings  would  atone  for  his  delinquencies, 
and  be  accepted  for  all  that  he  had  incurred.  I  began  to 
study  my  Bible,  and  preach  in  another  manner  than  I  had 
previously  done.'  In  1823  he  became  Perpetual  Curate  of 
Lower  Brixham,  a  little  Devonshire  fishing-port  on  the  shores 
of  Torbay,  where  William  III  landed  in  1688. 

Mr.  Lyte  lived  first  at  Burton  House,  where  he  planted  two 
saplings  he  had  brought  from  Napoleon's  grave  at  St.  Helena. 
These  trees  seem  to  have  died  down.  Shortly  after  his  accession 
William  IV  visited  Brixham.  The  stone  on  which  William  III 
had  first  set  his  foot  was  taken  down  to  the  pier,  that  His 
Majesty  might  step  upon  it.  Mr.  Lyte  and  his  surpliced  choir 
met  the  King,  who  made  the  clergyman  a  gift  of  Berry  Head 
House,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  town,  originally  the  hospital 
for  the  garrison  troops.  It  is  covered  by  roses  and  creepers, 
and  the  sea  comes  to  the  very  foot  of  the  terraced  gardens. 
It  was  here  that  'Abide  with  me'  was  written.  As  he  died  at 
Nice  on  November  20,  1847,  he  murmured,  '  Peace  !  joy  !'  and, 
pointing  upwards,  passed  to  his  rest  with  a  smile  upon  his  face. 
He  was  buried  at  Nice. 

In  his  last  days  at  Brixham  he  wrote,  '  I  am  meditating 

E 


50  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

flight  again  to  the  South  ;  the  little  faithful  robin  is  every 
morning  at  my  window,  sweetly  warning  me  that  autumnal 
hours  are  at  hand.  The  swallows  are  preparing  for  flight  and 
inviting  me  to  accompany  them ;  and  yet,  alas  !  while  I  talk 
of  flying,  I  am  just  able  to  crawl,  and  ask  myself  whether  I 
shall  be  able  to  leave  England  at  all.' 

Hymn  8.  Earth,  with  all  thy  thousand  voices. 
EDWARD  CHURTON,  D.D.  (1800-74). 

Psalm  Ixvi.  from  the  Cleveland  Psalter :  The  Book  of  Psalms  in 
English  Verse,  1854,  in  which  were  included  pieces  from  Miles  Smyth's 
version  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

Dr.  Churton  was  the  son  of  Archdeacon  Ralph  Churton, 
and  was  educated  at  Charterhouse,  where  he  became  one  of  the 
masters.  He  was  the  first  head  master  of  Hackney  Church  of 
England  School,  Rector  of  Crayke,  1835,  Prebendary  in  York 
Cathedral,  and  Archdeacon  of  Cleveland.  He  was  a  well- 
known  writer  and  poet. 

Hymn  9.  From  all  that  dwell  below  the  skies. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 
Psalm  cxvii.  from  The  Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Unaltered. 

Hymn  10.  Praise  the  Lord !  ye  heavens,  adore  Him. 

Psalm  cxlviii.  Given  in*a  four-page  sheet,  Hymns  of  Praise,  for 
Foundling  apprentices  attending  divine  (service  to  render  thanks,  pasted 
at  the  end  of  the  1796  musical  edition  of  Psalms,  Hymns,  and  Anthems 
of  the  Foundling  Hospital,  London,  and  at  the  end  of  the  editions  of 
words  only,  published  in  1801.  It  is  headed  '  Hymn  from  Psalm  148, 
Haydn.'  The  authorship  is  not  known. 

Hymn  11.  Meet  and  right  it  is  to  sing. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Watchnight,  No.  8  ;  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems, 
1749  ;  Works,  v.  279.  It  is  a  paraphrase  of  the  words  in  the  Com 
munion  Service,  '  It  is  very  meet,  right,  and  our  bounden  duty,  that  we 
should  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places,  give  thanks  unto  Thee,  O  Lord, 
Holy  Father,  Almighty,  Everlasting  God,'  &c. 


THE  STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS       $1 

Toplady's  last  hymn,  published  in  1776,  is  a  paraphrase  of 
the  same  words — 

Very  meet  and  right  it  is 

Thy  wondrous  love  to  sing : 
Shout  the  blood  and  righteousness 

Of  heaven's  incarnate  King. 
For  what  He  hath  kindly  done, 

And  endured,  to  set  us  free, 
Father,  Holy  Ghost,  and  Son, 

Be  equal  praise  to  Thee. 

Hymn  12.  O  heavenly  King,  look  down  from  above. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  177.  'A  Thanks 
giving.' 

A  delightful  expression  of  Charles  Wesley's  happy  religion. 

Hymn  13.  Praise,  my  soul,  the  King  of  heaven. 

HENRY  F.  LYTE  (7). 

In  The  Spirit  of  the  Psalms,  1834.  Psalm  ciii.  The  fourth  verse  is 
omitted — 

Frail  as  summer's  flower  we  flourish  ; 

Blows  the  wind,  and  it  is  gone  ; 
But  while  mortals  rise  and  perish, 

God  endures  unchanging  on. 
Praise  Him,  Praise  Him, 

Praise  the  High  Eternal  One. 

Hymn  14.  O  God,  my  strength  and  fortitude. 

THOMAS  STERNHOLD. 

Psalm  xviii.     Old  Version.     It  has  forty-nine  stanzas. 

Sternhold  (died  1549)  seems  to  have  been  a  Gloucestershire 
man,  who  studied  at  Oxford,  and  was  Groom  of  the  Robes  to 
Henry  VIII,  who  left  him  a  bequest  of  a  hundred  marks.  He 
served  in  the  same  capacity  under  Edward  VI.  Sternhold  wrote 
his  psalms  for  his  own  '  godly  solace,'  but  the  young  king  over 
heard  them,  and  they  were  repeated  in  his  presence.  Musical 


52  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

notes  were  set  to  them  in  the  hope  that  the  courtiers  would  sing 
them  instead  of  their  amorous  and  obscene  songs.  His  forty 
versions  are  nearly  all  in  C.M.,  with  two  rhymes  only,  like  the 
ballad  of  Chevy  Chace.  He  wished  to  make  sacred  ballads  for 
the  people.  The  early  and  lasting  success  of  the  Version  is  due 
to  this  use  of  a  few  simple  metres.  It  became  so  popular  that 
it  even  displaced  the  Te  Deum  and  other  Canticles  from  the 
Church  Service. 

His  first  edition,  undated,  contains  nineteen  psalms,  and  is 
in  the  British  Museum.  '  Certayne  Psalmes,  chose  out  of  the 
Psalter  of  Dauid,  and  drawe  into  Englishe  metre  by  Thomas 
Sternhold,  grome  of  ye  Kynge's  Maiestie's  roobes.'  An  edition 
of  1560  describes  the  version  as  'very  mete  to  be  used  of  all 
sorts  of  people  privately  for  their  godlye  solace  and  comfort : 
laying  aparteall  ungodlye  songes  and  ballades,  which  tende  only 
to  the  nourishing  of  vice  and  corrupting  of  youth.'  Just  before 
his  death  he  published  versions  of  thirty-seven  Psalms  dedicated 
to  King  Edward.  The  dedication  says,  'Albeit  I  cannot  give 
to  your  Majesty  great  loaves,  or  bring  into  the  Lord's  barn 
great  handfuls,  I  am  bold  to  present  unto  your  Majesty  a  few 
crumbs  which  I  have  picked  up  from  under  the  Lord's  board.' 
John  Hopkins  added  seven  versions  in  the  edition  of  1551. 
Rochester  poked  much  fun  at  the  parish  clerk,  who  was  singing 
from  the  Old  Version  as  Charles  II  passed  by — 

Sternhold  and  Hopkins  had  great  qualms, 
When  they  translated  David's  psalms, 

To  make  the  heart  right  glad  : 
But  had  it  been  King  David's  fate 
To  hear  thee  sing  and  them  translate, 

By  'twould  set  him  mad. 

Thomas  Fuller  says  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  were  'men 
whose  piety  was  better  than  their  poetry,  and  they  had  drunk 
more  of  Jordan  than  of  Helicon.3  Jewel  describes  the  effect 
produced  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  by  congregations  of  6,000 
persons,  young  and  old,  singing  the  Old  Version  psalms  after 
the  preaching  at  St.  Paul's  Cross. 

One  verse  may  show  the  oddities  of  the  version — 

Why  dost  withdraw  Thy  hand  aback 

And  hide  it  in  Thy  lap  ? 
Come,  pluck  it  out,  and  be  not  slack 

To  give  Thy  foes  a  rap. 


THE    STORY    OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS        53 

But  this  one  hymn  is  enough  to  secure  immortality  for 
Sternhold.  The  elder  Scaliger  said  he  would  rather  have 
written  the  verse  '  On  cherub  and  on  cherubim,'  than  any  of  his 
own  learned  works. 

Samuel  Wesley  '  allowed  the  novel  way  of  parochial  singing  ' 
at  Epworth,  and  spent  a  good  deal  of  pains  in  drilling  his  people 
so  that  '  they  did  sing  well  after  it  had  cost  a  pretty  deal  to 
teach  them.'  The  Epworth  people  preferred  the  Old  Version 
to  the  new  one,  having  '  a  strange  genius  at  understanding 
nonsense.'  That  is  Samuel  Wesley's  caustic  fling  at  Sternhold 
and  Hopkins. 

Hymn  15.  Father  of  me,  and  all  mankind. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  xi.  200. 
Luke  xi.  2-4,  The  Lord's  Prayer. 

The  original  of  ver.  4,  line  2,  is  '  That  finishes  our  sin.' 

Hymn  10.  Glory  be  to  God  on  high, 

God  whose  glory  fills  the  sky. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;   Works,  i.  115. 
Paraphrase  of  the  '  Gloria  in  Excelsis  '  in  the  Communion  Service. 
Ver.  7  reads,  'With  Thy  glorious  Sire  art  one  ! ' 

The  '  Gloria  in  excelsis  '  is  an  expansion  of  the  angels'  song 
(Luke  ii.  14),  and  is  found  in  the  Codex  Alexandrinus  in  the 
British  Museum,  which  belongs  to  the  close  of  the  fifth  century. 
It  is  there  headed  'A  Morning  Hymn.'  The  Latin  form  is 
found  in  an  eighth-century  MS.  in  the  British  Museum.  The 
form  in  the  English  Communion  Service  is  a  translation  from 
the  Latin  text. 

Hymn  17.  Through  all  the  changing  scenes  of  life. 

TATE  and  BRADY. 
Psalm  xxxiv. 

Nahum  Tate  (1652-1715)  was  the  son  of  an  Irish  clergyman, 
Faithful  Teate,  who  was  the  author  of  some  religious  verse. 


54  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

The  son  was  born  in  Dublin,  and  wrote,  under  Dryden's  super 
vision,  the  second  part  of  Absalom  and  Achitophel,  except 
about  two  hundred  lines.  He  became  Poet  Laureate  in  1692  ; 
historiographer-royal,  1702.  He  is  said  to  have  been  intem 
perate  and  improvident.  He  died  in  London.  He  defended 
the  style  of  the  New  Version  against  Beveridge's  attack. 

Nicholas  Brady  (1659-1726)  was  born  at  Bandon,  educated 
at  Westminster,  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  and  Trinity  College, 
Dublin.  He  was  an  adherent  of  William  III,  and  in  the  Irish 
war  thrice  saved  his  native  town  from  being  burned.  He  came  to 
London  with  a  petition  from  Bandon,  and  was  appointed  Chap- 
Iain  to  the  King.  He  became  popular  as  a  preacher  in  London, 
was  presented  to  the  living  of  St.  Catherine  Cree  ;  he  was  incum 
bent  of  Richmond,  Surrey  (1696-1726),  where  he  kept  a  school. 
He  was  Rector  of  Stratford-on-Avon  1702-5  ;  of  Clapham  1705-6. 
In  1696  he  and  Nahum  Tate  published  A  New  Version  of  the 
Psalms  of  David,  fitted  to  the  Tunes  used  in  Churches.  It  was 
dedicated  to  William  III.  The  King  gave  permission  for  it  to 
be  used  in  such  churches  'as  shall  think  fit  to  receive  them.' 
There  was  strong  dissatisfaction  with  Sternhold  and  Hopkins, 
and  this  helped  the  New  Version  to  win  popularity,  though 
William  Beveridge,  who  became  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph  in  1704, 
made  a  strong  protest  against  it  as  '  fine  and  modish,'  '  flourished 
with  wit  and  fancy,'  '  gay  and  fashionable,'  and  spoke  of  the  dis 
traction  caused  by  two  versions.  '  In  time,'  he  said,  'we  might 
have  one  Secundum  usum  London,  another  Secundum  usum 
Richmond,  another  Secundum  usum  Sarum.'  But  despite  all 
criticism  it  won  its  way  to  favour,  and  some  of  its  sweet  and 
simple  versions  will  always  have  a  place  of  honour  in  our 
hymn-books.  Psalm  xxxiv.  is  one  of  the  most  successful  versions. 
It  is  impossible  to  distinguish  between  the  work  of  Tate  and 
Brady  in  the  New  Version. 


Hymn  18.  Meet  and  right  it  is  to  praise. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767  ;   Works,  vii.  1 6. 

The  second  verse  begins  '  Least  of  all  Thy  mercies,  we,'  with  an 
allusion  to  George  Herbert's  motto,  '  Less  than  the  least  of  all  God's 
mercies' ;  but  as  this  might  mean  that  God's  salvation  was  the  least  of 
His  mercies,  the  word  was  altered  to  '  creatures.' 


THE   STORY    OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS        55 

The  Rev.  Henry  Moore  says  :  '  Numberless  examples  might 
be  given  of  the  genius  and  taste  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Wesley. 
But,  however  unfashionable  it  may  appear,  I  cannot  but  give 
the  palm  to  his  "  Family  Hymn-book."  Such  accumulated 
strength  and  beauty  of  expression,  in  presenting  the  daily  wants, 
pains,  trials,  and  embarrassments  of  a  family  to  the  God  of  the 
families  of  the  whole  earth,  surely  never  before  was  presented 
to  the  suffering  children  of  men.  It  seems  as  if  he  had,  after 
he  became  a  domestic  man,  noted  every  want  that  flesh  is  heir 
to  within  that  circle,  and  that  his  one  desire  was  to  elevate  and 
direct  the  subjects  of  the  curse  to  that  only  remedy  which  turns 
all  into  blessing.  We  expect  a  man  of  real  genius  to  be  great 
where  the  subject  is  inspiring  ;  but  to  be  great  in  the  privacies 
of  common  life,  to  be  a  true  poet  (while  the  man  of  God  equally 
appears)  in  those  littlenesses,  so  called,  of  daily  occurrence, 
shows  an  elevation  and  spirituality  of  mind  that  has  been 
rarely,  if  ever,  equalled.  A  shrewd  judge  of  human  nature  has 
said  that  no  man  ever  appeared  great  in  the  eyes  of  his  valet. 
Charles  Wesley  was  as  great  in  the  eyes  of  the  retired  partners 
of  his  domestic  joys  and  sorrows,  as  in  the  schools  of  philosophy 
and  the  arts,  or  the  dangers  and  toils  of  the  field  in  which  he 
entreated  sinners  to  be  reconciled  unto  God.' — Life  of  Wesley, 
ii.  371. 

Thomas  Jackson  (Life  of  C.  Wesley,  ii.  237)  says,  'No 
person  of  a  pure  mind  can  read  this  volume  without  loving  its 
author.  In  admiration  of  the  man,  the  poet  is  forgotten.  The 
affectionate  husband,  the  yearning  father,  the  warm-hearted 
friend,  the  meek,  submissive,  praying,  trusting,  grateful  Christian, 
is  here  seen  in  all  his  loveliness  and  glory  ;  though  nothing  could 
be  further  from  his  thoughts  than  an  exhibition  of  himself.  His 
only  design  in  publishing  the  workings  of  his  own  heart  was  to 
assist  Christian  families,  in  all  the  affairs  of  life,  devoutly  to 
recognize  the  providence  and  grace  of  God.' 


Hymn  19.  Now  thank  we  all  our  God. 

MARTIN  RINKART  ;  translated  by  Miss  WINKWORTH. 

'  Nun  danket  alle  Gott,'  based  on  Ecclus.  i.  22-24,  an(l  the  third 
verse  of  the  '  Gloria  Patri,'  appeared,  with  its  music,  in  Criiger's  Praxis, 
1648,  and  probably  in  Jesu  Herlz-Biichlcin,  1636.  Miss  Winkworth's 
translation  is  from  her  Lyra  Germanica,  2nd  Series,  1858. 


56  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Rinkart,  born  in  1586,  was  the  son  of  a  cooper  at  Eilenburg, 
in  Saxony.  He  became  a  foundation  scholar  and  chorister  of 
St.  Thomas's  School  at  Leipzig,  and  a  student  of  theology  in 
the  university.  In  1610  he  was  made  a  master  in  the  Eisleben 
Gymnasium,  and  cantor  of  St.  Nicholas  Church.  He  became 
a  pastor  in  1611,  and  in  1617  was  appointed  Archidiaconus  at 
Eilenburg.  A  tablet  was  placed  there  in  1886  on  the  house 
in  which  he  lived.  The  town  was  walled,  and  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  fugitives  flocked  into  it  for  shelter,  bringing 
famine  and  pestilence  with  them.  Rinkart  was  for  some  time 
the  only  pastor  in  the  place,  and  during  the  great  pestilence  of 
1637  often  had  to  read  the  funeral  service  over  forty  or  fifty 
bodies.  In  all  he  buried  about  4,480.  At  last  the  refugees  had 
to  be  thrown  into  trenches  without  service.  The  mortality 
reached  8,000.  Rinkart's  wife  was  one  of  the  victims.  Famine 
followed,  and  his  utmost  help  was  called  for  by  his  starving 
people.  He  twice  saved  the  town  from  the  Swedes. 

Though  he  had  laid  his  native  place  under  such  obligation, 
he  was  much  harassed  by  the  people,  and  when  peace  came,  in 
October,  1648,  he  was  worn  out  by  the  long  strain,  and  died 
next  year.  He  wrote  a  cycle  of  seven  dramas  on  the  Reforma 
tion,  suggested  by  the  centenary  in  1617.  His  hymns  are 
marked  by  '  a  true  patriotism,  a  childlike  devotion  to  God,  and 
a  firm  confidence  in  God's  mercy,  and  His  promised  help  and 
grace.'  His  hymn  has  become  the  German  Te  Deum  for 
national  festivals  and  special  thanksgivings.  It  was  sung  on 
August  14,  1880,  at  the  festival  for  the  completion  of  Cologne 
Cathedral,  and  when  the  Emperor  William  laid  the  foundation- 
stone  of  the  new  Reichstag  building  in  Berlin.  It  was  sung 
also  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  when  peace  was  declared  after  the 
Boer  War. 

Miss  Catherine  Winkworth  was  born  in  London  in  1829, 
and  spent  most  of  her  life  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Manchester, 
until  she  removed  with  her  family  to  Clifton.  She  died  suddenly 
of  heart  disease  at  Monnetier,  in  Savoy,  in  1878.  She  took  an 
active  part  in  educational  and  other  work  for  the  benefit  of 
women.  Her  Lyra  Germanica,  ist  Series,  was  published  in 
1855  ;  2nd  Series,  containing  244  translations,  in  1858  ;  The 
Chorale  Book  for  England,  containing  translations  from  the 
German,  in  1863  ;  and  her  Christian  Singers  of  Germany,  1869. 
Dr.  Martineau  said  her  translations  had  '  not  quite  the  fire  of 
John  Wesley's  versions  of  Moravian  hymns,  or  the  wonderful 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       57 

fusion  and  reproduction  of  thought  which  may  be  found  in 
Coleridge.  But  if  less  flowing,  they  are  more  conscientious 
than  either,  and  obtain  a  result  as  poetical  as  severe  exactitude 
admits,  being  only  a  little  short  of  "  native  music." '  Miss  Wink- 
worth  was  'familiar  with  the  pretensions  of  non-Christian  schools, 
well  able  to  test  them,  and  undiverted  by  them  from  her  first 
love.' 

Bishop  Percival,  then  Principal  of  Clifton  College,  wrote 
after  her  death,  '  She  was  a  woman  of  remarkable  intellectual 
and  social  gifts,  and  very  unusual  attainments  ;  but  what 
specially  distinguished  her  was  her  combination  of  rare  ability 
and  great  knowledge  with  a  certain  tender  and  sympathetic 
refinement  which  constitutes  the  special  charm  of  the  true 
womanly  character.'  Her  Lyra  Gcrmanica  is  'one  of  the  great 
devotional  works  of  the  nineteenth  century.' 

Hymn  20.  O  render  thanks  to  God  above. 
TATE  and  BRADY  (17). 

Psalm  cvi.,  New  Version.  In  the  original  the  last  line  reads, 
'  Sing  loud  Amens  ;  praise  ye  the  Lord.' 

Hymn  21.  Let  us  with  a  gladsome  mind. 

JOHN  MILTON. 

Psalm  cxxxvi. 

Milton  was  born  in  Bread  Street,  London,  December  9, 
1608.  This  paraphrase,  and  that  of  Psalm  cxiv.,  were  written 
when  Milton  was  a  boy  of  fifteen  attending  St.  Paul's  School. 
It  appeared  in  his  Poems  in  English  and  Lai  in,  16.1.5,  m  twenty- 
four  stanzas  of  two  lines,  with  this  refrain — 

For  His  mercies  aye  endure, 
Ever  faithful,  ever  sure. 

Dr.  Johnson  thought  Milton's  versions  of  these  two  psalms 
'  worthy  of  the  public  eye  ;  but  they  raise  no  great  expectations  : 
they  would  in  any  numerous  school  have  obtained  praise,  but 
not  excited  wonder.'  Aubrey  tells  us  Milton  was  a  poet  at  ten 
years  old.  It  was  at  daybreak  on  the  Christmas  morning  of 
1626  that  he  conceived  his  great  hymn  on  the  Nativity.  After 
five  years'  retirement  in  his  father's  house  at  Horton,  Milton 


$8  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

visited  Italy  in  1638.  He  returned  to  England  in  1639,  having 
always  '  borne  this  thought  with  him,  that  though  he  could 
escape  the  eyes  of  men,  he  could  not  flee  from  the  presence  of 
God.'  He  was  soon  embarked  on  'a  troubled  sea  of  noises 
and  hoarse  disputes.'  He  took  a  leading  part  in  the  contro 
versies  of  that  stormy  time.  In  1649  he  became  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Tongues  under  the  Commonwealth.  Paradise 
Lost  was  finished  in  1665.  All  that  he  and  his  widow  re 
ceived  for  it  was  about  ^15.  Milton,  like  John  Wesley,  went 
to  bed  at  nine,  and  rose  at  four  in  summer  and  five  in  winter. 
He  had  a  chapter  read  from  the  Hebrew  Bible,  and  studied  till 
twelve.  Then  he  took  an  hour  for  exercise,  dined,  played  on 
the  organ,  and  sang.  He  studied  again  till  six,  entertained 
visitors  till  eight,  and  after  a  light  supper,  with  a  pipe  and  a 
glass  of  water,  went  to  bed.  He  died  on  November  8,  1674, 
and  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of  St.  Giles,  Cripplegate.  He 
is  the  greatest  poet  of  Christian  themes  England  has  produced. 

Hymn  22.  God  reveals  His  presence. 

GERHARD  TERSTEEGEN  ;  translated  by  F.  W.  FOSTER  and 
J.  MILLER. 

'  Gott  ist  gegenwartig '  is,  in  Tersteegen's  Geistliches  Bhimengiirilein, 
1729,  entitled  '  Remembrance  of  the  glorious  and  delightful  presence  of 
God.'  The  translation  of  Tersteegen's  verses,  I,  2,  4,  7,  8,  by  F.  W. 
Foster  and  J.  Miller  is  in  the  Moravian  Hymn-book,  1789. 

William  Mercer,  in  his  Church  Psalter  and  Hymn-book,  1854, 
omitted  ver.  4  of  Foster  and  Miller's  translation,  retained  thirteen  lines, 
slightly  altered  five,  and  rewrote  the  rest,  '  with  little  regard  to  the 
German.' 

Tersteegen  was  born  at  Mors,  in  Rhenish  Prussia,  in  1697. 
He  was  intended  for  the  ministry,  but  his  father  died  in  1703, 
and  his  mother  was  not  able  to  meet  the  cost  of  his  university 
training.  He  became  a  weaver  of  silk  ribbons.  After  five 
years  of  religious  conflict,  he  was  able  to  rest  in  the  atonement 
of  Christ,  and  on  the  day  before  Good  Friday,  1724,  wrote  out 
a  covenant  with  God,  which  he  signed  with  his  own  blood.  He 
had  ceased  to  take  the  Communion  with  the  Reformed  Church, 
as  he  did  not  feel  able  to  share  in  that  service  with  people  of 
openly  irreligious  life.  He  soon  became  a  teacher  among  the 
'  Stillen  im  Lande,'and  in  1728  gave  up  his  business  to  translate 


THE   STORY    OF   THE    HYMNS   AND    THEIR   WRITERS        59 

the  works  of  Mystic  writers  and  to  spread  the  teaching  of  the 
Mystics.  He  travelled  over  Prussia,  and  visited  Holland  every 
year  to  promote  the  spread  of  spiritual  religion.  He  died  in 
1769. 

'  Gott  ist  gegenwrirtig '  is  the  most  popular  of  his  hymns, 
and  is  'a  poetical  reflex  of  his  inner  nature,  a  beautiful  ex 
pression  of  the  characteristics  of  his  peculiar  vein  of  mystical 
piety.'  Wesley's  translation  is  Hymn  653. 

The  translation  as  it  appeared  in  A  Collection  of  Hymns 
for  the  Use  of  the  Protestant  Church  of  the  United  Brethren, 
edited  by  J.  Swertner,  will  show  what  changes  were  made  by 
W.  Mercer. 

God  reveals  His  presence, 

Let  us  now  adore  Him, 
And  with  awe  appear  before  Him  ; 

God  is  in  His  temple, 

All  in  us  keep  silence, 
And  before  Him  bow  with  rev'rence  : 
Him  alone, 
God  we  own  ; 

He's  our  Lord  and  Saviour  j 

Praise  His  name  for  ever. 

God  reveals  His  presence, 

Whom  th'  angelic  legions 
Serve  with  awe  in  heav'nly  regions : 

Holy,  holy,  holy  ! 

Sing  the  hosts  of  heaven  ; 
Praise  to  God  be  ever  given : 
Condescend 
To  attend 

Graciously,  O  Jesus  I 

To  our  songs  and  praises. 

O  majestic  Being  1 

Were  but  soul  and  body 
Thee  to  serve  at  all  times  ready. 

Might  we,  like  the  angels, 

Who  behold  Thy  glory, 
Deep  abased  sink  before  Thee, 
And  through  grace 
Be  always, 

In  our  whole  demeanour, 

To  Thy  praise  and  honour. 


60  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Grant  us  resignation, 

And  hearts  'fore  Thee  bowed, 
With  Thy  peace  divine  endowed  : 

As  a  tender  flower 

Opens  and  inclineth 
To  the  cheering  sun  which  shineth  : 
So  may  we 
Be  from  Thee 

Rays  of  grace  deriving, 

And  thereby  be  thriving. 

Lord,  come  dwell  within  us, 

Whilst  on  earth  we  tarry  ; 
Make  us  Thy  blest  sanctuary. 

O  vouchsafe  Thy  presence  ; 

Draw  unto  us  nearer, 
And  reveal  Thyself  still  clearer ; 
Us  direct, 
And  protect  ; 

Thus  we  in  all  places 

Shall  show  forth  Thy  praises. 

Frederick  William  Foster  was  born  at  Bradford  in  1760, 
educated  at  Fulneck,  became  a  Moravian  pastor,  and  in  1818 
a  bishop.  He  died  in  1835,  at  Ockbrook,  near  Derby.  He 
compiled  the  Moravian  Hymn-book,  in  which  his  translations 
and  original  hymns  appeared. 

John  Miller  (or  Muller)  was  a  Moravian  minister  at  Dublin, 
Gracehill,  Fulneck,  Pudsey,  and  Cootehill,  from  1768  to  1810. 
He  wrote  some  original  hymns  and  various  translations  in 
concert  with  F.  W.  Foster. 

William  Mercer  (181 1-73),  born  at  Barnard  Castle,  graduated 
at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  became  Incumbent  of  St. 
George's,  Sheffield,  in  1840.  Mr.  Mercer's  collection  won  much 
popularity.  Montgomery  was  a  member  of  his  congregation, 
and  assisted  him  in  its  preparation.  In  1864  its  annual  sale  is 
said  to  have  been  100,000,  and  it  was  used  in  fifty-three  London 

churches. 

i 

Hymn  23.  Lord  of  all  being,  throned  afar. 
OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES,  M.D.,  LL.D. 

'  God's  Omnipresence,'  dated  1848  ;  appeared  in  the  last  page  of 
The  Professor  at  the  Breakfast  Talkt  1860,  as  'a  Sun-day  hymn.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       6 1 

It  is  prefaced  by  these  sentences — 

'And  so  my  year's  record  is  finished.  The  Professor  has 
talked  less  than  his  predecessor  (The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast 
Table),  but  he  has  heard  and  seen  more.  Thanks  to  all  those 
friends  who  from  time  to  time  have  sent  their  messages  of 
kindly  recognition  and  fellow-feeling.  Peace  to  all  such  as 
may  have  been  vexed  in  spirit  by  any  utterance  the  pages  have 
repeated.  They  will  doubtless  forget  for  the  moment  the 
difference  in  the  lines  of  truth  we  look  at  through  our  human 
prisms,  and  join  in  singing  (inwardly)  this  hymn  to  the  source 
of  the  light  we  all  need  to  lead  us,  and  the  warmth  which  alone 
can  make  us  all  brothers.' 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  son  of  Rev.  Abiel  Holmes,  Congre 
gational  minister  at  Cambridge  (U.S.A.),  was  born  in  1809.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  in  1829,  and  studied  medicine  in  Europe 
and  at  Harvard,  where  he  became  Professor  of  Anatomy  in 
1847.  He  published  his  first  poem  in  1830.  The  Autocrat  of 
the  Breakfast  Table  appeared  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  1857. 
His  genial  humour,  his  fun  and  fancy,  make  all  he  wrote 
delightful.  He  was  one  of  the  best  known  and  best  loved  men 
of  his  day  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  He  died  at  Boston, 
October  7,  1894. 

When  Henry  Drummond  visited  Boston  in  1894,  he  called 
on  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  '  He  is  eighty-four,  but  the 
chirpiest  old  man  I  ever  saw  :  talked  straight  on  for  an  hour 
and  a  quarter,  and  then  apologized  that  no  one  that  day  had 
previously  called  to  "run  off  the  electricity."  He  says  he 
usually  gets  ladies  to  call  first,  and  "go  into  the  water  like 
horses  to  take  the  electricity  off  the  electric  eels  before  the  men 
cross.'" 

Hymn  24.  For  the  beauty  of  the  earth. 

FOLLIOTT  SANDFORD  PIERPOINT,  M.A. 

Contributed  to  Orby  Shipley's  Lyra  Eiicharistica,  1864,  in  eight 
stanzas  of  eight  lines,  to  be  sung  at  the  celebration  of  Holy  Communion. 
This  form  is  not  much  used,  but  in  the  four  or  five  stanza  form  it  is 
extensively  in  use  for  flower  services  and  children's  services. 

Mr.  Pierpoint  was  born  at  Bath  in  1835,  and  educated  at 
Queens'  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  gained  honours  in 
classics.  He  published  in  1878  Songs  of  Lme,  The  Chalice  of 
Nature,  and  Lyra  Jesu. 


62  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  25.  Raise  the  psalm :  let  earth  adoring. 
EDWARD  CHURTON,  D.D.  (8). 

A  version  of  Psalm  xcvi.  From  The  Cleveland  Psalter,  1854,  where 
it  was  in  thirteen  stanzas  of  four  lines,  with  the  refrain  '  Hallelujah, 
Amen."  Dr.  Kennedy  published  verses  I,  2,  8-13  as  two  stanzas  of 
sixteen  lines  each  in  1863.  The-Wesleyan  hymn-book,  1875,  adopted 
these,  making  four  verses  of  eight  lines,  and  omitting  the  refrain. 

Hymn  26.  Praise  the  Lord!  who  reigns  above. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743;  Select  Psalms,  Psalm  cl.  ;  Works t  viii. 
262.  A  spirited  version  of  the  great  orchestral  psalm. 

Hymn  27.    The  strain  upraise  of  joy  and  praise, 

Hallelujah. 

NOTKER  ;  translated  by  JOHN  MASON  NEALE. 

'Cantemus  cuncti  melodum  nunc,  Alleluia'  is  described  in  a  MS.  of 
1507  as  '  Another  joyful  sequence  of  Blessed  Notker's  for  the  Epiphany 
of  Christ,  with  the  title,  "  The  troubled  Virgin."  It  is  sung  especially 
in  the  octave  of  the  Epiphany.'  The  title  may  refer  '  to  Matt.  ii.  3, 
Jerusalem  being  termed  the  Virgin  daughter  of  Sion  ;  the  troubling 
there  mentioned  occurring  at  the  season  of  the  Epiphany.'  Dr.  Neale 
himself  attributes  the  sequence  to  Godescalcus,  but  this  seems  to  be  a 
mistake.  Dr.  Neale's  translation  appeared  in  his  Hymnal  Noted,  1854. 
He  greatly  regretted  that  Troyte's  chant  was  substituted  for  '  the  noble 
melody  of  the  Alleluiatic  Sequence.'  Every  word  had  been  fitted  to 
that  melody  ;  and,  though  he  admits  that  it  could  not  be  learned  in  an 
hour  or  two,  yet  he  had  heard  it  thoroughly  well  sung  and  most  heartily 
enjoyed  by  a  school  choir. 

Notker  Balbulus,  as  he  was  called  from  his  slight  stutter, 
was  born  in  Switzerland  about  840.  He  entered  the  school  of 
the  Benedictine  Abbey  of  St.  Gall  at  an  early  age,  became  one 
of  the  brethren,  and  gave  himself  to  scholastic  and  literary 
work.  He  died  at  St.  Gall,  April  6,  912.  He  was  a  favourite  of 
the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fat,  and  was  practically  the  inventor 
of  the  Sequence,  which  he  began  to  write  about  862.  As 
a  youth  he  found  great  difficulty  in  remembering  the  musical 
notes  or  neumes  set  to  the  final  A  of  the  Alleluia  in  the  Gradual 


THE  STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS       63 

between  the  Epistle  and  the  Gospel.  It  was  the  custom  in  the 
Middle  Ages  to  sing  the  anthem  between  the  Gospel  and  the 
Epistle.  On  festal  clays  two  of  the  chief  choristers  put  on 
silken  hoods  and  ascended  the  rostrum.  When  the  anthem  was 
over  they  sang  the  Alleluia.  The  choir  took  it  up,  and  made  a 
musical  jubilation  on  a  certain  number  of  notes  to  the  final  A, 
called  neumes.  These  had  no  words,  and  were  named  sequences, 
as  following  the  Alleluia.  When  Jumieges  was  destroyed  by 
the  Normans  in  851,  a  monk  came  to  St.  Gall  with  his 
Antiphonary,  in  which  Notker  found  words  set  as  mnemonics 
to  these  troublesome  notes.  This  led  him  to  write  something 
more  worthy  for  the  musical  sequences  sung  at  the  various 
festivals.  The  Notkerian  Proses  were  the  result.  At  first  they 
were  unrhymed,  but  were  afterwards  put  in  rhyme  and  increased 
gradually  in  beauty  and  popularity. 

Dr.  Neale,  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Cornelius  Neale,  Senior 
Wrangler  and  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  was 
born  in  Conduit  Street,  London,  in  1818.  His  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  John  Mason  Good,  an  accomplished  physician  and 
literary  man  (see  332).  His  father  died  when  he  was  five.  He 
owed  more  than  he  could  ever  express  to  his  mother's  care 
and  training.  In  1836  he  gained  a  scholarship  at  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  but  his  antipathy  to  mathematics,  some 
what  strange  in  a  senior  wrangler's  son,  stood  in  his  way, 
so  that  he  had  to  content  himself  with  an  ordinary  degree. 
He  married,  in  1842,  Miss  S.  N.  Webster,  daughter  of  an 
evangelical  clergyman,  and  next  year  was  presented  to  the 
incumbency  of  Crawley,  in  Sussex.  His  lungs,  however,  were 
affected,  and  he  had  to  go  to  Madeira,  so  that  he  was  never 
instituted  to  the  living.  In  1846  Lord  de  la  Warr  made  him 
Warden  of  Sackville  College,  East  Grinstead,  and  there  he 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  lifd  in  a  charge  of  an  obscure  alms- 
house,  with  a  salary  of  £27.  He  founded  a  '  Sisterhood  of  St. 
Margaret's  '  at  Rotherfield,  which  was  moved  to  East  Grinstead 
in  1856,  and  developed  into  a  great  institution  which  has 
brought  help  'to  thousands  of  the  sick  and  suffering.'  The 
work  met  much  opposition,  but  gradually  won  public  favour. 
Dr.  Neale  was  able  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  new  convent 
in  July,  1865,  and  saw  the  building  in  progress  before  he  died, 
'in  childlike  faith  and  humility,'  in  1866. 

Dr.  Neale  began  his  Commentary  on  the  Psalms  while  re 
cruiting  in  Madeira.  At  Sackville  College  his  History  of  the 


64  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Holy  Eastern  Church  was  written.  He  published  Hymns  for 
Children  in  1842,  and  other  hymns  and  poems.  His  chief 
claim  to  remembrance  is  his  work  as  a  translator.  He  was 
steeped  in  mediaeval  Latin.  He  once  went  to  Hursley  Vicarage 
to  assist  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  and  Keble  in  preparing  a 
Hymnal.  Keble  was  called  out  of  the  room  and  detained  for  a 
little  time.  On  his  return  Neale  said,  '  Why,  Keble,  I  thought 
you  told  me  that  The  Christian  Year  was  entirely  original  ? ' 
'  Yes,'  he  answered,  '  it  certainly  is.'  Neale  put  before  him  the 
Latin  of  one  of  the  hymns,  '  Then  how  comes  this  ?'  Keble  pro 
tested  he  had  never  seen  the  piece  in  all  his  life.  After  a  few 
minutes  Neale  relieved  him  by  owning  that  he  had  turned  the 
hymn  into  Latin  in  his  absence. 

Neale's  Mediaeval  Hymns  and  Sequences  appeared  in  1851. 
He  was  the  first  to  introduce  the  Sequences^  sung  between  the 
Epistle  and  the  Gospel,  to  English  readers.  He  delighted  in 
his  task,  and  lavished  his  skill  on  preserving  '  the  exact  measure 
and  rhyme  of  the  original,  at  whatever  inconvenience  and 
cramping.'  His  translations  from  Bernard  of  Cluny — '  Jerusalem 
the  Golden,'  '  Brief  life  is  here  our  portion,'  '  For  thee,  O  dear, 
dear  country ' — won  enormous  popularity. 

His  Hymnal  Noted  appeared  in  1852,  and  a  second  part 
in  1854.  Dr.  Neale  says  some  of  the  happiest  hours  of  his  life 
were  spent  in  preparing  the  second  part  of  this  work.  The 
Roman  Catholics  denounced  him  for  softening  down  or  ignoring 
the  Roman  doctrine  of  these  hymns,  but  that  only  showed  his 
good  sense  and  knowledge  of  the  constituency  which  he  had  in 
view. 

In  1862,  his  Hymns  of  the  Eastern  Church  rendered  still 
greater  service.  These  were  the  first '  English  versions  of  any 
part  of  the  treasures  of  Oriental  Hymnology.'  He  speaks  of 
the  difficulties  of  his  task.  '  Though  the  superior  brevity  and 
terseness  of  the  Latin  hymns  renders  a  translation  which  shall 
represent  those  qualities  a  work  of  great  labour,  yet  still  the 
versifier  has  the  help  of  the  same  metre ;  his  version  may  be 
line  for  line  ;  and  there  is  a  great  analogy  between  the  collects 
and  the  hymns,  most  helpful  to  the  translator.  Above  all,  we 
have  examples  enough  of  former  translations  by  which  we  may 
take  pattern.  But  in  attempting  a  Greek  canon,  from  the  fact 
of  its  being  in  prose  (metrical  hymns  are  unknown),  one  is  all 
at  sea.  What  measure  shall  we  employ  ?  Why  this  more  than 
that  ?  Might  we  attempt  the  rhythmical  prose  of  the  original, 


THE   STORV   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       65 

and  design  it  to  be  chanted  ?  Again,  the  great  length  of  the 
canons  renders  them  unsuitable  for  our  churches  as  wholes.  Is 
it  better  simply  to  form  centos  of  the  more  beautiful  passages  ? 
Or  can  separate  odes,  each  necessarily  imperfect,  be  employed 
as  separate  hymns  ? '  How  Dr.  Neale  triumphed  over  all  diffi 
culties  every  modern  hymn-book  shows.  Archbishop  Trench 
paid  high  tribute  to  the  research  which  he  had  lavished  in 
bringing  out  these  unknown  treasures  and  the  skill  with  which 
his  versions  overcome  the  almost  insuperable  difficulties  which 
many  of  them  present  to  the  translator.  Neale  was  a  discoverer 
and  scientist  to  whom  we  owe  an  untold  debt  as  '  the  interpreter 
of  the  praise-literature  of  the  early  and  mediaeval  Church.' 

Dr.  Neale  felt  that  he  was  working  for  the  whole  Church. 
He  said  in  the  preface  to  his  Hymns  on  the  Joys  and  Glories 
of  Paradise,  1866,  '  Any  compiler  of  a  future  hymnal  is  perfectly 
welcome  to  make  use  of  anything  contained  in  this  little  book. 
And  I  am  very  glad  to  have  this  opportunity  of  saying  how 
strongly  I  feel  that  a  hymn,  whether  original  or  translated, 
ought,  the  moment  it  be  published,  to  become  the  common 
property  of  Christendom,  the  author  retaining  no  private  right 
in  it  whatever.  I  suppose  that  no  one  ever  sent  forth  a  hymn 
without  some  faint  hope  that  he  might  be  casting  his  two  mites 
into  that  treasury  of  the  Church,  into  which  the  "  many  that 
were  rich  " — Ambrose  and  Hildebert,  and  Adam  and  Bernard 
of  Cluny,  and  St.  Bernard  ;  yes,  and  Santeiiil  and  Coffin — "  cast 
in  much."  But  having  so  cast  it  in,  is  not  the  claiming  a  vested 
interest  in  it  something  like  "  keeping  back  part  of  the  price  of 
the  land"?' 

Hymn  28.   Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty! 
REGINALD  HEBER,  D.D. 

For  Trinity  Sunday.  It  appeared  in  his  posthumous  hymns,  1827, 
but  is  found  a  year  earlier  in  a  Banbury  Supplement  to  Psalms  and  Hymns. 
It  is  a  paraphrase  of  Rev.  iv.  8-ir.  This  'majestic  anthem'  is  the 
flower  of  his  hymns. 

Bishop  Welldon  told  Mr.  Stead  that  in  his  judgement  this 
was  the  finest  hymn  ever  written,  considering  the  abstract, 
difficult  nature  of  its  theme,  its  perfect  spirituality,  and  the 
devotion  and  purity  of  its  language.  The  late  Poet  Laureate 
Tennyson  once  told  Bishop  Welldon  he  thought  so  also. 

F 


66  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Bishop  Heber  was  born  in  1783  at  Malpas,  Cheshire,  in  the 
beautiful  'Higher  Rectory'  overlooking  the  valley  of  the  Dee. 
He  became  Rector  of  Hodnet,  where  his  father  was  Lord  of  the 
Manor,  in  1807,  Prebendary  of  St.  Asaph,  1812,  Bishop  of 
Calcutta,  1823.  His  poetical  powers  developed  early.  His 
Newdigate  Prize  Poem,  '  Palestine,'  was  read,  before  it  was  sent 
in  to  the  examiners,  to  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  some  friends  whom 
Heber's  half-brother  was  entertaining  at  breakfast.  Scott 
pointed  out  that  Heber  had  overlooked  the  fact  that  no  tools 
were  used  while  the  Temple  was  being  erected.  Heber  at  once 
retired,  and  added  the  famous  lines — 

No  hammers  fell,  no  ponderous  axes  rung  ; 
Like  some  tall  palm  the  mystic  fabric  sprung. 
Majestic  silence  ! 

In  the  spring  of  1819,  a  fortnight  after  he  composed  his 
great  missionary  hymn,  Heber  wrote  to  a  friend,  '  I  have  been 
for  some  time  engaged  in  arranging  my  hymns,  which,  now  that 
I  have  got  them  together,  I  have  some  High  Church  scruples 
against  using  in  public.'  He  had  been  stirred  to  this  task  by 
seeing  the  Olney  Hymns,  which  he  greatly  admired.  In  1821 
he  consulted  Milman  about  his  hymn-book,  and  secured  his 
help.  Then  he  approached  the  Bishop  of  London,  Dr.  Howley, 
asking  permission  to  publish  it.  He  urged  that  hymns  were 
a  powerful  engine  with  Dissenters,  were  much  enjoyed  by  the 
people,  and  as  their  use  in  church  could  not  be  suppressed,  he 
pleaded  that  it  was  better  to  regulate  it.  He  had  even  thought 
of  using  the  Olney  Hymns  at  Hodnet.  The  bishop  criticized 
and  advised  the  completion  of  the  project,  but  the  proposal 
was  dropped  for  the  time.  Heber's  fifty-seven  hymns,  however, 
were  all  written  at  Hodnet,  and  were  sent  to  the  Christian 
Observer,  the  organ  of  Evangelical  Churchmen,  edited  by 
Zachary  Macaulay,  with  the  initials  D.  R.,  the  last  letters  of  his 
name.  His  widow  published  his  book  in  1827  :  Plymns  written 
and  adapted  to  the  Weekly  Church  Service  of  the  Year.  It 
was  the  first  attempt  to  supply  hymns  based  avowedly  on  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer.  Heber  claimed  that  'no  fulsome  or 
indecorous  language  has  been  knowingly  adopted  ;  no  erotic 
address  to  Him  whom  no  unclean  lips  can  approach ;  no  allegory, 
ill-understood,  and  worse  applied.'  An  English  critic  says, 
'  The  lyric  spirit  of  Scott  and  Byron  passed  into  our  hymns  in 
Heber's  verse,  imparting  a  fuller  rhythm  to  the  older  measures. 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS        67 

They  have  not  the  scriptural  strength  of  our  best  early  hymns, 
nor  the  dogmatic  force  of  the  best  Latin  ones.  But  as  pure  and 
graceful  devotional  poetry,  always  true  and  reverent,  they  are 
an  unfailing  pleasure.'  It  is  a  unique  thing  to  find  all  an 
author's  hymns  in  common  use  and  unaltered. 

At  Hodnet  Heber  proved  himself  a  model  clergyman,  and 
was  the  friend  of  Milman,  Gifford,  Southey,  and  others.  He 
wrote  for  the  Quarterly  Review,  edited  Jeremy  Taylor's  works, 
was  Bampton  Lecturer  in  1815,  Preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn, 
1822.  He  had  always  felt  drawn  to  India  ;  and  though  he  twice 
refused  the  bishopric  of  Calcutta,  he  felt  so  strongly  that  he  had 
missed  the  path  of  duty  that  he  wrote  saying  that  he  would 
accept  the  post,  and  hoped  he  was 'not  enthusiastic  in  thinking 
that  a  clergyman  is  like  a  soldier  or  sailor,  bound  to  go  on 
any  service,  however  remote  or  undesirable,  where  the  course 
of  his  duty  leads  him.'  His  three  years  of  episcopacy  were 
crowded  with  toil.  He  ordained  the  first  native  minister. 
On  April  2,  1826,  he  preached  at  Trichinopoly,  and  held  a  con 
firmation  that  evening.  The  next  morning  he  confirmed  eleven 
Tamil  converts.  He  retired  to  his  room  in  the  house  of  Mr. 
Bird,  Circuit  Judge,  wrote  the  date  at  the  back  of  his  confirma 
tion  address,  and  went  into  a  large  cold  bath,  where  he  had 
bathed  the  two  preceding  mornings.  Half  an  hour  later  his 
servant,  alarmed  at  his  long  absence,  entered  the  room  and 
found  him  dead. 

Thackeray  describes  Heber,  in  his  George  the  Fourth,  as 
one  of  the  good  knights  of  the  time  ;  one  of  the  best  of  English 
gentlemen.  The  charming  poet,  the  happy  possessor  of  all 
sorts  of  gifts  and  accomplishments  —  birth,  wit,  fame,  high 
character,  competence — he  was  the  beloved  parish  priest  in  his 
own  home  of  Hodnet,  '  counselling  his  people  in  their  troubles, 
advising  them  in  their  difficulties,  comforting  them  in  distress, 
kneeling  often  at  their  sick-beds  at  the  hazard  of  his  own  life  ; 
exhorting,  encouraging  where  there  was  need  ;  where  there  was 
strife,  the  peacemaker  ;  where  there  was  want,  the  free  giver.' 
He  delighted  to  care  for  the  invalid  soldiers  who  were  on  the 
transport  ship  by  which  he  sailed  to  Madras,  and  when  a  woman 
lost  her  little  child,  he  was  heard  weeping  and  praying  for  her  in 
his  cabin.  A  friend  said,  '  I  have  never  seen  such  tenderness, 
never  such  humble  exercise  of  Christian  love.  Alas  !  how  his 
spirit  shames  us  all !  I  thank  God  that  I  have  seen  his  tears, 
that  I  heard  his  prayers,  his  conversation  with  the  afflicted 


68  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

mother,  and  his  own  private  reflections  upon  it.  It  has  made 
me  love  him  more,  and  has  given  me  a  lesson  of  tenderness,  in 
visiting  the  afflicted,  that  I  trust  will  not  be  in  vain.1 

Hodnet  is  still  a  pretty,  old-fashioned  place,  '  neither  town 
nor  village,'  as  Leyland  called  it.  Its  rambling  street  of  timber 
or  red  sandstone  houses  has  a  quaint  lock-up  at  one  end  and 
the  churchyard  at  the  other.  The  rectory,  standing  on  high 
ground  above  the  church,  was  built  by  Heber,  though  it  has 
since  been  added  to.  The  church  of  St.  Luke  originally 
belonged  to  Shrewsbury  Abbey,  and  its  chief  interest  is  the 
monument  to  Bishop  Heber,  for  which  Southey  wrote  the 
inscription.  It  says, '  He  performed  his  humblest  as  well  as  his 
highest  duties  cheerfully,  with  all  his  heart,  with  all  his  soul, 
with  all  his  strength.'  His  widow  died  at  Hodnet,  and  is  buried 
in  the  churchyard.  His  half-brother  by  his  father's  first 
marriage,  Richard  Heber,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Athenaeum 
Club,  who  left  eight  houses  full  of  books  said  to  have  cost 
.£  1 00,000,  and  to  have  numbered  147,000  volumes,  was  also 
buried  in  the  churchyard  in  1833.  He  was  unmarried,  and  his 
property  eventually  passed  to  the  bishop's  eldest  daughter,  who 
married,  in  1839,  Algernon  Percy,  son  of  the  Bishop  of  Carlisle. 


Hymn  29.  We  give  immortal  praise. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709,  2nd  edition.  It  is  in  Book  3, 
'Prepared  for  the  Holy  Ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,'  and  headed 
«  A  song  of  praise  to  the  Blessed  Trinity.  The  first  as  the  I48th  Psalm.1 
'  I  give  '  is  changed  to  '  We  give.' 

Hymn  30.  Infinite  God,  to  Thee  we  raise, 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (r). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  224.  The  first  five  of  fourteen 
verses  on  the  75?  Deum. 

The  Rev.  F.  W.  Macdonald  says,  'Amongst  metrical  versions 
there  is  none  superior  to  Charles  Wesley's  ;  hardly  any  other, 
indeed,  which  has  taken,  or  retains,  hold  on  Christian  congre 
gations.' 


THE  STORY    OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS        69 

Hymn  31.  Father,  live,  by  all  things  feared. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

From  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740,  included  in  Gloria  Patri,  £-v., 
or  Hymns  to  the.  Trinity,  1746  ;  Works,  iii.  345. 

Hymn  32.  Young  nieii  and  maidens,  raise. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Children,  1763;   Works,  vi.  433.     Ps.  cxlviii.  12,  13. 

Thomas  Jackson  says,  '  It  would  perhaps  be  difficult  to 
mention  any  uninspired  book  that,  in  the  same  compass,  con 
tains  so  much  evangelical  sentiment.  The  hymns  are  full  of 
instruction,  and  yet  thoroughly  devotional  in  their  character. 
There  is  nothing  puerile  in  them,  either  with  respect  to  thought 
or  expression.  The  language  is  simple,  yet  terse,  pure,  and 
strong.  The  topics  which  they  embrace  are  the  truths  and  facts 
of  Christianity,  especially  in  their  bearing  upon  spiritual  religion. 
In  the  hands  of  a  Christian  mother,  it  would  form  a  valuable 
help  in  the  task  of  education.' — Life  of  C.  Wesley,  ii.  230. 

Sometimes  the  poet  strikes  a  sombre  note,  a5  in  Hymn  66, 
headed  '  Before,  or  in,  their  work ' : 

Let  heathenish  boys 

In  their  pastimes  rejoice, 
And  be  foolishly  happy  at  play ; 

Overstocked  if  they  are, 

\Ve  have  nothing  to  spare, 
Not  a  moment  to  trifle  away. 

Hymn  33.  Father,  in  whom  we  live. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;   Works,  iv.  254. 
« To  the  Trinity.1 


70  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  34.  Hail !   holy,  holy,  holy  Lord ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Trinity,  1767  ;  Works,  vii.  280.   Isa.  vi.  3  ;  Rev.  iv.  8. 
After  ver.  3,  four  lines  are  omitted — 

Thine  incommunicable  right, 

Almighty  God,  receive, 
Which  angel-choirs  and  saints  in  light 

And  saints  embodied  give. 

The  hymn  in  the  original  has  three  verses  of  eight  lines. 

Hymn  35.  Jehovah,  God  the  Father,  bless. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the   Trinity,   1767 ;    Works,  vii.  276.      Based  on  the 
priestly  benediction,  Num.  vi.  24-26. 
The  last  verse  is  omitted. 

Hymn  36.  O  God,  of  good  the  unfathomed  sea! 

JOHANN  SCHEFFLER  (1624-77) ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY. 

'  Du  unvergleichlich's  Gut,'  Heilige  Seelenlust,  2nd  edition,  1668, 
Book  v.,  headed  '  She  (the  soul)  contrasts  the  majesty  of  God  with  her 
nothingness.' 

John  Wesley's  translation  appeared  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems, 
1739  ;  Poetical  Works,  i.  141. 

In  ver.  5  the  old  reading  is  restored,  which  had  been  weakened  into 

Yes!  self-sufficient  as  Thou  art. 
Ver.  4  is  founded  on  the  Apocrypha  (Wisd.  of  Sol.  xi.  20). 

Scheffler  was  the  son  of  a  Polish  noble  who  had  been  forced 
to  leave  his  native  country  on  account  of  his  Lutheranism.  He 
was  born  at  Breslau,  and  graduated  at  Leyden  as  Ph.D.  and 
M.D.  In  1649  he  was  appointed  court  physician  to  Duke 
Sylvius  Nimrod,  of  Wiirttemberg-Ols.  Scheffler  had  become 
acquainted  in  Holland  with  the  writings  of  Jacob  Bohme,  and 
the  rigid  Lutheranism  of  the  court  was  uncongenial.  He  with 
drew  from  public  worship,  confession,  and  holy  communion. 
Freitag,  the  court  preacher,  who  ruled  in  ecclesiastical  matters, 
refused  permission  to  print  his  poems  because  of  their  mysticism. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND    THEIR   WRITERS        71 

Scheftler  resigned  his  post  in  1652  and  returned  to  Breslau, 
where  he  became  acquainted  with  the  Jesuits  and  the  writings 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  mystics.  He  joined  the  Romish  Church, 
and  took  the  name  Angelus  Silesius.  He  became  a  Roman  of 
the  Romanists,  entered  the  order  of  St.  Francis,  was  ordained 
priest,  and  closed  his  life  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Matthias  in 
Breslau.  During  his  last  illness  he  used  this  prayer,  '  Jesus  and 
Christ,  God  and  Man,  Bridegroom  and  Brother,  Peace  and 
Joy,  Sweetness  and  Pleasure,  Refuge  and  Redemption,  Heaven 
and  Earth,  Eternity  and  Time,  Love  and  All,  receive  my  soul.' 

Scheftler  began  to  write  poetry  early,  and  some  of  his  verse 
was  printed  when  he  was  sixteen.  His  Heilige  Seelenlust,  oder 
geistliche  Hirten-Lieder,  dcr  in  ihren  Jesutn  -verliebten  Psyche, 
was  published  at  Breslau  in  1657,  and  contains  hymns  for  the 
Christian  year.  The  Lutherans  welcomed  these,  and  Zinzendorf 
included  seventy-nine  of  them  in  his  Singe-  itnd  Bet-Biichlein^ 
1727.  His  best  hymns  'are  perfect  in  style  and  rhythm,  concise 
and  profound.  The  mysticism  is  chastened  and  kept  in  bounds 
by  deep  reverence  and  by  a  true  and  fervent  love  to  the  Saviour.' 
He  is  much  the  finest  of  the  post-Reformation  Romanist  hymn- 
writers. 

Wesley  wrote  more  than  thirty  translations  from  the 
German,  French,  and  Spanish.  They  are  somewhat  free 
renderings,  but  they  catch  the  fire  and  force  of  the  original. 
Wesley's  thoughts  were  turned  in  this  direction  by  his  inter 
course  with  the  Moravians,  and  although  there  is  not  much 
original  poetry  that  we  can  confidently  attribute  to  him,  his 
perfect  taste  did  much  to  guide  his  brother  Charles. 

In  his  sermon  on  Knowing  Christ  after  tJi;  FlesJi,  dated 
1789,  Wesley  says  that  when  he  met  the  Moravians,  '  I  translated 
many  of  their  hymns  for  the  use  of  our  congregations.  Indeed, 
as  I  durst  not  implicitly  follow  any  man,  I  did  not  take  all  that 
lay  before  me,  but  selected  those  which  I  judged  to  be  most 
Scriptural,  and  most  suitable  to  sound  experience.'  He  tried  to 
avoid  wvey  fondling  expression,  especially  the  word  dear.  '  Yet 
I  am  not  sure  that  I  have  taken  sufficient  care  to  pare  off  every 
improper  word  or  expression.'  The  Rev.  F.  W.  Macdonald 
says  that  Wesley's  'translations  possessed  the  highest  merit 
to  which  translation  can  attain.  They  are  as  living  and  as 
effective  in  their  new  as  in  their  original  form.  They  passed 
into  the  spiritual  life  of  Methodism  as  readily,  and  with  as 
gracious  a  power,  as  the  hymns  of  Charles  Wesley  himself, 


?  2  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

and  they  keep  their  place  to  the  present  day  among  the  most 
cherished  hymns  of  Methodism  the  world  over.' 

Mr.  Garrett  Horder  thinks  John  Wesley's  'translations 
have  probably  never  been  surpassed.'  He  considers  him  'as 
great  a  translator  as  Charles  is  an  original  hymnist.  For 
congregational  use,  they  are  probably  the  finest  translations  in 
the  English  language,  whilst  they  have  the  high  honour  of 
having  opened  to  us  the  rich  treasures  of  sacred  song  which 
Germany  possesses.' 

Dean  Furneaux  says,  '  Not  only  is  Wesley  entitled  to  the 
credit  of  being  the  first  to  reveal  to  Englishmen  the  rich 
treasures  of  German  hymnody,  but  his  translations  are  by  far 
the  finest  for  congregational  use,  being  almost  alone  in  reading 
like  original  English  compositions.' 

We  see  how  Wesley  turned  to  the  Moravian  hymns  in  the 
days  of  spiritual  unrest  that  followed  his  work  in  Georgia.  On 
Sunday,  April  23,  1738,  he  tells  us  that  he  was  beaten  out  of 
his  last  retreat  'by  the  concurring  evidence  of  several  living 
witnesses '  to  their  own  experience  of  instantaneous  conversion. 
Bohler  says  he  took  four  of  his  English  brethren,  and  Wesley 
was  thunderstruck  at  their  narrations.  After  a  short  time  he 
stood  up  and  said,  '  We  will  sing  that  hymn,  "  Hier  legt  mein 
Sinn  sich  vor  dir  nieder." '  It  was  C.  F.  Richter's  (1676-1711) 
hymn  on  Spiritual  Conflict  and  Difficulty,  of  which  Wesley  had 
published  a  translation  in  his  Charlestown  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
1737- 

My  soul  before  Thee  prostrate  lies  ; 

To  Thee,  her  Source,  my  spirit  flies  ; 

My  wants  I  mourn,  my  chains  I  see : 

Oh,  let  Thy  presence  set  me  free. 

'  During  the  singing  of  the  Moravian  version  he  often  wiped 
his  eyes.  Immediately  after  he  took  me  alone  into  his  own 
room  and  declared  that  he  was  now  satisfied  of  what  I  said  of 
faith,  and  he  would  not  question  any  more  about  it  ;  that  he 
was  clearly  convinced  of  the  want  of  it.' 

Hymn  37.  God  is  a  name  my  soul  adores. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 
In  Horae  Lyricaet  1706,     Headed  '  The  Creator  and  His  Creatures.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       73 

Hymn  38.  O  God,  Thou  bottomless  abyss  ! 

ERNST  LANGE  (1650-1727);  translated  by  JOHN 
WESLEY  (36). 

'O  Gott,  du  Tiefc  sender  Grund,' first  printed  in  Freylinghausen, 
1714,  was  called  by  F.  Schleiermacher  'a  masterpiece  of  sacred 
poetry." 

Wesley's  translation  (Works,  i.  143)  appeared  in  his  Charlestown 
Psalms  and  Hymns,  1737,  in  eight  verses  of  twelve  lines  each,  t he- 
ten  th  and  twelfth  lines  of  which  have  only  six  syllables.  In  ver.  2 
the  original  reads,  '/plunge  me." 

Langewas  born  at  Dantzig,  where  in  1691  he  was  appointed 
Judge,  and  in  1694  Senator.  He  joined  the  Mennonites  and 
Pietists,  and  broke  with  the  Lutheran  clergy.  Pestilence  visited 
Dantzig  in  1710,  and  next  year  he  wrote  sixty-one  Gott  geheiligte 
Stitnden,  as  a  thankoffering  for  deliverance  in  time  of  danger. 
The  collection  contained  a  hymn  for  each  year  of  his  life. 


Hymn  39.  Thine,  Lord,  is  wisdom,  Thine  alone. 

ERNST  LANGE  (38) ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

Works,  i.  145. 
Part  of  the  same  hymn  as  38.     The  lines  in  ver.  2 — 

Thy  wakened  wrath  doth  slowly  move, 
Thy  willing  mercy  flies  apace 

are  adopted  from  the  New  Version  of  Ps.  ciii.  8. 

'  A  pace '  is  the  form  in  the  Charlestown  Psalms  and  Hymns. 

Hymn  40.  Glorious  God,  accept  a  heart. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Children,  1763;   Works,  vi.  381. 

'Favoured,'  in  ver.  4,  is  a  happy  substitute  for  'favourite,'  which 
Charles  Wesley  wrote.  The  last  verse  is  the  personal  pleading  of  a 
penitent  face  to  face  with  God. 


74  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  41.  The  Lord  Jehovah  reigns. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

From  Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709  (Book  II.  169).  It 
appeared  in  Wesley's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1738. 

Mr.  Taylor,  in  his  Apostles  of  Fylde  Methodism,  gives  an 
account  of '  Martha  Thompson,  the  first  Methodist  in  Preston,' 
who  came  as  a  servant  to  London,  heard  Wesley  preach  in 
Moorfields,  and,  when  the  service  closed  with  this  hymn,  was 
thrown  into  a  transport  of  joy.  All  day  at  her  work  she  sang, 
'And  will  this  Sovereign  King.'  Her  master  and  mistress  had 
her  confined  in  a  lunatic  asylum.  After  some  weeks  she  got  a 
letter  sent  to  Wesley,  who  soon  procured  her  release  and  took 
her  northwards  behind  him  on  a  pillion  till  she  found  a 
carrier's  cart  to  convey  her  to  Preston.  There  she  entered  into 
business  as  a  mantle-maker  and  milliner.  She  died  in  1820,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-eight.  Round  her  bed  she  gathered  her 
children  and  grandchildren,  and  begged  them  to  sing  her  hymn, 
'  And  will  this  Sovereign  King.' 

Hymn  42.  Father  of  all !  whose  powerful  voice. 

JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

Paraphrase  of  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Works,  ii.  335.  Published  in 
Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742,  in  nine  stanzas  of  eight  lines.  It  was 
given  in  three  parts  in  the  Wesleyan  hymn-book,  1780. 

Dr.  Julian  says,  'This  hymn  is  sometimes  ascribed  to  John 
Wesley,  but  upon  what  authority  we  have  been  unable  to 
ascertain.'  Mr.  C.  D.  Hardcastle  writes  {Proceedings,  Wesley 
Historical  Society,  ii.  8,  p.  200),  '  This  hymn  has  been  attri 
buted  to  John  Wesley  because  he  appended  it  to  his  sixth 
"  Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  accompanied  by  the  following  note  : 
"  I  believe  it  will  not  be  unacceptable  to  the  serious  reader  to 
subjoin  a  paraphrase  on  the  Lord's  Prayer."  He  does  not  say 
he  is  the  author,  but  in  several  other  instances  he  appends 
hymns  acknowledged  to  have  been  written  by  his  brother  to 
sermons  and  pamphlets  without  mentioning  the  author's  name, 
thus  complying  with  the  agreement,  said  by  Mr.  S.  Bradburn 
to  have  been  made  with  his  brother,  not  to  distinguish  their 
hymns.  The  paraphrase  is  supposed  to  be  of  a  more  classic 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS        75 

character  and  statelier  diction  than  those  written  by  Charles.' 
The  Rev.  S.  W.  Christophers  says,  '  Charles  in  his  rhyme  and 
rhythm  is  beautifully  childlike,  but  John's  hymn  excels  in  a 
becoming  harmony  of  grandeur,  condensed  power,  and  tender 
warmth.' 

Hymn  43.  Eternal  Son,  eternal  Love. 

JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

Part  of  Hymn  42.  Works,  ii.  336.  The  first  line  is  altered  from 
1  Son  of  Thy  Sire's  eternal  love.' 

Hymn  44.  Eternal,  spotless  Lamb  of  God. 

JOHN  WESLKY  (36). 

Part  of  Hymn  42.  Works,  ii.  337.  Ver.  5  is  much  used  in  America 
as  a  doxology. 

Hymn  45.  God  the  Lord  is  King :  before  Him. 

GEORGE  RANVSON. 

A  version  of  Psalm  xcix.  from  the  Leeds  Hymn-luck,  1853. 

Mr.  Rawson  was  born  in  Park  Square,  Leeds,  in  1817,  and 
practised  in  that  town  as  a  solicitor.  In  1853  he  assisted  in 
the  preparation  of  the  Leeds  Hymn-book,  intended  for  the 
Congregational  body,  of  which  he  was  a  member.  In  1858  he 
took  part  in  preparing  Psalms  and  Hymns  for  the  Use  of  the 
Baptist  Denomination.  A  number  of  his  own  hymns  appeared 
in  both  these  collections.  In  1876  these  and  eighty  new  hymns 
were  published  in  his  Hymns,  Verses,  and  Chants  ;  in  1885  he 
issued  Songs  of  Spiritual  Thought.  His  hymns  are  full  of 
thought,  and  are  expressed  in  chaste  and  graceful  language. 
Mr.  Rawson  was  a  retiring  man,  but  took  a  deep  interest  in 
religious  matters.  He  afterwards  settled  at  Clifton,  and  died 
in  1889. 

Hymn  46.  Holy  as  Thou,  O  Lord,  is  none. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;   Works,  ix.  150. 
I  Sam.  ii.  2  :  '  There  is  none  holy  as  the  Lord :  for  there  is  none 
beside  Thee  ;  neither  is  there  any  rock  like  our  God.' 

The  Wesleys  had  brought  the  doctrine  of  holiness  into  new 
prominence,  but  they  were  sorely  troubled  by  some  who  pushed 


76  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

the  teaching  to  extreme  lengths.  In  1762,  George  Bell,  the  ex- 
Life  Guardsman,  declared  that  God  had  no  more  need  of 
preaching  and  Sacraments,  and  that  none  could  teach  those 
who  were  renewed  in  love  unless  they  enjoyed  that  blessing 
themselves.  Wesley  lost  two  hundred  members  of  his  London 
Society  through  this  outburst  of  fanaticism.  This  hymn  is  said 
to  have  been  written  as  a  protest  against  the  rash  assertion, 
'  I  am  as  holy  as  God,'  made  by  some  one  in  Charles  Wesley's 
presence. 

Hymn  47.  Hail!  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

The  first  hymn  in  Hymns  for  Children,  1763 ;    Works,  vi.  371. 
The  second  verse  is  omitted — 

Thou  neither  canst  be  felt,  or  seen ; 

Thou  art  a  Spirit  pure, 
Who  from  eternity  hast  been, 
And  always  shalt  endure. 

Ver.  I  reads,  '  Of  Thee  we  make  our  early  boast.' 

Wesley  wrote  a  preface  for  this  publication  on  March  27, 
1790— 

'To  THE  READER, 

'There  are  two  ways  of  writing  or  speaking  to 
children  :  the  one  is,  to  let  ourselves  down  to  them  ;  the  other, 
to  lift  them  up  to  us.  Dr.  Watts  has  wrote  on  the  former  way, 
and  he  has  succeeded  admirably  well,  speaking  to  children  as 
children,  and  leaving  them  as  he  found  them.  The  following 
hymns  are  written  on  the  other  plan  :  they  contain  strong  and 
manly  sense,  yet  expressed  in  such  plain  and  easy  language  as 
even  children  may  understand.  But  when  they  do  understand 
them,  they  will  be  children  no  longer,  only  in  years  and  in 
stature.' 

Hymn  48.  Praise  ye  the  Lord !  'tis  good  to  raise. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  cxlvii.,  from  The  Psalms  of  David,  1719;  headed  'The 
Divine  Nature,  Providence,  and  Grace.'  After  four  verses  the  word 
'  Pause  '  is  printed,  then  four  verses  follow. 

Wesley  gives  it  in  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743,  with  two  verses 
omitted.  When  he  visited  Rochester  about  1784,  he  was  the 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS    AND   THEIR  WRITERS        77 

guest  of  Mr.  Osborn,  father  of  the  Revs.  Dr.  Osborn  and  James 
Osborn,  whose  first  impression  was,  'This  man  is  a  scholar.' 
He  arranged  a  little  excursion  in  order  that  Wesley  might  see 
the  view  from  the  hills  behind  Chatham.  After  all  had  ex 
pressed  their  delight  at  the  prospect,  Wesley  took  off  his  hat 
and  began  to  sing — 

Praise  ye  the  Lord  !  'tis  good  to  raise. 

Hymn  49.  Eternal  Wisdom !  Thee  we  praise. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

From  Horae  Lyricae,  1706.  'A  Song  to  Creating  Wisdom.' 
Wesley's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1741.  Four  verses  omitted. 

In  ver.  I  Watts  wrote,  'With  Thy  loud  name,'  that  is,  sounding 
out  loud  (cf.  Winter's  Tale,  act  iii.  sc.  3,  '  'Tis  like  to  be  loud 
weather').  Wesley  printed  it  'loud'  in  1741,  and  it  is  so  given  in 
the  three  first  editions  of  the  1780  Large  Hymn-book.  John  Wesley  is 
not  responsible  for  a  change  which  seems  to  spoil  the  effect  of  the  hymn 
by  anticipating  its  closing  note.  See  Proceedings,  Wesley  Historical 
Society,  ii.  7,  p.  175. 

Hymn  50.  In  all  my  vast  concerns  with  Thee. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  cxxxix. ,  Psalrns  of  David,  1719,  where  it  is  headed  'Psalm  cxl. 
God  is  everywhere.' 

After  five  verses  comes  a  '  Pause,'  followed  by  five  inferior 
verses,  which  are  omitted  in  our  Hymn-Book.  Three  of  these 
are  given  below — 

8.  If  wing'd  with  beams  of  morning  light, 

I  fly  beyond  the  west, 
Thy  hand,  which  must  support  my  flight, 
Would  soon  betray  my  rest. 

9.  If  o'er  my  sins  I  think  to  draw 

The  curtains  of  the  night, 
Those  flaming  eyes  that  guard  Thy  law 
Would  turn  the  shades  to  light. 

IO.  The  beams  of  noon,  the  midnight  hour, 

Are  both  alike  to  Thee  ; 
O  may  I  ne'er  provoke  that  pow'r 
From  which  I  cannot  flee  ! 


78  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  51.  Eternal  Light !    eternal  Light ! 
THOMAS  BINNEY,  D.D.  (1798-1874). 

Dr.  Binney  was  born  at  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  and  was  Con 
gregational  minister  at  Bedford,  Newport  (Isle  of  Wight), 
and  King's  Weigh  House  Chapel,  London.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  powerful  and  influential  ministers  of  his  day.  He 
said  in  1866  that  this  hymn  was  written  about  forty  years 
before  that  time,  'and  set  to  music  by  Power,  of  the  Strand, 
on  behalf  of  some  charitable  object  to  which  the  funds  went.' 
The  preacher  was  sitting  at  his  study  window  in  Newport, 
watching  the  sun  set.  He  lingered  till  the  stars  rose.  Then 
it  struck  him  that  the  sky  was  never  free  from  light — it  was 
eternal.  The  lines  of  his  great  hymn  gradually  began  to  take 
shape.  He  closed  the  window  and  retired  to  his  own  room. 
Before  he  went  to  rest  the  hymn  was  written.  The  third  verse, 
'  O,  how  shall  I,  whose  native  sphere,'  was  often  on  his  lips 
during  his  last  illness. 

'  Holy  Father,  whom  we  praise,'  is  a  Sunday  evening  hymn 
of  Dr.  Binney's  ;  but  it  has  not  attained  wide  popularity. 

Hymn  52.  Lord  God,  by  whom  all  change  is  wrought. 

THOMAS  HORNBLOWER  GILL. 

Written  in  1869  ;  suggested  by  St.  Augustine's  '  Immutabilis  mutans 
omnia  ' ;  first  printed  in  Songs  of  the  Spirit,  New  York,  1871. 

Mr.  Gill  was  born  at  Birmingham,  1819,  and  educated  at 
King  Edward's  School  under  Dr.  Jeune.  He  was  brought  up 
a  Unitarian,  but  early  learned  to  delight  in  Dr.  Watts's  songs. 
'  In  after  years,  the  contrast  between  their  native  force  and 
fullness  and  their  dwindled  presentation  in  Unitarian  hymn- 
books  began  that  estrangement  from  his  hereditary  faith 
which  afterwards  became  complete.3  He  has  written  about 
two  hundred  hymns,  which  combine  great  tenderness  and  purity 
of  style.  His  days  of  retirement  were  spent  at  Blackheath. 

Hymn  53.     Far  off  we  need  not  rove. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (left  in  MS.)  ;  Works,  xii.  342. 
Acts  xvii.  27,  28. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND  THEIR  WRITERS        79 

Hymn  54.  My  God,  how  wonderful  Thou  art. 
FREDERICK  WILLIAM  FABER,  D.D.  (1814-63). 

In  Jesus  and  Mary,  1849,  entitled  'The  Eternal  Father.' 

Faber  was  born  at  Calverley  Vicarage,  Yorkshire,  educated 
at  Balliol  College,  Fellow  of  University  College,  Oxford. 
He  was  appointed  Rector  of  Elton,  Huntingdonshire,  1843, 
and  joined  the  Church  of  Rome,  1846.  He  established 
the  London  'Oratory'  in  1849,  which  was  removed  to 
Brompton,  1854.  All  his  hymns  were  published  after  he 
became  a  Roman  Catholic.  In  his  preface  to  Jesus  and  Mary  ; 
or,  Catholic  Hymns  for  Singing  and  Reading,  1849,  ne  says 
that  he  was  led  to  feel  the  want  of  a  collection  of  English 
Catholic  hymns  fit  for  singing,  and  though  his  ignorance  of 
music  appeared  to  disqualify  him  in  some  measure  from  supply 
ing  the  defect,  yet  he  wrote  eleven  hymns,  chiefly  for  particular 
tunes  and  on  particular  occasions,  which  became  very  popular 
with  a  country  congregation.  They  were  afterwards  printed 
for  St.  Wilfrid's  Schools,  Staffordshire,  and  the  numerous 
applications  for  them  showed  how  anxious  people  were  to  have 
Catholic  hymns.  Dr.  Faber  submitted  his  MS.  to  a  musical 
friend,  '  who  replied  that  certain  verses  of  all,  or  nearly  all, 
of  the  hymns  would  do  for  singing  ;  and  this  encouragement 
has  led  to  the  publication  of  the  volume.'  He  set  the  Olncy 
Hymns,  and  those  of  the  Wesleys,  before  him  as  models  of 
simplicity  and  intense  fervour.  He  lamented  that  Catholics 
had  not  '  the  means  of  influence  which  one  school  of  Protestants 
has  in  Wesley's,  Newton's,  and  Covvper's  hymns,  and  another 
in  the  more  refined  and  engaging  works  of  Oxford  writers.'  He 
says  in  his  preface,  '  Catholics  even  are  said  to  be  sometimes 
found  poring  with  a  devout  and  unsuspecting  delight  over  the 
verses  of  the  Olney  Hymns,  which  the  author  himself  can  re 
member  acting  like  a  spell  upon  him  for  years,  strong  enough 
to  be  for  long  a  counter-influence  to  very  grave  convictions, 
and  even  now  to  come  back  from  time  to  time  unbidden  into 
the  mind.'  Canon  Ellerton  says  Faber's  devotional  works 
'have  the  same  characteristics  as  his  hymns.  They  are  full  of 
noble  passages,  and  often  show  deep  insight  into  the  secrets  of 
the  human  heart ;  but  they  are  curiously  wanting  in  the  sense 
of  proportion,  their  emotionalism  is  at  times  all  but  hysterical.' 


8o  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK     ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  55.  Great  God !   to  me  the  sight  afford. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  ix.  54. 
Exod.  xxxiv.  5,  6. 

In  his  preface  Charles  Wesley  wrote :  '  God,  having 
graciously  laid  His  hand  upon  my  body,  and  disabled  me  for 
the  principal  work  of  the  ministry,  has  thereby  given  me  an 
unexpected  occasion  of  writing  the  following  hymns.  Many  of 
the  thoughts  are  borrowed  from  Mr.  Henry's  Comment,  Dr. 
Cell  on  the  Pentateuch,  and  Bengelius  on  the  New  Testament.' 
Almost  every  line  of  this  hymn  shows  how  he  used  Matthew 
Henry. 

Mercy  is  Thy  distinguished  name, 
Which  suits  a  sinner  best, 

is  based  on  the  note,  '  He  is  merciful.  This  is  put  first,  because 
it  is  the  first  wheel  in  all  the  instances  of  God's  goodwill  to 
fallen  man,  whose  misery  makes  him  an  object  of  pity.' 

Hymn  56.  Thou,  rny  God,  art  good  and  wise. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Children,  1763  ;  Works,  vi.  390.  The  fourth  line  reads, 
'  Eternally  adore." 

The  hymn  is  almost  a  metrical  version  of  Wesley's  Instruc 
tions  for  Children  : — 

'  My  God,  Thou  art  good,  Thou  art  wise  ;  Thou  art  powerful.  Be 
Thou  praised  for  ever.  Give  me  grace  to  love  and  obey  Thee.  My 
God,  I  thank  Thee  for  giving  me  meat  and  clothes,  and  for  promising 
to  give  me  Thy  love  for  ever.  My  God,  forgive  me  all  my  sins,  and 
give  me  Thy  good  Spirit.  Let  me  believe  in  Thee  with  all  my  heart, 
and  love  Thee  with  all  my  strength.  Let  me  be  always  looking  unto 
Jesus  Christ,  who  is  pleading  for  me  at  Thy  right  hand,'  £c. 

Wesley  writes  in  his  Journal :  '  Monday,  July  4,  1743,  and 
the  following  days,  I  had  time  to  finish  the  Instructions  for 
Children?  They  were  published  in  1745,  price  ^d.  Wesley 
says  in  his  preface  'to  all  parents  and  schoolmasters,'  that 
'  although  the  great  truths  herein  contained  are  more  imme 
diately  addressed  to  children,  yet  are  they  worthy  the  deepest 
consideration  both  of  the  oldest  and  wisest  of  men.'  Experience 


THE   STORY   OF    THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       8 1 

did  not  make  him  think  less  of  the  manual,  for  in  his  Life  of 
Fletcher  he  refers  to  his  friend's  intention  to  prepare  various  little 
tracts  for  the  use  of  the  schools.  '  I  do  not  regret  his  not  living 
to  write  those  tracts  ;  because  I  despair  of  seeing  any  in  the 
English  tongue  superior  to  those  extracts  from  Abbe*  Fleury 
and  Mr.  Poiret,  published  under  the  title  of  Instructions  for 
Children.  I  have  never  yet  seen  anything  comparable  to  them 
either  for  depth  of  sense  or  plainness  of  language.' 

Hymn  57.  Begin,  my  soul,  some  heavenly  theme. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1707.  Entitled,  'The  faithfulness  of 
God  in  the  promises.'  The  first  verse  is — 

Begin,  my  tongue,  some  heavenly  theme, 
And  speak  some  boundless  thing. 

Toplady  altered  this  to  '  Begin,  my  soul.'  Watts  wrote  (ver.  5), 
'  His  very  word  of  grace.'  The  hymn  was  included  in  the  Wesleyan 
Supplement,  1831.  Verses  5i  7»  and  8  were  omitted,  and  ver.  9  altered. 

5.  He  that  can  dash  whole  worlds  to  death, 

And  make  them  when  He  please, 
He  speaks,  and  that  almighty  breath 
Fulfils  His  great  decrees. 

7.  He  said,  Let  the  wide  heav'n  be  spread, 

And  heav'n  was  stretch'd  abroad  ; 
Abra'm,  I'll  be  thy  God,  He  said, 
And  he  was  Abra'm's  God. 

8.  O  might  I  hear  Thy  heav'nly  tongue 

But  whisper  '  Thou  art  Mine  ! ' 
Those  gentle  words  should  raise  my  song 
To  notes  almost  divine. 

9.  How  would  my  leaping  heart  rejoice 

And  think  my  heav'n  secure  ! 
I  trust  the  all-creating  voice, 
And  faith  desires  no  more. 

Hymn  58.  O  Lord,  how  good,  how  great  art  Thou. 
HENRY  F.  LYTE  (7). 

An  altered  version  of  his  paraphrase  of  Psalm  viii.  given  in  The 
Spirit  of  the  Psalms,  1834.  The  version  in  the  Poems,  1853,  began 
1  How  good,  how  faithful,  Lord,  art  Thou  ! ' 

G 


82  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  59.  I'll  praise  iny  Maker  while  I've  breath. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  cxlvi.,  from  The  Psalms  of  Davia ',  1719  ;  six  verses,  headed 
'Praise  to  God  for  His  goodness  and  truth.' 

Wesley  included  it  in  his  Charlestown  Collection,  1737,  with  verses 
2  and  5  omitted.  He  made  two  felicitous  alterations,  which  show  his 
taste  and  skill.  '  I'll  praise  my  Maker  with  my  breath '  was  changed 
to  '  while  I've  breath '  ;  and  '  The  Lord  hath  eyes  to  give  the  blind  ' 
to  'pours  eyesight  on.' 

Wesley  never  ceased  to  love  this  hymn.  Miss  Ritchie  calls 
it  'his  favourite  psalm.'  He  gave  it  out  before  his  sermon  in 
his  last  service  at  City  Road  on  Tuesday  evening,  February  22, 
1791.  Next  day  he  preached  his  last  sermon  at  Leatherhead. 
He  returned  home  to  City  Road  on  Friday  morning,  and  on 
the  Monday  afternoon,  while  his  clothes  were  being  brought 
that  he  might  get  up,  he  broke  out  singing  the  first  and  second 
verses  (of  'I'll  praise  my  Maker  while  I've  breath'  ('these 
blessed  words,'  as  Miss  Ritchie  calls  them  in  her  account  of  his 
de.ath)  with  a  vigour  that  astonished  all  his  friends.  The  tune 
was  the  Old  usth,  which  was  a  special  favourite  of  his.  It 
is  set  in  the  new  Tune-Book  to  595.  During  the  Tuesday  night 
he  was  often  heard  (Tyerman  says  '  scores  of  times ')  trying  to 
repeat  'the  psalm  before  mentioned,'  but  could  only  get  out, 
'  I'll  praise — I'll  praise ' 

On  the  evening  of  John  Fletcher's  wedding-day  (November 
12,  1781),  John  Valton  preached  at  Cross  Hall,  'from  those 
most  suitable  words,  "  What  shall  I  render  unto  the  Lord  for  all 
His  benefits  ?  I  will  take  the  cup  of  salvation,  and  call  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord."  His  words  did  not  fall  to  the  ground : 
many  were  greatly  refreshed.  After  preaching  there  was  a 
sweet  contest  among  us ;  every  one  thought,  "  I  in  particular 
owe  the  greatest  debt  of  praise "  ;  till  we  jointly  agreed  to 
sing,  "  I'll  praise  my  Maker  while  I've  breath."' 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  when  Sammy  Hick,  'the 
Village  Blacksmith,'  died  (November  9,  1829),  some  of  his 
friends  came  from  Sherburn  to  visit  him.  He  was  too  weak  to 
pray,  but  asked  them  to  pray  with  him,  and  with  great  feebleness 
gave  out  the  first  verse  of  one  of  his  favourite  hymns, '  I'll  praise 
my  Maker  while  I've  breath.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       83 

Hymn  60.  Ere  God  had  built  the  mountains. 
WILLIAM  COWPER. 

In  the  Olney  Hymns,  1779,  based  on  Prov.  viii.  22-31.  Cowper's 
hymns  are  marked  '  C.'  (See  also  under  hymn  109.)  There  are  348 
pieces  in  the  book  ;  Cowper  wrote  about  68,  Newton  the  rest. 

Cowper  was  born  in  his  father's  rectory  at  Great  Berkham- 
stead,  in  1731,  educated  at  Westminster  School,  called  to  the  Bar 
in  1754.  He  had  suffered  from  melancholy  from  his  youth, 
but  in  1763,  when  nominated  to  the  Clerkship  of  the  Journals 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  his  reason  gave  way.  Through  Dr. 
Cotton's  wise  treatment  at  St.  Albans  he  regained  strength. 
He  settled  in  1767  at  Orchard  Side,  a  tall  brick  house  still 
standing  in  the  market-place  at  Olney.  John  Newton  was  curate 
in  charge.  Cowper  lived  at  Olney  for  nineteen  years.  Thomas 
Scott,  the  commentator,  lived  here  for  some  time,  and  William 
Carey  was  sent  into  the  ministry  from  the  Baptist  church, 
after  not  a  little  hesitation.  Dr.  Gauntlett  was  organist  as  a 
boy  at  the  parish  church.  In  1786  Cowper  removed  to  Weston 
Underwood.  In  1796  he  went  to  live  at  East  Dereham,  and 
was  buried  in  St.  Edmund's  Chapel,  Dereham  Church,  May  2, 
1800.  On  his  tomb  are  the  lines — 

His  highest  honours  to  the  heart  belong, 
His  virtues  formed  the  magic  of  his  song. 

Cowper  was  Newton's  lay  helper  at  Olney.  Newton  says, '  He 
loved  the  poor.  He  often  visited  them,  consoled  and  comforted 
them  in  their  distress  ;  and  those  who  were  seriously  disposed 
were  often  cheered  and  animated  by  his  prayers.'  '  The  Lord 
evidently  sent  him  to  Olney,  where  he  has  been  a  blessing  to 
many,  a  great  blessing  to  myself.'  These  were  happy  years. 
Cowper  says,  '  God  has  given  me  such  a  deep-impressed  per 
suasion  of  the  truth,  as  a  thousand  worlds  would  not  purchase 
from  me.  It  gives  me  a  relish  to  every  blessing,  and  makes 
every  trouble  light.' 

Southey  pays  high  tribute  to  Cowper  when  he  calls  him 
1  the  best  of  English  letter-writers '  ;  and  his  poetry  will  never 
cease  to  appeal  to  those  who  share  his  love  of  nature  and  of 
home.  His  pen  was  always  used  to  promote  the  cause  of 
liberty  and  true  religion. 


84  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  61.  A  thousand  oracles  divine. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

From  second  part,  Hymns  and  Prayers  to  the  Trinity,  1767  ; 
Works,  vii.  312.  Eight  lines  are  omitted. 

Ver.  6  begins,  '  The  King  whose  glorious  face  ye  see.' 

Young's  Night  Thoughts,  Night  4,  603,  'Father  of  angels  ! 
but  the  Friend  of  man  ! '  has  given  the  Methodist  poet  the 
beautiful  thought  of  ver.  5  ;  and  11.  437-40 — 

This  theme  is  man's,  and  man's  alone ; 
Their  vast  appointments  reach  it  not  :  they  see 
On  earth  a  bounty  not  indulged  on  high, 
And  downward  look  for  Heaven's  superior  praise  ! 

inspired  the  lines  here  omitted  before  ver.  6— 
Ye  seraphs  nearest  to  the  throne, 

With  rapturous  amaze, 
On  us,  poor  ransomed  worms,  look  down, 

For  Heaven's  superior  praise. 

Charles  Wesley  says,  in  July,  1754,  'I  began  !once  more 
transcribing  Young's  Night  Thoughts.  No  writings  but  the 
inspired  are  more  useful  to  me.'  When  Dr.  Young  was  in  deep 
melancholy  after  the  loss  of  his  step-daughter,  the  Countess  of 
Huntingdon  introduced  him  to  Charles  Wesley,  with  the  hope 
that  he  might  find  relief.  The  two  poets  conversed  freely,  and 
Dr.  Young  afterwards  spoke  very  highly  of  Charles  Wesley  co 
the  Countess.  He  attended  Methodist  services,  from  which  he 
derived  much  comfort  and  help.  John  Wesley  published  an 
extract  from  that  '  noble  work,'  Young's  Night  Thoughts,  in 
1770. 

A  tract  by  the  Rev.  W.  Jones,  Curate  of  Finedon,  Northamp 
tonshire,  suggested  Charles  Wesley's  Hymns  on  the  Trinity. 
It  is  entitled  '  The  Catholic  Doctrine  of  a  Trinity  proved  by 
above  a  hundred  short  and  clear  arguments  expressed  in  the 
terms  of  Holy  Scripture,  compared  in  a  manner  entirely  new,' 
1754,  enlarged  1767.  Charles  Wesley  made  a  hymn  or  set 
of  hymns  on  each  text  Mr.  Jones  adduced.  His  first  stanza 
owes  much  to  Mr.  Jones's  preface.  '  In  the  fourth  and  last 
chapter,  the  passages  of  the  Scripture  have  been  laid  together, 
and  made  to  unite  their  beams  in  one  common  centre,  the  Unity 
of  the  Trinity,  which  union  is  not  metaphorical  and  figurative, 
but  strict  and  real.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       85 

Hymn  62.   Praise  to  the  Holiest  in  the  height. 
JOHN  HENRY  NEWMAN,  D.D. 

From  his  Dream  of  Gerontius,  which  appeared  in  The  Month  for 
May  and  June,  1865.  It  represented  his  musings  on  the  death  of  a 
dear  friend,  and  he  was  so  dissatisfied  with  it  that  he  threw  the  MS. 
aside.  By  good  fortune  a  friend  rescued  it.  The  Dream  traces  the 
journey  of  a  monk's  soul  after  death  to  Purgatory.  This  hymn  is  sung 
by  the  '  Fifth  choir  of  Angelicals '  as  the  soul  is  conducted  into  the 
presence-chamber  of  Emmanuel.  The  Dream  appeared  in  his  Verses 
on  Various  Occasions,  1868,  andjthe  hymn  was  given  the  same  year  in 
the  Appendix  to  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern. 

Cardinal  Newman  was  born  in  i8or,  in  the  city  of  London, 
where  his  father  was  chief  clerk  and  afterwards  partner  in  a 
banking-house.  His  mother  taught  him  to  read  the  works  of 
Thomas  Newton,  Dr.  Watts,  Richard  Baxter,  and  Thomas 
Scott,  of  Aston  Sandford,  to  whom,  he  said,  'humanly  speaking, 
I  almost  owe  my  soul.'  He  became  Fellow  of  Oriel  College, 
Oxford,  in  1822,  and  afterwards  tutor.  In  1828  he  was  appointed 
Vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Oxford.  He  says,  'It  was  to  me  like  the 
feeling  of  spring  weather  after  winter  ;  and,  if  I  may  so  speak, 
I  came  out  of  my  shell  ;  I  remained  out  of  it  till  1841.'  He 
resigned  his  living  in  1843,  and  on  October  9,  1845,  was  received 
into  the  Church  of  Rome.  In  1858  he  found  his  place  in  the 
Oratory  at  Birmingham,  and  in  1864  published  his  Apologia- 
pro  Vita  Sna.  In  1879  he  was  created  a  Cardinal.  He  died 
August  11,  1890,  and  was  buried  in  the  graveyard  of  the 
Oratorians  at  Rednal.  Besides  his  two  famous  hymns,  New 
man  compiled  a  collection  of  hymns  chiefly  from  the  Paris 
Breviary,  and  made  some  fine  translations  from  the  Latin. 

The  hymn  was  a  source  of  consolation  and  strength  to  Mr. 
Gladstone  on  his  death-bed.  Canon  Scott  Holland  referred  to 
him  at  St.  Paul's  as  '  spending  his  life  in  benediction  to  those 
whom  he  leaves  behind  in  this  world,  and  in  thanksgiving  to 
God,  to  whom  he  rehearses  over  and  over  again,  day  after  day, 
Newman's  hymn  of  austere  and  splendid  adoration,'  '  Praise  to 
the  Holiest  in  the  height.'  It  was  sung  at  his  funeral  service. 

The  hymn  strengthened  Gordon  to  face  death  at  Khartoum. 

O  generous  love  !    that  He,  who  smote 

In  Man  for  man  the  foe, 
The  double  agony  in  Man 

For  man  should  undergo. 


86  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  63.    O  God  of  God,  in  whom  combine. 

German  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  Works,  i.  162.  'Supplication 
for  grace, '  '  From  the  German  ' — 

Gott  aus  dem  quillt  alles  Leben. 
The  original  is  ascribed  to  Zinzendorf,  but  it  has  not  been  identified. 

Hymn  64.   O  God  of  all  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 749  ;  Works,  v.  30.  '  Hymns  for 
Believers.'  In  twenty  stanzas  of  three  lines. 

Hymn  65.   Father,  whose  everlasting  love. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  1741  ;  Works,  iii.  3.  In  the 
original  ver.  4  reads  'A  world,'  which  is  happily  changed  to  '  The 
world." 

A  relic  of  the  controversy  on  Calvinism,  which  separated 
the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield  in  1741.  Wesley  had  taken  the 
Arminian  position  so  early  as  1725,  when  discussing  great 
questions  of  theology  in  his  letters  to  his  mother.  In  1740 
Whitefield  was  greatly  disturbed  by  Wesley's  sermon  on  '  Free 
Grace.'  This  hymn  represents  the  Methodist  doctrine  on  this 
cardinal  subject.  Wesley  reprinted  it  in  the  Arminian 
Magazine,  1778. 

Hymn  66.    What  shall  I  do  my  God  to  love. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  iv.  446.  It  is  the  fourth 
of  a  set  of  seven  hymns  headed  'After  a  Recovery.'  It  begins — 

O  what  an  evil  heart  have  I, 
So  cold,  and  hard,  and  blind  ! 

The  fourth  verse  reads  in  the  original,  '  My  trespass  is  grown  up  to 
heaven.'  The  original  has  eighteen  verses. 

In  the  hymn-book  of  1875,  the  hymn  began  with  the  ninth  verse  ; 
here  it  begins  with  the  eleventh. 


THE   STORY  OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       87 

Hymn  67.   Thy  ceaseless,  unexhausted  love. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762;  Works,  ix.  55. 
Exod.  xxxiv.  6.  The  first  line  is  '  Thy  causeless  unexhausted  love.' 

The  debt  to  Matthew  Henry's  Commentary  has  been  de 
scribed  under  hymn  55.  Ver.  4  is  based  on  Henry's  words, 
'  The  spring  of  mercy  is  always  full,  and  streams  of  mercy 
always  flowing.  There  is  mercy  enough  in  God,  enough  for  all, 
enough  for  each,  enough  for  evermore.' 

Thomas  Jackson  says  (C.  Wesley,  ii.  200),  '  Few  persons 
would  think  of  going  to  the  verbose  Commentary  of  Matthew 
Henry  for  the  elements  of  poetry  ;  but  the  genius  of  Charles 
Wesley,  like  the  fabled  philosopher's  stone,  could  turn  everything 
to  gold.  Some  of  his  eminently  beautiful  hymns,  strange  as 
it  may  appear,  are  poetic  versions  of  Henry's  expository  notes.' 

This  hymn  furnished  Dinah  Morris  with  the  closing  appeal 
in  her  sermon  on  the  village  green — 

'  Dear  friends,  come  and  take  this  blessedness  ;  it  is  offered 
to  you  ;  it  is  the  goodness  that  Jesus  came  to  preach  to  the 
poor.  It  is  not  like  the  riches  of  this  world,  so  that  the  more 
one  gets  the  less  the  rest  can  have.  God  is  without  end  ;  His 
love  is  without  end — 

Its  streams  the  whole  creation  reach, 

So  plenteous  is  the  store ; 
Enough  for  all,  enough  for  each, 

Enough  for  evermore.' 

(Adam  Bcde,  ch.  ii.) 

Hymn  68.   Great  God  of  wonders !  all  Thy  ways. 
SAMUEL  DAVIES  (1723-61). 

Mr.  Davies  visited  England  in  1753  on  behalf  of  New  Jersey 
Presbyterian  College,  Princeton,  and  on  his  return  was 
appointed  President  in  succession  to  Jonathan  Edwards.  After 
his  death,  Dr.  T.  Gibbons,  the  biographer  of  Watts,  published 
five  volumes  of  his  sermons,  and  sixteen  of  his  hymns  in 
Hymns  adapted  to  Divine  Worship,  1769.  One  of  these  was 
'  Great  God  of  wonders,'  his  most  popular  hymn.  The  third 
verse  of  the  original  is  here  omitted — 


THE    METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Angels  and  men,  resign  your  claim 
To  pity,  mercy,  love,  and  grace  ; 
These  glories  crown  Jehovah's  name 

With  an  incomparable  blaze  ! 
Who  is  a  pardoning  God  like  Thee  ? 
Or  who  has  grace  so  rich  and  free  ? 

Hymn  69.  Eternal  depth  of  love  divine. 
ZINZENDORF  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poeins,  1739;  Works,  i.  173;  headed  *God 
with  us.'  From  the  German  '  Du  ewiger  Abgrund  der  seligen  Liebe,' 
written  for  the  birthday  of  his  friend  Count  Henkel  of  Oderberg, 
September  21,  1726. 

When  published  in  1 730,  it  was  headed  '  Ein  Erweckungs  Lied  an 
Fest-Tagen."  It  appeared  in  the  Herrnhut  Gesang-Buch^  \  735.  Wesley's 
translation  was  in  four  verses  of  eight  lines  each. 

The  last  four  lines  of  ver.  3  and  the  first  four  of  ver.  4  are 
omitted.  They  are — 

Still  on  Thee,  Father,  may  we  rest ! 

Still  may  we  pant  Thy  Son  to  know  ! 
Thy  Spirit  still  breathe  into  our  breast, 

Fountain  of  peace  and  joy  below ! 

Oft  have  we  seen  Thy  mighty  power 
Since  from  the  world  Thou  mad'st  us  free! 

Still  may  we  praise  Thee  more  and  more, 
Our  hearts  more  firmly  knit  to  Thee ! 

NlCOLAUS  LUDWIG,  COUNT  VON  ZlNZENDORF,  the  SOU  of 
the  Prime  Minister  of  Saxony,  was  born  at  Dresden,  educated 
at  Halle  and  Wittenberg,  and  became  Hof-  und  Justizrath  at 
Dresden  in  1721.  The  first  Moravian  settlers  found  a  home 
on  his  estates  in  1722,  and  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  settle 
ment  of  Herrnhut.  In  1727  he  gave  himself  to  the  care  of 
the  growing  community,  and  became  Bishop  of  the  Moravian 
Brethren,  1737.  He  died  at  Herrnhut  in  1760.  As  a  schoolboy 
at  Halle  he  founded  '  The  Order  of  the  Grain  of  Mustard  Seed,' 
one  object  of  which  was  '  the  conversion  of  others,  including 
Jews  and  Pagans.'  In  1731  he  was  able  to  begin  the  missionary 
service  which  has  won  for  the  Moravians  their  highest  glory. 
Charles  Wesley  met  the  Count  when  he  visited  England  in  1737. 
Peter  Bohler,  whom  the  Count  had  ordained  for  work  in 
Carolina,  taught  the  Wesleys  the  way  of  faith,  and  sent  his 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS        89 

impressions  of  the  brothers  to  Zinzendorf.  John  Wesley  saw 
much  of  Zinzendorf  when  he  visited  Herrnhut  in  1738.  In  1741 
Wesley  had  his  famous  conversation  with  the  Count  in  Gray's 
Inn  Walks,  London.  The  paths  of  the  two  men,  and  of 
Methodists  and  Moravians,  had  parted.  On  his  death-bed  Zin 
zendorf  rejoiced  in  the  results  he  had  seen  at  home  and  abroad. 
'As  for  the  heathen,  I  only  asked  for  the  first-fruits,  and,  behold, 
a  harvest  ! ' 

He  wrote  his  first  hymn  at  the  age  of  twelve,  and  his  last 
four  days  before  his  death.  His  list  of  hymns  numbers  more 
than  2,000.  Some  of  them  are  marred  by  unbecoming  familiarity 
with  sacred  things,  others  are  spoiled  by  their  diffuseness.  His 
later  productions  are  unreal  and  exaggerated  ;  but  many  of  his 
hymns  '  are  distinguished  by  a  certain  noble  simplicity,  true 
sweetness,  lyric  grace,  unshaken  faith  in  the  reconciling  grace 
of  Christ,  entire  self-consecration,  willingness  to  spend  and  be 
spent  in  the  Master's  service,  and  fervent  brotherly  love.' 
When  he  was  dying,  nearly  a  hundred  members  of  the  com 
munity  gathered  in  and  near  his  bedchamber.  He  spoke 
words  of  comfort  to  them,  and  as  his  son-in-law  prayed,  '  Lord, 
now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in  peace,'  he  passed  to  his 
reward. 

Hymn  70.  O  Love  of  God,  how  strong  and  true ! 

HORATIUS  BONAR,   D.D. 
Hymns  of  Faith  and  Hope,  Second  Series,  1864. 

Bonar  (1808-89)  was  a  solicitor's  son,  born  in  Edinburgh,  and 
educated  at  its  High  School  and  University.  He  was  greatly 
influenced  by  Dr.  Chalmers,  then  Professor  of  Theology,  whom 
he  considered  to  be  the  greatest  man  he  ever  met.  While 
assistant  minister  at  St.  James's,  Leith,  he  found  the  children 
very  listless  in  public  worship.  The  psalms  and  hymns  were 
not  to  their  taste,  though  they  were  fond  enough  of  music. 
The  young  minister  chose  some  of  the  more  lively  tunes  and 
wrote  words  to  them,  which  were  printed  on  leaflets  and  dis 
tributed  through  the  Sunday  school  of  which  he  had  charge. 
The  success  of  that  experiment  led  him  to  seek  out  suitable 
hymns  and  compose  others.  He  became  minister  of  the  North 
Parish  Church,  Kelso,  in  1837.  In  1843  ne  left  the  Established 
Church,  but  remained  as  Free  Church  minister  in  Kelso  till 


90  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

1866,  when  he  took  charge  of  the  Chalmers  Memorial  Church, 
The  Grange,  Edinburgh.  He  was  Moderator  of  the  General 
Assembly  in  1883.  In  1848  he  became  Editor  of  the  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Prophecy,  which  post  he  held  during  its  twenty-five 
years'  existence.  In  every  issue  one  hymn  of  his  own  was 
printed.  His  son  says  one  table  in  his  study  was  entirely 
devoted  to  proof-sheets,  and  for  thirty  years  he  said  he  had 
been  continually  in  the  hands  of  three  separate  printers  for  his 
editorial  work,  his  prose,  and  his  poetry.  He  was  a  lifelong 
student  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics  and  Patristic  literature. 

Canon  Ellerton  says  there  is  no  more  striking  testimony  to 
Bonar's  power  as  a  '  sweet  singer '  than  the  very  remarkable 
change  which,  during  his  lifetime,  passed  over  the  whole  of 
Scotland  in  the  matter  of  hymnody.  '  The  new  wine  of  the 
Hymns  of  Faith  and  Hope  has  enriched  the  blood  of  all 
religious  Scotland,  and  made  it  impossible  for  her  to  rest 
content  with  the  merely  veiled  and  indirect  praise  of  her  risen 
and  ascended  Lord  which  was  all  that  her  old  Psalmody 
allowed  her.  Her  heart  grew  hot  within  her,  and  at  last  she 
spake  with  her  tongue,  in  new  and  freer  accents  of  praise.3 

Mr.  Horder  says,  'Dr.  Bonar  is  probably  the  only  example 
of  a  really  great  hymnist  in  modern  times  who  has  consecrated 
his  gifts  to  the  production  of  verses  specially  adapted  for  times 
of  religious  revival.' 

Hymn  71.  Was  there  ever  kindest  shepherd. 
F.  W.  FABER,  D.D.  (54). 

Appeared  in  his  Oratory  Hymns,  1854,  headed  '  Come  to  Jesus.' 
It  begins,  '  Souls  of  men,  why  will  ye  scatter  ? ' 

Hymn  72.  The  King  of  Love  my  Shepherd  is. 
SIR  HENRY  WILLIAMS  BAKER,  BART. 

Appendix  to  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1868. 

Sir  H.  W.  Baker,  eldest  son  of  Admiral  Sir  H.  L.  Baker, 
was  born  in  London,  May  27,  1821.  He  succeeded  to  the 
baronetcy,  and  became  Vicar  of  Monkland,  Herefordshire,  1851  ; 
died  February  12,  1877.  As  editor  of  Hymns  Ancient  and 
Modern,  in  which  thirty-three  of  his  own  hymns  appeared,  and 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       91 

other  collections,  he  rendered  eminent  service  to  sacred  song. 
His  hymns  are  singularly  musical  and  chaste  in  thought  and 
style.  The  third  verse  of  this  hymn,  '  Perverse  and  foolish  oft 
I  strayed,'  was  the  last  word  that  his  friends  heard  the  author 
whisper  on  his  death-bed.  Dr.  Julian  says,  'This  tender 
sadness,  brightened  by  a  soft,  calm  peace,  was  an  epitome  of 
his  poetical  life.' 

Dr.  Dykes  wrote  for  the  hymn  his  lovely  melody  '  Dominus 
regit  me,'  and  one  of  Gounod's  most  successful  sacred  songs 
was  a  setting  of  this  hymn.  The  Vulgate  Version  of  Psalm 
xxiii.  begins  '  Dominus  regit  me.' 

Hymn  73.  Let  all  that  breathe  Jehovah  praise. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Children,  1763,  No.  95.      Works,  vi.  458. 

Hymn  74.  Far  as  creation's  bounds  extend. 

JAMES  MERRICK,  M.A. 

Psalm  cxlv.,  from  his  Psalms  of  David  translated  or  paraphrased  in 
English  Verse,  1765. 

Merrick  was  born  at  Reading  in  1720,  educated  at  its 
Grammar  School,  and  died  in  the  town  in  1769.  He  became 
Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  1744,  and  took  holy  orders,  but 
his  health  would  not  bear  the  strain  of  a  clergyman's  life.  He 
published  his  '  Messiah,  a  divine  essay,  humbly  dedicated  to  the 
Reverend  the  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford  and 
the  Visitors  of  the  Free  School  in  Reading,'  when  he  was  only 
fourteen.  His  fable  of  The  Chameleon  is  still  well  known.  His 
paraphrases  of  the  Psalms  were  much  used  a  century  ago,  both 
in  Anglican  and  in  Nonconformist  circles,  but  they  are  somewhat 
weak  and  verbose.  He  announced  them  '  as  not  calculated  for 
the  uses  of  public  worship,'  but  rather  for  'purposes  of  private 
devotion.  The  translator  knew  not  how,  without  neglecting 
the  poetry,  to  write  in  such  language  as  the  common  sort  of 
people  would  be  likely  to  understand.'  Dr.  W.  B.  Collyer 
included  more  than  fifty  of  his  psalms  and  hymns  in  his  col 
lection,  and  Bishop  Lowth,  who  helped  him  in  his  Annotations 
on  the  Psalms,  described  him  as  '  one  of  the  best  of  men  and 
most  eminent  of  scholars.'  Archbishop  Seeker  was  also  one 
of  his  helpers  in  this  work. 


92  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  75.  The  spacious  firmament  on  high. 
JOSEPH  ADDISON. 

Addison  was  son  of  the  Rev.  Lancelot  Addison,  afterwards 
Dean  of  Lichfield,  and  was  born  at  his  father's  parsonage, 
Milston,  near  Amesbury,  Wilts,  on  May  I,  1672.  Lancelot 
Addison,  the  son  of  a  poor  Westmorland  clergyman,  began 
life  as  chaplain  to  the  garrison  at  Dunkirk.  The  modest  living 
at  Milston  enabled  him  to  marry  a  clergyman's  daughter.  His 
son  was  educated  at  Charterhouse  and  Magdalen  College, 
Oxford.  Intended  for  the  Church,  he  gave  himself  to  law 
and  politics,  and  became  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland.  In  1716 
he  married  the  Dowager  Countess  of  Warwick,  and  died  at 
Holland  'House,  Kensington,  June  17,  1719.  He  said  to  the 
Earl  of  Warwick,  'See  in  what  peace  a  Christian  can  die.' 
His  contributions  to  the  Tafterand  the  Spectator'ka.vQ,  won  him 
a  chief  place  among  English  men  of  letters.  These  papers 
were  started  by  his  old  schoolfellow  and  friend,  Richard  Steele. 
Dr.  Johnson  said,  '  Whoever  wishes  to  attain  an  English  style, 
familiar  but  not  coarse,  and  elegant  but  not  ostentatious,  must 
give  his  days  and  nights  to  the  volumes  of  Addison.'  Macaulay 
describes  him  as  'the  unsullied  statesman,  the  accomplished 
scholar,  the  consummate  painter  of  life  and  manners,  the  great 
satirist,  who  alone  knew  how  to  use  ridicule  without  abusing 
it  ;  who,  without  inflicting  a  wound,  effected  a  great  social 
reform  ;  and  who  reconciled  wit  and  virtue  after  a  long  and 
painful  separation,  during  which  wit  had  been  led  astray  by 
profligacy  and  virtue  by  fanaticism.'  '  The  spacious  firmament 
on  high '  appeared  in  the  Spectator  for  Saturday,  August  23, 
1712,  at  the  close  of  an  essay  dealing  with  the  means  by  which 
faith  may  be  confirmed  and  strengthened  in  the  mind  of  man. 
Addison  holds  that  when  once  convinced  of  'the  truth  of  any 
article,  and  of  the  reasonableness  of  our  belief  in  it,  we  should 
never  after  suffer  ourselves  to  call  it  into  question.'  Then  he 
urged  that  '  those  arguments  which  appear  of  the  greatest 
strength,  and  which  cannot  be  got  over  by  all  the  doubts  and 
cavils  of  infidelity,'  should  be  carefully  laid  up  in  the  memory. 
The  practice  of  morality,  habitual  adoration  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  retirement  and  meditation,  are  other  means  for 
strengthening  faith.  He  argues  that  when  retired  from  the 
world,  '  faith  and  devotion  naturally  grow  in  the  mind  of  every 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       93 

reasonable  man,  who  sees  the  impressions  of  divine  power  and 
wisdom  in  every  object  on  which  he  casts  his  eye.  The  Supreme 
Being  has  made  the  best  arguments  for  His  own  existence,  in 
the  formation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  these  are 
arguments  which  a  man  of  sense  cannot  forbear  attending  to, 
who  is  out  of  the  noise  and  hurry  of  human  affairs.'  'The 
Psalmist  has  very  beautiful  strokes  of  poetry  to  this  purpose  in 
that  exalted  strain  (Psalm  xix.).  As  such  a  bold  and  sublime 
manner  of  thinking  furnishes  very  noble  matter  for  an  ode,  the 
reader  may  see  it  wrought  into  the  following  one.' 

Dr.  Johnson  used  to  repeat  the  hymn  with  great  delight. 
Hartley  Coleridge  could  not  bear  '  the  spangles '  and  '  the 
shining  frame.'  '  They  remind  me  of  tambour  work.  Perhaps 
if  I  had  never  read  the  psalm,  I  might  think  the  verses  fine.' 

Not  long  before  his  death,  John  Wesley  was  talking  with 
Adam  Clarke  about  the  origin  of  Methodism.  He  pointed  out 
how  '  God  raised  up  Mr.  Addison  and  his  associates  to  lash  the 
prevailing  vices  and  ridiculous  and  profane  customs  of  the 
country,  and  to  show  the  excellence  of  Christianity  and  Christian 
institutions.  The  Spectators,  written  with  all  the  simplicity, 
elegance,  and  force  of  the  English  language,  were  everywhere 
read,  and  were  the  first  instruments  in  the  hands  of  God  to 
check  the  mighty  and  growing  profanity,  and  call  men  back 
to  religion  and  decency  and  common  sense.  Methodism,  in 
the  order  of  God,  succeeded,  and  revived  and  spread  Scriptural 
and  experimental  Christianity  over  the  nation.  And  now  what 
hath  God  wrought  ! '  That  is  perhaps  the  noblest  tribute  ever 
paid  to  Addison  and  Steele,  who  were,  like  Wesley,  old 
Carthusians. 


Hymn  70.  The  earth  with  all  her  fulness  owns. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743  ;   Works,  viii.  47.    Tsalm  xxiv.    In  ver.  4, 
1  Whoe'er '  is  a  happy  revision  of  the  original,  '  Who  here.' 

Hymn  77.  Happy  man  whom  God  doth  aid ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  for  Children,  1763,  No.  18  ;   Works,  vi.  387. 


94  THE  METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  78.  With  glory  clad,  with  strength  arrayed. 
TATE  and  BRADY  (17). 

Psalm  xciii.  A  New  Version  of  the  Psalms,  1696.  In  ver.  2  the 
original  reading  (  King'  is  now  restored. 

Hymn  79.  High  in  the  heavens,  eternal  God. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  xxxvi.,  from  the  Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Headed  '  The 
Perfections  and  Providence  of  God ;  or,  General  Providence  and  Special 
Grace.'  Ver.  5  is  omitted —  • 

From  the  provisions  of  Thy  house, 
We  shall  be  fed  with  sweet  repast ; 

There  mercy  like  a  river  flows, 
And  brings  salvation  to  our  taste. 

Hymn  80.  Sweet  is  the  memory  of  Thy  grace. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  cxlv.,  from  The  Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Headed  'The 
Goodness  of  God.' 

Hymn  81.  You,  who  dwell  above  the  skies. 
GEORGE  SANDYS. 

George  Sandys,  second  son  of  the  Archbishop  of  York,  was 
born  in  1577,  educated  at  Oxford,  and  for  some  years  travelled 
widely  in  Europe  and  Asia.  In  1615  he  published  a  curious 
account  of  his  travels.  On  his  return  to  England  he  became 
a  gentleman  of  the  Privy  Chamber  of  Charles  I.  He  died  at 
Bexley  Abbey,  Kent,  in  1643.  His  translation  of  Ovid's  Meta 
morphoses  was  very  popular.  He  published  three  volumes  of 
paraphrases,  on  the  Psalms  in  1637  ;  Psalms  and  Other  Books, 
1638  ;  Song  of  Solomon,  1642.  His  versions  of  the  Psalms 
were  set  to  music  by  Henry  Lawes,  and  intended  for  private 
devotion.  Dryden  called  him  '  the  best  versifier  of  the  former 
age.'  Baxter  laments  that  Sandys'  '  seraphic  strain '  was 
useless  to  the  vulgar,  because  not  in  the  ordinary  metres.  He 
says,  '  I  must  confess  after  all  that,  next  to  the  Scripture  poems, 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS      Q5 

there  are  none  so  savoury  to  me  as  Mr.  George  Herbert's  and 
Mr.  George  Sandys's.'  Charles  I  found  comfort  in  these  Psalms 
when  a  prisoner  at  Carisbrooke  Castle.  Lord  Falkland  wrote 
a  eulogistic  preface,  and  Burney,  Montgomery,  Conder,  and 
Holland  regard  it  as  the  best  metrical  version.  Its  poetical 
grace  exercised  a  great  influence  on  later  translations.  Mont 
gomery  describes  the  Psalms  of  Sandys  as  '  incomparably  the 
most  poetical  in  the  English  language,  and  yet  they  are 
scarcely  known.'  This  is  his  paraphrase  of  Psalm  cxlviii. 

Hymn  82.  Good  Thou  art,  and  good  Thou  dost. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Children,  1763,  No.  99  ;  Works,  vi.  461.  The  latter 
half  of  the  hymn,  'Thou  the  great,  eternal  Lord.' 

Hymn  83.  Father,  how  wide  Thy  glory  shines ! 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

In  florae  Lyricae,  1706.  Headed  '  God  glorious  and  sinners  saved.' 
Wesley  included  it  in  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1738-41. 

Hymn  84.  All  praise  and  thanks  to  God  most  High. 
JOHANN  JAKOB  SCHUTZ  (1640-90) ;  translated  by  Miss 

WlNKWORTH  (19). 

1  Sei  Lob  und  Ehr  dem  hochsten  Gut,'  is  one  of  five  hymns  published 
In  his  Christliches  Gcdenckbiichlrin,  1675,  and  is  founded  on  Deut.  xxxii. 
3,  with  the  heading  '  Hymn  of  Thanksgiving.'  It  has  nine  stanzas. 

This  hymn  attracted  unusual  attention  from  its  first  appearance,  and 
has  played  a  large  part  in  the  religious  life  of  Germany. 

Miss  Winkworth's  translation  is  in  her  Lyra  Gcrmanica,  Second 
Series,  1858.  She  does  not  give  Schiitz's  last  stanza.  Three  of  her 
verses  are  here  omitted.  383  is  Miss  Cox's  translation  of  the  same 
hymn. 

Schutz  was  born  at  Frankfurt-on-Main,  studied  at  Tubingen, 
and  practised  with  distinction  as  an  advocate  in  his  native  city. 
He  was  the  friend  of  P.  J.  Spener,  and  had  much  to  do  with 
the  Collegia  Pietatis,  or  prayer-meetings,  which  Spener  started 
in  1670,  and  which  are  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  Pietism. 
Schutz  became  a  Separatist,  and  ceased  to  attend  the  Lutheran 
services. 


96  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  85.  There  is  a  book  who  runs  may  read. 

JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A. 

The  Christian  Year  ;  part  of  the  twelve-verse  poem  for  Septuagesima 
Sunday,  with  the  text,  Rom.  i.  20.  It  was  written  in  1819,  and  was 
sung  over  Keble's  grave. 

Keble  was  born  in  1792  at  Fairford,  Gloucestershire,  where 
his  father  educated  him  and  his  brother  till  they  went  to  Oxford. 
In  1806  he  won  a  scholarship  at  Corpus  Christi  College,  and  in 
1810  a  double  First,  which  up  to  that  time  had  been  gained  by 
no  one  except  Sir  Robert  Peel.  He  was  elected  Fellow  of 
Oriel  next  year  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  and  remained  at  Oxford 
till  1823,  when  his  mother  died,  and  he  returned  to  Fairford. 
He  published  The  Christian  Year'm  1827,  became  Professor  of 
Poetry  at  Oxford  in  1831,  and  in  1833  preached  his  famous 
Assize  Sermon  at  Oxford,  of  which  Newman  said,  '  I  have  ever 
considered  and  kept  the  day,  as  the  start  of  the  religious  move 
ment  of  1833.'  Two  years  later  he  became  vicar  of  Hursley. 
He  died  at  Bournemouth,  on  March  29,  1866.  His  wife 
survived  him  only  six  weeks,  and  was  buried  at  his  side  in 
Hursley  Churchyard. 

Newman  says  that  in  The  Christian  Year  (  Keble  struck  an 
original  note,  and  woke  up  in  the  hearts  of  thousands  a  new 
music,  the  music  of  a  school  long  unknown  in  England.'  Dr. 
Arnold,  who  saw  some  of  the  poems  in  manuscript,  wrote  to  Sir 
John  T.  Coleridge,  '  I  live  in  hopes  that  he  will  be  induced  to 
publish  them,  and  it  is  my  firm  opinion  that  nothing  equal  to  them 
exists  in  our  language.  The  wonderful  knowledge  of  Scripture, 
the  purity  of  heart,  and  the  richness  of  poetry  which  they 
exhibit,  I  never  saw  paralleled.'  Bishop  Barry  describes  it  as  '  a 
book  which  leads  the  soul  up  to  God,  not  through  one,  but 
through  all  of  the  various  faculties  which  He  has  implanted  in 
it.'  It  had  an  extraordinary  reception.  Ten  years  before  Keble's 
death  a  hundred  thousand  copies  had  been  sold.  Its  popularity 
is  illustrated  by  a  story  told  of  Wilberforce  and  his  four  sons, 
who  planned  a  holiday  together.  Each  was  to  bring  some  new 
book  which  might  be  read  aloud.  When  the  time  arrived,  it 
was  found  that  each  had  brought  The  Christian  Year.  It  made 
Keble  the  poet  of  the  Oxford  Movement.  Hursley  still  seems 
to  be  full  of  his  memory.  The  spot  where  his  coffin  rested  in 
the  church  is  marked  by  a  brass  cross  let  into  a  stone,  round 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS       97 

the  edge  of  which,  on  a  strip  of  brass,  is  the  petition  of  the 
Litany  which  he  loved,  '  By  Thine  Agony  and  bloody  sweat ;  by 
Thy  Cross  and  Passion  ;  by  Thy  precious  Death  and  Burial  ;  by 
Thy  glorious  Resurrection  and  Ascension  ;  and  by  the  coming 
of  the  Holy  Ghost :  Good  Lord,  deliver  us.' 

Keble's  delightful  simplicity  is  illustrated  by  the  story  of  a 
visit  he  paid  with  a  brother  clergyman  to  a  Sunday  school. 
The  superintendent  begged  him  to  speak  to  the  scholars. 
Keble  asked,  '  May  they  sing  something  ? '  and  when  they 
finished,  he  beamed  on  them  and  said,  '  My  dear  children,  you 
sing  most  beautifully  in  tune  ;  may  your  whole  lives  be  equally 
in  tune,  and  then  you  will  sing  with  the  angels  in  heaven.' 

'A  heathen  once  said  to  Rabbi  Meir,  "How  can  your  God, 
whose  majesty,  you  say,  fills  the  universe,  speak  from  between 
the  two  staves  of  the  Ark  of  the  Sanctuary  ?  "  Then  the  Rabbi 
held  up  a  large  and  a  small  mirror  to  the  man's  gaze  ;  in  each 
of  them  his  person  was  reflected.  "  Now,"  said  the  sage,  "  in 
each  mirror  your  body  corresponds  to  the  size  of  the  glass  ;  and 
should  the  same  be  impossible  to  God?  The  world  is  His  large 
mirror,  and  the  Sanctuary  is  His  small  one.:" 

Hymn  86.  The  Lord's  my  Shepherd,  I'll  not  want. 

Scottish  Version,  1650. 

This  is  based  on  the  version  by  Francis  Rous,  who  was  born 
at  Halton,  Cornwall,  in  1579,  educated  at  Oxford,  studied  law, 
and  sat  as  M.P.  for  Truro  in  the  reigns  of  James  I  and 
Charles  I.  He  was  Provost  of  Eton  College  in  1643.  He  vvas 
a  member  of  Cromwell's  Privy  Council,  of  his  Board  of  Triers, 
and  of  the  Westminster  Assembly.  He  died  at  Acton  in  1659, 
and  was  buried  in  Eton  College  Chapel.  His  amended  Old 
Version,  in  which  this  appeared,  was  issued  in  1641.  He  took 
his  text  largely  from  William  Whittingham's  '  The  Lord  is  only 
my  Support'  in  One  andFiftie  Psalmes  of  David,  Geneva,  1556. 
Whittingham  married  Calvin's  sister  at  Geneva,  succeeded 
Knox  as  pastor  of  the  English  congregation  there,  became 
Dean  of  Durham  in  1563,  and  died  in  1579.  The  Scottish 
Psalter  version  has  two  lines  of  Whittingham,  seven  of  Rous, 
and  others  from  the  Westminster  Assembly's  revision  of 
Whittingham.  In  Scotland  it  is  'the  first  religious  verse  learnt 
at  the  mother's  knee,  and  often  the  last  repeated  before  entering 
"  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.'" 

H 


98  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Dr.  John  Ker  says,  'Every  line  of  it,  every  word  of  it,  has  been 
engraven  for  generations  in  Scottish  hearts,  has  accompanied 
them  from  childhood  to  age,  from  their  homes  to  all  the  seas  and 
lands  where  they  have  wandered,  and  has  been  to  a  multitude 
no  man  can  number  the  rod  and  staff  of  which  it  speaks,  to 
guide  and  guard  them  in  dark  valleys,  and  at  last  through  the 
darkest.'  Mr.  S.  R.  Crockett  writes  Mr.  Stead,  '  There  is  no 
hymn  like  "  The  Lord's  my  Shepherd,  I'll  not  want."  I  think  I 
must  have  stood  by  quite  a  hundred  men  and  women  as  they 
lay  a-dying,  and  I  can  assure  you  that  these  words — the  first 
learned  by  the  child — were  also  the  words  that  ushered  most  of 
them  into  the  Quiet.'  The  Rev.  D.  P.  Alford  also  writes, 
'When  I  was  chaplain  of  the  Scilly  Islands,  one  of  my  leading 
parishioners,  a  Scotchman,  when  dying,  found  the  greatest  con 
solation  in  the  metrical  version  of  this  psalm.  His  wife  said  to 
me,  "  It  is  no  wonder  that  psalm  comforts  him,  for  he  has  said 
it  every  night  before  going  to  bed  ever  since  I  have  known 
him."  They  were  elderly  people,  and  had  been  married  many 
years.' 

Hymn  87.  My  Shepherd  will  supply  my  need. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  xxiii,,  from  Psalms  of  David,  1719.  The  sixth  verse  is 
omitted — 

There  would  I  find  a  settled  rest, 

While  others  go  and  come ; 
No  more  a  stranger  or  a  guest, 
But  like  a  child  at  home. 

Hymn  88.  Thee  will  I  praise  with  all  my  heart. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalm  ix.  Seven  double  verses  ;  first  published  in  1870  in  Works t 
viii.  17. 

Hymn  89.  O  bless  the  Lord,  my  soul! 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  ciii.  1-7,  from  Psalms  of  David,  1719.  'Praise  for  spiritual 
and  temporal  mercies.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR    NVRITERS       99 

Ver.  4  is  omitted — 

He  crowns  thy  life  with  love, 
When  ransom'd  from  the  grave  ; 
He  that  redeem'd  my  soul  from  hell 
Hath  sov'reign  power  to  save. 

Hymn  90.  My  soul,  repeat  His  praise. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  ciii.  8-18,  from  Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Headed  'Abound 
ing  compassion  of  God  ;  or,  Mercy  in  the  midst  of  judgement.'  Verses 
4  and  6  are  here  omitted. 

Hymn  91.  The  Lord,  how  wondrous  are  His  ways ! 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  ciii.  8-18,  from  Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Watts  gives  two 
versions  of  the  Psalm,  This  is  placed  first.  In  ver.  I,  line  3  reads, 
*  He  takes  His  mercy  for  His  throne.'  Three  verses  are  omitted.  It 
was  in  the  1831  Supplement,  but  was  left  out  in  1875. 

Hymn  92.  When  all  Thy  mercies,  O  niy  God. 

JOSEPH  ADDISON  (75). 

The  second  of  Addison's  hymns  in  the  Spectator,  No.  453,  August  9, 
1712. 

It  is  prefaced  by  an  article  on  '  Gratitude.'  '  There  is  not 
a  more  pleasing  exercise  of  the  mind  than  gratitude.  It  is 
accompanied  with  such  an  inward  satisfaction,  that  the  duty  is 
sufficiently  rewarded  by  the  performance.  If  gratitude  is  due 
from  man  to  man,  how  much  more  from  man  to  his  Maker  ! 
Every  blessing  we  enjoy,  by  what  means  soever  it  may  be 
derived  upon  us,  is  the  gift  of  Him  who  is  the  great  Author  of 
good,  and  Father  of  mercies.' 

Addison  says,  '  I  have  already  communicated  to  the  public 
some  pieces  of  divine  poetry,  and  as  they  have  met  with  a  very 
favourable  reception,  I  shall  from  time  to  time  publish  any 
work  of  the  same  nature  which  has  not  yet  appeared  in  print, 
and  may  be  acceptable  to  my  readers.' 
The  original  has  thirteen  verses. 

2.  O  how  shall  words  with  equal  warmth 

The  gratitude  declare 
That  glows  within  my  ravished  heart  ? 
But  Thou  canst  read  it  there. 


100  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

3.  Thy  Providence  my  life  sustain'd, 

And  all  my  wants  redrest, 

When  in  the  silent  womb  I  lay, 

And  hung  upon  the  breast. 

4.  To  all  my  weak  complaints  and  cries 

Thy  mercy  lent  an  ear, 
Ere  yet  my  feeble  thoughts  had  learnt 
To  form  themselves  in  prayer. 

9.  Thy  bounteous  hand  with  worldly  bliss 

Has  made  my  cup  run  o'er, 
And  in  a  kind  and  faithful  friend 
Has  doubled  all  my  store. 

12.  When  nature  fails,  and  day  and  night 

Divide  Thy  works  no  more, 
My  ever-grateful  heart,  O  Lord, 
Thy  mercy  shall  adore. 

Young  borrows  his  '  Eternity,  too  short  to  speak  Thy  praise ! ' 
(Night  Thoughts,  iv.)  from  Addison's  ver.  8. 

The  Rev.  Jonathan  Crowther,  classical  tutor  at  Didsbury, 
quoted  the  first  verse  with  peculiar  emphasis  on  his  death-bed 
in  January,  1856,  just  before  he  lost  consciousness. 

Hymn  93.  God  of  my  life,  whose  gracious  power. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740  j  Works,  i.  322.  Fifteen  verses. 
*  At  the  approach  of  temptation.' 

Joseph  Taylor,  Missionary  Secretary  1818-20,  and  Presi 
dent  of  the  Conference  in  1834,  was  sent  out  as  a  missionary 
to  the  West  Indies  in  1803  by  Dr.  Coke,  and  would  often  in 
later  life  quote  verses  3  and  4,  '  Oft  hath  the  sea  confessed 
Thy  power,'  as  he  referred  to  the  dangers  and  afflictions  of  those 
eventful  years. 

Zachary  Macaulay  (see  481)  says  this  hymn  '  scarce  ever 
recurs  to  my  mind  without  causing  it  to  swell  with  grateful 
recollection.' 

Hymn  94.  Call  Jehovali  thy  salvation. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY. 
Psalm  xci.,  from  his  Songs  of  Zion,  1822.     Two  verses  omitted. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS     IOI 

Montgomery  was  the  son  of  John  Montgomery,  an  Irishman 
and  a  Moravian  minister,  and  was  born  at  Irvine,  Scotland,  in 
1771.  In  1776  his  parents  moved  to  the  Gracehill  Moravian 
Settlement  in  county  Antrim.  After  training  at  Fulneck,  during 
which  his  father  and  mother  had  both  died  as  missionaries  in 
the  West  Indies,  the  boy  was  sent  to  a  shopkeeper's  at  Mirfield, 
near  Wakefield.  Thence  he  moved  to  Wath-upon-Dearne. 
He  travelled  to  London,  hoping  to  find  a  publisher  for  his  early 
poems,  but  failed.  In  1792  he  became  assistant  to  Mr.  Gales, 
auctioneer,  bookseller,  and  printer  of  the  Sheffield  Register. 
Montgomery  changed  the  name  to  the  Sheffield  Iris,  and  edited 
it  for  thirty-one  years.  His  father  had  been  a  disciple  of 
Cennick,  and  it  is  said  that  a  volume  of  Cennick's  sermons  was 
the  means  of  James  Montgomery's  conversion.  He  lived  a  busy 
life  as  editor,  lecturer,  and  advocate  of  Foreign  Missions  and  of 
the  Bible  Society  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  In  1833  he  received 
a  royal  pension  of  ^200  a  year.  He  maintained  very  close 
relations  to  Methodism,  and  was  for  some  time  a  worshipper 
in  our  chapels.  Dr.  Hannah  introduced  him  to  a  Sheffield 
Conference  :  '  We  feel  under  great  obligation  to  yourself  and  to 
the  religious  body  to  which  you  belong,  and  beg  to  assure  you 
of  the  kindest  affection  of  the  Conference.'  He  died  in  his 
sleep  at  the  Mount,  Sheffield,  April  30,  1854.  He  was  honoured 
by  a  public  funeral,  a  bronze  statue  was  erected  in  the  cemetery, 
a  stained  glass  window  in  the  parish  church,  and  a  Wesleyan 
chapel  and  public  hall  were  named  after  him. 

Montgomery  wrote  from  400  to  500  hymns.  His  MS.  was 
generally  half  a  sheet  of  writing-paper,  with  the  date  and  his 
signature  at  the  bottom.  He  corrected  his  hymns  freely,  and 
was  extremely  critical  of  his  own  work.  In  1819  he  and  Mr. 
Cotterill  published  a  Collection  of  hymns.  In  1807  he  told 
a  friend,  '  When  I  was  a  boy  I  wrote  a  great  many  hymns  ;  but 
as  I  grew  up  and  my  heart  degenerated,  I  directed  my  talents, 
such  as  they  were,  to  other  services,  and  seldom  indeed  since 
my  fourteenth  year  have  they  been  employed  in  the  delightful 
duties  of  the  sanctuary.  However,  I  shall  lie  in  wait  for  my 
heart,  and  when  I  can  string  it  to  the  pitch  of  David's  lyre, 
I  will  set  a  psalm  "  to  the  Chief  Musician." '  He  did  not  fail  to 
carry  out  that  purpose,  to  the  enriching  of  our  whole  service  of 
praise.  A  Whitby  solicitor  once  asked  him  which  of  his  works 
would  live.  Montgomery  replied,  '  None,  sir  ;  nothing,  except, 
perhaps,  a  few  of  my  hymns.'  This  was  in  keeping  with  the 


102  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

preface  to  his  Christian  Psalmist,  where  he  says  he  '  would 
rather  be  the  anonymous  author  of  a  few  hymns  which  should 
thus  become  an  imperishable  inheritance  to  the  people  of  God, 
than  bequeath  another  epic  poem  to  the  world  which  should 
rank  my  name  with  Homer,  Virgil,  and  "our  greater  Milton."  ' 

Dr.  Julian  says  that  his  hymns  rank  in  popularity  with  those 
of  Wesley,  Watts,  Doddridge,  Newton,  and  Cowper.  '  His  ear 
for  rhythm  was  exceedingly  accurate  and  refined.  With  the 
faith  of  a  strong  man  he  united  the  beauty  and  simplicity  of  a 
child.  Richly  poetic  without  exuberance,  dogmatic  without 
uncharitableness,  tender  without  sentimentality,  elaborate  with 
out  diffusiveness,  richly  musical  without  apparent  effort,  he  has 
bequeathed  to  the  Church  of  Christ  wealth  which  could  only 
have  come  from  a  true  genius  and  a  sanctified  heart.' 

Canon  Ellerton  regards  Montgomery  as  '  our  first  hymno- 
logist ;  the  first  Englishman  who  collected  and  criticized 
hymns,  and  who  made  people  that  had  lost  all  recollection  of 
ancient  models  understand  something  of  what  a  hymn  meant, 
and  what  it  ought  to  be.' 

William  Howitt  gives  him  almost  higher  praise.  'Perhaps 
there  are  no  lyrics  in  the  language  which  are  so  truly  Christian. 
We  find  that  he  has  caught  the  genuine  spirit  of  Christ.' 

Montgomery  never  married.  Hugh  Miller,  who  saw  him 
when  he  visited  Edinburgh  at  the  age  of  seventy,  says,  '  It  is  a 
thin,  clear,  speaking  countenance ;  the  features  are  high,  the  com 
plexion  fresh,  though  not  ruddy,  and  age  has  failed  to  pucker 
either  cheek  or  forehead  with  a  single  wrinkle.  To  a  plain  suit 
of  black  Mr.  Montgomery  adds  the  voluminous  breast-ruffles  of 
the  last  age,  exactly  such  things  as,  in  Scotland  at  least,  the 
fathers  of  the  present  generation  wore  on  their  wedding-days.' 

Hymn  95.  O  God  of  Bethel,  by  whose  hand. 
PHILIP  DODDRIDGE,  D.D.  (1702-51). 

Doddridge  was  the  grandson  of  a  minister  ejected  in  1662, 
and  the  twentieth  child  of  a  London  tradesman.  His  mother, 
the  daughter  of  a  Protestant  refugee  from  Bohemia,  taught  him 
the  Bible  stories  by  some  Dutch  tiles  in  their  sitting-room. 
He  declined  an  offer  from  the  Duchess  of  Bedford  to  send  him 
to  the  University  in  preparation  for  Orders,  and  went  to  a 
Nonconformist  seminary  at  Kibworth,  in  Leicestershire,  where 
he  became  pastor  in  1723.  In  1729  he  took  a  pastorate  at 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     103 

Castle  Hill,  Northampton,  and  trained  two  hundred  students  for 
the  ministry  and  other  professions.  Wesley  called  to  see  him  on 
September  10,  1745.  '  It  was  about  the  hour  when  he  was 
accustomed  to  expound  a  portion  of  Scripture  to  the  young 
gentlemen  under  his  care.  He  desired  me  to  take  his  place. 
It  may  be  the  seed  was  not  altogether  sown  in  vain.'  At  his 
request  Doddridge  sent  Wesley,  in  June,  1746,  a  list  of  books 
suitable  for  a  library  for  young  preachers. 

His  Rise  and  Progress  of  Religion  in  the  Soul  has  had 
enormous  influence.  Doddridge  was  always  delicate,  and  at 
his  birth  seemed  so  lifeless  that  he  would  have  been  buried  had 
it  not  been  for  the  intervention  of  the  nurse.  When  threatened 
with  consumption  he  was  ordered  to  take  a  sea  voyage,  and 
died  at  Lisbon,  October  26,  1751. 

His  hymns  were  circulated  in  manuscript,  and  copies  were 
much  prized.  They  were  published  in  1755.  A  copy  of  '  O 
God  of  Bethel '  is  preserved  in  Doddridge's  handwriting,  dated 
January  16,  1731,  and  headed  'Jacob's  Vow;  from  Gen.  xxxiii. 
20,  22.'  Another  copy  of  this  MS.  which  is  still  in  existence 
formerly  belonged  to  Lady  Frances  Erskine,  a  friend  of  Dodd 
ridge  who  married  Colonel  Gardiner.  From  her  Dr.  Blair 
secured  it  for  a  committee  of  which  he  was  a  member,  which 
was  engaged  in  compiling  the  Scottish  Translations  and 
Paraphrases,  1745.  'Shield'  in  ver.  4  was  then  changed  to 
'  wings.'  John  Logan,  minister  at  South  Leith(  1748-88),  partly 
rewrote  the  hymn,  and  published  it  in  his  Poems,  1781.  The 
same  year  Logan's  version  was  given  in  the  revised  edition  of 
the  Translations  and  Paraphrases,  with  a  new  verse  instead  of 
Logan's  ver.  5.  Logan  was  a  member  of  this  committee. 

Doddridge's  original  is  as  follows  : — 

O  God  of  Bethel,  by  whose  hand 

Thine  Israel  still  is  fed 
Who  thro'  this  weary  pilgrimage 
Hast  all  our  fathers  led 

To  Thee  our  humble  vows  we  raise 

To  Thee  address  our  prayei 
And  in  Thy  kind  and  faithful  breast 

Deposite  all  our  care 
If  Thou  thro"  each  perplexing  path 

Wilt  be  our  constant  Guide 
If  Thou  wilt  daily  bread  supply 

And  raiment  wilt  provide 


104  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

If  Thou  wilt  spread  Thy  shield  around 

Till  these  our  wandrings  cease 
And  at  our  Father's  lov'd  abode 

Our  souls  arrive  in  peace 

To  Thee  as  to  our  covenant  God 

We'll  our  whole  selves  resign 
And  count  that  not  our  tenth  alone 

But  all  we  have  is  Thine. 

This  hymn  is  a  favourite  of  His  Majesty  King  Edward  VII, 
and  was  greatly  loved  by  David  Livingstone.  It  often  cheered 
him  in  his  African  wanderings,  was  the  most  inspiring  and 
endearing  strain  heard  in  his  little  mission  study  in  Africa, 
and  was  sung  over  his  grave  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Canon 
Ellerton  says  Doddridge  'had  better  taste  upon  the  whole 
than  Watts,  and  less  fervour.' 

Mr.  S.  R.  Crockett  described  the  hymn  to  Mr.  Stead  as 
'  that  which,  when  sung  to  the  tune  of  "  St.  Paul's,"  makes  men 
and  women  square  themselves  and  stand  erect  to  sing,  like  an 
army  that  goes  gladly  to  battle.' 

Hymn  96.  We  come  unto  our  fathers'  God. 
T.  H.  GILL  (52). 

In  The  Golden  Chain  of  Praise  Hymns,  1869,  entitled  '  The  People 
of  God.' 

Mr.  Gill  says,  '  The  birthday  of  this  hymn,  November  22, 
1868  (St.  Cecilia's  Day),  was  almost  the  most  delightful  day  of 
my  life.  Its  production  employed  the  whole  day,  and  was  a 
prolonged  rapture.  It  was  produced  while  the  Golden  Chain 
was  being  printed,  just  in  time  to  be  a  link  therein,  and  was  the 
latest,  as  "  How,  Lord,  shall  vows  of  ours  be  sweet  ?  "  was  the 
earliest  song  included  therein.' 

Mr.  Gill  wrote  to  Mr.  Brownlie  :  '  The  hymn,  built  on  ver.  i 
of  Ps.  xc.,  and  intended  to  set  forth  the  continuity  and  unity  of 
God's  people  in  all  ages,  had  a  somewhat  remarkable  birth. 
It  was  inspired  by  a  lively  delight  in  my  Puritan  and  Presby 
terian  forefathers  of  East  Worcestershire.  Descended  from  a 
Moravian  martyr  and  an  ejected  minister,  I  rejoice  not  a  little 
in  the  godly  Protestant  stock  from  which  I  spring.  A  staff 
handed  down  from  him,  and  inscribed  with  the  date  1692,  was 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     105 

in  my  hand  when  I  began  the  hymn.  Its  composition  occupied 
and  gladdened  a  \vet  Sunday  in  the  November  of  1868,  and 
seldom  have  I  spent  a  day  so  delightful.' 

Hymn  97.  Come,  let  us  join  our  cheerful  songs. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns   and   Spiritual  Songs,   1707.     Headed  '  Christ.  Jesus,   the 
Lamb  of  God,  worshipped  by  all  the  creation,'  Rev.  v.  11-13. 
Ver.  4  is  omitted — 

Let  all  that  dwell  above  the  sky, 

And  air,  and  earth,  and  seas, 
Conspire  to  lift  Thy  glories  high, 

And  speak  Thine  endless  praise. 

A  dying  sailor,  who  could  not  read,  remembered  the  first  two 
verses  of  this  hymn,  and  as  he  repeated  them  to  himself,  the 
words  'slain  for  us'  laid  hold  of  him.  He  turned  them  over 
in  his  mind  till  he  saw  the  way  of  peace,  and  died  in  humble 
confidence  in  his  Saviour. 

Mrs.  Samuel  Evans  quoted  the  second  verse  of  this  hymn 
as  she  was  dying  (see  164). 

Hymn  98.  Jesus  !  the  name  high  over  all. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1/49;  Works,  v.  III.  Headed  'After 
preaching  (in  a  Church).'  It  has  twenty-two  verses,  and  begins — 

Jesu,  accept  the  grateful  song, 

My  Wisdom  and  my  Might, 
'Tis  Thou  hast  loosed  the  stammering  tongue, 

And  taught  my  hands  to  fight. 

The  hymn  is  made  up  of  verses  9,  10,  12,  13,  18,  22.  Ver.  5 
reads,  '  His  saving  grace  proclaim.' 

This  hymn  has  stamped  itself  deep  in  the  religious  life  of  Methodism. 

On  August  6, 1744,  Charles  Wesley  preached  in  Mr.  Bennet's 
church  at  Laneast,  in  Cornwall.  As  he  was  speaking  against 
their  drunken  revels,  a  person  in  the  congregation  contradicted 
and  blasphemed.  The  preacher  asked,  '  Who  is  he  that  pleads 
for  the  devil?'  and  one  answered  in  those  very  words,  'I  am 
he  that  pleads  for  the  devil.'  He  says, '  I  took  occasion  from 


106  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

hence  to  show  the  revellers  their  champion,  and  the  whole 
congregation  their  state  by  nature.  Much  good  I  saw  im 
mediately  brought  out  of  Satan's  evil.  Then  I  set  myself 
against  his  avowed  advocate,  and  drove  him  out  of  the  Christian 
assembly.  I  concluded  with  earnest  prayer  for  him.'  Mr. 
Stevenson  says,  '  These  circumstances  are  believed  to  have  sug 
gested  the  writing  of  the  hymn.'  It  has  been  used  in  cases 
where  persons  were  said  to  be  possessed  by  evil  spirits. 

In  his  Journal  for  January  31,  1740,  Wesley  tells  how  he 
visited  a  woman  who  was  dangerously  ill  at  Kingswood.  '  I 
was  long  striving,  striving  to  come  to  my  Saviour,  and  I  then 
thought  He  was  far  off ;  but  now  I  know  He  was  nigh  me  all 
that  time.  I  know  His  arms  were  round  me  ;  for  His  arms 
are  like  the  rainbow,  they  go  round  heaven  and  earth.' 

In  his  Plain  Account  of  Kingswood  School,  1781,  Wesley 
writes  :  '  I  have  nothing  to  fear,  I  have  nothing  to  hope  for, 
here  ;  only  to  finish  my  course  with  joy. 

Happy,  if  with  my  latest  breath 

I  might  but  gasp  His  name, 
Preach  Him  to  all,  and  cry  in  death, 

"Behold,  behold  the  Lamb!"' 


Hymn  99.  Let  earth  and  heaven  agree. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i) 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  1741,  No.  II  ;   Works,  iii.  71. 

Reprinted  in  the  Arminian  Magazine,  1778,  entitled  'The  Universal 
Love  of  Christ.' 

Three  verses  are  omitted.  In  ver.  6  swiftly  is  substituted  for 
'  freely.' 

The  Rev.  R.  Butterworth  quotes  a  passage  from  Chrysostom 
given  by  Brooks,  the  Puritan  :  '  If  I  were  the  fittest  in  the  world 
to  preach  a  sermon  to  the  whole  world,  gathered  together  in  one 
congregation,  and  had  some  high  mountain  for  my  pulpit,  from 
whence  I  might  have  a  prospect  of  all  the  world  in  my  view, 
and  were  furnished  with  a  voice  of  brass,  a  voice  as  loud  as 
the  trumpet  of  the  archangel,  that  all  the  world  might  hear  me, 
I  would  choose  to  preach  upon  no  other  text  than  that  in  the 
Psalms,  "  O  mortal  men,  how  long  will  ye  love  vanity,  and 
follow  after  leasing  ?  "  ' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     1 07 

Hymn  100.  Thou  great  Redeemer,  dying  Lamb. 
JOHN  CENNICK. 

Sacred  Hymns  for  the  Children  of  God  in  the  Days  of  their  Pilgrimage, 
1743,  headed  'The  Priesthood  of  Christ.' 

John  Cennick  was  born  at  Reading  in  1718.  There,  in 
March,  1739,  Wesley  spent  the  evening  'with  him  and  a  few 
of  his  serious  friends,  and  it  pleased  God  much  to  strengthen 
and  comfort  them.'  Cennick  became  teacher  in  Wesley's  school 
at  Kingswood,  and  one  of  his  lay  preachers  ;  but  he  adopted 
Calvinistic  views,  and  joined  Whitefield  in  1740.  Five  years 
later  he  became  a  Moravian.  Whitefield  writes  to  him  from 
New  York,  July  5,  1747,  '  My  dear  John,  it  has  been  thy 
meat  and  drink  to  preach  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ. 
Mayest  thou  continue  in  this  plan  !  I  wish  thee  much  success, 
and  shall  always  pray  that  the  work  of  the  Lord  may  prosper  in 
thy  hands.  Whether  thou  hast  changed  thy  principles  with  thy 
situation,  I  know  not.  I  would  only  caution  thee  against 
taking  anything  for  gospel  upon  the  mere  authority  of  man. 
Go  where  thou  wilt,  though  thou  shouldest  be  in  the  purest 
society  under  heaven,  thou  wilt  find  that  the  best  of  men  are 
but  men  at  best,  and  wilt  meet  with  stumbling-blocks  enough 
to  teach  thee  the  necessity  of  a  continual  dependence  on  the 
Lord  Jesus,  who  alone  is  infallible,  and  will  not  give  that  glory 
to  another.' 

Cennick  had  a  church  in  Dublin,  and  in  one  strange  burst 
of  rhetoric  said,  '  I  curse  and  blaspheme  all  the  gods  in  heaven 
but  the  Babe  that  lay  in  the  manger,  the  Babe  that  lay  in 
Mary's  lap,  the  Babe  that  lay  in  swaddling  clouts.'  A  Popish 
priest  gave  the  nickname  Swaddlers  to  the  Methodists,  and  even 
the  clergy  of  Dublin  were  honoured  by  this  title.  Wesley  says 
he  '  probably  did  not  know  the  expression  was  in  the  Bible,  a 
book  he  was  not  much  acquainted  with.'  (Journal,  May  25, 
1750.) 

Much  of  Cennick's  later  life  was  spent  in  Germany,  where 
his  preaching  proved  very  attractive.  He  died  in  London  in 
1755.  His  earlier  work  was  revised  by  Charles  Wesley.  Some 
of  his  hymns  were  first  published  by  his  son-in-law,  John 
Swertner,  in  the  Moravian  Collection,  1789. 


J08  THE  METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  101.  Join  all  the  glorious  names. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709  edition.  'The  Offices  of  Christ, 
from  several  Scriptures." 

Ver.  2  in  the  original  reads — 

But  O  what  gentle  terms, 

Mine  eyes  with  joy  and  wonder  see. 

Ver.  3  :  He  like  an  angel  stands. 

Ver.  8  :  My  dear  Almighty  Lord. 

Ver.  9  :  A  feeble  saint  shall  win  the  day  (line  5). 

Verses  7  and  9  of  the  original  are  omitted — 

To  this  dear  Surety's  hand 

Will  I  commit  my  cause  ; 
He  answers  and  fulfils 
His  Father's  broken  laws. 
Behold  my  soul 
At  freedom  set ! 
My  Surety  paid 
The  dreadful  debt. 

My  Advocate  appears 

For  my  defence  on  high  ; 
The  Father  bows  His  ears, 
And  lays  His  thunder  by. 
Not  all  that  hell 
Or  sin  can  say 
Shall  turn  His  heart, 
His  love  away. 

Hymn  102.  My  heart  and  voice  I  raise. 

BENJAMIN  RHODES. 

The  first  part  of  his  poem  Messiah,  1787,  in  four  parts.  It  was 
included  in  the  1831  Supplement  to  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  hymn- 
book. 

Mr.  Rhodes  was  born  at  Mexborough,in  Yorkshire,  in  1743, 
and  at  the  age  of  eleven  received  religious  impressions  under 
Whitefield's  preaching  that  finally  led  him  to  Christ.  He  was 
the  son  of  a  schoolmaster,  who  gave  him  a  good  education. 
In  1766  he  became  one  of  Wesley's  preachers.  He  was  a  fine 


THE   STORY   OF    THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   \VRITERS     1 09 

singer,  and  greatly  delighted  the  old  Methodists  by  singing  after 
his  sermons.  He  died  at  Margate  in  1815.  Mr.  Rhodes  was 
a  man  of  reverend  appearance,  gentle  manners,  and  cultivated 
mind.  His  portrait  is  in  the  Arminian  Magazine  for  1779  and 
1797.  He  wrote  several  pieces  for  Hymns  for  Children  and 
Young  Persons,  1806,  and  Hymns  for  Children,  1814,  compiled 
by  Joseph  Benson. 

His  obituary  in  the  Minutes  of  Conference  describes  him 
as  'a  man  of  great  simplicity  and  integrity  of  mind;  he 
was  warmly  and  invariably  attached  to  the  whole  economy  of 
Methodism.  His  life  was  a  practical  explication  of  his  faith  ; 
and  his  character,  both  in  the  church  and  the  world,  was 
creditable  to  himself  and  honourable  to  religion.' 

Hymn  103.  Jerusalem  divine. 

BENJAMIN  RHODES  (102). 
From  his  Messiah,  1787. 

Hymn  104.  Jesus,  Thou  everlasting  King. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.    '  The  Coronation  of  Christ,  and 
Espousals  of  the  Church,'  Cant.  iii.  n. 
The  first  and  last  verses  are  omitted — 

I.  Daughters  of  Sion,  come,  behold 
The  crown  of  honour  and  of  gold, 
Which  the  glad  church,  with  joys  unknown, 
Plac'd  on  the  head  of  Solomon. 

6.  O  that  the  months  would  roll  away, 
And  bring  that  coronation-day  ! 
The  King  of  Grace  shall  fill  the  throne, 
With  all  His  Father's  glories  on. 

Mr.  T.  R.  Allan,  founder  of  the  Allan  Library,  comments  on 
the  line  '  Nor  let  our  faith  forsake  its  hold,'  '  The  danger  is  not 
always  lest  we  should  wilfully  "  forsake,"  but  lest,  like  a  man  in 
the  waves,  holding  on  to  a  plank,  our  strength  should  fail,  and 
we  should  let  it  go.'  Mr.  Allan's  hymn-book  had  no  names  of 
authors,  but  he  supplied  lists  and  wrote  names  above  some  of 
the  hymns.  Underlining  and  crowded  references  to  the  Scripture 
passages  which  form  the  basis  of  the  hymns  show  that  the  book 
was  studied  with  only  less  care  than  his  Bible  itself. 


110  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  105.  Wlien  morning  gilds  the  skies. 
German;  translated  by  EDWARD  CASWALL,  M.A.  (1814-78). 

'  Beim  fruhen  Morgenlicht '  appears  to  be  a  hymn  of  Franconian 
origin,  dating  from  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  This 
translation  was  published  in  Formby's  Catholic  Hymns,  1854,  and, 
with  eight  stanzas  added,  in  Caswall's  Masque  of  Mary r,  1858. 

Mr.  Caswall  was  born  at  Yately,  Hants,  where  his  father 
was  vicar,  and  was  incumbent  of  Stratford-sub-Castle,  near 
Salisbury,  1840-7.  He  was  received  into  the  Roman  Church 
in  1847,  and  after  his  wife's  death  joined  Dr.  Newman  at 
Edgbaston  in  1850.  He  was  buried  at  Rednal,  near  Broms- 
grove,  beside  his  leader  and  friend  Cardinal  Newman.  Caswall's 
translations  of  Latin  hymns  rank  only  second  to  those  of  Dr. 
Neale.  This  hymn  was  a  favourite  of  Canon  Liddon,  who  often 
used  it  at  Cuddesdon  College  and  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 

Hymn  106.  Jesu,  Lover  of  my  soul. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  259.  Headed  'In 
Temptation.' 

Ver.  3  is  omitted — 

Wilt  Thou  not  regard  my  call? 

Wilt  Thou  not  accept  my  prayer? 
Lo  !  I  sink,  I  faint,  I  fall— 

Lo  !  on  Thee  I  cast  my  care : 
Reach  me  out  Thy  gracious  hand  ! 

While  I  of  Thy  strength  receive, 
Hoping  against  hope  I  stand, 

Dying,  and  behold  I  live. 

This  is  the  crown  of  Charles  Wesley's  work — one  of  the 
greatest  hymns  of  the  Universal  Church.  '  The  finest  heart 
hymn  in  the  English  language.'  It  was  included  in  Hymns 
and  Spiritual  Songs,  1753.  Strangely  enough,  it  was  not 
inserted  by  Wesley  in  his  hymn-book  of  1780,  but  had  to  wait 
till  1797  for  that  honour.  The  first  death-bed  use  of  it  we  have 
noticed  is  referred  to  in  Wesley's  Journal,  September  25,  1767. 
William  New,  of  Bristol,  desired  those  who  were  around  his 
bed  to  sing  ;  and  began, '  Jesu,  Lover  of  my  soul.'  It  appeared 
in  Madan's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1760;  in  Conyers',  1774, 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND    THEIR   WRITERS     III 

Toplady's,  1776.  The  words  'Lover  of  my  soul'  have  seemed 
to  many  too  familiar,  and  '  Refuge '  has  been  substituted  in 
some  collections.  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  x.  126,  reads, 
'  But  Thou  sparest  all ;  for  they  are  Thine,  O  Lord,  Thou 
Lover  of  souls.'  No  lines  have  been  more  twisted  about 
than  the  opening  lines  of  this  hymn.  Dr.  Julian  says,  'As 
an  editorial  curiosity  these  four  lines  are  in  their  trans 
formation  unique.'  Mr.  C.  D.  Hardcastle  gives  an  interest 
ing  account  of  the  attempts  at  revision,  of  which  he  has  noted 
154  (Proceedings  of  Wesley  Historical  Society,  II.  i.  15)- 
Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  says  the  last  indication  of  life 
which  her  father,  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  showed  was  a  mute 
response  to  his  wife,  who  was  repeating  the  first  two  lines  of 
'Jesu,  Lover  of  my  soul.'  Henry  Ward  Beecher  declared,  'I 
would  rather  have  written  that  hymn  of  Wesley's,  "Jesus,  Lover 
of  my  soul,"  than  to  have  the  fame  of  all  the  kings  that  ever  sat 
on  the  earth.  It  is  more  glorious.  It  has  more  power  in  it. 
That  hymn  will  go  on  singing  until  the  last  trump  brings  forth 
the  angel  band  ;  and  then,  I  think,  it  will  mount  up  on  some 
lip  to  the  very  presence  of  God.' 

Mr.  G.  J.  Stevenson  gives  many  illustrations  of  the  benedic 
tion  which  this  hymn  has  brought.  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  whose 
sudden  death  on  November  17,  1902,  caused  a  wave  of  sorrow 
to  pass  over  the  whole  Christian  Church,  loved  it  much,  and  left 
instructions  in  his  will  that  on  his  tombstone  should  be  inscribed 
'Thou,  O  Christ,  art  all  I  want.'  His  daughter  says,  '  He  was 
wiser  than  any  biographer,  and  in  a  single  sentence  revealed 
the  secret  of  a  life  which  had  found  sustainment  neither  in 
the  praise  of  good  men,  nor  in  the  understanding  of  the  wise. 
"  Thou,  O  Christ,  art  all  I  want." '  Mr.  Spurgeon  said  that  an 
ungodly  man  stepped  into  one  of  his  services  at  Exeter  Hall, 
and  was  brought  to  Christ  by  the  singing  of  this  hymn. 
'  Does  Christ  love  me  ? '  he  said.  '  Then  why  should  I  live  in 
enmity  to  Him  ? '  Dr.  Duffield,  the  author  of  '  Stand  up,  stand 
up  for  Jesus,'  writes,  '  One  of  the  most  blessed  days  of  my  life 
was  when  I  found,  after  my  harp  had  hung  on  the  willows,  that 
I  could  sing  again  ;  that  a  new  song  was  put  into  my  mouth  ; 
and  when,  ere  ever  I  was  aware,  I  was  singing  "  Jesu,  Lover  of 
my  soul."  If  there  is  anything  in  Christian  experience  of  joy 
and  sorrow,  of  affliction  and  prosperity,  of  life  and  death — that 
hymn  is  the  hymn  of  the  ages  ! ' 

In  1872  Mr.  C.  T.  White  visited  a  dying  English  sailor  in 


112  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Bellevue  Hospital,  New  York.  The  man  could  not  speak,  and 
Mr.  White  stooped  down  and  repeated  this  hymn.  He  thought 
the  man  was  beyond  reach  of  any  human  voice.  But  at  mid 
night  the  sailor  sat  up  in  his  cot  and  repeated  the  whole  hymn. 
For  several  minutes  he  quoted  other  verses  ;  then  he  ceased 
suddenly,  and  fell  back  dead. 

In  the  American  Civil  War  a  sentry  in  Grant's  army  sang 
this  hymn  as  he  paced  backwards  and  forwards  ;  a  soldier  of 
the  opposite  army  had  lifted  his  gun  to  shoot  him  through  the 
heart,  when  the  words — 

Cover  my  defenceless  head 

With  the  shadow  of  Thy  wing, 

rang  out  on  the  night.  He  dropped  his  weapon,  and  allowed 
the  sentry  to  pass  unharmed.  Eighteen  years  later  an  excursion 
steamer  was  sailing  down  the  Potomac,  when  an  evangelist  sang 
this  hymn.  A  gentleman  pushed  through  the  company  and 
asked  if  the  singer  had  fought  in  the  Civil  War.  He  was  the 
man  who  had  forborne  to  shoot  down  the  singer. 

Southey  said  in  his  Life  of  Wesley  that  the  most  character 
istic  parts  of  the  Moravian  hymns  were  too  shocking  to  be 
quoted.  That  tended  to  make  John  Wesley  careful  of  any 
approach  to  familiarity  in  addressing  Christ.  For  that  reason 
he  gave  'Jesu,  Lover  of  my  soul'  no  place  in  the  Large  Hymn- 
book.  Bishop  Wordsworth  regarded  it  as  'inexpressibly 
shocking'  that  this  hymn  should  be  sung  by 'a  large,  mixed 
congregation  in  a  dissolute  part  of  a  populous  and  irreligious 
city.'  That  seems  to  mean  in  Westminster  Abbey.  (Preface 
to  The  Holy  Year.}  Dr.  A.  E.  Gregory  says,  '  Canon  Ellerton 
hesitated  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  inclusion  of  this  great  hymn 
in  a  Church  hymnal,  and  spoke  of  it  as  standing  "  absolutely 
upon  the  line  "  which  separates  hymns  for  public  worship  from 
those  of  private  devotion.  But  the  Church  in  all  its  borders 
has  decided  the  question,  and  our  heart  tells  us  that  the 
decision  is  right.  Nor  is  it,  indeed,  a  hymn  solely  for  the 
sanctuary  and  the  saint ;  it  is  a  hymn  for  the  street  and  for 
the  sinner.'  In  the  Contemporary  Review  (May,  1904)  it  is 
given  with  'Lead,  kindly  Light,'  and  'Abide  with  me'  as 
favourites  in  the  tramp  ward. 

Hymn  107.  Thovi  hidden  Source  of  calm  repose. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;   Works,  v.  50.    '  For  the  morning.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     113 

Hymn  108.  Christ,  of  all  my  hopes  the  ground. 
RALPH  WARDLAW,  D.D. 

He  wrote  twelve  hymns  and  edited  a  Selection  of  Hymns  in  1803, 
for  the  use  of  the  Scotch  Congregationalists.  This  appeared  in  the 
5th  edition  of  this  Selection,  1817,  in  two  parts  with  thirteen  verses; 
the  second  part  begins,  '  When  with  wasting  sickness  worn.' 

Dr.  Wardlaw  was  born  at  Dalkeith  in  1779,  educated  at 
Glasgow  University.  He  became  in  1803  minister  of  Albion 
Street  Congregational  Church,  Glasgow.  In  1811  he  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  Congregational  Theo 
logical  Hall,  Glasgow,  which  position  he  held  for  forty  years. 
He  was  a  profound  theologian  and  expositor,  and  lived  to 
celebrate  the  jubilee  of  his  pastorate  in  Glasgow.  His  funeral 
in  1853  was  a  wonderful  demonstration  of  respect. 

Hymn  109.  How  sweet  the  name  of  Jesus  sounds. 
JOHN  NEWTON  (see  60). 

Olncy  ffy»inst  1779,  entitled  '  The  Name  of  Jesus.'  John  Wesley 
published  it  in  the  Arminian  Magazine  for  1781,  but  it  did  not  find  a 
place  in  the  Weslcyan  Methodist  hymn-bouk  till  1875.  The  weak 
ver.  4  is  omitted — 

By  Thee  my  prayers  acceptance  gain, 

Although  with  sin  denied  ; 
Satan  accuses  me  in  vain, 

And  I  am  owned  as  child. 

John  Newton  was  born  in  July,  1725,  in  London,  where  his 
mother,  a  pious  Nonconformist,  early  stored  his  mind  with 
Scripture.  She  died  when  he  was  seven,  and  four  years  later 
he  went  to  sea  with  his  father,  a  stern,  silent  man,  who  had 
been  educated  at  a  Jesuit  college  in  Spain.  He  became  an 
infidel,  was  flogged  as  a  deserter  from  the  Navy,  and  for  fifteen 
months  was  brutally  treated  by  a  slave  dealer  at  Sierra  Leone 
with  whom  he  had  taken  service.  He  managed  to  escape  in 
1747.  He  had  formed  an  attachment  when  seventeen  for  Mary 
Catlett,  then  a  girl  of  fourteen,  and  this  proved  the  one  restrain 
ing  influence  of  his  life.  He  was  only  prevented  from  drowning 
himself  by  the  fear  that  she  would  form  a  bad  opinion  of  him. 
He  was  much  impressed  by  reading  Stanhope's  Thomas  d 


114  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Kempis,  and  on  his  way  home  in  1748,  a  night  spent  on  a 
water-logged  vessel,  with  death  staring  him  in  the  face,  deepened 
the  conviction.  This  he  used  to  call  '  The  Great  Deliverance.' 
He  was  then  twenty-three.  For  four  years  he  was  master  of  a 
slave-ship,  then  he  became  tide  surveyor  at  Liverpool,  where  he 
came  under  the  influence  of  Whitefield  and  Wesley.  He  studied 
carefully,  and  in  1764  was  ordained  as  curate  of  Olney.  Three 
years  later  Cowper  came  to  reside  here,  and  for  twelve  years 
the  two  friends  were  hardly  ever  twelve  hours  apart.  Newton 
says,  '  The  first  six  years  were  spent  in  admiring  and  trying  to 
imitate  him  ;  during  the  second  I  walked  with  him  in  the  shadow 
of  death.'  In  1771  he  proposed  to  Cowper  that  they  should 
compose  a  volume  of  hymns  'for  the  promotion  of  the  faith 
and  comfort  of  sincere  Christians.'  It  was  to  be  a  memorial 
of  their  friendship.  Its  title-page  reads,  'Olney  Hymns,  in 
three  books  :  Book  I.  On  Select  Texts  of  Scripture  ;  Book  II. 
On  Occasional  Subjects  ;  Book  III.  On  the  Progress  and 
Changes  of  the  Spiritual  Life.'  It  is  dated  Olney,  February  15, 
1779. 

It  is  an  astonishing  fact  that  the  sailor-preacher's  work 
compares  so  splendidly  with  that  of  a  great  English  poet.  His 
hymns  embody  his  experience  of  the  abounding  grace  and  love 
of  the  Saviour.  'A  comparison  of  both,'  says  the  Dictionary 
of  Hymnology,  'will  show  no  great  inequality  between  them. 
Amid  much  that  is  bald,  tame,  and  matter-of-fact,  his  rich 
acquaintance  with  Scripture,  knowledge  of  the  heart,  directness 
and  force,  and  a  certain  sailor  imagination,  tell  strongly. 
The  one  splendid  hymn  of  praise,  "  Glorious  things  of  thee  are 
spoken,"  in  the  Olney  collection,  is  his.  "  One  there  is  above 
all  others "  has  a  depth  of  realizing  love,  sustained  excellence 
of  expression,  and  ease  of  development.  "How  sweet  the 
name  of  Jesus  sounds"  is  in  Scriptural  richness  superior,  and  in 
structure,  cadence,  and  almost  tenderness,  equal  to  Cowper's 
'  O  for  a  closer  walk  with  God."' 

Newton  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  St.  Mary  Woolnoth, 
and  left  Olney  at  the  end  of  1779-  His  last  task  there  was 
the  publication  of  the  Olney  Hymns,  which  first  made  Cowper 
known  to  the  world.  In  his  preface  Newton  says  that  a  few  of 
the  hymns  had  appeared  in  periodicals  and  in  recent  collections. 
The  work  had  been  undertaken  not  only  with  a  desire  to 
promote  the  faith  and  comfort  of  sincere  Christians,  but  '  as  a 
monument,  to  perpetuate  the  remembrance  of  an  intimate  and 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     115 

esteemed  friendship.'  It  would  have  been  published  earlier 
but  for  the  '  long  and  affecting  indisposition '  which  prevented 
Cowper  from  taking  any  further  part  in  the  work.  In  1773  one 
of  his  worst  attacks  came  on,  and  he  was  an  inmate  of  Newton's 
house  for  more  than  a  year. 

Earl  Selborne  says  that  the  authors  of  the  Olncy  Hymns 
are  entitled  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  all  the  writers  of  the 
Calvinistic  school.  '  The  greater  number  of  the  Olney  hymns 
are,  no  doubt,  homely  and  didactic ;  but  to  the  best  of  them 
(and  they  are  no  inconsiderable  proportion)  the  tenderness  of 
Cowper  and  the  manliness  of  Newton  give  the  interest  of 
contrast  as  well  as  of  sustained  reality.  If  Newton  carried  to 
some  excess  the  sound  principle  laid  down  by  him,  that  "per 
spicuity,  simplicity,  and  ease  should  be  chiefly  attended  to,  and 
the  imagery  and  colouring  of  poetry,  if  admitted  at  all,  should 
be  indulged  very  sparingly  and  with  great  judgement " — if  he 
is  often  dry  and  colloquial — he  rises  at  other  times  into  soul- 
animating  strains,  such  as  "  Glorious  things  of  thee  are  spoken  "  ; 
and  sometimes  rivals  Cowper  himself  in  depth  of  feeling. 
Cowpcr's  hymns  in  this  book  arc,  almost  without  exception, 
worthy  of  his  name.'  This  is,  however,  a  somewhat  generous 
estimate.  Even  Cowper's  muse  drops  sometimes  from  its 
serene  height. 

On  Whit  Sunday,  June  i,  1879,  two  days  before  Frances 
Ridley  Havergal  died,  the  doctor  told  her  she  would  soon  be 
going  home.  She  exclaimed,  '  Beautiful  !  too  good  to  be  true  ! 
Oh,  it  is  the  Lord  Jesus  that  is  so  clear  to  me.  I  can't  tell  how 
precious!  how  much  He  has  been  to  me!'  Afterwards  she 
asked  for  '  How  sweet  the  name  of  Jesus  sounds.' 

Newton  continued  to  preach  when  he  was  more  than  eighty. 
He  could  scarcely  see  his  manuscript,  but  took  a  servant  with 
him  into  the  pulpit,  who  stood  behind  and  with  a  pointer 
traced  out  the  lines.  One  Sunday  morning  Newton  came  to 
the  words  'Jesus  Christ  is  precious,'  which  he  repeated.  His 
servant  thinking  he  was  getting  confused,  whispered,  '  Go  on, 
go  on  ;  you  said  that  before ' ;  Newton,  looking  round, 
replied,  'John,  I  said  that  twice,  and  I  am  going  to  say  it 
again ' ;  then  with  redoubled  force  he  sounded  out  the  words, 
'  Jesus  Christ  is  precious.'  A  pleasing  picture  of  him  is  given 
in  Henry  Martyn's  Journal  for  1804:  'Drank  tea  at  Mr. 
Newton's  :  the  old  man  was  very  civil  to  me,  and  striking  in 
his  remarks  in  general.'  In  1805  he  was  pressed  to  give  up 


Il6  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

preaching,  as  he  could  no  longer  read  his  text.  '  What,'  he 
replied,  'shall  the  old  African  blasphemer  stop  while  he  can 
speak  ! '  He  died  in  1807. 

His  epitaph  was  written  by  himself — 

JOHN  NEWTON,  Clerk, 

Once  an  infidel  and  libertine, 

A  servant  of  slaves  in  Africa : 

Was  by  the  rich  mercy  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 

Jesus  Christ, 

Preserved,  restored,  pardoned, 

And  appointed  to  preach  the  Faith 

He  had  long  laboured  to  destroy. 

Near  sixteen  years  at  Olney  in  Bucks  : 

And  twenty-seven  years  in  this  Church. 


Hymn  110.  Jesu,  the  very  thought  of  Thee. 

ST.  BERNARD  OF  CLAIRVAUX  ;  translated  by  EDWARD 
CAS  WALL  (105). 

Caswall's  translation  is  in  his  Lyra  Cathotica,  1849.  Ver.  5  is  taken 
from  another  source. 

Bernard  was  born  at  his  fathers  castle  near  Dijon  in  1091. 
High  birth,  great  personal  beauty,  and  many  worldly  advantages 
did  not  restrain  him  from  entering  Citeaux,  the  first  Cistercian 
monastery,  in  1113,  together  with  his  uncle  and  two  of  his 
brothers,  whom  he  had  won  over.  Two  years  later  he  founded 
Clairvaux,  of  which  he  became  the  first  abbot.  It  was  chiefly 
through  his  influence  that  Innocent  II  made  good  his  claim  to 
the  Papacy.  It  has  been  said  that  he  ruled  the  Christian 
world  from  his  cloister.  Milman  says  he  became  '  the  leading 
and  the  governing  head  of  Christendom.'  He  took  an  active 
part  in  securing  the  condemnation  of  Abelard,  and  in  1146 
preached  the  Second  Crusade  through  France  and  Germany. 
The  people  flocked  to  the  standard, '  the  only  fear  was  that  of 
being  the  last  on  the  road.'  The  complete  failure  of  the  ex 
pedition  next  year  clouded  St.  Bernard's  last  days.  He  died 
in  1153.  Luther  described  him  as  the  best  monk  that  ever 
lived. 

Earl  Selborne  says,  '  Bernard  was  the  father,  in  Latin 
hymnody,  of  that  warm  and  passionate  form  of  devotion  which 
some  may  consider  to  apply  to  Divine  Objects  the  language  of 


THE   STORY    OF    THE    HYMNS    AND    THEIR   WRITERS     117 

human  affection,  but  which  has,  nevertheless,  been  popular 
with  many  devout  persons  in  Protestant  as  well  as  Roman 
Catholic  Churches.' 

Jesu  dulcis  memoria  was  probably  written  about  1150,  when 
he  was  living  in  retirement.  Dr.  Schaff  calls  it  'the  sweetest 
and  most  evangelical  hymn  of  the  Middle  Ages.'  It  is  known 
as  the  'Joyful  Rhythm  of  St.  Bernard  on  the  Name  of  Jesus.' 
The  oldest  form  of  the  text  is  given  by  a  twelfth-century 
MS.  in  the  Bodleian,  in  forty-two  verses  of  four  lines. 

Bernard's  devotion  to  his  Master  breathes  in  his  famous 
words,  which  embody  the  spirit  of  the  hymn,  '  If  thou  writest, 
nothing  therein  has  savour  to  me  unless  I  read  Jesus  in  it.  If 
thou  discoursest  or  converses!,  nothing  therein  is  agreeable  to 
me  unless  in  it  also  Jesus  resounds.  Jesus  is  honey  in  the 
mouth,  melody  in  the  ear,  a  song  of  jubilee  in  the  heart.  He 
is  our  medicine  as  well.  Is  any  among  you  saddened?  Let 
Jesus  enter  into  his  heart,  and  thence  leap  to  his  lips,  and  lo  ! 
at  the  rising  illumination  of  His  name  every  cloud  flies  away, 
serenity  returns.' 


Hymn  111.  Jesu,  Thou  Joy  of  loving  hearts. 
ST.  BERNARD  OF  CLAIRVAUX  ;  translated  by  RAY  PALMER,  D.D. 

This  translation  of  Jesu  dulcis  memoria  (no)  appeared  in  the 
American  Andover  Sabbath  Hymn-book^  1858. 

Ray  Palmer,  D.D.  (1808-87),  was  the  son  of  a  judge  in 
Rhode  Island,  and  was  born  at  Little  Compton.  He  became 
Congregational  minister  at  Bath  (Maine),  and  at  Albany,  New 
York,  and  Corresponding  Secretary  to  the  American  Congrega 
tional  Union,  1865-78.  He  spent  his  last  years  at  Newark, 
New  Jersey.  Dr.  Palmer  was  in  great  request  as  a  powerful 
preacher.  When  told  by  his  son  that  he  was  dying,  he  replied, 
'  Thank  God  ! '  Occasionally  he  was  heard  to  repeat  a  hymn  of 
Wesley's  or  of  his  own.  Not  many  hours  before  his  death  the 
watchers  caught  a  few  syllables  of  the  last  verse  of  his  hymn, 
'Jesus,  these  eyes  have  never  seen  '- 

\Vhen  death  these  mortal  eyes  shall  seal, 

And  still  this  throbbing  heart, 
The  rending  veil  shall  Thee  reveal, 

All  glorious  as  Thou  art. 


Il8  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

The  third  line  was  distinctly  heard.     He  died  as  he  had  lived, 
strong  through  joyful  trust  in  his  Saviour. 

'Jesus,  these  eyes  have  never  seen,'  which  he  wrote  in  1858 
on  '  Christ  loved,  though  unseen,'  ranks  next  to  his  '  My  faith 
looks  up  to  Thee.'  It  was  the  favourite  hymn  of  Principal 
Brown,  of  Aberdeen.  Some  of  Dr.  Palmer's  translations  from 
the  Latin  are  very  beautiful. 

Hymn  112.  Behold  the  sure  foundation-stone. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Psalm  cxviii.  22,  23.  'Christ  the 
Foundation  of  His  Church." 

Hymn  113.  Thou  art  the  Way ;   by  Thee  alone. 
GEORGE  WASHINGTON  DOANE,  D.D. 

From  his  Songs  by  the  Way,  1824.     Headed  '  Christ  this  day.' 

Dr.  Doane  was  born  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  in  1799.  Rector 
of  Trinity  Church,  Boston,  U.S.A.,  1828  ;  Bishop  of  New  Jersey, 
1832.  Bishop  Doane's  learning  and  great  gifts  of  mind  and  heart 
have  won  him  a  lasting  place  in  the  religious  life  of  America. 
He  died  at  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  1859.  His  son,  Dr.  Cross- 
well  Doane,  is  Bishop  of  Albany.  In  1860  he  published  his 
father's  Works  in  four  volumes  with  a  memoir.  In  the  judge 
ment  of  many  this  ranks  first  among  American  hymns. 

Hymn  114.  What  equal  honours  shall  we  bring. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.  '  Christ's  humiliation  and 
exaltation."  Ver.  4  is  omitted — 

All  riches  are  His  native  right, 

Yet  He  sustain'd  amazing  loss ; 
To  Him  ascribe  eternal  might, 

Who  left  His  weakness  on  the  cross. 

The  original  of  ver.  4,  line  I,  reads,  '  Honour  immortal  must  be 
paid';  iand  the  second  line  of  ver.  5,  'Who  bore  the  curse  for 
wretched  man." 

This  was  omitted  from  the  Methodist  hymn-book  in  1875,  and 
restored  in  1904. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     1 19 

Hymn  115.  O  filial  Deity, 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1739;    Works ,  i.  97.     '  Hymn  to  the 
Son.'    Ver.  2  omitted. 

Charles  Wesley  was  converted  on  May  21,  1738.  On 
June  16  he  says  in  his  Journal :  'After  dinner,  Jack  Delamotte 
(brother  of  his  companion  in  Georgia)  came  for  me.  We  took 
coach,  and  by  the  way  he  told  me,  that  when  we  were  last 
together  at  Blendon  (near  Bexley,  in  Kent),  in  singing,  "  Who 
forme, for  me  hast  died,"  he  found  the  words  sink  into  his  soul ; 
could  have  sung  for  ever,  being  full  of  delight  and  joy ;  since  then 
has  thought  himself  led  in  everything  ;  feared  nothing  so  much 
as  offending  God  ;  could  pray  with  life  ;  and,  in  a  word,  found 
that  he  did  indeed  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus.'  That  entry 
proves  that  this  hymn  was  written  within  three  weeks  of  Charles 
Wesley's  conversion.  Jack  Delamotte  is,  therefore,  the  first  con 
vert  won  by  his  friend's  poetry.  The  words  that  were  blessed  to 
him  form  a  link  to  Luther  and  St.  Paul.  The  Wednesday  before 
Charles  Wesley's  conversion,  Mr.  Holland '  accidentally  lit  upon  ' 
Luther's  Commentary  on  the  Galatians.  Charles  Wesley  writes  : 
'  I  spent  some  hours  this  evening  in  private  with  Martin  Luther, 
who  was  greatly  blessed  to  me,  especially  his  conclusion  of  the 
second  chapter.  I  laboured,  waited,  and  prayed  to  feel  "  who 
loved  me,  and  gave  Himself  for  me"  '  Luther  says,  '  Therefore, 
thou  shouldest  so  read  these  little  words  me,  and  for  me,  that 
thou  mayest  ponder  them  well,  and  consider  that  they  are  full 
of  meaning.  Accustom  yourself  to  grasp  this  little  word  me  with 
sure  trust,  and  apply  it  to  thyself ;  and  do  not  doubt  that  thou 
art  among  those  who  are  named  in  the  little  word  me.  Also, 
thou  shouldest  clearly  understand  that  Christ  did  not  only  love 
Peter,  Paul,  and  other  Apostles  and  prophets,  and  give  Himself 
for  them,  but  that  such  grace  concerns  us,  and  comes  to  us  as 
to  them  ;  therefore  are  we  also  intended  by  the  little  word  me. 
Those  words,  "who  loved  me  and  gave  Himself  for  me,"  are  full 
of  great  and  mighty  comfort,  and  therefore  are  powerful  to  awake 
faith  in  us.'  There  is  the  inspiration  of  the  line,  '  Who  for  me, 
for  me  hast  died.' 

On  July  2,  1738,  Charles  Wesley  met  at  Mr.  Sims',  in  the 
Minories,  a  Mrs.  Harper,  who  had  that  day  '  received  the  Spirit, 
by  the  hearing  of  faith  ;  but  feared  to  confess  it.  We  sung  the 


120  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

hymn  to  Christ.  At  the  words,  "  Who  for  me,  for  me  hast  died," 
she  burst  out  into  tears  and  outcries,  "  I  believe,  I  believe  !  "  and 
sank  down.  She  continued,  and  increased  in  the  assurance  of 
faith  ;  full  of  peace,  and  joy,  and  love.  We  sang  and  prayed 
again.  I  observed  one  of  the  maids  run  out,  and,  following, 
found  her  full  of  tears,  and  joy,  and  love.  I  asked  what  ailed 
her.  She  answered,  as  soon  as  joy  would  let  her,  that  "  Christ 
died  for  her!"  She  appeared  quite  overpowered  with  His 
love.' 

Hymn  116.  Jesus  comes  with  all  His  gi*ace. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749,  No.  33;  Works,  v.  332.  'For 
those  that  wait  for  full  redemption.'  Four  verses  are  omitted. 

Hymn  117.  We  saw  Thee  not  when  Thou  didst 
come. 

JOHN  HAMPDEN  GURNEV,  M.A.  (1802-62). 

From  Psalms  and  Hymns,  for  use  in  the  churches  of  Marylebone, 
1851,  which  contains  thirteen  of  Mr.  Gurney's  hymns.  Among  them 
is  'Fair  waved  the  golden  corn,'  a  hymn  on  'The  Offering  of  the 
First-fruits.' 

Mr.  Gurney  was  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  John  Gurney,  Baron 
of  the  Court  of  Exchequer.  He  studied  for  the  law,  but  preferred 
the  Church.  He  was  a  man  of  position  and  wealth.  He  became 
curate  of  Lutterworth,  where  he  remained,  in  spite  of  many 
flattering  offers,  for  seventeen  years.  He  was  made  Rector  of 
St.  Mary's,  Marylebone,  1842,  and  afterwards  Prebendary  of 
St.  Paul's. 

This  hymn,  of  which  a  detailed  account  is  given  in  Julian's 
Dictionary,  was  suggested  by  a  poem  '  in  a  small  American 
volume.'  This  was  well  conceived,  but  imperfectly  executed ; 
and  after  successive  alterations,  Mr.  Gurney  found  that  nothing 
remained  of  the  original  composition  but  the  first  four  words 
and  the  repeated  words.  It  is  traced  to  a  volume  compiled  by 
the  elder  daughters  of  the  Rev.  W.  Carus  Wilson,  Songs  from 
the.  Valley :  A  Collection  of  Sacred  Poetry,  Kirkby  Lonsdale, 
1834.  It  is  headed  'Faith.  Blessed  are  they  who  have  not 
seen,  and  yet  have  believed.'  The  first  verse  reads — 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     121 

We  have  not  seen  Thy  footsteps  tread 

This  wild  and  sinful  earth  of  ours, 
Nor  heard  Thy  voice  restore  the  dead 

Again  to  life's  reviving  powers : 
But  we  believe — for  all  things  are 
The  gifts  of  Thine  Almighty  care. 

Hymn  118.  Immortal  Love,  for  ever  full. 
JOHN  GREENLEAF  WHITTIER. 

From  '  Our  Master,'  dated  1866.  Appeared  in  The  Panorama,  and 
other  Poems,  1856. 

The  Quaker  poet  of  America  was  born  at  Haverhill,  Mas 
sachusetts,  in  1807.  He  worked  on  his  father's  farm  till  he  was 
twenty.  A  copy  of  Robert  Burns's  poems,  bought  from  a  pedlar, 
first  turned  his  mind  to  poetry.  His  earliest  piece  was  printed  in 
the  Newburyport  Free  Press,  1824.  The  editor  persuaded 
Whittier's  father  to  send  him  to  the  Academy  at  Haverhill, 
where  he  worked  as  a  teacher  and  slipper-maker  to  support 
himself.  He  became  editor  in  Boston  in  1828,  and  in  1836 
Secretary  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  editor  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Freeman,  in  which  offices  he  did  noble  service 
to  the  cause  of  freedom.  He  moved  to  Amesbury,  Mass.,  in 
1840.  His  last  years  were  spent  at  Oak  Knoll,  Danvers.  He 
died  in  1892. 

His  Poems,  in  seven  volumes,  were  published  in  1889. 
Lowell  says — 

There  was  ne'er  a  man  born  who  had  more  of  the  swing 
Of  the  true  lyric  bard  and  all  that  kind  of  thing. 

Hymn  119.  O  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all. 
JOHN  GREENLEAF  WHITTIER  (118). 

From  '  Our  Master,'  beginning  with  ver.  16.  The  line  reads, 
'  Our  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all.' 

Hymn  120.  We  know,  by  faith  we  surely  know. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture  (left  in  MS.)  ;  Works, 
xiii.  210.  i  John  v.  20. 


122  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  121.  Jesus,  the  First  and  Last. 

i 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  \  762  ;  Works,  xiii.  22 1 . 
On  Rev.  i.  11 :  'The  First  and  the  Last.' 

Hymn  122.  Hark!  the  herald-angels  sing. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739 ;  Works,  i.  183.  '  Hymn  for 
Christmas  Day,'  in  ten  verses  of  four  lines.  Two  are  omitted  here — 

8.  Now  display  Thy  saving  power, 
Ruin'd  nature  now  restore ; 
Now  in  mystic  union  join 
Thine  to  ours,  and  ours  to  Thine. 

10.  Let  us  Thee,  though  lost,  regain, 
Thee,  the  Life,  the  Inner  Man  : 
O  !  to  all  Thyself  impart, 
Form'd  in  each  believing  heart. 

The  lines  in  the  original — 

Ver.  I  :  Hark  how  all  the  welkin  rings, 

Glory  to  the  King  of  kings, 
Ver.  5  :  Hail  the  heavenly  Prince  of  Peace ! — 

were  first  changed  to  the  present  form  in  Whitefield's  Collection,  1753  ; 

Ver,  2  :  Universal  Nature,  say, 

'  Christ  the  Lord  is  born  to-day  ! ' 

were  changed  to  their  present  form  in  Madan's  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
1760; 

Ver.  4 :  Pleased  as  man  with  men  to  appear, 
Jesus,  our  Immanuel  here, 

take  their  present  form  in  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1861. 

Sir  Henry  Baker  held  that  though  Charles  Wesley's  orthodoxy  was 
beyond  question,  '  appear  '  might  be  susceptible  of  a  Docetic  interpreta 
tion — that  Christ  was  not  really  made  man,  but  seemed  so. 

The  effect  of  Charles  Wesley's  conversion  is  manifest  in  a 
glorious  outburst  of  song.  The  first  hymn  in  this  second  part 
of  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems  is — 

Where  shall  my  wandering  soul  begin? 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     123 

Then  follow  in  quick  succession — 

Thee,  O  my  God  and  King. 

O  Filial  Deity. 

Glory  be  to  God  on  high. 

Peace,  doubting  heart,  my  God's  I  am. 

Arise,  my  soul,  arise. 

Saviour,  the  world's  and  mine. 

Jesu,  my  God  and  King. 

Jesu,  Thou  art  our  King. 

Next  come  side  by  side,  all  in  the  same  measure,  the  Christmas 
hymn,  which  has  given  the  Church  its  sweetest  voice  of  praise 
over  the  Incarnation  ;  a  hymn  for  the  Epiphany ;  the  great 
Easter  song,  '  Christ  the  Lord  is  risen  to-day ' ;  the  Ascension- 
Day  hymn,  '  Hail  the  day  that  sees  Him  rise  ' ;  and  the  hymn 
for  Whit-Sunday,  '  Granted  is  the  Saviour's  prayer.'  The 
Christmas  hymn  found  its  way  into  the  New  Version.  It  is 
thought  that  the  university  printer  in  the  eighteenth  century 
inserted  it  after  the  Psalms  as  a  festival  hymn  to  fill  a  blank 
space.  It  has  retained  its  post  of  honour,  despite  some 
attempts  to  dislodge  it.  '  The  act  did  much  to  introduce 
hymnody,  as  distinguished  from  metrical  psalmody,  into  the 
public  worship  of  the  Church.'  Dr.  Julian  says,  'Amongst 
English  hymns,  it  is  equalled  in  popularity  only  by  Toplady's 
"Rock  of  Ages,"  and  Bishop  Ken's  Morning  and  Evening 
Hymns,  and  is  excelled  by  none.  In  literary  merit  it  falls  little, 
if  anything,  short  of  this  honour.' 

Hymn  123.  O  come,  all  ye  faithful. 
Latin  ;  translated  by  FREDERICK  OAKELEY,  D.D. 

'Aclcste  fideles,  lacti  triumphantes,'  has  been  ascribed  to  Bona- 
ventura,  but  is  probably  a  Latin  hymn  of  French  or  German  authorship, 
dating  from  the  seventeenth  or  eighteenth  century.  The  hymn,  as  given 
in  7'/tesaurus  Animae  Christianae,  has  eight  verses.  In  The  Evening 
Office  of  the  Church,  a  Roman  Catholic  book  of  devotions,  1760,  four 
verses  are  given,  with  an  English  translation.  In  England,  stanzas  I, 
2,  7,  8  are  used.  The  French  cento  generally  has  I,  3,  5,  6,  and 
rarely  4. 

Frederick  Oakeley,  born  at  Shrewsbury  in  1802,  was  the 
youngest  son  of  Sir  Charles  Oakeley,  Governor  of  Madras.  He 
became  a  Fellow  of  Balliol  in  1827,  and  took  a  leading  part  in 
the  Oxford  Movement.  In  1839  he  was  incumbent  of  Margaret 


124  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Street  Chapel,  London.  He  joined  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
in  1845,  and  became  Canon  of  the  Pro-Cathedral  for  the 
Westminster  district  in  1852.  He  died  in  1880. 

Canon  Oakeley's  translation  of  the  English  form  of  the 
Latin  text  was  made  in  1841  for  use  at  Margaret  Street  Chapel, 
London,  of  which  he  was  incumbent,  and  came  into  notice  by 
being  sung  there.  It  was  included  in  the  People's  Hymnal, 
1867.  It  began,  'Ye  faithful,  approach  ye.'  The  improved 
form  here  given  appeared  in  Murray's  Hymnal,  1852.  The 
second  line  read  'Joyfully  triumphant.' 

The  tune  in  MS.,  dated  1751,  is  at  Stonyhurst.  It  was 
published  in  1783.  In  1797  it  was  harmonized  by  Vincent 
Novello,  and  sung  at  the  Chapel  of  the  Portuguese  Embassy, 
where  he  was  organist.  He  ascribed  the  tune,  which  at  once 
became  popular,  to  John  Reading,  organist  of  Winchester 
Cathedral,  1675-81. 

Hymn    124.    Christians,    awake,    salute   the   happy 

moru. 

JOHN  BYROM,  M.A.,  F.R.S.  (1692-1763). 
Compiled  from  a  poem  of  forty-eight  lines  given  in  his  Poems,  1773. 

Dr.  Byrom  was  born  at  Kersall  Cell,  Manchester.  He 
became  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  studied  medicine 
at  Montpelier,  and  returned  to  England  in  1718  with  his 
diploma.  He  married  his  cousin  in  1721.  Byrom  invented  a 
system  of  shorthand,  and  earned  his  living  by  teaching  it.  He 
was  elected  F.R.S.  1724,  and  succeeded  to  the  family  property 
in  1740  by  the  death  of  his  elder  brother.  Byrom  was  a  disciple 
of  William  Law,  and  a  friend  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley.  He 
wrote  for  the  Spectator  under  the  pseudonym  of  'John  Shadow.' 
Many  pleasant  glimpses  of  the  Evangelical  Revival  and  its 
leaders  are  gained  from  his  Journal  and  Letters.  Wesley  says, 
'  He  has  all  the  wit  and  humour  of  Dr.  Swift,  together  with 
much  more  learning,  a  deep  and  strong  understanding,  and 
above  all,  a  serious  vein  of  poetry  (see  also  526). 

The  tune  'Stockport'  (or  'Yorkshire'), by  John  Wainwright, 
organist  of  Manchester  Parish  Church,  was  sung  by  the  com 
poser  and  his  choristers  before  Byrom's  house  at  Kersall  Cell 
on  Christmas  Eve,  1750. 

Byrom  promised  his  favourite  daughter,  Dolly,  to  write  her 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR    WRITERS     12$ 

something  for  a  Christmas  present  in  1745,  and  on  Christmas 
morning  she  found  an  envelope  addressed  to  her  containing 
this  hymn,  headed  'Christmas  Day  for  Dolly.'  The  MS.  is 
preserved  at  Cheetham's  Hospital,  Manchester.  It  remained 
in  the  possession  of  his  family  for  about  a  century,  till  it  passed 
into  the  hands  of  James  Crossby  ;  and  on  his  death  was  sold  to 
the  hospital,  of  which  he  had  been  honorary  librarian.  It  was 
published  in  Harrop's  UlancJicster  Mercury  in  1746.  Byrom 
wrote  many  hymns  for  the  boys  at  Cheetham's  Hospital,  and 
said  he  preferred  that  employment  to  being  laureate  to 
Frederick  II,  then  engaged  in  the  Seven  Years'  War. 

Byrom  was  very  tall,  and  gives  an  amusing  account  of  the 
difficulty  he  had  in  finding  a  horse  high  enough  for  him  to  ride  ; 
but  he  was  eclipsed  by  a  gentleman  from  Worcestershire, 
'  almost  a  head  taller  than  I  ;  people  talk  to  me  as  if  I  were 
grown  a  mere  dwarf.'  He  carried  a  stick  with  a  crook-top,  and 
wore  '  a  curious,  low-polled,  slouched  hat,  from  under  the  long- 
peaked  front  brim  of  which  his  benignant  face  bent  forward  a 
cautiously  inquisitive  kind  of  look,  as  if  he  were  in  the  habit  of 
prying  into  everything,  without  caring  to  let  everything  enter 
deeply  into  him.' 

Hymn  125.  O   Saviour,  whom  this  holy  morn. 
REGINALD  HEUER,  D.D.  (28). 

Published  in  the  Christian  Observer,  November,  I  Si  I,  headed 
'  Christmas  Day.'  The  latter  half  of  the  first  verse  reads — 

To  wandering  and  to  labour  born, 
To  weakness  and  to  woe  ! 

This  is  altered  in  the  posthumous  Hymns,  1827. 

Hymn  120.  To  us  a  child  of  royal  birth. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  tJu  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.);  Works,  xi.  117.  Luke 
ii.  n. 

Hymn  127.   Brightest  and   best  of   the  sons  of  the 
morning. 

REGINALD  HEBER,  D.D.  (28). 

Epiphany  hymn,  first  published  in  Christian  Observer,  November, 
iSn. 


126  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

On  December  19,  1824,  when  Bishop  Heber  consecrated  the 
church  at  Meerut,  he  says,  '  I  had  the  gratification  of  hearing 
my  own  hymns,  "  Brightest  and  best,"  and  that  for  St.  Stephen's 
Day '  ('  The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war,')  '  sung  better  than 
I  ever  heard  them  in  a  church  before.  It  is  a  remarkable 
thing  that  one  of  the  earliest,  the  largest,  and  handsomest 
churches  in  India,  as  well  as  one  of  the  best  organs,  should  be 
found  in  so  remote  a  situation,  and  in  sight  of  the  Himalaya 
mountains.' 

The  MS.  of  this  and  other  hymns  by  Heber  is  preserved 
in  the  British  Museum.  It  is  a  compilation  in  two  small 
exercise-books,  with  problems  of  Euclid  on  one  side,  possibly 
made  by  the  bishop's  children,  and  on  the  other  side  a  small 
collection  of  hymns  in  the  bishop's  beautiful  handwriting.  The 
collection  was  made  after  he  had  seen  the  Olney  Hymns,  of 
which  he  was  a  great  admirer,  and  was  given  to  his  friend  Dean 
Milman. 

Hymn  128.  As  with  gladness  men  of  old. 
WILLIAM  CHATTERTON  Dix  (1837-98). 

An  Epiphany  hymn,  written  for  use  at  St.  Raphael's,  Bristol ; 
printed  in  the  Rev.  A.  H.  Ward's  Supplement,  1860,  and  in  Mr.  Dix's 
Hymns  of  Love  and  Joy,  1861. 

Mr.  Dix  was  the  son  of  John  Dix,  the  Bristol  surgeon,  who 
wrote  the  Life  of  Chattcrton.  He  was  educated  at  Bristol 
Grammar  School,  and  became  manager  of  a  marine  insurance 
company  in  Glasgow.  He  published  several  volumes  of  poetry 
and  devotional  works.  His  renderings  of  Greek  and  Abyssinian 
hymns  deserve  careful  attention.  Mr.  Dix  was  recovering  from 
a  serious  illness  in  1860,  when  one  evening  the  lines  of  this 
hymn  took  shape  in  his  mind,  and  he  committed  them  to  paper. 
Lord  Selborne  considered  it  one  of  the  finest  English  hymns. 
He  brought  it  into  notice  in  his  paper  on  'English  Church 
Hymnody'  at  the  York  Church  Congress,  1866:  'I  may  be 
permitted  to  say,  that  the  most  favourable  hopes  may  be  enter 
tained  of  the  future  prospects  of  British  hymnody,  when  among 
its  most  recent  fruits  is  a  work  so  admirable  in  every  respect  as 
the  Epiphany  Hymn  of  Mr.  Chatterton  Dix  ;  than  which  there 
can  be  no  more  appropriate  conclusion  to  this  lecture,  "  As  with 
gladness  men  of  old.';) 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     l2^ 

Hymn  129.  From  the  eastern  mountains. 

GODFREY  THRING,  D.D. 

Written  in  1873,  and  published  in  his  Hymns  and  Sacred  Lyrics, 
1874,  as  a  Processional  for  Epiphany.  The  original  was  in  six  verses 
of  four  lines,  with  the  refrain — 

Light  of  Life,  that  shineth 

Ere  the  worlds  began, 
Draw  Thou  near  and  lighten 

Every  heart  of  man. 

Prebendary  Thring,  son  of  Rev.  J.  G.  D.  Thring,  of  Alford, 
Somerset,  and  brother  of  Rev.  Edward  Thring,  head  master  of 
Uppingham  School,  was  born  in  1823,  educated  at  Shrewsbury 
School  and  Balliol  College,  and  in  1858  succeeded  his  father  as 
rector  of  Alford-with-Hornblotton.  In  1876  he  was  Prebendary 
of  Wells  Cathedral.  He  died  on  September  13,  1903,  at  Plonck's 
Hill,  Shamleigh  Green.  He  published  Hymns,  Congregational 
and  Others,  1866  ;  Hymns  and  Verses,  1866  ;  Hymns  and  Sacred 
Lyrics,  1874;  A  Church  of  England  Hymn-book,  1880  ;  revised 
edition,  1882.  The  whole  edition  of  Hymns  and  Sacred  Lyrics 
was  destroyed  in  a  fire  at  the  publishers'.  Dr.  Thring  only  dis 
covered  this  some  time  after,  when  a  stranger  asked  how  he 
could  get  a  copy,  as  every  publisher  told  him  it  was  out  of 
print. 

Hymn  130.  Cradled  in  a  manger,  meanly. 
GEORGE  STRINGER  ROWE. 

The  Rev.  G.  S.  Rowe  was  born  at  Margate,  1830 ;  educated 
at  Didsbury  College  ;  entered  the  Wesleyan  ministry,  1853  ; 
Governor  of  Headingley  College,  1888-1904.  His  Life  of  John 
Hunt,  James  Calvert,  and  other  missionary  books  have  had 
great  influence  and  wide  circulation.  The  Psalms  in  Private 
Devotion,  Alone  with  the  Word,  At  His  Feet,  On  His  Day  are 
much  prized  as  helps  to  devotion. 

This  hymn  was  written  for  the  Christmas  number  of  At 
Home  and  Abroad,  the  children's  periodical  which  followed 
The  Juvenile  Offering,  which  he  edited  for  more  than  twelve 
years.  It  found  a  place  in  the  Methodist  Sunday-School 
Hymn-Book ;  1879. 


128  THE    METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn   131.   While  shepherds  watched  their  flocks 
by  night. 

NAHUM  TATE  (17). 

Supplement  to  the  New  Version ,  probably  in  1699. 

Hymn  132.  It  came  upon  the  midnight  clear. 
EDMUND  HAMILTON  SEARS,  D.D. 

Dr.  Sears  was  born  at  Sandisfield,  Massachusetts,  1810,  and 
became  a  Unitarian  pastor  in  the  same  State.  He  died  in 
1876  at  Weston,  Massachusetts,  where  he  had  been  pastor 
of  the  Unitarian  Church  since  1865.  His  views  were  largely 
Swedenborgian.  He  believed  in  the  absolute  divinity  of  Christ. 
From  1859  to  1871  he  was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Monthly 
Religious  Magazine. 

This  hymn  was  sent  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morrison,  as  editor  of 
the  Christian  Register,  about  December,  1849.  He  says,  '  I  was 
very  much  delighted  with  it,  and  before  it  came  out  in  the 
Register  read  it  at  a  Christmas  celebration  of  Dr.  Lunt's 
Sunday  school  in  Quincy.  I  always  feel  that,  however  poor 
my  Christmas  sermon  may  be,  the  reading  and  singing  of  this 
hymn  are  enough  to  make  up  for  all  deficiencies.' 

Hymn  133.  Let  earth  and  heaven  combine. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,  No.  5;  Works,  iv.  109. 
Vcr.  3  is  omitted — 

See  in  that  Infant's  face 

The  depth  of  Deity, 
And  labour  while  ye  gaze 
To  sound  the  mystery  : 
In  vain ;   ye  angels,  gaze  no  more, 
But  fall,  and  silently  adore. 

Hymn  134.  Glory  be  to  God  on  high. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  for  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,  No.  4  ;    Works,  iv.  108. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     1 29 

Hymn  135.   Arise,  my  soul,  arise, 

Thy  Saviour's  sacrifice ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  llroiks,  i.  146.  'Hymn  on  the 
Titles  of  Christ.'  Fifteen  verses. 

Hymn  136.    Glorious  Saviour  of  1113-  soul. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Lore,  1741,  No.  6;  Works,  iii.  10. 
Inserted  in  the  first  number  of  the  Arminian  Magazine. 

Three  verses  are  here  omitted.  In  ver.  I  Charles  Wesley's  feeble 
1  Thou  hast  an  atonement  made  '  is  transformed  into  '  full  atonement.' 

Hymn  137.   Stupendous  height  of  heavenly  love. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  tJie  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  xi.  1 14.  Luke  i. 
78. 

In  ver.  4  the  original  is  '  And  through  the  dreary  vale  unknown.' 

Hymn  138.  Thou  didst  leave  Thy  throne. 
EMILY  ELIZABETH  STEELE  ELLIOTT. 

Privately  printed  for  the  choir  and  schools  of  St.  Mark's,  Brighton, 
1864;  published  in  1870  in  Church  Missionary  Juvenile  Instructor, 
which  she  edited  for  six  years,  and  in  her  Chimes  of  Consecration  and 
Faith. 

Emily  Elizabeth  Steele  Elliott  (1835-97)  was  the  daughter 
of  Rev.  Edward  Bishop  Elliott,  author  of  Herat  Apocalypticac, 
and  brother  of  Charlotte  Elliott.  She  was  much  interested  in 
mission  work  at  Mildmay  Park. 

Hymn  139.   Hark  the  glad  sound,  the  Saviour 
comes. 

PHILIP  DODDRIDOE  (95). 

An  Advent  hymn,  written  December  28,  1735,  and  headed 
'Christ's  Message,  from  Luke  iv.  18,  19.'  It  was  published  in  Scottish 

K 


130  THE    METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Translations  and  Paraphrases,   1745,  but  apparently  not  in  England 
till  1775.     Verses  2,  4,  and  6  of  the  original  MS.  read — 

2.  On  Him  the  Spirit  largely  poured 

Exerts  its  sacred  fire  ; 
Wisdom  and  might  and  zeal  and  love 
His  holy  breast  inspire. 

4.  He  comes  from  the  thick  films  of  vice 

To  clear  the  mental  ray ; 
And  on  the  eye-balls  of  the  blind 
To  pour  celestial  day. 

6.  His  silver  trumpets  publish  loud 

The  jub'lee  of  the  Lord  j 
Our  debts  are  all  remitted  now, 
Our  heritage  restored. 

Earl  Selborne  thinks  Doddridge  'generally  more  laboured 
and  artificial '  than  Watts,  but  '  in  his  better  works  distinguished 
by  a  graceful  and  pointed,  sometimes  even  a  noble  style.'  This 
hymn,  he  says,  is  '  as  sweet,  vigorous,  and  perfect  a  composition 
as  can  anywhere  be  found.' 

An  intimate  friend  of  Colonel  James  Gardiner,  who  was  killed 
at  Prestonpans  in  1745,  wrote  to  Doddridge,  'Your  spiritual 
hymns  were  among  his  most  delightful  and  soul-improving 
repasts  ;  particularly  those  on  beholding  transgressors  with 
grief,  and  Christ's  Message.' 

Pope's  Messiah  has  suggested  his  lines — 

He  from  thick  films  shall  purge  the  visual  ray, 
And  on  the  sightless  eye-balls  pour  the  day. 

As  Doddridge  puts  it,  in  his  Life  of  Colonel  Gardiner,  '  This 
stanza  is  mostly  borrowed  from  Mr.  Pope.' 

Hymn  140.   Jesus,  Thy  far-extended  fame. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  374.  Heb.  xiii.  8. 
Jn  twelve  verses. 

The  original  of  ver.  6  reads — 

My  sore  disease,  my  desperate  sin 
To  Thee  I  mournfullv  confess. 


THE  STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     131 

Hymn  141.  Jesus,  Thee  Thy  works  proclaim. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  x.  160.  Matt. 
iv.  23. 

The  last  three  lines  in  the  original  read — 

Which  pardon  and  perfection  brings, 
Saves  our  fallen  dying  race, 
And  lifts  us  into  kings. 

Hymn  142.   Jesus,  if  still  Thou  art  to-day. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;   Works,  i.  262.     Headed  'These 
things  were  written  for  our  instruction.'     Twenty-one  verses. 
In  ver.  8,  '  Long  have  I  waited  in  the  way '  is  the  original. 

Hymn  143.   O  Thou,  whom  once  they  nocked  to 
hear. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  376.  Met),  xiii.  8. 
Ten  verses. 

In  ver.  6  the  original  is  '  Display  T^y  justifying  power.' 

Hymn  144.   Lord!  it  is  good  for  us  to  be. 
ARTHUR  PENRHYN  STANLEY,  D.D. 

In  an  article  on  '  The  Transfiguration,  and  hymns  relating  thereto,' 
Macmillarfs  Magazine,  April,  1870,  with  this  note,  'I  have  endeavoured 
(as  in  a  hymn  written  some  years  ago  on  the  Ascension)  to  combine,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  various  thoughts  connected  with  the  scene.' 

'  Master,  it  is  good  to  be,'  was  changed  by  Dean  Stanley  to  '  Lord, 
it  is  good  for  us  to  be,'  in  his  final  revision. 

Dean  Stanley  was  born  at  Alderlcy  in  1815.  His  father 
afterwards  became  Bishop  of  Norwich.  Stanley  was  educated 
under  Arnold  at  Rugby,  and  his  Life  of  the  great  schoolmaster 
has  become  an  English  classic.  He  had  a  brilliant  course  at 
Oxford,  and  became  College  tutor.  In  1851  he  was  made 
Canon  of  Canterbury,  and  wrote  his  Historical  Memorials 
of  Canterbury.  In  1856  he  was  appointed  Professor  of 
Ecclesiastical  History  at  Oxford,  and  in  1863  Dean  of 
Westminster.  He  made  a  singularly  happy  marriage  with 


132  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED^ 

Lady  Augusta  Bruce,  a  personal  friend  of  Queen  Victoria. 
A  more  catholic-hearted  man  than  Dean  Stanley  never 
lived.  He  invited  leading  Nonconformists  to  speak  in  the 
Abbey,  and  cultivated  friendly  relations  with  Dr.  Rigg,  then  his 
neighbour  at  Westminster. 

The  dean  opened  Westminster  Abbey  to  John  and  Charles 
Wesley.  He  said  in  1878,  '  The  President  of  the  Wesleyan  Con 
ference  asked  if  I  would  allow  the  erection  of  a  monument  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  in  Poets'  Corner,  to  Charles  Wesley,  as 
the  sweet  psalmist  of  our  "English"  Israel.  I  ventured  to 
ask,  "  If  we  are  to  have  a  monument  to  Charles,  why  not  to 
John?"  To  John  Wesley,  accordingly,  together  with  his 
brother  Charles — not  as  excluding  Charles,  but  as  the  greater 
genius,  as  the  greater  spirit  of  the  two — that  monument  has 
been  erected.' 

When  the  memorial  was  unveiled  he  was  smarting  under  the 
loss  of  his  wife,  and  his  feelings  found  relief  in  a  memorable 
application  of  Charles  Wesley's  words  to  himself — 

My  company  before  is  gone, 
And  I  am  left  alone  with  Thee ; 
With  Thee  all  night  I  mean  to  stay, 
And  wrestle  till  the  break  of  day. 

Dean  Stanley  died  in  1881 .  Husband  and  wife  rest  together 
in  a  quiet  corner  of  Henry  the  Seventh's  Chapel  in  Westminster 
Abbey.  His  Eastern  Church,  Jewish  Church,  Sinai  and 
Palestine,  Memorials  of  Westminster  Abbey  are  all  classics. 

His  favourite  among  Charles  Wesley's  hymns  was  that 
entitled  Catholic  Love — 

Weary  of  all  this  wordy  strife, 

These  notions,  forms,  and  modes,  and  names, 
To  Thee,  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life, 
Whose  love  my  simple  heart  inflames, 
Divinely  taught,  at  last  I  fly 
With  Thee  and  Thine,  to  live  and  die. 

Hymn  145.   Heal  us,  Immanuel ;   hear  our  prayer. 

WILLIAM  COWPER  (60). 

Olney  Hymns,  1779,  headed  '  Jehovah-Rophi ' — '  I  am  the  Lord  that 
healeth  thee.'  The  original  reads — 

Heal  us,  Emmanuel  !   here  we  are, 
Waiting  to  feel  Thy  touch. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     133 

Hymn  146.  Fierce  raged  the  tempest  o'er  the  deep. 

GODFREY  TURING,  D.D.  (129). 

Based  on  Mark  iv.  39.  Written  in  1861  ;  appeared  in  Rev.  R.  R. 
Chope's  Hymnal^  1862. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  popular  of  Prebendary  Thring's  hymns. 
Dr.  Dykes  composed  his  fine  tune  '  St.  Aclrcd  '  for  it.  Preben 
dary  Thring  was  sitting  quietly  alone  when  with  half-closed 
eyes  he  seemed  to  see  the  raging  sea,  the  terrified  mariners,  and 
the  Saviour  sleeping  amicl  the  storm.  He  took  pen  and  paper, 
and  wrote  his  hymn  straight  away  '  rapidly  and  spontaneously.' 

It  was  probably  suggested  by  Anatolius'  Zo<pfpus  Tpixv/j.ias, 
which  Dr.  Neale  translated  '  Fierce  was  the  wild  billow.' 

Hymn  147.   Lord,  we  sit  and   cry  to  Thee. 
HENRY  HART  MILMAN,  D.D.  (1791-1868). 

Based  on  the  story  of  the  'Blind  Man  of  Jericho,'  the  Gospel  for 
Quinquagesima  Sunday. 

Dean  Milman  was  the  youngest  son  of  Sir  F.  Milman,  an 
eminent  Court  physician.  He  had  a  brilliant  course  at  Oxford. 
Dean  Stanley  called  his  Newdigate  poem  '  the  most  perfect  of 
Oxford  prize  poems.'  He  became  Vicar  of  Reading,  and  in 
1821  Professor  of  Poetry  at  Oxford.  From  poetry  he  passed  to 
history.  His  History  of  tJic  Jews  raised  a  storm  of  criticism, 
but,  as  Dean  Stanley  said,  it  treated  the  characters  and  events 
of  sacred  history  both  critically  and  reverently.  In  1835 
Dr.  Milman  became  Canon  of  Westminster,  and  Rector  of  St. 
Margaret's.  He  was  appointed  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  in  1849.  His 
work  on  Latin  Christianity  is  one  of  the  masterpieces  of 
English  ecclesiastical  history. 

The  Dean's  thirteen  hymns,  including  two  for  Lent,  two  for 
Advent,  two  funeral  hymns,  one  for  Passiontide,  for  Easter,  and 
for  those  at  sea,  were  composed  before  1823,  and  published  in  his 
friend  Heber's  Hymns,  1827.  On  May  u,  1821,  Heber  wrote  to 
Milman,  '  I  have  during  the  last  month  received  some  assistance 

from ,  which  would  once  have  pleased  me  much  ;  but,  alas  ! 

your  Advent,  Good  Friday,  and  Palm  Sunday  hymns  have 
spoilt  me  for  all  other  attempts  of  the  sort.'  In  the  following 
December  he  wrote  again,  '  You  have  indeed  sent  me  a  most 


134  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

powerful  reinforcement  to  my  projected  hymn-book.  A  few 
more  such,  and  I  shall  neither  need  nor  wait  for  the  aid  of 
Scott  and  Southey.  Most  sincerely,  I  have  not  seen  any 
hymns  of  the  kind  which  more  completely  correspond  to  my 
ideas  of  what  such  compositions  ought  to  be,  or  to  the  plan, 
the  outline  of  which  it  has  been  my  wish  to  fill  up.' 

Hymn  148.   O  help  us,  Lord  I  each  hour  of  need. 

HENRY  HART  MILMAN,  D.D.  (147). 

First  published  in  Heber's  Hymns,  1827.  Based  on  the  Gospel  for 
the  Second  Sunday  in  Lent,  Matt.  xv.  25. 

Hymn  149.  There  were  ninety  and  nine  that 
safely  lay. 

ELIZABETH  CECILIA  CLEPHANE. 

The  writer  was  the  third  daughter  of  Andrew  Clephane, 
Sheriff  of  Fife,  and  was  born  in  Edinburgh  in  1830.  Her 
hymns  appeared  in  the  Family  Treasury  under  the  title, 
'  Breathings  on  the  Border.'  The  editor,  the  Rev.  W.  Arnot, 
said  in  introducing  the  first  hymn, '  Beneath  the  Cross  of  Jesus,' 
'  These  lines  express  the  experiences,  the  hopes,  and  the  long 
ings  of  a  young  Christian  lately  released.  Written  on  the  very 
edge  of  this  life,  with  the  better  land  fully  in  the  view  of  faith, 
they  seem  to  us  footsteps  printed  on  the  sands  of  Time,  where 
these  sands  touch  the  ocean  of  Eternity.  These  footprints  of 
one  whom  the  Good  Shepherd  led  through  the  wilderness  into 
rest,  may,  with  God's  blessing,  contribute  to  comfort  and  direct 
succeeding  pilgrims.'  She  died  in  1869.  This  hymn  appeared 
in  the  Children's  Hour  in  1868,  and  afterwards  in  the  Family 
Treasury,  1 874,  p.  595.  Mrs.  Pitman  says  (Lady  Hymn-  Writers, 
p.  262)  she  remembers  hearing  it  sung  in  a  little  '  upper  room  ' 
at  Weston- super-Mare,  by  an  evangelist,  some  years  before  it 
became  popular.  '  Miss  Clephane,  by  this  hymn,  has  set  in 
motion  a  sermon  on  the  love  of  Christ  which  will  never  die  as 
long  as  the  English  tongue  is  spoken.  Only  in  the  last  great 
day  will  it  be  known  how  many  wandering  sheep  have  been 
brought  to  Jesus  by  its  means.'  Mr.  Sankey  saw  it  in  the 
Christian  Age  during  his  first  mission  in  Scotland.  The  idea 
of  the  tune  came  to  him  during  a  Conference  on  '  The  Good 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS     135 

Shepherd.'  He  sang  it  on  May  16,  1874,  at  the  Free  Assembly 
Hall,  Edinburgh,  before  it  was  written  down.  When  he  began 
to  sing  it  he  scarcely  hoped  to  remember  the  air.  After  he  had 
finished  the  first  verse,  he  wondered  if  he  could  sing  the  second 
in  the  same  way.  He  succeeded,  and  the  meeting  was  broken 
down  ;  but  Mr.  Sankey  described  it  as  the  most  intense  moment 
of  his  life.  It  produced  an  immense  impression,  and  instantly 
became  popular. 

It  is  said  that  an  impenitent  and  careless  man  once  heard  in 
the  distance  the  words  '  I  go  to  the  desert  to  find  my  sheep  ' 
being  sung.  And  on  the  hillside  faith  came  by  hearing,  and  he 
was  saved. 

'Beneath  the  Cross  of  Jesus'  is  another  hymn  of  Miss 
Clephane's  which  has  won  wide  popularity. 

Hymn  150.   Tell  me  the  old,  old  story. 
Miss  KATHERIXE  HANKEY. 

A  '  Life  of  Jesus '  in  fifty-five  verses.  This  is  Part  I.,  'The  Story 
Wanted,'  written  January  29,  1866;  'The  Story  Told,'  Part  II.,  was 
written  in  November  of  the  same  year.  It  has  probably  been  translated 
into  more  languages  than  almost  any  other  child's  hymn.  It  is  an 
English  hymn.  Mr.  \V.  II.  Doane,  of  Preston,  Connecticut,  set  it  to 
music  at  Mr.  Sankey's  request,  and  turned  it  into  an  eight-line  verse 
with  a  chorus.  It  has  become  immensely  popular,  but  Miss  Ilankey 
greatly  deprecated  this  setting,  as  each  verse  is  complete  in  itself.  The 
restoration  of  the  hymn  to  its  true  form  does  justice  to  the  author  and 
the  hymn.  Her  '  Heart  to  Heart,'  1870,  was  republished,  with  music  by 
the  author,  in  1878. 

I  love  to  tell  the  story 
Of  unseen  things  above, 

is  another  of  her  hymns. 

Hymn  151.  With  glorious  clouds  encompassed  round. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  use  of  Families,  ami  on  various  occasions,  1767  ; 
Works,  vii.  194. 

Charles  Wesley's  first  .verse  is  indebted  to  his  brother  Samuel's 
Hymn  to  God  the  Father — 

In  light  unsearchable  enthroned 
Whom  angels  dimly  see, 


136  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

which  owes  much  in  turn  to  Paradise  Lost,  v.  157 — 

Who  sitt'st  above  these  heavens, 
To  us  invisible  or  dimly  seen. 

In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Wesley  Historical  Society,  the 
Rev.  W.  F.  Moulton,  D.D.,  writes:  '  The  character  of  the  hymn 
— what  we  should  now  call  its  solidarity — might  of  itself 
account  for  the  sparing  use  of  the  hymn  in  public.  It  is  of  one 
piece.  We  cannot  remove  a  verse  without  disturbing  the  flow 
and  marring  the  cohesion  of  the  whole  poem.  Probably,  how 
ever,  the  real  obstacle  to  frequent  use  has  lain  in  certain 
expressions  in  verses  5,  6,  which  offend  modern  taste.  Verse  5 
John  Wesley  himself  "  scrupled  singing  "  ;  to  him  the  words, 
"  That  dear  disfigured  face,"  savoured  of  "  too  much  familiarity," 
seemed  to  speak  of  "  our  blessed  Lord  ...  as  a  mere  man." 
To  us  probably  verse  6  presents  still  greater  difficulty,  in  the 
words,  "  wrap  me  in  Thy  crimson  vest."  To  this  figure  I  do  not 
remember  any  exact  parallel,  either  in  the  volumes  of  the  Wesley 
poetry  or  elsewhere.  Were  it  found  in  some  ancient  writer,  or 
in  some  well-known  Latin  or  Moravian  hymn,  we  could  more 
easily  understand  its  sudden  appearance  here.  I  shall  be  glad 
to  know  if  any  parallel  has  been  found  by  others. 

'  I  suppose  that  we  shall  all  agree  as  to  the  meaning.  He 
whose  name  is  "the  Word  of  God ''  (Rev.  xix.  13)  is  seen 
"  arrayed  in  a  garment  sprinkled  with,"  or  "  dipped  in,  blood." 
In  Wesley's  Notes  this  is  rightly  explained  of  "  the  blood  of  the 
enemies  He  hath  already  conquered '"  (Isa.  Ixiii.  i,  &c.)  ;  but  at 
least  one  ancient  writer  (Hippolytus)  interpreted  the  words  "as 
referring  to  Christ's  own  blood,  by  which  the  incarnate  Word 
cleansed  the  world."  In  verse  12  we  read  that  "  He  hath  a 
name  which  no  one  knoweth  but  He  Himself."  With  his 
characteristic  tendency  to  combine  allusions  and  unite  symbols, 
Charles  Wesley  seizes  on  the  cognate  thought  of  Gen.  xxxii.  29, 
so  exquisitely  rendered  in  Hymns  140,  141  [now  449,  450].  In 
consonance  with  this  he  pleads,  "  O  Saviour,  take  me  to  Thy 
heart,  enfold  me  in  Thy  vesture  dipped  in  Thine  own  atoning 
blood.  Only  when  sprinkled  with,  encompassed  with,  the  blood 
of  atonement  can  I  understand  Thy  name.  When  I  am  thu 
enabled  to  receive  the  revelation,  tell  me  all  Thy  name." 

'  The  whole  hymn  well  illustrates  the  extent  to  which  the 
words  of  Scripture  are  embedded  in  the  Wesley  hymns.  If  we 
would  trace  up  the  thoughts  and  phraseology  of  the  hymn  to 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND    THEIR   WRITERS     137 

their  source,  we  cannot  quote  fewer  than  the  following  texts  : 
Exod.  xxiv.  1 6,  17  ;  Ps.  xcvii.  2  ;  Ezek.  x.  4  ;  Isa.  vi.  2  ;  Job  xi.  7, 
xxiii.  3,  8,  9  ;  I  Tim.  vi.  16  ;  Hab.  i.  13  ;  Isa.  lix.  2  ;  Ps.  ciii.  19 ; 
Isa.  vi.  I  ;  Exod.  iii.  8  ;  Job  xxv.  6  ;  Ps.  xxii.  6  ;  Isa.  xli.  14  ; 
Isa.  liii.  3  ;  Rev.  i.  5  ;  John  i.  18  ;  I  John  iv.  9  ;  John  xiv.  21  ; 
Col.  i.  26-7  ;  Acts  xx.  28  ;  John  xvii.  26  ;  John  i.  14  ;  I  Tim. 
iii.  16  ;  Eph.  ii.  13  ;  Tit.  ii.  13-14  ;  2  Cor.  viii.  9  ;  Eph.  iii.  18  ; 
Isa.  liii.  4-5,  Hi.  14  ;  i  Pet.  ii.  24  ;  Rev.  v.  6,  xix.  12-13  5  Gen. 
xxxii.  29  ;  2  Cor.  v.  19  ;  Eph.  iv.  32  (Gk.  and  R.V.)  ;  I  Tim.  iii. 
16;  i  Pet.  i.  2  ;  Col.  ii.  13-15  ;  Rev.  vii.  14. 

'  Partial  parallels  to  the  language  of  verses  5,  6,  will  be  found 
in  vol.  vii.  (of  the  Poetical  Works],  pp.  66,  92,  191,  215,  372  ; 
vol.  xii.,  p.  90;  vol.  xiii.,  pp.  131,  258.' 

Hymn  152.   Plunged  iu  a  gulf  of  dark  despair. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  San^s,  1707.  Headed  'Praise  to  the  Re 
deemer."  Ver.  2  reads,  '  He  ran  to  our  relief.  Verses  4,  5,  and  7 
are  omitted — 

He  spoil'd  the  pow'rs  of  darkness  thus, 

And  brake  our  iron  chains  ; 
Jesus  hath  freed  our  captive  souls 

From  everlasting  pains. 

In  vain  the  baffled  prince  of  hell 

His  cursed  projects  tries  ; 
We  that  were  doom'd  his  endless  slaves, 

Are  rais'd  above  the  skies. 

Yes,  we  will  praise  Thee,  dearest  Lord  ! 

Our  souls  are  all  on  flame ; 
Hosanna  round  the  spacious  earth 

To  Thine  adored  name. 

When  George  Eliot's  Methodist  aunt  (see  164)  was  dying 
she  quoted  '  Angels,  assist  our  mighty  joys.' 

Hymn  153.   His  name  is  Jesus  Christ  the  Just. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.)  ;  Workst\.2§\,  Matt.  xii. 
21  :  'In  His  name  shall  the  Gentiles  trust.1 


130  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  154.   Ride  on!   ride  on  in  majesty! 
HENRY  HART  MILMAN,  D.D.  (147). 

Published  in  Heber's  Hymns,  1827.  For  Palm  Sunday.  The 
third  line  ran,  'Thine  humble  beast  pursues  its  road,'  which  was 
changed  by  Murray  in  his  Hymnal,  1852,  into  'O  Saviour  meek, 
pursue  Thy  road.'  It  is  the  most  popular  of  Palm  Sunday  hymns. 

Hymn  155.    When  our  heads  are  bowed  with  woe. 

HENRY  HART  MILMAN,  D.D.  (147). 

In  Heber's  Hymns,  1827.  For  the  Sixteenth  Sunday  after  Trinity. 
It  is  based  on  the  Gospel  account  of  the  Widow  of  Nain.  The  refrain 
was  originally  '  Gracious  Son  of  Mary,  hear.'  It  brings  out  the  proper 
humanity  of  Christ  as  the  ground  of  human  appeal  for  sympathy  and 
help. 

Two  verses  are  omitted — 

3.  When  the  sullen  death-bell  tolls 
For  our  own  departed  souls ; 
When  our  final  doom  is  near, 
Gracious  Son  of  Mary,  hear  ! 

6.  Thou  the  shame,  the  grief  hast  known, 
Though  the  sins  were  not  Thine  own  ; 
Thou  hast  deign'd  their  load  to  bear ; 
Gracious  Son  of  Mary,  hear. 

Hymn  156.   Go  to  dark  Gethsemane. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

The  first  form  of  this  hymn  appeared  in  Cotterill's  Selection,  1820  ; 
five  years  later  this  revised  form  was  given  in  Montgomery's  Christian 
Psalmist.  Both  forms  are  in  extensive  use. 

Three  verses  of  the  earlier  version  may  be  quoted — 

2.  See  Him  at  the  judgement-hall, 

Beaten,  bound,  revil'd,  arraign'd  j 
See  Him  meekly  bearing  all ! 

Love  to  man  His  soul  sustain'd  ! 
Shun  not  suffering,  shame  or  loss, 
Learn  of  Christ  to  bear  the  cross. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     139 

3.  Calvary's  mournful  mountain  view  ; 

There  the  Lord  of  Glory  see, 
Made  a  sacrifice  for  you, 

Dying  on  the  accursed  tree : 
It  is  fmish'd  !  hear  Him  cry  : 
Trust  in  Christ,  and  learn  to  die. 

4,  Early  to  the  tomb  repair, 

Where  they  laid  His  breathless  clay  ; 
Angels  kept  their  vigils  there  ; 

Who  hath  taken  Him  away? 
'  Christ  is  risen  ! '  He  seeks  the  skies  ; 

Saviour  !  teach  us  so  to  rise. 

In  his  Original  Hymns  it  is  headed  'Christ  our  example  in 
suffering.'  The  Rev.  James  King  describes  a  visit  to  Geth- 
semane  in  his  Anglican  Hymnology.  We  'sat  down  on  a  rock 
overlooking  the  garden.  The  moon  was  still  bright,  and  the 
venerable  olive-trees  were  casting  dark  shadows  across  the 
sacred  ground.  The. silence  of  night  increased  the  solemnity. 
No  human  voice  was  heard,  and  the  stillness  was  only  broken 
by  the  occasional  barking  of  dogs  in  the  city.  We  read,  by  the 
light,  passages  bearing  on  the  agony,  and  James  .Montgomery's 
solemn  hymn,  "  Go  to  dark  Gethsemane."  ' 

The  1820  form  is  the  same  as  that  of  1825,  except  the  last 
line,  'Learn  from  Him  to  watch  and  pray.' 

Hymn  137.   Saviour,  when  in  dust  to  Thee. 

SIR  ROBERT  GRANT  (4). 

In  the  Christian  Observer,  1815,  entitled  'Litany.'  In  Elliott's 
Psalms  and  Hymns,  1835. 

Hymn  158.   Behold  the  Saviour  of  mankind. 

SAMUEL  WESLEY. 

Samuel  Wesley  (1662-1735)  was  son  of  the  Rev.  John 
Westley,  of  Winterborn-Whitchurch,  who  was  ejected  from  the 
living  in  1662.  His  son  studied  at  a  Nonconformist  academy 
in  London,  but  resolved  to  join  the  Church  of  England,  and 
entered  as  a  servitor  at  Exeter  College. 

When  at  Oxford  he  published  a  volume  of  poems,  in  1685, 
with  the  strange  title,  Maggots.  In  1693  his  Heroic  Poem  on 


140  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

the  Life  of  our  Blessed  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  was 
dedicated  to  Queen  Mary,  and  this  led  to  his  appointment  as 
Rector  of  Epvvorth.  He  also  published  a  three-volume  History 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  in  verse.  His  death-bed  sayings 
show  how  the  discipline  of  life  had  softened  and  chastened  his 
spirit.  He  had  reached  the  full  assurance  of  faith  and  hope 
and  love. 

His  hymn  is  a  relic  of  the  great  fire  at  Epworth  on  February 
9,  1709,  in  which  John  Wesley  nearly  lost  his  life.  The  paper 
on  which  the  hymn  was  written  was  blown  into  the  garden 
from  the  burning  house,  and  was  there  found  singed  by  the 
flames. 

Wesley  published  the  hymn  in  his  Charlestown  Psalms  and 
Hymns,  1737,  headed  '  On  the  Crucifixion,' and  in  his  Hymns 
and  Sacred  Poems,  1739  ;  Works,  i.  117.  When  the  Evangelical 
Revival  began  this  hymn  was  ready  for  use,  and  bore  a  glorious 
harvest.  It  was  sung  by  Charles  Wesley  on  July  18,  1738, 
when  he  and  Mr.  Bray  were  locked  in  with  a  party  of  con 
demned  criminals  in  a  cell  at  Newgate.  He  says,  '  It  was 
one  of  the  most  triumphant  hours  I  have  ever  known.'  Next 
morning  it  strengthened  those  penitents  to  face  death  and 
eternity. 

The  first  and  third  verses  of  this  hymn  helped  Thomas 
Walsh,  the  Irish  Romanist,  to  find  rest  in  Christ.  He  had 
gone  to  the  Methodist  service  at  New  Market,  near  Limerick, 
at  the  beginning  of  1750.  The  preacher  quoted  Isa.  Ixiii.  I 
in  his  prayer.  '  The  former  words  in  the  prayer,  and  these 
in  the  hymn,  came  with  such  power  to  my  heart,  that  I  was 
constrained  to  cry  out,  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul  ;  and  all 
that  is  within  me,  bless  His  holy  name  :  for  He  hath  forgiven 
all  mine  iniquity,  and  healed  my  diseases."  And  now  was  I 
divinely  assured  that  God.  for  Christ's  sake,  had  forgiven  me 
all  my  sins.  I  broke  out  into  tears  of  joy  and  love.' — Early 
Methodist  Preachers. 

The  mother  of  Dr.  Jobson  had  returned  from  a  sacramental 
service,  and  in  repeating  this  hymn  was  able  to  rest  on  Christ 
as  her  Saviour.  As  she  reached  the  lines — 

But  soon  He'll  break  death's  envious  chain, 
And  in  full  glory  shine, 

the  joy  of  faith  burst  into  her  life. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     14! 

11 u Din  151).   Would  Jesus  have  the  sinner  die? 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  Bristol,  1741,  No.  x.,  headed 
'Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  all  men" ;  IVorks,  iii.  22.  Inserted  in  the 
second  number  of  the  Arminian  Afagazine.  Eighteen  verses.  Hymn 
283  is  the  first  part  of  the  same  hymn,  '  See,  sinners,  in  the  gospel 
glass.'  This  hymn  begins  with  ver.  12  of  the  original.  In  ver.  2  Charles 
Wesley  wrote  '  Dear,  loving,  all-atoning  Lamb.' 

Hymn  160.   O  Love  divine!  what  hast  Thou  done? 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  74.  c  Desiring  to  love.' 
In  the  original  ver.  3  reads,  '  To  bring  us  rebels  near  to  God.' 

The  refrain  is  from  Ignatius'  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  but  it 
is  raised  from  human  love  to  divine,  'Amor  meus  crucifixus  est.' 
John  Mason  has  it  in  his  Songs  of  Praise,  1683,  as  an  opening 
line.  Faber  uses  the  refrain  in  his  hymn  on  the  Crucifixion — • 

Come,  take  thy  stand  beneath  the  cross ; 

And  let  the  blood  from  out  that  side 
Fall  gently  on  thee,  drop  by  drop ! 

Jesus,  our  Love,  is  crucified  ! 

Mr.  C.  L.  Ford  illustrates  ver.  4,  'And  gladly  catch  the 
healing  stream,'  by  an  account  of  a  Good  Friday  procession  at 
Monaco  :  '  Les  Madeleines  et  1'Ange  du  Calice  recueillant  les 
gouttes  du  sang  qui  difcoule  du  coeur  de  Notre  Seigneur  Jdsus- 
Christ.' 

Hymn  161.  All  ye  that  pass  by. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  371.  'Invitation  to 
Sinners.'  In  ver.  7  (line  4)  the  original  reads,  '  Acquitted  I  was.' 

Whitefield  once  gave  out  this  hymn  when  he  preached  at 
the  market-cross  at  Nottingham.  A  stout  Churchman  who 
had  ridden  from  Ilkeston  to  hear  him,  arrived  at  the  moment 
he  was  reading  the  first  verse,  and  the  third  line  came  home  as 
a  direct  appeal  to  himself.  He  was  thus  brought  to  Christ,  and 


142  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

all  his  family  followed  in  his  footsteps.     One  of  his  daughters 
married  Mr.  Hatton,  of  Birmingham. 

Hymn  162.  O  come  and  mourn  with  me  awhile. 
F.  W.  FABER,  D.D.  (54). 

'  Good  Friday'  in  Jesus  and  Mary,  1849,  headed  'Jesus  Crucified.' 
Ten  verses  of  four  lines.  In  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1861. 

The  original  refrain,  '  Jesus,  our  Love,  is  crucified,'  is  taken 
from  a  hymn  by  J.  Mason,  1683.  '  My  Lord,  my  Love,  was 
crucified '  was  changed  to  '  Jesus,  our  Lord,  is  crucified,'  and 
this  has  been  adopted  almost  universally.  It  is  St.  Ignatius' 
'Amor  meus  crucifixus  est,'  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
written  on  his  way  to  martyrdom,  which  was  freely  used  through 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  of  which  Charles  Wesley  made  such 
memorable  use  in  some  of  his  hymns  (see  160). 

Hymn  163.  O  Sacred  Head  once  wounded. 
GERHARDT  ;  translated  by  DR.  J.  WADDELL  ALEXANDER. 

Dr.  Alexander's  translation  appeared  in  the  Christian  Lyre,  1830. 
Two  stanzas  were  added  in  1849. 

Gerhardt's  '  O  Haupt  voll  Blut  und  Wunden '  is  itself  a 
free  translation  of  the  Salve  caput  cruentatum,  ascribed  to  St. 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux  (no),  and  entitled  'A  rhythmical  prayer 
to  any  one  of  the  members  of  Christ  suffering  and  hanging  on 
the  Cross.'  It  is  divided  into  seven  parts,  addressed  to  the  feet, 
knees,  hands,  side,  breast,  heart,  and  face  of  Jesus.  This  hymn 
is  a  translation  of  that  addressed  to  the  face  of  our  Lord. 
According  to  the  superstition  of  the  time,  the  image  of  Christ 
on  the  cross  bowed  itself  and  embraced  Bernard  with  out 
stretched  arms  as  a  token  that  his  devotion  was  accepted. 
He  died  in  1153,  and  no  MS.  of  the  poem  is  known  earlier 
than  the  fourteenth  century. 

Gerhardt's  version,  published  in  1656,  is  headed  'To  the 
suffering  face  of  Christ.'  Dr.  Schaff  says,  '  This  classical  hymn 
has  shown  an  imperishable  vitality  in  passing  from  the  Latin 
into  the  German,  and  from  the  German  into  the  English,  and 
proclaiming  in  three  tongues,  and  in  the  name  of  the  three 
Confessions — the  Catholic,  the  Lutheran,  and  the  Reformed — 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     143 

with  equal  effect,  the  dying  love  of  our  Saviour,  and  our  bound 
less  indebtedness  to  Him.'  Paulus  Gerhardt  (1607-76),  a 
Lutheran  pastor,  ranks  next  to  Luther  as  the  most  gifted  and 
popular  hymn-writer  of  his  own  Church.  Gerhardt  had  many 
sorrows.  He  did  not  obtain  a  pastorate  till  he  was  forty- four  ; 
four  of  his  five  children  died  in  early  youth  ;  his  wife  died  after 
a  long  illness  during  the  time  he  was  without  office  in  Berlin. 
Yet  his  hymns  have  no  morbid  touch,  but  are  fresh  and  healthy 
in  tone.  From  the  first  they  became  popular  with  all  ranks 
and  creeds,  and  are  among  the  most  cherished  treasures  of 
Germany  to-day. 

Dr.  Alexander,  the  translator  of  Gerhardt's  hymn,  was  born 
in  Virginia,  March  13,  1804,  and  was  professor  at  Princeton, 
and  Presbyterian  minister  in  New  York.  He  died  at  Sweet 
Springs,  Virginia,  July  31,  1859.  He  translated  also  the  Stabat 
Mater  and  Jesu  dulcis  manoria. 

When  Christian  Friedrich  Schwartz  was  dying  at  Tanjore, 
in  1798,  after  nearly  fifty  years'  apostolic  labour  for  jlndia, 
where  Hyder  Ali  trusted  and  honoured  him,  his  Malabar  pupils 
gathered  round  and  sang  in  their  own  language  the  last  verse 
of  this  hymn.  The  missionary  frequently  joined  in  it.  Then 
he  rested  a  little,  asked  to  be  raised  up,  and  passed  to  his  rest. 

The  'Passion  Chorale,'  to  [which  the  hymn  is  set,  was 
published  at  Ntirnberg  in  1601,  and  first  associated  with  this 
hymn  in  1656.  John  Sebastian  Bach  greatly  admired  it,  and 
used  it  several  times  in  his  .57.  Matthew  Passion  Music. 

Hymn  101.  When  I  survey  the  wondrous  cross. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1707.  It  is  No.  7  in  Hook  III.,  '  Pre 
pared  for  the  Holy  Ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,'  and  is  headed 
'  Crucifixion  to  the  world  by  the  cross  of  Christ,'  Gal.  vi.  14. 

Ver.  4  is  omitted — 

His  dying  crimson,  like  a  robe, 

Spreads  o'er  His  body  on  the  tree  ; 

Then  am  I  dead  to  all  the  globe, 
And  all  the  globe  is  dead  to  me. 

In  the  first  edition,  1707,  the  hymn  begins — 

When  I  survey  the  wondrous  cross 

Where  the  young  Prince  of  Glory  dy'd. 


144  THE   METHODIST  HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Matthew  Arnold  thought  this  the  finest  hymn  in  our  language. 
On  the  last  day  of  his  life  he  heard  Dr.  John  Watson  preach  at 
Sefton  Park,  Liverpool.  This  hymn  was  sung  after  the  sermon. 
Arnold  was  heard  repeating  the  third  verse  in  his  sister's  house 
shortly  before  his  sudden  death.  When  George  Eliot's  aunt, 
Mrs.  Samuel  Evans,  the  fiery  little  Methodist  heroine  of  Adam 
Bede,  'a  small,  black-eyed  woman,  very  vehement  in  her  style 
of  preaching,'  was  dying,  in  December,  1858,  she  was  one  night 
sitting  by  her  bed  in  great  pain,  when  she  exclaimed,  '  How 
good  the  Lord  is  !  Praise  His  holy  name.'  As  a  friend  sup 
ported  her,  she  quoted  the  verse,  '  See  from  His  head,  His  hands, 
His  feet';  then,  after  a  pause,  ver.  5  of  Hymn  152,  'Angels, 
assist  our  mighty  joys.'  And  after  tears  of  joy,  she  added 
another  verse,  from  Hymn  97,  '  Worthy  the  Lamb  that  died, 
they  cry.' 

Hymn  165.  Tis  finished!  the  Messiah  dies. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels ;  Works,  xii.  99.  '  It  is  finished,' 
John  xix.  30.  Eight  verses.  Published  in  the  1831  Supplement  from 
MS.  It  is  one  of  seven  hymns  on  our  Lord's  words  from  the  Cross. 
Other  hymns  were  published  in  Short  Hymns,  based  on  certain  verses 
of  St.  Luke's  Gospel,  but  these  were  afterwards  much  enlarged  and 
improved.  Three  verses  are  here  omitted. 

Hymn  166.  Not  all  the  blood  of  beasts. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.  '  Faith  in  Christ  our  Sacrifice." 
Watts  read,  '  And  hopes  her  guilt  was  there.'  His  last  verse  runs — 

Believing  we  rejoice 
To  see  the  curse  remove ; 
We  bless  the  Lamb  with  cheerful  voice, 
And  sing  His  bleeding  love. 

Mr.  G.  J.  Stevenson  gives  a  story  of  a  Jewess  who  read  on 
the  leaf  of  a  hymn-book  which  had  come  into  the  house  the 
first  verse  of  this  hymn.  She  could  not  get  it  out  of  her  mind. 
She  procured  a  Bible,  and  became  a  convert  to  Christianity. 
Her  husband  divorced  her,  and  she  was  reduced  to  poverty. 
The  Bible  Society's  colporteur  said,  'All  this  I  knew  ;  and  as 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     145 

I  stood  by  her  bedside,  she  did  not  renounce  her  faith  in  her 
crucified  Lord,  but  died  triumphing  in  Him  as  her  rock,  her 
shield,  and  her  exceeding  great  reward.' 

Hymn  167.  Thou  very  Paschal  Lamb. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745  ;   Works,  iii.  251. 

Hymn  168.  Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me. 

AUGUSTUS  MONTAGUE  TOPLADY,  M.A. ;  altered  by 
THOMAS  COTTERILL,  M.A. 

For  the  account  of  Toplady  and  his  hymn,  see  401. 

The  three-verse  form,  '  which  has  gained  as  great,  if  not  a  greater 
hold  upon  the  public  mind  than  the  original,'  is  given  in  Thomas  Cot- 
terill's  Selection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1815.  In  the  Supplement  to 
the  Wesleyan  Methodist  hymn-book,  1831,  where  the  hymn  first  made 
its  appearance,  Cotterill's  version  is  adopted,  with  some  slight  changes. 
Toplady's  '  could '  is  restored  in  7' he  Methodist  Hymn-Book,  ver.  2,  ;:nd 
in  ver.  3  '  my  eyes '  is  put  for  '  mine  eyelids.' 

Thomas  Cotterill  (1779-1823)  was  born  at  Cannock,  Staffs, 
and  became  Perpetual  Curate  of  St.  Paul's,  Sheffield  (1817- 
23).  His  Selection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1810,  has  had  a 
great  influence  on  English  hymnology. 

After  Cotterill  came  to  Sheffield  in  1817,  he  proceeded  to 
enlarge  and  adapt  a  hymn-book  which  he  had  used  in  his 
former  charge.  Great  opposition  was  aroused,  and  he  was 
brought  before  the  Consistory  Court  at  York.  Archbishop 
Harcourt  undertook  to  mediate,  and  James  Montgomery 
joined  Mr.  Cotterill  in  the  preparation  of  a  hymnal,  which  the 
archbishop  revised  and  added  to. 

Sir  Roundell  Palmer  made  a  strong  protest  against  the  use 
of  the  three-verse  form  at  the  Church  Congress  in  York,  1866. 
Since  then  Toplady's  own  text  has  been  generally  adopted. 

Theophilus  Lessey,  who  died  in  1841,  had  been  the  President 
of  the  Conference  in  the  Centenary  year,  1839.  He  was  reminded 
as  he  died  of  the  intercession  of  Christ  and  His  sympathy  with 
human  sorrow.  '  Yes,'  he  replied,  '  Christ  is  my  only  hope  ; 
on  His  atonement  I  rest,  His  precious  atonement. 

In  my  hand  no  price  I  bring, 
Simply  to  Thy  cross  I  cling.' 

L 


146  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

The  ship  London,  on  which  the  Rev.  Daniel  J.  Draper  and 
his  wife  were  returning  to  Australia,  was  lost  in  a  storm  in  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  on  January  u,  1866.  There  were  about  230 
persons  on  board,  but  only  fifteen  escaped.  Mr.  Draper 
preached  Christ  to  the  doomed  passengers,  and  the  last  man 
who  left  the  vessel  said  that  he  heard  them  singing  '  Rock  of 
Ages,  cleft  for  me,'  just  before  the  ship  went  down. 

General  Stuart,  the  cavalry  leader  of  the  South  in  the 
American  Civil  War,  sang  the  hymn  as  he  was  dying  from  the 
wounds  received  in  battle  at  Richmond. 

Abraham  E.  Farrar  (father  of  the  late  Canon  Farrar,  of 
Durham),  who  died  in  the  Hinde  Street  Circuit  in  1849,  was 
visited  by  Dr.  Beaumont,  his  colleague,  on  Easter  Sunday, 
about  half  an  hour  before  he  died.  '  There  is  no  commandment 
in  the  law  which  I  have  not  broken,'  he  said,  '  but  there  is  the 
atonement,  and  I  have  confidence  in  it.  I  can  rest  on  it. 

In  my  hand  no  price  I  bring. 
Simply  to  Thy  cross  I  cling.' 

Hymn  169.  Man  of  Sorrows! — what  a  name. 

PHILIP  BLISS. 

In  the  International  Lessons  Monthly,  1875. 

Mr.  Bliss  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  1838.  Dr.  G.  F.  Root 
employed  him  to  conduct  musical  institutes  and  compose  Sunday- 
school  music.  He  was  brought  up  as  a  Methodist,  joined  Major 
Bliss  in  1874  in  evangelical  work,  and  gave  the  royalty  of  his 
Gospel  Songs,  worth  $30,000,  to  this  cause.  In  the  railway 
disaster  at  Ashtabula,  Ohio,  December  30,  1876,  he  escaped 
from  the  burning  car,  but  lost  his  life  in  trying  to  save  his  wife. 

This  list  of  some  of  his  favourite  hymns  will  show  how  rich 
a  contribution  he  made  to  American  sacred  song — 

Through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  I  must  go. 

Whosoever  heareth,  shout,  shout  the  sound. 

Almost  persuaded  now  to  believe. 

Ho !   my  comrades,  see  the  signal. 

Light  in  the  darkness,  sailor,  day  is  at  hand. 

Down  life's  dark  vale  we  wander. 

More  holiness  give  me. 

Only  an  armour-bearer. 

Standing  by  a  purpose  true. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     147 

Brightly  beams  our  Father's  mercy. 

Free  from  the  law,  O  happy  condition. 

Have  you  on  the  Lord  believed  ? 

The  whole  world  was  lost  in  the  darkness  of  sin. 

Tenderly  the  Shepherd. 

Hymn  170.  Christ  the  Lord  is  risen  to-day ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Points,  1739;   Works,  \.  185.     '  Hymn  for  Easter 
Day.'   Five  weak  verses  are  omitted,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  hymn. 
Ver.  6  borrows  from  Young's  Last  Day,  published  in  1713— 

Triumphant  King  of  Glory  !    Soul  of  bliss  ! 
What  a  stupendous  turn  of  fate  is  this ! 

John  Wesley  did  not  insert  it  in  the  Large  Hymn-book, 
1780,  though  Martin  Madan  included  it  in  his  Psalms  and 
Hymns,  1760,  and  changed  '  Dying  once,  He  all  doth  save'  into 
'Once  He  died  our  souls  to  save.'  It  appeared  in  the  Supple 
ment  of  1831.  Samuel  Wesley  wrote  a  hymn  for  Easter,  which 
supplied  his  brother  with  some  hints  for  ver.  3 — 

In  vain  the  stone,  the  watch,  the  seal 

Forbid  an  early  rise 
To  Him  who  burst  the  bars  of  hell 

And  opened  Paradise. 

The  use  of  '  Hallelujah  '  after  every  line  represents  an  old 
Christian  custom.  Vigilantius,  one  of  the  reformers  of  the  fifth 
century,  is  denounced  by  Jerome  :  '  He  rejects  the  vigils  ;  only 
at  Easter  should  we  sing  Hallelujah.'  That  shout  of  praise  had 
been  used  by  the  Christian  ploughman  at  his  work,  and  by 
sailors  as  they  encouraged  each  other  to  ply  the  oar.  It  became 
the  recognized  salutation  on  Easter  morning,  and  has  left  its 
stamp  on  the  English  liturgy  in  the  '  Praise  ye  the  Lord,'  which 
is  simply  the  old  Hebrew  '  Hallelujah.' 

Hymn  171.  He  dies!  the  Friend  of  sinners  dies! 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Horae  Lyricat,  1709,  2nd  edition.  'Christ  dying,  rising,  and  reign 
ing.'  Wesley  included  it  unaltered  in  Se!<xt  Hymns  for  the  use  of 
Christians  of  all  Denominations,  1753. 

Watts  wrote — 


148  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

He  dies  !     The  heavenly  Lover  dies  ! 

The  tidings  strike  a  doleful  sound 
On  my  poor  heart-strings  :   deep  He  lies 

In  the  cold  caverns  of  the  ground. 

The  amended  form  in  The  Methodist  Hymn- Book  is  due  to  Madan  (Psalms 
and  Hymns  t  1760),  from  which  it  passed  into  the  Large  Hymn-book  in 
1 800. 


Hymn  172.  Ye  humble  souls  that  seek  the  Lord. 
PHILIP  DODDRIDGE  (95). 

'Easter,'  published  1755.     Ver.  3  omitted. 

In  ver.  I  Doddridge  wrote  'pleasure.'  The  change  to  'rapture* 
lifts  the  whole  stanza  into  another  world  of  feeling. 

Hymn  173.  In  the  bonds  of  death  He  lay. 
MARTIN  LUTHER  ;  translated  by  Miss  WINKWORTH  (19). 

'  Christ  lag  in  Todesbanden '  was  published  in  1524.  Luther  headed 
it  'The  hymn  "Christ  ist  erstanden,"  improved,'  but  little  trace  is 
retained  of  that  ancient  German  hymn.  Some  touches  are  suggested  by 
two  famous  Latin  hymns,  but  '  the  working  out  is  entirely  original,  and 
the  result  a  hymn  second  only  to  his  unequalled  "  Ein'  feste  Burg."  ' 

Miss  Winkworth's  translation,  of  which  ver.  2  is  here  omitted, 
appeared  in  her  Lyra  Germantca,  1855. 

Luther  was  born  at  Eisleben  in  1483,  and  entered  the 
monastery  at  Erfurt  in  1505.  A  visit  to  Rome,  followed  by 
Tetzel's  sale  of  indulgences,  roused  Luther  to  protest  against 
the  errors  of  the  Papacy,  and  in  October,  1517,  he  nailed  his 
theses  to  the  door  of  the  Castle  Church  in  Wittenberg,  burnt 
the  Papal  Bull  condemning  his  own  writings  at  Wittenberg  in 
December,  1520,  and  next  April  set  out  for  the  Diet  of  Worms. 
In  the  Wartburg,  where  he  lay  hidden  after  the  Diet,  he  began 
his  translation  of  the  Bible  into  German.  Besides  giving 
Germany  the  Word  of  God  in  its  mother-tongue,  he  wrote 
hymns  and  composed  tunes  which  became  battle-songs  of 
the  Reformation.  They  proved  the  most  effective  mission 
aries  of  the  truth  which  Luther  had  brought  out  of  bondage. 
He  published  his  New  Testament  in  1522.  In  1524  he 
printed  the  first  German  hymn-book,  with  eight  hymns.  Next 
year  the  number  grew  to  forty.  At  first  he  translated  and 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     149 

adapted  some  of  the  old  Latin  hymns  which  he  greatly  loved, 
then  he  wrote  German  hymns  which  went  direct  to  the  heart 
of  the  people.  His  skill  as  a  musician  greatly  increased  the 
impression  He  said,  '  Music  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  noble  gifts  of  God.  It  is  the  best  solace  to  a  man  in 
sorrow  ;  it  quiets,  quickens,  and  refreshes  the  heart.'  Luther 
eagerly  sought  helpers  in  the  work  of  providing  hymns.  He 
wrote  to  Spalatin,  '  We  seek  everywhere  for  poets.  Now  as  you 
are  such  a  master  of  the  German  tongue  and  are  so  mighty  and 
eloquent  therein,  I  entreat  you  to  join  hands  with  us  in  this 
work,  and  to  turn  one  of  the  Psalms  into  a  hymn.  I  desire  that 
the  words  may  be  all  quite  plain  and  common,  that  the  meaning 
should  be  given  clearly  and  graciously,  according  to  the  sense 
of  the  Psalm  itself.'  He  says  in  the  preface  to  his  hymn-book 
of  1545  that  he  hoped  that  music,  this  'beautiful  ornament,' 
might  'in  a  right  manner  serve  the  great  Creator  and  His 
Christian  people.'  The  students  at  Wittenberg  caught  up  his 
hymns,  and  spread  them  over  Germany.  Joachim  I,  of  Bran- 
denberg,  issued  a  stern  decree  against  the  use  of  them  in  1526, 
but  that  only  promoted  their  circulation.  The  monks  said, 
'  Luther  has  done  us  more  harm  by  his  songs  than  his  sermons.' 
Coleridge  goes  further  : '  Luther  did  as  much  for  the  Reformation 
by  his  hymns  as  by  his  translation  of  the  Bible.'  Luther  died  at 
Eisleben,  where  he  was  born,  in  1546. 

Hymn  174.  Christ  the  Lord  is  risen  again. 
MICHAEL  WEISSE  ;  translated  by  Miss  WINKWORTH  (19). 

'Christus  ist  erstanden,  Von  des  Todes  Banden'  appeared  in  1531, 
suggested  by  '  Christ  ist  erstanden,'  one  of  the  first  German  hymns, 
traced  as  early  as  the  twelfth  century. 

Miss  Winksvorth's  translation  is  in  her  Lyra  Germanica,  2nd  Scries, 
1858. 

Weisse  was  born  at  Neisse,  in  Silesia,  in  1480.  He  was  a 
monk  in  Breslau,  but  Luther's  early  writings  led  him  and  two 
other  monks  to  leave  the  convent  for  the  Bohemian  Brethren's 
House  at  Leutomischl,  Bohemia.  He  became  a  preacher 
among  them  at  Landskron  in  Bohemia,  and  Fulneck  in  Moravia. 
He  went  with  a  companion  in  1522  to  explain  the  views  of  the 
Bohemian  Brethren  to  Luther,  and  edited  their  first  German 
hymn-book  in  1531.  It  seems  to  have  contained  155  hymns, 


150  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

either  written  or  translated  by  himself.  In  his  preface  he  says, 
'  I  have  also,  according  to  my  power,  put  forth  all  my  ability, 
your  old  hymn-book  as  well  as  the  Bohemian  hymn-book  being 
before  me,  and  have  brought  the  same  sense,  in  accordance 
with  Holy  Scripture,  into  German  rhyme.'  Luther  called  him 
'  a  good  poet,  with  somewhat  erroneous  views  on  the  Sacrament.' 
His  best  work  has  'a  certain  charming  simplicity  of  thought 
and  expression.'  He  died  in  1534. 

Hymn  175.  Jesus  lives! — thy  terrors  now. 

CHRISTIAN  FURCHTEGOTT  GELLERT  ;  translated  by  FRANCES 
ELIZABETH  Cox. 

'Jesus  lebt,  mit  ihm  auch  ich  '  appeared ,in  his  Gdstliche  Oden  und 
Lieder,  Leipzig,  1757,  entitled  '  Easter  Hymn.'  It  is  based  on  John  xiv. 
19.  The  Hallelujah  is  not  in  the  original.  Miss  Cox's  translation  is  from 
her  Sacred  Hymns  from  the  German,  1841,  a  collection  of  forty-nine, 
afterwards  increased  to  fifty-six  pieces. 

Gellert  was  born  in  Saxony  in  1715,  studied  theology  at 
Leipzig  University,  and  for  some  time  acted  as  assistant  to  his 
father.  He  had  a  treacherous  memory,  and  as  public  feeling 
did  not  allow  a  pastor  to  read  his  sermons,  he  became  a  private 
tutor  and  afterwards  an  extraordinary  professor  in  his  university. 
He  was  too  delicate  in  health  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  an  ordinary 
professorship,  and  declined  that  offer  in  1761.  Goethe  and 
Lessing  were  among  his  pupils.  He  took  warm  interest  in  the 
personal  conduct  and  welfare  of  his  students,  and  gained  peculiar 
reverence  and  affection.  His  best  hymns  have  won  great 
popularity,  and  mark  an  epoch  in  German  hymnology.  '  He 
prepared  himself  by  prayer  for  their  composition,  and  selected 
the  moments  when  his  mental  horizon  was  most  unclouded.' 

When  Gellert  was  in  sore  straits,  a  peasant  brought  a  load  of 
firewood  to  him  in  grateful  recognition  of  the  benefit  received 
from  his  Fables.  His  hymns  were  greatly  blessed,  and  people 
of  all  ranks  and  conditions  came  to  visit  him.  Once,  when  he 
was  in  much  darkness,  he  heard  one  of  his  hymns  sung  in  church, 
and  said  to  himself, '  Is  it  you  who  composed  this  hymn,  and  yet 
you  feel  so  little  of  its  power  in  your  own  heart  ? ' 

In  December,  1769,  when  told  that  he  was  likely  to  die  in  an 
hour,  he  lifted  up  his  hands  with  a  cheerful  look,  and  exclaimed, 
'  Now,  God  be  praised,  only  an  hour.'  It  had  been  his  wish 
to  die  '  like  Addison '  (see  under  hymn  75). 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    !$! 

Miss  Cox,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  G.  V.  Cox,  M.A.,  was  born 
at  Oxford  in  1812,  and  died  in  1897.  She  was  largely  indebted 
to  Baron  Bunsen's  personal  suggestions  in  the  selection  of  the 
pieces  she  translated. 

Hymn  176.  Our  Lord  is  risen  from  the  dead. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743;  Works,  viii.  48.  The  second  part  of 
Psalm  xxiv.  Hymn  76  is  the  first  part. 

It  is  one  of  Charles  Wesley's  most  spirited  paraphrases. 

Young's  Night  Thoughts,  iv.,  may  be  compared  with  this 
hymn  ;  but  if  Young  suggested  some  phrases,  Charles  Wesley 
has  gone  far  beyond  him — 

He  rose  !    lie  rose  !    lie  burst  the  bars  of  death. 
Lift  up  your  heads,  ye  everlasting  gates  ! 
And  give  the  King  of  Glory  to  come  in. 
Who  is  the  King  of  Glory?    lie  who  left 
His  throne  of  glory,   for  the  pang  of  death: 
Lift  up  your  heads,  ye  everlasting  gates  ! 
And  give  the  King  of  Glory  to  come  in. 
Who  is  the  King  of  Glory?     lie  who  slew 
The  rav'nous  foe,  that  gorg'd  all  human  race  ! 
The  King  of  Glory,   lie,   whose  glory  fill'd 
Heaven   with  amazement,  at   His  love  to   man. 

Hymn  177.  On  wings  of  living  light. 
WILLIAM  WALSHAM  How,  D.D. 

S.P.C.K.  Church  Hymns,  1871.  It  was  written  as  an  Easter  carol, 
and  especially  for  the  tune  'Darwall's  1481!).' 

Bishop  How,  the  son  of  a  solicitor,  was  born  at  Shrewsbury, 
1823;  Rector  of  Whittington,  1851  ;  Rector  of  St.  Andrew's 
Undershaft,  London  ;  Suffragan  Bishop  of  East  London,  1879  ; 
first  Bishop  of  Wakefield,  1888.  He  died  in  1897.  His  work  in 
the  East  End  was  marked  by  apostolic  zeal  and  tenderness. 
His  unselfish  and  loving  spirit  endeared  him  to  all,  and  when 
he  was  growing  old  he  kept  his  heart  young,  and  would  sit 
down  to  write  a  set  of  nonsense  verses  to  amuse  a  grandchild 
with  the  greatest  enthusiasm  and  earnestness. 


152  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

His  son  bears  witness  :  '  He  was  happy  because  he  was 
good.  His  simple,  joyous  life  was  a  song  of  praise  to  his 
Creator,  like  that  of  a  bright  spring  day.  He  rejoiced  in  the 
Lord  always.  No  matter  what  the  anxiety,  no  matter  what  the 
trouble,  he  was  always  ready  to  turn  his  face  to  the  Sun  and  be 
gladdened  by  the  Light.' 

Bishop  How  wrote  a  Commentary  on  the  Four  Gospels, 
and  was  joint  editor  of  two  collections  of  hymns.  His  own 
hymns  number  about  sixty,  and  maintain  a  very  high  level  of 
excellence. 

Dr.  Julian  says,  '  Combining  pure  rhythm  with  great 
directness  and  simplicity,  Bishop  How's  compositions  arrest 
attention  more  through  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  the  subject 
and  the  unexpected  light  thrown  upon  and  warmth  infused  into 
facts  and  details  usually  shunned  by  the  poet,  than  through 
glowing  imagery  and  impassioned  rhetoric.  He  has  painted 
lovely  images  interwoven  with  tender  thoughts,  but  these  are 
few,  and  found  in  his  least  appreciated  work.  Those  com 
positions  which  have  laid  the  firmest  hold  upon  the  Church  are 
simple,  unadorned,  but  enthusiastically  practical  hymns.' 

Hymn  178.  The  day  of  resurrection  I 
ST.  JOHN  OF  DAMASCUS  ;  translated  by  DR.  NEALE  (27). 

In  Hymns  of  the  Eastern  Church,   1862,    "Tis   the  day  of  resur 
rection.'      In  the  Parish  Hymn-book,    1863,    it   begins    '  The  day  of 
resurrection.' 

St.  John  of  Damascus  belonged  to  a  good  family  in  that 
ancient  city.  He  was  educated  by  Cosmas,  one  of  the  greatest 
Greek  ecclesiastical  poets,  and  held  office  under  the  caliph. 
He  retired  to  the  laura  of  St.  Sabas,  between  Jerusalem  and 
Bethlehem,  with  his  foster-brother,  Cosmas  the  younger,  who 
became  '  the  most  learned '  of  the  Greek  poets.  At  Saba  he 
composed  his  hymns  and  works  on  theology.  This  monastery 
was  the  centre  of  a  school  of  hymn-writers,  and  John  was 
probably  musician  as  well  as  poet.  He  was  ordained  priest  of 
the  Church  of  Jerusalem  late  in  life,  and  died  about  780  in  his 
84th  or  looth  year.  His  empty  tomb  is  at  Mar  Saba,  but  his 
body  was  carried  to  Constantinople.  He  has  been  called  the 
Thomas  Aquinas  of  the  East.  He  was  famous  as  a  theologian, 
and  his  three  celebrated  orations  in  favour  of  the  icons  won 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     153 

him  the  title  '  The  Doctor  of  Christian  Art.'  He  gave  a  great 
impetus  to  Greek  hymnody,  and  besides  his  influence  on  their 
form  and  music,  he  gave  their  doctrinal  character  to  the  canons. 
This  hymn  is  the  first  of  eight  odes  in  his  Easter  Canon,  which 
is  held  to  be  '  the  grandest  piece  in  Greek  sacred  poetry.'  'The 
brilliant  phrases,  culminating  in  acclamation,  the  freedom  of  the 
thoughts,  the  ringing,  victorious  joy,  and  the  lofty  presentation 
of  the  import  of  the  Resurrection,  compose  a  series  of  magnificent 
efforts  of  imaginative  devotion.'  His  hymns  are  grouped  round 
the  incarnation  and  life  of  Christ. 

This  is  called  '  The  Golden  Canon,'  or  '  Queen  of  Canons.' 
It  proclaims  the  fact  of  the  Resurrection,  the  New  Passover,  in 
which  all  are  to  rejoice. 

The  Greek  hymn  is  sung  every  Easter  Day  in  Athens  and 
throughout  the  Greek  Church  amid  scenes  of  triumph.  Men 
clasp  each  other's  hands  and  rejoice  as  though  some  great  joy 
had  suddenly  come  to  them  all. 

St.  Sabas,  the  founder  of  the  famous  monastery,  died  in 
532,  and  forty  monks  still  live  in  cells  surrounding  his  grave. 
Dr.  Hugh  Macmillan  says,  '  Passing  through  the  dreary, 
homeless  waste  of  calcined  limestone  hills,  which  stretch 
between  Jerusalem  and  the  Dead  Sea,  you  come  at  last  to  the 
gate  of  the  monastery,  perched  like  an  eagle's  nest  on  the 
edge  of  the  gorge  of  the  Kedron.  You  look  sheer  down  from 
the  parapet  that  guards  the  open  court  of  the  convent,  five 
hundred  feet  or  more,  to  the  bottom  of  the  defile,  where  the 
Kedron  in  intermittent  threads  of  silver  languidly  flows.'  The 
Rev.  James  King  (Anglican  Hymnology,  1885)  speaks  of 
the  savage  desolation  amid  which  the  convent  has  stood  for 
fourteen  centuries  :  '  Several  times  in  the  course  of  ages  it 
has  been  plundered,  and  the  inmates  put  to  death  by  Persians, 
Moslems,  and  the  Bedouin  Arabs  ;  and,  therefore,  for  the  sake 
of  safety,  the  monastery  is  surrounded  by  massive  walls, 
and  further  guarded  by  two  strong  towers  near  the  entrance, 
which  tend  to  give  the  edifice  the  appearance  of  a  fortress  in  a 
commanding  position.  On  being  admitted  inside  the  gate  we 
found  chapels,  chambers,  and  cells  innumerable,  for  the  most 
part  cut  out  of  the  rock,  perched  one  above  the  other,  and  con 
nected  by  rocky  steps  and  intricate  passages.  The  huge 
building  seems  as  if  it  were  clinging  to  the  face  of  a  steep 
precipice,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  man's  masonry 
from  the  natural  rock.' 


154  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  179.  Ye  faithful  souls,  who  Jesus  know. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  xiii.  86. 
Col.  iii.  1-4. 

Hymn  180.  The  foe  behind,  the  deep  before. 

JOHN  MASON  NEALE,  D.D.  (27). 

Written  in  1853,  and  published  in  his  Carols  for  Easter-tide,  1854. 
It  was  set  to  music  by  Dr.  Joseph  Barnby,  and  was  a  great  favourite 
with  the  Eton  boys.  Six  stanzas  are  omitted. 

Hymn  181.  Hail  the  day  that  sees  Him  rise. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  Works,  i.  187.  'Hymn  for 
Ascension  Day.'  Ten  verses.  Two  verses  are  omitted,  but  they  are 
both  excellent — 

3.  Circled  round  with  angel  powers, 
Their  triumphant  Lord,  and  ours, 
Conqueror  over  death  and  sin, 
Take  the  King  of  Glory  in ! 

9.  Ever  upward  let  us  move, 
Wafted  on  the  wings  of  love  ; 
Looking  when  our  Lord  shall  come, 
Longing,  gasping  after  home. 

Hymn  182.  The  golden  gates  are  lifted  up. 
CECIL  FRANCES  ALEXANDER. 

An  Ascension  hymn,  written  for  S.P.C.K.  Hymns,  1852.  It  appears 
in  Hymns  Descriptive  and  Devotional,  1858. 

Mrs.  Alexander  was  the  second  daughter  of  Major  Hum 
phreys,  of  Strabane,  who  fought  in  the  battle  of  Copenhagen. 
She  was  born  in  Dublin,  1823,  and  in  1850  married  Rev.  W. 
Alexander,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Armagh  and  Primate  of 
All  Ireland. 

Mrs.  Alexander  may  fitly  be  called  the  children's  hymnist. 


THE   STORY  OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     155 

She  was  greatly  impressed  by  the  Tractarian  Movement,  and 
her  Verses  for  Holy  Seasons,  with  catechetical  questions  and 
with  a  preface  by  Dr.  Hook,  appeared  in  1846;  Hymns  for 
Little  Children,  a  tiny  volume  of  some  thirty  leaves,  came  out 
in  1848.  Her  hymns  and  poems  number  nearly  four  hundred. 
Her  '  Burial  of  Moses '  has  attained  wide  popularity.  Tennyson 
said  it  was  one  of  the  poems  by  a  living  writer  of  which  he 
would  have  been  proud  to  be  the  author.  Her  hymns  are 
household  words  all  over  the  world.  Many  of  them  were  written 
for  her  Sunday-school  class,  and  read  over  there  before  they 
appeared  in  print.  Some  were  prepared  at  the  request  of  the 
editors  of  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modertt,  others  for  Sunday 
schools  and  children's  gatherings.  Dr.  A.  E.  Gregory  says 
she  'may  almost  be  called  the  first  writer  of  real  children's 
hymns.  She  combines  with  the  winsome  simplicity,  which 
charms  and  instructs  a  little  child,  the  power  to  speak  to  the 
child  in  the  heart  of  the  man.' 

Hymn  183.  Thou  art  gone  up  on  high. 

EMMA  TOKE. 

Mrs.  Toke  was  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Leslie,  Bishop  of  Kilmore, 
and  was  born  at  Holy  wood,  Belfast,  in  1812.  She  married  Rev. 
Nicholas  Toke,  of  Godington  Park,  Ashford,  Kent,  in  1837  ; 
and  died  in  1872. 

Her  early  hymns  were  written  in  1851.  At  the  request  of  a 
friend  who  was  finding  hymns  for  the  S.P.C.K.,  seven  of  them, 
including  the  Ascension  hymn,  appeared  in  S.P.C.K.  Hymns  for 
Public  Worship,  1852.  She  afterwards  added  a  verse  to  her 
Ascension  hymn — 

Thou  hast  gone  up  on  high  ! 

Triumphant  o'er  the  grave, 
And  captive  led  captivity, 

Thy  ransomed  ones  to  save. 
Thou  hast  gone  up  on  high  ! 

Oh  !  help  us  to  ascend, 
And  there  with  Thee  continually 

In  heart  and  spirit  blend. 

Mrs.  Toke  wrote  another  series  of  fourteen  hymns  for  the 
Sunday  School  Liturgy  and  Hymn-book,  arranged  by  Rev.  R. 
Judd,  of  St.  Mary's,  Halifax,  1870 ;  but  they  did  not  prove  so 


156  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

popular   as    the   first    series,   though  their  merit  is  scarcely 
inferior. 

Mrs.  Toke's  hymn  on  John  xx.  29,  '  Blessed  are  they  that 
have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed,'  also  appeared  in  1852 — 

O  Thou  who  didst  with  love  untold 

Thy  doubting  servant  chide, 
Bidding  the  eye  of  sense  behold 

Thy  wounded  hands  and  side  ; 
Grant  us,  like  him,  with  heartfelt  awe, 

To  own  Thee  God  and  Lord, 
And  from  his  hour  of  darkness  draw 

Faith  in  the  Incarnate  Word. 

Hymn  184.  He  is  gone — beyond  the  skies. 
ARTHUR  PENRHYN  STANLEY,  D.D.  (144). 

Macmillan's  Magazine,  June,  1862.  Verses  2,  5,  7  are  here 
omitted. 

Dean  Stanley  told  Dr.  Schaff  that  the  hymn  was  written 
about  1859  'at  the  request  of  a  friend,  whose  children  had  com 
plained  to  him  that  there  was  no  suitable  hymn  for  Ascension 
Day,  and  who  were  eagerly  asking  what  had  been  the  feelings 
of  the  disciples  after  that  event.' 

Hymn  185.  God  is  gone  up  on  high. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Ascension  Day,  No.  2 ;  Felix  Farley,  Bristol,  1746. 
Works,  iv.  154. 

Hymn  186.  Clap  your  hands,  ye  people  all. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743  ;  Works,  viii.  no.     Psalm  xlvii.    Thirteen 


Hymn  187.   See  the  Conqueror  mounts  in  triumph. 

CHRISTOPHER  WORDSWORTH,  D.D. 
Holy  Year,  1862. 

Bishop  Wordsworth  was  born  in   1807  at  Lambeth,  where 
his  father  was  rector  before  he  became   Master  of  Trinity 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     157 

College,  Cambridge.  The  son  had  a  brilliant  career  at  that 
college  ;  became  Senior  Classic  and  a  Fellow.  He  travelled  in 
Greece  and  published  his  Athens  and  Attica,  1836.  In  1838  he 
was  elected  head  master  of  Harrow,  in  1844  Canon  of  West 
minster,  and  in  1869  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  He  died  in  1885. 
He  wrote  the  Memoirs  of  his  uncle,  William  Wordsworth  the 
poet,  and  many  other  works. 

The  Holy  Year,  1862,  contains  hymns  for  all  the  Church 
seasons:  117  are  his  own,  and  in  later  editions  they  were 
increased  to  127.  Dr.  Wordsworth  regarded  it  as  '  the  first  duty 
of  a  hymn-writer  to  teach  sound  doctrine,  and  thus  to  save 
souls.1  He  set  himself  to  deal  impartially  with  every  subject, 
so  that  some  of  his  hymns  are  almost  in  the  nature  of  task  work. 
He  drew  his  inspiration  from  Scripture,  and  delighted  to  find 
Christ  everywhere  in  the  New  Testament. 

Dr.  Julian  thinks  this  hymn  one  of  the  bishop's  finest 
compositions,  '  the  nearest  approach  in  style  and  treatment  to  a 
Greek  Ode  known  to  us  in  the  English  language.  The  amount 
of  Holy  Scripture  compressed  into  these  forty  lines  is  wonder 
ful.  Prophecy,  Types,  Historical  Facts,  Doctrinal  Teaching, 
Ecstatic  Praise,  all  are  here  ;  and  the  result  is  one  grand  rush 
of  holy  song.' 

Bishop  Wordsworth's  hymns  were  composed  in  the  train,  or 
when  walking  and  riding.  If  he  was  unable  to  sleep  at  night, 
he  would  often  get  up  and  write  a  few  verses.  They  were  written 
on  the  backs  of  envelopes,  small  scraps  of  sermon  paper,  or  the 
margin  of  any  book  he  might  be  reading.  He  wrote  very 
rapidly,  but  spared  no  pains  in  correcting  his  work. 

Hymn  188.  Holy  Ghost,  Illuminator. 

CHRISTOPHER  WORDSWORTH,  D.D.  (187). 

The  second  part  of  Hymn  187.  In  the  first  edition  of  the  Holy 
Year  the  whole  is  given  as  one  hymn.  In  the  later  editions  it  is  divided 
into  two  parts. 

Hymn  189.  Hail,  Thou  once  despisod  Jesus! 
JOHN  BAKEWELL. 

Ver.  I  and  the  first  halves  of  verses  3  and  4  appeared  in  A 
Collection  of  Hymns  addressed  to  the  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Triune  God, 
I757>  72  pages.  The  four  verses  are  given  in  Madan's  Psalms  and 


158  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymns,  and  Toplady's  Collection,  1776.  It  is  not  certain  that  the 
additional  lines  were  written  by  Bakewell  (see  Julian).  It  was  added 
to  the  Methodist  hymn-book  in  1797,  omitted  in  1808,  again  inserted 
in  1831.  A  fifth  verse,  from  James  Allen's  Collection  of  Hymns,  I757> 
has  not  established  its  place  in  general  favour. 

Soon  we  shall  with  those  in  glory, 

His  transcendent  grace  relate ; 
Gladly  sing  th'  amazing  story 

Of  His  dying  love  so  great. 
In  that  blessed  contemplation, 

We  for  evermore  shall  dwell ; 
Crown'd  with  bliss  and  consolation 

Such  as  none  below  can  tell. 

John  Bakewell  was  born  at  Brailsford,  Derbyshire,  1721. 
Boston's  Fourfold  State,  which  he  read  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
turned  his  thoughts  to  religion,  and  he  became  one  of  Wesley's 
Preachers  in  1749.  For  some  years  he  conducted  the  Green 
wich  Royal  Park  Academy.  He  introduced  Methodism  into 
the  place,  and  in  his  house  the  first  class  met,  which  was  after 
wards  carried  on  by  his  son-in-law,  Dr.  James  Egan.  He  died 
at  Lewisham,  March  18,  1819,  at  the  age  of  ninety-eight,  and 
was  buried  at  City  Road  by  Rev.  James  Creighton,  near  to 
Wesley's  grave. 

Mr.  Bakewell  had  many  links  to  early  Methodism.  He  was 
present  at  John  Fletcher's  ordination  at  Whitehall  in  1757,  and 
afterwards  went  with  him  to  West  Street  Chapel,  where  Fletcher 
helped  Mr.  Wesley  in  his  sacramental  service.  Thomas  Olivers 
stayed  with  him  at  Westminster,  and  wrote  'The  God  of 
Abraham  praise'  during  his  visit.  Thomas  Rutherford  died  in 
his  house  at  Greenwich.  Two  of  his  granddaughters  married 
the  Revs.  William  Moulton  and  James  Rosser.  Dr.  Moulton, 
of  the  Leys  School,  was  thus  Mr.  Bakewell's  great-grandson. 
His  tombstone  at  City  Road  says,  '  He  adorned  the]  doctrine  of 
God  our  Saviour  eighty  years,  and  preached  His  glorious 
Gospel  about  seventy  years.' 

His  words  in  the  Methodist  Magazine  for  July,  1816,  reveal 
his  spirit :  '  May  God  of  His  infinite  goodness  grant  that  we  and 
all  serious  Christians  of  every  denomination,  may  labour  for  a 
perfect  union  of  love,  and  to  have  our  hearts  knit  together  with 
the  bond  of  peace,  that,  following  after  those  essential  truths  in 
which  we  all  agree,  we  may  all  have  the  same  spiritual  experi 
ence,  and  hereafter  attain  one  and  the  same  kingdom  of  glory.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     159 

Mr.  Bakewell  began  to  preach  in  his  own  neighbourhood  in 
1744,  the  year  in  which  the  first  Methodist  Conference  was 
held.  He  had  then  no  formal  connexion  with  Mr.  Wesley,  but 
his  work  was  much  blessed.  Two  or  three  men  threatened  to 
stop  his  preaching  and  inflict  personal  injury  upon  him,  but 
God  made  him  the  means  of  the  conversion  of  these  very 
enemies.  After  he  gave  up  his  school  at  Greenwich,  Mr. 
Bakewell  used  '  to  take  up  his  temporary  residence  in  any 
place  where  there  was  an  interruption  of  Methodist  ministerial 
labour,  by  death,  sickness,  or  any  other  cause  ;  and  he  often 
rendered  also  considerable  pecuniary  aid.'  Wesley  seems  to 
have  dined  with  him  on  his  wedding-day,  and  when  shown 
over  the  house  after  dinner  said,  'Fine  enough,  in  all 
conscience,  for  a  Methodist ! '  His  name  appears  on  the 
London  Plan  for  1803.  Toplady  made  some  changes  in  his 
famous  hymn.  The  original  read,  ver.  I,  '  Hail,  Thou  universal 
Saviour,'  and  ver.  2,  '  Every  sin  may  be  forgiven.'  When 
his  hymn  was  omitted  from  the  Methodist  hymn-book  in 
1808  his  family  were  grieved  at  the  slight.  Bakewell  quietly 
said,  '  Well,  well  !  perhaps  they  thought  it  not  worth  inserting  !  ' 
He  gave  strict  orders  that  nothing  should  be  said  or  written 
about  him  ;  but  the  Rev.  James  Rosser,  who  married  one  of  his 
granddaughters,  says,  '  I  knew  Mr.  Bakewell  intimately,  and 
had  frequent  intercourse  with  him  toward  the  close  of  his  life; 
and  I  consider  him  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  eminent, 
pious,  and  humble  men  I  ever  knew.' 

Hymn  190.  O  Thou  eternal  Victim,  slain. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745,  No.  5  ;    Works,  iii.  219. 

Hymn  191.  Jesus,  to  Thee  we  fly. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  for  Ascension  Day,  1746,  No.  7  ;   Works,  iv.  161. 

Hymn  192.  Entered  the  holy  place  above. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on' Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762;  Works,  xiii. 
140.  Heb.  i.\.  24. 


l6o  THE    METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  193.  With  joy  we  meditate  the  grace. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1 709.     Headed  '  Christ's  compassion 
to  the  weak  and  tempted.'     Heb.  iv.  15,  16 ;  Matt.  xii.  20. 
Ver.  3  is  omitted — 

But  spotless,  innocent,  and  pure, 

The  great  Redeemer  stood, 
While  Satan's  fiery  darts  He  bore, 

And  did  resist  to  blood. 

Ver.  4,  'And  in  His  measure  feels  afresh.' 

Wesley  omitted  ver.  3  when  he  printed  the  hymn  in  his  Charles- 
town  Collection,  1737. 

When  John  Fletcher  was  in  Switzerland  in  1781,  his  friend 
and  companion,  William  Perronet,  was  seriously  ill.  He  says, 
'  Every  night  after  praying  with  me,  he  sings  this  verse  at 
parting — 

Then  let  our  humble  faith  address 

His  mercy  and  His  power : 
We  shall  obtain  delivering  grace 
In  the  distressing  hour.' 

Hymn  194.  My  sufferings  all  to  Thee  are  known. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1740;     Works,  i.  274.      'Written    in 
Stress  of  Temptation.'    Twenty  verses. 
The  first  verse  begins — 

I  am  the  man  who  long  have  known 

The  fierceness  of  temptation's  rage  ! 
And  still  to  God  for  help  I  groan : 

When  shall  my  groans  His  help  engage? 

The  intensity  of  feeling  in  the  complete  hymn  is  almost  too 
great  for  words. 

Hymn  195.  There  is  no  sorrow,  Lord,  too  light. 

JANE  CREWDSON  (1809-63). 

In  A  Little  While,  and  other  Poems,  Manchester,  1862,  headed 
'  Divine  Sympathy.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    l6l 

Mrs.  Crewdson  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  George  Fox,  of 
Perraw,  Cornwall,  and  married  Mr.  Thomas  Crewdson,  of 
Manchester.  During  a  long  illness  she  wrote  four  volumes, 
from  which  nearly  a  dozen  hymns  have  come  into  common  use. 
One  gem,  written  a  short  time  before  her  death,  bears  the 
touching  heading,  '  During  Sickness  ' — 

O  Saviour,  I  have  nought  to  plead 

In  earth  beneath,  or  heaven  above, 
But  just  my  own  exceeding  need 

And  Thy  exceeding  love. 

The  need  will  soon  be  past  and  gone, 

Exceeding  great  but  quickly  o'er  ; 
The  love,  unbought,  is  all  Thine  own, 

And  lasts  for  evermore. 

Hymn  196.  Christ,  the  true  anointed  Seer. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.);  Works,  x.  139. 
Matt.  i.  1 6.  '  Who  is  called  Christ.'  The  last  verse  is  omitted. 

Hymn  197.  O  come,  O  come,  Immanuel. 

JOHN  MASON  NEALE,  D.D.  (27). 

This  translation  gives  the  substance  of  five  of  the  seven 
Greater  Latin  Antiphons  intended  for  use  at  Vespers  in  Advent, 
beginning  on  December  17.  They  were  sung  before  and  after 
the  Magnificat,  and  are  known  as  '  the  O's,'  because  each  verse 
began  with  O  :  '  O  Emmanuel,'  '  O  Sapientia,'  '  O  Adonai,'  '  O 
Radix  Jesse,'  'O  Clavis  David,'  'O  Oriens,'  'O  Rex  Gentium.' 
Dr.  Neale's  translation,  'Draw  nigh,  draw  nigh,  Immanuel,' 
appeared  in  Mediaeval  Hymns,  1851,  but  this  was  afterwards 
altered  by  the  compilers  of  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern. 
There  is  an  interesting  chapter  on  this  hymn  in  the  Rev.  ¥.  W. 
Macdonald's  Latin  Hymns. 

Hymn  198.  Come,  Thou  long-expected  Jesus. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,  No.  10  ;  Works,  iv.  116. 
Two  verses  of  eight  lines. 

M 


1 62  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  199.  Light  of  those  whose  dreary  dwelling. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,  No.  II  ;   Works,  iv.  1 1 6. 

Hymn  200.  Lo !  He  comes  with  clouds  descending. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Intercession  for  all  Mankind,  1758.  Headed  'Thy 
Kingdom  Come.'  Works,  vi.  143. 

John  Cennick's  c  Lo  !  He  cometh,  countless  trumpets,'  seems 
to  date  from  1750.  It  probably  suggested  Charles  Wesley's 
verse,  though  it  does  not  reach  the  sustained  grandeur  of 
Wesley's  hymn.  Canon  Ellerton  says,  '  Cennick's  hymn  is 
poor  stuff  compared  to  that  into  which  Wesley  recast  it,  putting 
into  it  at  once  fire  and  tunefulness.'  But  the  word  '  recast '  is 
not  warranted  by  a  close  comparison  of  the  two  hymns. 

Thomas  Olivers  constructed  a  tune  based  on  a  concert- 
room  song,  '  Guardian  angels,  now  protect  me.'  Wesley 
published  it  as  'Olivers'  in  Select  Hymns  and  Tunes  Annext, 
1765.  This  tune  Mr.  Madan  recast  and  renamed  'Helmsley' 
in  his  Collection  of  Hymn  and  Psalm  Tunes,  1769. 

Dr.  B.  Gregory  speaks  in  his  Autobiographical  Recollections 
(p.  190)  of  a  sister  who  died  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  after  a 
quarter  of  an  hour's  illness.  She  had  always  been  strangely 
thoughtful,  gentle,  and  devout.  '  From  the  moment  of  her 
seizure  she  knew  that  she  was  dying  :  and,  surely,  never  has 
death  been  more  gloriously  swallowed  up  in  victory.  She 
exclaimed,  "  Oh,  this  is  nice  dying  /"  And  then,  fixing  her  eyes 
upwards,  as  if  she  saw  the  Redeemer  coming  to  receive  her, 
she  cried — 

Yea,  Amen !  let  all  adore  Thee, 
High  on  Thy  eternal  throne  ! 
Saviour,  take  the  power  and  glory, 
Claim  the  kingdom  for  Thine  own, 

Jah,  Jehovah, 
Everlasting  God,  come  down ! 

These  were  her  last  words.  Beautiful  association  of  the  Second 
Advent  with  Christ's  reception  of  the  individual  believer  to 
Himself!' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     163 

Hymn  201.  Ye  virgin  souls,  arise. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Watchnight  (1746?),  No.  10;  Hymns  and  Sacred 
Poems,  1749,  Works,  v.  284.  Three  verses  are  omitted. 

Mr.  Everett  says,  in  describing  the  last  hours  of  Sammy 
Hick,  that  'As  evening  drew  on,  his  speech  began  to  falter; 
yet  every  sentence  uttered  by  those  around  appeared  to  be 
understood  ;  and  when  that  hymn  was  sung,  "Ye  virgin  souls, 
arise,"  he  entered  into  the  spirit  of  it ;  especially  when  the 
friends  came  to — 

The  everlasting  doors 

Shall  soon  the  saints  receive. 

At  the  first  line  of  this  verse  '  he  lifted  his  dying  hand,  and 
waved  it  round  till  it  fell  by  his  side  ;  still  feebly  raising  and 
twining  round  his  forefinger,  as  the  arm  was  stretched  on  the 
bed,  betokening  his  triumph  over  the  "  last  enemy,"  and  showing 
to  those  who  were  with  him  that  he  was,  to  use  language 
previously  employed  by  him,  going  "full  sail  towards  the 
harbour." ' 

Hymn  202.  Behold,  behold,  the  Bridegroom  nigh  ! 
EDWARD  JOHN  BRAILSFORD. 

The  Rev.  E.  J.  Brailsford  was  born  in  Birmingham  in  1841, 
and  is  the  son  of  a  builder  and  architect.  He  was  educated 
in  the  Wesleyan  Connexional  School,  Dublin,  and  resided  in 
Ireland  ten  years.  He  was  a  student  at  Didsbury,  and  after 
wards  in  Edinburgh  University.  He  began  the  Methodist 
Mission  in  Blairgowrie,  N.B.,  and  stayed  there  six  years. 

Most  of  the  hymns  Mr.  Brailsford  has  published  were 
written  in  Ilkley,  Wharfedale.  Four — 'Lord,  I  will  follow  on, 
'  O  God  of  Truth,  speak  Thou  Thy  Holy  Word,' '  As  sets  the 
sun  while  clouds  grow  bright,'  and  '  Behold,  behold,  the 
Bridegroom  nigh ' — were  written  for  the  Gatecliff  Chant-Book, 
widely  used  in  parts  of  the  West  Riding. 

While  in  Yorkshire  he  published  Only  a  Woman's  Hair,  a 
tale  of  Yorkshire  village  life.  Other  short  tales  have  followed. 
Hymn  202  is  an  Advent  hymn,  keeping  closely  to  the  story  of 


164  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

the  Ten  Virgins.  Its  metre  is  unique.  It  can  be  sung  to  the 
old  tune  '  Job,'  but  is  now  set  in  the  Methodist  Tune-Book  to 
'  Lyndhurst,'  specially  composed  for  it  by  Mr.  Alcock,  organist 
of  the  Chapel  Royal. 


Hymn  203.  Light  of  the  lonely  pilgrim's  heart. 
SIR  EDWARD  DENNY,  BART. 

For  'Missions,'  published  in  Deck's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1842.  In 
1848,  Sir  Edward  included  it  in  Hymns  and  Poems,  headed  'The  heart 
watching  for  the  morning.'  Three  lines  are  prefixed  from  Cowper's 
Task,  by  which  it  seems  to  have  been  suggested — 

Thy  saints  proclaim  Thee  King :  and  in  their  hearts 
Thy  title  is  engraven  with  a  pen 
Dipp'd  in  the  fountain  of  eternal  love. 

Sir  Edward  Denny  (1796-1889)  contributed  largely  to  the 
hymns  of  the  Plymouth  Brethren,  to  whom  he  belonged.  He 
published  A  Selection  of  Hymns,  including  many  of  his  own, 
in  1839. 

When  Sir  Edward  was  in  his  ninetieth  year  he  pointed  out 
Father  Clement  to  a  friend  who  visited  him  at  West  Brompton 
as  the  book  to  which;  under  God,  he  owed  his  conversion.  He 
seldom  took  part  in  any  public  meeting,  but  privately  proved 
himself  a  diligent  servant  of  Christ.  In  Ireland  he  was  a 
lenient  and  much  respected  landlord. 


Hymn  204.  Lord,  her  watch  Thy  church  is  keeping. 

HENRY  DOWNTON,  M.A.  (1818-85). 

Written  for  a  meeting  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  and  first 
published  in  Barry's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1867. 

Mr.  Downton  was  English  chaplain  at  Geneva,  1857  ;  Rector 
of  Hopton,  Suffolk,  1873  ;  chaplain  to  Lord  Monson. 

His  collected  Hymns  and  Verses  were  issued  in  1873. 
1  Another  year,  another  year ' ;  '  For  Thy  mercy  and  Thy 
grace'  (Old  and  New  Year,  written  in  1841);  'Harp,  awake, 
tell  out  the  story'  (New  Year,  1848),  are  his  most  popular 
hymns. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     165 

Hymn  205.  Break,  day  of  God,  O  break. 
HENRY  BURTON,  D.D. 

Written  at  Blundellsands,  Liverpool,  on  Christmas  Eve,  1900.  The 
first  verse  was  composed  on  the  railway  bridge,  the  rest  on  his  return 
home. 

Dr.  Burton  was  born  in  1840  at  Svvannington,  Leicestershire, 
in  the  house  where  his  grandmother,  Mrs.  James  Burton, 
founded  the  first  Wesleyan  Juvenile  Missionary  Association  in 
1818.  His  parents  removed  to  America  in  his  boyhood,  and  he 
graduated  at  Belloit  College,  which  gave  him  the  degree  of  D.D. 
in  1900  in  recognition  of  his  contributions  to  theological  literature 
especially  his  '  St.  Luke  '  in  the  Expositor's  Bible,  and  Gleanings 
in  the  Gospels.  After  his  ministerial  training  he  supplied  for 
the  brother  of  Miss  Frances  E.  Willard,  and  for  six  months  had 
charge  of  a  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Monroe,  Wisconsin. 
In  1865  he  entered  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  ministry  in  England. 
He  married  a  sister  of  the  Rev.  Mark  Guy  Pearse. 

He  has  published  a  volume  of  poems,  Wayside  Songs,  many 
of  which  have  been  set  to  music.  '  Pass  it  on'  has  been  set  to 
music  by  at  least  ten  different  composers. 

Hymn  206.  Hail  to  the  Lord's  Anointed. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

Ver.  3  is  omitted — 

By  such  shall  He  be  feared, 

While  sun  and  moon  endure, 
Beloved,  adored,  revered, 

For  He  shall  judge  the  poor, 
Through  changing  generations, 

With  justice,  mercy,  truth, 
While  stars  maintain  their  stations, 

And  moons  renew  their  youth. 

The  first  half  of  ver.  6  and  of  ver.  7  are  joined,  and  two  half- 
verses  omitted — 

6  6.  For  He  shall  have  dominion 
O'er  river,  sea,  and  shore : 
Far  as  the  eagle's  pinion, 
Or  dove's  light^wing,  can  soar. 


1 66  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

7  b.  The  mountain  dews  shall  nourish 

A  seed  in  weakness  sown, 
Whose  fruit  shall  spread  and  flourish 
And  shake  like  Lebanon. 

The  original  of  ver.  2,  line  7,  reads,  '  Whose  souls  in  misery  dying  ' ; 
and  that  of  ver.  6,  line  8,  '  His  name,  what  is  it  ?  love.'  Montgomery 
altered  it  to  '  That  name  to  us  is  Love.'  The  great  improvement  in 
Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  '  His  changeless  name  of  Love,'  is  said  to 
be  due  to  Keble. 

Written  for  a  Christmas  Ode  sung  at  a  Moravian  settlement, 
Christmas,  1821.  On  January  9,  1822,  it  was  sent  in  MS.  to  Mr. 
George  Bennett,  then  on  a  mission  tour  in  the  South  Seas.  The 
following  April  Montgomery  himself  repeated  it  at  a  missionary 
meeting  in  Pitt  Street  Chapel,  Liverpool,  at  which  Adam  Clarke 
presided.  The  Doctor  claimed  it  for  his  Commentary,  then  on 
the  eve  of  publication.  In  May  it  appeared  in  the  Evan 
gelical  Magazine,  entitled  '  Imitation  of  the  72nd  Psalm,  Tune 
Culmstock.'  The  Dictionary  of  Hymnology  says,  'Of  all 
Montgomery's  renderings  and  imitations  of  the  Psalms  this  is 
the  finest.  It  forms  a  rich  and  splendid  Messianic  hymn.  Its 
success  has  been  great,  partly  due  at  the  first  to  the  publicity 
given  to  it  by  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Bible, 
in  which  it  appeared  in  1822  with  a  special  note  at  the  end  of 
his  exposition  of  Psalm  Ixxii.'  : 

'  I  need  not  tell  the  intelligent  reader  that  he  has  seized  the  spirit, 
and  exhibited  some  of  the  principal  beauties,  of  the  Hebrew  bard ; 
though  (to  use  his  own  words  in  a  letter  to  me)  his  "hand  trembled  to 
touch  the  harp  of  Zion."  I  take  the  liberty  here  to  register  a  wish, 
which  I  have  strongly  expressed  to  himself,  that  he  would  favour  the 
Church  of  God  with  a  metrical  version  of  the  whole  book.' 

Dr.  A.  E.  Gregory  describes  it  as  '  an  unsurpassed  rendering 
of  a  triumphant  Messianic  psalm.' 

Hymn  207.  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesu's  name. 

EDWARD  PERRONET  (1726-92). 

The  first  verse  is  given  in  the  Gospel  Magazine,  November,  1779, 
with  the  tune  '  Shrubsole,'  written  for  it  in  the  organ  gallery  of  Canter 
bury  Cathedral  by  Shrubsole,  a  young  man  of  twenty,  who  had  been  a 
chorister  there.  The  tune  was  afterwards  known  as  '  Miles  Lane,'  from 
the  Independent  Chapel  in  London  where  Shrubsole  was  organist. 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     167 

The  following  April  the  complete  hymn,   '  On  the  Resurrection,  the 
Lord  is  King,'  appeared  in  the  same  magazine. 
The  second  verse  is — 

Let  high-born  seraphs  tune  the  lyre, 

And  as  they  tune  it,  fall 
Before  His  face  who  tunes  their  choir, 

And  crown  Him  Lord  of  all. 

It  appeared  in  his  Occasional  Verses,  1785.  In  Selection  of  Hymns, 
1787  (by  Dr.  Rippon  (1751-1836),  Minister  of  New  Park  Street  Baptist 
Chapel,  London),  it  is  headed  '  The  Spiritual  Coronation,  Cant.  iii.  II.' 
Perronet's  line — 

Sinners  whose  love  can  ne'er  forget 
The  wormwood  and  the  gall, 

is  changed  into  'Ye  Gentile  sinners,  ne'er  forget.' 

Let  every  tribe  and  every  tongue 

That  bound  creation's  call, 
Now  shout  in  universal  song, 

The  crowned  Lord  of  all, 
is  changed  to — 

Let  every  kindred,  every  tribe 

On  this  terrestrial  ball, 
To  Him  all  majesty  ascribe, 

And  crown  Him  Lord  of  all. 

Each  verse  has  a  heading,  '  Angels,"  'Martyrs,'  '  Converted  Jews,' 
'  Believing  Gentiles,'  '  Sinners  of  every  Age," '  Sinners  of  every  Nation.' 
A  new  verse  is  added,  headed  '  Ourselves  '— 

Oh  that,  with  yonder  sacred  throng, 

We  at  His  feet  may  fall ; 
We'll  join  the  everlasting  song, 

And  crown  Him  Lord  of  all. 

The  Perronets  were  a  French  family  who  settled  in  England 
in  1680.  The  son  of  David  Perronet  became  Vicar  of  Shoreham, 
Kent,  in  1728,  and  was  for  thirty-nine  years  the  trusted  adviser 
of  the  Wesleys.  Charles  Wesley  used  to  call  him  '  the  Arch 
bishop  of  the  Methodists.'  Edward  Perronet  was  with  Wesley 
at  Bolton  on  October  18,  1749,  when  the  mob  packed  the  street 
in  front  of  the  house  where  Wesley  was  staying.  After  some 
time  he  ventured  out.  '  They  immediately  closed  in,  threw  him 
down  and  rolled  him  in  the  mire  ;  so  that  when  he  scrambled 
from  them,  and  got  into  the  house  again,  one  could  scarce  tell 
what  or  who  he  was.'  The  mob  soon  burst  into  the  house. 


1 68  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Wesley  waited  a  little  while,  and  then  went  down  among  them. 
'  The  winds  were  hushed,  and  all  was  calm  and  still.  My 
heart  was  filled  with  love,  my  eyes  with  tears,  and  my  mouth 
with  arguments.  They  were  amazed,  they  were  ashamed,  they 
were  melted  down,  they  devoured  every  word.'  In  1753 
Wesley  writes  that  Edward  Perronet  was  believed  to  be  dying 
some  days  since  at  Epworth,  and  vehemently  rejoicing  in  God. 
He  soon  recovered.  In  December,  1784,  Wesley  visited  the 
vicar  of  Shoreham,  then  ninety-one  years  of  age.  '  His  bodily 
strength  is  gone,  but  his  understanding  is  little  impaired  ;  and 
he  appears  to  have  more  love  than  ever.' 

Two  of  his  sons  became  Methodist  Preachers,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  attempt  to  secure  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  by  the  Preachers  in  1755.  Wesley  had'to  hold 
the  reins  firmly,  but  he  says  in  a  letter,  '  I  think  both  Charles 
(Perronet)  and  you  have,  in  the  general  a  right  sense  of  what  it 
is  to  serve  as  sons  in  the  gospel.'  They  did  not,  however, 
preach  where  Wesley  desired. 

It  was  at  Edward  Perronet's  house  that  Charles  Wesley  met 
Mrs.  Vazeille  in  July,  1749.  He  it  was  who  told  the  poet  in 
February,  1750,  that  John  Wesley  was  going  to  marry  this  lady. 
'  I  refused  his  company  to  the  chapel,  and  retired  to  mourn  with 
my  faithful  Sally.'  In  1756  Edward  Perronet  was  living  in  a 
part  of  the  old  Archbishop's  Palace  at  Canterbury.  He  printed 
The  Mitre  in  1757,  a  strong  poetic  satire  on  the  Church  of 
England  and  sacerdotal  teaching.  At  Wesley's  wish  he  ceased 
to  sell  it,  but  continued  to  give  it  away  freely  to  the  Preachers 
and  others.  Charles  Wesley  was  deeply  distressed  and  dis 
turbed  (Tyerman's  Wesley,  ii.  254).  Perronet  became  minister 
of  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon's  Chapel,  Watling  Street,  Canter 
bury,  and  afterwards  of  an  Independent  Church  in  the  city.  He 
died  there  on  January  2,  1792,  and  was  buried  in  the  cloisters 
of  the  cathedral.  His  last  words  were  'Glory  to  God  in  the 
height  of  His  divinity  !  Glory  to  God  in  the  depth  of  His 
humanity  !  Glory  to  God  in  His  all-sufficiency  !  And  into  His 
hands  I  commend  my  spirit  ! 

Hymn  208.  Crown  Him  with  many  crowns. 
THRING  (129)  AND  BRIDGES. 

The  first  verse   is  from   Mr.  Bridges'  Hymns  of  the  Heart,   2nd 
edition,  1851,  entitled  '  In  capite  ejus  diademata  multa.     Apoc.  xix.  12.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     169 

It  was  repeated  in  his  Passion  of  Jesus,  1852,  '  Third  Sorrowful 
Mystery,  Songs  of  the  Seraphs.  Apoc.  xix.  12.'  The  rest  of  the 
hymn,  save  the  last  line,  is  by  Godfrey  Thring.  His  own  hymn  began, 
'Crown  Him  with  crowns  of  gold,'  but  in  1880,  in  Mr.  Thring's 
Collection,  Bridges'  first  stanza  was  substituted  for  his  own  to  secure 
those  fine  lines — 

Hark  !   how  the  heavenly  anthem  drowns 
All  music  but  its  own. 

Mr.  Bridges  was  born  at  Maldon,  Essex,  in  1800  ;  educated 
in  the  Church  of  England,  joined  the  Church  of  Rome  in  early 
life,  and  went  to  Quebec,  where  he  died  in  1893. 

At  the  Bible  Society's  Centenary  Thanksgiving  in  the  Royal 
Albert  Hall  (November,  1905),  after  congratulatory  messages 
had  been  read  from  all  the  Protestant  rulers  of  Christendom, 
the  Marquis  of  Northampton,  who  presided  over  the  meeting, 
said  :  '  Now  that  we  have  read  these  addresses  from  earthly 
rulers,  let  us  turn  our  minds  to  the  King  of  kings.  We  will 
sing,  "  Crown  Him  with  many  crowns."  ' 

Hymn  209.  The  head  that  once  was  crowned  with 
thorns. 

THOMAS  KELLY,  M.A. 
In  the  1820  edition  of  his  Hymns  ;  based  on  Heb.  ii.  9,  10. 

Kelly  was  the  son  of  an  Irish  judge,  Chief  Baron  Kelly, 
and  was  born  in  Dublin  in  1769,  and  educated  for  the  bar  at 
Trinity  College.  He  took  holy  orders  in  1792,  but  his  earnest 
evangelical  preaching  in  Dublin  led  Archbishop  Fowler  to 
inhibit  him.  He  left  the  Established  Church,  and  built  places 
of  worship  in  Wexford  and  other  towns,  where  he  preached. 
He  was  an  excellent  biblical  scholar  and  a  magnetic  preacher, 
and  was  greatly  admired  for  his  zeal  and  liberality  to  the  poor 
during  the  famine  year.  He  was  much  beloved  by  the  poor  of 
Dublin  ;  and  one  man  is  said  to  have  cheered  his  wife  in  a  time 
of  great  trouble  by  saying,  '  Hould  up,  Bridget,  bedad  ;  there's 
always  Misther  Kelly  to  pull  us  out  of  the  bog  afther  we've  sunk 
for  the  last  time.'  He  died  in  1854. 

He  published  in  1802  a  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
with  an  appendix  of  thirty-three  hymns  by  himself.  He  also 
issued  volumes  of  hymns  and  a  selection  of  tunes  for  every 
variety  of  metre,  which  was  well  received.  Some  of  them  are 


170  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

said  to  be  of  great  beauty  and  originality.  The  last  edition 
of  his  Hymns  contained  765  written  by  himself.  '  "WVsing  the 
praise  of  Him  who  died,'  and  '  Look,  ye  saints,  the  sight  is 
glorious,'  are  two  of  his  best  known  pieces. 

Some  of  Kelly's  hymns  are  feeble,  but  others  rise  high. 
Earl  Selborne  says,  '  Simple  and  natural,  without  the  vivacity 
and  terseness  of  Watts  or  the  severity  of  Newton,  Kelly  has 
some  points  in  common  with  both  those  writers.  Some  of  his 
hymns  have  a  rich  melodious  movement ;  others  are  dis 
tinguished  by  a  calm,  subdued  power,  sometimes  rising  from  a 
rather  low  to  a  very  high  key,'  as  in  '  We  sing  the  praise  of  Him 
who  died.'  In  the  edition  of  1853  Kelly  says,  'It  will  be  per 
ceived  by  those  who  read  these  hymns  that  though  there  is  an 
interval  between  the  first  and  last  of  nearly  sixty  years,  both 
speak  of  the  same  great  truths,  and  in  the  same  way.  In  the 
course  of  that  long  period  the  author  has  seen  much  and  heard 
much,  but  nothing  that  he  has  seen  or  heard  has  made  the 
least  change  in  his  mind,  that  he  is  conscious  of,  as  to  the  grand 
truths  of  the  gospel.' 


Hymn  210.  My  heart  is  full  of  Christ,  and  longs. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743  ;  Works,  viii.  102.  Psalm  xlv.  In  two 
parts.  Twenty-one  verses.  The  first  four  are  given  here.  In  the 
original  ver.  i  reads,  '  The  beauties  of  my  heavenly  King,"  and  ver.  4, 
'  And  reign  in  all  our  hearts  alone.' 


Hymn  211.  Jesu,  my  God  and  King. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems ;  1739  j   Works,  i.  152.     '  Hymn  to  Christ 
the  King.'     Eleven  verses. 

9.  Thee  when  the  dragon's  pride 

To  battle  vain  defied, 
Brighter  than  the  morning  star, 

Lucifer  as  lightning  fell, 
Far  from  heaven,  from  glory  far 
Headlong  hurl'd  to  deepest  hell. 


THE    STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     171 

II.  Trembles  the  King  of  Fears 

Whene'er  Thy  cross  appears. 
Once  its  dreadful  force  he  found : 

Saviour,  cleave  again  the  sky ; 
Slain  by  an  eternal  wound, 

Death  shall  then  for  ever  die. 


Hymn  212.  Earth,  rejoice,  our  Lord  is  King  ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740  ;  Works,  i.  296.  '  To  be  sung  in  a 
tumult.'  Fourteen  verses.  In  ver.  6,  '  Our  Messias  is  come  down,' 
has  been  altered  to  '  Christ  the  Saviour.' 

The  story  of  Elisha  and  his  servant  (2  Kings  vi.  15-17)  is  used 
with  great  effect  in  ver.  5. 

Hymn  213.  Rejoice,  the  Lord  is  King ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  our  Lonfs  Resurrection,  1746;   Works,  iv.  140. 

In  1826  Samuel  Wesley,  the  great  organist,  discovered  in  the 
library  of  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum  at  Cambridge,  in  Handel's 
handwriting,  three  tunes  which  he  composed  for  three  of  his 
father's  hymns — 

Rejoice,  the  Lord  is  King  ! 

Sinners,  obey  the  gospel  word. 

O  Love  divine,  how  sweet  Thou  art  ! 

'  Gopsal '  is  the  tune  for  the  first,  and  is  attached  to  it  in 
the  Tune-book  of  1904.  Gopsal  Hall,  near  Ashby-dc-la-Zouch, 
was  the  home  of  Charles  Jennens,  the  compiler  of  the  libretto  for 
the  Messiah.  Handel  frequently  visited  him,  and  has  com 
memorated  the  friendship  in  this  name  for  his  tune.  A  facsimile 
of  Handel's  MS.  is  given  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Wesley 
Historical  Society,  iii.  8,  p.  239,  with  some  interesting  notes  by 
Mr.  James  T.  Lightwood.  Handel  was  a  friend  of  Mr.  Rich,  who 
put  Covent  Garden  Theatre  at  his  service  for  the  performance  of 
his  operas.  Handel  taught  music  to  Mr.  Rich's  daughters,  and 
at  his  house  Charles  Wesley  and  his  wife  met  the  German  com 
poser.  Mrs.  Rich  was  converted  under  Charles  Wesley's 
ministry,  and  was  one  of  the  first  who  attended  West  Street 


172  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Chapel.  The  poet  dined  there  on  October  26,  1745,  and  says, 
'  The  family  concealed  their  fright  tolerably  well.  Mr.  Rich 
behaved  with  great  civility.  I  foresee  the  storm  my  visit  will 
bring  upon  him.'  According  to  Samuel  Wesley,  Mrs.  Rich 
asked  Handel  to  set  music  to  these  hymns.  He  says, '  I  cannot 
anticipate  a  greater  musical  gratification  (not  even  at  the 
York  or  Birmingham  Festivals)  than  that  of  hearing  chanted 
by  a  thousand  voices,  and  in  the  strains  of  Handel,  "  Rejoice, 
the  Lord  is  King  !  " ' 

Hymn  214.  Jesus,  Thou  art  our  King! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  Works,  i.  154.  'Second  Hymn 
to  Christ  the  King.'  Ver.  4  originally  read  '  Pride,  and  self,  and 
every  foe.'  The  change  here  was  made  in  the  Large  Hymn-book,  1780. 

Hymn  215.  Sing  we  to  our  conquering  Lord. 

CHARLES  WESLEY. 

From  the  Arminian  Magazine,  1798;  Works,  viii.  183.  Psalm 
xcviii.  Seven  verses.  The  last  three  omitted. 

Hymn  216.  Omnipotent  Redeemer. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  xxi.  20 ;  Works,  xii.  387.  In 
ver.  2  the  original  reads,  '  Of  practical  believers '  ;  ver.  3  halts 
badly — 

And  myriads  more 
Take  into  Thine  embraces. 

Hymn  217.   All  thanks  be  to  God. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  No.  3  ;  Works,  iv.  210.  '  Thanksgiving  for  the 
Success  of  the  Gospel.'  Eight  verses.  One  verse  is  omitted,  and  two 
half-verses.  The  verse  which  is  left  out  shows  how  Charles  Wesley's 
muse  sometimes  droops — 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     173 

The  opposers  admire 
The  hammer  and  fire, 
Which  all  things  o'ercomes, 
And  breaks  the  hard  rocks,  and  the  mountains  consumes. 

With  quiet  amaze 
They  listen  and  gaze, 
And  their  weapons  resign, 
Constrain'd  to  acknowledge — the  work  is  divine  ! 

Charles  Wesley's  Journal  enables  us  to  watch  the  birth  of 
this  hymn.  On  Sunday,  August  10,  1746,  he  had  a  congregation 
of  nine  or  ten  thousand  at  Gwennap  Pit,  '  who  listened,'  he  says, 
« with  all  eagerness,  while  I  commended  them  to  God,  and  the 
word  of  His  grace.  For  near  two  hours  I  was  enabled  to  preach 
repentance  towards  God,  and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  I  broke  out 
again  and  again  into  prayer  and  exhortation.  I  believe  not  one 
word  would  return  empty.  Seventy  years'  suffering  were  over 
paid  by  one  such  opportunity.' 

The  meeting  with  the  Society  pleased  him  as  much  as  this 
noble  congregation.  '  Never  had  we  so  large  an  effusion  of  the 
Spirit  as  in  the  Society.  I  could  not  doubt,  at  that  time,  either 
their  perseverance  or  my  own  ;  and  still  I  am  humbly  confident 
that  we  shall  stand  together  among  the  multitude  which  no  man 
can  number.'  Next  day  '  I  expressed  the  gratitude  of  my  heart 
in  the  following  thanksgiving — 

All  thanks  be  to  God 
Who  scatters  abroad.' 

So  the  hymns  leaped  forth  from  a  heart  and  mind  set  on  fire 
by  the  events  of  the  Evangelical  Revival. 

Hymn  218.   See  how  great  a  flame  aspires. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poem*,  1749;  Works,  v.  120.  The  last  of  four 
hymns  entitled  'After  preaching  to  the  Newcastle  Colliers.' 

It  is  one  of  the  hymns  that  still  lives  and  grows.  Every 
advance  made  by  the  cause  of  Christ  gives  it  fresh  emphasis. 
Thomas  Jackson  says, '  Perhaps  the  imagery  was  suggested  by 
the  large  fires  connected  with  the  collieries,  which  illuminate 
the  whole  of  that  part  of  the  country  in  the  darkest  nights.' 


174  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

The  fourth  verse  is  based  on  Elijah's  experience  after  the 
scene  on  Carmel.     i  Kings  xviii.  44-5. 


Hymn  219.   Arm  of  the  Lord,  awake,  awake  1 

Thine  own  immortal  strength  put  on. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 749 ;  Works,  iv.  302.  The  second 
part  of  a  hymn,  in  four  parts  and  fifty-two  verses,  based  on  Isa.  li. 
Four  verses  of  the  second  part  are  omitted.  The  second  part 
appeared  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739,  but  was  withdrawn  from 
its  fourth  edition,  and  the  complete  paraphrase  printed  in  1749- 

The  wife  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Benson  asked  that  the  last 
three  verses  of  this  hymn  might  be  read  to  her  on  her  death 
bed.  When  her  daughter  had  read  them,  she  said,  '  Oh,  what 
a  blessed  hymn !  Let  me  hear  it  again.'  The  last  time  her 
husband  was  able  to  go  out  to  tea  at  the  house  of  some  friends, 
Jabez  Bunting,  who  was  present,  told  how  Mr.  Benson  repeated 
these  three  verses,  and  gave  a  heavenly  tone  to  all  the  evening's 
conversation. 

In  1760  John  Fletcher  visited  Mr.  Berridge  at  his  vicarage 
at  Everton.  Lady  Huntingdon  was  there,  with  Martin  Madan 
and  Henry  Verni.  Three  days  of  mighty  blessing  closed  with 
a  service  attended  by  ten  thousand  people.  Berridge  preached 
the  last  sermon,  which  closed  with  this  hymn. 

Hymn  220.   Salvation!  O  the  joyful  sound! 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.  Verses  I  and  3  appear  without 
chorus.  The  second  verse  runs — 

Bury'd  in  sorrow  and  in  sin, 

At  hell's  dark  door  we  lay; 
But  we  arise  by  grace  divine 

To  see  a  heav'nly  day. 

About  1772  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon's  Collection  (no 
date)  gives  the  verse  '  Salvation  !  O  Thou  bleeding  Lamb,' 
and  the  chorus  '  Blessing,  honour,  praise,  and  power,'  which 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     175 

is  probably  due  to  the  Hon.  Walter  Shirley,  who  revised  the 
Collection. 

Henry  Moore,  Wesley's  friend  and  biographer,  found  peace 
in  February,  1777.  He  attended  a  watchnight  at  the  close  of 
that  day,  and  on  his  return  to  his  sister's  house,  where  he  was 
staying,  his  heart  was  so  full  that  he  cried  out,  '  How  shall  I 
praise  Thee,  O  Lord  ! '  '  And  immediately  the  doxology,  then 
common  among  religious  people,  and  which  I  had  learned  at 
the  chapel,  burst  from  my  lips.  I  knew  no  other  hymn  of 
praise — 

Glory,  honour,  praise,  and  power, 
Be  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  ! 

I  sang  this  aloud,  and,  as  I  afterwards  learned,  awoke  the 
remainder  of  the  family,  and  greatly  alarmed  my  sister,  who 
thought  that  the  crisis  was  come,  and  that  insanity  had  taken 
place.' 

Hymn  221.   Behold !  the  mountain  of  the  Lord. 

MICHAEL  BRUCE  (1746-67). 

This  paraphrase  of  Isa.  ii.  1-5  grew  out  of  'In  latter  days,  the 
mount  of  God,'  which  appeared  anonymously  in  the  Scottish  Transla 
tions  and  Paraphrases,  1745. 

It  was  by  Michael  Bruce,  son  of  a  Scotch  weaver  at 
Kinnesswood,  where  he  died  whilst  a  student  for  the  ministry. 
Bruce's  MS.  was  entrusted  to  John  Logan,  who  published  it  as 
his  own  in  1781. 

The  original  of  1745  reads — 

In  latter  days,  the  mount  of  God, 

His  sacred  house  shall  rise 
Above  the  mountains  and  the  hills, 

And  strike  the  wond'ring  eyes. 

To  this  the  joyful  nations  round, 
All  tribes  and  tongues  shall  flow ; 

Up  to  the  house  of  God,  they'll  say, 
To  Jacob's  God,  we'll  go. 

To  us  He'll  point  the  ways  of  truth : 

The  sacred  path  we'll  tread  : 
From  Salem  and  from  Zion-hill 

His  law  shall  then  proceed. 


176  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Among  the  nations  and  the  isles, 

As  Judge  supreme,   He'll  sit : 
And  vested  with  unbounded  pow'r, 

Will  punish  or  acquit. 

No  strife  shall  rage,  nor  angry  feuds, 

Disturb  these  peaceful  years ; 
To  plow-shares  then  they'll  beat  their  swords, 

To  pruning-hooks  their  spears. 

Then  nation  shan't  'gainst  nation  rise, 

And  slaughter'd  hosts  deplore  : 
They'll  lay  the  useless  trumpet  by, 

And  study  war  no  more. 

O  come  ye,  then,  of  Jacob's  house, 

Our  hearts  now  let  us  join  : 
And,  walking  in  the  light  of  God, 

With  holy  beauties  shine. 

Hymn  222.   Jesus,  the  word  bestow. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scriptures  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works, 
xiii.  22.  It  is  given  as  the  last  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  but  is 
based  on  Acts  xix.  20. 

Hymn  223.   On  all  the  earth  Thy  Spirit  shower. 
HENRY  MORE,  D.D. 

From  Divine  Dialogues  with  Divine  Hymns,  1 688.  Wesley 
included  this  and  Hymn  233  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739,  in 
fifteen  stanzas,  beginning  'When  Christ  had  left  His  flock  below,' 
and  headed  '  On  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  Pentecost.  Altered 
from  Dr.  H.  More.'  He  inserted  them  in  the  Large  Hymn-book, 
1780. 

Henry  More  was  born  at  Grantham  in  1614,  and  became 
Fellow  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  1639.  He  renounced 
the  Calvinism  in  which  he  had  been  trained,  declined  offers 
of  promotion,  and  spent  his  life  in  private  tuition.  Professor 
Palgrave  calls  him  '  the  most  interesting  figure  among  our 
poetical  mystics.'  He  died  in  1687. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     177 

Hymn  224.   Saviour,  we  know  Thou  art. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (left  in  MS.);  Works  t  xii.  157. 
Acts  ii.  47.     The  first  and  last  verses  are  here  omitted.     Ver.  I  reads— 
The  Church  in  ancient  days 

Was  sinners  saved  from  sin, 
And  souls  through  Jesus'  grace 

Were  daily  taken  in ; 
Pardon  and  faith  together  given 
Threw  open  wide  the  gate  of  heaven. 

The  original  (ver.  2)  reads,  '  The  people  saved  below. ' 

Hymn  225.   Sow  in  the  morn  thy  seed. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

Printed  for  the  Sheffield  Sunday  School  Union,  Whitsuntide,  1832, 
for  which  he  wrote  a  hymn  for  nearly  forty  years ;  published  in  his 
Poet's  Portfolio,  1835,  headed  'The  Field  of  the  World.'  Eccles.  xi.  6. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  George  Bennett,  June  16, 1832,  Montgomery 
says  that  the  previous  February,  on  returning  from  Bath,  he 
and  Mr.  Rowland  Hodgson  were  travelling  between  Gloucester 
and  Tewkesbury,  when  he  saw  several  women  and  girls 
working  in  rows,  and  was  told  that  they  were  making  holes  in  the 
field,  into  which  they  dropped  two  or  three  seeds.  Montgomery 
had  never  seen  this  'dibbling'  before.  He  said,  'Give  me 
broadcast  sowing,  scattering  the  seed  on  the  right  hand  and 
on  the  left,  in  liberal  handfuls.'  '  I  fell  immediately  into  a 
musing  fit,  and  moralized  most  magnificently  upon  all  kinds 
of  husbandry  (though  I  knew  little  or  nothing  of  any,  but 
so  much  the  better,  perhaps,  for  my  purpose),  making  out 
that  each  was  excellent  in  its  way,  and  best  in  its  place.  By 
degrees  my  thoughts  subsided  into  verse,  and  I  found  them 
running  lines,  like  furrows,  along  the  field  of  my  imagination  : 
and  in  the  course  of  the  two  next  stages  they  had  already 
assumed  the  form  of  the  following  stanzas,  which  I  wrote  as 
soon  as  we  reached  Bromsgrove.  This  is  the  whole  history 
and  mystery  of  which  I  fear  you  have  heard  so  romantic  an 
account.' 

N 


178  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

John  Wesley's  account  of  the  awakening  at  Epworth  in 
June,  1742,  forms  a  noble  illustration  of  the  truth  of  this 
hymn.  'O  let  none  think  his  labour  of  love  is  lost  because 
the  fruit  does  not  immediately  appear  !  Near  forty  years  did 
my  father  labour  here  ;  but  he  saw  little  fruit  of  his  labour. 
I  took  some  pains  among  this  people  too  ;  and  my  strength 
also  seemed  spent  in  vain  :  but  now  the  fruit  appeared.  There 
were  scarce  any  in  the  town  on  whom  either  my  father  or  I  had 
taken  any  pains  formerly,  but  the  seed,  sown  so  long  since,  now 
sprung  up,  bringing  forth  repentance  and  remission  of  sins.' 

Hymn  226.   Blow  ye  the  trumpet,  blow ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  New  Year's  Day,  1750;  Works,  vi.  12.  The  last  line 
of  the  original  reads,  '  Return  to  your  eternal  home  ! ' 

This  was  the  favourite  hymn  of  John  Brown,  of  Harper's 
Ferry,  which  he  used  to  sing  with  his  family  to  the  tune 
'  Lennox.'  It  was  his  battle-song. 

Hymn  227.    Come,  Thou  Conqueror  of  the  nations. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Expected  Invasion,  1759;  Works,  vi.  160.  The  last 
hymn,  in  eight  verses,  founded  on  Rev.  xix.  11-16. 

In  the  same  tract  are  Hymns  to  be  ^lsed  on  the  Thanksgiving 
Day,  November  20,  1759,  and  after  it.  John  Richard  Green 
says,  '  England  had  never  played  so  great  a  part  in  the  history 
of  mankind  as  now.  The  year  1759  was  a  year  of  triumphs  in 
every  quarter  of  the  world.  In  September  came  the  news  of 
Minden,  and  of  a  victory  off  Lagos.  In  October  came  tidings 
of  the  capture  of  Quebec.  November  brought  word  of  the 
French  defeat  at  Ouiberon.  "  We  are  forced  to  ask  every 
morning  what  victory  there  is,"  laughed  Horace  Walpole,  "  for 
fear  of  missing  one." ' 

Eighteen  thousand  men  lay  ready  to  embark  in  the  French 
fleet  on  November  20,  the  very  day  appointed  for  the  Thanks 
giving,  when  Admiral  Hawke,  despite  the  shoals  and  granite 
reefs  of  Ouiberon  Bay,  attacked  and  destroyed  the  fleet.  The 
disgrace  of  Byng's  retreat  was  thus  wiped  out. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR    WRITERS     179 

Hymn  228.  Creator  Spirit!   by  whose  aid. 
JOHN  DRYDEN  (1631-1701). 

This  translation  of  Vcni  Creator  (see  751)  was  given  in  Dryden's 
Miscellaneous  Poems,  1693.  Dr.  Julian  says,  'One  of  the  first  to 
adapt  it  for  congregational  purposes  was  John  Wesley,  who  included 
it  in  his  Psalms  and  Hymns •,  1738,  in  an  abbreviated  form.' 

Dryden  wrote — 

Ver.  I  :  Come,  visit  every  pious  mind. 
Ver.  2  :  O  Source  of  uncreated  light. 
Ver.  3  :  But,  oh,  inflame  and  fill  our  hearts. 
Ver.  4  :  Our  frailties  help,  our  vice  control, 
Submit  the  senses  to  the  soul. 

Dryden  was  Poet  Laureate  and  Historiographer  Royal,  1670- 
89.  He  joined  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  1685.  He  is 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Uipnn  229.   When  God  of  old  came  down  from 
heaven. 

JOHN  KEIILE,  M.A.  (85). 

The  Whit  Sunday  poem  from  the  Christian  Year,  with  the  text, 
Acts  ii.  2,  3. 

Hymn  230.   Jesus,  we  on  the  word  depend. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Petition  and  Thanksgiving  for  the  Promise  of  the  Father, 
1746;  Works,  iv.  179.  John  xiv.  25-7. 

Hymn  231.   Father,  glorify  Thy  Son. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Petition  and  Thanksgiving  for  the  Promise  of  the  Father, 
1746;  Works,  iv.  175.  John  xiv.  16,  17.  Verses  2  and  4  are  here 
omitted. 

Ver.  I  reads :  Answer  His  prevailing  prayer. 

Ver.  2  :  But  we  know  by  faith  and  feel. 

Ver.  3  :  Jesus  said,  It  shall  be  so  ! 


l8o  THE    METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  232.   Father  of  our  dying  Lord. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  228.  'Hymn  for  the 
Day  of  Pentecost.' 

Hymn  233.  Father,  if  justly  still  we  claim. 
HENRY  MORE,  D.D.  (223). 

From  Divine  Dialogues  -with  Divine  Hymns,  1688,  adapted  by  John 

Wesley. 

Hymn  234.  Granted  is  the  Saviour's  prayer. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  Works,  i.  188.  'Hymn  for 
Whitsunday.'  Ten  verses.  The  last  four  are  here  omitted. 

Hymn  235.  Our  blest  Redeemer,  ere  He  breathed. 

HARRIET  AUBER. 

Miss  Auber's  second  verse  is  omitted — 

He  came  in  semblance  of  a  dove, 
With  sheltering  wings  outspread, 
The  holy  balm  of  peace  and  love 
On  each  to  shed. 

The  doxology  (ver.  7)  is  not  in  the  original. 

Miss  Auber  was  born  in  London,  October  4,  1773.  Her 
father  was  Rector  of  Tring.  She  spent  the  greater  part  of  her 
life  at  Broxbourne  and  Hoddesdon,  Herts,  where  she  died, 
January  20,  1862.  This  hymn  and  much  of  her  own  poetry, 
with  some  hymns  by  other  writers,  appeared  in  her  Spirit  of  the 
Psalms  ;  or,  A  Compressed  Version  of  Select  Portions  of  the 
Psalms  of  David,  published  in  1829.  Some  useful  versions  of 
the  Psalms  have  passed  from  it  into  modern  hymn-books. 
About  twenty  appeared  in  Mr.  Spurgeon's  collection,  1866. 
Her  famous  hymn  for  Whitsuntide  was  written  by  some  one 
on  a  pane  of  glass  in  her  house  at  Hoddesdon.  The  Rev.  Dawson 
Campbell  afterwards  lived  in  this  house,  and  wished  to  have  the 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND  THEIR   WRITERS     l8l 

pane,  but  the  landlord  would  not  consent.  It  was  removed 
at  a  later  date,  and  has  never  been  traced.  A  Miss  Mackenzie, 
who  wrote  religious  books,  lived  with  Miss  Auber,  and  the  two 
old  saints  were  greatly  loved  in  the  district.  Miss  Auber  was 
buried  in  the  churchyard  opposite  to  her  house,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-nine.  It  was  some  time  before  the  hymn  came  into 
common  use  ;  but  when  compilers  of  hymn-books  got  to  know 
it,  it  soon  attained  wide  popularity. 

Hymn  230.   Lord,  we  believe  to  us  and  ours. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  227.  'Hymn  for  the 
Day  of  Pentecost.'  Twelve  verses,  beginning  '  Rejoice,  rejoice,  ye  fallen 
race.'  This  hymn  begins  at  ver.  5. 

In  ver.  i  the  original  is :  We  wait  to  taste  the  heavenly  powers. 
Ver.  4 :  If  still  Thou  art  to  sinners  given, 

To  shake  our  earth  come  down  from  heaven. 
Ver.  5  :  Kindle  in  each  Thy  living  lire. 

Hymn  237.   Holy  Ghost!   my  Comforter! 
Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus. 

Latin  ;  translated  by  Miss  \Vinkworth  (19)  in  her  Lyra  Gcrmanica^ 
1st  Series,  2nd  edition,  1856. 

This  was  often  styled  '  The  Golden  Sequence'  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  It  has  not  been  found  in  any  MS.  older  than  1200  A.U. 
It  has  been  ascribed  to  Robert  II  of  France,  but  the  verse-form 
is  much  later  than  his  time.  Even  less  reason  exists  for 
ascribing  it  to  Hermannus  Contractus.  There  is  more  to  be 
said  for  the  authorship  of  Stephen  Langton,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  (1207-28).  The  Dictionary  of  Hymnology, 
however,  leans  to  the  opinion  that  it  was  written  by  Pope 
Innocent  III  (1161-1216),  to  whom  it  is  ascribed  by  Ekkehard, 
a  monk  of  St.  Gall.  He  says  that  Ulrich,  abbot  of  his 
monastery,  came  back  from  Rome  in  1215  or  1216  with  the 
report  that  the  Pope  had  composed  the  Sequence.  The  abbot 
seems  to  have  brought  a  copy,  which  was  inserted  in  the 
Sequentiaries  at  St.  Gall.  Innocent  was  a  man  of  great  ability, 
and  he  is  the  most  probable  author.  The  Sequence  would  thus 
be  a  link  to  the  days  when  England  was  laid  under  interdict 


l8z  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

by  this  masterful  Pope,  who  commanded  the  monks  of  Canter 
bury  to  elect  Stephen  Langton  as  Primate  and  brought  King 
John  to  his  knees  as  '  the  Pope's  man.' 

The  great  Whitsuntide  Sequence,  of  which  translations  by 
Dryden  and  Cosin  are  given  in  hymn-book,  held  its  place  on 
Whit  Sunday  till  the  revision  of  the  Roman  Missal,  1568-70. 
The  Golden  Sequence  was  used  on  one  or  more  of  the 
following  week-days.  In  1570  it  was  appointed  for  use  on 
Whit  Sunday. 

Clichtovaeus  says  in  1516,  'Nor,  indeed,  in  my  opinion, 
can  this  piece  be  sufficiently  praised  ;  for  it  is  above  all  praise, 
whether  by  reason  of  its  wonderful  sweetness  along  with  a  most 
clear  and  flowing  style,  or  by  reason  of  its  agreeable  brevity 
along  with  wealth  and  profusion  of  ideas,  especially  as  almost 
every  line  expresses  one  idea,  or  finally  by  reason  of  the 
elegant  grace  of  its  structure,  in  which  things  contrasted  are 
set  over  against  each  other,  and  most  aptly  linked  together. 
And  I  well  believe  that  the  author  (whoever  he  was),  when  he 
composed  this  piece,  had  his  soul  transfused  by  a  certain 
heavenly  sweetness,  by  which,  the  Holy  Spirit  being  its  author, 
he  uttered  so  much  sweetness  in  so  few  words.' 

Archbishop  Trench  thought  it '  the  loveliest  of  all  the  hymns 
in  the  whole  circle  of  Latin  sacred  poetry,'  which  '  could  only 
have  been  composed  by  one  who  had  been  acquainted  with 
many  sorrows,  and  also  with  many  consolations.' 

It  is  an  early  example  of  the  transition  from  rhythmic  prose 
to  rhyming  verse  of  the  most  varied  metres.  '  Whoever  com 
posed  the  Veni,  Sancte  Spiritus,  he  was  a  master  of  his  art, 
as  well  as  a  devout  and  enlightened  soul.  The  scheme  of 
versification  is  simple,  but  possesses  considerable  metrical 
charm.  The  hymn  is  of  ten  stanzas,  each  consisting  of  three 
lines  of  seven  syllables,  of  which  the  last  but  one  is  always 
short.  The  third  lines  rhyme  throughout,  producing  a  pleasing 
effect  by  the  recurrence  of  the  same  sound  at  stated  intervals 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end.' 

There  are  more  than  thirty-seven  English  versions.  Miss 
Winkworth's  is  from  the  German  version  by  Martin  Moller  in 
Meditationes  sanctomm  patrum,  Gorlitz,  1584,  headed  'A  very 
beautiful  prayer  to  God  the  Holy  Ghost.'  Mr.  Macdonald 
says,  'The  result  is  an  English  hymn  of  great  excellence — 
gracious,  tender,  and  truly  supplicatory,  charged  throughout 
with  holy  longing  expressed  in  pure  and  simple  language. 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND  THEIR  WRITERS     183 

Hymn  238.   Come  to  our  poor  nature's  night. 
GEORGE  RAWSON  (45). 

From  the  Leeds  Hymn-book,  1853.  For  Whitsuntide.  There  were 
originally  nine  stanzas,  but  the  author  omitted  the  seventh  when  he 
issued  it  in  his  Hymns,  Verses,  and  Chants,  1876,  and  the  third  and 
last  are  left  out  here. 

Hymn  239.  Away  with  our  fears. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Petition  and  Thanksgiving  for  the  Promise  of  the  Father, 
1746  ;  Works,  iv.  203.  The  last  hymn  in  the  collection.  One  double 
verse  is  omitted — 

The  Presence  divine 
Doth  inwardly  shine, 
The  Shechinah  rests 

On  all  our  assemblies,  and  glows  in  our  breasts. 
By  day  and  by  night 
The  pillar  of  light 
Our  steps  shall  attend, 
And  convoy  us  safe  to  our  prosperous  end. 

Hymn  240.  Sinners,  lift  up  your  hearts. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Petition  and  Thanksgiving  for  the  Promise  of  the  Father, 
1746  (No.  4)  ;  W'orks,  iv.  168. 

Hymn  241.  Eternal  Spirit,  come. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Petition  and  Thanksgiving  for  the  Promise  oj  the 
Father,  1746 ;  Works,  iv.  167.  Four  verses.  Verses  3  and  4  are 
omitted.  Ver.  4 — 

Our  ruin'd  souls  repair, 
And  fix  Thy  mansion  there, 
Claim  us  for  Thy  constant  shrine, 

All  Thy  glorious  self  reveal, 
Life,  and  power,  and  love  divine, 
God  in  us  for  ever  dwell. 


184  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  242.  Spirit  of  truth!  on  this  Thy  day. 
REGINALD  HEBER,  D.D.  (28). 

'Whit  Sunday.'  Appeared  in  his  posthumous  Hymns,  1827.  A 
weak  verse  of  the  original  is  omitted — 

We  neither  have  nor  seek  the  power 

111  demons  to  control ; 
But  Thou,  in  dark  temptation's  hour, 
Shalt  chase  them  from  the  soul. 

Hymn  243.  O  Breath  of  God,  breathe  on  us  now. 
ALFRED  H.  VINE. 

Appeared  in  Methodist  Recorder,  1901. 

Mr.  Vine,  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Vine,  Wesleyan  minister, 
was  born  in  Nottingham  in  1845,  educated  at  King  Edward's 
School,  Birmingham,  and  King's  College,  London  ;  entered 
Wesleyan  ministry,  1867. 

Mr.  Vine  has  published  three  volumes  of  poems — The  Doom 
of  Saul,  Songs  of  the  Heart  (1905),  and  Songs  of  Living  Things, 
a  book  for  young  people  on  animal  intelligence.  He  has  also 
written  for  the  Methodist  periodicals.  Mr.  Vine  wrote,  '  O 
great  Lord  Christ,  my  Saviour,'  and  '  Saviour,  Thy  clear  eyes 
behold,'  for  the  Young  Peoples  Hymnal. 

Hymn  244.  Breathe  on  me,  Breath  of  God. 

EDWIN  HATCH,  D.D.  (1835-89). 
In  Dr.  Allon's  Congregational  Psalmist  Hymnal,  1 886. 

Dr.  Hatch,  born  in  Derby,  was  a  Professor  in  Toronto, 
and  head  of  Quebec  High  School.  In  1867  he  was  chosen 
Vice-Principal  of  St.  Mary  Hall,  Oxford ;  Rector  of  Purleigh, 
1883  ;  Reader  in  Ecclesiastical  History,  1884.  After  his  death 
his  poems  were  published  by  his  widow  in  Towards  Fields  of 
Light,  1890.  They  are  a  beautiful  supplement  to  his  theology, 
and  reveal  the  depth  and  tenderness  of  his  own  religious  life. 

His  famous  Bampton  Lectures  'On  the  Organization  of 
Early  Christian  Churches,'  1881,  have  awakened  keen  con 
troversy.  They  showed  that  the  writer  was  '  one  of  the  most 
original  and  erudite  students  of  early  Church  history  that 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     185 

England  had  produced.'     In  Germany  they  made  a  profound 
impression. 

Hymn  245.    Come,  Holy  Ghost,  all-quickening  fire, 
Come,  and  in  me  delight  to  rest. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Points,   1739;   Works,  i.   164.     'Hymn  to  the 
Holy  Ghost.'     Verses  3  and  6  are  here  omitted. 

1  Hymn  246.  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  heavenly  Dove. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

f/ymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,   1707.      'Breathing   after   the    Holy 
Spirit :  or,  fervency  of  devotion  desired.'     Ver.  2  is  omitted — 
Look  how  we  grovel  here  below, 

Fond  of  these  trifling  toys  : 
Our  souls  can  neither  fly  nor  go 

To  reach  eternal  joys. 

Whitefield's  Collection,  1753,  altered  line  3  of  the  above  verse  to 
1  Our  souls,  how  heavily  they  go.'     Ver.  4 — 

Dear  Lord,  and  shall  \ve  ever  lie 

At  this  poor  dying  rate, 
was  altered  by  Wesley  in  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743,  to  its  present  form. 

Hymn  217.  Sovereign  of  all  the  worlds  on  high. 
PHILIP  DODDRIDGE  (95). 

In  his  MS.  it  is  headed  '  Adoption  argued  from  a  filial  temper,  on 
Gal.  iv.  6.    June  17,  1739.'     Published  in  1755. 

Hymn  248.  Why  should  the  children  of  a  King. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,   1709.     'The  witnessing  and  sealing 
Spirit.     Rom.  viii.  14,  16  ;  Eph.  i.  13,  14.'     Ver.  3  is  omitted — 
Thou  art  the  earnest  of  His  love, 

The  pledge  of  joy  to  come  ; 
And  Thy  soft  wings,  celestial  Dove, 

Will  safe  convey  me  home. 
Given  in  Wesley's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1741. 


1 86  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

A  little  memorandum-book  is  preserved  of  Mr.  T.  R.  Allan's 
founder  of  the  Allan  Library.  'It  is  crowded  with  Bible 
promises  of  mercy  to  the  penitent,  interspersed  with  verses 
from  the  Wesleyan  hymn-book.  Every  line  reveals  the  yearn 
ing  for  God,  and  the  humble  faith  which  wins  acceptance  in 
His  sight.  Among  the  last  entries  in  red  ink  is  the  third  verse 
of  this  hymn,  "Assure  my  conscience  of  its  part."  The  verse 
came  from  his  soul.  Opposite  is  written,  "  What  is  wanted  is 
not  so  much  a  general  declaration  of  God's  readiness  to  pardon 
sinners,  but  a  sense  of  pardon  actually  bestowed  and  received, 
communicated  and  assured  to  the  conscience  by  God's  Holy 
Spirit,  which  Mr.  Wesley  described  as  a  loving  and  obedient 
sight  of  a  loving  and  present  God.  This  he  spoke  of  as  a  habit 
of  the  soul  which  constituted  Faith.  (I  quote  from  some  one 
whose  name  I  forget)."' 


Hymn  249.  Holy  Spirit!  pity  me. 

WILLIAM  MACLARDIE  BUNTING. 

The  Rev.  W.  M.  Bunting  (1805-66)  was  the  eldest  son  of 
Rev.  Jabez  Bunting,  D.D.  His  meditation  on  the  words,  '  Him 
that  cometh  unto  Me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out,'  as  he  crossed 
old  London  Bridge,  is  said  to  have  led  to  his  conversion  in  his 
seventeenth  year.  He  entered  the  Wesleyan  ministry  in  1824. 
He  was  a  preacher  full  of  thought  and  tenderness,  the  soul  of 
reverence  and  lofty  aspiration.  In  his  early  days  it  is  said  that 
he  'became  unboundedly  popular,  even  with  the  multitude.' 
'  From  the  first  his  sermons  abounded  in  a  certain  tender  poetry 
of  thought  and  phrase.  Not  that  he  was  profusely,  still  less 
affectedly,  dramatically,  illustrative ;  but  that,  now  and  then, 
a  light  and  a  colour  were  thrown  upon  the  composition,  which 
not  only  beautified  the  places  where  they  fell,  but  lit  up  and 
harmonized  the  whole  landscape.' 

This  hymn,  headed  '  Spiritual  Sin,'  is  based  on  Eph.  iv.  30. 
It  appeared  in  Dr.  Leifchild's  Original  Hymns,  1842.  It  is 
profoundly  touching  and  heart-searching.  Some  of  his  hymns 
were  printed  in  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Magazine  with  the 
signature  '  Alec.' 

'  Little  as  he  is  known  outside  his  own  Church,  his  hymns 
are  among  the  best  loved  and  best  used  in  Wesleyan  Methodism. 
I  cannot  but  think  that  some  day  he  will  be  recognized  as  one 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS    187 

of  the  glorious  choir  of  the  Universal  Church.' — Dr.  A.  E. 
Gregory. 

Hymn  250.  I  want  the  Spirit  of  power  within. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  307.  Headed  '  Groan 
ing  for  the  Spirit  of  Adoption.'  The  first  verse  begins — 

Father,  if  Thou  my  Father  art, 
Send  forth  the  Spirit  of  Thy  Son. 

'  Sin  '  was  changed  into  '  sins '  (ver.  4)  in  the  Large  Hymn-book, 
1780. 

Hymn  251.  Spirit  of  wisdom,  turn  our  eyes. 
HENRY  AUGUSTUS  RAWES,  M.A. 

The  last  five  verses  of  a  hymn  on  Confirmation.  The  hymn 
appeared  as  No.  172  in  the  Catholic  Hymnal,  1861,  compiled  by 
'  The  Rev.  Father  Rawes,  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Oblates  of 
St.  Charles,  London.'  Some  of  the  hymns  are  by  the  compiler ; 
for  others  he  expresses  his  obligation  to  Faber,  Caswall,  and  various 
writers.  This  hymn  is  not  signed  ;  but  it  is  not  in  Caswall's  book  nor 
in  Faber' s,  so  that  it  is  probably  by  Father  Rawes  himself.  It  begins — 

Signed  with  the  Cross  that  Jesus  bore, 
We  kneel,  and  tremblingly  adore 

Our  King  upon  His  throne. 
The  lights  upon  the  altar  shine 
Around  His  Majesty  divine, 

Our  God  and  Mary's  Son. 

Now  in  that  presence  dread  and  sweet, 
His  own  dear  Spirit  we  entreat 

Who  sevenfold  gifts  hath  shed 
On  us,  who  fall  before  Him  now, 
Bearing  the  Cross  upon  our  brow 

On  which  our  Master  bled. 

Ver.  4,  line  3,  reads,   '  Within  our  inmost  shrine.' 

Henry  Augustus  Rawes,  M.A.,  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
1852,  was  born  at  Easington,  near  Durham,  in  1826,  and  educated 
at  Houghton-le-Spring  Grammar  School  under  his  father,  the 


l88  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

head  master.  He  became  curate  of  St.  Botolph,  Aldgate,  June, 
1851.  He  joined  the  Roman  Churchin  1856;  was  created  D.D. 
by  Pius  IX,  1875  ;  Superior  of  the  Oblate  Fathers  at  Bayswater, 
1879,  an<i  became  well  known  in  London  as  a  preacher  and 
writer.  He  died  at  Brighton  in  1885,  and  was  buried  at  the 
cemetery  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  Mortlake.  He  edited  a 
volume  of  verse  and  prose  and  a  small  hymn-book. 

Hymn  252.  Gracious  Spirit,  dwell  with  rne. 
THOMAS  TOKE  LYNCH  (1818-71). 

Mr.  Lynch  was  the  son  of  a  surgeon,  was  born  at  Dunmow 
in  1818,  and  studied  for  a  time  at  Highbury  Independent  College. 
In  1847  he  became  minister  in  Highgate,  and  in  1862  at 
Mornington  Church,  Hampstead  Road,  where  he  was  pastor 
till  his  death  in  1871.  The  freshness  and  spirituality  of  his 
preaching  drew  many  thoughtful  hearers  around  him. 

As  a  child  he  had  been  delicate,  and  wrote  hymns  and 
poems.  Before  he  was  fifteen  he  had  written  a  dedication  to 
himself  for  the  volume  he  hoped  some  day  to  publish.  He  had 
many  a  laugh  over  this  in  later  years.  His  hymns  appeared  in 
The  Rivulet:  A  Contribution  to  Sacred  Song,  1855.  '  Gracious 
Spirit,  dwell  with  me,'  is  in  the  first  edition.  The  Rivulet 
roused  a  fierce  controversy,  and  was  unsparingly  denounced  by 
Dr.  John  Campbell  in  the  Eclectic  Review  for  what  was  styled 
its  '  negative  theology.'  The  Congregational  Union  was  split 
into  parties  by  this  controversy,  but  Dr.  Binney  defended 
Lynch's  book,  and  it  is  now  almost  regarded  as  a  Noncon 
formist  Christian  Year.  It  is  difficult  in  our  day  to  understand 
how  such  a  storm  arose  over  so  inoffensive  a  volume. 

Hymn  253.  Spirit  blest,  who  art  adored. 

THOMAS  BENSON  POLLOCK. 

The  Rev.  T.  B.  Pollock,  M.A.  (1836-96),  graduated  in 
1859  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  where  he  gained  the  prize  for 
English  verse.  He  was  his  brother's  curate  at  St.  Alban's, 
Birmingham,  and  succeeded  him  in  the  living,  which  wore 
down  his  health  as  it  had  done  that  of  his  brother. 

Mr.  Pollock  was  one  of  our  most  successful  composers  of 
metrical  litanies.  His  Metrical  Litanies  appeared  in  1870. 
His  litanies  on  the  '  Seven  Words  on  the  Cross,'  published  in 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     189 

in  a  small  volume,  and  afterwards  in  Hymns  Ancient  and 
Modern,  are  profoundly  moving.  They  are  largely  used  on 
Good  Friday.  This  Litany  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  originally  in 
eighteen  verses.  It  appeared  (seventeen  verses)  in  Hymns 
Ancient  and  Modern,  1875.  Mr.  Pollock  contributed  some 
hymns  to  the  Gospeller,  of  which  he  was  editor. 

The  second  verse  of  this  litany  is  by  Richard  Frederick 
Littledale,  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  born  in  Dublin  in  1833,  and  educated 
there  at  Trinity  College.  He  was  a  distinguished  translator  ot 
hymns  from  Greek,  Latin,  Syriac,  German,  Italian,  Danish, 
and  Swedish.  He  was  curate  of  St.  Mary's,  Soho.  Ill  health 
led  him  to  retire  from  parochial  work  in  1861  and  give  himself 
to  literature. 

Hymn  254.  Spirit  divine !  attend  onr  prayers. 
ANDREW  REED,  D.D. 

In  the  Evangelical  Magazine,  June,  1829,  with  the  heading  'Hymn 
to  the  Spirit.  Sung  on  the  late  day  appointed  for  solemn  prayer  and 
humiliation  in  the  eastern  district  of  the  Metropolis.'  The  day 
appointed  by  the  Board  of  Congregationalist  Ministers  in  and  near 
London  was  Good  Friday.  It  appeared  in  Dr.  Reed's  Hymn-book, 
1842. 

Dr.  Reed  was  born  in  London  in  1787.  In  early  life  he  was 
a  watchmaker.  He  was  trained  for  the  Congregational  ministry 
at  Hackney  College.  He  was  minister  at  New  Road  Chapel, 
London,  1811-31  ;  built  Wycliffe  Church  in  1830,  and  became 
its  first  pastor,  1831-61.  Dr.  Reed  founded  five  great  charities, 
which  are  his  abiding  memorial  :  the  London  Orphan  Asylum, 
1813  ;  the  Reedham  Orphan  Asylum,  1841  ;  the  Asylum  for 
Idiots  ;  the  Infant  Orphan  Asylum,  1827  ;  the  Hospital  for 
Incurables,  1855.  He  wrote  his  own  epitaph — 

'  I  was  born  yesterday, 

I  shall  die  to-morrow, 

And  I  must  not  spend  to-day 

In  telling  what  I  have  done, 

But  in  doing  what  I  may  for 

HIM 
Who  has  done  all  for  me. 

I  sprang  from  the  people,  I  have  lived  for  the  people — the 
most  for  the  most  unhappy  ;  and  the  people  when  they  know 
it  will  not  suffer  me  to  die  out  of  loving  remembrance." 


I QO  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

His  eldest  son  was  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  1874-84  ;  and  another  son,  Sir  Charles 
Reed,  M.P.,  Chairman  of  the  London  School  Board,  1870-81. 

Dr.  Reed  published  a  Supplement  to  Watts  in  1817,  with  a 
few  original  hymns,  and  in  1842  issued  a  hymn-book  prepared 
from  Watts  and  other  writers.  He  wrote  in  all  twenty-one 
hymns.  He  died  in  1862. 


Hymn  255.  Father  of  mercies,  in  Thy  word. 

ANNE  STEELE  (1716-88). 

In  her  Poems,  1760.  The  original  has  twelve  stanzas.  One  of 
those  omitted  is — 

O  may  these  heavenly  pages  be 

My  ever  dear  delight ; 
And  still  new  beauties  may  I  see, 

And  still  increasing  light. 

Miss  Steele  was  the  daughter  of  William  Steele,  a  timber 
merchant,  and  for  sixty  years  unpaid  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  Broughton,  Hants,  where  his  uncle,  Henry  Steele, 
previously  ministered.  The  clergyman  complained  to  his 
diocesan,  Bishop  Burnet,  that  the  Baptist's  preaching  had  sadly 
thinned  his  ministry.  '  Go  home,'  said  the  bishop,  '  and  preach 
better  than  Henry  Steele,  and  the  people  will  return  soon.' 
Miss  Steele  was  publicly  baptized  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 
In  1760  she  published  Poems  on  Subjects  chiefly  Devotional, 
by  Thcodosia,  in  two  vols.  Her  father's  diary  for  November 
29,  1757,  says,  'This  day  Nanny  sent  a  part  of  her  composi 
tions  to  London  to  be  printed.  I  entreat  a  gracious  God,  who 
enabled  and  stirred  her  up  to  such  a  work,  to  direct  her  in  it, 
and  to  bless  it  for  the  good  and  comfort  of  many.  I  pray  God 
to  make  it  useful,  and  to  keep  her  humble.'  A  little  later  he  is 
reading  the  printed  book,  and  praying  that  a  blessing  may  go 
forth  with  it.  Sixty-two  of  her  hymns  were  published  in  the 
Bristol  Baptist  Collection  in  1769.  On  the  day  she  was  to  be 
married  her  lover,  Mr.  Elscourt,  was  found  drowned  in  the  river 
where  he  had  been  bathing.  That  shock  told  on  her  constitu 
tion,  and  she  was  always  delicate.  She  was  buried  in 
Broughton  churchyard.  On  her  tomb  are  the  lines — 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     IQI 

Silent  the  lyre,  and  dumb  the  tuneful  tongue 
That  sang  on  earth  her  great  Redeemer's  praise, 

But  now  in  heaven  she  tunes  a  noble  song 
In  more  exalted,  more  melodious  lays. 

Trust  and  resignation  breathe  in  all  her  hymns.  In  a  letter 
to  her  father  she  says,  '  If  while  I  am  sleeping  in  the  silent 
grave  my  thoughts  are  of  any  real  benefit  to  the  meanest  of  the 
servants  of  my  God,  be  the  praise  ascribed  to  the  Almighty 
Giver  of  all  grace.' 

Miss  Steele  loved  her  village  house  in  Broughton,  with  its 
high  roof  and  massive  chimneys,  its  antique  porch  and  rural 
garden  palisades,  overshadowed  by  trees.  She  said, '  I  enjoy 
a  calm  evening  on  the  terrace  walk,  and  I  wish,  though  in  vain, 
for  numbers  sweet  as  the  lovely  prospect,  and  gentle  as  the 
vernal  breeze,  to  describe  the  beauties  of  charming  spring  ; 
but  the  reflection  how  soon  these  blooming  pleasures  will 
vanish,  spreads  a  melancholy  gloom,  till  the  mind  rises  by  a 
delightful  transition  to  the  celestial  Eden — the  scenes  of  un- 
decaying  pleasure  and  immutable  perfection.' 

Earl  Selborne  describes  her  as,  after  Doddridge,  '  the 
most  popular,  and  perhaps  the  best '  of  the  followers  of  Watts. 
She  is  the  first  of  our  lady  hymn-writers,  and  has  been  called 
the  Miss  Havcrgal  of  her  century. 

In  the  last  illness  of  T.  B.  Smithies,  the  editor  of  the 
British  Workman,  in  July,  1883,  his  friends  thought  he  was 
asleep,  but  he  broke  into  sudden  praise,  for  the  comfort  and 
joy  he  had  found  during  his  whole  life  in  the  Word,  and  for 
the  sufficiency  of  its  stay  in  the  hour  of  death — 

Father  of  mercies,  in  Thy  word 

What  endless  glory  shines  ! 
For  ever  be  Thy  name  adored 

For  these  celestial  lines. 

Hymn  250.  Come,  Holy  Ghost,  our  hearts  inspire. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  238.  'Before  reading 
the  Scriptures.' 

In  the  third  verse  John  Wesley  changed  'prolific  Dove'  into 
'  celestial  Dove  '  in  1780. 


192  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  257.  Father  of  all,  in  whom  alone. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  237.  The  first  of  the 
three  hymns  '  Before  reading  the  Scriptures.' 

Hymn  258.  Inspirer  of  the  ancient  seers. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762.  Based  on 
2  Tim.  iii.  16,  17.  Works,  xiii.  109.  Ver.  2  is  omitted. 

Hymn  259.  Come,  O  Thou  Prophet  of  the  Lord. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  our  Lord's  Resurrection,  1746;  Works,  iv.  136.  The 
last  three  verses,  which  deal  with  the  meal  at  Emmaus,  are  too  prosaic 
to  be  included.  '  Sole  subject '  in  ver.  2  is  happily  changed  to  '  chief 
subject.' 

Hymn  260.  Come,  divine  Interpreter. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  xiii. 
219.  Rev.  i.  3. 

Hymn  261.  Spirit  of  truth,  essential  God. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Trinity,  1767  ;  Works,  vii.  249.  'The  Divinity  01 
the  Holy  Ghost.'  2  Tim.  iii.  16  ;  2  Pet.  i.  21.  In  ver.  2  the  original 
reads,  '  Is  still  by  inspiration  given." 

Hymn  262.  The  Spirit  breathes  upon  the  word. 

WILLIAM  COWPER  (60). 

Olney  Hymns,  1779,  entitled  '  The  Light  and  Glory  of  the  Word.' 

In  July,  1764,  Cowper  found  a  Bible  lying  on  a  bench  in 
the  garden,  and  opened  it  on  the  eleventh  chapter  of  St.  John's 


THE   STORY   OF    THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     193 

Gospel.  He  was  profoundly  moved,  and  began  to  turn  the 
pages  in  order  to  get  some  comfort  in  the  depression  that  had 
settled  upon  him.  The  first  passage  his  eye  fell  on  was  Rom. 
iii.  25,  '  Whom  God  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith 
in  His  blood.'  Immediately  light  broke  on  his  mind  ;  he 
'  received  strength  to  believe,  and  the  full  beams  of  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  shone  upon  him.'  '  In  a  moment,'  he  says,  '  I 
believed  and  I  received  the  gospel.'  Two  similar  instances 
may  be  added.  Augustine  found  rest  through  the  child's  chant, 
'  Tolle,  lege ;  Tolle,  lege,'  which  led  him  to  read  Rom.  xiii.  13,  14. 
Hedley  Vicars,  in  November,  1851,  was  idly  turning  the  leaves 
of  a  Bible  when  the  verse  'The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  His  Son 
cleanseth  us  from  all  sin  '  woke  him  up  to  new  life.  He  closed 
the  book.  '  If  this  be  true  for  me,  henceforth  I  will  live,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  as  a  man  should  live  who  has  been  washed 
in  the  blood  of  Christ.' 


Hymn  203.  Break  Thou  the  bread  of  life. 

MARY  ANN  LATHBURY. 

A  '  Study  Song '  for  the  Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific  Circle, 
written  in  the  summer  of  1880. 

Miss  Lathbury  was  born  at  Manchester,  Ontario  County, 
New  York,  1841,  and  lives  in  New  York.  She  has  contributed 
articles  and  verse  to  current  religious  periodicals.  She  founded 
the  '  Look-up  Legion,"  based  on  four  rules  which  form  the 
motto  of  the  '  Harry  Wadsworth  Club '  in  Edward  Everett 
H  ale's  Ten  Times  One  is  Ten — 

Look  up,  and  not  down  ; 
Look  forward,  and  not  back  ; 
Look  out,  and  not  in, 
And  lend  a  hand. 

To  these  Mr.  Hale  adds  '  In  His  name.' 

The  story  was  intended  to  show  the  possible  extension  of 
personal  influence  where  people  live  faithfully,  unselfishly,  and 
hopefully.  If  one  person  influenced  ten  others  to  a  good  action, 
and  each  of  those  influenced  ten  others,  and  so  on,  the  whole 
world  might  be  reformed  and  ennobled.  Five  hundred  '  Harry 
Wadsworth  Clubs  '  had  sprung  up  within  twenty  years  after 

O 


IQ4  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

the  address  was  given.  The  motto  was  first  suggested  by 
Mr.  Hale  in  a  lecture  delivered  at  the  Lowell  Institute  in  1869. 
The  history  of  these  little  rules  is  delightful.  A  magazine, 
Lend  a  Hand,  is  the  exponent  of  the  Legion.  Miss  Lathbury's 
share  in  the  work  is  recognized  in  the  Century  Magazine, 
January,  1885,  p.  342.  She  first  saw  the  rules  in  1874  on  the 
frieze  of  a  friend's  parlour  in  Orange,  and  founded  the  Legion, 
which  had  a  membership  of  4,000  boys  and  girls  in  Methodist 
Sunday  schools  in  1885. 

Hymn  264.  When  quiet  in  my  house  I  sit. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762.  Based  on 
Deut.  vi.  7.  Works,  ix.  94.  In  the  original  the  last  line  reads,  '  Thy 
Church  above.' 

I  sink  in  blissful  dreams  away, 

And  visions  of  eternal  day, 

owes  a  good  deal  to  Pope — 

To  sounds  of  heav'nly  harps  she  dies  away, 
And  melts  in  visions  of  eternal  day. 

(Eloisa  to  Abelard,  1.  221-2.) 

Hymn  265.  O  how  blest  the  hour,  Lord  Jesus. 

CARL  J.  P.  SPITTA,  D.D. ;  translated  by  R.  MASSIE. 

'  O  wie  freun  wir  uns  der  stunde.'  In  Spitta's  Psalter  und  Harfe, 
2nd  Series,  1843,  headed  'Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.'  His 
Psalter  und  Harfe  contained  sixty-one  hymns.  It  had  unexampled 
popularity,  and  reached  a  42nd  edition  in  1887.  Spitta's  hymns 
assisted  much  in  the  revival  of  Evangelical  religion  in  Germany. 

Spitta  was  born  at  Hanover  in  1801,  became  a  Lutheran 
pastor,  and  died  at  Burgdorf,  where  he  had  just  been  appointed 
Lutheran  Superintendent.  He  began  to  write  verse  when  eight 
years  old.  He  formed  a  friendship  with  Henrich  Heine  at 
Gottingen  University,  but  broke  it  off  at  Liine  because  Heine 
jested  at  sacred  things  in  the  presence  of  Spitta's  pupils.  He 
began  to  write  hymns  in  1824,  and  told  a  friend  in  1826, 
'  In  the  manner  in  which  I  formerly  sang  I  sing  no  more.  To 
the  Lord  I  consecrate  my  life  and  my  love,  and  likewise  my 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     195 

song.  His  love  is  the  one  great  theme  of  all  my  songs  ;  to  praise 
and  exalt  it  worthily  is  the  desire  of  the  Christian  singer.  He 
gave  me  song  and  melody ;  I  give  it  back  to  Him.'  Many  of 
his  most  popular  hymns  were  written  at  Liine,  when  sitting  at 
his  piano  or  harp.  He  died  in  1859. 

Richard  Massie  (1800-87),  eldest  son  of  the  Rector  of 
Coddington,  Cheshire,  was  born  at  Chester,  and  lived  at  Pulforcl 
Hall,  Coddington.  He  published  in  1854  a  translation  of 
Luther's  Spiritual  Songs ;  Lyra  Domcstica,  1st  Series,  1860  ;  a 
translation  of  Spitta's  Psalter  und  Harfe,  ist  Series,  in  1864. 
He  translated  Spitta's  second  series,  in  which  this  hymn 
appeared.  The  volume  included  translations  of  other  German 
hymns,  and  some  original  pieces. 

Hymn  266.  Jesus,  I  humbly  seek. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  xii.  228. 
Acts  viii.  34. 

Hymn  267.  O  Word  of  God  incarnate. 

WILLIAM  WALSHAM  How,  D.D.  (177). 

Written  for  Supplement  to  Morrell  and  How's  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
1867. 

Hymn  268.  Lord,  Thy  word  abideth. 

SIR  H.  W.  BAKER  (72). 

Written  for  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1861.  A  translation  was 
made  into  German  by  Miss  Winkworth,  1867. 

Hymn  269.  How  sad  our  state  by  nature  is ! 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1707.  c  Faith  in  Christ  for  pardon  and 
sanctification.' 

Ver.  5  of  the  original  is  omitted — 

Stretch  out  Thine  arm,  victorious  King, 

My  reigning  sins  subdue  ; 
Drive  the  old  dragon  from  his  seat, 
With  all  his  hellish  crew. 


196  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Wesley  printed  it  in  his  Charlestown  Collection,  1737,  with  ver.  5 
included,  and  changed  'hellish'  to  'infernal.'  In  ver.  2  he  put  '  Here 
ye  despairing  sinners  come,'  and  in  ver.  6,  '  Into  Thy  arms  I  fall,'  but 
he  left  Watts's  last  line  unchanged,  '  My  Jesus,  and  my  all.' 

Three  days  after  his  ordination,  in  June,  1736,  George 
Whitefield  wrote  to  a  friend,  '  Never  a  poor  creature  set  up 
with  so  small  a  stock.  .  .  .  Help,  help  me,  my  dear  friend, 
with  your  warmest  addresses  to  the  throne  of  grace.  At 
present,  this  is  the  language  of  my  heart — 

A  guilty,  weak,  and  helpless  worm,  &c.' 

Charles  Wesley  and  his  friends  sang  this  hymn  with  the 
criminals  on  their  way  to  Tyburn  on  July  19,  1738.  The  poet 
found  '  that  hour  under  the  gallows  the  most  blessed  hour  of 
his  life.' 

Richard  Watson  quoted  the  last  verse  with  solemn  and 
deep  feeling  when  George  Marsden  visited  him  in  his  last 
illness.  The  hymn  has  had  a  wonderful  ministry  of  comfort  for 
souls  in  sight  of  eternity.  The  Rev.  William  Robinson,  an 
Independent  minister  in  Hertfordshire,  who  died  in  August, 
1854,  told  a  member  of  his  church  that  he  never  failed  to  repeat 
the  verse — 

A  guilty,  weak,  and  helpless  worm, 
Into  Thy  hands  I  fall, 

once  or  twice  daily,  and,  if  he  could  choose,  would  like  to  die 
with  the  words  on  his  lips.  Dr.  Doddridge  told  his  students  at 
Northampton,  '  I  wish  that  my  last  words  may  be  those  lines  of 
Watts— 

A  guilty,  weak,  and  helpless  worm, 
On  Thy  kind  arms  I  fall.' 

Hymn  270.  Come,  sinners,  to  the  gospel  feast. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the  Blood 
of  Jems  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  274.    '  The  Great  Supper.'    Luke  xiv. 
16-24.     Twenty-four  verses. 
Ver.  5  reads — 

See  Him  set  forth  before  your  eyes, 
Behold  the  bleeding  Sacrifice  ! 
His  offer'd  love  make  haste  to  embrace, 
And  freely  now  be  saved  by  grace. 


197 

Some  of  the  omitted  verses  are  worth  remembering  for  their  quaint 
simplicity — 

Your  grounds  forsake,  your  oxen  quit, 
Vour  every  earthly  thought  forget, 
Seek  not  the  comforts  of  this  life, 
Nor  sell  your  Saviour  for  a  wife. 

'Have  me  excused,'  why  will  ye  say? 
Why  will  ye  for  damnation  pray  ? 
Have  you  excused — from  joy  and  peace  ! 
Have  you  excused — from  happiness  : 

Excused  from  coming  to  a  feast  ! 
Excused  from  being  Jesus'  guest ! 
From  knowing  now  your  sins  forgiven, 
From  tasting  here  the  joys  of  heaven. 

Excused,  alas  !  why  should  you  be 
From  health,  and  life,  and  liberty, 
From  entering  into  glorious  rest, 
From  leaning  on  your  Saviour's  breast. 

'The  Wesleys  saw  clearly  that,  should  belief  in  a  limited 
redemption  spread  in  their  Society,  they  would  but  labour  in 
vain  and  spend  their  strength  for  nought.  The  mission  of 
Thomas  Coke  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  the  great  city 
missions  of  our  own  time,  the  work  of  William  Booth,  of  Hugh 
Price  Hughes  and  Samuel  F.  Collier,  would  have  been 
impossible  had  they  not  been  able  to  say  anywhere  and  to 
all,  "Sent  by  my  Lord,  on  you  I  call.'" — Dr.  A.  E.  Gregory. 

Jesse  Lee,  the  evangelist  of  New  England,  introduced 
Methodism  into  Boston,  Mass.,  in  July,  1790.  The  churches 
were  closed  against  him,  but  he  borrowed  a  table  from  some 
one  living  near  the  common,  took  his  stand  under  a  great  elm- 
tree,  and  began  his  service  with  this  hymn.  The  tree  was 
blown  down  in  a  storm,  and  in  1879  a  chair  made  from  its  wood 
was  presented  to  the  Boston  Methodist  Preachers'  Meeting. 

Hymn  271.  Ho !  every  one  that  thirsts,  draw  nigh ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Ify mns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 740  ;  \Vorkst\.2QZ>.  Isa.lv.  Thirty- 
one  verses.  It  is  the  first  hymn  in  the  volume. 

Rev.  Richard  Green  says  this  hymn  is  attributed  to  John 
Wesley,  according  to  the  almost  universal  testimony.  No  reason 


198  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

is  given  by  the  Rev.  W.  P.  Burgess  and  others  for  thus  assigning 
it.  Mr.  C.  D.  Hardcastle  thinks  'there  is  little  doubt  that  the 
hymn  was  written  by  Charles  to  accompany  his  famous  sermon 
on  the  text  Isaiah  Iv.  i,  preached  at  Bristol,  September,  1739, 
and  on  numerous  other  occasions.'  '  I  cried  from  Isaiah  Iv., 
"  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters  ! " 
Between  two  and  three  thousand  attended.  I  found  great 
freedom  in  speaking  to  them,  who  are  altogether  such  as  I 
was.' — Journal,  September  24,  1739. 


Hymn  272.  O  all  that  pass  by,  to  Jesus  draw  near. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  No.  3  (Bristol,  1741) ;  Works, 
iii.  6.  Six  verses. 

Charles  Wesley's  '  hymns  of  invitation  strike  a  new  note. 
They  are  the  battle-songs  of  an  open-air  preacher,  and  are 
borne  on  the  wings  of  the  tempest  that  raged  round  the  heroic 
little  poet  as  he  faced  cheerily  the  rage  or  the  ridicule  of  the 
mob.  His  metres  are  bright  and  lilting,  winning  the  ear  of  the 
simple  and  arresting  the  casual  passer-by.  Only  a  preacher, 
perhaps  only  an  open-air  preacher,  could  have  written  such 
hymns.  They  are  not  hymns  of  the  oratory,  of  the  class-room, 
or  the  village  church  ;  but  of  that  vast  cathedral  whose  roof  is 
the  blue  vault  of  heaven  ;  they  are  songs  of  Moorfields,  of 
Kingswood,  of  Newcastle,  and  of  Gwennap.  Perhaps  of  all 
Wesley's  hymns  these  are  the  most  characteristically  Methodist.' 
— Dr.  A.  E.  Gregory. 

Hymn  273.  Thy  faithfulness,  Lord,  each  moment 
we  find. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  No.  2  (Bristol,  1741) ;  Works, 
iii.  6.  The  first  verse  is — 

Lord,  not  unto  me,  (the  whole  I  disclaim,) 

All  glory  to  Thee,  through  Jesus's  name  ! 

Thy  gifts  and  Thy  graces,  Pour'd  down  from  above, 

Demand  all  our  praises,  Our  thanks  and  our  love. 


THE    STORY    OF   THE    HYMNS    AND    THEIR    WRITERS     199 

'  Foulest,'  in  the  second  verse,  which  here  begins  the  hymn,  is 
changed  into  'vilest.' 

Dr.  Osborn  once  said  that  the  first  line  of  ver.  4,  '  O  let 
me  commend  my  Saviour  to  you,'  was  the  best  expression  of  the 
spirit  and  genius  of  Methodism.  The  personal  knowledge  of 
Christ  involved  in  the  phrase  'My  Saviour'  was  the  true  basis 
of  our  religious  experience,  and  the  loving  entreaty, '  O  let  me 
commend,'  was  the  true  spirit  of  religious  service. 


Hymn  274.  Sinners,  turn;  why  will  ye  die? 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  London,  1741  ;  Works,  iii.  84. 
'Why  will  ye  die,  O  house  of  Israel?'  Ezek.  xviii.  31.  Sixteen 
verses.  The  first  three  and  the  tenth  verse  are  here  retained. 

Hymn  275.  Sinners,  obey  the  gospel  word. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  IVorks,  v.  63.  'Come,  for  all 
things  are  now  ready.'  Luke  xiv.  17.  Ten  verses. 

Handel  set  this  hymn  to  music  (see  213).  The  tune  was 
called  '  Fitzwilliam.' 

Hymn  270.  O  conie,  ye  sinners,  to  your  Lord. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  IVorks,  v.  64.  The  second  part 
of  275. 

'Come,  then,'  is  the  original ;  and  in  ver.  3  Charles  Wesley  wrote 
1  soul.'  Ver.  3  owes  much  to  Pope's  line — 

Tears  that  delight,  and  sighs  that  waft  to  heaven. 

(Etoisa  to  Abelard,  1.  214.) 

William  M.  Bunting  once  told  a  friend,  '  There  is  one  thing 
I  shall  miss  in  heaven,  the  mystic  joys  of  penitence.'  A  great 
lover  of  John  Fletcher  says  (Wesley's  Life  of  Mr.  Fletcher) 
he  was  '  first  favoured  with  his  heavenly  conversation,  in  com 
pany  with  Mr.  Walsh  and  a  few  other  friends,  most  of  whom 


200  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

are  now  in  the  world  of  spirits.  At  these  seasons,  how 
frequently  did  we  feel 

The  o'erwhelming  power  of  saving  grace  ! 

How  frequently  were  we  silenced  thereby,  while  tears  of  love 
our  eyes  o'erflowed  !  It  sweetly  affects  my  soul  while  I  recollect 
the  humility,  fervour  of  spirit,  and  strength  of  faith,  with  which 
dear  Mr.  Fletcher  so  often  poured  out  his  soul  before  the  Great 
Three-One,  at  whose  feet  we  have  lain  in  holy  shame  and 
divine  silence,  till  it  seemed  earth  was  turned  to  heaven  ! ' 

Hymn  277.  Weary  souls,  that  wander  wide. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  212.  Headed  '  The  Invitation.' 

In  ver.  I  '  who  wander  wide '  is  the  original,  and  in  ver.  3,  '  Live  on 
earth  the  life  of  heaven.' 

Adam  Clarke  used  this  hymn  largely  in  his  early  ministry. 

Hymn  278.  God,  the  offended  God  most  High. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Trinity,  1767  ;  Works,  vii.  217.     Section  on  'The 
Divinity  of  Christ.'     2  Cor.  v.  20. 
The  last  four  lines  are  omitted — 

Poor  debtors,  by  our  Lord's  request, 

A  full  acquittance  we  receive ! 
And  criminals,  with  pardon  blest, 
We,  at  our  Judge's  instance,  live. 

Hymn  279.  Come,  ye  weary  sinners,  come. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  220. 

The  omission  of  two  half- verses  greatly  strengthens  the  hymn. 
After  '  Take  our  load  of  guilt  away '  Charles  Wesley  wrote — 

Now  the  promised  rest  bestow, 

Rest  from  servitude  severe, 
Rest  from  all  our  toil  and  woe, 

Rest  from  all  our  guilt  and  fear. 


THE   STORY  OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     2OI 

Weary  of  this  war  within, 

Weary  of  this  endless  strife, 
Weary  of  ourselves  and  sin, 
Weary  of  a  wretched  life. 

lln  ver.  I  the  original  reads,  '  All  who  groan  to  bear  your  load  ' ;  and 
in  ver.  2,  '  Cast  on  Thee  our  sin  and  care." 

Hymn  280.  Come,  ye  sinners,  poor  and  wretched. 

JOSEPH  HART. 

In  his  Hymns  composed  on  Various  Subjects,  with,  the  Authors 
Experience,  1759.  It  had  seven  verses,  and  was  headed  'Come,  and 
welcome,  to  Jesus  Christ.'  Dr.  Conyers  and  Toplady  made  various 
changes  in  the  text.  In  ver.  4,  '  Bruised  and  broken '  is  a  happy 
revision.  It  is  '  mangled  '  in  Hart's  Hymns. 

Joseph  Hart  (1712-68)  was  a  teacher  in  London,  who  ran 
to  'dangerous  lengths  both  of  carnal  and  spiritual  wickedness,' 
and  after  much  distress  and  pain  was  led  to  peace  through  a 
sermon  on  Rev.  iii.  10,  which  he  heard  in  the  Moravian  Chapel 
at  Fetter  Lane  on  the  afternoon  of  Whit  Sunday,  1757.  He 
returned  home,  and  there  the  great  burden  seemed  suddenly 
lifted  from  his  shoulders  as  he  prayed.  He  felt  himself  'melt 
ing  away  with  a  strange  softness  of  expression.  Tears  ran  in 
streams  from  my  eyes,  and  I  was  so  swallowed  up  in  joy  and 
thankfulness  that  I  hardly  knew  where  I  was.'  During  the 
next  two  years  some  of  his  best  hymns  were  written.  In  1759 
he  became  minister  of  Jewin  Street  Independent  Chapel,  an 
old  wooden  structure  put  up  in  1672  for  William  Jenkyn. 
Twenty  thousand  people  are  said  to  have  attended  his  funeral 
in  Bunhill  Fields,  where  an  obelisk  was  erected  to  his  memory 
in  1875. 

Dr.  Johnson  was  evidently  no  admirer  of  Hart.  He  says,  '  I 
went  to  church.  I  gave  a  shilling ;  and  seeing  a  poor  girl  at 
the  sacrament  in  a  bed-gown,  I  gave  her  privately  half  a  crown, 
though  I  saw  Hart's  hymns  in  her  hand.' 

Hymn  281.  Jesus,  Thou  all-redeeming  Lord. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  121.  '  Before  preach 
ing  to  the  Colliers  in  Leicestershire."  Eighteen  verses. 

'Lover  of  souls! '  is  a  reminiscence  of  'Jesu,  Lover  of  my  soul." 
In  ver.  4,  '  hardness '  is  a  happy  substitute  for  '  the  stony.' 


202  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  282.  Shepherd  of  souls,  with  pitying  eye. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747;  Works,  iv.  251.  'For  the  outcasts  of 
Israel.'  Eight  verses.  Ver.  3 — 

Wild  as  the  untaught  Indians  brood, 

The  Christian  savages  remain, 
Strangers  and  enemies  to  God, 

They  make  Thee  spend  Thy  blood  in  vain. 
That  comparison  between  Georgia  and  England  shows  how 
the  state  of  his  own  countrymen  weighed  on  the  heart  of  Charles 
Wesley. 

Hymn  283.  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  bears. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  Bristol,  1741  j  Works,  iii.  20. 
'Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour  of  men.' 

Inserted  in  the  second  number  of  the  Arminian  Magazine.  The 
first  verse  is  here  omitted,  '  See,  sinners,  in  the  gospel  glass.' 

Hymn  159  is  a  later  part  of  the  same  hymn. 

Hymn  284.  Ye  neighbours  and  friends,  to  Jesus 

draw  near. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  115.  'After  preaching 
to  the  Newcastle  Colliers.'  Twelve  verses.  The  first  line  of  the 
original  reads  'of  Jesus.'  The  last  part  of  ver.  3  is  'of  Jesus's/raz'^.' 

Charles  Wesley's  Journal  for  November  30,  1746,  says,  '  I 
went  out  into  the  streets  of  Newcastle,  and  called  the  poor,  the 
lame,  the  halt,  the  blind,  with  that  precious  promise,  "  Him  that 
cometh  to  Me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  They  had  no  feeling 
of  the  frost  while  the  love  of  Christ  warmed  their  hearts.' 

This  seems  to  have  been  the  service  after  which  the  hymn 
was  written. 

Hymn  285.  Sinners,  your  hearts  lift  up. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  229.  'Hymn  for  the 
day  of  Pentecost.' 

The  sixth  verse,  '  Drop  down  in  showers  of  love,'  is  omitted. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND    THEIR   WRITERS     203 

Hymn  286.  Jesus  calls  us :  o'er  the  tumult. 
CECIL  FRANCES  ALEXANDER  (182). 

Contributed  to  the  S.P.C.K.  Hymns,  1852. 

In  the  original  the  last  line  of  ver.  4  is  '  Christian,  love  Me  more  than 
these."  It  is  founded  on  Matt.  iv.  18,  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  for 
St.  Andrew's  Day.  '  Apostles '  is  a  substitute  for  '  St.  Andrew '  in  ver.  2. 

Hymn  287.  Come  unto  Me,  ye  weary. 

W.  C.  Dix  (128). 

Published  in  the  People's  Hymnal  by  Dr.  Littledale  and  J.  E.  Vaux, 
1867. 

Mr.  Jones  {Famous  Hymns,  p.  322)  says  that  Mr.  Dix  sent 
him  a  manuscript  copy  of  this  hymn  with  this  account  of  it  :  'I 
was  ill  and  depressed  at  the  time,  and  it  was  almost  to  idle  away 
the  hours  that  I  wrote  the  hymn.  I  had  been  ill  for  many  weeks, 
and  felt  weary  and  faint,  and  the  hymn  really  expresses  the 
languidness  of  body  from  which  I  was  suffering  at  the  time. 
Soon  after  its  composition — and  it  took  me  some  time  to  write 
out,  for  my  hand  trembled,  and  I  could  with  difficulty  hold  the 
pen — I  recovered,  and  I  always  look  back  to  that  hymn  as  the 
turning-point  in  my  illness.  It  is  a  somewhat  curious  fact  that 
most  of  my  best  known  hymns  were  written  when  I  was  suffering 
from  some  bodily  ailment.  Mr.  Dykes'  setting  I  consider  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  hymnal.'  Mr.  Dix  was  almost 
inclined  to  say  that  the  tune  had  much  to  do  with  the  success 
which  his  hymn  won. 

Hymn  288.  O  Jesus,  Thou  art  standing. 
WILLIAM  WALSH  AM  How,  D.D.  (177). 

In  the  Supplement  to  Morrell  and  How's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1867. 

Dr.  How  said,  '  I  composed  the  hymn  early  in  1867,  after  I 
had  been  reading  a  very  beautiful  poem,  entitled  "  Brothers  and 
a  Sermon."  The  pathos  of  the  verses  impressed  me  very 
forcibly  at  the  .time.  I  read  them  over  and  over  again,  and 
finally,  closing  the  book,  I  scribbled  on  an  odd  scrap  of  paper 
my  first  idea  of  the  verses  beginning  "  O  Jesu,  Thou  art  stand 
ing."  I  altered  them  a  good  deal  subsequently,  but  I  am 
fortunate  in  being  able  to  say  that  after  the  hymn  left  my  hands 
it  was  never  revised  or  altered  in  any  way.' 


204  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

The  poem  is  by  Jean  Ingelow,  who  describes  a  pair  of 
brothers  listening  to  the  parson  of  the  fishing  village — 

As  one  that  pondered  now  the  words 
He  had  been  preaching  on  with  new  surprise, 
And  found  fresh  marvel  in  their  sound,  '  Behold  ! 
Behold  !'  saith  He,  'I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock.' 

Open  the  door  with  shame,  if  ye  have  sinned ; 

If  ye  be  sorry,  open  it  with  sighs. 

Albeit  the  place  be  bare  for  poverty, 

And  comfortless  for  lack  of  plenishing, 

Be  not  abashed  for  that,  but  open  it, 

And  take  Him  in  that  comes  to  sup  with  thee  ; 

'  Behold  ! '  He  saith,  '  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock  ! ' 

Speak,  then,  O  rich  and  strong  : 
Open,  O  happy  young,  ere  yet  the  hand 
Of  Him  that  knocks,  wearied  at  last,  forbear  ; 
The  patient  foot  its  thankless  quest  refrain, 
The  wounded  heart  for  evermore  withdraw. 

Holman  Hunt's  picture,  '  The  Light  of  the  World,'  now  at 
Keble  College,  Oxford,  had  its  influence  on  the  hymn. 

Hymn  289.  Why  should  I  till  to-morrow  stay. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture  (Mi  in  MS.)  ;   Works, 
xiii.  51.     2  Cor.  vi.  2.     Verses  3  and  6  are  here  omitted. 


Hymn  290.  To-day,  while  it  is  called  to-day. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture  (\d\.  in  MS.)  ;  Works, 
xiii.  122.  Heb.  iii.  15.  Eight  lines  are  omitted. 

Hymn  291.  Come,  let  us,  who  in  Christ  believe. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  London,  1741  ;  Works,  iii.  64. 
Fourteen  verses.  Verses  I,  12,  13,  14.  A  little  hymn  of  pure  gold  is 
made  by  omitting  ten  prosaic  verges. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    205 

Hymn  292.  By  secret  influence  from  above. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture  (left  in  MS.)  ;  Works, 
ix.  236.  Job  vii.  17,  1 8. 

Hymn  293.  Art  thou  weary,  art  thou  languid. 
JOHN  MASON  NEALE,  D.D.  (27). 

Given  in  his  Hymns  of  the  Eastern  Church,  1862,  as  a 
translation  from  St.  Stephen  the  Sabaite,  who  was  a  nephew  of 
John  of  Damascus,  and  died  at  Mar  Saba  in  794.  In  the  third 
edition  of  that  work  he  said  that  it  contained  so  little  from  the 
Greek  that  in  any  future  edition  it  would  be  placed  in  an 
Appendix.  '  Saints,  apostles,  prophets,  martyrs '  is  Bishop 
Bickersteth's  alteration  of  'Angels,  martyrs,  prophets,  virgins,' 
in  his  Hymnal  Companion. 

Hymn  294.  Come,  ye  that  love  the  Lord. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1707,  entitled  'Heavenly  Joy  on 
Earth.' 

Wesley  included  it  in  his  Charlestown  Collection,  1737,  with  the 
beautiful  heading,  '  Heaven  begun  on  earth.' 

The  original  read — 

1.  Come  we  that  love  the  Lord, 
And  let  our  joys  be  known 

3.  But  fav'rites  of  the  heav'nly  King. 

4.  The  God  that  rules  on  high, 

And  thunders  when  He  please, 
That  rides  upon  the  stormy  sky, 
And  manages  the  seas. 

These  lines  Wesley  altered  to  their  present  form,  and  omitted  eight 
lines — 

2.  The  sorrows  of  the  mind 

Be  banish'd  from  this  place  : 
Religion  never  was  design'd 
To  make  our  pleasures  less. 

9.  The  hill  of  Sion  yields 

A  thousand  sacred  sweets, 
Before  we  reach  the  heav'nly  fields, 
Or  walk  the  golden  streets. 


206  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

On  April  20,  1882,  two  days  before  Dr.  Gervase  Smith  died, 
his  old  friends  and  brother  ministers,  Benjamin  Gregory  and 
William  Hirst,  held  a  little  service  in  his  sick-room.  This 
hymn  was  sung,  and  the  third  verse  was  repeated  at  the  dying 
man's  request.  It  was  sung  at  the  funeral  service  in  Highbury 
Chapel  a  week  later. 

Hymn  295.  Happy  the  man  that  finds  the  grace. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  v.  234.  Prov.  iii.  13-18.  Nine 
verses.  '  Who  '  is  changed  to  '  that '  in  the  first  line. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Allen  says,  '  The  old  hymns  which  have 
done  so  much  to  preserve  Methodist  doctrine,  and  to  promote 
our  type  of  experience,  fellowship,  and  evangelism  have  been 
sacredly  retained  (in  The  Methodist  Hymn-Book,  1904).  The 
hymns  in  the  middle  of  the  book,  which  relate  to  the  conscious 
life  of  God  in  the  soul,  are  almost  exclusively  the  compositions 
of  Charles  Wesley.  These  hymns  are  unique,  and  when  they 
lose  their  charm  the  power  of  Methodism  will  decline,  and  her 
glory  fade  away.' 

Hymn  296.  Riches  unsearchable. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747;  Works,  iv.  230.  Seven  verses  of  eight 
lines  each,  beginning  '  Ye  simple  souls  that  stray.'  In  ver.  I  the 
original  reads,  '  And  pleasures  from  the  well,'  but  in  1780  the  metre 
was  changed  to  short  metre.  Ver.  4  reads,  '  Our  guardians  to  that 
heavenly  bliss.' 

Henry  Moore  states  in  the  Coke  and  Moore  Life  that  John 
Wesley  wrote  it '  in  the  midst  of  the  Bandon  riots.'  But  the 
hymn  was  printed  in  1747,  and  the  riots  occurred  in  1750.  In 
a  footnote  to  his  two-volume  Life  of  John  Wesley,  Moore  says, 
'  It  has  been  denied  that  Mr.  John  Wesley  was  the  author  of 
this  hymn.  I  must  still  think  that  he  was  :  I  believe,  I  was  not 
misinformed.  There  is,  I  think,  also  some  internal  evidence. 
The  hymn  has  the  purity,  strength,  and  sobriety  of  both  the 
brothers  ;  but  it  seems  to  want  the  poetical  vis  animi  of  Charles,' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     207 

Dr.  Whitehead  claims  the  hymn  for  Charles  Wesley  in  his 
Life   of  Wesley :    he    says   it    has,    '  through  mistake,    been 
attributed  to  his  brother.' 
One  of  the  omitted  verses — 

And  utterly  condemned  we  live, 
And  unlamented  die, 

borrows  from  Dr.  Johnson's  London,  '  Live    unregarded,  un 
lamented  die.' 

Hymn  297.  Let  all  men  rejoice,  by  Jesus  restored ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  P^ans,  1749  ;  \Vorks,  v.  390.  'Hymn  for  the 
Kingswood  Colliers.'  One  verse  of  the  hymn  is  here  omitted,  and 
ver.  5  is  taken  from  the  next  hymn  for  the  colliers,  '  My  brethren 
beloved,  your  calling  ye  see.1 

Hymn  298.  HOAV  blest  is  he  who  ne'er  consents. 

TATF.  and  BRADY  (17). 
Psalm  i.     New  Version. 

Hymn  299.  We  love  Thy  kingdom,  Lord. 
TIMOTHY  DWIGHT,  D.D.  (1752-1817). 

Psalm  cxxxvii.,  in  his  revised  version  of  Watts's  Psalms  in  1800. 
Ver.  2  reads,  '  Her  walls  before  Thee  stand.' 

Dr.  Dwight  was  born  at  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  and 
graduated  at  Yale,  where  he  was  tutor  1771-7.  He  was  for 
a  time  chaplain  in  the  United  States  Army.  In  1795  he  was 
appointed  President  of  Yale  College.  At  the  request  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  he  issued  the  revised  version 
of  Watts's  Psalms  in  1800. 

Hymn  300.  Let  everlasting  glories  crown. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs ;  1707-9.  'The  excellency  of  the 
Christian  religion.' 

Two  verses  are  omitted — 

2.  What  if  we  trace  the  globe  around, 
And  search  from  Britain  to  Japan, 
There  shall  be  no  religion  found 
So  just  to  God,  so  safe  for  man. 


208  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

5.  Not  the  feign'd  fields  of  heath'nish  bliss 

Could  raise  such  pleasures  in  the  mind  ; 
Nor  does  the  Turkish  Paradise 
Pretend  to  joys  so  well  refin'd. 

Hymn  301.  Father  of  omnipresent  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767  ;  Works •,  vii.  18.  The  last 
line  of  the  original,  'And  not  a  hoof  be  left  behind,'  is  a  reference  to 
Exod.  x.  26,  '  There  shall  not  an  hoof  be  left  behind.' 

Hymn  302.  Thou  Son  of  God,  whose  flaming  eyes. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767;  Works,  vii.  30.  Twelve  lines 
are  omitted.  In  ver.  4  the  original  is,  '  And  fill  his  careless  heart  with 
grief.' 

Hymn  303.  Thou  great  mysterious  God  unknown. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  235.  Eight  verses.  Two 
omitted  here. 

Hymn  304.  Long  have  I  sat  beneath  the  sound. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.  '  Unfruitfulness  lamented.' 
Two  weak  verses  are  omitted — 

2.  Oft  I  frequent  Thy  holy  place — 

And  hear  almost  in  vain ; 
How  small  a  portion  of  Thy  grace 
My  mem'ry  can  retain ! 

3.  My  dear  Almighty,  and  my  God, 

How  little  art  Thou  known 
By  all  the  judgements  of  Thy  rod, 
And  blessings  of  Thy  throne. 

The  first  line  of  ver.  3,  '  My  dear  Almighty,'  is  in  Watts's  worst 
taste. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     209 

Hymn  305.  Come,  O  Thou  all-victorious  Lord. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems ,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  124.  '  Written  before 
preaching  at  Portland.' 

Charles  Wesley  visited  Portland  in  1746.  He  says  on 
June  6,  '  I  preached  to  an  houseful  of  staring,  loving  people, 
from  Jer.  i.  20.  Some  wept,  but  some  looked  quite  unawakened. 
At  noon  and  night  I  preached  on  the  hill  in  the  midst  of  the 
island.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  came  to  hear,  but  few  as  yet 
feel  the  burden  of  sin,  or  the  want  of  a  Saviour. 

'  Sun.,  June  8. — After  evening  service  we  had  all  the  islanders 
that  were  able  to  come.  I  asked,  "Is  it  nothing  to  you,  all  ye 
that  pass  by  ?  "  About  half  a  dozen  answered,  "  It  is  nothing  to 
us,"  by  turning  their  backs  ;  but  the  rest  hearkened  with  greater 
signs  of  emotion  than  I  had  before  observed.  I  found  faith  at 
this  time  that  our  labours  would  not  be  in  vain.'  The  next  day 
'the  power  and  blessing  came.  My  mouth  and  their  hearts 
were  opened.  The  rocks  were  broken  in  pieces,  and  melted 
into  tears  on  every  side.  I  continued  exhorting  them  from 
seven  till  ten,  to  save  themselves  from  this  untoward  generation. 
We  could  hardly  part.' 

The  quarryman's  hammer  has  supplied  the  poet  with  his 
impressive  opening  illustration. 


Hymn  300.  Lord,  I  despise  myself  to  heal. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1739  ;    Works,   i.   82.      Hob.  xii.    2. 
The  first  two  verses  are  omitted — 

Weary  of  struggling  with  my  pain, 
Hopeless  to  burst  my  nature's  chain, 
Hardly  I  give  the  contest  o'er, 
I  seek  to  free  myself  no  more. 

From  my  own  works  at  last  I  cease, 
God  that  creates  must  seal  my  peace  ; 
Fruitless  my  toil  and  vain  my  care, 
And  all  my  fitness  is  despair. 


210  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  307.  Jesus,  the  sinner's  Friend,  to  Thee. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739  ;  Works,  \.  83.  GaL  iii,  22. 
Thirteen  verses. 

One  of  the  omitted  verses  has  two  lines — 

Tread  down  Thy  foes,  with  power  control 
The  beast  and  devil  in  my  soul, 

which  may  be  compared  with  Tennyson's  In  Memoriatn,  cxviii. — 

Move  upward,  working  out  the  beast, 
And  let  the  ape  and  tiger  die. 

Hymn  308.  Depth  of  mercy !  can  there  be. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  271.  '  After  a  relapse 
into  sin.'  Thirteen  verses  of  four  lines. 

Dr.  Belcher  traces  the  famous  story  of  the  actress  who  was 
converted  through  this  hymn  back  to  the  Sunday  School 
Journal,  from  which  Mr.  G.  J.  Stevenson  quotes  it  almost 
verbatim.  An  actress  in  a  provincial  town  heard  some  poor 
people  singing  this  hymn  in  a  cottage.  She  ventured  in,  and 
when  the  service  was  over,  Charles  Wesley's  words  followed 
her.  She  got  a  hymn-book,  read  and  re-read  the  verses,  and 
was  thus  led  to  Christ.  She  shrank  from  appearing  again  on 
the  stage,  but  at  last  the  manager  of  the  theatre  induced  her  to 
take  the  leading  part  in  a  new  play.  She  had  to  sing  a  song 
on  her  entrance,  and  the  band  played  the  air  three  times  whilst 
she  stood  lost  in  thought  before  the  audience.  Then,  with 
clasped  hands  and  eyes  suffused  with  tears,  she  sang — 

Depth  of  mercy  !  can  there  be 
Mercy  still  reserved  for  me? 
Can  my  God  His  wrath  forbear? 
Me,  the  chief  of  sinners,  spare? 

The  performance  came  to  an  end  abruptly,  but  the  night  left 
its  imprint  on  many  lives.  It  is  said  that  the  actress  afterwards 
became  the  wife  of  a  minister. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    21 1 

Hymn  309.  Saviour,  Prince  of  Israel's  race. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1749;     Works,   iv.  357.     'Penitential 
hymn.'     Eleven  verses. 

Charles  Wesley  wrote  in  ver.  5  — 

Then  remember  me  for  good, 


WJiile  my  strength  and  spirit  fail. 


Mrs.  Thomas  Gabriel,  who  was  present  at  Wesley's  last 
Covenant  Service  in  City  Road,  and  at  his  funeral  service, 
used  to  repeat  to  herself  the  last  verse  in  times  of  strong 
temptation.  She  found  strength  and  comfort  here. 

When  Grotius  was  returning  from  Sweden  in  1645,  to  spend 
his  last  days  in  Holland,  his  ship  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of 
Pomerania.  He  made  his  way  with  difficulty  to  Rostock,  where 
his  strength  gave  way.  On  his  death-bed  Quistorp  visited  him, 
and  spoke  of  the  publican  on  whom  God  had  mercy  as  he 
prayed.  Grotius  replied,  '  Ego  ille  sum  publicanus  '  ('  I  am  that 
publican ').  A  short  time  after  the  great  scholar  passed  to  his 
rest. 

Romaine  desired  to  die  with  the  language  of  the  publican 
on  his  lips,  '  God,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner.' 

Hymn  310.  Jesus,  if  still  the  same  Thou  art. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  258.  Matt.  v.  3,  4,  6. 
Ver.  6,  'Lord,  I  believe  the  promise  sure,'  is  omitted.  In  ver.  2  the 
original  reads,  'the  mourner.' 

Hymn  311.  I  know  in  Thee  all  fulness  dwells. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  IVorks,  i.  264.  'These  things 
were  written  for  our  instruction.'  Hymn  142  is  the  earlier  part  of  the 
same  hymn. 

Hymn  312.  Father  of  lights,  from  whom  proceeds. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  IVorks,  i.  76.  'A  prayer  under 
convictions.'  Eight  verses. 


212  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  313.  O  for  that  tenderness  of  heart. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  ix.  199. 
It  is  based  on  the  message  to  King  Josiah  (2  Kings  xxii.  19,  20) :  '  Thine 
heart  was  tender,  and  thou  hast  humbled  thyself  before  the  Lord.' 

Hymn  314.    O  that  I  could  repent. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  426.  'For  one  fallen 
from  grace.'  Four  verses  of  eight  lines  each. 

The  first  two  verses  are  here  given.  John  Wesley  altered  '  effectual 
stroke '  to  '  resistless '  in  the  last  verse. 

Hymn  315.  How  dread  the  thought!  shall  I  alone. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Children,  1763  ;   Works,  vi.  428.     'A  thought  on  hell.' 
The  first  line  of  the  original,  'Terrible  Thought,'  has  been  thus 
changed  in  the  1904  revision. 

The  original  hymn  is  enough  to  give  any  '  child '  the  nightmare. 

Hymn  316.    With  broken  heart  and  contrite  sigh. 
CORNELIUS  ELVEN  (1797-1873). 

Written  in  January,  1852,  for  special  services  in  his  own  congrega 
tion.  Given  in  Baptist  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1858. 

Mr.  Elven  was  born  in  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  and  was  pastor 
of  the  Baptist  Church  there  for  fifty  years.  Mr.  Spurgeon 
greatly  esteemed  him,  and  wrote  a  memorial  sketch  of  his 
friend  in  July,  1873. 

When  Mr.  Spurgeon  was  pastor  at  Waterbeach,  Mr.  Elven 
was  invited  to  preach  at  his  first  anniversary,  in  1852.  Mr. 
Spurgeon  met  him  at  the  station.  '  His  bulk  was  stupendous, 
and  one  saw  that  his  heart  was  as  large  as  his  body.'  He 
could  not  go  into  the  river  for  the  baptismal  service  connected 
with  the  anniversary,  for  he  said  that  '  if  he  got  wet  through, 
there  were  no  garments  nearer  than  Bury  St.  Edmunds  that 
would  fit  him.'  He  exhorted  the  young  pastor  to  'study  hard, 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    213 

and  mind  and  keep  abreast  of  the  foremost  Christians  in  your 
little  church  ;  for  if  these  men,  either  in  their  knowledge  of 
Scripture,  or  their  power  to  edify  the  people,  once  outstrip  you, 
the  temptation  will  arise  among  them  to  be  dissatisfied  with 
your  ministry  ;  and,  however  good  they  are,  they  will  feel  their 
superiority,  and  others  will  perceive  it  too,  and  then  your  place 
in  the  church  will  be  very  difficult  to  hold.'  Mr.  Spurgeon 
felt  that  spur  useful.  Mr.  Elven  seemed  to  have  taken 
Matthew  Henry  for  his  model.  He  once  preached  for  Mr. 
Spurgeon  at  New  Park  Street,  and  told  with  a  merry  laugh 
how  a  lady,  when  she  saw  his  vast  form  in  the  pulpit,  retreated, 
with  the  words,  '  No,  no  ;  the  man  has  too  much  of  the  flesh 
about  him,  I  cannot  hear  him.'  Mr.  Spurgeon  says,  '  It  was  a 
very  unjust  judgement,  for  the  dear  man's  great  bulk  was  a 
sore  affliction  to  him.' — Autobiography,  i.  250. 

Hymn  317.   Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea. 
CHARLOTTE  ELLIOTT  (1789-1871). 

Miss  Elliott's  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Rev.  H.  Venn,  of 
Huddersfield  and  Yelling,  the  beloved  friend  of  Simeon.  After 
thirty- two  years  at  Clapham,  Miss  Elliott  moved  to  Brighton 
in  1823,  and  died  there.  In  May,  1822,  Dr.  Caesar  Malan,  of 
Geneva,  stayed  at  her  father's  house  in  Clapham,  and  ventured 
to  ask  her  if  she  was  a  Christian.  The  young  lady,  who  de 
lighted  in  music  and  drawing,  had  not  much  taste  for  religion, 
and  seeing  that  she  rather  resented  the  question,  he  said  that 
he  would  pray  that  she  might  give  her  heart  to  Christ,  and 
become  a  useful  worker  for  Him.  At  last  she  asked  this  friend 
how  she  might  find  Christ.  '  Come  to  Him  just  as  you  are' 
was  the  answer.  She  was  soon  at  rest  in  her  Saviour. 

In  1834,  her  niece  says,  she  was  living  at  Westfield  Lodge, 
Brighton,  in  a  house  long  since  pulled  down.  Her  brother, 
Rev.  H.  Venn  Elliott,  had  arranged  a  bazaar  to  raise  funds  for 
St.  Mary's  Hall,  Brighton,  a  school  where  daughters  of  clergy 
men  were  to  be  educated.  Miss  Elliott  was  not  able  to  help, 
and  lay  awake  one  night  thinking  of  her  uselessness.  When  all 
had  gone  to  the  bazaar  next  day,  Bishop  Moule  says,  'The 
troubles  of  the  night  came  back  upon  her  with  such  force,  that 
she  felt  they  must  be  met  and  conquered  in  the  grace  of  God. 
She  gathered  up  in  her  soul  the  great  certainties,  not  of  her 
emotions,  but  of  her  salvation :  her  Lord,  His  power,  His 


214  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

promise.  And  taking  pen  and  paper  from  the  table,  she 
deliberately  set  down  in  writing,  for  her  own  comfort,  "the 
formulae  of  her  faith."  Hers  was  a  heart  which  always  tended 
to  express  its  depths  in  verse.  So  in  verse  she  restated  to 
herself  the  gospel  of  pardon,  peace,  and  heaven.  "  Probably 
without  difficulty  or  long  pause "  she  wrote  the  hymn,  getting 
comfort  by  thus  definitely  "recollecting"  the  eternity  of  the 
Rock  beneath  her  feet.  There,  then,  always,  not  only  for  some 
past  moment,  but  "even  now"  she  was  accepted  in  the  Beloved 
—"Just  as  I  am."' 

When  her  sister-in-law  stepped  in  with  news  of  the  bazaar, 
she  found  the  hymn  lying  on  the  table.  The  same  year; Miss 
Elliott  printed  the  Invalid's  Hymn-book,  originally  compiled  by 
Miss  Kiernan,  of  Dublin,  and  added  twenty-three  of  her  own 
hymns.  In  later  editions  the  number  of  her  own  hymns  was 
increased.  'Just  as  I  am'  appeared  in  the  1836  edition, headed 
by  the  text,  '  Him  that  cometh  unto  Me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
out.'  The  same  year  it  was  given  in  her  Hours  of  Sorrow 
Cheered  and  Comforted^  with  the  added  verse,  '  Just  as  I  am,  of 
that  free  love.' 

It  has  been  translated  into  many  languages.  Miss  Elliott's 
brother,  the  Rev.  H.  V.  Elliott,  said,  '  In  the  course  of  a  long 
ministry,  I  hope  I  have  been  permitted  to  see  some  fruit  of  my 
labours ;  but  I  feel  far  more  has  been  done  by  a  single  hymn 
of  my  sister's.'  Miss  Elliott  wrote  120  hymns.  ;  My  God  !  is 
any  hour  so  sweet,'  and  '  Leaning  on  Thee,  my  Guide,  my 
Friend/'  will  always  be  treasured.  Her  life  was  one  of  much 
pain,  and  her  hymns  will  never  cease  to  comfort  those  who  pass 
through  deep  waters.  '  More  than  half  a  century  of  patient 
suffering  went  to  the  making  of  her  hymns.'  She  often  said 
that  she  clung  to  Christ  as  the  limpet  clings  to  the  rock.  She 
lived  to  be  more  than  eighty-two,  and  felt  that  such  an  age 
as  hers  required  '  great  faith,  great  patience,  and  great  peace.' 

The  hymn  was  sent  by  a  friend  to  Wordsworth's  '  one  and 
matchless  daughter,'  Dora,  Mrs.  Quillinan,  in  her  last  illness. 
Her  weakness  was  so  great  that  she  was  scarcely  able  to  have 
it  read  to  her,  but  it  came  as  a  heavenly  messenger.  '  That  is 
the  very  thing  for  me.'  Her  husband  says,  'At  least  ten  times 
a  day  she  asked  me  to  repeat  it  to  her.'  Every  morning  she 
asked  for  it — '  Now  my  hymn ' — and  would  repeat  it  after  her 
husband,  'line  for  line,  many  times,  in  the  day  and  night.'  Her 
grave  in  Grasmere  churchyard  has  a  lamb  engraved  on  the 


THE   STORY  OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     215 

stone,  with  the  verse,  '  Him  that  cometh  unto  Me,  I  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out.'  After  her  death  it  formed  part  of  her  mother's 
'  daily  solitary  prayer.' 

The  Rev.  W.  Wyatt  Gill  translated  the  hymn  into  Rara- 
tongan.  He  says,  'The  occasion  was  painful.  Two  dear  little 
ones  had  been  suddenly  snatched  from  us.  "  Just  as  I  am  "  was 
one  of  the  hymns  we  sang  together  on  their  last  Sabbath  in 
life.  After  the  death  of  the  dear  boys,  I  could  find  no  rest  till 
I  had  rendered  their  favourite  hymn  into  the  native  dialect. 
On  reading  my  translation,  Mr.  Buzacott  became  so  interested 
that  he  produced  an  independent  translation  of  his  own.  The 
natives  of  Raratonga  regard  this  version  with  a  special  interest, 
for  it  was  the  last  hymn  Mr.  Buzacott  composed  for  his  beloved 
people.  The  hymn  is  a  favourite  one  in  all  the  islands  of  the 
Harvey  group.  It  has  also  been  rendered  into  the  Samoan 
language.  My  friend,  the  Rev.  W.  Lawes,  has  also  translated 
it  into  the  dialect  of  Savage  Island,  and  it  is  deemed  to  be 
the  best  of  the  one  hundred  and  sixty  hymns  constituting  the 
hymnology  of  that  interesting  island.'  Another  translator  says, 
'  Perhaps  there  is  no  hymn  in  the  language  which  has  been 
more  blessed  in  the  raising  up  of  those  that  are  bowed  down. 
Its  history  has  been  wonderful.  It  is  surely  a  leaf  from  the 
tree  of  life  which  is  for  the  healing  of  the  nations.' 

Hymn  318.   Saviour,  cast  a  pitying  eye. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 749  ;  Works,  iv.  389.  '  For  one  fallen 
from  grace.'  Two  verses  omitted. 

In  ver.  2  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  For  Thy  own  sweet  mercy  sake.' 

Hymn  319.   O  Jesus,  let  me  bless  Thy  name ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  340.  'Desiring  to 
love.'  Three  verses  omitted. 

Hymn  320.   How  shall  a  sinner  find. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  249. 

Ver.  i,  'Out  of  the  deep  I  cry,'  is  omitted,  and  ver.  3  put  first. 
Ver.  4  is  also  left  out. 


2l6  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  321.   When  shall  Thy  love  constrain. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  267.  'The  Resignation.' 
Twenty-two  verses. 

The  first  verse  reads — 

And  wilt  Thou  yet  be  found  ? 
And  may  I  still  draw  near? 
Then  listen  to  the  plaintive  sound 
Of  a  poor  sinner's  prayer. 

Hymn  322.  Jesu,  let  Thy  pitying  eye. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  405.  'For  one  fallen 
from  grace.'  Twelve  verses. 

George  Whitefield  printed  it  as  a  leaflet, '  The  Backslider.1 
It  is  a  moving  prayer  to  Christ. 

Hymn  323.   Let  the  world  their  virtue  boast. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  317.  I  Cor.  ii.  2  :  'I 
am  determined  to  know  nothing  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified.1 
Nine  verses. 

In  1783,  at  the  Bristol  Conference,  Wesley  was  seized  with  a 
sudden  illness,  from  which  no  one  expected  him  to  recover. 
He  told  Joseph  Bradford,  '  I  have  been  reflecting  on  my  past 
life.  I  have  been  wandering  up  and  down  between  fifty  and 
sixty  years,  endeavouring,  in  my  poor  way,  to  do  a  little  good 
to  my  fellow  creatures ;  and  now  it  is  probable  that  there  are 
but  a  few  steps  between  me  and  death ;  and  what  have  I  to 
trust  to  for  salvation  ?  I  can  see  nothing  that  I  have  done  or 
suffered  that  will  bear  looking  at.  I  have  no  other  plea  than 

this— 

I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me.' 

On  the  last  Sunday  of  Wesley's  life,  February  27,  1791, 
about  half-past  two  in  the  afternoon,  he  said,  '  There  is  no  need 
for  more  ;  when  at  Bristol,  my  words  were — 

I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    217 

In  the  evening  he  got  up.  Speaking  of  a  lady  whom  he  had 
lately  got  to  know,  he  said  he  believed  '  she  had  real  religion. 
How  necessary  for  every  one  to  be  on  the  right  foundation  ! 

I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me. 

We  must  be  justified  by  faith,  and  then  go  on  to  sanctification.' 
Charles  Wesley's  daughter,  Sarah,  died  in  Bristol  on 
September  19,  1828,  when  nearly  seventy  years  old.  Joseph 
Entwisle  visited  her  on  her  death-bed.  She  was  too  weak  to 
talk  much,  but  would  often  repeat  the  same  lines.  They  were 
almost  her  last  words.  She  was  buried  in  St.  James's  Church 
yard,  Bristol,  where  five  infant  children  of  Charles  Wesley's  had 
been  laid  to  rest.  Her  father's  verses  were  put  on  her  grave 
stone — 

Hosanna  to  Jesus  on  high, 

Another  has  entered  her  rest ; 
Another  is  'scaped  to  the  sky, 
And  lodged  in  Immanuel's  breast. 

The  soul  of  our  sister  is  gone 

To  heighten  the  triumph  above, 
Exalted  to  Jesus's  throne, 

And  clasped  in  the  arms  of  His  love. 

Wesley  tells  (Journal,  June  17,  1767)  of  a  girl  at  Maccles- 
field  to  whom  the  same  lines  were  made  a  means  of  special 
blessing.  When  she  opened  her  hymn-book  and  read  them 
'  she  was  quite  transported,  being  overwhelmed  with  peace  and 
joy  unspeakable.  At  the  same  time  she  was  restored  to  the 
full  use  of  her  reason,  and  in  a  little  while  was  strong  and 
healthy  as  ever.' 

Hymn  324.    O  that  I,  first  of  love  possessed. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  and  on  Various  Occasions,  1767; 
Works,  vii.  135.  Six  verses. 

In  ver.  3  the  original  is,  'Thy  mercy  brings  salvation  sure." 

Hymn  325.   Ah!   whither  should  I  go. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  London,  1741  ;  Works,  iii.  89. 
'  God  will  have  ALL  men  to  be  saved '  (i  Tim.  ii.  4).  Sixteen  verses. 


2l8  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  326.  Stupendous  love  of  God  most  high! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  x.  253.  Matt. 
xi.  28.  One  verse  omitted. 

Hymn  327.  Show  pity,  Lord ;  O  Lord,  forgive. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719-  In  three  parts,  with  twenty-one  verses, 
headed  *  A  penitent  pleading  for  pardon.' 

Wesley  included  Watts's  Part  III.  in  his  Charlestown  Collection,  1737, 
but  he  omitted  the  fine  verse,  '  A  broken  heart,  my  God,  my  King.' 

How  this  selection  ranges  over  the  three  parts  of  Watts's  hymn  will 
be  seen  from  this  list  of  the  way  the  verses  are  selected.  They  are, 
Part  I.  I  ;  II.  2  ;  I.  3  ;  III.  4 ;  III.  5  ;  III.  6 ;  III.  7. 

Hymn  328.  Out  of  the  depth  of  self-despair. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740  ;  Works,'\.z^.  Psalm  130.  Verses 
2  and  5  are  omitted.  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Depths  of  self-despair.' 

It  was  this  psalm  from  which  the  anthem  was  taken  on  May 
24,  1738,  when  some  one  asked  John  Wesley  to  go  to  the 
afternoon  service  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  on  the  day  of  his 
conversion :  '  Out  of  the  deep  have  I  called  unto  Thee,  O  Lord  : 
Lord,  hear  my  voice.'  '  The  psalm,'  says  Mr.  Prothero,  '  was 
one  of  the  influences  that  attuned  his  heart  to  receive  that 
assurance  of  his  salvation  by  faith,  which  the  evening  of  the 
same  day  brought  to  him  in  the  room  at  Aldersgate  Street.  On 
the  foundation  of  that  sure  confidence,  his  intense  energy, 
organizing  genius,  and  administrative  capacity  built  up,  for  the 
most  part  from  neglected  materials,  the  mighty  movement  that 
still  bears  both  his  name  and  the  impress  of  his  structural 
mind.  For  half  a  century,  as  he  rode  up  and  down  the  country, 
his  voice  sounded  louder  and  louder,  till  it  penetrated  every 
corner  of  the  kingdom,  rousing  once  more  the  sense  of  the 
need  of  personal  religion,  and  stirring  anew  the  numbed 
perception  of  unseen  spiritual  realities.' — The  Psalms  in  Human 
Life,  p.  304. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     2IQ 

Hymn  329.  O  Lord,  turn  not  Thy  face  away. 

REGINALD  HEBER,  D.D.  (28). 

John  Marckant,  incumbent  of  Clacton  Magna,  1559,  and 
Shopland,  1553-8,  wrote  'A  New  Year's  Gift,  intituled  With 
Speed  return  to  God,  and  Verses  to  Divers  Good  Purposes, 
about  1580-1.  'The  Lamentation  of  a  Sinner,'  first  found  in 
J.  Daye's  edition  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  1560-1,  is  perhaps 
the  earliest  English  hymn  in  use.  It  runs — 

0  Lord,  turn  not  Thy  face  away 
From  him  that  prostrate  lyeth, 

Lamenting  sore  his  sinful  life 
Before  Thy  mercy  gate  : 

Which  gate  Thou  openest  wide  to  those 

That  doe  lament  their  sinne  : 
Shut  not  that  gate  against  me,  Lord, 

But  let  me  enter  in. 

1  need  not  to  confess  my  life, 
I  am  sure  thou  canst  tell : 

What  I  have  beene  and  what  I  am, 
I  know  Thou  knowest  it  well. 

Wheretore  with  teares  I  come  to  Thee, 

To  beg  and  to  intreate  ; 
Even  as  the  child  that  hath  done  evill, 

And  feareth  to  be  beate. 

O  Lord,  I  need  not  to  repeate, 

What  I  doe  beg  or  crave; 
Thou  knowest,  Lord,  before  I  aske, 

The  thing  that  I  would  have. 

Mercy,  good  Lord,  mercie  I  ask, 

This  is  the  totall  summe : 
For  mercy,  Lord,  is  all  my  sute ; 

Lord,  let  Thy  mercy  come. 

Tate  and  Brady  have  a  rendering  of  'The  Lamentation.' 
Heber's  version,  in  his  Hymns,  1827,  gives  the  author's  name  as 
Sternhold  in  mistake. 


220  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  330.  Thy  life  was  given  for  me. 
FRANCES  RIDLEY  HAVERGAL. 

This  hymn  originally  began, '  I  gave  My  life  for  thee.'  Miss 
Havergal  was  in  Germany,  and  had  come  in  tired  on  January 
10,  1858.  Sitting  down  she  read  the  motto, '  I  did  this  for  thee  ; 
what  hast  thou  done  for  Me  ? '  placed  under  a  picture  of  our 
Saviour  in  the  study  of  a  German  divine.  This  resembles  the 
story  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  who  was  led  to  decision  by  the 
'  Ecce  Homo  '  in  the  gallery  at  Diisseldorf,  which  represented 
the  Saviour  crowned  with  thorns.  Over  the  picture  were  the 
words,  'All  this  have  I  done  for  thee.  What  doest  thou  for  Me  ? ' 
Miss  Havergal  was  at  school  at  Diisseldorf,  and  it  was  probably 
a  copy  of  the  same  picture  which  suggested  her  hymn.  The 
lines  of  this  hymn  flashed  upon  her,  and  she  wrote  them  in  a 
few  minutes  in  pencil  on  the  back  of  a  circular.  When  she 
read  them  over  she  thought,  '  Well,  this  is  not  poetry.  I  will  not 
go  to  the  trouble  to  copy  this.'  She  stretched  out  her  hand  to 
put  it  into  the  fire,  but  a  sudden  impulse  made  her  draw  back, 
and  she  put  the  paper,  crumpled  and  singed,  into  her  pocket. 

She  was  quite  a  young  girl,  and  this  was  the  first  thing  she 
wrote  that  could  be  called  a  hymn.  Soon  after  she  went  to  see 
an  old  woman  in  an  almshouse.  '  She  began  to  talk  to  me,  as 
she  always  did,  about  her  dear  Saviour,  and  I  thought  I  would 
see  if  the  simple  old  woman  would  care  for  these  verses,  which 
I  felt  sure  nobody  else  would  care  to  read.  So  I  read  them  to 
her,  and  she  was  so  delighted  with  them  that,  when  I  went 
back,  I  copied  them  out,  and  kept  them,  and  now  the  hymn  is 
more  widely  known  than  any.'  Some  months  later  she  showed 
them  to  her  father,  who  encouraged  her  to  preserve  her  verses, 
and  wrote  the  tune  '  Baca '  for  them.  The  hymn  was  printed 
on  a  leaflet  in  1859,  and  in  Good  Words,  February,  1860.  In 
CJmrch  Hymns,  1871,  the  appeal  of  Christ  to  the  disciple  is 
changed  into  an  appeal  from  the  disciple  to  Christ :  '  Thy  life 
was  given  for  me.'  Miss  Havergal  consented  to  the  alteration, 
though  she  thought  the  first  form  more  strictly  carried  out  the 
idea  of  the  motto.  She  once  said,  '  All  my  best  poems  have 
come  in  that  way,  Minerva  fashion,  full  grown.'  '  Writing  is 
praying  with  me.  I  ask  that  at  every  line  He  would  give  me, 
not  merely  thoughts  and  power,  but  also  every  word,  even  the 
very  rhymes.  Very  often  I  have  a  most  distinct  and  happy 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS     221 

consciousness  of  direct  answers.'  In  her  Memoirs  she  writes  : 
'  I  was  so  overwhelmed  on  Sunday  at  hearing  three  of  my 
hymns  touchingly  sung  in  Perry  Church.  I  never  before  realized 
the  high  privilege  of  writing  for  the  "  great  congregation," 
especially  when  they  sang  "  I  gave  My  life  for  thee,"  to  my 
father's  tune,  "  Baca.'" 

Frances  Ridley  Havergal  (1836-79)  was  the  daughter  ot 
Rev.  \V.  H.  Havergal.  Her  second  name  was  that  of  her 
godfather,  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Ridley,  whom  she  greatly  loved. 
When  she  was  five  years  old  her  father  became  Rector  of  St. 
Nicholas,  Worcester.  Her  mother  died  when  she  was  eleven, 
leaving  impressions  which  influenced  the  girl's  whole  life.  Not 
long  before  her  death,  Miss  Havergal  said  that  the  words  her 
mother  taught  her  thirty  years  before  had  been  a  life-prayer  with 
her.  '  Pray  to  God  to  prepare  you  for  all  that  He  is  preparing 
for  you.'  Her  schoolmistress,  Mrs.  Teed,  under  whose  care 
she  was  placed  in  1850,  proved  a  wise  counsellor.  A  school 
fellow  'begged  me  to  go  to  Jesus  and  tell  Him  I  wanted  to  love 
Him  and  could  not,  and  then  He  would  teach  me  to.'  Miss 
Havergal  added,  'The  words  of  wise  and  even  eminent  men 
have  since  fallen  on  my  ear,  but  few  have  brought  the  dewy 
refreshment  to  my  soul  which  the  simple  loving  words  of  my 
little  heaven-taught  schoolfellow  did.'  In  February,  1851,  on  a 
visit  to  Okehampton  to  Miss  Cook,  whom  her  father  married  a 
few  months  later,  she  ventured  to  speak  of  her  desire  for  pardon, 
and  received  counsel  which  led  her  into  the  light.  '  Then  and 
there  I  committed  my  soul  to  the  Saviour — and  earth  and 
heaven  seemed  bright  from  that  moment.'  Religion  filled  her 
life  with  sunshine.  An  Irish  schoolfellow  says  she  was  'like  a 
bird  flashing  into  the  room,'  her  fair  sunny  curls  falling  round 
her  shoulders,  her  bright  eyes  dancing,  and  her  fresh  sweet 
voice  ringing  through  the  room.'  She  inherited  her  father's 
musical  gifts,  and  '  would  play  through  Handel,  and  much  of 
Beethoven  and  Mendelssohn,  without  notes.'  She  was  also  an 
accomplished  linguist.  At  the  close  of  1873  she  was  led  to  a 
fuller  and  deeper  consecration.  Every  gift  was  devoted  to  her 
work  of  setting  forth  the  love  of  God  and  the  way  of  salvation. 

She  died  at  Caswall  Bay,  Swansea,  on  June  3,  1879.  She 
had  caught  cold  on  May  21,  while  talking  to  the  men  of  the 
place,  whom  she  met  in  the  open  air  to  speak  to  them  about 
temperance.  Through  all  her  pain  she  said,  '  Oh,  how  splendid 
to  be  so  near  the  gates  of  heaven  ! '  She  told  the  vicar  of 


222  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Swansea,  who  visited  her,  '  Oh  !  I  want  all  of  you  to  speak 
bright,  bright  words  about  Jesus.  Oh  do,  do  !  It  is  all  perfect 
peace.  I  am  only  waiting  for  Jesus  to  take  me  in.' 

Miss  Havergal  once  said,  '  I  can  never  set  myself  to  write 
verse.  I  believe  my  King  suggests  a  thought  and  whispers  me 
a  musical  line  or  two,  and  then  I  look  up  and  thank  Him 
delightedly,  and  go  on  with  it.  That  is  how  the  hymns  and 
poems  come.  The  Master  has  not  put  a  chest  of  poetic  gold 
into  my  possession  and  said,  "  Now  use  it  as  you  like  !  "  But 
He  keeps  the  gold  and  gives  it  me  piece  by  piece  just  when  He 
will,  and  as  much  as  He  will,  and  no  more.  Some  day,  perhaps, 
He  will  send  me  a  bright  line  of  verses  on  "  satisfied  "  ringing 
through  my  mind,  and  then  I  shall  look  up  and  thank  Him,  and 
say,  "  Now,  dear  Master,  give  me  another  to  rhyme  with  it,  and 
then  another";  and  then  perhaps  He  will  send  it  all  in  one 
flow  of  musical  thoughts,  but  more  likely  one  at  a  time,  that  I 
may  be  kept  asking  Him  for  every  line.  There,  that  is  the 
process,  and  you  see  there  is  no  "  I  can  do  it "  at  all.  That 
isn't  His  way  with  me.  I  often  smile  to  myself  when  people 
talk  about  "  gifted  pen  "  or  "  clever  verses,"  &c.,  because  they 
don't  know  that  it  is  neither,  but  something  really  much  nicer 
than  being  "  talented  "  or  "  clever." ' 

Hymn  331.  Lord,  I  hear  of  showers  of  blessing. 
ELIZABETH  CODNER. 

Mrs.  Codner  («/<?  Harris)  was  the  wife  of  a  clergyman,  a 
worker  at  Mildmay  Hall,  who  edited  a  missionary  monthly, 
Woman's  Work  in  the  Great  Harvest  Field. 

In  the  summer  of  1860,  a  party  of  children,  in  whom  she 
was  greatly  interested,  were  much  impressed  by  an  account  of 
revival  work  in  Ireland.  Mrs.  Codner  urged  on  them  the 
privilege  and  responsibility  of  getting  a  share  of  the  same 
blessing.  On  the  following  Sunday  she  was  not  well  enough  to 
leave  home.  'Those  children  were  still  in  my  heart,  and  I 
longed  to  press  upon  them  an  earnest,  personal  appeal. 
Without  effort,  words  seemed  to  be  given  to  me,  and  they  took 
the  form  of  a  hymn.  I  had  no  thought  of  sending  it  beyond  the 
limits  of  my  own  circle,  but,  passing  it  on  to  one  and  another,  it 
became  a  word  of  power,  and  I  then  published  it  (1861)  as  a 
leaflet.'  The  hymn  soon  became  popular.  News  reached  the 
writer  of  the  blessing  gained  by  it.  '  Now,  it  would  be  tidings 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     223 

from  afar  of  a  young  officer  dying  in  India,  and  sending  home 
his  Bible  with  the  hymn  pasted  on  the  flyleaf,  as  the  precious 
memorial  of  that  which  had  brought  him  to  the  Lord.'  The 
Rev.  E.  P.  Hammond  received  a  letter  from  a  woman  who  had 
attended  one  of  his  meetings  in  a  Presbyterian  Church  in 
America.  No  one  spoke  to  her.  She  had  committed  theft 
and  been  a  bad  mother  to  her  children,  but  when  the  congrega 
tion  sang,  '  Let  some  drops  now  fall  on  me,'  and  '  Blessing 
others,  O  bless  me,'  it  seemed  to  reach  the  woman's  soul.  '  I 
thought,  Jesus  can  accept  me — "  Even  me,"  and  it  brought  me 
to  His  feet,  and  I  feel  the  burden  of  sin  removed.' 

Pass  me  not !    Thy  lost  one  bringing  ; 

Bind  my  heart,  O  Lord,  to  Thee  ; 
While  the  streams  of  life  are  springing, 

Blessing  others,  O  bless  me — Even  me, 

is  the  closing  verse. 

The  hymn  was  printed  in  Mrs.  Codner's  Among  the 
Brambles,  and  other  Lessons  from  Life, 

'  Leave,'  in  ver.  2,  is  a  happy  substitute  for  '  curse.' 

Hymn  332.  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood. 

WILLIAM  COWPER  (60). 

Based  on  Zech.  xiii.  i  ;  probably  written  in  1771.  Given  in  Dr. 
Conyers'  (Rector  of  St.  Paul's,  Deptford)  Collection  of  Psalms  and 
Hymns,  1772.  In  Olney  Hymns,  1779  it  is  headed  'Praise  for  the 
Fountain  opened.' 

Cowper  wrote — 

And  there  have  I,  as  vile  as  he, 
Wash'd  all  my  sins  away. 

James  Montgomery  rewrote  the  first  verse,  at  the  Rev.  E. 
Bickersteth's  suggestion,  for  Cotterill's  Selection,  1819 — 

From  Calvary's  cross  a  Fountain  flows 

Of  water  and  of  blood, 
More  healing  than  Bethesda's  pool, 

Or  famed  Siloam's  flood. 

He  thought  that  Cowper's  verse  was  '  objectionable,  as 
representing  a  fountain  being  filled,  instead  of  springing  up;  I 
think  my  version  is  unexceptionable.'  Nevertheless  it  has  not 
taken  the  place  of  Cowper's.  This  was  the  favourite  hymn  of 
Dr.  John  Mason  Good,  the  London  physician  and  man  of 


224  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

letters,  who  frequently  repeated  it  whilst  walking  along  the 
street.  His  youngest  daughter  quoted  it  to  him  as  he  lay 
dying  in  1827.  He  specially  dwelt  on  the  line,  '  E'er  since  by 
faith  I  saw  the  stream.'  '  All  the  promises,'  he  said,  '  are  yea 
and  amen,  in  Christ  Jesus.' 

Mrs.  Sherwood  (see  812)  says  that  often  and  often,  when 
thinking  of  Henry  Martyn,  whom  she  knew  so  well  at  Cawnpore 
in  1810,  'have  these  verses,  so  frequently  sung  by  him,  come 
to  my  mind  ' — 

E'er  since  by  faith  I  saw  the  stream. 

Then,  in  a  nobler,  sweeter  song. 

Hymn  333.  Jesus,  in  whom  the  weary  find. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  249.  The  last  of  five 
hymns  '  Upon  parting  with  his  friends.'  The  first  begins,  '  Cease, 
foolish  heart,  thy  fond  complaints. ' 

Hymn  334.  Jesu,  Friend  of  sinners,  hear. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  119.  'A  prayer  for 
restoring  grace.'  Six  verses. 

Ver.  2  owes  a  thought  to  Mason's  Songs  of  Praise,  1682,  No.  xxii. — 
'  A  Song  of  Praise  for  Pardon  of  Sin  ' — 

2.  My  sins  have  reach'd  up  to  the  heav'ns ; 

But  mercy's  height  exceeds  : 
God's  mercy  is  above  the  heav'ns — 

Above  my  sinful  deeds. 
My  sins  are  many,  like  the  stars, 

Or  sand  upon  the  shore  ; 
But  yet  the  mercies  of  my  God 

Are  infinitely  more. 

3.  My  sins  in  bigness  do  arise 

Like  mountains  great  and  tall ; 
But  mercy,  like  a  mighty  sea, 

Covers  these  mountains  all. 
This  is  a  sea  that's  bottomless, 

A  sea  without  a  shore  : 
For  where  sin  hath  abounded  much, 

Mercy  abounds  much  more. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    22$ 

Hymn  335.  Stay,  Thou  insulted  Spirit,  stay. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;   Works,  iv.  370.     The  last  of  nine 
Penitential  Hymns.'     Seven  verses. 

In  ver.  2  the  original  is,  '  For  forty  long  rebellious  years.'  Ver.  5, 
'  From  now  my  weary  soul  release.' 

Hymn  336.  Now,  from  this  instant  now,  I  will. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762;  Works, -x..  6. 
Jer.  iii.  4,  5.  Ver.  2  is  taken  from  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742, 
'  Groaning  for  Redemption'  ;  Works,  ii.  128. 

In  ver.  i,  'Now'  is  substituted  for  'Yes'  ;  and  in  ver.  3,  'Guide  of 
my  life'1  for  'youth.'  Ver.  4  reads — 

The  prodigal  in  justice  spurn, 
Or  pity  and   forgive  me  all. 

Hymn  337.  When,  gracious  Lord,  when  shall  it  be. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  258.  'Come,  Lord 
Jesus.'  Thirteen  verses. 

In  ver.  I,  '  When,  dearest  Lord'  is  changed  to  '  gracious.' 
The  second  verse,  here  omitted,  borrowed  from  Samson  Agonistes : 
'  O  dark,  dark,  dark,  amid  the  blaze  of  noon  '  - 

O  dark,  dark,  dark  (I  still  must  say) 
Amidst  the  blaze  of  gospel  day  ! 

In  ver.  2  Charles  Wesley  wrote  'bimpleness,'  as  in  the  Prayer-book 
Version  of  Ps.  Ixix.  5,  '  God,  Thou  knowest  my  simpleness.' 

Hymn  338.  Weary  of  wandering  from  my  God. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  442.  'After  a 
Recovery." 

The  Chaplain  of  Glasgow  prison  (see  Life  and  Work}  once 
found  a  young  woman  of  eighteen  or  nineteen  standing  in  her 
cell  with  her  hymn-book  in  her  hand.  '  She  looked  up,  and, 
holding  it  out,  said  to  me,  "This  is  a  hymn  which  I'm  much 
ta'en  up  wi'."  I  read  the  first  two  lines,  and  found  my  eyes 
filling  with  tears  as  I  looked  at  her  and  said,  "  Are  you  weary  of 


226  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

wandering  from  your  God  ?  "  The  answer  was,  "  Yes,  indeed  I 
am."  Thereupon  I  had  the  great  privilege  of  dealing  with  an 
anxious  soul. 

'  Next  Sunday  we  not  only  sang  the  hymn,  but  I  preached 
specially  to  weary  wanderers.  The  following  day  an  old  man 
grasped  my  hand  as  I  entered  his  cell,  and  in  an  earnest  and 
solemn  voice  said,  "When  the  great  day  comes  there  will  be 
found  a  soul  among  the  redeemed,  brought  there  through  that 
hymn  we  sang  yesterday,  for,''  he  continued,  "  when  you  read 
out,  '  Weary  of  wandering  from  my  God,'  I  said,  '  That's  me. 
I'm  weary,  and  I'm  made  ready  to  return,'  and,"  he  added, 
"  come  back  to  my  God  I  have." ' 

Hymn  339.   Jesus,  I  believe  Thee  near ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  iv.  416.  '  For  one  fallen 
from  grace.'  Ver.  3  is  omitted. 

In  ver.  3  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Monument  of  Thy  power  to  save.' 

Hymn  340.   O  'tis  enough,  my  God,  my  God ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  Bristol,  1741  ;  Works,  iii.  18. 
Eleven  verses.  Nine  verses  were  given  in  No.  I  of  the  Arminian 
Magazine,  headed  '  Salvation  depends  not  on  absolute  decrees.' 

Hymn  341.   I  will  hearken  what  the  Lord. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  264.  'Waiting  for 
Christ  the  Prophet.'  The  last  verse  is  omitted. 

Hymn  342.   Come,  holy  celestial  Dove. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Petition  and  Thanksgiving  for  the  Promise  of  the  Father, 
1746;  Works,  iv.  195.  Two  verses  omitted. 

Hymn  343.  O  for  a  closer  walk  with  God. 

WILLIAM  COWPER  (60). 

In  Conyers'  Collection,  1772.  It  is  based  on  Gen.  v.  24,  and  in 
Olney  Hymns  is  headed  '  Walking  with  God.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     22? 

Hymn  344.   Son  of  God,  if  Thy  free  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  125,  headed  'After  a 
Recovery.'  Two  verses  omitted. 

Hymn  345.   Author  of  faith,  eternal  Word. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740  ;  Works,  i.  209.  The  Life  of  Faith, 
Exemplified  in  the  Eleventh  Chapter  of  St.  PauTs  Epistle  to  the  Hebrr^us. 

This  is  the  first  part,  based  on  ver.  I.  The  whole  poem  extends  to 
eighty-five  verses. 

In  ver.  4  the  original  reads,  '  Pardon,  and  happiness,  and  heaven.' 

Cf.  with  ver.  5,  Prior's  Ode  on  Exod.  iii.  14 — 

Then  faith  for  Reason's  glimmering  light  shall  give 

Her  immortal  perspective, 

To  reach  the  heaven  of  heavens. 

Hymn  346.   Spirit  of  faith,  come  down. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Petition  and  Thanksgiving  for  the  Promise  of  the  Father, 
1746  ;    Works,  iv.  196.     One  verse  omitted. 
Ver.  3  reads,  '  The  great  atoning  Lamb  ! ' 

Hymn  347.   Faith  is  a  living  power  from  heaven. 
PETRUS  HERBERT;  translated  by  Miss  WINKWORTH  (19). 

'  O  Christenmensch,  merk  wie  sichs  halt '  is  in  the  Brethren's 
German  Hymn-book,  1566,  in  eighteen  stanzas  of  four  lines. 

Bunsen's  Versuch,  1833,  gives  six  stanzas,  beginning  with  stanza  3> 
altered  to  'Der  Glaub'  ist  ein  lebend'ge  Kraft.'  Bunsen  calls  it  'a 
noble  confession  of  the  true  Christian  faith.' 

Miss  Winkworth's  translation  of  the  Bunsen  selection  is  in  Lyra 
Germanica,  2nd  Series,  1858. 

Herbert  was  a  native  or  resident  of  Fulneck,  in  Moravia, 
priest  among  the  Bohemian  Brethren,  1562,  and  employed 
to  confer  with  Calvin  and  on  other  important  missions.  He 
presented  the  Brethren's  enlarged  German  Hymn-book,  of 
which  he  had  been  one  of  the  chief  compilers,  and  to  which 


228  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

he  contributed  ninety  hymns,  to  the  Emperor  Maximilian  II 
in  1566.  His  hymns  are  marked  by  simplicity  and  beauty 
of  style.  In  the  Brethren's  German  Hymn-book  for  1639, 
104  of  them  are  given.  He  died  at  Eibenschutz  in  1571. 

Hymn  348.  Author  of  faith,  to  Thee  I  cry. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  324.  'For  one  con 
vinced  of  unbelief.' 

Ver.  2,  '  Shut  up  in  unbelief  I  groan,'  is  omitted. 

Hymn  349.    The  God  of  love,  to  earth  He  came. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;   Works,  v.  121.     '  Before  preaching 
to  the  Colliers  in  Leicestershire  '  ;  281  is  part  of  the  same  hymn. 
Ver.  2  reads,  '  Believe,  that  Jesus  died  for  thee.' 

Hymn  350.   Father,  I  stretch  my  hands  to  Thee. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

A  Collection  df  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1741  ;  Works,  ii.  13.  '  A  Prayer 
for  Faith.' 

Ver.  3  :  O  Jesus,  could  I  this  believe, 

I  now  should  feel  Thy  power  ; 
Now  my  poor  soul  Thou  wouldst  retrieve, 
Nor  let  me  wait  one  hour. 

Ver.  6  :  The  worst  of  sinners  would  rejoice, 

Could  they  but  see  Thy  face  : 
O,  let  me  hear  Thy  quickening  voice, 
And  taste  Thy  pardoning  grace. 

This  was  the  hymn  John  Downes  gave  out  on  Friday, 
November  4,  1774,  when  death  seized  him  in  West  Street  Chapel, 
London.  Wesley  took  great  pride  in  this  preacher's  mechanical 
genius,  and  in  the  portrait  which  Downes  made  of  him.  In  the 
afternoon  before  his  appointment,  Downes  said,  '  I  feel  such  a 
love  to  the  people  of  West  Street,  that  I  could  be  content  to  die 
with  them.  I  do  not  find  myself  very  well ;  but  I  must  be  with 
them  this  evening.'  His  text  was  '  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that 
labour  and  are  heavy  laden,'  and  great  power  attended  the 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    2 29 

message ;  but  when  he  had  spoken  for  ten  minutes  his  strength 
was  gone,  and  he  gave  out  the  lines — 

Father,  I  stretch  my  hands  to  Thee, 
No  other  help  I  know. 

His  voice  failed.  He  fell  on  his  knees,  as  if  he  intended  to 
pray,  '  but  he  could  not  be  heard.'  The  Preachers  who  were 
present  raised  him  up  and  bore  him  to  bed,  where  he  soon 
breathed  his  last  breath.  He  was  only  fifty-two. 

Hymn  351.  Wherewith,  O  God,  shall  I  draw  near. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1740;    Works >  i.   276.      Mic.  vi.   6. 
Thirteen  verses. 

Hymn  352.  Jesus !   Redeemer,  Saviour,  Lord. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740  ;  Works,  i.  270.     '  A  Prayer  against 
the  Power  of  Sin.'    Seventeen  verses.     This  begins  at  ver.  10. 

Hymn  353.  Thee,  Jesus,  Thee,  the  sinner's  Friend. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;    Works,  ii.  299.      'Desiring  to 
Love."     In  two  parts,  eleven  verses  and  eight. 

In  ver.  6,  line  5,  the  original  reads,  '  Dear  Lord.' 

Hymn  354.  Come,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
One  God  in  Persons  Three. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;   Works,  ix.  65 
Num.  vi.  24-6. 

Hymn  355.  God  of  my  salvation,  hear. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;   Works,  ii.  200.     '  After  a  Relapse 
into  Sin.'     Eight  verses. 

The  favourite  hymn  of  Rev.  William  Barton,  who  repeated 
the  lines — 

Friend  of  sinners,  spotless  Lamb, 
Thy  blood  was  shed  for  me, 

the  night  before  his  death  on  March  27,  1857. 


230  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  356.  Weary  of  earth,  and  laden  with  my  sin. 

SAMUEL  JOHN  STONE,  M.A.  (1839-1901). 

Written  in  1866  for  a  parochial  mission,  and  published  in  his 
Lyra  Fidelium.  It  is  based  on  the  words,  'The  Forgiveness  of  Sins.' 
'  Mary's  nard '  was  altered  to  '  Mary's  gift '  at  Sir  H.  W.  Baker's 
suggestion. 

The  writer  was  son  of  the  Rev.  W.  Stone,  whom  he 
succeeded  as  Vicar  of  St.  Paul's,  Haggerston,  1874.  He 
became  Rector  of  All  Hallows,  London  Wall,  in  1890.  He  is 
buried  in  the  churchyard  at  St.  Paul's,  Haggerston. 

He  wrote  Lyra  Fidelium,  1866;  The  Knight  of  Intercession^ 
1872  ;  Sonnets  of  the  Christian  Year,  1875.  His  Hymns  were 
published  in  1886.  One  of  his  hymns,  'Lord  of  our  soul's 
salvation,3  was  sung  by  Queen  Victoria's  command  at  the 
thanksgiving  service  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  for  the  recovery 
of  the  King,  when  Prince  of  Wales,  in  1872. 

The  author  said,  '  Of  all  my  hymns  "  Weary  of  earth  "  is  the 
most  dear  to  me  because  of  the  letters  I  have  received  from,  or 
about,  persons  to  whose  "joy  and  peace  in  believing"  it  has 
been  permitted  to  be  instrumental  in  the  first  instance  or  later.' 

Hymn  357.  Day  after  day  I  sought  the  Lord. 
JULIUS  C.  HARE  (1796-1855). 

Psalm  xl.  1-5  ;  in  his  Portions  of  the  Psalms  in  English  Verse,  1839. 

Julius  Hare  was  Rector  of  Hurstmonceaux,  1832,  and  Arch 
deacon  of  Lewes.  John  Stirling  was  his  curate  and  Bunsen  his 
neighbour.  He  and  his  brother  wrote  their  famous  Guesses  at 
Truth,  1827  ;  Julius  Hare's  Mission  of  the  Comforter  appeared 
in  1846.  He  married  a  sister  of  the  Rev.  F.  D.  Maurice,  and 
left  Maurice  the  chief  part  of  his  library.  Dr.  Rigg  describes 
him  in  his  Anglican  Theology  as  'a  prince  in  intellectual 
wealth,  an  oracle  for  sagacity,  a  poet  in  genius,  a  master  in 
criticism  and  polemics,  a  champion  of  Protestantism,  a  brave 
and  truthful,  but  at  the  same  time  gentle  and  loving  spirit,  a 
devout  and  humble  Christian.' 

On  his  death-bed  the  last  clear  words  he  uttered  were  an 
answer  to  the  question  how  he  would  be  moved.  '  In  a  voice 


THE  STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS    231 

more  distinct  and  strong  than  he  had  reached  for  several 
days  past,  with  his  eyes  raised  toward  heaven,  and  a  look  of 
indescribable  brightness,  "  Upwards  !  Upwards  !  " ' 

Hymn  358.  Where  shall  my  wondering  soul  begin  ? 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739 ;  Works,  i.  91.  The  first  hymn 
in  the  second  part,  headed  'Christ  the  Friend  of  Sinners.' 

Charles  Wesley  found  peace  with  God  on  Whit  Sunday, 
May  21,  1738.  On  the  following  Tuesday  morning  he  writes, 
'At  nine  I  began  a  hymn  upon  my  conversion,  but  was 
persuaded  to  break  off,  for  fear  of  pride.  Mr.  Bray  coming, 
encouraged  me  to  proceed  in  spite  of  Satan.  I  prayed  Christ 
to  stand  by  me,  and  finished  the  hymn.  Upon  my  afterwards 
showing  it  to  Mr.  Bray,  the  devil  threw  in  a  fiery  dart,  suggest 
ing  that  it  was  wrong,  and  I  had  displeased  God.  My  heart 
sunk  within  me  ;  when,  casting  my  eye  upon  a  Prayer-book,  I 
met  with  an  answer  for  him.  "  Why  boastest  thou  thyself,  thou 
tyrant,  that  thou  canst  do  mischief?"  Upon  this,  I  clearly 
discerned  it  was  a  device  of  the  enemy  to  keep  back  glory  from 
God.'  He  saw  that  God  could  defend  him  from  pride  while 
speaking  for  Him.  'In  His  name  therefore,  and  through  His 
strength,  I  will  perform  my  vows  unto  the  Lord,  of  not  hiding 
His  righteousness  within  my  heart,  if  it  should  ever  please  Him 
to  plant  it  there.1 

That  is  almost  the  very  phraseology  of  ver.  3 — 

Refuse  His  righteousness  to  impart, 
By  hiding  it  within  my  heart  ? 

Next  day  the  hymn  was  sung  in  Charles  Wesley's  room  in 
Little  Britain  over  another  convert.  '  Towards  ten,  my  brother 
was  brought  in  triumph  by  a  troop  of  our  friends,  and  declared, 
"  I  believe."  We  sang  the  hymn  with  great  joy,  and  parted 
with  prayer.' 

This  hymn  may  be  truly  described  as  the  birth-song  of  the 
Evangelical  Revival. 

On  July  14,  1741,  Charles  Wesley  was  at  Cardiff.  'I 
preached  in  the  afternoon  to  the  prisoners,  "  How  shall  I  give 
thee  up,  O  Ephraim  ?  "  Above  twenty  were  felons.  The  word 
melted  them  down.  Many  tears  were  shed  at  the  singing  that 
"  Outcasts  of  men,  to  you  I  call."' 


33  2  THE  METHODIST  HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  359.  How  can  a  sinner  know. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems ,  1749;  Works,  v.  363.  'The  Marks  of 
Faith.'  Eight  verses. 

John  Wesley  altered  it  into  double  short  metre  in  1780. 

Mr.  T.  R.  Allan,  in  a  marginal  note  of  his  hymn-book,  calls 
attention  to  ver.  7.  '"Our  pardoning  Lord."  Note  this  sweet 
expression.' 

Hymn  360.  And  can  it  be,  that  I  should  gain. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems t  1739;  Works,  i.  105.  'Free  Grace.' 
Ver.  5  is  omitted — 

Still  the  small  inward  voice  I  hear, 

That  whispers  all  my  sins  forgiven ; 
Still  the  atoning  blood  is  near, 

That  quench'd  the  wrath  of  hostile  Heaven  : 
I  feel  the  life  His  wounds  impart ; 
I  feel  my  Saviour  in  my  heart. 

1  Thine  eye  diffused  a  quickening  ray,'  ver.  4,  is  Pope's — 

Thy  eyes  diffused  a  reconciling  ray, 

And  gleams  of  glory  brightened  all  the  day. 

(Eloisa  to  Abelard,  1.  145.) 

These  verses  no  doubt  describe  Charles  Wesley's  own  con 
version,  but  358  is  generally  accepted  as  'the  hymn'  written  at 
the  time  and  sung  when  John  Wesley  was  brought  in  triumph. 

This  hymn  has  its  link  to  Wesley's  death-bed.  On  the  last 
Sunday  afternoon  of  his  life,  after  he  had  said,  '  There  is  no 
need  for  more  ;  when  at  Bristol,  my  words  were — 

I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me,' 

Miss  Ritchie  writes,  '  Seeing  him  very  weak,  and  not  able  to 
speak  much,  I  said,  "  Is  this  the  present  language  of  your 
heart,  and  do  you  now  feel  as  you  then  did?"  He  replied, 
"  Yes."  I  then  repeated — 

Bold  I  approach  the  eternal  throne, 

And  claim  the  crown,  through  Christ  my  own. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     233 

And  added,  "'Tis  enough,  He,  our  precious  Emmanuel,  has 
purchased,  has  promised  all."  He  earnestly  replied,  "  He  is 
all,  He  is  all,"  and  then  said,  "  I  will  go."  I  said,  "  To  joys 
above  ;  Lord,  help  me  to  follow  you,"  to  which  he  replied, 
"  Amen." ' 

At  Evesham,  in  August,  1739,  Charles  Wesley  says,  a 
drunken  servant  of  Mr.  Seward's  'was  struck.'  '  \Vcd.,  Aug.  22. 
This  morning  the  work  upon  poor  Robin  appeared  to  be  God's 
work.  The  words  that  made  the  first  impression  were — 

'Tis  mercy  all,  immense  and  free, 
For,  O  my  God,  it  found  out  me  ! 

He  now  seems  full  of  sorrow,  and  joy,  and  astonishment,  and 
love.  The  world,  too,  set  to  their  seal  that  he  belongs  to 
Christ.' 

Dr.  B.  Gregory  gives  an  attractive  picture  (Recollections, 
p.  55)  of  his  father's  colleague  at  Patrington,  Rev.  William  Kaye, 
who  reached  home  one  Saturday  from  his  week's  round  of 
appointments,  and  died  the  same  evening.  His  last  words 
were,  '  No  condemnation  now  I  dread,'  £c.  After  repeating 
the  verse  he  added,  'Yes,  Jesus  is  the  foundation  of  my  hope,' 
and  then  died. 


Hymn  361.  I  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say. 

DR.  H.  BONAR  (70). 

Appeared  in  Hymns  Original  and  Selected,  1846,  headed  'The 
Voice  from  Galilee.'  His  son  says  that  it  was  written  several  years 
before.  In  his  rough  manuscript  book  ver.  2  has  '  freely  take  '  instead 
of  'thirsty  one,'  and  vcr.  3  reads — 

Look  unto  Me,  thy  day  shall  break, 
And  all  thy  path  be  bright. 

His  son  has  published  the  page  of  the  note-book  on  which 
this  hymn  was  first  written  in  Hymns  of  Horatius  Bonar.  It 
is  in  pencil,  much  worn  and  faded,  with  a  sketch  of  a  head 
such  as  he  used  to  draw  on  the  margin  of  his  note-books. 
When  travelling  or  out  walking  he  always  had  one  of  these 
books  in  his  pocket,  and  jotted  down  any  idea  or  fragment  of 
verse  that  occurred  to  him  and  seemed  likely  to  be  of  service. 

This  hymn  was  Bishop  Fraser  of  Manchester's  favourite 
after  '  When  the  weary,  seeking  rest.' 


234  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 


Hymn  362.   Now  I  have  found  the  ground  wherein. 

JOHANN  ANDREAS  ROTHE  (1688-1758) ;  translated  by  JOHN 
WESLEY  (36). 

'Ich  habe  nun  den  Grund  gefunden,'  'Joy  in  Believing,'  appeared 
in  Zinzendorf's  Christ-Catholisches  Singe-  und  Bet-Biichldn>  1727. 

Wesley's  translation  is  in  Hymtis  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740  ;  Works,  i. 
279.  He  sent  his  MS.  to  P.  H.  Molther,  one  of  the  London  Moravians, 
on  January  25,  1740,  and  adopted  a  suggestion  of  his  as  to  one 
verse. 

Rothe  was  born  in  Silesia,  and  studied  theology  at  Leipzig 
University.  He  became  a  private  tutor  at  Leube.  Count 
Zinzendorf  was  much  pleased  with  a  sermon  he  preached 
at  Gross-Hennersdorf,  and  made  him  pastor  at  Berthelsdorf 
in  1722.  Herrnhut  was  in  his  parish,  and  he  took  great  interest 
in  the  Moravian  settlement  there.  A  report  he  had  to  give 
to  the  authorities  on  the  doctrinal  teaching  of  the  Moravians 
offended  the  Count,  and  Rothe  accepted  a  call  to  another 
parish.  He  died  at  Thommendorf  in  1758.  He  was  a  man 
of  high  character,  and  an  earnest,  fearless,  and  impressive 
preacher.  He  wrote  about  forty  hymns,  which  first  appeared 
in  Zinzendorf's  hymn-books.  The  Lutherans  were  shy  of  this 
hymn  at  first,  but  gladly  adopted  it  when  they  found  it  was  not 
by  Zinzendorf,  but  by  Rothe. 

Edward  Bickersteth,  Vicar  of  Watton,  Herts,  and  father 
of  Bishop  Bickersteth,  broke  out  singing  on  his  death-bed 
in  1850 — 

Mercy's  full  power  I  then  shall  prove, 
Loved  with  an  everlasting  love. 

When  John  Fletcher,  of  Madeley,  was  dying,  he  always  took 
a  peculiar  pleasure  in  repeating  or  hearing  the  lines — 

While  Jesu's  blood,  through  earth  and  skies, 
Mercy,  free,  boundless  mercy  !   cries. 

Whenever  his  wife  repeated  them  he  would  answer, '  Boundless, 
boundless,  boundless ! '  As  his  strength  failed,  he  added, 
though  not  without  much  difficulty — 

Mercy's  full  power  I  soon  shall  prove, 
Loved  with  an  everlasting  love. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS    235 

The  hymn  had  been  a  favourite  with  Mrs.  Fletcher  from  her 
youth.  She  says,  'One  night,  after  spending  some  time  in 
prayer,  I  cast  my  eyes  on  the  words — 

I'll  look  into  my  Saviour's  breast : 
Away,  sad  doubt,  and  anxious  fear  ! 
Mercy  is  all  that's  written  there. 

Jesu's  blood,  through  earth  and  skies, 
Mercy,  free,  boundless  mercy  !  cries. 

I  saw,  as  it  were,  the  Father  of  mercy  opening  His  arms  to 
receive  me  ;  and  on  that  boundless  love  I  had  liberty  to  cast 
my  whole  soul.' 

Charles  Garrett  found  the  hymn  his  companion  and  his 
comfort  all  through  life. 


Hymn  363.  Arise,  my  soul,  arise. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742,  Part  II.;  Works,  ii.  323.  '.Behold 
the  Man.' 

Wesley's  Journal,  October  24,  1774,  gives  an  account  of 
Susannah  Spencer,  who  was  melted  into  tears,  at  a  love- 
feast  in  Towcestcr,  '  by  those  words  applied  to  her  inmost  soul, 
in  an  inexpressible  manner  '- 

My  God  is  reconciled, 

His  pardoning  voice  I  hear ! 
He  owns  me  for  His  child  ; 

I  can  no  longer  fear. 

A  glance  at  Mr.  Stevenson's  pages  will  show  that  this  hymn 
has  become  part  of  the  spiritual  life  of  Methodism.  The  Rev. 
Matthew  Cranswick,  who  laboured  as  a  Wcsleyan  missionary 
in  the  West  Indies,  had  a  record  of  upwards  of  two  hundred 
persons,  young  and  old,  who  had  received  the  most  direct 
evidence  of  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins  whilst  singing  this 
hymn.  When  he  had  assured  himself  that  the  seeker  was 
truly  penitent,  he  would  begin  to  sing  the  hymn,  asking  the 
inquirer  to  join.  '  I  have  never  known  one  instance  of  a 
sincere  penitent  failing  to  receive  a  joyous  sense  of  pardon 
while  singing  that  hymn.' 


236  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

It  was  the  first  verse  of  this  hymn  by  which  John  Wakefield 
Greeves  showed  his  brother  Frederic,  who  was  under  deep 
conviction  of  sin,  the  way  to  '  come  to  Christ.' 

The  Rev.  James  Buckley,  who  took  an  active  part  in  the 
first  Methodist  missionary  meeting  at  Leeds  in  October,  1813, 
and  preached  the  previous  evening  at  Armley,  quoted  the 
second  and  third  verses  of  this  hymn  on  the  night  before  he 
died  in  1839.  His  last  words  were,  '  For  me  the  Saviour  died.' 

Hymn  364.  What  am  I,  O  Thou  glorious  God ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 749  ;  Works,  v.  I .  *  Hymns  for 
Believers,' No.  I.  The  second  verse  is  omitted.  Ver.  I  reads,  'On 
me,  the  vilest  reptile  me.' 

The  first  verse  has  given  a  voice  to  many  a  grateful  heart  in 
the  review  of  God's  mercies.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Agar  often 
quoted  it;  and  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Shrewsbury,  who  died  in  1866, 
made  his  last  appearance  in  public  on  a  missionary  platform  at 
Grosvenor  Street,  where  he  began  his  brief  address  with  the 
first  verse  of  this  hymn. 

Hymn  365.  My  Saviour !  how  shall  I  proclaim. 

GERHARDT  (163) ;  translated  by  J.  WESLEY  (36). 

'  O  Welt,  sieh  hier  dein  Leben,'  published  in  Criiger's  Praxis 
pietatis  melica,  3rd  edition,  1648  ;  J.  and  C.  Wesley's  Hymns  and  Sacred 
Poems,  1740 ;  Works,  i.  232.  '  Extended  on  a  cursed  tree,'  headed 
'  "  They  shall  look  upon  Me  whom  they  have  pierced."  Zech.  xii.  10. 
From  the  German.'  Two  of  the  nine  verses  are  given  here.  The  punctua 
tion  of  1875,  '  My  Saviour,  how  shall  I  proclaim  ?  '  is  happily  changed. 

Hymn  366.  Glory  to  God,  whose  sovereign  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;    Works,  i.  287.    'Hymn  for  the 
Kingswood  Colliers.'    The  last  two  verses,  which  belonged  to  drunken 
colliers,  are  wisely  omitted  from  such  a  collection  as  this — 
Suffice  that  for  the  season  past 

Hell's  horrid  language  fill'd  our  tongues, 
We  all  Thy  words  behind  us  cast, 

And  loudly  sang  the  drunkard's  songs. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    237 

But,  O  the  power  of  grace  divine  ! 

In  hymns  we  now  our  voices  raise, 
Loudly  in  strange  hosannas  join, 

And  blasphemies  are  turn'd  to  praise. 

Charles  Wesley  added  Ken's  doxology  to  his  own  thanks 
giving. 

On  August  31,  1739,  his  Journal  says,  '  I  spoke  to  the  poor 
colliers  on  "  The  blind  receive  their  sight,  the  lame  walk,"  &c.' 
On  Tuesday,  September  4,  he  '  preached  over  against  the  school 
in  Kingswood,  to  some  thousands  (colliers  chiefly),  and  held 
out  the  promises,  from  Isa.  xxxv.  :  "The  wilderness  and  the 
solitary  place  shall  be  glad  for  them  ;  and  the  desert  shall 
rejoice,  and  blossom  as  the  rose/''  I  triumphed  in  God's  mercy 
to  these  poor  outcasts  (for  He  hath  called  them  a  people  who 
were  not  a  people),  and  in  the  accomplishment  of  that  scripture, 
"  Then  the  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  be  opened,"  &c.  Oh,  how 
gladly  do  the  poor  receive  the  gospel  !  We  hardly  knew  how 
to  part.' 

When  Whitefield  told  his  friends  in  Bristol  that  he  was 
going  to  America  to  preach  to  savages,  they  replied,  '  WThat 
need  of  going  abroad  for  this?  Have  we  not  Indians  enough 
at  home?  If  you  want  to  convert  Indians,  there  are  colliers 
enough  at  Kingswood.' 

Hymn  367.  O  what  shall  I  do  my  Saviour  to  praise. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  176.  'A  Thanks 
giving.' 

Hymn  368.  My  God,  I  am  Thine. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  24.  'Hymns  for 
Believers.' 

A  hymn  with  an  extraordinary  history  of  blessing  ever  since 
it  was  written.  How  it  has  been  used,  an  incident  in  Joseph 
Entwisle's  Memoir  may  show.  He  was  anxiously  seeking  the 
pardoning  mercy  of  God,  when  '  a  pious  young  man  said  to 
him,  as  they  were  walking  together  along  Moseley  Street, 


238  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Manchester,  on  their  way  to  the  chapel  at  Birchin  Lane, 
"  Joseph,  I  will  read  you  a  hymn  which  those  of  us  sing  who 
know  our  sins  forgiven?  He  then  opened  his  hymn-book,  and 
read  that  beautiful  hymn  on  adoption,  beginning  "  My  God,  I 
am  Thine."  He  was  much  struck  with  it,  not  having  heard  or 
read  it  before  ;  and  expressed  an  ardent  desire  to  be  enabled 
to  adopt  its  language  as  descriptive  of  his  own  experience. 
He  was  much  encouraged  by  the  assurance  given  him  by  his 
pious  friend,  who  lived  in  the  personal  enjoyment  of  this 
blessing,  that  he  might  soon  attain  it,  and  be  enabled  from  happy 
experience  to  sing  the  hymn  with  him.' 

Sampson  Staniforth,  the  brave  soldier-preacher,  said  to  a 
friend  a  few  days  before  his  death  at  Deptford,  1783,  '  I  think 
my  experience  may  be  all  summed  up  in  these  few  words — 

In  the  heavenly  Lamb, 
Thrice  happy  I  am, 
And  my  heart  it  doth  dance  at  the  sound  of  His  name.'; 

The  night  before  he  died  he  repeated  many  '  passages  from 
our  hymns,  and  among  the  rest,  "  O  for  a  heart  to  praise  my 
God  "  ' ;  and  soon  after — | 

My  God,  I  am  Thine, 
What  a  comfort  divine, 
What  a  blessing  to  know  that  my  Jesus  is  mine ! 

Sammy  Hick  got  his  two  Pontefract  friends  to  sing  this 
hymn  at  his  bedside  on  the  night  before  he  died.  When  it 
was  finished  the  old  man  said,  '  Blessed  Jesus  !  this  cheers  my 
spirits.' 

Hymn  369.  My  God,  the  spring  of  all  my  joys. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1707.  'God's  presence  is  light  in 
darkness.' 

Ver.  2  reads — 

In  darkest  shades,  if  He  appear 

My  dawning  is  begun  ; 
He  is  my  soul's  sweet  morning  star, 

And  He  my  rising  sun. 

Ver.  4,  line  4,  '  To  embrace  my  dearest  Lord.' 

In  Wesley's  Psalms  and  Hy?nns,  1741,  it  is  given  as  No.  118,  with 


THE    STORY    OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     239 

alterations.      It  did  not  secure  a  place  in  the  Wesleyan  hymn-book 
till  1805. 

Montgomery  speaks  of  this  as  '  a  hymn  which  would  not 
have  discredited  Gray  himself  (Christian  P salmis  f).  Milner 
describes  the  hymn  in  his  Life  of  Watts  as  '  almost  without  spot 
or  blemish.'  A  writer  in  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Magazine 
calls  it  the  very  best  Watts  wrote,  a  hymn  which  breathes  the 
'  intense  earnestness,  and  passionate,  kindling  fervour  of  Wesley 
himself.  It  is  an  effusion  of  irrepressible  joy  and  triumphant 
faith.' 

George  Smith,  of  Coalvillc,  the  friend  of  the  canal  children, 
found  peace  as  he  sang  this  hymn  in  1848,  when  he  lay  prostrate 
with  cholera,  face  to  face  with  death.  When  the  light  came 
into  his  soul,  he  sang,  '  In  darkest  shades,  if  Thou  appear.' 

Dr.  George  Smith  says  in  his  Harmony  of  the  Divine 
Dispensations,  '  As  the  ancient  Hebrews  rejoiced  at  the  shining 
forth  of  the  glorious  Shekinah,  so  may  our  spirits  feel,  while 
contemplating  this  heavenly  light,  that  our  treasure  and  heart 
are  there  ;  and  armed  by  divine  love,  and  lit  up  by  the  corusca 
tions  of  glory  which  radiate  from  that  throne  of  grace,  we 
may  even  here  exultingly  exclaim — 

The  opening  heavens  around  me  shine 

With  beams  of  sacred  blk<, 
If  Jesus  shows  His  mercy  mine 

And  whispers  I  am  His.' 


Hymn  370.  Jcsu,  Thy  blood  and  righteousness. 
ZINZEXDORF  (69) ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

'  Christi  Blut  und  Gercchtigkeit,'  written  in  1739,  during  his  voyage 
from  St.  Thomas,  in  the  West  Indies,  and  published  in  the  Herrnhut 
collection.  In  Knapp's  edition  of  ZinzendorPs  Gcistlithc  Licder,  1845, 
it  is  headed  '  On  St.  Eustachius,'  which  may  mean  that  it  was  written 
on  that  saint's  day,  March  29,  1739.  ZinzendorPs  first  two  lines  are 
from  a  hymn  of  Eber's,  '  In  Christi  Wunden  schlaf  ich  ein.'  Wesley's 
translation  appeared  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Workst  i. 
346,  headed  'The  Believer's  Triumph.' 

The  Rev.  James  Smetham,  Wesleyan  minister,  father  of  the 
painter  poet  (817),  told  his  son  in  his  last  illness,  in  1847,  'I 


240  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

have  had  such  a  sight  of  my  own  defects  and  unfaithfulness, 
and  such  a  view  of  the  purity  and  holiness  of  God,  as  almost 
made  me  despair  of  finding  mercy  at  the  last.  I  remembered 
that  when  your  brother  John  was  dying,  he  was  delivered  from 
his  last  fear  by  remembering  and  repeating  the  verse,  "Jesus, 
Thy  blood  and  righteousness."  I  asked  that  the  hymn-book 
might  be  given  me ;  I  opened  it,  and  the  first  lines  on  which 
my  eyes  rested  were  those  commencing,  "Jesus,  Thy  blood 
and  righteousness."  All  my  fear,  doubt,  and  distress  vanished, 
when  at  the  reading  of  that  verse  I  cast  my  soul  on  the  Atone 
ment  ;  and  since  that  time  I  have  enjoyed  perfect  peace.' 

During  a  visit  to  London  in  May,  1783,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Simeon,  who  was  then  in  his  twenty-fifth  year,  undertook 
occasional  duty  for  a  clergyman  at  Horsleydown.  On  the 
day  that  he  expected  to  attend  his  brother's  marriage  he  was 
suddenly  summoned  to  conduct  a  funeral.  As  he  waited  in 
the  churchyard,  he  read  on  a  tombstone  the  lines — 

When  from  the  dust  of  death  I  rise 
To  claim  my  mansion  in  the  skies, 
Even  then  this  shall  be  all  my  plea, — 
Jesus  hath  lived,  hath  died  for  me. 

He  was  struck  with  the  sentiment,  for  most  of  the  epitaphs 
would  have  been  in  place  on  a  Jew's  or  a  heathen's  grave, 
and  looked  round  for  some  one  to  whom  it  might  be  made  a 
blessing.  At  a  distance  he  saw  a  young  woman  reading  the 
inscriptions  on  the  gravestones.  Simeon  said  to  her,  '  You 
are  reading  epitaphs,  mistress  ;  read  that.  When  you  can  say 
the  same  from  your  heart  you  will  be  happy  indeed  ;  but  till 
then  you  will  enjoy  no  real  happiness  in  this  world  or  in  the 
next.'  She  read  the  words  without  apparent  emotion,  and 
coolly  replied  that  a  churchyard  was  a  very  proper  place  for 
her,  for  she  was  much  distressed.  Mr.  Simeon  found  that  she 
was  a  widow,  with  two  children  and  an  aged  mother  dependent 
on  her.  Her  health  had  broken  with  the  strain  ;  she  had  been 
repulsed  when  she  turned  for  help  to  her  sister,  and  after 
wandering  five  hours  in  the  graveyard  she  had  determined  to 
drown  herself.  Mr.  Simeon  did  not  know  what  was  in  her 
mind,  but  comforted  her  with  some  promises  from  the  Word  of 
God,  visited  her  home  that  evening,  and  had  the  joy  of  helping 
her  in  her  distress.  A  year  later  he  found  her  living  a  holy  and 
consistent  life.  Thirty  years  after  he  said,  '  If  my  whole  life 


THE   STORY   OF    THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR    WRITERS     24! 

had  been  spent  without  any  other  compensation  than  this,  my 
labours  had  been  richly  recompensed.' 

This  hymn  was  a  great  favourite  of  Rowland  Hill's,  and  was 
sung  at  his  funeral. 

Hymn  371.  Happy  soul  who  sees  the  day. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poenis,  1742;  Works,  ii.  251.  Isa.  xii.  Eight 
lines  of  the  original  omitted.  It  is  in  four-line  verses. 

A  fine  illustration  of  Charles  Wesley's  gift  as  a  poetic  commentator. 

Hymn  372.  My  soul,  inspired  with  sacred  love. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Select  Psalms:  Psalm  cxlvi.  (left  in  MS.);  Works,  viii.  260. 
Appeared  in  the  Arminian  Magazine,  1798.  Three  verses  are  omitted. 

Hymn  373.  What  shall  I  render  to  my  God. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743  (left  in  MS.)  ;  Works,  viii.  202.  Psalm 
cxvi.,  second  part. 

Hymn  374.  The   God  of  Abraham  praise. 
THOMAS  OLIVERS. 

Thomas  Olivers  was  born  at  Tregynon,  Montgomeryshire, 
in  1725,  and  lost  both  parents  before  he  was  five.  As  a  youth 
he  lived  among  people  who  thought  little  of  lying  or  taking  the 
name  of  God  in  vain,  and  before  he  was  fifteen  he  was  reckoned 
the  worst  boy  known  in  the  district  for  twenty  or  thirty  years. 
He  was  apprenticed  to  a  shoemaker,  but  his  behaviour  com 
pelled  him  to  leave  the  neighbourhood.  At  Bristol  he  was 
convinced  of  sin  under  a  sermon  by  George  Whitefield.  He 
fasted  and  prayed  till  his  knees  grew  stiff.  '  So  earnest  was  I 
that  I  used  by  the  hour  together  to  wrestle  with  all  the  might 
of  my  body  and  soul,  till  I  almost  expected  to  die  on  the 
spot.'  He  became  a  member  of  Wesley's  Society  at  Bradford, 
in  Wilts,  where  he  was  made  a  local  preacher.  He  returned 
to  Montgomeryshire  and  paid  all  his  debts,  travelling  from 

R 


243  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Shrewsbury  to  Whitchurch  to  pay  a  single  sixpence.  On 
October  24,  1753,  he  set  out  on  foot  to  join  John  Wesley  in 
Cornwall.  At  Tiverton  he  bought  a  colt  for  five  pounds.  He 
rode  a  hundred  thousand  miles  on  its  back.  Such  a  horse 
'  as,  in  many  respects,  none  of  my  brethren  could  ever  boast 
of.'  For  about  twelve  years  he  had  charge  of  printing  the 
Arminian  Magazine;  but  the  frightful  errata,  and  the  fact  that 
Olivers  inserted  matter  without  consulting  him,  made  Wesley 
at  last  look  out  for  a  more  efficient  substitute  in  1789.  He  died 
in  March,  1799,  and  was  buried  in  Wesley's  grave  at  City  Road. 

His  '  Hymn  to  the  God  of  Abraham,  adapted  to  a  celebrated 
air,  sung  by  Leoni,  in  the  Jews'  synagogue,'  borrows  some  slight 
suggestion  from  the  Hebrew  doxology,  which  rehearses  in 
metrical  form  the  thirteen  articles  of  the  Jewish  Creed.  Olivers 
told  a  brother  preacher  at  a  Conference  in  City  Road  that  he 
had  rendered  it  from  the  Hebrew,  giving  it  as  far  as  he  could  a 
Christian  character.  He  said  he  had  called  on  Leoni  the  Jew, 
who  had  given  him  a  synagogue  melody  to  be  set  to  it,  which 
was  to  be  named  Leoni.  He  wrote  the  hymn  at  the  house  of 
John  Bakewell  (189)  at  Westminster  in  1770,  after  hearing 
Leoni  sing  at  the  synagogue,  where  he  went  in  company  with 
Joseph  Rhodes,  precentor  at  the  Foundery,  who  seems  to 
have  arranged  the  music.  The  hymn  appeared  as  a  tract 
as  early  as  1772,  and  found  its  place  in  the  1831  Supplement  to 
the  Wesleyan  hymn-book.  Leoni  was  a  chorister  in  the  Great 
Synagogue,  Duke's  Place,  and  a  public  singer  at  Drury  Lane 
or  Covent  Garden.  He  died  in  Jamaica,  where  he  became 
chazan  of  the  English  and  German  synagogue. 

The  first  appearance  of  this  hymn  in  any  Wesleyan  hymn- 
book  was  in  Wesley's  Pocket  Hymn-book  for  the  Use  of 
Christians  of  all  Denominations,  1785. 

Thomas  Jackson  calls  it  'one  of  the  noblest  hymns  in 
existence.  It  will  doubtless  be  sung  by  spiritual  worshippers, 
of  every  denomination,  with  delight  and  profit,  as  long  as  the 
English  language  is  understood.'  John  Fletcher  writes  warmly 
of  Olivers.  '  His  talents  as  a  writer,  a  logician,  a  poet,  and  a 
composer  of  sacred  music,  are  known  to  those  who  have  looked 
into  his  publications.' 

James  Montgomery  says  in  the  Christian  Psalmist,  1825, 
'  There  is  not  in  our  language  a  lyric  of  more  majestic  style, 
more  elevated  thought,  or  more  glorious  imagery.  Its  structure, 
indeed,  is  unattractive,  and,  on  account  of  the  short  lines, 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR    WRITERS      243 

occasionally  uncouth  ;  but  like  a  stately  pile  of  architecture, 
severe  and  simple  in  design,  it  strikes  less  on  the  first  view 
than  after  deliberate  examination,  when  its  proportions  become 
more  graceful,  its  dimensions  expand,  and  the  mind  itself  grows 
greater  in  contemplating  it.'  Earl  Selborne  calls  it  '  an  ode  of 
singular  power  and  beauty.' 

On  July  29,  1805,  Henry  Martyn,  while  waiting  for  his  ship 
at  Falmouth,  '  walked  to  Lamorran  ;  alternately  repining  at 
my  dispensation,  and  giving  it  up  to  the  Lord.  Sometimes — 
after  thinking  of  Lydia  for  a  long  time  together,  so  as  to  feel 
almost  outrageous  at  being  deprived  of  her — my  soul  would 
feel  its  guilt,  and  flee  again  to  God.  I  was  much  relieved  at 
intervals  in  learning  the  hymn,  "The  God  of  Abraham  praise." 
As  often  as  I  could  use  the  language  of  it  with  any  truth,  my 
heart  was  a  little  at  ease.  There  was  something  peculiarly 
solemn  and  affecting  to  me  in  this  hymn,  and  particularly  at 
this  time.  The  truth  of  the  sentiments  I  knew  well  enough. 
But,  alas  !  I  felt  that  the  state  of  mind  expressed  in  it  was 
above  mine  at  the  time,  and  I  felt  loth  to  forsake  all  on  earth.' 

The  baptism  of  a  young  Jewess  greatly  enraged  her  father, 
who  was  chief  of  his  synagogue.  He  vowed  to  kill  her.  She 
found  refuge  in  the  house  of  the  minister  who  had  baptized  her. 
She  was  not  dismayed  by  the  loss  of  home  and  friends,  but  sang 
with  holy  exultation  snatches  of  what  she  had  already  learned 
to  call  her  own  hymn,  '  The  God  of  Abraham  praise.' 

Richard  Watson  found  comfort  in  this  hymn  during  his 
last  illness  in  January,  1833.  He  said  he  longed  'to  quit  this 
little  abode,  gain  the  wide  expanse  of  the  skies,  rise  to  nobler 
joys,  and  see  God.'  Then  he  repeated,  '  I  shall  behold  His 
face.' 

The  wife  of  Mr.  George  Smith,  who  did  such  a  noble  work 
among  the  canal  population,  was  converted  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  at  Tunstall,  whilst  the  congregation  was  singing  'The 
goodly  land  I  see.'  As  she  lay  dying  her  two  sons  sang  the 
hymn  which  had  been  so  greatly  blessed  in  her  conversion. 

Hymn  375.   Though  nature's  strength  decay. 

THOMAS  OLIVERS  (374). 
Ver.  5  was  formerly  given  as  the  first  verse  of  Part  III. 

In  1773,  George  Shadford  and  Thomas  Rankin  went  as 
Methodist  preachers  to  America.  They  embarked  with  Captain 


244  THE    METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Webb  at  Bristol.     '  We  took  leave  of  our  native  land,  and  set 
sail  on  Good  Friday  ;  often  singing  in  our  passage  these  words — 

The  watery  deep  I  pass, 
With  Jesus  in  my  view. 

And  after  a  comfortable  passage  of  six  weeks  arrived  safely  at 
Philadelphia.' 

Richard  Pattison,  who  was  a  devoted  Methodist  missionary 
in  the  West  Indies,  said,  '  Many  times,  in  storms  on  the  ocean, 
or  crossing  from  one  island  to  another  in  small  vessels,  I  have 
held  by  a  rope,  and  sang — 

The  watery  deep  I  pass, 
With  Jesus  in  my  view ; 
And  through  the  howling  wilderness 
My  way  pursue. 

And  I  have  felt  my  faith  in  God  wonderfully  strengthened.' 

Hymn  376.  The  God  who  reigns  on  high. 
THOMAS  OLIVERS  (374). 

Hymn  377.  Come,  Thou  Fount  of  every  blessing. 

ROBERT  ROBINSON. 

Robert  Robinson  was  born  of  humble  parentage  at  Swaff ham, 
Norfolk,  in  1735.  His  father  died  early,  and  in  1749  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  London  hairdresser,  who  found  him  more 
given  to  reading  than  to  his  daily  work.  One  Sunday,  in  1752, 
he  and  some  companions  gave  drink  to  an  old  dame  who  told 
fortunes,  that  they  might  laugh  over  her  predictions  concerning 
them.  She  sobered  Robinson  by  telling  him  that  he  would 
live  to  see  his  children  and  grandchildren.  On  May  24,  1752, 
he  heard  Whitefield  preach  on  Matt.  iii.  7  :  '  The  wrath  to 
come.'  After  three  years  of  darkness  he  found  peace  in  his 
twentieth  year.  He  attended  the  ministry  of  Wesley  and  other 
evangelical  preachers  in  London,  till  he  was  invited,  in  1758,  to 
take  charge  of  a  chapel  at  Mildenhall,  Suffolk,  as  a  Calvinistic 
Methodist.  He  removed  to  Norwich  within  the  year  as  an 
Independent  pastor,  and  in  January,  1759,  began  to  preach 
at  the  Baptist  church  in  Cambridge,  where  Robert  Hall  and 
John  Foster  were  afterwards  ministers.  Robert  Hall  said  he 
had  a  musical  voice,  and  was  master  of  all  its  intonations  ;  he 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    245 

had  wonderful  self-possession,  and  could  say  what  he  pleased 
when  he  pleased  and  how  he  pleased.  He  was  not  a  man  of 
much  stability,  but  it  is  said  he  '  knew  how  to  draw  every  ear, 
and  his  dominion  over  his  audience  was  absolute.'  He  became 
a  voluminous  writer,  and  all  his  books  have  the  orator's  glow 
and  fire.  He  retired,  worn  out  by  his  labours,  to  Birmingham 
a  few  months  before  his  death.  He  died  in  1790. 

A  list  of  his  publications  in  Robinson's  handwriting  is 
given  in  a  church-book.  One  entry  reads,  '  Mr.  Wheatlcy 
of  Norwich  published  a  hymn,  beginning  "Come,  Thou  Fount 
of  every  blessing,"  1758.'  That  was  the  time  when  Robinson 
was  living  in  Norwich.  Next  year  it  is  given  in  a  hymn-book 
used  by  the  church  in  Angel  Alley,  Bishopsgate,  with  a  fourth 
stanza,  '  O  that  day  when  free  from  sinning.'  It  is  a  Whitsun 
tide  hymn.  It  has  been  ascribed  to  the  Countess  of  Hunting 
don,  but  the  above  entry  is  decisive. 

It  is  said  that  Robinson  grew  careless  after  he  wrote  this 
hymn  in  1757,  and  that  during  a  coach-ride  a  lady  had  to 
reprove  him  for  his  frivolous  behaviour.  He  seemed  affected 
by  the  reproof.  She  followed  up  the  impression  by  quoting  a 
verse  of  '  Come,  Thou  Fount,'  which  she  said  had  been  made 
a  blessing  to  her.  Robinson  burst  into  tears.  '  I  am  the  poor 
unhappy  man  who  composed  it  ;  and  I  would  give  a  thousand 
worlds,  if  I  had  them,  to  enjoy  the  feelings  I  had  then.' 

A  manuscript  copy  of  the  hymn  in  six  verses  is  given  at  the 
end  of  a  volume  of  Charles  Wesley's  hymn-tracts,  which  was 
put  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  W.  T.  Brooke— 

I. 

Come,  thou  fount  of  every  blessing, 

Tune  my  heart  to  sing  thy  Grace, 
Streams  of  Mercy  never  ceasing 

Call  for  songs  of  loudest  praise  ; 
Teach  me  some  melodious  Sonnett 

Sung  by  flaming  tongues  above, 
Praise  the  Mount,  I'm  fixt  upon  it, 

Mount  of  Christ's  redeeming  Love. 

II. 

Sorrowing  shall  I  be  in  Spirit 

Till  releas'd  from  Flesh  and  Sin, 
Yet  from  what  I  do  inherit 

Here  thy  praises  I'll  begin ; 


246  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Here,  I'll  raise  my  Ebenezer, 
Hither,  by  thy  grace  I'm  come, 

So  I  hope  by  thy  good  pleasure 
Safely  to  arrive  at  home. 

III. 

Jesus  sought  me  when  a  stranger 

Wand'ring  from  the  fold  of  God, 
He  to  rescue  me  from  danger 

Interpos'd  his  precious  blood  ; 
How  his  kindness  yet  pursues  me 

Mortal  tongue  can  never  tell, 
Cloth'd  in  flesh,  till  death  shall  loose  me 

I  cannot  proclaim  it  well ! 

IV. 

Oh  !  to  grace  how  great  a  debtor 

Daily  I'm  constrain'd  to  be, 
Let  that  grace,  now,  like  a  Fetter, 

Bind  my  wand'ring  Soul  to  thee ; 
Prone  to  wander,  Lord,  I  feel  it, 

Prone  to  leave  the  God  I  love, 
Here's  my  Heart!  Lord,  take  and  seal  it, 

Seal  it  for  thy  Courts  above. 

V. 

Oh !   that  day  when  freed  from  sinning, 

I  shall  see  thy  lovely  face, 
Clothed  then  in  blood  wash'd  Linnen 

How  I'll  sing  thy  boundless  grace  ; 
Come,  my  Lord,  no  longer  tarry, 

Take  my  ransom'd  Soul  away, 
Send  Thine  Angel  hosts  to  carry 

Me  to  realms  of  Endless  Day  ! 

VI. 

If  Thou  ever  didst  discover 

Unto  me  the  promis'd  Land, 
Let  me  now  the  stream  pass  over, 

On  the  heavenly  Canaan  stand  ; 
Now  destroy  whate'er  opposes, 

Into  thine  Embrace  I'd  fly, 
Speak  the  Word,  thou  didst  to  Moses, 

Bid  me,  Lord,  Come  up  and  Die. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR    WRITERS     247 

'  Mighty  God,  while  angels  bless  Thee,'  his  Christmas  hymn, 
has  also  gained  great  popularity. 

George  Whitefield  wrote  to  a  friend  in  1769:  'O  to  grace 
what  mighty  debtors  !  If  we  should  die  singing  that  hymn 
what  then  ?  Why,  welcome,  welcome  eternity  !  Christ's  grace 
will  be  sufficient  for  us.  Hallelujah  !  Hallelujah  ! ' 

Hymn  378.  God  of  my  life,  through  all  my  days. 

PHILIP  DODDRIDGE  (95). 

This  hymn  was  published  1755,  w'tn  tne  heading  'Praising  God 
through  the  whole  of  our  existence.  Ps.  cxlvi.  2.'  The  first  line  reads 
'  its  days.' 

It  has  been  stated  that  it  was  written  in  1751  ;  and  Miller 
(Singers  and  Songs,  1869,  p.  172)  says,  'This  hymn  may  be 
read  autobiographically,  especially  ver.  3,  "  When  death  o'er 
nature  shall  prevail,"  in  reference  to  the  peaceful  thankfulness 
of  his  heart  when  the  last  wave  of  his  life  was  ebbing  out  at 
Lisbon.' 

Hymn  379.   My  God,  I  thank  Thee,  who  hast  made, 

^^       ADELAIDE  ANNE  PROCTER. 
In  her  Legends  and  Lyrics,  1858. 

Miss  Procter  was  the  daughter  of  Bryan  Waller  Procter, 
barrister  and  commissioner  in  lunacy.  He  wrote  a  successful 
tragedy,,  '  Mirandola,'  under  the  pseudonym  Barry  Cornwall  ; 
and  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Leigh  Hunt,  Charles  Lamb,  and 
Dickens.  His  daughter  was  born  in  Bedford  Square,  London, 
1825,  and  joined  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  1851.  She 
was  a  skilful  musician,  and  wrote  many  poems,  of  which  '  The 
Lost  Chord  '  is  the  most  popular.  Charles  Dickens  became 
her  friend  through  her  contributions  to  Household  Words.  She 
took  great  interest  in  social  questions  affecting  women.  Bishop 
Bickersteth  says,  '  This  most  beautiful  hymn  touches  the  chord 
of  thankfulness  in  trial,  as  perhaps  no  other  hymn  does,  and  is 
thus  most  useful  for  the  visitation  of  the  sick.'  She  died  in 
1864. 

Charles  Dickens  speaks  of  the  enthusiasm  for  doing  good 
that  filled  his  young  friend's  heart.  '  Now  it  was  the 


248  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

visitation  of  the  sick  that  had  possession  of  her  ;  now  it  was 
the  sheltering  of  the  homeless  ;  now  it  was  the  elementary 
teaching  of  the  densely  ignorant ;  now  it  was  the  raising  up 
of  those  who  had  wandered  and  got  trodden  underfoot ;  now 
it  was  the  wider  employment  of  her  own  sex  in  the  general 
business  of  life  ;  now  it  was  all  these  things  at  once.  Perfectly 
unselfish,  swift  to  sympathize,  and  eager  to  relieve,  she  wrought 
at  such  designs  with  a  flushed  earnestness  that  disregarded 
season,  weather,  time  of  day  or  night,  food,  rest.'  Under  such 
a  strain  her  health  gave  way,  and  after  fifteen  months  of  suffer 
ing  she  found  her  rest. 

Hymn  380.  I've  found  a  Friend ;  O  such  a  Friend ! 

JAMES  GRINDLY  SMALL  (1817-88). 

In  his  Psalms  and  Sacred  Songs,  1866. 

The  writer  was  the  son  of  George  Small,  J.P.,  Edinburgh  ; 
was  educated  at  the  High  School  and  University  there,  and 
studied  theology  under  Dr.  Chalmers.  In  1847  he  became  Free 
Church  minister  at  Bervie,  near  Montrose.  He  died  at  Renfrew 
on  the  Clyde.  He  published  The  Highlands  and  other  Poems, 
1843;  Songs  of  the  Vineyard,  1846;  Hymns  for  Youthful 
Voices,  1859. 

Hymn  381.   Heavenly  Father,  Sovereign  Lord, 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740 ;  Works,  i.  290.  Isa.  xxxv. 
Twenty  verses  of  four  lines. 

Hymn  382.   How  happy  are  they, 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns    and  Sacred  Poems,   1 749 ;     Works,   iv.   408.     '  For    one 
fallen  from  grace.'     Two  parts,  sixteen  verses.     This  is  the  first  part. 
Three  verses  are  omitted,  two  of  which  may  be  quoted — 
3.  'Twas  an  heaven  below 

My  Saviour  to  know  ; 
The  angels  could  do  nothing  more 
Than  fall  at  His  feet, 
And  the  story  repeat, 
And  the  Lover  of  sinners  adore. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     249 

6.  I  rode  on  the  sky, 

(Freely  justified  I  !) 
Nor  envied  Elijah  his  seat ; 

My  soul  mounted  higher 

In  a  chariot  of  fire, 
And  the  moon  it  was  under  my  feet. 

Hymn  383.   Sing  praise  to  God  who  reigns  above. 
J.  J.  SCHUTZ  (84)  ;  translated  by  Miss  Cox  (175). 

'Sei  Lob  und  Ehr  dem  hochsten  Gut,"  founded  on  Deut.  xxxii.  3, 
was  published  in  a  tractate  in  1675.  Miss  Cox's  translation  was 
contributed  to  Lyra  Eucharistica,  1864. 

Hymn  384.   Rejoice  and  be  glad  !   the  Redeemer 
hath  come. 

DR.  H.  BONAR  (70). 
Written  for  Sankey's  Sacred  Songs  and  Solos,  18/5. 

Hymn  385.  Awake,  our  sonls !  away,  our  fears  ! 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.  '  The  Christian  Race.  Isa.  xl. 
28-31.' 

Wesley  gave  it  in  his  Charlestown  Collection^  1737. 

Hymn  380.  Head  of  Thy  church  triumphant. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Times  of  Trouble  and  Persecution,  1745  ;  Works,  iv.  79. 
No.  15. 

Charles  Wesley's  Journal  gives  many  glimpses  of  that  trying 
year  when  the  Young  Pretender  entered  Edinburgh  in  triumph. 
On  September  6,  he  says,  '  The  night  we  passed  in  prayer.  I 
read  them  my  heavy  tidings  out  of  the  north.'  On  'Sunday, 
September  18,  the  spirit  of  supplication  was  given  us  in  the 
Society  for  His  Majesty,  King  George;  and,  in  strong  faith,  we 
asked  his  deliverance  from  all  his  enemies  and  troubles.'  On 
September  25,  '  I  heard  the  news  confirmed,  of  Edinburgh 


250  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

being  taken  by  the  rebels.'     Next  day,  'Tidings  came  that 
General  Cope  was  cut  off  with  all  his  army.' 

One  who  saw  much  of  Bishop  Heber  in  his  last  months  in 
India  writes, '  On  returning  from  church  in  the  morning  I  was  so 
ill  as  to  be  obliged  to  go  to  bed,  and,  with  his  usual  affectionate 
consideration,  the  bishop  came  and  sat  the  greater  part  of  the 
afternoon  with  me.  Our  conversation  turned  chiefly  on  the 
blessedness  of  heaven,  and  the  best  means  of  preparing  for  its 
enjoyment.  He  repeated  several  lines  of  an  old  hymn  of 
Charles  Wesley,  which,  he  said,  in  spite  of  one  or  two  expres 
sions,  he  admired  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  our  language 
for  a  rich  and  elevated  tone  of  devotional  feeling — 

Head  of  Thy  church  triumphant, 
We  joyfully  adore  Thee.' 

Hymn  387.  The  name  we  still  acknowledge. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Verses  I  and  2  are  from  Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scrip 
ture,  1762  ;  Works,  x.  75.  Hos.  ii.  15.  The  last  verse  is  made  up  of 
half  the  fourth  and  fifth  verses  of  No.  2  in  Hymns  for  Times  of 
Trouble,  1745  ;  Works,  iv.  87. 

The  original  of  ver.  2  reads,  '  And  blasts  our  fierce  pursuers.' 

Hymn  388.  Ye  servants  of  God,  your  Master  proclaim. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

No.  I  in  Hymns  to  be  sung  in  a  Tumult,  included  in  Hymns  for 
Times  of  Troiible  and  Perseciition,  1744  ;   Works,  iv.  51. 
The  third  verse  is  omitted — 

Men,  devils  engage,  The  billows  arise, 
And  horribly  rage,  And  threaten  the  skies : 
Their  fury  shall  never  Our  steadfastness  shock, 
The  weakest  believer  Is  built  on  a  Rock. 

Hymn  389.  This,  this  is  the  God  we  adore. 
JOSEPH  HART  (280). 

This  is  the  last  stanza  of  a  hymn  of  seven  stanzas,  beginning  '  No 
prophet,  nor  dreamer  of  dreams,'  based  on  Deut.  xiii.  i.  It  appeared 
in  1759. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    251 

Martin  Madan  gave  this  last  stanza  in  his  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1763, 
and  it  found  a  place  in  the  Supplement  to  the  Wesleyan  hymn-book, 
1831.  The  verse  begins,  '  This  God  is  the  God  we  adore.' 

The  verse  was  sung  by  the  orphans  at  Savannah  as  they  walked 
back  from  \Yhitefield's  sermon  on  January  28,  1770. 

Hymn  390.  Happy  soul  that  free  from  harms. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  293.  '  Hymns  for 
those  that  wait  for  Full  Redemption,'  No.  4.  Eight  lines  of  singular 
pathos  are  omitted,  and  the  result  i->  a  triumph  of  the  editor's  art. 
Ver.  I  reads,  '  safe  from  harms, '  and  ver.  4,  '  perfect  in. ' 

Dr.  Benjamin  Gregory  says,  '  I  was  brought  up  in  the 
firmest  faith  that  if  I  died  trusting  in  Christ,  and  striving  to 
love  and  serve  Him,  I  should  most  surely  go  to  heaven.  This 
faith  was  much  confirmed  by  the  account  often  given  me  of  the 
last  hours  of  my  little  sister  Rachel,  who  died  before  I  was 
born.  When  told  that  she  was  dying  she  betrayed  no  tremor  ; 
but  looking  up  to  heaven,  she  said,  in  her  own  infant  speech — 

O  that   I  at  last  may  stand 

\Vith  th'j  sheep  at  Thy  right  hand, 

Take  the  crown  so  freely  given, 

Enter  in  by  Thee  to  heaven  !  ' 

Hymn  391.  Father,  to  Thee  my  soul  I  lift. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacnd  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  374.  Phil.  ii.  13. 
The  original  of  ver.  5  reads,  '  Or  righteous  work,  is  Thine.' 

Hymn  392.  Let  not  the  wise  his   wisdom  bo;iM. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  IVorks,  x.  20. 
Jer.  ix.  23. 

Hymn  393.  Jesus,  to  Thee  I  now  can  fly. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  202.  '  After  a  relapse 
into  sin.'  Ten  verses. 


252  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

It  begins — 

Long  have  I  labour'd  in  the  fire, 
And  spent  my  life  for  nought ; 
With  pride,  and  anger,  and  desire, 
In  nature's  strength  I  fought. 

This  hymn  is  made  up  of  verses  6,  8,  9,  10. 

Hymn  394.  Jesus  the  good  Shepherd  is. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Select  Psalms  (left  in  MS.)  ;  Works,  viii.  46.  Printed  in  Arminian 
Magazine^  1800. 

Mr.  W.  T.  Brooke  says, '  This  exquisite  version  of  the  twenty- 
third  Psalm  is  beyond  praise.  The  wonderful  way  in  which 
other  passages  of  Scripture  are  introduced  is  very  striking. 
Other  noble  versions  of  the  psalm  are  elsewhere  in  this  volume, 
but  no  English  translation  matches  this  for  suggestiveness.'  A 
'  lovely  little  lyric  '  by  Charles  Wesley  on  the  second  verse  is 
given  in  his  Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture 
(Works,  ix.  281) — 

Bear  me  to  the  sacred  scene, 
The  silent  streams  and  pastures  green ! 

Where  the  crystal  waters  shine, 

Springing  up  with  life  divine  ! 

Where  the  flock  of  Israel  feed, 

Guided  by  their  Shepherd's  tread, 
And  every  sheep  delights  to  hide 
Under  the  tree  where  Jesus  died  ! 

Hymn  395.  Jesus  my  Shepherd  my  want  shall  supply 
SAMUEL  BANKS  WADDY,  K.C.  (1830-1902). 

Judge  Waddy  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  S.  D.  Waddy,  D.D., 
who  was  Governor  of  Wesley  College,  Sheffield,  1844-61,  and 
President  of  the  Wesleyan  Conference,  1859.  He  became  a  can 
didate  for  our  ministry,  and  was  in  training  at  one  of  the  colleges, 
when  he  left  to  study  for  the  bar.  He  became  Q.C.  and  M.P., 
and  was  made  Judge  of  Sheffield  County  Court  by  Lord  Halsbury. 
He  was  a  noted  lay  preacher,  strongly  attached  throughout  life  to 
his  own  Church,  which  he  served  as  one  of  the  treasurers  of  the 
Metropolitan  Chapel  Building  Fund,  and  in  many  other  ways. 


THE    STORY   OF   THE    HYMN'S   AND    THEIR   WRITERS     253 

This  hymn  is  part  of  a  version  of  the  Psalms  which  was  one 
of  the  delights  of  his  leisure  hours.  The  Rev.  N.  Curnock 
says,  '  His  purpose  was  to  give  an  example  of  paraphrasing 
that,  instead  of  the  usual  free  rendering  of  the  original,  included 
all  the  words  actually  used.  He  only  submitted  the  hymn  on  a 
solemn  and  reiterated  promise  that  no  personal  considerations 
should  be  allowed  to  enter  into  the  judgement  pronounced  upon 
it.  He  saw  me  again  and  again  on  the  subject,  and  wrote  more 
than  once  urging  that,  as  an  old  friend,  I  would  save  him  from 
the  humiliation  of  marring,  in  ever  so  slight  a  degree,  the  new 
Hymn-Book  which  he  was  anticipating  with  such  eager  joy. 
Before  the  hymn  had  been  finally  accepted,  whilst  it  was  still 
in  the  hands  of  the  Editorial  Committee,  Judge  Waddy  entered 
into  rest.  His  last  visit  to  the  Book-Room,  not  many  days 
before  the  end  came,  when  the  shadows  of  eventide  lay  at  his 
feet,  was  to  make  a  suggestion  about  the  hymn  he  had  written.' 

Hymn  396.  One  thing  with  all  my  soul's  desire. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

Psalm  xxvii.  in  Songs  of  Zion,  1822. 

Hymn  397.  Oft  I  in  my  heart  have  said. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  241.  Rom.  x.  6-9. 
Six  verses. 

Hymn  398.  My  spirit  011  Thy  care. 

HENRY  F.  LYTE  (7). 
On  Psalm  xxxi.,  from  The  Spirit  of  the  Psalms t  1834. 

Hymn  399.  To  the  hills  I  lift  mine  eyes. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743;  Works,  viii.  235.  Psalm  cxxi.  Ver.  5 
is  omitted — 

Thee  in  evil's  scorching  day 

The  sun  shall  never  smite  ; 

Thee  the  moon's  malignest  ray 

Shall  never  blast  by  night. 


254  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Safe  from  known  or  secret  foes, 

Free  from  sin  and  Satan's  thrall, 
God,  when  flesh,  earth,  hell  oppose, 

Shall  keep  thee  safe  from  all. 

One  of  Charles  Wesley's  noblest  paraphrases. 

Hymn  400.  My  faith  looks  up  to  Thee. 
RAY  PALMER,  D.D.  (in). 

This  hymn  was  written  in  1830,  after  Mr.  Palmer  had 
graduated  at  Yale  College,  and  whilst  he  was  a  teacher  in  a 
girls'  school  in  New  York.  '  I  gave  form  to  what  I  felt,  by 
writing,  with  little  effort,  the  stanzas.  I  recollect  I  wrote  then 
with  very  tender  emotion,  and  ended  the  last  line  with  tears.' 
It  was  published  in  Lowell  Mason's  Spiritual  Songs  for  Social 
Worship,  1831,  entitled  '  Self-Consecration.'  Dr.  Lowell  Mason 
asked  Palmer  if  he  had  not  a  hymn  to  contribute  to  his  new 
book.  The  MS.  was  produced  from  Palmer's  pocket-book, 
and  they  stepped  into  a  store  to  make  a  copy  of  it.  Dr.  Mason 
wrote  the  tune  '  Olivet '  (Harlan)  for  the  words,  and  told  the 
author  a  few  days  afterwards,  '  Mr.  Palmer,  you  may  live  many 
years  and  do  many  good  things,  but  I  think  you  will  be  best 
known  to  posterity  as  the  author  of  "  My  faith  looks  up  to  Thee." ' 
It  originally  had  six  stanzas,  but  in  Ray  Palmer's  Poetical 
Works  only  four  are  given.  It  was  his  first  hymn,  and  is  still 
the  most  popular  of  them  all.  Dr.  Palmer  wrote  to  Bishop 
Bickersteth, '  It  was  introduced  into  England  in  1840,  has  been 
translated  into  other  languages,  and  has  been  referred  to  as  one 
of  the  last  hymns  that  dying  saints  have  sung,  or  desired  to 
hear,  in  a  great  number  of  obituary  notices  that  have  met  my 
eye.  It  has  been  a  comfort  to  Christian  hearts,  doubtless, 
chiefly  because  it  expresses  in,  a  simple  way  that  act  which  is 
most  central  in  all  true  Christian  life — the  act  of  trust  in  the 
atoning  Lamb.' 

Hymn  401.  Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me. 

AUGUSTUS  MONTAGUE  TOPLADY,  M.A. 

Toplady  was  born  at  Farnham  in  1740.  His  father,  Major 
Toplady,  was  killed  next  year  at  the  siege  of  Carthagena.  The 
son  was  educated  at  Westminster  and  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS  AND   THEIR   WRITERS    255 

Toplady  was  converted  in  a  barn  under  a  sermon  by  James 
Morris,  a  Methodist  preacher.  He  says,  '  Strange  that  I,  who 
had  so  long  sat  under  the  means  of  grace  in  England,  should 
be  brought  right  unto  God  in  an  obscure  part  of  Ireland,  amidst 
a  handful  of  people  met  together  in  a  barn,  and  by  the  ministry 
of  one  who  could  hardly  spell  his  own  name.'  This  statement 
is  very  wide  of  the  mark,  for  Morris  was  by  no  means  an 
illiterate  man.  He  was  '  a  born  orator,  though  reticent  and 
lowly-minded.'  Toplady  was  ordained  in  1762,  and  became 
afterwards  Vicar  of  Broadhembury.  His  controversy  with 
Wesley  showed  him  to  be  a  partisan,  '  impulsive,  rash-spoken, 
reckless  in  misjudgement.' 

He  came  to  London  in  1775  as  preacher  at  the  French  Church, 
Orange  Street,  Leicester  Square ;  died  at  Knightsbridge,  and  was 
buried  at  Whiteneld's  Chapel  in  Tottenham  Court  Road.  Canon 
Ellerton  says,  'Almost  simultaneously  with  "Rock  of  Ages,"  he 
wrote  and  gave  to  Lady  Huntingdon  another,  which,  barring 
one  or  two  blemishes,  I  venture  to  think  is  scarcely  surpassed 
as  a  dying  man's  last  utterance  by  "  Abide  with  me  "  itself — 
the  wonderful  and  heavenly-minded  "  When  languor  and  disease 
invade."  The  light  of  God  must  have  already  been  upon  the 
face  of  one  who  could  thus  \vrite.'  The  hymn  is  given  in  Karl 
Selborne's  Book  of  Praise.  We  may  quote  the  first  two 
verses — 

"When  languor  and  disease  invade 

This  trembling  house  of  clay, 
'Tis  sweet  to  look  beyond  the  cage, 

And  long  to  fly  away. 

Sweet  to  look  inward,  and  attend 

The  whispers  of  His  love  ; 
Sweet  to  look  upward  to  the  place 

Where  Jesus  pleads  above. 

In  Toplady's  last  illness  the  doctor  spoke  encouragingly  of 
the  prospect  of  recovery.  '  No,  no,'  said  Toplady  ;  '  I  shall  die, 
for  no  mortal  could  endure  such  manifestations  of  God's  glory 
as  I  have,  and  live.'  The  next  day,  August  u,  1778,  he  passed 
to  his  rest  while  singing  his  own  '  Deathless  principle,  arise.' 

In  the  Gospel  Magazine,  October  1775,  an  article  appears 
on  '  Life  a  Journey  '  from  the  pen  of  Toplady,  signed  '  Minimus. 
'  Yet,  if  you  fall,  be  humbled,  but  do  not  despair.  Pray  afresh 
to  God,  who  is  able  to  raise  you  up,  and  set  you  on  your  feet 


256  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

again.     Look  to  the  blood  of  the  covenant ;  and  say  to  the 
Lord,  from  the  depths  of  your  heart — 

Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 

Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee  ! 

Foul  I  to  the  fountain  fly: 

Wash  me,  Saviour,  or  I  die.' 

In  March,  1776,  when  Toplady  had  become  editor  of  the 
Gospel  Magazine,  he  published  an  article,  signed  'J.  F.'  'A 
remarkable  calculation :  introduced  here,  for  the  sake  of  the 
spiritual  improvement  subjoined,  questions  and  answers  relative 
to  the  National  Debt.'  If  'our  sins  multiply  with  every  second 
of  our  sublunary  durations,'  at  ten  years  old  each  of  us  would  be 
chargeable  with  315  millions  and  36  thousand  sins.  The  debt 
grows  every  day,  but  '  Christ  hath  redeemed  us  from  the  curse 
of  the  law  ;  being  made  a  curse  for  us'  (Gal.  iii.  13).  'This 
will  not  only  counter-balance,  but  infinitely  over-balance,  ALL 
the  sins  of  the  WHOLE  believing  world.'  Then  follows  the  great 
hymn  in  its  four-verse  form,  No.  401,  entitled  'A  living  and 
dying  PR  AVER  for  the  HOLIEST  BELIEVER  in  the  world!  The 
hymn  was  thus  born  two  years  before  Toplady's  death. 

Toplady  himself  altered  'When  I  soar  through  tracts 
unknown,'  the  form  given  in  the  Gospel  Magazine,  to  '  When  I 
soar  to  worlds  unknown,'  in  his  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1776. 
'  Riven '  was  also  changed  to  '  wounded.'  He  probably  borrowed 
some  hints  for  his  hymn  from  Dr.  Brevint's  treatise  on  The 
Christian  Sacrament  and  Sacrifice,  prefixed  to  J.  and  C. 
Wesley's  Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745.  *O  Rock  of 
Israel,  Rock  of  salvation,  Rock  struck  and  cleft  for  me,  let 
those  two  streams  of  blood  and  water  which  once  gushed  out  of 
Thy  side  bring  down  pardon  and  holiness  into  my  soul ;  and 
let  me  thirst  after  them  now,  as  if  I  stood  upon  the  mountain 
whence  sprung  this  water,  and  near  the  cleft  of  that  rock,  the 
wounds  of  my  Lord,  whence  gushed  this  sacred  blood.' 

Charles  Wesley  began  one  of  his  Hymns  on  the  Lord's 
Supper  with  '  Rock  of  Israel,  cleft  for  me.' 

Another  of  those  hymns  trembles  on  the  verge  of  the  same 
thoughts  as  Toplady's — 

O  Rock  of  our  salvation,  see 
The  souls  that  seek  their  rest  in  Thee  ; 
Beneath  Thy  cooling  shadow  hide, 
And  keep  us,  Saviour,  in  Thy  side, 
By  water  and  by  blood  redeem, 
And  wash  us  in  the  mingled  stream. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     257 

The  sin-atoning  blood  apply, 
And  let  the  water  sanctify, 
Pardon  and  holiness  impart, 
Sprinkle  and  purify  our  heart, 
Wash  out  the  last  remains  of  sin, 
And  make  our  inmost  nature  clean. 

The  double  stream  in  pardon  rolls, 
And  brings  Thy  love  into  our  souls  ; 
Who  dare  the  truth  divine  receive, 
And  credence  to  Thy  witness  give, 
We  here  Thy  utmost  power  shall  prove, 
Thy  utmost  power  of  perfect  love. 

Sir  William  Henry  Wills,  in  a  letter  to  Dean  Lefroy, 
published  in  the  Times  in  June,  1898,  says,  '  Toplady  was  one 
day  overtaken  by  a  thunderstorm  in  Burrington  Coombe,  on 
the  edge  of  my  property,  Blagdon,  a  rocky  glen  running  up  into 
the  heart  of  the  Mendip  range,  and  there,  taking  shelter  between 
two  massive  piers  of  our  native  limestone  rock,  he  penned  the 
hymn, 

Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  Thee. 

There  is  a  precipitous  crag  of  limestone  a  hundred  feet  high, 
and  right  down  its  centre  is  the  deep  recess  in  which  Toplady 
sheltered.' 

Earl  Selborne  speaks  of  the  hymn  as  '  known  to  every 
body,  and  by  some  esteemed  the  finest  in  the  English  language. 
Toplady  was  a  man  of  ardent  temperament,  enthusiastic  zeal, 
strong  convictions,  and  great  energy  of  character.  "  He  had," 
says  one  of  his  biographers,  "  the  courage  of  a  lion,  but  his 
frame  was  brittle  as  glass."  The  same  fervour  and  zeal  which 
made  him  an  intemperate  theologian  gave  warmth,  richness, 
and  spirituality  to  his  poems.' 

This  hymn  only  found  its  way  into  a  limited  number  of 
hymn-books  between  1776  and  1810.  After  that  date  it  began 
to  establish  itself  in  popular  favour.  Dr.  Julian  says,  '  No 
other  English  hymn  can  be  named  which  has  laid  so  broad  and 
firm  a  grasp  upon  the  English-speaking  world.'  The  Prince 
Consort  often  repeated  portions  of  it  as  he  lay  on  his  death-bed 
in  December,  1861,  and  found  great  comfort  from  it.  '  For  if 
in  this  hour  I  had  only  my  worldly  honours  and  dignities  to 
depend  upon,  I  should  be  indeed  poor.' 

s 


258  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Dr.  Pusey  described  it  as  '  Very  beautiful,  perhaps  the  most 
beautiful  of  all,'  and  as  '  the  most  deservedly  popular  hymn, 
perhaps  the  very  favourite.'  Mr.  Gladstone's  Latin  version, 
'  Jesus,  pro  me  perforatus,'  shows  how  the  hymn  laid  hold  on 
our  great  statesman. 

Hymn  402.  I  bring  my  sins  to  Thee. 

F.  R.  HAVERGAL  (330). 
'  Resting  all  on  Jesus.'     Printed  in  Sunday  Magazine,  June,  1870. 

Hymn  403.  I  am  trusting  Thee,  Lord  Jesus. 
F.  R.  HAVERGAL  (330). 

Written  September,  1874,  at  Ormont  Dessons.  Published  in  Loyal 
Responses,  1878,  headed  'Trusting  Jesus.' 

This  was  Miss  Havergal's  own  favourite  among  her  hymns, 
and  was  found  in  her  pocket  Bible  after  her  death.  The 
spirit  she  breathed  both  in  life  and  death  is  expressed  in  these 
verses.  One  of  her  last  words  was  '  Not  one  thing  hath  failed  ; 
tell  them  all  round.  Trust  Jesus  :  it's  simply  trusting  Jesus.' 
When  her  sister  Ellen  repeated  the  first  verse  of 'Jesus,  I  will 
trust  Thee,  trust  Thee  with  my  soul,'  to  the  surprise  of  those 
around  her  bed,  she  began  to  sing  it  to  her  own  tune, '  Hermas,' 
which  she  wrote  for  '  Golden  harps  are  sounding.'  An  attack 
of  suffering  compelled  her  to  cease,  but  after  a  few  minutes  she 
again  tried  to  sing  a  line  beginning  with  '  He.'  It  was  her  last 
word.  She  gently  passed  away  to  '  Him.' 

Hymn  404.  Peace,  perfect  peace,  in  this  dark  world 
of  sin? 

EDWARD  HENRY  BICKERSTETH,  D.D. 

'  Peace,  perfect  peace '  was  written  in  1875,  when  the  bishop  was 

Vicar  of  Christ  Church,  Hampstead  ;    it  was  first  printed   in  a  tract 

of  five  hymns,  Songs  in  the  House  of  Pilgrimage.     It  is  based  on  Isa. 

.   xxvi.  3  :  '  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace,  whose  mind  is  stayed 

on  Thee  :  because  he  trusteth  in  Thee.' 

Bishop   Bickersteth  was   born   at    Islington    in    1825  ;    he 
became  Bishop  of  Exeter  in  1885.     He  wrote  several  volumes 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    259 

of  devotional  poetry,  of  which  Yesterday,  To-day,  and  For 
Ever  has  been  very  popular.  He  edited  the  Hymnal  Com 
panion  to  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  (1870),  which  has  had  a 
large  circulation.  Dr.  Julian  says, '  Joined  with  a  strong  grasp 
of  his  subject,  true  poetic  feeling,  a  pure  rhythm,  there  is  a 
soothing  plaintiveness  and  individuality  in  his  hymns  which 
give  them  a  distinct  character  of  their  own.' 

A  sermon  by  Canon  Gibbons  from  this  text  made  such  an 
impression  on  Dr.  Bickersteth,  that  on  reaching  home  he  wrote 
the  hymn  in  a  few  minutes.  It  cost  him  less  than  any  of  his 
other  hymns,  and  has  become  the  best  loved  of  all.  Richard  le 
Gallienne  says,  '  It  would  be  difficult  to  name  any  other  hymn 
so  filled  with  the  sense  of  man's  security  as  this,  which  tran 
quillizes  me  at  certain  moments  to  a  remarkable  degree.'  He 
thinks  it  comes  very  near  '  Lead,  kindly  light,'  in  combining 
piety  and  poetry  in  the  highest  proportion.  Canon  Ellerton  told 
Dr.  Bickersteth  in  1889, '  Beyond  all  your  hymns,  I  think  it  has 
brought  blessing  to  many,  and  I  know  how  it  has  helped  the 
faith  of  some  of  God's  sorely-tried  children.  Our  Essex  poor 
folk  love  it  dearly.' 

Hymn  405.  I  could  not  do  without  Thee. 
F.  R.  HAVERGAL  (330). 

'Jesus  all  in  all.'  Written  May  7,  1873,  an^  printed  in  Home 
Words,  1873. 

Hymn  406.  Leave  God  to  order  all  thy  ways. 
GEORG  NEUMARK  ;  translated  by  Miss  WINKWORTH  (19). 

'  Wer  nur  den  lieben  Gott  lasst  walten '  was  published  in  1657, 
entitled  'A  hymn  of  consolation.  That  God  will  care  for  and 
preserve  His  own  in  His  own  time.'  Ps.  Iv.  22. 

Neumark  was  the  son  of  a  clothier  in  Thuringia,  and  was 
born  in  1621.  In  the  autumn  of  1641  he  was  on  his  way  to 
matriculate  at  the  University  of  Konigsberg,  when  the  party 
with  which  he  travelled  was  attacked  by  a  band  of  highwaymen, 
who  robbed  him  of  all  he  had,  save  his  prayer-book  and  a  little 
money  sewed  up  in  his  clothes.  He  could  find  no  employment 
in  Magdeburg,  near  which  city  he  was  robbed,  or  in  three  other 
cities  to  which  he  went.  In  December  he  came_to  Kiel,  where 


260  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

he  found  a  friend  in  the  chief  pastor,  a  native  of  Thuringia. 
Still  no  employment  was  to  be  had.  About  the  end  of  the 
month,  however,  the  tutor  in  the  family  of  a  judge  fell  into 
disgrace,  and  fled  from  Kiel.  The  pastor's  recommendation 
secured  the  place  for  Neumark,  who  expressed  his  gratitude  to 
God  in  this  hymn,  which  soon  became  popular  all  over 
Germany.  He  saved  enough  to  go  to  Konigsberg,  where  he 
matriculated  as  a  student  of  law  in  June,  1643.  I*1  ^46  he  lost 
all  he  had  by  fire.  In  1652  he  was  appointed  court  poet, 
librarian,  and  registrar  at  Weimar,  and  in  1656  was  made 
secretary  of  the  Fruit-bearing  Society,  a  famous  literary  union. 
He  became  blind  in  1681,  and  died  that  year  in  Weimar. 

In  the  last  year  of  his  life  Neumark  speaks  of  this  hymn, 
'Which  good  fortune  coming  suddenly,  and  as  if  fallen  from 
heaven,  greatly  rejoiced  me,  and  on  that  very  day  I  composed 
to  the  honour  of  my  beloved  Lord  the  here  and  there  well- 
known  hymn,  "  Wer  nur  den  lieben  Gott  lasst  walten " ;  and 
had  certainly  cause  enough  to  thank  the  divine  compassion  for 
such  unlooked-for  grace  shown  to  me.'  A  baker's  boy  in  New 
Brandenburg  used  to  sing  it  over  his  work,  and  soon  the  whole 
town  and  neighbourhood  flocked  to  him  to  learn  'this  beautiful 
new  song.'  The  hymn  was  sung,  by  his  own  request,  at  the 
funeral  of  Friedrich  Wilhelm  I  of  Prussia  in  1740.  J.  S.  Bach 
composed  a  cantata  based  on  Neumark's  own  tune.  Mendelssohn 
used  it  in  his  St.  Paul :  '  To  Thee,  O  Lord,  I  yield  my  spirit.' 


Hymn  407.  My  Saviour,  mid  life's  varied  scene. 

ELIZABETH  AYTON  GODWIN. 

Mrs.  Godwin  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Etheridge  ; 
born  at  Thorpe  Hamlet,  1817  ;  died  at  Stoke  Bishop,  1889. 
This  hymn  was  written  whilst  she  was  a  girl,  and  printed  in  the 
Evangelical  Magazine,  then  in  her  Songs  for  the  Weary,  1865. 
Mrs.  Godwin  also  wrote  Songs  amidst  Daily  Life. 

Hymn  408.  I  seek  the  kingdom  first. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels,  from  Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of 
Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  x.  190.  Matt.  vi.  33. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     261 

Hymn  409.  In  heavenly  love  abiding. 

ANNA  LAETITIA  WARING. 

'Safety  in  God,'  from  Hymns  and  Meditations,  1850. 

Miss  Waring,  daughter  of  Elijah  Waring,  was  born  at  Neath, 
Glamorgan,  1820,  where  she  has  spent  her  life.  Her  Hymns 
and  Meditations,  published  in  1850,  contained  nineteen  pieces. 
It  was  enlarged  in  1863  to  thirty-eight  hymns.  Additional 
Hymns  appeared  in  1858. 

Hymn  410.  Dear  Lord  and  Father  of  mankind. 
JOHN  GREENLEAF  WHITTIER  (118). 

From  '  The  Brewing  of  Soma,'  1872,  beginning  at  stanza  12. 

The  poem  is  headed '  "  These  libations  mixed  with  milk  have 
been  prepared  for  Indra  ;  offer  Soma  to  the  drinker  of  Soma," 
Vashista,  translated  by  Max  Miiller.'  Whittier  describes  the 
prayers  to  Soma,  and  then  runs  on — 

As  in  that  child-world's  early  year, 

Age  after  age  has  striven 
By  music,  incense,  vigils  drear, 
And  trance,  to  bring  the  skies  more  near, 

Or  lift  men  up  to  heaven  ! 

And  yet  the  past  comes  round  again, 

And  new  doth  old  fulfil  ; 
In  sensual  transports  wild  as  vain 
We  brew  in  many  a  Christian  fane 

The  heathen  Soma  still  ! 

Then  follows  the  verse,  '  Dear  Lord  and  Father  of  man 
kind.' 

Hymn  411.  Jesu,  nay  Truth,  my  Way. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  22.  'Hymns  for 
Believers.'  Seven  verses  of  eight  lines. 

John  Wesley  made  some  changes  in  1780.     The  original  reads — 

I.  On  Thee  my  feeble  soul  I  stay, 
Which  Thou  wilt  lead  aright. 


262  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

3.  My  lovely,  bleeding  Lamb. 
That  I  may  still  enlightened  be. 

5.  On  Thee,  who  never  wilt  depart. 

Hymn  412.  O  Jesus,  I  have  promised. 
JOHN  ERNEST  BODE,  M.A.  (1816-74). 

In  1869  Appendix  to  Psalms  and  Hymns,  S.P.C.K.      It  is  very 

popular  as  a  Confirmation  hymn.      It  was  written  about  1 866  for  the 
confirmation  of  his  son,  the  late  Rev.  C.  E.  Bode. 

The  Rev.  J.  E.  Bode  was  educated  at  Eton,  Charterhouse, 
and  Oxford.  Rector  of  Castle  Camps,  Cambridgeshire,  1860-74 ; 
Bampton  Lecturer,  1855.  Published  Hymns  from  the  Gospel  of 
the  day  for  each  Sunday  and  Festivals  of  our  Lord,  1860. 

Hymn  413.  O  Thou  who  art  of  all  that  is. 
FREDERICK  LUCIAN  HOSMER. 

The  Rev.  F.  L.  Hosmer,  a  Unitarian  minister  at  Berkeley, 
California,  was  born  at  Framingham,  Massachusetts,  in  1840, 
and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1862.  His  ancestor,  James 
Hosmer,  of  Hawkhtirst,  Kent,  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  at 
Concord  in  1635. 

Hymn  414.  Jesu,  Thy  boundless  love  to  me. 
GERHARDT  (163);  translated  by  J.  WESLEY  (36). 

'Living  by  Christ.  From  the  German.'  In  Hymns  and  Sacred 
Poems,  1739  ;  Works,  i.  138.  Gerhardt's  hymn  appeared  in  Cruger's 
Praxis,  1653. 

Wesley  says,  in  his  Plain  Account  of  Christian  Perfection, 
1  In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1738,  as  I  was  returning  from 
Savannah,  the  cry  of  my  heart  was — 

O  grant  that  nothing  in  my  soul 

May  dwell  but  Thy  pure  love  alone  ; 

O  may  Thy  love  possess  me  whole, 
My  joy,  my  treasure,  and  my  crown  ! 

Strange  flames  far  from  my  heart  remove  ; 

My  every  act,  word,  thought,  be  love.' 

Thomas  Walsh  used  often  in  a  holy  rapture  to  sing  the 
verses,  '  O  Love,  how  cheering'  and  '  Give  to  mine  eyes.' 


THE   STORY  OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     263 

Hymn  415.  My  Saviour,  Thou  Thy  love  to  me. 

GERHARDT  (163)  ;  translated  by  J.  WESLEY  (36). 
Works,  i.  139.     Second  part  of  Hymn  414. 

Hymn  416.  O  Love  divine,  IIOAV  sweet  Thou  art  ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  IVorks,  iv.  341.  No.  5  in  n 
series  of  six  hymns  in  the  same  measure,  headed  '  Desiring  to  Love.' 
Three  verses  are  omitted. 

It  is  one  of  the  three  Wesley  hymns  that  Handel  set  to  music.  See 
213.  The  tune  was  '  Wentworth.' 

Mr.  Stead  says,  'This  is  one  of  the  hymns  of  Charles 
Wesley  which  enabled  Methodism  to  sing  itself  into  the  heart 
of  the  human  race.  It  is  one  of  the  most  popular  and  helpful 
hymns  which,  originating  in  the  Methodist  hymnody,  have 
found  an  honoured  place  in  the  hymn-books  of  almost  every 
other  denomination.' 

Hymn  417.  Hark,  my  soul  !  it  is  the  Lord. 
WILLIAM  CO\VPER  (60). 


It  appeared  in  Maxfield's  Al-rj  Appendix,  1768.  In  the  Olney 
Hymns  it  is  headed  '  Love.st  thuu  Me  ?  '  John  xxi.  16. 

Even  Cowper  has  not  written  anything  more  beautiful. 

Earl  Selborne  wrote,  '  Of  his  contributions  to  the  Olney 
Hymns,  this  is  perhaps  the  best.' 

Mr.  Gladstone  reckoned  it  one  of  the  three  greatest  English 
hymns. 

Mr.  Bennet  Kaye,  who  was  assistant  organist  with  Ur.  Dykes, 
says  that  the  doctor  would  often  come  to  the  boys'  rehearsals 
before  morning  service  and  practise  with  them  the  music  for 
the  day.  Sometimes  he  would  wander  off  into  a  new 
melody,  and  all  would  listen  with  rapt  attention.  One  day  he 
played  over  an  air  several  times.  It  made  a  great  impression 
on  Mr.  Kaye,  who  afterwards  recognized  it  as  '  St.  Bees,'  the 
tune  which  has  become  wedded  to  Cowper's  hymn.  It  takes  its 
name  from  a  place  where  the  doctor  had  passed  many  pleasant 
hours. 


264  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  418.  My  God,  I  love  Thee — not  because. 

FRANCIS  XAVIER  ;  translated  by  E.  CASWALL  (105). 

Caswall's  translation  appeared  in  his  Lyra  Catholica,  1849.  The 
first  verse,  '  Must  burn  eternally,'  has  been  altered. 

'  O  Deus  ego  amo  Te '  is  a  translation  of  a  Spanish  sonnet. 
Both  the  Latin  and  the  Spanish  forms  are  ascribed  to  St. 
Francis  Xavier,  whose  spirit  breathes  in  every  line.  A 
translation  was  published  by  J.  Scheffler  in  1668,  entitled 
'  She  (the  soul)  loves  God  simply  for  Himself,  with  the  Holy 
Xavier.  Also  from  the  Latin.' 

Xavier,  the  missionary  saint,  was  born  near  Pampeluna, 
1506  ;  became  acquainted  with  Ignatius  Loyola  at  the  University 
of  Paris,  and  was  one  of  those  first  converts  who  formed  the 
Order  of  the  Jesuits  on  August  15,  1534.  Xavier  sailed  for 
Goa  on  his  birthday,  April  7,  1541,  and  died  at  Sancian,  near 
Canton,  in  1552.  He  visited  Travancore,  Ceylon,  Malacca, 
Japan. 

Canon  Ellerton  says  the  translation  'does  not  do  justice  to 
the  original  ;  but  as  the  only  form  in  which  this  most  striking 
hymn  is  known  to  most  English  readers,  it  has  gained  a  wide 
popularity.' 

Pope's  translation,  which  he  made  at  the  desire  of  a 
Romanist  priest,  appeared  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
October,  1791. 

Hymn  419.  I  thirst,  Thou  wounded  Lamb  of  God. 

GERMAN  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 
Appeared  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  174°  >  Works,  i.  265  ; 
first  used  in  the  Moravian  Hymn-book,  1742.  It  is  made  up  (see 
Dictionary  of  Hymnology}  from  four  hymns,  all  of  six-line  verses,  which 
appeared  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Herrnhut  Gesang-Buch,  1735.  One 
of  Zinzendorfs  hymns  suggests  verses  I,  2,  and  another  ver.  7  ;  verses 
3-6  are  based  on  a  hymn  of  Johann  Nitschmann's.  A  verse  of  Anna 
Nitschmann's  'Mein  Konig  deine  Liebe,'  on  Christian  work,  which 
appeared  about  1737,  supplies  some  phrases  for  Wesley's  last  verse. 

The  hymn  is  really  a  wonderful  gathering  up  of  these 
scattered  thoughts,  as  Anna  Nitschmann's  verse  will  show  when 
compared  with  Wesley's,  ver.  8 — 

Nun,  crstgeborner  Bruder  1 

Nun,  Meister  an  dem  Ruder 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     265 

Des  Schiffleins  der  Gemein  : 
Ich  geb  dir  Ilerz  und  Hiinde 
Dass  Ich  bis  an  mein  Endc 
Will  deine  treue  Seek,  seyn. 

Anna  Nitschmann  was  the  daughter  of  a  cartwright,  and 
was  born  near  Fulneck,  Moravia,  in  1715.  The  family  moved 
to  Herrnhut  when  she  was  ten.  She  became  companion  to 
Zinzendorf's  daughter,  with  whom  she  came  to  England  in 
1737.  She  went  to  Pennsylvania  with  her  father  in  1740,  and 
next  year  joined  Zinzendorf  and  his  daughter  in  work  among 
the  Indians.  She  married  the  Count  in  1757,  a  year  after  the 
death  of  his  first  wife.  He  died  on  May  5,  1760,  and  she 
followed  him  on  May  21  at  Herrnhut.  Her  brother  Johann 
(1712-83)  became  a  Moravian  bishop  in  1758,  superintended 
the  work  in  England  and  Ireland,  and  died  at  the  new  settle 
ment  on  the  Volga,  of  which  he  had  charge. 

Hymn  420.  My  Father,  my  God,  I  long"  for  Thy 
love. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  178.    '  A  Thanksgiving.' 

Two  verses  are  omitted. 

Hymn  421.  Thee  will  I  love,  my  strength,  my 
tower. 

JOHANN  SCHEFFLER  (36);  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

1  Ich  will  dich  lichen,  meine  Stiirkc '  is  from  Schefller's  Hdlige 
Seelenlust,  Book  I.,  1657. 

Wesley's  fine  translation  appeared  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems, 
!739>  headed  '  Gratitude  for  our  Conversion  '  ;  Works,  \.  176. 

The  last  two  lines  of  ver.  6,  '  That  all  my  powers,'  are,  by  a  stroke 
of  genius,  taken  from  Ken  (900,  ver.  7).  The  original — 

Lass  meinen  Geist,  Sinn  und  Verstand 
Nur  seyn  dir  zugewandt, 

could  not  be  more  happily  represented.     In  ver.  I,  '  My  works  '  was 
changed  to  '  Thy '  after  Wesley's  death. 

Richard  Cobden  repeated  the  first  verse  of  this  hymn  with 
his  last  breath,  '  Thee  will  I  love,  my  strength,  my  tower.' 

SchefHer  has  Augustine's  Confessions   in   view,  especially 


266  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

in  ver.  2,  c  Too  late  did  I  love  Thee,  O  Fairness,  so  ancient 
and  yet  so  new  !  Too  late  did  I  love  Thee  !  For  behold  Thou 
wert  within,  and  I  without,  and  there  did  I  seek  Thee  ;  I,  un 
lovely,  rushed  heedlessly  among  the  things  of  beauty  Thou 
madest.  Thou  wert  with  me,  but  I  was  not  with  Thee.  Those 
things  kept  me  far  from  Thee,  which,  unless  they  were  in  Thee, 
were  not.  Thou  calledst,  and  criedst  aloud,  and  forcedst  open 
my  deafness.  Thou  didst  gleam  and  shine,  and  chase  away 
my  blindness.  Thou  didst  exhale  odours,  and  I  drew  in  my 
breath,  and  do  pant  after  Thee.  I  tasted,  and  do  hunger  and 
thirst.  Thou  didst  touch  me,  and  I  burned  for  Thy  peace.' 

The  Rev.  William  Arthur  gives  a  description  of  Gideon 
Ouseley,  the  great  Irish  evangelist,  which,  he  says,  presents 
him  exactly  as  he  had  often  heard  him  spoken  of  by  those  in 
whose  house  Ouseley  stayed.  It  is  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev. 
John  Hughes.  When  he  was  a  boy  at  home,  he  says,  '  On  a  raw 
November  evening  Ouseley  preached  at  the  corner  of  the  street 
in  which  we  resided  at  Portarlington.  After  preaching,  he 
came  into  our  house  for  some  refreshment,  and  to  wait  until 
his  time  came  again  to  preach  in  the  chapel.  When  he  took  a 
seat  in  the  little  back  apartment  it  was  dusk.  A  turf  fire  played 
fitfully,  and  there  was  no  other  light.  I  crouched  in  an  obscure 
corner,  and  Ouseley  thought  himself  alone.  He  took  off  his 
cloak  and  hat,  ejaculated  "  My  blessed  Master  !  "  and  wiped  the 
perspiration  from  his  head  and  face.  He  then  poked  the  fire, 
and  spread  himself  out  before  it.  After  musing  a  minute,  he 
wept.  Tear  after  tear  rolled  down  his  rugged  cheeks.  He 
repeated,  in  a  low  but  distinct  voice,  the  first  two  verses  of  the 
hymn,  "Thee  will  I  love,  my  strength,  my  tower."  After  re 
peating  the  line,  "  Ah,  why  did  I  so  late  Thee  know,"  he  smote 
his  forehead  with  his  big  hand,  and  finished  the  verse. 

'  Thus  far,  memory  serves  me  clearly.  I  have  a  hazier,  yet 
still  a  tolerably  satisfactory  remembrance  that  he  repeated  the 
third  stanza ;  and  then,  in  his  strong,  hoarse  voice  he  sang  the 
fourth,  "  I  thank  Thee,  uncreated  Sun." ' 


Hymn  422.  Talk  with  us,  Lord,  Thyself  reveal. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems ,  1740  ;   Works ,  i.  304.     'On  a  journey.' 
The  first  verse  is — 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     267 

Saviour,  who  ready  art  to  hear, 

(Readier  than  I  to  pray,) 
Answer  my  scarcely  utter'd  prayer, 

And  meet  me  on  the  way. 

The  original  reads — 

Talk  with  me,  Lord  ;  Thyself  reveal. 

John  Wesley  altered  me  to  us  in  the  1780  Hymn-book. 
Ver.  2  is  Eve's  tribute  to  her  husband  (Paradise  Lost,  iv.  639),  lifted 
into  a  higher  sphere — 

With  thee  conversing,  I  forget  all  time, 

All  seasons  and  their  change  ;  all  please  alike. 

Hymn  423.  Thou  Shepherd  of  Israel,  and  mine. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  lVorks%  ix.  362. 
Song  of  Solomon,  i.  7. 

Hymn  424.  Open,  Lord,  my  inward  ear. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1742;    Works,  ii.  263.     'Waiting  for 
Christ  the  Prophet.' 
The  first  verse  is — 

Christ,  my  hidden  life,  appear, 

Soul  of  my  inmost  soul ; 
Light  of  life,  the  mourner  cheer, 

And  make  the  sinner  whole. 
Now  in  me  Thyself  display, 

Surely  Thou  in  all  things  art ; 
I  from  all  things  turn  away. 

To  seek  Thee  in  my  heart. 

The  two  verses  based  on  God's  revelation  of  Himself  to 
Elijah  at  Horeb  strike  a  note  to  which  all  hearts  respond. 

Hymn  425.  What  shall  I  do  niy  God  to  love. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  73.    '  Desiring  to  Love.' 
Two  verses  are  omitted. 


268  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  426.  Love  divine,  all  loves  excelling. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  tJie 
Blood  of  fesus  Christ,  1747;    Works,  iv.  219. 
Ver.  2  is  omitted — 

Breathe,  O  breathe  Thy  loving  Spirit, 

Into  every  troubled  breast, 
Let  us  all  in  Thee  inherit, 

Let  us  find  that  second  rest ; 
Take  away  our  power  of  sinning, 

Alpha  and  Omega  be, 
End  of  faith  as  its  Beginning, 

Set  our  hearts  at  liberty. 

In  ver.  2  of  the  original  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Let  us  all  Thy  life 
receive.' 

The  gain  by  the  omission  of  ver.  2  is  almost  incon 
ceivable.  John  Fletcher  touches  on  its  theology.  '  Mr.  Wesley 
says  second  rest,  because  an  imperfect  believer  enjoys  a  first 
inferior  rest ;  if  he  did  not,  he  would  be  no  believer.5  '  Take 
away  the  power  of  sinning  ?'  he  asks.  '  Is  not  this  expression 
too  strong  ?  Would  it  not  be  better  to  soften  it  by  saying, '  Take 
away  the  love  of  sinning  ? '  [or  the  bent  of  the  mind  towards 
sin].  Can  God  take  away  from  us  our  power  of  sinning  without 
taking  away  our  power  of  free  obedience  ? ' 

Hymn  427.  Being  of  beings,  God  of  love. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  Works,  i.  34.  'Grace  after 
Meat.' 

In  ver.  2  the  original  reads,  '  Thine,  wholly  Thine,  we  pant  to  be.' 

Hymn  428.  Save  me,  O  God ;  for  Tliou  alone. 

BENJAMIN  HALL  KENNEDY,  D.D. 
Psalm  xvi.,  from  The  Psalter  in  English  Verset  1860. 

Dr.  Kennedy  was  born  at  Summer  Hill,  near  Birmingham, 
1804;  head  master  of  Shrewsbury  School,  1836-66;  Regius 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    269 

Professor  of  Greek  at  Cambridge,  and  Canon  of  Ely,  1867.    He 
died  at  Torquay  in  1889. 

Dr.  Kennedy  also  published  Hymnolcgia  Christiana,  1863. 

Hymn  429.  O  God,  my  God,  my  all  Thou  art. 
SPANISH  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

Appeared  in  Wesley's  collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1738,  the 
enlarged  edition  of  that  published  at  Charlestown  in  1737.  IVorks, 
\.  174.  In  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems  it  is  headed  '  God  our  Portion. 
From  the  Spanish.'  One  verse  is  omitted — 

In  holiness  within  Thy  gates 

Of  old  oft  have  I  sought  for  Thee  : 

Again  my  longing  spirit  waits 
That  fullness  of  delight  to  see. 

Dr.  Osborn  says,  '  This  noble  version  of  Ps.  Ixiii.  was 
inserted  in  the  book  of  1738,  and  therefore  probably  translated 
in  America.  The  Spanish  author  is  unknown.' 

Wesley  writes,  on  April  4,  1737, '  I  began  learning  Spanish,  in 
order  to  converse  with  my  Jewish  parishioners  ;  some  of  whom 
seem  nearer  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ  than  many  of  those 
who  call  Him  Lord.'  This  hymn  may  therefore  be  described 
as  the  first-fruits  of  Wesley's  new  branch  of  knowledge.  He 
certainly  lost  no  time  in  reaping  in  these  fields. 

Bishop  Bickersteth  said  of  the  version  in  his  Hymnal  Com 
panion,  '  It  seems  to  the  editor  one  of  the  most  melodious  and 
perfect  hymns  we  possess  for  public  worship.' 

Hymn  430.  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee. 
SARAH  FLOWER  ADAMS. 

Mrs.  Adams  was  the  younger  daughter  of  Benjamin  Flower, 
a  bookseller,  who  was  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Cambridge 
Intelligencer.  He  had  been  sent  to  Newgate  for  a  defence  of 
the  French  Revolution.  There  he  was  visited  by  Miss  Eliza 
Gould,  and  married  her  after  his  term  of  imprisonment  was 
over.  Their  eldest  daughter,  Eliza,  had  a  great  talent  for  music, 
and  composed  tunes  for  her  sister's  hymns.  Sarah  was  born  at 
Harlow,  Essex,  February  22,  1805  ;  married  William  Bridges 
Adams,  a  civil  engineer,  in  1 834  ;  died  in  London  of  consumption 


270  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

on  August  14,  1848,  and  was  buried  at  Harlow.  Eliza  Flower 
had  died  of  consumption  in  1846.  Mrs.  Adams's  health  suffered 
by  nursing  her  sister.  Almost  her  last  breath  was  unconscious 
song.  The  hymns  and  the  music  at  both  funerals  were  com 
posed  by  the  sisters.  A  relative  says  Sarah  was  tall  and  beautiful, 
with  noble  features,  gay  and  impulsive  in  manner,  and  full  of 
wit  and  humour.  Her  mother  died  early,  and  her  father  under 
took  the  education  of  his  two  girls.  She  was  a  member  of  the 
congregation  of  Rev.  W.  J.  Fox,  Unitarian  minister  at  South 
Place  Chapel,  Finsbury,  and  contributed  thirteen  hymns  to  the 
Hymns  and  Anthems  published  by  Charles  Fox  in  1841.  Of 
these,  '  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee,'  is  the  best  known.  Her 
beautiful  hymn, '  He  sendeth  sun,  He  sendeth  shower,'  appeared 
in  the  same  collection,  and  a  rendering  from  Fenelon,  '  Living 
or  dying,  Lord,  I  would  be  Thine.3  Her  hymns  were  the 
spontaneous  expression  of  a  strong  impulse  or  feeling  at  the 
moment  of  composition.  She  published  a  dramatic  poem  in 
four  acts  in  1841,  Vivia  Perpetua,  and  The  Flock  at  the 
Fountain,  a  catechism  and  hymns  for  children,  in  1845.  Bishop 
Bickersteth,  in  his  annotated  edition  of  the  Hymnal  Companion, 
says,  '  The  editor  shrank  from  appending  a  closing  verse  of  his 
own  to  a  hymn  so  generally  esteemed  complete  as  this,  or  he 
would  have  suggested  the  following — 

There  in  my  Father's  home, 

Safe  and  at  rest, 
There  in  my  Saviour's  love 

Perfectly  blest ; 
Age  after  age  to  be 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer  to  Thee. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  add  a  touch  or  two  to 
this  hymn  which  might  take  from  it  all  suspicion  of  Unitarianism, 
but  they  have  not  found  favour.  The  hymn  is  too  complete 
and  perfect  in  form  to  bear  any  alteration,  and  the  fact  that  it 
is  based  on  Jacob's  dream  at  Bethel  would  make  such  additions 
an  anachronism. 

President  McKinley  found  great  comfort  from  this  hymn 
when  he  was  dying.  After  the  battle  of  Fort  Donnelson  a 
drummer-boy,  whose  arm  had  been  torn  off  by  a  cannon-ball, 
was  found  singing  with  his  failing  breath,  '  Nearer,  my  God,  to 
Thee.'  With  that  comfort  as  his  pillow  he  died.  Edward  VH 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     27  t 

told  Mr.  Stead  in  1895  that  he  thought  among  serious  hymns 
none  was  more  touching  or  went  more  truly  to  the  heart 
than  this. 

Hymn  431.  I  lift  my  heart  to  Thee. 

CHARLES  EDWARD  MUDIE  (1818-90). 

This  hymn  appears  in  Stray  Leaves,  a  collection  of  his  poems  and 
hymns,  and  was  published  in  1872.  It  is  headed  'His  and  Mine." 
Dr.  Allon  first  introduced  it  into  general  notice  in  his  Supplemental 
Hymns. 

Mr.  Mudie  was  born  at  Cheyne  Walk,  Chelsea.  He  was 
a  stationer  and  bookseller,  and  began  to  lend  books  in  1842. 
The  famous  library  thus  grew  up.  Mr.  Mudie  was  an  active 
Christian  worker,  and  carried  on  a  mission  church  at  Hamp- 
stead,  where  he  secured  friends  like  Dr.  Riggtotake  occasional 
services. 

Hymn  -132.  My  heart  is  resting,  O  my  God. 

AXXA  L.  WAR  INC;  (409). 
Four  verses  are  omitted. 

Miss  Waring  was  the  niece  of  Samuel  Miller  Waring.  She 
published  and  contributed  some  hymns  to  his  Sacred  Melodies, 
1826.  This  hymn  was  published  in  Hymns  and  Meditations, 
4th  edition,  1854.  It  is  based  on  Lam.  iii.  24:  'The  Lord  is 
my  portion,  saith  my  soul  ;  therefore  will  I  hope  in  Him.' 

Hymn  -l.'i.'J.  Soldiers  of  Christ,  ari>c. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1749;    Works,  \.  40.      'The   Whole 
Armour  of  God.'     Eph.  vi.  13.     Sixteen  verses. 
The  first  four  verses  are  given.     Ver.  5  reads — 

Let  truth  the  girdle  be, 

That  binds  your  armour  on, 
In  faithful,  firm  sincerity 

To  Jesus  cleave  alone. 

Let  faith  and  love  combine, 

To  guard  your  valiant  breast : 
The  plate  be  righteousness  divine, 

Imputed,  and  impress'd. 


272  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Pope  Innocent  III  stirred  up  Philip  Augustus  of  France 
and  his  courtiers  to  their  crusade  against  the  Albigenses  by  the 
words,  '  Up,  soldiers  of  Christ !  Up,  most  Christian  King  ! 
Hear  the  cry  of  blood.' 

Mr.  Stead  says  this  hymn  '  is  as  inspiriting  as  the  blast  of 
the  bugle.' 

Hymn  434.  Surrounded  by  a  host  of  foes. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  17495  Works,  v.  301.  'This  is  the 
victory.'  i  John  v.  4.  The  eleventh  of  a  series  of  'Hymns  for  those 
that  wait  for  full  Redemption.' 

The  brave  knight  Thangbrand,  son  of  the  Count  of  Saxony, 
carried  a  large  shield  with  a  crucifix  embossed  in  gold.  Olaf 
the  Viking  gazed  on  it  in  wonder,  and  when  he  was  told  the 
story  of  the  Cross,  was  so  moved  that  the  ecclesiastic  gave  him 
the  shield.  He  carried  it  with  him  everywhere,  and  to  it  he 
ascribed  his  victories  and  deliverances. 

Hymn  435.  Equip  me  for  the  war. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,  London,  1741  ;    Works,  iii.  78. 
The  second  of  two  hymns  on  'The  Lord's  Controversy.'    Twenty-six 
verses.     The  hymn  is  made  up  of  verses  2,  3,  4,  7.     The  following 
verses  are  an  onslaught  on  the  '  Horrible  Decree.1 
The  first  verse  is — 

O  all-atoning  Lamb, 
O  Saviour  of  mankind, 
If  every  soul  may  in  Thy  name 
With  me  salvation  find ; 
If  Thou  hast  chosen  me 
To  testify  Thy  grace, 
(That  vast  unfathomable  sea 

Which  covers  all  our  race). 
Ver.  4— 

To  hate  the  sin  with  all  my  heart, 

But  still  the  sinner  love, 
is  Pope — 

How  shall  I  lose  the  sin,  yet  keep  the  sense, 
And  love  th'  offender,  yet  detest  th'  offence. 

(Eloisa  to  Abelard,  \.  191-2.) 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    273 

In  ver  4 — 

Thou  hatest  all  iniquity, 

But  nothing  Thou  hast  made, 

is  borrowed  from  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  xi.  24  (cf.  106) :  'For 
Thou  lovest  all  the  things  that  are,  and  abhorrest  nothing  which 
Thou  hast  made  :  for  never  wouldst  Thou  have  made  anything 
if  Thou  hadst  hated  it.' 

Hymn  436.  Omnipotent  Lord,  my  Saviour  and  King. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  17425  Works,  ii.  197.  'The  Good 
Fight.'  I  Tim.  vi.  12. 

One  verse  is  omitted,  '  For  every  fight  is  dreadful  and  loud.' 

Charlotte  Bronte  describes  this  hymn  in  Shirley,  chap,  ix., 
as  sung  in  '  Briar  Chapel,  a  large,  new,  raw,  Wesleyan  place 
of  worship.'  'As  there  was  even  now  a  prayer-meeting  being 
held  within  its  walls,  the  illumination  of  its  windows  cast  a 
bright  reflection  on  the  road,  while  a  hymn  of  a  most  extra 
ordinary  description,  such  as  a  very  Uuaker  might  feel  himself 
moved  by  the  Spirit  to  dance  to,  roused  cheerily  all  the  echoes 
of  the  vicinage,  "  O  who  can  explain  this  struggle  for  life.:> ' 

Hynui  437.  Jesu,  my  Lord,  mighty  to  save. 
CHARLES  \YESLKY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  142.  Psalm  ex.  I. 
Fifteen  verses. 

The  fust  verse  is  omitted — 

The  Lord  unto  my  Lord  hath  said, 

Sit  Thou,  in  glory  sit, 
Till  I  Thine  enemies  have  made 

To  bow  beneath  Thy  feet. 
Verses  2,  4,  5,  7,  12  are  selected. 

Hymn  438.  The  Lord  is  King,  and  earth  submits. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  334.  'He  that 
bclieveth  shall  not  make  haste.'  Isa.  xxviii.  16.  Part  IV.  Ver.  4  is 
omitted. 

T 


274  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  439.  Jesus,  the  Conqueror,  reigns. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  36.  'Hymns  for 
Believers,'  No.  27.  In  sixteen  stanzas  ;  I,  2,  4,  5,  6  are  here  given. 

Hymn  440.  Father,  to  Thee  I  lift  mine  eyes. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749 ;  Works,  v.  49.  '  For  the 
Morning.' 

Hymn  441.  Gracious  Redeemer,  shake. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  262,  '  Hymns  for  the 
Watchnight,'  No.  2.  Ten  eight-line  verses. 

After  four  verses  of  laboured  rhyme  the  poet  soars  up  in  the  fifth 
verse,  which  commences  this  hymn.  The  first  verse  begins — 

Ah,  what  a  wretch  am  1 1 
I  cannot  watch  one  hour. 

In  the  original  ver.  6  reads,  '  Cause  me  to  trust  in  Thee.' 

Hymn  442.  God  of  all  grace  and  majesty. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  372.  'For  the  fear  of 
God.' 

The  hymn  is  given  in  full.  In  line  3  Charles  Wesley  wrote 
'Favour  found  with  Thee,'  which  his  brother  changed  to  'mercy.' 
In  ver.  3  the  original  reads,  'Than  e'er  reject  the  gospel-law.' 

Hymn  443.  I  want  a  principle  within. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  373.  '  For  a  tender 
conscience.'  Five  verses  of  eight  lines. 

Almighty  God  of  truth  and  love, 
In  me  Thy  power  exert. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS     275 

Dr.  Bunting  said,  in  the  Conference  of  1844,  that  'young 
Samuel  Bradburn  tried  to  puzzle  Mr.  Wesley  by  asking  him 
(in  open  Conference),  "Can  a  man  fall  from  sanctification  with 
out  losing  his  justification?"  Mr.  Wesley  took  up  the  hymn- 
book,  and  gave  out, '  O  may  the  least  omission  pain.' 

Dr.  B.  Gregory  speaks  of  the  notion  he  had  in  his  school 
days  that '  in  case  of  any  clouding  of  conscience,  I  must  receive 
from  heaven  a  direct  and  indubitable  manifestation,  or,  as  it 
were,  notification  of  my  acceptance  ;  not,  perhaps,  so  vivid  as 
at  first,  but  yet  assuring  and  enlivening.  I  had  not  yet  learnt 
the  practical  theology  of  the  lines — 

O  may  the  least  omission  pain 

My  well-instructed  soul, 
And  drive  me  to  the  blood  again 

That  makes  the  -founded  whole! 

I  had  not  learnt  the  art  or  acquired  the  habit  of  a  prompt 
recurrence  to,  and  a  perfect  rest  in,  the  atonement  and  advocacy 
of  our  blessed  Saviour.  How  truly  Luther  says,  "  He  is  a  good 
(practical)  theologian  who  has  firm  hold  of  this  truth." ' 


Hymn  444.    Help,  Lord,  to  whom  for  help  I  fly. 

CHARLKS  WKSLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;   Works,  iv.  476.    '  In  Temptation.  ' 
No.  10  of  a  series. 

In  ver.  3  the  original  reads,  '  "XLy  feeble  hands.' 


Hymn  445.  Jesus,  my  Saviour,  Brother,  Friend. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  271.  'Watch  in  all 
things.'  2  Tim.  iv.  5.  Fifteen  verses.  The  first  seven  are  given 
here  ;  the  next  four  in  Xo.  446. 

Hymn  446.  Pierce,  fill  me  with  a  humble  fear. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works  %  ii.  272.  Part  of  the 
same  hymn  as  445. 


276  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  447.  Hark,  how  the  watchmen  cry. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works ;  v.  271.  '  Hymns  for  the 
Watchnight,'  No.  8.  Twelve  verses.  Verses  I,  4,  9,  10  are  selected 
to  make  this  hymn. 

Hymn  448.  Ah!   Lord,  with  trembling  I  confess. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  x.  165. 
Matt.  v.  13. 

Hymn  449.  Come,  O  Thou  Traveller  unknown. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1742;    Works,  ii.    173.      'Wrestling 
Jacob.'     Gen.  xxxii.  24-31. 
Ver.  5  is  omitted — 

'Tis  all  in  vain  to  hold  Thy  tongue, 
Or  touch  the  hollow  of  my  thigh  ; 
Though  every  sinew  be  unstrung, 

Out  of  my  arms  Thou  shalt  not  fly ; 
Wrestling  I  will  not  let  Thee  go 
Till  I  Thy  name,  Thy  nature  know. 
And  ver.  7 — 

My  strength  is  gone,  my  nature  dies, 
I  sink  beneath  Thy  weighty  hand, 
Faint  to  revive,  and  fall  to  rise ; 

I  fall,  and  yet  by  faith  I  stand, 
I  stand,  and  will  not  let  Thee  go, 
Till  I  Thy  name,  Thy  nature  know. 

In  the  obituary  of  his  brother,  presented  to  the  Conference 
of  1788,  John  Wesley  says,  '  His  least  praise  was  his  talent  for 
poetry,  although  Dr.  Watts  did  not  scruple  to  say  that  that 
single  poem,  "  Wrestling  Jacob,"  was  worth  all  the  verses  he 
himself  had  written.' 

James  Montgomery  (Christian  Psalmist,  p.  xxiv.)  regards  the 
poem  as  among  the  author's  '  highest  achievements  ;  in  which, 
with  consummate  art,  he  has  carried  on  the  action  of  a  lyric 
drama  ;  every  turn  in  the  conflict  with  the  mysterious  Being 
against  whom  Jacob  wrestles  all  night  being  marked  with 
precision  by  the  varying  language  of  the  speaker,  accompanied 
by  intense,  increasing  interest,  till  the  rapturous  moment  of 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     277 

discovery,  when  he  prevails,  and  exclaims,  "  I  know  Thee, 
Saviour,  who  Thou  art.'"  Thomas  Jackson  says,  'It  applies 
with  admirable  ingenuity  and  tact  the  patriarch's  mysterious 
conflict,  and  the  happy  result  to  which  it  led,  to  the  process  of 
an  awakened  sinner's  salvation.' 

Charles  Wesley  says  in  his  Journal  for  Sunday,  May  24, 
1741,  '  I  preached  on  Jacob  wrestling  for  the  blessing.  Many 
then,  I  believe,  took  hold  on  His  strength,  and  will  not  let 
Him  go,  till  He  bless  them,  and  tell  them  His  name.'  This 
was  in  Bristol.  On  July  16  he  took  the  same  subject  in 
Cardiff.  On  October  6,  1743,  that  was  his  theme  at  the 
Foundery.  I  'promised  the  Society  an  extraordinary  blessing, 
if  they  would  seek  the  Lord  early  the  next  morning.'  On 
June  12,  1744,  he  has  a  'glorious  time'  in  London.  'Many 
wept  with  the  angel,  and  made  supplication,  and  were  en 
couraged  to  wait  upon  the  Lord  continually.'  We  find  him 
preaching  on  the  same  subject  at  Dublin,  February  7  and 
March  7,  1748;  at  Bristol,  May  20,  1748,  and  January  29,  1749. 

Ver.  i  has  supplied  a  voice  for  many  a  lonely  heart.     A 
fortnight  after  his  brother's  death,  John  Wesley  broke  down  at 
Bolton  when  he  tried  to  give  out  the  lines — 
My  company  before  is  gone, 

And  I  am  left  alone  with  Thee. 

He  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears,  sat  down  in  the  pulpit,  and 
buried  his  face  in  his  hands.  The  singing  ceased,  and  all  the 
congregation  wept  together.  In  a  little  while  Wesley  recovered 
himself,  and  was  able  to  proceed  with  that  ever-memorable 
service. 

Dean  Stanley  quoted  the  same  verse  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
Wesley  tablet  in  Westminster  Abbey  in  1876.  The  pathos  of 
that  touching  reference  to  Lady  Augusta  Stanley,  in  all  the  first 
bitterness  of  the  dean's  great  bereavement,  was  indescribable. 

Hymn  450.  Yield  to  mo  now ;  for  I  aru  weak. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

The  second  part  of  Hymn  449.     Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems  t  1742  ; 
Works,  ii.  175.     In  vcr.  5,  the  punctuation  of  1875,  which  suggested 
that  Jacob  was  disabled  by  the  sun,  has  been  altered — 
The  Sun  of  righteousness  on  me 

Hath  rose  with  healing  in  His  wings, 
Withered  my  nature's  strength. 


278  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  451.  From  trials  unexempted. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  x.  182.  Part  of  a 
hymn  of  twenty  verses  on  The  Lord 's  Prayer.  The  original  of  ver.  2 
reads,  '  Till  pain  and  life  are  past.' 

Hymn  452,  Lead  me  not  into  temptation, 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  x.  184.  Matt. 
vi.  13. 

Hymn  453.  Christian!   seek  not  yet  repose. 
CHARLOTTE  ELLIOTT  (317). 

In  her  Morning  and  Evening  Hymns  for  a  Week,  1839.  It  is 
assigned  to  Wednesday  morning,  and  is  headed  '  Watch  and  pray, 
that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation.' 

Hymn  454,  Oft  in  danger,  oft  in  woe, 

HENRY  KIRKE  WHITE  and  FRANCES  SARA  FULLER-MAITLAND. 

Kirke  White  was  born  in  1785  at  Nottingham,  where  his 
father  was  a  butcher.  His  mother  kept  a  boarding-school. 
He  began  to  write  poetry  as  a  boy.  He  entered  a  lawyer's 
office,  but  went  to  Cambridge  in  1804  to  study  for  the  ministry. 

Henry  Martyn  writes  to  his  friend,  John  Sargent,  from  St. 
John's  College,  on  June  30,  1803  :  Dealtry  'has  heard  about  a 
religious  young  man  of  seventeen,  who  wants  to  come  to 
College,  but  has  only  ^20  a  year.  He  is  very  clever,  and 
from  the  perusal  of  some  poems  which  he  has  published,  I 
am  much  interested  in  him.  His  name  is  H.  K.  White.' 
William  Wilberforce  sent  White  to  St.  John's,  at  Simeon's 
request,  and  there  Martyn  showed  him  much  kindness.  His 
diary  says,  '  Mr.  K.  White,  of  Nottingham,  breakfasted  with  me.' 

He  seemed  marked  out  for  high  honour,  but  destroyed  his 
health  by  over-application  to  study,  and  died  in  1806  in  his 
twenty-second  year.  Southey  published  his  Remains.  'The 
entire  literary  young  manhood  of  England  and  America 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    279 

seemed  moved   with   sympathy.'     Byron   wrote   a   lament   in 
English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers — 

Unhappy  White  !   while  life  was  in  its  spring, 

And  thy  young  muse  just  waved  her  joyous  wing, 

The  spoiler  came  ;  and  all  thy  promise  fair 

Has  sought  the  grave,  to  sleep  for  ever  there. 

Oh  !  what  a  noble  heart  was  here  undone, 

When  Science'  self  destroy'd  her  favourite  son  1 

Yes,  she  too  much  indulged  thy  fond  pursuit  ; 

She  sow'd  the  seeds,  but  Death  has  reap'd  the  fruit. 

'Twas  thine  own  genius  gave  the  final  blow, 

And  help'd  to  plant  the  wound  that  laid  thee  low. 

So  the  struck  eagle,  stretch'd  upon  the  plain, 

No  more  through  rolling  clouds  to  soar  again, 

View'd  his  own  feather  on  the  fatal  dart, 

And  wing'd  the  shaft  that  quiver'd  in  his  heart. 

The  first  verse  of  this  hymn  is  by  Kirke  White.  It  is  given 
in  Collyer's  Hymns,  1812  :  'The  Christian  soldier  encouraged, 
i  Tim.  vi.  12.  H.  K.  White — 

Much  in  sorrow,  oft  in  woe, 
Onward,   Christians,  onward  go, 
Fight  the  fight,  and  worn  with  strife, 
Steep  with  tears  the  bread  of  life. 

Onward,   Christians,  onward  go, 
Join  the  war,  and  face  the  foe  : 
Faint  not — much  doth  yet  remain, 
Dreary  is  the  long  campaign. 

Shrink  not,  Christians — will  ye  yield  ? 
Will  ye  quit  the  painful  field  ? 
Fight  till  all  the  conflict's  o'er, 
Nor  your  foemen  rally  more. 

But  when  loud  the  trumpet  blown 
Speaks  their  forces  overthrown, 
Christ,  your  Captain,  shall  bestow 
Crowns  to  grace  the  conqueror's  brow.' 

Dr.  Collyer  says  that  the  hymn  was  written  on  the  back  of 
one  of  Kirke  White's  mathematical  papers,  and  was  so  mutilated 
that  he  had  to  add  the  last  six  lines.  In  his  Christian  Psalmody, 
1833,  the  Rev.  E.  Bickersteth  altered  White's  first  verse  to  the 
form  given  in  The  Methodist  Hymn-Book.  The  other  three 
verses  were  written  by  Miss  Fuller-Maitland  (1809-79),  when  a 


2 So  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

girl  of  fourteen,  and  were  published  by  her  mother  in  Hymns 
for  Private  Devotion,  1827.  The  last  verse  begins,  'Onward 
then  to  battle  move.' 

Miss  Maitland  married  a  Mr.  Colquhoun. 


Hymn  455.  Onward !  Christian  soldiers. 
SABINE  BARING-GOULD. 

This  '  Processional'  was  printed  in  the  Church  Times ;  1865. 

The  Rev.  S.  Baring-Gould  was  born  at  Exeter,  January  28, 
1834  ;  Rector  of  Lew-Trenchard,  1881,  and  Lord  of  the  Manor. 
His  Lives  of  the  Saints  and  his  stories  have  won  him  high 
literary  reputation.  His  name  is  said  to  be  attached  '  to  more 
works  in  the  British  Museum  than  that  of  any  living  author.' 
One  verse  is  generally  omitted.  The  writer  thought  that  the 
hymn  was  sung  in  many  religious  communities  '  where  such 
words  would  be  absurd ' — 

What  the  saints  established 

That  I  hold  for  true, 
What  the  saints  believed 

That  believe  I  too. 
Long  as  earth  endureth 

Men  that  Faith  will  hold — 
Kingdoms,  nations,  empires, 

In  destruction  rolled. 

The  hymn  was  written  for  the  school  children  at  Horbury 
Bridge,  near  Wakefield,  where  Mr.  Baring-Gould  was  then 
curate.  They  had  to  march  a  long  way  from  the  church  to 
the  scene  of  their  school-treat,  with  banners  waving.  Sullivan 
was  afraid  that  his  tune  would  be  too  '  brassy '  and  martial, 
and  was  surprised  at  its  popularity. 

Hymn  456.  I  need  Thee  every  hour. 
ANNIE  SHERWOOD  HAWKS  (1835-72). 

Mrs.  Hawks  was  born  in  Horsick,  New  York,  and  lived  for 
many  years  in  Brooklyn.  She  wrote  much  for  Sunday-school 
hymn-books.  '  I  need  Thee'  was  written  in  April,  1872. 


THE   STORY   OF  THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    281 

Hymn  -157.   O  that  I  could  in  every  place. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture  (left  in  MS. ) ;  Works,  ix. 
276.  Ps.  xvi.  9  :  '  I  have  set  God  always  before  me,'  &c. 

Hymn  458,  O  it  is  hard  to  work  for  God, 

F.  W.  FABER,  D.D.  (54). 
In  Jesus  and  Mary,  1849,  entitled  'The  Right  must  Win.' 

Hymn  459.  Shall  I,  for  fear  of  feeble  man. 

JOHANN  JOSEPH  WlXCKLER  (1670-1722)  ;  translated  by  JOHN 
WESLEY  (36). 

1  Sollt  ich  aus  Furcht  vor  Menschenkindern.'  Torsi's  Gesan£-RucJi, 
1708.  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  Works,  i.  177.  'Boldness 
in  the  Gospel.'  Ten  verses.  Three  verses  are  here  omitted.  One  is 
sorry  to  lose  them,  for  all  are  good,  but  the  original  form  is  too  long 
for  public  worship.  In  ver.  4,  the  reading  of  1739  is  '  Or  the  world's 
favour. ' 

Winckler  was  son  of  the  town  clerk  of  Lucka,  and  studied 
at  Leipzig  when  A.  H.  Francke  and  J.  C.  Schade  were  holding 
their  Bible  readings.  His  sympathies  were  thus  enlisted  with 
the  Pietist  Movement.  In  1692  he  was  appointed  Preacher  at 
St.  George's  Hospital,  Magdeburg.  He  visited  England  in 
1697,  and  in  1698  became  diaconus  of  Magdeburg  Cathedral. 
He  died  at  Magdeburg  in  1722. 

This  hymn  on  constancy  and  boldness  in  bearing  witness 
for  Christ  well  represents  Winckler's  spirit.  He  encountered 
much  opposition  in  Magdeburg  through  the  stand  he  made 
against  theatre-going,  and  his  effort  to  bring  about  a  closer 
union  between  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches.  Miss 
Winkworth  describes  this  as  one  of  the  standard  hymns  of 
Germany. 

On  June  26,  1738,  Mrs.  Delamotte  sharply  attacked  Charles 
Wesley  for  his  sermon  on  faith  and  his  brother's  teaching  in 
the  presence  of  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Henry  Piers,  Vicar  of 
Bexley,  and  others.  '  It  is  hard  people  must  have  their  children 
seduced  in  their  absence.  If  every  one  must  have  your  faith, 


282  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

what  will  become  of  all  the  world  ? '     After  this  stormy  interview, 
Charles  Wesley  says,  '  I  joined  with  Mr.  Piers  in  singing — 

Shall  I  for  fear  of  feeble  man, 
Thy  Spirit's  course  in  me  restrain  ? 

and  in  hearty  prayer  for  Mrs.  Delamotte.' 

On  March  16,  1740,  when  Mr.  Henry  Seward  met  him  at 
Bengeworth  with  threats  and  revilings,  Charles  Wesley  says, 
'  I  began  singing — 

Shall  I  for  fear  of  feeble  man, 
Thy  Spirit's  course  in  me  restrain  ? ' 

Whitefield  loved  this  hymn.  In  writing  to  Wesley  from 
Philadelphia  in  1 764,  he  says,  '  Fain  would  I  end  my  life  in 
rambling  after  those  who  have  rambled  away  from  Jesus 
Christ. 

For  this  let  men  despise  my  name ; 
I'd  shun  no  cross ;  I'd  fear  no  shame  ; 
All  hail  reproach  ! ' 

In  1770  he  quotes  the  lines  again  after  the  words,  'All  must 
give  way  to  gospel-ranging.  Divine  employ  ! ' 


Hymn  460.  I'm  not  ashamed  to  own  my  Lord, 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709. 

Few  men  have  been  so  beloved  or  so  blessed  to  the  young 
men  of  Scotland  as  Professor  Henry  Drummond,  the  friend 
and  helper  of  Mr.  Moody,  the  author  of  Natural  Law  in  the 
Spiritual  World  and  of  the  lovely  little  prose  poem  on  '  The 
Greatest  Thing  in  the  World.'  When  he  lay  dying  at  Tunbridge 
Wells,  at  the  age  of  forty-five,  on  the  last  Sunday  evening  of  his 
life,  March  7,  1897,  his  friend  and  physician,  Dr.  Barbour,  played 
hymn-tunes  to  him,  as  he  usually  did.  There  was  no  response 
to  '  Lead,  kindly  Light,'  or  '  Peace,  perfect  peace ' ;  so  he  tried 
'  Martyrdom,'  an  old  favourite  of  Drummond's,  and  before 
many  bars  had  been  played  he  was  beating  time  with  his 
fingers  on  the  couch.  When  Dr.  Barbour  began  to  sing  the 
54th  paraphrase,  '  I'm  not  ashamed  to  own  my  Lord,3  his 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HVMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     283 

friend's  voice  joined  in  clear  and  strong  through  the  verse, 
'  I  know  that  safe  with  Him  remains,'  to  the  end.  When  it 
was  finished,  he  said,  '  Nothing  can  beat  that,  Hugh.'  Then 
he  was  weary  and  quiet.  On  the  following  Thursday  he  passed 
to  his  rest. 

Dr.  Leifchild  visited  an  old  friend,  a  minister,  whose  mind 
was  failing.  He  did  not  recognize  his  visitor.  'Well,'  he  said, 
'  I  see  you  do  not  know  me ;  do  you  know  Jesus,  whom  I  serve 
in  the  gospel? '  He  started  and  looked  up,  as  if  just  aroused 
from  sleep;  when,  lifting  up  his  eyes,  he  exclaimed — 

Jesus,  my  God  !   I  know  His  name  ; 

His  name  is  all  my  trust ; 
Nor  will  He  put  my  soul  to  shame, 

Nor  let  my  hope  be  lost. 

Uyinn  461.  Jesus  !  and  shall  it  ever  be, 
JOSEPH  GRIGG  and  BENJAMIN  FRANCIS. 

This  hymn  was  published  by  J.  Grigg  in  Four  Hymns  on  Divine 
Subjects,  wherein  the  patience  and  love  of  our  divine  Saviour  is  displayed, 
1765.  In  the  Gdspel  Magazine,  April,  1774,  it  has  the  heading,  '  Shame 
of  Jesus  conquer'd  by  love.  By  a  youth  of  ten  years.'  In  Rippon's 
Baptist  Selection,  1/87,  it  is  given  'altered  by  B.  Francis.' 

The  revision  is  so  interesting  that  we  give  the  1765  form 
in  full- 
Jesus  !   and  shall  it  ever  be  1 
A  mortal  man  ashamed  of  Thee  ? 
Scorn'd  be  the  thought  by  rich  and  poor ; 
O  may  I  scorn  it  more  and  more  ! 

Ashamed  of  Jesus  !  sooner  far 
Let  evening  blush  to  own  a  star. 
Ashamed  of  Jesus  !  just  as  soon 
Let  midnight  blush  to  think  of  noon. 

'Tis  evening  with  my  soul  till  He, 
That  Morning  Star,  bids  darkness  flee  ; 
He  sheds  the  beam  of  noon  divine 
O'er  all  this  midnight  soul  of  mine. 

Ashamed  of  Jesus !  shall  yon  field 
Blush  when  it  thinks  who  bids  it  yield  ? 
Yet  blush  I  must,  while  I  adore, 
blush  to  think  I  yield  no  more. 


284  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

% 

Ashamed  of  Jesus  !  of  that  Friend 
On  whom  for  heaven  my  hopes  depend  ! 
It  must  not  be  !  be  this  my  shame, 
That  I  no  more  revere  His  name. 

Ashamed  of  Jesus  !  yes,   I  may, 
When  I've  no  crimes  to  wash  away  j 
No  tear  to  wipe,  no  joy  to  crave, 
No  fears  to  quell,  no  soul  to  save. 

Till  then  (nor  is  the  boasting  vain), 
Till  then  I  boast  a  Saviour  slain : 
And  oh,  may  this  my  portion  be, 
That  Saviour  not  ashamed  of  me  ! 

Joseph  Grigg,  born  somewhere  between  1720-8,  was  the  son 
of  poor  parents.  In  1743  he  became  assistant  minister  at  Silver 
Street  Presbyterian  Church,  London.  He  retired  from  this  post 
in  1747,  on  his  marriage  to  a  lady  of  property,  the  widow  of 
Colonel  Drew,  and  lived  at  St.  Albans.  He  died  at  Walthamstow, 
October  29,  1768.  '  Behold  a  Stranger  at  the  door,'  and  'Jesus  ! 
and  shall  it  ever  be,'  are  the  hymns  by  which  he  is  chiefly  known. 
His  published  works  number  more  than  forty. 

Benjamin  Francis  (1734-99),  born  in  Wales,  studied  at 
Bristol  Baptist  College,  became  Baptist  minister  at  Sodbury. 
In  1757  he  removed  to  Horsley  (afterwards  called  Shortwood), 
in  Gloucestershire,  where  he  had  a  successful  ministry  of  forty- 
two  years.  His  Welsh  hymns  have  been  very  popular. 


Hymn  462.  Stand  up !  stand  up  for  Jesus. 
GEORGE  DUFFIELD,  D.D. 

Dr.  Duffield  was  the  son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister,  born  at 
Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  in  1818.  He  became  Presbyterian 
pastor  in  1840.  He  died  in  1888.  In  Lyra  Sacra  Americana, 
1868,  p.  298,  he  says  of  this  hymn,  '  I  caught  its  inspiration 
from  the  dying  words  of  that  noble  young  clergyman,  Rev. 
Dudley  Atkins  Tyng,  Rector  of  the  Epiphany  Church,  Phila 
delphia.  His  last  words  were  a  message  to  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  and  the  ministers  associated  with  it  in  the 
noonday  prayer-meeting  during  the  great  revival  of  1858,  usually 
known  as  "The  Work  of  God  in  Philadelphia"  :  "Tell  them  to 
stand  up  for  Jesus  :  now  let  us  sing  a  hymn."  As  he  had  been 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    285 

much  persecuted  in  those  pro-slavery  days  for  his  persistent 
course  in  pleading  the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  it  was  thought 
that  these  words  had  a  peculiar  significance  in  his  mind  ;  as  if 
he  had  said,  "Stand  up  for  Jesus  in  the  person  of  the  down 
trodden  slave  (Luke  v.  18).'" 

Dr.  Duffield  describes  Mr.  Tyng  as  '  one  of  the  noblest, 
bravest,  manliest  men'  he  ever  met.  'The  Sabbath  before  his 
death  he  preached,  in  the  immense  edifice  known  as  Jayncs' 
Hall,  one  of  the  most  successful  sermons  of  modern  times.  Of 
the  five  thousand  men  there  assembled,  at  least  one  thousand, 
it  is  believed,  were  slain  of  the  Lord.  His  text  was  Exod.  x.  11, 
and  hence  the  allusion  in  the  second  verse  of  the  hymn.  The 
following  Wednesday,  leaving  his  study  for  a  moment,  he  went 
to  the  barn  floor,  where  a  mule  was  at  work  on  a  horse-power, 
shelling  corn.  Patting  him  on  the  neck,  the  sleeve  of  his  silk 
study  gown  caught  in  the  cogs  of  the  wheel,  and  his  arm  was 
torn  out  by  the  roots  !  His  death  occurred  in  a  few  hours. 
Never  was  there  greater  lamentation  over  a  young  man  than 
over  him,  and  when  Gen.  1.  26  was  announced  as  the  text  for 
his  funeral  sermon,  the  place  at  once  became  a  Bochim,  and 
continued  so  for  many  minutes.' 

Dr.  Duffield  continues,  '  The  following  Sunday  the  author 
of  the  hymn  preached  from  Eph.  vi.  14,  and  the  above  verses 
were  written  simply  as  the  concluding  exhortation.  The  super 
intendent  of  the  Sunday  school  had  a  fly-leaf  printed  for  the 
children  ;  a  stray  copy  found  its  way  into  a  Baptist  newspaper  ; 
and  from  that  paper  it  has  gone,  in  English,  in  German,  and  in 
Latin  translations,  all  over  the  world.  The  first  time  the  author 
heard  it  sung  outside  of  his  own  denomination  was  in  1864,  as 
the  favourite  song  of  the  Christian  soldiers  in  the  army  of  the 
James.' 

Hymn  463.  Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side? 
F.  R.  HAVERGAL  (330). 

'Home  Missions,'  October  13,  1877  ;  published  in  Loyal  Responses ; 
1878,  headed  '  On  the  Lord's  side.'  Based  on  I  Chron.  xii.  18.  The 
second  verse  is  omitted — 

Not  for  weight  of  glory, 

Not  for  crown  and  palm, 
Enter  we  the  army, 

Raise  the  warrior-psalm. 


286  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  464.  Light  of  the  world,  Thy  beams  I  bless. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  17.  'Hymns  for 
Believers.  The  way  of  duty  the  way  of  safety.'  The  hymn  begins, 
'  Are  there  not  in  the  labourer's  day.' 

Verses  r  and  2  are  taken  from  this  hymn,  verses  3-5  from  '  But 
can  it  be,  that  I  should  prove,'  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 749,  '  In 
Temptation.  Hymn  13  '  (Works,  iv.  479). 

In  ver.  3  the  original  reading  is  '  My  Keeper  be.' 


Hymn  465.  Worship,  and  thanks,  and  blessing. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  237.  '  Written  after  a  deliverance 
in  a  tumult.' 

Two  verses  are  omitted — 

5.  Safe  as  devoted  Peter 

Betwixt  the  soldiers  sleeping, 

Like  sheep  we  lay 

To  wolves  a  prey, 
Yet  still  in  Jesu's  keeping. 
Thou  from  the  infernal  Herod, 
And  Jewish  expectation, 

Hast  set  us  free  : 

All  praise  to  Thee, 
O  God  of  our  salvation. 

Ver.  3,  cf.  Milton — 

As  on  dry  land,  between  two  crystal  walls, 
Awed  by  the  rod  of  Moses  so  to  stand 
Divided  till  his  rescued  gain  their  shore. 

(Paradise  Lost,  xii.  1.  196-8.) 

One  of  the  fiercest  riots  Charles  Wesley  ever  faced  was  that 
at  Devizes  in  February,  1747.  The  Rev.  John  Meriton,  a 
clergyman  from  the  Isle  of  Man,  who  died  in  1753  and  spent 
his  last  years  in  accompanying  and  helping  the  Wesleys,  was  his 
companion.  The  mob  surrounded  the  house  where  they  were 
staying,  broke  the  windows,  tore  down  the  shutters,  blocked  the 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    287 

door  with  a  wagon.  Next  day  they  poured  water  on  the  house 
with  a  hose.  A  constable  carried  this  off,  but  they  obtained 
the  larger  engine,  flooded  the  rooms,  and  destroyed  the  furni 
ture.  The  mob  untiled  the  roof  that  they  might  get  hold  of 
the  Methodist  preacher.  At  last  the  friends  mounted  their 
horses,  and  were  escorted  out  of  the  town  by  the  constable  and 
his  posse.  'We  rode  a  slow  pace  up  the  street,  the  whole 
multitude  pouring  along  on  both  sides,  and  attending  us  with 
loud  acclamations.  Such  fierceness  and  diabolical  malice  I 
have  not  seen  in  human  faces.  We  felt  great  peace  and 
acquiescence  in  the  honour  done  us,  while  the  whole  town  were 
spectators  of  our  march.'  When  they  reached  Wrexal,  '  We 
joined  in  hearty  praises  to  our  Deliverer,  singing  the  hymn, 
"  Worship,  and  thanks,  and  blessing,"  &.c.'  '  The  hymn '  implies 
that  it  was  written  before  this  visit  to  Devizes.  Mr.  W.  C. 
Sheldon  {Proceedings  of  Wesley  Historical  Society,  vol.  iv. 
p.  57)  makes  out  a  strong  case  for  the  composition  of  the  hymn 
at  Walsall  after  the  riots  of  October  20,  1743,  when  John  Wesley 
was  dragged  about  for  three  hours  by  the  mobs  of  three  towns. 
Charles  Wesley  welcomed  him  to  Nottingham  next  clay.  '  My 
brother  came,  delivered  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  lion.  He  looked 
like  a  soldier  of  Christ.  His  clothes  were  torn  to  tatters.' 
Charles  Wesley  visited  the  scene  of  the  riot  on  the  25th, 
and  Mr.  Sheldon  thinks,  from  a  comparison  between  his 
y<7«r«<z/ and  the  hymn,  that  this  was  the  moment  of  its  birth. 
The  riots  at  St.  Ives  in  the  previous  July  may  have  helped  to 
shape  the  hymn. 

Hymn  466.  A  safe  stronghold  our  God  is  still. 

MARTIN  LUTHER  (173) ;  translated  by  THOMAS  CARLYLE 
(1795-1881). 

Heine  says,  'A  battle-hymn  was  this  defiant  song  with 
which  he  and  his  comrades  entered  Worms  [April  16,  1521]. 
The  old  cathedral  trembled  at  these  new  notes,  and  the  ravens 
were  startled  in  their  hidden  nests  in  the  towers.  This  hymn, 
the  Marseillaise  Hymn  of  the  Reformation,  has  preserved  its 
potent  spell  even  to  our  days,  and  we  may  yet  soon  use  again 
in  similar  conflicts  the  same  mailed  words.'  It  was  first  printed 
in  1529,  entitled  '  Der  46  Psalm.  Deus  noster  refugium  et 
virtus.'  It  may  have  been  written  for  the  Diet  of  Speyer  (April, 


288  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

1529),  where  the  German  princes  made  that  protest  against  the 
revocation  of  their  privileges,  which  earned  them  the  name 
Protestants. 

The  great  chorale  by  Luther  was  published  with  the  hymn 
in  1529.  Words  and  music  soon  spread  over  Germany.  It 
became  the  National  Hymn  and  the  battle-song  of  the  nation. 
It  was  Luther's  stay  in  some  of  the  darkest  hours  of  his  life. 
Often  in  later  troubles  he  would  say  to  Melanchthon,  '  Come, 
Philip,  let  us  sing  the  46th  Psalm.'  The  first  line  of  the  hymn 
is  inscribed  on  Luther's  monument  at  Wittenberg.  When 
Melanchthon  and  two  of  his  comrades  were  banished  from 
Wittenberg  in  1547,  they  were  greatly  comforted  by  hearing  a 
little  girl  sing  this  hymn  in  the  street  as  they  entered  Weimar. 
'  Sing  on,  dear  daughter  mine,'  said  Melanchthon ;  '  thou 
knowest  not  what  great  people  thou  art  now  comforting.' 

The  Elector  Frederic  III,  when  asked  why  he  did  not 
build  more  fortresses,  replied,  '  Ein'  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott.' 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  sang  the  hymn  to 
the  accompaniment  of  trumpets  on  the  morning  of  the  battle 
of  Leipzig,  September  17,  1631,  and  at  Liitzen  next  year,  where 
victory  was  bought  at  the  cost  of  the  king's  life.  Frederick  the 
Great  used  to  call  it '  God  Almighty's  Grenadier  March.'  Ranke 
speaks  of  it  as  '  the  production  of  the  moment  in  which  Luther, 
engaged  in  a  conflict  with  a  world  of  foes,  sought  strength  in 
the  consciousness  that  he  was  defending  a  divine  cause  which 
could  never  perish.' 

Thomas  Carlyle's  version,  given  in  an  article  on  '  Luther's 
Psalm'  in  Eraser's  Magazine,  1831,  has  all  the  fire  and  force 
of  the  original,  which  he  compares  to  '  a  sound  of  Alpine 
avalanches,  or  the  first  murmur  of  earthquakes.'  Sixty-three 
translations  are  noticed  in  the  Dictionary  of  Hymnology, 
which  describes  Carlyle's  as  '  the  most  faithful  and  forcible  of 
all  the  English  versions.' 

A  great  revival  broke  out  in  Moravia  in  1720  at  the  town 
in  which  David  Nitschmann  was  living.  The  Jesuits  got  the 
meetings  prohibited,  but  they  were  still  held  wherever  pos 
sible.  Once  a  hundred  and  fifty  people  were  in  Nitschmann's 
house,  when  the  officers  broke  in.  The  congregation  began 
to  sing  'And  were  the  world  all  devils  o'er.'  Twenty  house 
holders  were  sent  to  prison.  Nitschmann  was  treated  with 
special  severity,  but  escaped  and  joined  the  Moravians  at 
Herrnhut,  where  he  became  a  bishop.  He  was  one  of  Wesley's 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    289 

companions  on  board  the  ship  in  which  he  sailed  to  Georgia  in 
1735,  and  when  the  young  clergyman  was  perplexed  as  to  Miss 
Hopkey  he  consulted  htm.  The  matter  was  laid  before  the 
elders  of  the  Moravian  Church,  and  Nitschmann  was  their 
mouthpiece  in  advising  him  '  to  proceed  no  further  in  the 
matter.' 

The  exiles  who  had  been  driven  out  of  Salzburg  for  their 
Protestant  faith,  arrived  outside  Kauffbeyern  one  December 
night  in  1731,  after  the  gates  were  shut.  Whilst  they  waited 
to  know  whether  the  townsfolk  would  admit  them,  they  sang 
Luther's  hymn  with  great  devotion.  '  Orders  were  soon  given 
for  their  reception,  and  some  of  them  had  lodgings  assigned 
them  in  the  Protestant  inns,  whilst  many  were  received  into 
private  houses,  not  without  many  tears.'  There  were  eight 
hundred  of  them,  and  when  arrangements  had  been  completed 
for  distributing  them  in  various  towns,  they  attended  a  service 
at  Trinity  Church,  which  '  concluded  with  the  hymn  "  God  is 
our  Refuge  in  distress,"  which  was  sung  only  by  themselves. 
Being  dismissed  by  the  citizens  with  innumerable  blessings, 
they  took  their  several  roads  in  God's  name,  like  so  many 
flocks  of  sheep,  with  great  patience  and  humility.'  The  third 
part  of  the  exiles  went  to  Ulm,  singing  all  the  way  from  the 
Danube  Gate  to  the  Town  House,  'God  is  our  Refuge  in  dis 
tress,'  and  '  He  that  confides  in  his  Creator.'  Other  exiles 
followed,  and  in  England  .£33,000  was  raised  to  help  them. 
General  Oglethorpe  conducted  a  party  of  them  to  America  in 
November,  1732,  and  by  them  the  town  of  Savannah,  where 
John  Wesley  ministered,  was  laid  out. 

Hymn  407.  Peace,  doubting  heart!  my  God's  I  am. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  fci'rtis,  1739;  Works,  i.  135.  Headed  Isa. 
xliii.  1-3. 

Wesley  once  nerved  the  fishermen  for  a  stormy  passage 
from  St.  Ives  to  the  Scilly  Islands  by  singing  with  great  vigour 
the  verse,  '  When  passing  through  the  watery  deep.' 

Just  before  the  Maria  mail-boat  struck  on  the  reefs  near 
Antigua  in  February,  1826,  little  Willy  White,  one  of  the  mis 
sionary  children  on  board,  gave  out,  with  an  emphasis  and 
seriousness  which  were  much  noticed,  the  verse, '  Though  waves 
and  storms  go  o'er  my  head,'  and  talked  to  his  small  companions 

U 


290  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

about  Jonah  and  other  Bible  stories.  Mrs.  Jones,  wife  of  one 
of  the  missionaries,  was  much  comforted  by  the  verse,  '  Jesus 
protects  ;  my  fears,  be  gone  ! '  and  sang  '  When  passing  through 
the  watery  deep.'  The  mail-boat  broke  up,  and  all  the  party 
were  drowned — five  missionaries,  two  missionaries'  wives,  four 
children,  and  two  nurses — save  Mrs.  Jones,  who  was  rescued 
on  Friday  morning,  after  being  in  the  water  from  Tuesday 
morning.  In  1832  she  married  Mr.  Hincksman,  of  Preston. 
On  her  death-bed  in  April,  1859,  when  she  could  scarcely  speak, 
she  asked  that  the  hymn  which  had  comforted  her  in  that  time 
of  shipwreck  might  be  sung,  and  found  that  it  was  still  full  of 
strong  consolation. 

James  Hoby,  who  served  Methodism  nobly  for  many  years 
at  Great  Queen  Street,  London,  told  his  friends  that  he  wished 
them  to  join  in  singing  this  hymn  when  death  should  seize  on 
him.  He  was  suffering  from  heart  disease,  and  was  warned  by 
his  doctor  that  his  illness  would  terminate  suddenly. 

A  Methodist  preacher  in  Louisiana  once  lost  his  way  in  a 
swamp,  and  after  thirty-six  hours'  starvation,  reached  a  settle 
ment,  where  he  asked  for  food  and  lodging.  The  widow  and 
her  daughters  were  afraid  of  such  a  visitor,  and  refused  his 
request,  but  gave  him  permission  to  warm  himself  by  the  fire. 
As  he  stood  on  the  hearth  he  sang  this  hymn  through.  The 
whole  household  was  soon  in  tears,  and  for  a  week  he  remained 
the  welcome  guest  of  the  people  who  had  at  'first  refused  him 
shelter. 

Hymn  468.  To  the  haven  of  Thy  breast. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  206.  Isa.  xxxii.  2. 
Two  verses  are  omitted. 

Hymn  469.  Thee,  Jesus,  full  of  truth  and  grace. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  164. 

John  Elam,  who  entered  the  Wesleyan  ministry  in  1848,  and 
died  in  1851,  repeated  this  hymn  just  before  the  close  of  his 
short  life,  applying  ver.  3  to  himself  with  peculiar  emphasis, 
1  /  see,'  '  my  Guide.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    2QI 

Hymn  470.  Saviour  of  all,  what  hast  Thou  done. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  148.  '  The  Trial  of 
Faith,  No.  6.'  Two  verses  are  omitted. 

Vcr.  4,  '  Here  let  me  ever,  ever  stay,'  is  '  Yet  here  for  ever,  ever 
must  I  stay."  Pope's  Eloisa  to  Abelard,  \.  171. 

Hymn  471.   Come  on,  my  partners  in  distress. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  168.  '  For  the  Brother 
hood.' 

Three  verses  are  omitted.  Ver.  3  reads,  '  \Vlio  suffer  for  our 
Master  here.' 

Montgomery  says  the  hymn  anticipates  the  strains  of  the 
redeemed,  '  and  is  written  almost  in  the  spirit  of  the  Church 
triumphant.' 

The  wife  of  Henry  Moore,  Wesley's  executor  and  biographer, 
asked  her  sister,  Mrs.  Rutherford,  to  sing  this  hymn  when  she 
was  dying,  in  1813.  They  had  been  speaking  of  friends  in 
heaven,  and  Ann  Moore  said  she  should  soon  see  them  all. 
She  and  her  sister,  Isabella  Young,  were  converted  under 
Wesley's  ministry  at  Coleraine  in  June,  1778,  and  were  greatly 
beloved  by  the  Wesleys.  Ann  was  then  about  twenty-one.  They 
both  married  Methodist  preachers.  Wesley  says  in  his  Journal 
for  June  6, 1778,  '  In  the  evening  I  saw  a  pleasing  sight.  A  few 
days  ago  a  young  gentlewoman,  without  the  knowledge  of  her 
relations,  entered  into  the  Society.  She  was  informed  this 
evening  that  her  sister  was  speaking  to  me  upon  the  same 
account.  As  soon  as  we  came  into  the  room,  she  ran  to  her 
sister,  fell  upon  her  neck,  wept  over  her,  and  could  just  say,  "  O 
sister,  sister  ! "  before  she  sunk  down  upon  her  knees  to  praise 
God.  Her  sister  could  hardly  bear  it ;  she  was  in  tears  too, 
and  so  were  all  in  the  room.  Such  are  the  first-fruits  at 
Coleraine.  May  there  be  a  suitable  harvest ! ' 

Hymn  472.  Cast  on  the  fidelity. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767  ;   Works,  vii.  61. 


2Q2  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  473.  Father,  in  the  name  I  pray. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767;  Works,  vii.  60.  It  begins, 
'  Lord,  I  magnify  Thy  power.'  Two  verses  are  omitted. 

This  was  one  of  the  favourite  hymns  of  Dr.  Osborn's  father, 
and  he  often  asked  for  it  to  be  read  to  him  during  the  last  days 
of  his  life  at  Rochester. 

Hymn  474.  Eternal  Beam  of  light  divine. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  and  Sacred  Poem:,  1739;  Works,  i.  128.     '  In  Affliction.' 

George  Eliot  makes  Dinah  Morris  sing  this  hymn  as  she 
sweeps  and  dusts  the  room  in  which  Adam  Bede  had  been 
writing  the  night  before.  '  She  opened  the  window  and  let 
in  the  fresh  morning  air,  and  the  smell  of  the  sweetbriar,  and 
the  bright  low-slanting  rays  of  the  early  sun,  which  made  a 
glory  about  her  pale  face  and  pale  auburn  hair  as  she  held 
the  long  brush,  and  swept,  singing  to  herself  in  a  very  low  tone 
— like  a  sweet  summer  murmur  that  you  have  to  listen  for  very 
closely — one  of  Charles  Wesley's  hymns,  "  Eternal  Beam  of 
light  divine." '  Verses  I,  2,  5  are  those  given  in  Adam  Bede. 

Hymn  475.  Thovi  Lamb  of  God,  Thou  Prince  of 
Peace. 

C.  F.  RICHTER  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

'  Stilles  Lamm  und  Friedefiirst,'  on  the  following  of  Christ  the 
Lamb  of  God  (Rev.  xiv.  4),  is  given  in  Freylinghausen's  Neues 
geistreiches  Gesang-Buch,  1714.  In  the  edition  of  1718,  it  is  entitled,  '  On 
the  name  Agneta,  which  may  be  derived  from  Agnus,  which  in  German 
is  called  a  Lamb.' 

Wesley's  translation  is  in  his  Charlestown  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1737, 
and  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739. 

Christian  Friedrich  Richter,  born  at  Sorau,  in  Brandenburg, 
1676,  became  physician  to  Francke's  institutions  in  1699. 
He  and  his  younger  brother  made  many  important  chemical 
experiments,  for  which  Richter  prepared  himself  by  special 
prayer.  His 'Halle  Medicines '  were  widely  used.  Helis  one 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    293 

of  the  most  important  of  the  Pietist  hymn-writers,  and  his  work 
is  marked  by  fervent  piety,  childlike  love  to  God,  and  deep 
spiritual  experience.  He  died  at  Halle  n  1711. 


Hymn  470.  O  Thou,  to  whose  all-searching  sight. 

ZINZENDORF  (69)  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

'  Seelenbriiutigam,  O  du  Gotteslamm  !  '  was  written  Septeml>cr, 
1721;  published  in  his  Sammlung,  Leipzig  and  Gorlitz,  1725.  Wesley's 
translation  appeared  in  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1  738  ;  Hymns  and  Sacred 
Poems,  1739.  Works,  i.  134. 

The  reading  of  1739  is  — 

Ver.  I,  '  O  hurst  these  bonds,  and  set  it  free.' 

Ver.  4,  '\Vhere  rising  floods  my  head  o'erflow.'  The  alteration  to 
'  sou)  '  robs  the  fourth  line  of  its  point,  but  it  is  Wesley's  own  change. 

Ver.  4  is  based  on  J.  A.  Freylinghausen's  '  Wer  ist  wohl  wie  du  ' 


Hymn  477.  Comfort,  ye  ministers  of  grace. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1742  ;    Jft'r&s,   ii.   165.     Two   verses 
from  the  fourth  part  of  a  hymn,  'Groaning  for  Redemption.' 

Hymn  478.  In  time  of  tribulation. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 
Psalm  Ixxvii.  in  Songs  of  Zion,  1822. 


Hymn  479.  Sometimes  a  light  surprises. 

WILLIAM  COWPER  (60). 
Olney  Hymns,  1779,  headed  'Joy  and  Peace  in  believing.' 

Dr.  Andrew  Bonar  says  that  the  last  words  which  R.  M. 
McCheyne,  that  saint  of  Scotland,  heard,  and  the  last  he  seemed 
to  understand,  were  those  of  Cowper's  hymn,  which  his  sister 
quoted  to  him  four  days  before  his  death.  Then  delirium  came 
on,  and  he  gradually  passed  away. 


2Q4  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  4.80.  Commit  thou  all  tliy  griefs. 

GERHARDT  (163) ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

'  Befiehl  du  deine  Wegc '  appeared  in  Criiger's  Praxis,  1656, 
Frankfurt  edition. 

Wesley's  translation  is  given  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739  ; 
Works,  i.  125. 

Lauxmann  calls  it  '  the  most  comforting  of  all  the  hymns 
that  have  resounded  on  Paulus  Gerhardt's  golden  lyre, 
sweeter  to  many  souls  than  honey  and  the  honey-comb.'  It 
soon  spread  over  Germany.  It  was  sung  in  1743,  when  the 
foundation-stones  were  laid  of  the  first  Lutheran  church  in 
Philadelphia,  and  again  at  the  opening  service.  When 
Napoleon  was  bent  on  crushing  Germany,  Queen  Louise  of 
Prussia  wrote  in  her  diary  at  Ortelsburg,  on  December  5,  1806, 
Goethe's  lines  from  '  Wilhelm  Meister,'  which  Carlyle  renders— 

Who  never  ate  his  bread  in  sorrow, 
Who  never  spent  the  darksome  hours, 

Weeping  and  watching  for  the  morrow, 
He  knows  ye  not,  ye  gloomy  Powers. 

To  earth,  this  weary  earth,  ye  bring  us, 

To  guilt  ye  let  us  heedless  go, 
Then  leave  repentance  fierce  to  wring  us : 

A  moment's  guilt,  an  age  of  woe  ! 

Then  drying  her  tears,  she  went  to  her  harpsichord  and  played 
and  sang  this  hymn.  Lauxmann  writes,  '  Truly  a  hymn  which, 
as  Luther's  "  Ein  feste  Burg,"  is  surrounded  by  a  cloud  of 
witnesses.' 

The  Dictionary  of  Hymnology  says  of  Wesley's  translation, 
'  Though  free,  it  has  in  far  greater  measure  than  any  other  caught 
the  ring  and  spirit  of  Gerhardt.' 

A  German  peasant  called  Dobyr,  living  in  a  village  near 
Warsaw,  was  to  be  turned  out  next  day,  with  his  family,  into 
the  snow,  because  he  could  not  pay  his  rent.  He  prayed  and 
sang  this  hymn  with  his  family.  As  they  reached  the  last  verse, 
a  raven,  which  his  grandfather  had  tamed  and  set  at  liberty, 
tapped  at  the  window.  In  its  bill  was  a  ring  set  with  precious 
stones.  The  peasant  took  it  to  his  minister.  It  belonged  to 
King  Stanislaus.  When  the  minister  told  him  the  story  he  sent 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    295 

for  Dobyr,  gave  him  a  handsome  reward,  and  next  year  built 
him  a  nesv  house  and  filled  its  cattle-sheds  from  his  own  estates. 
Over  the  door  was  an  iron  tablet,  bearing  the  representation  of 
a  raven  with  a  ring  in  its  bill,  and  the  verse — 

Thou  everywhere  hast  sway, 
And  all  things  serve  Thy  might ; 
Thy  every  act  pure  blessing  is, 
Thy  path  unsullied  light. 


Hymn  481.  Give  to  the  winds  thy  fears. 
GERHARDT  (163)  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 
The  second  part  of  480.     Worts,  i.  127. 

When  Whitefield  was  on  board  ship  in  September,  1769, 
ready  to  sail  on  his  last  voyage  to  America,  he  wrote  to 
Wesley:  'Duty  is  ours.  Future  things  belong  to  Him,  who 
always  did,  and  always  will,  order  all  things  well. 

Leave  to  His  sovereign  sway,   &c.' 

On  February  9,  1796,  Zachary  Macaulay  sent  some  books 
to  Miss  Mills,  whom  he  afterwards  married.  He  says,  'The 
small  hymn-book  was  my  companion  in  hunger  and  nakedness 
and  distress.  We  must  no  doubt  make  many  allowances  for 
the  peculiarities  of  Methodism  ;  but,  on  the  whole,  as  the 
frequent  marks  of  approbation  will  show  you,  it  pleases  me 
much.  One  of  them  beginning,  "Give  to  the  winds  thy  fears," 
has  often  cheered  my  mind  as  I  viewed  the  desolation  caused 
by  the  French  visit.'  This  refers  to  the  invasion  at  Sierra 
Leone,  of  which  he  was  then  governor. 

William  Dawson  died  on  July  4,  1841,  at  Colne,  in  Lanca 
shire,  where  he  had  gone  to  preach.  The  night  before  he  had 
chosen  the  hymns  to  be  used  in  the  service,  but  in  the  early 
morning  he  was  found  struggling  for  breath.  He  was  helped 
to  a  chair,  and  leaning  back  in  it,  he  feebly  grasped  his  staff 
and  spoke  a  few  farewell  words  to  the  loving  friends  who  hung 
over  him  in  distress — precious  words,  that  showed  how  calm, 
clear,  and  bright  burnt  the  rlame  of  his  spirit's  life,  of  his 
Christian  hope. 

Let  us  in  life,  in  death, 
Thy  steadfast  truth  declare, 


296  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

were  the  last  syllables  he  could  frame  clearly.    Trying  to  add 
the  concluding  lines  of  the  verse — 

And  publish  with  our  latest  breath 
Thy  love  and  guardian  care — 

utterance  failed  him.     He  crossed  his  hands  over  his  breast, 
and  without  a  struggle  entered  on  his  Master's  joy. 

He  had  written  to  a  friend  some  weeks  before,  '  The  pins 
of  my  tabernacle  must  loosen,  and  the  canvas  must  have  its 
rents  and  holes.  The  leading  wish  of  my  heart  is,  as  expressed 
in  the  hymn  which  I  often  say  and  sing — 

Let  me  in  life,  in  death, 
Thy  steadfast  truth  declare, 
And  publish  with  my  latest  breath 
Thy  love  and  guardian  care.' 

(Miss  Reeling's  William  Dawson.) 

Hymn  482.  Away,  my  needless  fears. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  448.  'Hymns  for 
Christian  Friends,'  No.  35.  Ten  verses  of  eight  lines. 

In  the  original,  ver.  I  reads,  'That  calms  my  stormy  breast.' 

Hymn  483.  My  Father  knows  the  things  I  need. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  x.  190.  Ver.  I 
is  from  No.  128  of  that  collection,  ver.  2  from  124,  ver.  3  from  125, 
ver.  4  from  126. 

Hymn  484.  Thy  way,  not  mine,  O  Lord. 
DR.  H.  BONAR  (70). 

Appeared  in  Hymns  of  Faith  and  Hope,  1857.  The  first  of  the 
three  volumes  of  his  collected  poems.  Another  verse  appears  in  the 
original — 

Choose  Thou  for  me  my  friends, 

My  sickness  or  my  health  ; 
Choose  Thou  my  cares  for  me, 

My  poverty  or  wealth. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     297 

Hymn  485.  My  God,  my  Father,  while  I  stray. 

CHARLOTTE  ELLIOTT  (317). 

Published  in  Appendix  to  1st  edition  of  Invalid's  Hymn-book,  1834. 
The  third  verse  is  omitted  here — 

What  though  in  lonely  grief  I  sigh 
For  friends  beloved,  no  longer  nigh, 
Submissive  still  would  I  reply, 
'  Thy  will  be  done.' 

The  'my'  in  the  first  line  is  from  the  1839  edition  of  Elliott's 
Psalms  and  Hymns.  The  line  read  originally,  '  My  God  and 
Father.' 

Miss  Elliott's  brother,  the  Rev.  H.  V.  Elliott,  on  whom  she 
had  hoped  to  lean,  died  in  1865.  She  often  said  that  his  loss 
changed  the  whole  aspect  of  life  for  her  ;  but  the  spirit  of 
submission  which  breathes  in  her  hymn  did  not  fail  her. 

Hymn  486.  When  I  survey  life's  varied  scene. 

ANNE  STEELE  (255). 
From  her  Poems,  1760,  'Resignation.' 

It  is  said  to  have  been  written  after  the  great  shock  caused 
by  her  lover's  tragic  death.  Her  brain  seemed  to  reel  at  that 
stroke,  and  for  days  she  could  not  even  think  of  submission. 

Hymn  487.  Thou  doest  all  things  well. 
W.  M.  BUNTING  (249). 

'  Songs  in  the  Night- Season.' 

The  story  of  the  writer's  life  and  spiritual  discipline  is  almost 
gathered  up  in  these  verses. 

Hymn  488.  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way. 
WILLIAM  COWPER  (60). 

It  appeared  in  John  Newton's  Twenty-six  Letters  on 
Religious  Subjects;  to  which  are  added  Hymns,  &*c.,  by 
Omicron.  This  was  published  in  July,  1774,  in  six  stanzas  of 


298  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

four  lines,  headed  '  Light  shining  out  of  darkness.'  Montgomery 
says,  '  It  is  a  lyric  of  high  tone  and  character,  and  rendered 
awfully  interesting  by  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was 
written — in  the  twilight  of  departing  reason.'  He  evidently 
accepted  the  story  that  it  was  composed  after  Cowper's  attempt 
to  drown  himself  in  the  Ouse.  The  poor  poet  thought  that  it 
was  the  will  of  God  that  he  should  thus  offer  himself  as  a 
sacrifice.  Dr.  Julian  thinks  that  the  probable  dates  of  its 
composition  are  October,  1773,  or  April,  1774,  and  that  'neither 
will  agree  with  the  popular  account '  of  its  origin. 

It  has  been  described  as  the  greatest  hymn  on  divine 
Providence  ever  written.  It  was  drawn  from  Cowper  by 
much  sorrow.  He  says,  '  I  have  never  met,  either  in  books 
or  conversation,  with  an  experience  at  all  similar  to  mine. 
More  than  a  twelvemonth  has  passed  since  I  began  to  hope 
that,  having  walked  the  whole  breadth  of  the  bottom  of  the 
Red  Sea,  I  was  beginning  to  climb  the  opposite  shore,  and  I 
proposed  to  sing  the  song  of  Moses.  But  I  have  been  disap 
pointed.'  Yet  he  can  say  to  his  Saviour,  '  I  love  Thee,  even 
now,  more  than  many  who  see  Thee  daily.' 

The  hymn  has  been  a  well  of  salvation  for  many  sorrowing 
hearts.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  writing  from  Princeton  in 
1841,  to  comfort  Dr.  Nicholas  Murray  in  the  death  of  his  only 
son,  says,  '  Read  Cowper's  hymn,  "  God  moves  in  a  mysterious 
way."  Christ  seems  to  say,  "  What  I  do  you  know  not  now, 
but  you  shall  know  hereafter.  All  things  work  together  for 
good  to  them  that  love  God."' 

The  Rev.  Hugh  Stowell  said  that  during  the  Lancashire 
cotton  famine  in  1865,  a  mill-owner  called  his  workers  together, 
and  told  them  he  must  close  his  mill.  It  meant  ruin  to  him 
and  them.  Suddenly  a  Sunday-school  teacher  broke  the 
silence  by  singing  the  verse,  '  Ye  fearful  saints,  fresh  courage 
take.'  All  joined  in  the  words  with  deep  emotion  and  new 
confidence  in  God. 

The  Rev.  Richard  Knill  gave  Charles  H.  Spurgeon  sixpence 
to  learn  this  hymn,  when  he  visited  Stambourne  Parsonage  in 
1844,  and  made  him  promise  that  when  he  became  a  man,  and 
preached  in  Rowland  Hill's  chapel,  he  would  give  it  out.  When 
Mr.  Spurgeon  came  to  London,  Dr.  Alexander  Fletcher,  who 
was  to  preach  the  sermon  to  children  in  Surrey  Chapel,  was 
taken  ill,  and  the  young  Baptist  minister  was  asked  to  fill  his 
place.  '  Yes,  I  will,'  was  his  reply,  '  if  you  will  allow  the 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    299 

children  to  sing  "  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way."  I  have 
made  a  promise  long  ago  that  that  hymn  should  be  sung.' 
The  hymn  was  sung,  and  Spurgeon  says,  '  My  emotions  on  that 
occasion  I  cannot  describe,  for  the  word  of  the  Lord's  servant 
was  fulfilled.' 

Hymn  489.  Since  all  the  downward  tracks  of  time. 

JAMES  HERVF.Y,  M.A.  (1714-58). 

In  his  Reflections  on  a  Flower  Garden^  published  in  the  same  volume 
as  the  Meditations  among  ike  Tombs.  The  hymn  is  appended  to  the 
words,  '  Be  still,  then,  thou  uneasy  mortal :  know  that  God  is  un 
erringly  wise  ;  and  he  assured  that,  amidst  the  greatest  multiplicity  of 
beings,  He  does  not  overlook  thee. 

Permittas  ipsis  expendere  numinibus,  quid 
Conveniat  nobis,  rebusque  sit  utile  nostris. 
Nam  pro  jucundis  aptissima  quaeque  dabunt  clii  : 
Carior  est  illis  homo,  <juam  sibi. 

Juvenal: 

Mr.  Hervey  was  the  son  of  the  Rector  of  Weston  Favcll  and 
Collingtree,  Northampton,  and  went  to  Lincoln  College,  where 
John  Wesley  was  his  tutor.  He  was  one  of  the  original 
4  Methodists,'  and  tells  Wesley,  '  You  have  been  both  a  father 
and  a  friend  to  me.'  His  Meditations  among  the  Tombs,  pub 
lished  in  1746,  were  once  very  popular.  They  were  suggested 
by  a  visit  to  Kilkhampton  Church.  His  Theron  and  A  spas io 
is  also  well  known. 

He  suffered  from  consumption,  and  in  1750-2  lived  in 
London  to  secure  the  best  medical  attention.  He  stayed  with 
his  brother  in  Miles  Lane,  and  one  winter  in  the  house  of 
George  Whitefield.  He  succeeded  to  his  father's  rectory  in 
1752. 

Hymn  490.  Thou  knowest,  Lord,  the  weariness  and 
sorrow. 

JANE  BORTHWICK  (1813-97). 

Miss  Borthwick  was  born  at  Edinburgh.  She  translated,  in 
concert  with  her  sister  Sarah  (1823-86),  wife  of  the  Rev. 
Eric  J.  Findlater,  Hymns  from  the  Land  of  Luther  (ist  Series, 
1854;  2nd,  1855;  3rd,  1858;  4th,  1862).  Sixty-one  translations 


300  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

were  by  Miss  Borthwick,  fifty-three  by  her  sister.  This  hymn, 
which  is  original,  and  not  a  translation,  appeared  in  her 
Thoughts  for  Thoughtful  Hours,  1859. 

Hymn  491.  I  will  not  let  Thee  go,  Thou  Help  in 
time  of  need  ! 

WOLFGANG  CHRISTOPH  DESSLER  (1660-1722)  ;  translated  by 

MISS  WlNKWORTH  (19). 

Dessler  was  the  son  of  a  jeweller  at  Niirnberg.  Poverty 
and  ill-health  compelled  him  to  give  up  his  theological  studies 
in  the  University  of  Altdorf.  He  returned  to  Niirnberg,  and 
supported  himself  as  a  proof-reader.  He  became  amanuensis 
to  Erasmus  Finx,  and  translated  various  religious  books  into 
German.  In  1705  he  was  appointed  Conrector  of  the  School  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  at  Niirnberg,  and  laboured  with  much  success 
till  stricken  with  paralysis  in  1720.  The  best  of  his  hundred 
hymns,  many  with  melodies  by  himself,  appeared  in  a  volume 
of  meditations  which  he  published  in  1692. 

'  Ich  lass  dich  nicht,  du  musst  mein  Jesus  bleiben,'  founded 
on  Gen.  xxxii.  36,  is  given  here  with  a  meditation  on  '  The 
Striving  Love.'  Christiana  Eberhardina,  Queen  of  Poland, 
asked  that  it  might  be  sung  at  her  death-bed,  September  5,  1726. 

Miss  Winkworth's  translation  of  stanzas  4,  5,  9  appeared  in 
her  Lyra  Germanica,  1855,  '  Ich  lass  dich  nicht,  du  Hiilf  in  alien 
Nothen.' 


r  ^     Hymn  492.  Begone,  unbelief  ;  my  Saviour  is  near. 

JOHN  NEWTON  (109). 

Olney  Hymns,    1779,   headed   'I   will    trust  and   not  be  afraid. 
Verses  4  and  6  are  omitted  — 

Determined  to  save,  He  watched  o'er  my  path, 
When,  Satan's  blind  slave,  I  sported  with  death  ; 
And  can  He  have  taught  me,  To  trust  in  His  name, 
And  thus  far  have  brought  me,  To  put  me  to  shame  ? 

How  bitter  that  cup,  No  heart  can  conceive, 
Which  He  drank  quite  up,  That  sinners  might  live  ! 
His  way  was  much  rougher,  And  darker  than  mine  ; 
Did  Jesus  thus  suffer,  And  shall  I  repine? 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     30! 

The  first  of  these  verses  sums  up  many  a  thrilling  scene  in 
the  early  life  of  Newton.  It  illustrates  his  own  words,  'I 
commit  my  soul  to  my  gracious  God  and  Saviour,  who  mercifully 
spared  me  when  I  was  an  apostate,  a  blasphemer,  and  an 
infidel,  and  delivered  me  from  that  state  of  misery  on  the  coast 
of  Africa  into  which  my  obstinate  wickedness  had  plunged  me, 
and  who  has  pleased  to  admit  me  (though  most  unworthy)  to 
preach  His  glorious  gospel.' 

A  lady  wrote  from  the  Citadel  of  Cairo  to  Mr.  Stead,  '  It  is 
the  hymn  that  I  love  best  of  the  hundreds  that  I  know  ;  it  has 
helped  me  scores  of  times  in  the  dark  days  of  my  life,  and 
has  never  failed  to  inspire  me  with  fresh  hope  and  confidence 
when  life  looked  "  dark  and  dreary  "  ;  and  it  is  dear  to  me  from 
associations  with  the  memory  of  the  best  of  fathers.  To  him, 
in  his  many  and  sore  troubles,  it  was  a  source  of  comfort  and 
help,  and,  I  believe,  was  to  him  a  sort  of  link  by  which  he  held 
on  to  God.  To  me  the  words  are  not  doggerel  at  all,  they  are 
just  lovely.  I  often  go  about  singing  them  when  alone  to  help 
me  on  the  way.' 

Mr.  Stead  says  that  the  hymn  has  helped  him  more  than 
any  other.  '  I  can  remember  my  mother  singing  it  when  I  was 
a  tiny  boy,  hardly  able  to  see  over  the  book-ledge  in  the 
minister's  pew  ;  and  to  this  day,  whenever  1  am  in  doleful 
dumps,  and  the  stars  in  their  courses  appear  to  be  fighting 
against  me,  that  one  doggerel  verse  comes  back  clear  as  a 
blackbird's  note  through  the  morning  mist :  "  His  love  in  time 
past  forbids  me  to  think." '  The  verse  has  been  '  as  a  lifebuoy, 
keeping  my  head  above  the  waves  when  the  sea  raged  and  was 
tempestuous,  and  when  all  else  failed.' 

Hymn  493.  Our  Father,  at  Thy  feet  we  bow. 
MARY  BERTHA  BRADFIELD. 

Miss  Bradfield,  of  Kingsclere,  Newbury,  is  the  sister  of 
Revs.  William  and  Alfred  Bradfield,  Weslcyan  ministers.  This 
hymn  is  from  her  Songs  of  Faith  and  Hope  and  Love  (Charles 
H.  Kelly,  1898). 

Hymn  494.  I  do  not  ask,  O  Lord,  that  life  may  be. 

ADELAIDE  A.  PROCTER  (379). 
'  Resignation,'  in  her  Legends  and  Lyric st  enlarged  edition,  1862. 


302  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  495.  Jesus,  I  my  cross  have  taken. 
HENRY  F.  LYTE  (7). 

'  Hope,'  in  a  volume  of  Sacred  Poetry,  issued  in  1824,  headed  '  Lo  ! 
we  have  left  all,  and  followed  Thee,'  with  the  signature  '  G.'  It 
appears  in  Lyte's  Poems,  1833. 

The  third  verse  is  omitted. 

Hymn  496.  Thou  very  present  Aid. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  'Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  341.  '  For  Widows.' 
The  sixth  of  a  series  of  twenty-one  hymns. 

The  original  is  in  eight-line  verses.  Four  lines  are  omitted  which 
follow  ver.  5 — 

In  deep  affliction  bless'd 
With  Thee  I  mount  above, 
And  sing,  triumphantly  distress'd, 
Thine  all-sufficient  love. 

It  is  one  of  the  Charles  Wesley  hymns  now  added  to  the  book. 

Hymn  497.  O  Love  divine,  that  stooped  to  share. 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES  (23). 

« Trust,'  dated  1849.  In  his  Professor  at  the  Breakfast  Table  in  the 
Atlantic  Monthly,  1860. 

Hymn  498.  Drooping  soul,  shake  off  thy  fears. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  293.  '  Waiting  for  the 
promise.' 

The  two  last  stanzas  are  omitted. 

Hymn  499.  Pray,  without  ceasing  pray. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  43.  'The  Whole 
Armour  of  God.'  Eph.  vi.  13.  Sixteen  verses. 

Hymn  433  gives  the  first  four  verses  of  this  poem.  This  hymn 
is  made  up  of  verses  12,  13,  14,  16. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS  AND   THEIR  WRITERS     303 

Hymn  500.  The  praying  Spirit  breathe. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1749;    Works,    v.    51.      'Hymns    for 
Believers.     In  an  hurry  of  business.' 
The  first  verse  is  omitted — 

Help,  Lord  !  the  busy  foe 
Is  as  a  flood  come  in  ! 
Lift  up  a  standard,  and  o'erthrow 
This  soul-distracting  sin  : 
This  sudden  tide  of  care 
Stem  by  that  bloody  tree, 
Nor  let  the  rising  torrent  bear 
My  soul  away  from  Thee. 

Hymn  501.   O  wondrous  power  of  faithful  prayer ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the  Blood 
of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  260. 

Three  verses  are  omitted.  In  ver.  2  the  original  is,  '  It  cannot  seal 
the  rebel's  doom.' 

Hymn  502.  My  God,  if  I  may  call  Thee  mine. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739  ;   Works,  \.  133. 

It  is  headed,  'Justified  but  not  sanctified"  in  the  first  and  third 
editions,  not  included  in  second  edition.  In  the  fourth  and  fifth 
editions  is  headed  '  Another,'  following  a  hymn,  '  In  desertion  or 
temptation.'  The  original  has  nine  verses  of  eight  lines. 

Hymn  503.  Jesus,  my  strength,  my  hope. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  2oi>.     '  A  Poor  Sinner.' 
The  last  verse  is  omitted — 

I  want  with  all  my  heart 

Thy  pleasure  to  fulfil, 
To  know  myself,  and  what  Thou  art, 

And  what  Thy  perfect  will. 

I  want  I  know  not  what, 

I  want  my  wants  to  see, 
I  want, — alas  !  what  want  I  not, 

When  Thou  art  not  in  me? 


304  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

On  October  9, 1852,  Thomas  Robinson  Allan,  who  afterwards 
founded  the  Allan  Library,  found  his  way  to  the  Wesleyan 
Chapel  in  Windsor  Street,  Brighton,  where  the  Rev.  Peter 
Cooper  preached  from  the  prayer  of  Jabez  (i  Chron.  iv.  10),  and 
read  the  first  verse  of  this  hymn.  '  Was  I  led  to  this  place 
to-night  to  receive  an  answer  to  a  petition  which  had  long  been 
matter  of  prayer,  and  which  I  particularly  and  earnestly  pleaded 
this  morning  ?  I  believe  it  was  so  ;  though  it  was  accompanied 
by  a  "  kind,  upbraiding  look  "  from  my  adorable  Master,  when 
the  preacher  said,  "  Perhaps  you  engaged  in  the  business  with 
out  consulting  God  at  all."  Though  the  matter  was  not  in  my 
thoughts  on  entering  the  place,  yet  it  came  strongly  into  my 
mind  at  the  conclusion  of  the  service,  that  the  Lord  had 
graciously  condescended  to  give  me  a  token  that  He  had  heard 
my  prayer.  And  whether  the  answer  takes  effect  in  this  way  or 
that,  I  leave  to  His  wisdom  and  His  love.' 

Hymn  504.  What  various  hindrances  we  meet. 
WILLIAM  COWPER  (60). 

'Exhortation  to  Prayer,'  Olncy  Hymns,  1779,  in  six  stanzas.  The 
last  three  verses  are  omitted,  and  a  fourth  verse  added. 

Hymn  505.  Lord,  teach  us  how  to  pray  aright. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

Prov.  xvi.  i.  Written  in  1818  ;  first  printed  on  a  broadsheet  for 
use  in  the  Nonconformist  schools  in  Sheffield,  with  the  hymns,  '  Prayer 
is  the  soul's  sincere  desire,'  'What  shall  we  ask  of  God  in  prayer?' 
'  Thou,  God,  art  a  consuming  fire.' 

In  Cotterill's  Selection,  8th  edition,  1819,  it  appears  in  four  verses 
of  eight  lines,  headed  '  The  preparations  of  the  heart  in  man.' 

Hymn  506.  Come,  my  soul,  thy  suit  prepare. 
JOHN  NEWTON  (109). 

OIney  Hymns,  1779.  '  Ask  what  shall  I  give  thee.'  I  Kings  iii.  5. 
Ver.  7  reads — 

Show  me  what  I  have  to  do, 
Every  hour  my  strength  renew ; 
Let  me  live  a  life  of  faith, 
Let  me  die  Thy  people's  death. 


THE   STORY    OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    305 

Mr.  Spurgeon  used  for  some  years  to  have  the  first  or  second 
verses,  or  both  of  them,  chanted  every  Sunday  in  his  public 
service  just  before  the  prayer. 

Hymn  507.  Prayer  is  the  soul's  sincere  desire. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

Written  in  1818,  at  the  request  of  Rev.  E.  Bickersteth,  for  his 
Treatise  on  Prayer,  and  printed  on  a  broadsheet  the  same  year  for  use 
in  the  Nonconformist  Sunday  schools  of  Sheffield.  In  the  broadsheet 
ver.  6  begins,  '  In  prayer  on  earth  the  saints  are  one.'  When  included 
in  The  Christian  Fsalmisi,  it  was  headed  '  What  is  prayer  ?  ' 

Montgomery  says  that  he  received  more  testimonies  to  the 
benefit  derived  from  this  hymn  than  about  any  other  that  he 
wrote.  It  represented  his  own  daily  spirit.  On  the  last  night 
of  his  life  he  conducted  family  prayer  with  special  fervour.  He 
retired  at  once,  and  in  the  morning  was  found  unconscious  on 
the  floor  of  his  bedroom.  He  lingered  till  the  afternoon,  but 
never  spoke  again.  Prayer  was  his  last  voice. 

Hymn  508.  O  Lord,  how  happy  should  we  be. 

JOSEPH  AXSTICE. 

Mr.  Anstice  was  the  son  of  William  Anstice,  of  Madcley, 
Shropshire  ;  educated  at  Westminster  and  Christ  Church,  and 
gained  two  English  prizes  and  a  double-first  at  Oxford.  He 
became  Professor  of  Classics  at  King's  College,  London.  He 
died  of  consumption  at  Torquay,  February  26,  1836,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-eight.  Fifty-two  of  his  hymns  were  printed  a  few 
months  after  his  death  by  his  widow,  as  '  a  memorial  of  the 
manner  in  which  some  of  his  leisure  hours  were  employed,  and 
of  the  subjects  which  chiefly  occupied  his  thoughts  during  the 
last  few  months  of  his  life.'  The  hymns  were  'dictated  to  his 
wife  during  the  last  few  weeks  of  his  life,  and  were  composed 
just  at  the  period  of  the  day  (the  afternoon)  when  he  felt  the 
oppression  of  his  illness — all  his  brighter  morning  hours  being 
given  to  his  pupils  up  to  the  very  day  of  his  death.' 

Mr.  Morley  says  in  his  Life  of  Gladstone  (i.  55-8),  that  the 
friend  who  influenced  Gladstone  most  at  Oxford  '  in  the  deepest 
things  was  Anstice,  whom  he  describes  to  his  father,  June  4, 
1830,  as  "a  very  clever  man,  and  more  than  a  clever  man,  a 

x 


306  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

man  of  excellent  principle  and  of  perfect  self-command,  and  of 
great  industry.  If  any  circumstances  could  confer  upon  me  the 
inestimable  blessing  of  fixed  habits  and  unremitting  industry, 
these  (the  example  of  such  a  man)  will  be  they." '  In  August, 
1830,  his  diary  shows  how  Mr.  Gladstone  talked  with  Anstice  on 
a  walk  from  Cuddesdon  to  Oxford  on  subjects  of  the  highest 
importance.  '  Thoughts  then  first  sprang  up  in  my  soul  (obvious 
as  they  may  appear  to  many)  which  may  powerfully  influence 
my  destiny.  Oh  for  light  from  on  high  !  I  have  no  power, 
none,  to  discern  the  right  path  for  myself.'  They  afterwards  had 
long  talks  together  '  about  that  awful  subject  which  has  lately 
almost  engrossed  my  mind.'  Another  day  he  refers  gratefully 
to  a  '  conversation  of  an  hour  and  a  half  with  Anstice  on 
practical  religion,  particularly  as  regards  our  own  situation.  I 
bless  and  praise  God  for  His  presence  here.'  A  little  later, 
'  Long  talk  with  Anstice  ;  would  I  were  worthy  to  be  his  com 
panion.'  And  again,  '  Conversation  with  Anstice ;  he  talked 
much  with  Saunders  on  the  motive  of  actions,  contending  for 
the  love  of  God,  not  selfishness  even  in  its  most  refined  form.' 

On  March  2,  1836,  Gladstone  writes,  '  Heard  to  my  deep 
sorrow  of  Anstice's  death  on  Monday.  His  friends,  his  young 
widow,  the  world,  can  spare  him  ill.  So  at  least  it  seems  to  the 
flesh.'  Gladstone  composed  some  verses  on  his  death.  Many 
years  after  he  wrote,  '  Anstice  a  great  loss,  died  very  early  in 
his  beautiful  married  life.' 

Hymn  509.  Hear  Thou  my  prayer,  O  Lord. 

BENJAMIN  HALL  KENNEDY,  D.D.  (428). 
Version  of  Psalm  cxliii.,  from  The  Psalter,  1860. 

Hymn  510.  As  pants  the  hart  for  cooling  streams. 

TATE  and  BRADY  (17). 
Psalm  xlii.,  New  Version. 

Hymn  511.  Great  God,  indulge  my  humble  claim. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Psalm  Ixiii.,  '  Longing  after  God  ;  or,  The 
love  of  God  better  than  life.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     307 

In  Wesley's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1741.  Ver.  3  begins,  '  With  heart, 
and  eyes,  and  lifted  hands.'  Ver.  4  is  altered  from — 

My  life  itself  without  Thy  love, 
No  taste  of  pleasure  could  afford  ; 

'Twould  but  a  tiresome  burden  prove, 
If  I  were  banished  from  the  Lord. 

Watts's  last  line,  '  And  spend  the  remnant  of  my  days,'  is  trans 
formed  into  'And  fill  the  circle  of  my  days." 

Hymn  512.  O  God,  my  hope,  my  heavenly  rest. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  92.  '  For  a  Preacher  of 
the  Gospel.'  Moses'  wish  in  nine  hymns.  Exod.  xxxiii.  12 — xxxiv.  9. 

Hymn  513.  The  voice  that  speaks  Jehovah  near. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762;  Works,  \\. 
1 80.  i  Kings  xix.  13. 

The  original  is:  ver.  I,  lT!:nt  voice  ;'  line  3,  '  the  Lord.' 

Hymn  514.  Out  of  the  depths  I  cry  to  Thee. 

MARTIN  LUTHER  (173)  ;  translated  by  Miss  WINKWORTH  (19). 
In  her  Chorale  Book  for  England,  1863. 

'  Aus  tiefer  Noth  schrei  ich  zu  dir  '  is  a  version  of  Psalm  cxxx., 
which  Luther  called  a  Pauline  Psalm,  and  greatly  loved.  He  took 
special  pains  with  his  version.  It  was  sung  on  May  9,  1525, 
at  the  funeral  of  Friedrich  the  Wise,  in  the  Court  Church  at 
Wittenberg.  The  people  of  Halle  sang  it  with  tears  in  their  eyes 
as  the  great  Reformer's  coffin  passed  through  their  city  on  the 
way  to  the  grave  at  Wittenberg.  It  is  woven  into  the  religious 
life  of  Germany. 

In  1530,  during  the  Diet  of  Augsburg,  Luther's  heart  was 
often  sore  troubled,  but  he  would  say,  '  Come,  let  us  defy  the 
devil  and  praise  God  by  singing  a  hymn.'  Then  he  would 
begin,  '  Out  of  the  depths  I  cry  to  Thee.'  It  was  sung  at  his 
funeral. 


308  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  515.  O  disclose  Thy  lovely  face ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1740;    Works,  \.  254.     Ps.  cxliii.  6: 
'  Lord,  how  long,  how  long  shall  I  ? '     Two  verses  are  omitted. 
In  ver.  I  the  original  reads,  '  Come,  my  Jesus,  come  away." 

Hymn  516.  Jesus,  the  all-restoring  Word. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  225.  'A  Morning 
Hymn."  Ver.  6  is  omitted — 

Grant  this,  O  Lord  ;  for  Thou  hast  died 

That  I  might  be  forgiven  ; 
Thou  hast  the  righteousness  supplied 

For  which  I  merit  heaven. 

The  last  line  of  the  original  reads,  '  Through  all  eternity.' 

Hymn  517.  Jesu,  Shepherd  of  the  sheep. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  449.  'After  a 
Recovery.'  Verses  2  and  4  are  omitted. 

Hymn  518.  Infinite  Power,  eternal  Lord. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Horae  Lyricae,  1706,  headed  'The  Comparison  and  Complaint.' 
Given  in  Wesley's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743.  Four  verses  are  here 
omitted. 

Hymn  519.  O  Jesus,  my  hope. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  iv.  365.  '  Penitential 
Hymn.'  Ver.  2  is  omitted — 

Thy  blood,  which  alone 
For  sin  could  atone, 
For  the  infinite  evil  I  madly  have  done, 
That  only  can  seal 
My  pardon,  and  fill 
My  heart  with  a  power  of  obeying  Thy  will. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   \VRITERS    309 

Charles  Wesley  wrote — 

Ver.  i.  The  blood  I  have  shed. 
Ver.  2.  The  stony  remove. 
Ver.  3.  The  wonderful  flood 

Washes  off  my  foul  load, 
And  purges  my  conscience,  and  brings  me  to  God. 

Dr.  George  Smith  (History  of  Wesleyan  Methodism,  ii.  612) 
tells  of  a  girl,  called  Mary,  employed  in  breaking  copper  ore  at 
one  of  the  Cornish  mines.  She  was  converted  at  a  revival 
service.  Next  morning  the  change  in  her  bearing  made  her 
friends  say,  '  Mary  is  converted.'  '  No,'  said  one  of  her  friends 
who  knew  her  love  of  finery  ;  '  she  is  not  converted  :  look  at 
those  fine  large  earrings  in  her  ears  still  !  If  she  had  been 
converted  she  would  not  continue  to  wear  them.'  Without 
saying  a  word,  the  girl  laid  down  her  hammer,  took  out  the 
earrings,  and  broke  them  in  pieces,  singing — 

Neither  passion  nor  pride 
Thy  cross  can  abide, 
But  melt  in  the  fountain  that  streams  from  Thy  side. 

When  they  were  broken  and  swept  away,  she  looked  up, 
saying,  '  Praise  the  Lord,  they  are  gone.' 

The  effect  on  those  who  watched  the  scene  was  irresistible. 
All  knew  that  Mary  was  converted,  and  her  future  life  showed 
that  the  change  was  deep  and  abiding. 

Hymn  520.  None  other  Larnb,  none  other  Name. 
CHRISTINA  GEORGINA  ROSSETTI. 

'  None  other  Lamb'  was  written  'before  1893,'  an^  ^ls  own  beauty, 
with  the  Rev.  F.  L.  Wiseman's  tune,  has  made  it  one  of  the  favourites 
of  the  book. 

Miss  Rossetti  was  born  in  183031  Charlotte  Street,  Portland 
Place,  London.  The  fame  of  her  brother,  Dante  Gabriel 
Rossetti,  as  painter  and  poet,  is  part  of  the  history  of  English 
art  and  literature.  Her  father  was  an  Italian  refugee,  who 
became  Professor  of  Italian  at  King's  College,  London,  and 
married  the  daughter  of  another  Italian  resident  in  London. 
Mrs.  Rossetti  and  her  two  daughters  kept  a  small  day-school  for 
some  time  in  North  London,  but  it  did  not  answer.  In  1854 
they  went  to  live  with  W.  M.  Rossetti  in  Albany  Street. 


310  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Christina  broke  off  her  engagement  with  Mr.  Collinson  because 
he  had  become  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  he  had  'struck  a 
staggering  blow  '  at  '  her  peace  of  mind  on  the  very  threshold  of 
womanly  life,  and  a  blow  from  which  she  did  not  fully  recover 
for  years.'  At  a  later  stage  she  declined  another  offer  on 
religious  grounds,  though  she  loved  the  gentleman  deeply  and 
permanently.  Religion  and  affection  were  the  motive  powers  of 
her  life.  One  of  her  friends  says, '  She  never  obtruded  her  piety, 
yet  I  felt  instinctively  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  a  holy 
woman.' 

Goblin  Market,  published  in  1862,  won  her  general  recognition 
as  a  poet,  and  her  fame  grew  steadily  as  years  advanced.  In 
1876  she  and  her  mother  went  to  live  at  30,  Torrington  Square, 
where  she  died  on  December  29,  1894.  She  was  buried  in  the 
old  part  of  Highgate  Cemetery. 

Hymn  521.  Jesu,  whose  glory's  streaming  rays. 
DESSLER  (491)  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

Ascension  hymn,  '  Mein  Jesu  dem  die  Seraphinen,'  founded  on 
Jer.  x.  7,  with  a  meditation  (see  491)  on  'Christ's  kingly  and  un 
approachable  glory.'  Wesley's  '  spirited  translation '  appears  in  Hymns 
and  Sacred  Poems,  1739,  headed  'The  Change.  From  the  German.' 
Works,  i.  89.  This  hymn  is  the  first  half  of  Wesley's  version  ;  524 
gives  the  second  half.  Ver.  4  has  been  omitted — 

Thy  golden  sceptre  from  above 

Reach  forth  :  see,  my  whole  heart  I  bow  ; 

Say  to  my  soul,  '  Thou  art  My  love, 
My  chosen  'midst  ten  thousand,  thou.' 

In  ver.  5  the  original  reads,  '  Whose  blood  so  largely  flowed.' 

Hymn  522.  O  Sun  of  Righteousness,  arise. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (?). 

'  A  Prayer  for  the  Light  of  Life.'  In  A  Collection  of  Psalms  and 
Hymns  (Works,  ii.  12),  published  by  John  Wesley  in  1741. 

Mr.  C.  D.  Hardcastle  (Proceedings  of  Wesley  Historical 
Society,  ii.  8,  p.  199),  says  this  hymn  has  been  attributed  to  John 
Wesley  '  on  account  of  the  defective  rhyme  between  the  first  and 
third  and  second  and  fourth  lines,  all  Charles's  known  hymns 
being  perfect  in  that  respect.  One  of  John's  translations  has 
this  defect,'  No.  480, '  Commit  thou  all  thy  griefs.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS  AND   THEIR   WRITERS    311 

Hymn  523.  Why  not  now,  my  God,  niy  God! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  ix. 
318.  Ps.  ci.  2. 

The  first  line  of  ver.  2  reads,  '  At  the  close  of  life's  short  day.' 

No  better  cry  could  be  put  into  the  lips  of  a  '  believer 
praying '  or  of  a  seeker  after  God. 

Hymn  524.  Into  Thy  gracious  hands  I  fall. 

DESSLER  (491)  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 
The  second  part  of  the  same  translation  as  No.  521.     Works,  i.  90. 

Hymn  525.  Come,  Thou  all-inspiring  Spirit. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  use  of  Families,  1767  ;   Works,  vii.  47. 

Hymn  526.  Come,  Saviour,  Jesus,  from  above! 

ANTOINETTE  BOURIGNON  (1616-80)  ;  translated  by  JOHN 
WESLEY  (36). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739  ;   Works,  i.  no. 

The  writer  was  born  at  Lisle,  and  died  at  Franeker,  in 
Friesland.  She  became  in  early  life  a  religious  mystic,  and 
worked  in  France,  Holland,  England,  and  Scotland.  She  left 
a  large  number  of  followers  in  Scotland  and  France.  She 
published  several  religious  works,  which  were  reprinted  at 
Amsterdam,  1686,  in  nineteen  volumes.  She  had  to  bear  much 
persecution  for  her  peculiar  views.  'Venez,  Jesus,  mon  salu- 
taire'  ('Renouncing  all  for  Christ'),  was  written  about  1640. 
She  was  betrothed  to  a  noble,  to  whom  she  was  truly  attached  ; 
but  when  awakened  to  a  sense  of  sin  by  the  influence  of  a 
Huguenot  preacher,  she  felt  that  her  spiritual  life  would  be 
imperilled  by  union  with  a  man  of  the  world.  Her  family 
insisted  on  her  marriage,  and  her  own  heart  tempted  her  to 
yield.  The  night  before  the  ceremony  was  to  have  taken 
place,  she  gathered  her  jewels  together,  cut  off  her  beautiful 


312  THE  METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

hair  and  laid  it  by  them  ;  then  she  wrote  these  verses,  which  she 
put  with  her  jewels,  and  took  her  flight  to  Germany,  where  she 
entered  on  a  life  of  devotion  and  service  for  Christ. 

The  translation  appears  in  Dr.  Byrom's  Poems,  which  were 
published  ten  years  after  his  death.  Two  of  Byrom's  letters 
refer  to  it.  He  writes  to  Charles  Wesley  from  Manchester, 
March  3,  1738,  after  John  Wesley's  return  from  Georgia,  'As 
your  brother  has  brought  so  many  hymns  translated  from  the 
French,  you  will  have  a  sufficient  number  and  no  occasion  to 
increase  them  by  the  small  addition  of  Madam  Bourignon'stwo 
little  pieces,  which  I  desire  you  to  favour  my  present  weakness, 
if  I  judge  wrong,  and  not  to  publish  them.'  After  Hymns  and 
Sacred  Poems  was  printed,  Byrom  wrote  to  his  son,  April  26, 
J739>  '  They  have  together  printed  a  book  of  hymns,  amongst 
which  they  have  inserted  two  of  Madam  Bourignon's,  one  of 
which  they  call  a  "  Farewell  to  the  World,"  and  the  other 
"Renouncing  all  for  Christ,"  I  think,  translated  from  the 
French.  They  have  introduced  them  by  a  preface  against  what 
they  call  mystic  writers  (not  naming  any  particular  author),  for 
whom  they  say  that  they  had  once  a  great  veneration,  but  think 
themselves  obliged  very  solemnly  to  acknowledge  their  error, 
and  to  guard  others  against  the  like,  which  they  do  by  certain 
reasons  that  I  do  not  see  the  reason  of.'  Byrom  differed  from 
the  brothers  as  to  Mr.  Law  and  the  mystics.  His  words  make 
it  probable  that  the  translation  was  Wesley's,  and  that  Byrom 
was  unwilling  to  have  such  '  deep  matters '  published.  His 
letter  to  his  son  does  not  read  like  that  of  a  man  who  is 
referring  to  his  own  translations.  In  1737,  Charles  Wesley  read 
him  a  letter  of  John  Wesley's  about  the  mystics,  and  an  answer 
to  it  from  Samuel.  Byrom  thought  that '  neither  of  the  brothers 
had  any  apprehension  of  mystics,  if  I  had  myself,  which  query  ; 
but  if  I  have  I  find  it  necessary  to  be  very  cautious  how  one 
talks  of  deep  matters  to  everybody.' 

Hymn  527.  The  thing  my  God  doth  hate. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762;  Works t  x.  44, 
41.  The  first  two  verses  are  No.  1,362  (Jer.  xliv.  4)  ;  verses  3  to  6 
are  i,354(Jer.  xxxi.  33). 

'  It  sets  forth  with  great  simplicity  the  Wesleyan  doctrine  of  Chris 
tian  perfection.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS     313 

'Soul  of  my  soul'  (ver.  6)  seems  to  come  from  Sir  Richard 
Blackmore's  '  Ode  to  the  Divine  Being  ' — 

Blest  object  of  my  love  intense, 
I  Thee  my  Joy,  my  Treasure  call, 

My  Portion,  my  Reward  immense, 
Soul  of  my  soul,  my  Life,  my  All. 

Mr.  C.  L.  Ford  says  he  has  been  able  to  trace  the  expression 
virtually  to  Hooker. 

Hymn  528.  My  soul,  through  my  Redeemer's  care. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  ix.  325. 
Ps.  cxvi.  8. 

The  father  of  the  Rev.  Alfred  Barrett  quoted  the  first  verse 
of  this  hymn  to  his  wife  when  she  was  dying,  and  said  how 
happy  it  was  to  be  able  to  appropriate  those  words  to  oneself. 
'  Indeed  it  is,'  was  the  reply,  '  and  through  the  mercy  of  the 
Redeemer,  I  have  no  fear  of  death.'  The  Rev.  William  Bird 
said  that  just  before  his  wife  died  she  pressed  his  hand.  '  I  do 
love  you,  but  I  love  God  Almighty  better  ;  my  obligations  to 
Him  are  infinitely  greater.  Yes — 

My  soul,  through  my  Redeemer's  care, 
Saved  from  the  second  death  I  feel, 
My  eyes  from  tears  of  dark  despair, 
My  feet  from  falling  into  hell.' 

Dr.  Osborn  taught  George  Bovvden  to  repeat  this  hymn 
when  he  was  a  boy  of  six,  and  the  remembrance  of  it,  some 
years  later,  was  made  the  means  of  his  conversion.  He  entered 
the  ministry  in  1851  ;  was  Governor  of  Kingswood  School, 
1885-92  ;  and  rendered  conspicuous  service  as  a  Wesleyan 
minister  for  more  than  half  a  century. 

Hymn  529.  O  for  a  heart  to  praise  my  God. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  IVorks,  ii.  77.  'Make  me  a 
clean  heart,  O  God.'  Ps.  li.  10  (Prayer-book  Version). 

In  ver.  2,  'great'  was  substituted  for  'dear,1  and  'gracious'  for 
'dearest'  in  ver.  5,  in  the  Large  Hymn-book  of  1780.  Three  verses 
are  omitted. 


314  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

John  Wesley  says  (Works,  xii.  357),  'I  find  scarcely  any 
temptation  from  anything  in  the  world :  My  danger  is  from 
persons. 

O  for  a  heart  to  praise  my  God, 
A  heart  from  sin  set  free  !  ' 

John  Fletcher  said,  '  Here  is  undoubtedly  an  evangelical 
prayer  for  the  love  which  restores  the  soul  to  a  state  of  sinless 
rest  and  scriptural  perfection.'  An  old  Congregational  minister 
and  his  wife  talked  much  of '  Christian  perfection,'  but  finally 
made  up  their  minds  that  if  it  consisted  in  the  ability  to  sing 
this  hymn  with  the  whole  heart,  they  and  the  Methodists  were 
not  far  asunder. 

Mary  Langford,  who  became  the  mother  of  John,  Edward, 
George,  and  William  Corderoy,  was  the  daughter  of  the  first 
lady  class-leader  at  Lambeth,  and  as  a  girl  collected  money  for 
the  building  of  City  Road  Chapel.  She  died  almost  in  the  act 
of  quoting  the  first  line  of  this  hymn. 

Hymn  530.  O  Jesus,  let  Thy  dying  cry. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  x.  430, 
57.  Verses  I  and  2  :  Matt,  xxvii.  46 ;  verses  3  and  4 :  Ezek.  xxxvi.  26. 

In  ver.  3  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Which  bleeds  for  having  grieved 
its  Lord.'  Cardinal  Newman  once  said,  '  True  penitence  never  forgives 
itself.' 

Hymn  531.  Thou  hidden  love  of  God,  whose  height. 

TERSTEEGEN  (22)  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

'  Verborgne  Gottesliebe  du  '  appeared  in  Geistliches  Blumengiirtlein, 
1729,  headed  'The  longing  of  the  soul  quietly  to  maintain  the  secret 
drawings  of  the  love  of  God.' 

Wesley's  translation,  as  he  tells  us  in  his  Plain  Account  of  Christian 
Perfection,  was  made  at  Savannah  in  1736.  It  was  printed  in  Psalms 
and  Hymns,  1738  ;  Works,  i.  71.  Ver.  4  there  reads — 

Ah  tear  it  thence,  that  Thou  alone 

May'st  reign  unrivall'd  Monarch  there  : 
From  earthly  loves  I  must  be  free 
Ere  I  can  find  repose  in  Thee. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    315 

Dr.  Osborn  says,  'After  the  ever-memorable  24th  of  May,  1738, 
Wesley  knew  "the  way  of  God  more  perfectly,"  and  wrote  as  in  the 
text.' 

In  the  Large  Hymn-book,  1 780,  Wesley  changed  '  Be  fixed '  in 
ver.  2  to  '  Seem  fixed,'  and  made  the  last  line,  '  To  taste  Thy  love  is  all 
my  choice,'  a  prayer  by  changing  it  into  '  be  all  my  choice.' 

Two  verses  are  omitted — 

O  Love,  Thy  sovereign  aid  impart. 
Ah  no  !  ne'er  will  I  backward  turn. 

The  opening  paragraph  of  Augustine's  Confessions  has 
supplied  the  note  for  this  hymn  :  '  Thou  movest  us  to  delight  in 
praising  Thee  ;  for  Thou  hast  formed  us  for  Thyself,  and  our 
hearts  are  restless  till  they  find  rest  in  Thee.' 

Earl  Selborne  says,  '  Of  all  the  more  copious  German  hymn- 
writers  after  Luther,  Tersteegen  was  perhaps  the  most  remark 
able  man.  Pietist,  mystic,  and  missionary,  he  was  also  a  great 
religious  poet.1  Miss  Cox  speaks  of  him  as  'a  gentle,  heaven- 
inspired  soul,  whose  hymns  are  the  reflection  of  a  heavenly, 
happy  life,  his  mind  being  full  of  a  child-like  simplicity.' 

Hymn  532.  For  over  here  my  rest  shall  be. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1740;   IVorks,   \.    283.     'Christ   our 
Righteousness.'     I  Cor.  i.  30. 
The  first  two  verses  are — 

Jesu,  Thou  art  my  Righteousness, 

For  all  my  sins  were  Thine  : 
Thy  death  hath  bought  of  God  my  peace, 

Thy  life  hath  made  Him  mine. 

Spotless  and  just  in  Thee  I  am  ; 

I  feel  my  sins  forgiven  ; 
I  taste  salvation  in  Thy  name, 

And  antedate  my  heaven. 

The  third  verse  is  '  For  ever  here  my  rest  shall  be.' 

From  his  death-bed  at  Cannes,  in  March,  1901,  William 
Arthur  sent  a  parting  word  to  his  old  friend  Dr.  Rigg.  '  Give 
him  this  message  from  me  :  The  Lord  crowneth  the  year  with 
His  goodness.  He  maketh  the  outgoings  of  the  morning  and 
evening  to  rejoice.  What  is  called  the  "  dark  valley ;'  has  not 


316  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

come  to  me  in  one  stretch,  but  in  a  series  of  disconnected 
tunnels.  In  each  of  these  the  outer  day  is  indeed  shut  off,  but 
a  lamp  within,  kindling  up,  makes  the  darkness  light.  Whether 
the  tunnel  I  am  now  in  is  the  ultimate  or  penultimate  I  know 
not,  for  the  heralds  of  the  way  will  not  tell,  but  run  before, 
shouting,  "  The  city  hath  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the 
moon,  to  shine  in  it ;  for  the  glory  of  the  Lord  doth  lighten  it, 
and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof."  All  I  know  is  that  the  last 
tunnel  is  on  the  east  of  the  land  of  Beulah,  towards  the  rising 
of  the  Sun,  and  opens  in  the  face  of  the  Golden  Gate  where  are 
the  Shining  Ones.  How  far  it  is  off  I  cannot  tell.  The  ever 
lasting  hills  are  covered  with  a  golden  haze.  Glory  be  to  God  ! 

For  ever  here  my  rest  shall  be, 

Close  to  Thy  bleeding  side ; 
This  all  my  hope  and  all  my  plea, 

For  me  the  Saviour  died. ' 

Hymn  533.  Jesus,  my  Life!  Thyself  apply. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1740  ;    Works t  i.  284.     '  Christ  our 
Sanctification.'     I  Cor.  i.  30. 
The  last  verse  is — 

My  inward  holiness  Thou  art, 

For  faith  hath  made  Thee  mine  : 
With  all  Thy  fulness  fill  my  heart, 

Till  all  I  am  is  Thine  ! 

Hymn  534.  Holy  Lamb,  who  Thee  receive. 

ANNA  DOBER  (1713-39)  ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

'  Du  heiliges  Kind '  was  written  for  a  children's  school-feast,  and 
published  in  Appendix  III.  to  the  Herrnhut  Gesang-Ruch,  1735.  It  is 
the  only  hymn  of  hers  which  has  become  widely  known.  Wesley's 
translation  appeared  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740 ;  Works, 
i.  280. 

This  lady,  whose  maiden  name  was  Schindler,  went  to 
Herrnhut  in  1725,  and  in  1730  joined  a  friend  in  forming  the 
'  Jungfrauenbund '  of  unmarried  sisters  there.  She  was  con 
spicuous  for  her  zeal  and  ability.  In  1737  she  married  Leonard 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMN'S   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    317 

John  Dober,  who  had  been  recalled  from  mission  work  in  the 
West  Indies  to  be  superintendent  of  the  work  of  the  Brethren. 
He  became  a  Moravian  bishop  in  1742,  and  died  in  1766.  She 
worked  with  him  for  a  time  among  the  Jews  of  Amsterdam. 

Hymn  535.  Come,  Holy  Ghost,  all-quickening  fire ! 
Come,  and  my  hallowed  heart  inspire. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  IVorks,  i.  240.  'Hymn  to  God 
the  Sanctifier.'  Three  verses  are  omitted. 

Hymn  530.  Father  of  Jesus  Christ,  my  Lord. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  309.  Rom.  iv.  16, 
&c.  Twenty  verses. 

Hymn  537.  My  God  !  I  know,  I  feel  Thee  mine. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  328.  'Against  hope, 
believing  in  hope.'  Twelve  verses. 

Hymn  538.  O  come  and  dwell  in  me. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762.  Verses  I,  2, 
'Come  then,  and  dwell  in  me,"  2  Cor.  iii.  17  (Works,  xiii.  45); 
verses  3,  4,  2  Cor.  v.  17  (Works,  xiii.  49);  and  verses  5,  6,  Hcb. 
xi.  5  (Works,  xiii.  150). 

The  cento  was  made  by  John  Wesley  in  his  I/So  Hymn-book. 

Hymn  539.  O  God,  most  merciful  and  true. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture ,  1762  ;  Works,  x.  52. 
Ezek.  xvi.  62-3. 

Four  lines  are  omitted  which  follow  ver.  4  — 

Then  every  murmuring  thought  and  vain 

Expires,  in  sweet  confusion  lost, 
I  cannot  of  my  cross  complain, 
I  cannot  of  my  goodness  boast. 


318  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  540.  Deepen  the  wound  Tliy  hands  have 
made. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762.  Verses  I,  2, 
'  I  wound  and  I  heal,'  Deut.  xxxii.  39  (Works,  ix.  ill) ;  and  verses  3, 
4,  Ps.  cxix.  96  (Works,  ix.  330). 

In  ver.  2  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  'Till  bold  to  cry} 

Hymn  541.  What  now  is  my  object  and  aim? 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762;  Works,  ix. 
293,  298. 

Verses  I  and  2  on  Ps.  xxxix.  8  ;  3  and  4  on  Ps.  xlii.  2. 

Hymn  542.  Give  me  the  enlarged  desire. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;   Works,  ix.  312. 
The  opening  line  reads,  'Give  me  that  enlarged  desire.'    '  Open  thy 
mouth  wide,  and  I  will  fill  it.'     Ps.  Ixxxi.  10. 

Joseph  Benson  says  that  John  Fletcher  used  to  gather  the 
students  at  Trevecca  in  his  room  to  pray  for  the  fulness  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  'This  was  not  done  once  or  twice,  but  many 
times.  And  I  have  sometimes  seen  him  on  these  occasions, 
once  in  particular,  so  filled  with  the  love  of  God,  that  he  could 
contain  no  more ;  but  cried  out,  "  O  my  God,  withhold  Thy 
hand,  or  the  vessel  will  burst."  But  he  afterwards  told  me  he 
was  afraid  he  had  grieved  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  and  that  he  ought 
rather  to  have  prayed  that  the  Lord  would  have  enlarged  the 
vessel,  or  have  suffered  it  to  break,  that  the  soul  might  have  no 
further  bar  or  interruption  to  its  enjoyment  of  the  Supreme 
Good.'  Wesley  adds,  '  This  is  certainly  a  just  remark.  The 
proper  prayer  on  such  an  occasion  would  have  been — 

Give  me  the  enlarged  desire, 
And  open,  Lord,  my  soul.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    319 

Hymn  543.  Saviour  from  sin,  I  wait  to  prove. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  I742  >  Works,  ii.  132.  '  Groaning  for 
Redemption,'  fourth  part,  with  one  verse  omitted. 

In  ver.  3  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  'And  serve  Thee  all  my  sinless 
days." 

Hymn  544.  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  lives, 
And  ever  prays  for  me. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  242.  'Rejoicing  in 
Hope.'  Rom.  xii.  12.  Twenty-three  verses. 

Hymn  545.  O  that  my  load  of  sin  were  gone ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  144.  Matt.  xi.  28. 
Fourteen  verses. 

llijtnn  54(5.  C)  Jesus,  at  Thy  feet  we  wait. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  330.  '  P'or  those  that 
wait  for  full  redemption.'  Three  verses  omitted. 

Hymn  547.  Since  the  Son  hath  made  me  free. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  Works,  i.  193.  John  xvi.  24. 
Twelve  verses,  beginning — 

Rise,  my  soul,  with  ardour  rise, 
Breathe  thy  wishes  to  the  skies  ; 
Freely  pour  out  all  thy  mind  ; 
Seek,  and  thou  art  sure  to  find. 
Ready  art  thou  to  receive  ? 
Readier  is  thy  God  to  give. 

Ver.  2  is  a  new  convert's  prayer.  Charles  Wesley  was  converted 
in  1738. 


320  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  548.  God  of  all  power,  and  truth,  and  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  319.  'Pleading  the 
Promise  of  Sanctification.'  Ezek.  xxxvi.  23-8.  Twenty-eight  verses. 
Verses  i,  3,  7,  8,  14  are  here  given. 

Wesley  printed  the  hymn  at  the  end  of  his  sermon  on  '  Christian 
Perfection,'  and  Fletcher  gave  it  at  the  close  of  his  Last  Check  to 
A  ntinomianism . 

Hymn  540.  Holy    and  true,  and  righteous  Lord. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  322.  From  the  same 
hymn  as  548,  verses  23,  26,  27,  28. 

Hymn  550.  Light  of  life,  seraphic  Fire. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;]  Works,  v.  309.  '  Hymns  for  those 
that  wait  for  Full  Redemption,'  No.  18.  The  last  verse  is  omitted. 

Ver.  2,  line  4,  reads,  '  Rooting  out  the  seeds  of  sin ' ;  cf. 
'  Endeavouring  to  root  out  all  the  cursed  seeds  of  evil  that  I 
found  in  him.' — More's  Utopia,  Book  I. 

Hymn  551.  All  things  are  possible  to  him. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 749  ;  Works,  v.  300.  '  Hymns  for 
those  that  wait  for  Full  Redemption,'  No.  10.  Eight  verses. 

In  ver.  3,  "Tis  certain,  though  impossible,'  seems  to  be 
from  Samuel  Wesley,  junior's,  poem  '  The  Cobbler ' — 

Thus  everything  his  friends  could  say 
The  more  confirmed  him  in  his  way  : 
Farther  convinced  by  what  they  tell, 
'Twas  certain,  though  impossible. 

Both  have  a  link  to  Tertullian's  '  Certum  est,  quia  im- 
possibile.' 

In  ver.  4  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  When  I  in  Christ  am  born 
again.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    321 

Hymn  552.  Lord,  I  believe  a  rest  remains. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  370.  Ilcb.  iv.  9. 
Seventeen  verses. 

Some  of  the  verses  in  the  original  hymn  (not  those  included 
here)  are  too  sweeping,  and  Wesley  marked  one  or  two  of  them 
for  omission. 

Wesley  refers  to  this  hymn  in  his  Plain  Account  of  Christian 
Perfection.  '  Can  anything  be  more  clear  than  (i)  That  here 
also  is  as  full  and  high  a  salvation  as  we  have  ever  spoken  of? 
(2)  That  it  is  spoken  of  as  receivable  by  mere  faith,  and  as 
hindered  only  by  unbelief?  (3)  That  this  faith,  and  con 
sequently  the  salvation  which  it  brings,  is  spoken  of  as  given  in 
an  instant?  (4)  That  it  is  supposed  that  instant  may  be  now  ? 
that  we  need  not  stay  another  moment  ?  that  "  now,"  the  very 
"now  is  the  accepted  time?  now  is  the  day  of"  this  full 
"  salvation." ' 

Hymn  553.  O  glorious  hope  of  perfect  love ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  302.  'Desiring  to 
Love.'  Two  parts,  nineteen  verses. 

Hymn  353  is  from  Part  I.  This  hymn  is  the  last  five  verses  of 
Part  II.,  which  Wesley  selected  for  his  1780  Hymn-book. 

In  ver.  5  Charles  Wesley  kept  up  the  idea  of  the  division  of 
Canaan  among  the  tribes — 

And  O,  with  all  the  sanctified 
Give  me  a  lot  of  love. 

Hymn  554.  O  joyful  sound  of  gospel  grace ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;   Works,  ii.  364.     'The  Spirit  and 
the  Kride  say,  Come  ! '     Rev.  \.\ii.  17. 
It  begins — 

Lord,  I  believe  Thy  work  of  grace 

Is  perfect  in  the  soul  ; 
His  heart  is  pure  who  seeks  Thy  face, 
His  spirit  is  made  whole. 

Y 


322  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

From  every  sickness,  by  Thy  word, 

From  every  sore  disease, 
Saved,  and  to  perfect  health  restored, 

To  perfect  holiness. 

The  hymn  is  made  up  of  verses  10,  12,  14,  15,  18,  19,  21. 


Hymn  555.  "What  is  our  calling's  glorious  hope. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;   Works,  ii.  304.     Tit.  ii.  14. 
Jesu,  Redeemer  of  mankind, 

How  little  art  Thou  known 
By  sinners  of  a  carnal  mind, 

Who  claim  Thee  for  their  own. 

Verses  10  to  14  are  given  here.     Charles  Wesley  wrote — 

Ver.  2.  Give  me  a  faith  that  roots  out  sin. 
Ver.  5.  To  cleanse  and  fill  thy  heart. 

Hymn  556.  He  wills  that  I  should  holy  be. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762.  The  first  verse 
is  Hymn  3,205,  I  Thess.  iv.  3  (Works,  xiii.  90)  ;  verses  2  and  3  are 
No.  975,  Ps.  cxliii.  10  ( Works,  ix.  340) ;  and  verses  4  and  5  are  No. 
383,  Matt.  xiv.  36  (Works,  x.  287). 

Hymn  557.  Father,  I  dare  believe. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762.  Verses  I  and 
2  on  Ps.  cxxx.  8  (Works,  ix.  334) ;  verses  3  and  4  on  Jer.  iv.  I,  and 
verses  5  and  6  on  Jer.  iv.  14  ( Works,  x.  n). 

Hymn  558.  Jesus  hath  died  that  I  might  live. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  149.  Acts  xvi.  31. 
'What  shall  I  do,  my  God,  my  God?'  The  last  five  verses  (9-13) 
form  the  hymn. 


THE   STORY   OF    THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     323 

Ver.  4, '  Give  me  Thyself— from  every  boast,'  may  have  been 
suggested  by  the  tradition  that  when  Thomas  Aquinas  was 
dying  the  Saviour  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision,  and  asked, 
'Thou  hast  written  well  of  Me;  what  shall  thy  reward  be?' 
The  'seraphic  doctor  '  answered,  '  Nothing  but  Thyself.' 

Hymn  559.  O  that  I  could  my  Lord  receive. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767  ;  Works,  vii.  192.  Eight  lines 
are  omitted. 

Hymn  560.  Conic,  O  my  God,  the  promise  .seal. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (r). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  xi.  45. 
Mark  xi.  42. 

Ver.  3  reads — 

The  guilt  and  strength  of  self  and  pride 

Be  pardon'd  and  subdued, 
Be  cast  into  the  crimson  tide 
Of  my  Redeemer's  blood. 

Hymn  561.  Lord,  in  tho  strength  of  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Slwrt  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  }Vorks,  ix.  203. 
I  Chron.  xxix.  5. 

In  extreme  old  age,  Robert  Spence,  the  York  bookseller, 
wrote  to  his  daughter,  '  I  experience  much  peace  and  joy  in 
believing,  and  through  all  my  trials  and  bodily  weakness  I 
have  been  able  to  keep  repeating  that  invaluable  song  which 
I  have  been  singing  for  many  years,  "  Lord,  in  the  strength  of 
grace." ' 

Hymn  562.  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745  ;    Works,  iii.  333.     No.  155. 

Ver.  4  seems  to  tremble  round  the  words  of  the  Sacramental 
Service  :  '  And  here  we  offer  and  present  unto  Thee,  O  Lord, 
ourselves,  our  souls  and  bodies.' 

'  Lo,  I  come  !  if  this  soul  and  body  may  be  useful  to  any 
thing,  to  do  Thy  will,  O  my  God.'— Dr.  Bre-vint. 


324  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  563.  Give  me  the  faith  which  can  remove. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  105.     'Fora  Preacher 
of  the  Gospel.' 

Three  verses  are  omitted.     The  hymn  begins — 

0  that  I  was  as  heretofore 

When  first  sent  forth  in  Jesu's  name 

1  rush'd  through  every  open  door, 

And  cried  to  all,   '  Behold  the  Lamb  ! ' 
Seized  the  poor  trembling  slaves  of  sin, 
And  forced  the  outcasts  to  come  in. 

The  God  who  kills,  and  makes  alive, 
To  me  the  quickening  power  impart, 

Thy  grace  restore,  Thy  work  revive, 
Retouch  my  lips,  renew  my  heart, 

Forth  with  a  fresh  commission  send, 

And  all  Thy  servant's  steps  attend. 

The  verses  have,  no  doubt,  a  touch  of  autobiography. 
In  ver.  I  Charles  Wesley  wrote — 

The  love  which  once  my  heart  o'erpower'd, 
And  all  my  simple  soul  devour'd. 

Ver.  2,  cf. — 

The  Lord  of  Life  for  guilty  rebels  bleeds, 
Quenches  eternal  fire  with  blood  divine  ! 

(Pollok's  Course  of  Time,  Book  II.) 

The  hymn  has  stamped  itself  on  every  Methodist  heart  for  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years. 

Hymn  564.  O  God,  what  offering  shall  I  give. 

JOACHIM  LANGE,  D.D.  (1670-1744) ;  translated  by  JOHN 
WESLEY  (36). 

'  O  Jesu,  siisses  Licht'  was  published  in  1697.  Wesley's  translation 
appeared  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;  Works,  i.  160,  where  it 
is  headed,  « A  Morning  Dedication  of  ourselves  to  Christ.  From  the 
German.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    325 

The  first  verse  is — 

Jesu,  Thy  light  again  I  view, 
Again  Thy  mercy's  beams  I  see, 

And  all  within  me  wakes,  anew 
To  pant  for  Thine  immensity : 

Again  my  thoughts  to  Thee  aspire 

In  fervent  flames  of  strong  desire. 

Ver.  5,  'O  never  in  these  veils  of  shame,'  is  omitted  from  the 
present  Hymn-book. 

Lange  was  born  at  Gardelcgen,  in  the  Altmark  ;  became  a 
teacher  and  pastor  in  Berlin,  and  Professor  of  Theology  at  Halle, 
1709.  He  wrote  more  than  a  hundred  theological  works,  of 
which  the  most  famous  is  his  Commentary  on  the  Bible,  7  folio 
volumes,  Halle,  1730-8.  He  defended  Pietism  against  its 
Lutheran  opponents. 

Hymn  u6.">.  Jesus,  all-atoning  Lamb. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

I fy inns  and  Sacrcil  Poa/is,  1749  ;  IVorks,  v.  21.  The  first  line, 
'  Gentle  Jesu,  lovely  Lamb,'  is  altered,  and  the  last  two  verses  omitted. 

Hymn  560.  Take  my  life,  and  let  it  be. 

F.  R.  HAVKKGAL  (330). 

\Vritten  at  Areley  House,  February  4,  1874,  and  published  in  her 
Loyal  Responses,  1878,  in  eleven  verses  of  two  lines. 

Miss  Havergal  says,  '  Perhaps  you  will  be  interested  to  know 
the  origin  of  the  consecration  hymn,  "  Take  my  life."  I  went 
for  a  little  visit  of  five  days  [to  Areley  House].  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,  &c. ;  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, 


326  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

till  they  finished  with  Ever,  ONLY,  ALL  for  Thee  ! '  Miss 
Havergal  always  sang  the  hymn  to  her  father's  tune,  '  Patmos.' 
It  was  put  as  the  '  Consecration  Hymn 'at  the  beginning  of 
Loyal  Responses,  1878. 

About  six  months  before  she  died  she  wrote,  '  I  had  a  great 
time  early  this  morning,  renewing  the  never-regretted  consecra 
tion.  I  seemed  led  to  run  over  the  "  Take  my  life,"  and  could 
bless  Him  verse  by  verse  for  having  led  me  on  to  much  more 
definite  consecration  than  even  when  I  wrote  it — voice,  gold, 
intellect,  &c.  But  the  eleventh  couplet — 

Take  my  love ;   my  Lord,  I  pour 
At  Thy  feet  its  treasure-store — 

that  has  been  unconsciously  not  filled  up.  Somehow,  I  feel 
mystified  and  out  of  my  depth  here  ;  it  was  a  simple  and  definite 
thing  to  be  done,  to  settle  the  voice,  or  silver  and  gold  ;  but 
"love"?  I  have  to  love  others,  and  I  do,  and  I've  not  a  small 
treasure  of  it ;  and  even  loving  in  Him  does  not  quite  meet  the 
inner  difficulty.  I  shall  just  go  forward  and  expect  Him  to  fill 
it  up,  and  let  my  life  from  this  day  answer  really  to  that  couplet. 
The  worst  part  of  me  is  that  I  don't  in  practice  prove  my 
love  to  Him,  by  delight  in  much  and  long  communion  with 
Him;  hands  and  head  seem  so  full  of  "other  things"  (which 
yet  are  His  given  work),  that  "  heart  "  seems  not  "  free  to  serve  '' 
in  fresh  and  vivid  love.' 

Hymn  567.  Fill  Thou  my  life,  O  Lord  my  God. 

DR.  H.  BONAR  (70). 

From  Hymns  of  Faith  and  Hope,  3rd  Series,  1867,  headed  'Life's 
Praise.' 


Hymn  568.  O  the  bitter  shame  and  sorrow. 
THEODORE  MONOD. 

Theodore  Monod,  son  of  the  Rev.  F.  Monod  and  brother  of 
Rev.  Adolph  Monod,  was  born  in  Paris,  November  6,  1836  ; 
educated  for  the  ministry  at  Western  Theological  Seminary, 
Allegheny,  and  became  a  minister  of  the  French  Reformed 
Church  in  1860. 

This   hymn   was    written    in    English   during  a   series    of 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS     327 

Consecration  meetings  at  Broadlands,  Hants,  in  July,  1874. 
At  the  close  of  the  meetings  the  author  gave  it  to  Lord  Mount- 
Temple,  who  had  it  printed  at  the  back  of  the  programme  for 
the  Oxford  Consecration  meetings  in  October,  1874. 

In  one  of  his  latter  letters  to  Bishop  Bickersteth,  Sir  H.  W. 
Baker  expressed  his  great  regret  that  it  was  not  included  in  the 
revised  edition  of  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern. 

In  the  last  stanza  the  original  read,  'Grant  me  now  my 
soul's  desire.'  The  change  here  made  had  the  writer's  sanction. 


Hymn  569.  In  full  and  glad  surrender. 
F.  R.  HAVERGAL  (330). 

'A  Confirmation  Hymn,'  Under  the  Surface,  1876.  Her  sister 
says  this  hymn  was  '  the  epitome  of  her  life  and  the  focus  of  its  sun 
shine.' 

Miss  Havergal  told  her  sister,  '  Yes,  it  was  on  Advent 
Sunday,  December  2,  1873,  1  first  saw  clearly  the  blessedness 
of  true  consecration.  I  saw  it  as  a  flash,  and  when  you  see  you 
can  never  unsee?  '  Thou  art  coming,  O  my  Saviour,'  was  the 
first  hymn  she  wrote  after  this  new  light  dawned  on  her. 

Hymn  570.  Jesu,  shall  I  never  be. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  276.  Phil.  ii.  <>. 
Twenty  verses. 

James  Smctham,  writing  of  the  anxious  thoughts  that  came 
to  him  one  summer  night  in  1877,  adds,  '  But  two  verses  seemed 
given  me  for  my  comfort — 

I  shall  triumph  evermore, 
Gratefully  my  God  adore — 
God  so  good,  so  true,  so  kind  ; 
Jesu's  is  a  thankful  mind. 

I  shall  suffer  and  fulfil 
All  my  Father's  gracious  will, 
lie  in  all  alike  resigned  ; 
Jesu's  is  a  patient  mind.' 

(Letters,  p.  333.) 


328  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 


Hytnn  571.  O  Jesu,  Source  of  calm  repose. 

JOHANN  ANASTASIUS  FREYLINGHAUSEN  (1670-1739) ;  trans 
lated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

John  Wesley's  translation  is  given  in  the  Charlestown  Psalms  and 
Hymns,  1737,  among  those  marked  'for  Sunday.'  Three  verses  are 
omitted  in  The  Methodist  Hymn- Book.  In  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems, 
1/39  (Works,  i.  161),  it  is  headed  '  Christ  Protecting  and  Sanctifying.' 

Freylinghausen  was  born  at  Gandersheim,  Brunswick.  In 
1695  he  became  Francke's  assistant  at  Halle,  married  his  only 
daughter  in  1715,  and  in  1723  became  sub-director  of  the 
Orphanage.  On  Francke's  death  in  1727,  he  succeeded  him  as 
pastor  at  St.  Ulrich's,  Halle,  and  director  of  the  Orphanage, 
&c.  Under  his  care  the  Francke  institutions  reached  their 
highest  prosperity.  His  hymns  appeared  in  the  Halle  hymn- 
book,  and  are  '  distinguished  by  a  sound  and  robust  piety, 
warmth  of  feeling,  depth  of  Christian  experience,  scripturalness, 
clearness,  and  variety  of  style.'  '  Wer  ist  wohl  wie  du,'  on  '  The 
Names  and  Offices  of  Christ,'  is  '  one  of  his  noblest  and  most 
beautiful  hymns,  a  mirror  of  his  inner  life,  and  one  of  the  finest 
of  the  German  "Jesus  hymns." '  He  wrote  forty-four  hymns. 

Hymn  572.  Lord,  that  I  may  learn  of  Thee. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  ix.  392. 
'  Whom  shall  He  teach  knowledge?'  Isa.  xxviii.  9. 

Hymn  573.  Quickened  with  our  immortal  Head. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  xiii.  104. 
2  Tim.  i.  7. 

Hymn  574.  When,  my  Saviour,  shall  I  be. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  214.  '  Submission.' 
Five  verses  of  eight  lines.  Verses  I  and  5  are  used  for  this  hymn. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    329 

Ver.  3— 

So  I  may  Thy  Spirit  know, 
Let  Him  as  He  listeth  blow — 

cf.  Still  as  the  sea,  ere  winds  were  taught  to  blow, 
Or  moving  Spirit  bade  the  waters  flow. 

*  (Eloisa  to  Abdard,  \.  253-4.) 

Some  one  who  knew  Wesley's  friend,  Miss  Ritchie,  well  s.iid 
that  she  seemed  to  embody  the  last  verse  of  this  hymn — 

Fully  in  my  life  express 
All  the  -heights  of  holiness, 
Sweetly  let  my  spirit  prove 
All  the  depths  of  humble  love. 

Hymn  575.  Blest  arc  the  humble  souls  that  see. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.  'The  Beatitudes. '  Matt. 
v.  3-12.  Three  verses  are  here  omitted.  This  hymn  was  omitted  in 
1875,  and  restored  in  1904. 

Hymn  570.  Blessed  are  the  pure  iu  heart. 

W.  M.  BUNTING  (249). 
Based  on  Matt.  v.  8. 

No  meditation  on  the  Beatitude  of  the  pure  in  heart  is  so 
richly  suggestive  as  this  noble  unfolding  of  our  Lord's  words. 

Hymn  577.  Happy  the  heart  where  graces  reign. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1707.     '  Love  to  God.'     Watts's  last 
line,  '  To  see  our  smiling  God,'  is  altered  into  '  gracious.' 
This  hymn  was  omitted  in  1875,  and  restored  in  1904. 

Hymn  578.  Lord,  who  hast  taught  to  us  ou  earth. 

R.  MASSIE  (265). 

Lyra  Domestica,  2nd  Series,  1864:  '  O  Lord,  who  taught  to  us  on 
earth.'  '  Christian  Brotherhood,'  based  on  I  Cor.  xiii. 

One  of  the  few  original  hymns  and  versions  of  the  Psalms 
which  Mr.  Massie  added  to  give  greater  variety  to  his  translations 


330  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

from  Spitta  and  other  favourite  German  hymn  writers,  and 
'  to  increase  the  fitness  of  the  volume  for  the  edification  of  the 
family  circle.' 

Ver.  6  is  omitted — 

Heal  our  divisions,  banish  hate 

From  lips  which  should  speak  peace, 
Let  jealousy  and  strife  abate, 

And  only  love  increase. 

Hymn  579.  Gracious  Spirit,  Holy  Ghost. 
CHRISTOPHER  WORDSWORTH,  D.D.  (187). 

In  The  Holy  Year,  1862.  A  metrical  paraphrase  of  the  Epistle  for 
Quinquagcsima  Sunday,  I  Cor.  xiii. 

Hymn  580.  A  charge  to  keep  I  have. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  ix.  60. 
'  Therefore  shall  ye  abide  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congre 
gation  day  and  night  seven  days,  and  keep  the  charge  of  the  Lord,  that 
ye  die  not :  for  so  I  am  commanded.'  Lev.  viii.  35. 

The  genius  of  Methodism  is  almost  embodied  in  these  lines. 
The  Rev.  Thomas  Richardson,  Vicar  of  St.  Benet's,  Mile  End 
Road,  and  founder  of  the  Bible  and  Prayer  Union,  told  Mr. 
Stead  in  1885  that  this  hymn  had  been  the  creed  of  his 
Christian  life  and  active  work  for  the  past  thirty-four  years. 

Hymn  581.  Watched  by  the  world's  malignant  eye. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  ix.  224. 
'  Ought  ye  not  to  walk  in  the  fear  of  our  God  ?  '  Neh.  v.  9. 

It  impressively  suggests  that  new  motive  for  consistent  living 
may  be  gained  from  the  harsh  criticism  of  the  world. 

Hymn  582.  Be  it  my  only  wisdom  here. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scriptiire,  1762  ;  Works,  ix.  260. 
'  Behold,  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom.'  Job  xxviii.  28. 

This  and  the  two  hymns  that  precede  it  are  Methodist 
treasures,  always  precious  and  always  stimulating. 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    331 

Hymn  583.  Summoned  my  labour  to  renew. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739  ;   Works,  \.  172.     '  To  be  sung  at 
work." 

Hymn  584.  Servant  of  all,  to  toil  for  man. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739;    Works,  \.  172.     'To  be  sun;;  at 
work.'     A  companion  hymn  to  583,  which  it  precedes. 
The  first  and  last  verses  arc — 

I.  Son  of  the  Carpenter,  receive 
This  humble  work  of  mine  ; 
Worth  to  my  meanest  labour  give, 
By  joining  it  to  Thine. 

5.  O,  when  wilt  Thou,  my  Life,  appear  ! 

How  gladly  would  I  cry, 
1  'Tis  done,  the  work  Thou  gav'st  me  here, 
'Tis  fmish'd,   Lord,' — and  die  ! 

Hymn  585.  God  of  almighty  love. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;   Works,  v.  56.     'An  hourly  act 
of  oblation.' 

In  ver.  5  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Spirit  of  grace,  inspire.' 

Hymn  58G.  Forth  in  Thy  name,  O  Lord,  I  go. 

CHARLES  WTESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacral  Poems,   1749  ;  Works,  v.  50.     '  Before  work.' 
Ver.  3  is  omitted — 

Preserve  me  from  my  calling's  snare, 
And  hide  my  simple  heart  above, 

Above  the  thorns  of  choking  care, 
The  gilded  baits  of  worldly  love. 

'  Verses  full  of  pure  and  sober  piety.' — Rev.  C.  J.  Abbey. 


332  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  587.  Lo!   I  come  with  joy  to  do. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  tJtat  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the  Blood 
of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  214.  'For  a  believer,  in  worldly 
business.' 

Vcr.  4  is  omillcd — 

To  the  desert,  or  the  cell, 

Let  others  blindly  fly, 
In  this  evil  world  I  dwell, 

Unhurt,  unspotted,  I  : 
Here  I  find  an  house  of  prayer, 
To  which  I  inwardly  retire, 
Walking  unconcern'd  in  care, 

And  unconsumed  in  fire. 

In  ver.  5  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  And  here  Thy  goodness  see.' 

Hymn  588.  O  Thou  who  earnest  from  above. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  ix.  58. 
'  The  fire  shall  ever  be  burning  upon  the  altar  j  it  shall  never  go  out.' 
Lev.  vi.  13. 

Wesley  told  Samuel  Bradburn,  when  they  were  together  in 
Yorkshire  in  1781,  that  his  experience  might  always  be  found 
in  the  first  two  verses  of  this  hymn. 

The  change  in  the  last  line  from  'my  sacrifice'  is  not  John 
Wesley's.  He  put  his  brother's  words,  'the  sacrifice,'  in  the 
1782  edition.  The  change  effaces  the  antithesis  between  '  Thy 
endless  mercies  3  and  '  my  sacrifice.'  Dr.  W.  B.  Pope  says, 
'  Death  is  the  last  earthly  act  and  oblation  of  the  sinless  spirit, 
in  which  the  sacrifice  of  all  becomes  perfect  in  one.' 

Hymn  589.  Jesus,  I  fain  would  find. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  xiii.  230. 
'  Be  zealous.'  Rev.  iii.  19. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     333 

Hymn  590.  Jesus,  the  gift  divine  I  know. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Serif  lure,  1762.  Verses  I  and  2 
are  based  on  John  iv.  10  {Works,  xi.  335)  ;  verses  3  to  5  on  Jus.  i.  27 
( Works,  xiii.  167). 

Each  of  the  little  hymns  thus  wedded  is  a  gem  of  expository 
poetry. 

Charles  Wesley  wrote — 

Ver.  i.  O  could  I  find  Thee  in  my  heart. 

Ver.  3.  Whence  all  the  streams  of  goodness  flow. 

Gerhardt's  thought  shaped  the  last  lines  of  ver.  2 — 

O  te  felicem,  qui  gnosti  gaudia  vera, 
Gaudia  quae  nullo  sunt  peritura  die. 

Hymn  591.  Us,  who  climb  Thy  holy  hill. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1/62  ;  Works,  \.  55. 
Ezek.  xxxiv.  26-7. 

Hymn  592.  God  of  all-redeeming  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745  ;   Works,  iii.  321. 
Ver.  2  reads  (1.  i),  'Just  it  is,  and  good,  and  right.' 

Hymn  593.  Let  Him  to  whom  we  now  belong. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745  ;    Works,  iii.  335. 

'Therefore,  as  our  bodies  and  souls  are  sacrifices  attending 
the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  so  must  all  our  goods  attend  the  sacrifice 
of  our  persons.  In  a  word,  whensoever  we  offer  ourselves, 
we  offer  by  the  same  act  all  we  have,  all  that  we  can,  and  do 
therein  engage  for  all  that  it  shall  be  dedicated  to  the  glory  of 
God,  and  that  it  shall  be  surrendered  into  His  hands,  and 
employed  for  such  uses  as  He  shall  appoint.' 


334  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  594.  Behold  the  servant  of  the  Lord. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  10.  'Hymns  for 
Believers.  An  Act  of  Devotion.'  First  published  in  1745,  at  the  end 
of  A  Farther  Appeal  to  Men  of  Reason  and  Religion, 

William  Arthur  says  that  on  Dr.  Punshon's  last  visit  to 
Cannes,  in  March,  1881,  '  Members  of  my  family  told  me  of  the 
delightful  spirits  he  seemed  to  be  in  during  an  excursion  on  the 
Estdrel  Mountains,  and  especially  of  the  interest  with  which,  on 
another  day,  he  watched  the  process  of  manufacturing  in 
porcelain  at  Vallauris.  As  the  potter  out  of  his  lump  evolved 
form  after  form,  he  watched  intently  till  the  tears  ran  down  his 
cheeks,  and  then  said  in  his  own  telling  tones — tones  they 
would  never  have  forgotten,  even  if  they  had  not  been  so 
solemnly  called  to  mind  a  little  while  afterwards — "  Mould  as 
Thou  wilt  Thy  passive  clay."  ' 

John  Wesley  writes  to  Miss  Cooke  (Works,  xiii.  95) :  '  Do 
not  reason  against  Him  ;  but  let  the  prayer  of  your  heart  be — 

Mould  as  Thou  wilt  Thy  passive  clay  ! ' 

Hymn  595.  Thou,  Jesu,  Thou  my  breast  inspire. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  137.  '  For  a  person 
called  forth  to  bear  his  testimony.'  A  hymn  of  nine  verses  of  twelve 
lines.  The  last  two  make  this  hymn. 

It  was  published  more  than  once  at  the  end  of  an  apologetic  or  con 
troversial  tract. 

The  first  lines  are — 

O  Thou,  who  at  Thy  creature's  bar 
Thy  glorious  Godhead  didst  declare, 

A  true  and  good  confession  make ; 
Come  in  Thy  Spirit  from  above, 
And  arm  me  with  Thy  faithful  love, 

For  Thy  own  truth  and  mercy's  sake. 

In  ver.  2  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Long  may  I  fill  the  allotted 
space.' 

Thomas  Jackson  says  of  the  whole  poem,  '  In  these  noble 
and  energetic  lines  Mr.  Charles  Wesley  has  strikingly  depicted 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    335 

the  mighty  faith,  the  burning  love  to  Christ,  the  yearning  pity 
for  the  souls  of  men,  the  heavenly-mindedness,  the  animating 
hope  of  future  glory,  which  characterized  his  public  ministry, 
and  which  not  only  enabled  him  to  deliver  his  Lord's  message 
before  scoffing  multitudes,  but  also  carried  him  through  his 
wasting  labours,  and  the  riots  of  Bristol,  of  Cornwall,  of 
Staffordshire,  of  Devizes,  and  of  Ireland,  without  a  murmur. 
As  a  witness  for  Christ,  he  freely  sacrificed  his  reputation  as  a 
man  of  letters  and  of  genius  ;  and  of  life  itself,  comparatively 
speaking,  he  made  no  account.' 

Hymn  596.  Jesus,  the  word  of  mercy  give. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  l\issagts  of  Scripture,  1762.  Verses  I  nnd  2, 
2  Chron.  vi.  41  (Works,  ix.  209)  ;  verses  3  to  6,  Judges  v.  31  (Works, 
ix.  134). 

Hymn  597.  What  shall  we  offer  our  good  Lord. 

AUGUST  GOTTLIEB  SPANGENBF.RG  (1704-92) ;  translated  by 
JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

'  Dcr  Konig  ruht,  und  schauet  doch,'  in  the  Herrnhut  Hymn-book, 
1737.  In  the  Brethren's  Hymn-book,  1778,  it  is  described,  '  On  Zin- 
zendorf,  May  26,  1734.'  It  was  written  for  the  count's  birthday. 

Wesley's  translation  was  given  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ; 
Works,  ii.  64.  It  is  headed  'God's  Husbandry.  From  the  German." 
It  begins,  '  High  on  His  everlasting  throne.'  Ver.  2  reads,  '.Av?;- object 
of  our  growing  love.'  Cf.  S.  Wesley,  jun.,  Battle  of  the  Sexes, '  And  thoti, 
dear  object  of  my  growing  love.' 

Spangenberg  was  the  son  of  a  Lutheran  pastor  at  Kletten- 
berg,  studied  theology  at  the  University  of  Jena,  and  in  1732 
went  to  Halle  as  adjunct  of  the  theological  faculty  and  super 
intendent  of  the  Orphanage  Schools.  He  associated  himself 
with  the  Separatists,  was  expelled  from  Halle  in  1733,  and 
joined  the  Moravians  at  Herrnhut.  In  1735  ne  went  with  the 
Moravian  colony  to  Georgia.  He  married  one  of  the  Sisters  in 
1740,  and  founded  the  first  Moravian  settlement  in  England 
at  Smith  House,  Yorkshire.  In  1744  he  was  consecrated 
Moravian  bishop  for  North  America,  and  gave  about  eighteen 
years  to  the  work  in  Pennsylvania  and  among  the  Indians. 


33 6  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

He  died  at  Berthelsdorf,  near  Herrnhut.  He  was  greatly  beloved 
and  trusted  among  the  Moravians.  After  Zinzendorf s  death  he 
became  their  chief  guide,  and  is  called  'The  Melanchthonof  the 
Brethren.' 

James  Montgomery  says  the  hymn  'contains  one  of  the 
most  consistent  allegories  in  verse  on  the  manner  in  which  it 
hath  pleased  God,  by  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  to  redeem  a 
world  from  the  desolation  which  sin  hath  made.' 

Hymn  598.  Come,  let  us  arise. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  424.  'Hymns  for 
Christian  Friends,'  No.  14. 

In  the  fourth  line  the  original  reads,  '  My  friend. ' 

Hymn  599.  Except  the  Lord  conduct  the  plan. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767;  Works,  vii.  42.  'For  a 
Family  of  Believers.' 

Charles  Wesley  wrote — 

Ver.  I.  But  if  our  works  in  God  are  wrought. 
Ver.  5.  Build  up  our  rising  church,  and  place. 
Ver.  6.  That  all,  but  us,  our  works  may  see. 

Many  a  great  undertaking  has  been  commended  to  God's 
blessing  in  this  hymn. 

Hymn  600.  Holy  Lamb,  who  Thee  confess. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767;  Works,  vii.  46.  No.  42.  The 
original  is  in  four-line  verses. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Gregory  says,  '  It  breathes  the  tranquil 
fervour  of  the  completes!  consecration.  Each  successive  clause 
embodies  a  clear  idea  in  a  bar  of  music.  Each  verse  is  per 
fection  itself.  Each  line  fits  in  like  the  cubes  of  an  exquisite 
mosaic  pavement.  There  is  not  a  loose  thread,  there  is  no 
rough  edging.  The  balance  of  rhythm,  and  the  antithesis  or 
parallelism  of  idea,  are  equally  exact.  Lines  and  verses  seem 
'  knit  together  in  love." ' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    337 

Hymn  601.  How  happy,  gracious  Lord,  are  we. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  278.  'Hymns  for  the 
Watchnight,'  No.  13. 

When  John  Haime  was  a  soldier  in  the  Low  Countries,  the 
English  army  encamped  near  Brussels  in  May,  1744.  Many 
tried  to  incense  the  field-marshal  against  Haime,  but  all  efforts 
to  stop  his  preaching  were  vain.  '  And  so  great  were  my  love 
and  joy  in  believing,  that  they  carried  me  above  all  those  things 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  grievous  to  flesh  and  blood  ; 
so  that  all  was  pleasant  to  me — • 

The  winter's  night  and  summer's  day 
Fled  imperceptibly  away. 

I  frequently  walked  between  twenty  and  thirty  miles  a  day  ; 
and  preached  five  and  thirty  times  in  the  space  of  seven  days. 
Many  times  I  have  forgotten  to  take  any  refreshment  for  ten 
hours  together.  I  had  at  this  time  three  armies  against  me  : 
the  French  army,  the  wicked  English  army,  and  an  army  of 
devils.  But  I  feared  them  not,  for  my  life  was  hid  with  Christ 
in  God.' — Early  Methodist  Preachers. 

'Hymn  602.  Father,  I  know  that  all  my  life. 
ANNA  L.  WARING  (409). 

In  her  Hymns  and  Meditations,  1850,  headed  'My  times  are  in 
Thy  hand." 

Its  perfect  trust  has  breathed  peace  into  many  troubled 
lives. 

Hymn  603.  Behold  us,  Lord,  a  little  space. 

JOHN  ELLERTON,  M.A. 

Written  in  1870  for  a  midday  service  in  a  city  cburch  ;  published 
in  Church  Hymns,  1871. 

Mr.  Ellerton  was  born  in  London  in  1826,  and  educated  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  His  first  curacy  was  at  Ease- 
bourne,  near  Midhurst.  In  1853  he  became  senior  curate  at  St. 

z 


338  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Nicholas,  Brighton,  and  for  the  children  of  this  parish  he  wrote 
his  first  hymns.  In  1860  he  was  appointed  Vicar  of  Crewe 
Green  and  chaplain  to  Lord  Crewe.  Here  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  his  fame  as  a  writer  of  hymns.  The  fertility  of  Mr.  Ellerton's 
muse  in  1870  and  1871,  when  he  wrote  some  twenty-six  hymns 
and  translations,  is  specially  notable.  In  1876  he  was  appointed 
Rector  of  Barnes,  Surrey,  where  he  became  engrossed  in 
hymnological  work,  besides  writing  many  hymns.  His  health 
broke  down  in  1884,  and  he  was  compelled  to  resign  his  rectory 
and  spend  some  months  in  Switzerland  and  Italy.  On  his 
return  in  1885,  he  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  White  Roding, 
Essex,  through  the  good  offices  of  Bishop  Walsham  How,  who 
told  the  patron  that  '  the  best  living  hymn-writer  '  was  without 
a  benefice.  He  took  an  active  part  in  preparing  the  1889  edition 
of  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern.  The  chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  said  '  it  would  scarcely  be  possible  to  exaggerate  the 
value  of  the  assistance  '  which  he  rendered.  He  was  nominated 
Prebendary  of  St.  Albans,  but  he  had  been  already  stricken  by 
paralysis,  and  on  June  15,  1893,  he  died  at  Torquay.  He  was 
buried  in  the  cemetery  there,  amid  the  music  of  his  own  glorious 
hymns.  A  spirit  of  devout  reverence  runs  through  all  his 
work,  and  he  is  careful  not  to  use  expressions  which  a  con 
gregation  could  not  make  their  own.  He  absolutely  refused  to 
protect  his  hymns  by  copyright,  for  he  regarded  himself  as  the 
channel  through  which  God  had  given  them  to  the  Church. 

Hymn  604.  Their  earthly  task  who  fail  to  do. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  xiii.  17. 
'  Not  slothful  in  business,'  &c.  Rom.  xii.  II. 

Hymn  605.  O  Master,  let  me  walk  with  Thee. 
WASHINGTON  GLADDEN. 

Mr.  Gladden  was  born  at  Pittsgrove,  Pennsylvania/ 1836,  and 
entered  the  Congregational  ministry.  He  was  for  some  time 
editor  of  the  New  York  Independent  and  of  Sunday  Afternoon, 
in  which  this  hymn  appeared  in  March,  1879,  entitled  '  Walking 
with  God.'  It  was  written  for  '  The  Still  Hour,  a  corner  filled 
with  devotional  reading.  Mr.  Gladden  had  no  thought  of 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    339 

writing  a  hymn,  and  his  second  stanza  is  not  suited  for  public 

worship — 

O  Master,  let  me  walk  with  Thee 

Before  the  taunting  Pharisee  ; 

Help  me  to  bear  the  sting  of  spite, 

The  hate  of  men  who  hide  Thy  light, 

The  sore  distrust  of  souls  sincere 

Who  cannot  read  Thy  judgements  clear, 

The  dullness  of  the  multitude, 

Who  dimly  guess  that  Thou  art  good. 

Hymn  606.  Dismiss  me  not  Thy  service,  Lord. 

THOMAS  TOKE  LYNCH  (252). 

'  Work  for  Christ.'     Appeared  as  the  second  hymn  in  The  Rivulet, 
1855.     The  fourth  and  fifth  verses  are  omitted. 

Hurun  607.  HOAV  blessed,  from  the  bonds  of  sin. 
C.  J.  P.  SPITTA  (265). 

1  O  hochbegliickte  Seele,'  from  Psalter  und  JIarfe,  1833.  Transla 
tion  by  Miss  BORTHWICK  (490),  from  Hymns  from  the  Land  of  Luther 
1854. 

Hymn  608.  Go,  labour  on ;  spend,  and  be  spent. 
DR.  H.  BONAR  (70). 

Appeared  in  Songs  for  the  W'ilJerness,  1843,  entitled  '  Labour  for 
Christ.'  In  Hymns  of  Faith  and  Hope,  1857,  it  is  entitled  'The 
Useful  Life.' 

The  third  and  fourth  verses  of  the  original  are — 

Go,  labour  on  ;  enough,  while  here, 
If  lie  shall  praise  thce,  if  He  deign 

Thy  willing  heart  to  mark  and  cheer  ; 
No  toil  for  Him  shall  be  in  vain. 

Go,  labour  on  ;  your  hands  are  weak, 

Your  knees  are  faint,  your  soul  cast  down  ; 

Yet  falter  not ;  the  prize  you  seek 
Is  near, — a  kingdom  and  a  crown. 

This  was  the  first  of  Dr.  Bonar's  hymns  not  written  expressly 
for  the  young.  It  was  intended  to  encourage  the  faithful  workers 


34°  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

in  his  mission  district  in  Leith,  and  dates  from  1836,  the  year 
before  he  left  for  Kelso.  It  was  written  to  the  '  Old  Hundredth.' 
Bonar  prefixed  to  it  two  lines  of  a  little  lyric  given  in  Daniel's 
Thesaurus,  iii.  128 — 

Vuxri  /j.ov,  tyv)(l)  fJ-ov, 
'Avdffra,  r(  KadfvSets. 

Hymn  609.  Hark !   the  voice  of  Jesus  crying. 

DANIEL  MARCH,  D.D. 

For  '  Missions,'  written  about  1867.  Is  given  in  the  American 
Methodist  Episcopal  Hymnal,  1878,  in  two  stanzas,  and  in  Sankey's 
Sacred  Songs  and  Solos,  1878,  in  six  stanzas. 

Dr.  March,  an  American  Congregational  minister,  was  born 
in  1816.  He  is  the  author  of  Night  Scenes  in  the  Bible,  and 
other  works. 


•  Hymn  610.  Leader  of  faithful  souls,  and  guide. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747;  Works,  iv.  262.    Headed  '  The  Traveller.' 
Two  verses  are  omitted  which  well  deserve  a  place  here — 

5.  Thither  in  all  our  thoughts  we  tend, 

And  still  with  longing  eyes  look  up, 
Our  hearts  and  prayers  hefore  us  send, 
Our  ready  scouts  of  faith  and  hope, 
Who  bring  us  news  of  Sion  near, 
We  soon  shall  see  the  towers  appear. 

7.  Even  now  we  taste  the  pleasures  there, 

A  cloud  of  spicy  odours  comes, 
Soft  wafted  by  the  balmy  air 

Sweeter  than  Araby's  perfumes  : 
From  Sion's  top  the  breezes  blow, 
And  cheer  us  in  the  vales  below. 

Hymn  611.  Captain  of  Israel's  host,  and  Guide. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1 762  ;   Works,  ix.  43. 
'The  Lord  went  before  them  by  day.'     Exod.  xiii.  21. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    341 

In  ver.  2  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  The  light  of  man's 
direction  need.'  John  Wesley  put  a  note,  'Yes — J.  \V.'  He 
altered  it  in  1780  to  its  present  form  to  express  assured  con 
fidence,  without  seeming  to  assert  independence  of  human  help. 

Hymn  012.  How  happy  is  the  pilgrim's  lot! 

CHARLES  WKSLEY  (i). 

Ifymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  hare  Redemption  in  the 
r.L\\l  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747;  Works,  iv.  278.  'The  Pilgrim.'  Nine 
Verses. 

The  autobiography  uf  the  omitted  verses  unfits  them  for  congrega 
tional  use. 

When  Mrs.  Fletcher  was  dying  she  said,  '  I  am  drawing 
near  to  glory,'  and  then— 

'  There  is  my  house  and  portion  fair ; 
My  treasure  and  my  heart  are  there, 
And  my  abiding  home.' 

The  hymn  has  been  attributed  to  John  Wesley,  '  according 
to  the  almost  universal  testimony.'  Stevenson  says,  '  It  was 
composed  and  published  about  five  years  before  the  author's 
marriage,  and  describes  his  own  views  and  feelings  on  that 
question  in  terms  of  eloquent  simplicity.'  Dr.  Julian  says  it  is 
almost  universally  ascribed  to  John  Wesley  in  America,  '  the 
argument  usually  put  forth  being  that  the  personal  circumstances 
evidently  referred  to  suited  John  Wesley  rather  than  Charles.' 
David  Creamer,  the  American  hymnologist,  says,  '  This  hymn, 
with  one  omitted  verse,  with  much  propriety  might  be  considered 
as  an  epitome  of  Mr.  John  Wesley's  autobiography."  But 
Charles  Wesley  was  a  bachelor  when  the  hymn  was  written. 
He  did  not  visit  Garth  till  August,  1747,  and  was  not  married 
till  April  8,  1749,  and  the  'omitted  verse '  to  which  Mr.  Creamer 
refers  is  in  Charles  Wesley's  most  characteristic  strain,  and  so 
indeed  is  the  whole  outpouring  of  a  poet's  feelings — 

I  have  no  sharer  of  my  heart, 
To  rob  my  Saviour  of  a  part, 

And  desecrate  the  whole  ; 
Only  betrothed  to  Christ  am  I, 
And  wait  His  coming  from  the  sky, 

To  wed  my  happy  soul. 


342  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  613.  Come,  all  whoe'er  have  set. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  386.  'On  a  journey.' 
In  ver.  4  Charles  Wesley  wrote — 

The  peace  and  joy  of  faith 

We  every  moment  feel, 
Redeemed  from  sin  and  wrath, 

And  death,  and  earth,  and  hell. 

Hymn  C14.  Come,  let  us  anew 
Our  journey  pursue, 
With  vigour  arise. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;   Works,  v.  387.     '  On  a  journey.' 
Charles  Wesley's  last  line  was  '  Shall  come  to  our  rescue  and  hurry 
us  home.' 

Hymn  015.  Guide  me,  O  Thou  great  Jehovah. 
WILLIAM  WILLIAMS. 

William  Williams, '  the  Sweet  Singer  of  Wales,'  was  born  at 
Pantycelyn  in  1717.  He  became  a  deacon  in  the  Established 
Church,  and  served  as  curate  for  two  years,  but  never  took 
priest's  orders.  He  was  a  friend  of  Daniel  Rowland,  Whitefield, 
and  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon  ;  travelled  as  an  evangelist 
over  Wales,  and  was  very  popular  as  a  preacher.  For  forty- 
three  years  he  travelled  on  an  average  2,230  miles  a  year. 
Howell  Harris  challenged  the  Welsh  Calvinistic  preachers  to 
write  better  hymns  than  those  they  possessed.  This  stirred 
Williams  to  his  work.  His  first  book  of  hymns,  Alleluia,  Bristol, 
1744,  soon  ran  through  three  editions  ;  his  Welsh  Hymns,  of 
1762,  went  through  five  editions.  He  also  published  two  small 
volumes  of  hymns  in  English.  Mr.  Elvet  Lewis  says,  '  What 
Paul  Gerhardt  has  been  to  Germany,  what  Isaac  Watts  has 
been  to  England,  that  and  more  has  William  Williams,  of 
Pantycelyn,  been  to  Wales.'  He  died  at  Pantycelyn  on 
January  n,  1791. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    343 

His  two  most  popular  hymns  are  '  O'er  those  gloomy  hills 
of  darkness '  and  '  Guide  me,  O  Thou  great  Jehovah,'  which 
was  published  in  Welsh  in  his  Alleluia,  in  five  stanzas.  Rev. 
Peter  Williams,  of  Carmarthen,  was  a  student  at  Carmarthen 
College.  His  tutor  warned  the  men  not  to  go  to  hear  White- 
field,  'that  fanatical  preacher  '  ;  but  he  went,  and  was  converted. 
He  published  a  translation  into  English  of  three  stanzas  in 
1771.  The  first  of  these  William  Williams  adopted,  translated 
his  own  stanzas  3  and  4,  and  added  a  new  stanza — 

Musing  on  my  habitation, 

Musing  on  my  heav'nly  home, 
Fills  my  soul  with  holy  longings  ; 

Come,  my  Jesus,  quickly  come  ; 
Vanity  is  all  I  see  ; 
Lord,   I  long  to  be  with  Thctj. 

This  he  issued  about  1772  as  a  leailct,  headed — 

'  A  Favourite  Hymn, 

Sung  by 

Lady  Huntingdon's  young  Collegians. 

Printed  by  the  desire  of  many  Christian  friends. 

Lord,  give  it  Thy  blessing  ! ' 

It  was  included  in  the  Lady  Huntingdon  Collection,  1772  or 
1773,  and  had  already  appeared  in  the  hymn-book  used  by  the 
Countess  of  Huntingdon's  chapels  in  Sussex,  1771. 

It  was  the  favourite  hymn  of  Richard  Knill  (the  missionary 
and  missionary  advocate),  and  was  constantly  on  his  lips  when 
he  lay  dying  in  1857.  During  the  last  months  of  his  life  he 
often  said  to  his  daughter,  '  I  cannot  sing ;  sing  for  me  my 
favourite  hymn.'  She  sang  it  to  '  Rousseau's  Dream.'  Her 
father  always  tried  to  join  in  the  last  verse.  Mr.  Spurgeon 
gives  a  charming  account  of  the  veteran's  visit  to  his  grand 
father's  parsonage  in  1844,  when  on  a  deputation  tour  for  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  and  the  famous  prophecy  about  the 
boy :  '  This  child  will  one  day  preach  the  gospul,  and  he  will 
preach  it  to  great  multitudes.' 

Hymn  GIG.  To  God,  the  only  Wise. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1707.     'Preserving  Grace.'    Jude  24, 

25- 


344  THE   METHODIST   HYiMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Ver.  5  is  omitted — 

To  our  Redeemer  God 
Wisdom  and  pow'r  belongs, 
Immortal  crowns  of  majesty, 
And  everlasting  songs. 

Hymn  617.  In  every  time  and  place. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  xii.  201. 
'  Get  thee  out  of  thy  country,'  &c.  Acts  vii.  3. 

Hymn  618.  How  happy  every  child  of  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Funeral  Hymns,  2nd  Series,  1759,  No.  2;  Works,  vi.  216.  Four 
verses  omitted. 

John  Wesley  gives  in  his  Journal  for  October,  1774,  an 
account  of  Susannah  Spencer,  who  died  that  year,  and  often 
repeated  to  those  around  her  the  lines — 

The  race  we  all  are  running  now  ! 

And  if  I  first  attain, 
Ye  too  your  willing  head  shall  bow ; 

Ye  shall  the  conquest  gain  ! 

Hymn  619.  Forward !  be  our  watchword. 

HENRY  ALFORD,  D.D. 

Dean  Alford  was  born  in  London,  October  7,  1810  ;  was  made 
Dean  of  Canterbury  in  1857  by  Lord  Palmerston,  and  died  at 
Canterbury,  January  12,  1871.  His  edition  of  the  Greek 
Testament,  in  four  volumes  (1849-61),  cost  him  twenty  years' 
labour,  and  is  his  chief  work.  He  was  for  some  years  editor  of 
the  Contemporary  Review.  This  hymn  was  written  for  the 
tenth  festival  of  parochial  choirs  of  the  Canterbury  Diocesan 
Union  on  June  6,  1871.  Dean  Alford  died  before  it  was  used. 
The  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood  asked  the  dean  to  write  a  processional 
hymn  for  a  Church  festival,  and  set  it  to  music.  Dean  Alford's 
hymn  did  not  seem  to  Mr.  Wood  well  adapted  to  be  sung  on 
the  march,  and  he  begged  the  dean  to  go  into  his  cathedral 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    345 

and  compose  another  hymn  as  he  walked  slowly  round.  He 
did  this,  and  '  Forward  !  be  our  watchword,'  was  the  result.  It 
came  to  Mr.  Wood  with  a  little  note,  saying  that  the  dean  had 
put  it  into  its  hat  and  boots,  and  Mr.  Wood  might  add  coat 
and  trousers  himself.  He  had  written  treble  and  bass  ;  Mrs. 
Worthington  Bliss  supplied  the  alto  and  tenor.  The  effect  of 
the  hymn  when  first  sung  by  a  thousand  choristers  was  over 
whelming.  The  dean  had  those  words  in  view,  '  Speak  unto 
the  children  of  Israel,  that  they  go  forward.'  The  dean's  tune 
has  now  given  place  to  Henry  Gadsby's  '  St.  Boniface,'  or  a 
melody  by  Henry  Smart. 

Hymn  620.  Hark !  hark,  my  soul !  angelic  songs 
are  swelling. 

F.  W.  FABER,  U.D.  (54). 
In  Oratory  Hymns,  1854,  entitled  '  The  Pilgrims  of  the  Night.' 

Hymn  621.  Saviour,  blessed  Saviour. 
GODFREY  TURING,  D.D.  (129). 

'  Pressing  Onwards.'  'Written  in  1862  ;  first  published  in  his  Hymns, 
Congregational  and  others,  1866.  \Vhen  included  in  S. P.O. K.  Ctnn\-k 
Hymns,  1871,  Dr.  Thring  added  the  verse,  'Farther,  ever  farther.1 

Of  Dr.  Thring's  nine  stanzas,  Nos.  2,  4,  5>  7  are  omitted  here. 

Hymn  622.  Jesus,  still  lead  on. 
ZINZENDORF  (370) ;  translated  by  EDWARD  POPE. 

Mr.  Pope  was  born  at  Hull  in  1837,  and  is  brother  of  the 
Rev.  Henry  J.  Pope,  D.D. ,Wesleyan  Home  Missionary  Secretary. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  Home  Mission  work  in  Hull,  and  on 
removing  to  London  in  1863  became  founder  of  the  Wesleyan 
German  Mission,  of  which  he  was  for  many  years  class-leader, 
local  preacher,  and  circuit  steward.  He  also  took  an  active  part 
in  introducing  Methodism  into  a  number  of  villages  in  the 
Epping  Forest  region.  In  1891  he  moved  to  Geraldton,  Western 
Australia,  where  he  has  been  mayor  and  magistrate,  and  an 
active  worker  in  the  Methodist  Church.  German  hymnology 
has  been  his  favourite  study,  and  he  has  published  many  trans 
lations  of  German  hymns  in  various  magazines. 


34^  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

'  Jesu  geh'voran'  appeared  in  the  Moravian  Hymn-book, 
1778.  It  is  a  cento  from  two  of  Zinzendorf's  hymns,  one  of 
which  was  published  in  1721,  and  has  become  a  great  favourite 
among  German  children.  Mr.  Pope  says,  '  In  translation  it  is 
impossible,  on  account  of  rhyme  and  metre,  to  keep  absolutely 
close  to  the  original.  Where  the  sentiment  in  one  or  two  lines 
has  had  to  be  changed,  a  more  optimistic  tone  has  been  adopted 
than  that  of  the  German  original.' 

Hymn  623.  O  King  of  mercy,  from  Thy  throne  on 

high. 

THOMAS  RAWSON  BIRKS,  D.D. 

In  the  Companion  Psalter^  1874.     Psalm  Ixxx. 

Dr.  Birks  (1810-83)  was  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cam 
bridge,  Hon.  Canon  of  Ely  Cathedral,  Professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy,  Cambridge,  1872.  He  married  the  daughter  of 
Rev.  E.  Bickersteth. 

Dr.  Birks  wrote  more  than  one  hundred  hymns  and  versions 
of  psalms,  of  which  this  version  of  Psalm  Ixxx.  is  the  most 
popular. 

Hymn  624.  Lead,  kindly  Light,  amid  the  encircling 

gloom. 

JOHN  HENRY  NEWMAN,  D.D.  (62). 

Written  on  June  16,  1833,  and  published  in  the  British  Maga 
zine,  March,  1834,  headed  '  Faith — Heavenly  Leadings.'  In  Lyra 
Apostolica,  1836,  it  is  headed  '  Unto  the  godly  there  ariseth  up 
light  in  the  darkness,'  and  in  Occasional  Verses ;  1868,  '  The  Pillar  of 
the  Cloud.' 

The  birth  of  this  hymn  is  described  in  Newman's  Apologia. 
His  health  had  suffered  from  the  strain  of  preparing  his  Arians 
of  the  Fourth  Century,  and  in  December,  1832,  he  went  to  the 
south  of  Europe  with  Hurrell  Froude  and  his  father.  Gradually 
there  came  over  him  the  feeling  that  he  had  '  a  work  to  do  in 
England.'  After  leaving  the  Froudes  he  crossed  to  Sicily, 
where  he  fell  ill  of  fever.  His  servant  thought  he  was  dying, 
but  Newman  replied,  '  I  shall  not  die,  for  I  have  not  sinned 
against  light,  I  have  not  sinned  against  light.'  On  May  26  or  27, 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS    347 

1833,  he  sat  down  on  his  bed  at  Castro-Giovanni  and  began  to 
sob  violently.  He  told  his  servant,  '  I  have  a  work  to  do  in 
England."  He  was  aching  to  get  home,  but  had  to  wait  three 
weeks  at  Palermo  for  a  vessel.  'At  last  I  got  off  in  an  orange- 
boat,  bound  for  Marseilles.  Then  it  was  that  I  wrote  the  lines, 
"  Lead,  kindly  Light,"  which  have  since  become  well  known.  We 
were  becalmed  a  whole  week  in  the  Straits  of  Bonifacio.  I  was 
writing  verses  the  whole  time  of  my  passage.'  He  got  home  to 
his  mother's  house  on  Tuesday,  and  on  the  following  Sunday, 
July  14,  1833,  Keble  preached  the  sermon  in  the  university 
pulpit  which  Newman  ever  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  the 
Oxford  Movement. 

Various  explanations  have  been  given  of  the  line, '  And  with 
the  morn  those  angel  faces  smile,'  which  Mrs.  Tail  put  in  the 
Deanery  at  Carlisle  beneath  the  picture  of  the  five  children 
whom  she  lost  there  in  March  and  April,  1856.  In  1879, 
when  Newman  was  appealed  to  as  interpreter,  he  pleaded  that 
he  was  not  bound  to  remember  his  own  meaning  at  the  end  of 
almost  fifty  years.  '  Anyhow,  there  must  be  a  statute  of  limita 
tion  for  writers  of  verse,  or  it  would  be  quite  tyranny  if  in  an 
art,  which  is  the  expression,  not  of  truth,  but  of  imagination 
and  sentiment,  one  were  obliged  to  be  ready  for  examination  on 
the  transient  states  of  mind  which  came  upon  one  when  home 
sick,  or  sea-sick,  or  in  any  other  way  sensitive,  or  excited.' 
The  meaning  which  one  naturally  puts  upon  it  of  reunion  of 
friends  in  heaven  seems  much  the  best.  The  hymn  was  largely 
used  and  greatly  blessed  in  the  Welsh  Revival  of  1905. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  once  asked  to  name  his  favourite  hymns. 
He  replied  that  he  scarcely  knew  whether  he  had  a  '  favourite ' 
or  not.  On  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  he  mentioned  '  Lead, 
kindly  Light '  and  '  Rock  of  Ages.'  Newman  said  to  a  friend 
who  congratulated  him  on  the  hymn,  '  It  is  not  the  hymn 
that  has  gained  the  popularity,  but  the  tune.  The  tune  is  by 
Dykes,  and  Dr.  Dykes  was  a  great  master.'  Bishop  Bickersteth 
added  a  verse  in  the  Hymnal  Companion,  but  it  has  not  won 
any  hold  on  public  favour — 

Meantime,  along  the  narrow  rugged  path 

Thyself  hast  trod, 
Lead,  Saviour,  lead  me  home  in  childlike  faith, 

Home  to  my  God, 
To  rest  for  ever  after  earthly  strife 
In  the  calm  light  of  everlasting  life. 


348  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Dr.  William  Barry  says,  '  This  most  tender  of  pilgrim 
songs  may  be  termed  the  March  of  the  Tractarian  Movement. 
It  is  pure  melody,  austere  yet  hopeful.' — Cardinal  Newman, 
p.  51. 


Hymn  625.  Lead  us,  heavenly  Father,  lead  us. 
JAMES  EDMESTON  (1791-1867). 

Written  for  the  children  of  the  London  Orphan  Asylum,  to  the  air 
'Lewes,'  and  published  in  his  Sacred  Lyrics,  1821. 

Mr.  Edmeston  was  an  architect  and  surveyor,  with  whom 
Sir  G.  Gilbert  Scott  was  pupil.  He  joined  the  Church  of 
England,  and  was  for  many  years  churchwarden  at  St.  Bar 
nabas,  Homerton.  He  wrote  nearly  two  thousand  hymns. 

Mr.  Edmeston  was  a  constant  visitor  to  the  London  Orphan 
Asylum,  for  which  he  wrote  this  hymn. 

Hymn  626.  I  dared  not  hope  that  Thou  wouldst 
deign  to  come. 

EDWIN  HATCH,  D.D.  (244). 
In  Towards  Fields  of  Light,  1890. 

Hymn  627.  Light  of  the  world,  faint  were  our 
weary  feet. 

LAURA  ORMISTON  CHANT. 

Born  at  Chepstow,  1848  ;  daughter  of  F.  W.  Dibdin,  C.E. 
She  was  a  nurse  in  the  London  Hospital,  and  is  a  lecturer  on 
literary  and  social  subjects. 

Hymn  628.  Through  the  night  of  doubt  and 
sorrow. 

BERNHARDT  SEVERIN  INGEMANN  ;  translated  by 
S.  BARING-GOULD  (455). 

This  hymn,  '  Unity  and  Progress,'  was  written  in  1825,  and  published 
in  Copenhagen,  1859.  Mr.  Baring-Gould's  translation  appeared  in 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    349 

the  People's  Hymnal,  1867,  and,  greatly  improved,  in  Hymns  Ancient 
and  Modern,  1875.     It  was  written  for  the  children  at  Horbury  Bridge. 

The  author  was  born  at  Thor  Kildstrup,  Island  of  Falster,  in 
1789,  and  became  Professor  of  Danish  Language  and  Literature 
at  Soro  Academy,  Zealand,  from  1822  to  his  death  in  1862.  He 
was  a  prolific  poet,  who  had  a  great  national  reputation,  and  his 
works  were  published  in  1851  in  thirty-four  volumes.  Gilbert 
Tail's  Hymns  of  Denmark,  1868,  contains  seven  translations  of 
his  hymns. 

Ingemann's  father  was  a  clergyman,  and  he  was  intended  for 
the  Church.  At  an  early  age  he  published  his  poems,  then  he 
issued  a  series  of  books  on  the  hero  kings  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
which  were  greatly  influenced  by  the  writings  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
These  became  the  most  popular  of  Danish  books.  Mr.  Horder 
says,  '  Manly  vigour  and  almost  childlike  tenderness,  together 
with  true  faith  and  a  firm  belief  that  there  will  be  light  after 
darkness,  form  the  most  prominent  features  in  his  hymns. 
Scarcely  was  any  poet  more  appreciated  by  his  country  than 
Ingemann.  On  his  seventieth  birthday  the  Danish  children 
presented  him  with  a  splendid  golden  horn.  The  subscriptions 
were  limited  to  a  halfpenny,  and  every  child  throughout  the 
land  gave  its  mite  towards  the  man  who,  perhaps,  even  in  the 
same  degree  as  Hans  Christian  Andersen,  had  cheered  their 
childhood.  He  died  a  few  years  after,  greatly  lamented.  Few 
who  ever  saw  the  old  poet  and  his  amiable  wife — Philemon  and 
Baucis  they  were  called — in  their  quiet  cottage  in  the  beautiful 
Soro,  surrounded  by  roses,  are  likely  to  forget  them.' — The 
Hymn  Lover,  p.  386. 

Hymn  629.  Heavenly  Father,  Thou  hast  brought  us. 
HESTER  PERIAM  HAWKINS. 

Mrs.  Hawkins,  of  Bedford  (tide  Lewis),  published  in  1885 
The  Home  Hymn-book,  A  Manual  of  Sacred  Song  for  the 
Family  Circle.  To  this  she  contributed  seven  hymns,  signed 
'  H.  P.  H.,'  on  subjects  for  which  she  could  not  find  hymns 
elsewhere.  The  Dictionary  of  Hymnology  says,  '  For  home 
use  we  know  of  no  book  of  equal  comprehensiveness  and  merit. 
The  music  also  is  well  adapted  to  the  family  circle.'  This 
hymn  was  written  in  1885  for  the  golden  wedding  of  her 
father  and  mother.  By  omitting  the  third  verse  it  has  been 


35°  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

made  useful  for  anniversaries  and  special  occasions.     This  is 
the  omitted  verse — 

Father,  all  Thy  gifts  are  precious, 

But  we  thank  Thee  most  for  this, 
That  so  many  years  of  toiling 

Have  been  soothed  by  wedded  bliss ; 
Since  our  hearts  were  first  united, 

Life  has  not  been  free  from  care, 
But  our  burdens  were  the  lighter 

When  each  bore  an  equal  share. 

Hymn  630.  Author  of  faith,  appear ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740  ;  Works,  i.  337.  Isa.  xlv.  2.  Ten 
verses,  commencing — 

Sinners,  your  Saviour  see ! 
O,  .  ook  ye  unto  Me  ! 
Verses  6,  7,  8  are  chosen  to  form  this  hymn. 

Hymn  681.  I  the  good  fight  have  fought. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762,  Nos.  3,247, 
3,249  ;  Works,  xiii.  no-ll.  2  Tim.  iv.  7. 

Hymn  632.  I'm  but  a  stranger  here. 
THOMAS  RAWSON  TAYLOR. 

The  Rev.  T.  R.  Taylor  was  the  son  of  a  Congregational 
minister,  and  was  born  at  Ossett,  near  Wakefield,  in  1807.  He 
was  trained  at  Airedale  College,  and  became  pastor  for  six 
months  at  Howard  Street,  Sheffield.  For  a  short  time  he  was 
classical  tutor  at  Airedale,  but  his  health  compelled  him  to 
resign,  and  he  died  in  1835.  His  Memoirs  and  Select  Remains 
were  published  in  1836.  This  hymn  was  written  in  his  last 
illness,  and  published  in  the  Memoirs,  headed  '  Heaven  is  my 
home.  Air — "  Robin  Adair."'  In  1853  it  was  included  in  the 
Leeds  Hymn-book. 

'  Yes,  there  are  little  ones  in  heaven,'  for  a  Sunday-school 
anniversary,  also  appeared  in  his  Memoirs,  and  other  pieces  not 
so  well  known.  Revised  and  rewritten  by  George  Rawson,  it 
appeared  in  the  Methodist  Sunday  School  Hymn-Book,  1879. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS    351 

Hymn  633.  The  sands  of  time  are  sinking. 
ANNE  Ross  COUSIN. 

Published  in  The  Christian  Treasury  for  1857,  and  gave  a  title  to 
her  volume,  Immanucrs  Land,  and  other  pieces,  a  collection  of  107 
hymns  and  poems,  published  in  1876. 

The  author  of  this  hymn,  who  was  the  only  daughter  of  Dr. 
Cundcll,  of  Leith,was  born  in  1824,  and  married  a  Free  Church 
minister  in  Melrose.  '  O  Christ,  what  burdens  bowed  Thy 
head,'  is  another  of  her  hymns. 

When  Samuel  Rutherford  was  dying  he  was  asked,  '  What 
think  ye  now  of  Christ  ? '  He  replied,  '  I  shall  live  and  adore 
Him.  Glory,  glory  to  my  Creator  and  Redeemer  for  ever. 
Glory  shineth  in  Immanuel's  land.'  The  Scotch  saint's  words 
are  woven  into  the  fabric  of  Mrs.  Cousin's  nineteen  stanzas.  He 
writes  to  John  Gordon  in  1637,  '  My  worthy  and  dear  brother, 
misspend  not  your  short  sand-glass  which  runneth  very  fast  ; 
seek  your  Lord  in  time.'  He  told  the  Presbyterians  of  Ireland, 
suffering  much  for  conscience  sake  in  1638,  '  Sure  I  am  that  He 
(Christ)  is  the  far  best  half  of  heaven,  yea,  He  is  all  heaven,  and 
more  than  all  heaven  ;  and  my  testimony  of  Him  is,  that  ten 
lives  of  black  sorrow,  ten  deaths,  ten  hells  of  pain,  ten  furnaces 
of  brimstone,  and  all  exquisite  torments  were  too  little  for 
Christ,  if  our  suffering  could  be  a  hire  to  buy  Him.'  Two  of  his 
biographers  record  that  his  last  words  were,  '  Glory,  glory 
dwelleth  in  Immanuel's  land.'  He  died  at  St.  Andrews  on 
March  30,  i66i,and  was  buried  there.  Rutherford  was  born 
about  1600.  His  ministry  at  Anwoth  (1627-36),  near  Kirk 
cudbright,  was  followed  by  banishment  to  Aberdeen  in  1636. 
He  was  able  to  return  after  eighteen  months,  but  in  1639  he 
became  Principal  of  New  College,  St.  Andrews,  which  was  his 
home  till  his  death.  Dean  Stanley  calls  him  '  The  true  saint  of 
the  Covenant.' 


Hymn  634.  Come,  let  us  join  with  one  accord. 
CHARLES  WKSLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for   Children,    1763;   Works,  vi.  430.      'For   the   Lord's 
Day.' 


352  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  635.  The  Lord  of  Sabbath  let  us  praise. 

SAMUEL  WESLEY,  M.A.,  JUN.  (1691-1739). 

In  his  Poems  on  Several  Occasions,  1736,  and  in  John  Wesley's 
Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1741.  It  was  included  in  Church  of 
England  hymn-books  at  an  early  date. 

Samuel  Wesley,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rector  of  Epworth, 
was  trained  at  Westminster  School  and  Christ  Church,  Oxford  ; 
became  usher  at  Westminster,  and  in  1732  head  master 
of  Tiverton  Free  School.  He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Bishop 
Atterbury.  He  did  not  sympathize  with  his  brothers  in  their 
evangelistic  work,  but  was  a  man  of  the  highest  character,  the 
mainstay  of  the  Epworth  family,  and  one  of  the  first  promoters 
of  the  first  infirmary  set  up  at  Westminster  for  the  sick  in  1719. 

His  epitaph  in  Tiverton  Churchyard  describes  him  as 'A 
man,  for  his  uncommon  wit  and  learning,  for  the  benevolence 
of  his  temper,  and  simplicity  of  manners,  deservedly  loved  and 
esteemed  by  all :  An  excellent  preacher ;  but  whose  best 
sermon  was  the  constant  example  of  an  edifying  life  :  So 
continually  and  zealously  employed  in  acts  of  benevolence  and 
charity,  that  he  truly  followed  his  blessed  Master's  example  in 
going  about  doing  good  ;  Of  such  scrupulous  integrity,  that  he 
declined  occasions  of  advancement  in  the  world,  through  fear 
of  being  involved  in  dangerous  compliances,  and  avoided  the 
usual  ways  to  preferment  as  studiously  as  many  others  seek 
them.' 

Hymn  636.  Sweet  is  the  work,  my  God,  my  King. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David ,  1719.     '  A  Psalm  for  the  Lord's  Day.'     Psalm  xcii. 
Ver.  4,  'Fools  never  raise  their  thoughts  so  high,'  is  omitted ;  and 
er.  6 — 

Sin  (my  worst  enemy  before) 
Shall  vex  my  eyes  and  ears  no  more : 
My  inward  foes  shall  all  be  slain, 
Nor  Satan  break  my  peace  again. 

The  last  verse  of  the  hymn  finds  an  echo  in  many  hearts. 
Dean  Burgon  says  that  it  was  Dean  Mansel's  'delight  to 
dwell  on  the  intellectual  progress  which  is  in  reserve  for  the 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    353 

soul  hereafter  ;  the  enlarged  powers  which  man's  future  state  will 
inevitably  develop;  and  the  prospect  of  having  unfolded  to  him 
then  so  much  of  what  he  longs  to  know,  but  which  at  present  is 
shrouded  from  his  view — shrouded  in  impenetrable  mystery.' 
Richard  Baxter  put  it  well  in  The  Saints'  Rest :  'The  poorest 
Christian  is  presently  there,  a  more  perfect  divine  than  any 
here.' 

Hymn  637.  Great  God,  this  sacred  day  of  Thine. 

ANNE  STEKLE  (255). 

In  Bristol  Baptist  Collection,  1769,  and  her  Miscellaneous  Poems, 
1780. 

Hymn  038.  Dear  is  the  day  which  God  hath  made. 
W.  M.  BUNTING  (249). 

Kxod.  xxxi.  13.  First  published  in  Dr.  Lcifchild's  Original  Hymns, 
1842. 

Hymn  639.  This  is  the  day  of  light. 
JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

Written  in  1867  ;  first  appeared  in  Dean  Howson's  Selection  of 
Hymns  compiled  for  Use  in  Chester  Cathedral,  1 868. 

Hymn  640.  O  day  of  rest  and  gladness. 

CHRISTOPHER  WORDSWORTH,  D.D.  (187). 
The  opening  hymn  of  his  Holy  Year,  1862. 

Hymn  641.  Sweet  is  the  sunlight  after  rain. 
WILLIAM  MORLEY  PUNSHON,  LL.D. 

'  For  Sunday  morning,'  from  Sabbath  Chimes ;  or,  Afeditations  in 
Verse  for  the  Sundays  of  a  Year,  1867. 

Dr.  Punshon  was  born  at  Doncaster  in  1824,  and  trained  in 
his  uncle's  office  in  Hull.  He  was  walking  by  the  dock  when 
he  met  Samuel  Romilly  Hall,  then  a  junior  Methodist  minister. 

2  A 


354  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

He  knew  the  distress  that  young  Punshon  had  been  in,  and 
urged  on  him  the  need  of  living  faith.  '  Then  and  there  I  was 
enabled  to  lay  hold  on  my  Saviour,  and  peace  immediately 
sprang  up  in  my  heart.'  He  was  just  fourteen  and  a  half. 
He  was  soon  eagerly  working  and  cultivating  his  gifts.  When 
sixteen  years  and  two  months  old  he  preached  his  first  sermon. 
It  was  manifest  that  he  was  called  to  the  ministry.  When  he 
became  a  candidate,  the  Rev.  W.  Arthur  says  his  '  precocious 
reputation  whispered  of  his  coming  celebrity.'  He  quickly  made 
himself  a  great  name  in  Methodism  and  in  the  country  as  a 
preacher  and  a  lecturer.  He  was  President  of  the  Canadian 
Conference,  1868-72  ;  President  of  the  English  Conference, 
1874  >  Foreign  Missionary  Secretary,  1875-81.  A  truer-hearted 
Methodist  preacher  never  lived.  His  last  words  were,  '  Christ 
is  to  me  a  bright  reality.  Jesus,  Jesus.'  Then  with  a  smile  he 
entered  on  his  heavenly  inheritance.  He  was  laid  to  rest  in 
Norwood  Cemetery  on  April  19,  1881. 

'  Listen  !  the  Master  beseecheth,'  is  another  of  his  hymns, 
given  in  the  Methodist  Sunday  School  Hymn-Book. 

Hymn  642.  We  rose  to-day  with  anthems  sweet. 

WILLIAM  MORLEY  PUNSHON,  LL.D.  (641). 

'Sabbath  Evening,'  from  Sabbath  Chimes,  1867. 
In  the  first  line  the  original  reads,  '  We  woke  to-day.'   Verses  2  and 
3  read — 

Whate'er  has  risen  from  heart  sincere, 

Each  upward  glance  of  filial  fear, 

Each  litany,  devoutly  prayed, 

Each  gift  upon  Thine  altar  laid ; 

Each  tear,  regretful  of  the  past, 
Each  longing  o'er  the  future  cast, 
Each  brave  resolve, — each  spoken  vow, — 
Jesus,  our  Lord  !  accept  them  now. 

Hymn  643.  O  Saviour,  bless  us  ere  we  go. 
F.  W.  FABER,  D.D.  (54). 

In  Jesus  and  Mary,  2nd  thousand,  1852.  Written  in  1849  as  an 
Evening  Hymn  for  Brompton  Oratory,  of  which  he  was  Superior.  It 
begins  '  Sweet  Saviour,'  and  the  closing  stanza,  with  its  line,  '  Mary  and 
Philip,  near  us  be,'  is  unfit  for  Protestant  worship,  and  is  omitted. 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    355 

Hymn  644.  Saviour,  again  to  Thy  dear  name  we 
raise. 

JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

Written  in  1866  for  the  Festival  of  the  Malpas,  Midrllewich,  and 
Nantwich  Choral  Association ;  revised  and  abridged  for  Appendix  to 
Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1868. 

Mr.  Ellerton's  biographer  says  of  this  hymn,  '  By  its  con 
densation  into  four  verses  its  spirit  and  power  are  wonderfully 
increased,  and  now  it  ranks  with  Bishop  Ken's  "  Glory  to  Thee, 
my  God,  this  night,"  Keble's  "  Sun  of  my  soul,  Thou  Saviour 
dear,"  and  Lyte's  "  Abide  with  me  ;  fast  falls  the  eventide,"  as 
one  of  the  great  evening  hymns  of  the  English  Church.'  Mr. 
Ellerton  had  been  struck  by  the  tune  '  St.  Agnes '  in  Thome's 
collection  ;  and  when  asked  to  write  a  hymn  for  this  choral 
association,  he  thought  he  would  like  to  write  words  to  this 
tune.  He  took  a  piece  of  paper,  on  one  side  of  which  was  a 
part  of  his  sermon  for  the  previous  Sunday,  and  drafted  the  six 
stanzas.  For  some  years  the  hymn  was  sung  to  '  St.  Agnes,' 
but  Dr.  Dykes  was  asked  to  set  the  revised  edition  to  music 
for  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern.  He  played  his  tune  over 
after  evening  service  at  St.  Oswald's,  Durham,  and  his  choir 
was  delighted  ;  so  also  was  Sir  Henry  Baker  when  it  reached 
him.  Beautiful  as  Dr.  Dykes's  '  Pax  Dei '  is,  and  much  as  Mr. 
Ellerton  prized  it,  he  himself  preferred  Dr.  Hopkins's  tune 
('  Ellers ')  in  A  flat  for  unison  singing,  with  its  varied  harmonies. 
The  last  verse  was  sung  at  Mr.  Ellerton's  funeral. 

One  verse  in  the  MS.  of  this  hymn  is  worthy  of  remem 
brance — 

Grant  us  Thy  peace — the  peace  Thou  didst  bestow 

On  Thine  Apostles  in  Thine  hour  of  woe ; 

The  peace  Thou  broughtest,  when  at  eventide 

They  saw  Thy  pierced  hands,  Thy  wounded  side. 

Hymn  (545.  The  day  Thou  gavest,  Lord,  is  ended. 
JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

\Vritten  in  1870  as  a  contribution  to  a  'Liturgy  for  Missionary 
Meetings'  (Frome,  Hodges);  revised  for  Church  Hymns,  1871.  The 
first  line  is  borrowed  from  an  anonymous  hymn  in  Church  Poetry, 
I855- 


356  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Mr.  Garrett  Horder  says,  'The  assertion  of  the  continuance 
of  worship — the  failing  note  of  one  land  being  taken  up  by  the 
opening  one  of  others — is  exceedingly  fine.' 


Hymn  646.  Our  day  of  praise  is  done. 

JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

Written  for  a  choral  festival  at  Nantwich,  and  rewritten  in  1869 
for  the  Supplemental  Hymn  and  Tune  Book.  In  its  first  form  it  was  a 
cento  from  a  translation  by  Mr.  Blew,  '  The  day  is  past  and  gone,'  1850, 
from  C.  Coffin's  'Grates,  peracto  jam  die,'  Paris  Breviary,  1736,  with 
additions  by  Mr.  Ellerton.  As  rewritten  it  contains  nothing  of  Blew's 
hymn,  except  that  the  line  of  thought  is  the  same. 

Hymn  647.  Holy  Father,  cheer  our  way. 

RICHARD  HAYES  ROBINSON  (1842-92). 

Written  in  1869  for  the  congregation  of  St.  Paul's,  Upper  Norwood, 
where  he  was  curate,  to  be  sung  after  the  third  Collect  at  Evening 
Prayer.  It  appeared  in  the  S.P.C.K.  Church  Hymns,  1871. 

Mr.  Robinson  was  born  in  London,  became  incumbent  of 
the  Octagon  Chapel,  Bath,  and  in  1884  of  St.  German's,  Black- 
heath.  He  wrote  Sermons  on  Faith  and  Duty,  The  Creed  and 
the  Age. 

Hymn  648.  Lord  of  the  worlds  above. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.     Psalm  Ixxxiv.     '  Longing  for  the  house  of 
God.'     Wesley  gives  it  in  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1738. 
Two  verses  are  omitted — 

2.  The  sparrow  for  her  young 

With  pleasure  seeks  a  nest ; 

And  wand'ring  swallows  long 

To  find  their  wonted  rest : 

My  spirit  faints 

With  equal  zeal 

To  rise  and  dwell 

Among  the  saints. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    357 

5.  To  spend  one  sacred  day 

Where  God  and  saints  abide, 
Affords  diviner  joy 
Than  thousand  days  beside  : 
Where  God  resorts, 
I  love  it  more 
To  keep  the  door 
Than  shine  in  courts. 

Hymn  049.  How  pleasant,  how  divinely  fair. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Psalm  l.xxxiv.  'The  pleasure  of  public 
worship.' 

Two  verses  are  omitted,  and  in  ver.  i,  line  3,  'strong'  is  put  instead 
of  '  long,'  which  appears  in  the  original. 

Hymn  050.  Pleasant  are  Thy  courts  above. 

HENRY  F.  LYTE  (7). 
In  The  Spirit  of  the  Psalms,  1834.     Psalm  Ixxxiv. 

Hymn  051.  How  lovely  are  Thy  tents,  O  Lord ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Arminian  Magazine,  1798;   Works,  viii.  165.     Psalm  Ixxxiv. 
Published  ten  years  after  the  writer's  death.      Verses  2  and  5  are 
omitted — 

2.  My  heart  and  flesh  cry  out  for  God  : 
There  would  I  fix  my  soul's  abode, 
As  birds  that  in  the  altars  nest ; 
There  would  I  all  my  young  ones  bring, 
An  offering  to  my  God  and  King, 
And  in  Thy  courts  for  ever  rest. 

In  ver.  5  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  'All,  all  is  theirs,  who  upright 
live.' 

Hymn  652.  Great  is  the  Lord  our  God. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Ps.  xlviii.  I-S.  'The  Church  is  the 
honour  and  safety  of  a  nation.' 


358  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Three  verses  are  omitted.     One  may  be  quoted — 

When  navies,  tall  and  proud, 
Attempt  to  spoil  our  peace, 
He  sends  His  tempests  roaring  loud, 
And  sinks  them  in  the  seas. 

Hymn  653.  Lo!  God  is  here!  let  us  adore. 

TERSTEEGEN  (22) ;  translated  by  JOHN  WESLEY  (36). 

In  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1739,  headed  '  Public  Worship.  From 
the  German'  (Works,  i.  167).  A  somewhat  free  translation  of  'Gott 
ist  gegenwartig  '  (see  22). 

Wesley's  fifth  verse  is  omitted — 

In  Thee  we  move.     All  things  of  Thee 
Are  full,  Thou  Source  and  Life  of  all ! 

Thou  vast,  unfathomable  Sea  ! 

Fall  prostrate,  lost  in  wonder,  fall, 

Ye  sons  of  men ;  for  God  is  man  ! 

All  may  we  lose,  so  Thee  we  gain  ! 

When  Benjamin  Clough,  who  accompanied  Dr.  Coke  to 
India,  was  with  him  in  London,  Coke  said,  '  My  dear  brother, 
I  am  dead  to  all  but  India.'  Mr.  Clough  thought  of  the  words 
about  the  first  disciples,  '  They  left  all  and  followed  Him.'  He 
began  to  sing,  '  Gladly  the  toys  of  earth  we  leave,'  and  Coke 
joined  him  in  that  verse  of  self-surrender.  In  the  following 
May,  when  their  vessel  was  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  Mr.  Clough 
knocked  at  his  friend's  cabin,  and  found  him  lying  lifeless  on 
the  floor.  He  had  left  '  the  toys  of  earth '  for  ever. 

Hymn  654.  On  Thee,  O  God  of  purity. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743  ;  Works,  viii.  9.  Psalm  v.  Seven  verses 
of  eight  lines,  beginning  'O  Lord,  incline  Thy  gracious  ear.' 

Hymn  655.  Glad  was  my  heart  to  hear. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

[Psalm  cxxii.  in  Songs  of  Zion,  1822. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND  THEIR   WRITERS    359 

Hymn  050.  Jesus,  Thou  soul  of  all  our  joys. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Saered  Poems i  1749;  lVorkst\."yy).  'The  True  Use 
of  Music.' 

'  I  will  sing  with  the  spirit,  and  I  will  sing  with  the  understanding 
also.'  I  Cor.  xiv.  15.  Three  verses  are  omitted. 

The  conversion  of  Mrs.  Rich  (see  Hymn  213)  in  1745  had 
given  Charles  Wesley  the  entry  into  the  musical  world  of  London. 
As  years  passed  he  became  something  like  a  private  chaplain 
to  many  of  the  celebrities  of  the  day.  Mrs.  Rich  says  of  one  of 
his  hymns  in  1746,  '  I  gave  a  copy  of  the  hymn  to  Mr.  Lampe, 
who,  at  the  reading,  shed  some  tears,  and  said  he  would  write 
to  you  ;  for  he  loved  you  as  well  as  if  you  were  his  own  brother. 
The  Lord  increase  it,  for  I  hope  it  is  a  good  sign.  As  to  the 
sale  of  the  hymns,  he  could  give  me  no  account  as  yet,  not 
having  received  any  himself,  nor  have  I  got  my  dear  little  girl's.' 
Charles  Wesley  knew  Garrick  well,  and  probably  met  Handel 
at  Mrs.  Rich's.  The  growing  reputation  of  his  own  sons  as 
organists  and  composers  drew  these  ties  still  closer  between  the 
Methodist  clergyman  and  the  musical  celebrities  of  his  later 
life. 

Hymn  057.  We  love  the  place,  O  God. 

WILLIAM  BULLOCK,  D.D.  (1798-1874)  and  SIR  H.  W.  BAKER 

(72). 

In  Dean  Bullock's  SOM^S  of  the  Church,  1854,  headed  'Third 
Sunday  after  Epiphany.  "  Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  Thy 
house." '  Ps.  xxvi.  8. 

The  first  two  verses  are  Dean  Bullock's,  the  last  three  Sir  H.  Baker's. 
Published  in  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1861. 

Mr.  Bullock  was  a  missionary  of  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  for  thirty-two  years,  and  Dean  of 
Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  where  his  Songs  of  the  Church  was 
published.  His  hymns  were  '  written  amid  the  various  scenes 
of  missionary  life,  and  are  intended  for  the  private  and  domestic 
use  of  Christians  in  new  countries  deprived  of  all  public 
worship.' 


360  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  658.  Angel  voices,  ever  singing. 
FRANCIS  POTT,  M.A. 

From  second  edition  (1866)  of  Hymns  fitted  to  the  Order  of  Common 
Prayer  (1861),  with  the  title,  'For  the  Dedication  of  an  Organ  or  for  a 
Meeting  of  Choirs.' 

Mr.  Pott  was  born  in  1832,  educated  at  Brasenose,  Oxford, 
and  Rector  of  Norhill,  Ely,  1866-91  ;  he  afterwards  retired  to 
Speldhurst,  Tunbridge  Wells.  His  translations  from  the  Latin 
and  Syriac,  and  his  original  hymns,  have  been  very  popular. 
He  edited  The  Free-Rhythm  Psalter  (Oxford  University  Press). 
His  Ascension  hymn,  '  Lift  up  your  heads,  eternal  gates  'is  well 
known. 

Hymn  659.  O  Lord  of  hosts,  whose  glory  fills. 

JOHN  MASON  NEALE,  D.D.  (27). 

In  his  Hymns  for  the  Young,  1844,  headed  '  Laying  the  First  Stone 
of  a  Church.'  The  original  reads — 

Endue  the  hearts  that  guide  with  skill, 
Preserve  the  hands  that  work  from  ill. 

Hymn  660.  This  stone  to  Thee  in  faith  we  lay. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

Written  for  laying  the  foundation-stone  of  Christ  Church,  Attercliffe, 
Sheffield,  October  30,  1822,  and  printed  in  Montgomery's  newspaper, 
the  Sheffield  Iris,  on  November  5,  1822. 

Hymn  661.  Christ  is  our  corner-stone. 
Latin  ;  translated  by  JOHN  CHANDLER,  M.A.  (1806-76). 

In  his  Hymns  of  the  Primitive  Church,  1837,  from  the  Paris 
Breviary  text  of  a  grandly  rugged  Latin  hymn,  '  Urbs  beata  Hierusalem, 
dicta  pacis  visio.' 

This  hymn  probably  dates  from  the  sixth  or  seventh  century. 
The  fifth  verse  begins,  '  Angularis  fundamentum  lapis  Christus 
missus  est.' 

Mr.  Chandler  was  the  son  of  the  Vicar  of  Witley,  Surrey, 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMN'S   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    361 

and  himself  became  vicar  there  in  1837.  He  died  at  Putney. 
He  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  successful  modern 
translators  of  Latin  hymns.  His  work  arose  out  of  a  desire  to 
see  the  prayers  of  the  English  Church  accompanied  by  hymns 
of  a  corresponding  date.  Some  translations  of  hymns  from  the 
Paris  Breviary,  with  originals  annexed,  by  Isaac  Williams  in 
the  British  Magazine,  pleased  him  so  much  that  he  got  the 
Paris  Breviary  (1736),  and  one  or  two  old  books  of  Latin 
hymns,  and  regularly  applied  himself  to  the  task  of  selection 
and  translation.  He  says,  '  My  aim  in  translating  them  has 
been  to  be  as  simple  as  possible,  thinking  it  better  to  be,  of  the 
two,  rather  bald  and  prosaic  than  line  and  obscure.'  Thirty  or 
forty  of  his  translations  have  come  into  common  use.  They 
are  freer  in  their  renderings  than  Dr.  Xeale's.  The  great 
majority  of  the  hymns  in  the  Paris  Breviary  belong  to  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  those  that  are  really 
ancient  have  been  modernized  by  presumptuous  revision. 

Hymn  002.  Christ  is  the  foundation. 
JOHN  SAMUEL  BEWLEY  MONSELL,  LL.D.  (1811-75). 

Written  for  the  foundation-stone  ceremony  at  St.  Mary  Magdalene, 
Paddington,  1865,  and  published  with  an  account  of  the  day  in  the 
Church  Times,  in  twelve  stanzas.  It  appeared  in  Dr.  Munsell's  Hymns 
of  Love  and  Praise  for  the  Church's  Year,  2nd  edition,  1866. 

Dr.  Monsell  was  the  son  of  Archdeacon  Monsell,  of  London 
derry.  He  became  Rector  of  St.  Nicholas,  Guildford,  and  was 
killed  by  the  falling  of  a  stone  whilst  the  church  was  rebuilding. 
A  memorial  stands  on  the  spot  where  he  was  watching  opera 
tions  when  the  stone  struck  him  on  the  head  and  knocked  him 
to  the  ground,  where  he  lay  unconscious.  He  wrote  nearly 
three  hundred  hymns,  of  which  one-fourth  are  in  general  use. 
Some  of  those  best  known  are  '  Rest  of  the  weary,'  '  Sinful, 
sighing  to  be  blest,'  '  Worship  the  Lord  in  the  beauty  of  holi 
ness,'  and  '  Fight  the  good  light  with  all  thy  might,'  which  was 
often  sung  during  the  Boer  War. 

Hymn  CG3.  Great  God,  Thy  watchful  care  we  bless. 

PHILIP  DODDRIDGE  (95). 

The  original,  published  in  1755,  was  written  for  the  opening  of  a 
chapel  at  Oakham,  and  begins,  'And  will  the  great  Eternal  God.' 


362  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  664.  Be  with  us,  gracious  Lord,  to-day. 

CHARLES  DENT  BELL,  D.D. 

For  the  '  Consecration  of  a  Church.'  Appeared,  with  fifteen  more 
by  the  same  author,  in  the  Appendix  to  Dr.  Walker's  Cheltenham 
Psalms  and  Hymns,  which  he  edited  in  1873. 

Canon  Bell  (1818-98)  was  born  at  Magherafelt,  Ireland  ; 
Vicar  of  Ambleside,  1861  ;  Rector  of  Cheltenham,  1872  ;  Hon. 
Canon  of  Carlisle  Cathedral,  1869.  He  published  several 
volumes  of  poetry,  and  other  religious  works. 

Hymn  665.  O  Thou  whose  hand  hath  brought  us. 
FREDERIC  WILLIAM  GOADBY,  M.A. 

For  the  '  Opening  of  a  Place  of  Worship."  Appeared  in  the  Baptist 
Hymnal,  1879. 

Mr.  Goadby  (1845-80)  was  the  son  of  a  Baptist  minister  at 
Leicester.  He  became  Baptist  pastor  at  Bluntisham,  Hunts, 
1868  ;  Watford,  1876,  and  was  a  young  minister  of  great 
promise. 

Hymn  606.  When  the  weary,  seeking  rest. 

DR.  H.  BONAR  (70). 

From  Hymns  of  Faith  and  Hope,  3rd  Series,  1867.  Written  for  the 
English  Presbyterian  Hymn-book. 

His  son  says,  '  My  father  was  asked  to  provide  words  to  the 
music,  and  was  specially  requested  to  furnish  a  fitting  refrain 
to  the  two  lovely  lines  of  Mendelssohn's,  with  which  Callcott's 
tune  "  Intercession"  ends.  In  searching  for  a  Scripture  theme 
containing  some  reiterated  phrase  almost  of  the  nature  of  a 
refrain,  he  was  struck  with  Solomon's  prayer  at  the  dedication 
of  the  temple  (2  Chron.  vi.),  in  which  every  separate  petition 
concludes  with  substantially  the  same  words.  This  idea  was 
taken  for  the  starting-point,  and  Solomon's  words,  "  Hear  Thou 
from  heaven  Thy  dwelling-place,  and  forgive,"  became  the 
familiar  couplet — 

Hear  then,  in  love,  O  Lord,  the  cry, 
In  heaven,  Thy  dwelling-place  on  high. 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    363 

This  foundation  once  provided,  the  rest  of  the  hymn  was 
built  upon  it.  This  hymn  my  father  liked,  as  he  often  told  me, 
as  well  as  any  he  had  ever  written ;  for  though  he  saw  flaws  in 
the  poetry,  the  subject  and  working  out  and  whole  tone  of  it 
seemed  to  him  far  better  than  many  other  of  his  pieces  which 
had  attained  greater  popularity '  (Hymns  of  Horatius  Bonar, 
p.  xxii.).  It  was  Bishop  Eraser  of  Manchester's  favourite 
hymn. 


Hymn  667.   God  of  pity,  God  of  grace. 

ELIZA  FANNY  MORRIS  (1821-74). 

Written  September  4,  18^7.  Appeared  in  Litany  form  in  her  77/4- 
Voice  and  the  Reply  (Worcester,  1858),  entitled  'The  Prayc-r  in  the 
Temple.' 

Miss  Goffe  was  born  in  London,  and  married  Josiah  Morris, 
ed'tor  of  the  Malvern  News,  in  1849.  A  poem  of  hers  on 
Kindness  to  Animals  gained  a  prize  offered  by  the  Band  of 
Hope  Union.  She  edited  a  Bible  Class  Hymn-book,  and  wrote 
the  words  for  her  husband's  School  Harmonics.  Mrs.  Morris 
says  that  there  is  '  a  regular  progression  of  Christian  experience 
running  through'  her  volume.  Its  first  part,  'The  Voice,'  has 
eighteen  pieces  ;  the  Reply,  '  Man's  answer  to  conscience,'  has 
eighty-eight  pieces. 

Hymn  008.  God  is  the  refuge  of  His  saints. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Fs.  xlvi.  1-5.  '  The  Church's  safety  and 
triumph  among  national  desolations.' 

Watts's  last  line  reads,  '  Built  on  His  truth,  and  arm'd  with  Pow'r.' 

Hymn  669.  Let  Zioii  in  her  King  rejoice. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Ps.  xlvi.  6-1 1.  'God  fights  for  His 
Church.' 

In  ver.  I  Watts  read,  'Though  tyrants  rage  and  kingdoms  rise.' 
Ver.  6,  '  sit  secure  '  is  changed  to  '  rest  secure.' 


364  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  670.  God,  our  hope  and  strength  abiding. 

JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A.  (85). 

A  version  of  Psalm  xlvi.  from  The  Psalter  or  Psalms  of  David ;  in 
English  Verse ;  By  a  Member  of  the  University  of  Ox/orJ,  which  Keble 
issued  in  1839. 

Hymn  671.  O  God,  the  help  of  all  Thy  saints. 

EDWARD  OSLER. 

From  the  Mitre  Hymn-book  ;  version  of  Psalm  x.  based  on  Tate  and 
Brady's. 

Mr.  Osier  was  born  at  Falmouth  in  1798,  and  was  house 
surgeon  at  Swansea  Infirmary,  1819-36.  He  removed  to 
London,  and  gave  himself  to  literary  work.  For  some  time 
he  was  associated  as  writer  and  editor  with  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knowledge.  In  1841  he  went  to  Truro  as 
editor  of  the  Royal  Cornwall  Gazette.  He  died  in  1863.  A 
stained-glass  window  was  erected  to  his  memory  in  Kenwyn 
Church  by  the  Cornish  clergy. 

In  1835-6  he  helped  Prebendary  Hall  in  the  preparation 
of  the  Mitre  Hymn-book^  for  which  he  wrote  ten  versions  of 
the  Psalms,  rewrote  five  more,  and  composed  fifty  hymns,  a 
few  of  them  rewritten.  The  Mitre  collection  had  a  large 
circulation,  and  had  a  mitre  stamped  on  its  cover. 

Hymn  672.  Great  is  our  redeeming  Lord. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Arminian  Magazine,  1797;  Works,  viii.  III.  Psalm  zlviii.  Ten 
verses  ;  I,  6,  9,  10  selected  from  it. 

Charles  Wesley  wrote  in  ver.  I,  '  His  Church  on  earth  should 
praise.' 

Hymn  673.  Glorious  things  of  thee  are  spoken. 
JOHN  NEWTON  (109). 

Olney  Hymns,  1779.  'Zion;  or  the  City  of  God.'  Isa.  xxxiii. 
2O-I. 

In  the  original  there  are  two  other  verses,  which  it  is  a  gain 
to  omit  from  this  glorious  burst  of  praise. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS    365 

Hymn  674.  By  the  holy  hills  surrounded. 
C.  J.  P.  SPITTA  (265);  translated  by  R.  MASSIE  (265). 

Psalter  und  Harfe,  2nd  Series,  1843.  'Gottes  Stadt  steht  festge- 
griindet'  is  based  on  Psalm  Ixxxvii.,  and  entitled  'The  City  of  God.' 
Spitta  wrote  it  to  one  of  the  great  German  chorales  in  Mendelssohn's 
St.  Paul. 

Hymn  675.  All  glory  to  our  gracious  Lord ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743  >  Works,  viii.  204.  Psalm  cxviii. 
Twenty-two  verses. 

Hymn  676.  None  is  like  Jeslmrun's  God. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1742  ;   Worts,   ii.   305.     Deut.  xxxiii. 
26-9.     The  last  three  verses  are  omitted. 
The  second  half  of  ver.  2  reads — • 

Sinner,  what  hast  thou  to  dread  ? 

Safe  from  all  impending  harms, 
God  hath  underneath  thee  spread 

His  everlasting  arms. 

Dr.  Osborn  says  '  the  more  euphonious  reading,  "  Round 
thee  and  beneath  are  spread,"  dates  from  1780.'  The  substi 
tution  in  ver.  2  of  'Israel 'for  'sinner,'  by  which  the  sense  is 
so  greatly  improved,  has  not  been  traced  beyond  1809. 

Hymn  677.  Who  in  the  Lord  confide. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743  ;    Works,  viii.  240.     Psalm  cxxv. 
Verses  3,  5,  6  are  omitted. 

Hymn  678.  Whom  Jesu's  blood  doth  sanctify. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works, 
ix.  112.  Deut.  xxxiii.  3. 


366  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

The  first  verse  reads — 

The  people  out  of  Egypt  brought, 

Whose  burdens  He  removed, 
Whom  with  a  thousand  pangs  He  bought, 

More  than  His  life  He  loved. 
Stronger  than  death  His  love  was  shown : 

And  still  He  doth  defend, 
And  having  freely  loved  His  own, 

Will  love  them  to  the  end. 

Hymn  679.  The  Church's  one  foundation. 
SAMUEL  JOHN  STONE,  M.A.  (356). 

Written  in  1866,  and  published  in  Lyra  Fidelium,  headed  'The 
Holy  Catholic  Church  ;  The  Communion  of  Saints.' 

Bishop  Gray  of  Capetown's  defence  of  the  Catholic  Faith 
against  Bishop  Colenso's  teaching  stirred  Mr.  Stone  to  write 
this  hymn.  Ver.  3,  '  Though  with  a  scornful  wonder,'  is  an 
expression  of  the  writer's  strong  feeling  as  to  this  controversy. 

The  fact  that  the  hymn  was  chosen  as  the  Processional 
at  the  cathedral  services  at  Canterbury,  Westminster,  and 
St.  Paul's,  when  the  bishops  met  for  the  Lambeth  Conference 
of  1888,  led  Bishop  Nelson,  of  New  Zealand,  to  write — 

Bard  of  the  Church,  in  these  divided  days 

For  words  of  harmony  to  thee  be  praise  : 

Of  love  and  oneness  thou  dost  strike  the  chords, 

And  set  our  thoughts  and  prayers  to  tuneful  words. 

The  Church's  one  Foundation  thou  didst  sing, 

Beauty  and  Bands  to  her  thy  numbers  bring. 

Through  church  and  chancel,  aisle,  and  transept  deep, 

In  fullest  melody  thy  watch-notes  sweep ; 

Now  in  the  desert,  now  upon  the  main, 

In  mine  and  forest,  and  on  citied  plain  : 

From  Lambeth  towers  to  far  New  Zealand's  coast, 

Bard  of  the  Church,  thy  blast  inspires  the  host. 

One  who  was  present  says,  'The  effect  of  the  hymn  at 
St.  Paul's  on  this  occasion  (in  1888)  was  almost  appalling. 
Sung  by  a  large  congregation,  some  people  say  this  hymn  was 
really  more  than  they  could  bear.  "  It  made  them  feel  weak 
at  the  knees,  their  legs  trembled,  and  they  felt  as  though  they 
were  going  to  collapse."' 


THE   STORY   OF  THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    367 

Hymn  680.  Children  of  the  heavenly  King. 
J.  CENNICK  (100). 

Appeared  in  twelve  verses  in  Sacred  Hymns  for  the  Children  of  God 
in  the  Days  of  their  Pilgrimage,  1742,  entitled  'Encouragement  to 
Praise.'  The  abbreviated  form  in  six  verses  was  given  in  Whitefield's 
Collection,  1753. 

Hymn  081.  All  praise  to  our  redeeming  Lord. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of Jesits  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  252.  'At  Meeting  of  Friends.1 
It  was  originally  in  eight-line  verses. 

Hymn  082.  How  good  and  pleasant  'tis  to  sec. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767,  No.  12;   Works,  vii.  17. 

Hymn  083.  Behold,  how  good  a  thing. 

CHARI.F.S  WKSLEY  (i). 

Hymnt  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  viii.  250.  Psalm  cxxxiii. 
Eleven  verses. 

Hymn  081.  How  happy  are  we. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767;  Works,  vii.  175.  '  To  be 
sung  at  the  tea-table.' 

The  last  verse  is  omitted — 

Come,  Lord,  from  the  skies, 

And  command  us  to  rise 
Ready  made  for  the  mansions  above ; 

With  our  Head  to  ascend, 

And  eternity  spend 
In  a  rapture  of  heavenly  love. 

John  Wesley  was  a  delightful  companion — 'always  at  home, 
and  quite  at  liberty.'  When  he  visited  his  friends  he  poured 


368  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

forth  his  rich  store  of  anecdotes,  and  generally  closed  the 
conversation  with  two  or  three  verses  of  some  hymn  strikingly 
appropriate  to  the  occasion.  This  faculty  often  astonished 
those  who  knew  him  best.  His  memory  '  was  a  rich  repository ' 
of  his  brother's  hymns.  That  habit  illustrates  the  heading,  'To 
be  sung  at  the  tea-table.' 

Hymn  685.  Jesus  is  our  common  Lord. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1742;    Works,   ii.  218.     'Receiving  a 
Christian  Friend.' 

These  are  the  first  two  verses — 

1.  Welcome  friend,  in  that  great  name 

Whence  our  every  blessing  flows, 
Enter,  and  increase  the  flame 
\Vhich  in  all  our  bosoms  flows. 

2.  Sent  of  God,  we  thee  receive : 

Hail  the  providential  guest ! 
If  in  Jesus  we  believe, 

Let  us  on  His  mercies  feast. 

Then  begins  the  hymn  as  given  here. 

In  ver.  3  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  'Till  we  join  the  host  above.' 

Hymn  686.  Our  friendship  sanctify  and  guide. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1749;    Works,  v.  409.     '  Hymns  for 
Christian  Friends,'  No.  4  in  a  series  of  fifty-five.     It  begins — 

Author  of  friendship's  sacred  tie, 
Regard  us  with  a  gracious  eye, 
Two  souls  whom  Thou  hast  joined  in  one. 

Half  of  the  hymn  is  given  here.     In  ver.  4  the  original  reading  is — 
In  both  Thy  glorious  self  reveal, 
Both  with  the  fire  of  love  baptize. 

Hymn  687.  Come,  let  us  ascend 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1749;  Works,  v.  457.      'Hymns  for 
Christian  Friends,'  No.  41. 

The  last  two  verses  are  omitted. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    369 

John  Fletcher  says  at  the  close  of  his  Last  Check  to 
Antinomianism,  'When  the  triumphal  chariot  of  perfect  love 
gloriously  carries  you  to  the  top  of  perfection's  hill ;  when  you 
are  raised  far  above  the  common  heights  of  the  perfect ; 
when  you  are  almost  translated  into  glory,  like  Elijah, — then 
you  may  sing  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Madan,  and  the  numerous 
body  of  imperfectionists  who  use  his  collection  of  Psalms,  £c. — 

Who  in  Jesus  confide, 
They  are  bold  to  outride 
The  storms  of  affliction  beneath. 

But  when  you  cannot  follow  Mr.  Madan,  and  the  imperfec 
tionists  of  the  Lock  Chapel,  to  those  rapturous  heights  of 
perfection,  you  need  not  give  up  your  shield.  You  may  still 
rank  among  the  perfect,  if  you  can  heartily  join  in  this  version 
of  Psalm  cxxxi. — 

Lord,  Thou  dost  the  grace  impart, 
Poor  in  spirit,  meek  in  heart, 
I  will  as  my  Master  be, 
Rooted  in  humility.' 

Hymn  GSS.  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  hear. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 740 ;  Works,  i.  356.  '  The  Com 
munion  of  Saints.' 

A  hymn  in  six  parts,  with  thirty-nine  eight-line  verses. 

Hymn  089.  Christ,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  361.  From  the  same 
hymn  as  688.  Part  IV. 


Hymn  690.  Jesus,  united  by  Thy  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;   Works,  ii.   138.     'A  Prayer  for 
Persons  joined  in  Fellowship.'     Part  IV. 
The  last  three  verses  are  omitted. 

2  U 


370  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  691.  Brethren  in  Christ,  and  well  beloved. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  340.     'On  the  admis 
sion  of  any  person  into  the  Society. ' 
Two  verses  are  omitted. 

2.  'Scaped  from  the  world,  redeemed  from  sin, 

By  fiends  pursued,  by  men  abhorr'd, 
Come  in,  poor  fugitive,  come  in, 
And  share  the  portion  of  thy  Lord. 

8.  In  part  we  only  know  Thee  here, 

But  wait  Thy  coming  from  above  : — 
And  I  shall  then  behold  Thee  near, 
And  I  shall  all  be  lost  in  love. 

The  hymn  begins  '  Brother  in  Christ.'  The  change  to  the  plural  in 
all  the  verses  was  made  for  the  1831  Supplement  to  the  Methodist 
hymn-book. 

Such  a  hymn  promises  to  be  more  and  more  useful  as  the 
service  for  the  reception  of  new  members  gains  greater  hold  on 
Methodism. 

Hymn  692.  Thou  God  of  truth  and  love. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1749;    Works,  v.   422.     'Hymns  for 
Christian  Friends,'  No.  13. 
The  last  verse  is  omitted. 

On  September  u,  1803,  Jabez  Bunting,  then  a  young 
London  minister  of  twenty-four,  returned  home  one  Sunday 
evening  after  a  hard  day's  work  in  the  Borough  and  at  Rother- 
hithe.  His  superintendent,  Joseph  Taylor,  arrived  a  little 
later,  and  said  it  had  been  the  hardest  day's  work  he  had 
performed  since  he  left  Cornwall  many  years  before.  They 
tried  to  rouse  each  other  by  singing,  '  O  may  Thy  Spirit  seal, 
to  Beaumont's  tune,  which  was  a  favpurite  with  them  both,  but 
had  not  strength  enough  to  finish  the  verse ;  so  they  gave  it 
up  and  began  to  talk  about  Macclesfield. 

James  Smetham  writes,  February  u,  1872,  'For  a  long 
time  past  I  have  seen  into  a  something  most  wondrous,  in  what 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    371 

I  fear  so  many  think  the  accident  of  our  circles  of  friends.  It 
is  no  accident.  If  it  be  true,  "  He  that  receiveth  you,  receiveth 
Me,'  in  one  sense,  it  is  also  in  this.  God  draws  nigh  in  our 
friend-circles. 

Why  hast  Thou  cast  our  lot 

In  the  same  age  and  place? 
And  why  together  brought 

To  see  each  other's  face  ? 

We  are  sent  to  operate  on  each  other  and  to  be  operated 
on  ;  "diamond  cut  diamond."  For  want  of  this  recognition  of 
"  God  with  us  "  in  our  friends  great  harm  is  done.  Temper  is 
allowed  to  thwart  God's  intentions,  neglect  is  allowed  to  run  it 
to  waste,  insensibility  to  miss  its  profoundest  lessons  ;  so  life 
remains  a  mean  and  weary  thing.' 

Hymn  693.  Jesus,  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1749  ;   Works,    v.    33.     '  Hymns  for 
Believers,'  No.  24. 

Two  verses  are  omitted. 

Hymn  694.  Try  us,  O  God,  and  search  the  ground. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1742;   Works,  ii.   136.     'A  Prayer  for 
Persons  joined  in  Fellowship.'     Part  I.     Hymn  690  is  from  Part  IV. 
In  ver.  5  the  original  is  '  sinless  here  below.' 

Hymn  695.  Jesus,  soft,  harmonious  name. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;   Works,  v.  475.     'For  Christian 
Friends,'  No.  53. 

Ver.  3,  « See  the  souls  that  hang  on  Thee,'  is  omitted. 

Hymn  696.  Come,  Wisdom,  Power,  and  Grace 
divine. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families,  1767  ;   Works,  vii.  43.     No.  39. 


372  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  697.  Centre  of  our  Lopes  Thou  art. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  426.  'For  Christian 
Friends,'  No.  16. 

The  first  verse  is  omitted — 

Author  of  the  peace  unknown, 

Lover  of  my  friend  and  me, 
Who  of  twain  hast  made  us  one, 

One  preserve  us  still  in  Thee, 
All  our  heighten'd  blessings  bless, 
Crown  our  hopes  with  full  success. 

Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Fill  us  now  with  holy  fires.' 
'Cemented  by  love  divine'  was  felicitously  changed  in  1904  into 
'Joined  in  one  by  love  divine.' 

Hymn  698.  Jesus,  Thou  sovereign  Lord  of  all. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  \.  174.  The  fourth  of  a 
series  of  six  hymns,  headed  '  Desiring  to  Pray.'  Five  verses  are 
omitted. 

Charles  Wesley's  last  line  was  daring — '  And,  if  Thou  canst,  deny 
the  rest.' 

Hymn  699.  Shepherd  divine,  our  wants  relieve. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 749 ;  Works,  v.  1 76.  '  Desiring  to 
Pray.'  Hymn  5. 

Hymn  700.  Jesus,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  481.  'Primitive 
Christianity.'  This  hymn  is  Part  II.,  verses  I,  2,  6,  10,  II. 

Charles  Wesley  wrote,  'From  every  sinful  wrinkle  free  '  in  ver.  5. 
The  hymn  was  first  published  at  the  close  of  Wesley's  Earnest  Appeal 
to  Men  of  Reason  and  Religion,  1743. 


THE   STORY   OP   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    373 

After  dinner  John  Fletcher  often   sang  several  verses  of 
'  Primitive  Christianity,'  particularly  that — 

Oh  that  my  Lord  would  count  me  meet 
To  wash  His  dear  disciples'  feet! 

Sometimes  he  read  many  of  those  verses  with  tears  streaming 
down  his  face. — Wesley's  Life  of  Mr.  Fletcher. 

Hymn  701.  O  God  of  our  forefathers,  hear. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745,  No.  125  ;    Works,  iii.  309. 

Hymn  702.  From  every  stormy  wind  that  blows. 
HUGH  STOWELL,  M.A. 

'Peace  at   the   Mercy-Seat,'  in    7 he   Winter's   Wrtath,    1828,   an 
illustrated  annual,  which  lived  from  1828  to  1832. 
The  last  verse  is  here  omitted — 

Oh  !  let  my  hand  forget  her  skill, 
My  tongue  be  silent,  cold,  and  still, 
This  throbbing  heart  forget  to  beat, 
If  I  forget  the  mercy-seat. 

Canon  Stowell  was  the  son  of  the  Rector  of  Ballaugh,  near 
Ramsey  ;  was  born  at  Douglas  in  1799,  and  in  1831  became 
Rector  of  Christ  Church,  Salford,  which  had  been  built  through 
his  efforts.  In  1845  he  was  Hon.  Canon  in  Chester  Cathedral, 
and  in  1851  Rural  Dean  of  Eccles.  He  was  well  known  as  a 
preacher  and  author,  and  a  powerful  champion  of  evangelical 
truth.  He  wrote  the  Jubilee  Hymn  for  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society.  He  died  in  1865. 

In  1831  he  published  A  Selection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  in 
which  nine  of  his  own  hymns  appeared.  Thirty-four  others 
appeared  in  the  enlarged  edition  of  1864. 

His  son  says,  '  My  father's  last  utterances  abundantly 
showed  his  love  of,  and  delight  in,  prayer.  Almost  every  word 
was  prayer,  couched  for  the  most  part  in  the  language  of  Holy 
Scripture,  or  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  these  prayers 
were  characterized  by  the  deepest  humility  and  most  entire 
self-distrust.  Equally  apparent  was  his  simple  and  firm  reliance 
on  his  Saviour.  To  the  question,  "Is  Jesus  with  you  and 


374  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

precious  to  you?"  the  answer  was,  "Yes,  so  that  He  is  all 
in  all  to  me."  During  his  waking  moments  he  frequently 
exclaimed,  "Very  much  peace,"  and  several  times,  "No  fear," 
"Abundance  of  joy,"  "A  very  present  help  in  time  of  trouble." 
The  morning  of  his  death  the  only  articulate  words  that  we 
could  catch,  uttered  two  or  three  hours  before  his  decease, 
were,  "  Amen  !  Amen  ! " 

His  watchword  at  the  gates  of  death, 
He  enters  heaven  by  prayer. 

At  one  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  God's  day  of  rest,  without 
a  struggle,  and  without  the  shadow  of  pain  crossing  his  peaceful 
countenance,  he  entered  into  rest.' 

Hymn  703.  Jesus,  where'er  Thy  people  meet. 

WILLIAM  COWPER  (60). 

Olney  Hymns,  1779.  Ver.  3,  'Dear  Shepherd'  is  the  original 
reading.  Ver.  5  of  the  original  reads — 

Behold,  at  Thy  commanding  word 
We  stretch  the  curtain  and  the  cord  ; 
Come  Thou,  and  fill  this  wider  space, 
And  bless  us  with  a  large  increase. 

John  Newton  says,  in  April,  1769,  'We  are  going  to  remove 
our  prayer-meeting  to  the  great  room  in  the  Great  House '  (an 
uninhabited  house  at  Olney,  belonging  to  Lord  Dartmouth). 
'  It  is  a  noble  place,  with  a  parlour  behind  it,  and  holds  130 
people  conveniently.  Pray  for  us,  that  the  Lord  may  be  in 
the  midst  of  us  there,  and  that  as  He  has  now  given  us  a 
Rehoboth,  and  has  made  room  for  us,  so  He  may  be  pleased 
to  add  to  our  numbers,  and  make  us  fruitful  in  the  land.' 
Newton's  '  O  Lord,  our  languid  frames  inspire,'  and  this 
hymn  of  Cowper's,  were  written  for  this  occasion.  Cowper 
used  to  take  part  in  and  sometimes  lead  these  meetings.  His 
friend  the  Rev.  William  Bull,  Independent  minister  at  Newport 
Pagnell,  quotes  the  opinion  of  some  one  who  was  present,  that 
he  'never  heard  praying  that  equalled  Mr.  Cowper's.'  In  July, 
1772,  Newton  says,  '  I  preached  at  the  Great  House  from 
Heb.  ii.  18,  to  which  I  was  led  by  Mr.  Cowper's  prayer.'  Next 
day  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  '  Dear  Sir  Cowper  is  as  much  in  the 
depths  as  ever.  The  manner  of  his  prayer  last  night  led  me 
to  speak  from  Heb.  ii.  18.  I  do  not  think  he  was  much  the 
better  for  it,  but  perhaps  it  might  suit  others.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    375 

Hymn  701.  Come,  Thou  omniscient  Son  of  Man. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749 ;  Works,  v.  315.  '  Hymns  for 
those  that  wait  for  Full  Redemption."  'For  any  who  think  they  have 
already  attained.'  Hymn  22.  Three  verses  omitted. 

Hymn  705.  Author  of  faith,  we  seek  Thy  face. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  233.  'Hymns  of 
Intercession.'  Nine  verses. 

Hymn  700.  Jesu,  to  Thee  our  hearts  we  lift. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Jfymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  465.  'At  meeting  of 
Friends.'  Two  verses  omitted. 

Ver.  3  is  suggested  by  the  lines  — 

All  are  not  lost  !     There  he,  Who  faith  prefer, 
Though  few,  and  piety  to  God  ! 

which  Wesley  quotes  in  his  Earnest  Appeal,  §  52. 
Ver.  4  reads — 

The  grace  which  kept  us  to  this  hour 

Shall  keep  us  faithful  to  the  end  ! 
When,  clothed  with  majesty  and  power.  .  .  . 

Hymn  707.  Father  of  everlasting  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Petition  and  Thanksgiving  for  the  Promise  of  the  Father % 
1746  ;   Works,  iv.  165.     The  first  hymn  in  the  pamphlet. 
Verses  2-5  are  omitted. 

Hymn  708.  O  Thou  our  Husband,  Brother,  Friend. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1749;    Works,  v.   229.     'Hymns   of 

Intercession,'  No.  2. 


37^  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

The  last  two  verses  are  omitted.  Some  interesting  changes  were 
made  in  the  Large  Hymn-book.  The  original  readings  are — 

Ver.  I.  Grateful,  unceasing  sacrifice. 

Ver.  3.  The  work  of  faith  with  power  fulfil. 

Ver.  4.  And  pure  as  God  Himself  is  pure. 

Ver.  6.  And  wash  and  make  us  throughly  clean, 
And  change,  and  wholly  sanctify. 

Ver.  7.  And  free  from  every  touch  of  blame. 

No  wonder  John  Wesley  regretted  that  his  brother  had  not  given 
him  the  opportunity  of  touching  ver.  4  before  the  1749  volumes 
appeared. 

Hymn  709.  Happy  the  souls  that  first  believed. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  479.  'Primitive 
Christianity.'  First  published  at  the  end  of  Wesley's  Earnest  Appeal, 

1743- 

This  is  from  Part  I.,  verses  I,  2,  6,  7,  II,  12,  13.  See  Hymn  700, 
which  is  from  Part  II. 

On  July  u,  1751,  Charles  Wesley  dined  at  Darlaston,  once 
the  scene  of  the  fiercest  persecution.  He  says,  '  The  people  are 
a  pattern  to  the  flock — 

Meek,  simple  followers  of  the  Lamb ; 
They  live  and  speak  and  think  the  same. 

By  their  patience  and  steadfastness  of  faith,  they  have 
conquered  their  fiercest  adversaries.  God  gives  them  rest, 
and  they  walk  in  His  fear  and  comforts,  increasing  daily  both 
in  grace  and  number.  The  Society  was  all  in  a  flame  of  love.' 


Hymn  710.  Jesus,  Lord,  we  look  to  Thee. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  '•>   Works,  v.  52.     '  For  a  Family.' 
Ver.  4.  Let  us  each  for  other  care, 

Each  his  brother's  burden  bear, 

has  been  happily  touched  by  John  Wesley. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS    377 

Hymn  711.  Unchangeable,  almighty  Lord. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  333.  'He  that 
bclieveth  shall  not  make  haste.'  Isa.  xxviii.  16.  Part  III.  Verses  3 
and  4  are  omitted. 

Hymn  712.  Father,  at  Thy  footstool  see. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  408.  'Hymns  for 
Christian  Friends,'  No.  3.  Last  two  verses  omitted. 

Ver.  I.  Father,  at  Thy  footstool  sec 

Two  who  now  are  one  in  Thee. 

Hymn  713.  Christ,  our  Head,  gone  up  on  high. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740  ;  Works,  i.  359.  '  The  Communion 
of  Saints.'  John  xvii.  20,  &c.  The  first  half  of  ver.  I  ;  second  half  of 
ver.  2,  and  ver.  7. 

Hymn  714.  God  of  love,  that  hoar'st  the  prayer. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747;  Works,  iv.  228.  Six  stanzas  of  eight 
lines. 

Ver.  6,  '  Keep  us  humble  and  unknown." 

Hymn  715.  Let  God,  who  comforts  the  distressed. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  of  Intercession  for  all  Mankind,  1758;  Works,  vi.  III. 
1  For  all  mankind.' 

In  ver.  I  the  original  is,  'The  inexplicable  groan.' 

Hymn  716.  God  of  mercy,  God  of  grace. 

HENRY  F.  LYTE  (7). 
Tsalm  bcvii.  in  The  Spirit  of  the  Psalms,  1834. 


378  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  717.  Abide  among  us  with  Thy  grace. 

JOSHUA  STEGMANN,  D.D. ;  translated  by  Miss  WINKWORTH 

(19). 

'  Ach  bleib  mit  deiner  Gnade  '  appeared  in  his  Suspiria  Temporu?nt 
1628,  as  a  'Closing  Hymn.'  Its  keynote  is  the  'Abide  with  us'  of 
Luke  xxiv.  It  was  a  favourite  hymn  of  Friedrich  Wilhelm  IV  of 
Prussia. 

Miss  Winkworth's  translation  is  in  her  Lyra  Germamca,  2nd  Series, 
1858. 

The  writer  was  the  son  of  a  Lutheran  pastor  at  Siilzfeld. 
He  was  born  in  1588,  trained  at  Leipzig  University,  and 
became  Professor  of  Theology  at  Rinteln  in  1621.  The  out 
break  of  war  compelled  him  to  leave  his  post,  and  after  his 
return  the  Benedictine  monks  claimed  the  property  formerly 
belonging  to  the  nunnery,  which  had  been  devoted  to  paying 
the  stipends  of  the  Lutheran  professors.  They  sent  soldiers 
to  Stegmann's  house  to  demand  that  he  should  refund  his 
salary,  and  annoyed  him  in  every  way.  Soon  after  he  was 
seized  with  fever,  and  died  in  1632. 


Hymn  718.  Jesus,  with  Thy  church  abide. 

THOMAS  B.  POLLOCK,  M.A.  (253),  and  others. 
In  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1875.     '  For  the  Church.' 

Hymn  719.  How  large  the  promise,  how  divine. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs  t  1 709.  '  Abraham's  blessing  on  the 
Gentiles.'  Gen.  xvii.  7  ;  Mark  x.  14.  Some  happy  revisions  have 
been  made.  In  ver.  2  the  word  '  of  His  extensive  love '  is  changed 
to  'unbounded.1 

Hymn  720.  See  Israel's  gentle  Shepherd  stand. 
PHILIP  DODDRIDGE  (95). 

Published  1 75 5,  headed  'Christ's  condescending  regard  to  little 
children.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    379 

Hymn  721.  O  crucified,  triumphant  Lord ! 

W.  M.  BUNTING  (249). 
Baptismal  Hymn.     Eph.  iv.  5  ;  Acts  xvi.  33. 

Hymn  722.  Lord  of  all,  with  pure  intent. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.);   Works^  xi.  119.     'They 
brought  Him  to  Jerusalem  to  present  Him,'  &c.     Luke  ii.  22. 
The  original  is  written  in  the  singular — 

Ver.  I.    From  his  tendcrest  infancy. 
Ver.  2.   Jesus,  in  my  infant  dwell. 

Hymn  723.  Blessed  Jesus,  here  we  stand. 

BENJAMIN  SCHMOLCK  (1672-1737) ;  translated  by  Miss  WINK- 
WORTH  (19). 

1  Liebster  Jesu  wir  sind  hicr  Deinem  Worte  nachzulebcn '  appeared 
in  his  Hfilige  Flammen,  1709,  entitled  'Seasonable  Reflections  of  the 
Sponsors  on  their  way  with  the  Child  to  Baptism.' 

Miss  Winkworth's  translation,  which  omits  two  stanzas  of  the 
original,  is  in  her  Lyra  Gcrrnanica,  and  Series,  1858. 

Schmolck  was  the  son  of  a  Lutheran  pastor  in  Silesia. 
After  his  return  from  the  Gymnasium  at  Lauban  in  1688,  he 
preached  a  sermon  which  so  impressed  the  patron  of  his  father's 
living,  that  he  made  him  an  allowance  to  become  a  theological 
student  at  Leipzig.  He  became  his  father's  assistant,  and  in 
1702  Lutheran  pastor  at  Schwcidnitz,  where  he  spent  the  rest 
of  his  life.  His  exhausting  labours  brought  on  a  stroke  of 
paralysis  seven  years  before  his  death.  By  the  peace  of  West 
phalia  (1648),  Schweidnitz  was  allowed  only  one  Lutheran 
church  outside  the  walls,  built  of  timber  and  clay,  with  no 
tower  or  bells.  Its  three  clergy  had  to  care  for  thirty-six 
villages,  and  could  not  give  the  Sacrament  to  a  sick  person 
without  permission  from  the  Roman  Catholic  priest. 

Schmolck  was  a  popular  preacher,  a  zealous  pastor,  and  a 
man  of  great  tact  and  discretion.  His  devotional  books  spread 
his  fame  over  Germany.  He  became  the  most  popular  hymn- 
writer  of  his  day.  Besides  cantatas  and  occasional  pieces,  he 


380  THE   METHODIST  HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

wrote  nine  hundred  hymns.  '  A  deep  and  genuine  personal  re 
ligion,  and  a  fervent  love  to  the  Saviour,  inspire  his  best  hymns  ; 
and  as  they  are  not  simply  thought  out  but  felt,  they  come  from 
the  heart  to  the  heart.  The  best  of  them  are  also  written  in  a 
clear,  flowing,  forcible,  natural,  popular  style,  and  abound  in 
sententious  sayings,  easily  to  be  remembered.' 

This    English    version   was   sung  at  the  baptism   of  the 
Princess  Victoria  of  Hesse  at  Windsor  Castle,  1863. 

Hymn  724.  Come,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 

Honour  the  means  ordained  by  Thee. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  388.     'At  the  Baptism 
of  Adults.' 

Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Honour  the  means  enjoin? d  by  Thee.' 

Hymn  725.  Stand,  soldier  of  the  cross. 

BISHOP  BlCKERSTETH  (404). 
Written  for  Hymnal  Companion,  1870. 

Hymn  726.  Jesu,  at  whose  supreme  command. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper ; 
1745  ;  Works,  iii.  237.  No.  30.  The  sixth  verse  is  omitted — 

The  grace  which  sure  salvation  brings 

Let  us  herewith  receive  ; 
Satiate  the  hungry  with  good  things, 

The  hidden  manna  give. 

In  ver.  3  '  Affix  the  sacramental  seal '  is  the  original  reading. 

Hymn  727.  Victim  divine,  Thy  grace  we  claim. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745;  Works,  iii.  301.  No.  116, 
section  iv.  'The  Holy  Eucharist  as  it  Implies  a  Sacrifice.'  Based  on 
Dr.  Brevint's  heading  to  his  section  6,  '  Concerning  the  Sacrament,  as  it 
is  a  Sacrifice.'  Verses  3  and  4  are  omitted. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    381 

In  ver.  2  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  And  spreads  salvation  all 
around.' 

The  hymn  is  based  on  Dr.  Brevint's  words,  '  This  Victim 
having  been  offered  up  in  the  fulness  of  times,  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  world,  which  is  Christ's  great  temple,  and  having  been 
thence  carried  up  to  heaven,  which  is  His  sanctuary,  from 
thence  spreads  salvation  all  around,  as  the  burnt  offering  did 
its  smoke.  And  thus  His  body  and  blood  have  everywhere, 
but  especially  at  this  Sacrament,  a  true  and  real  presence. 
When  He  offered  Himself  upon  earth,  the  vapour  of  His 
atonement  went  up,  and  darkened  the  very  sun  ;  and  by  rend 
ing  the  great  veil  it  clearly  showed  He  had  made  a  way  into 
heaven.  And  since  He  is  gone  up  He  sends  down  to  earth  the 
graces  that  spring  continually  both  from  His  everlasting 
sacrifice,  and  from  the  continual  intercession  that  attends  it. 
So  that  we  need  not  say,  "  Who  will  go  up  into  heaven  ?  "  since, 
without  either  ascending  or  descending,  this  sacred  body  of 
Jesus  fills  with  atonement  and  blessing  the  remotest  part  of  this 
temple.' 

Daniel  Brevint  was  born  in  Jersey  in  1616,  studied  at  the 
Protestant  University  at  Saumur,  came  to  Oxford,  and  was 
elected  Fellow  of  Jesus  College  in  1637.  He  was  deprived  of 
his  fellowship  by  the  Parliamentary  Commissioners,  and  re 
turned  to  Jersey.  He  became  pastor  of  a  French  Protestant 
congregation  in  Normandy,  and  chaplain  to  Marshal  Turenne. 
In  1660  he  returned  to  England,  and  received  a  stall  in  Durham 
Cathedral  ;  was  made  D.D.  of  Oxford,  1663  ;  Dean  of  Lincoln 
in  1682.  He  died  at  Lincoln  in  1695.  His  treatise  on  The 
Christian  Sacrament  and  Sacrifice  (1673)  was  written  in  Paris 
at  the  request  of  the  princesses  of  Tourennc  and  Bouillon,  who 
wished  to  see  the  subject  of  the  Lord's  Supper  treated  in  a 
practical  and  devotional  manner.  '  Jerusalem,'  they  said,  '  is 
so  flanked  about  with  bastions  that  the  temple  can  hardly  be 
seen.'  The  work  was  written  without  taking  notice  of  con 
troversial  matter,  which  the  author  had  already  discussed  in 
The  Depth  and  Mystery  of  the  Roman  Mass,  and  treated  two 
years  later  in  Saul  and  Samuel  at  Endor ;  or,  the  new  ways  of 
Salvation  and  Service  which  usually  tempt  men  to  Rome,  and 
detain  them  there,  truly  represented  and  refuted.  Dean  Brevint 
lives  in  Charles  Wesley's  Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper  and 
Toplady's  '  Rock  of  Ages.' 

Dr.  Osborn  points  out  how  '  the  instructions  given  in  a 


382  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

despised  Protestant  conventicle  in  that  splendid  court  [of  Paris] 
are  echoed  to-day  from  the  ends  of  the  earth.  The  genius  of 
the  Wesleys  has  given  wings  to  the  thought  and  feeling  of  Dr. 
Brevint ;  the  handful  of  corn  shakes  like  Lebanon.' 

Hymn  728.  The  promise  of  My  Father's  love. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.  It  is  No.  3  in  Book  III. :  '  Pre 
pared  for  the  holy  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper,'  and  is  headed 
'  The  New  Testament  in  the  Blood  of  Christ ;  or,  The  New  Covenant 
Sealed.' 

Watts  laid  emphasis  in  the  preface  to  his  Psalms  of  David 
on  the  small  number  of  psalms  sung  at  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  '  Though,  to  speak  my  own  sense  freely,  I  do 
not  think  David  ever  wrote  a  psalm  of  sufficient  glory  and 
sweetness  to  represent  the  blessings  of  this  holy  institution.' 

Hymn  729.  Come,  all  who  truly  bear. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745  ;  Works,  iii.  224.     No.  13. 

Hymn  730.  Come,  Thou  everlasting  Spirit. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745  ;  Works,  iii.  226.     No.  16. 

Hymn  731.  Lamb  of  God,  whose  dying  love. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745  ;  Works,  iii.  228.     No.  20. 
Ver.  4,  'Never  will  we  hence  depart,'  is  omitted. 
In  the  first  line  '  dying '  is  a  happy  substitute  for  '  bleeding.'    John 
Wesley  changed  'thus'  into  'now'  in  1780. 

Hymn  732.  Let  all  who  truly  bear. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Lara's  Supper,  1745  ;  Works,  iii.  218.  No.  4.  In 
four  stanzas  of  eight  lines.  The  first  half  of  verses  I,  2,  3  ;  the  second 
half  of  ver.  4. 

By  these  omissions  the  whole  hymn  is  lifted  up  to  a  higher  grade. 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    383 

Hymn  733.  In  memory  of  the  Saviour's  love. 
THOMAS  COTTERILL  (168). 

'Blest  with  the  presence  of  their  God,'  a  hymn  of  six  verses,  headed 
'For  the  Sacrament,'  appeared  in  a  Selection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
Uttoxeter,  1805,  edited  by  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Stubbs.  Cotterill  and 
others  assisted  in  the  compilation.  This  cento,  verses  3,  5,  6,  appeared 
in  R.  Whittingham's  Collection,  1835. 

Hymn  734.  Be  known  to  us  in  breaking  bread. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

In  his  Christian  Psalmist,  1825,  entitled  '  The  Family  Table.'  Now 
used  as  a  Sacramental  hymn. 


Hymn  735.  Here,  O  my  Lord,  I  see  Thee  face  to 
face. 

DR.  H.  BONAR  (70). 

In  Hymns  of  Faith  and  Hope,  1st  Series,  1857,  headed  'This  do  in 
remembrance  of  Me.' 

Dr.  Bonar  used  to  go  once  a  year  to  assist  his  elder  brother, 
Dr.  John  James  Bonar,  of  St.  Andrew's  Free  Church, 
Greenock,  at  his  Communion  Service.  At  his  request,  this 
hymn  was  sent  and  read  aloud  after  the  Communion  on  the 
first  Sunday  in  October,  1855.  It  was  printed  afterwards  with 
a  memorandum  of  the  various  services.  There  are  four  more 
verses  in  the  original. 


Hymn  736.  According  to  Thy  gracious  word. 
JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

In  his  Christian  Psalmist,  1825,  with  the  motto  'This  do  in  remem 
brance  of  Me.'     Luke  xxii.  19. 

From  its  first  appearance  this  has  been  one  of  the  most 
popular  Communion  hymns. 


384  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  737.  Bread  of  heaven,  on  Thee  I  feed. 

JOSIAH   CONDER. 

In  his  Star  of  the  East,  1824,  with  other  poems,  chiefly  religious 
and  domestic,  headed  'For  the  Eucharist,'  and  with  the  words  from 
St.  John's  Gospel,  '  I  am  the  Living  Bread  which  came  down  from 
heaven.  Whoso  eateth  My  flesh  and  drinketh  My  blood,  hath  eternal 
life.  I  am  the  true  Vine.'  In  the  MS.  the  fourth  line  of  ver.  2  reads, 
'From  Thy  veins  I  drink  and  live,'  which  is  happily  changed,  'To 
Thy  cross  I  look  and  live.' 

Mr.  Conder  (1789-1855)  was  proprietor  and  editor  of  the 
Eclectic  Review  and  the  Patriot  newspaper  ;  wrote  many  works 
in  prose  and  poetry,  edited  the  Congregational  Hymn-book, 
1836,  and  other  collections.  His  own  hymns  are  marked  by 
great  beauty  of  expression  and  deep  spirituality. 

Canon  Ellerton  says  Mr.  Conder  will  always  be  known  to 
Church  people  by  this  '  lovely  '  hymn,  '  which  might  have  been 
written  by  Bonaventura ;  and  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  the 
power  which  deep  and  true  devotion  and  living  faith  have  to 
lift  a  man  above  the  level  of  his  traditional  or  intellectual 
belief,  and  open  to  his  inward  eye  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom 
of  God.' 

Hymn  738.  Bread  of  the  world,  in  mercy  broken. 
REGINALD  HEBER,  D.D.  (28). 

First  published  in  his  Hymns ;  1827,  headed  'Before  the  Sacra 
ment.' 

Hymn  739.  By  Christ  redeemed,  in  Christ  restored. 
GEORGE  RAWSON  (45). 

Written  in  1857  for  Baptist  Psatms  and  Hymns,  1858.  'The 
Lord's  Supper.'  It  is  a  hymn  of  unusual  tenderness  and  depth  of 
thought. 

Hymn  740.  Come,  and  let  us  sweetly  join. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  350.  'The  Love-Feast.' 
Five  parts,  twenty-two  eight-line  verses. 

The  first  part  is  given  unaltered,  but  divided  into  four-line  verses. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    385 

Ilymn  741.  Come,  Thou  high  and  lofty  Lord! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  351.  The  second  pare 
of  the  hymn  on  'The  Love-Feast '  (740).  Ver.  3  omitted. 

Hymn  742.  Let  us  join — 'tis  God  commands. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1740 ;   Works,  i.  352.     The  third  part 
of  'The  Love-Feast'  hymn  (740-1). 
In  ver.  3,  line  7,  the  original  is — 

Conquers  hell,  and  death,  and  sin, 
Hallows  whom  it  first  makes  whole. 

Hymn  743.  Partners  of  a  glorious  hope. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  352.  The  fourth  part 
of  'The  Love-Feast'  hymn  (740-2). 

Hymn  744.  Saviour  of  all,  to  Thee  we  bow. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  361.  '  Unto  the  Angel 
of  the  Church  of  the  Laodiceans.'  In  three  parts,  thirty-six  verses. 
Part  III.,  eleven  verses  ;  verses  I  to  6  are  given  here. 

Hymn  745.  Come,  let  us  use  the  grace  divine. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  x.  46. 
Jer.  1.  5.  In  eight-line  verses. 

'  Come  and  let  us  join  ourselves  to  the  Lord  in  a  perpetual  covenant 
that  shall  not  be  forgotten.' 

In  ver.  5  the  original  reading  is,  '  Present  with  Thy  celestial  host.' 

The  hymn  has  long  been  consecrated  by  its  use  in  the 
Covenant  Service  at  the  beginning  of  each  year. 

After  John  Fletcher  was  married,  on  November  12,  1781, 
'  from  dinner,  which  was  a  spiritual  meal,  as  well  as  a  natural 

2  c 


386  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

one,  until  tea-time,  our  time  was  spent  chiefly  in  fervent  prayer 
or  singing.  After  singing  the  Covenant  Hymn,  Mr.  Fletcher 
went  to  Mrs.  Fletcher,  and  said  to  her,  "  Well,  my  dearest 
friend,  will  you  join  with  me  in  joining  ourselves  in  a  perpetual 
covenant  to  the  Lord?  Will  you  with  me  serve  Him  in  His 
members  ?  Will  you  help  me  to  bring  souls  to  the  blessed 
Redeemer ;  and,  in  every  possible  way,  this  day,  lay  yourself 
under  the  strongest  ties  you  can,  to  help  me  to  glorify  my 
gracious  Lord  ?  "  She  answered,  like  one  that  well  knew  where 
her  strength  lay,  "  May  my  God  help  me  so  to  do  ! "' 

On  July  12,  1778,  during  his  Conference  in  Dublin,  Wesley 
says,  '  After  I  had  several  times  explained  the  nature  of  it,  we 
solemnly  renewed  our  covenant  with  God.  It  was  a  time  never 
to  be  forgotten  ;  God  poured  down  upon  the  assembly  "  the 
spirit  of  grace  and  supplication " ;  especially  in  singing  that 
verse  of  the  concluding  hymn — 

To  us  the  covenant  blood  apply.' 


Hymn  746.  O  God,  how  often  hath  Thine  ear. 
W.  M.  BUNTING  (249). 

*  Renewing  the  Covenant.' 

'  I  wrote  it  out  of  the  fulness  of  personal  feeling,  while  yet  a 
youth  at  school.'  He  was  not  eighteen.  His  brother  says  it 
was  sent  anonymously  by  W.  M.  Bunting  to  his  father,  then 
editor  of  the  Wesley  an  Methodist  Magazine.  '  He  produced  and 
praised  it  one  morning  at  the  breakfast-table,  in  ignorance  that 
its  author  was  present.  As  it  seems  to  me,  a  very  partial  critic, 
it  "mourns  as  a  dove,"  while  it  mounts  "up  as  on  wings  of 
eagles.'"  It  was  written  before  he  entered  the  ministry  in  1824, 
and  has  never  lost  its  hold  on  Methodism.  It  appeared  in 
the  1831  Supplement  to  the  Methodist  hymn-book.  It  is  a 
tender  and  heart-searching  call  to  our  Church  on  the  first 
Sunday  of  the  New  Year,  when  it  meets  for  renewal  of  its 
covenant  with  God. 

'  Just  below  Agnes  Bulmer's  lofty  Pindaric  "  Ode  for  the 
New  Year,"  and  Joshua  Marden's  lyric,  "  What  is  Time  ?  "  came 
a  little  "  Hymn  for  the  New  Year  "  and  the  Covenant  Service, 
signed  "Juvenis,"  which  has  since  been  sung  by  millions  of 
Methodists,  and  will  doubtless  be  sung  by  millions  more, 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS  AND   THEIR  WRITERS    387 

so  long   as    our    most    impressive    annual    service    shall  be 
solemnized — 

O  God  I  how  often  hath  Thine  ear 
To  me  in  willing  mercy  bowed  !  * 
(Dr.  Benjamin  Gregory's  Autobiographical  Recollections,  p.  14.) 

Hymn  747.  O  happy  day  that  fixed  ray  choice. 
PHILIP  UODDRIDGE  (95). 

Published  in  1755,  headed  '  Rejoicing  in  our  Covenant  Engagements 
to  God."  2  Chron.  xv.  15. 

It  was  sung,  by  Queen  Victoria's  request,  at  the  confirma 
tion  of  one  of  her  children.  James  Montgomery  says,  '  Blessed 
is  the  man  that  can  take  the  words  of  this  hymn  and  make  them 
his  own  from  similar  experience.' 

Dr.  Bruce  describes  St.  Matthew's  farewell  feast  to  the 
publicans  as  'a  kind  of  poem,  saying  for  Matthew  what  Dod- 
dridge's  familiar  lines  say  for  many  another.' — The  Training  of 
the  Twelve,  p.  24. 

Hymn  748.  Lord,  from  this  time  wo  cry  to  Theo. 
CHARLES  LAWRENCE  FORD,  B.A. 

\Vritten  as  a  Confirmation  hymn  at  the  request  of  an  old  school 
fellow,  Canon  K.  II.  Baynes,  and  published  in  Canon  Baynes's  Jfotne 
Songs  for  Quiet  Hours,  1874,  and  in  Lyra  Chris  ti  the  same  year.  The 
hymn  is  a  reply  to  the  question  in  Jer.  iii.  4,  and  requires  a  slight 
emphasis  on  '  we '  and  '  our '  in  the  first  two  lines.  The  figures  of  the 
desert  wandering  of  Israel  and  the  temptation  of  Christ  are  used  in 
the  hymn. 

Mr.  Ford  was  born  at  Bath  in  1830.  His  father,  an  artist, 
gave  him  his  second  name  after  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  whom 
he  had  known.  He  joined  the  Methodist  Society  in  1846  ; 
became  a  schoolmaster  in  Colchester  (1848-56),  and  in  Cam- 
borne  (1856-92),  where  Sir  George  Smith  and  Mr.  H.  A. 
Smith  were  his  pupils.  Since  his  retirement  he  has  lived  in 
Bath.  He  published  Lyra,  Christi,  1874;  Horn  No-vissima, 
1898.  Many  of  his  hymns  have  appeared  in  various  collec 
tions.  'This  is  My  body  which  is  given  for  you,'  was  con 
tributed  to  the  Congregational  Hymn-book  at  the  request  of 
Dr.  Henry  Allon. 


388  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  749.  When  Thy  soldiers  take  their  swords. 

FRANCES  MARY  OWEN. 

Mrs.  Owen,  daughter  of  Mr.  Syne,  of  Glanmore  Castle,  co. 
Wicklow,  was  born  in  1842,  and  married  in  1870  the  Rev.  J.  A. 
Owen,  M.A.,  late  Fellow  of  University  College,  Oxford,  and 
assistant  master  at  Cheltenham  College,  1870-96.  Mrs.  Owen 
was  proud  of  her  Irish  blood.  She  was  devoted  to  her  two 
children  and  to  the  boys  of  her  husband's  boarding-house,  for 
whom  she  held  a  weekly  Bible-class.  She  gave  much  of  her 
strength  to  '  Friendless  Girls,'  whose  life  she  thought  the 
saddest  on  earth.  She  died  very  suddenly  on  June  19,  1883. 
Her  friends  established  at  Cheltenham  a  Home  for  Friendless 
Girls  in  her  memory,  which  is  known  as  the  £  Frances  Owen 
Home.'  The  hymn  was  written  for  the  boys  of  her  husband's 
boarding-house  about  1872.  It  will  be  of  great  value  in  the 
Service  for  the  Public  Recognition  of  New  Members. 

Hymn  750.  The  Saviour,  when  to  heaven  He  rose. 
PHILIP  DODDRIDGE  (95). 

Tublishcd  in  1755,  headed  'The  Institution  of  a  Gospel  Ministry 
from  Christ.  Eph.  iv.  11-12.  For  an  Ordination.' 

Ver.  i,  'Father  of  mercies,  in  Thine  house,'  and  ver.  4  are  here 
omitted. 

Hymn  751.  Come,  Holy  Ghost,  our  souls  inspire. 
JOHN  COSIN,  D.D. 

John  Cosin  was  born  at  Norwich  in  1594;  educated  at 
Norwich  Grammar  School  and  Caius  College,  Cambridge  ; 
Master  of  Peterhouse,  1634  ;  Vice- Chancellor  of  Cambridge 
University  and  Dean  of  Peterborough,  1640.  Cosin  was  one  of 
the  most  acute  theologians  of  his  time,  and  was  deeply  im 
pressed  with  the  possibilities  of  the  Church  of  England,  whose 
position  and  orders  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  uphold.  The 
Puritans  complained  of  his  bowings  and  genuflexions,  and  of  the 
crucifix  set  over  the  altar  of  his  chapel.  He  was  ejected  from 
his  living  by  Parliament  in  1644,  and  went  to  Paris.  After  the 
Restoration  he  was  made  Dean  and  then  Bishop  of  Durham, 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     389 

He  built  the  magnificent  Gothic  Chapel  at  Auckland  Castle. 
He  died  at  Westminster  in  1672. 

The  Vent,  Creator  Spiritus  has  taken  deeper  hold  on  the 
Church's  devotions  than  any  other  mediaeval  hymn,  save,  of 
course,  the  Te Deuni.  It  has  been  ascribed  to  Charlemagne,  to 
Ambrose,  to  Gregory  the  Great,  but  on  no  sufficient  grounds. 
Its  use  at  Pentecost  can  be  traced  back  to  the  tenth  century. 
Bells  were  rung,  incense  and  lights  used,  and  the  best  vestments 
worn  when  it  was  sung  at  coronations  and  ordinations.  One  of 
its  earliest  translators  asserts  that  '  whoever  repeats  this  hymn 
by  day  or  night,  no  enemy,  visible  or  invisible,  shall  assail  him.' 
It  moves  the  soul  to  its  depths,  and  seems  to  lead  it  into  the 
presence  of  the  Creating  Spirit. 

Cosin's  translation  was  included  in  his  Collection  of  Private 
Devotions,  1627,  when  he  was  Rector  of  Brancepeth.  It  contains 
devotions  and  a  hymn  for  each  of  the  Canonical  Hours.  This 
is  assigned  to  the  third  hour — nine  o'clock — in  commemoration 
of  the  hour  when  the  Holy  Ghost  was  poured  out  at  Pentecost. 
It  appears  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  1662,  as  an  alterna 
tive  form  for  the  older  version  of  sixteen  verses,  which  was  often 
felt  to  be  too  long.  Mr.  Macdonald  says,  '  Vigorous,  without 
being  harsh  or  uncouth,  packing  the  utmost  meaning  in  fewest 
words,  brief  and  strong  as  the  Latin  itself,  it  has,  I  think,  no 
superior,  if,  indeed,  an  equal,  of  its  kind.' 

Ilynin  752.  Lord  of  the  harvest,  hear. 
CHARLES  WESLKY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  342.  'A  Prayer  fui 
Lalwurers." 

Vcr.  6  is  omitted — 

( )a  all  mankind  forgiven 
Empower  them  still  to  call, 
And  tell  each  creature  under  heaven 
That  Thou  hast  died  for  all. 

In  vor.  4  the  original  reading  is,  '  Saviour  of  human  race.' 

Hymn  753.  Jesus,  Thy  wandering  sheep  behold  ! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Works,  ii.  343.  'A  Prayer  for 
Labourers.1  It  follows  752,  and  has  eleven  verses. 


39°  THE   METHODIST  HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

The  original  reads — 

Ver.  j.  See,  Lord,  with  yearning  bowels  see 

Lost  sheep  that  cannot  find  the  fold. 

Ver.  5.  A  world,  who  all  may  turn  and  live 

Through  faith  in  Him  that  died  for  all. 

There  is  a  grandeur  in  ver.  5  which  the  revision  does  not  reach. 

Hymn  754.  How  beauteous  are  their  feet. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1707.     'The  Blessedness  of  Gospel 
Times.    Isa.  lii.  7-10;  Matt.  xiii.  16,  17.' 
Ver.  2  reads,  'How  charming.' 

Hymn  755.  Jesus,  Thy  servants  bless. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  xii.  456. 
Acts  xxviii.  31.  The  closing  hymn. 

Hymn  750.  Lord,  if  at  Thy  command. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  xii.  260. 
Acts  xi.  21. 

Hymn  757.  Disposer  Supreme,  and  Judge  of  the 
earth. 

JEAN  BAPTISTS  DE  SANTEUIL  ;  translated  by  ISAAC  WILLIAMS. 

'  Supreme  quales,  Arbiter,'  for  the  Festival  of  an  Apostle,  in  the 
Cluniac  Breviary,  1686,  where  many  of  his  hymns  appeared. 

Isaac  Williams  (1802-65)  published  the  Latin  text  and  his  rendering 
in  the  British  Magazine,  June,  1836,  and  in  Hymns  translated  from 
the  Parisian  Breviary,  1839.  John  Chandler  was  thus  led  to  write  his 
Hymns  of  the  Primitive  Church. 

Santeiiil  (1630-97)  was  born  in  Paris  of  a  good  family 
and  became  one  of  the  canons  regular  of  St.  Victor  in  Paris. 
He  was  distinguished  as  a  writer  of  Latin  poetry  under  the 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    391 

name  Santorius  Victorinus.  He  was  a  wit  and  a  society  poet, 
who  flattered  the  King  and  courted  the  great.  After  thus 
serving  the  world  he  was  urged  to  devote  himself  to  Christian 
subjects,  '  which  would  secure  him  every  advantage  he  could 
wish.'  He  followed  the  advice,  received  a  State  pension  of 
800  livres,  which,  with  presents  from  the  Prince  of  Conde"  and 
other  nobles,  and  an  allowance  made  by  his  own  family,  gave 
him  a  very  respectable  income.  He  relapsed  for  a  moment 
into  society  verse  ;  but  Bossuet  took  him  to  task  severely,  and 
the  poet  made  an  abject  apology.  He  was  set  to  replace  the 
rugged  hymns  of  the  Paris  Breviary  by  verse  that  might  satisfy 
scholars  and  gentlemen,  and  threw  himself  heartily  into  his 
task.  His  hymns  became  popular  with  the  clergy  and  gentry, 
lie  went  the  round  of  the  churches  to  hear  them  sung, 
and  amused  his  gay  contemporaries  by  the  contortions  and 
grimaces  with  which  he  recited  his  own  verse. 

Isaac  Williams  was  the  son  of  a  Chancery  barrister.  He 
gained  the  prize  for  Latin  verse  at  Oxford,  and  this  led  to  a 
friendship  with  Keble,  who  took  him  into  the  country  to  read 
during  the  vacation  with  Robert  Wilberforce  and  Hurrell  Froude, 
who  introduced  him  to  Newman.  He  was  for  two  years  curate 
to  Thomas  Kcble  at  Bisley.  He  became  Newman's  curate  at 
St.  Mary's,  Oxford,  and  was  so  identified  with  the  Tractarian 
party  that  he  failed  to  gain  the  Professorship  of  Poetry  in 
succession  to  Keble.  He  left  Oxford  about  this  time.  His 
relation  to  Newman  '  had  long  been  a  curious  mixture  of  the 
most  affectionate  attachment  and  intimacy,  with  growing  dis 
trust  and  sense  of  divergence.'  He  holds  high  rank  as  a 
devotional  writer.  Three  of  the  Tracts  for  the  Times  were 
from  his  pen.  He  died  at  Stinchcombe  in  1865. 

The  original  of  ver.  4  reads — 

They  thunder — their  sound  it  is  Christ  the  Lord! 

Then  Satan  doth  fear,  his  citadels  fall  : 
As  when  the  dread  trumpets  went  forth  at  Thy  word, 

Aud  on  the  ground  lieth  the  Canaanites'  wall. 

Hymn  758.  Not  from  a  stock  of  ours  but  Thine. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Fcntr  Gospels  (Nos.  362,  363,  and  365,  kft  in  MS.) ; 
Works,  x.  280.     Matt.  xiv.  16-18. 


392  THE    METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  759.  Jesus,  the  needy  sinner's  Friend. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Four  Gospels  (left  in  MS.) ;  Works,  x.  282.  Matt, 
xiv.  19. 

In  the  last  verse,  '  By  ministerial  hands  '  is  happily  toned  down  to 
'  By  His  disciples'  hands.' 

Hymn  760.  Lord  of  the  living  harvest. 

J.   S.   B.   MONSELL  (662). 

In  Hymns  of  Love  and  Praise,  2nd  edition,  1 866.  '  For  Ember  Days 
and  Ordinations.' 

Hymn  761.  Shine  Thou  upon  us,  Lord. 

JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

'  For  a  Teachers'  Meeting.'  Contributed  in  1889  to  Supplemental 
Hymns  to  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern. 

Hymn  762.  Lord,  speak  to  me,  that  I  may  speak. 
F.  R.  HAVERGAL  (330). 

Written  April  28,  1872,  at  Winterdyne,  and  printed  the  same  year 
as  one  of  Par  lane's  musical  leaflets.  In  the  original  MS.  it  is  headed, 
'A  Worker's  Prayer.  "None  of  us  liveth  unto  himself."  Rom.  xiv.  7.' 
It  appeared  in  Under  the  Surface,  1874. 

Bishop  Bickersteth  regarded  it '  as  the  choicest  of  the  many 
choice  contributions  made  by  this  sainted  poetess  to  the 
Church's  treasures  of  song.' 

Hymn  763.  Master,  speak !  Thy  servant  heareth. 
F.  R.  HAVERGAL  (330). 

Written  on  Sunday  evening,  May  19,  1867,  at  Weston-super-Mare. 
Published  in  Ministry  of  Song,  1869. 

Hymn  7C4.  Look  from  Thy  sphere  of  endless  day. 

WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT  (1794-1878). 
For  '  Home  Missions.'    Written  in  1840. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    393 

Bryant  was  the  son  of  a  physician,  to  whose  careful  training 
he  owed  a  great  debt.  After  ten  years  at  the  bar  he  settled  in 
New  York  as  an  editor,  and  devoted  himself  to  literary  pursuits. 
He  was  the  first  American  poet  who  became  well  known  in  all 
Anglo-Saxon  lands.  Lowell  describes  him — 

lie  is  almost  the  one  of  your  poets  that  knows 

How  much  grace,  strength,  and  dignity  lies  in  repose. 

In  an  ode  for  the  poet's  seventieth  birthday,  Lowell  pays 
high  tribute  to  '  the  singer  of  our  crew '  in  the  great  Anti- 
Slavery  struggle — 

But  now  he  sang  of  faith  in  things  unseen, 
Of  freedom's  birthright  given  to  us  in  trust ; 

And  words  of  doughty  cheer  he  spoke  between, 
That  made  all  earthly  fortune  seem  as  dust, 

Matched  with  that  duty,  old  as  Time  and  new, 
Of  being  brave  and  true. 

We,  listening,  learned  what  makes  the  might  of  words, — 
Manhood  to  back  them,  constant  as  a  star  ; 

His  voice  rammed  home  our  cannon,  edged  our  swords, 
And  sent  our  boarders  shouting ;  shroud  and  spar 

Heard  him  and  stiffened  ;  the  sails  heard  and  wooed 
The  winds  with  loftier  mood. 

In  our  dark  hours  he  manned  our  guns  again  ; 

Remanned  ourselves  from  his  own  manhood's  store ; 
Pride,  honour,  country,  throbbed  through  all  his  strain ; 

And  shall  we  praise?     God's  praise  was  His  before; 
And  on  our  futile  laurels  he  looks  down, 
Himself  our  bravest  crown. 

Hymn  765.  Lord,  grant  us,  like  the  watching  five. 
THOMAS  BOWMAN  STEPHENSOX,  B.A.,  D.D. 

Dr.  Stephenson,  the  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Stephenson, 
Wesleyan  minister,  was  born  at  Newcastle,  1839  ;  educated  at 
Wesley  College,  and  entered  the  Wesleyan  ministry  in  1860. 
He  was  the  founder  of  the  Children's  Home,  and  its  first 
Principal.  He  was  President  of  the  Wesleyan  Conference,  1891, 
and  was  appointed  Warden  of  the  Wesley  Deaconess  Institute 
in  1903. 

This  hymn  was  intended  for  the  setting  apart  of  deaconesses 
to  their  work,  but  it  applies  to  all  workers. 


394  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

One  of  Dr.  Stephenson's  best  known  hymns,  'This  is  the 
glorious  gospel  word,'  was  inspired  by  a  Brighton  Convention, 
and  published  in  the  Methodist  Sunday  School  Hymn-Book^ 
1879. 

Hymn  766.  Great  God, "whose  universal  sway. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Ps.  Ixxii.  i-n.  'The  Kingdom  of 
Christ.'  In  ver.  2  Watts  wrote,  '  Thy  sceptre  well  becomes  His 
hands.' 

Hymn  767.  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.     Ps.  Ixxii.  12-19. 

In  ver.  I  Watts  wrote,  '  Till  moons  shall  wax  and  wane  no  more.' 
Ver.  3,  his  '  early  blessings  '  is  changed  into  '  young  hosannas.'  His  last 
line  is,  '  And  earth  repeat  the  loud  Amen.' 

Two  verses  are  omitted — 

Behold  !  the  islands  with  their  kings, 
And  Europe  her  best  tribute  brings  ; 
From  north  to  south  the  princes  meet 
To  pay  their  homage  at  His  feet. 

There  Persia,  glorious  to  behold, 
There  India  shines  in  eastern  gold, 
And  barb'rous  nations  at  His  word, 
Submit  and  bow,  and  own  their  Lord. 

This  hymn  was  sung  on  Whit  Sunday,  1862,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  service  which  King  George  of  Tonga  and  his  people  held 
under  the  banyan-trees  preparatory  to  the  adoption  of  a 
Christian  form  of  government.  As  the  people  remembered  how 
they  had  been  saved  from  cannibal  horrors,  one  after  another 
broke  down  in  sobs  over  the  bitter  past  from  which  the  gospel 
had  rescued  them. 

Hymn  768.  Saviour,  sprinkle  many  nations. 
ARTHUR  CLEVELAND  COXE,  D.D.  (1818-96). 

Dr.  Coxe  was  the  son  of  an  American  Presbyterian  minister. 
In  1842  he  became  Rector  of  St.  John's,  Hartford,  and  in  1865 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS  AND   THEIR   WRITERS    395 

was  made  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop  of  the  Western  Diocese 
of  New  York. 

This  hymn  was  begun  on  Good  Friday,  1850,  and  com 
pleted  in  1851  in  the  grounds  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford  It 
was  published  in  Verses  for  1851,  in  Commemoration  of  the 
Third  Jubilee  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel, 
edited  by  the  Rev.  Ernest  Hawkins.  It  is  one  of  the  finest 
of  our  missionary  hymns.  Bishop  Coxc  published  several 
volumes  of  poetry. 

Hymn  709.  The  heathen  perish;  day  by  clay. 
JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

First  printed  in  the  Sheffield  Iris,  of  which  Montgomery  was 
proprietor  and  editor,  April  20,  1824.  In  his  Christian  Psalmist,  1825, 
it  is  headed  '  Christian  Responsibility.' 

Hymn  770.  From  Greenland's  icy  mountains. 

REGINALD  HF.DKK,  D.D.  (28). 

On  Whit  Sunday,  1819,  Dr.  Shipley,  Vicar  of  Wrcxham  and 
Dean  of  St.  Asaph,  preached  in  Wrexham  Church  in  aid  of  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  on  behalf  of  whose 
Eastern  missions  a  Royal  Letter  had  just  been  issued 
authorizing  collections  in  every  church.  A  course  of  Sunday 
evening  lectures  also  began  the  same  day  in  Wrexham  Church, 
and  Heber  was  to  give  the  first  lecture.  Dean  Shipley,  his 
father-in-law,  asked  Heber  on  the  Saturday  to  write  'something 
for  them  to  sing  in  the  morning.1  Heber  moved  from  the  table 
where  the  dean  and  a  few  friends  were  sitting  to  a  distant  part 
of  the  room.  After  a  little  time  the  dean  asked,  '  What  have 
you  written?'  Heber  read  the  first  three  verses.  'There, 
there,  that  will  do  very  well,'  was  the  comment.  '  No,  no,  the 
sense  is  not  complete,'  was  the  poet's  reply.  He  wrote  the 
fourth  verse,  but  the  dean  would  not  listen,  when  he  begged, 
'  Let  me  add  another  ;  oh,  let  me  add  another.'  All  was  done  in 
twenty  minutes.  It  is  said  to  have  been  sung  next  morning  in 
Wrexham  Church  to  an  old  ballad  tune,  '  'Twas  when  the  seas 
were  roaring.'  The  hymn  was  published  in  the  Evangelical 
Magazine,  1822,  and  in  the  Christian  Observer,  February, 
1823.  The  original  MS.  was  long  in  the  possession  of  Dr. 


396  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Raffles,  of  Liverpool.  He  probably  obtained  it  from  the  printer, 
Kennedy,  who  set  up  the  type  as  a  boy,  and  who  was  a  friend 
of  his.  It  was  sold  after  his  death  for  forty  guineas.  Heber 
first  wrote  'savage'  in  ver.  2,  but  altered  it  in  his  MS.  to 
'  heathen.' 

The  hymn  in  his  little  volume  is  headed, '  Before  a  Collection 
made  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel.'  Lowell  Mason's  tune 
'  Missionary '  was  written  when  he  was  a  bank  clerk  in 
Savannah  in  1823,  at  the  request  of  a  lady  who  had  received 
the  words  from  a  friend  in  England,  and  wished  to  sing  them. 
In  half  an  hour  her  messenger  returned  with  the  music. 

Heber  says  in  his  Journal  of  a  Voyage  to  India,  September, 
1823,  '  Though  we  were  now  too  far  off  Ceylon  to  catch  the 
odours  of  the  land,  yet  it  is,  we  are  assured,  perfectly  true  that 
such  odours  are  perceptible  to  a  very  considerable  distance.  In 
the  Straits  of  Malacca  a  smell  like  that  of  a  hawthorn  hedge  is 
commonly  experienced ;  and  from  Ceylon,  at  thirty  or  forty 
miles,  under  certain  circumstances,  a  yet  more  agreeable  scent 
is  inhaled.'  This  note  is  an  interesting  comment  on  ver.  2. 


Hymn  771.  Jesu,  be  endless  praise  to  Thee. 
COUNT  VON  ZINZENDORF  (69) ;  translated  by  J.  WESLEY  (36). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  \.  349.  'The  Believer's 
Triumph.  From  the  German.' 

The  last  four  verses  of  Hymn  370,  '  Christ!  Blut  und  Gerechtigkeit.' 
Wesley's  translation  has  twenty-four  verses. 

Ver.  2  reads — 

Ah,  give  me  now,  all-gracious  Lord, 
With  power  to  speak  Thy  quickening  word ; 
That  all  who  to  Thy  wounds  will  flee 
May  find  eternal  life  in  Thee. 


Hymn  772.  Head  of  Tliy  Church,  whose  Spirit  fills. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1749;    Works,   v.    228.     'Hymns  of 
Intercession,'  No.  I.     Verses  2,  7,  8  omitted. 

In  ver.  i  the  original  reading  is,  '  and  simplifies  the  whole.' 


THE   STORY   OF  THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    397 

Hymn  773.  Father  of  boundless  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Sekct  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Workst  ix.  468. 
Isa.  Ixvi.  18.  Vcr.  2  is  omitted. 

Hymn  774.  The  heavens  declare  Thy  glory,  Lord. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.     Psalm  xix.     'The  Books  of  Nature  and 
Scripture  compared  ;  or,  the  Glory  and  Success  of  the  Gospel.' 
Yer.  6  is  omitted — 

The  noblest  wonders  here  we  view 

In  souls  renew'd  and  sins  for»iv'n  ; 
Lord,  cleanse  my  sins,  my  soul  renew, 

And  make  Thy  word  my  guide  to  hcav'n. 

In  ver.  2  Watts  wrote,  'And  nights  and  days,  Thy  power  confo.-,.' 

Hymn  775.  Eternal  Lord  of  earth  and  skies. 

CHARLES  WKSI.KV  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762;  Works,  ix. 
422-3,  415.  Isa.  xlv.  ;  xlii.  4.  A  composite  hymn  from  Xos.  1,166, 
1,167,  1>i49-  The  last  two  lines  of  vcr.  I  are  taken  from  vcr.  2  of  No. 
1,166. 

In  ver.  2  the  original  reading  is  '  swear  allegiance.' 

Hymn  770.  Almighty  God  of  love. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  en  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Workst  ix.  469. 
Isa.  Ixvi.  19,  20. 

Hymn  111.  O  let  the  prisoners'  mournful  cries. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns   and  Sacred  Poems,   1749;   ll'orks,   v.   231.     '  Hymns   of 
Intercession,'  No.  3.     Eighteen  verses. 
Verses  6-9,  II  and  12  are  here  given. 


398  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

This  hymn  was  printed  as  early  as  1743,  as  'A  prayer  for 
those  who  are  convinced  of  sin,'  at  the  end  of  The  Nature, 
Design,  and  General  Rules  of  the  United  Societies,  and  is 
found  in  most,  if  not  all,  the  editions  of  that  tract  published 
during  Wesley's  life.  It  begins — 

O  most  compassionate  High-Priest, 
Full  of  all  grace  we  know  Thou  art ; 

Faith  puts  its  hands  upon  Thy  breast, 
And  feels  beneath  Thy  panting  heart. 

Hymn  778.  Thou  whose  almighty  word. 

JOHN  MARRIOTT,  M.A.  (1780-1825). 

His  son  says  this  hymn  for  Missions  was  written  about  1813.  It 
was  printed  in  the  Friendly  Visitor,  1825,  and  in  Lyra  Britannica, 
1867. 

In  the  third  verse  the  original  reads,  '  Bearing  the  lamp  of  grace,' 
and  in  the  fourth,  '  Wisdom,  love,  might.' 

The  Rev.  John  Marriott  was  son  of  the  Rector  of  Cottesbach, 
near  Lutterworth.  He  became  tutor  in  the  family  of  the  Duke 
of  Buccleuch,  who  presented  him  to  the  rectory  of  Church 
Lawford,  Warwickshire.  Whilst  living  in  the  duke's  household 
he  formed  the  friendship  with  Sir  Walter  Scott,  which  is  com 
memorated  in  the  dedication  to  him  of  the  second  canto  of 
Marmion — 

For  we  had  fair  resource  in  store 
In  classic  and  in  Gothic  lore : 
We  mark'd  each  memorable  scene, 
And  held  poetic  talk  between ; 
Nor  hill,  nor  brook,  we  pass'd  along 
But  had  its  legend  or  its  song. 

His  wife's  health  compelled  him  to  live  in  Devonshire,  and  he 
died  at  Broadclyst,  near  Exeter.  He  was  the  father  of '  Charles 
Marriott,'  whom  Burgon  describes  as  '  The  Man  of  Saintly  Life,' 
in  his  Twelve  Good  Men. 

Hymn  779.  O  that  the  Lord's  salvation. 

HENRY  F.  LYTE  (7). 
Psalm  xiv.,  The  Spirit  of  the  Psalms,  1834, 


THE    STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR    WRITERS     399 

Hymn  780.  Lord,  Thy  ransomed  church  is  waking. 
SARAH  GERALDINA  STOCK  (1838-98). 

'Home  Missions.'  For  the' London  February  Mission,  1874,  and 
published  in  the  Church  Sunday  School  Magazine,  February,  1874. 

Miss  Stock  was  the  sister  of  Mr.  Eugene  Stock,  Editorial 
Secretary  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  She  published 
Lessons  on  Israel  in  Egypf,  The  Child's  Life  of  our  Lord,  and 
other  volumes.  Her  last  work  was  to  prepare  a  hymn-book  for 
the  Church  Missionary  Society.  She  died  just  before  it  was 
published. 

Hymn  781.  Christ  for  the  world !  we  sing. 
SAMUEL  WOLCOTT,  D.D. 

'  Missions.' 

Dr.  Wolcott  was  born  at  South  Windsor,  Connecticut,  in 
1813  ;  educated  at  Yale  and  Andovcr.  He  was  a  missionary  in 
Syria,  1840-2;  then  a  Congregational  minister  in  the  United 
States.  For  some  time  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Ohio  Home 
Missionary  Society.  He  began  to  write  hymns  late  in  life,  but 
\vTOte  more  than  two  hundred.  He  was  asked  by  a  friend  to 
help  in  preparing  a  selection  of  hymns,  and  whilst  thus  engaged 
the  question  arose  in  his  mind,  '  Can  I  not  write  a  hymn  ? '  He 
was  in  his  fifty-sixth  year,  and  had  never  put  two  rhymes 
together,  but  he  got  to  work  and  mapped  out  a  hymn,  '  Father  ! 
I  own  Thy  voice,'  which  he  found  to  his  surprise  '  could  actually 
be  sung.'  It  was  inserted  in  his  friend's  Songs  for  the  Nciu  Life 
(Chicago,  1869).  He  died  in  1886. 

This  hymn  was  written  on  February  7,  1869.  Dr.  \Yolcott 
said,  'The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Ohio  met  in 
one  of  our  churches,  with  their  motto  in  evergreen  letters  over 
the  pulpit,  "  Christ  for  the  World,  and  the  World  for  Christ."' 
This  suggested  the  hymn.  It  was  composed  on  his  way  home 
from  that  service. 

Hymn  782.  Tell  it  out  among  the  heathen  that 
the  Lord  is  King. 

F.  R.  HAVERCAL  (330). 

Written  at  Winterdyne,  April  19,  1872;  first  publiohcd  in  Evening 
/fours,  1872. 


400  THE  METHODIST  HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

It  was  a  snowy  morning,  and  Miss  Havergal  was  not  able 
to  go  to  church.  She  was  in  bed,  and '  asked  for  her  Prayer-book, 
as  she  always  liked  to  follow  the  services  of  the  day.  On  Mr. 
Shaw's  return  from  church,  he  heard  her  touch  on  the  piano. 
"  Why,  Frances,  I  thought  you  were  upstairs  !  "  "  Yes  ;  but  I 
had  my  Prayer-book,  and  in  the  Psalms  for  to-day  I  read, 
'  Tell  it  out  among  the  heathen  that  the  Lord  is  King.'  I 
thought,  '  What  a  splendid  first  line  ! '  and  then  words  and 
music  came  rushing  in  to  me.  There,  it's  all  written  out."  With 
copper-plate  neatness  she  had  rapidly  written  out  the  words, 
music,  and  harmonies  complete.' 

Dr.  James,  Vicar  of  North  Marston,  says  that  Miss  Havergal 
had  exhausted  herself  at  a  Somersetshire  garden-party,  but 
happened  to  overhear  her  hostess's  regret  that  the  servants  had 
not  been  present.  She  exclaimed, '  Oh,  if  it  is  work  for  the  Master, 
of  course  I  can  do  it.'  She  was  suffering  much  from  the  sting  of 
a  bee,  but  threw  off  her  hat  and  gloves,  sat  down  at  the  piano, 
and  greatly  impressed  '  a  whole  retinue  of  servants  '  by  singing 
from  the  Messiah,  '  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.'  When  all  was  done  she 
stood  up  and  said,  '  Now  I  am  going  to  tell  you  what  you  must 
do  when  you  yourselves  have  accepted  the  invitation.'  She 
sang  out  before  her  spellbound  audience,  'Tell  it  out  among 
the  heathen  that  the  Lord  is  King  '  to  her  own  music.  As  they 
lingered  she  promised  to  send  each  of  them  a  copy.  Dr.  James 
said  that  at  least  one  person  was  turned  to  Christ  by  that 
musical  afternoon. 

Hymn  783.  Spread,  O  spread,  thou  mighty  word. 
Walte,  fiirder,  nah  und  fern. 

JONATHAN  FRIEDRICH  BAHNMAIER  ;  translated  by  Miss 
WINKWORTH  (19). 

'Missions.'  Published  in  1827.  Miss  Winkworth's  translation 
appeared  in  her  Lyra  Germanica,  2nd  Series,  1858.  The  original  has 
three  more  verses. 

Bahnmaier  was  born  at  Oberstenfeld,  Wiirtemberg,  where 
his  father  was  Town  Preacher,  July  12,  1774.  In  1815  the  son 
became  Professor  of  Education  and  Homiletics  at  Tubingen  ; 
in  1819  Town  Preacher  at  Kirchheim-unter-Teck,  where  he 
preached  his  last  sermon  on  August  15,  1841.  Two  days  later 


THE   STORY    OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR    WRITERS    401 

he  was  struck  down  by  paralysis  whilst  visiting  a  village  school, 
and  died  next  day.  He  was  noted  as  a  preacher,  and  took  deep 
interest  in  education,  missions,  and  Bible  societies. 

Hymn  781.  Speed  Thy  servants,  Saviour,  speed 
them. 

THOMAS  KELLY,  M.A.  (209). 

'Departure  of  Missionaries.'  From  Hymns  on  Various  Passages  of 
S.rif.'urt,  1826. 

Hymn  785.  Aud  are  we  yet  alive. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Pot/us,  1749;    H'orks,  v.  466.     'For  Christina 
Friends,'  No.  46.     In  four  eight-line  stanzas. 
Ver.  I  of  the  original  reads — 

Glory  and  thanks  to  Jesus  give 
For  His  almighty  grace. 

Ver.  2,  '  What  mighty  conflicts  past.' 
The  closing  verse  is  omitted — 

Jesus,  to  Thee  we  bow 

And  for  Thy  coming  wait : 
Give  us  for  good  some  token  now 

In  our  imperfect  state  ; 

Apply  the  hallowing  word, 

Tell  each  who  looks  fur  Thee, 
Thou  shalt   lie  perfect  as  thy  Lord, 

Thou  shalt  be  all  like  Me  ! 

It  has  been  consecrated  to  the  opening  of  Conference  for 
more  than  a  century,  and  is  hallowed  by  a  multitude  of  associa 
tions  in  all  branches  of  the  Methodist  family. 

Hymn  780.  All  thanks  to  the  Lamb,  who  gives  us 
to  meet ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Hrorkst  v.  468.  'For  Christian 
Friends,'  No.  48.  Two  verses  are  omitted. 

In  ver.  3  the  original  reads,  '  Our  Jesus  from  evil,  for  ever  the  same.' 

2   I> 


402  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  787.  Glory  be  to  God  above. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742 ;  Works,  ii.  220.  '  At  the  Meeting  of 
Christian  Friends.' 

Of  the  six  verses,  the  first  three  are  here  given.  The  last  lines  of 
ver.  2  read — 

Lasting  comfort,  steadfast  hope, 
Solid  joy,  and  settled  peace. 
Ver.  3,  '  Never,  never  may  we  rest.' 

Hymn  788.  Appointed  by  Thee,   we  meet  in  Thy 

name. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749 ;  Works t  v.  427.  The  three 
omitted  verses  have  their  private  interest — 

1.  How  happy  the  pair,  Whom  Jesus  unites 
In  friendship  to  share  Angelic  delights, 
Whose  chaste  conversation  Is  coupled  with  fear, 
Whose  sure  expectation  Is  holiness  here  ! 

2.  My  Jesus,  my  Lord,  Thy  grace  I  commend, 
So  kind  to  afford  My  weakness  a  friend  ! 
Thy  only  good  pleasure  On  me  hath  bestow'd 
An  heavenly  treasure,  A  servant  of  God. 

5.  The  heavenly  prize  Is  ever  in  view, 
Till  both  shall  arise,  Created  anew ; 
That  first  resurrection,  We  pant  to  attain, 
Go  on  to  perfection,  And  suffer  to  reign. 

Wesley  writes  to  Mrs.  Crosby  in  1766  (Works,  xii.  355): 
'  There  is  an  amazing  increase  in  the  work  of  God  within  these 
few  months  in  the  North  of  Ireland.  And  no  wonder  ;  for  the 
five  preachers  who  have  laboured  there,  are  all  men  devoted  to 
God ;  men  of  a  single  eye,  whose  whole  heart  is  in  the  work, 
and  who — 

Constantly  trample  on  pleasure  and  pain.' 

Hymn  789.  Jesus,  we  look  to  Thee. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  467.  '  For  Christian 
Friends,'  No.  47.  The  last  eight  lines  are  omitted. 

In  ver.  i  the  original  reads,  « Thy  name  is  life,  and/cj,  and  peace.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS    AND   THEIR    WRITERS     403 

Hymn  790.  See,  Jcsu,  Thy  disciples  see. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Peons,  1749;  Works t  v.  469.  The  last  two 
verses  are  omitted. 

Hymn  791.  Blest  be  the  dear  uniting  love. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Ifymns  anil  SacnJ  Peons,  1742;  Works,  ii.  221.  'At  Parting.' 
Two  verses  omitted. 

In  vcr.  2  the  original  reads,  'And  do  His  work  below.' 

John  B.  Gough  gives  an  account  in  his  Autobiography  of 
his  leaving  home  as  a  boy  for  America  in  June,  1839.  The  ship 
was  becalmed  off  Sandgate,  and  his  father  came  on  board. 
When  the  visitors  left  for  the  shore  they  formed  their  boats  in 
a  half-circle.  They  stood  up,  and  their  blended  voices  floated 
over  the  calm  waters  as  they  sang — 

Blest  be  the  dear  uniting  love. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Gregory  (Side-Lights,  p.  431)  says  that  at  the 
close  of  the  Conference  of  1848  Dr.  Newton  was  'strongly  moved, 
as  by  some  heavenly  afflatus.  I  never  heard  that  noblest  of  all 
human  voices  roll  out  such  tones  of  majesty  as  he  gave  out  the 
parting  hymn — 

'Llest  be  the  dear,  uniting  love. 

No  one  thought  that  th;  next   Conference   would  bring   the 
crash.' 

Hymn  792.  And  let  our  bodies  part. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Ifymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;   Works,  v.  462.     c  For  Christian 
Friends.     At  Parting.'     Part  I.     Sixteen  lines  are  omitted. 
In  ver.  2  the  original  is — 

Did  first  our  souls  unite, 

And  still  lie  holds,  and  keeps  us  one. 

In  ver.  6  '  toils'  is  substituted  fur  '  griefs.' 


404  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  793.  Jesus,  accept  the  praise. 
„„„«„.,„  ..^~~.  v*,. 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jestis  Christ,  1747;  Works,  iv.  271.  'At  the  Parting  of 
Friends.'  Three  verses  omitted. 

Hymn  794.  God  of  all  consolation,  take. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  C/irist,  17475  Works,  iv.  280.  The  last  hymn  in  the 
pamphlet,  '  At  the  Parting  of  Friends.'  Eight  verses  of  eight  lines,  from 
which  this  selection  is  made. 

Hymn  795.  Lift  up  your  hearts  to  things  above. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  v.  478.  'For  Christian 
Friends,'  Hymn  55.  Twelve  verses.  Verses  3,  8,  II  are  omitted. 

Hymn  796.  The  grace  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Son. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  xiii. 
60.  2  Cor.  xiii.  14.  The  first  line  is,  'The  merit  of  Jehovah's  Son.' 

Hymn  797.  May  the  grace  of  Christ  our  Saviour. 
JOHN  NEWTON  (109). 

Olney  Hymns,  1779.  2  Cor.  xiii.  14.  It  has  been  translated  into 
several  languages. 

Hymn  798.  Lord,  dismiss  us  with  Thy  blessing. 
ROBERT  HAWKER,  M.D.  (1753-1827). 

In  his  Psalms  and  Hymns  sung  by  the  Children  of  the  Sunday  School 
in  the  Parish  Church  of  Charles,  Plymouth,  at  the  Sabbath  Evening 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    405 

lecture,  gth  edition,  no  date  ;  nth  edition,  1811.     The  Sunday  school 
was  established  in  1787. 
The  original  reads — 

Lord,  dismiss  us  with  Thy  blessing, 

Bid  us  all  depart  in  peace ; 
Still  on  gospel  manna  feeding, 

Pure  seraphic  love  increase  ; 
Fill  each  breast  with  consolation, 

Up  to  Thee  our  hearts  we  raise, 
Till  we  reach  that  blissful  station, 

Where  we'll  give  Thee  nobler  praise. 
And  sing  hallelujah  to  God  and  the  Lamb, 

For  ever  and  ever,  for  ever  and  ever, 
Hallelujah,   Hallelujah,   Hallelujah! 

Dr.  Hawker  was  born  at  Exeter,  and  educated  as  a  doctor, 
but  in  1778  was  ordained,  and  in  1784  became  incumbent  of 
Charles  the  Martyr,  Plymouth,  where  he  remained  till  his  death. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Stephen  Hawker,  the  eccentric  Vicar  of 
Morwenstow,  was  his  grandson,  and  is  said  to  have  ventured 
to  criticize  the  hymn,  not  knowing  that  it  was  his  grandfather's, 
and  to  have  read  over  to  him  an  improved  version  which  he 
proposed  to  substitute  for  it.  Dr.  Hawker  was  a  very  popular 
preacher.  H  i  s  Concordance  and  Dictionary  to  Sacred  Scriptures 
and  The  Poor  Man's  Commentary  on  the  Old  and  Nciu  Testa 
ment  were  once  in  much  request. 

Hymn  799.  Lord,  dismiss  us  with  Thy  blessing. 
JOHN  FAWCETT,  D.D. 

Dr.  Fawcett  (1740-1817)  was  born  at  Lidget  Green,  near 
Bradford,  Yorks  ;  converted  under  Whitefield's  ministry  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  and  joined  the  Methodists,  but  three  years  later 
became  a  Baptist.  In  1765  he  became  Baptist  minister  at 
Wainsgate,  near  Hebden  Bridge.  In  1772  he  accepted  an  invi 
tation  to  follow  Dr.  John  Gill  as  pastor  at  Carter's  Lane,  London. 
He  preached  his  farewell  sermons,  and  his  goods  were  packed 
in  vans  for  the  journey  to  London,  when  the  love  and  tears  of 
his  people  made  him  decide  to  remain  with  them.  In  1777 
a  chapel  was  built  for  him  at  Hebden  Bridge.  He  opened 
a  school  at  Brearlcy  Hall,  where  he  lived.  He  wrote  various 
prose  works,  and  in  1782  published  166  'Hymns  adapted  to 
the  circumstances  of  Public  Worship  and  Devotion.'  They 


406  THE    METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

were  mostly  written  to  be  sung  after  his  sermons.  'How 
precious  is  the  Book  divine,' '  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds,'  are 
two  of  his  best  hymns. 

'  Lord,  dismiss  us  with  Thy  blessing  '  appears  in  many  collec 
tions  from  1773  to  1780  without  author's  naJme;  but  in  1786  it 
is  stated  in  a  York  Selection  of  Psalms  to  be  by  Dr.  Fawcett. 
Dr.  Julian  concludes  that  Dr.  Fawcett  is  the  most  probable 
author,  though  it  is  not  in  his  Hymns,  1782,  nor  in  his  pub 
lished  Works.  Several  of  his  hymns  are  found  in  the  Gospel 
Magazine,  but  are  not  in  his  works. 


Hymn  800.  God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again. 
JEREMIAH  EAMES  RANKIN,  D.D. 

Dr.  Rankin  was  born  at  Thornton,  New  Haven,  1828,  of 
Scotch  and  English  descent.  He  has  done  service  as  a  Con 
gregational  minister  in  the  United  States,  and  President  of 
Howard  University,  Washington  (Columbia).  He  edited  the 
Gospel  Temperance  Hymnal,  1878,  and  Gospel  Bells. 

This  hymn  '  was  written  as  a  Christian  good-bye,  and  first 
sung  in  the  first  Congregational  Church  of  which  I  was  minister 
for  fifteen  years.  We  had  gospel  meetings  on  Sunday  nights, 
and  our  music  was  intentionally  of  the  popular  kind.  I  wrote 
the  first  stanza,  and  sent  it  to  two  gentlemen  for  music.  The 
music  which  seemed  to  me  best  suited  to  the  words  was  written 
by  Mr.  Tomer,  teacher  of  public  schools  in  New  Jersey,  at  one 
time  on  the  staff  of  General  O.  O.  Howard.  After  receiving  the 
music  (which  was  revised  by  Dr.  J.  W.  Bischoff,  the  organist  of 
my  church)  I  wrote  the  other  stanzas.' 

The  Methodists  took  up  the  hymn,  and  at  Ocean  Grove  five 
different  organizations  were  heard  to  close  their  worship  with  it. 
Dr.  F.  E.  Clark,  founder  of  the  Christian  Endeavour  movement, 
says  it  followed  him  as  a  benediction  hymn  all  round  the  world. 
It  was  sung  at  the  grave  of  the  wife  of  President  Hayes. 

The  hymn  was  a  great  favourite  with  the  Christian  soldiers 
in  the  South  African  War.  The  number  of  the  hymn  in 
Sankey's  collection  was  494,  and  this  was  used  by  the  men  as  a 
password.  '  On  sentry,  men  meet  and  whisper,  "  Four-nine- 
four."  They  write  it  in  letters,  and  shout  it  as  they  or  their 
comrades  go  to  battle.  They  murmur  it  dying  on  the  veldt.' — 
Chaplains  in  Khaki,  p.  32. 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND  THEIR   WRITERS    407 

Hymn  801.  Happy  the  soiils  to  Jesus  joined. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on.  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745,  No.  96;  Works,  iii.  286. 
'  We  '  is  changed  into  '  they '  in  ver.  I  ;  '  hence  '  to  '  thence '  in  ver.  4. 

Ver.  4,  Dean  Brevint  says,  '  In  the  purpose  of  God,  His 
Church  and  heaven  go  together  ;  that  being  the  way  that  leads 
to  this  ;  as  the  holy  place  to  the  holiest.' 

Wesley  says,  on  November  i,  1766,  'God,  who  hath  knit 
together  His  elect  in  one  communion  and  fellowship,  gave  us  a 
solemn  season  at  West  Street  (as  usual)  in  praising  Him  for 
all  His  saints.  On  this  day  in  particular,  I  commonly  find  the 
truth  of  those  words — 

The  Church  triumphant  in  His  love,  &c.' 

Hymn  802.  What  are  these  arrayed  in  white. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745  ;   Works,  iii.  294. 

Two  young  Methodists  from  Pontefract  sat  up  with  Sammy 
Hick  during  the  last  night  of  his  life.  He  repeatedly  exclaimed, 
'  Glory,  glory,  glory  ';  then  he  broke  out,  '  I  shall  see  Him  for 
myself,  and  not  for  another.  The  Lord  has  wrought  a  miracle 
for  me.  He  can — I  know  He  can — I  cannot  dispute  it.  Christ 
in  me  the  hope  of  glory.  I  am  like  the  miser  ;  the  more  I  have, 
the  more  I  want.'  '  Sing  the  hymn,  "  What  are  these  arrayed  in 
white."'  Whilst  they  sang  he  continued  to  wave  his  hand  in 
triumph. 

Hymn  803.  Give  mo  the  wings  of  faith  to  rise. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1 709.  '  The  Examples  of  Christ  and 
the  Saints.'  In  ver.  2  Watts  wrote,  '  And  wet  their  couch  with  tears.' 

Dr.  Doddridge  wrote  to  Watts,  '  I  was  preaching  in  a  barn 
last  Wednesday,  to  a  company  of  plain  country  people.  After  a 
sermon  from  Heb.  vi.  12,  we  sang  one  of  your  hymns,  com 
mencing,  "  Give  me  the  wings  of  faith  to  rise,"  and  had  the 
satisfaction  to  see  tears  in  the  eyes  of  several  of  the  auditory. 
After  the  service  some  of  them  told  me  they  were  not  able  to 
sing,  so  deeply  were  their  minds  affected  with  it ;  and  the  clerk 


408  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

in  particular  told  me  he  could  hardly  utter  the  words  of  it. 
These  were  most  of  them  poor  people  who  work  for  their 
living.' 

Hymn  804.  O  God,  to  whom  the  faithful  dead. 

JOSIAH   CONDER  (73?). 

In  Congregational  Hymn-bock,  1836,  headed  'Whose  faith  follow.' 
The  first  line  reads,  '  happy  dead.' 

Hymn  805.  Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Funeral  Hymjis,  2nd  Series,  1759  ;  Works,  vi.  215.  The  first 
hymn  of  the  set.  Ver.  2  reads — 

Part  of  His  host  hath  cross'd  the  flood, 
And  part  is  crossing  now. 

The  second  hymn  in  the  pamphlet  is, '  How  happy  every  child 
of  grace ' ;  the  third,  '  And  let  this  feeble  body  fail.'  These  are 
the  riches  of  the  collection  •  the  rest  are  tributes  to  friends, 
such  as  John  Meriton,  James  Hervey,  Thomas  Walsh,  Mr. 
Lampe,  Mr.  Hutchinson,  Grace  Bowen,  and  others. 

John  Wesley  (Works,  xiii.  514)  once  in  company  referred  to 
Dr.  Watts's  tribute  to  Wrestling  Jacob,  and  added,  '  Oh,  what 
would  Dr.  Watts  have  said  if  he  had  lived  to  see  my  brother's 
two  exquisite  Funeral  Hymns,  beginning,  "  How  happy  every 
child  of  grace  "  and  "  Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above  "  ? ' 
This  was  the  hymn  that  John  Wesley  and  his  congregation  in 
Staffordshire  were  singing  at  the  hour  when  Charles  joined  the 
company  in  heaven.  When  Wesley  preached  his  farewell  sermon 
in  Dublin  on  July  12,  1789,  he  gave  out  and  commented  on  this 
hymn,  which  he  said  was  the  sweetest  his  brother  ever  wrote. 

Richard  Watson  says, '  The  funeral  hymns  have  but  little  of 
the  softness  of  sorrow,  perhaps  too  little,  but  they  are  written 
in  that  fulness  of  faith  which  exclaims  over  the  open  tomb, 
"  Thanks  be  to  God  which  giveth  us  the  victory,  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Dr.  Stevens  writes  (History  of  Methodism, 
Bk.  iv.  chap.  2)  :  '  Many  of  his  elegies  have  an  unearthly  power  ; 
a  sadness  of  the  grave  pervaded  by  the  rapture  of  heaven.  His 
Funeral  Hymns,  occasioned,  with  hardly  an  exception,  by 
actual  deaths,  constitute  the  most  perfect  part  of  the  Methodist 
psalmody,  and  for  a  hundred  years  and  more  these  testimonials 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    409 

of  the  dying  triumphs  of  their  early  brethren  have  been  sung 
at  the  death-beds  and  funerals  of  Methodists  throughout  the 
world.'  The  Bishop  of  Hereford  (Dr.  Percival)  told  Mr.  Stead 
that  he  considered  the  verse,  '  One  army  of  the  living  God,' 
'  one  of  the  finest  in  the  whole  range  of  hymnology.' 

On  May  6,  1905,  the  American  Ambassador,  Mr.  Choate,  was 
entertained  at  a  farewell  banquet  at  the  Mansion  House,  London. 
The  leading  representatives  of  every  department  of  English 
public  life  met  to  do  honour  to  one  who  had  laboured,  during 
the  six  years  he  had  been  ambassador,  to  promote  goodwill 
between  the  two  sister  nations.  He  said  that  he  was  resigning 
his  great  post  because  he  was  homesick.  '  My  friends  on  this 
side  of  the  water  are  multiplying  every  day  in  numbers  and 
increasing  in  the  ardour  of  their  affections.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  the  great  host  of  my  friends  on  the  other  side  are  as  rapidly 
diminishing  and  dwindling  away.  "  Part  of  the  host  have 
crossed  the  flood,  and  part  are  crossing  now,"  and  I  have  a 
great  yearning  to  be  with  the  waning  number.' 

Tne  Rev.  Asahel  Nettleton  (1783-1844),  a  powerful  American 
evangelist,  often  referred  to  this  hymn  in  his  last  illness  with 
the  deepest  affection.  Dr.  Nicholas  Murray  visited  Dr.  Childs 
at  Hartford,  and  preached  for  him  in  the  Presbyterian  church 
on  January  13,  1861.  He  repeated  with  deep  pathos  the 
stanzas,  '  One  family  we  dwell  in  Him,'  and  'One  army  of  the 
living  God.'  '  Who  of  us,'  said  his  host,  '  supposed  that  his 
feet  were  even  then  touching  the  dark  waters — that  our  next 
message  about  him  would  be  that  he  had  "  crossed  the  flood  "  ? ' 

Mrs.  Fison,  wife  of  the  Bishop  of  Hokkaido,  says  that  in 
1874  her  husband  sometimes  took  the  service  at  Camp  Hill  for 
the  English  marines  at  Yokohama.  A  friend  told  her  that  after 
one  service  he  joined  an  officer  in  the  porch.  As  they  walked 
away  the  soldier  said,  '  Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above,' 
which  they  had  just  been  singing,  was  his  favourite  hymn.  He 
repeated  two  lines — 

Part  of  His  host  have  crossed  the  flood, 
And  part  are  crossing  now. 

Within  two  days  he  had  joined  the  army  who  have  '  crossed  the 
flood."  He  was  riding  out  with  a  brother  officer,  and  in  passing 
through  a  village  near  Yokohama  they  met  a  Daimio  and  his 
retinue.  The  Englishmen  were  ordered  to  dismount,  but, 
probably  not  understanding  the  order,  they  were  cut  down  and 
killed. — Church  Missionary  Intelligencer,  January,  1906. 


4IO  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  806.  The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war. 
REGINALD  HEBER,  D.D.  (28). 

'St.  Stephen,'  published  in  Hymns,  1827.     In  his  manuscript  col 
lection  in  the  British  Museum  it  reads,  '  The  Son  of  God  is  gone  to 


In  Mrs.  Ewing's  Story  of  a  Short  Life  it  is  the  favourite 
hymn  in  the  barracks,  where  the  soldiers  call  it  the  '  tug  of  war ' 
hymn.  The  officer's  son,  who  had  been  crippled  for  life  by  an 
accident,  begs  just  before  his  death  that  the  soldiers  will  sing  it 
again.  They  go  under  his  window,  and  when  in  the  midst  of 
the  verse,  '  A  noble  army,  men  and  boys,'  a  hand  is  seen  at  the 
window  pulling  down  the  blind.  The  brave  sufferer  is  gone. 
The  story  made  the  hymn  widely  popular  among  children  as 
the  *  tug  of  war  '  hymn. 

Hymn  807.  For  all  the  saints  who  from  their 
labours  rest. 

WILLIAM  WALSHAM  How,  D.D.  (177). 

Published  in  Hymns  for  Saints'  Days,  and  other  Hymns  by  a  Layman 
(Earl  Nelson),  1864,  in  eleven  stanzas  of  three  lines  with  the  refrain, 
'  Alleluia.'  The  original  form  of  the  first  line  is  '  For  all  Thy  saints,' 
but  the  bishop  altered  it  to  '  For  all  the  saints.' 

Hymn  808.  How  bright  those  glorious  spirits  shine ! 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.  'The  Martyrs  glorified.'  Revt 
vii.  13,  &c.,  beginning,  *  These  glorious  minds,  how  bright  they 
shine ! ' 

Watts's  hymn  was  recast  in  the  draft  of  the  Scottish  Translations 
and  Paraphrases,  1745,  and  considerably  altered  in  1781.  William 
Cameron,  parish  minister  of  Kirknewton,  Midlothian,  who  died  in  1811, 
seems  to  have  been  largely  responsible  for  the  1781  alterations.  The 
doxology  is  from  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern. 

When  Duncan  Matthison,  the  Scotch  evangelist,  was  working 
in  the  Crimea,  he  was  returning  one  night,  worn  out,  from 
Sebastopol  to  the  old  stable  at  Balaclava  where  he  lodged.  He 
was  trudging  through  mud  knee-deep,  and  the  siege  seemed  no 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS    411 

nearer  an  end,  yet  above  the  stars  were  looking  down  from  the 
clear  sky.  He  began  to  sing, '  How  bright  those  glorious  spirits 
shine.'  Next  day  he  found  a  soldier  shivering  under  a  verandah, 
with  his  bare  toes  showing  through  his  worn-out  boots.  Matthi- 
son  gave  him  half  a  sovereign  to  buy  a  new  pair.  The  soldier 
thanked  him.  '  I  am  not  what  I  was  yesterday.  Last  night  as 
I  was  thinking  of  our  miserable  condition,  I  grew  tired  of  life, 
and  said  to  myself,  "  I  can  bear  this  no  longer,  and  may  as  well 
put  an  end  to  it."  So  I  took  my  musket  and  went  down  yonder 
in  a  desperate  state,  about  eleven  o'clock ;  but  as  I  got  round 
the  point,  I  heard  some  person  singing,  "  How  bright  those 
glorious  spirits  shine  "  ;  and  I  remembered  the  old  school  and 
the  Sabbath  school  where  we  used  to  sing  it.  I  felt  ashamed 
of  being  so  cowardly,  and  said,  "  Here  is  some  one  as  badly 
off  as  myself,  and  yet  he  is  not  giving  in."  I  felt,  too,  he  had 
something  to  make  him  happy  which  I  had  not,  but  I  began  to 
hope  I,  too,  might  get  the  same  happiness.  I  returned  to  my 
tent,  and  to-day  I  am  resolved  to  seek  the  one  thing?  '  Do  you 
know  who  the  singer  was?3  asked  the  missionary.  '  No,'  was 
the  reply.  'Well,'  said  Mr.  Matthison,  'it  was  I.'  Tears 
rushed  into  the  soldier's  eyes,  and  handing  back  the  half- 
sovereign,  he  said,  '  Never,  sir,  can  I  take  it  from  you  after 
what  you  have  been  the  means  of  doing  for  me.' 

Hymn  809.  The  saints  of  God!  their  conflict  past. 
WILLIAM  DALRYMPLE  MACLAGAN. 

In  Church  Bells,  1870, 'and  in  S.P.C.K.  Church  Hymns,  1871. 
His  Good  Friday  hymn,  'Lord,  when  Thy  kingdom  comes,  remember 
me,'  was  written  for  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1875. 

Archbishop  Maclagan,  son  of  David  Maclagan,  M.D.,  was 
born  in  Edinburgh  in  1826.  He  served  as  an  officer  in  India, 
but  entered  the  Church  of  England  ;  was  Rector  of  Ncwington 
1869-75  ;  Vicar  of  Kensington,  1875-8  ;  Bishop  of  Lichfield, 
1878  ;  Archbishop  of  York,  1891. 

Hymn  810.  Hark!  the  sound  of  holy  voices. 

CHRISTOPHER  WORDSWORTH,  D.D.  (187). 
For  All  Saints'  Day,  Holy  Ysar,  1862. 

The  verse,  '  Now  they  reign  in  heavenly  glory,'  was  omitted 
in  earlier  editions  of  Church  Hymns  (S.P.C.K.),  because  it  was 


412  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

thought  to  imply  'that  the  blessed  are  already  in  the  full 
fruition  of  their  future  and  everlasting  glory — the  Beatific 
Vision';  but,  as  Canon  Ellerton  points  out,  Dr.  Wordsworth 
showed  that  he  did  not  intend  it  to  be  an  exposition  of  the 
present  condition  of  the  saints  in  the  Intermediate  State. 

The  bishop  said,  '  The  whole  hymn  from  beginning  to  end 
is  in  harmony  with  the  Epistle  for  the  festival  of  the  day  (Rev. 
vii.  2,  &c.),  and  like  it  in  the  utterance  in  triumphant  song  of  a 
vision  of  the  final  gathering  of  the  saints.' 


Hymn  811.  Lord  of  our  life,  and  God  of  our 
salvation. 

MATTHAUS  APELLES  VON  LOWENSTERN  ;  translated  by  PHILIP 

PUSEY. 

'  Christe,  du  Beistand  deiner  Kreuzgemeine,'  appeared  in  1644, 
entitled  '  Sapphic  Ode.  For  spiritual  and  temporal  peace.'  It  reflects 
the  atmosphere  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  during  which  the  writer 
lived. 

Philip  Pusey  (1799-1855),  elder  brother  of  Dr.  Pusey  and  sou  of  the 
first  Viscount  Folkestone,  contributed  this  version  to  Reinagle's  Psalm 
and  Hymn  Tunes,  1840. 

The  fourth  verse  is  here  omitted — 

Peace  in  our  hearts,  our  evil  thoughts  assuaging, 
Peace  in  Thy  Church,  where  brothers  are  engaging, 
Peace,  when  the  world  its  busy  war  is  waging, 
Calm  Thy  foes  raging. 

Lowenstern  was  a  saddler's  son,  born  at  J^eustadt,  Silesia, 
in  1594.  He  early  distinguished  himself  by  his  musical  abilities, 
and  in  1625  was  appointed  music  treasurer  and  director  at 
Bernstadt  by  Duke  Heinrich  Wenzel  of  Miinsterberg.  In  1631 
he  became  Rath  and  secretary  and  director  of  finance.  He 
passed  into  the  service  of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II  as  Rath, 
and  was  ennobled  by  Ferdinand  III.  He  died  at  Breslau  in 
1648.  His  thirty  hymns  were  accompanied  by  music  of  his 
own,  and  some  were  written  on  the  mottoes  of  the  princes  under 
whom  he  served. 

Niebuhr  the  historian  was  sometimes  heard  to  repeat  this 
hymn  to  himself  in  the  midst  of  his  literary  research.  It  was 
also  a  favourite  of  Bunsen's. 


THE    STORY    OF   THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR    WRITERS    413 

Hymn  812.  O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalms  of  David,  1719.  Ps.  xc.  1-5.  'Man  frail  and  God 
eternal.'  The  original  reads — 

Ver.  I.   Our  God,  our  help  in  ages  past. 
Ver.  2.   Thy  saints  have  dwelt  secure. 
Ver.  5.    With  all  their  lives  and  cares. 

Ver.  4  of  the  original  is  omitted,  and  ver.  8 — 

Thy  word  commands  our  flesh  to  dust, 

'  Return,  ye  sons  of  men  ' ; 
All  nations  rose  from  earth  at  first, 

And  turn  to  earth  again. 

Like  flow'ry  fields  the  nations  stand, 

Pleas'd  with  the  morning  light : 
The  flow'rs  beneath  the  mower's  hand 

Lie  with'ring  ere  'tis  night. 

It  appeared  in  Wesley's  Psalms  and  Hymns  in  1738. 

On  Sunday,  September  30,  1810,  Henry  Martyn  had  the  joy 
of  preaching  in  the  church  which  he  had  induced  the  authorities 
to  form  out  of  a  bungalow  at  Cawnpore.  The  band  of  the 
regiment  led  the  music,  and  he  preached  to  the  natives,  giving 
them  a  short  account  of  our  Lord's  life  and  teaching.  He  was 
known  to  be  in  a  most  dangerous  state  of  health,  and  the  flush 
on  his  cheek  showed  that  his  days  were  few.  After  service  he 
returned  to  his  bungalow,  and  fell  almost  fainting  on  a  sofa  in 
the  hall.  His  friend,  Mrs.  Sherwood,  says,  'Soon,  however,  he 
revived  a  little,  and  called  us  all  about  him  to  sing.  It  was 
then  that  we  sang  to  him  that  sweet  hymn  which  thus  begins  : 
"  O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past."  ' 

In  Shirley  Charlotte  I'ronte  describes  this  as  the  hymn 
which,  at  the  invalid's  request,  Mrs.  Pryor  sang  by  the 
bedside  of  Caroline  Helstone  just  before  she  made  known  to 
the  girl  that  she  was  her  mother.  '  No  wonder  Caroline 
liked  to  hear  her  sing  ;  her  voice,  even  in  speaking,  was  sweet 
and  silver  clear  ;  in  song  it  was  almost  divine  ;  neither  flute 
nor  dulcimer  has  tones  so  pure.  But  the  tone  was  secondary 
compared  to  the  expression  which  trembled  through  :  a  tender 
vibration  from  a  feeling  heart. 


414  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

'  The  servants  in  the  kitchen,  hearing  the  strain,  stole  to  the 
stair-foot  to  listen ;  even  old  Helstone,  as  he  walked  in  the 
garden,  pondering  over  the  unaccountable  and  feeble  nature  of 
women,  stood  still  among  his  borders  to  catch  the  mournful 
melody  more  distinctly.  The  hymn  followed  him  faintly  as  he 
crossed  the  fields  ;  he  hastened  his  customary  sharp  pace,  that 
he  might  get  beyond  its  reach.' 

John  Bright  greatly  loved  this  hymn,  about  which  he  used 
to  speak  to  Sir  Henry  Fowler.  It  was  sung  with  great  effect  at 
Mr.  Gladstone's  funeral  service. 

Hymn  813.  Lord,  Thou  hast  been  our  dwelling- 
place. 

T.  H.  GILL  (52). 

National  Hymn.  'Begun  among  the  Waldenses,  1864,' for  their 
third  centenary.  It  was  published  in  Golden  Chain  of  Praise,  1869, 
headed  '  The  Hymn  of  the  Waldenses.' 

A  note  says,  'This  hymn  as  a  whole  belongs  to  the 
Waldenses  only,  among  whom  it  was  begun  ;  but  all  the  people 
of  God  have  an  interest  in  the  first  two  and  the  last  verses.' 
Those  are  the  verses  here  given. 

Hymn  814.  Thee  we  adore,  eternal  Name! 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1707.  '  Frail  life,  and  succeeding 
eternity.' 

In  Wesley's  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1738. 

George  Bellamy,  who  died  of  fever  in  Demerara  in  1821, 
repeated  the  first  verse  of  this  hymn  in  his  last  illness  as  his 
negro  servant  bathed  his  head  with  vinegar.  The  man  saw  that 
the  missionary's  faith  was  strong.  '  Massa  no  'fraid  ;  dis  sickness 
for  de  glory  of  God.'  Another  missionary,  Mr.  Ames,  was  ill 
and  died.  The  fact  was  carefully  kept  from  his  friend,  but 
he  seemed  to  know,  for  he  said,  '  Ames  is  gone  I  I'll  go  too,' 
and  soon  after  passed  away. 

Hymn  815.  O  God,  the  Rock  of  Ages. 

BISHOP  BlCKERSTETH   (404). 
Written  in  1860. 


THE  STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS    415 

Hymn  816.  I  hoped  that  with  the  brave  aud 
strong. 

ANNE  BRONTE. 

Anne  Bronte  (1820-49)  was  tne  youngest  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Patrick  Bronte,  Vicar  of  Haworth.  She  was  joint-author 
with  her  sisters  of  a  volume  of  Poems,  1846,  and  wrote,  under 
her  nom-dc-plume,  'Acton  Bell,'  Agnes  Grey  and  The  Tenant 
of  Wildfell  Hall.  Emily  Bronte  died  of  consumption, 
December  19,  1848,  and  on  May  28,  1849,  Anne  followed  her. 
Charlotte  Bronte  says  she  found  support  in  'her  most  painful 
journey'  from  the  Christian  doctrines,  in  which  she  firmly 
believed.  '  I  witnessed  their  efficacy  in  her  latest  hour  and 
greatest  trial,  and  must  bear  my  testimony  to  the  calm 
triumph  with  which  they  brought  her  through.'  Her  sister 
adds  a  little  sketch  of  her  character.  '  Long-suffering,  self- 
denying,  reflective,  and  intelligent,  a  constitutional  reserve 
and  taciturnity  placed  and  kept  her  in  the  shade,  and  covered 
her  mind,  and  especially  her  feelings,  with  a  sort  of  nun-like 
veil,  which  was  rarely  lifted.'  She  was  the  youngest  of  the 
three  sisters,  '  with  a  delicate  complexion,  a  slender  neck,  and 
small,  pleasant  features.'  Charlotte  Bronte  gives  this  hymn  as 
the  last  memento  of  her  sister,  and  adds  a  footnote,  'These 
lines  written,  the  desk  was  closed,  the  pen  laid  aside— for  ever.' 
She  says  her  sister's  belief  in  God  as  a  Creator  and  a  Saviour 
was  'a  sure  and  steadfast  conviction,  on  which,  in  the  rude 
passage  from  Time  to  Eternity,  she  threw  the  weight  of  her 
human  weakness,  and  by  which  she  was  enabled  to  bear  what 
was  to  be  borne,  patiently — serenely — victoriously.'  She  died 
at  Scarborough,  and  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  there.  A  little 
while  before  her  death  she  was  asked  if  she  was  easier,  and 
looking  gratefully  up,  said,  '  It  is  not  you  who  can  give  me 
ease,  but  soon  all  will  be  well  through  the  merits  of  our 
Redeemer.' 

Hymn  817.  While  ebbing  nature  grieves. 
JAMES  SMETHAM. 

James  Smcthain,  the  son  of  one  Wesleyan  minister,  and 
brother  of  another,  was  born  at  Pateley  Bridge  in  1821,  and 
educated  at  Woodhousc  Grove  School,  where  he  copied 


41 6  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Raphael's  cartoons  from  the  Penny  Magazine.  He  was 
articled  to  a  Lincoln  architect,  who  set  him  to  draw  all  the 
figures  about  the  cathedral.  For  a  time  he  studied  at  the 
Royal  Academy  in  1843,  and  showed  his  first  picture  at  Liver 
pool  in  1847.  He  became  teacher  of  drawing  at  the  Wesleyan 
Normal  College  in  Westminster  in  1851,  a  post  which  he  filled 
for  twenty-six  years.  He  married  the  teacher  of  one  of  the 
schools  there,  and  moved  to  Stoke  Newington  in  1856.  John 
Ruskin  and  D.  G.  Rossetti  were  his  warm  and  true  friends.  He 
was  a  devoted  Methodist  class-leader  at  Stoke  Newington. 
His  Letters  have  taken  high  rank  for  their  rich  thought  and 
lovely  expression.  Religion  '  was  ever  present  to  him,  earnest, 
real,  the  one  important  moulder  and  factor  of  his  life.'  He 
says  of  the  peace  of  God, '  It  lies  round  you  like  an  atmosphere. 
It  dwells  in  you  like  a  fragrance.  It  goes  from  you  like  a 
subtle  elixir  vitae.'  '  I  want  not  fame,  but  life;  the  soul's  calm 
sunshine;  life  in  the  eye  of  God.'  In  1877  the  mental  illness 
which  clouded  his  last  years  came  upon  him.  He  died  in  1889. 
He  rests  in  Highgate  Cemetery,  with  the  text  on  his  gravestone, 
'  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  with  Thy  likeness.' 

Rossetti  called  Smetham  'the  Blake  of  the  nineteenth 
century.'  He  allowed  an  exhibition  of  Smetham's  pictures  to 
be  held  in  his  studio  in  1878.  'This  morning,'  he  wrote,  'the 
pictures  arrived,  and  many  of  them  have  quite  delighted  and 
astonished  me  by  their  extreme  beauty.  Indeed  they  are,  in 
colour,  sentiment,  and  nobility  of  thought,  only  to  be  classed 
with  the  very  flower  of  modern  art.' 

Hymn  818.  Almighty  Maker  of  my  frame. 
ANNE  STEELE  (255). 

1  When  I  resolved  to  watch  my  thoughts,'  Psalm  xxxix.,  was  pub 
lished  in  her  Poems,  1760.  This  cento,  verses  4,  5,  6,  7,  is  given  in 
Rippon's  Baptist  Selection,  1787,  as  a  hymn  on  'The  Shortness  of 
Life.' 

Miss  Steele  modelled  her  first  two  verses  on  the  first  two 
verses  of  Dr.  Watts's  version  of  Ps.  xxxix.  4-10,  but  she 
greatly  improved  on  her  original — 

Teach  me  the  measure  of  my  days, 

Thou  Maker  of  my  frame  ! 
I  would  survey  life's  narrow  space, 

And  learn  how  frail  I  am. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR    WRITERS    417 

A  span  is  all  that  we  can  boast, 

An  inch  or  two  of  time ; 
Man  is  but  vanity  and  dust, 

In  all  his  flow'r  and  prime. 

Hymn  819.  Sunset  and  evening  star. 
ALFRED,  LORD  TENNYSON. 

Lord  Tennyson  was  born  at  Somersby,  in  the  Wesley  county, 
in  1 809,  and  was  Poet  Laureate,  1 850-92.  '  Crossing  the  Bar '  was 
written  in  his  eighty-first  year,  on  an  October  day  (1889),  as  he 
crossed  from  Aldworth  to  Farringford.  His  son  says,  'Before 
he  reached  Farringford  he  had  the  Moaning  of  the  Bar  in  his 
mind,  and  after  dinner  he  showed  me  this  poem  written  out.  I 
said,  "  That  is  the  crown  of  your  life's  work."  He  answered, 
"  It  came  in  a  moment."  He  explained  the  "  Pilot"  as  "  That 
Divine  and  Unseen  who  is  always  guiding  us."  A  few  days 
before  my  father's  death,  in  1892,  he  said  to  me,  "Mind  you 
put  'Crossing  the  Bar'  at  the  end  of  all  editions  of  my 
poems." ' 

A  facsimile  of  the  original  MS.  shows  no  trace  of  a  single 
correction.  Tennyson  told  Dr.  Butler,  of  Cambridge,  that  a 
nurse  who  had  been  with  him  for  about  eighteen  months,  and 
had  great  influence  over  him,  asked  him  to  write  a  hymn.  He 
replied,  '  Hymns  are  often  such  dull  things.'  But  the  suggestion 
bore  fruit,  and  he  said  she  was  the  cause  of  his  writing  it.  He 
added,  '  They  say  that  I  compose  very  slowly,  but  I  knocked 
that  off  in  ten  minutes.'  On  the  tablet  erected  to  his  memory 
in  Freshwater  Church  are  the  lines- 
Speak,  living  Voice  !  With  thee  death  is  not  death  ; 
Thy  life  outlives  the  life  of  dust  and  breath. 

Tennyson  is  pre-eminently  a  Christian  poet.  No  one  ever 
loved  the  things  that  were  lovely  more  than  he,  or  more  faithfully 
shaped  his  work  by  them.  Strong  faith  bore  him  up  in  all  life's 
uncertainties.  '  I  am  always  amazed  when  I  read  the  New 
Testament  at  the  splendour  of  Christ's  purity  and  holiness, 
and  at  His  infinite  pity.' 

He  said, '  I  can  hardly  understand  how  any  great,  imagina 
tive  man,  who  has  deeply  lived,  suffered,  thought,  and  wrought, 
can  doubt  of  the  soul's  continuous  progress  in  the  after-life.1 
'  In  Memoriam '  is  the  poem  of  immortality. 

2   E 


41 8  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

He  said  in  his  last  talks  that  'the  life  after  death  is  the 
cardinal  point  of  Christianity.  I  believe  that  God  reveals  Him 
self  in  every  individual  soul ;  and  my  idea  of  heaven  is  the 
perpetual  ministry  of  one  soul  to  another.'  A  few  hours  before 
his  death  his  doctor  told  him  of  a  villager  who  was  dying  at  the 
age  of  ninety,  and  pined  to  see  his  old  bed-ridden  wife.  When 
they  carried  her  to  his  room,  he  pressed  his  shrunken  hand  on 
hers,  and  said  in  a  husky  voice,  '  Come  soon.'  Tennyson  'mur 
mured,  "  True  faith  "  :  and  the  tears  were  in  his  voice.  Suddenly 
he  gathered  himself  together,  and  spoke  one  word  about  himself 
to  the  doctor,  "  Death  ?  "  Dr.  Dabbs  bowed  his  head,  and  he 
said,  "  That's  well." '  As  he  passed  to  meet  his  Pilot  face  to  face 
his  son  spoke  over  him  his  own  prayer,  '  God  accept  him  ! 
Christ  receive  him  ! '  because  he  knew  his  father  would  have 
wished  it. 

Hymn  820.  Who  fathoms  the  eternal  Thought? 
JOHN  GREENLEAF  WHITTIER  (118). 

From  The  Eternal  Goodness,  1865. 

The  three  verses  preceding  that  with  which  this  hymn  opens  show 
the  poet's  meditation — 

0  Friends  !  with  whom  my  feet  have  trod 
The  quiet  aisles  of  prayer, 

Glad  witness  to  your  zeal  for  God 
And  love  of  man  I  bear. 

1  trace  your  line  of  argument ; 
Your  logic  linked  and  strong, 

I  weigh  as  one  who  dreads  dissent, 
And  fears  a  doubt  as  wrong. 

But  still  my  human  hands  are  weak 

To  hold  your  iron  creeds  : 
Against  the  words  ye  bid  me  speak 

My  heart  within  me  pleads. 

John  Bright  described  this  as  a  'poem  which  is  worth  a 
crowd  of  sermons  which  are  spoken  from  the  pulpits  of  our 
sects  and  churches,  which  I  do  not  wish  to  undervalue.  It  is  a 
great  gift  to  mankind  when  a  poet  is  raised  up  among  us  who 
devotes  his  great  powers  to  the  sublime  purpose  of  spreading 
among  men  principles  of  mercy,  and  justice,  and  freedom.' 


THE   STORY  OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     419 

Hymn  821.  In  age  and  feebleness  extreme. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
'  Lines  dictated  on  his  death-bed  '  ;   Works,  viii.  432. 

This  is  Charles  Wesley's  swan-song.  A  few  days  before  his 
death  he  called  his  wife,  and  asked  her  to  write  down  the  lines. 
The  Rev.  Richard  Green  has  Mrs.  Charles  Wesley's  hymn-book, 
which  contains  an  entry  in  her  own  writing.  '  The  following 
lines  I  wrote  from  Mr.  Charles  Wesley's  repeating,  a  few  days 
before  he  departed  y'  life.  In  age  and  feebleness  extream.' 
They  are  his  legacy  to  Methodism.  He  died  as  he  lived  ; 
prizing  above  all  else  a  smile  from  Christ.  Mr.  Prothero  says  that 
on  his  death-bed  '  the  train  of  thought  suggested  by  Ps. 
Ixxiii.  25  ("My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth  ;  but  God  is  the 
strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion  for  ever  ")  took  shape  in 
verse.  It  was  the  last  exercise  of  his  wonderful  gift.'  '  The 
Last  Wish'  has  brought  sunlight  to  many  a  Methodist 
death-bed. 

In  editing  the  music  for  77ic  Methodist  Hymn-Book,  1904,  Sir 
Frederick  Bridge  was  quick  to  discern  the  significance  of  this 
precious  relic.  The  Tune-Book  Committee  looked  on  it  rather 
as  an  interesting  and  pathetic  historical  memento,  than  a  verse 
for  congregational  use.  Many  of  them  had  never  heard  it  sung, 
and  felt  that  it  could  be  sung  only  under  very  special  circum 
stances.  '  But  Sir  Frederick  Bridge,  to  our  intense  astonishment, 
took  an  entirely  different  view.  "  This,"  said  he,  "  is  one  of 
your  treasures.  Any  Church  might  be  proud  to  possess  a  little 
hymn  with  such  a  history,  and  in  itself  so  beautiful.  Let  me 
ask  my  friend,  Sir  Hubert  H.  Parry,  to  compose  a  tune  for  it.  It 
is  just  such  a  hymn  as  will  appeal  to  his  genius." '  Mr.  Curnock 
adds,  'When,  some  little  time  afterwards,  the  tune  was  for 
warded  from  the  Royal  College  of  Music  to  the  Committee,  we 
all  felt  thankful  that  our  editor  had  been  so  insistent.  It  is  one 
of  those  hymn-anthems  that  now  and  then  a  congregation  may 
be  glad  to  hear,  especially  when  rendered  by  an  organist  and 
choir  who  have  made  a  careful  study  of  the  twin  souls — the  soul 
of  the  dying  poet's  hymn,  and  the  soul  in  the  great  musician's 
tune.  One  competent  critic,  after  playing  the  tune  several  times, 
made  the  remark,  "You  can  see  the  old  man  leaning  on  his 
staff.'"  Sir  F.  Bridge  said  in  a  short  paper  in  the  Methodist 
Recorder  (June  2,  1904), '  I  should  particularly  like  to  mention 


420  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Sir  H.  Parry's  setting  of  the  well-known  words,  "  In  age  and 
feebleness  extreme" — words  sacred  to  Methodists,  which  I 
resolved  to  have  set  by  the  best  composer  I  could  secure.  I 
shall  be  surprised  if  this  fine  setting  is  not  looked  upon  as  a 
very  precious  possession.' 

The  name  '  Marylebone '  was  given  to  the  tune  in  memory 
of  the  place  where  the  poet  spent  the  last  years  of  his  life 
(i77i-S8),;and  where  he  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  graveyard  of  the 
old  parish  church. 

The  mother  of  the  Rev.  William  Pennington  Burgess,  who 
wrote  a  valuable  study  of  our  Methodist  hymns,  told  her  son 
in  her  last  letter  when  she  was  more  than  eighty,  '  I  often 
find  Charles  Wesley's  dying  hymn,  "  In  age  and  feebleness 
extreme,"  very  sweet  to  me,  only  I  want  to  dwell  now  under  a 
constant  sense  of  my  Saviour's  smile,  and  then  to  catch  a 
brighter  one  at  the  last.' 

Hymn  822.  The  morning  flowers  display  their 

sweets. 

SAMUEL  WESLEY,  M.A.,  JUN.  (635). 

'On  Death.'  In  Miscellaneous  Poems,  by  several  hands,  to  which 
Pope,  Vincent  Bourne,  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  and  others  contributed. 
It  was  edited  by  D.  Lewis,  author  of  a  well-known  song,  '  Winifreda,' 
London,  1726. 

It  is  given  in  his  own  Poems,  1736,  headed  '  Verses  on  Isa.  xl.  6-8. 
Occasioned  by  the  death  of  a  young  lady.' 

John  and  Charles  Wesley,  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1743. 

In  January,  1727,  Wesley  writes  to  his  mother  {Works,  xii. 
10)  :  '  About  a  year  and  a  half  ago  I  stole  out  of  company  at 
eight  in  the  evening,  with  a  young  gentleman  with  whom  I  was 
intimate.  As  we  took  a  turn  in  an  aisle  of  St.  Mary's  Church, 
in  expectation  of  a  young  lady's  funeral,  with  whom  we  were 
both  acquainted,  I  asked  him  if  he  really  thought  himself  my 
friend  ;  and,  if  he  did,  why  he  would  not  do  me  all  the  good  he 
could.  He  began  to  protest ;  in  which  I  cut  him  short,  by 
desiring  him  to  oblige  me  in  an  instance,  which  he  could  not 
deny  to  be  in  his  own  power ;  to  let  me  have  the  pleasure  of 
making  him  a  whole  Christian,  to  which  I  knew  he  was  at  least 
half  persuaded  already  ;  that  he  could  not  do  me  a  greater 
kindness,  as  both  of  us  would  be  fully  convinced  when  we  came 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND    THEIR   WRITERS    42! 

to  follow  that  young  woman.  He  turned  exceeding  serious, 
and  kept  something  of  that  disposition  ever  since.  Yesterday 
was  a  fortnight,  he  died  of  consumption.  I  saw  him  three  days 
before  he  died  ;  and  on  the  Sunday  following,  did  him  the  last 
good  office  I  could  here,  by  preaching  his  funeral  sermon  ; 
which  was  his  desire  when  living." 

On  August  i,  1766,  Wesley  visited  Ewood.  'The  last  time 
I  was  here,  young  Mr.  Grimshaw  received  us  in  the  same 
hearty  manner  as  his  father  used  to  do  ;  but  he  too  is  now  gone 
into  eternity  !  So  in  a  few  years  the  family  is  extinct !  I 
preached  at  one  in  a  meadow  near  the  house  to  a  numerous 
congregation  ;  and  we  sang  with  one  heart — 

Let  sickness  blast  and  death  devour.' 

Hymn  823.  Shrinking  from  the  cold  hand  of  death. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Jfyinns  on  Select  Passage  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Workst  i.x.  33. 
Verses  I  and  2  are  Xo.  106,  '  Jacob  gathered  up  his  feet  into  the  bed  ' 
(Gen.  xlix.  33);  ver.  3  is  from  254,  'Moses  stripped  Aaron  of  his 
garments'  (Num.  xx.  2S). 

In  ver.  2  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Thou  wilt  in  death  remember 
me.' 

It  is  precious  to  Methodism,  because  John  Wesley  generally 
used  it  to  close  the  touching  services  of  his  last  days,  and  gave 
it  out  often  in  the  family  circle  at  the  preachers'  house  ifi  City 
Road.  In  June,  1783,  on  his  eightieth  birthday,  he  writes, 
'  God  grant  I  may  never  live  to  be  useless  !  Rather  may  I — 

My  body  with  my  charge  lay  down, 
And  cease  at  once  to  work  and  live.' 

Hymn  821.  Lord,  it  belongs  not  to  my  care. 
RICHARD  BAXTER. 

Part  of  his  hymn  on  Resignation,  '  My  whole,  though  broken  heart, 
O  Lord.'  Eight  verses.  It  appeared  in  his  Poetical  Fragments 
'  Heart  Imployment  with  God  and  Itself  ;  The  Concordant  Discord  of  a 
Broken-hearted  Heart.'  It  is  dated  '  London,  at  the  door  of  Eternity  : 
Rich.  Baxter,  August  7,  1681.'  A  second  edition  appeared  1689  '•>  3rd, 
1699.  It  is  entitled  '  The  Covenant  and  Confidence  of  Faith."  Baxter 


422  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

adds  a  note,  '  This  covenant,  my  dear  wife,  in  her  former  sickness, 
subscribed  with  a  cheerful  will.'  The  hymn  was  sung  to  her  during  her 
last  illness. 

In  ver.  2  Baxter's  last  line  is,  'That  shall  have  the  same  pay.' 

Baxter  was  born  at  Rowton,  Shropshire,  1615,  and  became 
curate  of  Kidderminster  in  1640.  He  was  chaplain  to  one  of 
Cromwell's  regiments,  and  wrote  his  Saints'  Everlasting  Rest 
during  a  time  of  feeble  health.  He  was  offered  the  bishopric  of 
Hereford  by  Charles  1 1,  but  refused  it.  After  the  Act  of  Unifor 
mity  he  became  a  Nonconformist.  He  died  December  8,  1691. 
Baxter  issued  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  separate  publications. 
His  reply  to  Judge  Jeffreys'  taunt,  '  Richard,  I  see  the  rogue 
in  thy  face,'  was  nobly  severe,  '  I  had  not  known  before  that  my 
face  was  a  mirror.'  In  1685  ne  was  imprisoned  for  eighteen 
months  on  a  charge  of  sedition  based  on  his  Paraphrase  of  the 
New  Testament. 

Baxter's  Saints'1  Everlasting  Rest  was  written  when  he  was 
so  feeble  that  two  men  had  to  support  him  in  the  pulpit. 
'  Weakness  and  pain,'  he  told  some  one,  '  helped  me  to  study 
how  to  die  ;  that  set  me  on  studying  how  to  live,  and  that  on 
studying  the  doctrine  from  which  I  must  fetch  my  motives  and 
comforts  ;  beginning  with  necessities,  I  proceeded  by  degrees, 
and  am  now  going  to  see  that  for  which  I  have  lived  and 
studied.' 

Baxter  was  a  champion  of  music  in  those  stiff  Puritan 
times.  '  I  have  made  a  psalm  of  praise  in  the  holy  assembly 
the  chief  delightful  exercise  of  my  religion  and  my  life,  and 
have  helped  to  bear  down  all  the  objections  which  I  have  heard 
against  Church  music,  and  against  the  I49th  and  I5oth  Psalms.' 

Professor  Clerk  Maxwell,  Professor  of  Experimental  Physics 
at  Cambridge,  frequently  quoted  this  hymn  in  his  last  illness  in 
1879.  He  said,  '  I  think  men  of  science  as  well  as  other  men 
need  to  learn  from  Christ,  and  I  think  Christians  whose  minds 
are  scientific  are  bound  to  study  science  that  their  view  of  the 
glory  of  God  may  be  as  extensive  as  their  being  is  capable  of.' 

Hymn  825.  Thou,  Lord,  on  whom  I  still  depend. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  xiii.  223. 
Rev.  ii.  10,  u,  17. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    423 

Bcngel  says,  '  Wouldst  thou  know  what  thou  shall  have  for  a 
new  name  !  Overcome  !  Before  that  thou  askest  in  vain,  and 
after  that  thou  wilt  soon  read  it  written  on  the  white  stone.' 

Hymn  826.  Why  do  we  mourn  departing  friends. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1709.  'The  death  and  burial  of  a 
saint."  '  There  are  few  more  tender  lines '  than  his  verse,  '  The  graves 
of  all  His  saints  He  blessed.' 

Verses  2  and  3  are  omitted — 

Are  we  not  tending  upward  too 

As  fast  as  time  can  move  ? 
Nor  would  we  wish  the  hours  more  slow 

To  keep  us  from  our  love. 

Why  should  we  tremble  to  convey 

Their  bcxiies  to  the  tomb? 
There  the  dear  flesh  of  Jesus  lay, 

And  left  a  long  perfume. 

On  October  2,  1770,  when  Whitefield  was  buried  at  New- 
bury  Port,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Rogers  prayed  by  the  side  of  the 
coffin.  He  owed  his  conversion  to  Whitefield,  and  exclaimed, 
'O  my  Father!  my  Father!'  He  wept  as  though  his  heart 
were  breaking,  and  all  were  bathed  in  tears.  When  he  finished 
his  prayer  and  sat  down,  one  of  the  deacons  gave  out  the 
hymn — 

Why  do  we  mourn  departing  friends. 

'  Some  of  the  people  sang,  and  some  wept,  and  others  sang  and 
wept  alternately.' 

Hymn  827.  Blessing,  honour,  thanks,  and  praise. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  iSS.  'A  Funeral 
Hymn.'  Ver.  5  is  omitted. 

This  is  said  to  be  the  hymn  that  was  sung  by  John  Wesley 
and  his  sisters  round  the  bed  on  which  their  mother's  body 
lay,  in  obedience  to  her  request,  '  Children,  as  soon  as  I  am 
released,  sing  a  psalm  of  praise  to  God.' 


424  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  828.  Hark!  a  voice  divides  the  sky. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,    1742  ;    Works,  ii.   189.     '  A  Funeral 
Hymn.'    The  last  verse  is  omitted. 

With  ver.  3  the  Rev.  J.  Wesley  Thomas  compares  Cowley's  lines — 

When  we,  by  a  foolish  figure,  say, 

Behold  an  old  man  dead ;  then  they 

Speak  properly,  and  say,  Behold  a  man-child  born. 

{Life,  lines  14-16.) 


Hymn  829.  Again  we  lift  our  voice. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;   Works,  v.  214. 

In  ver.  6  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Thither  we  all  repair.' 

'  On  the  death  of  Samuel  Kitchens.1  He  was  a  Cornish 
smith,  one  of  the  earliest  lay  preachers  in  Cornwall.  An 
account  of  his  life,  written  by  his  father,  was  published  by 
Wesley  in  1746.  Another  son,  Thomas,  died  a  month  later,  on 
September  12. 

At  Gwennap,  on  September  14,  1746,  Wesley  says,  'At  the 
close  of  my  sermon,  I  read  them  the  account  of  Thomas 
Hitchens's  death  ;  and  the  hearts  of  many  burned  within  them, 
so  that  they  could  not  conceal  their  desire  to  go  to  him,  and  be 
with  Christ.' 

The  rapture  of  the  hymn  reminds  us  of  those  scenes  in  the 
days  of  Jerome.  At  the  funeral  of  Fabiola,  one  of  the  Christian 
ladies  of  his  time,  the  people  made  the  golden  roof  of  the  church 
ring  with  their  shout  of  Hallelujah  ! 

Ver.  5  owes  a  thought  to  Ben  Jonson's  Pindaric  Ode — 

He  leaped  the  present  age, 

Possest  with  holy  rage 

To  see  that  bright  eternal  day. 

Dr.  Gregory's  Recollections,  p.  113,  give  a  touching  story  of 
the  use  of  this  hymn  at  Woodhouse  Grove  School  in  1838,  at 
the  grave  of  Samuel  Sierra  Leone  Brown,  whose  death  led  to  a 
wonderful  awakening  among  his  schoolfellows. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS    425 

Hymn  830.  Glory  be  to  God  on  high. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  those  that  have  Redemption  in  the 
Blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  1747  ;  Works,  iv.  221.  'A  Funeral  Hymn.' 

Hymn  831.  Rejoice  for  a  brother  deceased. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Funeral  Hymns,  1749  ;   Works,  vi.  189. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Moore  says  that  the  poet  in  his  old  age 
rode  a  little  horse,  grey  with  age,  which  was  brought  every 
morning  from  the  Foundery  to  his  house  in  Chesterfield  Street, 
Marylebone.  He  would  jot  down  any  thoughts  that  struck  him, 
in  shorthand,  on  a  card  which  he  had  in  his  pocket.  '  Not 
unfrequently  he  has  come  to  our  house  in  the  City  Road,  and, 
having  left  the  pony  in  the  garden  in  front,  he  would  enter, 
crying  out,  "  Pen  and  ink  !  pen  and  ink  ! "  These  being 
supplied,  he  wrote  the  hymn  he  had  been  composing.  When 
this  was  done,  he  would  look  round  on  those  present,  and  salute 
them  with  much  kindness,  ask  after  their  health,  give  out  a 
short  hymn,  and  thus  put  all  in  mind  of  eternity.  He  was  fond 
upon  these  occasions  of  giving  out  the  lines  "  There  all  the 
ship's  company  meet." ' 

Hymn  832.  Happy  soul,  thy  days  are  ended. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  ami  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  v.  2 1 6.  'For  one 
departing.'  It  is  the  twelfth  of  a  series  of  seventeen  hymns,  headed 
'Desiring  Death.' 

When  John  Wesley  died  at  City  Road,  his  friends  standing 
round  the  bed  sang  this  hymn. 

Hymn  833.  God  of  the  living,  in  whose  eyes. 
JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

One  of  four  of  his  pieces  which  appeared  in  Hymns  for  Schools  and 
Bible  Classes,  1859.  He  compiled  this  when  senior  curate  at  St. 
Nicholas,  Brighton.  The  hymn  was  rewritten  and  considerably 
enlarged  and  improved  in  Hymns  Original  and  Translated,  July  6, 
1867.  It  was  sung  at  bis  own  funeral. 


426  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  834.  Safely,  safely  gathered  in. 
HENRIETTA  OCTAVIA  DE  LISLE  DOBREE,  nee  BAINES. 

Written  for  Mrs.  Carey  Brock's  Children's  Hymn-book,  1881, 
headed  '  Death  and  Burial.' 

Mrs.  Dobree  (1831-94)  belonged  to  the  Church  of  England, 
but  afterwards  became  a  Roman  Catholic.  Four  other  hymns 
with  her  initials,  '  E.  O.  D.,'  appeared  in  the  same  collection. 

Hymn  835.  Safe  home,  safe  home  in  port! 

ST.  JOSEPH  THE  HYMNOGRAPHER  ;  translated  by  DR.  NEALE 

(27). 

In  Hymns  of  the  Eastern  Church,  1863,  as  'The  Return  Home. 
A  Cento  from  the  Canon  of  St.  John  Climacos.' 

St.  Joseph  was  a  native  of  Sicily,  who  entered  a  monastery 
in  Thessalonica.  He  went  to  Constantinople,  and  left  for  Rome 
in  time  of  persecution.  He  was  captured  by  pirates,  and  was 
for  some  years  a  slave  in  Crete.  Then  he  returned  to  Constanti 
nople,  where  he  established  a  monastery  and  filled  it  with 
inmates  by  his  eloquence.  He  was  banished  from  the  city  for 
his  defence  of  the  icons,  but  was  recalled  by  the  Empress 
Theodora  and  made  keeper  of  the  sacred  vessels  in  the  chief 
church  of  the  city.  He  died  in  883  at  an  advanced  age. 

St.  Joseph  is  the  most  voluminous  of  the  Greek  hymn- 
writers,  and  composed  from  800  to  1,000  canons.  They  are  wordy 
compositions  in  honour  of  saints  and  martyrs  of  whom  little  is 
known.  This  hymn  contains  so  little  of  the  Greek  that  it  can 
scarcely  be  called  a  translation. 

Hymn  836.  Now  the  labourer's  task  is  o'er. 
JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

Written  1871.  This  is  '  the  loveliest  and  most  loved  '  of  all 
Mr.  Ellerton's  hymns,  and  has  taken  its  place  in  the  service  for 
the  dead.  The  writer  says,  '  The  whole  hymn,  especially  the 
third,  fifth,  and  sixth  verses,  owes  many  thoughts  and  some 
expressions  to  a  beautiful  poem  of  the  Rev.  Gerard  Moultrie's, 
beginning,  "  Brother,  now  thy  toils  are  o'er,"  which  will  be 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    427 

found  in  the  People's  Hymnal,  380.'     Dr.  Dykes's  '  Rcquiescat 
is  a  perfect  setting  to  the  noble  words.     The  hymn  is  said  to 
have  been  a  favourite  with  Queen  Victoria,  who  often  chose  it 
for  funeral  services. 

Hymn  837.  Days  and  moments  quickly  flying. 
E.  CASWALL  (105). 

This  appeared  in  his  Masque  of  Mary,  ami  other  Poems,  1858, 
entitled  '  Swiftness  of  Time.'  The  last  stanza  is  by  Bishop  Bickersteth. 

It  was  especially  composed  for  use  at  watchnight  services 
or  on  New  Year's  Day.  It  is  sometimes  sung  as  a  funeral 
hymn.  Dr.  Dykes's  exquisite  music  adds  greatly  to  the 
impressiveness  of  the  words. 

Hymn  838.  A  few  more  years  shall  roll. 

DR.  H.  BONAR  (70). 
Songs  for  the  Wilderness,  1844. 

In  one  of  Dr.  Bonar's  note-books  his  son  found  two  unrhymcd 
lines — 

A  few  more  suns  .shall  rise  and  set, 
A  few  more  years  shall  come  and  go. 

These  were  worked  out  into  the  famous  hymn  written  to'  the 
tune  '  Selma.'  It  was  first  printed  on  a  fly-leaf  for  use  in  his 
own  congregation  on  New  Year's  Day,  1843. 

Dr.  Bonar  says,  in  a  footnote  to  ver.  5,  '  A  few  more 
Sabbaths  here,'  '  The  old  Latin  hymn  expresses  this  well  — 

Illic  nee  Sabbato  succedit  Sabbatum 

Perpes  laelitia  sabbatizantium.' 

That  hymn  is  by  Peter  Abelard,  against  whom  Bernard  of 
Clairvaux  was  the  champion  of  orthodoxy.  His  love  of  Hcloise 
is  one  of  the  romantic  stories  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Hymn  839.  Hearken  to  the  solemn  voice. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  191.  'A  Midnight 
Hymn.' 

The  fourth  verse  is  omitted. 


428  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Wesley  held  his  first  watchnight  in  London  on  April  9,  1742. 
He  says,  'There  is  generally  a  deep  awe  upon  the  congregation, 
perhaps  in  some  measure  owing  to  the  silence  of  the  night, 
particularly  in  singing  the  hymn,  with  which  we  commonly 
conclude — 

Hearken  to  the  solemn  voice.' 

Hymn  840.  Thou  Judge  of  quick  and  dead. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Watchnighl  (1746?),  No.  2;   Hymns  and  Sacred 
Poems,  1749  ;   Works,  v.  260. 
One  verse  is  omitted. 

Hymn  841.  O  Thou  who  wouldst  not  have. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Children,  1763;  Works,  vi.  426.  No.  59,  'And  am 
I  born  to  die.'  Six  verses.  The  last  two  are  given  here  in  four-line 
verses. 

In  ver.  3,  '  Spend  my  life's  short  day ' ;  the  original  is  '  pass.' 

Hymn  842.  Thou  God  of  glorious  majesty. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;  Works,  iv.  316.  Headed  'An 
Hymn  for  Seriousness.' 

In  ver.  2  the  original  reads  '  a  point  of  life  ' ;  ver.  6,  '  the  vale  '  j 
ver.  5,  '  My  future  bliss.' 

Lo  !  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 
'Twixt  two  unbounded  seas  I  stand, 

is  generally  regarded  as  a  description  of  the  promontory  at  the 
Land's  End. 

In  a  letter  to  his  wife,  dated  October  n,  1819,  Adam  Clarke 
says,  '  I  write  this,  my  dear  Mary,  in  a  situation  that  would 
make  your  soul  freeze  with  horror ;  it  is  on  the  last  projecting 
point  of  rock  on  the  Land's  End,  upwards  of  two  hundred  feet 
perpendicular  above  the  sea,  which  is  raging  and  roaring  most 
tremendously,  threatening  destruction  to  myself  and  the  narrow 
point  of  rock  on  which  I  am  now  sitting.  On  my  right  hand  is 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    429 

the  Bristol  Channel,  and  before  me  the  vast  Atlantic  Ocean. 
There  is  not  one  inch  of  land  from  the  place  on  which  my  foot 
rests  to  the  vast  American  Continent.  This  is  the  place,  though 
probably  not  so  far  advanced  on  the  tremendous  cliff,  where 
Charles  Wesley  composed  those  fine  lines — 

Lo  !  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 
'Twixt  two  unbounded  seas  I  stand. 

'  The  point  of  rock  itself  is  about  three  feet  broad  at  its 
termination,  and  the  fearless  adventurer  will  here  place  his  foot 
in  order  to  be  able  to  say  that  he  has  been  on  the  uttermost 
inch  of  land  in  the  British  Empire  westward  ;  and  on  this  spot 
the  foot  of  your  husband  now  rests.' 

A  recent  discovery  has  shown  that  the  hymn  was  written  in 
America.  When  Charles  Wesley  was  secretary  to  General 
Oglethorpe,  he  stayed  at  his  residence  on  Jekyl  Island,  close 
to  the  governor's  settlements  upon  St.  Simon's  Island,  near  the 
coast  of  Southern  Georgia.  Some  of  the  records  and  corre 
spondence  of  the  early  colonists  have  fortunately  been  preserved, 
and  are  now  in  the  custody  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society. 
Mr.  Franklin  H.  Heard  recently  examined  these  original 
papers,  and  found  many  interesting  facts,  and  among  them 
something  concerning  this  hymn. 

Oglethorpe's  wife,  in  a  letter  to  her  father-in-law,  wrote, 
'  The  Secretary  of  the  Colony,  Charles  Wesley,  dwells  with  us 
upon  the  island,  and  is  zealous  to  save  the  souls  of  the  Indians 
who  come  hither  to  fish  and  hunt.  .  .  .  Mr.  Wesley  has  the  gift 
of  verse,  and  has  written  many  sweet  hymns  which  we  sing.' 

In  a  letter  to  this  lady,  who  was  staying  at  Savannah, 
Charles  Wesley  wrote  from  Jekyl  Island,  in  1736,  '  Last  evening 
I  wandered  to  the  north  end  of  the  island,  and  stood  upon  the 
narrow  point  which  your  ladyship  will  recall  as  there  projecting 
into  the  ocean.  The  vastness  of  the  watery  waste,  as  compared 
with  my  standing-place,  called  to  mind  the  briefness  of  human 
life  and  the  immensity  of  its  consequences,  and  my  surroundings 
inspired  me  to  write  the  enclosed  hymn,  beginning — 

Lo  !  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 
Twixt  two  unbounded  seas  I  stand — 

which,  I  trust,  may  pleasure  your  ladyship,  weak  and  feeble  as 
it  is  when  compared  with  the  songs  of  the  sweet  Psalmist  of 
Israel.' 


43°  THE    METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

This  settles  the  question  of  locality  ;  but  the  illustration  is 
Prior's  (Solomon,  iii.  613)  : — 

Amid  two  seas  on  one  small  point  of  land, 

Wearied,  uncertain,  and  amazed  we  stand ; 

On  either  side  our  thoughts  incessant  turn, 

Forward  we  dread ;  and  looking  back  we  mourn  ; 

Losing  the  present  in  this  dubious  haste ; 

And  lost  ourselves  betwixt  the  future  and  the  past. 

Addison,  in  the  Spectator,  No.  590,  has  a  similar  thought : 
'  Many  witty  authors  compare  the  present  time  to  an  isthmus, 
or  narrow  neck  of  land,  that  rises  in  the  midst  of  an  ocean, 
immeasurably  diffused  on  either  side  of  it.' 

On  July  30, 1743,  Charles  Wesley  rode  with  Mr.  Shepherd  '  to 
the  Land's  End,  and  sang,  on  the  extremest  point  of  the  rocks — 

Come,  divine  Immanuel,  come, 
Take  possession  of  Thy  home  ; 
Now  Thy  mercy's  wings  expand, 
Stretch  throughout  the  happy  land.' 

That  hymn  is  given  in  his  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749 
(  Works,  v.  133),  headed  '  Written  at  the  Land's  End.' 

Montgomery  says,  ' "  Thou  God  of  glorious  majesty "  is 
a  sublime  contemplation  in  another  vein  ;  solemn,  collected, 
unimpassioned  thought,  but  thought  occupied  with  that  which 
is  of  everlasting  import  to  a  dying  man,  standing  on  the  lapse 
of  a  moment  between  "  two  eternities." ' 

Death  stands  between  Eternity  and  Time, 
With  open  jaws  on  such  a  narrow  bridge, 
That  none  can  pass,  but  must  become  his  prey. 

Hymn  843.  This  is  the  field,  the  world  below. 
JOSEPH  HINCHSLIFFE. 

Mr.  Hinchsliffe  was  born  in  Sheffield,  1760  ;  died  in 
Dumfries,  1807.  He  was  a  Sheffield  silversmith  and  cutler  ;  a 
member  of  the  Society  at  Norfolk  Street,  Sheffield,  and  of  the 
choir.  The  hymn  has  been  traced  to  a  tract,  Favourite  Hymns, 
Odes,  and  Anthems,  as  sung  at  the  Methodist  Chapels  in 
Sheffield,  Rotherham,  Doncaster,  and  Nottingham  Circuits, 
5th  edition,  1797,  where  '  J.  Hinchsliffe  '  appears  under  the  title 
of  No.  25.  Mr.  Hinchsliffe  removed  to  Dumfries,  where  he 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    43! 

carried  on  his  business  and  rendered  great  service  in  the 
Wesleyan  choir.  His  tombstone  is  in  St.  Michael's  Churchyard, 
Dumfries. 

Hymn  844.  Day  of  wrath !  O  day  of  mourning  1 
THOMAS  OF  CELANO  ;  translated  by  DR.  IRONS. 

The  oldest  form  of  the  Latin  text  is  given  in  a  MS.  in 
the  Bodleian,  a  Dominican  missal  written  at  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  The  author  was  probably  Thomas  of 
Celano,  a  Franciscan  friar  of  the  thirteenth  century,  who  was 
the  friend  and  biographer  of  St.  Francis.  He  was  born  at 
Celano,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  across  the  Apennines  a  little 
to  the  north  of  Rome,  early  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  died 
about  1254.  Celano  was  not  far  from  Assisi,  where  he  became 
the  disciple  and  friend  of  St.  Francis. 

The  hymn  is  found  in  the  Mass  for  the  Dead  from  about 
1480,  and  became  part  of  the  religious  life  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Daniel  says,  '  Even  those  to  whom  the  hymns  of  the  Latin 
Church  are  almost  entirely  unknown,  certainly  know  this  one  : 
and  if  any  one  can  be  found  so  alien  from  human  nature  that 
they  have  no  appreciation  of  sacred  poetry,  yet  as  a  matter  of 
certainty,  even  they  would  give  their  minds  to  this  hymn,  of 
which  every  word  is  mighty,  yea,  even  a  thunderclap.' 

Archbishop  Trench  writes,  '  Nor  is  it  hard  to  account  for  its 
popularity.  The  metre  si  grandly  devised,  of  which  I  remember 
no  other  example,  fitted  though  it  has  here  shown  itself  for 
bringing  out  some  of  the  noblest  powers  of  the  Latin  language 
— the  solemn  effect  of  the  triple  rhyme,  which  has  been  likened 
to  blow  following  blow  of  the  hammer  on  the  anvil — the  confi 
dence  of  the  poet  in  the  universal  interest  of  his  theme,  a  con 
fidence  which  has  made  him  set  out  his  matter  with  so 
majestic  and  unadorned  plainness  as  at  once  to  be  intelligible 
to  all, — these  merits,  with  many  more,  have  given  the  Dies  Irae 
a  foremost  place  among  the  masterpieces  of  sacred  song.' 

The  first  line  is  from  the  Vulgate  version  of  Zeph.  i.  1 5. 
Goethe  makes  the  choir  sing  it  in  the  Minster  scene  of  Faust 
where  the  evil  spirit  gets  behind  Grctchen  and  interprets  the 
words  till  the  girl  exclaims — 

'  The  song  mine  heart 
Did  melt  to  water  ! ' 

At  last  she  falls  into  a  swoon. 


432  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Mozart  and  Gounod  lavished  their  art  upon  these  verses. 

Many  have  tried  to  translate  this  noble  hymn.  There  are 
more  than  a  hundred  German  versions,  and  about  one  hundred 
and  sixty  have  been  made  in  England  and  America.  The  first 
English  translation  was  by  Joshua  Sylvester,  1621.  Richard 
Crashaw  came  next  with  '  The  Hymn  of  the  Church,  in  medita 
tion  of  the  Day  of  Judgement.'  Some  of  his  verses  are  very 
impressive — 

5.  O  that  Book  !  whose  leaves  so  bright 
Will  set  the  world  in  severe  light. 

O  that  Judge  !  whose  hand,  whose  eye 
None  can  indure ;  yet  none  can  fly. 

6.  Ah,  then,  poor  soul,  what  wilt  thou  say  ? 
And  to  what  patron  chuse  to  pray  ? 
When  starres  themselves  shall  stagger  ;  and 
The  most  firm  foot  no  more  than  stand. 

7.  But  Thou  giv'st  leave  (dread  Lord)  that  we 
Take  shelter  from  Thyself  in  Thee ; 

And  with  the  wings  of  Thine  own  dove 
Fly  to  the  sceptre  of  soft  love. 

8.  Dear,  remember  in  that  Day, 

Who  was  the  cause  Thou  cam'st  this  way. 
Thy  sheep  was  stray'd  ;  And  Thou  wouldst  be 
Even  lost  Thyself  in  seeking  me. 

9.  Shall  all  that  labour,  all  that  cost 
Of  love,  and  ev'n  that  losse,  be  lost  ? 
And  this  lov'd  soul,  judg'd  worth  no  lesse 
Then  all  that  way,  and  wearynesse  ? 

The  Earl  of  Roscommon's  version  used  to  bring  tears  to 
the  eyes  of  Dr.  Johnson.  The  earl  died  in  1684,  and  was  buried 
with  great  pomp  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Dr.  Johnson  says, 
'  At  the  moment  in  which  he  expired,  he  uttered,  with  an  energy 
of  voice  which  expressed  the  most  fervent  devotion,  two  lines  of 
his  own  version  of  Dies  Irae — 

My  God,  my  Father,  and  my  Friend, 
Do  not  forsake  me  in  my  end ! ' 

William  Joseph  Irons,  D.D.,  was  born  at  Hoddesdon  in  1812, 
and  was  the  son  of  a  popular  Independent  minister  in  Camber- 
well.  He  was  incumbent  of  St.  Peter's,  Wahvorth,  1837;  in 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMN'S   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    433 

1872  lie  became  Rector  of  St.  Mary  Woolnoth,  the  living  formerly 
held  by  John  Newton,  his  father's  friend;  Bampton  Lecturer, 
1870;  Prebendary  of  St.  Paul's.  He  died  in  1883.  He  began 
to  write  and  translate  hymns  when  a  curate  at  St.  Mary,  New- 
ington,  1835-7,  and  many  of  these  were  printed  on  broad 
sheets.  He  published  a  Metrical  Psalter,  1857. 

Canon  Ellerton  says  the  translation  by  Dr.  Irons  '  is  a  truly 
wonderful  achievement,  for  he  has  solved  a  difficulty  which  has 
baffled  almost  ever)'  one  who  has  attempted  it.'  He  was  present 
in  Notre  Dame  when  the  funeral  sermon  was  preached  for  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris,  who  was  shot  during  the  Revolution  of 
1848  whilst  trying  to  persuade  the  insurgents  to  cease  firing. 
The  prelate's  heart  was  shown  in  a  glass  case  in  the  Choir,  and 
the  Dies  Irae  was  sung  by  an  immense  body  of  priests.  Dr. 
Irons  was  deeply  moved,  and  on  retiring  from  the  church  wrote 
out  this  translation,  which  is  the  finest  rendering  of  this  great 
Judgement  hymn.  It  was  first  issued  in  the  Introits  and 
Hymns  for  Advent  used  at  Margaret  Street  Chapel,  London. 
It  bears  no  date.  In  1849  ^r-  Irons  published  it  with  historical 
notes  and  with  the  music  he  heard  in  Notre  Dame,  harmonized 
by  Charles  Child  Spencer. 

The  last  two  lines,  with  a  change  of  '  them  '  to  '  us,'  are  from 
Isaac  Williams's  version,  1834.  Dr.  Irons's  last  lines  ran — 

Lord,  who  didst  our  souls  redeem, 
Grant  a  blessed   Requiem. 

Ver.  1 6  is  omitted — 

\Vliile  the  wicked  are  confounded, 
Doomed  to  flames  of  woo  unbounded, 
Call  me,  with  Thy  saints  surrounded. 

Dean  Church  gave  orders  that  he  should  be  buried  in  the 
graveyard  of  Whatlcy,  in  Somersetshire,  where  he  had  spent 
nineteen  years  of  quiet  happiness  as  rector,  and  that  a  stone 
like  that  placed  over  his  son's  grave  at  Hycres  should  be  his 
memorial,  with  the  same  lines  from  the  Dies  Irae  upon  it — 

Rex  tremcndac  majestatis, 

Qui  salvandos  salvas  gratis, 

Salva  me,  fons  piclatis. 

Quaerens  me  sedisti  lassus, 
Kcdcmisti  crucem  passus, 
Tantus  labor  non  sit  cassus. 
He  was  buried  in  December,  1890. 

2  K 


434  THE  METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  845.  The  day  of  wrath,  that  dreadful  day. 

SIR  WALTER  SCOTT,  Bart.  (1771-1832). 

Sir  Walter  Scott's  celebrated  condensation  of  the  Dies  Irae 
marks  the  culminating  point  of  '  The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  ' 
(1805),  where  pilgrimage  was  made  to  Melrose  Abbey  f< 
repose  of  the  soul  of  Michael  Scott- 

Then  Mass  was  sung,  and  prayers  were  said, 
And  solemn  requiem  for  the  dead  ; 
And  bells  toll'd  out  their  mighty  peal, 
For  the  departed  spirit's  weal  ; 
And  ever  in  the  office  close 
The  hymn  of  intercession  rose  ; 
And  far  the  echoing  aisles  prolong 
The  awful  burthen  of  the  song,  — 
Dies  irae,  dies  ilia, 
Sol  vet  saeclum  in  favilla  ; 
While  the  pealing  organ  rung. 
Were  it  meet  with  sacred  strain 
To  close  my  lay,  so  light  and  vain, 
Thus  the  holy  Fathers  sung  :— 

Then  follows  '  The  Hymn  for  the  Dead  ' 

Dr  Collyer  used  this  as  a  hymn  in  his  Selection,  1812. 

hymn  "of    Rebecca   in    Ivanhoe,  'When    Israel   of   the   Lord 

beloved,'  is  another  fine  illustration  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  power 

as  a  writer  of  sacred  song. 

Mr  Gladstone  said  in  a  speech  at  Hawarden,  February  3, 
:866  'I  know  nothing  more  sublime  in  the  writings  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott-certainly  I  know  nothing  so  sublime  m  any 
portion  of  the  sacred  poetry  of  modern  times,  I  mean  of  the 
present  century,  as  the  -  Hymn  for  the  Dead,"  extending  only 
to  twelve  line*  which  he  embodied  in  "The  Lay  of  the  Last 


roc  says   in  his  account   of  Sir  Walter  Scott's 

death-bed,  '  But  commonly  whatever  we  could  follow  him  in  was 
foment  of  the  Bible  (especially  the  Prophecies  of  Isaiah 
and  £e  Book  of  Job),  or  some  petition  in  the  Litany-or  a 
verse  of  some  psalm  (in  the  old  Scotch  metrical  version)-or 
of  some  of  the  magnificent  hymns  of  the  Romish  ritual,  m  which 
he  always  delighted,  but  which  probably  hung  on  his  memory 
'connexion  with  the  Church  services  he  had  attended 


now    n 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    435 

while  in  Italy.  We  very  often  heard  distinctly  the  cadence  of 
the  Dies  Irae  ;  and  I  think  the  very  last  stanza  that  we 
could  make  out  was  the  first  of  a  still  greater  favourite,  Stabat 
Plater  dolorosa? 

Sir  Walter  Scott  once  spoke  some  faithful  words  to  Byron, 
who  replied,  '  Would  you  have  me  turn  Methodist  ? '  '  No,'  was 
the  reply,  '  I  cannot  conceive  of  your  being  a  Methodist,  but 
you  might  be  a  Catholic  Christian.'  He  did  not  forget  the 
warning.  '  I  have  known  Sir  Walter  Scott,'  he  said,  'long  and 
well,  and  in  occasional  situations  which  call  forth  the  real 
character.  I  say  that  Walter  Scott  is  as  nearly  a  good  man  as 
man  can  be,  because  I  know  it  by  experience  to  be  the  case.' 

Hymn  810.  Great  God!  what  do  I  sec  and  hear?_. 
WILLIAM  BKNGO  COLLYER,  D.D. ;  altered  by  CoTTKKiu,(i68). 

Dr.  Collyer  was  born  at  Blackhcath  in  1782,  and  in  1801 
became  pastor  of  a  Nonconformist  church  with  ten  com 
municants  at  Pcckham.  He  laboured  there  with  great  success 
till  December  n,  1853,  when  he  preached  his  last  sermon.  He 
died  in  1854.  He  was  an  eloquent  preacher,  in  great  favour 
both  with  rich  and  poor.  The  Duke  of  Kent  chose  him  as  his 
private  chaplain.  He  was  much  beloved  by  the  Duke  of 
Sussex.  Dr.  Collyer  often  closed  his  sermon  by  a  hymn  written 
to  accompany  it,  as  was  done  by  Watts  and  Doddridge.  He 
published  a  series  of  lectures  on  'Divine  Revelation'  in  seven 
volumes,  and  a  hymn-book  with  fifty-seven  pieces  written  by 
himself,  of  which  this  is  one.  Dr.  Collyer  added  a  note,  'This 
hymn,  which  is  adapted  to  Luther's  celebrated  tune,  is  universally 
ascribed  to  that  great  man.  As  I  never  saw  more  than  this 
first  verse,  I  was  obliged  to  lengthen  it  for  the  completion  of 
the  subject,  and  am  responsible  for  the  verses  which  follow.' 
The  ascription  to  Luther  has  no  foundation.  The  first  verse 
cannot  be  traced  back  farther  than  to  1802,  when  it  appeared  in 
Psalms  and  Hymns  for  Public  ami  Private  Devotion,  published 
in  Sheffield.  How  greatly  Dr.  Collyer's  verses  were  improved 
by  T.  Cotterill  (168)  may  be  seen  by  comparing  their  original 
form  with  that  given  in  The  Methodist  Hymn-Book — 

The  dead  in  Christ  are  first  to  rise, 

And  greet  th'  archangel's  warning  ; 
To  meet  the  Saviour  in  the  skies, 

On  this  auspicious  morning  : 


436  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

No  gloomy  fears  their  souls  dismay, 
His  presence  sheds  eternal  day, 
On  those  prepar'd  to  meet  Him. 

Far  over  space,  to  distant  spheres, 

The  lightnings  are  prevailing  ; 
Th'  ungodly  rise,  and  all  their  tears 

And  sighs  are  unavailing : 
The  day  of  grace  is  past  and  gone, 
They  shake  before  the  Judgement  throne 

All  unprepar'd  to  meet  Him. 

Stay,  fancy,  stay,  and  close  thy  wings, 

Repress  thy  flight  too  daring  ; 
One  wondrous  sight  my  comfort  brings, 

The  Judge  my  nature  wearing : 
Beneath  His  Cross  I  view  the  day, 
When  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 

And  thus  prepare  to  meet  Him  ! 

The  hymn  was  sung  at  the  funeral  of  the  Duchess  of  Kent 
and  that  of  Prince  Albert. 

Hymn  847.  How  weak  the  thoughts,  and  vain. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  occasioned  by  ike  Earthquake,  March  8,  1750.  Part  II. 
No.  9  ;  VVorkS)  vi.  43.  Four  verses  are  omitted. 

On  March  8  Charles  Wesley  was  preaching  at  the  Foundery 
at  a  quarter-past  five  in  the  morning,  when  the  building  was 
shaken  so  violently  that  all  expected  it  to  fall  upon  their  heads. 
A  great  cry  arose  from  the  women  and  children.  The  preacher 
repeated  the  verses  from  the  46th  Psalm,  '  Therefore  will  we 
not  fear,'  &c.,  and  adds,  '  God  filled  my  heart  with  faith  and 
my  mouth  with  words,  shaking  their  souls  as  well  as  their 
bodies.'  Next  day  he  had  a  crowded  congregation  at  West 
Street,  where  he  preached  with  great  awakening  power  on 
Psalm  xlvi.  A  dragoon  prophesied  that  Westminster  was  to 
be  destroyed  by  an  earthquake.  People  nocked  out  of  town. 
Charles  Wesley's  muse  was  stirred  by  such  scenes,  and  his 
sermon,  'The  Cause  and  Cure  of  Earthquakes,'  and  'several 
suitable  hymns '  which  he  gave  out,  had  a  great  effect  on  the 
conregation. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    437 

Hymn  848.  Away  with  our  sorrow  and  fear! 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Funeral  Hymns  (1746?),  No.  8  ;    Works>  vi.   197.     Vcr.  5,  'The 
saints  in  His  presence  receive,'  is  omitted. 

Hymn  849.  Lift  your  eyes  of  faith,  and  sec. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 
Ifymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  1745  ;   Works,  iii.  293. 

Jfijnm  850.  There  is  a  land  of  pure  delight. 
ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs,  1/07.  'A  prospect  of  heaven  makes 
death  easy.' 

This  is  one  of  Dr.  Watts's  earliest  hymns,  and  is  said  to  have 
caught  its  inspiration  from  the  lovely  Southampton  Water, 
which  had  been  so  familiar  to  him  from  his  infancy. 

When  John  Pawson  was  dying  in  1806,  'he  sang  the 
following  verse  from  one  of  his  favourite  hymns — 

O  could  we  make  our  doubts  remove, 
Those  gloomy  doubts  that  rise. 

Doubts,  gloomy  doubts  !  Where  are  they  ?  I  know  nothing 
of  gloomy  doubts  ;  I  have  none.  Where  are  they  gone  ? ' 
He  was  President  of  the  Conference  in  1793  and  1801.  Adam 
Clarke  says  in  1793,  'Pawson  is  the  best  President  we  have 
had.  He  preached  last  evening  a  sermon  which  seemed  just 
to  have  dropped  out  of  heaven.' 

Hymn  851.  Brief  life  is  here  our  portion. 

BERNARD  OF  MORLAIX   (or  Cluny) ;   translated  by 
DR.  NEALE  (27). 

Bernard  was  the  son  of  English  parents,  and  was  born  at 
Morlaix,  in  Brittany,  early  in  the  twelfth  century.  He  entered 
the  Abbey  of  Cluny,  then  at  the  height  of  its  fame  under  Peter 


438  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

the  Venerable.  There  he  spent  his  life.  His  great  satire,  De 
Contemptu  Mundi,  was  written  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
luxurious  monastery  in  Europe.  Its  church  was  unequalled  by 
any  in  France  ;  its  services  were  renowned  for  their  elaborate 
ritual.  It  was  the  head  of  some  two  thousand  monasteries 
scattered  all  over  Europe.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  accuses  them 
of  gross  self-indulgence.  '  Who  could  say,  to  speak  of  nothing 
else,  in  how  many  ways  eggs  are  cooked  and  worked  up  ?  with 
what  care  they  are  turned  in  and  out,  made  hard  or  soft,  or 
chopped  fine  ;  now  fried,  now  roasted,  now  stuffed  ;  now  they 
are  served  mixed  with  other  things,  now  by  themselves.  Even 
the  external  appearance  of  the  dishes  is  such  that  the  eye,  as 
well  as  the  taste,  is  charmed,  and  when  the  stomach  complains 
that  it  is  full,  curiosity  is  still  alive.'  Bernard  would  say  as  he 
walked  in  the  cloister, '  Dear  brethren,  I  must  go  ;  there  is  some 
one  waiting  for  me  in  my  cell.'  That  was  his  Master  and 
Saviour,  with  whom  he  wished  to  have  communion. 

Hora  novissima,  tempora  pessima  sunt,  vigilemus  ! 

The  poem  from  which  this  translation  is  made  contains  about 
3,000  lines.  Bernard  says  that  unless  the  Spirit  of  Wisdom 
and  Knowledge  had  been  with  him,  and  had  flowed  in  upon 
him,  he  could  not  have  sustained  the  task  of  weaving  together 
so  long  a  poem  in  so  complicated  a  metre.  The  metre  was 
well  suited,  however,  to  the  subject.  Denunciation  of  an  evil 
world  is  interwoven  with  longings  for  the  joy  and  rest  of 
Paradise.  Dr.  Neale's  translations  '  are  far  too  jubilant  to 
give  any  idea  of  the  prevailing  tone  of  the  original.'  Mr. 
C.  L.  Ford  has  published  a  translation  of  some  parts  of  the 
first  book  in  the  original  metre,  with  Latin  and  English  side 
by  side- 
Here,  life  how  vanishing  !  short  is  our  banishing,  brief  is  our  pain  ; 
There,  life  undying,  the  life  without  sighing,  our  measureless  gain. 
Rich  satisfaction  !  a  moment  of  action,  eternal  reward  ! 
Strange  retribution  !  for  depth  of  pollution,  a  home  with  the  Lord 

The  poem  was  written  about  1145. 

This  hymn  is  a  translation  of  the  lines  beginning- 
Hie  breve  vivitur,  hie  breve  plangitur,  hie  breve  fletur. 

It  was  published  in  Dr.  Neale's  Mediaeval  Hymns,  1851. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR    WRITERS    439 

Hymn  852.  Jerusalem  the  golden. 
Urbs  Syon  aurea,  Patria  lactea,  cive  decora. 

BERNARD  OF  MORLAIX  (or  Cluny)   (851) ;  translated  by 
DR.  NEALE  (27). 

Dr.  Neale  says,  '  The  greater  part  is  a  bitter  satire  on  the 
fearful  corruptions  of  the  age.  But  as  a  contrast  to  the  misery 
and  pollution  of  earth,  the  poem  opens  with  a  description  of  the 
peace  and  glory  of  heaven,  of  such  rare  beauty  as  not  easily  to 
be  matched  by  any  mediaeval  composition  on  the  same  subject.' 

After  the  lines  '  Exult,  O  dust  and  ashes  ! '  Dr.  Ncale  adds 
a  note :  '  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  I  look  on  these 
verses  of  Bernard  as  the  most  lovely,  in  the  same  way  that  the 
Dies  Irae  is  the  most  sublime,  and  the  Stabat  Mater  the  most 
pathetic,  of  mediaeval  poems.' 

Elsewhere  he  writes  :  '  It  would  be  most  unthankful  did 
I  not  express  my  gratitude  to  God  for  the  favour  He  has 
given  some  of  the  centos  made  from  the  poem,  but  especially 
"Jerusalem  the  Golden."  It  has  found  a  place  in  about  twenty 
hymnals.  It  is  also  a  great  favourite  with  Dissenters,  and  has 
obtained  admission  in  Roman  Catholic  services.  "And  I  say 
this,"  to  quote  Bernard's  own  preface,  "  in  no  wise  arrogantly, 
but  with  all  humility,  and  therefore  boldly."  But  more  thankful 
still  am  I  that  the  Cluniac's  verses  should  have  soothed  the 
dying  hours  of  many  of  God's  servants :  the  most  striking 
instance  of  which  I  know  is  related  in  the  memoir  published  by 
Mr.  Brownlow  under  the  title,  "A  little  child  shall  lead  them/' 
where  he  says  that  the  child  of  whom  he  writes,  when  suffering 
agonies  which  the  medical  attendants  declared  to  be  almost 
unparalleled,  would  lie  without  a  murmur  or  motion  while  the 
whole  400  lines  were  read  to  him.' 

Hymn  853.  Jerusalem,  my  happy  homo. 

JOSEPH  BROMKHKAD. 
An  undated  MS.  in  the  British  Museum  gives 

'  A  Song  mad  by  F.  15.  P.,  to  the  Tune  of  Diana.' 

Ilierusalein  my  happie  home 

When  shall  I  come  to  thee 
When  shall  my  sorrowes  have  an  end 

Thy  joyes  when  shall  I  see. 


44°  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

It  is  in  twenty-six  verses.  In  1601  it  was  published  in 
nineteen  stanzas.  Mr.  Daniel  Sedgwick  said  that  the  initials 
stood  for  Francis  Baker  Porter,  a  secular  priest  imprisoned  in 
the  Tower.  In  the  Arundel  Hymns  it  is  ascribed  to  Father 
Laurence  Anderton  (John  Beverley,  S.J.).  This  version  is 
found  in  Williams  and  Boden's  Collection  (1801),  designed  as  a 
supplement  to  Dr.  Watts's  Psalms  and  Hymns.  Its  ver,  3  is — 

O  when,  thou  city  of  my  God, 

Shall  I  thy  courts  ascend  ; 
Where  congregations  ne'er  break  up, 

And  Sabbaths  have  no  end. 

This  is  signed  '  Eckington  C.'  That  collection  was  formed 
by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Bromehead,  who  took  his  degree  at  Oxford 
about  1772,  and  became  Curate  of  Eckington,  where  he  probably 
died  after  1797. 

James  Montgomery  printed  a  collection  of  hymns  for  the 
Eckington  Church  choir,  and  as  a  Moravian  had  requested  him 
to  rewrite  the  Dickson  version  of  F.  B.  P.'s  hymn,  this  hymn 
is  somewhat  confidently  ascribed  to  Montgomery,  though  a 
hymn-book  of  1795  nas  recently  been  discovered  in  which  it  is 
initialled  '  B.' 


Hymn  854.  Sweet  place ;   sweet  place  alone ! 

SAMUEL  GROSSMAN,  B.D.  (1624  ?-83). 

The  son  of  S.  Grossman,  of  Bradfield  Monachorum,  in 
Suffolk.  He  was  ejected  from  his  living  in  Essex  in  1662,  but 
soon  conformed  ;  became  Prebendary  of  Bristol  Cathedral,  and 
was  appointed  Dean  a  few  weeks  before  his  death.  He  was 
buried  in  the  south  aisle  of  the  cathedral.  He  printed  two 
sermons  preached  in  Bristol  Cathedral  on  January  30,  1679  and 
1680,  the  day  of  public  humiliation  for  the  execution  of  Charles 
the  First. 

In  1664  he  issued  a  small  pamphlet,  '  The  Young  Man's 
Meditation;  or,  Some  few  Sacred  Poems  upon  Select  Subjects, 
and  Scriptures.  London  :  Printed  by  J.  H.'  It  contains  nine 
poems,  among  which  is  '  My  life's  a  shade,  my  days '  (see 
Wesleyan  Methodist  hymn-book,  1875)  and  'Sweet  place,'  a 
poem  on  '  Heaven  '  in  two  parts. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    441 

Hymn  855.  Jerusalem  on  high. 

SAMUEL  GROSSMAN,  B.D.  (854). 
The  second  part  of  his  poem  on  '  Heaven,'  1664. 

Hymn  856.  For  ever  with  the  Lord. 
JAMES  MONTGOMERY  (94). 

First  published  in  an  annual,  The  Amethyst,  1835,  and  in  the  Poefs 
Portfolio,  1835,  headed  'At  home  in  Heaven.  I  Thess.  iv.  17.'  It 
was  in  two  parts,  with  nine  and  thirteen  verses,  from  which  this  is  a 
selection. 

The  hymn  '  remained  unsung  and  unnoticed '  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  when  a  tune  helped  it  to  lay  hold  of  the  public 
ear.  In  the  winter  of  1849,  Montgomery  said  he  had  received 
more  indications  of  approval  for  this  hymn  than  for  anything 
he  ever  wrote  except  the  lines  on  prayer.  It  was  a  favourite 
hymn  of  Earl  Cairns,  the  great  Christian  Lord  Chancellor  of 
England,  and  was  sung  at  his  funeral,  April  7,  1885. 

Hymn  857.  O  what  hath  Jesus  bought  for  me ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Funeral  Hymns,  1749,  No.  3;  Works,  vi.  218.  'And  let  this 
feeble  Ixxly  fail.1  Verses  5,  6,  9  are  here  given. 

When  Gideon  Ouselcy  was  dying  in  May,  1839,  ^e  would 
cry  amid  his  pain,  '  My  Father,  my  Father,  support  Thy 
suffering  child.  Thy  will  be  done  ;  my  Father  God.1  He  often 
repeated  this  hymn,  but  most  of  all  the  last  stanza — 

O,   what  are  all  my  sufferings  here, 

If,  Ixjrd,  Thou  count  me  meet 
With  that  enraptured  host  to  appear, 

And  worship  at  Thy  feet ! 

Hymn  858.  When  the  day  of  toil  is  done. 
JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

'  Eternal  Rest '  ;  written  January,  1870,  and  published  in  Rev.  R. 
Brown -Borthwick's  Sixtan  Hymns  u'ith  Tunes,  iS/o. 


44 2  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  859.  Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand. 
HENRY  ALFORD,  D.D.  (619). 

First  published  in  his  Year  of  Praise,  1867.  A  '  Processional  for 
Saints'  Days.' 

The  hymn  was  sung  at  the  author's  funeral  on  January  17, 
1871.  On  his  tomb  was  carved  the  inscription,  '  Diversorium 
viatoris  proficientis  Hierosolymam '  ('  The  inn  of  a  pilgrim 
journeying  to  Jerusalem '). 

Hymn  860.  All  glory,; laud,  and  honour. 

THEODULPH  ;  translated  by  JOHN  MASON  NEALE,  D.D.  (27). 

In  his  Hymnal  Noted,  1854,  and  altered  for  Hymns  Ancient  and 
Modern,  1859.  The  quaint  verse,  usually  sung  till  the  seventeenth 
century,  is  omitted — 

Be  Thou,  O  Lord,  the  Rider, 

And  we  the  little  ass  ; 
That  to  God's  holy  city 

Together  we  may  pass. 

The  original  contains  seventy-eight  lines,  many  of  which  have 
references  to  various  parishes  in  Angers. 

'  Gloria,  laus  et  honor '  seems  to  have  been  written  by  St. 
Theodulph  of  Orleans  when  imprisoned  in  the  cloisters  at 
Angers  under  an  accusation  of  having  taken  part  in  the  rebellion 
of  the  king's  nephew.  It  is  said  that  on  Palm  Sunday,  821, 
Louis  the  Pious,  King  of  France,  was  in  Angers,  and  walked 
in  the  usual  procession  of  the  clergy  and  laity.  As  it  passed 
the  spot  where  Theodulph  was  imprisoned,  he  stood  at  the 
window  of  his  cell  and  sang  this  hymn.  The  king  was  so 
delighted  that  he  ordered  that  Theodulph  should  be  restored  to 
his  see  and  the  hymn  sung  every  Palm  Sunday  when  the  pro 
cession  was  made.  The  story  dates  from  1516,  but  it  seems 
clear  that  Louis  never  visited  Angers  after  818,  and  that 
Theodulph  was  not  restored  to  his  see,  but  died  at  Angers  in 
821.  Another  version  of  the  story  says  that  seven  choir-boys, 
to  whom  he  had  taught  the  hymn,  sang  it  outside  his  prison, 
and  thus  gained  his  release.  The  hymn  was  used  as  a  pro 
cessional  on  Palm  Sunday.  At  York  the  choir-boys  mounted 


THE    STORY    OF    THE    HYMNS    AND   THEIR   WRITERS     443 

to  a  temporary  gallery  over  the  door  of  the  church,  and  there 
sang  the  first  four  verses.  After  each  of  the  first  three,  the  rest 
of  the  choir  kneeling  below  sang  the  first  stanza  as  a  refrain. 
At  the  end  of  the  fourth  stanza  the  boys  began  the  refrain,  and 
the  rest  of  the  choir  stood  and  sang  it  with  them.  At  Hereford 
seven  choir-boys  went  to  the  summit  of  the  city  gates  and  sang 
it.  It  was  sung  at  the  gates  at  Tours  and  Rouen. 

Hymn  8(51.  When,  His  salvation  bringing. 
JOHN  KING  (1789-1858). 

Incumbent  of  Christ  Church,  Hull.  He  wrote  this  in  1830  for 
The  Psalmist,  by  Revs.  Henry  and  John  G\vyther.  It  had  a  refrain 
after  each  verse — 

'Ilosannah  to  Jesus,'  their  theme. 

'  Ilosannah  to  Jesus,'  we'll  sing. 

'Ilosannah  to  Jesus,'  our  King. 

The  Psalmist  contains  one  psalm  and  four  hymns  by  Mr. 
King.  He  published  several  sermons  and  other  works. 

Hyitin  8(52.  Children  of  Jerusalem. 
Jonx  HENI.KV. 

'For  Palm  Sunday,'  in  John  Curwen's  Hymns  and  Chants,  1844. 

Mr.  Henley  was  born  at  Torquay  in  1800,  entered  the 
Wesleyan  ministry  in  1824,  and  died  at  Weymouth,  1842.  He 
said  to  a  friend,  '  I  never  expected  this.  I  expected  to  die  in 
peace,  but  I  cannot  describe  the  joy  which  I  feel.  1  am  very 
happy.  I  never  felt  my  Saviour  so  precious  ;  I  never  loved 
Him  so  much.  I  am  full  of  Christ,  full  of  glory.' 

Mr.  Horder  describes  this  as  'a  hymn  singularly  crisp  and 
effective,  and  greatly  liked  by  children.' 

Hymn  803.  Once  in  royal  David's  city. 
CECIL  F.  ALEXANDER  (182). 

Published  in  her  Hymns  for  Little  Children^  and  based  on  the 
words  of  the  Creed,  '  Who  was  conceived  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of 
the  Virgin  Mary.' 

Edition  after  edition  of  her  volume  was  called  for.  It 
rivalled  in  popularity  Dr.  Watts's  Divine  and  Moral  Songs, 


444  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

and  Jane  and  Ann  Taylor's  Hymns  for  Infant  Minds.  Dr. 
Gauntlett  set  the  verses  to  music  ;  an  illustrated  edition  was 
printed,  and  the  little  book,  like  Keble's  Christian  Year,  stood 
alone  among  volumes  of  original  hymns  in  this  country  as 
having  gained  the  honour  of  a  hundredth  edition.  This 
hymn  ranks  next  in  popularity  to  her  '  There  is  a  green  hill  far 
away.'  '  Never  has  the  gospel  story  been  told  to  children  more 
attractively  than  in  "  Once  in  royal  David's  city"  and  ''There 
is  a  green  hill  far  away." ' 

Hymn  864.  O  little  town  of  Bethlehem. 
PHILLIPS  BROOKS,  D.D. 

Written  at  Bethlehem  on  Christmas  Day,  1866. 

Phillips  Brooks  was  born  at  Boston,  U.S.A.,  in  1835  > 
studied  at  Harvard,  became  Rector  of  Holy  Trinity  Church, 
Philadelphia,  1859;  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Massa 
chusetts,  1891.  He  died  in  1893.  He  takes  rank  as  one  of 
the  most  eloquent,  large-hearted,  and  lovable  men  America 
has  produced.  The  inspiring  thought  of  his  life  was  'the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  childhood  of  every  man  to  Him.' 
'  Posterity  will  never  see  his  princely  form  towering  six  feet 
and  a  half  in  height ;  and  his  majestic  face,  combining  the 
thoughtfulness  and  fire  of  Webster  with  the  sweetness  of 
Fe"nelon  or  Fletcher  ;  and  his  massive  frame,  impressing  one  at 
first  as  a  giant,  yet  so  filled  with  light  and  life  that  he  seemed 
as  radiant  as  an  angel.' 

Hymn  865.  Jesus,  when  He  left  the  sky. 

MARY  RUMSEY. 
\Yritten  about  1850.     No  facts  can  be  found  about  Mrs.  Rumsey. 

Hymn  866.   I  think,  when  I  read  that  sweet  story 
of  old. 

JEMIMA  LUKE. 

Miss  Thompson  was  born  at  Colebrooke  Row,  Islington, 
in  1813,  and  married  the  Rev.  Samuel  Luke,  a  Congregational 
minister,  in  1843.  She  wrote  for  the  Juvenile  Magazine  at 
the  age  of  thirteen,  and  published  several  works.  Miss 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   \VRITERS    445 

Thompson  went  to  the  Normal  Infant  School,  Gray's  Inn 
Road,  in  1841,  to  obtain  some  knowledge  of  teaching.  Mary 
Moffat,  afterwards  the  wife  of  David  Livingstone,  was  a  student 
there  at  the  time.  Among  the  marching-pieces  which  the 
teachers  had  to  learn  was  a  Greek  air,  the  pathos  of  which 
took  Miss  Thompson's  fancy.  She  searched  Sunday-school 
books  for  words  to  which  she  might  fit  this  music,  but  could 
find  none.  She  fell  ill  in  1841  with  erysipelas,  and  was  sent 
home  to  Taunton.  One  day  she  went  in  the  two-horse  coach 
to  Wellington,  five  miles  away,  to  see  how  a  little  branch  of 
the  Society  for  Female  Education  in  the  East  was  prospering. 
It  was  a  beautiful  spring  morning,  and  she  was  the  only  inside 
passenger.  She  took  a  letter  from  her  pocket,  and  on  the  back 
of  the  envelope  wrote  in  pencil  the  first  two  verses  of  this  hymn. 
She  wished  to  teach  it  to  the  village  school  near  Poundsford 
Park,  which  was  supported  by  her  stepmother. 

Mr.  Thompson  had  charge  of  a  little  Sunday  school  on  his 
estate,  and  allowed  the  children  to  choose  the  first  hymn.  One 
Sunday  afternoon  they  began  to  sing  his  daughter's  hymn. 
He  asked  his  younger  girls,  'Where  did  that  come  from?  I 
never  heard  it  before.'  They  replied,  '  Oh,  Jemima  wrote  it.1 
On  Monday  he  sent  a  copy  of  the  hymn  and  tune  to  the  Sunday 
School  Teachers'  Magazine,  where  it  appeared  the  following 
month.  Mrs.  Luke  always  considers  The  Child's  Desire  an 
inspiration,  for  she  was  never  able  to  write  another  hymn  of 
such  merit.  The  third  verse  was  added,  at  her  father's  wish,  to 
make  it  a  missionary  hymn.  It  was  published  anonymously 
in  the  Leeds  Hymn-book,  1853. 

Mr.  J.  Morgan  Richards  says,  in  his  reminiscences,  that  in 
1889,  when  a  bazaar  was  held  on  behalf  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Sailors'  Society,  his  wife  found  Mrs.  Luke's  address 
with  great  difficulty,  and  went  to  see  her  at  Newport,  Isle  of 
Wight.  She  got  permission  to  have  her  portrait  and  a 
facsimile  of  the  hymn  in  her  writing  on  sale  at  the  bazaar. 
Mrs.  Luke's  father  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Sailors'  Society.  Two  little  American  girls,  who  had 
sung  the  hymn  very  sweetly  at  the  morning  service  in  the  City 
Temple,  also  sang  it  at  the  bazaar  ;  and  two  small  African 
boys  who  heard  them  learnt  it,  and  sang  it  with  great  effect  in 
a  tour  through  England,  undertaken  to  raise  funds  for  a  school 
in  Natal. 

Mrs.  Luke  died  on  February  2,  1906. 


446  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  867.  I  love  to  hear  the  story. 
EMILY  MILLER. 

Mrs.  Miller,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Huntingdon,  D.D., 
was  born  at  Brooklyn,  Connecticut,  October  22,  1833,  and 
married  Professor  Miller.  She  was  joint-editor  of  The  Little 
Corporal,  published  at  Chicago,  for  which  she  furnished  each 
month  a  poem  to  be  set  to  music.  She  says,  '  I  had  had  a 
very  serious  illness  in  1867,  and  was  slowly  recovering  ;  and, 
though  too  weak  to  do  much  literary  work,  the  fact  that  The 
Little  Corporal  would  be  published  without  my  usual  contribu 
tion  was  something  of  a  worry  to  me.  I  determined,  if  possible, 
that  this  should  not  happen  ;  so  one  afternoon,  when  I  felt  a 
little  stronger,  I  took  pen  and  paper  and  began  to  write  "  I 
love  to  hear  the  story."'  In  less  than  fifteen  minutes  the 
hymn  was  written  and  sent  away  without  any  corrections. 

Hymn  868.  Jesus  is  our  Shepherd. 

HUGH  STOWELL,  M.A.  (702). 

Written  for  Sunday-school  anniversary  services  at  Christ  Church, 
Salford,  1849,  and  published  in  his  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1864. 

Hymn  869.  There  is  a  green  hill  far  away. 
CECIL  F.  ALEXANDER  (182). 

Hymns  for  Little  Children,  1848.  Based  on  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
'  Suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate,  was  crucified,  dead,  and  buried.' 

This  hymn  was  written  at  the  bedside  of  a  sick  child.  She 
recovered,  and  always  claimed  the  hymn  as  her  own.  Gounod 
regarded  it  as  the  most  perfect  hymn  in  the  English  language, 
and  his  setting  has  added  to  its  popularity.  Mrs.  Alexander 
greatly  prized  the  autograph  copy  of  Gounod's  music  which  he 
sent  her.  In  speaking  of  her  hymns  shortly  before  his  death, 
Gounod  said  that  many  of  them  set  themselves  to  music.  This 
is  the  most  popular  of  Mrs.  Alexander's  hymns. 

Hymn  870.  Jesus,  high  in  glory. 

It  has  been  traced  to  the  Sunday  School  Harmonist,  1847,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    447 

Hymn  871.  There's  a  Friend  for  little  children. 

ALBERT  MIDLANE. 

Mr.  Midlane  was  born  at  Newport,  Isle  of  Wight,  on 
January  23,  1825,  and  carried  on  business  there  as  an  iron 
monger,  not  far  from  the  house  where  Thomas  Binney  wrote 
'  Eternal  Light.'  Mr.  Midlane  was  born  three  months  after  the 
death  of  his  father.  He  remembers  his  mother  saying,  'They 
told  me  when  your  dear  father  died  that  my  child  would  be 
the  Lord's  gift  to  cheer  and  help  me  in  my  widowhood.'  His 
Sunday-school  teacher,  who  was  an  enthusiastic  reader  of 
poetry,  prompted  him  to  use  his  gift  in  verse,  and  before  his 
ninth  birthday  he  composed  a  set  of  verses  which  greatly 
impressed  his  friends.  In  September,  1842,  his  first  printed 
hymn  was  written  when  on  a  visit  to  Carisbrooke  Castle.  It 
appeared  in  the  Youth's  Magazine  in  November,  1842.  He 
has  written  more  than  300  hymns,  and  published  several  small 
volumes  of  prose  and  poetry.  He  is  known  as  '  the  poet 
preacher'  of  the  'Strict  Brethren.' 

'There's  a  Friend  for  little  children'  is  his  most  popular 
hymn.  It  was  scribbled  in  his  note-book  on  February  27, 
1859.  Mr.  Midlane  still  preserves  the  MS.,  and  rejoices  to 
think  how  these  verses  coming  straight  from  the  heart  have 
been  sung  all  round  the  world.  It  was  contributed  to  a  serial, 
'Good  news  for  the  little  ones,'  in  1859.  In  the  original  the 
first  line  read,  '  There's  a  rest  for  little  children.'  The  second 
stanza  is  here  omitted.  Sir  John  Stainer's  tune  is  named  '  In 
Memoriam,'  to  commemorate  a  little  child  of  his  whom  'Jesus 
had  called  to  Him.'  A  year  or  two  aero  a  subscription  was 
made  to  relieve  Mr.  Midlane's  necessities,  and  this  was  well 
taken  up  by  parents,  teachers,  and  children. 

Mr.  Midlane  says,  'Most  of  my  hymns  have  been  written 
during  walks  around  the  ancient  and  historic  ruins  of  Carisbrooke 
Castle.  The  twilight  hour,  so  dear  to  thought,  and  the  hushed 
serenity  then  pervading  Nature,  have  often  allured  my  soul  to 
deep  and  uninterrupted  meditation,  which,  in  its  turn,  has  given 
birth  to  lines  which,  had  not  these  walks  been  taken,  would  never 
probably  have  been  penned.' 

" '  Lady  Sister,  will  you  read  to  me  ? "  said  a  merchant 
seaman  dying  a  lingering  and  painful  death  in  a  London 
hospital.  I  asked  what  I  should  read.  "  Read  '  There's  a 


THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Friend  for  little  children.' "  I  knew  something  of  a  sailor's 
life,  and  the  experiences  that  probably  lay  between  him  and  the 
days  when  he  repeated  "  Hymns  for  the  Young,"  but  for  him  all 
that  intervened  had  been  swept  away.' — The  Qucerfs  Poor* 

Hymn  872.  One  there  is  above  all  others. 

MARIANNE  NUNN. 

Miss   Nunn  was  born  at  Colchester  in  1778,  and  died  in 
1847.     This  hymn  was  written  to  adapt  John  Newton's — 

One  there  is  above  all  others 
Well  deserves  the  name  of  friend, 

to  a  Welsh  air,  and  was  first  published  in  her  brother,  the  Rev. 
John  Nunn's,  Psalms  and  Hymns  from  the  most  approved 
Authors,  1817.  Mr.  Nunn  was  Rector  of  Thorndon,  Suffolk. 

Hymn  873.  Every  morning  the  red  sun. 
CECIL  F.  ALEXANDER  (182). 

Hymns  for  Little  Children,  1848,  based  on  'The  life  everlasting,' 
Apostles'  Creed. 

Hymn  874.  I  sing  the  almighty  power  of  God. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Divine  Songs  attempted  in  Easy  Language  for  the  Use  of  Children, 
1715.  It  is  Song  2,  'Praise  for  Creation  and  Providence.'  Verses 
6  and  7  are  omitted. 

This  hymn  is  one  of  the  happiest  attempts  to  explain  the 
world  to  children.  Huxley  would  have  called  it,  '  A  panoramic 
view  of  nature  accompanied  by  a  strong  infusion  of  mind.' 

Hymn  875.  All  things  bright  and  beautiful. 
CECIL  F.  ALEXANDER  (182). 

Hymns  for  Little  Children,  1848,  based  on  'Maker  of  heaven  and 
earth,'  in  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  the  verse  '  God  saw  everything  that 
He  had  made,  and  behold  it  was  very  good.' 

The  third  and  fifth  verses  of  the  original  are  omitted. 


THE    STORY    OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     449 

Hymn  876.  Hushed  was  the  evening  hymn. 
JAMES  DRUMMOND  BURNS,  M.A. 

Mr.  Burns  (1823-64)  was  Free  Church  minister  at 
Dunblane,  1845  J  minister  of  Hampstead  Presbyterian  Church, 
1855.  He  died  at  Mentone,  and  was  buried  in  Highgate 
Cemetery,  London. 

His  biographer,  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  Hamilton,  describes 
him  as  being  '  a  tall,  loosely-knit  man,  clad  always  in  clerical 
black,  with  the  gentlest  of  manners,  a  sad,  resigned  sort  of 
voice,  and  with  great  sweetness  of  smile.'  His  preaching  had 
a  kind  of  unearthly  beauty,  and  was  full  of  Christ  and  Him 
crucified. 

This  hymn,  headed  '  The  Child  Samuel,'  was  published  in 
The  Evening  Hymn,  1856,  which  contains  a  hymn  and  prayer 
for  each  night  in  the  month.  Reverence  and  tenderness  mark 
all  the  prayers  and  hymns.  This  beautiful  description  of  the 
call  of  Samuel  is  worthy  to  set  beside  the  Bible  story  and  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds's  picture. 

Hymn  877.  By  cool  Siloam's  shady  rill. 

REGINALD  HEP.ER,  D.D.  (28). 

'Epiphany,'  given  in  Christian  Obsei-ver,  April,  1812,  as  '  By  cool 
Siloam's  shady  fountain.'  The  title  is  'Christ  a  Pattern  for  Children.' 
Luke  ii.  40.  It  was  afterwards  rewritten  in  C.M.  as  '  By  cool  Siloam's 
shady  rill,'  and  published  in  Hymns,  1827,  for  the  first  Sunday  after 
Epiphany. 

Hymn  878.  Jesus,  who  calledst  little  ones  to  Thee. 
CHARLES  CHRISTOPHER  BELL. 

Mr.  Bell  was  born  at  Hickling,  Notts,  December  10,  1845, 
and  is  a  chemist  and  post  master  at  Epworth.  He  is  a  great 
reader,  and  a  keen  student  of  theology. 

This  hymn  was  written  in  Liverpool  for  a  Sunday-school 
anniversary.  Five  of  Mr.  Bell's  hymns  are  given  in  the 
Methodist  Sunday  School  Hymn-Book,  and  are  admirably 
adapted  for  children. 

2  O 


450  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  879.  Gentle  Jesus,  meek  and  mild. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

This  hymn  and  five  others  for  children  appeared  in  Hymns  and 
Sacred  Poems,  1742,  and  was  reprinted  in  Hymns  for  Children,  1763  ; 
Works,  vi.  441.  '  Hymns  for  the  youngest.' 

Verses  I  and  2  are  taken  from  Hymn  72  in  this  set ;  ver.  3  from 
a  hymn  in  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1 742,  '  In  Temptation  '  ( Works, 
ii.  97) ;  4,  5  from  the  second  part  of  Hymn  73. 

The  original  of  ver.  3  is — 

O,  supply  my  earthly  want ; 

Feed  a  tender,  sickly  plant  ; 

Day  and  night  my  Keeper  be, 

Every  moment  water  me. 
Ver.  2  reads — 

Fain  I  would  to  Thee  be  brought  ; 

Dearest  God,  forbid  it  not  ; 

Give  me,  dearest  God,  a  place 

In  the  kingdom  of  Thy  grace. 

It  is '  associated  with  the  happy  infancy  of  tens  of  thousands.' 
'  Watts  wrote  some  simple  lyrics  which  seem  to  have  suited 
our  prim  little  ancestors  ;  and  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  "  Gentle 
Jesus,  meek  and  mild  "  ;  but  even  the  manners  and  beliefs  of  the 
devout  souls  of  that  time  cannot  altogether  excuse  some  of  his 
hymns,  which  must  have  frightened  many  a  poor  little  Methodist 
out  of  his  wits.' — Dr.  A.  E.  Gregory. 

Hymn  880.  Lamb  of  God,  I  look  to  Thee. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742  ;  Hymns  for  Children,  1763  ; 
Works,  vi.  442.  See  879. 

The  hymn  is  in  seven  verses.  Two  are  transferred  to  879  ;  one 
omitted  ;  four  used  for  880. 

Hymn  881.  I  lay  my  sins  on  Jesus. 

DR.  H.  BONAR  (70). 

In  Songs  for  the  Wilderness,  1843,  headed  '  The  Fullness  of  Jesus.' 
In  Bible  Hymn-book  it  is  headed  '  The  Substitute.'  This  is  Dr.  Bonar's 
first  hymn  ;  written  for  his  Sunday  school  in  Leith. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    451 

Dr.  Bonar  was  surprised  at  its  popularity,  and  used  to  say 
that  it  might  be  good  gospel,  but  was  not  good  poetry.  The 
fact  that  it  had  helped  so  many  people  outweighed  everything 
else.  His  son  says  the  words  of  one  of  his  own  hymns  were  his 
constant  prayer — 

Make  use  of  me,  my  God  ! 
Let  me  not  be  forgot  ; 
A  broken  vessel  cast  aside, 
One  whom  Thou  needest  not. 

The  way  in  which  the  hymns  become  known  may  be  seen 
from  an  incident  told  by  Andrew  Bonar  of  the  Rev.  John  Milne, 
who  returned  from  a  communion  service  at  Kelso,  and  at  his 
prayer-meeting  held  up  a  leaflet  and  told  the  people  he  had 
brought  with  him  a  hymn  which  would  be  new  to  them  as  it 
had  been  new  to  him.  Then  he  read  them,  '  I  lay  my  sins  on 
Jesus.' 

The  hymn  seems  to  have  been  founded  on  a  portion  of  a 
fourteenth-century  hymn — 

Jesu  plena  caritate 

Manus  tuae  perforatac 

I.axent  mea  crimina. 

Hymn  882.  Saviour,  while  my  heart  is  tender. 

JOHN  BURTON. 

Mr.  Burton  was  born  in  1803,  at  Stratford,  Essex.  From  the 
age  of  fifteen  to  twenty-five  he  was  a  great  sufferer,  but  afterwards 
gained  strength,  and  carried  on  business  as  cooper  and  basket- 
maker  for  fifty  years.  He  was  deacon  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Stratford.  His  first  hymn  was  sent  to  the  Evangelical 
Magazine  in  1822.  He  contributed  to  that  and  to  The  Child 's 
Companion  for  many  years.  In  1850  he  published  One  Hundred 
Original  Hymns  for  the  Young;  in  1851,  Hymns  for  Little 
Children;  in  1867  a  version  of  the  Psalms.  He  is  known  as 
'John  Burton,  Junr.,' to  distinguish  him  from  'John  Burton  of 
Nottingham,'  who  wrote  '  Holy  Bible,  book  divine.' 

Hymn  883.  Lord,  in  the  fulness  of  my  might. 

T.  H.  GILL  (52). 

Early  Fifty,  written  1855,  published  in  his  Golden  Chain  of  Praise, 
1869,  and  headed  '  Early  Love,  "  How  good  it  is  to  close  with  Christ 
betimes  !  "  Cromwell.'  It  begins,  '  With  sin  I  would  not  make  abode. 


452  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  884.  Now  the  day  is  over. 

S.  BARING-GOULD  (455)- 

Printed  in  Church  Times,  1865,  and  in  Appendix  to  Hymns  Ancient 
and  Modern,  1868.  The  second  verse  of  the  original  was- 

Now  the  darkness  gathers, 

Stars  begin  to  peep, 
Birds,  and  beasts,  and  flowers 

Soon  will  be  asleep. 

It  was  written  as  an  evening  hymn  for  the  scholars  at  Horboiy 
Bridge,  and  founded  on  Prov.  iii.  24  :  'When  thou  lust  down  thou 
shalt  not  be  afraid;  yea,  thou  shalt  lie  down,  and  thy  sleep  shall 
be  sweet.' 

Hymn  885.  Jesus,  tender  Shepherd,  hear  me. 

MARY  DUNCAN. 

Mrs.  Duncan  (1814-40)  was  the  daughter  of  Rev  Robert 
Lundie,  parish  minister  of  Kelso.  She  married  Rev.  William 
Wallace  Duncan,  parish  minister  at  Cleish  in  July,  836.  A 
severe  chill  brought  on  a  fever  which  caused  her  early  death. 
Her  hymns  were  chiefly  written  for  her  children,  between  July 
and  December,  1839-  They  appeared  in  **"£>£"£ 
by  her  mother,  1841,  and  in  Rhymes  for  my  Children,  1842,  to 
the  number  of  twenty-three. 

Hymn  886.  O  Lord  of  all,  we  bring  to  Thee  our 

sacrifice  of  praise. 
ELLA  SOPHIA  ARMITAGE. 

Mrs.  Armitage  was  born  in  Liverpool  in  1841,  and  is  the 
daughter   of  Mr.  S.  M.  Bulley,  granddaughter  of  Rev.   Dr 
Raffles,  of  Liverpool.     She  is  the  author  of  The  ChMhood  of 
the  English  Nation;  The  Connexion  of  England  and  Scotland ; 
An   Introduction  to   English  Antiquities,      This   hymn  was 
written  for  a  service  of  song.      Mrs.  Armitage  now  lives  a 
Rawdon,  near  Leeds,  and  is  the  wife  of  a  Congregational 
minister. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    453 

Hymn  887.  Brightly  gleams  our  banner. 
THOMAS  JOSEPH  POTTER. 

A  favourite  processional  for  children.  Appeared,  with  music,  in 
Holy  Family  Hymns,  1860,  with  much  Roman  teaching  woven  into  it. 
The  form  here  given  is  from  Appendix  to  S.P.C.K.  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
1869,  and  has  less  of  the  original  than  any  other  arrangement  of  the 
hymn. 

Mr.  Potter  (1827-73)  was  born  at  Scarborough,  joined  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  1847,  and  took  orders.  He  was 
Professor  of  Pulpit  Eloquence  and  English  Literature  in  All 
Hallows  Missionary  College,  Dublin.  Mr.  Potter  published 
several  books  on  preaching,  some  stories,  and  various  hymns 
and  translations. 

Hymn  888.  Around  the  throne  of  God  in  heaven. 

ANNE  SHEPHERD. 

^  This  hymn  appeared  in  her  Hymns  adapted  to  the  Comprehension  of 
Young  Minds.  Date  of  1st  edition  not  known  ;  3rd  edition,  1847.  Dr. 
Moffat  translated  the  hymn  into  Sechuana  fur  his  Kuruman  Collection, 
1838. 

Mrs.  Shepherd  was  the  daughter  of  Rev.  E.  H.  Houlditch, 
Rector  of  Speen,  Berks  ;  was  born  at  Cowes  in  1809,  and  married 
Mr.  S.  Savile  Shepherd  in  1843.  Two  of  her  novels  attracted 
considerable  attention.  She  died  at  Blackheath  in  1857. 

Hymn  889.  There  is  a  better  world,  they  say. 
JOHN  LYTH,  D.D.  (1821-86). 

Written  at  Stroud,  in  Gloucestershire,  where  Dr.  Lyth  was  then 
stationed,  on  April  30,  1845,  f°r  the  anniversary  of  the  neighbouring 
infant-school  at  Randwich,  to  the  air  '  All  is  well,'  then  very  popular. 
Dr.  Lyth's  hymn  first  appeared  in  the  Home  and  School  Hymn-book. 

Dr.  Lyth  was  born  at  York,  entered  the  Wesleyan  ministry 
in  1843,  became  the  first  Wesleyan  minister  in  Germany,  1859. 
He  wrote  a  history  of  Methodism  in  York,  and  a  volume  entitled 
Wild  Flowers,  a  selection  of  poems  by  Dr.  Punshon  and  himself 
and  his  family. 


454  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  890.  Father  of  all,  Thy  care  we  bless. 
PHILIP  DODDRIDGE  (95). 

Published  I755>  headed  'God's  gracious  approbation  of  a  religious 
care  of  our  families.'  Doddridge's  MS.  reads — 

Father  of  men,  Thy  care  we  trace, 
That  crowns  with  love  our  infant  race ; 
From  Thee  they  sprung,  and  by  Thy  power 
Are  still  maintain'd  through  every  hour. 

Hymn  891.  Mercy  and  judgment  will  I  sing. 

ISAAC  WATTS,  D.D.  (3). 

Psalm  ci.  :  'A  Psalm  for  a  Master  of  a  Family,'  from  The  Psalms  of 
David,  1719. 

The  verses  have  been  rewritten  by  some  later  hand. 

Hymn  892.  Day  by  day  we  magnify  Thee. 

JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

'A  Morning  Hymn  for  School  Children,'  written  in  1855.  One  of 
four  pieces  of  his  own  in  Ifytnns  for  Schools  and  Bible  Classes,  which  he 
compiled  when  senior  curate  at  St.  Nicholas,  Brighton. 

Hymn  893.  Come,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
To  whom  we  for  our  children  cry. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Children,  1763 ;  Works,  vi.  407.  '  At  the  opening  of  a 
School  in  Kingswood.'  Two  verses  are  omitted. 

Hymn  894.  Captain  of  our  salvation,  take. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  Children,  1763  ;   Works,  vi.  408.     It  follows  Hymn  893. 
In  ver.  I  Charles  Wesley  wrote,    '  And  then  transplant  them  to  the 
skies.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS    455 

Hymn  895.  God  of  uiy  life,  to  Thee. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;   Works,  v.  15.     In  the  series  'For 
Believers,"  No.  10.     '  On  his  birthday.'     Five  verses  are  omitted. 
Ver.  4  reads — 

Eternally  forgiven  ; 
I  wait  Thy  perfect  will  to  prove, 
When  sanctified  by  perfect  love. 

Ver.  5— 

Call  home  Thy  favoured  son 
At  death's  triumphant  hour. 

The  closing  lines  are  based  on  the  Jewish  tradition  woven 
round  the  phrase  in  Deut.  xxxiv.  5,  that  Moses  died  at  the 
mouth  of  Jehovah.  God  '  bent  over  the  face  of  Moses  and  kissed 
him.  Then  the  soul  leaped  up  in  joy,  and  went  with  the  kiss  of 
God  to  Paradise.'  Dr.  Watts  uses  the  same  tradition  in  his 
'  Death  of  Moses ' — 

Softly  his  fainting  head  he  lay 

Upon  his  Maker's  breast ; 
His  Maker  kissed  his  soul  away, 
And  laid  his  flesh  to  rest. 

F.  W.  H.  Myers  has  the  same  thought — 

Moses  on  the  Mount 
Died  of  the  kisses  of  the  lips  of  God. 

Hymn  890.  Away  with  our  fears  ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Jfymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749  ;  Works,  \.  400.  Verses  2  and  8 
are  omitted.  One  verse  may  be  added,  to  complete  the  picture  of  the 
poet's  mercies. 

2.  No  grievous  alloy 

Shall  diminish  the  joy 
I  to-day  from  my  Maker  receive : 
'Tis  my  duty  to  praise 
His  unspeakable  grace, 
And  exulting  in  Jesus  to  live. 

Wesley  spent  his  birthday  in  1788  at  Epworth.  His  brother 
had  died  three  months  before.  It  was  a  day  of  many  memories. 
He  wonders  at  the  strength  of  body  and  mind  granted  to  him. 
'  Even  now,  though  I  find  pain  daily  in  my  eye,  or  temple,  or 


4$6  THE    METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

arm  ;  yet  it  is  never  violent,  and  seldom  lasts  many  minutes  at 
a  time.  Whether  or  not  this  is  sent  to  give  me  a  warning,  that 
I  am  shortly  to  quit  this  tabernacle,  I  do  not  know  ;  but  be  it 
one  way  or  the  other,  I  have  only  to  say — 

My  remnant  of  days 

I  spend  to  His  praise, 
Who  died  the  whole  world  to  redeem  : 

Be  they  many  or  few, 

My  days  are  His  due, 
And  they  all  are  devoted  to  Him  ! ' 

Wesley  says  in  his  letter  to  Thomas  Maxfield  (Works,  xi. 
481),  'I  was  constrained  to  cry  out  (and  you  yourself  used  the 
same  words  to  God  on  my  behalf) — 

O  the  fathomless  love.' 

Hymn  897.  Thou  gracious  God,  whose  mercy  lends. 
OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES  (23). 

Written  for  an  annual  meeting  of  his  college  class.  The  first  line 
began,  '  Thou  gracious  Power.'  Dr.  Holmes  allowed  the  alteration  to 
'  God  '  in  The  Home  and  School  Hymnal. 

Hymn  898.  Lord  of  power,  Lord  of  might. 
GODFREY  THRING,  D.D.  (129). 

On  the  Collect  for  the  Seventh  Sunday  after  Trinity.  Written  in 
1862,  and  published  in  Chope's  Hymnal  ih&l  year. 

Hymn  899.  O  happy  home,  where  Thou  art  loved 

the  dearest. 
C.  J.  P.  SPITTA  (265). 

Psalter  und  Harfe,  1833  ;  translated  by  MRS.  FINDLATER  (490)  in 
Hymns  from  the  Land  of Luther,  3rd  Series,  1858. 

'O  Selig  Haus,  wo  man  dich  aufgenommen '  is  a  picture  of  a 
Christian  home,  headed  'Salvation  is  come  to  this  house.'  Luke 
xix.  9. 

.fly ntn  900.  Awake,  my  soul,  and  with  the  sun. 
THOMAS  KEN,  D.D. 

Ken  was  born  at  Berkhampstead  in  1637.  His  parents  died 
when  he  was  a  child,  and  he  was  brought  up  under  the  care  of 


THE   STORY   OF    THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    457 

Izaak  Walton,  who  had  married  his  sister  Ann.  He  became 
Rector  of  Little  Easton,  1663  ;  Prebendary  of  Winchester, 
1669.  He  was  chaplain  to  Princess  Mary  at  the  Hague,  1679- 
80,  and  remonstrated  with  William  for  his  unkindness  to  her. 
Then  he  became  chaplain  to  Charles  II,  who  once  said  on  his 
way  to  the  royal  closet, '  I  must  go  to  hear  little  Ken  tell  me  of 
my  faults.'  His  famous  refusal  of  his  house  at  Winchester  for 
the  lodging  of  Nell  Gwynne  won  the  respect  of  Charles  II. 
'  Not  for  his  kingdom '  would  Ken  allow  such  an  insult  to  be  put 
on  the  house  of  a  royal  chaplain.  Charles  appointed  him  Bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells  in  1684.  '  Odds  fish  !  Who  shall  have  Bath 
and  Wells  but  the  little  black  fellow  who  would  not  give  poor 
Nelly  a  lodging  ? '  Next  year  he  attended  the  king's  death-bed, 
where  he  applied  himself  much  to  the  awaking  of  the  king's 
conscience.  '  He  spoke  with  great  elevation  of  thought  and 
expression,'  Burnet  says,  '  like  a  man  inspired,  as  those  who 
were  present  told  me.'  He  was  with  Monmouth  when  he  was 
beheaded.  He  was  one  of  the  seven  bishops  who  were  sent  to 
the  Tower  for  refusing  to  read  the  Declaration  of  Indulgence, 
but  was  deprived  of  his  see  as  a  Nonjuror  in  1691.  His  friend 
Lord  Weymouth  gave  him  a  home  at  Longleat,  where  he  died 
in  1711.  He  was  buried  in  Frome  Churchyard.  Ken  gave 
his  property,  valued  at  £700,  to  Lord  Weymouth,  who  allowed 
him  ^80  a  year.  He  kept  his  lute,  a  'sorry'  horse,  which 
was  a  favourite  with  him,  and  his  Greek  Testament,  which  used 
to  open  of  its  own  accord  at  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  First 
Corinthians. 

Macaulay  says  his  character  approached  '  as  near  as  human 
infirmity  permits  to  the  ideal  perfection  of  Christian  virtue.' 
When  he  was  Lord  Dartmouth's  chaplain  at  Tangier,  he 
brought  down  on  himself  the  wrath  of  Colonel  Kirke  by  a 
sermon  in  which  he  denounced  '  the  excessive  liberty  of  swearing 
which  we  observe  here.' 

Dryden  pays  high  tribute  to  him — 

Letting  down  the  golden  chain  from  high, 
He  drew  his  audience  upward  to  the  sky  ; 
And  oft  with  holy  hymns  he  charmed  the  ears, 
A  music  more  melodious  than  the  spheres  ; 
For  David  left  him,  when  he  went  to  rest, 
His  lyre — and  after  him  he  sang  the  best. 

In  1674  he  published  A  Manual  of  Prayers  for  the  Use  of 
the  Scholars  of  Winchester  College.      It   is    a  little   book  of 


458  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

sixty-nine  pages.  Ken  advises  the  boys  :  '  Be  sure  to  sing  the 
Morning  and  Evening  Hymn  in  your  chamber  devoutly, 
remembering  that  the  Psalmist,  upon  happy  experience,  assures 
you  that  it  is  a  good  thing  to  tell  of  the  loving-kindness  of  the 
Lord  early  in  the  morning  and  His  truth  in  the  night  season.' 
The  hymns  are  not  printed  in  the  Manual  till  they  are  added 
as  an  Appendix  to  the  edition  of  1695,  when  the  title  reads,  'A 
Manual  of  Prayers  for  the  Use  of  the  Scholars  of  Winchester 
College,  and  all  other  Devout  Christians :  To  which  is  added 
three  hymns  for  Morning,  Evening,  and  Midnight ;  not  in 
former  editions.'  False  and  incorrect  copies  of  the  hymns  had 
been  issued,  and  Ken  published  them  in  1694  as  a  tract.  The 
advertisement  says  that  had  not  these  incorrect  and  surreptitious 
copies  been  printed,  '  he  should  not  have  sent  things  so  very  in 
considerable  to  the  press.'  The  piracy  was  repeated,  and  Ken 
published  a  new  edition  of  his  tract  in  1705-7,  giving  a  revised 
text. 

Ken  was  a  good  musician,  and  often  used  to  sing  his  morning 
and  evening  hymns  to  tunes  which  he  had  composed,  accom 
panying  himself  on  the  viol  or  spinet.  His  great-nephew, 
William  Hawkins,  says  he  sang  the  Morning  Hymn  to  his  lute 
before  he  put  on  his  clothes.  He  had  an  organ  in  his  chambers 
at  Winchester.  James  Montgomery  said,  '  Had  the  bishop 
endowed  three  hospitals,  he  might  have  been  less  a  benefactor 
to  posterity.' 

The  tune  by  Tallis,  organist  to  Elizabeth's  Chapel  Royal, 
who  died  in  1585,  is  older  than  Ken's  hymn. 

A  very  interesting  note  in  the  Dictionary  of  Hymnology 
deals  with  Ken's  use  of  earlier  material.  It  is  probable  that 
three  Latin  hymns  (especially  the  old  Compline  hymn, '  Salvator 
mundi,  Domine,'  with  which  both  Ken  and  Browne  were 
familiar,  as  it  formed  part  of  the  daily  worship  in  Winchester 
School)  may  have  suggested  them,  but '  only  as  a  text  of  Holy 
Scripture  suggests  a  sermon.'  Sir  Thomas  Browne  was  also 
a  Wykehamist,  and  in  his  Religio  Medici,  1643,  gives  the 
'  dormitive  I  take  to  bedward,'  which  has  some  striking  touches 
of  similarity  to  Ken,  such  as  '  Let  no  dreams  my  head  infest.' 

Ken's  Doxology  is  more  widely  used  than  any  other  verse 
of  poetry.  During  revivals  the  doxology  has  sometimes  been 
sung  after  every  conversion.  Once  at  Sheffield,  William  Dawson 
had  it  sung  thirty-five  times  in  a  single  service.  William 
Grimshaw,  the  incumbent  of  Haworth,  used  to  sing  it  every 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    459 

morning  as  soon  as  he  rose.  In  Harper's  Magazine  for  De 
cember,  1897,  there  is  a  description  of  its  effect  as  sung  at  the 
Queen's  Diamond  Jubilee  Service  in  front  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 
'  There  were  ten  thousand  people  singing  "  Praise  God,  from 
whom  all  blessings  flow  "  as  loudly  as  they  could,  and  with 
tears  running  down  their  faces.  There  were  princesses  stand 
ing  up  in  their  carriages,  and  black  men  from  the  Gold  Coast, 
Maharajahs  from  India,  and  red-coated  Tommies,  and  young 
men  who  will  inherit  kingdoms  and  empires,  and  archbishops, 
and  cynical  old  diplomats,  and  soldiers  and  sailors  from  the 
"  land  of  the  palm  and  the  pine,"  and  from  "  the  seven  seas," 
and  women  and  men  who  were  just  subjects  of  the  Queen,  and 
who  were  content  with  that.  There  was  probably  never  before 
such  a  moment  in  which  so  many  races  of  people,  of  so  many 
castes,  and  of  such  different  values  to  this  world,  sang  praises 
to  God  at  one  time  and  in  one  place,  and  with  one  heart.' 
The  omitted  verses  of  the  Morning  Hymn  are  (1709  text) — 

4.  By  influence  of  the  Light  divine, 
Let  Thy  own  light  in  others  shine  : 
Reflect  all  Heaven's  propitious  rays, 
In  ardent  love  and  cheerful  praise. 

6.  I  wake,  I  wake,  ye  heavenly  choire, 
May  your  devotion  me  inspire, 
That  I  like  you  my  age  may  spend, 
Like  you  may  on  my  God  attend. 

7.  May  I  like  you  in  God  delight, 
Have  all  day  long  my  God  in  sight, 
Perform  like  you  my  Maker's  will, 
O  may  I  never  more  do  ill. 

8.  Had  I  your  wings,  to  heaven  I'd  fly, 
But  God  shall  that  defect  supply, 
And  my  soul  wing'd  with  warm  desire, 
Shall  all  day  long  to  heav'n  aspire. 

10.  I  would  not  wake,  not  rise  again, 
And  heav'n  itself  I  would  disdain  ; 
Wert  not  Thou  there  to  be  enjoy'd, 
And  I  in  hymns  to  be  employ'd. 

11.  Heav'n  is,  dear  Lord,  where'er  Thou  art, 
O  never  then  from  me  depart  ; 

For  to  my  soul  'tis  hell  to  be, 
But  for  one  moment  without  Thee. 


460  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

In  March,  1744,  Charles  Wesley  was  preaching  in  an  old 
upper  room  in  Leeds  when  the  floor  gave  way.  '  I  lost  my 
senses,  but  recovered  them  in  a  moment,  and  was  filled  with 
power  from  above.  I  lifted  up  my  head  first,  and  saw  the 
people  under  me,  heaps  upon  heaps.  I  cried  out,  "  Fear  not  : 
the  Lord  is  with  us ;  our  lives  are  all  safe ! "  and  then, 
"  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow."  I  lifted  up  the 
fallen  as  fast  as  I  could,  and  perceived  by  their  countenances 
which  were  our  children  ;  several  of  whom  were  hurt,  but  none 
killed.'  It  was  one  of  the  most  serious  accidents  of  his  itinerant 
life,  but  he  himself  escaped  with  a  bruised  hand  and  '  part  of 
the  skin  rubbed  off  my  head.' 

John  Wesley  gives  some  beautiful  little  incidents  in  his 
Journal  which  show  how  this  doxology  sprang  to  people's 
lips  in  the  supreme  moments  of  joy  or  need.  On  March  19, 
1769,  he  says,  Elizabeth  Oldham,  the  widow  of  one  of  his 
Preachers,  told  him  at  Chester  that  in  her  mother's  last 
moments  she  said, '  Call  my  son  to  see  me  die.'  He  asked, 
'  Have  you  any  fear  of  death  ? '  She  said, '  Oh  no  !  That  is  gone 
long  since.  Perfect  love  casts  out  fear.  Do  not  you  see  Him? 
There  He  is,  waiting  to  receive  my  soul.'  She  then  sang  with 
a  clear  voice,  '  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow,'  and 
ended  her  song  and  her  life  together. 

Hymn  901.  O  timely  happy,  timely  wise. 
JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A.  (85). 

Part  of  the  opening  poem  of  The  Christian  Year,  headed  '  Morning. 
His  compassions  fail  not ;  they  are  new  every  morning.  Lam.  iii. 
22-3.'  It  begins,  '  Hues  of  the  rich  unfolding  morn,'  and  was  written 
September  20,  1822. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Prentiss  says,  in  a  letter  dated  August  25, 
1840  :  '  I  am  beginning  to  feel  that  I  have  enough  to  do  without 
looking  out  for  a  great  wide  place  in  which  to  work,  and  to 
appreciate  the  simple  lines — 

The  trivial  round,  the  common   task, 
Will  furnish  all  we  ought  to  ask, — 
Room  to  deny  ourselves,  a  road 
To  bring  us  daily  nearer  God.' 

Her  Stepping  Heavenward  breathes  that  spirit. 


THE  STORY  OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR  WRITERS     461 

Hymn  902.  Once  more  the  sun  is  beaming  bright. 
AMBROSIAN  ;  translated  by  JOHN  CHANDLER  (661). 

yam  lucis  orto  sidere  is  assigned  to  St.  Ambrose,  though  we  cannot 
be  certain  that  it  is  his.  It  is  as  old  as  the  fifth  century,  and  is  probably 
by  some  imitator  of  Ambrose.  Chandler's  translation  is  from  the  text  in 
the  Paris  Breviary ',  1736,  and  is  given  in  his  Hymns  of  the  Primitive 
Church,  1737.  The  Latin  text  was  substantially  rewritten  by  Charles 
Coffin,  then  Rector  of  the  University  of  Paris. 

Hymn  903.  O  Jesus,  Lord  of  heavenly  grace. 

ST.  AMBROSE  ;  translated  by  JOHN  CHANDLER. 

Splendor  paternae  gloriac  is  a  beautiful  morning  prayer  to  the  Holy 
Trinity,  but  especially  to  Christ,  as  the  Light  of  the  World,  for  guidance 
through  the  day.  It  is  ascribed  to  Ambrose  by  Fulgentius  (died  533), 
by  Bede  and  Hincmar.  It  is  said  to  have  been  sung  every  Monday  at 
matins  in  early  times.  Chandler's  translation  appeared  in  his  Jfymns 
of  the  Primitive  Church,  1837. 

Ambrose  (340-97),  the  son  of  a  Roman  noble,  was  born  at 
Treves,  and  educated  as  a  lawyer.  He  held  a  consular  appoint 
ment  at  Milan,  and  had  to  preside  at  the  election  of  a  bishop. 
His  tact  and  skill  so  delighted  the  people  that  a  shout  was 
raised,  '  Let  Ambrose  be  bishop.'  He  tried  to  evade  the  office, 
but  was  forced  to  submit,  and  became  bishop  in  374. 

He  is  the  father  of  Church  music  in  Latin  Christianity. 
During  his  struggle  with  the  Arian  Empress  Justina,  the  bishop 
and  his  people  enlivened  their  long  vigils  with  the  music  which 
so  powerfully  affected  the  young  African  teacher  of  rhetoric, 
who  was  to  be  known  to  all  ages  as  St.  Augustine.  '  How 
greatly  did  I  weep  in  Thy  hymns  and  canticles,  deeply  moved 
by  the  voices  of  Thy  sweet-speaking  Church  !  The  voices 
flowed  into  mine  ears,  and  the  truth  was  poured  forth  into  my 
heart,  whence  the  agitation  of  my  piety  overflowed,  and  my 
tears  ran  over,  and  blessed  was  I  therein.'  Augustine's  mother 
bore  a  large  part  in  that  care  and  watching,  and  was  stirred  by 
these  battle-songs.  Her  son  says,  'This  singing  was  imitated 
by  many,  yea,  by  almost  all  of  Thy  congregations  throughout 
the  world.'  Many  hymns  have  been  ascribed  to  Ambrose.  A 
prefect  of  the  Ambrosian  Library  in  Milan  gives  good  reasons 
for  accepting  eighteen  hymns  and  four  poems  as  genuine.  He 


462  THE    METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

says,  '  St.  Ambrose  has  a  style  peculiar  to  himself,  clear,  sweet, 
and  yet  vigorous,  grand,  and  noble ;  wonderful  closeness  of 
thought,  singular  brevity  of  expression.  There  are  no  glittering 
flashes,  but  his  hymns  beam  brightly  with  a  calm,  severe,  and 
spiritual  enthusiasm  ;  there  is  not  much  of  tender  sentiment, 
but  there  is  the  courage  of  the  cross,  the  power  of  faith,  the 
victory  of  the  gospel  over  the  world.'  Archbishop  Trench  pays 
tribute  to  their  rock-like  firmness,  and  to  the  grandeur  of  the 
unadorned  metre  which  grows  on  a  student.  He  points  out 
'  how  suitably  the  faith  which  was  in  actual  conflict  with,  and 
was  triumphing  over,  the  powers  of  the  world,  found  its  utterance 
in  hymns  such  as  these,  wherein  is  no  softness,  perhaps  little 
tenderness,  but  a  rock-like  firmness,  the  old  Roman  stoicism 
transmuted  and  glorified  into  that  nobler  Christian  courage 
which  encountered  and  at  length  overcame  the  world.' 

The  Arians  accused  Ambrose  of  bewitching  the  people  with 
his  hymns.  Multitudes  are  said  to  have  been  converted  by 
them  to  the  true  faith.  Bede  speaks  of  their  influence  on 
England  in  his  own  time. 

Hymn  904.  Christ,  whose  glory  fills  the  skies. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740 ;  Works,  i.  224.  '  A  Morning 
Hymn.' 

In  ver.  2  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Till  they  inward  light  impart.' 

James  Montgomery,  who  was  a  keen  critic,  regarded  this  as 
one  of  the  finest  of  Charles  Wesley's  compositions. 

Seth  Bede,  the  village  Methodist,  after  parting  with  his 
brother  Adam,  '  walked  leisurely  homeward,  mentally  repeating 
one  of  his  favourite  hymns — he  was  very  fond  of  hymns — 

Dark  and  cheerless  is  the  morn. 
Visit,  then,  this  soul  of  mine.' 

Adam  Bede,  ch.  xxxviii. 

Hymn  905.  Thou,  Lord,  art  a  shield  for  me. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Psalms  and  Hymns,  1743;  Works,  viii.  6.  Psalm  iii.  'See,  O 
Lord,  my  foes  increase.'  Verses  2,  3,  6  are  selected. 


THE    STORY   OF    THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    463 

Charles  Wesley  wrote — 

Ver.  I  :  But  Thou  art  a  shield  for  me. 
Ver.  2  :  Bless'd  Him  for  the  calm  repose. 

Hymn  906.  Every  morning  mercies  new. 

GREVILLE  PHILLIMORE,  M.A.  (1821-84). 

Rector  of  Henley-on-Thames,  1867,  and  Ewelme,  1883.  One  of 
the  editors  of  The  Parish  Hymn-book,  1863,  in  which  this  hymn 
appeared  as  'Every  morning  they  are  new.' 

Hymn  907.  Thou  who  art  enthroned  above. 

GEORGE  SANDYS  (3i). 

Version  of  Psalm  xcii. 

II i jinn  908.   Morning  comes  with  light  all-cheering. 
JAMES  ENGLEBURT  VANNER. 

Mr.  Vanner  was  born  in  1831,  and  is  one  of  the  treasurers 
of  the  Children's  Home.  He  belongs  to  an  old  Huguenot 
family,  who  settled  as  silk  weavers  in  Spitalfields.  His  hymn 
was  written  with  a  desire  to  increase  the  number  of  morning 
hymns  for  family  use,  and  was  published  in  the  Methodist 
Sunday  School  Hymn-Book,  1879,  with  an  evening  hymn,  written 
also  for  family  use,  '  Praise  the  Lord,  who  hath  divided.' 

Hymn  909.  Glory  to  Thee,  my  God,  this  night. 
THOMAS  KEN,  D.D.  (900). 

Verses  1-5  are  from  the  'Evening'  Hymn;  6-9  from  that  for 
'  Midnight.' 

Doddridge  says  Colonel  Gardiner  was  well  acquainted  with 
Ken's  Midnight  Hymn,  which  was  often  on  his  lips.  James 
Montgomery  wrote,  '  There  is  exemplary  plainness  of  speech, 
manly  vigour  of  thought,  and  consecration  of  heart  in  these 
pieces.  The  well-known  doxology  is  a  masterpiece  at  once  of 
amplification  and  compression.' 

The  last  book  that  was  in  the  hands  of  John  Keble,  of  all 
Anglican  divines  the  likest  to  Ken  '  in  look  and  tone,'  was  Lord 
Selborne's  Book  of  Praise,  which  he  sent  for  that  it  might  help 


464  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

him  to  say  all  the  verses  of  the  Evening  Hymn  which  he  failed 
to  remember,  but  which  were  repeated  to  him  at  his  desire. 

Mr.  Stead  describes  it  as  'a  hymn,  the  music  of  which  has 
become  the  common  slumber-song  of  the  English-speaking  race.' 
Archdeacon  Sinclair  often  repeats  it  to  himself  before  going  to 
rest.  '  Its  majesty,  simplicity,  and  ring  of  truth  are  unequalled. 
To  live  in  the  spirit  of  this  hymn  would  be  the  ideal  of  Christian 
life.'  Ken  certainly  has  the  reward  he  hoped  for  in  the  '  Address 
to  the  Reader  '  which  he  prefixed  to  his  Poems — • 

'Twill  heighten  ev'n  the  joys  of  heaven  to  know 
That  in  my  verse  the  saints  hymn  God  below. 

The  omitted  verses,  according  to  the  1709  text,  are — 
THE  EVENING  HYMN. 

6.  Dull  sleep  of  sense  me  to  deprive, 
I  am  but  half  my  time  alive  ; 

Thy  faithful  lovers,  Lord,  are  griev'd 
To  lye  so  long  of  Thee  bereav'd. 

7.  But  though  sleep  o'er  my  frailty  reigns, 
Let  it  not  hold  me  long  in  chains  ; 
And  now  and  then  let  loose  my  heart, 
Till  it  an  Hallelujah  dart. 

8.  The  faster  sleep  the  senses  binds, 
The  more  unfetter'd  are  our  minds 
O  may  my  soul  from  matter  free, 
Thy  loveliness  unclouded  see  ! 

9.  O  when  shall  I  in  endless  day, 
For  ever  chase  dark  sleep  away, 
And  hymns  with  the  Supernal  choir, 
Incessant  sing,  and  never  tyre? 

10.  O  may  my  guardian,  while  I  sleep, 
Close  to  my  bed  his  vigils  keep, 
His  love  angelical  instil, 

Stop  all  the  avenues  of  ill. 

11.  May  he  celestial  joys  rehearse, 

And  thought  to  thought  with  me  converse, 
Or  in  my  stead  all  the  night  long, 
Sing  to  my  God  a  grateful  song. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  HYMNS  AND  THEIR  WRITERS   465 
THE  MIDNIGHT  HYMN. 

1.  My  God,  now  I  from  sleep  awake, 
The  sole  possession  of  me  take, 
From  midnight  terrors  me  secure, 

And  guard  my  heart  from  thoughts  impure. 

2.  Blest  angels  !  while  we  silent  lye, 
You  Hallelujahs  sing  on  high, 
You  joyful  hymn  the  ever  Bless'd 
Before  the  throne  and  never  rest. 

3.  I  with  your  choir  celestial  joyn, 
In  offering  up  a  hymn  divine  : 
'With  you  in  heav'n  I  hope  to  dwell, 
And  hid  the  night  and  world  farewell. 

5.  Give  me  a  place  at  Thy  saints'  feet, 
Or  some  fallen  angel's  vacant  seat  ; 
I'll  strive  to  sing  as  loud  as  they, 
Who  sit  above  in  brighter  day. 

9.  Bless'd  Jesu,  Thou  on  heav'n  intent, 
Whole  nights  hast  in  devotion  spent, 
But  I,  frail  creature,  soon  am  tir'd, 
And  all  my  zeal  is  soon  expir'd. 

10.  My  soul,  how  canst  thou  weary  grow, 
Of  antedating  bliss  below, 

In  sacred  hymns,  and  heav'nly  love, 
Which  will  eternal  be  above? 

11.  Shine  on  me,  Lord,  new  life  impart, 
Fresh  ardours  kindle  in  my  heart ; 
One  ray  of  Thy  all-quickening  light, 
Dispels  the  sloth  and  clouds  of  night. 

12.  Lord,  lest  the  tempter  me  surprize, 
Watch  over  Thine  own  sacrifice ; 
All  loose,  all  idle  thoughts  cast  out, 
And  make  my  very  dreams  devout. 

Each  part  closes  with  the  doxology. 

Wesley's  references  to  the  last  two  verses  of  the  '  Evening- 
Hymn'  (Works,  vi.  366;  vii.  333;  xiii.  82)  show  what  an  im 
pression  they  had  made  on  his  mind.  In  a  letter  to  Hester 
Ann  Roe  (December  9, 1781)  he  says,  '  How  easy  is  it  for  them, 
who  have  at  all  times  so  ready  an  access  to  our  souls,  to  impart 

2  H 


466  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

• 

to  us  whatever  may  be  a  means  of  increasing  our  holiness  or 
our  happiness  !  So  that  we  may  well  say,  with  Bishop  Ken, 
"  O  may  Thy  angels  while  we  sleep."  ' 

Hymn  910.  Sun  of  my  soul,  Thou  Saviour  dear. 

JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A.  (85). 

Part  of  the  second  poem  of  The  Christian  Year,  headed  '  Evening. 
"Abide  with  us,  for  it  is  towards  evening,  and  the  day  is  far  spent." 
Luke  xxiv.  29  ' ;  dated  November  25,  1820.  It  begins — 

'Tis  gone,  that  bright  and  orbed  blaze, 
Fast  fading  from  our  wistful  gaze  ; 
Yon  mantling  cloud  has  hid  from  sight 
The  last  faint  pulse  of  glimmering  light. 

In  darkness  and  in  weariness 
The  traveller  on  his  way  must  press, 
No  gleam  to  watch  on  tree  or  tower, 
"VVhiling  away  the  lonesome  hour. 

Hymn  911.  Abide  with  me!  fast  falls  the  eventide. 
HENRY  F.  LYTE  (7). 

In  September,  1847,  when  Lyte's  health  was  failing,  and  he 
was  ordered  to  leave  for  Nice,  his  family  were  surprised  and 
somewhat  alarmed  by  his  announcing  that  he  was  about  to 
preach  to  his  people  again.  He  was  confident,  however,  that 
he  could  do  it.  He  preached  on  the  Holy  Communion  on 
Sunday  morning,  September  4,  amid  breathless  attention,  and 
afterwards  assisted  at  the  Sacrament.  His  daughter  says, 
'  Though  necessarily  much  exhausted  by  the  exertion  and  excite 
ment  of  this  effort,  yet  his  friends  had  no  reason  to  believe  it 
had  been  hurtful  to  him.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  he 
placed  in  the  hands  of  a  near  and  dear  relative  the  little  hymn 
"  Abide  with  me,"  with  an  air  of  his  own  composing,  adapted  to 
the  words.'  He  had  walked  down  the  garden  path  to  the  sea 
shore,  and  then  retired  to  his  study,  where  he  seems  to  have 
written  the  hymn.  Next  morning  he  left  Brixham. 

Lyte's  music  is  seldom  sung;  Dr.  Monk's 'Eventide'  has 
taken  its  place  with  the  glorious  words.  He  had  left  the  house 
one  morning  with  Sir  Henry  Baker,  at  the  time  they  were  work 
ing  together  in  the  preparation  of  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern, 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    467 

when  he  recollected  that  there  was  no  tune  for  'Abide  with  me.' 
He  returned  to  the  house,  and  in  ten  minutes,  despite  a  music- 
lesson  that  was  going  on,  sat  down  and  wrote  his  beautiful 
melody. 

Lyte  wrote  '  Hold  then  Thy  cross  before  my  closing  eyes.' 
This  is  changed  to  '  Reveal  Thyself,'  though  Lyte  did  not  intend 
any  reference  to  the   Roman   Catholic  custom   of  holding   a 
crucifix  before  the  eyes  of  the  dying. 
One  verse  is  omitted — 

Thou  on  my  head  in  early  youth  didst  smile  ; 
And  though  rebellious  and  perverse  meanwhile, 
Thou  hast  not  left  me,  oft  as  I  left  Thee  : 
On  to  the  close,  O  Lord,  abide  with  me. 

Canon  Ellerton  says  there  is  '  not  the  slightest  allusion  to  the 
close  of  the  natural  day  :  the  words  of  St.  Luke  xxiv.  29  are 
obviously  used  in  a  sense  wholly  metaphorical.  It  is  far  better 
adapted  to  be  sung  at  funerals,  as  it  was  beside  the  grave  of 
Professor  Maurice ;  but  it  is  almost  too  intense  and  personal 
for  ordinary  congregational  use.'  The  general  feeling  does  not 
endorse  that  view. 

The  history  of  this  hymn,  'the  most  widely  diffused  and 
most  generally  loved '  of  the  last  sixty  years,  which,  as  Canon 
Ellerton  says,  has  '  taken  its  place  among  the  choicest  devotional 
treasures  of  the  Christian  Church,'  is  a  glorious  fulfilment  of 
Lyte's  own  wish — 

ERE  THE  NIGHT  FALL. 

Why  do  I  sigh  to  find 

Life's  evening  shadows  gathering  round  my  way, 
The  keen  eye  dimming,  and  the  buoyant  mind 

Unhinging  day  by  day? 

I  want  not  vulgar  fame — 
I  seek  not  to  survive  in  brass  or  stone ; 
Hearts  may  not  kindle  when  they  hear  my  name, 

Nor  tears  my  value  own  ; 

But  might  I  leave  behind 
Some  blessing  for  my  fellows,  some  fair  trust 
To  guide,  to  cheer,  to  elevate  my  kind, 

When  I  am  in  the  dust ; 

Might  verse  of  mine  inspire 
One  virtuous  aim,  one  high  resolve  impart, 
Light  in  one  drooping  soul  a  hallowed  fire, 

Or  bind  one  broken  heart  ; 


468  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Death  would  be  sweeter  then, 
More  calm  my  slumber  'neath  the  silent  sod,— 
Might  I  thus  live  to  bless  my  fellow  men, 

Or  glorify  my  God  ! 

O  Thou  whose  touch  can  lend 
Life  to  the  dead,  Thy  quickening  grace  supply, 
And  grant  me,  swanlike,  my  last  breath  to  spend 

In  song  that  may  not  die  ! 

Hymn  912.  How  do  Thy  mercies  close  me  round! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  306.  'At  Lying 
Down.'  The  last  three  verses  are  omitted. 

In  ver.  3  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  '  Nay,  He  Himself  becomes  my 
guard.' 

Ver.  4  was  a  well-spring  of  comfort  to  Mrs.  Jones  in  the 
Maria  mail-boat  disaster  (see  Hymn  467). 

Hymn  913.  Omnipresent  God !  whose  aid. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,   1749;   Works,  v.  8.     In  'Hymns  for 
Believers.'     '  At  Lying  Down. ' 
Verses  2,  3,  5  are  omitted. 

Captain  Hawtrey,  who  was  for  sixteen  years  a  Wesleyan 
minister  and  then  became  a  clergyman  in  the  Church  of 
England,  never  lost  his  love  for  Methodism  and  for  Wesley's 
hymns.  His  Bible  and  hymn-book  were  constantly  placed  at 
his  bedside,  and  in  his  last  illness  he  asked  that  this  hymn 
might  be  read  to  him.  His  cousin,  Dr.  Hawtrey,  Provost  of 
Eton,  said,  '  His  memory  lives  a  perpetual  encouragement,  an 
evidence  of  what  Christianity  can  produce  in  the  mind,  of  what 
a  Christian  with  God's  help  can  do.'  The  Rev.  John  Gay 
Wilson,  who  was  wonderfully  blessed  as  a  winner  of  souls, 
spent  the  last  days  of  a  patriarchal  life  at  Redhill.  Every 
night  he  used  to  repeat  this  hymn  before  he  lay  down  to  rest. 
For  many  years  he  lived  on  the  verge  of  heaven.  '  When  I 
go  to  rest  at  night,'  he  said,  '  I  know  it  is  uncertain  where  I 
shall  be  in  the  morning.  I  am  just  waiting,  trusting,  hoping, 


THE    STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS     469 

reading  my  Bible  more  than  busy  superintendents  can  do  ; 
seeing  the  virtues  and  defects  of  the  great  Bible  characters ; 
thinking  day  and  night  about  the  deep  things  of  God.'  He 
died  on  April  26,  1902,  in  his  ninety-fifth  year. 

Hymn  914.  O  Lord,  who  by  Thy  presence  hast 
made  light. 

C.  J.  P.  SPITTA  (265). 

Psalter  und  Jfarfe,  1833  ;  translated  by  R.  MASSIE  (265),  Lyra 
Domes  tica,  1860. 

'  Herr,  cles  Tages  Miihen  und  Beschwerden  '  is  one  of  the  finest 
German  evening  hymns. 

Hymn  915.  The  day  is  past  and  over. 
ST.  ANATOLIUS  ;  translated  by  Dr.  NEALE  (27). 
First  published  in  The  Ecclesiastic  and  Theologian,  1853. 

Dr.  Neale  says  that  this  hymn  '  is  a  great  favourite  in  the 
Greek  Isles.  Its  peculiar  style  and  evident  antiquity  may  well 
lead  to  the  belief  that  it  is  the  work  of  St.  Anatolius.  '  It  is, 
to  the  scattered  hamlets  of  Chios  and  Mitylene,  what  Bishop 
Ken's  Evening  Hymn  is  to  the  villages  of  our  own  land  ;  and 
its  melody  is  singularly  plaintive  and  soothing  '  (Hymns  of  the 
Eastern  Church,  1862).  It  is  taken  from  the  Great  After-Supper 
Service.  Dr.  Neale  attributes  the  hymn  to  St.  Anatolius,  who 
died  in  458,  but  as  the  Anatolius  of  the  Greek  Service- Books 
wrote  hymns  in  commemoration  of  martyrs  in  the  seventh 
century,  his  date  is  much  later.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a 
pupil  of  Theodore  of  the  Studium  (759-826). 

Hymn  910.  At  even,  ere  the  sun  was  set. 
HENRY  TWELLS,  M.A. 

This  hymn  was  written  at  the  request  of  his  friend  Sir  Henry  Baker, 
who  said  they  wanted  a  new  Evening  hymn  for  the  Appendix  to 
Ifymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1868.  One  stanza  was  omitted  at  the 
suggestion  of  Sir  II.  Baker — 

And  some  are  pressed  with  worldly  care, 
And  some  are  tried  with  sinful  doubt ; 
And  some  such  grievous  passions  tear, 
That  only  Thou  canst  cast  them  out. 


470  THE    METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Canon  Twells  was  born  at  Ashford,  near  Birmingham,  in 
1823,  and  was  head  master  of  Godolphin  School,  Hammersmith, 
1856-70  ;  Rector  of  Baldock,  1870  ;  Rector  of  Waltham-on-the- 
Wolds,  Melton  Mowbray,  1871  ;  Hon.  Canon  of  Peterborough, 
1874.  He  died  in  1900. 

Canon  Twells  wrote  other  hymns,  but  none  has  gained  the 
popularity  of  this.  Up  to  November,  1898,  he  had  given  per 
mission  for  its  insertion  in  157  hymnals,  all  over  the  English- 
speaking  world,  and  in  many  others  it  had  been  inserted  without 
permission. 

Prebendary  Thring,  with  the  author's  consent,  altered  the 
first  line  to  '  At  even  when  the  sun  did  set,'  as  he  thought  '  ere 
the  sun  did  set '  did  not  correspond  with  the  text  on  which  the 
hymn  was  based  (Mark  i.  32-3).  Canon  Twells  rightly  urged 
that  there  was  no  want  of  harmony  between  the  text  and  the 
hymn,  which  says  that  they  brought  the  sick  before  the  sun  had 
gone  down.  '  There  is  no  sort  of  discrepancy  or  shadow  of 
discrepancy  between — 

When  the  sun  did  set  (St.  Mark). 
When  the  sun  was  setting  (St.  Luke). 
Ere  the  sun  was  set  (Hymn). 

All  are  in  perfect  accord  with  the  old  painters,  the  glow  of  the 
setting  sun  resting  upon  the  faces  of  the  sick  and  infirm  folk.' 


Hymn  917.  Through  the  day  Thy  love  hath 
spared  us. 

THOMAS  KELLY,  M.A.  (209). 

'  Evening,'  in  second  edition  of  his  Hymns,  1806.     It  is  based  on 
Ps.  iv.  8. 

In  the  second  verse  '  short  day'  is  substituted  for  '  sad  day.' 

'  One  of  the  most  tenderly  beautiful  of  evening  hymns.' — 
Garrett  Horder. 


Hymn  918.  God  the  Father,  be  Thou  near. 

GEORGE  RAWSON  (45). 

From  Baptist  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1858.     '  Evening.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    471 

Hymn  919.  The  roseate  hues  of  early  dawn. 

CECIL  F.  ALEXANDER  (182). 

S.P.C.K.  Hymns,  1852.  Mrs.  Alexander  recast  it  in  Hymns 
Descriptive  and  Devotional ;  but  though  more  poetical,  this  form  is  less 
suited  for  public  worship.  It  contains  two  new  verses — 

The  lark  that  soar'd  so  high  at  dawn 

On  weary  wing  lies  low, 
The  flowers  so  fragrant  all  day  long 

Are  dead  or  folded  now. 
O  for  the  songs  that  never  cease 

Where  saints  to  angels  call  ! 
O  for  the  tree  of  life  that  stands 

By  the  pure  river's  fall  ! 

O'er  the  dull  ocean  broods  the  night 

And  all  the  strand  is  dark, 
Save  where  a  line  of  broken  foam 

Lies  at  low  water  mark. 
O  for  the  land  that  needs  no  light, 

Where  never  night  shall  be  ! 
O  for  the  quiet  home  in  heaven, 

Where  there  is  no  more  sea ! 

Hymn  920.  The  shadows  of  the  evening  hours. 

ADELAIDE  A.  PROCTER  (379). 
'  Evening,'  in  her  Legends  and  Lyrics,  enlarged  edition,  1862. 

Hymn  921.  The  radiant  morn  hath  passed  away. 
GODFREY  THRING,  D.D.  (129). 

'Afternoon  ' ;  written  in  1864,  and  published  in  Ifymns,  Congrega 
tional  and  Others,  1866.  The  first  hymn  in  Appendix  to  Hymns 
Ancient  and  Modern,  1868.  The  second  verse  originally  read — 

Our  life  is  but  a  fading  dawn  ; 
Its  glorious  noon  how  quickly  past  ; 
Lead  us,  O  Christ,  when  all  is  gone, 
Safe  home  at  last. 

Dr.  Thring's  attention  was  called  by  a  correspondent  to  the 
fact  that  the  dawn  does  not  fade,  but  grows  brighter.  He  had 


472  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

already  altered  the  expression  to  '  autumn  day.'  His  final 
revision  was — 

An  autumn  sun ; 

Lead  us,  O  Christ,  our  life-work  done. 

This  he  hoped  to  see  generally  adopted,  but  the  revision  has 
not  been  approved  by  others.  The  hymn  '  was  composed  as  an 
"  afternoon  "  hymn,  as  in  most  of  the  parishes  in  that  part  of 
Somersetshire,  in  which  I  lived,  the  second  service  was  nearly 
always  held  in  the  afternoon,  and  not  in  the  evening,  whilst  all 
the  hymns  in  the  hymn-books  in  common  use  were  for  the  late 
evening  or  night.  I  wrote  "The  radiant  morn  hath  passed 
away  "  to  supply  this  want.  Several  of  my  hymns  were  written 
in  consequence  of  some  want  of  this  kind,  felt  either  by  myself 
or  others ;  but  most  of  them,  I  think,  though  I  have  never 
made  any  calculations,  arose  almost  spontaneously  from 
thoughts  that  happened  to  be  running  in  my  mind  at  the 
time.' 

Hymn  922.  Fading  like  a  lifetime  ends  another  day. 
THOMAS  BOWMAN  STEPHENSON,  B.A.,  D.D.  (765). 

Written  about  1873  ;  published  in  Methodist  Sunday  School  Hymn- 
£ook,  1879. 

Hymn  923.  God,  who  madest  earth  and  heaven. 
REGINALD  HEBER,  D.D.  (28),  and  RICHARD  WHATELY,  D.D. 

Dr.  Whately  (1787-1863)  became  Principal  of  St.  Alban's 
Hall,  Oxford,  1825  ;  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  1831. 

The  first  verse  was  published  in  Bishop  Heber's  Hymns, 
1827  ;  the  second,  by  Archbishop  Whately,  is  a  free  rendering 
of  the  ancient  Compline  antiphon,  sung  daily  to  the  Nunc 
Dimittis  at  the  Compline  service,  '  Salva  nos,  Domine,  vigi 
lantes,  custodi  nos  dormientes,  ut  vigilemus  in  Christo,  et 
requiescamus  in  pace.' 

T.  Darling's  Hymns,  1855,  joins  the  two  verses,  and  stanza  2 
is  appended  to  the  Archbishop's  Lectures  on  Prayer,  1860,  with 
several  translations  of  German  hymns  by  his  eldest  daughter. 
'  God  that  madest '  was  the  original  form. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    473 

Hymn  924.  Day  is  dying  in  the  west. 
MARY  ANN  LATHBURY  (263). 

A  'Vesper  Song,'  written  at  the  request  of  Bishop  John  H.Vincent, 
D.D.,  in  the  summer  of  1880,  and  frequently  used  in  the  responsive 
services  of  the  Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific  Circle. 

Hymn  925.  The  night  is  come,  wherein  at  last  we 

rest. 
PETRUS  HERBERT  (347  ;  translated  by  Miss  WINKWORTH  (19). 

1  Die  Nacht  ist  kommen,  drin  wir  ruhen  sollen  '  appeared  in  the 
Bohemian  Brethren's  German  Hymn-book,  1566,  in  five  stanzas  of 
seven  lines.  The  last  stanza  is  on  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

Miss  Winkworth's  translation  is  in  her  Lyra  Germanica,  2nd  Series, 
1858.  The  fourth  verse  is  by  an  unknown  hand. 

Hymn  926.  Ere  I  sleep,  for  every  favour. 
J.  CENNICK  (100). 

From  his  Sacred  Hymns  for  the  Children  of  God  in  the  Days  of  their 
Pilgrimage,  1741.  A  lovely  hymn  for  the  close  of  the  day. 

Hymn  927.  Saviour,  breathe  an  evening  blessing. 

JAMES  EDMESTON  (625). 

In  his  Sacr&l  Lyrics,  1820,  it  is  headed,  'At  night  their  short 
evening  hymn,  "  Jcsu  Mahaxaroo  " — "Jesus  forgive  us" — stole  through 
the  camp.' — Salte's  Travels  in  Abyssinia. 

When  Mr.  Edmeston  read  this  passage  in  1819,  he  laid 
aside  the  book  of  travels,  took  a  sheet  of  paper  and  wrote  these 
two  verses. 

Hymn  928.  All  praise  to  Him  who  dwells  in  bliss. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1741;  Works ;  ii.  27.  'An 
Evening  Hymn.'  Added  to  the  hymn-book  in  1904. 

It  is  really  a  wonder  that  so  sweet  a  strain  had  to  wait  so 
long  for  its  place  in  Methodist  worship.  Earl  Selborne  did 
not  overlook  it  when  preparing  The  Book  of  Praise,  where  it 
appears  as  No.  263. 


474  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  929.  Safely  through  another  week. 
JOHN  NEWTON  (109). 

Appeared  in  Dr.  Conyers's  Psalms  and  ffytnns,  1774,  and  Olney 
Hymns,  1779,  headed  'Saturday  Night.' 

Hymn  930.  Come,  let  us  anew. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  New  Year's  Day,  Bristol,  1750,  No.  5  ;    Works,  vi.  14. 

It  has  a  place  in  all  Methodist  hearts  as  the  first  hymn  of 
the  new  year.  It  is  a  silver  cord  on  which  the  beads  of  life 
seem  threaded. 

John  Fletcher  once  visited  a  girls'  school,  and  sat  with  them 
during  the  breakfast  hour.  At  its  close  he  invited  them  all  to 
his  vicarage  at  seven  next  morning.  When  they  came  he  took 
his  basin  of  bread  and  milk,  asked  his  visitors  to  look  at  his 
watch  and  tell  him  how  much  time  he  took  for  breakfast.  It 
was  'just  a  minute  and  a  half.'  Then  said  Fletcher,  '  My  dear 
girls,  we  have  fifty- eight  minutes  of  the  hour  left  us ;  let  us 
sing— 

Our  life  is  a  dream  ; 

Our  time  as  a  stream 

Glides  swiftly  away, 
And  the  fugitive  moment  refuses  to  stay.' 

He  spoke  to  them  on  the  value  of  time,  and  the  worth  of  the 
soul,  and  after  praying  with  them,  they  returned  to  school 
deeply  impressed  by  their  unexpected  lesson. 

Hymn  931.  Sing  to  the  great  Jehovah's  praise ! 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  New  Year's  Day,  Bristol,  1750,  No.  7  ;  the  last  hymn 
in  the  penny  pamphlet ;  Works,  vi.  16. 

Hymn  932.  The  Lord  of  earth  and  sky. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1749;   Works,  v.  55. 
An  impressive  paraphrase  of  the  parable  of  the  barren  fig-tree.    Luke 
xiii.  6-9.     One  verse  is  omitted,  'When  justice  bared  the  sword.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    475 

Hymn  933.  Eternal  Source  of  every  joy. 
PHILIP  DODDRIDGE  (95). 

Dated  January  I,  1736,  headed  'God  crowning  the  year  with  His 
goodness ' ;  published  1755.  Doddridge's  second  verse  is  omitted. 

Hymn  934.  The  old  year's  long  campaign  is  o'er. 

SAMUEL  JOHN  STONE,  M.A.  (356). 

'The  New  Year.'  Written  at  Windsor  in  1868,  and  issued  in  a 
penny  collection  of  temperance  hymns ;  published  in  his  Knight  of 
Intercession,  1872,  headed  '  Battle-Hymn  for  the  New  Year.  For 
Children." 

Hymn  935.  How  many  pass  the  guilty  night. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1742;  Works,  ii.  193.  'A  Midnight 
Hymn.'  Six  verses. 

'  Oft  have  we  pass'd  the  guilty  night '  was  altered  in  the  Supple 
ment  of  1831.  The  original  reads — 

Ver.  I  :  The  creature  was  our  sole  delight. 
Ver.  2  :  So  many  nights  on  sin  bestowed. 
Ver.  3  :  We  can,  dear  Jesu,  for  Thy  sake. 

Hymn  936.  Join,  all  ye  ransomed  sons  of  grace. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Watchnight  (1746?),  No.    n  ;  Hymns  and  Sacred 
Poems,  1749;    Works,  v.  280. 
Ver.  4  is  omitted  — 

To  seal  the  universal  doom, 

The  skies  He  soon  shall  bow — 
But  if  Thou  must  at  midnight  come, 
O  let  us  meet  Thee  now. 

Hymn  937.  Across  the  sky  the  shades  of  night. 
JAMES  HAMILTON,  M.A. 

For  New  Year's  Eve  ;  written  to  the  old  chorale  which  Mendelssohn 
introduced  into  St.  Paul,  'To  God  on  high  be  thanks  and  praise.'  It 


4/6  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

is  in  Thring's  Collection,  1882.     The  original  reading  of  the  third  line 
is,  '  We  deck  Thine  altar,  Lord  with  light.' 

Mr.  Hamilton  (1819-96)  was  born  at  Glendollar,  Scotland  ; 
incumbent  of  St.  Barnabas',  Bristol,  1866  ;  Vicar  of  Doulting, 
1867. 

Hymn  938.  Praise,  O  praise  our  God  and  King ! 
SIR  H.  W.  BAKER  (72). 

Based  on  Milton's  version  of  Psalm  cxxxvi.,  '  Let  us  with  a  gladsome 
mind  '  (see  21).  It  appeared  in  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modem,  1861. 

Hymn  939.  Summer  suns  are  glowing. 

WILLIAM  WALSHAM  How,  D.D.  (177). 
From  S.P.C.K.  Hymns,  1871. 

Hymn  940.  O  Thou  God  who  hearest  prayer. 
BENJAMIN  HALL  KENNEDY,  D.D.  (428). 

Dr.  Kennedy's  ten-stanza  version  of  Psalm  Ixv.  in  his  Psalter,  1860, 
began  'Thine,  O  Lord,  our  quiet  trust.'  From  it  he  compiled  a  hymn, 
'  Thou  who  hearest  human  prayer,'  for  his  Hymnologia  Christiana, 
1863. 

The  Wesleyan  hymn-book,  1875,  borrowed  a  first  line  for 
Dr.  Kennedy's  hymn  from  Josiah  Conder's  hymn  written  on 
September  20,  1820,  whilst  he  was  suffering  from  a  severe 
accident  through  a  fall  from  his  horse. 

Hymn  941.  We  plough  the  fields,  and  scatter. 
Im  Anfang  war's  auf  Erden. 

MATTHIAS  CLAUDIUS  (1740-1815) ;  translated  by  JANE 
MONTGOMERY  CAMPBELL. 

Miss  Campbell  was  the  daughter  of  Rev.  A.  M.  Campbell  ; 
born  in  London  in  1817,  died  at  Bovey  Tracey  in  1878.  This 
translation  appeared  in  Rev.  C.  S.  Bere's  Garland  of  Songs, 
1861. 

Claudius  was  the  son  of  a  Lutheran  pastor ;  he  became  an 


THE    STORY   OF    THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR    WRITERS    477 

editor  at  Hesse-Darmstadt.  During  a  severe  illness  in  1777  he 
realized  the  emptiness  of  the  life  among  the  freethinkers  there,  and 
returned  to  the  faith  of  his  childhood.  He  gave  up  his  position 
and  removed  to  Wandsbeck,  near  Hamburg,  where  he  edited  a 
paper.  He  was  auditor  of  a  bank  at  Altona.  He  had  a  long 
struggle  with  straitened  means.  He  died  in  his  elder  daughter's 
house  at  Hamburg.  The  '  strong,  primitive,  and  sympathetic 
Christian  feeling '  displayed  in  his  work  produced  a  lasting 
effect  for  good  on  his  countrymen.  Kiibler  says  that  '  for  seven 
weeks  he  expected  his  death,  praying  much  ;  shortly  before  the 
end  he  prayed,  "  Lead  me  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  me 
from  all  evil."'  This  piece  was  published  in  1782  in  a  sketch, 
entitled  Paul  Erdmanrfs  Fest.  The  neighbours  gather  at  his 
house  and  sing  this  peasants'  song.  The  part  translated  by 
Miss  Campbell  begins,  '  Wir  pfliigen  undwir  streuen.' 

Hymn  942.  Come,  ye  thankful  people,  come. 
HENRY  ALFORD,  D.D.  (619). 

Published  in  his  Psalms  and  Hymns,  1844.     ^  i-s  the  most  popular 
of  Dean  Alford's  hymns.    No  harvest  festival  seems  complete  without  it. 
The  original  reads — 

Ver.  2  :  All  the  world  is  God's  own  field. 
Yer.  4  :  Even  so,  Lord,  quickly  come, 

Come,  with  all  Thine  angels,  come. 

Sir  George  J.  Elvey's  tune  was  named  '  St.  George's, 
Windsor,'  to  commemorate  his  connexion  with  that  chapel. 

Hymn  913.  The  sower  went  forth  sowing. 

WILLIAM  ST.  HILL  BOURNE. 

Written  in  1874  for  the  harvest  festival  at  Christ  Church,  South 
Ashford,  Kent,  where  the  writer  was  curate.  It  was  printed  in  Church 
Bells  the  same  year,  and  in  Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern,  1875. 

The  author  was  born  in  1846  ;  Rector  of  Finchley,  1900; 
editor  of  The  Mission  Field,  for  S.P.G.,  1879. 

This  is  sometimes  used  as  a  burial  hymn.  Sir  F.  Bridge  com 
posed  the  tune  as  he  sat  by  the  bed  of  a  dying  child,  and 
named  it  '  St.  Beatrice  '  in  memory  of  his  little  daughter. 


47^  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Mr.  St.  Bourne's  children's  hymn- 
Christ,  who  once  amongst  us 
As  a  child  did  dwell, 

was  written  in  1868,  before  he  was  ordained,  for  the  children  of 
a  mission  Sunday  school  in  Camberwell,  of  which  he  was 
superintendent. 

'Hymn  944.  To  Thee,  O  Lord,  our  hearts  we  raise. 
W.  C.  Dix  (128). 

A  harvest  hymn  given,  with  five  other  pieces,  at  the  end  of  Hymns 
for  the  Service  of  the  Church,  St.  Raphael's  Bristol,  1864.  It  was 
written  in  1863,  and  Sir  Arthur  Sullivan  composed  for  it  the  fine  tune, 
'  Golden  Sheaves.'  It  is  sometimes  sung  as  a  harvest  processional  by 
children  bearing  sheaves  of  corn.  Ver.  2,  1.  3,  reads  in  the  original, 
'  Upon  Thine  altar,  Lord,  we  lay.' 

Hymn  945.  Now  the  year  is  crowned  with  blessing. 

ELLEN  THORNEYCROFT  FOWLER. 

Married  Mr.  Felkin  in  1903  ;  is  the  elder  daughter  of  Sir 
Henry  Fowler,  Bart.,  and  granddaughter  of  Rev.  Joseph  Fowler. 
She  published  Verses  Grave  and  Gay,  1891  ;  Concerning  Isabel 
Carnaby,  1 898  ;  and  other  popular  stories. 

Hymn  946.  For  all  Thy  love  and  goodness,  so 
bountiful  and  free. 

FRANCES  JANE  DOUGLAS. 

Sister  of  Bishop  Walsham  How.  Was  born  in  1829.  Mrs. 
Douglas's  hymn  was  printed  in  her  April  Verses,  1848,  and  rewritten 
by  Bishop  How  in  1871  for  Church  Hymns  (S.P.C.K.). 

Hymn  947.  Hear  us,  O  Lord,  from  heaven,  Thy 
dwelling-place. 

WILLIAM  HENRY  GILL. 

Mr.  Gill  was  born  on  October  24,  1839,  °f  Manx  parents,  at 
Marsala,  Sicily,  and  educated  at  King  William's  College.  He 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS  AND   THEIR   WRITERS    479 

served  for  forty  years  in  the  Civil  Service,  and  is  a  composer, 
painter,  and  writer.  He  rescued  the  Manx  music  from  oblivion, 
and  published  Manx  National  Songs,  1896.  One  of  these  long- 
lost  melodies  suggested  the  harmonies  and  inspired  the  words 
of  his  hymn,  '  The  harvest  of  the  sea.'  The  rhyme  between 
the  first  and  fourth  lines  and  the  second  and  third  is  a  feature 
of  Manx  music,  and  Mr.  Gill  was  thus  led  to  put  his  verses  into 
this  form.  The  old  custom  of  the  Manx  fishermen  to  ask  God's 
blessing  before  they  cast  their  nets  gave  Mr.  Gill  his  idea.  It 
suits  well  the  character  of  the  Manx  fishermen,  who  are  a 
devout  race,  and  keen  lovers  of  music.  The  hymn  has  estab 
lished  its  place  as  a  favourite  in  all  the  Manx  Churches. 

The  petition  in  the  Litany  of  the  Manx  Church,  in  its  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  was  especially  in  his  mind  :  'That  it  may 
please  Thee  to  give  and  preserve  to  our  use  the  kindly  fruits  of 
the  earth,  and  to  restore  and  continue  to  us  the  blessings  of  the 
sea,  so  as  in  due  time  we  may  enjoy  them.' 

'  Before  shooting  the  nets,  at  a  sign  from  the  master  of  the 
boat,  every  man,  upon  his  knees  and  with  uncovered  head, 
implores  for  a  minute  the  blessing  and  protection  of  the 
Almighty.' — Manx  Society's  Publications,  vol.  xvi. 

Hymn  948.  O  Lord  of  heaven,  and  earth,  and  sea. 
CHRISTOPHER  WORDSWORTH,  D.D.  (187). 

'Offertory';  first  published  in  The  Holy  Year,  3rd  edition,  1863, 
headed  'Charitable  Collections.'  It  is  the  finest  of  all  offertory  hymns. 

Canon  Ellerton  says,  '  It  is  not  in  the  least  poetical ;  it  is  full 
of  halting  verses  and  prosaic  lines.  And  yet  it  is  such  true 
praise,  so  genuine,  so  comprehensive,  so  heartfelt,  that  we 
forget  its  homeliness.' 

Hymn  949.  We  give  Thee  but  Thine  own. 
WILLIAM  WALSHAM  How,  D.D.  (177). 

Written  about  1858;  published  in  Morrell  and  How's  Psalms  and 
Hymns,  1864. 

The  Talmud  has  a  story  of  Rabbi  Jochanan,  who  was 
riding  with  some  of  his  pupils  outside  the  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
when  they  saw  a  poor  woman  picking  up  the  grain  that  had 


480  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

fallen  round  the  troughs  where  the  cattle  of  some  Arabs  were 
feeding.  She  begged  help  from  the  rabbi,  who  asked,  '  What 
has  become  of  the  money  thou  didst  receive  on  thy  wedding- 
day  ?  '  She  answered,  '  Ah,  is  there  not  a  saying  in  Jerusalem, 
"  The  salt  was  wanting  to  the  money  "  ? '  The  Jews  believed 
that  charity  preserved  money  as  salt  preserved  meat.  When 
the  rabbi  asked  about  her  husband's  money,  she  replied,  '  That 
followed  the  other.'  The  rabbi  told  his  pupils,  '  I  remember 
when  I  signed  her  marriage  contract.  Her  father  gave  her  a 
million  of  gold  dinars.  Her  husband  also  was  wealthy.'  Then 
he  bestowed  upon  her  what  he  could,  and  wept  with  her  over 
her  hard  lot. 

Hymn  950.  Thou  to  whom  the  sick  and  dying. 
GODFREY  THRING,  D.D.  (129). 

'  On  behalf  of  Hospitals.'  Written  in  1870,  at  the  request  of  Pre 
bendary  Hutton,  of  Lincoln,  and  published  in  his  Supplement,  Lincoln, 
1871. 

Hymn  951.  From  Thee  all  skill  and  science  flow. 
CHARLES  KINGSLEY,  M.A. 

Kingsley  was  born  at  Holne  Vicarage,  Devonshire,  in  1819  ; 
Rector  of  Eversley,  1844;  Professor  of  Modern  History, 
Cambridge,  1859  ;  Canon  of  Westminster,  1873.  His  poems  and 
stories  have  become  English  classics.  Alton  Locke  won  him 
the  title  of  '  The  Chartist  Parson '  ;  Hypatia  is  a  vivid  picture 
of  Church  life  in  Alexandria ;  Westward  Ho  /  is  his  most  famous 
story ;  Water- Babies  is  generally  recognized  as  a  work  of 
genius.  Dr.  Rigg  gives  a  charming  account  of  Kingsley,  whose 
friendship  he  greatly  prized,  in  Modern  Anglican  Theology.  '  On 
the  whole,  this  generation  has  hardly  known  a  nobler,  braver, 
or  more  loving  man,  or  a  more  devout  servant  of  God  in  Christ.' 
He  died  at  Eversley  on  January  23,  1875.  Through  his  last 
illness,  his  wife  tells  us,  '  he  was  calm  and  content.  He  had  no 
need  to  put  his  mind  into  a  fresh  attitude,  for  his  life  had  long 
been  "  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  '  This  little  hymn  is  an  epitome 
of  his  life,  and  a  mirror  of  his  mind  and  heart.  Few  men 
laboured  with  such  passionate  zeal  as  he  to  mitigate  the  social 
evils  of  his  time.  He  told  Dr.  Rigg  in  1868,  'Please  God,  I 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS    481 

shall  devote  myself  for  the  rest  of  my  life  to  showing  that  there 
is  a  living  God  in  nature,  and  that  the  God  of  nature  is  one  and 
the  same  with  the  God  of  the  Bible.'  Life  for  him  was  a 
growing  revelation  of  God.  One  night  in  his  last  illness  his 
daughter  heard  him  exclaim,  '  How  beautiful  God  is  ! ' 

Hymn  952.  O  Thou  through  suffering  perfect 
made. 

WILLIAM  WALSHAM  How,  D.D.  (177). 

'Hospitals,' S.P.C.K.  Church  Hymns,  1871. 

Hymn~_Q53.  Thine  arm,  O  Lord,  in  days  of  old. 
EDWARD  HAYES  PLUMPTRE,  D.D. 

Written  in  1864  for  use  in  King's  College  Hospital,  and  printed  on 
a  fly-sheet  for  use  in  the  hospital  chapel.  It  was  included  in  Lazarus, 
and  other  Poems,  2nd  edition,  1865,  and  in  the  1868  Appendix  to 
Hymns  Ancient  and  Modern. 

Dean  Plumptre  was  born  in  London  in  1821.  He  became 
Fellow  of  Brasenose,  Oxford  ;  Professor  at  King's  College, 
London  ;  Prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  1863  ;  Dean  of  Wells,  1881  ; 
member  of  the  Old  Testament  Revision  Company.  His  sacred 
poetry  is  full  of  thought  and  music,  and  his  hymns  have  both 
fervour  and  'stately  simplicity.'  His  Life  of  Bishop  Ken,  1888, 
is  a  fruit  of  his  residence  in  Wells.  He  died  in  1891. 

His  fine  processional  hymn,  'Rejoice,  ye  pure  in  heart,'  was 
written  for  the  annual  festival  of  the  Peterborough  Choral 
Union  in  1865. 

Hymn  954.  O  Thou,  whose  chosen  place  of  birth. 
W.  S.  PETERSON. 

The  hymn  was  used  by  the  Rev.  W.  Garrett  Ilorder  in  Congregational 
Jjymns,  1884.  He  thinks  that  Mr.  Peterson  was  of  Norwegian  origin. 

Ver.  3,  '  In  holy  league,  O  Lord,  we  seek,'  was  written  by  Mrs. 
Armitage  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Hordcr,  as  the  third  verse  of  the  original 
seemed  weak. 

Hymn  955.  O  Thou  before  whose  presence. 
SAMUEL  JOHN  STONE,  M.A.  (356). 

A  fine  temperance  hymn. 

2  I 


482  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  956.  Here,  Lord,  assembled  in  Thy  name. 

EDWARD  BOADEN. 

Mr.  Boaden  was  born  at  Helston,  1827 ;  entered  the  ministry 
of  the  United  Methodist  Free  Church  in  1849;  became  Chapel 
Secretary,  1864-92  ;  President,  1871.  He  wrote  a  Memoir  of 
Rev.  R.  Chew,  1896.  This  temperance  hymn  is  one  of  two 
contributed  to  Methodist  Free  Church  Hymns,  1889,  in  the 
compilation  of  which  he  took  a  leading  part.  Mr.  Boaden  signed 
the  pledge  in  1838,  and  has  taken  a  lively  interest  in  all 
temperance  questions  from  his  youth. 

Hymn  957.  Onward,  brothers,  onward! 

The  writer  cannot  be  traced. 

Hymn  958.  O  Lord  of  hosts,  the  fight  is  long. 

ELLA  S.  ARMITAGE  (886). 
Written  at  the  request  of  the  Rev.  W.  Garrett  Horder. 

Hymn  959.  There's  a  glorious  work  before  us. 

CHARLES  GARRETT  (1823-1900). 

Mr.  Garrett  was  born  at  Shaftesbury,  entered  the  Wesleyan 
ministry  in  1849,  and  was  the  founder  of  the  Liverpool  Mission. 
He  became  a  power  in  the  life  of  the  ,  city.  '  He  waged 
war  against  insanitary  areas,  demoralizing  amusements,  and 
especially  the  drink  traffic.  He  carried  in  his  heart  the  burdens 
of  the  people.'  As  a  preacher  he  never  failed  to  charm  and 
help  his  hearers.  His  name  will  always  be  identified  with  the 
temperance  movement,  to  which  this  hymn  is  consecrated. 
He  was  President  of  the  Wesleyan  Conference  in  1882. 

Hymn  960.  The  voice  that  breathed  o'er  Eden. 
JOHN  KEBLE,  M.A.  (85). 

Keble's  last  hymn,  written  by  special  request  for  the  Salisbury 
Hymn-book^  1857.  In  Keble's  Miscellaneous  Poems  it  is  headed,  '  Holy 
Matrimony.  To  be  sung  at  the  Commencement  of  the  Service.'  It  is 
dated  July  12,  1857. 


THE   STORY  OF  THE   HYMNS   AND  THEIR  WRITERS      483 

Hymn  961.  O  Father,  all  creating. 
JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

Written  January  29,  1876,  when  Mr.  Ellerton  was  Rector  of 
Hinstock,  Staffs.  It  is  a  wedding  hymn,  composed  at  the  request  of  the 
Duke  of  Westminster  for  the  marriage  of  his  daughter,  Lady  Elizabeth 
Harriet  Grosvenor,  to  the  Marquis  of  Ormonde,  February  2,  1876. 

Hymn  9G2.  O  perfect  Love,  all  human  thought 
trausceiidiiig. 

DOROTHY  F.  GURNEY. 

Mrs.  Gurney,  who  was  born  in  1858  at  3,  Finsbury  Circus, 
London,  is  the  eldest  daughter  of  Rev.  F.  G.  Blomfield,  Rector 
of  St.  Andrew,  Undershaft,  London,  and  the  granddaughter 
of  Bishop  Blomfield.  This  hymn  was  written  for  the  marriage 
of  her  sister,  Mrs.  Hugh  Redmayne,  in  1883.  Sir  J.  Barnby 
set  it  as  an  anthem  for  the  marriage  of  Princess  Louise 
with  the  Duke  of  Fife,  on  July  27,  1889.  The  same  year 
it  appeared  in  Supplemental  Hymns  to  Hymns  Ancient  and 
Modern.  The  writer  says,  '  We  were  all  singing  hymns  one 
Sunday  evening,  and  had  just  finished  "  O  Strength  and 
Stay,"  the  tune  to  which  was  an  especial  favourite  of  my 
sister's,  when  some  one  remarked  what  a  pity  it  was  that  the 
words  should  be  unsuitable  for  a  wedding.  My  sister,  turning 
suddenly  to  me,  said,  "  What  is  the  use  of  a  sister  who  composes 
poetry  if  she  cannot  write  me  new  words  to  this  tune  ? "  I 
picked  up  a  hymn-book,  and  said,  "  Well,  if  no  one  will  disturb 
me,  I  will  go  into  the  library  and  see  what  I  can  do."  After 
about  fifteen  minutes  I  came  back  with  the  hymn,  "  O  perfect 
Love,"  and  there  and  then  we  all  sang  it  to  the  tune  of 
"  Strength  and  Stay."  It  went  perfectly,  and  my  sister  was 
delighted,  saying  that  it  must  be  sung  at  her  wedding.  For 
two  or  three  years  it  was  sung  privately  at  many  London 
weddings,  and  then  it  found  its  way  into  the  hymnals.  The 
writing  of  it  was  no  effort  whatever  after  the  initial  idea  had 
come  to  me  of  the  two-fold  aspect  of  perfect  union,  love  and 
life,  and  I  have  always  felt  that  God  helped  me  to  write  it.' — 
Famous  Hymns,  p.  194. 

'  O  Strength  and  Stay  '  is  John  Ellerton's  hymn,  for  which 
Dr.  Dykes  wrote  the  tune. 


484  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  963.  How  are  Thy  servants  blest,  O  Lord! 

JOSEPH  ADDISON  (75). 

The  Spectator,  No.  489,  September  20,  1712. 
The  following  verses  are  omitted  : — 

Thy  mercy  sweeten'd  every  soil, 

Made  every  region  please  ; 
The  hoary  Alpine  hills  it  warm'd, 

And  smooth'd  the  Tyrrhene  seas  : 

Think,  O  my  soul,  devoutly  think, 

How  with  affrighted  eyes 
Thou  saw'st  the  wide-extended  deep 

In  all  its  horrors  rise  ! 

Confusion  dwelt  in  every  face, 

And  fear  in  ev'ry  heart ; 
When  waves  on  waves,  and  gulphs  in  gulphs, 

O'ercame  the  pilot's  art. 

Yet  then  from  all  my  griefs,  O  Lord, 

Thy  mercy  set  me  free, 
Whilst  in  the  confidence  of  pray'r 

My  soul  took  hold  on  Thee. 

Ver.  3  of  the  Hymn-book  version  begins,  '  For  tho'  in  dreadful 
whirles  we  hung.' 

Addison  had  been  a  great  traveller  between  1699  and  1702, 
and  had  been  often  '  tossed  in  storms.'  None  of  the  objects 
which  he  had  ever  seen  affected  his  imagination  like  the  sea  or 
ocean.  '  I  cannot  see  the  hearings  of  this  prodigious  bulk  of 
waters  even  in  a  calm,  without  a  very  pleasing  astonishment ;  but 
when  it  is  worked  up  in  a  tempest,  so  that  the  horizon  on  every 
side  is  nothing  but  foaming  billows  and  floating  mountains,  it 
is  impossible  to  describe  the  agreeable  horror  that  arises  from 
such  a  prospect.  A  troubled  ocean,  to  a  man  who  sails  upon 
it,  is,  I  think,  the  biggest  object  that  he  can  see  in  motion,  and 
consequently  gives  his  imagination  one  of  the  highest  kinds  of 
pleasure  that  can  arise  from  greatness.  I  must  confess,  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  survey  this  world  of  fluid  matter  without 
thinking  on  the  hand  that  first  poured  it  out,  and  made  a  proper 
channel  for  its  reception.'  He  says,  '  Great  painters  do  not 
only  give  us  landskips  of  gardens,  groves,  and  meadows,  but 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS      48$ 

very  often  employ  their  pencils  upon  sea-pieces  :  I  could  wish 
you  would  follow  their  example.  If  this  small  sketch  may 
deserve  a  place  among  your  works,  I  shall  accompany  it  with 
a  divine  ode,  made  by  a  gentleman  upon  the  conclusion  of  his 
travels." 

Macaulay  says  that  in  December,  1700,  when  sailing  from 
Marseilles  along  the  Ligurian  coast,  Addison's  ship  encountered 
one  of  the  black  storms  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  captain 
'  gave  up  all  for  lost,  and  confessed  himself  to  a  capuchin  who 
happened  to  be  on  board.  The  English  heretic,  in  the  meantime, 
fortified  himself  against  the  storms  of  death  with  devotions  of 
a  very  different  kind.  How  strong  an  impression  this  perilous 
voyage  made  on  him  appears  from  the  ode  "  How  are  Thy 
servants  blest,  O  Lord ! "  which  was  long  after  published  in  the 
Spectator? 

Dr.  Kirk,  of  Boston  (Mass.),  and  his  companions,  who 
travelled  in  Syria  during  the  sickly  season  of  1857,  made  this 
'  Traveller's  Hymn  '  a  regular  part  of  their  devotions. 

Hymn  964.  Father,  who  art  alone. 

EDITH  J. 
Written  for  the  Home  Hymn-book,  1885. 

The  writer,  Miss  J.,  lives  in  South  Norwood,  but  prefers  to 
have  her  name  unknown. 

Hymn  965.  Thou,  Lord,  hast  blessed  my  going  out. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems ;  1740;  Works,  i.  305.  'After  a  Journey.' 
A  little  set  of  pilgrim  hymns  is  given  at  this  part  of  the  volume.  Two 
headed  '  Before  a  Journey  '  ;  one,  '  On  a  Journey ' ;  and  this,  '  After  a 
Journey.' 

In  ver.  2  the  original  reads,  '  And  guard  my  naked  head.' 

Hymn  966.  Lord,  whom  winds  and  seas  obey. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

'At  Going  on  Shipboard,'  Works,  xiii.  263.  From  a  MS.  in  the 
Library  of  Richmond  College. 


486  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Hymn  967.  Eternal  Father!  strong  to  save. 
WILLIAM  WHITING. 

Dated  1860.  A  revised  form  appeared  in  Hymns  Ancient  and 
Modern,  1861,  for  which  the  hymn  was  written. 

Mr.  Whiting  was  born  at  Kensington  in  1825  ;  educated  at 
Clapham  ;  Master  of  Winchester  College  Choristers'  School. 
He  died  at  Winchester  on  May  3,  1878,  and  was  buried  in  the 
cemetery  there.  A  friend  says  he  'never  enjoyed  very  good 
health,  but  was  invariably  cheerful  and  possessed  a  fund  of 
quiet  humour.  He  was  rather  short  in  stature  and  wore 
spectacles.'  He  published  Rural  Thoughts  and  other  Poems, 
1851,  and  Edgar  Thorpe;  or,  The  Warfare  of  Life,  1867.  Mr. 
Whiting  wrote  twelve  other  hymns,  but  they  have  not  had  wide 
acceptance.  This  hymn  is  familiar  to  British  sailors  all  over 
the  world.  A  translation  appears  in  Nouveau  Li-vre  Cantique, 
the  hymnal  in  use  on  the  French  men-of-war,  with  the  refrain — 

Vois  nos  pleurs,  entends  nos  sanglots, 
Pour  ceux  en  peril  sur  les  flots. 

Hymn  968.  Lord  of  the  wide,  extensive  main. 
CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems,  1740;  Works,  i.  229.  'A  hymn  to  be 
sung  at  sea.'  Ten  verses.  Ver.  I  reads,  '  wide-extended,'  '  wind  and 
seas.' 

There  is  a  fine  ring  about  the  last  verse — 

We  boast  of  our  recover'd  powers, 
Lords  are  we  of  the  lands  and  floods  ; 

And  earth,  and  heaven,  and  all  is  ours, 
And  we  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's. 

Several  hymns  in  this  volume  seem  to  have  been  suggested 
by  George  Whitefield's  voyage  to  America  in  1739.  They  are 
worthy  of  the  poet  who  got  his  first  great  lesson  in  faith  from 
the  calm  courage  of  the  Moravians  on  board  the  Simmonds. 
When  he  landed  at  Deal  in  1736,  after  a  stormy  voyage,  he  says, 
'  I  knelt  down  and  blessed  the  Hand  that  had  conducted  me 
through  such  inextricable  mazes.' 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS      487 

Hymn  969.  While  lone  upon  the  furious  waves. 

EBENEZER  E.  JENKINS,  LL.D. 
'For  use  at  sea.'     It  was  in  the  Methodist  hymn-book,  1875. 

Dr.  Jenkins  was  born  at  Exeter  in  1820  ;  Wesleyan  mission 
ary  in  India,  1845-64  ;  Missionary  Secretary,  1877  ;  President 
of  the  Wesleyan  Conference,  1880.  He  died  at  Southport 
in  1905. 

Hymn  970.  O  Lord,  be  with  us  when  we  sail. 

EDWARD  ARTHUR  DAYMAN,  B.D.  (1807-90). 

Mr.  Dayman  was  born  at  Padstow  ;  Fellow  and  Tutor  of 
Exeter  College,  Oxford;  Rector  of  Shilling-Okeford,  1842; 
Hon.  Canon  of  Salisbury,  1862.  He  edited,  in  concert  with 
Lord  Nelson  and  Canon  Woodford  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Ely), 
the  Sarum  Hymnal,  1868,  in  which  this  hymn,  'For  use  at  sea,' 
appeared.  It  was  written  in  1865.  His  fine  funeral  hymn, 
'  Sleep  thy  last  sleep,'  is  in  the  same  collection.  Sir  Joseph 
Barnby's  setting  has  won  it  much  favour.  It  was  a  favourite 
with  Prince  Henry  of  Battenberg.  Mr.  Dayman  translated 
several  Latin  hymns. 

Hymn  971.  (Jod  save  our  gracious  King. 

NATIONAL  ANTHEM. 

A  writer  (\V.)  in  the  Gentleman 's  Magazine  for  1796  says 
that  he  was  present,  in  1740,  when  Henry  Carey,  the  ballad 
composer  and  singer,  sang  this  anthem  at  a  dinner  to  celebrate 
the  capture  of  Portobello.  It  is  first  found  in  print  in 
Harmonia  Anglicana,  probably  published  in  1743  or  1744; 
and  is  anonymous.  It  is  headed  for  two  voices,  the  air  differs 
slightly  from  the  modern  version,  and  two  stanzas  only  are 
given,  '  God  save  our  Lord  the  King,'  and  '  O  Lord  our  God, 
arise.' 

On  September  28,  1745,  twelve  days  after  the  Pretender 
had  been  proclaimed  at  Edinburgh, '  God  save  the  King 'was 
sung  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  with  harmonies  and  accompani 
ments  by  Dr.  Arne — 

God  bless  our  noble  King, 
God  save  great  George  our  King, 
God  save  the  King. 


488  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

It  was  received  with  a  tumult  of  applause,  and  Covent  Garden 
and  Goodman's  Fields  followed  the  example  of  Drury  Lane. 
In  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  October,  1745,  the  air  and 
words  were  given  with  a  third  verse — 

Thy  choicest  gifts  in  store 
On  George  be  pleased  to  pour. 

Arne  said  afterwards  that  he  did  not  know  either  author  or 
composer,  but  it  was  a  received  opinion  that  it  was  written  for 
the  Catholic  Chapel  of  James  II.  At  a  concert  given  by  John 
Travers,  organist  of  the  Chapel  Royal,  in  1743  or  1744,  the 
programme  closed  with  '  A  Latin  Chorus ' — 

O  Deus  optime  !  Exurgat  Dominus  ; 

Salvum  nunc  facito  Rebelles  dissipet, 

Regem  nostrum  ;  Et  reprimat ; 

Sit  laeta  victoria,  Dolos  confundito ; 

Comes  et  gloria,  Fraudes  depellito ; 

Salvum  jam  facito,  In  Te  sit  sita  spes; 

Tu  Dominum.  O  I   Salva  nos. 

This  is  probably  the  original  which  was  sung  in  1688,  and 
from  it  Carey  may  have  made  the  English  version  to  sing  in 
public.  See  an  interesting  article  in  the  Dictionary  of 
Hymnology. 

Hymn  972.  God  bless  our  native  land ! 

WILLIAM  EDWARD  HICKSON  (1803-70). 

An  attempt  to  rewrite  the  National  Anthem  with  a  more  religious 
note.  It  dates  from  1836. 

Hymn  973.  Blessed  be  our  everlasting  Lord. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Short  Hymns  on  Select  Passages  of  Scripture,  1762  ;  Works,  ix.  204. 
I  Chron.  xxix.  10-13. 

In  ver.  6  the  original  reads,  '  Thou  hast  to  man  made  known.' 

Hymn  974.  Praise  to  our  God,  whose  bounteous 
hand. 

JOHN  ELLERTON  (603). 

A  hymn  of  national  thanksgiving  written  in  1870.  It  appeared  in 
Select  Hymns,  and  the  Church  Hymns,  1871. 


THE    STORY    OF    THE    HYMNS    AND    THEIR    WRITERS      489 

Hymn  975.  O  King  of  kings,  O  Lord  of  hosts, 
whose  throne  is  lifted  high. 

H.  BURTON,  D.D.  (205). 
A  'National  Hymn.' 

Dr.  Burton  wrote  an  ode  in  1887  at  the  request  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Stephenson,  which  was  set  to  music  by  Sir  John  Stainer, 
and  sung  at  the  Royal  Albert  Hall  at  the  Jubilee  Commemora 
tion.  Sir  John  wrote  to  say  that  he  was  very  much  delighted 
with  the  words,  and  regretted  that  they  would  cease  to  be 
'current  coin'  when  the  Jubilee  was  ov  r.  He  added,  'If  you 
like  the  music  I  wrote,  would  it  be  possible  to  write  a  few  verses 
of  a  patriotic  hymn  to  the  tune  ?  I  admire  the  bold  rhythm  of 
your  first  verse,  and  venture  to  suggest  that  if  that  portion  of 
the  music  were  wedded  to  another  set  of  words,  both  might  live 
a  little  longer  than  this  year.'  In  response  to  this  letter,  '  O 
King  of  kings'  was  written.  Sir  John  Stainer's  tune,  aptly 
named  '  Rex  Regum,'  is  now  wedded  to  the  words. 

•» 
Hymn  076.  Lord,  while  for  all  mankind  we  pray. 

JOHN  REYNELL  WREFORD,  D.U. 

A  '  National  Hymn '  composed  about  the  time  of  Queen  Victoria's 
accession  in  1837.  Dr.  Wreford  published  it  'with  other  loyal  and 
patriotic  pieces,'  and  included  it  in  the  Rev.  J.  R.  Beard's  Collection, 

'837. 

Dr.  Wreford  was  born  at  Barnstaple  in  1800,  and  educated 
at  Manchester  College,  York.  He  became  co-pastor  at  the 
New  Meeting,  Birmingham,  from  1826  to  1831,  when  he  with 
drew  from  the  ministry  through  failure  of  his  voice,  and  opened 
a  school  in  Edgbaston.  He  published  a  History  of  Presbyterian 
Nonconformity  in  Birmingham,  1832,  and  contributed  fifty-five 
hymns  to  the  Rev.  J.  R.  Beard's  Collection,  1837.  He  after 
wards  retired  to  Bristol.  He  died  in  iSSi. 

Hymn  977.  O  God,  who  holdest  in  Thy  hand. 
THOMAS  G.  CRIPPEN. 

Headed  '  Before  a  Parliamentary  Election.'  Appeared  in  Dr. 
Barrett's  Congregational  Church  Hymnal t  1887. 


49°  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

Mr.  Crippen  was  born  in  London,  1841,  and  is  descended 
from  a  Huguenot  family  settled  at  Canterbury.  He  is  a 
Congregational  minister.  He  published  a  volume  of  transla 
tions  of  ancient  hymns  and  poems  in  1868. 

Hymn  978.  To  Thee  our  God  we  fly. 

WILLIAM  WALSHAM  How,  D.D.  (177). 
A  'National  Hymn,'  from  S.P.C.K.  Church  Hymns,  1871. 

Hymn  979.  All  glory  to  God  in  the  sky. 

CHARLES  WESLEY  (i). 

Hymns  for  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord ;  Works,  iv.  125.  The 
eighteenth  and  last  of  the  set. 

Ver.  5,  '  No  horrid  alarum  of  war,'  is  omitted. 

Wesley  (Works,  xii.  122)  regarded  this  as  the  very  best  in  his 
brother's  pamphlet  of  '  Nativity  Hymns,'  but  that  collection  did 
not^nclude  'Hark,  how  all  the  welkin  rings.'  He  was  'hugely 
displeased'  that  R.  Sheen  omitted  'All  glory  to  God  in  the  sky  ' 
in  reprinting  those  hymns.  On  Tuesday,  March  i,  the  day  before 
he  died,  after  a  very  restless  night  he  began  to  sing,  'All  glory 
to  God  in  the  sky,'  and  sang  verses  i  and  3.  Then  he  wished 
to  write.  He  was  not  strong  enough  to  do  so  ;  but  when  Miss 
Ritchie  asked  what  he  would  say,  he  answered,  '  Nothing,  but 
that  God  is  with  us.' 

Hymn  980.  These  things  shall  be!  a  loftier  race. 
JOHN  ADDINGTON  SYMONDS. 

Mr.  Symonds  was  born  at  7,  Berkeley  Square,  Bristol,  in 
1840,  and  gained  the  English  Essay  Prize  at  Oxford  in  1863  by 
his  essay  on  '  The  Renaissance.'  To  that  subject  the  larger 
part  of  his  life  was  devoted.  He  was  Fellow  of  Magdalen, 
but  was  compelled  to  reside  abroad  because  of  his  health.  He 
published  a  History  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  and  many  other 
works  of  great  value  and  interest.  His  volume  of  poems, 
Many  Moods,  appeared  in  1878,  and  Animi  Figura,  1882. 
He  died  in  Rome  on  April  19,  1893,  and  was  buried  in  the 
Protestant  cemetery.  His  daughter  says,  'His  own  faith  was 
so  large,  so  broad.  He  had  thirsted  for  knowledge  and  space. 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS      49 1 

It  seemed  as  though  his  spirit  were  already  far  away  upon  the 
paths  he  longed  in  life  to  tread,  and  it  was  good  to  remember 
that,  in  passing  into  the  Infinite,  it  had  gone  straight  from  the 
City  of  Rome,  and  that  his  last  days  had  been  lived  amongst 
the  sights  and  places  which  were  dear  to  him.' 

Hymn  981.  Grant,  O  Saviour,  to  our  prayers. 

JOSIAH   CONDER  (737). 

From  the  Congregational  Hymn-book,  1836.  One  of  the  series  of 
paraphrases  of  the  Collects. 

Collect  for  Fifth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  '  Grant,  O  Lord,  we 
beseech  Thee,  that  the  course  of  this  world  may  be  so  peaceably 
ordered  by  Thy  governance,  that  Thy  Church  may  joyfully 
serve  Thee  in  all  godly  quietness  ;  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.'  It  forms  a  fitting  close  to  the  prayer  and  praise  of  the 
hymn-book. 


ANCIENT   HYMNS   AND    CANTICLES 

982.  O  come,  let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord. 

'  VENITE,  EXULTEMUS  DOMINO  '  (Psalm  xcv.)  was  used  at 
the  opening  of  daily  worship  at  least  as  early  as  the  time  of 
Athanasius,  who  says  of  the  service  at  Constantinople  in  his 
day,  'Before  the  beginning  of  their  prayers,  the  Christians 
invite  and  exhort  one  another  in  the  words  of  this  Psalm.'  It 
was  the  first  morning  hymn  sung  in  the  religious  houses  of 
the  West,  and  has  always  been  used  as  a  prelude  to  worship. 
In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  'farsed,'  or  interspersed,  with 
fragments  of  other  psalms  called  '  invitatories.'  These  Latin 
sentences  were  interwoven  with  it  verse  by  verse,  and  varied 
with  the  different  seasons.  But  in  1549  it  was  ordered  to  be 
sung  simply.  The  Venite  was  the  battle-song  of  the  proud 
Knights  Templars,  and  there  were  few  of  the  battlefields  of 
Europe  where  it  did  not  strike  terror  into  their  foes. 

Ver.  6,  '  O  come,  let  us  worship,  and  fall  down  ;  and  kneel 
before  the  Lord  our  Maker,'  was  inscribed  by  a  nobler  soldier, 
Christian  Friedrich  Schwartz  (1726-98),  over  the  portals  of 
his  Mission  Church  of  Bethlehem  at  Tranquebar. 


492  THE   METHODIST    HYMN-BOOK    ILLUSTRATED 

The  version  of  all  the  canticles  is  from  the  Great  Bible  of 
1539.  It  took  its  name  from  the  fact  that  it  was  'the  whole 
Bible  of  the  largest  volume  in  English  ' — 13^  by  7^  inches.  Its 
translation  of  the  Psalms  passed  into  the  Prayer-book  in 
Edward  Vl's  time,  and  has  retained  its  position  ever  since. 
At  the  revision  in  1662  it  was  directed  that  the  lessons  were  to 
be  taken  from  the  Authorized  Version,  but  the  Psalms  were 
not  to  be  altered.  '  The  phraseology  of  Coverdale's  version 
had  become  too  familiar  by  long  use  to  allow  of  alteration,  and 
choirs  found  it,  or  thought  they  did,  smoother  and  easier  to 
sing.'  Thomas  Cromwell,  as  Vicar-General,  enjoined  upon 
every  incumbent,  'that  one  book  of  the  whole  Bible  of  the 
largest  volume  in  English,  should  be  set  up  within  some 
convenient  place  in  the  church.'  The  cost  was  to  be  shared 
by  parson  and  parishioners.  Cromwell  urges  them  to  '  ex 
pressly  provoke,  stir,  and  exhort  every  person  to  read  the 
same.'  No  less  than  20,000  of  these  great  folios  were  issued. 

983.  We  praise  Tliee,  O  God. 

'  TE  DEUM  LAUDAMUS.'  The  Te  Deum  is  the  great  hymn 
of  the  Christian  Church.  The  tradition  that  ascribes  it  to 
St.  Ambrose  and  St.  Augustine  has  been  traced  as  far  back  as 
859,  when  Hincmar  of  Rheims  refers  to  it  as  the  hymn  which 
the  two  saints  made  for  the  baptism  of  St.  Augustine  in  the 
Church  of  St.  John  at  Milan.  Ambrose  broke  out,  '  We  praise 
Thee,  O  God  ;  we  acknowledge  Thee  to  be  the  Lord.'  Augustine 
replied,  'All  the  earth  doth  worship  Thee,  the  Father  ever 
lasting,'  and  thus  they  continued  antiphonally  to  the  end.  That 
idea  of  the  hymn  as  a  sudden  inspiration  in  honour  of  a  great 
event  may  be  classed  with  the  ascription  of  the  various  articles 
of  the  Apostles'  Creed  to  the  Apostles  of  Christ. 

The  first  reference  to  the  hymn  is  in  the  Rule  of  St.  Caesarius 
of  Aries,  drawn  up  before  he  became  bishop  in  502.  There  it 
is  made  part  of  the  Sunday  morning  service.  It  seems  likely 
that  it  took  its  rise  in  the  South  of  Gaul.  It  was  not  im 
probably  based  on  antiphons  already  familiar  to  the  Church, 
and  assumed  its  present  form,  say,  about  400  A.D. 

The  English  Version  appears  to  have  received  the  form  given 
in  our  Prayer-books  at  the  hands  of  Cranmer.  The  version  of 
Henry  VIII's  last  Primer  and  Edward  Vl's  first  Prayer-book 
is  practically  the  same  as  that  we  sing.  There  are  some 


THE   STORY   OF   THE   HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS      493 

inaccurate  renderings  of  the  Latin  text,  but  it  is  so  stately  in 
its  rhythm  and  so  noble  in  its  language,  that  it  has  held  its 
throne  in  our  public  worship  unchallenged  ever  since  it  was 
generally  known.  The  Rev.  F.  W.  Macdonald  writes,  '  Its 
vitality  is  that  of  an  immortal.  Sung  more  frequently  than 
any  other  hymn,  alike  in  rude  and  dark  ages,  and  in  those 
of  amplest  light  and  most  advanced  civilization,  in  cathedrals 
and  in  village  chapels,  at  the  coronation  of  kings  and  at 
humblest  festivals,  it  has  lost  nothing  of  its  dignity  and  strength 
and  sweetness  by  lapse  of  time  or  frequent  use,  and  will  con 
tinue,  we  may  confidently  say,  to  be  the  Church's  chief  hymn 
till  the  worship  of  earth  shall  merge  in  that  of  heaven.' 

The  proper  translation  is,  '  We  praise  Thee  as  God ' ;  '  The 
white-robed  army  of  martyrs  '  ;  '  When  Thou  tookest  man  upon 
Thee  to  deliver  him '  ;  '  sting  of  death '  ;  '  rewarded  with  Thy 
saints '  (not  numbered).  In  the  Primer,  the  layman's  authorized 
book  of  devotion  before  the  Reformation,  we  read,  '  Thi  sooth 
fast  worschipful  oonly  Son '  ;  '  The  preiseth  the  white  oost  of 
marteres.'  In  The  Afyronre  of  our  Ladye,  written  for  the  use 
of  the  Nuns  of  Sion  about  1450,  the  Te  Dcmn  reads:  'The 
fair  host  of  martyrs  that  are  washed  white  and  fair  in  their  own 
blood  praise  Thee.  Make  Thy  servants  to  be  rewarded  in  endless 
bliss  with  Thy  saints.  Govern  them  here  by  grace  and  enhance 
them  into  bliss  without  end.  And  we  praise  Thy  name  from 
time  to  time,  unto  the  end  of  the  world,  and  after  without  end.' 

'  No  other  hymn  of  praise  has  been  by  such  universal  consent 
set  apart  as  the  supreme  expression  of  the  overflowing  gratitude 
of  the  human  heart.  As  it  was  sung  after  Agincourt,  so  it  was 
sung  after  Waterloo,  and  will  be  sung  after  other  victories  yet 
unfought  by  generations  yet  unborn.'  Mrs.  Charles,  the  author 
of  The  Schonberg-Cotta  Family,  told  Mr.  Stead, '  The  Te  Denm, 
with  its  glorious  subjectiveness,  its  tender  humility,  and  its  note 
of  hope,  has,  perhaps,  helped  and  inspired  me  through  life  more 
than  any  other  hymn.' 

984.  Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel. 

The  '  BENEDICTUS,'  or  Song  of  Zacharias  (Luke  i.  68-79), 
was  used  in  worship  at  least  as  early  as  the  ninth  century. 
The  version  is  from  '  The  Great  Bible.'  Zacharias  rejoices  in 
the  arrival  of  the  times  of  the  Messiah,  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promises,  in  the  mission  of  his  own  child  as  the  forerunner  of 


494  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

Christ.  Then  he  describes  the  change  to  be  wrought  when 
weary  pilgrims,  who  have  lost  their  way  and  sit  in  despair  amid 
the  darkness,  are  visited  by  the  day-spring  from  on  high,  and 
find  their  way  into  the  path  of  safety  and  peace. 

985.  O  be  joyful  in  the  Lord. 

The  '  JUBILATE  '  was  introduced  into  the  Morning  Service  of 
the  Prayer-book  in  1552,10  satisfy  objections  and  avoid  repetition. 
It  is  not,  of  course,  sung  as  a  lesson  unless  the  Benedictus  comes 
in  other  parts  of  the  service.  From  ancient  times  it  has  been 
used  in  the  daily  service  of  the  Synagogue,  except  at  certain 
festivals.  It  was  used  at  Lauds.  The  version  is  from  '  The 
Great  Bible.' 

Edward  FitzGerald  said  not  long  before  his  death,  in  1883, 
that  if  any  text  were  put  on  his  tombstone,  he  should  like  it  to 
be  one  that  he  had  never  seen  used  in  this  way — '  It  is  He 
that  made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves.'  It  is  engraved,  with  name 
and  dates,  on  the  granite  slab  which  covers  his  grave. 

986.  My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord. 

The  '  MAGNIFICAT  '  (Luke  i.  46-55)  was  used  at  Vespers  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  From  '  The  Great  Bible.'  The  song  borrows 
some  of  its  thoughts  from  the  thanksgiving  of  Hannah  for  the 
birth  of  Samuel,  and  from  Psalm  xcviii.  The  three  great 
nativity  hymns  which  St.  Luke  preserved  for  the  Church  have 
always  been  the  chief  treasures  in  its  book  of  praise.  This 
outpouring  of  Mary's  heart  is  the  noblest  of  all.  'A  majesty 
truly  regal  reigns  throughout  this  canticle.'  The  song  of 
thanksgiving  rises  and  swells  as  the  Jewish  maiden  sees  the 
greatness  of  the  mission  of  Jesus  opening  out  before  her 
wondering  eyes.  Her  own  immortality  is  sure.  'All  genera 
tions  shall  call  me  blessed.'  The  song  is  closely  allied  to  that 
of  Hannah,  which  every  Jewish  girl  knew  from  her  childhood  ; 
but  deep  humility  and  holy  restraint  mark  the  whole  thanks 
giving.  It  is  '  the  first  Christian  song.' 

987.  O  sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song. 

'  CANTATE  DOMINO  '  (Psalm  xcviii.)  was  introduced  in  1552 
to  the  Prayer-book  from  'The  Great  Bible,'  so  that  the 
extreme  Puritans  might  not  be  forced  to  sing  the  words  of  the 


THE   STORY   OF   THE    HYMNS   AND   THEIR   WRITERS      495 

Virgin  Mary.  'The  hymn  of  praise  for  the  redemption  of  Israel 
from  Babylon  becomes,  in  the  mouth  of  the  Christian  Church, 
a  hymn  of  praise  for  the  redemption  of  the  world.'  The  psalm 
has  so  many  resemblances  to  the  Magnificat  that  it  seems  as 
though  the  mother  of  our  Lord  must  have  had  it  in  her  mind 
when  she  offered  her  Song  of  Praise. 

988.  Lord,  now  lettest  Tliou  Thy  servant  depart 
in  peace. 

The  '  NUNC  DIMITTIS,'  or  Song  of  Simeon  (Luke  ii.  29-32), 
was  used  in  Compline.  F>om  '  The  Great  Bible.'  This  is  the 
greeting  of  the  Old  Dispensation  to  the  New.  '  Simeon  re 
presents  himself  under  the  image  of  a  sentinel  whom  his  master 
has  placed  in  an  exalted  position,  and  charged  to  look  for  the 
appearance  of  a  star,  and  then  announce  it  to  the  world.  He 
sees  this  long-desired  star  ;  he  proclaims  its  rising,  and  asks  to 
be  relieved  of  the  post  he  has  occupied  so  long.  In  the  same  way, 
at  the  opening  of  Aeschylus's  Agamemnon,  when  the  sentinel, 
set  to  watch  for  the  appearing  of  the  fire  that  is  to  announce 
the  taking  of  Troy,  beholds  at  last  the  signal  so  impatiently 
expected,  he  sings  at  once  both  the  victory  of  Greece  and  his 
own  release.' 

989.  God  be  merciful  unto  us,  and  bless  us. 

'  DEUS  MISEREATUR'  (Psalm  Ixvii.)  was  introduced  into  the 
Prayer-book  in  1552,  as  an  alternative  to  the  Nunc  Dimittis. 
From  'The  Great  Bible.'  It  has  been  called  the  Pater  Noster 
of  the  Ancient  Church.  It  was  written  for  some  Temple  Festival 
after  a  year  of  exceptional  increase,  and  echoes  the  priestly 
blessing  of  Num.  vi.  24  in  its  opening  words.  It  is  a  prayer 
for  the  spread  of  God's  kingdom,  and  rests  its  hope  on  those 
mercies  of  God  which  are  sent  to  open  human  eyes  to  His 
goodness. 

990.  The  Ten  Commandments. 

From  'The  Great  Bible.'  The  reading  of  the  Decalogue 
in  the  Communion  Service  is  peculiar  to  the  English  Church, 
and  was  adopted  from  the  Strasburg  Litany  of  Pullain,  1551. 
The  response  is  commonly  called  '  The  Kyrie,"  from  the  Greek 
for  '  Lord.'  And  the  final  response  resembles  that  which  follows 
the  Decalogue  in  Pullain's  Litany. 


496  THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK   ILLUSTRATED 

991.  The  Beatitudes. 

From  the  Authorized  Version.  The  Old  Testament  Decalogue 
is  followed  by  the  New  Testament  Beatitudes,  which  form  our 
Lord's  portrait  of  a  true  disciple. 

£  John  Wesley  says  (Sermons,  21-3),  '  Our  Lord,  first,  lays 
down  the  sum  of  all  true  religion  in  eight  particulars.  Behold 
Christianity  in  its  native  form,  as  delivered  by  its  great  Author  ! 
This  is  the  genuine  religion  of  Jesus  Christ !  Such  He  presents 
it  to  him  whose  eyes  are  opened  !  See  a  picture  of  God,  so 
far  as  He  is  imitable  by  man !  A  picture  drawn  by  God's 
own  hand.  What  beauty  appears  in  the  whole  !  How  just  a 
symmetry  !  What  exact  proportion  in  every  part  !  How 
desirable  is  the  happiness  here  described  !  How  venerable, 
how  lovely  the  holiness  !  This  is  the  spirit  of  religion  ;  the 
quintessence  of  it.  These  are  indeed  the  fundamentals  of 
Christianity.  O  that  we  may  not  be  hearers  of  it  only  ! ' 

Specially  impressive  are  Wesley's  words  on  the  Beatitude  of 
the  Persecuted.  '  One  would  imagine  such  a  person  as  has  been 
above  described,  so  full  of  genuine  humility,  so  unaffectedly 
serious,  so  mild  and  gentle,  so  free  from  all  selfish  design,  so 
devoted  to  God,  and  such  an  active  lover  of  men,  should  be 
the  darling  of  mankind.  But  our  Lord  was  better  acquainted 
with  human  nature  in  its  present  state.  He  therefore  closes 
the  character  of  this  man  of  God  with  showing  him  the  treat 
ment  he  is  to  expect  in  the  world.  "Blessed,"  saith  He,  "  are 
they  which  are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake  ;  for  theirs  is 
the  kingdom  of  heaven." ' 

'  Let  us  not  rest,'  Wesley  adds  in  closing  his  sermons  on  the 
Beatitudes,  '  until  every  line  thereof  is  transcribed  into  our  own 
hearts.  Let  us  watch,  and  pray,  and  believe,  and  love,  and 
"  strive  for  the  mastery,"  till  every  part  of  it  shall  appear  in  our 
soul,  graven  there  by  the  finger  of  God.' 

In  December,  1 730,  when  the  Oxford  Methodists  were  running 
their  gauntlet  of  ridicule  and  persecution  in  the  University, 
Samuel  Wesley  wrote,  '  I  question  whether  a  mortal  can  arrive 
to  a  greater  degree  of  perfection,  than  steadily  to  do  good, 
and  for  that  very  reason  patiently  and  meekly  to  suffer  evil.' 

Sir  F.  Bridge  says,  '  The  Beatitudes  also  will  be  welcome ; 
the  responses  to  these  I  have  adapted  from  the  celebrated 
Litany  by  Tallis.  This  Litany  was  sung  in  the  Abbey  at  the 
Coronation  of  Kin?  Edward  VII.' 


ORIGINAL  SOURCES  OF  THE  WESLEY 
HYMNS  IN  'THE  METHODIST  HYMN- 
BOOK'1 


(The  following  notes  indicate  the  works  in  which  the  several  hymns 
were  first  printed.) 

I.  Poems  on  Several  Occasions.     By  Samuel  Wesley,   M.A.  [Jim.]. 
1736. 

Nos.  635,  822. 

II.  A  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns.     (Charlestown)  1737. 
Nos.  38,  39,  158,  475,  571. 

III.  A  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns.     (London)  1738. 
No.  429. 

IV.  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems.     1739. 

Nos.  16,  36,  63,  69,  115,  122,  135,   170,   181,  21  r,  214,  219,  234, 

245,  306,  307,  312.  358,  360,  414,  4'5'  421,  427,  459-  467,  474.  475, 
480,  481,  502,  521,  524,  526,  531,  547,  564,  583,  584,  653. 

V.  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems.      1740. 

Nos.  I,  31,  93,  106,  142,  194,  212,  250,  256,  257,  271,  308,  310, 
311,  321,  328,  333,  345,  351,  352,  362,  365,  366,  370,  381,  419,  422, 
SIS.  5!6,  S32,  533.  534.  535,  537,  552,  630,  688,  689,  691,  713,  740, 
741,  742,  743,  771,  904,  912,  965,  968. 

VI.  Hymns  on  God's  Everlasting  Love,     1741  and  N.D. 

Nos.  65,  99  (n.d.),  136,  159,  272,  273,  274  (n.d.),  283,  291  (n.d.), 
325,  (n.d.),  340,435  (n.d.). 

1  This  list  has  been  put  into  my  hands  by  the  Rev.  Richard  Green: 
It  represents  an  enormous  amount  of  research,  and  will  be  of  real  service 
to  students  of  the  Wesley  Hymns. 

2   K 


498 


VII.  A  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns.     1741,  2nd  Ed.  1743. 
Nos.  350  (1741),  26,  76,  176,  186,  210,  399,  654,  675,  677,  905, 

928. 

VIII.  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems.     1742. 

Nos.  12,  42,  43,  44,  160,  232,  236,  285,  323,  334,  337,  341,  344, 

353.  355.  363.  367,  37*,  393.  397.  420,  424,  425.  436,  437.  438,  445> 
446,  449,  450,  468,  477,  498,  503,  529,  536,  543,  544,  545,  548,  549, 
553.  554,  555.  55$.  57°.  574,  597,  676,  683,  685,  690,  694,  711,  726, 
744,  752,  753,  787,  791,  827,  828,  839,  879,  880,  935. 

IX.  Hymns  for  Times  of  Trouble  and  Persecution.     1 744. 
No.  388.     Ditto,  2nd  Ed.  1745.     No.  386. 

X.  A  Short  Vierv  of  the  Difference  between  the  Moravian  Brethren, 
lately  in  England,  and  the  Reverend  Mr.  John  and  Charles   Wesley. 
1745.     (Six  hymns  appended.) 

No.  348. 

XL  Hymns  on  the  Lord's  Supper.     1745. 

Nos.  167,  190,  562,  592,  593,  701,  727,  729,  730,  731,  732,  801, 
802,  849. 

XII.  Hymns  for  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord.    1745. 
Nos.  133,  134,  198,  I99t  979- 

XIII.  Hymns  for  our  Lord 's  Resurrection.     1746. 
Nos.  213,  259. 

XIV.  Hymns  for  Ascension  Day.     1746. 
Nos.  185,  191. 

XV.  Hymns  for  the  Watchnight.     1746. 
Nos.  11,201,  840,  936. 

XVI.  Hymns  of  Petition  and  Thanksgiving  for  the  Promise  of  the 
Father.     (Hymns  for  Whit  Sunday.)     1746. 

Nos.  230,  231,  239,  240,  241,  342,  346,  707. 

XVII.  Funeral  Hymns.     (First  Series,  1746.) 

Nos.  831,  848.     (Second  Series,  1759.)    Nos.  618,  805,  857. 


IN   THE   METHODIST   HYMN-BOOK  499 

XVIII.  Hymns  for  those  that  seek  and  t/iose  thai  have  Redemption 
in  the  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ.     1747. 

Nos.  30,  33,  216,  217,  270,  277,  279,  282,  295,  296,  303,  320,  426, 
465,  SOI>  587»  610,  612,  681,  714,  793,  794,  830. 

XIX.  Hymns  and  Sacred  Poems.     2  vols.      1749. 

Nos.  64,  66,  98,  107,  116,  140,  143,  161,  218,  275,  276,  281,  284, 
297.  3°S»  309,  314,  318,  319,  322,  335,  338,  339,  349,  359,  364,  368, 
382,  390,  391,  411,  416,  433,  434,  439,  440,  441,  442,  443,  444,  447, 
464,  469,  470,  471,  482,496,  499,  500,  512,  517,  519,  546,  550,  551, 
563,  565,  585,  586,  594, '  595,  598,  601,  613,  614,  656,  6S6,  687,  692, 
693.  695.  697>  698,  699,  7oo,2  704,  705,  706,  708,  709, 3  710,  712,  724, 
772,  777>t  7S5,  786,  788,  789,  790,  792,  795,  829,  832,  842,  895,  896, 
913.  932. 

XX.  Hymns  for  Xe\j  Year's  Dav.      1750. 
Nos.  226,  930,  931. 

XXI.  Hymns  occasioned  l>y  the  Earthquake.     1750. 
No.  847. 

XXII.  Hymns  of  Intercession  for  all  l\[ankind.      1758. 
Xi-s.  2OO,  715. 

XXIII.  Hymns  on  the  Expected  Invasion.     1759. 
No.  227. 

XXIV.  Short   Hymns   on    Select   Passages  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
2  vols.      1762. 

Nos.  15,  46,  55,  67,  121,  179,  192,  258,  260,  264,  313,  336,  354, 
387,  392,  408,  423,  448,  513,  523,  527,  528,  530,  538,  539,  540,  541, 
542,  556,  557,  56°,  56l>  572,  573.  580.  5Sli  582,  588,  589,  590,  591, 
596,  604,  611,  631,  745,  773,  775,  776,  796,  823,  825,  973. 

Some  of  these  were  aftcnvards  extended  by  verses  left  in  manuscript 
by  Charles  Wesley. 

1  First  published  in  A  Farther  Appeal  to  Men  of  Reason  and  Religion. 
Part  I.     1745. 

2  First  published  in  An  Earnest  Appeal  to  Men  of  Reason  and  Religion. 
1743,  2nd  Ed. 

3  First  published  at  the  end  of  the  first  edition  of  the  Rules  of  the  United 
Societies.     1743. 


500  ORIGINAL   SOURCES   OF    THE   WESLEY   HYMNS 

XXV.  Hymns  for  Children.     1763. 

Nos.  32,  40,  47,  56,  73,  77,  82,  315,  634,  841,  893,  894. 

XXVI.  Hymns  for  the  Use  of  Families  and  on  Various  Occasions. 
1767. 

Nos.  18,  151,  301,  302,  324,  472,  473,  525,  559,  599,  600,  682,  684, 
696. 

XXVII.  Hymns  on  the  Trinity.     1767. 
Nos.  34,  35,  61,  261,  278. 

XXVIII.  Hymns  left  in  Manuscript  by  the  Author. 

Nos.  53,  88,  120,  126,  137,  141,  153,  196,  215,  222,  224,  266,  289, 
290,  292,  326,  372,  373,  394,  451,  452,  457,  483,  617,  651,  672,  678, 
722,  755.  756,  758»  759.  821,  966. 


INDEX   TO   THE    HYMNS 


FIRST   LINE  AUTHOR  NO. 

A  charge  to  keep  1  have  C.  Wesley         .  580 

A  few  more  years  shall  roll ....  Dr.  Bonar       .  838 

A  safe  stronghold  our  God  is  still       Luther,  trans,  by  T.  Carlyle  466 

A  thousand  oracles  divine  ....  C.  Wesley         .  61 
Abide  among  us  with  Thy  grace .         .      J.  Stegmann,  trans,  by 

Miss  Winkworth  717 

Abide  with  me  !  fast  falls  the  eventide.          .  //.  /'.  Lyte      .  911 

According  to  Thy  gracious  word            .          .  Montgomery     .  736 

Across  the  sky  the  shades  of  night         .          .  /.  Hamilton     .  937 

Again  we  lift  our  voice  C.  IVesley         .  829 

Ah  !  Lord,  with  trembling  I  confess     .          .  C.  Wesley         .  448 

Ah !  whither  should  I  go    .          .          .          .  C.  Wesley         .  325 

All  glory,  laud,  and  honour          .  Thcodulph^  trans,  by  Dr.  Neale  860 

All  glory  to  God  in  the  sky          .          .          .  C.  Wesley         .  979 

All  glory  to  our  gracious  Lord  C.  Wesley         .  675 

All  hail  the  power  of  Jesu's  name         .          .  £.  Perronet     .  207 

All  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell         .          .  W.  Kethe         .  2 
All  praise  and  thanks  to  God  most  High      Schiitz,  trans,  by  Aliss 

Winkwortk  84 

All  praise  to  Him  who  dwells  in  bliss  .          .  C.  Wesley         .  928 

All  praise  to  our  redeeming  Lord          .          .  C.  Wesley         .  68 1 

All  thanks  be  to  God  C.  Wesley         .  217 

All  thanks  to  the  Lamb,  who  gives  us  to  meet  C.  Wesley         .  786 

All  things  are  possible  to  him  C.  Wesley         .  551 

All  things  bright  and  beautiful    .          .          .  Mrs.  Alexander  875 

All  ye  that  pass  by C.  Wesley         .  161 

Almighty  God  of  love  C.  Wesley         .  776 

Almighty  Maker  of  my  frame      .          .          .  Miss  Steele       .  818 

And  are  we  yet  alive.  C.  Wesley         .  785 

And  can  it  be,  that  I  should  gain           .          .  C.  Wesley         .  360 

And  let  our  bodies  part  C.  Wesley         .  792 

Angel  voices,  ever  singing  F.  Pott   .          .  658 

Appointed  by  Thee,  we  meet  in  Thy  name    .  C.  Wesley         .  788 

Arise,  my  soul,  arise,  Shake  C.  Wesley         .  363 

Arise,  my  soul,  arise,  Thy  C.  Wesley         .  135 

Arm  of  the  Lord,  awake,  awake.         .          .  C.  Wesley         .  219 

Around  the  throne  of  God  in  heaven    .          .  Mrs.  Shepherd.  888 

Art  thou  weary,  art  thou  languid          .          .  Dr.  Neale        .  293 

As  pants  the  hart  for  cooling  streams   .          .  Tote  and  Brady  510 

As  with  gladness  men  of  old        .         .         .  W.  C.  Dix      .  128 


502 


INDEX   TO   THE    HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE 

At  even,  ere  the  sun  was  set 
Author  of  faith,  appear 
Author  of  faith,  eternal  Word 
Author  of  faith,  to  Thee  I  cry 
Author  of  faith,  we  seek  Thy  face 
Awake,  my  soul,  and  with  the  sun 
Awake,  our  souls  !  away,  our  fears 
Away,  my  needless  fears 
Away  with  our  fears,  Our  troubles 
Away  with  our  fears  !  The  glad  . 
Away  with  our  sorrow  and  fear    . 

Be  it  my  only  wisdom  here 
Be  known  to  us  in  breaking  bread 
Be  with  us,  gracious  Lord,  to-day 
Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne 
Begin,  my  soul,  some  heavenly  theme 
Begone,  unbelief  ;  my  Saviour  is  near 
Behold,  behold,  the  Bridegroom  nigh 
Behold,  how  good  a  thing  . 
Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  bears 
Behold  !  the  mountain  of  the  Lord 
Behold  the  Saviour  of  mankind    . 
Behold  the  servant  of  the  Lord    . 
Behold  the  sure  foundation-stone. 
Behold  us,  Lord,  a  little  space     . 
Being  of  beings,  God  of  love 
Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart 
Blessed  be  our  everlasting  Lord  . 
Blessed  Jesus,  here  we  stand 

Blessing,  honour,  thanks,  and  praise 
Blest  are  the  humble  souls  that  see 
Blest  be  the  dear  uniting  love 
Blow  ye  the  trumpet,  blow 
Bread  of  heaven,  on  Thee  I  feed 
Bread  of  the  world,  in  mercy  broken 
Break,  day  of  God,  O  break 
Break  Thou  the  bread  of  life 
Breathe  on  me,  Breath  of  God     . 
Brethren  in  Christ,  and  well  beloved 
Brief  life  is  here  our  portion 


AUTHOR 
H.  Twells 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Bp.  Ken 
Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C,  Wesley 


NO. 
916 
630 

345 
348 
705 
900 

385 
482 

239 

896 


Brightest  and  best  of  the  sons  of  the  morning 

Brightly  gleams  our  banner 

By  Christ  redeemed,  in  Christ  restored          . 

By  cool  Siloam's  shady  rill 

By  secret  influence  from  above 


By  the  holy  hills  surrounded 

Call  Jehovah  thy  salvation  . 
Captain  of  Israel's  host,  and  Guide 
Captain  of  our  salvation,  take 


C.  Wesley         .  582 

Montgomery     .  734 

Dr.  C.  D.  Bell  664 

Dr.  Watts       .  3 

Dr.  Watts       .  57 

J.  Newton        .  492 

E.J.  Braihford  202 

C.  Wesley         .  683 

C.  Wesley         .  283 

M.  Bruce         .  221 

S.  Wesley,  Sen.  158 

C.  Wesley         .  594 

Dr.  Watts       .  112 

/.  Ellerton        .  603 

C.  Wesley         .  427 

W.  M.  Bunting  576 

C.  Wesley         .  973 

.   Schmoick,  trans,  by  Miss 

Winkworth  723 

C.  Wesley         .  827 

Dr.  Watts       .  575 

C.  Wesley         .  791 

C.  Wesley         .  226 

.          .        J.  Conder         .  737 

Bp.Heber         .  738 

.   Dr.  Henry  Burton  205 

Miss  Lathbury  263 

Dr.  E.  hatch  .  244 

C.  Wesley         .  691 
Bernard  of  Cluny,  trans,  by 
Dr.  Neale 
Bp.  Heber 
Potter  and  others 
G.  Rawson 
Bp.  Heber 
C.  Wesley 


Spitta,  trans,  by  A'.  Massie 


851 
127 
887 
739 
877 
292 
674 


Montgomery  .  94 
C.  Wesley  .  611 
C.  Wesley  .  894 


INDEX  TO  THE   HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE 

Cast  on  the  fidelity    .         .         . 
Centre  of  our  hopes  Thou  art 
Children  of  Jerusalem 
Children  of  the  heavenly  King    . 
Christ  for  the  world  !  we  sing 
Christ,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow 
Christ  is  our  corner-stone    . 
Christ  is  the  foundation       .          . 
Christ,  of  all  my  hopes  the  ground 
Christ,  our  Head,  gone  up  on  high 
Christ  the  Lord  is  risen  again 


Christ  the  Lord  is  risen  to-day     . 

Christ,  the  true  anointed  Seer 

Christ,  whose  glory  fills  the  skies 

Christian  !  seek  not  yet  repose     . 

Christians,  awake,  salute  the  happy  morn 

Clap  your  hands,  ye  people  all 

Come,  all  who  truly  bear     .... 

Come,  all  whoe'er  have  set. 

Come,  and  let  us  sweetly  join 

Come,  divine  Interpreter     .... 

Come,  P'ather,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  Honour 

Come,  Father,  Son,  and;'IIoly  Ghost,  One 


AUTHOR 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
John  Henley     . 
/.  C  en  nick 
Dr.  S.  Wolcott 
C.  Wesley 

Latin,  trans,  by  J.  Chandler 
Dr.J.  S.  B.  Monsell 
Dr.  Wardlaw  . 
C.  I  Lesley 

.  Af.  Wdsse,  trans,  by  Miss 
Winkworth 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Miss  C.  Elliott 
Dr.  Hyrom 
C.   ll'esley 
(.*.   Wesley 
C.   Wesley 
C.   }\rt-slcy 
C.   Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 


Come,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  To  whom    C.  IVesley         . 
Come,  holy,  celestial  Dove  C.  Wesley 

Come,  Holy  Ghost,  all-quickening  fire,  Come,  and  in     C.  Wesley 
Come,  Holy  Ghost,  all-quickening  fire!  Come,  and  my   C.  Wesley 
Come,  Holy  Ghost,  our  hearts  inspire  .          .          C.  Wesley 
Come,  Holy  Ghost,  our  souls  inspire    .  Latin,  trans,  by  Bp.  Cosin 


Come,  Holy  Spirit,  heavenly  Dove 
Come,  let  us  anew  Our  journey  pursue,  Roll 
Come,  let  us  anew  Our  journey  pursue,  With 
Come,  let  us  arise       . 
Come,  let  us  ascend 


Come, 
Come, 
Come, 
Come, 
Come, 


et  us  join  our  cheerful  songs 
et  us  join  our  friends  above 
et  us  join  with  one  accord 
et  us  use  the  grace  divine 
et  us,  who  in  Christ  believe 


Come,  my  soul,  thy  suit  prepare  . 
Come,  O  my  God,  the  promise  seal 
Come,  O  Thou  all-victorious  Lord 
Come,  O  Thou  Prophet  of  the  Lord     , 
Come,  O  Thou  Traveller  unknown 
Come  on,  my  partners  in  distress 
Come,  Saviour,  Jesus,  from  above        . 

Come,  sinners,  to  the  gospel  feast 
Come,  sound  His  praise  abroad  . 
Come,  Thou  all-inspiring  Spirit  . 
Come,  Thou  Conqueror  of  the  nations. 
Come,  Thou  everlasting  Spirit    .          . 


Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 
C.  H'esley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  H'esley 
C.  U'esley 
/.  Newton 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 

Antoinette  Bourignon, 
trans,  ly  J.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 


5°3 

NO. 
472 
697 
862 
680 
78l 
689 

66  1 
662 
108 


174 
170 
196 
904 

45.  i 
124 
1  86 
729 
613 
740 

200 

724 

354 
893 
342 
245 
535 
256 

75i 
246 

930 
614 

59» 
687 

97 
805 

634 
745 
291 
506 
560 
305 
259 
449 
471 

526 

270 

6 

525 
227 

730 


5  °4  INDEX   TO  THE   HYMNS 

FIRST  LINE  AUTHOR  NO. 

Come,  Thou  Fount  of  every  blessing    ,          .  R.  Robinson     .  377 

Come,  Thou  high  and  lofty  Lord           .          .  C.  Wesley         .  741 

Come,  Thou  long-expected  Jesus          .          .  C.  Wesley         .  198 

Come,  Thou  omniscient  Son  of  Man    .          .  C,  Wesley         .  704 

Come  to  our  poor  nature's  night  ...  6".  Rawson       .  238 

Come  unto  Me,  ye  weary    ....  IV.  C.  Dix       .  287 

Come,  Wisdom,  Power,  and  Grace  divine     .  C.  Wesley         .  696 

Come,  ye  sinners,  poor  and  wretched   .          .  J.  Hart  .          .  280 

Come,  ye  thankful  people,  come  .          .          .  Dean  Alford    .  942 

Come,  ye  that  love  the  Lord        .          .          .  Dr.  Watts        .  294 

Come,  ye  weary  sinners,  come  C,  Wesley         .  279 

Comfort,  ye  ministers  of  grace  C.  Wesley         .  477 

Commit  thou  all  thy  griefs  .          .     Gerhardt,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley  480 

Cradled  in  a  manger,  meanly  G.  S.  Rowe      .  130 

Creator  Spirit !  by  whose  aid       .          .    Latin,  trans,  by  Dry  den  228 

Crown  Him  with  many  crowns    .          .          .  Dr.  Thring     .  208 

Day  after  day  I  sought  the  Lord  .          .          .  Archd.  Hare    .  357 

Day  by  day  we  magnify  Thee  J.  Ellerton       .  892 

Day  is  dying  in  the  west      ....  Miss  Lathbury  924 

Day  of  wrath  !  O  day  of  mourning        .          .  Thomas  of  Celano, 

trans,  by  Dr.  Irons  844 

Days  and  moments  quickly  flying          .        E.  Cos-wall  and  others  837 

Dear  is  the  day  which  God  hath  made  .          .  W.  M.  Bunting  638 

Dear  Lord  and  Father  of  mankind        .          .  J.  G.  Whittier  410 

Deepen  the  wound  Thy  hands  have  made     .  C.  Wesley         .  540 

Depth  of  mercy !  can  there  be                .          .  C.  Wesley         .  308 

Dismiss  me  not  Thy  service,  Lord         .          .  T.  T.  Lynch    .  606 

Disposer  Supreme,  and  Judge  of  the  earth     .  J.  B.  de  Santeiiil, 

trans,  by  I.  Williams  757 

Drooping  soul,  shake  off  thy  fears         .         .  C.  Wesley         .  498 

Earth,  rejoice,  our  Lord  is  King  C.  Wesley         .  212 

Earth,  with  all  thy  thousand  voices       .          .  Archd.  Churton  8 

Entered  the  holy  place  above  C.  Wesley         .  192 

Equip  me  for  the  war  C.  Wesley         .  435 

Ere  God  had  built  the  mountains           .          .  Cowper    .          .  60 

Ere  I  sleep,  for  every  favour  J.  Cennick        .  926 

Eternal  Beam  of  light  divine  C.  Wesley         .  474 

Eternal  depth  of  love  divine         .  Zinzendorf,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley  69 

Eternal  Father  !  strong  to  save    .          .          .  W.  Whiting     .  967 

Eternal  Light !  eternal  light         .          .          .  Dr.  Binney      .  51 

Eternal  Lord  of  earth  and  skies  C.  Wesley         .  775 

Eternal  Power,  whose  high  abode         .          .  Dr.  Watts        .  5 

Eternal  Son,  eternal  Love  ...._/.  Wesley          .  43 

Eternal  Source  of  every  joy          .          .          .  Dr.  Doddridge  933 

Eternal  Spirit,  come  C.  Wesley         .  241 

Eternal,  spotless  Lamb  of  God  /.  Wesley          .  44 

Eternal  Wisdom !  Thee  we  praise         .          .  Dr.  Watts        .  49 

Every  morning  mercies  new         .          .          .  G.  Phillimore  .  906 

Every  morning  the  red  sun            .          .          .  Mrs.  Alexander  873 

Except  the  Lord  conduct  the  plan        .         .  C.  Wesley         .  599 


INDEX   TO   THE   HYMNS 


5°5 


FIRST  LINE  AUTHOR 

Fading  like  a  lifetime  ends  another  day         .  Dr.  T.  B.  Stephenson 
Faith  is  a  living  power  from  heaven     P.  Herbert,  trans,  by  Miss 

Winkworth 

Far  as  creation's  bounds  extend  .  .  . 
Far  off  we  need  not  rove  .... 
Father,  at  Thy  footstool  see  ... 
Father,  glorify  Thy  Son  .... 
Father,  how  wide  Thy  glory  shines  .  . 
Father,  I  dare  believe 

Father,  I  know  that  all  my  life  .  .  . 
Father,  I  stretch  my  hands  to  Thee  .  . 
Father,  if  justly  still  we  claim  .  .  D 

Father,  in  the  name  I  pray 
Father,  in  whom  we  live     .          .          .          . 
Father,  live,  by  all  things  feared  .          . 

Father  of  all,  in  whom  alone 
Father  of  all,  Thy  care  we  bless  .          .          . 
Father  of  all!  whose  powerful  voice      .          . 
Father  of  boundless  grace 
Father  of  everlasting  grace 
Father  of  Jesus  Christ,  my  Lord  .          . 

Father  of  lights,  from  whom  proceeds  .          . 
Father  of  me,  and  all  mankind 
Father  of  mercies,  in  Thy  word  .          .          . 
Father  of  omnipresent  grace         ... 
Father  of  our  dying  Lord 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost 
Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  hear 
Father,  to  Thee  I  lift  mine  eyes  ... 
P'ather,  to  Thee  my  soul  I  lift 
Father,  who  art  alone         .... 
Father,  whose  everlasting  love  C.  Wesley 

Fierce  raged  the  tempest  o'er  the  deep.          .          Dr.  Thring 
Fill  Thou  my  life,  O  Lord  my  God       .          .          Dr.  Bonar 
For  all  the  saints  who  from  their  labours  rest         Bp.  Hcnv 
For  all  Thy  love  and  goodness,  so  bountiful  and  free 

Mrs.  Douglas  and  Bp.  How 

For  ever  here  my  rest  shall  be     .          .          .          C.  IVesley 
For  ever  with  the  Lord       ....          Montgomery     . 
For  the  beauty  of  the  earth          .          .          .         F.  S.  Pierpoint 
Forth  in  Thy  name,  O  Lord,  I  go         .          .          C.  U'esley 
Forward  !  be  our  watchword       .          .          .         Dean  Alford    . 
From  all  that  dwell  below  the  skies      .          .         Dr.  Watts 
From  every  stormy  wind  that  blows     .          .         H.  Stowell 
From  Greenland's  icy  mountains.          .          .         Bp.  Heber 
From  the  eastern  mountains         .          .          .         Dr.  Thring     . 
From  Thee  all  skill  and  science  flow    .          .          C.  Kingsley 
From  trials  unexempted  C.  Wesley 


/.  Merriek 
6".  IVesley 
C.  Wesley 
6'.  IVesley 
Dr.  Watts  . 
C.  Washy 
Miss  Waring  . 
C.  IVesley 
II.  More,  altered 
C.  IVesley 
C.  IVesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Doddrtigt 
/.  IVesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Miss  .Steele 
(7.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  IVesley 
6".  Wesley 
C.  IVesley 


Gentle  Jesus,  meek  and  mild 
Give  me  the  enlarged  desire 
Give  me  the  faith  which  can  remove 
Give  me  the  wings  of  faith  to  rise 


C.  Wesley 
C.  IVesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 


NO. 
922 

347 
74 
53 

712 

231 
«3 

557 
602 


473 

33 

3i 

257 

890 

42 
773 
707 

536 
312 

15 
255 
301 
232 

562 
688 
440 

39i 
964 

65 
146 

567 
807 

946 
532 
856 

24 

586 
619 

9 

702 
770 
129 
951 
45' 

879 
542 
563 
803 


5o6 


INDEX   TO  THE    HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE 

Give  to  the  winds  thy  fears 
Glad  was  my  heart  to  hear 
Glorious  God,  accept  a  heart       .          . 
Glorious  Saviour  of  my  soul         .          . 
Glorious  things  of  thee  are  spoken 
Glory  be  to  God  above 
Glory  be  to  God  on  high,  And  peace  . 
Glory  be  to  God  on  high,  God  in          . 
Glory  be  to  God  on  high,  God  whose  . 
Glory  to  God,  whose  sovereign  grace    . 
Glory  to  Thee,  my  God,  this  night 
Go,  labour  on  ;  spend,  and  be  spent    . 
Go  to  dark  Gethsemane 
God  be  with  you  till  we  meet  again 
God  bless  our  native  land   . 
God  is  a  name  my  soul  adores     .          . 
God  is  gone  up  on  high      .          .          . 
God  is  the  refuge  of  His  saints     .          . 
God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way  . 
God  of  all  consolation,  take 
God  of  all  grace  and  majesty 
God  of  all  power,  and  truth,  and  grace 
God  of  all-redeeming  grace 
God  of  Almighty  love 
God  of  love,  that  hear'st  the  prayer 
God  of  mercy,  God  of  grace 
God  of  my  life,  through  all  my  days    . 
God  of  my  life,  to  Thee 
God  of  my  life,  whose  gracious  power  . 
God  of  my  salvation,  hear  .          .         . 
God  of  pity,  God  of  grace  . 
God  of  the  living,  in  whose  eyes 


AUTHOR 

Gerhardt,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 
Montgomery     . 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 

.          .         T.  Newton 
"C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.   Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Bf>.  Ken . 
Dr.  Bonar 
Montgomery 
Dr.  J.  £.  Rankin 
W.  E.  Hickson 
Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 
Cowper    . 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.   Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
H.  P.  Lyte       . 
Dr.  Doddridge 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Mrs.  Morris    . 
/.  Ellerton 
J.  Keble  . 


God,  our  hope  and  strength  abiding     . 

God  reveals  His  presence    .        Tersteegen,  trans,  by  F.  W.  Foster 

and  /.  Miller 

God  save  our  gracious  King        ...  .  . 

God  the  Father,  be  Thou  near  G.  Rawson 

God  the  Lord  is  King  :  before  Him     .          .          G.  Rawson 
God,  the  offended  God  most  High        .          .          C.  Wesley 
God,  who  madest  earth  and  heaven  Bp.  Heberand  Abp.  Whately 


Good  Thou  art,  and  good  Thou  dost 
Gracious  Redeemer,  shake 
Gracious  Spirit,  dwell  with  me    . 
Gracious  Spirit,  Holy  Ghost         .          . 
Grant,  O  Saviour,  to  our  prayers 
Granted  is  the  Saviour's  prayer  . 
Great  God,  indulge  my  humble  claim  . 
Great  God  of  wonders  !  all  Thy  ways  . 
Great  God,  this  sacred  day  of  Thine     . 
Great  God,  Thy  watchful  care  we  bless 
Great  God  !  to  me  the  sight  afford 
Great  God  !  what  do  I  see  and  hear 


C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
T.  T.  Lynch    . 
Bp.  Wordsworth 
J .  Conder 
C.  Wesley         . 
Dr.  Watts 
S.  Dames 
Miss  Steele 
Dr.  Doddridge 
C.  Wesley 

Dr.  Colly  er,  altered  by 
Cotterill 


NO. 
481 

655 
40 

136 

673 
787 
134 
830 
16 
366 
909 
608 

156 
800 


668 
488 
794 
44- 
54^ 
592 

5*5 
7H 
716 

378 
895 
93 
355 
667 

833 
670 


971 

918 

45 
278 

923 

82 

441 

252 

579 
981 

234 

5" 
68 

637 
663 

55 
846 


INDEX  TO   THE    HYMNS  507 

FIRST  LINE  AUTHOR  NO. 

Great  God,  whose  universal  sway         .  .         Dr.  Watts       .  766 

Great  is  our  redeeming  Lord  C.  Wesley         .  672 

Great  is  the  Lord  our  God           .          ,  .         Dr.  Watts        .  652 

Guide  me,  O  Thou  great  Jehovah         .  .          W.Williams   .  615 

Hail !  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost    .  .          C.  Wesley         .  47 

Hail  !  holy,  holy,  holy  Lord  C.  Wesley         .  34 

Hail  the  day  that  sees  Him  rise  C.  Wesley         .  181 

Hail,  Thou  once  despised  Jesus             .  .         /.  Kakewell      .  189 

Hail  to  the  Lord's  Anointed         .          .  .         Montgomery     .  206 

Happy  man  whom  God  dotli  aid           .  .          C.  Wesley         .  77 

Happy  soul  that  free  from  harms           .  .          C.  Wesley          .  390 

Happy  soul,  thy  days  are  ended            .  .          C.  \VesLy         .  832 

Happy  soul  who  sees  the  day  C.  Wesley         .  371 

Happy  the  heart  where  graces  reign     .  .         Dr.  Watts        .  577 

Happy  the  man  that  finds  the  grace      .  .          C.  Wesley         .  295 

Happy  the  souls  that  first  believed        .  .          C.  ll''esley         .  709 

Happy  the  souls  to  Jesus  joined  C.  IVesley         .  801 

Hark !  a  voice  divides  the  sky  C.   Wesley         .  828 
Hark  !  hark,  my  soul  !  angelic  songs  are  swelling     Dr.  F.  W. 

Fabcr  620 

Hark,  how  the  watchmen  cry  C.  Wesley         .  447 

Hark,  my  soul  !  it  is  the  Lord     .          .  .          Cmuper    .          .  417 

Hark  the  glad  sound,  the  Saviour  comes  .          Dr.  JJoddridgc  139 

Hark!  the  herald-angels  sing       .          .  .          C.   ll\-sl,y         .  122 

Hark!  the  sound  of  holy  voices             .  .        Up.   Wordsiuorth  Sio 

Hark!  the  voice  of  Jesus  crying            .  .          Dr.  March       .  609 

He  dies  !  the  Friend  of  sinners  dies      .  .          Dr.  Watts        .  171 

He  is  gone — beyond  the  skies       .          .  .          Dean  Stanley   .  184 

He  wills  that  I  should  holy  be  C.  Wesley         .  556 

Head  of  Thy  Church  triumphant           .  .          C.  tt'esiey         .  386 

Head  of  Thy  Church,  whose  Spirit  fills  .          C.  Wesley         .  772 

Heal  us,  Immanuel ;  hear  our  prayer  .  .          Cowper    .          .  145 

Hear  Thou  my  prayer,  O  Lord   .          .  Dr.  B.  If.  Kennedy  509 

Hear  us,  O  Lord,  from  heaven,  Thy  dwelling-place     W.  H.  Gill  947 

Hearken  to  the  solemn  voice  C .  Wesley         .  839 

Heavenly  Father,  sovereign  Lord          .  .         C.  Wesl,y         .  3^1 

Heavenly  Father,  Thou  hast  brought  us  .          Mrs.  Hawkins  629 

Help,  Lord,  to  whom  for  help  I  fly  .          C.  Wesley          .  444 

Here,  Lord,  assembled  in  Thy  name    .  .          F..  Boaden        .  956 

Here,  O  my  Lord,  I  see  Thee  face  to  face  .         Dr.  Honor       ,  735 

High  in  the  heavens,  eternal  God          .  .          Dr.  Watts        .  79 

His  name  is  Jesus  Christ  the  Just          .  .         C.  Wesley         .  153 

Ho!  every  one  that  thirsts,  draw  nigh  .          C.  H'esley         .  271 

Holy,  and  true,  and  righteous  Lord      .  .          C.  IVesley         .  549 

Holy  as  Thou,  O  Lord,  is  none  C.  ll'esley         .  46 

Holy  Father,  cheer  our  way         .../'.  //.  Robinson  647 

Holy  Ghost,  Illuminator     ....        Bp.  IVordsworth  188 

Holy  Ghost !  my  Comforter         .          .  Latin,  trans,  by  Miss 

Hrinkworth  237 

Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty  .         Bp.  lleber         .  28 

Holy  Lamb,  who  Thee  confess  C.  Wesley         .  600 

Holy  Lamb,  who  Thee  receive    Anna  Dober,  trans,  lyj.  Wesley  534 


5o8 


INDEX  TO   THE   HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE 
Holy  Spirit !  pity  me 
How  are  Thy  servants  blest,  O  Lord    . 
How  beauteous  are  their  feet 
How  blessed,  from  the  bonds  of  sin 

How  blest  is  he  who  ne'er  consents     . 
How  bright  these  glorious  spirits  shine 
How  can  a  sinner  know 
I  low  do  Thy  mercies  close  me  round   . 
How  dread  the  thought !  shall  I  alone 
How  good  and  pleasant  'tis  to  see 
How  happy  are  they 
How  happy  are  we     .... 
How  happy  every  child  of  grace 
How  happy,  gracious  Lord,  are  we 
How  happy  is  the  pilgrim's  lot    . 
How  large  the  promise,  how  divine 
How  lovely  are  Thy  tents,  O  Lord 
How  many  pass  the  guilty  night 
How  pleasant,  how  divinely  fair 
How  sad  our  state  by  nature  is    . 
How  shall  a  sinner  find 
How  sweet  the  name  of  Jesus  sounds  . 
How  weak  the  thoughts,  and  vain 
Hushed  was  the  evening  hymn    . 


AUTHOR 


NO. 


W,  M.  Bunting    249 


Addison  . 

Dr.  Watts 

Spitta,  trans,  by  Miss 
BortJnvick 

Tate  and  Brady 
.    Dr.  Watts,  altered 

C.  Weslev 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 

Dr.  Watts 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 

Dr.  Watts 

Dr.  Watts 

C.  Wesley 
J.  Newton 

C.  Wesley 

/.  D.  Burns    . 


I  am  trusting  Thee,  Lord  Jesus  .  .  Miss  F.  R.  Havergal 
I  bring  my  sins  to  Thee  .  .  .  Miss  F.  R.  Havergal 
I  could  not  do  without  Thee  .  .  Miss  F.  R.  Havergal 
I  dared  not  hope  that  Thou  wouldst  deign  to  come  Dr.  E.  Hatch. 
I  do  not  ask,  O  Lord,  that  life  may  be  .  Miss  Procter  . 

I  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say       .          .          .         Dr.  Bonar 
I  hoped  that  with  the  brave  and  strong         .     Miss  Anne  Bronte 
I  know  in  Thee  all  fulness  dwells          .          .          C.  Wesley 
I  know  that  my  Redeemer  lives  .         .         C.  Wesley 

I  lay  my  sins  on  Jesus          ....         Dr.  Bonar 
I  lift  my  heart  to  Thee        .          .          .          .          C.  E.  Mudie    . 
I  love  to  hear  the  story        ....         Mrs.  Miller     . 
I  need  Thee  every  hour       ....         Mrs.  Hawks    . 
I  seek  the  kingdom  first  C.  Wesley 

I  sing  the  almighty  power  of  God         .          .         Dr.  Watts 
I  the  good  fight  have  fought         .          .          .          C.  Wesley 
I  think,  when  I  read  that  sweet  story  of  old  .         Mrs.  L^^ke 
I  thirst,  Thou  wounded  Lamb  of  God  German,  trans,  byj.  Wesley 
I  want  a  principle  within  C.  Wesley 

I  want  the  Spirit  of  power  within          .          .          C.  Wesley 
I  will  hearken  what  the  Lord  C.  Wesley 

I  will  not  let  Thee  go,  Thou  Help  in  time  of  need  Desslery 

trans,  by  Miss  Winkworth 

I'll  praise  my  Maker  while  I've  breath.         .         Dr.  Watts 
I'm  but  a  stranger  here        .          .          .          .          T.  R.  Taylor  . 
I'm  not  ashamed  to  own  my  Lord         .          .         Dr.  Watts 
Immortal  Love,  for  ever  full         .         .  /.  G.  Whit  tier 


963 
754 

607 

298 
808 

359 
912 

315 

682 

382 
684 
618 
601 
612 
719 
651 
935 
649 
269 
320 
109 

847 
876 

403 
402 

405 
626 

494 
36i 
816 

3ii 

544 
88 1 

431 
867 
456 
408 
874 
631 
866 
419 

443 
250 

341 

491 

59 
632 

460 
118 


INDEX   TO   THE   HYMNS 


509 


FIRST  LINE 

In  age  and  feebleness  extreme 
In  all  my  vast  concerns  with  Thee 
In  every  time  and  place 
In  full  and  glad  surrender  . 
In  heavenly  love  abiding     . 
In  memory  of  the  Saviour's  love. 
In  the  bonds  of  death  He  lay 

In  time  of  tribulation 
Infinite  God,  to  Thee  we  raise     . 
Infinite  Power,  eternal  Lord 
Inspirer  of  the  ancient  seers 
Into  Thy  gracious  hands  I  fall 
It  came  upon  the  midnight  clear  . 
I've  found  a  Friend  ;  O  such  a  Trie 


AUTHOR 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 

Miss  F.  J\.  Havergal 
Miss  Waring  . 
T.  Cotterill      . 
Luther,  trans,  by  Miss 
Wink~vortk 
Montgomery 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 

Dessler,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 
.      Dr.  E.  H.  Scars 
nd.          .        /.  G.  Small     . 


Jehovah,  God  the  Father,  bless  C.  Wesley 

Jerusalem  divine         .....£.  Rhodes 
Jerusalem,  my  happy  home  J.  Kronuhead  . 

Jerusalem  on  high      .          .          .          .          .         S.  Grossman    . 
Jerusalem  the  golden  Bernard  of  Cluny,  trans,  by  Dr.  Nettle 

Jesus,  accept  the  praise  C .  Wesley 

Jesus,  all-atoning  Lamb  C.  Wesley 

f  esus  !  and  shall  it  ever  be  ...    Grigg  and  Francis 

Jesu,  at  whose  supreme  command         .          .          C.  Wesley 
Jesu,  be  endless  praise  to  Thee      Zinzendorf,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 


Jesus  calls  us  :  o'er  the  tumult 

Jesus  comes  with  all  His  grace    . 

Jesu,  Friend  of  sinners,  hear 

Jesus,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow 

Jesus,  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep 

[esus  hath  died  that  I  might  live 

Jesus,  high  in  glory    . 

Jesus,  I  believe  Thee  near  . 

Jesus,  I  fain  would  find 

fesus,  I  humbly  seek 

fesus,  I  my  cross  have  taken 

Jesus,  if  still  the  same  Thou  art    . 

[esus,  if  still  Thou  art  to-day 

{esus,  in  whom  the  weary  find 

fesus  is  our  common  Lord  . 

Jesus  is  our  Shepherd 

Jesu,  let  Thy  pitying  eye     . 

Jesus  lives  ! — thy  terrors  now 

Jesus,  Lord,  we  look  to  Thee 

Jesu,  Lover  of  my  soul 

Jesu,  my  God  and  King 

Jesus,  my  Life  !  Thyself  apply     . 

Jesus,  my  Lord,  mighty  to  save    . 

Jesus,  my  Saviour,  Brother,  Friend 

Jesus  my  Shepherd  my  want  shall  supply 

Jesus,  my  strength,  my  hope 

Jesu,  my  Truth,  my  Way    . 


Jl/rs.  Alexander 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 

Sabbath  School  Harmonist ' 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
H.  P.  Lyte       . 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
H.  Stmuell 
C.  Wesley 

Geliert,  trans,  by  Miss  Cox 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.   Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Judge  Waddy   . 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 


NO. 
821 

*5° 
617 

569 
409 

733 

173 

478 

30 
5i8 
258 
524 
132 
380 

35 
103 
853 
855 
852 

793 
565 
461 
726 
771 
286 
116 

334 
700 

693 
558 
870 
339 
5»9 
266 

495 
310 
142 

333 
685 
868 
322 

175 
710 
106 

211 

533 
437 
445 
395 
503 
411 


INDEX   TO   THE   HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE 

Jesus  !  Redeemer,  Saviour,  Lord 
Jesu,  shall  I  never  be 
Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Jesu,  Shepherd  of  the  sheep 
Jesus,  soft,  harmonious  name 
Jesus,  still  lead  on 
Jesus,  tender  Shepherd,  hear  me  . 
Jesus,  the  all-restoring  Word 
Jesus,  the  Conqueror,  reigns 
Jesus,  the  First  and  Last     . 
Jesus,  the  gift  divine  I  know 
Jesus  the  good  Shepherd  is 
Jesus  !  the  name  high  over  all 
Jesus,  the  needy  sinner's  Friend   . 
Jesus,  the  sinner's  Friend,  to  Thee 
Jesu,  the  very  thought  of  Thee     . 

Jesus,  the  word  bestow 
Jesus,  the  word  of  mercy  give 
Jesus,  Thee  Thy  works  proclaim 
Jesus,  Thou  all-redeeming  Lord  . 
Jesus,  Thou  art  our  King    . 
Jesus,  Thou  everlasting  King 
Jesu,  Thou  Joy  of  loving  hearts  . 

Jesus,  Thou  soul  of  all  our  joys  . 
Jesus,  Thou  sovereign  Lord  of  all 
Jesu,  Thy  blood  and  righteousness 


Jesu,  Thy  boundless  love  to  me 
Jesus,  Thy  far-extended  fame 
Jesus,  Thy  servants  bless     . 
Jesus,  Thy  wandering  sheep  behold 
Jesus,  to  Thee  I  now  can  fly 
Jesu,  to  Thee  our  hearts  we  lift    . 
Jesus,  to  Thee  we  fly; . 
Jesus,  united  by  Thy  grace  . 
Jesus,  we  look  to  Thee 
Jesus,  we  on  the  word  depend 
Jesus,  when  He  left  the  sky 
Jesus,  where'er  Thy  people  meet  . 
Jesus,  who  calledst  little  ones  to  Thee 
Jesu,  whose  glory's  streaming  rays 
Jesus,  with  Thy  church  abide 
Join  all  the  glorious  names 
Join,  all  ye  ransomed  sons  of  grace 
Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea     . 


AUTHOR 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 

Zinzendorf,  trans,  by  E.  Pope 
Mrs.  Duncan  . 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.   Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 

.          C.  Wesley         . 
C.  Wesley         . 

Bernard  of  Clairvaitx,  trans, 
by  E.  Caswall 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Waits 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux, 
trans,  by  Dr.  Ray  Palmer 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 

Zinzendorf,  trans,  by 
J.  Wesley 

Ger/tam'f,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Airs.  Rumsey  . 
Cowper  . 
C.  C.  Bell 

Dessler,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 
T.  B.  Pollock  . 
Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 
Miss  C.  Elliott 


Lamb  of  God,  I  look  to  Thee  C.  Wesley 

Lamb  of  God,  whose  dying  love            .          .  C.  Wesley 

Lead,  kindly  Light,  amid  the  encircling  gloom  Dr.J.  H.  Newman 

Lead  me  not  into  temptation  C.  Wesley 

Lead  us,  heavenly  Father,  lead  us        .         ,  J.  Edmeston    . 


NO. 
352 
570 
767 

517 
695 
622 
885 
5i6 
439 

121 

590 

394 
98 

759 
307 

no 

222 
596 
141 
28l 
214 
IO4 

III 

656 


3/0 
414 
140 
755 
753 
393 
706 
191 
690 
789 
230 
865 

703 

878 

521 
718 
101 
936 
317 

880 

73i 
624 

452 
625 


INDEX   TO  THE   HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE 

Leader  of  faithful  souls,  and  Guide 
Leave  God  to  order  all  thy  ways 


I^et  all  men  rejoice,  by  Jesus  restored  . 

Let  all  that  breathe  Jehovah  praise 

Let  all  who  truly  bear         . 

Let  earth  and  heaven  agree 

I,et  earth  and  heaven  combine 

Let  everlasting  glories  crown 

Let  God,  who  comforts  the  distressed  . 

Let  Him  to  whom  we  now  belong 

Let  not  the  wise  his  wisdom  boast 

Let  the  world  their  virtue  boast  . 

Let  us  join — 'tis  God  commands  . 

Let  us  with  a  gladsome  mind . 

Let  Zion  in  her  King  rejoice 

Lift  up  your  hearts  to  things  above 

Lift  your  eyes  of  faith,  and  see 

Light  of  life,  seraphic  Fire  . 

Light  of  the  lonely  pilgrim's  heart 

Light  of  the  world,  faint  were  our  weary  feet 

Light  of  the  world,  Thy  beams  I  bless 
Light  of  those  whose  dreary  dwelling 


AUTHOR  NO. 

C.  Wesley  .  610 
Neumark,  trans,  by  Miss 

Winku'orth  406 

C.  Hl-sley  .  297 

C.  Wesley  .  73 

C.   Wesley  .  732 

C.  Wesley  .  99 

C.   Wesley  .  133 

Dr.  Watts  .  30x5 

C.   Wesley  .  715 

C.   Wesley  .  593 

C.   Wesley  .  392 

C.   Wesley  .  323 

C.   Wesley  .  742 


Milton  and  others    2.  i 


Dr.  Watts 
C.   Wesley 
C.   Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Sir  £.  Denny  . 
Mrs.  Ormiston 
Chant 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 


Lo  !  God  is  here  !  let  us  adore    .    Terstetgen,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 


Lo  !  He  comes  with  clouds  descending 

Lo  !  I  come  with  joy  to  do 

Long  have  I  sat  beneath  the  sound 

Look  from  Thy  sphere  of  endless  day  . 

Lord,  dismiss  us  with  Thy  blessing,  Hid 

Lord,  dismiss  us  with  Thy  blessing,  Fill 

Lord,  from  this  time  we  cry  to  Thee 

Lord  God,  by  whom  all  change  is  wrought 

Lord  grant  us,  like  the  watching  five    . 

Lord,  her  watch  Thy  church  is  keeping 

Lord,  I  believe  a  rest  remains 

Lord,  I  despair  myself  to  heal 

Lord,  I  hear  of  showers  of  blessing 

Lord,  if  at  Thy  command    . 

Lord,  in  the  fulness  of  my  might 

Lord,  in  the  strength  of  grace 

Lord,  it  belongs  not  to  my  care  . 

Lord  !  it  is  good  for  us  to  be 

Lord  of  all  being,  throned  afar     . 

Lord  of  all,  with  pure  intent 

Lord  of  our  life,  and  God  of  our  salvation 

Lord  of  power,  Lord  of  might     . 

Lord  of  the  harvest,  hear    . 

Lord  of  the  living  harvest   . 

Lord  of  the  wide,  extensive  main 

Lord  of  the  w  orlds  above    . 

Lord,  speak  to  me,  that  I  may  speak   . 


C.   Wesley 

C.   Wesley 

Dr.   Watts 

W.  C.  Bryant . 

Dr.  Ifawker     . 

Dr.  Fawcftt     . 

C.  L.  ford       . 

T.  H.  Gill  . 
Dr.  T.  B.  Stephenson 
.  //.  Downton  . 

C.  Wesley 

C.   Wesley 
.         Mrs.  Codner    . 

C.   Wesley 

T.  H.  Gill       . 

C.  Wesley 

J\.  Baxter 

Dean  Stanley   . 
.   Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes 

C.  Wesley 

.     Lou'ensternt  trans, 
by  P.  Piisey 

Dr.  Thring      . 

C.  Wesley 
Dr.  /.  S.  B.  Monsell 

C.  IVesIev 

Dr.  Watts 
Miss  F.  R.  Ifavergal 


669 

795 
849 

550 
203 

627 
464 
199 

653 
200 

587 
304 
764 
798 
799 
748 
52 
765 
204 

552 
306 

33i 

756 

SS-* 
003 

561 

824 
144 

23 
722 

811 
898 
752 
760 
968 
648 
762 


512 


INDEX   TO   THE   HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE  AUTHOR 

Lord,  teach  us  how  to  pray  aright         ,  .  Montgomery 

Lord,  that  I  may  learn  of  Thee  C.   Wesley 

Lord,  Thou  hast  been  our  dwelling-place  .  T.  //.  Gill 

Lord,  Thy  ransomed  church  is  waking  ,  Miss  Stock 

Lord,  Thy  word  abideth     ....  Sir  H.  W.  Baker 

Lord,  we  believe  to  us  and  ours  C.   Wesley 

Lord,  we  sit  and  cry  to  Thee        .          .  .  Dean  Milman  . 

Lord,  while  for  all  mankind  we  pray    .  .  Dr.  J.  R.  Wreford 

Lord,  who  hast  taught  to  us  on  earth   .  .  R.  Massic 

Lord,  whom  winds  and  seas  obey         .  .  C.  Wesley 

Love  divine,  all  loves  excelling  C,  Wesley 


P.  Bliss 

Miss  F.  R.  Havergal 
/.  Newton 
C.   Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 
J.  E.  Vanner  . 
Dr.  Ray  Palmer 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  F.  W.  Faber 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 


Man  of  sorrows  ! — what  a  name  .         . 

Master,  speak  !  Thy  servant  heareth    . 

May  the  grace  of  Christ  our  Saviour     . 

Meet  and  right  it  is  to  praise 

Meet  and  right  it  is  to  sing 

Mercy  and  judgment  will  I  sing  . 

Morning  comes  with  light  all-cheering 

My  faith  looks  up  to  Thee  . 

My  Father  knows  the  things  I  need 

My  Father,  my  God,  I  long  for  Thy  love 

My  God,  how  wonderful  Thou  art 

My  God,  I  am  Thine 

My  God  !  I  know,  I  feel  Thee  mine     . 

My  God,  I  love  Thee — not  because   Xavier,  trans,  by  E.  Cos-wall 

My  God,  I  thank  Thee,  who  hast  made         .         Miss  Procter    . 

My  God,  if  I  may  call  Thee  mine         .          .          C.  Wesley 

My  God,  my  Father,  while  I  stray        .          .         Miss  C.  Elliott 

My  God,  the  spring  of  all  my  joys        .          .         Dr.  Wafts 

My  heart  and  voice  I  raise  .          .          .          .         B.  Rhodes 

My  heart  is  full  of  Christ,  and  longs     .          .          C.  Wesley 

My  heart  is  resting,  O  my  God    .          .          .         Miss  Waring  . 

My  Saviour  !  how  shall  I  proclaim    Gerhardt,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 

My  Saviour,  mid  life's  varied  scene 

My  Saviour,  Thou  Thy  love  to  me 

My  Shepherd  will  supply  my  need 

My  soul,  inspired  with  sacred  love 

My  soul,  repeat  His  praise 

My  soul,  through  my  Redeemer's  care 

My  spirit  on  Thy  care 


My  sufferings  all  to  Thee  are  known    . 

Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee  . 

None  is  like  Jeshurun's  God 

None  other  Lamb,  none  other  Name    . 

Not  all  the  blood  of  beasts  . 

Not  from  a  stock  of  ours  but  Thine 

Now,  from  this  instant  now,  I  will 

Now  I  have  found  the  ground  wherein 

Now  thank  we  all  our  God 


Miss  Godwin 
Gerhardt,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 
Dr.   Watts 
C.   Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 
H.  F.  Lyte       . 


C.  Wesley 


NO. 
505 

572 
8l3 
780 
268 
236 

147 
976 
578 
966 
426 

169 

763 

797 

18 

ii 

891 

908 

400 

483 
420 

54 
368 

537 
418 

379 
502 

485 
369 

IO2 
2IO 

432 
365 
407 

415 

87 

372 

90 

528 

398 

194 


Mrs.  Adams     .  430 

C.  Wesley         .  676 

Miss  Rossetti    .  520 

Dr.  Watts        .  166 

C.  Wesley         .  758 

C.  Wesley         .  336 
Rothe,  trans,  by 

J.  Wesley  362 
Rinkar(t  trans,  by  Miss 

Winkwortk  19 


INDEX   TO   THE    HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE 
Now  the  day  is  over  . 
Now  the  labourer's  task  is  o'er 
Now  the  year  is  crowned  with  blessing 


AUTHOR 

S.  Baring- Gould 
J.  Ellerton 
.  Ellen  Thorneycroft 
Fowler  (Mrs.  Felkin) 


O  all  that  pass  by,  to  Jesus  draw  near  . 

3  bless  the  Lord,  my  soul  . 

O  Breath  of  God,  breathe  on  us  now    . 

O  come,  all  ye  faithful 
C)  come  and  dwell  in  me 
O  come  and  mourn  with  me  awhile 
O  come,  O  come,  Immanuel          . 
O  come,  ye  sinners,  to  your  Lord 
O  crucified,  triumphant  Lord 
O  day  of  rest  and  gladness  . 
O  disclose  Thy  lovely  face  . 
O  Father  all  creating 
O  filial  Deity  \ 

O  for  a  closer  walk  with  God 
O  for  a  heart  to  praise  my  God    . 
O  for  a  thousand  tongues  to  sing 
O  for  that  tenderness  of  heart 
O  glorious  hope  of  perfect  love     . 
O  God,  how  often  hath  Thine  car 
O  God,  most  merciful  and  true     . 
O  God,  my  God,  my  all  Thou  art 
O  God,  my  hope,  my  heavenly  rest 
O  God,  my  strength  and  fortitude 
O  God  of  all  grace     . 
O  God  of  Bethel,  by  whose  hand 
O  God  of  God,  in  whom  combine 
O  God,  of  good  the  unfathomed  sea 
O  God  of  our  forefathers,  hear 
O  God,  our  help  in  ages  past 
O  God,  the  help  of  all  Thy  saints 
O  God,  the  Rock  of  Ages  . 
O  God,  Thou  bottomless  abyss 
O  God,  to  whom  the  faithful  dead 
O  God,  what  offering  shall  I  give 
O  God,  who  holdest  in  Thy  hand 


C.  Wesley 
Dr.   Watts 
A.  H.  Vim-      . 
.    Latin,  trans,  by  Oakcley 

C.  Wesley 

.      Dr.  P.  W.  Faber 
Latin,  trans,  by  Dr.  Neale 
C.  Wesley 
W.  M.  Hunting 
Bp.  Wordsworth. 
C.    Wesley 
J.  Ellerton 
C.   Wesley 
Caivper   . 
C.  Wesley 
C.   Wesley 
C.   Wesley 
C.   Wesley 
W.  M.  J  hinting 
C.   Wesley 

Spanish,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
T.  Sternhold    , 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.   Dodd>-idge 
German,  trans,  by  /.  Wesley 
Sc heftier,  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Watts 
E.  Osier . 
Bp.  Bifkerstetli 
E.  Lange,  trans,  byj.  Wesley 

J.  Conder 

J.  Lange,  trans,  byj.  Wesley 
T.  G.  Crippen  . 
Dr.  D  odd  ridge. 


O  happy  day  that  fixed  my  choice 

O  happy  home,  where  Thou  art  loved  the  dearest  Spiita, 

trans,  by  Mrs.  Findlater 
O  heavenly  King,  look  doVn  from  above      .          C    Wesley 

3  help  us,  Lord  !  each  hour  of  need     .          .         Dean  Milman. 

J  how  blest  the  hour,  Lord  Jesus 
O  it  is  hard  to  work  for  God 
O  Jesu,  Source  of  calm  repose 


O  Jesus,  at  Thy  feet  we  wait 
O  Jesus,  I  have  promised    . 
O  Jesus,  let  me  bless  Thy  name 
O  Jesus,  let  Thy  dying  cry 


Spitta,  trans,  bv  R.  Massie 
.      Dr.  F.  W.  Faber 
Freylinghausen,  trans,  by 
/.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
John  E.  Bode  . 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 

2  I, 


513 

NO. 
884 
836 

945 

272 

89 

243 

123 

538 
162 
197 
276 
721 
640 

5'5 
961 

"5 
343 
529 

r 

313 

553 
746 

539 
429 
512 

14 
64 

95 
63 

36 
701 
812 
671 

8i5 
38 
804 
564 
977 
747 

899 

12 
148 
265 
458 

571 
546 
412 
319 
530 


5^4  INDEX   TO   THE    HYMNS 

FIRST   LINE                                                                   AUTHOR  NO. 

O  Jesus,  Lord  of  heavenly  grace  .         .  St.  Ambrose,  trans. 

byj.  Chandler  903 

O  Jesus,  my  hope       .....          C".  Wesley         .  519 

O  Jesus,  Thou  art  standing          .          .         .         Bp.  Hmo          .  288 

O  joyful  sound  of  gospel  grace                                   C.  Wesley         .  554 

O  King  of  kings,  O  Lord  of  hosts         .          .   Dr.  Henry  Btirton  975 

O  King  of  mercy,  from  Thy  throne  on  high  .          T.  R.  Birks     .  623 

O  let  the  prisoners'  mournful  cries         .          .          C.  Wesley         .  777 

O  little  town  of  Bethlehem.          .          .          .         Bp.  P.  Brooks.  864 

O  Lord  and  Master  of  us  all         .         .         .        /.  G.  Whittier.  119 

O  Lord,  be  with  us  when  we  sail           .          .         E.  A.  Dayman  970 

O  Lord,  how  good,  how  great  art  Thou        .         H.  F.  Lyte      .  58 

O  Lord,  how  happy  should  we  be                   .         f.  Anstice         .  508 

O  Lord  of  all,  we  bring  to  Thee  .          .          .         Mrs.  Armitage.  886 

O  Lord  of  heaven,  and  earth,  and  sea  .          .        Bp.  Wordsworth  948 

O  Lord  of  hosts,  the  fight  is  long           .          .         Mrs.  Armitage.  958 

O  Lord  of  hosts,  whose  glory  fills         .          .         Dr.  Neale         .  659 

O  Lord,  turn  not  Thy  face  away           Bp.  Heber,from  Marckant  329 
O  Lord,  who  by  Thy  presence  hast  made  light     Spitta,  trans,  by 

R.  Massie  914 

O  Love  divine,  how  sweet  Thou  art     .          .          C.  Wesley         .  416 

O  Love  divine,  that  stooped  to  share    .         .  Dr.  0.  W.  Holmes  497 

O  Love  divine  !  what  hast  Thou  done           .         C.  Wesley         .  160 

O  Love  of  God,  how  strong  and  true    .          .         Dr.  Bonar       .  70 

O  Master,  let  me  walk  with  Thee          .          .          W.  Gladden     .  605 

O  perfect  Love,  all  human  thought  transcending    Mrs.  Gurney    .  962 

O  render  thanks  to  God  above     .          .          .          Tote  and  Brady  20 
O  sacred  Head,  once  wounded    .          .         Bernard  of  Clairvaux 

and  Gerhardtt  trans,  by  Dr.J.  W.  Alexander  163 

O  Saviour,  bless  us  ere  we  go                         .       Dr.  F.  W.  Faber  643 

C)  Saviour,  whom  this  holy  morn           .          .         Bp,  Heber        .  125 

O  Sun  of  Righteousness,  arise                                    C.  Wesley  (?)    .  522 

O  that  I  could,  in  every  place                                     C.  Wesley         .  457 

O  that  I  could  my  Lord  receive                                 C.  Wesley         .  559 

O  that  I  could  repent                                                   C.  Wesley         .  314 

O  that  I,  first  of  love  possessed                                 C.  Wesley         .  324 

O  that  my  load  of  sin  were  gone                                 C.  Wesley         .  545 

O  that  the  Lord's  salvation           .         .         .         H.  F.  Lyte       .  779 

O  the  bitter  shame  and  sorrow                                   T.  Monod        .  568 

O  Thou  before  whose  presence    .         .         .         S.J.  Stone       .  955 

O  Thou  eternal  Victim,  slain                                   C.  Wesley         .  190 

O  Thou  God  who  hearest  prayer .          .          .  Dr.  B.  H.  Kennedy  940 

O  Thou,  our  Husband,  Brother,  Friend        .          C.  Wesley         .  708 

O  Thou  through  suffering  perfect  made         .         Bp.  How          .  952 
O  Thou  to  whose  all-searching  sight     .       Zinzendorf,    trans,    by 

/.   Wesley      .  476 

O  Thou  who  art  of  all  that  is                .          .         F.  L.  Hostner  .  413 

O  Thou  who  earnest  from  above                                C.  Wesley         .  588 

O  Thou  who  wouldst  not  have                                  C.   Wesley         .  841 

O  Thou,  whom  once  they  flocked  to  hear     .          C.  Wesley         .  143 
O  Thou  whose  chosen  place  of  birth    .          .    W.  S.  Peterson  and 

Mrs.    Armitage  954 

O  Thou  whose  hand  hath  brought  us  .         .         F.  W.  Goadby.  665 


INDEX  TO  THE  HYMNS                                  gjg 

FIRST  LINE 

O  timely  happy,  timely  wise  tjEK 

O  'tis  enough,  my  God,  my  God  V    w'r' 

O  what  hath  Jesus  bought  for  me  '     jg° 
O  what  shall  I  do  my  Saviour  to  praise 

3  wondrous  power  of  faithful  prayer    .  c   Wes/ev 

O  Word  of  God  incarnate  .  P'    „„>         '     5™ 

O  worship  the  King,  all  glorious  above  .'         Sir  R   Grant  '         \ 

Oft  I  m  my  heart  have  said          •         .  .         C.  Wesley              - 

Omnipotent  Redeemer        !°U'  £'  ^"^         '     43(J 

Omnipresent  God  !  whose  aid  r    its  P ' 

On  all  the  earth  Thy  Spirit  shower       '  Altered  from  Dr IL  More    & 

On  Thee,  O  God  of  purity.  r    7fc/  ,' 

On  wings  of  living  light      .  K*ff*         '     6$4 

Once  in  royal  David't  city.  $L%L       ,'     II7 

Once  more  the  sun  is  beaming  bright   .'  Art%&££%    ** 

One  there  is  above  all  others  Af/r'  ^handl<:r    9<>2 

One  thing  with  all  my  soul's  desire  iSZLf?             '       7? 

Onward,  brothers,  onward  UnlnT>J     '     39<5 

Onward  !  Christian  soldiers  SJB*S!?r.    />    957 

Open,  Lord,  my  inward  ear         .  C    w{e\               4AS 

Our  blest  Redeemer,  ere  He  breathed  .         Miss  Aubcr      '     2? 

Our  day  of  praise  is  done    .          .  /  FI/"  ,,       '     *** 

Our  Father,  at  Thy  feet  we  bow.  MhRrlifU        4 

Our  friendship  sanctify  and  guide  Cwjf          ?& 

Our  Lord  is  risen  from  the  dead  .  £'  wtxlZ 

Out  of  the  depth  of  self-despair   .  C'  Westi         '     II* 

Out  of  the  depths  I  cry  to  f bee:         .  Lul^trT^by  Mis's    3* 

Winkworth     514 

Partners  of  a  glorious  hope           .          .  c    Weslev 

Peace,  doubting  heart !  my  God's  I  am  .          c    Weslev 

Peace,  perfect  peace,  in  this  dark  world  of  ,in         /,>.  Bickerstet'k     £L 

Pierce,  fill  me  with  a  humble  fear  CwSZ            4  i 

Pleasant  are  Thy  courts  above     .  />  p   /?,        '     j*6 

Plunged  in  a  gulf  of  dark  despair  D'r    ivi, 

Praise,  Lord,  for  Thee  in  Zion  waits  .  //.  >.  /,,/,, 

Praise,  my  soul,  the  King  of  heaven     .  .         H.F.Lvte               i 

Praise,  O  praise  our  God  and  King      .  Sir  H  W  Roto* 

Praise  the  Lord  !  who  reigns  above  C    We  iJ             93r 

Praise  the  Lord  !  ye  heavens,  adore  Him  Anon  ci^i  ' 

Fraase  to  our  God,  whose  bounteous  hand  .          /  EUerton            o^ 

Praise  to  the  Holiest  in  the  height  Dr  f  H  NrL ,a»     9l* 

Praise  ye  the  Lord  !  'tis  good  to  raise  .  Dr   Wa™              A 

Pray,  without  ceasing,  pray           .  C   'ry,,,.., 

Prayer  is  the  soul's  sincere  desire          .  .         Monkery     '.     ^ 

Quickened  with  our  immortal  Head     .  .          c.  Wesley 

Raise  the  psalm  :  let  earth  adoring  Archd  Ckurinn 
Rejoice  and  be  glad  !  the  Redeemer  hath  come    Dr.  Bonar       .     384 


INDEX   TO   THE   HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE 

Rejoice  for  a  brother  deceased     . 
Rejoice,  the  Lord  is  King   .         . 
Riches  unsearchable  . 
Ride  on  !  ride  on  in  majesty 
Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me  (3  verses) 
Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me  (4  verses) 


AUTHOR 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Dean  Mil-man. 
Toplady,  altered  by  Cotterill 
Toplady  . 


Safe  home,  safe  home  in  port 


Safely,  safely  gathered  in    . 

Safely  through  another  week 

Salvation  !  O  the  joyful  sound     .          .          . 

Save  me,  O  God  ;  for  Thou  alone 

Saviour,  again  to  Thy  dear  name  we  raise     . 

Saviour,  blessed  Saviour     .... 

Saviour,  breathe  an  evening  blessing    . 

Saviour,  cast  a  pitying  eye,          .          .          . 

Saviour  from  sin,  I  wait  to  prove 

Saviour  of  all,  to  Thee  we  bow  . 

Saviour  of  all,  what  hast  Thou  done     . 

Saviour,  Prince  of  Israel's  race    . 

Saviour,  sprinkle  many  nations  . 

Saviour,  we  know  Thou  art          ... 

Saviour,  when  in  dust  to  Thee     . 

Saviour,  while  my  heart  is  tender 

See  how  great  a  flame  aspires 

See  Israel's  gentle  Shepherd  stand 

See,  Jesu,  Thy  disciples  see 

See  the  Conqueror  mounts  in  triumph  . 

Servant  of  all,  to  toil  for  man 

Shall  I,  for  fear  of  feeble  man      .       Wincklet 

Shepherd  divine,  our  wants  relieve       .          . 

Shepherd  of  souls,  with  pitying  eye      .         . 

Shine  Thou  upon  us,  Lord 

Show  pity,  Lord  ;  O  Lord,  forgive 

Shrinking  from  the  cold  hand  of  death 

Since  all  the  downward  tracks  of  time 

Since  the  Son  hath  made  me  free 

Sing  praise  to  God  who  reigns  above 

Sing  to  the  great  Jehovah's  praise 

Sing  we  to  our  conquering  Lord 

Sinners,  lift  up  your  hearts 

Sinners,  obey  the  gospel  word 

Sinners,  turn  ;  why  will  ye  die     . 

Sinners,  your  hearts  lift  up 

Soldiers  of  Christ,  arise 

Sometimes  a  light  surprises 

Son  of  God,  if  Thy  free  grace 

Sovereign  of  all  the  worlds  on  high 

Sow  in  the  morn  thy  seed  . 

Speed  Thy  servants,  Saviour,  speed  them 

Spirit  blest,  who  art  adored 

Spirit  divine  !  attend  our  prayers 


Joseph  of  the  Stitdium,  trans,  by 
Dr.  Neale 

,         .         .         Mrs.  Dobree 

/.  Newton 
Dr.    Watts,  in  part 
Dr.  B.  H.  Kennedy 
J.  Ellerton 
Dr.  Thring     . 
J.  Edmeston 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Bp.  Coxe 
C.   Wesley 
Sir  R.  Grant   . 
J.  Burton 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Doddridge 
C.   Wesley 
Bp.  Wordsworth 

C.  Wesley 

;  trans,  by  J.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
/.  Ellerton 
'Dr.  Watts 
C.  Wesley 
/.  Hei-vey 
C.  Wesley 

Schiitz,  trans,  by  Miss  Cox 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
C.  Wesley 
Cowper   . 
C.  Wesley 
Dr.  Doddridge 
Montgomery 
T.  Kelly    '       . 
Pollock  and  others 
Dr.  A.  Reed    . 


213 
296 
154 

1 68 

401 


835 
834 
929 

220 
428 
644 
621 
927 
318 

543 
744 
470 

309 
768 
224 

157 
882 
218 
720 
790 
187 
584 
459 
699 
282 
761 
327 
823 
489 
547 
383 
93i 
215 
240 

275 
274 
285 
433 
479 
344 
247 
225 
784 
253 
254 


INDEX   TO   THE    HYMNS 


517 


FIRST   LINE 

Spirit  of  faith,  come  down  . 
Spirit  of  truth,  essential  God 
Spirit  of  truth  !  on  this  Thy  day  . 
Spirit  of  wisdom,  turn  our  eyes     . 
Spread,  O  spread,  thou  mighty  word 

Stand,  soldier  of  the  cross  . 
Stand  up  !  stand  up  for  Jesus 
Stay,  Thou  insulted  Spirit,  stay  . 
Stupendous  height  of  heavenly  love 
Stupendous  love  of  God  most  High 
Summer  suns  are  glowing    . 
Summoned  my  labour  to  renew    . 
Sun  of  my  soul,  Thou  Saviour  dear 
Sunset  and  evening  star 
Surrounded  by  a  host  of  foes 
Sweet  is  the  memory  of  Thy  grace 
Sweet  is  the  sunlight  after  rain     . 
Sweet  is  the  work,  my  God,  my  King 
Sweet  place  ;  sweet  place  alone   . 

Take  my  life,  and  let  it  be  . 

Talk  with  us,  Lord,  Thyself  reveal 

Tell  it  out  among  the  heathen 

Tell  me  the  old,  old  story   . 

Ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 

The  Church's  one  foundation 

The  day  is  past  and  over     .          .    Aru 

The  day  of  resurrection     John  of  Dan 

The  day  of  wrath,  that  dreadful  day 

The  day  Thou  gavcst,  Lord,  is  ended 

The  earth  with  all  her  fulness  owns 

The  foe  behind,  the  deep  before 

The  God  of  Abraham  praise 

The  God  of  love,  to  earth  lie  came 

The  God  who  reigns  on  high 

The  golden  gates  are  lilted  up 

The  grace  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Son 

The  head  that  once  was  crowned  with  thorns 

The  heathen  perish  ;  day  by  day 

The  heavens  declare  Thy  glory,  Lord    . 

The  King  of  love  my  Shepherd  is 

The  Lord,  how  wondrous  are  His  ways 

The  Lord  is  King,  and  earth  submits    . 

The  Lord's  my  Shepherd,  I'll  not  want 

The  Lord  Jehovah  reigns     .          .          . 

The  Lord  of  earth  and  sky  . 

The  Lord  of  Sabbath  let  us  praise 

The  morning  flowers  display  their  sweets 

The  name  we  still  acknowledge  . 

The  night  is  come,  wherein  at  last  we  rest 

The  old  year's  long  campaign  is  o'er     . 


AUTHOR 

NO. 

C.  Weslev 

346 

C.  Wesley 

261 

Bp.  Heber 

242 

Henry  A.  A'aws  (?) 

251 

Bahnmaier,  trans,  bv 

Miss  Winkworth 

783 

Bp.  Jiickerstclk 

725 

Dr.  G.  Duffield 

462 

C.  ll'es/ev 

335 

C.  Wesley 

137 

C.  ll'i-slcv 

326 

lip.  Jfow 

939 

C.   Weslev 

583 

J.  Keble'. 

910 

Ford  Tennyson 

819 

C.  Wesley 

434 

Dr.   Wat  is 

80 

Dr.  Pnnshon 

641 

Dr.    Watts 

636 

6'.  Grossman    . 

854 

.Ifiss  F.  K.  Havergal 

566 

C.  Wesley 

422 

Miss  F.  A'.  Havergal 

782 

Jfiss  Hanky   . 

150 

Dean  A  If  or  J    . 

859 

S.J.  Stone 

679 

'.s,  trans,  by  Dr.  Neale 

915 

•s,  trans,  by  Dr.  Areale 

178 

Sir  W.  Scott     . 

845 

/.  Ellerton 

645 

'C.  Wesley 

76 

Dr.  Neale 

180 

T.  Olivers 

374 

C.  Wesley 

349 

T.  Olivers 

370 

M^rs.  Alexander 

182 

C.   Wesley 

796 

ns         T.  Kelly 

209 

Montgomery 

769 

Dr.  Watts 

774 

.      Sir  H.  W.  Baker 

72 

Dr.  Watts 

C.   Wesley 

438 

Scotch  Version 

86 

Dr.  Watts 

41 

C.  Wesley 

932 

S.  Wesley,  Jun. 

635 

S.  Weslev,  Jim. 

822 

C.  Wesley 

3«7 

P.  Herbert,  trans,  by 

Miss  Winkworth 

925 

S.  J.  Stone 

934 

5*8 


INDEX   TO   THE   HYMNS 


FIRST  LINE  AUTHOR 

The  praying  Spirit  breathe  C.  Wesley         , 

The  promise  of  My  Father's  love          .  .  Dr.  Watts 

The  radiant  morn  hath  passed  away      .  .  Dr.  Thring 

The  roseate  hues  of  early  dawn    .          .  .  Mrs.  Alexander 

The  saints  of  God  !  their  conflict  past   .  .  Archp.  Maclagan 

The  sands  of  time  are  sinking       .          .  .  Mrs.  Cousin     . 

The  Saviour,  when  to  heaven  He  rose  .  .  Dr.  Doddridge 

The  shadows  of  the  evening  hours         .  .  Miss  Procter    . 

The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war         .  .  Bp.  Heber 

The  sower  went  forth  sowing        .          .  .  W.  St.  H.  Bourne 

The  spacious  firmament  on  high  .          .  .  Addison  . 

The  Spirit  breathes  upon  the  word        .  .  Cowper   . 

The  strain  upraise  of  joy  and  praise       .  .  Notkcr,  trans,  by 

Dr.  Neale 

The  thing  my  God  doth  hate  C.  Wesley 

The  voice  that  breathed  o'er  Eden         .  .  J.  Keble  . 

The  voice  that  speaks  Jehovah  near       .  .  C.  Wesley 

Thee,  Jesus,  full  of  truth  and  grace       .  .  C.  Wesley 

Thee,  Jesus,  Thee,  the  sinner's  Friend  .  C.   Wesley 

Thee  we  adore,  eternal  Name      .          .  .  Dr.  Watts 

Thee  will  I  love,  my  strength,  my  tower  .  Scheffler,  trans, 

l>yj.  Wesley 

Thee  will  I  praise  with  all  my  heart      .  .  C.  Wesley 

Their  earthly  task  who  fail  to  do           .  .  C.  Wesley 

There  is  a  better  world,  they  say           .  .  Dr.  Lyth 

There  is  a  book  who  runs  may  read      .  .  /.  Keble  . 

There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood     .  .  Cowper    . 

There's  a  Friend  for  little  children         .  .  A.  Midlane 

There's  a  glorious  work  before  us          .  .  Charles  Garrett 

There  is  a  green  hill  far  away       .          .  .  Mrs.  Alexander 

There  is  a  land  of  pure  delight     .          .  .  Dr.  Watts 

There  is  no  sorrow,  Lord,  too  light       .  .  Mrs.  Crewdson 

There  were  ninety  and  nine  that  safely  lay  .  Miss  Clephane. 

These  things  shall  be  !  a  loftier  race      .  .  /.  A.  Symonds 

Thine  arm,  O  Lord,  in  days  of  old        .  .  Dean  Plumptre 
Thine,  Lord,  is  wisdom,  Thine  alone  E,  Lange,  trans,  byj.  Wesley 


This  is  the  day  of  light 

This  is  the  field,  the  world  below 

This  stone  to  Thee  in  faith  we  lay 

This,  this  is  the  God  we  adore     . 

Thou  art  gone  up  on  high  . 

Thou  art  the  Way  ;  by  Thee  alone 

Thou  didst  leave  Thy  throne        . 

Thou  doest  all  things  well  . 

Thou  God  of  glorious  majesty 

Thou  God  of  truth  and  love 

Thou  gracious  God,  whose  mercy  lends 

Thou  great  mysterious  God  unknown  . 

Thou  great  Redeemer,  dying  Lamb 

Thou  hidden  love  of  God,  whose  height 

Thou  hidden  Source  of  calm  repose 
Thou,  Jesu,  Thou  my  breast  inspire 


/.  Ellerton 

/.  Hinchsliffe   . 

Montgomery     . 
J.  Hart  . 

Mrs.  Toke 

Bp.  Doane 
.  Miss  E.  E.  S.  Elliott 

W.  M.  Bunting 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 
.  Dr.  O.  W.  Holmes 

C.  Wesley 

J.  Cennick 
.  Tersteegen,  trans,  by 
J.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 

C.  Wesley 


NO. 
500 
728 
921 
919 
809 
633 
750 
920 
806 
943' 
75 
262 

27 
527 
960 

5i3 
469 

353 
814 

421 

88 

604 

889 

85 
332 
871 

959 
869 
850 

195 
149 
980 
953 
39 
639 
843 
660 

3S9 
183 
U3 
138 
487 
842 
692 
897 

3°3 
100 

531 
107 

595 


INDEX   TO   THE    HYMNS  519 

FIRST   LINE                                                                   AUTHOR  NO. 

Thou  Judge  of  quick  and  dead                                  C.  Wesley         .  840 

Thou  knowest,  Lord,  the  weariness  and  sorrow      Miss  Borthivick  490 
Thou  Lamb  of  God,  Thou  Prince  of  Peace     C.  F.  Richter,  trans. 

byj.  Wesley  475 

Thou,  Lord,  art  a  shield  for  me   .          .          .          C.  Wesley         .  905 

Thou,  Lord,  hast  blessed  my  going  out          .          C.  Wesley         .  965 

Thou,  Lord,  on  whom  I  still  depend     .          .          C.  Wesley         .  825 

Thou,  my  God,  art  good  and  wise         .          .          C,  Wesley         .  5^ 

Thou  Shepherd  of  Israel,  and  mine       .          .          C.  Wesley         .  423 

Thou  Son  of  God,  whose  flaming  eye- .          .          C.  Wesley         .  302 

Thou  to  whom  the  sick  and  dying         .          .         Dr.  Thring     .  950 

Thou  very  Paschal  Lamb    ....          (7.  Wesley         .  167 

Thou  very  present  Aid                                                C.  Wesley         .  496 

Thou  who  art  enthroned  above                                  G.  Sandys        .  907 

Thou  whose  almighty  word           ..._/.  Marriott       .  778 

Though  nature's  strength  decay                                   T.  Olivers         .  375 

Through  all  the  changing  scenes  uf  life           .          Tate  and  Brady  1 7 

Through  the  day  Thy  love  hath  spared  us      .          T.  Kelly.          .  917 
Through  the  night  of  doubt  and  sorrow          .In^emann,  trans,  by 

S.  Baring-Gould  628 

Thy  ceaseless,  unexhausted  love                                  C.   Wesley         .  67 

Thy  faithfulness,  Lord,  each  moment  we  find         C.  Wesley         •  273 

Thy  life  was  given  for  me    .          .          .          .  Mils  F.  A' .  Havergal  330 
Thy  way,  not  mine,  O  Lord          .          .          .          Dr.  Bonar       .^,  484 

'Tis  finished !  the  Messiah  dies                                  C.  Wesley         .  165 

To  God,  the  only  \Vise        ....          Dr.   Watts        .  6lO 

To  the  haven  of  Thy  breast                                          C.  Wesley          .  468 

To  the  hills  I  lift  mine  eyes                                            C.   ll'esley          .  399 

To  Thee,  O  Lord,  our  hearts  we  raise  .          .           //".  C.  Dix       .  944 

To  Thee  our  God  we  fly     ....         Bp.  How          .  978 

To  us  a  child  of  royal  birth                                           C.  Wesley         .  126 

To-day,  while  it  is  called  to-day                                C.  Wesley         .  290 

Try  us,  O  God,  and  search  the  ground           .          C.  Wesley         .  694 

Unchangeable,  almighty  Lord                                   C.  Wesley         .  711 

Us,  who  climb  Thy 'holy  hill        ...          (7.  Waley         .  591 

Victim  divine,  Thy  grace  we  claim       .          .          C.  Wesley         .  727 

Was  there  ever  kindest  shepherd          .         .      Dr.  F.  W.  Fabcr  71 

Watched  by  the  world's  malignant  eye           .          C.  Wesley         .  581 

We  come  unto  our  fathers'  God             .          .          T.  II.  Gill       .  96 

We  give  immortal  praise     ....          Dr.  Watts        .  29 

We  give  Thee  but  Thine  own      .          .          .         Bp.  How          .  949 

We  know,  by  faith  we  surely  know       .          .          C.  Wesley         .  120 

We  love  the  place,  O  God         Dr.  Bullock  and  Sir  II.  W.  Baker  657 

We  love  Thy  kingdom,  Lord       .          .          .         Dr.  T.  Dwig/it  299 
We  plough  the  fields,  and  scatter          .          .    Claudius,  trans,  by 

Miss  Campbell  941 

We  rose  to-day  with  anthems  sweet      .          .         Dr.  Punslwn   .  642 

We  saw  Thee  not  when  Thou  didst  come      .         /.  //.  Gurticy  .  117 

Weary  of  earth  and  laden  with  my  sin            .         S.J.  Stone        .  350 

Weary  of  wandering  from  my  God        .          .          C.  Wesley         .  338 

Weary  souls,  that  wander  wide                                 C.  ll'esley         .  277 


520  INDEX   TO   THE    HYMNS 

FIRST   LINE  AUTHOR  NO. 

What  am  I,  O  Thou  glorious  God        .  .  C.  Wesley         .  364 

What  are  these  arrayed  in  white            .  .  C.  Wesley         .  802 

What  equal  honours  shall  we  bring      .  .  Dr.  Watts        .  1 14 

What  is  our  calling's  glorious  hope       .  .  C.  Wesley         .  555 

What  now  is  my  object  and  aim            .  .  C.  Wesley         .  541 

What  shall  I  do  my  God  to  love,  My  loving  C.  Wesley         .  66 

Wrhat  shall  I  do  my  God  to  love,  My  Saviour  C.  Wesley         .  425 

What  shall  I  render  to  my  God  C.  Wesley         .  373 

What  shall  we  offer  our  good  Lord       .  Spattgenberg,  trans,  by 

/.  Wesley  597 

What  various  hindrances  we  meet         .  .  Cmvper    .          .  504 

When  all  Thy  mercies,  O  my  God        .  .  Addison            .  92 

When  God  of  old  came  down  from  heaven  .  f.  Keble            .  229 

When,  gracious  Lord,  when  shall  it  be  .  C.  Wesley         ,  337 

When,  His  salvation  bringing      .          .  .  John  King       .  86 1 

When  I  survey  life's,  varied  scene          .  .  Miss  Steele        .  486 

When  I  survey  the  wondrous  cross       .  .  Dr.  Watts        .  164 

When  morning  gilds  the  skies          German,  trans,  by  E.  Caswall  105 

When,  my  Saviour,  shall  I  be                .  .  C.  Wesley         .  574 

When  our  heads  are  bowed  with  woe  .  .  Dean  Milman  155 

When  quiet  in  my  house  I  sit                .  .  C.  Wesley         .  264 

When  shall  Thy  love  constrain  C.  Wesley         .  321 

When  the  day  of  toil  is  done  J.  Ellerton       .  858 

When  the  weary,  seeking  rest      .          .  .  Dr.  Sonar       .  666 

When  Thy  soldiers  take  their  swords    .  .  Mrs.  Owen       .  749 

Where  shall  my  wondering  soul  begin  .  C.  Wesley         .  358 

Wherewith,  O  God,  shall  I  draw  near  .  C.  Wesley         .  35 1 

While  ebbing  nature  grieves         .          .  .  fames  Smetham  817 

While  lone  upon  the  furious  waves       .  .    Dr.  E.  E.  Jenkins  969 

While  shepherds  watched  their  flocks  by  night      N.  Tate  .  131 

Who  fathoms  the  eternal  Thought        .  .  /.  G.  Whittier  820 

Who  in  the  Lord  confide  C.  Wesley         .  677 

Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side             .          .  Miss  F.  Jf.  Havergal  463 

Whom  Jesu's  blood  doth  sanctify          .  .  C.  Wesley         .  678 

Why  do  we  mourn  departing  friends    .  .  Dr.  Watts        .  826 

Why  not  now,  my  God,  my  God           .  .  C.  Wesley         .  523 

Why  should  I  till  to-morrow  stay          .  .  C.  Wesley         .  289 

Why  should  the  children  of  a  King      .  .  Dr.  Watts        .  248 

With  broken  heart  and  contrite  sigh     .  .  C.  Elven          .  316 

With  glorious  clouds  encompassed  round  .  C.  Wesley         .  151 

With  glory  clad,  with  strength  arrayed  .  Tate  and  Brady  78 

With  joy  we  meditate  the  grace  .          .  .  Dr.  Watts        .  193 

Worship,  and  thanks,  and  blessing        .  .  C.  Wesley         .  465 

Would  Jesus  have  the  sinner  die  C.  Wesley        .  159 

Ye  faithful  souls,  who  Jesus  know         .  .  C.  Wesley         .  1 79 

Ye  humble  souls  that  seek  the  Lord      .  .  Dr.  Doddridge  172 

Ye  neighbours  and  friends,  to  Jesus  draw  near  C.  Wesley         .  284 

Ye  servants  of  God,  your  Master  proclaim  .  C.   Wesley         .  388 

Ye  virgin  souls,  arise.  C.  Wesley         .  201 

Yield  to  me  now  ;  for  I  am  weak         .  .  C.  Wesley         .  450 

You,  who  dwell  above  the  skies  G.  Sandys        .  81 

Young  men  and  maidens,  raise  C.  Wesley         .  32 


INDEX    TO   THE    HYMNS  521 


ANCIENT   HYMNS   AND   CANTICLES 

Henedictus 984 

Cantate  Domino    .........  987 

Deus  Misereatur     .........  989 

Jubilate  Deo 985 

Magnificat     ..........  0'S<> 

Nunc  Dimittis        .........  'jSS 

Te  Deum  Laudamus        ........  983 

Vcnite,  Exultemus  Domino     .          .          .          .          .          .          .  9&2 

THE  BEATITUDES 991 

THE  TEN  COMMANDMENTS 990 


INDEX    OF    AUTHORS 


( The  biographical  sketch  "will  be  found  under  tfie  first  hymn  of  each  author) 


ADAMS,  Sarah,  430 
Addison,  Joseph,  75,  92,  963 
Alexander,    Cecil    Frances,    182, 

286,  863,  869,  873,  875,  919 
Alexander,  James  Waddell,  163 
Alford,  Henry,  619,  859,  942 
Ambrose,  St.,  902  (?),  903 
Anatolius,  915 
Anstice,  Joseph,  508 
Armitage,  Ella  Sophia,  886,  954 

v-  3,  958 
Auber,  Harriet,  235 

BAHNMAIER,  Jonathan  F.,  783 
Baker,  Sir   H.  W.,  72,   268,  657, 

93« 

Bakewell,  John,  189 
Baring-Gould,  S.,  455,  628,  884 
Baxter,  Richard,  824 
Bell,  Charles  Christopher,  878 
Bell,  Charles  Dent,  664 
Bernard  (St.)  of  Clairvaux,   no, 

in,  163 

Bernard  (St.)  of  Cluny,  851,  852 
Biekersteth,  E.H.,  404,  725,  815 
Binney,  Thomas,  51 
Birks,  Thomas  Kawson,  623 
Bliss,  Philip,  169 
Boaden,  Edward,  956 
Bode,  John  Ernest,  412 
Bonar,    Horatius,    70,    361,   384, 

484,  567,  608,  666,  735,  838, 

88 1 

Borthwick,  Jane,  490,  607 
Bourignon,  Antoinette,  526 
Bourne,  William  St.  Hill,  943 
Bradfield,  Mary  Bertha,  493 
Brady,  Nicholas,  17,  20,  78,  298, 


Brailsford,  Edward  J.,  202 
Bridges,  Matthew,  208 
Bromehead,  Joseph,  853 
Bronte,  Anne,  816 
Brooks,  Phillips,  864 
Bruce,  Michael,  221 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  764 
Bullock,  William,  657 
Bunting,  William  Maclardie,  249, 

487/576,  638,  721,  746 
Burns,  James  Drummond,  876 
Burton,  Henry,  205,  975 
Burton,  John,  882 
Byrum,  John,  124 

CAM i- I;EU.,  Jane  M.,  941 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  466 

Caswall,  Edward,  105,  HO,  418, 

837 

Cennick,  John,  loo,  680,  926 

Chandler,  John,  661,  902,  903 
Chant,  Mrs.  Ormiston,  627 
Churton,  Edward,  825 
Claudius,  Matthias,  941 
Clephane,  Elizabeth  Cecilia,  149 
Codner,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  331 
Collyer,  William  Bengo,  846 
Conder,  Josiah,  737,  804,  981 
Cosin,  John,  751 
Cotterill,  Thomas,  168,  733,  846 
Cousin,  Anne  Ross,  633 
Cowper,    William,   60,   145,  262, 

332,  343.  4i 7i  479.  4^.  504, 

703 

Cox,  Frances  Elizabeth,  175,  383 
Coxe,  Arthur  Cleveland,  768 
Crewdson,  Jane  (Fox),  195 
Crippen,  Thomas  G.,  977 
Crossman,  Samuel,  854,  855 


524 


INDEX   OF    AUTHORS 


DAVIES,  Samuel,  68 
Dayman,  Edward  Arthur,  970 
Denny,  Sir  Edward,  203 
Dessler,  W.  C.,  491,  521,  524 
Dix,  W.  C.,  128,  287,  944 
Doane,  George  Washington,  113 
Dober,  Anna,  534 
Dobree,  H.  O.  De  Lisle,  834 
Doddridge,  Philip,  95,   139,  172, 

247t  378,  663,  720,   747,  750, 

89°,  933 

Douglas,  Frances  Jane,  946 
Downton,  Henry,  204 
Dryden,  John,  228 
Duffield,  George,  462 
Duncan,  Mary,  885 
Dwight,  Timothy,  299 

EDMESTON,  James,  625,  927 
Ellerton,    John,    603,    639,    644, 

645,   646,  761,  833,  836,  858, 

892,  961,  974 

Elliott,  Charlotte,  317,  453,  485 
Elliott,  Emily  E.  S.,  138 
Elven,  Cornelius,  316 

FABER,  F.  W.,  54,  71,  162,  458, 

620,  643 

Fawcett,  John,  799 
Findlater,  Sarah,  899 
Ford,  C.  L.,  748 
Foster,  F.  W.,  22 
Fowler,  Ellen  Thorneycroft  (Mrs. 

Felkin),  945 
Francis,  Benjamin,  461 
Freylinghausen,  J.  A.,  571 

GARRETT,  Charles,  959 
Gellert,  Christian  F.,  175 
Gerhardt,  Paulus,  163,  365,  414, 

415,  480,  481 

Gill,  Thomas  H.,  52,  96,  813,  883 
Gill,  William  Henry,  947 
Gladden,  Washington,  605 
Goadby,  Frederic  W.,  665 
Godwin,  Elizabeth  Ayton,  407 
Grant,  Sir  Robert,  4,  157 
Grigg,  Joseph,  461 
Gurney,  Dorothy  F.,  962 
Gurney,  John  Hampden,  117 

HAMILTON,  James,  937 

Hankey,  Katherine,  150 

Hare,  Archdeacon  Julius  C.,  357 


Hart,  Joseph,  280,  389 
Hatch,  Edwin,  244,  626 
Havergal,   Frances   Ridley,    330, 

402,  403,  405,  463,  566,   569, 

762,  763,  782 
Hawker,  Robert,  798 
Hawkins,  Hester  Periam,  629 
Hawks,  Annie  Sherwood,  456 
Heber,    Reginald,    28,    125,   127, 

242,  329,  738,   770,  806,  877, 

923 

Henley,  John,  862 
Herbert,  Petrus,  347,  925 
Hervey,  James,  489 
Hickson,  William  Edward,  972 
Hinchsliffe,  Joseph,  843 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  23,  497, 

897 

Hosmer,  Frederick  Lucian,  413 
How,  W.  Walsham,  177, 267,288, 

807,  939,  946,  949.  952>  978 

INGEMANN,  Eernhardt  S.,  628 
Irons,  William  Josiah,  844 

J.,  Edith,  964 
Jenkins,  Ebenezer  E.,  969 
John  (St.)  of  Damascus,  178 
Joseph  (St.)  the  Hymnographer, 
835 

KEBLE,  John,  85,  229,  670,  901, 

910,  960 

Kelly,  Thomas,  209,  784,  917 
Ken,  Thomas,  900,  909 
Kennedy,    Benjamin    Hall,    428, 

509,  940 

Kethe,  William,  2 
King,  John,  861 
Kingsley,  Charles,  951 

LANGE,  Ernst,  38,  39 
Lange,  Joachim,  564 
Lathbury,  Mary  Ann,  263,  924 
Lowenstern,    Matthaus    A.    von, 

811 

Luke,  Jemima  (Thompson),  866 
Luther,  Martin,  173,  466,  514 
Lynch,  Thomas  Toke,  252,  606 
Lyte,   Henry  Francis,  7,   13,  58? 
'    398,495,650,716,  779,9" 
Lyth,  John,  889 


INDEX   OF   AUTHORS 


525 


MACLAGAN,  W.  Dalrymplc,  809 
Maitland,  Frances  Sara  Fuller,  454 
March,  Daniel,  609 
Marckant,  John,  329 
Marriott,  John,  778 
Massie,   Richard,  265,  578,  674, 

914 

Merrick,  James,  74 
Midlane,  Albert,  871 
Miller,  Emily,  867 
Miller  (or  Muller),  John,  22 
Milman,  H.  Hart,  147,  148,  154, 

155 

Milton,  John,  21 
Monod,  Theodore,  568 
Monsell,  John  S.  B.,662,  760 
Montgomery,  James,  94,  156,  206, 
225,   396,  478,  505,  507,  655, 
660.  734.  736>  769,  856 
More,  Henry,  223,  233 
Morris,  Eliza  Fanny  (GotYe),  667 
Mudie,  Charles  Edward,  431 

NEAI.E,  John  Mason,  27,  178, 
180,  197,  293,  659,  835,  851, 
852,  860,  915 

Neumark,  Georg ,  406 

Newman,  John  Henry,  62,  624 

Newton,  John,  109,  492,  506,  673, 
797,  929 

Notker,  Balbulus,  27 

Nunn,  Marianne,  872 

OAKELEV,  Frederick,  123 
Olivers,  Thomas,  374,  375,  376 
Osier,  Edward,  671 
Owen,  Frances  Mary,  749 

PALMER,  Kay,  in,  400 
Pcrronet,  Edward,  207 
Peterson,  \V.  S.,  954 
Pierpoint,  Folliott  S.,  24 
Phillimore,  Greville,  906 
Plumptre,  Edward  Hayes,  953 
Pollock,  Thomas  U.,  253,  718 
Pope,  Edward,  622 
Pott,  Francis,  658 
Potter,  Thomas  Joseph,  887 
Procter,  Adelaide  A.,   379,  494, 

920 

Punshon,  William  M.,  641,  642 
Pusey,  Philip,  8ll 

RANKIN,  Jeremiah  E.,  800 


Rawes,  Henry  A.,  251 
Rawson,  George,  45,  238,  739,  918 
Reed,  Andrew,  254 
Rhodes,  Benjamin,  102,  103 
Richter,  Christian  F.,  475 
Rinkart,  Martin,  19 
Robinson,  Richard  Hayes,  647 
Robinson,  Robert,  377 
Rossetti,  Christina  Georgina,  520 
Rothe,  Johann  Andreas,  362 
Rowe,  George  Stringer,  130 
Rumsey,  Mrs.  M.,  865 

SANDYS,  George,  Si,  907 
Santeiiil,  Jean  J5aptiste  de,  757 
Scheffler,  Johann,  36,  421 
Schmolck,  Benjamin,  723 
Schiitz,  Johann  Jakob,  84,  383 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  845 
Sears,  Edmund  Hamilton,  132 
Shepherd,  Anne,  8S8 
Small,  James  Grindly,  380 
Smetham,  James,  817 
Spangenberg,  August  G.,  597 
Spitta,  Carl  J.  1'.,  265,  607,  674, 

899,  914 

Stanley,  Arthur  P.,   144,  184 
Steele,  Anne,  255,  486,  637,  Si 8 
Stegmann,  Joshua,  717 
Stephenson,  T.  B.,  765,  922 
Sternhold,  Thomas,  14 
Stock,  Sarah  Gcraldina,  780 
Stone,  S.  J.,  356,  679,  934,  955 
Stowell,  Hugh,  702,  868 
Symonds,  John  Addington.  980 

TATK,  Nahum,   17,  20,  78,   131, 

298,  510 

Taylor,  Thomas  Rawson,  632 
Tennyson,  Alfred,  Lord,  819 
Tersteegen,  Gerhard,  22,  531,  653 
Theodulph,  St.,  860 
Thomas  of  Celano,  844 
Thring,  Godfrey,   129,   146,  208, 

621,  898,  921,  950 
Toke,  Emma,  183 
Toplady,  Augustus  M.,  1 68,  401 
Twells,  Henry,  916 

VANNER,  James  Engleburt,  908 
Vine,  Alfred  H.,  243 

WADDY,  Samuel  Danks,  395 
Wardlaw,  Ralph,  108 


526 


Waring,  Anna  L.,  409,  432,  602 

Watts,  Isaac,  3,  5,  6,  9,  29,  37, 

41,  48,  49.  5°.  57,  59,  79,  »o, 

83,   87,   89,   9°,   9i,  97.   i°i» 

104,  112,   114,  152,  164,  106, 

171,    193,    220,    246,    248,    269, 

294,  300,  3°4,  327»  369,  385, 
460,  511,  518,  575.  577,  616, 
636,  648,  649,  652,  668,  669, 
719,  728,  754,  766,  767,  774, 
803,  808,  812,  814,  826,  850, 

874,  891 

Weisse,  Michael,  174 

Wesley,  Charles,  I,  &c. 

Wesley,  John,  36,  38,  39,  42,  43, 
44,  63,  69,  362,  365,  370,  414, 
415,  419,  421,  429,  459,  475, 
476,  480,  481,  52i,  524,  526, 
53i,  534,  564,  571,  597,  653, 
771 

Wesley,  Samuel,  158 


INDEX  OF   AUTHORS 


Wesley,  Samuel,  Jun.,  635,  822 
Whately,  Richard,  923 
White,  Henry  Kirke,  454 
Whiting,  William,  967 
Whittier,  J.   G.,  118,  119,  410, 

820 

Williams,  Isaac,  757 
Williams,  William,  615 
Winckler,  Johann  Joseph,  459 
WTinkworth,    Catherine,    19,    84, 

173,   174,  237,  347,  406,    491, 

514,  717,  723>  783,  925 
Wolcott,  Samuel,  781 
Wordsworth,     Christopher,    187, 

188,  579,  640,  810,  948 
Wreford,  John  Reynell,  976 

XAVIER,  St.  Francis,  418 

ZINZENDORF,  Count  von,  69,  370 
(see  419),  476,  622>  77» 


GENERAL    INDEX 


{The  figures  in  this  index  refer  to  the  pages,  not  to  the  hymns) 


ABELARD,  Peter,  427 

Abney,  Sir  Thomas,  44 

Adam  of  St.  Victor,  24 

Albert,  Prince,  257,  436 

Albigenses,  272 

Alcock,  W.   G.,   Chapel    Royal, 

164 
Alexander,  W.,  Earl  of  Stirling, 

28 

Alford,  D.  P.,  98 
Alfred,  King,  and  Aldhelm,  24 
Allan,  T.  R.,  109,  186,  232,  304 
Alleluia,     The,     19,      63.        See 

HALLELUJAH. 
Allen,  Dr.  T.,  206 
Ambrose,  St.,  22,  461,  492 
American  Civil  War,  112 
Andrew,  St.,  of  Crete,  21 
Anthem,  The,  27 
Antiphonal  singing,  19 
Aquinas,  Thomas,  24,  323 
Arnold,  Dr.,  and   7 he   Christian 

Year,  96 

Arnold,  Matthew,  144 
Arthur,     William,     and     Gideon 

Ouseley,  266 ;   last  message  to 

Dr.   Rigg,  315  ;    Dr.  Punshon 

at  Cannes,  334 
Augustine,  St.,  22,  193,  265,  315, 

492 

BAKER,  Sir  H.  W.,  122,  327,466 
Bakewell,    J.,    links    with    early 

Methodism,  158;  and  Thomas 

Olivers,  242 

Barnby,  Sir).,  154,  483,  487 
Barton,  William,  229 
Baxter,  Richard,  30,  353 
Beatitudes,  496 


Beaumont,  Dr.,  his  death,  48  ;  at 
A.  E.  Farrar's  death-bed,  146 

Beecher,  Dr.  Lyman,  last  words, 
Hi 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  37,  in 

Belcher,  Dr.,  story  of  converted 
actress,  210 

Bell,  G.,  the  ex-Life  Guardsman, 
76 

Bellamy,  G.,  death  in  Dcmerara, 
414 

Benedict,  23 

Benedictus,  493 

Bennett,  G.,  letter  from  Mont 
gomery,  177 

Benson,  Joseph,  318 

Benson,  Mrs.,  174 

Bernard,  St.,  of  Clairvaux,  34, 
142,  427,  438 

Berridge,  John,  174 

Beveridge,  Bishop,  27,  54 

Bible  Society's  Centenary,  169 

Bickersteth,  Bishop,  205,  247,  269, 

270,  327»  347 
Bohler,  Peter,  39,  72,  88 
Boston,    Mass.,    introduction     of 

Methodism  into,  197 
Boston's  Fourfold  State,  158 
Bowden,  George,  313 
Bradburn,  Samuel,  275,  332 
Bray,  Mr.,  140,  231 
Brevint,  Dr.,  256,  323,  381,  407 
Bridge,    Sir    Frederick,    14,  419, 

477,  496 

Bright,  John,  414,  418 
Bronte,  Charlotte,  273,  413,  415 
Brooke,  W.  T.,  I,  32,  252 
Brown,  John,  of  Harper's  Ferry, 

178 


GENERAL    INDEX 


5^8 

Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  458 
Buckley,  James,  last  words,  236 
Bunting,  Jabez,  174.  275.  37° 
Bunting,  William  M.,  199 
Burgess,  W.  P.,  420 
Butterworth,  R.,  106 
Buzacott,  Mr.,  of  Raratonga,  215 
Byrom,  Dr.,  312 
Byron,  Lord,  18,  279,  435 

OEDMON,  24 

Cairns,  Earl,  441 

Calvin,  27 

Calvinistic  controversy,  bo 

Campbell,   Dr.    John,    and    The 

Rivulet,  1 88 
1  Cantate  Domino,'  494 
Caswall,  Edward,  36 
Cennick,  John,  101,  162 
Chalmers,  Dr.,  89 
Charlestown  Collection  of  Psalms 

and  Hymns,  I 
Cheetham's  Hospital,  Manchester, 

125 

Chevy  Chace  measure,  20 
Children's  hymns,  32 
Choate,  J.  H.,  American  Ambas 
sador,  409 

Christophers,  S.  W.,  75 
Church,  Dean,  433 
Church's  song,  development  oi,  37 
Clark,  Dr.  F.  E.,  406 
Clarke,  Dr.  Adam,  166,  200,  425, 

437 

Clichtovaeus,  182 
Cobden,  Richard,  265 
Coke,  Dr.,  death  at  sea,  358 
Coleridge,  Hartley,  93 
Collins,  Mortimer,  41 
Collyer,  Dr.  W.  B.,  91,  279 
Commandments,  The  Ten,  495 
Committee  of  Revision,  12 
Conder,  Josiah,  46 
Conference,   Hymn  for  opening, 

401 

Covenant  Service,  385,  386 
Coverdale,  28 

Cowper,  William,  conversion,  192; 
hymn    on    Divine    Providence, 
298  ;  prayer,  374 
Cranswick,  Matthew,  235 
Creamer,  David,  341 
Crockett,  S.  R.,  98,  i°4 
Crossman,  Samuel,  30 


Crowther,  Jonathan,  100 
Curnock,  Nehemiah,  253 

DAWSON,  William,  death  of,  295 
Delamotte,  Jack,  119 
Dempster,  Dr.,  47 
'  Deus  Misereatur,'  495 
Dickens,  Charles,  247 
Dies  Irae,  34,  43 1  >  434 
Doddridge,  Dr.,  46,  196,  408 
Donne,  Dr.,  29 
Downes,  John,  death  of,  228 
Draper,  D.  J.,  in  sinking  ship,  146 
Drummond,  Prof.  H.,  and  Oliver 

Wendell   Holmes,   61  ;   hymns 

sung  before  dying,  282 
Dryden,  tribute  to  George  Sandys, 

94  ;  and  Bishop  Ken,  457 
Duffield,  Dr.,  in 
Dykes,  Dr.,  '  Dominus  regit  me, 

91 ;    'St.    Aelred,'    133;    'St. 

Bees,'  263  ;    '  Pax   Dei,'   355  ; 

'  Requiescat,'  427 

EARTHQUAKE  hymns,  436 
Eastern  hymnody,  landmarks  in, 

20 

Edward  VII,  104,  230,  270 
Eilenburg  during  the  Thirty  Years' 

War,  56 

Eliot,   George,    292,    462.       See 
MORRIS,  DINAH,  and  EVANS, 
MRS.  S. 
Ellerton,  Canon,  8,  90,  102,  104, 

259,  264,  384,  412,  433,  467 
Elven,  C.,  advice  to  Spurgeon,  212 
English    hymnody,    turning-point 
in,  2 ;  and  English  Reformers, 
25  ;  cradle  of,  29 ;  its  founder, 
46 

Entwisle,  Joseph,  237 
Ephrem  the  Syrian,  21 
Epworth,  relic  of  the  great  fire, 

140 
Evangelical  Revival,  its  beginning, 

5  ;  the  birth-song  of,  231 
Evans,   Mrs.    Samuel,   death   of, 

105,  137,  144 
Ewing,  Mrs.,  410 

FABER,  36 

Farrar,  A.  E.,  146 

Festival  hymns,  4 

Fison,  Bishop,  at  Yokohama,  409 


GENERAL    INDEX 


529 


FitzGerald,  Edward,  494 
Fletcher,  John,  his  wedding-day, 

82,  385;    in  Switzerland,  160  ; 

at   Everton,    174;    influence  in 

conversation,    199;    his  death, 

234;  opinion  of  T.  Olivers,  242; 

C.     Wesley's     theology,     268 ; 

Christian  perfection,  314,  369; 

at  Trevecca  College,  318  ;  girls' 

school,  474 

Fletcher,  Mrs.,  her  death,  341 
Frederick  the  Great,  288 
Friedrich  the  Wise,  307 
Friedrich     Wilhelm      I,     funeral 

hymn,  260 
Fuller,  Thomas,  52 
Funeral  hymns,  409 
Furneaux,  Dean,  72 

GALI.IENNE,  Richard  le,  259 
Gardiner,  Colonel,  46,   103,  130, 

463 

Garrett,  Charles,  235 
Gellert's  Fables,  150 
George,  King  of  Tonga,  394 
German  emigrants,  i 
German   hymnody,     n,    33,    72; 

Te  Deum,  56  ;  first  hymn-hook, 

148 

Gibbons,  Dr.  T.,  87 
Gill,     \V.      Wyatt,      Karatongan 

missionary,  215 
Gladstone,  W.   K.,   85,  258,  263, 

305,  414,  434 

Glasgow  Prison  incident,  225 
'  Gloria  in  Excelsis,'  53 
Goethe,  431 

Golden  Canon,  The,  153 
Golden  Sequence,  The,  181 
Good,  Dr.  John  Mason,  63,  223 
Gordon,  General,  at  Khartoum,  85 
Gospel  Magazine,  255,  256 
Gough,  John  B.,  403 
Gounod,  91,  432,  446 
Gratitude,  99 
Great  Bible  of  1539,  492 
Greek  hymnody,  21 
Green,  John  Richard,  178 
Green,  Richard,  6,  197,  419 
Gregorian  Antiphonary,  24 
Gregory,    Dr.    A.   E.,    112,    155, 

166,  186,  197,  198,  450 
Gregory,  Dr.   B.,  162,  206,  233, 

25'.  275»  336.  3S6«  403,  424 


Grimshaw,  Mr.,  421 
Grotius,  death  of,  211 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  288 
Gwennap  Pit,  173 

HAIMK,  John,  in  the  army,  337 

Hallelujah,  use  of,  147,  150.  See 
ALLELUIA. 

Hammond,  E.  P.,  223 

Handel,  171,  199 

Hannah,  Dr.,  and  James  Mont 
gomery,  101 

Harcourt,  Archbishop,  145 

Hardcastle,  C.  D.,  74,  198,  310 

'  Harry  Wadsworth  Club,'  193 

Ilartopp,  Sir  John,  44 

Havcrgal,  Frances  Ridley,  her 
death,  115;  first  hymn,  220 : 
conversion,  221  :  favourite 
hymn,  258  ;  origin  of  '  Take 
my  life,'  325 

Hawker,  R.  h.,  vicar  of  Morwen- 
stow,  405 

Ilawtrey,  Captain,  468 

Hebcr,  Bishop,  126,  133,  250 

Heine,  Heinrich,  194,  287 

Hick,  Sammy,  82,  163,  238,  407 

Hill,  Rowland,  241 

Hitchens,  Samuel,  424 

1  luby,  James,  290 

llolman  Hunt's  'Light  of  the 
World,'  204 

Hopkins,  John,  26,  52 

Horder,  \V.  Garrett,  72,  90,  349, 

443,  4?o 
Howitt,  W.,  102 

Howley,    Bishop,    and     Heber's 

hymn-book,  66 
Hughes,  Hugh  Price,  in 
Hughes,     John,     description     of 

Gideon  Ouseley,  266 
Huntingdon,  Countess  of,  44,  84, 

245.  255 
Hymn,  definitions  of,  18  ;  origin, 

19 

Hymn-pamphlets,  6 
Hymn-singing  and  revivals,  32 

IGNATIUS,  142 
Ingelow,  Jean,  203,  204 
Innocent  III,  Pope,  181,  272 

JACKSON,  Thomas,  5,  55,  69,  173, 
242,  277,  334 

2  M 


GENERAL   INDEX 


fames,     Dr.,     vicar     of     North 

Marston,  and  Miss   Havergal, 

400 

Jekyl  Island,  429 
Jerome,  22 

Jochanan,  Rabbi,  479 
John  of  Damascus,  21 
Johnson,  Dr.,  45,  57,  92,  201, 

432 
Jones,     W.,    and    C.     Wesley's 

Hymns  on  the  Trinity,  84 
Jonson,  Ben,  424 
'Jubilate,'  494 
Julian,  Dr.,   II,   30,   34,  42,  91, 

102,  in,   123,   152,   157,  259, 

298,  341,  406 
Jumieges  music,  24,  63 

KAYE,  Bennet,  assistant  organist 

with  Dr.  Dykes,  263 
Reach,  Benjamin,  30 
Keble,  64,  463 
Ken,  Bishop,  20,  30,  457 
Ker,  Dr.  John,  98 
King,  James,  visit  to  Gethsemane, 

139  ;    description  of  St.  Sabas 

Monastery,  153 
Klopstock,  34 
Knill,  Richard,  343 

LAMBETH  Conference  of  1888,  366 

Lancashire  cotton  famine,  298 

Langford,  Mary,  314 

Latin  hymnology,  22 

Laud's  Service  Book,  28 

Lee,  Jesse,  Methodism  in  Boston, 

Mass.,  197 

Leeds  ffymn-Book,  75 
Lefroy,  Dean,  257 
Leifchild,  Dr.,  186,  283 
Leoni  the  Jew,  242 
Lessey,  Theophilus,  death  of,  145 
Liddon,  Canon,  no 
Littledale,  R.  F.,  189 
Livingstone,  David,  104 
Lockhart,  J.  G.,   account  of  bir 

Walter  Scott's  death,  434 
Logan,  John,  103 
London,  sinking  of  the,  140 
Longfellow,  43 
'  Look-up  Legion,'  193 
Louis  the  Pious,  King  of  France, 

442 
Louise,  Queen  of  Prussia,  294 


Lovefeast  hymns,  5 
Lowell,  J.  Russell,  121,  393 
Luther,  25,  33,  ii9>  H9>  288 

MACAULAY,  Lord,  92 
Macaulay,  Zachary,  66,  too,  295 
McCheyne,  R.  M.,  last  words,  293 
Macdonald,  F.  W.,  68,  71,  161, 

182,  389,  493 
Mace,  Thomas,  and  psalm-singing, 

26 

McKinley,  President,  270 
Macmillan,  Dr.  Hugh,  153 
Madan,  Martin,  147,  174.  25X,  369 
'  Magnificat,'  494 
Malan,  Dr.  Caesar,    of   Geneva, 

213 

Mansel,  Dean,  352 
Manx  music,  479] 
Maria  mail-boat,  wreck  of,  289 
Marsden,  George,  196 
Martineau,  Dr.  James,  IO,  56 
Martyn,    Henry,    224,  243,   278, 

413 

Mason,  Dr.  Lowell,  254,  396 
Matthison,  Duncan,  Scotch  evan 
gelist,  410 

Maxwell,  Professor  Clerk,  422 
Meerut,   consecration   of   church 

by  Heber,  126 
Melanchthon,  288 
Members,    Public   recognition   of 

CO 

new,  3°« 

Meriton,  John,  286 
Methodism,  birth  of  its  hymnody, 

I  ;  its  sacred  poet,  4,  40 ;  first 

tune-book,  5;  hymn-books,  9-14 
Metrical  Psalms,  29,  30 
Miller,     Hugh,     description     of 

Montgomery,  102 
Milton,  286 
Minories,  The,  119 
Monk,  Dr.,  466 
Montgomery,  James,  45,  60,  95, 

223,  242,  276,  298,  305,  336, 

387,  430,  440,  462,  463 
Moore,  Henry,  55,  I75>  2o6>  4.25 
Moravian  Hymn-Book,  compiler 

of,  60 ;  first  settlers  at  Herrn- 

hut,  88  ;  exiles,  289 
Morley,  John,  305 
Morris,  Dinah,   87.    See   ELIOT, 

GEORGE,  and  EVANS,  MRS.  S. 
Morrison,  Dr.,  128 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Moule,  Bishop,  213 
Moulton,  Dr.  W.  F.,  136 
Murray,  Dr.  Nicholas,  409 
Murray,  Grace,  II 
Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  455 

NATIONAL  Anthem,  487 
Nativity  hymns,  20 
Nazianzen,  Gregory,  20 
Nelson,  Bishop,  of  New  Zealand, 

366 

Neumes,  their  origin,  24,  62 
Newman,   John  Henry,  36,   314, 

347,  391 

Newton,  Dr.,  403 
Newton,  John,  his  epitaph,  116; 

at  Olney,  374 
Niebuhr  the  historian,  412 
Nitschrr.ann,  Anna,  265 
Nitschmann,  David,  288 
Nonconformity  and  singing,  30 
Notkerian  Proses,  24,  63 
'  Nunc  Dimittis,'  495 

OGLETIIORPK,   General,    u,   40, 

289,  429 

1  Old  Hundredth,'  42,  47 
Olivers,  Thomas,  162 
Olney  Hymns,  66,  79,  114,  126 
Oriental  hymnology,  64 
Osborn,  Dr.,   10,   199,  269,   313, 

365,  3»l 

Ouseley,  Gideon,  266,  441 
Overton,  Canon,  31,  42 
Oxford  Movement,  96,  347 

PALGRAVE,  Professor,  176 
Palmer,  Sir  Roundel!,  145 
Paradise  Lost,  58,  286 
Paris  Brez'iary,  391 
Parr)',  Sir  Hubert  IF.,  419 
'  Passion  Chorale,1  143 
Pattison,  Richard,  244 
Pawson,  John,  his  death,  437 
Percival,  Bishop,  57,  409 
Perry,  Commodore,  47 
Piers,  Henry,  vicar  of  Bexley,  281 
Pliny  the  younger,  20 
Pope,  Alexander,  194,  232,  272 
Prentiss,  Elizabeth,  460 
Prior,  227 

Prudentius  of  Spain,  23 
Psalms  and   Hymns,    Early  Col 
lections,  1-9 


Psalm-singing,    25 ;    influence   in 

England,  28 
Psalter,   19  ;  published  by  Dayc. 

26 ;  influence  in  Scotland,  27  ; 

and  the  General  Assembly,  28, 

32 
Pusey,  Dr.,  258 

QUILLINAN,  Mrs.,  last  illness, 
214 

RANKE,  288 

Rankin,  Thomas,  243 

Rhodes,  Joseph,  Foundery  pre 
centor,  242 

Rich,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  171,  359 

Richards,  J.  Morgan,  445 

Richardson,  T.,  founder  of  the 
Bible  and  Prayer  Union,  330 

Richter,  C.  F.,  hymn  on  Spiritual 
Conflict  and  Difficulty,  72 

KigS,  Dr.,  and  J.  C.  Hare,  230; 
William  Arthur,  315  ;  Kingsley, 
480  ;  C.  E.  Mudie,  271 

Ritchie,  Miss,  Wesley's  last  hours, 

232,  329,  490 
Robinson,  William,  196 
Rochester,  52 

Roman  Catholic  hymn-writer*,  35 
Roscommon,  Earl  of,    version  of 

Dies  /rat,  432 
Rossetti's   opinion    of    Smctham, 

416 
Rutherford,  Samuel,  351 

SABAS  Monastery,  153 

St.  Paul's  Cross,  preaching  at,  52 

Sankey,  Ira  D.,  32,  134 

Saxon  poetry,  24 

Scaliger  the  elder,  53 

Schaff,  Dr.,  33,  142,  156 

Schwartz,  Christian  F.,  143,  491 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  66,  398,  435 

Selborne,  Earl,  and  C.  Wesley, 
41  ;  Watts,  46  ;  authors  of 
Ohuy  Hymns,  115;  Bernard  of 
Clairvaux,  116;  Epiphany  hymn 
of  W.  C.  Dix,  126  ;  Doddridge, 
130  ;  Thomas  Kelly,  170  ;  Anne 
Steele,  191  ;  Toplady,  257  ; 
Tersteegen,  315 

Sequences  of  Adam  of  St.  Victor, 

24 
Shad  ford,  George,  243 


532 


GENERAL   INDEX 


Sherwood,  Mrs.,  friend  of  Henry 

Martyn,  224,  413 
Shipley,  Dean,  395 
Simeon,  Charles,  in  Ilorsleydown 

churchyard,  240 
Sinclair,  Archdeacon,  464 
Smetham,     James,      327,      370; 

father's  last  illness,  239 
Smith,  Dr.  George,  239 
Smith,  Dr.  Gervase,  206 
Smith,  George,  of  Coalville,  239, 

243 

Smithies,  T.  13.,  last  illness,  191 
South  African  War,   hymn  sung 

by  soldiers,  406 
Southey,  and  the  Wesley  hymns, 

41  ;    tribute    to   Cowper,    83 ; 

and  Moravian  hymns,  112 
Spence,  Robert,  the  York  book 
seller,  323 
Spener,  P.  J.,  95 
Spurgeon,  C.  H.,  in,  212,  298, 

30S.343 

Stainer,  Sir  John,  489 

Staniforth,  Sampson,  the  soldier- 
preacher,  238 

Stanislaus,  King,  and  the  peasant, 
294 

Stanley,  Dean,  and  the  Wesley 
Monuments  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  132,  277 

Stead,  W.  T.,  37,  41.  263>  271, 
272,  301,  409,  464,  493 

Sternhold,  25 

Stevenson,  G.  J.,   in,   I44>  2IO» 

235.  34i 

Sullivan,  280,  478 

Swaddlers,  nickname  of  Metho 
dists,  107 

TAYLOR,  Isaac,  41 

Taylor,  Joseph,  IOO 

'  Te  Deum  Laudamus,'  492 

Tennyson,  65,  155,  210,  417 

Thackeray's  description  of  Heber, 

67 

Thompson,  Martha,  the  first  Pres 
ton  Methodist,  74 
Tonga,  Adoption  of  Christianity 

in,  394 
Toplady,   his  last  hymn,   51  ;   in 

Burrington  Coombe,  257 
Trench,  Archbishop,  23,  65,  431, 

462 


Tune-Book  Committee,  14 
Tyng,  Dudley  Atkins,  last  words, 
284 

VAZEILLE,  Mrs.,  168 
Veni,  Creator  Spiritus,  179,  389 
'  Venite,  Exultemus  Domino,'  491 
Vicars,   Hedley,   his  conversion, 

193 

Victoria,  Queen,  230,   387,  427  ; 

Diamond  Jubilee  Service,  459 
Viking  shield,  272 

WALDENSES,  414 

Walsh,  Thomas,  Irish  Romanist, 
140,  262 

Watson,  Richard,  10,  196,  243, 
408 

Watts,  Dr.,  metrical  paraphrases, 
29  ;  hymn-writer  for  the  young, 
33  ;  founder  of  English  hym- 
nody,  46  ;  Supplement,  190  ; 
Lord's  Supper,  382  ;  and  Dod- 
dridge,  407  ;  '  Death  of  Moses,' 

455 

Welldon,  Bishop,  65 
Wesley,  Charles,  first-fruits  of  his 
work,  3  ;    posthumous    hymns 
and  poems,  8  ;  translations,  10  ; 
Overton  on,  31  ;   opinions  con 
cerning  his  hymns,  41  ;  '  Family 
Hymn-book,'     55  ;      debt     to 
Matthew  Henry,  80,  87  ;  Zin- 
zendorf,  88  ;  at  Laneast,   105  ; 
Jack     Delamotte's    conversion, 
119;     in    the    Minories,    119; 
effect  of  his  conversion,    122  ; 
Edward    Perronet,    167  ;    Mrs. 
Rich,  171  ;  Gwennap  pit,  173  ; 
with  criminals,  196  ;  Newcastle, 
202  ;    visit   to   Portland,    209 ; 
death  of  his    daughter   Sarah, 
217  ;     conversion-hymn,     231  ; 
Evesham,     233 ;       Kingswood 
School,  237  ;  Young  Pretender, 
249  ;   '  Wrestling  Jacob,'  277  ; 
Mrs.    Delamotte,  281  ;   reviled 
by  Seward,  282  ;  riot  at   De 
vizes,  286  ;    Dr.  Byrom,  312  ; 
links    to     musical     celebrities, 
359  ;  Darlaston,  376  ;  '  Funeral 
Hymns,'  408  ;    his  swan-song, 
419 ;     hymn-writing     at     City 


GENERAL    INDEX 


533 


Road,  425  ;  on  Jekyl  Island, 
429 ;  preaching  at  the  Foundcry, 
436  ;  at  Leeds,  460 

Wesley  hymns,  opinions  concern 
ing,  74,  197,  206,  310,  341  ; 
and  Scripture,  136 

Wesley,  John,  and  Moravians,  I  ; 
Georgian  mission,  2  ;  his  trans 
lations,  4,  10,  31,  71  ;  Christian 
perfection,  8,  75  ;  preface  to 
Hymns  for  Children,  76  ;  guest 
of  Mr.  Osborn,  77  ;  Instructions 
for  Children,  So  ;  favourite 
psalm,  82 ;  sermon  on  '  Free 
Grace,'  86  ;  Zinzendorf,  89 ; 
tribute  to  Addison  and  Steele, 
93  ;  Doddridge,  103  ;  at  Kings- 
wood,  106  ;  Byrom,  124  ;  Bake- 
well,  159  ;  Edward  Perronet  at 
Bolton,  167  ;  awakening  at 
Epworth,i78;  illness  at  Bristol, 
216  ;  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  218  ; 
conversion,  231 ;  death-bed, 
232 ;  Thomas  Olivers,  242 ; 
first-fruits  of  learning  Spanish, 
269 ;  Samuel  Bradburn,  275  ; 
touching  scene  at  Bolton,  277  ; 
conversion  of  two  sifters,  291  ; 
full  sal  vat  ion,  321  ;  his  Christian 
experience,  332  ;  Susannah 
Spencer,  344  ;  companionship, 
367  ;  Mrs.  Crosby,  402  ;  Funeral 
Hymns,  408  ;  funeral  at  St. 
Mary's,  Oxford,  420  ;  Gwennap, 
424  ;  birthday  at  Epworth,  455  ; 
at  Chester,  460  ;  Ken's  Evening 
Hymn,  465  ;  the  Beatitudes, 
496 


Wesley   Poetry,    15-17;    hymns, 

31 

Wesley,  Samuel,  53,  147,  496 
Wesley,  Samuel,  organist,  171 
Wesley,     Samuel,     jun.,      poem, 
'  The  Cobbler,'  320  ;    epitaph, 
352 

Westminster  Abbey.  Sec  STAN 
LEY,  DEAN. 

Whitetield,  George,  40 ;  letter  to 
Cennick,        107  ;          Benjamin 
Rhodes,     108 ;     preaching     at 
Market      Cross,      Nottingham, 
141  ;     after     ordination,      196 ; 
Kingswood  colliers,  237  ;  con 
version  of  Olivers,  241;  favourite 
hymn,     282  ;     last    voyage     to 
America,  295  ;  funeral,  423 
Whitehead,  Dr.,  207 
Whittingham,  William,  26,  97 
Willxjrforce,    William,    and     The 
Christian  Year,  96  ;  and  Kirke 
White,  278 
Wills,    Sir  W.  II.,  and  Toplady, 

257 

Wilson,  John  Gay,  468 
Winkworth,  Miss,  56 
Wither,  George,  30,  32 

YOUNG'S  Night  Thoughts,  84,  100, 

151 

Young,  Ann  and  Isabella,  conver 
sion  under  Wesley,  291 

ZlNZENDORF,  hymn  ascribed  to, 
86  ;  his  death,  89  ;  the  '  Ecce 
Homo  '  at  Diis.seldorf,  220 


PRINTED    UY    WILLIAM    CLOWES    AND   SONS,    LIMITED,    LONDON    AND    BBCCLES. 


BY   THE    SAME    AUTHOR. 

Crown  8vo.     Cloth.     2s.  6d. 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  UPPER  ROOM, 

SOME:  PRESS  OPINIONS. 

1 A  simple,  devout,  and  profitable  talk.  The  devout  and  simple-hearted 
reader  will  find  Mr.  Telford  a  competent  and  attractive  guide  in  re-reading 
the  five  great  chapters  which  enshrine  the  farewell  words  of  our  Lord.' — 
Christian  Leader. 

'  There  were  three,  there  are  now  four  good  books  on  that  part  of 
Scripture  which  we  all  believe  to  be  the  greatest  ever  written.  Dr. 
Maclaren  and  Dr.  Watson  give  us  fine  sermon-work,  incisive  in  different 
directions.  What  shall  we  say  of  Mr.  Telford?  lie  is  devotional  and 
practical.  He  is  for  home  reading.' — Expository  Times. 

'  The  "  Story  of  the  Upper  Room  "  has  never  before  been  told  so  fully 
and  so  connectedly  as  in  this  beautifully  written  volume.  Mr.  Telford  has 
given  us  a  series  of  homilies  at  once  practical  and  spiritual,  in  which, 
with  independent  thought  and  skilful  workmanship,  much  of  the  essence 
and  fragrance  of  choice  expositions  from  St.  Augustine  to  Canon  Bernard 
and  Dr.  Watson  have  been  preserved.1 — Great  Thoughts. 

'  Read  with  growing  interest  and  much  spiritual  stimulus.  It  is  a 
careful,  scholarly,  and  devotional  exposition  of  our  Lord's  last  discourses. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Telford's  spirit  is  reverent,  and  his  style  very  attractive  in  its 
clearness.  Indeed,  it  is  hard  to  lay  the  book  down.  .  .  .  We  thank  the 
author  for  giving  us  the  results  of  much  careful,  reverent  study,  and  believe 
that  many  readers  will  accord  him  that  highest  praise  of  a  writer — that  his 
book  has  led  them  nearer  to  the  Lord  Jesus.' — Local  freachcrs  Magazine. 

'  Mr.  Tflford  has  done  his  work  admirably  well.  It  is  a  connected 
narrative  of  the  records  of  the  four  evangelists  concerning  our  Lord's 
farewell  words  to  His  disciples.  .  .  .  The  book  is  full  of  devout  insight 
and  exposition.  The  only  fault  we  have  to  find  with  it  is  that  the  price  is 
too  low.' — Methodist  Recorder. 

'  Evidently  a  labour  of  love,  and  reveals  careful  research  made  in  a 
reverent  spirit.  Mr.  Telford  set  out  to  exalt  Christ,  and  he  has  succeeded. 
He  has  also  treated  his  theme  with  freshness  and  force.' — Sword  and 
Trowel. 

'  A  helpful  treatment  of  a  charming  subject.  .  .  .  The  result  of  many 
years  of  thought  and  study,  the  book  is  a  real  contribution  to  the  theme 
with  which  it  deals.  Mr.  Telford  is  not  merely  an  expositor,  he  is  also  an 
illustrator,  and  his  pages  are  made  attractive  with  suggestive  gatherings 
from  biographical  and  historical  literature.' — Christian. 


LONDON  :  CHARLES   H.    KELLY,   2   CASTLE   STREET,   CITY   ROAD 
AND  26  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  E.C. ;  AND  OF  ALL  BOOKSELLERS. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 
JOHN  WESLEY.   Revised  and  Enlarged  Edition.   Third 

Thousand.  With  three  Portraits  and  four  Facsimile  Certificates  of 
Ordination.  Post  8vo.  Art  Linen,  gilt  top,  55.  ;  Half  Morocco, 
ids.  6d.  ;  Palestine  Levant,  125.  6d. ;  Full  Morocco,  15.?.  ;  Crushed 
Morocco,  2$s. 

'  Mr.  Telford  has  written  a  "  Life  of  John  Wesley "  which  will  probably 
enjoy  a  lasting  sale.  It  is  comparatively  brief,  and  yet  sufficient,  for  it  is 
worked  out  with  much  studious  care  and  literary  skill.' — The  Contemporary 
Review. 

CHARLES   WESLEY.     Second  Edition.     Revised  and 

Enlarged.  Two  Portraits  and  other  Illustrations.  Post  8vo.  Art 
Linen,  gilt  top,  55.  Also  in  bindings  as  '  John  Wesley.' 

'We  heartily  congratulate  Mr.  Telford  on  the  publication  of  this  second 
edition  of  a  book  with  which  his  name  is  likely  long  to  be  associated  among 
the  lovers  of  the  Wesleys  and  of  Methodism.' — London  Quarterly  Review. 

'  Everybody  knows  that  both  the  Wesleys  written  by  Mr.  Telford  are 
among  the  standard  works.' — Methodist  Times. 

A     HISTORY     OF     LAY     PREACHING     IN     THE 
CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.     Small  crown  8vo.    2s.  6d. 

'  A  vast  subject  put  into  a  very  compact  little  book,  but  not  mutilated  in 
the  process.' — Sword  and  Trowel. 

MAKERS  OF  OUR  MISSIONS.    Pages  from  the  Lives 

of  Methodist  Missionaries.     Illustrated.     Crown  8vo.     is.  6d. 

WOMEN    IN   THE    MISSION    FIELD.     Glimpses   of 

Christian  Women  among  the  Heathen.     Crown  8vo.     is.  6d. 

POPULAR    HISTORY    OF   METHODISM.     In  large 

type.     Illustrated.     Cloth,     is.  6d. 

HISTORY  OF  METHODISM.     64  pages.     \d. 

A  concise  History  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  position  of  Methodism. 
Has  met  with  a  large  share  of  popular  favour. 

LIFE  OF  JOHN  WESLEY.    Illustrated.    64  pages,    -id. 

Full  of  interest,  personal  and  anecdotal,  well  printed  on  good  paper. 
A  fitting  companion  to  the  History  above. 

HISTORY  OF  WESLEYAN  METHODIST  MISSIONS. 

64  pages,     id. 

Gives  within  a  compass  of  64  pages  a  History  of  the  Formation  of 
the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society,  its  development,  and  success  over 
a  wide  field. 


LONDON :  CHARLES  H.  KELLY,  2   CASTLE   STREET,   CITY  ROAD, 
AND  26  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  E.C. ;  AND  OF  ALL  BOOKSELLERS.