{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33998/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33998","id":"gutenberg_33998","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33998","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Religious","Category: Music","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Hymns -- History and criticism"],"text":"E-text prepared by Stephen Hutcheson\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF OUR HYMNS\n\nby\n\nERNEST EDWIN RYDEN\n\nPastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church\nSt. Paul, Minnesota\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAugustana Book Concern\nRock Island, Illinois\n\nCopyright 1930\nby\nAugustana Book Concern\n\nFirst Edition, December, 1930\nSecond Edition, April, 1931\n\nAugustana Book Concern\nRock Island, Illinois\n\n\n\n\n To the Sweet Memory\n of Our Bonnie Boy\n Richard Edward Ryden\n Who at the Age of Ten Years Went\n Home to Sing with the\n Angels.\n\n\n He is not dead: he only sleeps,\n Safe in the arms of Him who keeps\n His lambs secure from earth's alarm,\n From grief and sin and foes that harm.\n\n He is not dead: he is at rest,\n Content upon his Saviour's breast;\n Dear little child, we loved you so,\n But Jesus loved you more, we know.\n\n He is not dead: the Shepherd came\n To call His little lamb by name;\n The gentle Shepherd watch will keep,\n While His beloved child doth sleep.\n\n He is not dead: by angel bands\n Now welcomed to the heavenly lands,\n With theirs a childish voice shall sing\n Hosannas to the children's King.\n\n He is not dead: though tears may flow,\n Faith whispers: \"It is better so.\"\n With joy we'll meet on that fair shore,\n Where God's own children weep no more.\n\n\n\n\n FOREWORD\n\n\nThe hymn lore of the Christian Church offers a fascinating field for\nprofitable research and study. To know the hymns of the Church is to know\nsomething of the spiritual strivings and achievements of the people of\nGod throughout the centuries. Henry Ward Beecher has well said: \"Hymns\nare the jewels which the Church has worn, the pearls, the diamonds, the\nprecious stones, formed into amulets more potent against sorrow and\nsadness than the most famous charm of the wizard or the magician. And he\nwho knows the way that hymns flowed, knows where the blood of true piety\nran, and can trace its veins and arteries to the very heart.\"\n\nThis volume has been inspired by a desire on the part of the author to\ncreate deeper love for the great lyrics of the Christian Church. In\npursuing this purpose an effort has been made to present such facts and\ncircumstances surrounding their authorship and composition as will result\nin a better understanding and appreciation of the hymns themselves.\n\nA hymn is a child of the age in which it was written. For this reason the\nauthor has followed a chronological arrangement in an endeavor, not only\nto set forth the historical background of the hymns, but also to trace\nthe spiritual movements within the Church that gave them birth.\n\nThe materials contained in this volume have been gathered from sources\ntoo numerous to mention here. The author feels a special sense of\ngratitude for information drawn from David R. Breed's \"The History and\nUse of Hymns and Hymn-Tunes,\" Edward S. Ninde's \"The Story of the\nAmerican Hymn,\" and John Julian's monumental work, \"Dictionary of\nHymnology.\" No claim is made to originality, except in the manner of\npresentation and interpretation. A popular style has been adopted in\norder to appeal to the lay reader.\n\nThus we send forth this book with the earnest prayer that it may inspire\nmany hearts to sing with greater devotion the praises of Him who redeemed\nus with His blood and made us to be kings and priests unto God.\n\n Ernest Edwin Ryden.\n\nSt. Paul, Minnesota, November 14, 1930.\n\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n\n PART I: EARLY CHRISTIAN HYMNODY\n The Early Christian Chants 13\n Greek and Syriac Hymns 19\n The Rise of Latin Hymnody 25\n An Ancient Singer Who Glorified the Cross 31\n The Golden Age of Latin Hymnody 35\n\n PART II: GERMAN HYMNODY\n Martin Luther, Father of Evangelical Hymnody 43\n The Hymn-Writers of the Reformation 53\n Hymnody of the Controversial Period 59\n The King and Queen of Chorales 65\n Hymns of the Thirty Years' War 69\n A Hymn Made Famous on a Battle Field 77\n The Lutheran Te Deum 81\n Paul Gerhardt, Prince of Lutheran Hymnists 85\n Joachim Neander, the Paul Gerhardt of the Calvinists 93\n A Roman Mystic and Hymn-writer 99\n Hymn-writers of the Pietist School 103\n The Wuerttemberg Hymn-writers 111\n How a Great Organist Inspired Two Hymnists 117\n Gerhard Tersteegen, Hymn-writer and Mystic 123\n Zinzendorf and Moravian Hymnody 127\n Two Famous Hymns and some Legends 131\n Hymnody in the Age of Rationalism 135\n Hymns of the Spiritual Renaissance 141\n\n PART III: SCANDINAVIAN HYMNODY\n The Swedish Reformers and Their Hymns 149\n A Hymn-Book That Failed 155\n David's Harp in the Northland 161\n The Golden Age of Swedish Hymnody 169\n The Fanny Crosby of Sweden and the Pietists 177\n Kingo, the Poet of Easter-Tide 185\n Brorson, the Poet of Christmas 191\n Grundtvig, the Poet of Whitsuntide 197\n Landstad, a Bard of the Frozen Fjords 203\n\n PART IV: ENGLISH HYMNODY\n The Dawn of Hymnody in England 209\n Isaac Watts, Father of English Hymnody 215\n Doddridge: Preacher, Teacher, and Hymnist 221\n Wesley, The Sweet Bard of Methodism 225\n A Great Hymn that Grew out of a Quarrel 233\n The Bird of a Single Song 239\n England's First Woman Hymnist 245\n A Slave-trader Who Wrote Christian Lyrics 249\n An Afflicted Poet Who Glorified God 253\n An Irish Poet and His Hymns 259\n The Hymn Legacy of an English Editor 263\n Heber, Missionary Bishop and Hymnist 269\n An Invalid Who Blessed the World 275\n How Hymns Helped Build a Church 279\n A Famous Hymn by a Proselyte of Rome 285\n Henry Francis Lyte and His Swan Song 291\n Sarah Adams and the Rise of Women Hymn-writers 297\n A Hymn Written in a Stage-coach 301\n An Archbishop's Wife Who Wrote Hymns 305\n Bonar, the Sweet Singer of Scotland 311\n Two Famous Translators of Ancient Hymns 317\n Baring-Gould and His Noted Hymn 323\n Frances Ridley Havergal, the Consecration Poet 327\n A Unitarian Who Gloried in the Cross 333\n A Model Hymn by a Model Minister 337\n Matheson and His Song in the Night 341\n\n Part V: AMERICAN HYMNODY\n The Beginning of Hymnody in America 347\n America's First Woman Hymnist 353\n Thomas Hastings, Poet and Musician 359\n Francis Scott Key, Patriot and Hymnist 363\n America's First Poet and His Hymns 367\n The Hymn-writer of the Muhlenbergs 371\n The Lyrics of Bishop Doane 375\n The Quaker Poet as a Hymn-writer 379\n America's Greatest Hymn and Its Author 383\n Samuel Smith, a Patriotic Hymn-writer 389\n Two Famous Christmas Hymns and Their Author 395\n Harriet Beecher Stowe and Her Hymns 399\n A Hymn Written on Two Shores 407\n A Hymn That Grew out of Suffering 411\n A Famous Hymn Written for Sailors 415\n A Tragedy That Inspired a Great Hymn 419\n Anna Warner and Her Beautiful Hymns 423\n Phillips Brooks and His Carols 427\n Women Who Wrote Hymns for Children 431\n Fanny Crosby, America's Blind Poet 435\n One of America's Earliest Gospel Singers 441\n The Lyrist of Chautauqua 445\n Gladden's Hymn of Christian Service 449\n A Hymn with a Modern Message 453\n A Lutheran Psalmist of Today 457\n Survey of American Lutheran Hymnody 463\n Index of Notable Hymns 471\n Alphabetical Index of Hymns and Sources 477\n Authors' and General Index 493\n Bibliography 503\n\n\n\n\nPART I\nEarly Christian Hymnody\n\n\n\n\n The Angelic Hymn\n\n\n Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men. We\n praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify\n Thee, we give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory, O Lord\n God, Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.\n\n O Lord, the Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God,\n Son of the Father, that takest away the sin of the world,\n have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sin of the\n world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right\n hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.\n\n For Thou only art holy; Thou only art the Lord; Thou only, O Christ,\n with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the\n Father. Amen.\n\n\n\n\n THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHANTS\n\n\nThe first Christians sang hymns. The Saviour went to His passion with a\nsong on His lips. Matthew and Mark agree that the last act of worship in\nthe Upper Room was the singing of a hymn. \"And when they had sung a hymn,\nthey went out unto the Mount of Olives.\"\n\nHow we wish that the words of that hymn might have been preserved!\nPerhaps they have. Many Biblical scholars believe that they may be found\nin the so-called _Hallel_ series in the Psaltery, consisting of Psalms\n113 to 118 inclusive. It was a practice among the Jews to chant these\nholy songs at the paschal table. Fraught as they were with Messianic\nhope, it was fitting that such a hymn should ascend to the skies in the\nhour when God's Paschal Lamb was about to be offered.\n\nThe Christian Church followed the example of Jesus and His disciples by\nsinging from the Psaltery at its worship. Paul admonished his converts\nnot to neglect the gift of song. To the Ephesians he wrote: \"Be filled\nwith the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and\nspiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.\"\nAnd his exhortation to the Colossians rings like an echo: \"Let the word\nof Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one\nanother with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in\nyour hearts unto God.\"\n\nThe praying and singing of Paul and Silas in the midnight gloom of the\nPhilippian dungeon, their feet being made \"fast in the stocks,\" also is a\nrevelation of the large place occupied by song in the lives of the early\nChristians.\n\nThe double reference of the Apostle to \"psalms, hymns and spiritual\nsongs\" would indicate that the Christian Church very early began to use\nchants and hymns other than those taken from the Psaltery. The younger\nPliny, in 112 A.D., wrote to Emperor Trajan from Bithynia that the\nChristians came together before daylight and sang hymns alternately\n(_invicem_) \"to Christ as God.\"\n\nThese distinctively Christian chants were the _Gloria in Excelsis_, or\nthe \"Angelic Hymn,\" so called because its opening lines are taken from\nthe song of the angels at Jesus' birth; the _Magnificat_, Mary's song of\npraise; the _Benedictus_, the song of Zacharias, father of John the\nBaptist; and the _Nunc Dimittis_, the prayer of the aged Simeon when he\nheld the Christ-child in his arms. Other chants that were used very early\nin the Christian Church included the _Ter Sanctus_, based on the \"thrice\nholy\" of Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8; the _Gloria Patri_, or \"Lesser\nDoxology;\" the _Benedicite_, the \"Song of the Three Hebrew Children,\"\nfrom the Apocrypha; and the _Te Deum Laudamus_, which is sometimes\nregarded as a later Latin chant, but which undoubtedly was derived from a\nvery ancient hymn of praise.\n\nEminent Biblical scholars believe that fragments of other primitive\nChristian hymns have been preserved in the Epistles of Paul and in other\nportions of the New Testament. Such a fragment is believed to be recorded\nin 1 Timothy 3:16:\n\n He who was manifested in the flesh,\n Justified in the spirit,\n Seen of angels,\n Preached among the nations,\n Believed on in the world,\n Received up in glory.\n\nThe \"faithful saying\" to which Paul refers in 2 Timothy 2:11 also is\nbelieved to be a quotation from one of these hymns so dear to the\nChristians:\n\n If we died with Him,\n We shall also live with Him:\n If we endure,\n We shall also reign with Him:\n If we shall deny Him,\n He will also deny us:\n If we are faithless,\n He abideth faithful;\n For He cannot deny Himself.\n\nIt will be noted how well these passages adapt themselves to responsive,\nor antiphonal, chanting, which was the character of the ancient Christian\nsongs. Other passages that are believed to be fragments of ancient hymns\nare Ephesians 5:14; 1 Timothy 6:15, 16; James 1:17, and Revelation 1:5-7.\n\nThere are strong evidences to support the claim that responsive singing\nin the churches of Asia Minor was introduced during the latter part of\nthe first century by Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, a pupil of the Apostle\nJohn. The _Gloria in Excelsis_ was used in matin services about this\ntime, while the _Magnificat_ was sung at vespers. Ignatius suffered\nmartyrdom about 107 A.D. by being torn to pieces by lions in the circus\nas a despiser of the gods.\n\nLiturgies also were employed very early in the worship of the Christian\nChurch. An ancient service known as the \"Jerusalem\" liturgy was ascribed\nto the Apostle James, while the so-called \"Alexandrian\" liturgy claimed\nas its author Mark, fellow laborer of Paul and companion of Peter. There\nis much uncertainty surrounding these claims, however.\n\nBoth Tertullian and Origen record the fact that there was a rich use of\nsong in family life as well as in public worship.\n\nThe singing of the early Christians was simple and artless. Augustine\ndescribes the singing at Alexandria under Athanasius as \"more like\nspeaking than singing.\" Musical instruments were not used. The pipe,\ntabret, and harp were associated so intimately with the sensuous heathen\ncults, as well as with the wild revelries and shameless performances of\nthe degenerate theatre and circus, that it is easy to understand the\nprejudice against their use in the Christian worship.\n\n\"A Christian maiden,\" says Jerome, \"ought not even to know what a lyre or\na flute is, or what it is used for.\" Clement of Alexandria writes: \"Only\none instrument do we use, viz., the word of peace wherewith we honor God,\nno longer the old psaltery, trumpet, drum, and flute.\" Chrysostom\nexpresses himself in like vein: \"David formerly sang in psalms, also we\nsing today with him; he had a lyre with lifeless strings, the Church has\na lyre with living strings. Our tongues are the strings of the lyre, with\na different tone, indeed, but with a more accordant piety.\"\n\nThe language of the first Christian hymns, like the language of the New\nTestament, was Greek. The Syriac tongue was also used in some regions,\nbut Greek gradually attained ascendancy.\n\nThe hymns of the Eastern Church are rich in adoration and the spirit of\nworship. Because of their exalted character and Scriptural language they\nhave found an imperishable place in the liturgical forms of the Christian\nChurch. As types of true hymnody, they have never been surpassed.\n\n\n\n\n The Oldest Christian Hymn\n\n\n Shepherd of tender youth,\n Guiding in love and truth\n Through devious ways;\n Christ, our triumphant King,\n We come Thy Name to sing,\n And here our children bring\n To join Thy praise.\n\n Thou art our holy Lord,\n O all-subduing Word,\n Healer of strife:\n Thou didst Thyself abase,\n That from sin's deep disgrace\n Thou mightest save our race,\n And give us life.\n\n Ever be near our side,\n Our Shepherd and our Guide,\n Our staff and song:\n Jesus, Thou Christ of God,\n By Thine enduring Word,\n Lead us where Thou hast trod;\n Our faith make strong.\n\n So now, and till we die,\n Sound we Thy praises high,\n And joyful sing:\n Let all the holy throng\n Who to Thy Church belong\n Unite to swell the song\n To Christ our King!\n\n Clement of Alexandria, about 200 A.D.\n\n\n\n\n GREEK AND SYRIAC HYMNS\n\n\nVery soon the early Christians began to use hymns other than the Psalms\nand Scriptural chants. In other words, they began to sing the praises of\nthe Lord in their own words. Eusebius informs us that in the first half\nof the third century there existed a large number of sacred songs. Some\nof these have come down to us, but the authorship of only one is known\nwith any degree of certainty. It is the beautiful children's hymn,\n\"Shepherd of Tender Youth.\"\n\nJust how old this hymn is cannot be stated with certainty. However, it is\nfound appended to a very ancient Christian work entitled \"The Tutor,\"\nwritten in Greek by Clement of Alexandria.\n\nClement, whose real name was Titus Flavius Clemens, was born about 170\nA.D. He was one of the first great scholars in the Christian Church. An\neager seeker after truth, he studied the religions and philosophical\nsystems of the Greeks, the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Jews.\n\nIn the course of time he entered the Catechetical School conducted by\nPantaenus at Alexandria, Egypt, and there he became a convert to\nChristianity. Some years later Clement himself became the head of the\ninstitution, which was the first Christian school of its kind in the\nworld. Among the students who received instruction from Clement was the\nfamous Origen, who became the greatest scholar in the ancient Christian\nchurch. Another of his pupils was Alexander, afterwards Bishop of\nJerusalem, and still later Bishop of Cappadocia.\n\nOne of Clement's most celebrated works was \"The Tutor.\" It was in three\nvolumes. The first book described the Tutor, who is Christ Himself; the\nsecond book contained sundry directions concerning the daily life and\nconduct; and the third, after dwelling on the nature of true beauty,\ncondemned extravagance in dress, on the part of both men and women.\n\nTwo poems are appended to this work, the first of which is entitled, \"A\nHymn to the Saviour.\" This is the hymn known as \"Shepherd of tender\nyouth.\"\n\nThe \"Hymn to the Saviour\" in all the manuscripts in which it is found is\nattributed to Clement himself, but some critics believe that he was\nmerely quoting it, and that it was written by a still earlier poet. Be\nthat as it may, we do know that, aside from the hymns derived from the\nBible, it is the oldest Christian hymn in existence, and it has always\nbeen referred to as \"Clement's hymn.\"\n\nClement was driven from Alexandria during the persecution of Severus in\n202 A.D. Of his subsequent history practically nothing is known. It is\nbelieved he died about 220 A.D.\n\nA number of other beautiful Greek hymns have come down to us from the\nsame period, but their date and authorship remain in doubt. Longfellow\nhas given us an exquisite translation of one of these in \"The Golden\nLegend\":\n\n O Gladsome Light\n Of the Father immortal,\n And of the celestial\n Sacred and blessed\n Jesus, our Saviour!\n Now to the sunset\n Again hast Thou brought us;\n And seeing the evening\n Twilight, we bless Thee,\n Praise Thee, adore Thee,\n Father omnipotent!\n Son, the Life-giver!\n Spirit, the Comforter!\n Worthy at all times\n Of worship and wonder!\n\nAn inspiring little doxology, also by an unknown author, reads:\n\n My hope is God,\n My refuge is the Lord,\n My shelter is the Holy Ghost;\n Be Thou, O Holy Three, adored!\n\nDoctrinal controversies gave the first real impetus to hymn writing in\nthe Eastern church. As early as the second century, Bardesanes, a Gnostic\nteacher, had beguiled many to adopt his heresy by the charm of his hymns\nand melodies. His son, Harmonius, followed in the father's footsteps.\nTheir hymns were written in the Syriac language, and only a few fragments\nhave been preserved.\n\nThe Arians and other heretical teachers also seized upon the same method\nto spread their doctrines. It was not until the fourth century,\napparently, that any effort was made by orthodox Christians to meet them\nwith their own weapons. Ephrem Syrus, who has been called \"the cithern of\nthe Holy Spirit,\" was the greatest teacher of his time in the Syrian\nChurch, as well as her most gifted hymnist. This unusual man was born in\nnorthern Mesopotamia about 307 A.D. His zeal for orthodox Christianity\nwas no doubt kindled by his presence at the Council of Nicaea in 325\nA.D., and thenceforth he was ever an eager champion of the faith. Not\nonly did he write hymns and chants, but he trained large choirs to sing\nthem. He exerted a profound influence over the entire Syrian Church, and\neven today his hymns are used by the Maronite Christians.\n\nThe greatest name among the Greek hymnists of this period is Gregory\nNazianzen. Born in 325 A.D., the son of a bishop, he was compelled by his\nfather to enter the priesthood at the age of thirty-six years. He labored\nwith much zeal, however, and eventually was enthroned by the Emperor's\nown hand as Patriarch of Constantinople. Through the machinations of the\nArians he was later compelled to abdicate his office, whereupon he\nretired to his birthplace. Here he spent the last years of his life in\nwriting sacred poetry of singular beauty and lofty spirit.\n\nAnother of the important writers of the early Greek period was Anatolius.\nConcerning this man very little is known except that he lived in the\nseventh or eighth century. He has left about one hundred hymns, among\nthem, at least three that are still in common use, \"Fierce was the wild\nbillow,\" \"The day is past and over,\" and \"A great and mighty wonder.\"\nThis last is a little Christmas hymn of unusual charm. His description of\nthe storm of Galilee is one of the classics of Greek hymnology:\n\n Fierce was the wild billow,\n Dark was the night;\n Oars labored heavily,\n Foam glimmered white;\n\n Trembled the mariners,\n Peril was nigh;\n Then said the God of God,\n \"Peace! It is I.\"\n\nTo John of Damascus, who died about 780 A.D., we are indebted for two of\nthe most popular Easter hymns in use today, namely, \"The day of\nresurrection\" and \"Come, ye faithful, raise the strain.\" Further\nreference to these will be found in the chapter on the great translator\nof Greek and Latin hymns, John Mason Neale.\n\nWhen John of Damascus forsook the world and left behind him a brilliant\ncareer to enter a monastery founded in 520 A.D., by St. Sabas, he took\nwith him his ten-year-old nephew, Stephen. The boy grew up within the\nwalls of this cloister, which is situated in one of the deep gorges of\nthe brook Kedron, near Bethlehem, overlooking the Dead Sea. Stephen, who\ncame to be known as the Sabaite, was likewise a gifted hymnist, and it is\nhe who has given us the hymn made famous by Neale's translation: \"Art\nthou weary, art thou languid?\" Stephen died in 794 A.D.\n\nThe last name of importance among the great hymn-writers of the Greek\nChurch is that of Joseph the Hymnographer, who lived at Constantinople in\nthe ninth century. It is he who wrote the hymn on angels for St.\nMichael's Day:\n\n Stars of the morning, so gloriously bright,\n Filled with celestial resplendence and light,\n These that, where night never followeth day,\n Raise the \"Thrice Holy, Lord!\" ever and aye.\n\nAs early as the fourth century the Council of Laodicea had decreed that\n\"besides the appointed singers, who mount the ambo, and sing from the\nbook, others shall not sing in the church.\" How far this rule may have\ndiscouraged or suppressed congregational singing is a subject of dispute\namong historians. However, it is a matter of record that hymnody suffered\na gradual decline in the Eastern division of the Christian Church and\neventually assumed more of a liturgical character.\n\n\n\n\n An Ambrosian Advent Hymn\n\n\n Come, Thou Saviour of our race,\n Choicest Gift of heavenly grace!\n O Thou blessed Virgin's Son,\n Be Thy race on earth begun.\n\n Not of mortal blood or birth,\n He descends from heaven to earth:\n By the Holy Ghost conceived,\n God and man by us believed.\n\n Wondrous birth! O wondrous child\n Of the virgin undefiled!\n Though by all the world disowned,\n Still to be in heaven enthroned.\n\n From the Father forth He came,\n And returneth to the same;\n Captive leading death and hell--\n High the song of triumph swell!\n\n Equal to the Father now,\n Though to dust Thou once didst bow,\n Boundless shall Thy kingdom be;\n When shall we its glories see?\n\n Brightly doth Thy manger shine!\n Glorious in its light divine:\n Let not sin o'ercloud this light,\n Ever be our faith thus bright.\n\n Aurelius Ambrose (340-397 A.D.)\n\n\n\n\n THE RISE OF LATIN HYMNODY\n\n\nThe first hymns and canticles used in the Western churches came from the\nEast. They were sung in their original Greek form. It was not until the\nbeginning of the fourth century that any record of Latin hymns is found.\nIsadore of Seville, who died in the year 636 A.D., tells us that \"Hilary\nof Gaul, bishop of Poitiers, was the first who flourished in composing\nhymns in verse.\" Hilary, who died in the year 368, himself records the\nfact that he brought some of them from the East. His most famous Latin\nhymn is _Lucis largitor splendide_.\n\nThe father of Latin hymnody, however, was the great church father,\nAurelius Ambrose, bishop of Milan. It was he who taught the Western\nChurch to glorify God in song. Concerning this remarkable bishop,\nMabillon writes:\n\n\"St. Ambrose took care that, after the manner of the Eastern Fathers,\npsalms and hymns should be sung by the people also, when previously they\nhad only been recited by individuals singly, and among the Italians by\nclerks only.\"\n\nThe father of Ambrose was prefect of the Gauls, and it is believed that\nthe future bishop was born at Treves about 340 A.D. The youthful Ambrose,\nlike his father, was trained for government service, and in 374 A.D. he\nwas appointed Consular of Liguria and Aemilia. During the election of a\nbishop in Milan, a bitter conflict raged between the orthodox Christians\nand the Arians, and Ambrose found it necessary to attend the church where\nthe election was taking place in order to calm the excited assembly.\n\nAccording to tradition, a child's voice was heard to cry out in the\nchurch, \"Ambrosius!\" This was accepted at once by the multitude as an act\nof divine guidance and the whole assembly began shouting, \"Ambrose shall\nbe our bishop!\" Ambrose had been attracted to the Christian religion but\nas yet had not received baptism. He therefore protested his election and\nimmediately fled from the city. He was induced to return, however, was\nbaptized, and accepted the high office for which he had been chosen.\n\nThe story of his subsequent life is one of the most remarkable chapters\nin the annals of the early Christian Church. Selling all his possessions,\nhe entered upon the duties of his bishopric with such fervent zeal and\nuntiring devotion that his fame spread far and wide. He early recognized\nthe value of music in church worship and immediately took steps to\nintroduce congregational singing. He was the author of a new kind of\nchurch music, which, because of its rhythmical accent, rich modulation,\nand musical flow, made a powerful appeal to the emotions. Withal, because\nit was combined with such artless simplicity, it was easily mastered by\nthe common people and instantly sprang into great popularity. By the\nintroduction of responsive singing he also succeeded in securing the\nactive participation of the congregation in the worship.\n\nEmpress Justina favored the Arians and sought to induce Ambrose to open\nthe church of Milan for their use. When Ambrose replied with dignity that\nit did not behoove the state to interfere in matters of doctrine,\nsoldiers were sent to enforce the imperial will. The people of Milan,\nhowever, rallied around their beloved bishop, and, when the soldiers\nsurrounded the church, Ambrose and his congregation were singing and\npraying. So tremendous was the effect of the song that the soldiers\noutside the church finally joined in the anthems. The effort to compel\nAmbrose to yield proved fruitless, and the empress abandoned her plan.\n\nAugustine, who later became the most famous convert of Ambrose, tells of\nthe great impression made on his soul when he heard the singing of\nAmbrose and his congregation. In his \"Confessions\" he writes: \"How\nmightily I was moved by the overwhelming tones of Thy Church, my God! Thy\nvoices flooded my ears, Thy truth melted my heart, the sacred fires of\nworship were kindled in my soul, my tears flowed, and a foretaste of the\njoy of salvation was given me.\" Ambrose himself has left us this\ntestimony: \"They say that people are transported by the singing of my\nhymns, and I confess that it is true.\"\n\nAmbrose was no respecter of persons. Although he was a warm friend of the\nEmperor Theodosius, he denounced the latter's cruel massacre of the\npeople of Thessalonica, and, when Theodosius came to the church of\nAmbrose to worship, he was met at the door by the brave bishop and denied\nadmittance.\n\n\"Do you,\" he cried, \"who have been guilty of shedding innocent blood,\ndare to enter the sanctuary?\"\n\nThe emperor for eight months refrained from communion; then he applied\nfor absolution, which was granted him after he had done public penance.\nHe also promised in the future never to execute a death sentence within\nthirty days of its pronouncement.\n\nIt was at Milan that the pious Monica experienced the joy of seeing her\ntears and prayers answered in the conversion of her famous son,\nAugustine. The latter, who had come to Milan in the year 384 as a teacher\nof oratory, was attracted at first by the eloquence of Ambrose's\npreaching. It was not long, however, before the Word of God began to grip\nthe heart of the skeptical, sensual youth. At length he was induced to\nbegin anew the study of the Scripture, and his conversion followed. It\nwas on Easter Sunday, 387 A.D., that he received the rite of holy baptism\nat the hands of Bishop Ambrose. There is a beautiful tradition that the\n_Te Deum Laudamus_ was composed under inspiration and recited alternately\nby Ambrose and Augustine immediately after the latter had been baptized.\nHowever, there is little to substantiate this legend, and it is more\nlikely that the magnificent hymn of praise was a compilation of a later\ndate, based on a very ancient Greek version.\n\nAs Athanasius was the defender of the doctrine of the Trinity in the\nEast, so Ambrose was its champion in the West. It is natural, therefore,\nthat many of the hymns of Ambrose center around the deity of Christ.\nThere are at least twelve Latin hymns that can be ascribed with certainty\nto him. Perhaps his best hymn is _Veni, Redemptor gentium_, which Luther\nprized very highly and which was one of the first he translated into\nGerman. The English translation, \"Come, Thou Saviour of our race,\" is by\nWilliam R. Reynolds. Another Advent hymn, \"Now hail we our Redeemer,\" is\nsometimes ascribed to Ambrose.\n\nThe beloved bishop, whose life had been so stormy, passed peacefully to\nrest on Easter evening, 397 A.D. Thus was seemingly granted beautiful\nfulfilment to the prayer Ambrose utters in one of his hymns:\n\n Grant to life's day a calm unclouded ending,\n An eve untouched by shadows of decay,\n The brightness of a holy deathbed blending\n With dawning glories of the eternal day.\n\nWhile Ambrose was defending the faith and inditing sacred songs at Milan,\nanother richly-endowed poet was writing sublime Latin verse far to the\nWest. He was Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, the great Spanish hymnist. Of\nhis personal history we know little except that he was born 348 A.D. in\nnorthern Spain, probably at Saragossa.\n\nIn early life he occupied important positions of state, but in his latter\nyears he retired to a monastery. Here he exercised his high poetic gifts\nin writing a series of sacred Latin poems. He was preeminently the poet\nof the martyrs, never ceasing to extol their Christian faith and\nfortitude. Bentley called Prudentius the \"Horace of the Christians.\"\nRudelbach declared that his poetry \"is like gold set with precious\nstones,\" and Luther expressed the desire that the works of Prudentius\nshould be studied in the schools.\n\nThe finest funeral hymn ever written has come to us from the pen of this\nearly Spanish bard. It consists of forty-four verses, and begins with the\nline, _Deus ignee fons animarum_. It is sometimes referred to as the\n\"song of the catacombs.\" Archbishop Trench of England called this hymn\n\"the crowning glory of the poetry of Prudentius,\" and another archbishop,\nJohan Olof Wallin, the great hymnist of Sweden, made four different\nattempts at translating it before he produced the hymn now regarded as\none of the choicest gems in the \"Psalm-book\" of his native land.\n\nAn English version, derived from the longer poem, begins with the stanza:\n\n Despair not, O heart, in thy sorrow,\n But hope from God's promises borrow;\n Beware, in thy sorrow, of sinning,\n For death is of life the beginning.\n\n\n\n\n A Prophetic Easter Hymn\n\n\n Welcome, happy morning! age to age shall say,\n Hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today.\n Lo, the Dead is living, God for evermore!\n Him, their true Creator, all His works adore.\n Welcome, happy morning! age to age shall say.\n\n Maker and Redeemer, Life and Health of all,\n Thou from heaven beholding human nature's fall,\n Thou of God the Father, true and only Son,\n Manhood to deliver, manhood didst put on.\n Hell today is vanquished; heaven is won today!\n\n Thou, of life the Author, death didst undergo,\n Tread the path of darkness, saving strength to show;\n Come then, True and Faithful, now fulfil Thy word;\n 'Tis Thine own third morning: rise, O buried Lord!\n Welcome, happy morning! age to age shall say.\n\n Loose the souls long prisoned, bound with Satan's chain;\n All that now is fallen raise to life again;\n Show Thy face in brightness, bid the nations see;\n Bring again our daylight; day returns with Thee!\n Welcome, happy morning! Heaven is won today!\n\n Venantius Fortunatus (530-609 A.D.)\n\n\n\n\n AN ANCIENT SINGER WHO GLORIFIED THE CROSS\n\n\nThe joyous, rhythmical church-song introduced by Bishop Ambrose made\ntriumphant progress throughout the Western Church. For three centuries it\nseems to have completely dominated the worship. Its rich melodies and\nnative freshness made a strong appeal to the human emotions, and\ntherefore proved very popular with the people.\n\nHowever, when Gregory the Great in 590 A.D. ascended the papal chair a\nreaction had set in. Many of the Ambrosian hymns and chants had become\ncorrupted and secularized and therefore had lost their ecclesiastical\ndignity. Gregory, to whose severe, ascetic nature the bright and lively\nstyle of Ambrosian singing must have seemed almost an abomination,\nimmediately took steps to reform the church music.\n\nA school of music was founded in Rome where the new Gregorian liturgical\nstyle, known as \"Cantus Romanus,\" was taught. The Gregorian music was\nsung in unison. It was slow, uniform and measured, without rhythm and\nbeat, and thus it approached the old recitative method of psalm singing.\nWhile it is true that it raised the church music to a higher, nobler and\nmore dignified level, its fatal defect lay in the fact that it could be\nrendered worthily only by trained choirs and singers. Congregational\nsinging soon became a thing of the past. The common people thenceforth\nbecame silent and passive worshipers, and the congregational hymn was\nsuperseded by a clerical liturgy.\n\nOne of the last hymnists of the Ambrosian school and the most important\nLatin poet of the sixth century was Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of\nPoitiers. He was born at Ceneda, near Treviso, about 530 A.D., and was\nconverted to Christianity at an early age. While a student at Ravenna he\nalmost became blind. Having regained his sight through what he regarded a\nmiracle, he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Martin at Tours, and\nas a result of this journey the remainder of his life was spent in Gaul.\n\nAlthough all of the poetry of Fortunatus is not of the highest order, he\nhas bequeathed some magnificent hymns to the Christian Church. No one has\never sung of the Cross with such deep pathos and sublime tenderness:\n\n Faithful Cross! above all other,\n One and only noble tree!\n None in foliage, none in blossom,\n None in fruit thy peer may be;\n Sweetest wood and sweetest iron!\n Sweetest weight is hung on thee.\n\n Bend thy boughs, O Tree of Glory!\n Thy relaxing sinews bend;\n For awhile the ancient rigor\n That thy birth bestowed, suspend;\n And the King of heavenly beauty\n On thy bosom gently tend!\n\n Thou alone wast counted worthy\n This world's Ransom to uphold;\n For a shipwrecked race preparing\n Harbor, like the Ark of old;\n With the sacred blood anointed\n From the smitten Lamb that rolled.\n\nAnd again:\n\n O Tree of beauty, Tree of Light!\n O Tree with royal purple dight!\n Elect on whose triumphal breast\n Those holy limbs should find their rest:\n On whose dear arms, so widely flung,\n The weight of this world's Ransom hung:\n The price of humankind to pay,\n And spoil the spoiler of his prey.\n\nFortunatus' famous Passion hymn, _Pange lingua glorioso_, is also the\nbasis for the beautiful Easter hymn:\n\n Praise the Saviour\n Now and ever!\n Praise Him all beneath the skies!\n Prostrate lying,\n Suffering, dying,\n On the Cross, a Sacrifice;\n Victory gaining,\n Life obtaining,\n Now in glory He doth rise.\n\nAnother Easter hymn, \"Welcome, happy morning! age to age shall say,\" has\na triumphant ring in its flowing lines. His odes to Ascension day and\nWhitsunday are similar in character.\n\nThat Fortunatus had a true evangelical conception of Christ and His\natonement may be seen in his well-known hymn, _Lustra sex qui jam\nperegit_:\n\n Holy Jesus, grant us grace\n In Thy sacrifice to place\n All our trust for life renewed,\n Pardoned sin and promised good.\n\n\n\n\n A Tribute to the Dying Saviour\n\n\n O sacred Head, now wounded,\n With grief and shame weighed down,\n Now scornfully surrounded,\n With thorns Thine only crown!\n Once reigning in the highest\n In light and majesty,\n Dishonored now Thou diest,\n Yet here I worship Thee.\n\n How art Thou pale with anguish,\n With sore abuse and scorn!\n How does that visage languish,\n Which once was bright as morn!\n What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered,\n Was all for sinners' gain;\n Mine, mine was the transgression,\n But Thine the deadly pain.\n\n Lo, here I fall, my Saviour,\n 'Tis I deserve Thy place:\n Look on me with Thy favor,\n Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.\n Receive me, my Redeemer;\n My Shepherd, make me Thine,\n Of every good the Fountain,\n Thou art the Spring of mine!\n\n What language shall I borrow\n To thank Thee, dearest Friend,\n For this, Thy dying sorrow,\n Thy pity without end!\n O make me Thine forever,\n And should I fainting be,\n Lord, let me never, never,\n Outlive my love to Thee.\n\n Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153 A.D.)\n\n\n\n\n THE GOLDEN AGE OF LATIN HYMNODY\n\n\nDuring the Middle Ages, when evil days had fallen upon the Church, there\nwas very little to inspire sacred song. All over Europe the Gregorian\nchants, sung in Latin, had crowded out congregational singing. The\nbarbarian languages were considered too crude for use in worship, and\nmuch less were they regarded as worthy of being moulded into Christian\nhymns. Religious poetry was almost invariably written in Latin.\n\nHowever, in the midst of the spiritual decay and worldly depravity that\ncharacterized the age there were noble souls whose lives shone like\nbright stars in the surrounding darkness. Their sacred poetry, a great\ndeal of which was written for private devotion, bears witness of their\ndeep love for the Saviour.\n\nThe beautiful Palm Sunday hymn, \"All glory, laud, and honor,\" was\ncomposed by Bishop Theodulph of Orleans in a prison cell, probably in the\nyear 821. The immortal _Veni, Creator Spiritus_ also dates from the same\nperiod, being usually ascribed to Rhabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz,\nwho died in the year 856.\n\nThe religious fervor inspired by the Crusades, which began in the year\n1098, resulted in the production during the twelfth century of Latin\npoetry of singular lyrical beauty. This may be regarded as the golden age\nof Latin hymnody.\n\nIt was during this period that the most touching of all Good Friday\nhymns, \"O sacred Head, now wounded,\" was written. It is ascribed to\nBernard of Clairvaux, preacher of the Second Crusade, and one of the most\nbrilliant of Latin hymn-writers.\n\nAlthough composed in the twelfth century, the hymn did not achieve\nunusual fame until five centuries later, when it was rendered into German\nby the greatest of all Lutheran hymnists, Paul Gerhardt. Lauxmann has\nwell said: \"Bernard's original is powerful and searching, but Gerhardt's\nhymn is still more powerful and profound, as re-drawn from the deeper\nspring of evangelical Lutheran, Scriptural knowledge and fervency of\nfaith.\"\n\nGerhardt's version in turn was translated into English by James W.\nAlexander of Princeton, a Presbyterian. Thus, as Dr. Philip Schaff puts\nit: \"This classic hymn has shown in three tongues--Latin, German and\nEnglish--and in three confessions--Roman, Lutheran and Reformed--with\nequal effect the dying love of our Saviour and our boundless indebtedness\nto Him.\"\n\nYet another Lutheran, none other than John Sebastian Bach, \"high priest\nof church music,\" has contributed to the fame of the hymn by giving the\ngripping tune to which it is sung its present form. Strangely enough,\nthis remarkable minor melody was originally a rather frivolous German\nfolksong, and was adapted by Hans Leo Hassler in 1601 to the hymn,\n\"Herzlich thut mich verlangen.\" It was Bach, however, who moulded the\ntune into the \"Passion Chorale,\" one of the world's masterpieces of\nsacred music.\n\nMany touching stories have been recorded concerning this famous hymn. In\n1798, when Christian Schwartz, the great Lutheran missionary to India,\nlay dying, his Indian pupils gathered around his bed and sang in their\nown Malabar tongue the last verses of the hymn, Schwartz himself joining\nin the singing till his voice was silenced in death.\n\nOf Bernard of Clairvaux, the writer of the hymn, volumes might be\nwritten. Luther paid him an eloquent tribute, when he said: \"If there has\never been a pious monk who feared God it was St. Bernard, whom alone I\nhold in much higher esteem than all other monks and priests throughout\nthe globe.\"\n\nProbably no preacher ever exerted a more profound influence over the age\nin which he lived than did this Cistercian monk. It was the death of his\nmother, when he was twenty years old, that seemed to have been the\nturning point in his life. The son of a Burgundian knight, he had planned\nto become a priest, but now he determined to enter a monastery. He did\nnot go alone, however, but took with him twelve companions, including an\nuncle and four of his five brothers!\n\nWhen he was only twenty-four years old, in the year 1115, he founded a\nmonastery of his own, which was destined to become one of the most famous\nin history. It was situated in a valley in France called Wormwood, a wild\nregion famous as a robber haunt. Bernard changed the name to \"Clara\nVallis,\" or \"Beautiful Valley,\" from which is derived the designation\n\"Clairvaux.\"\n\nAmong his pupils were men who afterwards wielded great influence in the\nRoman Church. One became a pope, six became cardinals, and thirty were\nelevated to the office of bishop in the church.\n\nAs abbot of Clairvaux, the fame of Bernard spread through all\nChristendom. He led such an ascetic life that he was reduced almost to a\nliving skeleton. His haggard appearance alone made a deep impression on\nhis audiences. But he also was gifted with extraordinary eloquence and\ndeep spiritual fervor.\n\nFrequently he would leave his monastery to appear before kings and church\ncouncils, always swaying them at will. During the year 1146 he traveled\nthrough France and Germany, preaching a second crusade. The effect of his\npreaching was almost miraculous. In some instances the whole population\nof cities and villages seemed to rise _en masse_, flocking to the crusade\nstandards.\n\n\"In the towns where I have preached,\" he said, \"scarcely one man is left\nto seven women.\"\n\nEmperor Conrad and Louis, King of France, were easily won to the cause,\nand in 1147 the vast horde of crusaders started for the Holy Land.\nProbably only one-tenth reached Palestine, and the expedition resulted in\nfailure. A miserable remnant returned home, defeated and disgraced. The\nblame was thrown on Bernard and it was no doubt this sorrow that hastened\nhis death, in the year 1153.\n\nHis noble Good Friday hymn, which in Latin begins with the words, _Salve\ncaput cruentatum_, alone would have gained undying fame for Bernard, but\nwe are indebted to this gifted monk for another remarkable poem, _De\nNomine Jesu_, from which at least three of our most beautiful English\nhymns have been derived. One of these is a translation by the Englishman,\nEdward Caswall:\n\n Jesus, the very thought of Thee\n With sweetness fills my breast;\n But sweeter far Thy face to see\n And in Thy presence rest.\n\nA second by the same translator is equally beautiful:\n\n O Jesus! King most wonderful,\n Thou Conqueror renowned,\n Thou sweetness most ineffable,\n In whom all joys are found.\n\nThe third derived from Bernard's Latin lyric is by the American hymnist,\nRay Palmer:\n\n O Jesus, Joy of loving hearts!\n Thou Fount of life! Thou Light of men!\n From fullest bliss that earth imparts,\n We turn unfilled to Thee again.\n\nThroughout the Middle Ages the verses of Bernard were a source of\ninspiration to faithful souls, and it is said that even the Crusaders who\nkept guard over the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem sang his _De Nomine\nJesu_.\n\nA noted contemporary, Bernard of Cluny, shares with Bernard of Clairvaux\nthe distinction of occupying the foremost place among the great Latin\nhymn-writers. This Bernard was born in Morlaix in Brittany of English\nparents very early in the twelfth century. After having entered the Abbey\nof Cluny, which at that time was the most wealthy and luxurious monastery\nin Europe, he devoted his leisure hours to writing his famous poem, _De\ncontemptu mundi_. This poem, which is a satire against the vices and\nfollies of his age, contains 3,000 lines. From this poem have been\nderived three glorious hymns--\"Jerusalem the golden,\" \"Brief life is here\nour portion,\" and \"For thee, O dear, dear country.\"\n\nOther noted Latin hymn-writers who followed the two Bernards included\nThomas of Celano who, in the thirteenth century, wrote the masterpiece\namong judgment hymns, _Dies irae, dies illa_, of which Walter Scott has\ngiven us the English version, \"That day of wrath, that dreadful day\";\nAdam of St. Victor, who was the composer of more than one hundred\nsequences of high lyrical order; Jacobus de Benedictis, who is thought to\nbe the writer of _Stabat mater dolorosa_, the pathetic Good Friday hymn\nwhich in its adapted form is known as \"Near the cross was Mary weeping\";\nand Thomas Aquinas, who was the author of _Lauda, Sion, salvatorem_, a\nglorious hymn of praise. With these writers the age of Latin hymnody is\nbrought to a close.\n\n\n\n\nPART II\nGerman Hymnody\n\n\n\n\n The Battle Hymn of the Reformation\n\n\n A mighty Fortress is our God,\n A trusty Shield and Weapon,\n He helps us in our every need\n That hath us now o'ertaken.\n The old malignant foe\n E'er means us deadly woe:\n Deep guile and cruel might\n Are his dread arms in fight,\n On earth is not his equal.\n\n With might of ours can naught be done,\n Soon were our loss effected;\n But for us fights the Valiant One\n Whom God Himself elected.\n Ask ye who this may be?\n Christ Jesus, it is He,\n As Lord of Hosts adored,\n Our only King and Lord,\n He holds the field forever.\n\n Though devils all the world should fill,\n All watching to devour us,\n We tremble not, we fear no ill,\n They cannot overpower us.\n For this world's prince may still\n Scowl fiercely as he will,\n We need not be alarmed,\n For he is now disarmed;\n One little word o'erthrows him.\n\n The Word they still shall let remain,\n Nor any thanks have for it;\n He's by our side upon the plain,\n With His good gifts and Spirit.\n Take they, then, what they will,\n Life, goods, yea, all; and still,\n E'en when their worst is done,\n They yet have nothing won,\n The kingdom ours remaineth.\n\n Martin Luther, 1527?\n\n\n\n\n MARTIN LUTHER, FATHER OF EVANGELICAL HYMNODY\n\n\nThe father of evangelical hymnody was Martin Luther. It was through the\nefforts of the great Reformer that the lost art of congregational singing\nwas restored and the Christian hymn again was given a place in public\nworship.\n\nLuther was an extraordinary man. To defy the most powerful ecclesiastical\nhierarchy the world has known, to bring about a cataclysmic upheaval in\nthe religious and political world, and to set spiritual forces into\nmotion that have changed the course of human history--this would have\nbeen sufficient to have gained for him undying fame. But those who know\nLuther only as a Reformer know very little about the versatile gifts and\nremarkable achievements of this great prophet of the Church.\n\nPhilip Schaff has characterized Luther as \"the Ambrose of German\nhymnody,\" and adds: \"To Luther belongs the extraordinary merit of having\ngiven to the German people in their own tongue the Bible, the Catechism,\nand the hymn book, so that God might speak _directly_ to them in His\nword, and that they might _directly_ answer Him in their songs.\" He also\nrefers to him as \"the father of the modern High German language and\nliterature.\"\n\nLuther was divinely endowed for his great mission. From childhood he was\npassionately fond of music. As a student at Magdeburg, and later at\nEisenach, he sang for alms at the windows of wealthy citizens. It was the\nsweet voice of the boy that attracted the attention of Ursula Cotta and\nmoved that benevolent woman to give him a home during his school days.\n\nThe flute and lute were his favorite instruments, and he used the latter\nalways in accompanying his own singing. John Walther, a contemporary\ncomposer who later aided Luther in the writing of church music, has left\nus this testimony: \"It is to my certain knowledge that that holy man of\nGod, Luther, prophet and apostle to the German nation, took great delight\nin music, both in choral and figural composition. I spent many a\ndelightful hour with him in singing; and ofttimes I have seen the dear\nman wax so happy and merry in heart over the singing that it is well-nigh\nimpossible to weary or content him therewithal. And his discourse\nconcerning music was most noble.\"\n\nIn his \"Discourse in Praise of Music,\" Luther gives thanks to God for\nhaving bestowed the power of song on the \"nightingale and the many\nthousand birds of the air,\" and again he writes, \"I give music the\nhighest and most honorable place; and every one knows how David and all\nthe saints put their divine thoughts into verse, rhyme, and song.\"\n\nLuther had little patience with the iconoclasts of his day. He wrote in\nthe Preface to Walther's collection of hymns, in 1525: \"I am not of the\nopinion that all sciences should be beaten down and made to cease by the\nGospel, as some fanatics pretend, but I would fain see all the arts, and\nmusic, in particular, used in the service of Him who hath given and\ncreated them.\" At another time he was even more emphatic: \"If any man\ndespises music, as all fanatics do, for him I have no liking; for music\nis a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out\nthe devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath,\nimpurity, sycophancy, and other vices.\"\n\nLuther loved the Latin hymns that glorified Christ. He recognized,\nhowever, that they were so permeated with Mariolatry and other errors of\nthe Roman Church that a refining process was necessary in order to rid\nthem of their dross and permit the fine gold to appear. Moreover, the\nLatin hymns, even in their most glorious development, had not grown out\nof the spiritual life of the congregation. The very genius of the Roman\nChurch precluded this, for church music and song was regarded as\nbelonging exclusively to the priestly office. Moreover, since the entire\nworship was conducted in Latin, the congregation was inevitably doomed to\npassive silence.\n\nBrave efforts by John Huss and his followers to introduce congregational\nsinging in the Bohemian churches had been sternly opposed by the Roman\nhierarchy. The Council of Constance, which in 1415 burned the heroic Huss\nat the stake, also sent a solemn warning to Jacob of Misi, his successor\nas leader of the Hussites, to cease the practice of singing hymns in the\nchurches. It decreed: \"If laymen are forbidden to preach and interpret\nthe Scriptures, much more are they forbidden to sing publicly in the\nchurches.\"\n\nLuther's ringing declaration that all believers constitute a universal\npriesthood necessarily implied that the laity should also participate in\nthe worship. Congregational singing therefore became inevitable.\n\nLuther also realized that spiritual song could be enlisted as a powerful\nally in spreading the evangelical doctrines. During the birth throes of\nthe Reformation he often expressed the wish that someone more gifted than\nhimself might give to the German people in their own language some of the\nbeautiful pearls of Latin hymnody. He also wanted original hymns in the\nvernacular, as well as strong, majestic chorales that would reflect the\nheroic spirit of the age.\n\n\"We lack German poets and musicians,\" he complained, \"or they are unknown\nto us, who are able to make Christian and spiritual songs of such value\nthat they can be used daily in the house of God.\"\n\nThen something happened that opened the fountains of song in Luther's own\nbosom. The Reformation had spread from Germany into other parts of\nEurope, and the Catholic authorities had commenced to adopt stern\nmeasures in an effort to stem the revolt. In the Augustinian cloister at\nAntwerp, the prior of the abbey and two youths, Heinrich Voes and\nJohannes Esch, had been sentenced to death by the Inquisition for their\nrefusal to surrender their new-born faith.\n\nThe prior was choked to death in his prison cell. The two youths were led\nto the stake at Brussels, on July 1, 1523. Before the faggots were\nkindled they were told that they might still be freed if they would\nrecant. They replied that they would rather die and be with Christ.\nBefore the fire and smoke smothered their voices, they sang the ancient\nLatin hymn, \"Lord God, we praise thee.\"\n\nWhen news of the Brussels tragedy reached Luther the poetic spark in his\nsoul burst into full flame. Immediately he sat down and wrote a festival\nhymn commemorating the death of the first Lutheran martyrs. It had been\nreported to Luther that when the fires began to lick the feet of Voes,\nwitnesses had heard him exclaim, \"Behold, blooming roses are strewn\naround me.\" Luther seized upon the words as prophetic and concluded his\nhymn with the lines:\n\n \"Summer is even at the door,\n The winter now hath vanished,\n The tender flowerets spring once more,\n And He who winter banished\n Will send a happy summer.\"\n\nThe opening words of the hymn are also significant, \"Ein neues Lied wir\nheben an.\" Although the poem must be regarded as more of a ballad than a\nchurch hymn, Luther's lyre was tuned, the springtime of evangelical\nhymnody was indeed come, and before another year had passed a little\nhymn-book called \"The Achtliederbuch\" appeared as the first-fruits.\n\nIt was in 1524 that this first Protestant hymnal was published. It\ncontained only eight hymns, four by Luther, three by Speratus, and one\nprobably by Justus Jonas. The little hymn-books flew all over Europe, to\nthe consternation of the Romanists. Luther's enemies lamented that \"the\nwhole people are singing themselves into his doctrines.\" So great was the\ndemand for hymns that a second volume known as the \"Erfurt Enchiridion\"\nwas published in the same year. This contained twenty-five hymns,\neighteen of which were Luther's. \"The nightingale of Wittenberg\" had\nbegun to sing.\n\nThis was the beginning of evangelical hymnody, which was to play so large\na part in the spread of Luther's teachings. The number of hymn-books by\nother compilers increased rapidly and so many unauthorized changes were\nmade in his hymns by critical editors that Luther was moved to complain\nof their practice. In a preface to a hymn-book printed by Joseph Klug of\nWittenberg, in 1543, Luther writes: \"I am fearful that it will fare with\nthis little book as it has ever fared with good books, namely, that\nthrough tampering by incompetent hands it may get to be so overlaid and\nspoiled that the good will be lost out of it, and nothing kept in use but\nthe worthless.\" Then he adds, naively: \"Every man may make a hymn-book\nfor himself and let ours alone and not add thereto, as we here beg, wish\nand assert. For we desire to keep our own coin up to our own standard,\npreventing no one from making better hymns for himself. Now let God's\nname alone be praised and our name not sought. Amen.\"\n\nOf the thirty-six hymns attributed to Luther none has achieved such fame\nas \"A mighty fortress is our God.\" It has been translated into\npractically every language and is regarded as one of the noblest and most\nclassical examples of Christian hymnody. Not only did it become the\nbattle hymn of the Reformation, but it may be regarded as the true\nnational hymn of Germany. Heine called it \"the Marseillaise of the\nReformation.\" Frederick the Great referred to it as \"God Almighty's\ngrenadier march.\"\n\nThe date of the hymn cannot be fixed with any certainty. Much has been\nwritten on the subject, but none of the arguments appear conclusive.\nD'Aubigne's unqualified statement that Luther composed it and sang it to\nrevive the spirits of his friends at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 can\nscarcely be accepted, since it appeared at least a year earlier in a\nhymn-book published by Joseph Klug.\n\nThe magnificent chorale to which the hymn is sung is also Luther's work.\nNever have words and music been combined to make so tremendous an appeal.\nGreat musical composers have turned to its stirring theme again and again\nwhen they have sought to produce a mighty effect. Mendelssohn has used it\nin the last movement of his Reformation symphony; Meyerbeer uses it to\ngood advantage in his masterpiece, \"Les Huguenots\"; and Wagner's\n\"Kaisermarsch,\" written to celebrate the triumphal return of the German\ntroops in 1870, reaches a great climax with the whole orchestra\nthundering forth the sublime chorale. Bach has woven it into a beautiful\ncantata, while Raff and Nicolai make use of it in overtures.\n\nAfter Luther's death, when Melanchthon and his friends were compelled to\nflee from Wittenberg by the approach of the Spanish army, they came to\nWeimar. As they were entering the city, they heard a little girl singing\nLuther's great hymn. \"Sing on, my child,\" exclaimed Melanchthon, \"thou\nlittle knowest how thy song cheers our hearts.\"\n\nWhen Gustavus Adolphus, the hero king of Sweden, faced Tilly's hosts at\nthe battlefield of Leipzig, Sept. 7, 1631, he led his army in singing\n\"Ein feste Burg.\" Then shouting, \"God is with us,\" he went into battle.\nIt was a bloody fray. Tilly fell and his army was beaten. When the battle\nwas over, Gustavus Adolphus knelt upon the ground among his soldiers and\nthanked the Lord of Hosts for victory, saying, \"He holds the field\nforever.\"\n\nAt another time during the Thirty Years' War a Swedish trumpeter captured\nthe ensign of the Imperial army. Pursued by the enemy he found himself\ntrapped with a swollen river before him. He paused for a moment and\nprayed, \"Help me, O my God,\" and then thrust spurs into his horse and\nplunged into the midst of the current. The Imperialists were afraid to\nfollow him, whereupon he raised his trumpet to his lips and sounded the\ndefiant notes: \"A mighty fortress is our God!\"\n\nGeorge N. Anderson, a missionary in Tanganyika Province, British East\nAfrica, tells how he once heard an assembly of 2,000 natives sing\nLuther's great hymn. \"I never heard it sung with more spirit; the effect\nwas almost overwhelming,\" he testifies.\n\nA West African missionary, Christaller, relates how he once sang \"Ein\nfeste Burg\" to his native interpreter. \"That man, Luther,\" said the\nAfrican, \"must have been a powerful man, one can feel it in his hymns.\"\n\nThomas Carlyle's estimate of \"Ein feste Burg\" seems to accord with that\nof the African native. \"It jars upon our ears,\" he says, \"yet there is\nsomething in it like the sound of Alpine avalanches, or the first murmur\nof earthquakes, in the very vastness of which dissonance a higher unison\nis revealed to us.\"\n\nCarlyle, who refers to Luther as \"perhaps the most inspired of all\nteachers since the Apostles,\" has given us the most rugged of all\ntranslations of the Reformer's great hymn. There are said to be no less\nthan eighty English translations, but only a few have met with popular\nfavor. In England the version by Carlyle is in general use, while in\nAmerica various composite translations are found in hymn-books. Carlyle's\nfirst stanza reads\n\n A sure stronghold our God is He,\n A trusty Shield and Weapon;\n Our help He'll be, and set us free\n From every ill can happen.\n That old malicious foe\n Intends us deadly woe;\n Armed with might from hell\n And deepest craft as well,\n On earth is not his fellow.\n\nThe greater number of Luther's hymns are not original. Many are\nparaphrases of Scripture, particularly the Psalms, and others are based\non Latin, Greek, and German antecedents. In every instance, however, the\ngreat Reformer so imbued them with his own fervent faith and militant\nspirit that they seem to shine with a new luster.\n\nThe hymns of Luther most frequently found in hymn-books today are \"Come,\nThou Saviour of our race,\" \"Good news from heaven the angels bring,\" \"In\ndeath's strong grasp the Saviour lay,\" \"Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord,\"\n\"Come, Holy Spirit, from above,\" \"Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy word,\"\n\"Lord, Jesus Christ, to Thee we pray,\" \"Dear Christians, one and all\nrejoice,\" \"Out of the depths I cry to Thee,\" and \"We all believe in one\ntrue God.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Metrical Gloria in Excelsis\n\n\n All glory be to Thee, Most High,\n To Thee all adoration!\n In grace and truth Thou drawest nigh\n To offer us salvation.\n Thou showest Thy good will toward men,\n And peace shall reign on earth again;\n We praise Thy Name forever.\n\n We praise, we worship Thee, we trust,\n And give Thee thanks forever,\n O Father, for Thy rule is just\n And wise, and changes never.\n Thy hand almighty o'er us reigns,\n Thou doest what Thy will ordains;\n 'Tis well for us Thou rulest.\n\n O Jesus Christ, our God and Lord,\n Son of the Heavenly Father,\n O Thou, who hast our peace restored,\n The straying sheep dost gather,\n Thou Lamb of God, to Thee on high\n Out of the depths we sinners cry:\n Have mercy on us, Jesus!\n\n O Holy Ghost, Thou precious gift,\n Thou Comforter, unfailing,\n From Satan's snares our souls uplift,\n And let Thy power, availing,\n Avert our woes and calm our dread;\n For us the Saviour's blood was shed,\n We trust in Thee to save us!\n\n Nicolaus Decius, 1526, 1539\n\n\n\n\n THE HYMN-WRITERS OF THE REFORMATION\n\n\nThe hymns of the Reformation were like a trumpet call, proclaiming to all\nthe world that the day of spiritual emancipation had come. What they\nlacked in poetic refinement they more than made up by their tremendous\nearnestness and spiritual exuberance.\n\nThey faithfully reflect the spirit of the age in which they were born, a\nperiod of strife and conflict. The strident note that often appears in\nLuther's hymns can easily be understood when it is remembered that the\ngreat Reformer looked upon the pope as Antichrist himself and all others\nwho opposed the Lutheran teachings as confederates of the devil.\n\nIn 1541, when the Turkish invasion from the East threatened to devastate\nall Europe, special days of humiliation and prayer were held throughout\nGermany. It was for one of these occasions that Luther wrote the hymn,\n\"Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy word.\" In its original form, however, it\nwas quite different from the hymn we now sing. The first stanza ran:\n\n Lord, keep us in Thy word and work,\n Restrain the murderous pope and Turk,\n Who fain would tear from off Thy throne\n Christ Jesus, Thy beloved Son.\n\nWhen Luther, on the other hand, sang of God's free grace to men in Christ\nJesus, or extolled the merits of the Saviour, or gave thanks for the word\nof God restored to men, there was such a marvelous blending of childlike\ntrust, victorious faith and spontaneous joy that all Germany was thrilled\nby the message.\n\nThe popularity of the Lutheran hymns was astonishing. Other hymn-writers\nsprang up in large numbers, printing presses were kept busy, and before\nLuther's death no less than sixty collections of hymns had been\npublished. Wandering evangelists were often surrounded by excited crowds\nin the market places, hymns printed on leaflets were distributed, and the\nwhole populace would join in singing the songs of the Reformers.\n\nPaul Speratus, Paul Eber, and Justus Jonas were the most gifted\nco-laborers of Luther. It was Speratus who contributed three hymns to the\n\"Achtliederbuch,\" the first hymn-book published by Luther. His most\nfamous hymn, \"To us salvation now is come,\" has been called \"the poetic\ncounterpart of Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans.\" It was the\ngreat confessional hymn of the Reformation. Luther is said to have wept\ntears of joy when he heard it sung by a street singer outside his window\nin Wittenberg.\n\nSperatus wrote the hymn in a Moravian prison into which he had been cast\nbecause of his bold espousal of the Lutheran teachings. Immediately upon\nhis release he proceeded to Wittenberg, where he joined himself to the\nReformers. He later became the leader of the Reformation movement in\nPrussia and before his death in 1551 was chosen bishop of Pomerania. His\npoetic genius may be seen reflected in the beautiful paraphrase of the\nLord's Prayer which forms the concluding two stanzas of his celebrated\nhymn:\n\n All blessing, honor, thanks, and praise\n To Father, Son, and Spirit,\n The God who saved us by His grace,\n All glory to His merit:\n O Father in the heavens above,\n Thy glorious works show forth Thy love,\n Thy worthy Name be hallowed.\n\n Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done\n In earth, as 'tis in heaven:\n Keep us in life, by grace led on,\n Forgiving and forgiven;\n Save Thou us in temptation's hour,\n And from all ills; Thine is the power,\n And all the glory, Amen!\n\nEber was the sweetest singer among the Reformers. As professor of Hebrew\nat Wittenberg University and assistant to Melanchthon, he had an active\npart in the stirring events of the Reformation. He possessed more of\nMelanchthon's gentleness than Luther's ruggedness, and his hymns are\ntender and appealing in their childlike simplicity. There is wondrous\nconsolation in his hymns for the dying, as witness his pious swan-song:\n\n In Thy dear wounds I fall asleep,\n O Jesus, cleanse my soul from sin:\n Thy bitter death, Thy precious blood\n For me eternal glory win.\n\n By Thee redeemed, I have no fear,\n When now I leave this mortal clay,\n With joy before Thy throne I come;\n God's own must die, yet live alway.\n\n Welcome, O death! thou bringest me\n To dwell with God eternally;\n Through Christ my soul from sin is free,\n O take me now, dear Lord, to Thee!\n\nAnother hymn for the dying, \"Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God,\"\nbreathes the same spirit of hope and trust in Christ. During the years of\npersecution and suffering that followed the Reformation, the Protestants\nfound much comfort in singing Eber's \"When in the hour of utmost need.\"\n\nJustus Jonas, the bosom friend of Luther who spoke the last words of\npeace and consolation to the dying Reformer and who also preached his\nfuneral sermon, has left us the hymn, \"If God were not upon our side,\"\nbased on Psalm 124.\n\nFrom this period we also have the beautiful morning hymn, \"My inmost\nheart now raises,\" by Johannes Mathesius, the pupil and biographer of\nLuther, and an equally beautiful evening hymn, \"Sunk is the sun's last\nbeam of light,\" by Nicholas Hermann. Mathesius was pastor of the church\nat Joachimsthal, in Bohemia, and Hermann was his organist and\nchoirmaster. It is said that whenever Mathesius preached a particularly\ngood sermon, Hermann was forthwith inspired to write a hymn on its theme!\nHe was a poet and musician of no mean ability, and his tunes are among\nthe best from the Reformation period.\n\nThe example of the Wittenberg hymnists was quickly followed by\nevangelicals in other parts of Germany, and hymn-books began to appear\neverywhere. As early as 1526 a little volume of hymns was published at\nRostock in the Platt-Deutsch dialect. In this collection we find one of\nthe most glorious hymns of the Reformation, \"All glory be to Thee, Most\nHigh,\" or, as it has also been rendered, \"All glory be to God on high,\" a\nmetrical version of the ancient canticle, _Gloria in Excelsis_. Five\nyears later another edition was published in which appeared a metrical\nrendering of _Agnus Dei_:\n\n O Lamb of God, most holy,\n On Calvary an offering;\n Despised, meek, and, lowly,\n Thou in Thy death and suffering\n Our sins didst bear, our anguish;\n The might of death didst vanquish;\n Give us Thy peace, O Jesus!\n\nThe author of both of these gems of evangelical hymnody was Nicolaus\nDecius, a Catholic monk in the cloister of Steterburg who embraced the\nLutheran teachings. He later became pastor of St. Nicholas church in\nStettin, where he died under suspicious circumstances in 1541. In\naddition to being a popular preacher and gifted poet, he also seems to\nhave been a musician of some note. The two magnificent chorals to which\nhis hymns are sung are generally credited to him, although there is a\ngreat deal of uncertainty surrounding their composition. Luther prized\nboth hymns very highly and included them in his German liturgy.\n\n\n\n\n A Beautiful Confirmation Hymn\n\n\n Let me be Thine forever,\n My gracious God and Lord,\n May I forsake Thee never,\n Nor wander from Thy Word:\n Preserve me from the mazes\n Of error and distrust,\n And I shall sing Thy praises\n Forever with the just.\n\n Lord Jesus, bounteous Giver\n Of light and life divine,\n Thou didst my soul deliver,\n To Thee I all resign:\n Thou hast in mercy bought me\n With blood and bitter pain;\n Let me, since Thou hast sought me,\n Eternal life obtain.\n\n O Holy Ghost, who pourest\n Sweet peace into my heart,\n And who my soul restorest,\n Let not Thy grace depart.\n And while His Name confessing\n Whom I by faith have known,\n Grant me Thy constant blessing,\n Make me for aye Thine own.\n\n Nicolaus Selnecker, 1572, _et al._\n\n\n\n\n HYMNODY OF THE CONTROVERSIAL PERIOD\n\n\nMany of our great Christian hymns were born in troublous times. This is\ntrue in a very special sense of the hymns written by Nicolaus Selnecker,\nGerman preacher and theologian. The age in which he lived was the period\nimmediately following the Reformation. It was an age marked by doctrinal\ncontroversy, not only with the Romanists, but among the Protestants\nthemselves. In these theological struggles, Selnecker will always be\nremembered as one of the great champions of pure Lutheran doctrine.\n\n\"The Formula of Concord,\" the last of the Lutheran confessions, was\nlargely the work of Selnecker. Published in 1577, it did more than any\nother single document to clarify the Lutheran position on many disputed\ndoctrinal points, thus bringing to an end much of the confusion and\ncontroversy that had existed up to that time.\n\nSelnecker early in life revealed an artistic temperament. Born in 1532 at\nHersbruck, Germany, we find him at the age of twelve years organist at\nthe chapel in the Kaiserburg, at Nuernberg, where he attended school.\nLater he entered Wittenberg University to study law. Here he came under\nthe influence of Philip Melanchthon, and was induced to prepare himself\nfor the ministry. It is said that Selnecker was Melanchthon's favorite\npupil.\n\nFollowing his graduation from Wittenberg, he lectured for a while at the\nuniversity and then received the appointment as second court preacher at\nDresden and private tutor to Prince Alexander of Saxony. Many of the\nSaxon theologians at this time were leaning strongly toward the\nCalvinistic teaching regarding the Lord's Supper, and when Selnecker came\nout boldly for the Lutheran doctrine he incurred the hostility of those\nin authority. Later, when he supported a Lutheran pastor who had dared to\npreach against Elector August's passion for hunting, he was compelled to\nleave Dresden.\n\nFor three years he held the office of professor of theology at the\nUniversity of Jena, but in 1568 he again found favor with the Elector\nAugust and was appointed to the chair of theology in the University of\nLeipzig. It was here that Selnecker again became involved in bitter\ndoctrinal disputes regarding the Lord's Supper, and in 1576 and 1577 he\njoined a group of theologians, including Jacob Andreae and Martin\nChemnitz, in working out the Formula of Concord.\n\nUpon the death of Elector August the Calvinists again secured\necclesiastical control, and Selnecker once more was compelled to leave\nLeipzig. After many trials and vicissitudes, he finally returned, May 19,\n1592, a worn and weary man, only to die in Leipzig five days later.\n\nDuring the stormy days of his life, Selnecker often sought solace in\nmusical and poetical pursuits. Many of his hymns reflect his own personal\ntroubles and conflicts. \"Let me be thine forever\" is believed to have\nbeen written during one of the more grievous experiences of his life. It\nwas a prayer of one stanza originally, but two additional stanzas were\nadded by an unknown author almost a hundred years after Selnecker's\ndeath. In its present form it has become a favorite confirmation hymn in\nthe Lutheran Church.\n\nSelnecker's zeal for his Church is revealed in many of his hymns, among\nthem the famous \"Abide with us, O Saviour dear.\" The second stanza of\nthis hymn clearly reflects the distressing controversies in which he was\nengaged at the time:\n\n This is a dark and evil day,\n Forsake us not, O Lord, we pray;\n And let us in our grief and pain\n Thy Word and sacraments retain.\n\nIn connection with his work as professor in the University of Leipzig, he\nalso served as pastor of the famous St. Thomas church in that city. It\nwas through his efforts that the renowned Motett choir of that church was\nbuilt up, a choir that was afterward conducted by John Sebastian Bach.\n\nAbout 150 hymns in all were written by Selnecker. In addition to these he\nalso was author of some 175 theological and controversial works.\n\nOne of the contemporaries of Selnecker was Bartholomaeus Ringwalt, pastor\nof Langfeld, near Sonnenburg, Brandenburg. This man also was a staunch\nLutheran and a poet of considerable ability. His judgment hymn, \"The day\nis surely drawing near,\" seems to reflect the feeling held by many in\nthose distressing times that the Last Day was near at hand. It was used\nto a large extent during the Thirty Years' War, and is still found in\nmany hymn-books.\n\nAnother hymnist who lived and wrought during these turbulent times was\nMartin Behm, to whom we are indebted for three beautiful lyrics, \"O\nJesus, King of glory,\" \"Lord Jesus Christ, my Life, my Light,\" and \"O\nholy, blessed Trinity.\" Behm, who was born in Lauban, Silesia, Sept. 16,\n1557, served for thirty-six years as Lutheran pastor in his native city.\nHe was a noted preacher and a gifted poet. His hymn on the Trinity is one\nof the finest ever written on this theme. It concludes with a splendid\nparaphrase of the Aaronic benediction. Two of its stanzas are:\n\n O holy, blessed Trinity,\n Divine, eternal Unity,\n God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost,\n Be Thou this day my guide and host.\n\n Lord, bless and keep Thou me as Thine;\n Lord, make Thy face upon me shine;\n Lord, lift Thy countenance on me,\n And give me peace, sweet peace from Thee.\n\nValerius Herberger was another heroic representative of this period of\ndoctrinal strife, war, famine, and pestilence. While pastor of St. Mary's\nLutheran Church at Fraustadt, Posen, he and his flock were expelled from\ntheir church in 1604 by King Sigismund III, of Poland, and the property\nturned over to the Roman Catholics. Nothing daunted, however, Herberger\nand his people immediately constructed a chapel out of two houses near\nthe gates of the city. They gave the structure the name of \"Kripplein\nChristi,\" since the first service was held in it on Christmas Eve.\n\nDuring the great pestilence which raged in 1613, the victims in Fraustadt\nnumbered 2,135. Herberger, however, stuck to his post, comforting the\nsick and burying the dead. It was during these days that he wrote his\nfamous hymn, \"Valet will ich dir geben,\" one of the finest hymns for the\ndying in the German language. The hymn was published with the title, \"The\nfarewell (Valet) of Valerius Herberger that he gave to the world in the\nautumn of the year 1613, when he every hour saw death before his eyes,\nbut mercifully and also as wonderfully as the three men in the furnace at\nBabylon was nevertheless spared.\"\n\nThe famous chorale tune for the hymn was written in 1613 by Melchior\nTeschner, who was Herberger's precentor.\n\nOther Lutheran hymn-writers of this period were Joachim Magdeburg, Martin\nRutilius, Martin Schalling and Philipp Nicolai. The last name in this\ngroup is by far the most important and will be given more extensive\nnotice in the following chapter. To Magdeburg, a pastor who saw service\nin various parts of Germany and Hungary during a stormy career, we owe a\nsingle hymn, \"Who trusts in God a strong abode.\" Rutilius has been\ncredited with the authorship of the gripping penitential hymn, \"Alas, my\nGod! my sins are great,\" although the claim is sometimes disputed. He was\na pastor at Weimar, where he died in 1618.\n\nSchalling likewise has bequeathed but a single hymn to the Church, but it\nmay be regarded as one of the classic hymns of Germany. Its opening line,\n\"O Lord, devoutly love I Thee,\" reflects the ardent love of the author\nhimself for the Saviour. It was entitled, \"A prayer to Christ, the\nConsolation of the soul in life and death,\" and surely its message of\nconfiding trust in God has been a source of comfort and assurance to\nthousands of pious souls in the many vicissitudes of life as well as in\nthe valley of the shadow.\n\nAlthough Schalling was a warm friend of Selnecker, he hesitated to\nsubscribe to the Formula of Concord, claiming that it dealt too harshly\nwith the followers of Melanchthon. For this reason he was deposed as\nGeneral Superintendent of Oberpfalz and court preacher at Heidelberg.\nFive years later, however, he was appointed pastor of St. Mary's church\nin Nuernberg, where he remained until blindness compelled him to retire.\nHe died in 1608.\n\n\n\n\n A Masterpiece of Hymnody\n\n\n Wake, awake, for night is flying:\n The watchmen on the heights are crying,\n Awake, Jerusalem, arise!\n Midnight's solemn hour is tolling,\n His chariot wheels are nearer rolling,\n He comes; prepare, ye virgins wise.\n Rise up with willing feet,\n Go forth, the Bridegroom meet:\n Alleluia!\n Bear through the night your well trimmed light,\n Speed forth to join the marriage rite.\n\n Zion hears the watchmen singing,\n And all her heart with joy is springing,\n She wakes, she rises from her gloom;\n Forth her Bridegroom comes, all-glorious,\n The strong in grace, in truth victorious;\n Her Star is risen, her Light is come!\n All hail, Thou precious One!\n Lord Jesus, God's dear Son!\n Alleluia!\n The joyful call we answer all,\n And follow to the nuptial hall.\n\n Lamb of God, the heavens adore Thee,\n And men and angels sing before Thee,\n With harp and cymbal's clearest tone.\n By the pearly gates in wonder\n We stand, and swell the voice of thunder,\n That echoes round Thy dazzling throne.\n To mortal eyes and ears\n What glory now appears!\n Alleluia!\n We raise the song, we swell the throng,\n To praise Thee ages all along.\n\n Philipp Nicolai, 1599.\n\n\n\n\n THE KING AND QUEEN OF CHORALES\n\n\nAt rare intervals in the history of Christian hymnody, we meet with a\ngenius who not only possesses the gift of writing sublime poetry but also\nreveals talent as a composer of music. During the stirring days of the\nReformation such geniuses were revealed in the persons of Martin Luther\nand Nicolaus Decius. We now encounter another, Philipp Nicolai, the\nwriter of the glorious hymn, \"Wachet auf.\"\n\nNicolai's name would have been gratefully remembered by posterity had he\nmerely written the words of this hymn; but, when we learn that he also\ncomposed the magnificent chorale to which it is sung, we are led to\nmarvel. It has been called the \"King of Chorales,\" and well does it\ndeserve the title.\n\nBut Nicolai was also the composer of the \"Queen of Chorales.\" That is the\nname often given to the tune of his other famous hymn, \"Wie schoen\nleuchtet der Morgenstern.\" Both of Nicolai's great tunes have been\nfrequently appropriated for other hymns. The \"King of Chorales\" has lent\ninspiration to \"Holy Majesty, before Thee,\" while the \"Queen of Chorales\"\nhas helped to glorify such hymns as \"All hail to thee, O blessed morn,\"\n\"Now Israel's hope in triumph ends,\" and \"O Holy Spirit, enter in.\"\n\nSome of the world's greatest composers have recognized the beauty and\nmajesty of Nicolai's inspiring themes and have seized upon his chorales\nto weave them into a number of famous musical masterpieces. The strains\nof the seventh and eighth lines of \"Wachet auf\" may be heard in the\npassage, \"The kingdoms of this world,\" of Handel's \"Hallelujah chorus.\"\nMendelssohn introduces the air in his overture to \"St. Paul,\" and the\nentire chorale occurs in his \"Hymn of Praise.\" The latter composer has\nalso made use of the \"Wie schoen\" theme in the first chorus of his\nunpublished oratorio, \"Christus.\"\n\nThe circumstances that called forth Nicolai's two great hymns and the\nclassic chorales to which he wedded them are tragic in nature. A dreadful\npestilence was raging in Westphalia. At Unna, where Nicolai was pastor,\n1,300 villagers died of the plague between July, 1597, and January, 1598.\nDuring a single week in the month of August no less than 170 victims were\nclaimed by the messenger of death.\n\nFrom the parsonage which overlooked the churchyard, Nicolai was a sad\nwitness of the burials. On one day thirty graves were dug. In the midst\nof these days of distress the gifted Lutheran pastor wrote a series of\nmeditations to which he gave the title, \"Freuden Spiegel,\" or \"Mirror of\nJoy.\" His purpose, as he explains in his preface, dated August 10, 1598,\nwas \"to leave it behind me (if God should call me from this world) as the\ntoken of my peaceful, joyful, Christian departure, or (if God should\nspare me in health) to comfort other sufferers whom He should also visit\nwith the pestilence.\"\n\n\"There seemed to me,\" he writes in the same preface, \"nothing more sweet,\ndelightful and agreeable, than the contemplation of the noble, sublime\ndoctrine of Eternal Life obtained through the Blood of Christ. This I\nallowed to dwell in my heart day and night, and searched the Scriptures\nas to what they revealed on this matter, read also the sweet treatise of\nthe ancient doctor Saint Augustine (\"The City of God\") ... Then day by\nday I wrote out my meditations, found myself, thank God! wonderfully\nwell, comforted in heart, joyful in spirit, and truly content.\"\n\nBoth of Nicolai's classic hymns appeared for the first time in his\n\"Mirror of Joy.\" As a title to \"Wachet auf\" Nicolai wrote, \"Of the voice\nat Midnight, and the Wise Virgins who meet their Heavenly Bridegroom. Mt.\n25.\" The title to \"Wie schoen\" reads, \"A spiritual bridal song of the\nbelieving soul concerning Jesus Christ, her Heavenly Bridegroom, founded\non the 45th Psalm of the prophet David.\"\n\nIt is said that the melody to \"Wie schoen\" became so popular that numerous\nchurch chimes were set to it.\n\nNicolai's life was filled with stirring events. He was born at\nMengerinhausen, August 10, 1556. His father was a Lutheran pastor. After\ncompleting studies at the Universities of Erfuert and Wittenberg, he too\nwas ordained to the ministry in 1583. His first charge was at Herdecke,\nbut since the town council was composed of Roman Catholic members, he\nsoon was compelled to leave that place. Later he served at\nNiederwildungen and Altwildungen, and in 1596 he became pastor at Unna.\nAfter the dreadful pestilence of 1597 there came an invasion of Spaniards\nin 1598, and Nicolai was forced to flee.\n\nIn 1601 he was chosen chief pastor of St. Katherine's church in Hamburg.\nHere he gained fame as a preacher, being hailed as a \"second Chrysostom.\"\nThroughout a long and bitter controversy with the Calvinists regarding\nthe nature of the Lord's Supper, Nicolai was looked upon as the \"pillar\"\nof the Lutheran Church, and the guardian of its doctrines. He died\nOctober 26, 1608.\n\n\n\n\n A Tribute to the Dying Saviour\n\n\n Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,\n That man to judge Thee hast in hate pretended?\n By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,\n O most afflicted!\n\n Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?\n Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee!\n 'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied Thee:\n I crucified Thee.\n\n Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;\n The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;\n For man's atonement, while he nothing heedeth,\n God intercedeth.\n\n For me, kind Jesus, was Thine incarnation,\n Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life's oblation;\n Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,\n For my salvation.\n\n Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,\n I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee:\n Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,\n Not my deserving.\n\n Johann Heermann, 1630.\n\n\n\n\n HYMNS OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR\n\n\nTimes of suffering and affliction have often brought forth great poets.\nThis was especially true of that troublous period in European history\nknown as the \"Thirty Years' War.\" Although it was one of the most\ndistressing eras in the Protestant Church, it gave birth to some of its\ngrandest hymns.\n\nIt was during this dreadful period, when Germany was devastated and\ndepopulated by all the miseries of a bloody warfare, that Johann Heermann\nlived and wrought. He was born at Rauden, Silesia, October 11, 1585, the\nson of a poverty-stricken furrier. There were five children in the\nfamily, but four of them were snatched away by death within a short time.\nJohann, who was the youngest, was also taken ill, and the despairing\nmother was torn by fear and anguish. Turning to God in her hour of need,\nshe vowed that if He would spare her babe, she would educate him for the\nministry.\n\nShe did not forget her promise. The child whose life was spared grew to\nmanhood, received his training at several institutions, and in 1611\nentered the holy ministry as pastor of the Lutheran church at Koeben, not\nfar from his birthplace.\n\nA few years later the Thirty Years' War broke out, and all of Germany\nbegan to feel its horrors. Four times during the period from 1629 to 1634\nthe town of Koeben was sacked by the armies of Wallenstein, who had been\nsent by the king of Austria to restore the German principalities to the\nCatholic faith. Previous to this, in 1616, the city was almost destroyed\nby fire. In 1631 it was visited by the dreadful pestilence.\n\nAgain and again Heermann was forced to flee from the city, and several\ntimes he lost all his earthly possessions. Once, when he was crossing the\nOder, he was pursued and nearly captured by enemy soldiers, who shot\nafter him. Twice he was nearly sabred.\n\nIt was during this period, in 1630, that his beautiful hymn,\n\"Herzliebster Jesu,\" was first published. One of the stanzas which is not\nusually given in translations reflects very clearly the unfaltering faith\nof the noble pastor during these hard experiences. It reads:\n\n Whate'er of earthly good this life may grant me\n I'll risk for Thee; no shame, no cross shall daunt me;\n I shall not fear what man can do to harm me,\n Nor death alarm me.\n\nThe hymn immediately sprang into popularity in Germany, perhaps through\nthe fact that it reflected the feelings of Protestants everywhere, and\npartly because of the gripping tune written for it in 1640 by the great\nmusician Johann Crueger.\n\nHeermann has been ranked with Luther and Gerhardt as one of the greatest\nhymn-writers the Lutheran Church has produced. Because his hymns were\nwritten during such times of distress and suffering, they seemed to grip\nthe hearts of the German people to an extraordinary degree.\n\nOne of his hymns, published in 1630 under the group known as \"Songs of\nTears,\" is entitled \"Treuer Waechter Israel.\" It contains a striking line\nimploring God to \"build a wall around us.\" A very interesting story is\ntold concerning this hymn. On January 5, 1814, the Allied forces were\nabout to enter Schleswig. A poor widow and her daughter and grandson\nlived in a little house near the entrance of the town. The grandson was\nreading Heermann's hymns written for times of war, and when he came to\nthis one, he exclaimed, \"It would be a good thing, grandmother, if our\nLord would build a wall around us.\"\n\nNext day all through the town cries of terror were heard, but not a\nsoldier molested the widow's home. When on the following morning they\nsummoned enough courage to open their door, lo, a snowdrift had concealed\nthem from the view of the enemy! On this incident Clemens Brentano wrote\na beautiful poem, \"Draus vor Schleswig.\"\n\nAnother remarkable story is recorded concerning Heermann's great hymn, \"O\nJesus, Saviour dear.\" At Leuthen, in Silesia, December 5, 1757, the\nPrussians under Frederick the Great were facing an army of Austrians\nthree times their number. Just before the battle began some of the\nPrussians began to sing the second stanza of the hymn. The regimental\nbands took up the music. One of the commanders asked Frederick if it\nshould be silenced. \"No,\" said the king, \"let it be. With such men God\nwill today certainly give me the victory.\" When the bloody battle ended\nwith victory for the Prussians, Frederick exclaimed \"My God, what a power\nhas religion!\"\n\nOther famous hymns by Heermann include \"O Christ, our true and only\nLight,\" \"Lord, Thy death and passion give\" and \"Faithful God, I lay\nbefore Thee.\"\n\nMany other noted hymn-writers belong to the period of the Thirty Years'\nWar, among them Martin Opitz, George Weissel, Heinrich Held, Ernst\nHomburg, Johannes Olearius, Josua Stegmann, and Wilhelm II, Duke of\nSaxe-Weimar.\n\nOpitz was somewhat of a diplomat and courtier, as well as a poet. He was\na man of vacillating character, and did not hesitate to lend his support\nto the Romanists whenever it served his personal interests. However, he\nhas left to posterity an imperishable hymn in \"Light of Light, O Sun of\nheaven.\" He is credited with having reformed the art of verse-writing in\nGermany. He died of the pestilence in Danzig in 1639.\n\nHomburg and Held were lawyers. Homburg was born near Eisenach in 1605,\nand later we find him practising law in Naumburg, Saxony. He was a man of\ngreat poetic talent, but at first he devoted his gifts to writing love\nballads and drinking songs. During the days of the dread pestilence he\nturned to God, and now he began to write hymns. In 1659 he published a\ncollection of 150 spiritual songs. In a preface he speaks of them as his\n\"Sunday labor,\" and he tells how he had been led to write them \"by the\nanxious and sore domestic afflictions by which God ... has for some time\nlaid me aside.\" The Lenten hymn, \"Christ, the Life of all the living,\" is\nfound in this collection.\n\nHeld, who practiced law in his native town of Guhrau, Silesia, also was a\nman chastened in the school of sorrow and affliction. He is the author of\ntwo hymns that have found their way into the English language--\"Let the\nearth now praise the Lord\" and \"Come, O come, Thou quickening Spirit.\"\n\nWeissel, a Lutheran pastor at Konigsberg, has given us one of the finest\nAdvent hymns in the German language, \"Lift up your heads, ye mighty\ngates.\"\n\nOlearius, who wrote a commentary on the Bible and compiled one of the\nmost important hymn-books of the 17th century, has also bequeathed to the\nChurch a splendid Advent hymn, \"Comfort, comfort ye My people.\"\n\nStegmann, a theological professor at Rinteln who suffered much\npersecution at the hands of Benedictine monks during the Thirty Years'\nWar, was the author of the beautiful evening hymn, \"Abide with us, our\nSaviour.\"\n\nWilhelm II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who wrote the inspiring hymn, \"O Christ,\nThy grace unto us lend,\" was not only a poet and musician, but also a man\nof war. He was twice wounded in battle with the Imperial forces, and was\nonce left for dead. He was taken prisoner by Tilly, but was released by\nthe emperor. When Gustavus Adolphus came to Germany to save the\nProtestant cause, Wilhelm after some hesitation joined him. However, when\nthe Duke in 1635 made a separate peace with the emperor, the Swedish army\nravaged his territory.\n\nJohann Meyfart also belongs to this period. He was a theological\nprofessor at the University of Erfuert, and died at that place in 1642.\nOne of his hymns, \"Jerusalem, thou city fair and high,\" has found its way\ninto English hymn books.\n\nThe beautiful hymn, \"O how blest are ye,\" which was translated into\nEnglish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, comes to us from the pen of Simon\nDach, another Lutheran theologian who lived during these stirring days.\nDach, who was professor of poetry and dean of the philosophical faculty\nof the University of Koenigsberg, wrote some 165 hymns. They are marked by\nfulness of faith and a quiet confidence in God in the midst of a world of\nturmoil and uncertainty. Dach died in 1659 after a lingering illness. The\nfirst stanza of his funeral hymn reads\n\n O how blest are ye, whose toils are ended!\n Who through death have unto God ascended!\n Ye have arisen\n From the cares which keep us still in prison.\n\nTobias Clausnitzer, who has bequeathed to the Church the hymn, \"Blessed\nJesus, at Thy Word,\" was the chaplain of a Swedish regiment during the\nThirty Years' War. He preached the thanksgiving sermon at the field\nservice held by command of General Wrangel at Weiden, in the Upper\nPalatine, on January 1, 1649, after the conclusion of the Peace of\nWestphalia. He afterwards became pastor at Weiden, where he remained\nuntil his death in 1684.\n\nJohann Quirsfeld, archdeacon in Pirna, has given us a very impressive\nGood Friday hymn, \"Sinful world, behold the anguish.\" Quirsfeld died in\n1686.\n\nChristian Knorr von Rosenroth, a noted Orientalist, scientist and\nstatesman of the seventeenth century, in addition to duties of state\nedited several Rabbinical writings and works on Oriental mysticism. He\nalso wrote hymns, among them \"Dayspring of eternity,\" which has been\nreferred to by one writer as \"one of the freshest, most original, and\nspirited of morning hymns, as if born from the dew of the sunrise.\" He\ndied at Sulzbach, Bavaria, May 8, 1689, at the very hour, it is said,\nwhich he himself had predicted.\n\nThe extent to which Lutheran laymen of this period devoted themselves to\nspiritual exercises is revealed in the life of Johann Franck, a lawyer\nwho became mayor of his native town of Guben, Brandenburg, in 1661. To\nhim we are indebted for the finest communion hymn in the German language,\n\"Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness.\" He also was the author of such\ngems as \"Light of the Gentile nations,\" \"Lord, to Thee I make\nconfession,\" \"Lord God, we worship Thee,\" \"Jesus, priceless Treasure,\"\nand the glorious song of praise:\n\n Praise the Lord, each tribe and nation,\n Praise Him with a joyful heart;\n Ye who know His full salvation,\n Gather now from every part;\n Let your voices glorify\n In His temple God on high.\n\nIt was Franck who began the long series of so-called \"Jesus hymns,\" which\nreached their fullest development in the later Pietistic school of\nhymnists. Franck held that poetry should be \"the nurse of piety, the\nherald of immortality, the promoter of cheerfulness, the conqueror of\nsadness, and a foretaste of heavenly glory.\" His hymns reflect his\nbeautiful spirit of Christian cheerfulness and hope.\n\nThe last name that we would mention is Heinrich Theobald Schenk, a pastor\nat Giessen. Not much is known of this man except that he was the writer\nof a single hymn, but it is a hymn that has gained for him the thanks of\nposterity. There is scarcely a hymn-book of any communion today that does\nnot contain, \"Who are these, like stars appearing?\" Schenk died in 1727,\nat the age of 71 years.\n\n\n\n\n The Swan-song of Gustavus Adolphus\n\n\n Be not dismayed, thou little flock,\n Although the foe's fierce battle shock\n Loud on all sides assail thee.\n Though o'er thy fall they laugh secure,\n Their triumph cannot long endure,\n Let not thy courage fail thee.\n\n Thy cause is God's--go at His call,\n And to His hand commit thine all;\n Fear thou no ill impending;\n His Gideon shall arise for thee,\n God's Word and people manfully\n In God's own time defending.\n\n Our hope is sure in Jesus' might;\n Against themselves the godless fight,\n Themselves, not us, distressing;\n Shame and contempt their lot shall be;\n God is with us, with Him are we;\n To us belongs His blessing.\n\n Johann Michael Altenberg, 1631\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn Made Famous on a Battle Field\n\n\n\"Be not dismayed, thou little flock\" will always be known as the\n\"swan-song\" of the Swedish hero king, Gustavus Adolphus.\n\nNo incident in modern history is more dramatic than the sudden appearance\nin Germany of Gustavus Adolphus and his little Swedish army during the\ncritical days of the Thirty Years' War. It was this victorious crusade\nthat saved Germany, and probably all of northern Europe, for\nProtestantism.\n\nThe untimely death of the Swedish monarch on the battlefield of Luetzen,\nNovember 6, 1632, while leading his men against Wallenstein's host, not\nonly gained immortal fame for Gustavus, but will always cause the world\nto remember the hymn that was sung by his army on that historic day.\n\nWhen Gustavus Adolphus landed in Germany in 1630 with his small but\nwell-trained army, it seemed that the Protestant cause in Europe was\nlost. All the Protestant princes of Germany had been defeated by Tilly\nand Wallenstein, leaders of the Imperial armies, and the victors were\npreparing to crush every vestige of Lutheranism in Germany.\n\nThe Margrave of Brandenburg and the Duke of Saxony, however, furnished a\nfew troops to Gustavus, and in a swift, meteoric campaign the Swedish\nking had routed the army of the Catholic League and had marched all the\nway across Germany. In the spring of 1632 Gustavus moved into the heart\nof Bavaria and captured Munich.\n\nThe Imperial forces who had sneered at the \"Snow King,\" as they called\nhim, and who had predicted that he would \"melt\" as he came southward,\nwere now filled with dismay. The \"Snow King\" proved to be the \"Lion of\nthe North.\"\n\nWallenstein rallied the Catholic forces for a last stand at Luetzen, the\nbattle that was to prove the decisive conflict.\n\nOn the morning of November 6, 1632, the two armies faced each other in\nbattle array. Dr. Fabricius, chaplain of the Swedish army, had been\ncommanded by Gustavus to lead his troops in worship. The king himself\nraised the strains of \"Be not dismayed, thou little flock,\" and led the\narmy in singing the stirring hymn. Then he knelt in fervent prayer.\n\nA heavy fog prevented the Protestant forces from moving forward to the\nattack, and, while they were waiting for the fog to lift, Gustavus\nordered the musicians to play Luther's hymn, \"A mighty Fortress is our\nGod.\" The whole army joined with a shout. The king then mounted his\ncharger, and, drawing his sword, rode back and forth in front of the\nlines, speaking words of encouragement to his men.\n\nAs the sun began to break through the fog, Gustavus himself offered a\nprayer, \"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, help me today to do battle for the glory of\nThy holy name,\" and then shouted, \"Now forward to the attack in the name\nof our God!\" The army answered, \"God with us!\" and rushed forward, the\nking galloping in the lead.\n\nWhen his aid offered him his coat of mail, Gustavus refused to put it on,\ndeclaring, \"God is my Protector.\"\n\nThe battle raged fiercely. For a time the outcome seemed ominous for the\nLutherans. At 11 o'clock Gustavus was struck by a bullet and mortally\nwounded. As he fell from his horse, the word spread quickly throughout\nthe Swedish lines, \"The king is wounded!\"\n\nIt proved to be the turning point in the battle. Instead of losing heart\nand fleeing, the Swedish troops charged the foe with a fierceness born of\nsorrow and despair, and before the day was ended another glorious victory\nhad been won. The Protestant cause was saved, but the noble Gustavus had\nmade the supreme sacrifice.\n\nThe authorship of his famous \"battle-hymn\" has been the subject of much\ndispute. The German poet and hymnologist, Albert Knapp, has called it \"a\nlittle feather from the eagle wing of Gustavus Adolphus.\" Most Swedish\nauthorities, too, unite in naming their hero king as the author. However,\nthe weight of evidence seems to point to Johann Michael Altenberg, a\nGerman pastor of Gross Sommern, Thueringen, as the real writer of the\nhymn. It is said that Altenberg was inspired to write it upon hearing of\nthe great victory gained by Gustavus Adolphus at the battle of Leipzig,\nSeptember 7, 1631, about a year before the battle of Luetzen.\n\nIn any event, it is a matter of record that the Swedish king adopted it\nimmediately, and that he sang it as his own \"swan-song\" just before he\ndied at Luetzen. Someone has aptly said, \"Whether German or Swede may\nclaim this hymn is a question. They both rightly own it.\"\n\n\n\n\n Rinkart's Hymn of Praise\n\n\n Now thank we all our God,\n With hearts and hands and voices,\n Who wondrous things hath done,\n In whom His earth rejoices;\n Who from our mother's arms\n Hath blessed us on our way\n With countless gifts of love,\n And still is ours today.\n\n O may this bounteous God\n Through all our life be near us,\n With ever joyful hearts\n And blessed peace to cheer us;\n And keep us in His grace,\n And guide us when perplexed,\n And free us from all ills,\n In this world and the next.\n\n All praise and thanks to God\n The Father now be given,\n The Son, and Him who reigns\n With them in highest heaven;\n The One eternal God,\n Whom earth and heaven adore;\n For thus it was, is now,\n And shall be evermore!\n\n Martin Rinkart (1586-1649).\n\n\n\n\n THE LUTHERAN TE DEUM\n\n\nThe last of the great Lutheran hymn-writers belonging to the period of\nthe Thirty Years' War was Martin Rinkart. Except for the time of the\nReformation, this period was probably the greatest creative epoch in the\nhistory of Lutheran hymnody. But of all the glorious hymns that were\nwritten during those stirring years, there is none that equals Rinkart's\nfamous hymn, \"Now thank we all our God.\"\n\nThe date of this remarkable hymn is obscure. The claim has been made that\nit was written as a hymn of thanksgiving following the Peace of\nWestphalia, which in 1648 brought to an end the long and cruel war. This\nclaim has been based on the fact that the first two stanzas are a\nparaphrase of the words of the high priest Simeon, recorded in the\nApocryphal book Ecclesiasticus 50:29-32: \"And now let all praise God, who\nhath done great things, who hath glorified our days, and dealeth with us\naccording to His loving-kindness. He giveth us the joy of our hearts,\nthat we may find peace in Israel as in the days of yore, thus He lets His\nloving-kindness remain with us, and He will redeem us in our day.\"\nInasmuch as this was the Scripture passage on which all regimental\nchaplains were ordered to preach in celebration of the conclusion of\npeace, it has been inferred that Rinkart was inspired to write his hymn\nat that time.\n\nIt is probable, however, that these circumstances were merely a\ncoincidence, and that the hymn was written several years previous to\n1648. In Rinkart's own volume, \"Jesu Hertz-Buchlein,\" it appears under\nthe title \"Tisch-Gebetlein,\" or a short prayer before meals, and many\nbelieve that it was originally written for Rinkart's children. It will be\nnoticed that, while the first two stanzas are based on the passage from\nEcclesiasticus, the last stanza is the ancient doxology, _Gloria Patri_.\n\nNo hymn except Luther's famous \"A mighty Fortress is our God\" has been\nused more generally in the Lutheran Church than Rinkart's glorious paean\nof praise. In Germany, where it has become the national _Te Deum_, it is\nsung at all impressive occasions. After the battle of Leuthen, the army\nof Frederick the Great raised the strains of this noble hymn, and it is\nsaid that even the mortally wounded joined in the singing.\n\nIn his history of the Franco-Prussian War, Cassel tells of a stirring\nincident that took place on the day following the battle of Sedan, where\nthe Germans had won a decisive victory over the French. A multitude of\nPrussian troops who were marching toward Paris were billeted in the\nparish church of Augecourt. They could not sleep because of the extreme\nexcitement of the day. Suddenly a strain of music came from the organ,\nfirst very softly but gradually swelling in volume until the whole\nsanctuary shook. It was the grand old hymn--\"Nun danket alle Gott!\"\nInstantly men and officers were upon their feet, singing the stirring\nwords. Then followed Luther's \"Ein feste Burg,\" after which the terrible\nstrain seemed relieved, and they laid themselves down to peaceful\nslumber.\n\nIt is recorded that the hymn was also sung at the opening of the\nmagnificent Cathedral of Cologne, August 14, 1880, as well as at the\nlaying of the cornerstone of the Parliament building in Berlin, June 9,\n1884. It has also achieved great popularity in England, where it was sung\nas a _Te Deum_ in nearly all churches and chapels at the close of the\nBoer War in 1902.\n\nRinkart's life was a tragic one. The greater part of his public service\nwas rendered during the horrors of the Thirty Years' War. He was born at\nEilenburg, Saxony, April 23, 1586. After attending a Latin school in his\nhome town, he became a student at the University of Leipzig.\n\nIn 1617, by invitation of the town council of Eilenburg, he became pastor\nof the church in the city of his birth. It was at the beginning of the\nThirty Years' War, and, because Eilenburg was a walled city, it became a\nrefuge for thousands who had lost everything in the conflict. Famine and\npestilence added to the horror of the situation, and the other two\npastors of the city having died, Rinkart was left alone to minister to\nthe spiritual needs of the populace.\n\nTwice Eilenburg was saved from the Swedish army through the intercession\nof Rinkart, first in 1637 and again in 1639. A levy of 30,000 thaler had\nbeen made on the city by the Swedish general to aid the Protestant cause.\nKnowing the impoverished condition of his townsmen, Rinkart went out to\nthe Swedish camp to plead their cause, but to no avail. Turning to those\nwho were with him, Rinkart exclaimed, \"Come, my children, we can find no\nmercy with men, let us take refuge with God.\" He then fell on his knees\nand uttered a fervent prayer, after which they sang the hymn of Paul Eber\nso much used in those trying days, \"When in the hour of utmost need.\" The\nscene made such an impression on the Swedish commander that he relented\nand reduced his demand to 2,000 florins or 1,350 thaler.\n\nRinkart lived only a year after the close of the bloody war. He died, a\nworn and broken man, in 1649.\n\n\n\n\n A Joyous Christmas Carol\n\n\n All my heart this night rejoices,\n As I hear,\n Far and near,\n Sweetest angel voices:\n \"Christ is born,\" their choirs are singing,\n Till the air\n Everywhere\n Now with joy is ringing.\n\n Come and banish all your sadness,\n One and all,\n Great and small,\n Come with songs of gladness;\n Love Him who with love is yearning;\n Hail the star\n That from far\n Bright with hope is burning.\n\n Hither come, ye heavy-hearted,\n Who for sin,\n Deep within,\n Long and sore have smarted;\n For the poisoned wounds you're feeling\n Help is near,\n One is here\n Mighty for their healing.\n\n Faithfully Thee, Lord, I'll cherish,\n Live to Thee,\n And with Thee\n Dying, shall not perish,\n But shall dwell with Thee forever,\n Far on high,\n In the joy\n That can alter never.\n\n Paul Gerhardt, 1656.\n\n\n\n\n PAUL GERHARDT, PRINCE OF LUTHERAN HYMNISTS\n\n\nThe greatest Lutheran hymnist of the seventeenth century, and perhaps of\nall time, was Paul Gerhardt.\n\nNot even the hymns of Martin Luther are used so generally throughout the\nChristian world as those of Gerhardt. More of the beautiful lyrics of\nthis sweet singer have found their way into the English language than the\nhymns of any other German writer, and with the passing of years their\npopularity increases rather than diminishes.\n\nIn the Lutheran church at Luebden, in Germany, there hangs a life-size\npainting of Gerhardt. Beneath it is this inscription: _Theologus in\ncribro Satanae versatus_, \"A divine sifted in Satan's sieve.\" That\ninscription may be said to epitomize the sad life-story of Germany's\ngreat psalmist.\n\nGerhardt was born March 12, 1607, in Graefenhaynichen, a village near the\ncelebrated Wittenberg. His father, who was mayor of the village, died\nbefore Paul reached maturity. When he was twenty-one years of age he\nbegan the study of theology at the University of Wittenberg. The Thirty\nYears' War was raging, and all Germany was desolate and suffering.\nBecause of the difficulty of securing a parish, Gerhardt served for\nseveral years as a tutor in the home of Andreas Barthold, whose daughter\nAnna Maria became his bride in 1655.\n\nIt was during this period that Gerhardt's poetic gifts began to flourish.\nNo doubt he was greatly stimulated by contact with the famous musician\nJohann Crueger, who was cantor and director of music in the Church of St.\nNicholas in Berlin. In 1648 many of Gerhardt's hymns were published in\nCrueger's _Praxis Pietatis Melica_.\n\nThrough the recommendation of the Berlin clergy, he was appointed\nLutheran provost at Mittenwalde, and was ordained to this post November\n18, 1651. Six years later he accepted the position of third assistant\npastor of the Church of St. Nicholas in Berlin. His hymns continued to\ngrow in popularity, and his fame as a preacher drew large audiences to\nhear him.\n\nThe controversy between the Lutherans and Calvinists, which had continued\nfrom the days of the Reformation, flared up again at this time as the\nresult of efforts on the part of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia to\nunite the two parties. Friedrich Wilhelm, who was a Calvinist, sought to\ncompel the clergy to sign a document promising that they would abstain\nfrom any references in their sermons to doctrinal differences. Gerhardt\nwas sick at the time, and, although he had always been moderate in his\nutterances, he felt that to sign such a document would be to compromise\nthe faith. Summoning the other Lutheran clergymen of Berlin to his\nbedside, he urged them to stand firm and to refuse to surrender to the\ndemands of the Elector.\n\nSoon after this the courageous pastor was deposed from office. He was\nalso prohibited from holding private services in his own home. Though he\nfelt the blow very keenly, he met it with true Christian fortitude.\n\n\"This,\" he said, \"is only a small Berlin affliction; but I am also\nwilling and ready to seal with my blood the evangelical truth, and, like\nmy namesake, St. Paul, to offer my neck to the sword.\"\n\nTo add to his sorrows, Gerhardt's wife and a son died in the midst of\nthese troubles. Three other children had died previous to this, and now\nthe sorely tried pastor was left with a single child, a boy of six years.\nIn May, 1669, he was called to the church at Luebden, where he labored\nfaithfully and with great success until his death, on June 7, 1676.\n\nThe glorious spirit that dwelt in him, and which neither trials nor\npersecutions could quench, is reflected in the lines of his famous hymn,\n\"If God Himself be for me,\" based on the latter part of the eighth\nchapter of Romans:\n\n Though earth be rent asunder,\n Thou'rt mine eternally;\n Not fire, nor sword, nor thunder,\n Shall sever me from Thee;\n Not hunger, thirst, nor danger,\n Not pain nor poverty,\n Nor mighty princes' anger,\n Shall ever hinder me.\n\nCatherine Winkworth, who has translated the same hymn in a different\nmeter under the title, \"Since Jesus is my Friend,\" has probably succeeded\nbest in giving expression to the triumphant faith and the note of\ntranscendent hope and joy in the final stanza:\n\n My heart for gladness springs;\n It cannot more be sad;\n For very joy it smiles and sings--\n Sees naught but sunshine glad.\n The Sun that lights mine eyes\n Is Christ, the Lord I love;\n I sing for joy of that which lies\n Stored up for me above.\n\nBecause of his own warm, confiding, childlike faith in God, Gerhardt's\nhymns have become a source of special comfort to sorrowing and\nheavy-laden souls. They not only breathe a spirit of tender consolation\nbut of a \"joy unspeakable and full of glory.\" We have a beautiful example\nof this in his Advent hymn, \"O how shall I receive Thee\":\n\n Rejoice then, ye sad-hearted,\n Who sit in deepest gloom,\n Who mourn o'er joys departed,\n And tremble at your doom;\n He who alone can cheer you\n Is standing at the door;\n He brings His pity near you,\n And bids you weep no more.\n\nIn Gerhardt's hymns we find a transition to the modern subjective note in\nhymnody. Sixteen of his hymns begin with the pronoun, \"I.\" They are not\ncharacterized, however, by the weak sentimentality so often found in the\nhymns of our own day, for Gerhardt never lost sight of the greatest\nobjective truth revealed to men--justification by faith alone.\nNevertheless, because of his constant emphasis on the love of God and\nbecause his hymns are truly \"songs of the heart,\" they possess a degree\nof emotional warmth that is lacking in the earlier Lutheran hymns.\n\nHis hymns on the glories of nature have never been surpassed. In\ncontemplating the beauty of created things he is ever praising the\nCreator. His famous evening hymn, \"Nun ruhen alle Waelder,\" has been\nlikened to the beauty and splendor of the evening star. In a marvelous\nmanner the temporal and the eternal, the terrestrial and the celestial\nare contrasted in every stanza. It was a favorite hymn of the great\nGerman poet, Friedrich von Schiller, who first heard it sung by his\nmother as a cradle song. Probably no hymn is so generally used by the\nchildren of Germany as an evening prayer as this one. The most familiar\nEnglish translation begins with the line, \"Now rest beneath night's\nshadow.\" A more recent translation of rare beauty runs:\n\n The restless day now closeth,\n Each flower and tree reposeth,\n Shade creeps o'er wild and wood:\n Let us, as night is falling,\n On God our Maker calling,\n Give thanks to Him, the Giver good.\n\nThe tune to which this hymn is sung is as famous as the hymn itself. It\nis ascribed to Heinrich Isaak, one of the first of the great German\nchurch musicians. It is believed to have been composed by him in 1490,\nwhen he was leaving his native town, Innsbruck, to establish himself at\nthe court of Emperor Maximilian I. It was set to the plaintive words,\n\"Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen.\" According to tradition, Isaak first\nheard the beautiful melody sung by a wandering minstrel. Bach and Mozart\nregarded it as one of the sublimest of all chorales, and each is said to\nhave declared that he would rather have been the composer of this tune\nthan any of his great masterpieces.\n\nGerhardt wrote 123 hymns in all. In addition to the hymns already\nmentioned, probably his most famous is \"O sacred Head, now wounded,\"\nbased on the Latin hymn of Bernard of Clairvaux. Other hymns in common\nuse are \"Immanuel, we sing Thy praise,\" \"Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness,\"\n\"O enter, Lord, Thy temple,\" \"Shun, my heart, the thought forever,\"\n\"Commit thou all thy griefs,\" \"All my heart this night rejoices,\" \"Beside\nThy manger here I stand,\" \"Awake, my heart, and marvel,\" \"Go forth, my\nheart, and seek delight,\" \"O Saviour dear,\" and \"A pilgrim and a\nstranger.\"\n\nOnly the briefest mention can be made of other German Lutheran\nhymn-writers of this period. One of these, Johan Rist, pastor in Wedel,\nwas crowned poet laureate of Germany by Emperor Ferdinand III in 1644,\nand nine years later was raised to the nobility. Rist wrote some 680\nhymns, but all are not of uniform excellence. Among those in common use\nto-day are \"Arise, the kingdom is at hand,\" \"Help us, O Lord, behold we\nenter,\" \"Rise, O Salem, rise and shine,\" \"O Living Bread from heaven,\" \"O\nJesus Christ, Thou Bread of Life,\" \"Father, merciful and holy,\" which has\nalso been translated \"Soul of mine, to God awaking,\" \"O darkest woe,\" and\n\"Arise, arise ye Christians.\"\n\nGeorg Neumark, court poet and secretary of archives under Duke Wilhelm II\nof Saxe-Weimar, has left us the hymn of trust in God: \"Let, O my soul,\nthy God direct thee,\" which is also known by the English translation, \"If\nthou but suffer God to guide thee.\" The hymn was written in 1641, at\nKiel, when, after being robbed of practically all he possessed except his\nprayer-book, Neumark succeeded in obtaining employment as tutor in a\nwealthy family. He was a destitute student at the time.\n\nMichael Schirmer, an educator and poet who lived in Berlin during the\nThirty Years' War and for two decades after its close, is the author of a\nnumber of beautiful hymns, among them the Pentecost hymn, \"O Holy Spirit,\nenter in.\" Because of poverty and afflictions suffered during a period of\nwar and pestilence, he has been called \"the German Job.\"\n\nAhasuerus Fritsch, chancellor and president of the Consistory of\nRudolstadt, is credited with the authorship of \"Jesus is my Joy, my All,\"\na hymn that reflects the spirit of true evangelical piety. He died in\n1701.\n\nCaspar Neumann, another of Gerhardt's contemporaries, has bequeathed to\nthe Church the sublime hymn, \"God of Ages, all transcending,\" the last\nstanza of which is unusually striking in language:\n\n Say Amen, O God our Father,\n To the praise we offer Thee;\n Now, to laud Thy name we gather;\n Let this to Thy glory be.\n Fill us with Thy love and grace,\n Till we see Thee face to face.\n\nNeumann, who was a celebrated preacher and professor of theology at\nBreslau from 1678 to 1715, was the author of some thirty hymns, all of\nwhich became very popular in Silesia. He was also author of a famous\ndevotional book, \"Kern aller Gebete.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Glorious Paean of Praise\n\n\n Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!\n O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!\n All ye who hear,\n Now to His temple draw near,\n Join me in glad adoration.\n\n Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee!\n Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee;\n Ponder anew\n What the Almighty can do,\n If with His love He befriend thee!\n\n Praise thou the Lord, who with marvelous wisdom hath made thee,\n Decked thee with health, and with loving hand guided and stayed thee.\n How oft in grief\n Hath not He brought thee relief,\n Spreading His wings to o'ershade thee!\n\n Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him!\n All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him!\n Let the Amen\n Sound from His people again;\n Gladly for aye we adore Him.\n\n Joachim Neander, 1680.\n\n\n\n\n JOACHIM NEANDER, THE PAUL GERHARDT OF THE CALVINISTS\n\n\nWhile all Germany during the latter half of the seventeenth century was\nsinging the sublime lyrics of Paul Gerhardt, prince of Lutheran hymnists,\nthe spirit of hymnody was beginning to stir in the soul of another German\npoet--Joachim Neander. This man, whose name will always be remembered as\nthe author of one of the most glorious hymns of praise of the Christian\nChurch, was the first hymn-writer produced by the Reformed, or\nCalvinistic, branch of the Protestant Church.\n\nHymnody in the Reformed Church had been seriously retarded by the\niconoclastic views of Calvin and Zwingli. These Reformers at first\nfrowned on church choirs, organs, and every form of ecclesiastical art.\nEven hymns, such as those used by the Lutherans, were prohibited because\nthey were the production of men. God could be worshiped in a worthy\nmanner, according to Calvin's principles, only by hymns which were\ndivinely inspired, namely, the Psalms of the Old Testament Psaltery.\n\nThis gave rise to the practice of versifying the Psalms. Calvin's\ninsistence that there should be the strictest adherence to the original\ntext often resulted in crude paraphrases. The exclusive use of the Psalms\nexplains the development of so-called \"psalmody\" in the Reformed Church\nas over against \"hymnody\" in the Lutheran Church.\n\nPsalmody had its inception in France, where Clement Marot, court poet to\nKing Francis I, rendered a number of the Psalms into metrical form. Marot\nwas a gifted and versatile genius, but not inclined to piety or\nserious-mindedness. However, his versified Psalms became immensely\npopular with the French Huguenots and exerted a great influence in the\nstruggle between the Protestants and the papal party. When Marot was\ncompelled to flee to Geneva because of Roman persecution, he collaborated\nwith Calvin in publishing the famous Genevan Psalter, which appeared in\n1543.\n\nFollowing the death of Marot in 1544, Calvin engaged Theodore de Beza to\ncontinue the work, and in 1562 the Genevan Psalter was published in\ncompleted form, containing all the Psalms in versified dress. The musical\neditor during the greater part of this period was Louis Bourgeois, to\nwhom is generally ascribed the undying honor of being the composer of\nprobably the most famous of all Christian hymn tunes, \"Old Hundredth.\"\n\nThe Genevan Psalter was translated into many languages, and became the\naccepted hymn-book of the Reformed Church in Germany, England, Scotland,\nand Holland, as well as in France. In Germany the most popular version\nwas a translation by Ambrosius Lobwasser, a professor of law at\nKoenigsberg, who, oddly enough, was a Lutheran.\n\nFor more than 150 years Lutheran hymn-writers had been pouring out a\nmighty stream of inspired song, but the voice of hymnody was stifled in\nthe Reformed Church. Then came Joachim Neander. His life was short--he\ndied at the age of thirty--and many of his hymns seem to have been\nwritten in the last few months before his death; but the influence he\nexerted on the subsequent hymnody of his Church earned for him the title,\n\"the Gerhardt of the Reformed Church.\"\n\nNeander's hymns are preeminently hymns of praise. Their jubilant tone and\nsmooth rhythmical flow are at once an invitation to sing them. They\nspeedily found their way into Lutheran hymn-books in Germany, and from\nthence to the entire Protestant world. Neander's most famous hymn,\n\"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,\" with its splendid chorale melody,\ngrows in popularity with the passing of years, and promises to live on as\none of the greatest _Te Deums_ of the Christian Church.\n\nJoachim Neander was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1650. He came from a\ndistinguished line of clergymen, his father, grandfather, great\ngrandfather and great great grandfather having been pastors, and all of\nthem bearing the name Joachim Neander.\n\nYoung Joachim entered the Academic Gymnasium of Bremen at the age of\nsixteen years. It seems that he led a careless and profligate life,\njoining in the sins and follies that characterized student life in his\nage.\n\nIn the year 1670, when Neander was twenty years old, he chanced to attend\nservices in St. Martin's church, Bremen, where Theodore Under-Eyck had\nrecently come as pastor. Two other students accompanied Neander, their\nmain purpose being to criticize and scoff at the sermon. However, they\nhad not reckoned with the Spirit of God. The burning words of Under-Eyck\nmade a powerful impression on the mind and heart of the youthful Neander,\nand he who went to scoff came away to pray.\n\nIt proved the turning point in the spiritual life of the young student.\nUnder the guidance of Under-Eyck he was led to embrace Christ as his\nSaviour, and from that time he and Under-Eyck were life-long friends.\n\nThe following year Neander became tutor to five young students,\naccompanying them to the University of Heidelberg. Three years later he\nbecame rector of the Latin school at Duesseldorf. This institution was\nunder the supervision of a Reformed pastor, Sylvester Luersen, an able\nman, but of contentious spirit. At first the two men worked together\nharmoniously, Neander assisting with pastoral duties, and preaching\noccasionally, although he was not ordained as a clergyman. Later,\nhowever, he fell under the influence of a group of separatists, and began\nto imitate their practices. He refused to receive the Lord's Supper on\nthe grounds that he could not partake of it with the unconverted. He\ninduced others to follow his example. He also became less regular in his\nattendance at regular worship, and began to conduct prayer meetings and\nservices of his own.\n\nIn 1676 the church council of Duesseldorf investigated his conduct and\ndismissed him from his office. Fourteen days after this action was taken,\nhowever, Neander signed a declaration in which he promised to abide by\nthe rules of the church and school, whereupon he was reinstated.\n\nThere is a legend to the effect that, during the period of his suspension\nfrom service, he spent most of his time living in a cave in the beautiful\nNeanderthal, near Mettmann, on the Rhine, and that he wrote some of his\nhymns at this place. It is a well-established fact that Neander's great\nlove for nature frequently led him to this place, and a cavern in the\npicturesque glen still bears the name of \"Neander's Cave.\" One of the\nhymns which tradition declares was written in this cave bears the title\n\"Unbegreiflich Gut, Wahrer Gott alleine.\" It is a hymn of transcendent\nbeauty. One of the stanzas reads:\n\n Thee all the mountains praise;\n The rocks and glens are full of songs of Thee!\n They bid me join my lays,\n And laud the mighty Rock, who, safe from every shock,\n Beneath Thy shadow here doth shelter me.\n\nMany of Neander's hymns are odes to nature, but there is always a note of\npraise to nature's God. Witness, for instance:\n\n Heaven and earth, and sea and air,\n All their Maker's praise declare;\n Wake, my soul, awake and sing,\n Now thy grateful praises bring!\n\n\"Here behold me, as I cast me,\" a penitential hymn by Neander, has found\nfavor throughout all Christendom.\n\nIn 1679 Neander's spiritual friend, Pastor Under-Eyck, invited him to\ncome to Bremen and become his assistant in St. Martin's church. Although\nhis salary was only 40 thalers a year and a free house, Neander joyfully\naccepted the appointment. The following year, however, he became sick,\nand after a lingering illness passed away May 31, 1680, at the age of\nonly thirty years.\n\nDuring his illness he experienced severe spiritual struggles, but he\nfound comfort in the words, \"It is better to hope unto death than to die\nin unbelief.\" On the day of his death he requested that Hebrews 7:9 be\nread to him. When asked how he felt, he replied: \"The Lord has settled my\naccount. Lord Jesus, make also me ready.\" A little later he said in a\nwhisper: \"It is well with me. The mountains shall be moved, and the hills\nshall tremble, yet the grace of God shall not depart from me, and His\ncovenant of peace shall not be moved.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn Classic by Scheffler\n\n\n Thee will I love, my Strength, my Tower,\n Thee will I love, my Joy, my Crown;\n Thee will I love with all my power,\n In all Thy works, and Thee alone;\n Thee will I love, till Thy pure fire\n Fill all my soul with chaste desire.\n\n I thank Thee, uncreated Sun,\n That Thy bright beams on me have shined;\n I thank Thee, who hast overthrown\n My foes, and healed my wounded mind;\n I thank Thee, whose enlivening voice\n Bids my freed heart in Thee rejoice.\n\n Uphold me in the doubtful race,\n Nor suffer me again to stray;\n Strengthen my feet with steady pace\n Still to press forward in Thy way;\n That all my powers, with all their might,\n In Thy sole glory may unite.\n\n Thee will I love, my Joy, my Crown;\n Thee will I love, my Lord, my God;\n Thee love beneath Thy smile or frown,\n Beneath Thy scepter or Thy rod.\n What though my flesh and heart decay?\n Thee shall I love in endless day.\n\n Johann Scheffler, 1657.\n\n\n\n\n A ROMAN MYSTIC AND HYMN-WRITER\n\n\nIn Johann Scheffler we have the singular example of a man who forsook the\nLutheran Church to become a Romanist, but whose hymns have been adopted\nand sung by the very Church he sought to oppose and confound.\n\nScheffler was a contemporary of Gerhardt and Neander. He was born in\nBreslau, Silesia, in 1624. His father, Stanislaus Scheffler, was a Polish\nnobleman who had been compelled to leave his native land because of his\nLutheran convictions. Young Scheffler became a medical student at\nStrassburg, Leyden, and Padua, returning to Oels, Silesia, in 1649 to\nbecome the private physician to Duke Sylvius Nimrod of Wuerttemberg-Oels.\n\nDuring his sojourn in foreign lands he had come in contact with the\nwritings of various mystics and he began to lean strongly toward their\nteachings. At Oels he began to flaunt his separatist views by absenting\nhimself from public worship and the Lord's Supper. When the Lutheran\nauthorities refused to permit the publication of some poems he had\nwritten, because of their strong mystical tendencies, Scheffler resigned\nhis office and betook himself to Breslau, where he joined himself to a\ngroup of Jesuits. Here he pursued the study of the medieval mystics of\nthe Roman Catholic Church, and in 1653 was confirmed as a member of that\ncommunion. At this time he took the name of Angelus Silesius, probably\nafter a Spanish mystic named John ab Angelis.\n\nIn 1661 he was ordained a priest of the Roman Church. He became a\nprolific writer and took special delight in directing bitter polemics\nagainst the Church of his childhood. Of these writings, it has been well\nsaid: \"He certainly became more Roman than the Romans; and in his more\nthan fifty controversial tractates, shows little of the sweetness and\nrepose for which some have thought he left the Lutheran Church.\"\n\nScheffler, however, was a poet of the first rank. His poems, always\ntinged by the spirit of mysticism, sometimes attain to sublime heights,\nand again they descend to a coarse realism, particularly when he\ndescribes the terrors of judgment and hell.\n\nHis hymns, on the other hand, are almost uniformly of a high order. They\nare marked by a fervent love for Christ the heavenly Bridegroom, although\nthe imagery, largely based on the Song of Solomon, is sometimes\noverdrawn, almost approaching the sensual. Few of his hymns reveal his\nCatholic tendencies, and therefore they were gladly received by the\nProtestants. Indeed, they came into more general use among the Lutherans\nthan among the Catholics. They were greatly admired by Count von\nZinzendorf, who included no less than 79 of them in his Moravian\ncollection.\n\nThe mysticism of Scheffler often brought him dangerously near the\nborder-line of pantheism. Vaughn, in his \"Hours with the Mystics,\"\ncompares Scheffler with Emerson, and declares that both resemble the\nPersian Sufis. Something of Scheffler's pantheistic ideas may be seen in\nthe following lines:\n\n God in my nature is involved,\n As I in the divine;\n I help to make His being up,\n As much as He does mine.\n\nAnd again in this:\n\n I am as rich as God; no grain of dust\n That is not mine, too: share with me He must.\n\nDuffield, commenting on these astonishing lines, observes, \"We need not\nwonder that this high-flown self-assumption carried him to the door of a\nJesuit convent. It is in the very key of much that passes with Romanist\ntheology for heavenly rapture and delight in God.\"\n\nThe pantheistic views of Scheffler may be discerned even in his dying\nprayer: \"Jesus and Christ, God and man, bridegroom and brother, peace and\njoy, sweetness and delight, refuge and redemption, heaven and earth,\neternity and time, love and all, receive my soul.\"\n\nHowever, we must agree with Albert Knapp in his judgment of Scheffler's\nbeautiful hymns, that \"whencesoever they may come, they are an unfading\nornament of the Church of Jesus Christ.\" The gem among them is \"Thee will\nI love, my Strength, my Tower.\" Others that have come into general use\nare \"Earth has nothing sweet or fair,\" \"Thy soul, O Jesus, hallow me,\"\n\"Come, follow me, the Saviour spake,\" \"Jesus, Saviour, come to me,\" \"Thou\nholiest Love, whom most I love,\" and \"Loving Shepherd, kind and true.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Gem among Pietistic Hymns\n\n\n O Jesus, Source of calm repose,\n Thy like no man nor angel knows,\n Fairest among ten thousand fair!\n E'en those whom death's sad fetters bound,\n Whom thickest darkness compassed round,\n Find light and life, if Thou appear.\n\n Renew Thine image, Lord, in me,\n Lowly and gentle may I be;\n No charms but these to Thee are dear;\n No anger may'st Thou ever find,\n No pride, in my unruffled mind,\n But faith, and heaven-born peace, be there.\n\n A patient, a victorious mind,\n That life and all things casts behind,\n Springs forth obedient to Thy call,\n A heart that no desire can move,\n But still to praise, believe, and love,\n Give me, my Lord, my Life, my All!\n\n Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, 1704.\n\n\n\n\n HYMN-WRITERS OF THE PIETIST SCHOOL\n\n\nSpiritual revivals in the Christian Church have always been accompanied\nby an outburst of song. This was true of the Reformation, which witnessed\nthe birth of the Lutheran Church, and it was also characteristic of the\nPietistic movement, which infused new life and fervor into that\ncommunion. The Pietistic revival, which in many respects was similar to\nthe Puritan and Wesleyan movements in England, had its inception in\nGermany in the latter part of the 17th century and continued during the\nfirst half of the 18th century. It quickly spread to other Lutheran\ncountries, particularly Scandinavia, and its influence has been felt even\nto the present time.\n\nThe leader of the movement was Philipp Jacob Spener, pastor of St.\nNicolai Church, in Berlin. Spener, although a loyal and zealous son of\nthe Lutheran Church, was not blind to the formalism and dead orthodoxy\nwhich had overtaken it following the Thirty Years' War and which\nthreatened to dry up the streams of spiritual life. To stimulate\nspiritual endeavor and personal piety, Spener and his followers organized\nBible study groups. They also encouraged private assemblies for mutual\nedification. These were known as _collegia pietatis_, which gave rise to\nthe name, \"Pietists.\"\n\nAugust Hermann Francke, the foremost disciple of Spener, succeeded the\nlatter as leader of the movement. The University of Halle, where Francke\nwas called as professor in 1691, became the center of Pietism. Here\nFrancke laid the foundations for the remarkable philanthropic and\neducational institutions that made his name known throughout the\nChristian world. It began in 1695 when the great-hearted man opened a\nroom in his own house for the instruction of poor children. Within a few\nyears he had established his great orphanage, a high school, and a home\nfor destitute students. The orphans' home was erected on a site where\nthere had been a beer and dancing garden.\n\nWhen Francke began he had no money, nor did he receive any support from\nthe state, but as the marvelous work progressed funds poured in from all\nquarters. In the year of his death, 1727, more than 2,000 children were\nreceiving care and instruction from 170 teachers. Altogether, some 6,000\ngraduates of theology left Halle during Francke's career, \"men imbued\nwith his spirit, good exegetes, and devoted pastors, who spread their\ndoctrines all over Germany, and in the early decades of the 18th century\noccupied a majority of the pulpits.\"\n\nHalle also became the cradle of the modern missionary movement. From this\nplace, in 1705, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Pluetschau, were sent\nforth as the first missionaries to India, nearly a century before William\nCarey left England for the same field. At Halle the youthful Count von\nZinzendorf became a pupil under Francke and received the inspiration that\nin later years led to the establishment of the far-reaching missions of\nthe Moravians. To Halle the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, came in\n1738, shortly after his conversion in London, in order to become more\nfamiliar with the teachings of Luther and the Pietists.\n\nThe secret of the marvelous success of Francke's efforts may be read in\nthe simple inscription on the monument erected to his memory in front of\nthe famous orphanage at Halle. It reads: \"He trusted in God.\"\n\nNeither Francke nor Spener were hymn-writers of note, although each\ncomposed a few songs. The Pietist movement, however, gave birth to a\ngreat revival in hymnody in Germany, both in Lutheran and Reformed\ncircles. At Halle it was Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen who not only\nbecame the representative hymnist of the Pietists, but also succeeded\nFrancke as head of the great Halle institutions.\n\nFreylinghausen was a student at the University of Jena when he first\nheard the preaching of Francke. Shortly afterward he followed him to\nHalle, and in 1695 became Francke's colleague. He preached at vesper\nservices, conducted midweek meetings, taught classes in the orphanage\nschool, and delivered lectures on homiletics. He served without salary\nfor ten years, since Francke was obliged to use all his income for the\nsupport of his institutions of mercy. In 1715 Freylinghausen married\nFrancke's only daughter. At her baptism as an infant he had been her\nsponsor, and she had received his name, Johanna Anastasia. It was after\nFrancke's death in 1727 that the Halle institutions reached their highest\ndevelopment under the direction of Freylinghausen. When the latter died\nin 1739, he was buried beside his beloved friend.\n\nFreylinghausen's \"Geistreiches Gesangbuch\" became the standard hymn-book\nof the Pietistic movement. The first edition appeared in 1704 and\ncontained 683 hymns. A second hymn-book was published in 1714, containing\n815 additional hymns. The two collections were combined in 1741 by G. A.\nFrancke and published as one hymn-book, containing 1,582 hymns and 600\ntunes. Freylinghausen was the author of forty-four of these hymns, and is\nalso said to have composed some of the melodies.\n\nThe hymns of Freylinghausen are the most worthy of all those produced by\nthe Pietistic school. They are marked by genuine piety, depth of feeling,\nrich Christian experience, and faithfulness in Scriptural expression. The\ntunes employed, however, were often a distinct departure from the\ntraditional Lutheran chorales, and were not always suited to\ncongregational worship. Freylinghausen's most famous hymn, \"O Jesus,\nSource of calm repose,\" was greatly admired by John Wesley, who\ntranslated it into English in 1737. The so-called \"Jesus hymns,\" which\nreached their greatest development among the Pietists, find their\nsweetest expression in Freylinghausen's:\n\n Who is there like Thee,\n Jesus, unto me?\n None is like Thee, none above Thee,\n Thou art altogether lovely;\n None on earth have we,\n None in heaven like Thee.\n\nIt is not strange that from Halle, from whence such mighty missionary\ninfluences flowed, should also go forth the first Protestant missionary\nhymn. It was in 1750 that Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky, while working among\nthe orphans of the Franckean institutions, wrote his famous hymn, \"Awake,\nthou Spirit, who didst fire.\"\n\nBogatzky, who came from a noble Hungarian family, was disowned by his\nfather when he chose to enroll as a theological student at Halle rather\nthan to prepare for a career as an army officer. His health failed him,\nhowever, and he was unable to enter the ministry. For many years he\ndevoted himself to hymn-writing and devotional literature. He also\ntraveled as a lay preacher. Because of his noble birth he was able to\nexert a considerable influence in the higher circles of German society.\nFrom 1746 to his death in 1774, he lived at the Halle orphanage. He was\nthe author of some 411 hymns, but few of them possess the poetic and\nspiritual fire of his missionary hymn. Two of its glorious stanzas read:\n\n Awake, Thou Spirit, who didst fire\n The watchmen of the Church's youth,\n Who faced the foe's envenomed ire,\n Who day and night declared Thy truth,\n Whose voices loud are ringing still,\n And bringing hosts to know Thy will.\n\n O haste to help, ere we are lost!\n Send preachers forth, in spirit strong,\n Armed with Thy Word, a dauntless host,\n Bold to attack the rule of wrong;\n Let them the earth for Thee reclaim,\n Thy heritage, to know Thy Name.\n\nJohann Jacob Rambach was another important hymn-writer of this period.\nThe son of a cabinet maker of Halle, young Rambach attended the free\nschool established by Francke and came under the direct influence of the\ngreat Pietist leader.\n\nLike many a youth, however, he felt that his education was complete at\nthe age of thirteen years, at which time he left school to work in his\nfather's shop. The Lord, on the other hand, seems to have had other plans\nfor the lad, and it was not long before young Rambach suffered a\ndislocated ankle. Confined to his bed for several weeks, he again turned\nto his books, and, before he had recovered, the desire to resume his\nstudies took possession of him.\n\nRambach eventually became one of the outstanding theologians of Halle, as\nwell as preacher at the school church. In 1731 he removed to Giessen to\nbecome superintendent and first professor of theology. Here he found\nconditions vastly different from those at Halle. He was particularly\ngrieved over the fact that his preaching did not seem to bear fruit.\nOften his efforts to bring about healthier spiritual conditions met with\nopposition and scoffing on the part of his adversaries. He died in 1735\nat the early age of forty-two years--from intense sorrow over the\nspiritual indifference of his flock, so it has been said.\n\nRambach wrote many splendid hymns, among them the confirmation hymn,\n\"Baptized into Thy Name most holy.\" His fame rests principally on his\nwork as a hymnologist, however. During his life-time he published a\nnumber of collections from all sources. These hymns were chosen with fine\ndiscrimination, and Rambach was the first hymn editor to make a\ndistinction between hymns for congregational worship and those\nparticularly suited for private devotion.\n\nThe beautiful Advent hymn, \"Rejoice, all ye believers,\" as well as the\nEpiphany hymn, \"O Saviour of our race,\" also date from the Pietistic\nperiod. Both hymns apparently were written in 1700 by Laurentius\nLaurentii, cantor and director of music in the Lutheran cathedral at\nBremen. Laurentii was not only a splendid musician, but also a\nhymn-writer of high order, and no less than thirty-four of his hymns were\nincluded in the Freylinghausen collections.\n\nOther hymnists of the Pietistic school include Christian Scriver, writer\nof the famous devotional book, \"Seelenschatz;\" Gottfried Arnold, a noted\nchurch historian; Ernst Gottlieb Woltersdorf, founder of an orphanage at\nBunzlau, and Christian Richter, a pious physician and an associate of\nFrancke. Few of their hymns, however, are in common use today.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn of Longing for Christ\n\n\n O Son of God, we wait for Thee,\n We long for Thine appearing;\n We know Thou sittest on the throne,\n And we Thy Name are bearing.\n Who trusts in Thee may joyful be,\n And see Thee, Lord, descending\n To bring us bliss unending.\n\n We wait for Thee, 'mid toil and pain,\n In weariness and sighing;\n But glad that Thou our guilt hast borne,\n And cancelled it by dying.\n Hence, cheerfully may we with Thee\n Take up our cross and bear it,\n Till we the crown inherit.\n\n We wait for Thee; here Thou hast won\n Our hearts to hope and duty;\n But while our spirits feel Thee near,\n Our eyes would see Thy beauty;\n We fain would be at rest with Thee\n In peace and joy supernal,\n In glorious life eternal.\n\n We wait for Thee; soon Thou wilt come,\n The time is swiftly nearing;\n In this we also do rejoice,\n And long for Thine appearing.\n O bliss 'twill be when Thee we see,\n Homeward Thy people bringing,\n With ecstasy and singing!\n\n Philipp Friedrich Hiller, 1767.\n\n\n\n\n THE WUERTTEMBERG HYMN-WRITERS\n\n\nThe Pietistic movement quickly made its influence felt in all parts of\nGermany. In some quarters, especially in the latter stages of the\nmovement, it assumed more radical forms. Sometimes it developed into\nemotionalism and mysticism. The hymns were often of a subjective type,\nwhich led the worshiper to think more about his own inner processes and\nfeelings than to direct his thoughts to Him alone who can redeem and\nsanctify.\n\nSome of the Pietistic hymnists, notably Woltersdorf, were given to the\nuse of inordinate language and even sensuous descriptions for the purpose\nof arousing intense emotion. In one of Woltersdorf's passion hymns, he\ndwells morbidly on every detail of the physical sufferings of Christ, and\nin another hymn he borrows Scheffler's figure which likens the soul to a\nbee deriving sustenance from the crimson wounds of Christ.\n\nOn the other hand, the Pietistic hymn is exemplified in its highest and\nnoblest form in the writings of the so-called Wuerttemberg school of\nhymnists, the chief exponent of which was Philipp Friedrich Hiller.\nWuerttemberg was blessed with the famous scholar and theologian, Johann\nAlbrecht Bengel, whose sound doctrinal views and profound understanding\nof human nature not only led to a healthy development of Pietism in\nsouthern Germany, but also left a lasting impression on all the\ntheological students who came under his influence at the training schools\nat Denkendorf, near Esslingen. Hiller was one of these.\n\nHiller's hymns and those of the other Wuerttemberg hymnists never indulge\nin the weak emotional effusions of which the later Halle hymn-writers\nwere often guilty.\n\nHiller was a man sorely tried in the school of adversity. Shortly after\nhe began his pastorate at Steinheim, in 1748, he lost his voice and was\nunable to continue his pulpit duties. However, he believed implicitly in\nthe Pauline teaching that \"to them that love God all things work together\nfor good,\" and, when his voice became silent, his spirit began to sing\nhymns richer and sweeter than ever. Witness, for example, the note of\ntenderness in the last stanza of his baptismal hymn, \"God, in human flesh\nappearing\":\n\n Feeble is the love of mother,\n Father's blessings are as naught,\n When compared, my King and Brother,\n With the wonders Thou hast wrought;\n Thus it pleased Thy heavenly meekness;\n Pleasing also be my praise,\n Till my songs of earthly weakness\n Burst into celestial lays.\n\nHiller was a prolific writer, his hymns numbering no less than 1,075 in\nall. Most of these were written for his devotional book, \"Geistliches\nLiederkaestlein,\" a work that holds an honored place beside the Bible in\nmany pious homes in southern Germany. Indeed, it has been carried by\nGerman emigrants to all parts of the world. It is related that when a\nGermany colony in the Caucasus was attacked by a fierce Circassian tribe\nabout a hundred years ago, the parents cut up their copies of the\n\"Liederkaestlein\" and distributed its leaves among their children who were\nbeing carried off into slavery. Hiller's hymns, though simple in form and\nartless in expression, have retained a strong hold on the people of\nWuerttemberg and are extensively used to this day. Among the more popular\nare \"O boundless joy, there is salvation,\" \"Jesus Christ as King is\nreigning,\" and \"O Son of God, we wait for Thee.\"\n\nHiller's rule for hymn-writing, as set forth in one of his prefaces,\ncould be followed with profit by many modern writers of sentimental\ntendencies. He says: \"I have always striven for simplicity. Bombastic\nexpressions of a soaring imagination, a commonplace and too familiar\nmanner of speaking of Christ as a brother, of kisses and embraces, of\nindividual souls as the particular Bride of Christ, of naive and pet\nimages for the Christ-child,--all these I have scrupulously avoided, and\nserious-minded men will not blame me if, in this respect, I have revered\nthe majesty of our Lord.\"\n\nAnother representative of the Wuerttemberg school was Baron Christoph Carl\nLudwig von Pfeil, a diplomat of high attainments and noble, Christian\ncharacter. In September, 1763, he was appointed by Frederick the Great as\nPrussian ambassador to the Diets of Swabia and Franconia. He was created\na baron by Emperor Joseph II shortly afterwards.\n\nPfeil began writing hymns at the age of eighteen years and continued it\nas his chief diversion throughout life. He was a prolific writer, his\npublished hymns numbering about 850. He was a warm friend of Bengel, who\nwrote the introduction to one of Pfeil's hymn collections. Pfeil wrote\nhymns on various phases of civil life. His hymn on the Christian home is\ntypical:\n\n O blest the house, whate'er befall,\n Where Jesus Christ is All in all;\n Yea, if He were not dwelling there,\n How poor and dark and void it were!\n\nThe Silesian pastors, Johann Andreas Rothe and Johann Mentzer, also may\nbe regarded as belonging to the more conservative Pietistic hymn-writers.\nRothe was pastor at Berthelsdorf, having been brought there through the\ninfluence of Count von Zinzendorf, who had heard him preach in Silesia.\nThe Moravian community of Herrnhut formed a part of Rothe's parish, and\nhe took a keen interest in the activities of Zinzendorf and his\nfollowers. However, when Rothe, in 1737, found it necessary to report to\nthe ecclesiastical authorities that the Moravians were deviating from\nsound Lutheran doctrine, the friendship between him and Zinzendorf\nceased, and Rothe found it advisable to remove to Thommendorf, where he\ndied in 1758.\n\nRothe wrote approximately forty hymns, the most famous of which is \"Now I\nhave found the ground wherein.\" This hymn was greatly admired by John\nWesley and was translated by him in 1740. Because it first appeared in\nthe Moravian hymn-book, the Lutherans suspected that Zinzendorf was the\nauthor. Upon discovering that it was by Rothe, they quickly adopted it.\nThe first stanza reads:\n\n Now I have found the ground wherein\n My soul's sure anchor may remain:\n The wounds of Jesus, for my sin\n Before the world's foundation slain;\n Whose mercy shall unshaken stay\n When heaven and earth are fled away.\n\nMentzer, who has given us the beautiful hymn, \"O would, my God, that I\ncould praise Thee,\" was born at Jahmen, Silesia, in 1658. For\nthirty-eight years he was pastor at Kemnitz, Saxony, at which place he\nwrote his hymns, about thirty in number. There is an exalted strain in\nhis hymns of praise:\n\n O all ye powers that He implanted,\n Arise, keep silence thus no more,\n Put forth the strength that He hath granted,\n Your noblest work is to adore;\n O soul and body, be ye meet\n With heartfelt praise your Lord to greet.\n\nThis hymn sometimes begins with the line, \"O that I had a thousand\nvoices.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Noble Hymn of Worship\n\n\n Light of light, enlighten me,\n Now anew the day is dawning;\n Sun of grace, the shadows flee,\n Brighten Thou my Sabbath morning.\n With Thy joyous sunshine blest,\n Happy is my day of rest!\n\n Fount of all our joy and peace,\n To Thy living waters lead me;\n Thou from earth my soul release,\n And with grace and mercy feed me.\n Bless Thy Word, that it may prove\n Rich in fruits that Thou dost love.\n\n Kindle Thou the sacrifice\n That upon my lips is lying;\n Clear the shadows from mine eyes,\n That, from every error flying,\n No strange fire may in me glow\n That Thine altar doth not know.\n\n Let me with my heart today,\n Holy, holy, holy, singing,\n Rapt awhile from earth away,\n All my soul to Thee upspringing,\n Have a foretaste inly given,\n How they worship Thee in heaven.\n\n Benjamin Schmolck, 1715.\n\n\n\n\n HOW A GREAT ORGANIST INSPIRED TWO HYMNISTS\n\n\nWhile all the hymn-writers of Germany in the early part of the eighteenth\ncentury were more or less influenced by the Pietistic movement, there\nwere some who nevertheless refused to be carried away by the emotional\nextravagances of which some of the Halle song-writers were often guilty.\nIn the hymns of these more conservative psalmists we find a happy\nblending of objective teaching and a warm, personal faith that reminds us\nof the earlier hymns of Gerhardt.\n\nThe chief representatives of this more typical Lutheran school were\nBenjamin Schmolck, a beloved pastor and a poet of rare ability, and\nErdmann Neumeister, creator of the Church Cantata. It was the age in\nwhich John Sebastian Bach lived and wrought, and this prince of Lutheran\norganists, whose title of \"high priest of church music\" has never been\ndisputed, gave of his musical genius to help make the hymns of Schmolck\nand Neumeister immortal.\n\nNext to Gerhardt, there is no German hymnist whose name is so frequently\nfound in hymn-books today as that of Schmolck. Born at Brauchitzdorf,\nSilesia, where his father was pastor, he was sent to school at Lauban at\nthe age of sixteen. After an absence of five years the young man returned\nhome and was invited to fill his father's pulpit. The sermon he preached\nso pleased the father that he determined to send him to the University of\nLeipzig to study for the ministry. In 1697 he returned to Brauchitzdorf\nto be ordained as his father's assistant.\n\nIn 1702 Schmolck became pastor of Friedenskirche at Schweidnitz, in\nSilesia. According to the terms of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, all\nof the churches in this district had been turned over to the Catholics,\nand only a \"meeting-house,\" built of timber and clay and without tower or\nbells, was allowed to the Lutherans. Here Schmolck labored patiently for\nthirty-five years under the most trying circumstances, not even being\npermitted to administer communion to the dying except by consent of the\nCatholic authorities.\n\nSchmolck's hymns and spiritual songs, numbering 1,183 in all, brought him\nfame all over Germany. Many have been translated into English. His\nfervent love for the Saviour is beautifully reflected in the hymn:\n\n My Jesus, as Thou wilt!\n O may Thy will be mine!\n Into Thy hand of love\n I would my all resign;\n Through sorrow or through joy,\n Conduct me as Thine own,\n And help me still to say,\n \"My Lord, Thy will be done!\"\n\n\"Light of light, enlighten me,\" a noble hymn of praise and adoration, has\nbeen happily wedded to a glorious chorale by Bach. Other hymns that have\nwon renown throughout the Christian world include \"Open now thy gates of\nbeauty,\" \"Welcome, Thou Victor in the strife,\" \"Blessed Jesus, here we\nstand,\" \"What our Father does is well,\" \"My God, I know that I must die,\"\n\"Hallelujah, Lo, He wakes,\" \"My truest Friend abides in heaven,\" and\n\"Precious Word from God in heaven.\" The joyous spirit in many of\nSchmolck's hymns may be seen reflected in the beautiful temple hymn:\n\n Open now thy gates of beauty,\n Zion, let me enter there.\n Where my soul in joyful duty\n Waits for Him who answers prayer;\n O how blessed is this place,\n Filled with solace, light, and grace!\n\nNeumeister followed the example of Schmolck in becoming an ardent\nchampion of the older, conservative Lutheranism. Although he was greatly\ninfluenced as a youth by the writings of Francke, he later became\nconvinced that there were dangerous tendencies in the Halle and Herrnhut\nmovements, and he did not hesitate to issue violent polemics against\nthem.\n\nHis hymns, on the other hand, offer a curious contrast to his other\nwritings. Often they reveal a warmth and tenderness of feeling that would\nhave merited a place for them in any Pietistic hymn-book. This may be\nseen in the hymn, \"Jesus sinners doth receive,\" which has also been\ntranslated \"Sinners may to Christ draw near:\"\n\n \"Jesus sinners doth receive!\"\n Word of surest consolation;\n Word all sorrow to relieve,\n Word of pardon, peace, salvation!\n Naught like this can comfort give:\n \"Jesus sinners doth receive!\"\n\nNeumeister became pastor of St. James church in Hamburg in 1715, where he\nremained for forty-one years until his death in 1756. His fame does not\nrest merely upon his hymns, although he wrote 650 in all, but Neumeister\nwill also be remembered as the originator of the Church Cantata. In this\nnew field of musical art he was fortunate in having the cooperation of\nsuch a genius as Bach.\n\nBach belonged to the fifth generation of a remarkable family of\nmusicians. As many as thirty-seven of the family are known to have held\nimportant musical positions. John Sebastian, who is by far the greatest\nmusician the Protestant Church has produced, was born in Eisenach, on\nMarch 21, 1685. The greater part of his life was spent in Leipzig, where\nhe labored from 1723 until his death in 1750 as cantor of the Thomas\nschool and director of music at the Thomas and Nicolai churches.\n\nBach's devotion to the Lutheran Church has been likened to that of\nPalestrina to the Catholic Church. There is no loftier example of musical\ngenius dedicated to the service of the Christian religion than we find in\nthe life of Bach. He felt that his life was consecrated to God, to the\nhonor of his Church, and to the blessing of mankind. Although it was the\nage when the opera was flourishing in Europe, Bach gave no attention to\nit, but devoted all his remarkable talent to church music.\n\nAs master of the organ, Bach has never been equaled. His chorales and\npassion music also belong in a class by themselves. A famous critic has\nwritten: \"Mozart and Beethoven failed in oratorio, Schubert in opera; the\nItalian operas of Gluck and Handel have perished. Even in the successful\nwork of these men there is a strange inequality. But upon all that Bach\nattempted--and the amount of his work is no less a marvel than its\nquality--he affixed the stamp of final and inimitable perfection.\"\n\nWith the passing of years, Bach's genius is being recognized more and\nmore throughout the Christian Church. The performance of his cantatas by\nthe Catholic Schola Cantorum of Paris \"is one of the many testimonies to\nthe universality of the art of this son of Lutheranism.\" There is\nsomething in his mighty productions that touches the deepest chords of\nreligious emotion, regardless of creed or communion.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn on the Mystical Union\n\n\n Thou hidden love of God, whose height,\n Whose depth unfathomed no man knows,\n I see from far Thy beauteous light,\n Inly I sigh for Thy repose:\n My heart is pained, nor can it be\n At rest; till it find rest in Thee.\n\n Is there a thing beneath the sun\n That strives with Thee my heart to share?\n Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone,\n The Lord of every motion there.\n Then shall my heart from earth be free,\n When it hath found repose in Thee.\n\n O hide this self from me, that I\n No more, but Christ in me, may live!\n My base affections crucify,\n Nor let one favorite sin survive;\n In all things nothing may I see,\n Nothing desire, or seek, but Thee.\n\n Each moment draw from earth away\n My heart that lowly waits Thy call!\n Speak to my inmost soul, and say:\n \"I am thy Love, thy God, thy All!\"\n To feel Thy power, to hear Thy voice,\n To taste Thy love, be all my choice!\n\n Gerhard Tersteegen, 1729.\n\n\n\n\n GERHARD TERSTEEGEN, HYMN-WRITER AND MYSTIC\n\n\nWhile Benjamin Schmolck must be regarded as the greatest of Lutheran\nhymn-writers in Germany during the eighteenth century, Gerhard Tersteegen\nholds the same distinction among German Reformed hymnists. Except for the\nWesleys in England, no man during his age exerted so great a spiritual\ninfluence in evangelical circles of all lands as did Tersteegen. In some\nrespects his religious views bordered on fanaticism, but no one could\nquestion his deep sincerity and his earnest desire to live the life\nhidden with Christ in God.\n\nBorn at Moers, Rhenish Prussia, November 25, 1697, Tersteegen was only six\nyears old when his father died. It had been the plan of his parents that\nhe should become a Reformed minister, but the death of the father made it\nimpossible for the mother to carry out this purpose. At the age of\nsixteen he was apprenticed to a merchant, and four years later entered\nbusiness on his own account.\n\nAlthough he was only twenty years old at this time, he began to\nexperience seasons of deep spiritual despondency. This lasted for nearly\nfive years, during which time he changed his occupation to that of silk\nweaving, since he desired more time for prayer and meditation. It was not\nuntil the year 1724, while on a journey to a neighboring town, that light\nseemed to dawn on his troubled soul, and he was filled with the assurance\nthat God's grace in Christ Jesus was sufficient to atone for all sin. In\nthe joy and peace which he had found, he immediately wrote the beautiful\nhymn, \"How gracious, kind and good, my great High Priest, art Thou.\"\n\nFrom this time until the close of his life, Tersteegen began to devote\nhis energies more and more to religious work and literary activities. An\nindependent religious movement known as \"Stillen im Lande\" had begun\nabout this time, and he soon became known as a leader among these people.\n\nTersteegen had already ceased to associate with his friends in the\nReformed Church, and had gone over to religious mysticism. In one of his\nstrange spiritual moods he wrote what he called \"a covenant between\nhimself and God\" and signed it with his own blood.\n\nFinally he gave up business pursuits entirely, and his home became the\nrefuge of multitudes of sick and spiritually troubled people. It came to\nbe known as the \"Pilgrim's Hut,\" from the fact that many found a\ntemporary retreat there, as well as spiritual help and guidance.\nTersteegen also traveled extensively in his own district, and made\nfrequent visits to Holland to hold meetings there.\n\nTersteegen never married, and for this reason he was accused of teaching\ncelibacy. Several sects, including the Moravians, sought to induce him to\nbecome one of their number, but he steadfastly refused to identify\nhimself with any organized church body. He died at Muelheim, April 30,\n1769.\n\nTersteegen's hymns, as well as his other writings, reflect his spirit of\nmysticism. His soul was imbued with the sense of the nearness of God,\nand, through a life of spiritual communion and a renunciation of the\nworld, he developed a simplicity of faith and a child-like trust that\nfound beautiful expression in his hymns.\n\nTwo of these, \"Thou hidden love of God whose height\" and \"Lo, God is\nhere, let us adore,\" made a deep impression on John Wesley, who\ntranslated the former during his visit to Georgia in 1736. Wesley became\nfamiliar with Tersteegen's hymns through contact with Moravian pilgrims\nwho were crossing the Atlantic on the same ship on which he sailed. \"Lo,\nGod is here, let us adore\" has several English versions, including \"God\nis in His temple\" and \"God Himself is present.\"\n\nAnother of Tersteegen's hymns, \"God calling yet! shall I not hear?\" is\none of the most stirring calls to repentance in all the realm of\nChristian hymnody. It was rendered into English by Mrs. Sarah Borthwick\nFindlater in the series of translations known as \"Hymns from the Land of\nLuther.\"\n\nOther noted hymns by Tersteegen include \"Jesus, whom Thy Church doth\nown,\" \"O Love divine, all else transcending,\" and \"Triumph, ye heavens,\"\nthe latter a Christmas lyric of exultant strain.\n\nTersteegen's conception of the high place which hymnody should occupy in\nChristian worship is revealed in his writings. He says: \"The pious,\nreverential singing of hymns has something angelic about it and is\naccompanied by divine blessing. It quiets and subdues the troubled\nemotions; it drives away cares and anxieties; it strengthens, refreshes\nand encourages the soul; it draws the mind unconsciously from external\nthings, lifts up the soul to joyful adoration, and thus prepares us to\nworship in spirit and in truth. We should sing with the spirit of\nreverence, with sincerity, simplicity and hearty desire.... When you\nsing, O soul, remember that you are as truly communing with the holy and\nomnipresent God as when you are praying. Consider that you are standing\nin spirit before the throne of God with countless thousands of angels and\nspirits of the just and that you are blending your weak praises with the\nmusic of heaven. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.\"\n\n\n\n\n Following a Heavenly Leader\n\n\n Jesus, still lead on,\n Till our rest be won,\n And although the way be cheerless,\n We will follow, calm and fearless.\n Guide us by Thy hand\n To our Fatherland!\n\n If the way be drear,\n If the foe be near,\n Let not faithless fear o'ertake us,\n Let not faith and hope forsake us;\n For through many a foe\n To our home we go!\n\n When we seek relief\n From a long-felt grief,\n When temptations come alluring,\n Make us patient and enduring,\n Show us that bright shore\n Where we weep no more!\n\n Jesus, still lead on,\n Till our rest be won;\n Heavenly Leader, still direct us,\n Still support, console, protect us,\n Till we safely stand\n In our Fatherland!\n\n Nicolaus Ludwig, Count Zinzendorf, 1721\n\n\n\n\n ZINZENDORF AND MORAVIAN HYMNODY\n\n\nThe church of the Moravian Brethren is famous for two things: its\nmissionary zeal and its love for church music. It owes both of these\ndistinguishing characteristics to its great founder and patron leader,\nNicolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf. Not only was this very unusual man\na gifted writer of hymns, but he was also an ardent exponent of foreign\nmissions.\n\nZinzendorf was only ten years old when his soul was fired with a\npassionate desire to do something to help win the world for Christ. He\nwas a pupil at the famous Pietist school of Francke at Halle, Germany, at\nthe time, and through his endeavors a mission society known as \"The Order\nof the Grain of Mustard Seed,\" was organized among the lads of his own\nage.\n\nA few years later he chanced to see a copy of Sternberg's masterpiece,\n\"Ecce Homo,\" depicting Christ wearing His crown of thorns before Pilate\nand the Jewish mob. Beneath the famous picture were inscribed the words:\n\n This have I done for thee;\n What hast thou done for Me?\n\nFrom that moment Zinzendorf took as his life motto: \"I have but one\npassion, and that is He and only He.\" On his wedding day, in 1722, he and\nhis young bride decided to renounce their rank and to dedicate their\nlives to the task of winning souls for Christ.\n\nThe Lord took them at their word. In that same year a number of\nProtestant refugees from Moravia, who had been compelled to leave their\nhomes because of Roman Catholic persecution, arrived in Saxony and found\nrefuge on Zinzendorf's large estate. They were a remnant of the Bohemian\nBrethren, a heroic religious communion which dated back to the days of\nthe noble martyr, John Huss. Though relentlessly hunted and persecuted\nfor more than three centuries, this early evangelical body had continued\nto maintain its existence in the form of secret religious circles known\nas \"the hidden seed.\"\n\nUnder the protection of Count Zinzendorf, the little band of Moravian\nrefugees established a religious center which they called \"Herrnhut.\"\nZinzendorf, who was a Lutheran, induced them to adopt the Augsburg\nConfession as a statement of their doctrine, but they continued to exist\nas an independent church body. People from all over Europe, hearing that\nreligious freedom was enjoyed on the Zinzendorf estates, flocked to\nHerrnhut in large numbers to escape persecution, and it soon became a\nflourishing colony.\n\nIn 1737 Zinzendorf accepted ordination as a bishop of the Brethren, and\nthus became the real leader of the organization. He immediately began to\nimpart his own missionary zeal to the Moravian movement. Two of the\nearliest missionaries, David Nitschmann and Leonard Dober, were sent to\nthe island of St. Thomas, in the West Indies, to preach the gospel to the\nnegro slaves. The blacks were so embittered because of the cruel\ntreatment received at the hands of their taskmasters that they refused to\nlisten to the missionaries, and very little progress could be made. At\nlast, in order to gain their confidence, Dober sold himself as a slave\nand shared their hardships with them. He soon died, however, as a result\nof this deed. The story of his heroic sacrifice so moved the heart of\nPrime Minister Wilberforce of England that he forthwith determined to\nbegin the movement which eventually led to the emancipation of all slaves\nin the British empire.\n\nMissionary zeal continued to flourish among the Moravians, and the little\ncolony of Herrnhut became known as one of the most famous missionary\ncenters of Christendom. Every one of its members felt that he possessed\nno permanent habitation in this world, and was prepared every day to be\nsent to any part of the globe.\n\nThough still a small organization today, the Moravian Church has never\nlost its missionary spirit. It is claimed that for every fifty-eight\nmembers of the Church at home, there is one missionary in foreign lands.\nWhen Carey went to India, the Moravians already had 165 missionaries in\nthe pagan world.\n\nZinzendorf was a great lover of music. Even as a boy, he wrote hymns. The\nfirst was written at the age of twelve, and he was still producing hymns\nin 1760, the year of his death. Altogether, he is credited with the\nauthorship of more than 2,000 lyrics. His most famous is \"Jesus, still\nlead on,\" which is also known as \"Jesus, lead the way.\" John Wesley was a\ngreat admirer of Zinzendorf's hymns and has given us the beautiful\nEnglish translation of \"Jesus, thy blood and righteousness.\" James\nMontgomery, the noted English hymnist, was a member of the Moravian\ncommunion.\n\n\n\n\n A Glorious Hymn of Adoration\n\n\n Beautiful Saviour!\n King of Creation!\n Son of God and Son of Man!\n Truly I'd love Thee,\n Truly I'd serve Thee,\n Light of my soul, my Joy, my Crown.\n\n Fair are the meadows,\n Fair are the woodlands,\n Robed in flowers of blooming spring;\n Jesus is fairer,\n Jesus is purer;\n He makes our sorrowing spirit sing.\n\n Fair is the sunshine,\n Fair is the moonlight,\n Bright the sparkling stars on high;\n Jesus shines brighter,\n Jesus shines purer\n Than all the angels in the sky.\n\n Beautiful Saviour!\n Lord of the nations!\n Son of God and Son of Man!\n Glory and honor,\n Praise, adoration,\n Now and for evermore be Thine!\n\n Muenster Gesangbuch, 1677.\n\n\n\n\n TWO FAMOUS HYMNS AND SOME LEGENDS\n\n\nEvery hymn has a story. Ofttimes, however, the origin is obscure, and it\nis difficult to trace its birth out of the misty past. Again there are so\nmany legends that have gathered around the great lyrics of the ages, many\nof them generally accepted, that it becomes a painful process to get rid\nof these excrescences. Two beautiful German hymns, \"Schoenster Herr Jesu\"\nand \"Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!\" may serve to illustrate these\ndifficulties.\n\nIn innumerable hymn-books the former hymn, sometimes translated\n\"Beautiful Saviour\" and sometimes \"Fairest Lord Jesus,\" is designated as\n\"The Crusaders' Hymn.\" The hymn was first introduced to American\nworshipers by Richard Storrs Willis, who included it in his \"Church\nChorals and Choir Studies,\" published in 1850. It was accompanied with\nthis explanation: \"This hymn, to which the harmony has been added, was\nlately (1850) discovered in Westphalia. According to the traditionary\ntext by which it is accompanied, it was wont to be sung by the German\nknights on their way to Jerusalem. The only hymn of the same century\nwhich in point of style resembles this is one quoted by Burney from the\nChatelaine de Coucy, set about the year 1190, very far inferior, however,\nto this.\"\n\nIn a London hymn-book, \"Heart Melodies\" by Morgan and Chase, the same\nerror is repeated. There it is referred to as \"Crusader's Hymn of the\nTwelfth Century. This air and hymn used to be sung by the German pilgrims\non their way to Jerusalem.\"\n\n\"For these statements,\" writes James Mearns, \"there does not seem to be\nthe shadow of foundation, for the air referred to has not been traced\nearlier than 1842, nor the words than 1677.\"\n\nThe hymn appeared anonymously in the \"Muenster Gesangbuch\" of 1677, where\nit was published as the first of \"Three beautiful selected new hymns.\" In\na book of Silesian folk songs, published in Leipzig in 1842, the text is\nfound in altered form and the beautiful melody to which it is now sung is\ngiven for the first time. Both text and melody, it is explained in this\nbook, were taken down from oral recitation in the district of Glaz, in\nlower Silesia. From these facts we are compelled to draw the conclusion\nthat this glorious hymn of adoration to the Saviour probably dates back\nto the seventeenth century, while the melody is undoubtedly a Silesian\nfolk song of much later origin.\n\nThe English translation, \"Beautiful Saviour,\" has come to us from the pen\nof Joseph A. Seiss, the noted Lutheran preacher of Philadelphia.\n\n\"Silent night, holy night\" also is a hymn around which numerous legends\nhave clustered. The most unfortunate of these deals with its origin.\nAccording to this story, the hymn was written on a Christmas Eve by a\n\"Mr. Mohr,\" whose wife that very day had gone to celebrate Christmas in\nheaven. In an adjoining room the grief-stricken husband and father could\nsee his little motherless children sleeping. Outside the house of\nmourning the stillness of the night was broken suddenly by the singing of\nChristmas carolers. They were singing the very songs his wife and\nchildren used to sing. Now, he thought, she is blending her voice with\nthe angels. Then came the inspiration for the hymn, and in a few moments\nhe had penned the now famous \"Stille Nacht.\"\n\nThis is a very touching story, but its fatal defect lies in the fact that\n\"Mr. Mohr\" was a Roman Catholic priest.\n\nThe true story of the origin of the hymn has much less of the emotional\nappeal. The author, Joseph Mohr, was born at Salzburg, Austria, December\n11, 1792. He was ordained as a priest at the age of twenty-three,\nbecoming assistant at Laufen, near his native city. It was here, three\nyears later, that the beautiful Christmas carol was written.\n\nIt seems that a shipowner at Oberndorf named Maier and his wife had\ninvited the young priest to be their guest at a pre-Christmas party. As a\nspecial surprise for the priest, Maier had invited some wandering\nminstrels to stage a crude representation of the Christmas story as\nrecounted in the Bible. The thoughtful hospitality of the Maier couple\nand the touching simplicity of the festival play so stirred the heart of\nMohr that, instead of going straightway home, he climbed the so-called\n\"Totenberg,\" (mountain of the dead) overlooking Oberndorf, and stood in\nsilent meditation.\n\nThe silence of the night, the starry splendor of the winter sky, the\nmurmur of the Salzach river thrilled his soul. Quickly he descended to\nhis parish house, and late that night wrote the words of \"Stille Nacht.\"\nThe next day he hurried to his friend and co-worker, Franz Gruber,\norganist and school teacher, and asked him to write music for his lines.\nThe latter eagerly embraced the opportunity, and thus was given to the\nworld one of the most exquisite of Christmas carols.\n\n\n\n\n A Classical Harvest Hymn\n\n\n We plow the fields and scatter\n The good seed on the land,\n But it is fed and watered\n By God's almighty hand;\n He sends the snow in winter,\n The warmth to swell the grain,\n The breezes and the sunshine,\n And soft, refreshing rain.\n\n He only is the Maker\n Of all things near and far;\n He paints the wayside flower,\n He lights the evening star;\n The winds and waves obey Him,\n By Him the birds are fed;\n Much more to us, His children,\n He gives our daily bread.\n\n We thank Thee, then, O Father,\n For all things bright and good,\n The seedtime and the harvest,\n Our life, our health, our food;\n No gifts have we to offer\n For all Thy love imparts,\n But that which Thou desirest,\n Our humble, thankful hearts.\n\n Matthias Claudius, 1782.\n\n\n\n\n HYMNODY IN THE AGE OF RATIONALISM\n\n\nIn religion, as in other things, the pendulum often swings from one\nextreme to the other. Scarcely had the Pietistic movement run its course\nbefore the rationalistic tendencies which had thrown religious thought\ninto confusion in France and England began to make their appearance in\nGermany. Rationalism was an attempt to subject all revealed religion to\nthe test and judgment of the human reason. That which seemed to\ncontradict reason was rejected as superstitious and untrue.\n\nStrangely enough, the University of Halle, which had been the citadel of\nPietism, became the stronghold of Rationalism in Germany. Christian Wolff\nand Johann Semler, noted philosophers of Halle, were leaders in the\nmovement. It was not their purpose to establish a new religion of reason,\nbut to \"purge\" Christianity of the things that seemed unreasonable. But\nthe results of the movement were devastating. The miracles of the Bible\nthat could not be explained by natural causes were rejected as \"fables.\"\nChrist was robbed of His glory as a divine Saviour and was regarded only\nas a teacher of morals. Religion became merely the knowledge of God and\nthe pursuit of virtue. What remained of Christianity was a mere shadow: a\nhypothesis concerning God and immortality, and a teaching of external\nmorality, the attainment of which was largely a matter of man's own\nefforts.\n\nRationalism cast its blight over the hymnody of all Europe, but\nparticularly in Germany. It was the golden age of German literature, but\nsuch geniuses as Goethe, Schiller, Lessing and Wieland were not filled\nwith the Christian zeal of earlier poets, and they wrote no hymns. Most\nof the hymns that were produced were so tinged with the spirit of the\n\"new theology\" that they contained no elements of vitality to give them\npermanent value.\n\nThe Rationalists were not satisfied with criticizing the Bible; they also\nsought to \"purge\" the hymn-books. The old hymns of Luther, Heermann,\nSelnecker, and Gerhardt were so completely altered that a noted German\nhymnologist, Albert Knapp, was moved to observe ironically: \"The old\nhymns were subjected to a kind of transmigration of soul by which their\nspirits, after having lost their own personality, entered into other\nbodies.\"\n\nOnly a few writers, such as Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Balthasar\nMuenter, Christian Gellert and Matthias Claudius, wrote hymns of any\nabiding worth.\n\nKlopstock, the German Milton, whose epic, \"Messiah,\" thrilled Germany as\nhad no other poetic work in centuries, essayed to write a few hymns, but\nhe soared too high. His hymns lacked simplicity of style and were too\nemotional and subjective to be used for public worship. Only two English\ntranslations are familiar--\"Blessed are the heirs of heaven,\" a funeral\nhymn, and \"Grant us, Lord, due preparation,\" a communion hymn.\n\nKlopstock spent nearly twenty years of his life at the Danish court,\nhaving been invited there by King Fredrik V through the influence of\nCount von Bernstorff, who had become greatly interested in the epic,\n\"Messiah.\" The Danish monarch gave the poet an annual pension in order to\nassist him in completing his famous poem without being oppressed by\nfinancial worries. In 1770 Klopstock returned to Hamburg, where he died\nin 1803.\n\nGellert, who was born in Hainichen, Saxony, July 4, 1715, intended to\nbecome a Lutheran pastor. After completing his theological course at the\nUniversity of Leipzig, however, he found it difficult to deliver sermons\nwithout the use of a manuscript, and therefore decided to take up\nteaching. In 1745 he became a member of the faculty of the University of\nLeipzig, where he remained until his death in 1769. Among his pupils were\nmany famous men of Germany, including Goethe and Lessing.\n\nGellert's hymns, although influenced by the age in which he lived, are\nsingular for their genuine, evangelical utterance. It is said that he\nnever attempted to write a hymn except when he was in the proper frame of\nmind, and only after a season of prayer. His Easter hymn, \"Jesus lives!\nthy terrors now,\" has gained great popularity, both in England and in\nAmerica. In the former country it has been sung at the funerals of some\nof England's greatest churchmen. His communion hymn also breathes a\nspirit of true faith in Christ:\n\n Crushed by my sin, O Lord, to Thee\n I come in my affliction:\n O full of pity, look on me,\n Impart Thy benediction.\n My sins are great, where shall I flee?\n The blood of Jesus speaks for me;\n For all my sins He carried.\n\nMatthias Claudius, the author of the splendid hymn, \"We plow the fields\nand scatter,\" like Gellert, had intended to prepare himself for the\nLutheran ministry. While attending the University of Jena, however, the\nRationalistic teachings with which he came in contact caused him to lose\ninterest in religion, and he decided to take up journalism instead. In\n1777 he became editor of a newspaper at Darmstadt, at which place he\nbecame acquainted with Goethe and a group of freethinking philosophers.\n\nStricken by a serious illness, Claudius began to realize something of the\nspiritual emptiness of the life he had been living, and in his hour of\nneed he turned again to his childhood faith. When he had recovered, he\ngave up his position and removed to Wandsbeck, where he edited the\n\"Wandsbecker Bote\" in a true Christian spirit.\n\nIn the life-story of Claudius we may discern something of the reaction\nthat was already taking place in many quarters against the deadening\ninfluence of Rationalism. Men were hungering for the old evangel of\nsalvation, and there were evidences everywhere of the dawn of a happier\nday. Although Claudius' poems were not essentially Church hymns, they\nwere lyrics that seemed to strike anew some of the strings of Gerhardt's\nharp. This is seen especially in his surpassingly beautiful ode to\nevening, \"The silent moon is risen,\" written in the same spirit and meter\nas Gerhardt's famous evening hymn. The first stanza has been translated:\n\n The silent moon is risen,\n The golden star-fires glisten\n In heaven serene and bright;\n The forest sleeps in shadow,\n And slowly off the meadow\n A mist is curling, silver-white.\n\nAnother stanza, reflecting something of Claudius' own spiritual groping\nand, at the same time, confessing the futility of all human efforts to\nattain moral perfection, reads:\n\n We, poor, frail mortals, groping,\n Half fearing and half hoping,\n In darkness seek our way;\n Our airy cobwebs spinning\n With erring and with sinning,\n Far from the mark we sadly stray.\n\nIn the lyrics of Claudius we may observe a transition from the\nspiritually impoverished hymn production of the rationalistic period to a\nnew type of hymnody, giving expression to the old rugged faith in a more\nelegant form. Men's souls could no longer be satisfied with the dry husks\nof philosophical speculation and were turning again to the Bread of God\nwhich cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world.\n\nBalthasar Muenter was another faithful witness to the truth in this\nunhappy age of widespread skepticism and unbelief. Born at Luebeck in\n1735, he became Lutheran court pastor at Gotha and afterwards of the\nGerman Church of St. Peter in Copenhagen. He was the writer of about 100\nhymns, many of which were set to tunes composed for them by the greatest\nmusicians of the day. Among the best known hymns of Muenter are \"Lord,\nThou Source of all perfection,\" \"Full of reverence, at Thy Word,\" \"Behold\nthe man! how heavy lay,\" and \"Woe unto him who says, There is no God.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Picture of a Christian Home\n\n\n O happy home, where Thou art loved the dearest,\n Thou loving Friend and Saviour of our race,\n And where among the guests there never cometh\n One who can hold such high and honored place!\n\n O happy home, where two, in heart united,\n In holy faith and blessed hope are one,\n Whom death a little while alone divideth,\n And cannot end the union here begun!\n\n O happy home, whose little ones are given\n Early to Thee in humble faith and prayer,\n To Thee, their Friend, who from the heights of heaven\n Guides them, and guards with more than mother's care.\n\n O happy home, where each one serves Thee lowly,\n Whatever his appointed work may be,\n Till every common task seems great and holy,\n When it is done, O Lord, as unto Thee!\n\n O happy home, where Thou art not forgotten\n When joy is overflowing, full and free,\n O happy home, where every wounded spirit\n Is brought, Physician, Comforter, to Thee.\n\n And when at last all earthly toil is ended,\n All meet Thee in the blessed home above,\n From whence Thou camest, where Thou hast ascended--\n Thine everlasting home of peace and love.\n\n Carl Johann Philipp Spitta, 1833.\n\n\n\n\n HYMNS OF THE SPIRITUAL RENAISSANCE\n\n\nIn the early part of the nineteenth century a great spiritual revival\nswept over Germany and other parts of evangelical Europe. In some\nrespects it resembled the earlier Pietistic movement in Germany and the\nWesleyan revival in England, except that it was more conservative than\neither. In Germany the old orthodox conservatives and the more radical\nPietists joined forces to fight Rationalism, and the union was of benefit\nto both groups.\n\nThere were many influences that contributed to the overthrow of\nRationalism. Chief among these was the widespread suffering and distress\nin Germany, both physical and spiritual, following the Napoleonic wars.\nJacobs has well said: \"When earthly props fall and temporal foundations\ncrumble, men turn, almost perforce, to God.\" The downfall of Napoleon and\nthe great empire he had founded was an object lesson to the world of the\ntransitory character of all things material.\n\nThe great thinker, Immanuel Kant, also helped to undermine the walls of\nRationalism by pointing out the limitatations of the human reason. He was\nfollowed by the famous theologian, Friedrich Schleiermacher, who taught\nthat the seat of religion is not to be found in either the reason or\nwill, but in feeling--\"the feeling of absolute dependence upon God.\" The\nway was thus paved for the zealous efforts of Claus Harms, who in 1817,\nthe 300th anniversary of the Reformation, published a new set of\nninety-five theses and called upon his countrymen to return again to the\npure evangelical teachings of Luther.\n\nSpring-time always brings song-birds and flowers. It was spring-time in\nthe religious life of Germany, and the sweet notes of evangelical hymnody\nagain were heard throughout the land.\n\nCarl Johann Philipp Spitta was the greatest German hymn-writer of the\nnineteenth century. He was born August 1, 1801, in Hannover. His father,\nwho was a descendant of a Huguenot family that fled from France during\nthe Catholic persecutions, died when Carl was only four years old. His\nmother was a Christian Jewess, and it is a beautiful tribute to her\nfostering care that the finest hymn ever written on the Christian home\ncame from the pen of her son. No doubt it was the memory of his childhood\nhome that led Spitta to write:\n\n O happy home, whose little ones are given\n Early to Thee in humble faith and prayer,\n To Thee, their Friend, who from the heights of heaven\n Guides them, and guards with more than mother's care.\n\nSpitta began to write verse at the age of eight. It was his mother's\nambition that he should study for the ministry, but, because of his frail\nhealth, it was decided that he should become a watchmaker, and a younger\nbrother was sent to school instead. The latter died, however, and now\nCarl was given his opportunity. He completed his theological studies in\n1824, taught school for four years in Luene, and in 1828 he was ordained\nto the Lutheran ministry.\n\nDuring his university days, Spitta had become a bosom friend of Heinrich\nHeine, the famous poet and prose writer. When the latter visited Spitta\nat Luene, however, and scoffed at holy things in the presence of Spitta's\npupils, the friendship came to an abrupt end. It was about this time that\nSpitta passed through a deep spiritual experience, the result of which\nwas the composition of some of his finest hymns. Writing to a friend in\n1826, he says, \"In the manner in which I formerly sang, I sing no more.\nTo the Lord I dedicate my life, my love, and likewise my song. He gave to\nme song and melody. I give it back to Him.\"\n\nSpitta's hymns aroused unparalleled enthusiasm. His \"Psalter und Harfe,\"\nfirst published in 1833, appeared in a second and larger edition the\nfollowing year. Thereafter a new edition appeared every year, and by 1889\nno less than fifty-five editions had been published. A second collection\nof hymns was printed in 1843, and by 1887 it had passed through forty-two\neditions. The popularity of Spitta's hymns also spread to other lands,\nand a large number are found in English and American hymn-books.\n\nSpitta's child-like faith and his fervent love to the Saviour may be seen\nreflected in such a hymn as:\n\n I know no life divided,\n O Lord of life, from Thee:\n In Thee is life provided\n For all mankind and me;\n I know no death, O Jesus,\n Because I live in Thee;\n Thy death it is that frees us\n From death eternally.\n\nOther well-known hymns from this consecrated writer are \"O come, Eternal\nSpirit,\" \"By the holy hills surrounded,\" \"I place myself in Jesus'\nhands,\" \"Thou, whose coming seers and sages,\" \"We are the Lord's: His\nall-sufficient merit,\" \"How blessed from the bonds of sin,\" \"We praise\nand bless Thee, gracious Lord,\" \"Brethren, called by one vocation,\"\n\"Withhold not, Lord, the help I crave,\" \"O blessed Sun, whose splendor,\"\nand \"Say, my soul, what preparation.\" The beloved German psalmist passed\naway suddenly while seated at his desk, September 28, 1859.\n\nMost noted among the contemporaries of Spitta was Albert Knapp, who,\nalthough his hymns never met with the popular favor that attended\nSpitta's efforts, nevertheless excelled the latter as a poet. Knapp was\nborn at Tuebingen, July 25, 1798, and was educated for the Lutheran\nministry in the University at that place. His most important post after\nordination was at St. Leonard's church in Stuttgart, where he served from\n1845 until his death in 1864.\n\nKnapp was not only a hymnist but also a hymnologist. Perhaps the greatest\nservice he rendered his Church was the editing of a collection of more\nthan 3,000 of the great hymns of Germany. This monumental work, known as\n\"Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz,\" is the most comprehensive hymn collection\never published in German, and is a veritable gold-mine of the classics of\nProtestant hymnody. Knapp has been severely criticized, however, for the\nliberties he took in revising the hymns of some of the older writers. The\nbest known of his own works is a baptismal hymn, \"Father, who hast\ncreated all.\" A hymn for church dedication begins with the line, \"O God,\nwhom we as Father know.\"\n\nCarl Bernhard Garve, a Moravian pastor, also contributed a number of\ncompositions to the hymns of this period, the best known of which is the\nbeautiful tribute to the Holy Scripture:\n\n Thy Word, O Lord, like gentle dews,\n Falls soft on hearts that pine;\n Lord, to Thy garden ne'er refuse\n This heavenly balm of Thine.\n Watered by Thee, let every tree\n Forth-blossom to Thy praise,\n By grace of Thine bear fruit divine\n Through all the coming days.\n\nGarve served congregations in Amsterdam, Ebersdorf, Berlin, and Neusalz.\nHe spent the last years of his life in Herrnhut, where he died in 1841.\nGarve was the most important among the later Moravian hymn-writers. Many\nof his hymns have been adopted by other communions, particularly the\nLutheran Church.\n\nTo Friedrich Adolf Krummacher, a Reformed pastor, we owe the highly\nprized hymn:\n\n Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life from heaven,\n This blest assurance Thou to us hast given;\n O wilt Thou teach us, Lord, to win Thy pleasure\n In fullest measure?\n\nKrummacher was a teacher of theology in the Reformed University of\nDuisburg. After the battle of Jena in 1806 Duisburg was taken from\nPrussia by Napoleon and the salaries of the professors were cut off.\nKrummacher continued to lecture, however, until his class consisted of\none student! He afterwards served as pastor in a number of cities,\nfinally accepting appointment to St. Ansgarius church in Bremen. He died\nin Bremen in 1845.\n\nOf the more modern hymn-writers of Germany the best known is Karl von\nGerok, chief court preacher at Stuttgart, where he died as recently as\n1890. An eloquent preacher and able writer, he attained fame principally\nthrough the publication in 1857 of a collection of poems known as\n\"Palmblaetter.\" This work received a marvelous circulation in Germany, and\nby 1916 no less than 130 editions had been printed. Although most of\nGerok's compositions are poems rather than hymns, a few have found their\nway into hymn-books. A devotional hymn by von Gerok reads:\n\n Holy, holy, holy, blessed Lord,\n All the choirs of heaven now adore Thee;\n O that I might join that great white host,\n Casting down their golden crowns before Thee.\n\n Look on me, a creature of the dust,\n Pity me, though I have naught of merit;\n Let me bring to Thee for Jesus' sake\n Humble praises of a contrite spirit.\n\n Bend Thine ear, dear Lord, and hear my prayer;\n Cleanse me in Thy blood for sinners given;\n Deck me in the robe of spotless white\n Thou hast promised to Thy bride in heaven.\n\n\n\n\nPART III\nScandinavian Hymnody\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn in Luther's Style\n\n\n Our Father, merciful and good,\n Who dost to Thee invite us,\n O cleanse us in our Saviour's blood,\n And to Thyself unite us!\n Send unto us Thy Holy Word,\n And let it guide us ever;\n Then in this world of darkness, Lord,\n Shall naught from Thee us sever:\n Grant us, O Lord, this favor!\n\n O God and man, Christ Jesus blest!\n Our sorrows Thou didst carry.\n Our wants and cares Thou knowest best,\n For Thou with us didst tarry.\n O Jesus Christ, our Brother dear,\n To us and every nation\n Thy Spirit send, let Him draw near\n With truth and consolation,\n That we may see salvation.\n\n Come, Holy Ghost, Thy grace impart,\n Tear Satan's snares asunder.\n The Word of God keep in our heart,\n That we its truth may ponder.\n Then, sanctified, for evermore,\n In Christ alone confiding,\n We'll sing His praise and Him adore,\n His precious Word us guiding\n To heavenly joys abiding.\n\n Olavus Petri, 1530.\n\n\n\n\n THE SWEDISH REFORMERS AND THEIR HYMNS\n\n\nThe Reformation fires kindled by Luther and his contemporaries in\nWittenberg spread with amazing rapidity to all parts of Europe. In the\nyear that Luther nailed his famous theses on the chapel door at\nWittenberg, two brothers--Olavus and Laurentius Petri--arrived from\nSweden to study at the university made famous by Luther and Melanchthon.\nThey were sons of a village blacksmith at Orebro, Sweden.\n\nIn 1519 they returned to their native land, full of reforming zeal.\nOlavus was the more fiery of the two brothers, and he lost no time\nentering into the political and spiritual storm that was threatening to\nbreak over their country. In the Stockholm massacre the following year\nOlavus almost lost his life when he cried out in protest at the cruel\nbeheading of his friend, the bishop of Strengnas. Only the intervention\nof a Wittenberg acquaintance, who asserted that Olavus was a German\ncitizen, saved the young man from a similar fate. The massacre had been\ninstigated by Roman intrigue.\n\nOlavus preached boldly against the sale of indulgences and other abuses\nof the papal church, and, when the Swedish revolution placed Gustavus\nVasa on the throne in 1523, the young reformer found a powerful ally in\nthe new monarch. Despite protests of the ecclesiastical authorities, the\nking ordered a pulpit placed in the cathedral church of Stockholm and\ngave Olavus permission to preach to the populace in the native tongue.\n\nThe following year the two brothers were summoned to appear before the\npapal authorities at Upsala, but, when neither threats nor bribes could\ninduce them to desist from their high-minded purpose, they were placed\nunder the ban. This, however, made them only the more determined to carry\nout their Reformation plans.\n\nLaurentius Andreae, archdeacon of Strengnas, also had been converted to\nthe principles of the Reformation and powerfully espoused the cause\nchampioned by the Petri brothers. In 1523 he was appointed by Gustavus\nVasa as chancellor to the king, and it was largely through his influence\nthat the Lutheran teachings were approved by the Diet af Vesteras in\n1527. The younger of the Petri brothers, Laurentius, was named Archbishop\nof Upsala, Primate of Sweden, in 1531.\n\nThe Swedish reformers were apt pupils of Luther and quickly made use of\nthe same spiritual weapons in their own country that he had found so\neffective in Germany. It is significant that the Word of God and a\nhymn-book in the vernacular were given to the Swedish people in the same\nyear. It was in 1526 that Laurentius Andreae published his translation of\nthe New Testament in Swedish, and simultaneously Olavus Petri issued a\nlittle hymn-book entitled, \"Swedish Hymns or Songs.\"\n\nThis marked the beginning of evangelical hymnody in Sweden. The little\nbook contained only ten hymns, five of which are believed to have been\noriginal productions of Olavus Petri himself, and the other five\ntranslations from Luther's first hymn-book of 1524. Although no copy of\nthe first Swedish hymn-book is now known to exist, it is believed that\nPetri's beautiful hymn, \"Our Father, merciful and good,\" appeared in this\nhistoric collection. It occurs in a second edition, called \"A Few Godly\nSongs Derived from Holy Writ,\" published by the Swedish reformer in 1530.\nA few fragmentary pages of this hymn-book were discovered in 1871.\n\nHow far Olavus Petri had imbibed the spirit of Luther is reflected not\nonly by the fiery zeal with which he proclaimed the doctrines of the\nReformation in Sweden, but also in the character of his hymns. \"Our\nFather, merciful and good\" is so strongly suggestive of Luther's style\nthat it was regarded for a long time as a translation of one of Luther's\nhymns. It is now known that there is no such hymn of German origin.\n\nMost of Petri's hymns, however, are translations of German or Latin\noriginals. One of these is the beautiful Advent hymn:\n\n Now hail we our Redeemer,\n Eternal Son of God,\n Born in the flesh to save us,\n And cleanse us in His blood.\n The Morning Star ascendeth,\n Light to the world He lendeth,\n Our Guide in grief and gloom.\n\nAlthough this hymn was translated by Petri from the German, it is\nbelieved that it dates back to a Latin hymn by Ambrose in the fourth\ncentury. Another of Latin origin is the glad Easter hymn:\n\n Blest Easter day, what joy is thine!\n We praise, dear Lord, Thy Name divine,\n For Thou hast triumphed o'er the tomb;\n No more we need to dread its gloom.\n\nPetri, like Luther, never ceased praising God for restoring His Word to\nthe Church through the Reformation. This may be seen in one of his more\npolemic hymns, which is regarded as original. A translation by Ernst W.\nOlson reads:\n\n Thy sacred Word, O Lord, of old\n Was veiled about and darkened,\n And in its stead were legends told,\n To which the people harkened;\n Thy Word, for which the people yearned,\n The worldlings kept in hiding,\n And into human fables turned\n Thy truth, the all-abiding.\n\n Now thanks and praise be to our Lord,\n Who boundless grace bestoweth,\n And daily through the sacred Word\n His precious gifts forthshoweth.\n His Word is come to light again,\n A trusty lamp to guide us;\n No strange and divers teachings then\n Bewilder and divide us.\n\nThe last hymn-book published by Olavus Petri appeared in 1536. It\ncontained some thirty new hymns, most of them translations from German\nsources. In addition to his labors in the realm of hymnody, Petri must\nalso be credited with the authorship of the Swedish Church-Book, which\nappeared in 1529. He was the creator of the liturgy of the Church of\nSweden.\n\nHis hymnological endeavors were continued by his brother Laurentius, who,\nas archbishop, brought out in 1567, and later in 1572, the most important\nof all the earlier hymn-books of the Swedish Church. Laurentius is\nsometimes given the title, \"Father of Swedish hymnody,\" but the honor\nmore rightly belongs to his older brother, Olavus.\n\nThe latter years of Olavus were darkened through an unfortunate\nmisunderstanding with the Swedish king. As a consequence of the\nreformer's sturdy opposition to Gustavus Vasa's plan to make himself the\nhead of the Church, he fell into royal disfavor. When a plot against the\nking's life was discovered in 1540, Olavus was convicted of having guilty\nknowledge of it, and was condemned to die. Through the intervention of\nthe populace of Stockholm, he was pardoned, but the king never forgave\nhim. He was permitted to resume his work in 1543, and continued to preach\nthe gospel with great zeal until his death in 1552.\n\n\n\n\n A Model Hymn of Invocation\n\n\n O Lord, give heed unto our plea,\n O Spirit, grant Thy graces,\n That we who put our trust in Thee\n May rightly sing Thy praises.\n Thy Word, O Christ, unto us give,\n That grace and power we may receive\n To follow Thee, our Master.\n\n Touch Thou the shepherd's lips, O Lord,\n That in this blessed hour\n He may proclaim Thy sacred Word\n With unction and with power;\n What Thou wouldst have Thy servant say,\n Put Thou into His heart, we pray,\n With grace and strength to say it.\n\n Let heart and ear be opened wide\n Unto Thy Word and pleading;\n Our minds, O Holy Spirit, guide\n By Thine own light and leading.\n The law of Christ we would fulfil,\n And walk according to His will,\n His Word our rule of living.\n\n Jesper Swedberg (1653-1735).\n\n\n\n\n A HYMN-BOOK THAT FAILED\n\n\nWhen the Swedish colonists along the Delaware gathered in their temples\nto worship God in the latter part of the 17th century, they sang songs\nfrom a hymn-book the use of which had been prohibited in Sweden. It was\nthe much-mooted hymn-book of Jesper Swedberg. Originally published by the\nauthor in 1694 and intended for the Church of Sweden, it immediately came\nunder suspicion on the ground that it contained unorthodox teachings and\nwas promptly confiscated. This, however, did not hinder the authorities\nfrom sending the book in large quantities to America, and it was used on\nthis side of the Atlantic for many years.\n\nSwedberg, who was born near Falun, Sweden, in the year 1653, was the\nfirst important hymnist of his native land. From the days of the\nReformation no noteworthy advance had been made in Swedish hymnody until\nSwedberg began to tune his lyre. The official \"Psalm-book\" had been\nrevised on several occasions, but the Upsala edition of 1645 contained\nonly 182 hymns, far too few to meet the needs of church worship and\nprivate devotion.\n\nIt was in 1691 that Swedberg received the royal commission to prepare a\nnew hymn-book. He was fortunate in having the aid of such gifted poets as\nHaqvin Spegel, Petrus Lagerlof, Israel Kolmodin and Jacob Boethius in the\nexecution of his task.\n\nThe new book, containing 482 Swedish hymns and a few in Latin, made its\nappearance in 1694. A large edition was printed, the financial cost of\nwhich was borne largely by Swedberg himself. It met with immediate\nopposition, particularly from Bishop Carl Carlsson, who charged that the\nhymn-book contained \"innumerable heresies of a theological,\nanthropological, Christological, soteriological and eschatological\nnature.\"\n\nIt was enough. King Karl XI immediately appointed a new commission to\nrevise Swedberg's work, with the result that 75 hymns were omitted and\nsix new hymns added. It was printed in 1696 and remained in use as the\n\"Psalm-book\" of the Church of Sweden for more than a century, until it\nwas succeeded in 1819 by Wallin's masterpiece.\n\nThe unsold copies of the first edition, about 20,000 in number, were\nconfiscated and stored away. From time to time quantities of these books\nwere sent to the Swedish colonists in America, for whose \"preservation in\nthe true faith,\" as the hymnologist Soderberg ironically remarks, \"the\nSwedish authorities seemed less concerned.\"\n\nSwedberg felt the slight keenly and often made significant references in\nhis diary regarding those who had been instrumental in rejecting his\nwork. One of these notations tells how the Cathedral of Upsala was\ndestroyed by fire in 1702, and how the body of Archbishop O. Svebilius,\nalthough encased in a copper and stone sarcophagus, was reduced to ashes.\n\"But my hymn-books,\" he adds, \"which were only of paper, unbound and\nunprotected, were not even scorched by the flames.\"\n\nThe final form in which his hymn-book was published nevertheless still\nretained so many of his own hymns, and the entire book was so impregnated\nwith his own spirit, that it has always been known as \"Swedberg's\nPsalm-book.\" A noted critic has called it \"the most precious heritage he\nleft to his native land.\" It was Swedberg who wrote the sublime stanza\nthat has become the doxology of the Church of Sweden:\n\n Bless us, Father, and protect us,\n Be our souls' sure hiding-place;\n Let Thy wisdom still direct us,\n Light our darkness with Thy grace!\n Let Thy countenance on us shine,\n Fill us all with peace divine.\n Praise the Father, Son, and Spirit,\n Praise Him all that life inherit!\n\nSwedberg was elevated to the bishopric of Skara in 1702. He died in 1735,\nuniversally mourned by the Swedish people.\n\nHaqvin Spegel, who collaborated with Swedberg in the preparation of his\nhymn-book, was the more gifted poet of the two. It was he who, by his\nhymns, fixed the language forms that subsequently became the model for\nSwedish hymnody. Although Spegel never stooped to sickly sentimentality,\nhis hymns are so filled with the spirit of personal faith and fervent\ndevotion that they rise to unusual lyric heights. A sweet pastoral\nfragrance breathes through the hymn, \"We Christians should ever\nconsider,\" as the following stanza testifies:\n\n The lilies, nor toiling nor spinning,\n Their clothing how gorgeous and fair!\n What tints in their tiny orbs woven,\n What wondrous devices are there!\n All Solomon's stores could not render\n One festival robe of such splendor\n As modest field lilies do wear.\n\nHis communion hymn, \"The death of Jesus Christ, our Lord,\" is a classic\nexample of how Spegel could set forth in song the objective truths of the\nChristian faith.\n\n The death of Jesus Christ, our Lord,\n We celebrate with one accord;\n It is our comfort in distress,\n Our heart's sweet joy and happiness.\n\n He blotted out with His own blood\n The judgment that against us stood;\n He full atonement for us made,\n And all our debt He fully paid.\n\n That this is so and ever true\n He gives an earnest ever new,\n In this His Holy Supper, here\n We taste His love, so sweet, so near.\n\n For His true body, as He said,\n And His own blood, for sinners shed,\n In this communion we receive:\n His sacred Word we do believe.\n\n O sinner, come with true intent\n To turn to God and to repent,\n To live for Christ, to die to sin,\n And thus a holy life begin.\n\nSpegel was given the highest ecclesiastical honor bestowed by his country\nwhen he was created archbishop in 1711. He died three years later.\n\nAmong the other hymn-writers who contributed hymns to Swedberg's noted\nbook was Jacob Arrhenius, professor of history in the University of\nUpsala. This man, who devoted a great deal of his time to the financial\naffairs of the University, was also a richly-endowed spiritual poet. The\nintimate tenderness with which he sang the Saviour's praise had never\nbefore been attained in Swedish hymnody. It was he who wrote:\n\n Jesus is my Friend most precious,\n Never friend did love as He;\n Can I leave this Friend so gracious,\n Spurn His wondrous love for me?\n No! nor friend nor foe shall sever\n Me from Him who loves me so;\n His shall be my will forever,\n There above, and here below.\n\n\n\n\n Wallin's Sublime Morning Hymn\n\n\n Again Thy glorious sun doth rise,\n I praise Thee, O my Lord;\n With courage, strength, and hope renewed,\n I touch the joyful chord.\n\n On good and evil, Lord, Thy sun\n Is rising as on me;\n Let me in patience and in love\n Seek thus to be like Thee.\n\n May I in virtue and in faith,\n And with Thy gifts content,\n Rejoice beneath Thy covering wings,\n Each day in mercy sent.\n\n Safe with Thy counsel in my work,\n Thee, Lord, I'll keep in view,\n And feel that still Thy bounteous grace\n Is every morning new.\n\n Johan Olof Wallin, 1816.\n\n\n\n\n DAVID'S HARP IN THE NORTHLAND\n\n\nWhen Longfellow translated Tegner's Swedish poem, \"Children of the Lord's\nSupper,\" he introduced Johan Olof Wallin to the English-speaking world in\nthe following lines:\n\n And with one voice\n Chimed in the congregation, and sang an anthem immortal\n Of the sublime Wallin, of David's harp in the Northland.\n\nWallin is Scandinavia's greatest hymnist and perhaps the foremost in the\nentire Christian Church during the Nineteenth century. The Swedish\n\"Psalm-book\" of 1819, which for more than a century has been the\nhymn-book of the Swedish people in the homeland and in other parts of the\nworld, is in large measure the work of this one man. Of the 500 hymns in\nthis volume, 128 are original hymns from his pen, 178 are revisions by\nWallin, twenty-three are his translations, and thirteen are\nsemi-originals based on the hymns of other authors. In brief, no less\nthan 342 of the hymns of the \"Psalm-book\" reflect the genius of this\nremarkable writer.\n\nEarly in life Wallin began to reveal poetic talent. Born at Stora Tuna,\nDalarne province, in 1779, he overcame the handicaps of poverty and poor\nhealth and at the age of twenty-four he had gained the degree of Doctor\nof Philosophy at the University of Upsala. In 1805, and again in 1809, he\nwon the chief prize for poetry at the University.\n\nIn 1806 he was ordained to the Lutheran ministry. Very soon he began to\nattract attention by his able preaching. In 1812 he was transferred to\nStockholm, and in 1816 he became dean of Vesteras. In 1824 he was\nelevated to the bishopric, and thirteen years later became Primate of the\nChurch of Sweden when he was made Archbishop of Upsala. He died in 1839.\n\nAs early as 1807 Wallin had begun to publish collections of old and new\nhymns. He possessed the rare ability of translating sacred poetry of\nother lands in such a way that often the translation excelled the\noriginal in virility and beauty.\n\nIn 1811 a commission was appointed by the Swedish parliament to prepare a\nnew hymn-book to succeed that of Jesper Swedberg, which had been in use\nfor more than a century. Wallin was made a member of this body. Within\nthree years the commission presented its labors in the form of a first\ndraft. However, it did not meet with universal favor, nor was Wallin\nhimself satisfied with the result. By this time Wallin's genius had been\nrevealed so clearly that the commission was moved to charge him with the\nentire task of completing the \"Psalm-book.\" He gladly undertook the work\nand on November 28, 1816, he was able to report that he had finished his\nlabors. A few minor changes were subsequently made, but on January 29,\n1819, the new hymn-book was officially authorized by King Karl XIV. It\nhas remained in use until the present day.\n\nUnfortunately, Wallin's hymns have not become generally known outside of\nhis own native land. It is only in recent years that a number have been\ntranslated into English. One of these is his famous Christmas hymn, which\nfor more than a century has been sung in every sanctuary in Sweden as a\ngreeting to the dawn of Christmas day. The first stanza reflects\nsomething of the glory of the Christmas evangel itself:\n\n All hail to thee, O blessed morn!\n To tidings long by prophets borne\n Hast thou fulfilment given.\n O sacred and immortal day,\n When unto earth, in glorious ray,\n Descends the grace of heaven!\n Singing,\n Ringing\n Sounds are blending,\n Praises sending\n Unto heaven\n For the Saviour to us given.\n\nAlthough Wallin reverenced the old traditional hymns of the Church in\nspite of their many defects in form and language, he was unrelenting in\nhis demand that every new hymn adopted by the Church should be tested by\nthe severest classical standards. \"A new hymn,\" he declared, \"aside from\nthe spiritual considerations which should never be compromised in any\nway, should be so correct, simple and lyrical in form, and so free from\ninversions and other imperfections in style, that after the lapse of a\nhundred years a father may be able to say to his son, 'Read the\nPsalm-book, my boy, and you will learn your mother tongue!'\"\n\nThe profound influence which Wallin's hymns have exerted over the Swedish\nlanguage and literature for more than a century is an eloquent testimony,\nnot only to his poetic genius, but also to the faithfulness with which he\nadhered to the high standards he cherished.\n\nThe charge has sometimes been made that a number of Wallin's hymns are\ntinged by the spirit of rationalism. It is true that in his earlier years\nthe great Swedish hymnist was strongly influenced by the so-called \"New\nTheology,\" which had swept over all Europe at that time. His poems and\nhymns from this period bear unmistakable marks of these rationalizing\ntendencies. Even some of the hymns in the first part of the \"Psalm-book,\"\ndealing with the person and attributes of God, are not entirely free from\nsuspicion.\n\nHowever, as Wallin became more and more absorbed in his great task, his\nown spiritual life seems to have been deepened and a new and richer note\nbegan to ring forth from his hymns. In 1816 this change was made manifest\nin an address Wallin delivered before the Swedish Bible Society, in which\nhe declared war on rationalism and the \"New Theology,\" and took his stand\nsquarely upon the faith and confessions of the Lutheran Church. He said:\n\n\"So far had we traveled in what our age termed 'enlightenment' and\nanother age shall call 'darkness,' that the very Word of God ... was\nregarded as a sort of contribution to the ancient history which had\nalready served its purpose and was needed no more.\"\n\nThe atonement of Christ now became the central theme in his hymn-book,\nthe pure evangelical tone of which may be heard in one of his own hymns:\n\n There is a truth so dear to me,\n I'll hold it fast eternally,\n It is my soul's chief treasure:\n That Jesus for the world hath died,\n He for my sins was crucified--\n O love beyond all measure!\n O blessed tidings of God's grace,\n That He who gave the thief a place\n To paradise will take me\n And God's own child will make me!\n\n Kind Shepherd, Son of God, to Thee\n Mine eyes, my heart, so yearningly,\n And helpless hands are lifted.\n From Thee I strayed; ah, leave me not,\n But cleanse my soul from each dark blot,\n For I am sore afflicted.\n A wandering sheep, but now restored,\n Ah, bear me to Thy fold, dear Lord,\n And let me leave Thee never,\n O Thou who lovest ever!\n\nAgain we find him giving expression to faith's certainty in a stanza that\nhas become very dear to the Swedish people:\n\n Blessed, blessed he who knoweth\n That his faith on Thee is founded,\n Whom the Father's love bestoweth\n Of eternal grace unbounded,\n Jesus Christ, to every nation\n A Redeemer freely given,\n In whose Name is our salvation,\n And none else in earth or heaven.\n\nThe poetic utterance and exalted language of Wallin's hymns made him the\nhymnist _par excellence_ for festival days, as witness the quotation\nabove from his Christmas hymn and the following stanza from his Ascension\nhymn:\n\n To realms of glory I behold\n My risen Lord returning;\n While I, a stranger on the earth,\n For heaven am ever yearning.\n Far from my heavenly Father's home,\n 'Mid toil and sorrow here I roam.\n\nHis metrical version of the _Te Deum Laudamus_ is also an impressive\nexample of the poetic genius of this master psalmist:\n\n Jehovah, Thee we glorify,\n Ruler upon Thy throne on high!\n O let Thy Word\n Through all the earth be heard.\n Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Lord!\n\n Thou carest gently for Thy flock;\n Thy Church, firm-founded on the Rock,\n No powers dismay\n Until Thy dreadful day.\n Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Lord!\n\n All nations, in her fold comprised,\n Shall bow their knees unto the Christ,\n All tongues shall raise\n Their orisons and praise:\n Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Lord!\n\n Around Thy throne the countless throng\n At last in triumph swell the song,\n When Cherubim\n Shall answer Seraphim:\n Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Lord!\n\nAlthough a hymn usually loses much of its original expression in\ntranslation, something of the rare beauty in Wallin's poetry is still\napparent in the following:\n\n Where is the Friend for whom I'm ever yearning?\n My longing grows when day to night is turning;\n And though I find Him not as day recedeth,\n My heart still pleadeth.\n\n His hand I see in every force and power,\n Where waves the harvest and where blooms the flower;\n In every breath I draw, my spirit burneth:\n His love discerneth.\n\n When summer winds blow gently, then I hear Him;\n Where sing the birds, where rush the streams, I'm near Him;\n But nearer still when in my heart He blesses\n Me with caresses.\n\n O where such beauty is itself revealing\n In all that lives, through all creation stealing,\n What must the Source be whence it comes, the Giver?\n Beauty forever!\n\nOther noble hymns by the Swedish archbishop recently translated into\nEnglish include \"Behold, the joyful day is nigh,\" \"Guardian of pure\nhearts,\" \"I know in Whom I trust,\" \"Great joy and consolation,\" \"He\nlives! O fainting heart, anew,\" \"Mute are the pleading lips of Him,\"\n\"Thine agony, O Lord, is o'er,\" \"A voice, a heavenly voice I hear,\"\n\"Heavenly Light, benignly beaming,\" \"Father of lights, eternal Lord,\" \"In\nmy quiet contemplation,\" \"Jerusalem, lift up thy voice,\" \"Jesus, Lord and\nprecious Saviour,\" \"O blessed is the man who stays,\" \"O let the children\ncome to Me,\" \"Strike up, O harp and psaltery,\" \"Watch, my soul and pray,\"\nand \"Again Thy glorious sun doth rise.\"\n\nWallin's \"Psalm-book\" has aroused the greatest admiration wherever it has\nbecome known. The hymnologists of Germany, including Mohnike, Knapp,\nWeiss and Wackernagel, have given it undivided praise. Mohnike declared,\n\"This is undoubtedly the most excellent hymn-book in the entire\nEvangelical Church, and, if translated, it would become the hymn-book for\nall Christian people.\" Knapp concurs by saying, \"The Scriptural content\nof this book is clothed in the most beautiful classical language; there\nis nothing in Evangelical Germany to equal it.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Vision of Christ's Triumph\n\n\n Thy scepter, Jesus, shall extend\n As far as day prevaileth.\n Thy glorious kingdom, without end,\n Shall stand when all else faileth,\n Thy blessed Name shall be confessed,\n And round Thy cross, forever blest,\n Shall kings and people gather.\n\n The child when born to Thee we take,\n To Thee in death we hasten;\n In joy we often Thee forsake,\n But not when sorrows chasten.\n Where truth and virtue are oppressed,\n Where sorrow dwells, pain and unrest,\n Thy help alone availeth.\n\n Come, Jesus, then, in weal and woe,\n In life and death be near us;\n Thy grace upon our hearts bestow,\n And let Thy Spirit cheer us,\n For every conflict strength afford,\n And gather us in peace, O Lord,\n When all the world Thou judgest.\n\n Frans Michael Franzen, 1816\n\n\n\n\n THE GOLDEN AGE OF SWEDISH HYMNODY\n\n\nArchbishop Wallin was not alone in the preparation of that masterpiece of\nNorthern hymnody known as the \"Swedish Psalm-book of 1819.\" Although the\nlion's share of the task fell to the lot of the gifted psalmist, he was\naided by a number of the greatest spiritual poets in Scandinavian\nhistory. It was the golden age in Swedish hymnody, when such men as\nFranzen, Hedborn, Geijer, Astrom, Afzelius and Nystrom were singing \"the\nglories of the Lamb.\"\n\nForemost in this unusual group was the beloved Frans Michael Franzen, a\nlyric poet of singular talent. Born at Uleaborg, Finland, in 1772, he\nheld a number of positions at the University of Abo, and later removed to\nSweden, where he became pastor of St. Clara church, in Stockholm, and\neventually Bishop of Hernosand. He died in 1847.\n\nFranzen early became associated with Wallin and exerted a strong\ninfluence over the latter. Though not as prolific a writer as Wallin, the\nhymns of Franzen are rich in content and finished in form. Because of\ntheir artless simplicity it has been said that \"the cultured man will\nappreciate them and the unlettered man can understand them.\" Among the\nmost popular are two evening hymns--\"The day departs, yet Thou art near\"\nand \"When vesper bells are calling.\" The latter is a hymn of solemn\nbeauty:\n\n When vesper bells are calling\n The hour of rest and prayer,\n When evening shades are falling,\n And I must hence repair,\n I seek my chamber narrow,\n Nor my brief day deplore,\n For I shall see the morrow,\n When night shall be no more.\n\n O take me in Thy keeping,\n Dear Father, good and just,\n Let not my soul be sleeping\n In sin, and pride, and lust.\n If in my life Thou guide me\n According to Thy will,\n I may in death confide me\n Into Thy keeping still.\n\nThe voice of gracious invitation heard in Franzen's communion hymn,\n\"Thine own, O loving Saviour,\" has called millions of hungering souls to\nthe Lord's Supper. His hymn for the first communion of catechumens,\n\"Come, O Jesus, and prepare me,\" is also regarded as the most appealing\nof its kind in Swedish hymnody. The stirring note in his hymn of\nrepentance, \"Awake, the watchman crieth,\" reveals Franzen as a poet of\npower and virility as well as a writer of the more meditative kind. The\nsame solemn appeal, although expressed in less severe language, is also\nheard in his other call to repentance:\n\n Ajar the temple gates are swinging,\n Lo! still the grace of God is free.\n Perhaps when next the bells are ringing\n The grave shall open unto thee,\n And thou art laid beneath the sod,\n No more to see this house of God.\n\nFranzen was recently accorded a unique honor in America when his\nsoul-gripping Advent hymn, \"Prepare the way, O Zion,\" was made the\nopening hymn in the Hymnal of the Augustana Synod. This hymn-book\ncontains more translations of Swedish hymns than any other volume\npublished in America.\n\nWhen we add to the hymns already mentioned such beautiful compositions as\n\"Thy scepter, Jesus, shall extend,\" \"Look to Jesus Christ thy Saviour,\"\nand \"The little while I linger here,\" it will readily be understood why\nFranzen ranks so high among the foremost hymnists of the North.\n\nTo Samuel Johan Hedborn, another of Wallin's contemporaries, posterity\nwill ever be grateful for \"Holy Majesty, before Thee,\" a magnificent hymn\nof praise that for loftiness of poetic sentiment and pure spiritual\nexaltation has probably never been excelled. The first stanza suggests\nsomething of the heavenly beauty of this noble hymn:\n\n Holy Majesty, before Thee\n We bow to worship and adore Thee;\n With grateful hearts to Thee we sing.\n Earth and heaven tell the story\n Of Thine eternal might and glory,\n And all Thy works their incense bring.\n Lo, hosts of Cherubim\n And countless Seraphim\n Sing, Hosanna,\n Holy is God, almighty God,\n All-merciful and all-wise God!\n\nHedborn, who was the son of a poverty-stricken Swedish soldier, was born\nin Heda, Sweden, in the year 1783. He began his career as a school\nteacher, served for a while as court preacher, and finally became pastor\nat Askeryd, where he died in 1849. He was a gifted writer, and his lyric\npoetry and folk-songs struck a responsive chord in Swedish hearts. In\n1812 he published a collection of hymns, and in the following year a\nsecond volume appeared. It is claimed that the Christo-centric note in\nHedborn's hymns profoundly influenced Wallin and helped to establish the\nlatter in the orthodox Lutheran teaching.\n\nIn addition to the sublime _Te Deum_ mentioned above, two other hymns of\nHedborn have been given English dress. One of these is the beautiful\nEpiphany hymn, \"Now Israel's hope in triumph ends\"; the other is the\ncommunion hymn, \"With holy joy my heart doth beat.\"\n\nErik Gustav Geijer, professor of history in Upsala University, was\nanother of the poetic geniuses of this golden age in Swedish hymnody. He\nwas born at Ransater, Varmland, Sweden, in the same year that witnessed\nHedborn's birth--1783. Like Hedborn, he also published a little\ncollection of hymns in 1812 which immediately focused attention upon him\nas a poet of unusual ability. Although his hymns do not rise to the\nartistic heights attained by his other poems, it is believed that Geijer\npurposely avoided high-sounding phrases as unworthy of the dignity and\nspirit of hymnody.\n\nHis passion hymn, \"Thy Cross, O Jesus, Thou didst bear,\" is a gripping\nportrayal of the conquering power of the Saviour's sacrificial love.\nThere is likewise a glorious note of victory heard in his Easter hymn:\n\n In triumph our Redeemer\n Is now to life returned.\n All praise to Him who, dying,\n Hath our salvation earned!\n No more death's fetter galls us,\n The grave no more appalls us,\n For Jesus lives again.\n\n In glory Thou appearest,\n And earth is filled with light;\n With resurrection radiance\n The very tomb is bright;\n There's joy in heavenly places\n When o'er all earthly races\n The dawn of mercy breaks.\n\nIn the preparation of the \"Psalm-book,\" there was no one on whom\nArchbishop Wallin leaned so heavily for help and counsel as Johan Astrom,\nparish priest in Simtuna and Altuna. This man, who was born in 1767, was\na lyric poet of unusual ability, and Wallin valued his judgment very\nhighly, even to the extent of seeking his criticism of his own hymns.\nEighteen of the hymns in the \"Psalm-book\" are from Astrom's pen. Many of\nthem, however, are unfortunately tinged by the spirit of rationalism,\nfrom which influence Astrom had not quite been able to free himself.\nInstead of emphasizing trust in the Saviour's merits as the true way to\neternal life, there is a strong suggestion in Astrom's hymns that the\nheavenly goal is achieved by walking in the Saviour's footsteps. Witness,\nfor example:\n\n Lord, disperse the mists of error,\n In Thy light let me see light;\n Give Thou me that faith and visior\n Whereby I may walk aright,\n In my Saviour's path discerning,\n Through this vale of doubt and strife,\n Footsteps to eternal life.\n\nWe are immeasurably indebted to Astrom, however, for the present form of\nthe glorious All Saints' hymn, \"In heaven above, in heaven above.\" This\nhymn, in which we almost may discern something of the celestial radiance\nand beauty of the heavenly country, is ranked as one of the finest hymns\nin the Swedish \"Psalm-book.\" It is more than three centuries old, dating\nback in its original form to 1620. It was written by L. Laurentii\nLaurinus, parish pastor in Haradshammar, at the time of his wife's death,\nand was appended to the funeral sermon preached by a brother pastor.\nAstrom recognized the rare beauty of the hymn and through his poetic\ngenius it was clothed in immortal language. William Maccall, a Scotchman,\nhas in turn rendered it into English in such a faithful manner that much\nof its original beauty is preserved.\n\n In heaven above, in heaven above,\n Where God our Father dwells:\n How boundless there the blessedness!\n No tongue its greatness tells:\n There face to face, and full and free,\n Ever and evermore we see--\n We see the Lord of hosts!\n\n In heaven above, in heaven above,\n What glory deep and bright!\n The splendor of the noon-day sun\n Grows pale before its light:\n The mighty Sun that ne'er goes down,\n Around whose gleam clouds never frown,\n Is God the Lord of hosts.\n\n In heaven above, in heaven above,\n No tears of pain are shed:\n There nothing e'er shall fade or die;\n Life's fullness round is spread,\n And like an ocean, joy o'erflows,\n And with immortal mercy glows\n Our God the Lord of hosts.\n\n In heaven above, in heaven above,\n God hath a joy prepared\n Which mortal ear hath never heard,\n Nor mortal vision shared,\n Which never entered mortal breast,\n By mortal lips was ne'er expressed,\n O God the Lord of hosts!\n\nArvid Afzelius, court chaplain and pastor at Enkoping, was another member\nof this remarkable group of Swedish hymnists that contributed to the\n\"Psalm-book\" of Wallin. Afzelius, who was an authority on folk songs, has\ngiven us the inspiring hymn of praise beginning:\n\n Unto the Lord of all creation\n Thy voice, my soul, in anthems raise.\n Let every heart a fit oblation\n Bring unto Him with songs of praise.\n O contemplate in humbleness\n The power and riches of His grace.\n\nJohan Hjerten, an obscure country pastor at Hellstad, was the author of\nsix hymns in the \"Psalm-book,\" among them the devotional hymn, \"Jesus, in\nmy walk and living.\" It is said that the artless simplicity of his hymns\nprovided an excellent pattern for the other writers of his day, many of\nwhom were fond of the grandiloquent phrases so characteristic of the\nrationalist hymnody.\n\nThe last name of this group we would mention is that of a layman, Per\nOlof Nystrom. This man, who was a high naval officer, wrote many\nexcellent hymns, among them a devotional lyric that for more than a\nhundred years has been cherished almost as a national prayer by the pious\nfolk of Sweden. Its first stanza reads:\n\n O Fount of truth and mercy,\n Thy promise cannot fail;\n What Thou hast said must ever\n In heaven and earth prevail;\n \"Call upon Me in trouble,\n And I will help afford.\"\n Yea, to my latest moment,\n I'll call upon Thee, Lord.\n\n\n\n\n A Longing for Home\n\n\n Jerusalem, Jerusalem,\n Thou city ever blest,\n Within thy portals first I find\n My safety, peace, and rest.\n Here dangers always threaten me,\n My days in strife are spent,\n And labor, sorrow, worry, grief,\n I find at best their strength.\n\n No wonder, then, that I do long,\n O blessed home, for thee,\n Where I shall find a resting-place,\n From sin and sorrow free;\n Where tears and weeping are no more,\n Nor death, nor pain, nor night,\n For former things are passed away,\n And darkness turned to light.\n\n Now all for me has lost its charm\n Which by the world is praised,\n Since on the cross, through faith, I saw\n My Saviour Jesus raised;\n My goal is fixed, one thing I ask,\n Whate'er the cost may be,\n Jerusalem, Jerusalem,\n Soon to arrive in thee.\n\n Carolina Vilhelmina (Sandell) Berg (1832-1903).\n\n\n\n\n THE FANNY CROSBY OF SWEDEN AND THE PIETISTS\n\n\nAs will be noted in a subsequent chapter, the Nineteenth century\nwitnessed the phenomenon of gifted Christian women assuming a place of\nprimary importance among the foremost hymn-writers of the Church. Just as\nEngland had its Charlotte Elliott and Frances Havergal, and America had\nits Fanny Crosby, so Sweden had its Lina Sandell.\n\nThe rise of women hymn-writers came simultaneously with the great\nspiritual revival which swept over America and evangelical Europe in\nsuccessive tidal waves from 1800 to 1875. In Sweden the religious\nrenaissance received its first impulse, no doubt, from Lutheran Germany.\nHowever, the Wesleyan movement in England and America also began to make\nits influence felt in wider circles, and the coming to Stockholm of such\na man as George Scott, an English Methodist, gave added impetus to the\nevangelical movement which was already under way. Carl Olof Rosenius,\nSweden's greatest lay preacher and the most prominent leader in the\nPietistic movement in that country, was one of Scott's disciples,\nalthough he remained faithful to the Lutheran doctrine and a member of\nthe Established Church to the close of his life.\n\nIt was in the midst of the Rosenius movement that Lina Sandell became\nknown to her countrymen as a great song-writer. She was born October 3,\n1832, at Froderyd, her father being the parish pastor at that place. She\nwas a frail child who preferred to spend her hours in her father's study\nrather than join her comrades in play. When she was twenty-six years old,\nshe accompanied him on a journey to Gothenburg, but they never reached\ntheir destination. At Hastholmen the vessel on which they sailed gave a\nsudden lurch and the father fell overboard, drowning before the eyes of\nhis devoted daughter.\n\nThis tragedy proved a turning point in Lina Sandell's life. In the midst\nof her grief she sought comfort in writing hymns. Her songs seemed to\npour forth in a steady stream from the depths of a broken heart. Fourteen\nof her hymns were published anonymously the same year (1858) in a\nChristian periodical, _Budbararen_. Although she lived to write 650 hymns\nin all, these fourteen from the pen of the grief-stricken 26-year-old\ngirl have retained a stronger hold on the hearts of her countrymen than\nmost of her later productions. Among these \"first-fruits\" born in sorrow\nare such hymns as: \"Saviour, O hide not Thy loving face from me,\" \"Others\nHe hath succored,\" and\n\n Children of the heavenly Father\n Safely in His bosom gather;\n Nestling bird nor star in heaven\n Such a refuge e'er was given.\n\nThe remarkable popularity which Lina Sandell's hymns attained within a\ncomparatively short time was due to a large extent to the music written\nfor them by Oskar Ahnfelt, a \"spiritual troubadour\" of his day. Ahnfelt\nnot only possessed the gift of composing pleasing melodies that caught\nthe fancy of the Swedish people, but he traveled from place to place\nthroughout the Scandinavian countries and sang them to the accompaniment\nof a guitar. Miss Sandell once said: \"Ahnfelt has sung my songs into the\nhearts of the people.\"\n\nThe inspiration for her songs came to Miss Sandell at sundry times and\nplaces. Sometimes in the midst of the noise and confusion of the city's\nstreets, she would hear the words of a new song. Sometimes she would\nawake in the still hours of the night with the verses of a hymn ringing\nin her ears. By her bedside she always kept a slate on which she might\ninstantly record these heaven-born thoughts.\n\nIn 1867 Miss Sandell was married to a Stockholm merchant, C. O. Berg, but\nshe continued to sign her hymns with the initials, \"L. S.\" by which she\nwas familiarly known throughout Sweden. She died on July 27, 1903.\n\nNot only Ahnfelt, but also Jenny Lind helped to make Lina Sandell's hymns\nknown. The \"Swedish nightingale\" was herself a Pietist and found great\ndelight in listening to the preaching of Rosenius and the singing of\nAhnfelt. At these conventicles the marvelous singer who had gained the\nhomage of two continents sat with common workingmen on crude benches and\njoined with her sweet voice in singing the Pietist hymns. Ahnfelt, in\nvisiting the home of the great singer, spoke of his ambition to publish\nthese hymns. When Jenny Lind learned that financial difficulties stood in\nthe way, she quickly provided the necessary funds, and so the first\nedition of \"Ahnfelt's Songs,\" which in reality were mostly the hymns of\nLina Sandell and Rosenius, was made possible.\n\nRosenius and Ahnfelt encountered much persecution in their evangelical\nefforts. King Karl XV was petitioned to forbid Ahnfelt's preaching and\nsinging. The monarch refused until he had had an opportunity to hear the\n\"spiritual troubadour.\" Ahnfelt was commanded to appear at the royal\npalace. Being considerably perturbed in mind as to what he should sing to\nthe king, he besought Lina Sandell to write a hymn for the occasion. She\nwas equal to the task and within a few days the song was ready. With his\nguitar under his arm and the hymn in his pocket, Ahnfelt repaired to the\npalace and sang:\n\n Who is it that knocketh upon your heart's door\n In peaceful eve?\n Who is it that brings to the wounded and sore\n The balm that can heal and relieve?\n Your heart is still restless, it findeth no peace\n In earth's pleasures;\n Your soul is still yearning, it seeketh release\n To rise to the heavenly treasures.\n\nThe king listened with tears in his eyes. When Ahnfelt had finished, the\nmonarch gripped him by the hand and exclaimed: \"You may sing as much as\nyou like in both of my kingdoms!\"\n\nMention has already been made of the hymns of Rosenius. These, like the\nsongs of Lina Sandell, were likewise a powerful factor in the spread of\nthe evangelical movement in Sweden.\n\nRosenius was the son of a parish pastor in Norrland, Sweden. From the\ntime of his birth, February 3, 1816, he was dedicated by his pious\nparents to the holy ministry. After having pursued studies for a short\ntime at Upsala University, however, he became disgusted with the low\nmoral and spiritual standards existing among the students, and for a\nwhile his own faith was severely shaken. During these spiritual\ndifficulties he came in contact with George Scott, the Methodist\nevangelist in Stockholm, and eventually he began to hold meetings as a\n\"lay preacher.\"\n\nIn 1842 Scott and Rosenius began the publication of _Pietisten_, a\nreligious monthly that was destined to play a most important part in the\nspiritual revival in Sweden. When Scott was constrained the same year to\nleave Sweden because of violent opposition to his movement, Rosenius\nbecame his successor, not only as editor of _Pietisten_, but also as the\noutstanding leader among those who were trying to bring about the dawn of\na new spiritual day.\n\nRosenius centered his activity in the Swedish capital, preaching and\nwriting. He also traveled extensively throughout the country, and so the\nmovement spread. Numerous lay preachers, known as \"lasare,\" sprang up\neverywhere, holding private meetings in homes and in so-called \"mission\nhouses\" that were built nearby the parish churches.\n\nAgitation for separation from the Established Church found no sympathy\nwith Rosenius, who stood firmly on the Lutheran doctrine and regularly\ntook communion at the hands of its ordained ministers.\n\n\"How long do you intend to remain within the Church?\" he once was asked.\n\n\"As long as Jesus is there,\" was the answer of Rosenius.\n\n\"But how long do you think He will be there?\"\n\n\"As long as men are there born anew, for that is not the work of the\ndevil.\"\n\nIn 1856 Rosenius, together with many earnest-minded ecclesiasts and\nleaders in the Established Church, organized the National Evangelical\nFoundation, which originally was intended to promote home and inner\nmission activities. It subsequently embraced the cause of foreign\nmissions also and became one of the greatest spiritual influences\nemanating from Scandinavia. Rosenius died in 1868, at the age of\nfifty-two.\n\nHis hymns, like those of Lina Sandell, became known largely through the\nmusical genius of Ahnfelt. Everywhere \"Ahnfelt's Songs\" were on the lips\nof the so-called \"believers.\" Emigrants from Sweden to America brought\nthem with them to the New World, where they were a source of solace and\nstrength in the midst of spiritual and material difficulties. Perhaps no\nsong verse was heard more often in their humble gatherings than the\nconcluding stanza of Rosenius' hymn, \"With God and His mercy, His Spirit,\nand Word\":\n\n O Shepherd, abide with us, care for us still,\n And feed us and lead us and teach us Thy will;\n And when in Thy heavenly fold we shall be,\n Our thanks and our praises,\n Our thanks and our praises we'll render to Thee.\n\nThen there is that other hymn by Rosenius, so dear to thousands of pious\nsouls, \"I have a Friend, so patient, kind, forbearing,\" as well as that\nother one which Miss Anna Hoppe has so beautifully rendered into English:\n\n O precious thought! some day the mist shall vanish;\n Some day the web of gloom shall be unspun.\n A day shall break whose beams the night shall banish,\n For Christ, the Lamb, shall shine, the glorious Sun!\n\nAlthough the songs of Lina Sandell and Rosenius do not attain to the\npoetic excellence and spiritual power of the noble hymns of Wallin's\n\"Psalm-book,\" it is a significant fact that seven of Lina Sandell's and\nthree of Rosenius' songs were included in an appendix adopted in 1920.\nThis appendix is the first authorized change in Archbishop Wallin's\nmasterpiece in 102 years. The 500 hymns of the \"Psalm-book\" still remain\nunchanged, however, as they came from his hand in 1819. Although a number\nof commissions have endeavored since 1865 to make revisions of Wallin's\nwork, their proposals have been consistently rejected. The addition of\n173 hymns in the form of an appendix was a compromise adopted by the\nChurch of Sweden in 1920. It was sanctioned by the king and authorized\nfor tentative use in the churches beginning Nov. 27, 1921, thus being\ngiven precedence over a revision made by a commission and sanctioned by\nthe church but indefinitely deferred.\n\nIn the 1921 appendix hymn-writers of the Reformed Church are represented\nfor the first time in the Swedish \"Psalm-book.\" Among the Reformed hymns\nfound there may be mentioned Joachim Neander's \"Lobe den Herren,\" Sarah\nFlower Adams' \"Nearer, my God, to Thee,\" Henry Francis Lyte's \"Abide with\nme, fast falls the eventide,\" John Marriot's \"Thou, Whose almighty Word,\"\nand Lydia Baxter's \"There is a gate that stands ajar.\" Classical Lutheran\nhymns, such as Gerhardt's \"O sacred Head, now wounded\" and Luther's\n\"Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word,\" have also been added, while other\nLutheran writers, such as the great Danish hymnists, Brorson and\nGrundtvig, and the Norwegian psalmist, Landstad, are given recognition.\nThen there is the beautiful Christmas hymn, \"Silent night, holy night,\"\nby the Catholic priest, Joseph Mohr.\n\nThe more important of recent Swedish hymnists are Johan Alfred Eklund,\nbishop of Karlstad, who is represented by thirty-six hymns in the\nappendix; Svante Alin, pastor at Sventorp, eleven of whose hymns are\nincluded; the late Edvard Evers, pastor in Norrkoping and a writer of\nsome note, who contributed twelve hymns, and Erik Soderberg, writer and\npublicist, who is the author of seven.\n\nEleven hymns by two of Finland's great poets, Johan Ludvig Runeberg and\nZachris Topelius, are also found in the appendix.\n\n\n\n\n Kingo's Sunrise Hymn\n\n\n The sun arises now\n In light and glory,\n And gilds the rugged brow\n Of mountains hoary;\n Be glad, my soul, and lift\n Thy voice in singing\n To God from earth below,\n Thy heart with joy aglow\n And praises ringing.\n\n Like countless grains of sand,\n Beyond all measure,\n And wide as sea and land\n Is heaven's treasure\n Of grace which God anew\n Each day bestoweth,\n And which, like pouring rain,\n Into my soul again\n Each morning floweth.\n\n Keep Thou my soul today\n From sin and blindness;\n Surround me on my way\n With loving-kindness,\n And fill my heart, O God,\n With joy from heaven;\n I then shall ask no more\n Than what Thou hast of yore\n In wisdom given.\n\n Thou knowest best my needs,\n My sighs Thou heedest;\n Thy hand Thy children feeds,\n Thine own Thou leadest;\n What should I more desire,\n With Thee deciding\n The course that I must take\n Than follow in the wake\n Where Thou art guiding?\n\n Thomas Kingo (1634-1703).\n\n\n\n\n KINGO, THE POET OF EASTER-TIDE\n\n\nDenmark's first great hymnist, Thomas Kingo, hailed from the land of\nRobert Burns. His grandfather, who also bore the name of Thomas,\nemigrated from Scotland to Denmark near the end of the 17th century to\nbecome a tapestry weaver for Christian IV.\n\nThe boy who was destined to become one of Denmark's most famous spiritual\nbards was born in Slangerup, December 15, 1634. At the age of six years\nhe entered the Latin school of his native city, and ten years later\nbecame a student of the school in Frederiksborg. The principal of this\ninstitution, Albert Bartholin, discovered unusual gifts in the lad and\ntook him into his own home. After completing theological studies at the\nuniversity, he returned in 1668 to his native city of Slangerup as\nLutheran parish pastor.\n\nAbout this time he began to attract attention as a writer of secular\npoetry. It was not until 1673, however, that his first collection of\nhymns appeared under the title, \"Spiritual Songs, First Part.\" The\nprofound impression created by this production is evidenced by the fact\nthat in 1677 he was elevated from an obscure parish to the bishopric of\nthe diocese of Fyen.\n\nKingo had dedicated his \"Spiritual Songs\" to Christian V, and thus had\nattracted the attention of the Danish monarch. In his \"address\" to the\nking, Kingo deplored the fact that the Danish people in their worship had\ndepended so largely upon hymns of foreign origin.\n\n\"The soul of the Danes,\" he added significantly, \"is not so bound and\nimpoverished but that it can soar as high toward heaven as that of other\npeoples, even if it be not upborne by strange and foreign wings.\"\n\nThe Second Part of his \"Spiritual Songs\" appeared in 1681, this\ncollection being dedicated to the Danish queen. Many of Kingo's hymns\nwere written to be sung to popular folk melodies. In justification of\nthis practice the poet wrote:\n\n\"If a pleasing melody set to a song of Sodom delights your ear, how much\nmore, if you are a true child of God, should not that same melody delight\nyour soul when sung to a song of Zion!\"\n\nIn his dedicatory address to Queen Charlotte, the poet of Scotch\nforebears gave expression to his great love for the Danish language,\npraised her for her heroic efforts to master the language before coming\nto Denmark as its queen, and ironically flayed certain foreign courtiers\nwho for \"thirty years had eaten the bread of the Fatherland in the\nservice of the king without making an effort to learn thirty Danish\nwords.\"\n\nBy this time the Danish people had come to a full realization that a poet\nof the first magnitude had risen in their midst. In June, 1679, Kingo was\ncreated a member of the nobility, and in 1682 he received the honorary\ndegree of doctor of theology. The following year came the royal\nappointment to prepare a hymn-book for the Church of Denmark. The king's\ndecree specifically stated that Kingo should include a number of his own\nhymns, but he was directed to make few changes in the old, traditional\nhymns, and \"under no circumstances to alter the meaning of Luther's\nhymns.\"\n\nThe first part of Kingo's new book appeared in 1689. It met with a storm\nof disapproval that was not altogether unmerited. Of the 267 hymns in\nthis book, 136 were by Kingo himself. Members of the Danish court who had\nbeen objects of Kingo's merciless satire now found an opportunity to\nsecure revenge. Kingo's book, which had been published at his own\nexpense, was rejected, and Soren Jonassen, dean of Roskilde, was\nappointed to take over the task. His work, which was completed in 1693,\ndid not contain a single one of Kingo's hymns! It too was promptly\ndisapproved. A commission was then appointed by the king to supervise the\nwork, and again Kingo came into favor. The new hymn-book, which was\nofficially approved in 1699, was based largely on Kingo's work, and\ncontained 85 of his original hymns.\n\nAlthough Kingo lived to see his life-work crowned with success, he never\nrecovered from the indignity and humiliation he had suffered. His death\noccurred on October 14, 1703. The day before his death, he exclaimed:\n\"Tomorrow, Lord, we shall hear glorious music.\"\n\nKingo has been called \"the poet of Easter-tide.\" A biographer declares\nthat Kingo was \"in love with the sun,\" and that he regarded light as the\n\"true element.\" This is reflected in his morning hymns, which are among\nthe finest songs of praise ever written. It may also be seen in his\nEaster hymns, one of which begins with the words, \"Like the golden sun\nascending.\" However, Kingo could also dwell on the theme of Christ's\npassion with gripping pathos:\n\n Such a night was ne'er before,\n Even heaven has shut its door;\n Jesus, Thou our Sun and Light,\n Now must bear the shame of night.\n\nAnd in this:\n\n See how, in that hour of darkness,\n Battling with the evil power,\n Agonies untold assail Him,\n On His soul the arrows shower;\n And the gardens flowers are wet\n With the drops of bloody sweat\n From His anguished frame distilling--\n Our redemption thus fulfilling.\n\nWhen the commission appointed by the Danish king was revising his\nhymn-book, Kingo pleaded that his Lenten hymns might be retained. Among\nthe most soul-stirring of these in the famous hymn, \"Over Kedron Jesus\ntreadeth.\" In its original form it contained fourteen stanzas. Although\nobjective in character, Kingo's hymns never fail to make a strong\npersonal appeal. Witness, for example, the following from his Good Friday\nhymn:\n\n On my heart imprint Thine image,\n Blessed Jesus, King of grace,\n That life's riches, cares, and pleasures\n Never may Thyself efface;\n This the superscription be:\n Jesus, crucified for me,\n Is my life, my hope's foundation,\n And my glory and salvation.\n\nOther hymns of Kingo that have been translated into English include\n\"Praise to Thee and adoration,\" \"Dearest Jesus, draw Thou near me,\" \"He\nthat believes and is baptized,\" \"O dearest Lord, receive from me,\" \"I\ncome, invited by Thy Word,\" \"Softly now the day is ending,\" and \"The sun\narises now.\"\n\nGrundtvig, a later Danish hymn-writer, pays Kingo this tribute: \"He\neffected a combination of sublimity and simplicity, a union of splendor\nand fervent devotion, a powerful and musical play of words and imagery\nthat reminds one of Shakespeare.\"\n\n\n\n\n The Great White Host\n\n\n Behold a host, arrayed in white,\n Like thousand snow-clad mountains bright,\n With palms they stand--who are this band\n Before the throne of light?\n Lo, these are they, of glorious fame,\n Who from the great affliction came,\n And in the flood of Jesus' blood\n Are cleansed from guilt and blame;\n Now gathered in the holy place\n Their voices they in worship raise,\n Their anthems swell where God doth dwell\n 'Mid angels' songs of praise.\n\n Despised and scorned, they sojourned here,\n But now, how glorious they appear!\n These martyrs stand a priestly band,\n God's throne forever near.\n So oft, in troubled days gone by,\n In anguish they would weep and sigh;\n At home above, the God of love\n The tears of all shall dry.\n They now enjoy their Sabbath rest,\n The paschal banquet of the blest;\n The Lamb, their Lord, at festal board\n Himself is host and guest.\n\n Then hail, ye mighty legions, yea,\n All hail! now safe and blest for aye;\n And praise the Lord, who with His Word\n Sustained you on the way.\n Ye did the joys of earth disdain,\n Ye toiled and sowed in tears and pain;\n Farewell, now bring your sheaves, and sing\n Salvation's glad refrain.\n Swing high your palms, lift up your song,\n Yea, make it myriad voices strong:\n Eternally shall praise to Thee,\n God, and the Lamb, belong!\n\n Hans Adolph Brorson, 1763.\n\n\n\n\n BRORSON, THE POET OF CHRISTMAS\n\n\nNo Scandinavian hymn has attained such popularity in recent years as\n\"Behold a host.\" This sublime \"glory song\" was first given to the world\nafter its writer, Hans Adolph Brorson, had gone to join the \"host,\narrayed in white\" that sings \"before the throne of light.\"\n\nIt was published by his son in a collection entitled \"Hans Adolph\nBrorson's Swan-Song,\" which appeared in 1765, a year after the famous\nDanish hymn-writer had gone to his final rest. The collection contained\nseventy hymns, all written in the last year of the poet's life.\n\nBrorson was a product of the Pietistic movement emanating from Halle, in\nGermany. Born June 20, 1694, at Randrup, Denmark, he early came under the\ninfluence of the great spiritual awakening which was then sweeping\nthrough the Lutheran Church.\n\nBrorson's father was a Lutheran pastor, and all of his three sons,\nincluding the hymn-writer, entered the service of the Church. Brorson's\nfirst pastorate was in his native city of Randrup, a place he dearly\nloved and to which he often returned in later life when he found himself\noppressed by manifold cares.\n\nIt was during his ministry in Randrup that Brorson began to write his\nfirst hymns. He speaks of the eight years spent at this place as the\nhappiest in his life. In 1729 he was called to become Danish preacher at\nTonder, where he labored side by side with Johan Herman Schrader, who was\nalso a hymnist of some note. Because of the mixed Danish and German\npopulation of Tonder, a curious situation existed in the church worship.\nAlthough Brorson preached in Danish, the congregation sang in German! To\nremedy this, Brorson, in 1732, wrote a number of his famous Christmas\nhymns, among them 'Den yndigste Rose er funden,' one of the most\nexquisite gems in sacred poetry. A free rendering of four of its eleven\nstanzas by August W. Kjellstrand follows:\n\n The sweetest, the fairest of roses\n I've found. Among thorns it reposes:\n 'Tis Jesus, my soul's dearest Treasure,\n Of sinners a Friend above measure.\n\n E'er since the sad day when frail mortals\n Were thrust from fair Eden's bright portals,\n The world has been dark, full of terror,\n And man dead in sin, lost in error.\n\n Then mindful of promises given,\n God sent from the gardens of heaven\n A Rose, 'mid the thorns brightly blowing,\n And freely its fragrance bestowing.\n\n Wherever this Rose Tree is grounded,\n The kingdom of God there is founded;\n And where its sweet fragrance is wafted,\n There peace in the heart is engrafted.\n\nAs Kingo was known among the Danes as \"the poet of Easter,\" so Brorson\nfrom this time was hailed as \"the poet of Christmas.\"\n\nIn 1747 Brorson was appointed by Christian VI to become bishop of the\ndiocese of Ribe. It is said that the Danish monarch upon meeting Brorson\nat a certain occasion inquired of him if he was the author of the hymn,\n\"Awake, all things that God has made.\" When the poet modestly answered in\nthe affirmative, so the story runs, the king promised him the bishopric.\nWhen Erik Pontoppidan, later bishop of Bergen, was appointed to revise\nKingo's hymnal, which for forty years had served the churches of Denmark\nand Norway, he found his task a comparatively simple one through the\nvaluable assistance rendered by Brorson. Kingo's hymns were changed only\nslightly, and the greater part of the new material was from Brorson's\npen.\n\nThe later years of the poet were darkened by sad experiences. In the year\nthat Brorson was elevated to the bishopric, his beloved wife died while\ngiving birth to their thirteenth child. This and other troubles served to\nmake him melancholy in spirit, but he did not cease to compose poems of\nrarest beauty. His thoughts, however, turned more and more toward heaven\nand the blessedness of the life hereafter. A celestial radiance is\nreflected in the hymns of his \"Swan-Song.\" This is particularly true of\n\"Behold, a host arrayed in white,\" a lyric that has become a favorite in\nAmerica as well as in Europe through its association with Edvard Grieg's\nfamous adaptation of a Norwegian folk song.\n\nBrorson's earnest character and pious nature made him deeply concerned\nabout the salvation of souls. Many of his poems and hymns contain solemn\nwarnings touching on the uncertainty of life and the need of seeking\nsalvation. His gripping hymn, \"Jeg gaar i Fare, hvor jeg gaar,\" gave\nArchbishop Wallin, the great Swedish hymnist, the inspiration for his\nnoble stanzas:\n\n I near the grave, where'er I go,\n Where'er my pathway tendeth;\n If rough or pleasant here below,\n My way at death's gate endeth.\n I have no other choice;\n Between my griefs and joys\n My mortal life is ordered so:\n I near the grave, where'er I go.\n\n I go to heaven, where'er I go,\n If Jesus' steps I follow;\n The crown of life He will bestow,\n When earth this frame shall swallow.\n If through this tearful vale\n I in that course prevail,\n And walk with Jesus here below,\n I go to heaven, where'er I go.\n\nOther well-known hymns by Brorson are \"Thy little ones, dear Lord, are\nwe,\" \"O Father, may Thy Word prevail,\" \"O watch and pray,\" \"Life's day is\nended,\" \"My heart, prepare to give account,\" \"By faith we are divinely\nsure,\" \"Children of God, born again of His Spirit,\" \"O seek the Lord\ntoday,\" \"I see Thee standing, Lamb of God,\" \"Stand fast, my soul, stand\nfast,\" \"Jesus, Name of wondrous grace,\" and \"Who will join the throng to\nheaven?\" Brorson's childlike spirit may be seen reflected in the first of\nthese, a children's Christmas hymn:\n\n Thy little ones, dear Lord, are we,\n And come Thy lowly bed to see;\n Enlighten every soul and mind,\n That we the way to Thee may find.\n\n With songs we hasten Thee to greet,\n And kiss the dust before Thy feet;\n O blessed hour, O sweetest night,\n That gave Thee birth, our soul's delight.\n\n Now welcome! From Thy heavenly home\n Thou to our vale of tears art come;\n Man hath no offering for Thee, save\n The stable, manger, cross, and grave.\n\n Jesus, alas! how can it be\n So few bestow a thought on Thee,\n Or on the love, so wondrous great,\n That drew Thee down to our estate?\n\n O draw us wholly to Thee, Lord,\n Do Thou to us Thy grace accord,\n True faith and love to us impart,\n That we may hold Thee in our heart.\n\n\n\n\n A Prayer to the Holy Spirit\n\n\n Holy Spirit, come with light,\n Break the dark and gloomy night\n With Thy day unending;\n Help us with a joyful lay\n Greet the Lord's triumphant day\n Now with might ascending.\n\n Comforter, so wondrous kind,\n Noble Guest of heart and mind,\n Fix in us Thy dwelling.\n Give us peace in storm and strife,\n Fill each weary heart and life\n With Thy joy excelling.\n\n Make salvation clear to us,\n Who, despite our sin and cross,\n Are in Thee confiding.\n Lest our life be void and vain,\n With Thy light and love remain\n Aye in us abiding.\n\n Raise or bow us with Thine arm,\n Break temptation's evil charm,\n Clear our clouded vision.\n Fill our hearts with longings new,\n Cleanse us with Thy morning dew,\n Tears of deep contrition.\n\n Thou who givest life and breath,\n Let our hope in sight of death\n Blossom bright and vernal;\n And above the silent tomb\n Let the Easter lilies bloom,\n Signs of life eternal.\n\n Nikolai Grundtvig (1783-1872).\n\n\n\n\n GRUNDTVIG, THE POET OF WHITSUNTIDE\n\n\nNikolai F. S. Grundtvig was the last and greatest of the celebrated\ntriumvirate of Danish hymn-writers. As Kingo was the bright star of the\n17th century and Brorson of the 18th century, so Grundtvig shone with a\nluster all his own in the 19th century. The \"poet of Easter\" and the\n\"poet of Christmas\" were succeeded by the \"poet of Whitsuntide.\"\n\nThe appellation given to Grundtvig was not without reason, for it was he,\nabove all others, who strove mightily in Denmark against the deadening\nspirit of rationalism which had dried up the streams of spirituality in\nthe Church. No one as he labored with such amazing courage and zeal to\nbring about the dawn of a new day.\n\nNor did Grundtvig strive in vain. Before his life-work was ended, fresh\nPentecostal breezes began to blow, the dry bones began to stir, and the\nChurch, moved by the Spirit of God, experienced a new spiritual birth.\n\nThe spirit of rationalism had worked havoc with the most sacred truths of\nthe Christian religion. As some one has said, \"It converted the banner of\nthe Lamb into a blue-striped handkerchief, the Christian religion into a\nphilosophy of happiness, and the temple dome into a parasol.\"\n\nUnder the influence of the \"new theology,\" ministers of the gospel had\nprostituted the church worship into lectures on science and domestic\neconomy. It is said that one minister in preaching on the theme of the\nChrist-child and the manger developed it into a lecture on the proper\ncare of stables, and another, moved by the story of the coming of the\nholy women to the sepulcher on the first Easter morning, delivered a\nperoration on the advantages of getting up early! God was referred to as\n\"Providence\" or \"the Deity,\" Christ as \"the founder of Christianity,\" sin\nas \"error,\" salvation as \"happiness,\" and the essence of the Christian\nlife as \"morality.\"\n\nGrundtvig's father was one of the few Lutheran pastors in Denmark who had\nremained faithful to evangelical truth. The future poet, who was born in\nUdby, September 8, 1783, had the advantage, therefore, of being brought\nup in a household where the spirit of true Christian piety reigned. It\nwas not long, however, before young Grundtvig, as a student, came under\nthe influence of the \"new theology.\" Although he planned to become a\nminister, he lost all interest in religion during his final year at\nschool, and finished his academic career \"without spirit and without\nfaith.\"\n\nA number of circumstances, however, began to open his eyes to the\nspiritual poverty of the people. Morality was at a low ebb, and a spirit\nof indifference and frivolity banished all serious thoughts from their\nminds. It was a rude shock to his sensitive and patriotic nature to\nobserve, in 1807, how the population of Copenhagen laughed and danced\nwhile the Danish fleet was being destroyed by English warships and the\ncapital city itself was being bombarded by the enemy.\n\nIn 1810 he preached his famous probation sermon on the striking theme,\n\"Why has the Word of God departed from His house?\" The sermon produced a\nsensation, and from this time Grundtvig came to be known as a mystic and\nfanatic. His career as a pastor was checkered, but throughout his life he\nexerted a powerful influence by his literary activity as well as by his\npreaching. His poetry and hymns attracted so much attention that it was\nsaid that \"Kingo's harp has been strung afresh.\"\n\nGrundtvig's strongest hymns are those that deal with the Church and the\nsacraments. The divine character of the Church is continually stressed,\nfor Christ not only founded it, but, as the Living Word, He is present in\nit and in the sacraments unto the end of time. \"Built on the Rock, the\nChurch doth stand\" is probably his most famous hymn. Grundtvig was more\nconcerned about the thought he was trying to convey than the mode of\nexpression; therefore his hymns are often characterized by strength\nrather than poetic beauty. They are also so deeply tinged by national\nspirit and feeling that they lose much of the color and fragrance of\ntheir native heath when translated. That Grundtvig could rise to lyrical\nheights is revealed especially in his festival hymns. There is a charming\nfreshness in the sweet Christmas hymn:\n\n Chime, happy Christmas bells, once more!\n The heavenly Guest is at the door,\n The blessed words the shepherds thrill,\n The joyous tidings, \"Peace, good will.\"\n\n O let us go with quiet mind,\n The gentle Babe with shepherds find,\n To gaze on Him who gladdens them,\n The loveliest flower of Jesse's stem.\n\n Come, Jesus, glorious heavenly Guest,\n Keep Thine own Christmas in our breast,\n Then David's harp-strings, hushed so long,\n Shall swell our jubilee of song.\n\nThe Danish hymnologist Brandt has pointed out the distinctive\ncharacteristics of his country's three great hymnists by calling\nattention to their favorite symbols. That of Kingo was the sun, Brorson's\nthe rose, and Grundtvig's the bird. Kingo extols Christ as the risen,\nvictorious Saviour--the Sun that breaks through the dark shades of sin\nand death. Brorson glorifies Christ as the Friend of the spiritually poor\nand needy. They learn to know Him in the secret prayer chamber as the\nRose that spreads its quiet fragrance. Grundtvig's hymns are primarily\nhymns of the Spirit. They laud the Holy Spirit, the Giver and Renewer of\nlife, who bears us up on mighty wings toward the mansions of light.\n\nAmong Danes and Norwegians there are few hymns more popular than\nGrundtvig's hymn on the Church. The first stanza reads:\n\n Built on the Rock the Church doth stand,\n Even when steeples are falling;\n Crumbled have spires in every land,\n Bells still are chiming and calling;\n Calling the young and old to rest,\n But above all the soul distressed,\n Longing for rest everlasting.\n\nOther noted hymns by Grundtvig include \"Love, the fount of light from\nheaven,\" \"As the rose shall blossom here,\" \"The Lord to thee appealeth,\"\n\"Splendid are the heavens high,\" \"A Babe is born in Bethlehem,\" \"From the\ngrave remove dark crosses,\" \"O let Thy Spirit with us tarry,\" \"Fair\nbeyond telling,\" \"This is the day that our Father hath given,\" \"Hast to\nthe plow thou put thy hand,\" \"The peace of God protects our hearts,\" \"O\nwondrous kingdom here on earth,\" \"With gladness we hail this blessed\nday,\" \"He who has helped me hitherto,\" and \"Peace to soothe our bitter\nwoes.\"\n\nBecause of his intensive efforts to bring about reforms in the\neducational methods of his day, Grundtvig became known as \"the father of\nthe public high school in Scandinavia.\"\n\nIn 1861, when he celebrated his golden jubilee as pastor, Grundtvig was\ngiven the title of bishop. The good old man passed away peacefully on\nSeptember 2, 1872, at the age of eighty-nine years. He preached his last\nsermon on the day before his death.\n\nA distinguished contemporary of Grundtvig's who also gained renown as a\nDanish hymn-writer was Bernhardt Severin Ingemann, author of the famous\nhymn, \"Through the night of doubt and sorrow.\" Ingemann was born in\nFalster, Denmark, in 1789, the son of a Lutheran pastor, Soren Ingemann.\n\nThe father died when Bernhardt was 11 years old, but the mother made it\npossible for the gifted lad to receive a liberal education. At the age of\n22 years he published his first volume of poems, and three years later\nhis famous epic, \"The Black Knights,\" appeared. A number of dramas\nfollowed, and in 1822 he was appointed lector of Danish language and\nliterature at the Academy of Soro. Here he remained for forty years,\nwriting novels, secular poetry and hymns. He was a warm friend of\nGrundtvig's, who constantly encouraged him in his literary efforts.\n\nIngemann's \"Morning Hymns\" appeared in 1822, and in 1825 his \"Hymns of\nWorship\" was published. In 1854 he was charged with the task of\ncompleting the \"Psalm Book for Church and Private Devotion,\" edited by\nthe ministerial conference at Roskilde.\n\n\n\n\n A Norwegian Miserere\n\n\n Before Thee, God, who knowest all,\n With grief and shame I prostrate fall;\n I see my sins against Thee, Lord,\n The sins of thought, of deed, and word,\n They press me sore, I cry to Thee;\n O God, be merciful to me!\n\n O Lord, My God, to Thee I pray:\n O cast me not in wrath away,\n Let Thy good Spirit ne'er depart,\n But let Him draw to Thee my heart,\n That truly penitent I be;\n O God, be merciful to me!\n\n O Jesus, let Thy precious blood\n Be to my soul a cleansing flood;\n Turn not, O Lord, Thy guest away,\n But grant that justified I may\n Go to my house with peace from Thee;\n O God, be merciful to me!\n\n Magnus Brorstrup Landstad, 1861.\n\n\n\n\n LANDSTAD, A BARD OF THE FROZEN FJORDS\n\n\nThis is the story of a man whose chance purchase of two books at an\nauction sale for the sum of four cents was probably the means of\ninspiring him to become one of the foremost Christian poets of the North.\n\nMagnus Brorstrup Landstad was a poverty-stricken student at the\nUniversity of Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, when he happened to pass a\nhouse in which a sale of books was being conducted. Moved by curiosity,\nhe entered the place just as a package of old books was being offered. We\nwill let him tell the remainder of the story:\n\n\"I made a bid of four cents, the deal was made, and I walked home with my\npackage. It contained two volumes in leather binding. One was\n'Freuden-Spiegel des ewigen Lebens' by Philipp Nicolai. On the last few\npages of this book four of Nicolai's hymns were printed. The other book\nwas Bishop A. Arrebo's 'Hexaemeron, The Glorious and Mighty Works of the\nCreation Day.' In this manner two splendid hymn collections, one German\nand the other Danish-Norwegian, unexpectedly came into my possession. I\nwas not acquainted with either of these works before. Nicolai's hymns\nmade a deep impression on me, and I at once attempted to translate\nthem.... My experience with these hymn collections, I believe, gave me\nthe first impetus in the direction of hymn writing. Furthermore, it gave\nme a deeper insight into the life and spirit of the old church hymns.\"\n\nTwo of the hymns of Nicolai that Landstad attempted to translate were\n\"Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme\" and \"Wie schoen leuchtet der\nMorgenstern,\" noble classics that have never been excelled. The young\nstudent was so successful in his rendering of the former hymn that it\nsubsequently found a place in the Norwegian church hymnary.\n\nLandstad was born October 7, 1802, in Maaso, Finnmarken, Norway, where\nhis father was pastor of the Lutheran church. This parish is at the\nextreme northern point of Norway, and so Landstad himself wrote, \"I was\nbaptized in the northernmost church in the world.\" Later the family moved\nto Oksnes, another parish among the frozen fjords of the Norse seacoast.\n\n\"The waves of the icy Arctic,\" he writes poetically, \"sang my cradle\nlullaby; but the bosom of a loving mother warmed my body and soul.\"\n\nThe stern character of the relentless North, with its solitude, its\nfrozen wastes, its stormy waters and its long months of winter darkness,\nno doubt left a profound and lasting impression upon the lad whose early\nyears were spent in such environments. The Napoleonic wars were also\nraging, and it was a time of much sorrow and suffering among the common\npeople. When the boy was nine years old the family removed to Vinje.\nAlthough they continued to suffer many hardships, the natural\nsurroundings at this place were more congenial, and in summer the\nlandscape was transformed into a magic beauty that must have warmed the\nheart and fired the childish imagination of the future hymnist.\n\nMagnus was the third in a family of ten children. Although sorely pressed\nby poverty, the father recognized unusual talent in the boy, and at the\nage of twenty years he was sent to the university in Christiania. During\nhis first year at the institution two of his brothers died. Young\nLandstad was greatly cast down in spirit, but out of the bitterness of\nthis early bereavement came two memorial poems that are believed to\nrepresent his first attempt at verse-writing.\n\nIn 1827 he completed his theological studies at the university and the\nfollowing year he was appointed resident vicar of the Lutheran church at\nGausdal. During his pastorate at this place he wrote his first hymn. In\n1834 he became pastor at Kviteseid, where he continued the writing of\nhymns and other poems. Five years later he became his father's successor\nas pastor of the parish at Seljord. It was here, in 1841, that he\npublished his first work, a book of daily devotions that has been highly\nprized among his countrymen.\n\nFor centuries Norway and Denmark had been closely connected politically\nand culturally. The Lutheran Church was, moreover, the state church of\nboth countries. As a consequence of this relationship Norway had always\nlooked to Denmark for its hymn literature, and no hymnist of any note had\never risen in the northern country.\n\nNow, however, it began to dawn on the Norwegians that a native singer\ndwelt in their own midst. The political ties with Denmark having been\nbroken as a result of the Napoleonic wars, the spirit of nationalism\nbegan to assert itself and the demand for a new hymn-book for the Church\nof Norway constantly grew stronger. In 1848 the Norwegian ecclesiastical\nauthorities requested Landstad to undertake the task, but not until four\nyears later could he be prevailed upon to assume the arduous duties\ninvolved in so great an endeavor.\n\nIn 1861 the first draft of his \"Kirke-Salmebog\" was published. It did not\nmeet with universal approval. In defense of his work, Landstad wrote: \"We\nmust, above all, demand that our hymns possess the elements of poetic\ndiction and true song. We must consider the historical and churchly\nelements, and the orthodox objectivity which shows respect for church\ntradition and which appreciates the purity, clearness, and force of\nconfession. But the sickly subjectivity, which 'rests' in the varying\nmoods of pious feelings and godly longings, and yet does not possess any\nof the boldness and power of true faith such as we find in Luther's and\nKingo's hymns--this type of church hymn must be excluded. Finally, we\nmust also emphasize the aesthetic feature. Art must be made to serve the\nChurch, to glorify the name of God, and to edify the congregation of\nworshipers. But it must always be remembered that art itself is to be the\nservant and not the master.\"\n\nNevertheless, Landstad continued for several years to revise his own\nwork, and in 1869 the hymn-book was finally published and authorized for\nuse in the Church of Norway. Within a year it had been introduced into\n648 of the 923 parishes of the country.\n\nIn 1876 Landstad retired from active service after the Norwegian\nparliament had unanimously voted him an annual pension of 4,000 crowns in\nappreciation of the great service he had rendered his country. He died in\nChristiania, October 9, 1880.\n\nAmong the hymns of Landstad that have been translated into English are,\n\"I know of a sleep in Jesus' Name,\" \"I come to Thee, O blessed Lord,\"\n\"There many shall come from the East and the West,\" \"When sinners see\ntheir lost condition,\" and \"Before Thee, God, who knowest all.\"\n\nAlthough Landstad's hymns do not attain to lofty poetic heights, they are\nmarked by a spirit of unusual intimacy, deep earnestness, and a warmth of\nfeeling that make a strong appeal to the worshiper.\n\n\n\n\nPART IV\nENGLISH HYMNODY\n\n\n\n\n Ken's Immortal Evening Hymn\n\n\n Glory to Thee, my God, this night,\n For all the blessings of the light:\n Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,\n Beneath Thine own almighty wings.\n\n Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son,\n The ill that I this day have done:\n That, with the world, myself, and Thee,\n I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.\n\n Teach me to live, that I may dread\n The grave as little as my bed;\n To die, that this vile body may\n Rise glorious at the judgment day.\n\n O then shall I in endless day,\n When sleep and death have passed away,\n With all Thy saints and angels sing\n In endless praise to Thee, my King.\n\n Thomas Ken, 1695.\n\n\n\n\n THE DAWN OF HYMNODY IN ENGLAND\n\n\nOwing to the strong prejudice in the Reformed Church to hymns of \"human\ncomposure,\" the development of hymnody in England, as well as other\ncountries where Calvin's teachings were accepted, was slow. Crude\nparaphrases of the Psalms, based on the Genevan Psalter, appeared from\nthe hands of various versifiers and were used generally in the churches\nof England and Scotland. It was not until 1637, more than a century after\nLuther had published his first hymn-books, that England's first\nhymn-writer was born. He was Bishop Thomas Ken.\n\nThis first sweet singer in the early dawn of English hymnody holds the\ndistinction of having written the most famous doxology of the Christian\nChurch. It is the so-called \"long meter\" doxology:\n\n Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;\n Praise Him, all creatures here below;\n Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;\n Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.\n\nHis sublime evening hymn, \"Glory to Thee, my God, this night,\" is ranked\nas one of the four masterpieces of English praise. His beautiful morning\nhymn, \"Awake, my soul, and with the sun,\" is scarcely less deserving of\nhigh distinction. As originally written, both hymns closed with the\nfamous doxology given above.\n\nBishop Ken looms as a heroic figure during turbulent times in English\nhistory. Left an orphan in early childhood, he was brought up by his\nbrother-in-law, the famous fisherman, Izaak Walton. Ken's name has been\nfound cut in one of the stone pillars at Winchester, where he went to\nschool as a boy.\n\nWhen, in 1679, the wife of William of Orange, the niece of the English\nmonarch, asked Charles II, king of England, to send an English chaplain\nto the royal court at The Hague, Ken was selected for the position.\nHowever, he was so outspoken in denouncing the corrupt lives of those in\nauthority in the Dutch capitol that he was compelled to leave the\nfollowing year. Charles thereupon appointed him one of his own chaplains.\n\nKen continued to reveal the same spirit of boldness, however, rebuking\nthe sins of the dissolute English monarch. On one occasion, when Charles\nasked the courageous pastor to give up his own dwelling temporarily in\norder that Nell Gwynne, a notorious character, might be housed, Ken\nanswered promptly: \"Not for the King's kingdom.\"\n\nInstead of punishing the bold and faithful minister, Charles so admired\nhis courage that he appointed him bishop of Bath and Wells.\n\nCharles always referred to Ken as \"the good little man\" and, when it was\nchapel time, he would usually say: \"I must go in and hear Ken tell me of\nmy faults.\"\n\nWhen Charles died, and the papist James II came to the throne, Ken,\ntogether with six other bishops, was imprisoned in the Tower of London.\nAlthough he was acquitted, he was later removed from his bishopric by\nWilliam III.\n\nThe last years of his life were spent in a quiet retreat, and he died in\n1711 at the age of seventy-four years. He had requested that \"six of the\npoorest men in the parish\" should carry him to his grave, and this was\ndone. It was also at his request that he was buried under the east window\nof the chancel of Frome church, the service being held at sunrise. As his\nbody was lowered into its last resting-place, and the first light of dawn\ncame through the chancel window, his friends sang his immortal morning\nhymn:\n\n Awake, my soul, and with the sun\n Thy daily stage of duty run.\n Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise\n To pay thy morning sacrifice.\n\n Wake and lift up thyself, my heart,\n And with the angels bear thy part,\n Who all night long unwearied sing\n High praise to the eternal King.\n\n All praise to Thee, who safe hast kept,\n And hast refreshed me while I slept:\n Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake,\n I may of endless life partake.\n\nIt is said that after Bishop Ken had written this hymn, he sang it to his\nown accompaniment on the lute every morning as a part of his private\ndevotion. Although he wrote many other hymns, only this one and his\nevening hymn have survived. The two hymns were published in a devotional\nbook prepared for the students of Winchester College. In this work Bishop\nKen urged the students to sing the hymns devoutly in their rooms every\nmorning and evening.\n\nThe historian Macaulay paid Ken a beautiful tribute when he said that he\ncame as near to the ideal of Christian perfection \"as human weakness\npermits.\"\n\nIt was during the life-time of Bishop Ken that Joseph Addison, the famous\nessayist, was publishing the \"Spectator.\" Addison was not only the\nleading literary light of his time, but a devout Christian as well. From\ntime to time he appended a poem to the charming essays which appeared in\nthe \"Spectator,\" and it is from this source that we have received five\nhymns of rare beauty. They are the so-called \"Creation\" hymn, \"The\nspacious firmament on high,\" which Haydn included in his celebrated\noratorio; the Traveler's hymn, beginning with the line, \"How are Thy\nservants blest, O Lord\"; and three other hymns, almost equally\nwell-known: \"The Lord my pasture shall prepare,\" \"When rising from the\nbed of death,\" and \"When all Thy mercies, O my God.\" The latter contains\none of the most striking expressions in all the realm of hymnody:\n\n Through all eternity to Thee\n A joyful song I'll raise:\n But oh, eternity's too short\n To utter all Thy praise!\n\nIn the essay introducing this hymn, Addison writes: \"If gratitude is due\nfrom man to man, how much more from man to his Maker. The Supreme Being\ndoes not only confer upon us those bounties which proceed immediately\nfrom His hand, but even those benefits which are conveyed to us by\nothers. Any blessing which we enjoy, by what means soever derived, is the\ngift of Him who is the great Author of Good and the Father of Mercies.\"\n\nThe Traveler's hymn, \"How are Thy servants blessed, O Lord,\" was written\nafter Addison's return from a perilous voyage on the Mediterranean.\n\nIn addition to his literary pursuits, Addison also occupied several\nimportant positions of state with the English government. He died on June\n17, 1719, at the age of forty-seven. When he was breathing his last, he\ncalled for the Earl of Warwick and exclaimed: \"See in what peace a\nChristian can die!\"\n\nThe hymns of Addison and Bishop Ken may be regarded as the heralds of a\nnew day in the worship of the Reformed Church. While Addison was still\nwriting his essays and verses for the \"Spectator,\" Isaac Watts, peer of\nall English hymnists, was already tuning his lyre of many strings.\nPsalmody was beginning to yield to hymnody.\n\n\n\n\n The Pearl of English Hymnody\n\n\n When I survey the wondrous cross\n On which the Prince of glory died,\n My richest gain I count but loss,\n And pour contempt on all my pride.\n\n Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,\n Save in the death of Christ, my God;\n All the vain things that charm me most,\n I sacrifice them to His blood.\n\n See, from His head, His hands, His feet,\n Sorrow and love flow mingled down!\n Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,\n Or thorns compose so rich a crown!\n\n Were the whole realm of nature mine,\n That were a tribute far too small;\n Love so amazing, so divine,\n Demands my soul, my life, my all.\n\n Isaac Watts, 1707.\n\n\n\n\n ISAAC WATTS, FATHER OF ENGLISH HYMNODY\n\n\nBy universal consent the title, \"Father of English Hymnody,\" is bestowed\nupon Isaac Watts. English hymns had been written before the time of\nWatts, notably the beautiful classics of Ken and Addison; but it remained\nfor the genius of Watts to break the iron rule of psalmody in the\nReformed Church which had continued uninterrupted since the days of\nCalvin.\n\nWatts was born in Southampton, England, July 17, 1674. His father was a\n\"dissenter,\" and twice was imprisoned for his religious views. This was\nduring the time when Isaac was still a baby, and the mother often carried\nthe future poet in her arms when she went to visit her husband in prison.\n\nWhen Isaac grew up, a wealthy man offered to give him a university\neducation if he would consent to become a minister in the Established\nChurch. This he refused to do, but prepared instead for the Independent\nministry.\n\nEarly in life young Watts had revealed signs of poetic genius. As a boy\nof seven years he had amused his parents with his rhymes. As he grew\nolder he became impatient with the wretched paraphrases of the Psalms\nthen in use in the Reformed churches. These views were shared generally\nby those who possessed a discriminating taste in poetry. \"Scandalous\ndoggerel\" was the term applied by Samuel Wesley, father of the famous\nWesley brothers, to the versified Psalms of Sternhold and Hopkins, who\nhad published the most popular psalm-book of the day.\n\nWhen young Watts ventured to voice his displeasure over the psalm-singing\nin his father's church in Southampton, one of the church officers\nretorted: \"Give us something better, young man.\" Although he was only\neighteen years old at the time, he accepted the challenge and wrote his\nfirst hymn, which was sung at the following Sunday evening services. The\nfirst stanza seems prophetic of his future career:\n\n Behold the glories of the Lamb\n Amidst His Father's throne;\n Prepare new honors for His Name,\n And songs before unknown.\n\nThe hymn met with such favorable reception that the youthful poet was\nencouraged to write others, and within the next two years he produced\nnearly all of the 210 hymns that constituted his famous collection,\n\"Hymns and Spiritual Songs,\" published in 1707. This was the first real\nhymn-book in the English language.\n\nTwelve years later he published his \"Psalms of David,\" a metrical version\nof the Psalter, but, as he himself stated, rendered \"in the language of\nthe New Testament, and applied to the Christian state and worship.\"\nIndeed, the Psalms were given such a distinctively Christian flavor that\ntheir Old Testament origin is often overlooked. Witness, for example, the\nopening lines of his rendition of the Seventy-second Psalm:\n\n Jesus shall reign where'er the sun\n Does his successive journeys run.\n\nIn addition to being a preacher and a poet, Watts was an ardent student\nof theology and philosophy, and wrote several notable books. Always frail\nin health from childhood, his intense studies finally resulted in\ncompletely shattering his constitution, and he was compelled to give up\nhis parish.\n\nDuring this period of physical distress, the stricken poet was invited to\nbecome a guest for a week in the home of Sir Thomas Abney, an intimate\nfriend and admirer. The friendship continued to grow, and inasmuch as\nWatts did not improve in health, he was urged to remain. He finally so\nendeared himself to the Abney family that they refused to let him go, and\nhe who had come to spend a week remained for the rest of his\nlife--thirty-six years!\n\nThe great hymnist died on November 25, 1748, and was buried at Bunhill\nFields, London, near the graves of John Bunyan and Daniel Defoe. A\nmonument to his memory was placed in Westminster Abbey, the highest honor\nthat can be bestowed upon an Englishman.\n\nTo Isaac Watts we are indebted for some of our most sublime hymns. \"When\nI survey the wondrous cross\" has been named by Matthew Arnold as the\nfinest hymn in the English language, and most critics concur in the\njudgment. Certainly it is one of the most beautiful. John Julian, the\nnoted hymnologist, declares that it must be classified with the four\nhymns that stand at the head of all English hymns.\n\nOther hymns of Watts continue to hold their grip on the Christian Church\nafter the passing of two centuries. No Christmas service seems complete\nwithout singing his beautiful paraphrase of the ninety-eighth Psalm, \"Joy\nto the world, the Lord is come!\" Another hymn, \"O God, our help in ages\npast,\" based on the ninetieth Psalm, is indispensable at New Year's time.\nThen there is the majestic hymn of worship, \"Before Jehovah's awful\nthrone,\" as well as the appealing Lenten hymn, \"Alas, and did my Saviour\nbleed?\" And who has not been stirred by the challenge in \"Am I a soldier\nof the cross?\" Other hymns by Watts include such favorites as \"There is a\nland of pure delight,\" \"Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,\" \"O that the\nLord would guide my ways,\" \"My dear Redeemer and my Lord,\" \"How beauteous\nare their feet,\" \"Come, sound His praise abroad,\" \"My soul, repeat His\npraise,\" \"O bless the Lord, my soul,\" \"Lord of the worlds above,\" \"Lord,\nwe confess our numerous faults,\" \"In vain we seek for peace with God,\"\n\"Not all the blood of beasts,\" \"So let our lips and lives express,\" \"The\nLord my Shepherd is,\" and \"When I can read my title clear.\"\n\nAlthough Watts never married, he deeply loved little children, and he is\nthe author of some of the most famous nursery rhymes in the English\nlanguage. The profound genius that produced \"O God, our help in ages in\npast\" also understood how to appeal to the childish mind by means of such\nhappy little jingles as, \"How doth the little busy bee\" and \"Let dogs\ndelight to bark and bite,\" as well as by the exquisite cradle-song:\n\n Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber;\n Holy angels guard thy bed;\n Heavenly blessings without number\n Gently falling on thy head.\n\n Sleep, my babe, thy food and raiment,\n House and home, thy friends provide;\n All without thy care or payment,\n All thy wants are well supplied.\n\n How much better thou'rt attended\n Than the Son of God could be,\n When from heaven He descended,\n And became a child like thee.\n\n Soft and easy is thy cradle,\n Coarse and hard thy Saviour lay,\n When His birthplace was a stable,\n And His softest bed the hay.\n\n\n\n\n Seeking the Heavenly Prize\n\n\n Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve,\n And press with vigor on;\n A heavenly race demands thy zeal,\n And an immortal crown.\n\n A cloud of witnesses around\n Hold thee in full survey:\n Forget the steps already trod,\n And onward urge thy way.\n\n 'Tis God's all-animating voice\n That calls thee from on high;\n 'Tis His own hand presents the prize\n To thine aspiring eye:\n\n That prize with peerless glories bright\n Which shall new luster boast,\n When victors' wreaths and monarchs' gems\n Shall blend in common dust.\n\n Blest Saviour, introduced by Thee,\n Have I my race begun;\n And, crowned with victory, at Thy feet\n I'll lay my honors down.\n\n Philip Doddridge (1702-1751).\n\n\n\n\n DODDRIDGE: PREACHER, TEACHER AND HYMNIST\n\n\nPhilip Doddridge was one of England's gifted evangelical preachers. Like\nthe Wesley brothers, he came from a large family. While there were\nnineteen children in the Wesley family, Philip Doddridge was the last of\ntwenty children.\n\nThe religious background of the Doddridge family was significant.\nAlthough his father was an oil merchant in London, his grandfather had\nbeen one of the Independent ministers under the Commonwealth who were\nejected in 1662. Both of his parents were pious people, and Philip, who\nwas born June 26, 1702, was brought up in a religious atmosphere.\n\nHe was such a delicate child that his life was despaired of almost from\nbirth. His parents died while he was yet quite young, but kind friends\ncared for the orphan boy and sent him to school.\n\nBecause he revealed such unusual gifts as a student, the Duchess of\nBedford offered to give him a university training on condition that he\nwould become a minister of the Church of England. This, however, Philip\ndeclined to do, and he entered a nonconformist seminary instead.\n\nAt the age of twenty-one years he was ordained as pastor of the\nIndependent congregation at Kibworth, England. Six years later he began\nhis real life work at Northampton, where he served as the head of a\ntheological training school and preached in the local congregation.\n\nTo this school came young men from all parts of the British Isles and\neven from the continent. Most of them prepared to become ministers in the\nIndependent Church. Doddridge himself was practically the whole faculty.\nAmong his subjects were Hebrew, Greek, Algebra, Philosophy, Trigonometry,\nLogic, and theological branches.\n\nAs a hymn-writer Doddridge ranks among the foremost in England. He was a\nfriend and admirer of Isaac Watts, whose hymns at this time had set all\nEngland singing. In some respects his lyrics resemble those of Watts.\nAlthough they do not possess the strength and majesty found in the\nlatter's hymns, they have more personal warmth and tenderness. Witness,\nfor instance, the children's hymn:\n\n See Israel's gentle Shepherd stand\n With all-engaging charms;\n Hark! how He calls the tender lambs,\n And folds them in His arms.\n\nNote also the spiritual joy that is reflected in the hymn so often used\nat confirmation:\n\n O happy day, that stays my choice\n On Thee, my Saviour and my God!\n Well may this glowing heart rejoice,\n And tell its raptures all abroad.\n\nSomething of Doddridge's own confiding trust in God is expressed in the\nbeautiful lines:\n\n Shine on our souls, eternal God!\n With rays of beauty shine;\n O let Thy favor crown our days,\n And all their round be Thine.\n\n Did we not raise our hands to Thee,\n Our hands might toil in vain;\n Small joy success itself could give,\n If Thou Thy love restrain.\n\nOther noted hymns by Doddridge include such gems as \"Hark, the glad\nsound, the Saviour comes,\" \"Great God, we sing that mighty hand,\" \"O\nFount of good, to own Thy love,\" and \"Father of all, Thy care we bless.\"\n\nDoddridge wrote about four hundred hymns. Most of them were composed for\nuse in his own congregation in connection with his sermons. None of them\nwas published during his life-time, but manuscript copies were widely\ncirculated among the Independent congregations in England. The fact that\nabout one-third of his hymns are still in common use on both sides of the\nAtlantic bears witness of their unusual merit.\n\nThough Doddridge struggled under the burden of feeble health, his life\nwas filled with arduous duties. When he was only forty-eight years old it\nbecame apparent that he had fallen a victim to tubercular infection. He\nwas advised to leave England for Lisbon, Portugal. Lacking funds for the\nvoyage, friends in all parts of England came to his aid. The journey was\nundertaken, but on October 26, 1751, he died at Lisbon.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn of the Ages\n\n\n Jesus, Lover of my soul,\n Let me to Thy bosom fly,\n While the nearer waters roll,\n While the tempest still is high!\n Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,\n Till the storm of life is past;\n Safe into the haven guide:\n O receive my soul at last!\n\n Other refuge have I none;\n Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;\n Leave, ah, leave me not alone,\n Still support and comfort me!\n All my trust in Thee is stayed,\n All my help from Thee I bring:\n Cover my defenseless head\n With the shadow of Thy wing.\n\n Thou, O Christ, art all I want;\n More than all in Thee I find.\n Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,\n Heal the sick, and lead the blind.\n Just and holy is Thy name,\n I am all unrighteousness;\n False and full of sin I am,\n Thou art full of truth and grace.\n\n Plenteous grace with Thee is found,\n Grace to cover all my sin;\n Let the healing streams abound,\n Make and keep me pure within.\n Thou of life the Fountain art,\n Freely let me take of Thee:\n Spring Thou up within my heart,\n Rise to all eternity.\n\n Charles Wesley, 1740.\n\n\n\n\n WESLEY, THE SWEET BARD OF METHODISM\n\n\nEvery great religious movement has witnessed an outburst of song. This\nwas particularly true of the Lutheran Reformation in Germany and other\nlands and of the Methodist revival in England. John and Charles Wesley,\nlike Martin Luther, understood something of the value of sacred song in\nimpressing religious truths upon the hearts and minds of men. While John\nWesley was undoubtedly a preacher of marvelous spiritual power, the real\nsecret of the success of the Wesleyan movement more likely must be sought\nin the sublime hymns written by his brother Charles.\n\nWith Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley holds the foremost place in the realm of\nEnglish hymnody. No less than 6,500 hymns are said to have been written\nby this \"sweet bard of Methodism.\" Naturally they are not all of the\nhighest order, but it is surprising how many of them rise to real poetic\nexcellence. Of the 770 hymns in the Wesleyan Hymn Book, 623 are from the\npen of Charles Wesley!\n\nWesley did not write hymns merely as a duty, nor yet as a pastime. His\nsoul seemed filled with music and poetry, and when his genius became\ntouched by the divine spark of Christ's Spirit, it burst into full flame.\nIt has been said of Franz Schubert that \"he had to write music.\" The same\nwas true of Charles Wesley. When his soul was full of song, he had to\ngive expression to it by writing his immortal hymns. The inspiration came\nto him under all sorts of conditions. Some of his hymns were written on\nhorseback, others in a stage-coach or on the deck of a vessel. Even as he\nwas lying on his deathbed, at the age of eighty years, he dictated his\nlast hymn to his faithful and devoted wife. It begins with the words, \"In\nage and feebleness extreme.\"\n\nCharles Wesley was the next to the youngest of nineteen children born to\nRev. Samuel Wesley and his remarkable wife Susannah. The father, who was\na clergyman in the Church of England, possessed more than ordinary\nliterary gifts. He is the author of at least one hymn that has survived\nthe passing of time, \"Behold, the Saviour of mankind.\" The mother\npresided over the rectory at Epworth, where both of the distinguished\nsons were born, and also looked after the education of the younger\nchildren of the large family. Concerning this very unusual mother and the\nspiritual influence she exerted over her children, volumes have been\nwritten.\n\nPoverty and other tribulations descended upon the Epworth rectory like\nthe afflictions of Job. The crowning disaster came in 1709, when the\nWesley home was completely destroyed by fire. John, who was only six\nyears old at the time, was left behind in the confusion and when the\nentire house was aflame he was seen to appear at a second-story window.\nThe agonized father fell upon his knees and implored God to save his\nchild. Immediately a neighbor mounted the shoulders of another man and\nmanaged to seize the boy just as the roof fell in. Thus was spared the\nchild who was destined to become the leader of one of the greatest\nspiritual movements in the Christian Church.\n\nWhile John and Charles were students at Oxford University, they became\ndissatisfied with the spiritual conditions existing among the students.\nSoon they formed an organization devoted to spiritual exercises. Because\nof their strict rules and precise methods, they were nicknamed \"the\nMethodists,\" a name that afterwards became attached to their reform\nmovement.\n\nThe hymns of Charles Wesley are so numerous that only a few of the more\noutstanding can be mentioned here. \"Hark! the herald angels sing,\" \"Love\ndivine, all love excelling\" and \"Jesus, Lover of my soul\" form a\ntriumvirate of hymns never surpassed by a single author. Add to these\nsuch hymns as \"A charge to keep I have,\" \"Arise, my soul, arise,\"\n\"Christ, whose glory fills the sky,\" \"Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,\"\n\"Soldiers of Christ, arise,\" \"Hail the day that sees Him rise,\" and\n\"Suffering Son of Man, be near me,\" and it will readily be understood why\nthe name of Charles Wesley is graven in such large letters in the hymnody\nof the Christian Church.\n\n\"Jesus, Lover of my soul\" is generally recognized as the finest hymn of\nWesley. This is all the more remarkable since it was one of the earliest\nwritten by him. It was first published in 1740 in a collection of 139\nhymns known as \"Hymns and Sacred Poems, by John and Charles Wesley.\" This\nwas at the beginning of the Wesleyan movement, which soon began to spread\nlike fire all over England.\n\nThere are several stories extant as to the origin of the hymn. The most\ntrustworthy of these tells how the author was deeply perplexed by\nspiritual difficulties one day, when he noticed through his open study\nwindow a little song bird pursued by a hungry hawk. Presently the bird\nfluttered exhausted through the window and straight into the arms of\nWesley, where it found a safe refuge. Pondering on this unusual incident,\nthe thought came to Wesley that, in like manner, the soul of man must\nflee to Christ in doubts and fears. Then he took up his pen and wrote:\n\n Jesus, Lover of my soul,\n Let me to Thy bosom fly.\n\nThe reference to the \"tempest\" and the \"storm of life\" may have been\nprompted by the memory of an earlier experience, when he and his brother\nJohn were on their way to the colony of Georgia on a missionary journey.\nIt was in the year 1735 the brothers formed a friendship with a band of\nMoravians who were sailing on the same ship for America. During the\ncrossing a terrible tempest was encountered and for a while it was feared\nthe ship would sink. While all of the other passengers were filled with\nterror, the Wesleys were impressed by the calmness and courage of the\nMoravians, who sang hymns in the midst of the raging storm.\n\nSeeking for a reason for their spiritual fortitude, the brothers found\nthat the Moravians seemed to possess a positive certainty of salvation\nthrough faith in Jesus Christ. The Wesleys also made the sad discovery\nthat they themselves did not really possess this assurance, but had been\ntrying to work out their salvation by methods of their own. John Wesley\nlater made the confession that he and his brother had gone to Georgia to\nconvert the people there, whereas they themselves had need to be\nconverted!\n\nUpon their return to London the brothers fell in with other Moravians,\nand through them they became familiar with Luther's teachings. Charles\ncame to a saving faith in Christ during a severe illness, and a week\nlater his brother had a similar spiritual experience. It was on May 24,\n1738, that John Wesley attended a meeting in Aldersgate Street, where\nsome one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. Then\nfor the first time light dawned on his soul, and he found peace with God\nthrough Christ.\n\nSoon afterwards John Wesley left for Halle, Germany, the seat of the\nPietist movement, in order to become more familiar with the teachings of\nLuther and the evangelical methods of the Pietists. At Halle he also\nbecame deeply imbued with missionary zeal. Upon his return to England he\nlaunched, with John Whitefield, the greatest spiritual movement his\ncountry had ever known. Revivals flamed everywhere. No buildings were\nlarge enough to house the crowds that gathered to hear the evangelists,\nand, because the English clergy were hostile to the movement, most of the\nmeetings were held in the open air.\n\nCharles at first aided in preaching, but eventually devoted his time\nmainly to hymns. It is estimated that John Wesley held no less than forty\nthousand preaching services, and traveled nearly a quarter of a million\nmiles. It was he who said, \"The world is my parish.\" John wrote some\noriginal hymns, but his translations of German hymns are more important.\nWe are indebted to him for the English versions of Paul Gerhardt's\n\"Commit thou all thy griefs,\" Tersteegen's \"Thou hidden love of God whose\nheight,\" Freylinghausen's \"O Jesus, Source of calm repose,\" Zinzendorf's\n\"Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness,\" and Scheffler's \"Thee will I love,\nMy Strength, my Tower.\"\n\nCharles Wesley died March 29, 1788, after fifty years of service to the\nChurch. The day before he was taken ill, he preached in City Road chapel,\nLondon. The hymn before the sermon was Watts' \"I'll praise my Maker,\nwhile I've breath.\" The following evening, although very sick, he amazed\nhis friends by singing the entire hymn with a strong voice. On the night\nof his death he tried several times to repeat the hymn, but could only\nsay, \"I'll praise--I'll praise--,\" and with the praise of his Maker on\nhis lips, he went home to God. John Wesley survived his brother three\nyears, entering his eternal rest on March 2, 1791. The text of his last\nsermon was, \"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.\"\n\nWhether Charles Wesley or Isaac Watts should be accorded first place\namong English hymnists has been a subject of much dispute. The fact is\nthat each occupies a unique position, and the one complements the other.\nWhile Watts dwells on the awful majesty and glory of God in sublime\nphrases, Wesley touches the very hem of Christ's garment in loving\nadoration and praise. Dr. Breed compares the two in the following\nstriking manner:\n\n\"Watts is more reverential; Wesley more loving. Watts is stronger; Wesley\nsweeter. Watts appeals profoundly to the intellect; Wesley takes hold of\nthe heart. Watts will continue to sing for the Pauls and Peters of the\nChurch; Wesley for the Thomases and the Johns. Where both are so great it\nwould be idle to attempt to settle their priority. Let us only be\ngrateful that God in His gracious providence has given both to the Church\nto voice the praises of various classes.\"\n\nHenry Ward Beecher uttered one of the most beautiful of all tributes to\n\"Jesus, Lover of my soul\" when he said: \"I would rather have written that\nhymn of Wesley's than to have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on\nthe earth. It is more glorious. It has more power in it. I would rather\nbe the author of that hymn than to hold the wealth of the richest man in\nNew York. He will die. He _is_ dead, and does not know it.... But that\nhymn will go singing until the last trump brings forth the angel band;\nand then, I think, it will mount up on some lip to the very presence of\nGod.\"\n\nGeorge Duffield, author of \"Stand up, stand up for Jesus,\" called\nWesley's lyric \"the hymn of the ages.\"\n\nNo one will ever know how much help and consolation it has brought to\nsouls in affliction. Allan Sutherland tells of the following pathetic\nincident:\n\n\"On an intensely warm day, as I stood on the corner of a sun-baked street\nin Philadelphia, waiting for a car to take me to the cool retreats of\nFairmount Park, I heard a low, quavering voice singing, with\ninexpressible sweetness, 'Jesus, Lover of my soul.' Looking up to an open\nwindow whence the sound came, I saw on the sill a half-withered plant--a\npathetic oasis of green in a desert of brick and mortar--and resting\ntenderly and caressingly upon it was an emaciated hand. I could not see\nthe person to whom the voice and hand belonged, but that was\nunnecessary--the story was all too clearly revealed: I knew that within\nthat close, uncomfortable room a human soul was struggling with the great\nproblem of life and death, and was slowly but surely reaching its\nsolution; I knew that in spite of her lowly surroundings her life was\ngoing out serenely and triumphantly. I shall never forget the grave,\npathetic pleading in the frail young voice as these words were borne to\nme on the oppressive air:\n\n Other refuge have I none;\n Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;\n Leave, ah, leave me not alone,\n Still support and comfort me!\"\n\n\n\n\n Another Hymn of the Ages\n\n\n Rock of Ages, cleft for me,\n Let me hide myself in Thee:\n Let the water and the blood\n From Thy riven side which flowed\n Be of sin the perfect cure,\n Save me, Lord, and make me pure.\n\n Not the labors of my hands\n Can fulfil Thy Law's demands;\n Could my zeal no respite know,\n Could my tears forever flow,\n All for sin could not atone;\n Thou must save, and Thou alone.\n\n Nothing in my hand I bring,\n Simply to Thy cross I cling;\n Naked, come to Thee for dress;\n Helpless, look to Thee for grace;\n Foul, I to the Fountain fly:\n Wash me, Saviour, or I die!\n\n When I draw this fleeting breath,\n When my eyelids close in death,\n When I soar to worlds unknown,\n See Thee on Thy judgment throne,\n Rock of Ages, cleft for me,\n Let me hide myself in Thee.\n\n August Toplady, 1776.\n\n\n\n\n A GREAT HYMN THAT GREW OUT OF A QUARREL\n\n\nAlthough Isaac Watts' beautiful hymn, \"When I survey the wondrous cross,\"\nis regarded by most critics as the finest hymn in the English language,\nToplady's \"Rock of Ages\" holds the distinction of being the most popular.\nPerhaps no hymn ever written has so gripped the hearts of Christians of\nall communions as this noble hymn.\n\nA British magazine once invited its readers to submit a list of the\nhundred English hymns that stood highest in their esteem. A total of\n3,500 persons responded, and \"Rock of Ages\" was named first by 3,215.\n\nWe have tried the same experiment with a group of Bible students, and\n\"Rock of Ages\" easily headed the list.\n\nAugustus Montague Toplady, the writer of this hymn, was born on November\n4, 1740, at Farnham, England. His father, a major in the English army,\nwas killed the following year at the siege of Carthagena. The widowed\nmother later removed to Ireland, where her son was educated at Trinity\nCollege, Dublin. It was during this period of his life that Augustus,\nthen sixteen years of age, chanced to attend an evangelistic service held\nin a barn. The preacher was an unlettered layman, but his message so\ngripped the heart of the lad that he determined then and there to give\nhis heart to God. Of this experience Toplady afterward wrote:\n\n\"Strange that I who had so long sat under the means of grace in England\nshould be brought right unto God in an obscure part of Ireland, amidst a\nhandful of people met together in a barn, and by the ministry of one who\ncould hardly spell his own name. Surely it was the Lord's doing and is\nmarvelous.\"\n\nToplady was ordained at the age of twenty-two as a minister of the Church\nof England. He was frail of body, and after some years he was stricken\nwith consumption. It was while fighting the ravages of this disease that\nhe wrote his famous hymn, two years before his death.\n\nThe hymn first appeared in the March issue of the _Gospel Magazine_, of\nwhich Toplady was editor, in the year 1776. It was appended to a curious\narticle in which the author attempted to show by mathematical computation\nhow dreadful is the sum total of sins committed by a man during a\nlifetime, and how impossible it is for a sinner to redeem himself from\nthis debt of guilt. But Christ, who is the sinner's refuge, has paid the\nentire debt. It was this glorious thought that inspired him to sing:\n\n Rock of Ages, cleft for me,\n Let me hide myself in Thee.\n\nFor some years John Wesley, the great founder of Methodism, and Toplady\nhad been engaged in a theological dispute. Toplady was a confirmed\nCalvinist and was intolerant of Wesley's Arminian views. Both men were\nintemperate in their language and hurled unseemly and sometimes bitter\ninvectives at each other. Wesley characterized Toplady as a\n\"chimney-sweep\" and \"a lively coxcomb.\" Toplady retorted by calling\nWesley \"Pope John\" and declaring that his forehead was \"petrified\" and\n\"impervious to a blush.\" There are reasons for believing that the article\nin the _Gospel Magazine_ by Toplady to which we have alluded was for the\npurpose of refuting Wesley's teachings, and that \"Rock of Ages\" was\nwritten at the conclusion of the article as an effective way of clinching\nthe argument.\n\nIn our day, when we find \"Rock of Ages\" on one page of our hymnals and\nCharles Wesley's \"Jesus, Lover of my soul,\" on the next, it is hard to\nunderstand the uncharitable spirit that existed between these servants of\nChrist. Perhaps, had they really understood each other, they were more in\naccord than they suspected.\n\nNevertheless, God is able to use the most imperfect of human instruments\nfor His praise, and surely \"Rock of Ages\" has been the means of bringing\nmultitudes to God through Christ. Its strength lies undoubtedly in the\nclear and simple manner in which it sets forth the glorious truth that we\nare saved by grace alone, through the merits of Christ. Even a child can\nunderstand the meaning of the words,\n\n Nothing in my hand I bring,\n Simply to Thy cross I cling.\n\nOr these,\n\n Not the labors of my hands\n Can fulfil Thy Law's demands;\n Could my zeal no respite know,\n Could my tears forever flow,\n All for sin could not atone;\n Thou must save, and Thou alone.\n\nIn this comforting and triumphant faith Toplady himself passed into glory\nin his thirty-eighth year. A few hours before his death he exclaimed: \"My\nheart beats every day stronger and stronger for glory. Sickness is no\naffliction, pain no curse, death itself no dissolution.\" His last words\nwere: \"My prayers are all converted into praises.\"\n\nDuring his illness some friends had expressed the hope that he might soon\nbe restored. Toplady shook his head.\n\n\"No mortal man can live,\" he said, \"after the glories which God has\nmanifested to my soul.\"\n\nAt another time he told how he \"enjoyed a heaven already in his soul,\"\nand that his spiritual experiences were so exalted that he could ask for\nnothing except a continuation of them.\n\nBefore his death Toplady had requested that he be buried beneath the\ngallery over against the pulpit of Totenham Court Chapel. Strangely\nenough, this building was intimately associated with the early history of\nMethodism. It was built by Whitefield, and here also Wesley preached\nWhitefield's funeral sermon. Perhaps it was Toplady's way of expressing\nthe hope that all the bitterness and rancor attending his controversy\nwith Wesley might be buried with him.\n\n\"Rock of Ages\" has been translated into almost every known language, and\nto all peoples it seems to bring the same wondrous appeal. An old Chinese\nwoman was trying to do something of \"merit\" in the eyes of her heathen\ngods by digging a well twenty-five feet deep and fifteen in diameter. She\nwas converted to Christianity, and when she was eighty years old, she\nheld out the crippled hands with which she had labored all her life and\nsang: \"Nothing in my hands I bring.\"\n\nA missionary to India once sought the aid of a Hindu to translate the\nhymn into one of the numerous dialects of India. The result was not so\nhappy. The opening words were:\n\n Very old stone, split for my benefit,\n Let me get under one of your fragments.\n\nThis is a fair example of the difference between poetry and prose. The\ntranslator was faithful to the idea, but how common-place and unfortunate\nare his expressions when compared with the language of the original!\n\n\n\n\n The Coronation Hymn\n\n\n All hail the power of Jesus' Name!\n Let angels prostrate fall;\n Bring forth the royal diadem,\n And crown Him Lord of all.\n\n Ye seed of Israel's chosen race,\n Ye ransomed from the fall,\n Hail Him, who saves you by His grace,\n And crown Him Lord of all.\n\n Hail Him, ye heirs of David's line,\n Whom David Lord did call;\n The Lord incarnate, Man divine,\n And crown Him Lord of all.\n\n Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget\n The wormwood and the gall;\n Go, spread your trophies at His feet,\n And crown Him Lord of all.\n\n Let every kindred, every tribe,\n On this terrestrial ball\n To Him all majesty ascribe,\n And crown Him Lord of all.\n\n O that with yonder sacred throng\n We at His feet may fall!\n We'll join the everlasting song,\n And crown Him Lord of all.\n\n Edward Perronet, 1779.\n\n\n\n\n THE BIRD OF A SINGLE SONG\n\n\nSome men gain fame through a long life of work and achievement; others\nthrough a single notable deed. The latter is true in a very remarkable\nsense of Edward Perronet, author of the Church's great coronation hymn,\n\"All hail the power of Jesus' Name.\"\n\n\"Perronet, bird of a single song, but O how sweet!\" is the charming\ntribute of Bishop Fess in referring to this inspired hymn and its author.\n\nAlthough Perronet was a man of more than ordinary ability, his name\nprobably would have been lost to posterity had he not written the\ncoronation hymn. An associate of the Wesleys for many years, Perronet\nalso wrote three volumes of sacred poems, some of unusual merit. All of\nthem, however, have been practically forgotten except his one immortal\nhymn. So long as there are Christians on earth, it will continue to be\nsung, and after that--in heaven!\n\nPerronet came from a distinguished line of French Protestants who had\nfound refuge in England during times of religious persecution in their\nhomeland. His father, Rev. Vincent Perronet, was vicar of Shoreham. Both\nfather and son, though ardent supporters of the Established Church,\nbecame intensely interested in the great evangelical revival under\nWhitefield and the Wesleys. At one time young Perronet traveled with John\nWesley. Much opposition had been stirred up against the Wesleyan\nmovement, and in some places the preachers were threatened by mobs.\nConcerning these experiences, Wesley makes the following notation in his\ndiary:\n\n\"From Rockdale we went to Bolton, and soon found that the Rockdale lions\nwere lambs in comparison with those of Bolton. Edward Perronet was thrown\ndown and rolled in mud and mire. Stones were hurled and windows broken.\"\n\nOn another occasion it is recorded that Wesley wanted to hear Perronet\npreach. The author of our hymn, however, seems to have been somewhat\nreluctant about preaching in the presence of the great reformer. Wesley,\nnevertheless, without consulting Perronet, announced in church that the\nyoung man would occupy the pulpit on the following morning. Perronet said\nnothing, but on the morrow he mounted the pulpit and explained that he\nhad not consented to preach. \"However,\" he added, \"I shall deliver the\nbest sermon that has ever been preached on earth,\" whereupon he read the\nSermon on the Mount from beginning to end, adding not a word of comment!\n\n\"All hail the power of Jesus' Name\" has been translated into almost every\nlanguage where Christianity is known, and wherever it is sung it seems to\ngrip human hearts. One of the most remarkable stories of the power of\nthis hymn is related by Rev. E. P. Scott, a missionary to India. Having\nlearned of a distant savage tribe in the interior to whom the gospel had\nnot yet been preached, this missionary, despite the warnings of his\nfriends, packed his baggage and, taking his violin, set out on his\nperilous venture. After traveling several days, he suddenly came upon a\nlarge party of the savages who surrounded him and pointed their spears at\nhim.\n\nBelieving death to be near, the missionary nevertheless took out his\nviolin and with a prayer to God began to sing \"All hail the power of\nJesus' Name!\" He closed his eyes as he sang, expecting every moment to be\npierced through with the threatening spears. When he reached the stanza,\n\"Let every kindred, every tribe,\" he opened his eyes. What was his\nsurprise to see every spear lowered, and many of the savages moved to\ntears!\n\nHe remained for two years and a half, preaching the story of redemption\nand leading many of the natives to Jesus. When he was about to return to\nAmerica on furlough, they pleaded, \"O missionary, come back to us again!\"\nHe did so, and finally passed away in the midst of these people who had\nlearned to love the man who had brought them the gospel of Christ.\n\nIt is interesting to know that, while the people of both England and\nAmerica prize this hymn very highly, they sing it to different melodies.\nThe tune used in America is called \"Coronation\" and was composed by a\ncarpenter of Charlestown, Mass., by the name of Oliver Holden. This man\nwas very fond of music and spent his spare time in playing a little organ\non which he composed his tunes. The organ may still be seen in Boston.\n\nThus an English minister and an American carpenter have united in giving\nthe world an immortal hymn.\n\nPerronet died January 2, 1792. His last words were:\n\n \"Glory to God in the height of His divinity!\n Glory to God in the depth of His humanity!\n Glory to God in His all-sufficiency!\n Into His hands I commend my spirit.\"\n\nTwo other hymn-writers who, like Perronet, were associated with the\nWesleyan movement may be mentioned in this connection. They were John\nCennick and William Williams. Like Perronet, too, each was the author of\none great hymn, and through that hymn their names have been preserved to\nposterity.\n\nCennick, who was of Bohemian ancestry, first met John Wesley in 1739. Of\nthat meeting Wesley has the following notation in his diary: \"On Friday,\nMarch 1739, I came to Reading, where I found a young man who had in some\nmeasure known the powers of the world to come. I spent the evening with\nhim and a few of his serious friends, and it pleased God much to\nstrengthen and comfort them.\"\n\nFor a while Cennick assisted Wesley as a lay preacher, but in 1741 he\nforsook the Methodist movement on account of Wesley's \"free grace\"\ndoctrines and organized a society of his own along Calvinistic lines.\nLater he joined himself to John Whitefield as an evangelist, but finally\nhe went over to the Moravians, in which communion he labored abundantly\nuntil his death in 1755 at the early age of thirty-seven years.\n\nTo Cennick we are indebted for the majestic hymn on the theme of Christ's\nsecond coming, \"Lo! He comes, with clouds descending.\" James King, in his\n\"Anglican Hymnology,\" gives this hymn third place among the hymns of the\nAnglican Church, it being excelled in his estimation only by Bishop Ken's\n\"All praise to Thee, my God, this night\" and Wesley's \"Hark! the herald\nangels sing.\" Cennick has also bequeathed to the Church the lovely hymn,\n\"Children of the heavenly King.\" Though he wrote and published many more\nhymns, they are mostly of an inferior order.\n\nWilliams, a Welshman by birth, has also left a hymn that has gone singing\ndown through the centuries. It is the rugged and stirring hymn that sets\nforth in such striking imagery the experiences of the Israelites in the\nwilderness, \"Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah.\"\n\nWilliams, who earned the title of the \"Watts of Wales,\" wrote the hymn\noriginally in Welsh. Of him it has been said that \"He did for Wales what\nWesley and Watts did for England, or what Luther did for Germany.\" His\nfirst hymn-book, \"Hallelujah,\" was published in 1744, when he was only\ntwenty-seven years old.\n\nThe Welsh hymnist originally intended to enter the medical profession,\nbut, after passing through a spiritual crisis, he was ordained as a\ndeacon in the Church of England. Because of his free methods of\nevangelism, he was denied full ordination, and later identified himself\nwith the Wesleyan revival. Like Cennick and Perronet, however, he soon\nforsook the Wesleys, and now we find him a Calvinistic Methodist, having\nadopted Wales as his parish. He was a powerful preacher and an unusual\nsinger, and for forty-five years he carried on a blessed work until, on\nJanuary 11, 1791, he passed through \"the swelling current\" and was landed\n\"safe on Canaan's side.\"\n\n\n\n\n In Praise of the Word of God\n\n\n Father of Mercies, in Thy Word\n What endless glory shines!\n Forever be Thy Name adored\n For these celestial lines.\n\n Here the Redeemer's welcome voice\n Spreads heavenly peace around;\n And life and everlasting joys\n Attend the blissful sound.\n\n O may these heavenly pages be\n My ever dear delight;\n And still new beauties may I see,\n And still increasing light.\n\n Divine Instructor, gracious Lord,\n Be Thou forever near;\n Teach me to love Thy sacred Word,\n And view my Saviour there.\n\n Anne Steele, 1760.\n\n\n\n\n ENGLAND'S FIRST WOMAN HYMNIST\n\n\nWhile Isaac Watts was working on his immortal version of \"Psalms of\nDavid,\" a baby girl was born to a Baptist minister at Broughton, fifteen\nmiles away. The baby was Anne Steele, destined to become England's first\nwoman hymn-writer. This was in 1716.\n\nHer father, who was a merchant as well as a minister, served the church\nat Broughton for sixty years, the greater part without pay. The mother\ndied when Anne was only a babe of three years. From childhood the future\nhymnist was delicate in health, and in 1735 she suffered a hip injury\nwhich made her practically an invalid for life.\n\nThe hardest blow, however, came in 1737, when her lover, Robert Elscourt,\nwas drowned on the day before he and Anne were to have been married. The\ngrief-stricken young woman with heroic faith nevertheless rose above her\nafflictions and found solace in sacred song. It is believed that her\nfirst hymn, a poem of beautiful resignation, was written at this time:\n\n Father, whate'er of earthly bliss\n Thy sovereign will denies,\n Accepted at Thy throne, let this\n My humble prayer arise:\n\n Give me a calm and thankful heart,\n From every murmur free;\n The blessings of Thy grace impart,\n And make me live to Thee.\n\n Let the sweet hope that Thou art mine\n My life and death attend,\n Thy presence through my journey shine,\n And crown my journey's end.\n\nThat the Lord heard her prayer may be attested by the fact that she\nbecame the greatest hymn-writer the Baptist Church has produced.\nThroughout her life she remained unmarried, living with her father and\nwriting noble hymns. In 1760 her first poems appeared in print under the\npen name of \"Theodosia.\" Her father at this time makes the following\nnotation in his diary: \"This day Nanny sent part of her composition to\nLondon to be printed. I entreat a gracious God, who enabled and stirred\nher up to such a work, to direct it and bless it for the good of many. I\npray God to make it useful, and keep her humble.\" The book proved\nimmensely popular, and the author devoted the profits from its sale to\ncharity.\n\nMiss Steele is the author of 144 hymns and 34 paraphrases of the Psalms.\nThat many of them breathe a spirit of melancholy sadness is not to be\nwondered at, when we consider the circumstances under which they were\nwritten. Although they do not rise to great poetic heights, their\nlanguage is so artless and simple they seem to sing their way into the\nheart of the worshiper. When Trinity Episcopal Church of Boston, in 1808,\nprinted its own hymn-book of 151 hymns, fifty-nine of them, or more than\none-third, were selected from Miss Steele's compositions. The fact that\nso many of them are still found in the hymnals of today is another\ntestimony of their worth.\n\nAmong the more famous hymns from her pen are: \"Father of Mercies, in Thy\nWord,\" \"How helpless guilty nature lies,\" \"Dear Refuge of my weary soul,\"\n\"O Thou whose tender mercy hears,\" \"Thou only Sovereign of my heart,\" and\n\"Thou lovely source of true delight.\"\n\nEngland's pioneer woman hymnist fell asleep in November, 1788, her last\nwords being, \"I know that my Redeemer liveth.\" Her epitaph reads:\n\n Silent the lyre, and dumb the tuneful tongue,\n That sung on earth her great Redeemer's praise;\n But now in heaven she joins the angelic song,\n In more harmonious, more exalted lays.\n\nThe decades during which Miss Steele lived and wrought were remarkable\nfor the number of hymn-writers of her own communion who flourished in\nEngland. In addition to Miss Steele, the Baptist Church produced such\nhymnists as Samuel Medley, Samuel Stennett and John Fawcett. Benjamin\nBeddome also was a prolific writer of this period, but his hymns are not\nof a high order.\n\nMedley lived a dissipated life in the navy until he was severely wounded\nin battle in 1759. The reading of a sermon led to his conversion, and he\nlater became pastor of a Baptist congregation in Liverpool. His most\nfamous hymns are \"O could I speak the matchless worth\" and \"Awake, my\nsoul, to joyful lays.\" Stennett in 1757 succeeded his father as pastor of\na Baptist church in London, where he gained fame as a preacher. His best\nhymns are \"Majestic sweetness sits enthroned\" and \"'Tis finished, so the\nSaviour cried.\" Fawcett was minister of an humble Baptist congregation in\nWainsgate when, in 1772, he received a call to a large London church. He\npreached his farewell sermon and had loaded his household goods on\nwagons, when the tears of his parishioners constrained him to remain. A\nfew days later he wrote the tender lyric, \"Blest be the tie that binds.\"\nAmong his other hymns are \"How precious is the Book divine\" and \"Lord,\ndismiss us with Thy blessing.\"\n\n\n\n\n The Name above All Names\n\n\n How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds\n In a believer's ear!\n It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,\n And drives away his fear.\n\n It makes the wounded spirit whole,\n And calms the troubled breast;\n 'Tis Manna to the hungry soul,\n And to the weary Rest.\n\n Dear Name! the Rock on which I build,\n My Shield and Hiding-place;\n My never-failing Treasury, filled\n With boundless stores of grace.\n\n By Thee my prayers acceptance gain,\n Although with sin defiled:\n Satan accuses me in vain,\n And I am owned a child.\n\n Weak is the effort of my heart,\n And cold my warmest thought;\n But when I see Thee as Thou art,\n I'll praise Thee as I ought.\n\n Till then I would Thy love proclaim\n With every fleeting breath;\n And may the music of Thy Name\n Refresh my soul in death.\n\n John Newton, 1779.\n\n\n\n\n A SLAVE-TRADER WHO WROTE CHRISTIAN LYRICS\n\n\nIn one of England's famous old churches there is a tablet marking the\nlast resting-place of one of its rectors, and on the tablet this epitaph:\n\n\"John Newton, _clerk, once an Infidel and Libertine, a servant of slavers\nin Africa, was, by the rich Mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,\npreserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Faith he had\nlong labored to destroy_.\"\n\nThis inscription, written by Newton himself before his death, tells the\nstrange story of the life of the man who wrote \"How sweet the Name of\nJesus sounds,\" and scores of other beautiful hymns.\n\nNewton was born in London, July 24, 1725. His father was a sea captain.\nHis mother, a deeply pious woman, though frail in health, found her\ngreatest joy in teaching her boy Scripture passages and hymns. When he\nwas only four years old he was able to read the Catechism.\n\nThe faithful mother often expressed the hope to her son that he might\nbecome a minister. However, when the lad was only seven years of age, the\nmother died, and he was left to shift largely for himself. On his 11th\nbirthday he joined his father at sea, and made five voyages to the\nMediterranean. Through the influence of evil companions and the reading\nof infidel literature, he began to live a godless and abandoned life.\n\nBeing pressed into the navy when a war seemed imminent, young Newton\ndeserted. He was captured, however, and flogged at the mast, after which\nhe was degraded.\n\nAt this point his life teems with reckless adventures and strange\nescapes. Falling into the hands of an unscrupulous slave-dealer in\nAfrica, he himself was reduced practically to the abject condition of a\nslave. In his misery he gave himself up to nameless sins. The memory of\nhis mother, however, and the religious truths which she had implanted in\nhis soul as a child gave his conscience no peace.\n\nThe reading of \"The Imitation of Christ,\" by Thomas a Kempis, also\nexerted a profound influence over him, and a terrifying experience in a\nstorm at sea, together with his deliverance from a malignant fever in\nAfrica, served to bring the prodigal as a penitent to the throne of\nmercy.\n\nAfter six years as the captain of a slaveship, during which time Newton\npassed through many severe struggles in trying to find peace with God\nthrough the observance of a strict moral life, he met on his last voyage\na pious captain who helped to bring him to a truer and deeper faith in\nChrist.\n\nFor nine years at Liverpool he was closely associated with Whitefield and\nthe Wesleys, studying the Scriptures in Hebrew and Greek, and\noccasionally preaching at religious gatherings of the dissenters. In 1764\nhe was ordained as curate of Olney, where he formed the famous friendship\nwith the poet William Cowper that gave to the world so many beautiful\nhymns.\n\nIt was at Newton's suggestion that the two undertook to write a\nhymn-book. The famous collection known as \"The Olney Hymns,\" was the\nresult of this endeavor. Of the 349 hymns in this book, Cowper is\ncredited with sixty-six, while Newton wrote the remainder. \"How sweet the\nName of Jesus sounds\" appeared for the first time in this collection. It\nis a hymn of surpassing tenderness, and ranks among the finest in the\nEnglish language.\n\nOther notable hymns, by Newton are: \"Come, my soul, thy suit prepare,\"\n\"Approach, my soul, the mercy-seat,\" \"While with ceaseless course the\nsun,\" \"One there is above all others,\" \"For a season called to part,\"\n\"Safely through another week,\" \"On what has now been sown,\" \"May the\ngrace of Christ our Saviour,\" \"Though troubles assail us, and dangers\naffright,\" \"Day of judgment, day of wonders,\" and \"Glorious things of\nthee are spoken.\"\n\nNewton's life came to a close in London in 1807, after he had served for\ntwenty-eight years as rector of St. Mary Woolnoth. Among his converts\nwere numbered Claudius Buchanan, missionary to the East Indies, and\nThomas Scott, the Bible commentator. In 1805, when his eyesight began to\nfail and he could no longer read his text, his friends advised him to\ncease preaching. His answer was: \"What! shall the old African blasphemer\nstop while he can speak?\"\n\nWhen he was nearly eighty years old it was necessary for a helper to\nstand in the pulpit to help him read his manuscript sermons. One Sunday\nNewton had twice read the words, \"Jesus Christ is precious.\" \"You have\nalready said that twice,\" whispered his helper; \"go on.\" \"John,\" said\nNewton, turning to his assistant in the pulpit, \"I said that twice, and I\nam going to say it again.\" Then the rafters rang as the old preacher\nshouted, \"_Jesus Christ is precious_!\" Newton's whole life may be said to\nbe summed up in the words of one of his appealing hymns:\n\n Amazing grace! how sweet the sound\n That saved a wretch like me!\n I once was lost, but now am found--\n Was blind, but now I see.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn on God's Providence\n\n\n God moves in a mysterious way,\n His wonders to perform:\n He plants His footsteps in the sea,\n And rides upon the storm.\n\n Deep in unfathomable mines\n Of never-failing skill,\n He treasures up His bright designs,\n And works His sovereign will.\n\n Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take:\n The clouds ye so much dread\n Are big with mercy, and shall break\n In blessings on your head.\n\n Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,\n But trust Him for His grace;\n Behind a frowning Providence\n He hides a smiling face.\n\n His purposes will ripen fast,\n Unfolding every hour.\n The bud may have a bitter taste,\n But sweet will be the flower.\n\n Blind unbelief is sure to err,\n And scan His works in vain.\n God is His own interpreter,\n And He will make it plain.\n\n William Cowper, 1774.\n\n\n\n\n AN AFFLICTED POET WHO GLORIFIED GOD\n\n\nPaul once wrote to the Corinthians: \"God chose the weak things of the\nworld, that he might put to shame the things that are strong.\"\n\nIn a very special sense this truth was exemplified in the life of the\npoet William Cowper. If God ever made use of a frail instrument through\nwhich to glorify Himself, He did it in this man. Feeble in health from\nchildhood, with a sensitive, high-strung mind that ever was on the point\nof breaking, he still worked and wrought in such a way that his sad and\nfeverish life certainly was not lived in vain.\n\nCowper was born at Great Berkhamstead, England, in 1731. His father was\nan English clergyman. His mother died when the child was only six years\nold. Even as a youth, he was distressed by frequent mental attacks. He\nonce wrote pathetically: \"The meshes of that fine network, the brain, are\ncomposed of such mere spinner's threads in me that when a long thought\nfinds its way into them it buzzes, and twangs, and bustles about at such\na rate as seems to threaten the whole contexture.\"\n\nIn the previous sketch we related how the famous friendship between the\npoet and John Newton led to the joint publication of \"The Olney Hymns.\"\nNewton's idea in suggesting this project was not merely \"to perpetuate\nthe remembrance of an intimate and endeared friendship,\" as he states in\nthe preface of the noted collection, but also to occupy Cowper's mind,\nwhich already had given signs of approaching madness.\n\nIn 1773, two years after the two friends had begun \"The Olney Hymns,\"\nCowper passed through a mental crisis that almost ended in tragedy.\nObsessed with the idea that it was the divine will that he should offer\nup his life by drowning himself in the Ouse river, the afflicted poet\nordered a post chaise, and instructed the driver to proceed to a certain\nspot near Olney, where he planned to leap into the river. When he reached\nthe place, Cowper was diverted from his purpose when he found a man\nseated at the exact place where he had intended to end his life.\nReturning home, he is said to have thrown himself on his knife, but the\nblade broke. His next attempt was to hang himself, but the rope parted.\n\nAfter his recovery from this dreadful experience, he was so impressed by\nthe realization of God's overruling providence that he was led to write\nthe hymn, \"God moves in a mysterious way.\" It is regarded by many critics\nas the finest hymn ever written on the theme of God's providence. James\nT. Fields declares that to be the author of such a hymn is an achievement\nthat \"angels themselves might envy.\"\n\nThat God had a purpose in sparing the life of the sorely tried man is\nmade clear when we learn that Cowper lived for twenty-seven years after\npassing through this crisis. Although he continued to experience some\ndistressing periods, it was during these years that he wrote some of his\nmost beautiful hymns. Among these are \"O for a closer walk with God,\"\n\"Sometimes a light surprises,\" \"Jesus, where'er Thy people meet,\" \"In\nholy contemplation,\" and \"There is a fountain filled with blood.\"\n\nThe latter hymn has often been criticized because of its strong\nfigurative language. The expression, \"a fountain filled with blood,\" has\nproved so offensive to modern taste that many hymn-books have omitted\nthis touching hymn. Dr. Ray Palmer, writer of \"My faith looks up to\nThee,\" opposed these views vigorously. He once wrote:\n\n\"Such criticism seems to us superficial. It takes the words as if they\nwere intended to be a literal prosaic statement. It forgets that what\nthey express is not only poetry, but the poetry of intense and\nimpassioned feeling, which naturally embodies itself in the boldest\nmetaphors. The inner sense of the soul, when its deepest affections are\nmoved, infallibly takes these metaphors in their true significance, while\na cold critic of the letter misses that significance entirely. He merely\ndemonstrates his own lack of the spiritual sympathies of which, for\nfervent Christian hearts, the hymn referred to is an admirable\nexpression.\"\n\nCertainly it is a hymn that has spread blessings in its path, and\ncountless are the stories of how it has broken down the resistance of\nhardened human hearts. One of these tells how a Belfast minister once\nvisited a mill where two hundred girls were employed, many of them from\nhis own congregation. One girl, when she saw her pastor entering, began\nto sing \"There is a fountain filled with blood.\" Other girls took up the\nlines, and soon the glorious song was ringing above the noise of all the\nlooms. The manager, who was an unbeliever, was so moved that he seized\nhis hat and ran from the building. Later he confessed to the minister, \"I\nnever was so hard put to it in all my life. It nearly broke me down.\"\n\nCowper also wrote a number of secular poems that achieved great fame.\n\"The Task,\" has been called \"one of the wisest books ever written, and\none of the most charming.\" Another poem, \"John Gilpin,\" is a very happy\nand mirthful narrative.\n\nAlthough Cowper's mother died in his early childhood, he never forgot\nher. When he was fifty-six years old, a cousin sent him a miniature of\nhis mother. In acknowledging the gift, he wrote: \"I had rather possess my\nmother's picture than the richest jewel in the British crown; for I loved\nher with an affection that her death, fifty years since, has not in the\nleast abated.\"\n\nCowper died in 1800. Three years before his death, he lost his lifelong\ncomforter and friend, Mrs. Morley Unwin, who had cared for him with the\nsolicitude of a mother. The sorrow was almost too great for his feeble\nnature, and he again sank into deepest gloom. At times he thought God had\nforsaken him. Only at intervals was he able to resume his literary work.\nHis last poem was \"The Castaway,\" written March 20, 1799. Through all his\nspiritual and mental depression, however, he was ever submissive to the\nwill of God. But the time of release for this chastened child of God was\nat hand.\n\nBishop Moule tells the story of his departure thus: \"About half an hour\nbefore his death, his face, which had been wearing a sad and hopeless\nexpression, suddenly lighted up with a look of wonder and inexpressible\ndelight. It was as if he saw his Saviour, and as if he realized the\nblessed fact, 'I am not shut out of Heaven after all!' This look of holy\nsurprise and of joyful adoration remained until he had passed away, and\neven as he lay in his coffin the expression was still there. One who saw\nhim after death wrote that 'with the composure and calmness of the face,\nthere mingled also a holy surprise.'\"\n\nMrs. Browning, in her poem entitled \"Cowper's Grave,\" concludes with\nthese lines:\n\n \"O poets, from a maniac's tongue was poured the deathless singing!\n O Christians, at your cross of hope a hopeless hand was clinging!\n O men, this man in brotherhood your weary paths beguiling,\n Groaned inly while he taught you peace, and died while you were\n smiling.\"\n\nIt is a noble tribute to the deathless work of an afflicted man, and\nreminds us that Cowper is still singing his wondrous theme of \"redeeming\nlove,\" although his\n\n \"poor lisping, stammering tongue\n Lies silent in the grave.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn of Gracious Invitation\n\n\n Come ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish;\n Come to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel:\n Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;\n Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.\n\n Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,\n Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!\n Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,\n \"Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure.\"\n\n Here see the Bread of Life; see waters flowing\n Forth from the throne of God, pure from above,\n Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing\n Earth has no sorrow but Heaven can remove.\n\n Thomas Moore (1179-1852).\n\n\n\n\n AN IRISH POET AND HIS HYMNS\n\n\nThere are probably few Protestants who, when they have sung \"Come, ye\ndisconsolate, where'er ye languish,\" have been conscious of the fact that\nit was written by a Roman Catholic. There is indeed no place where the\n\"communion of saints\" becomes so apparent as in the hymn-books of\nChristendom. The authors of our great hymns have come from practically\nevery Christian communion, proving that in every church group there are\nsouls who are living in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.\n\nThomas Moore, the author of the hymn mentioned above, is probably better\nknown for his ballads and other poems than for his hymns. Lovers of\nEnglish lyric poetry will always remember him as the writer of \"The last\nrose of summer,\" \"Believe me, if all those endearing young charms,\" \"The\nharp that once through Tara's halls,\" \"Oft in the stilly night,\" and a\nnumber of other ballads that have lived through the years and have made\nthe name of Thomas Moore famous.\n\nMoore, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, May 28, 1779, was a man of\ncurious make-up. True to his Celtic nature, he possessed a fiery temper\nthat often brought him into embarrassing situations.\n\nJeffrey, the famous critic, once aroused Moore's ire by saying unkind\nthings about his poetry. Moore resented this and promptly challenged\nJeffrey to a duel. The authorities interfered before any blood was shed.\nIt was then discovered that one of the pistols contained no bullet,\nwhereupon the two men became fast friends.\n\nMoore was one of the few men who ever made a financial success of the\nbusiness of writing poetry. For \"Lalla Rookh\" he received $15,000 before\na single copy had been sold.\n\nMoore's hymns, thirty-two in number, first appeared in his volume of\n\"Sacred Songs,\" published in 1816. Most of these hymns were written to\npopular airs of various nations. They have attained greater popularity in\nAmerica than in Great Britain. One of the most famous of his hymns is\n\"Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea.\"\n\nLike most men of poetic bent, Moore was a poor financier and business\nman. At one time he accepted a government position in the revenue service\nat Bermuda. He did not enjoy his tasks, and so he placed his duties in\nthe hands of a deputy, while he went on a tour of America. The deputy,\nhowever, absconded with the proceeds of a ship's cargo, whereupon Moore\nfound himself liable for the loss of $30,000.\n\n\"Come, ye disconsolate\" was so changed by Thomas Hastings, the great\nAmerican hymnist, that it almost became a new hymn. The second line of\nthe first stanza, as Moore originally wrote it, was:\n\n Come, at the shrine of God fervently kneel.\n\nThe second line of the second stanza was also changed by Dr. Hastings,\nthe original version by Moore being:\n\n Hope, when all others die, fadeless and pure.\n\nThe third line of the second stanza was greatly improved by the American\ncritic. Moore's line read:\n\n Here speaks the Comforter, in God's name saying.\n\nBut the greatest change was made in the third stanza. This was\npractically rewritten by Dr. Hastings. Moore's third stanza departs very\nradically and abruptly from true hymn style. It originally read:\n\n Come, ask the infidel what boon he brings us,\n What charm for aching hearts he can reveal,\n Sweet is that heavenly promise Hope sings us--\n Earth has no sorrow that God cannot heal.\n\nThe last three years of Moore's life were very unhappy. A nervous\naffliction rendered him practically helpless. His death occurred on\nFebruary 26, 1852, at the age of seventy-three years.\n\n\n\n\n A Beautiful Lyric on Prayer\n\n\n Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,\n Uttered or unexpressed;\n The motion of a hidden fire\n That trembles in the breast.\n\n Prayer is the simplest form of speech\n That infant lips can try;\n Prayer the sublimest strains that reach\n The majesty on high.\n\n Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice,\n Returning from his ways;\n While angels in their songs rejoice\n And cry, \"Behold, he prays!\"\n\n Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,\n The Christian's native air;\n His watchword at the gates of death;\n He enters heaven with prayer.\n\n O Thou, by whom we come to God,\n The Life, the Truth, the Way,\n The paths of prayer Thyself hast trod:\n Lord, teach us how to pray!\n\n James Montgomery, 1818\n\n\n\n\n THE HYMN LEGACY OF AN ENGLISH EDITOR\n\n\nShortly before James Montgomery died, a friend asked him, \"Which of your\npoems will live?\" He answered, \"None, sir; nothing, except perhaps a few\nof my hymns.\"\n\nMontgomery was right. Although he wrote a number of pretentious poems,\nthey have been forgotten. But his hymns live on. A perusal of almost any\nevangelical hymn-book will probably reveal more hymns by this gifted and\nconsecrated man than by any other author, excepting only Isaac Watts and\nCharles Wesley.\n\nWhat a rich legacy was bequeathed to the Christian Church by the man who\nwrote \"Hail to the Lord's Anointed,\" \"Prayer is the soul's sincere\ndesire,\" \"Angels, from the realms of glory,\" \"In the hour of trial,\" \"Who\nare these in bright array?\" \"According to Thy gracious Word,\" \"Come to\nCalvary's holy mountain,\" \"Forever with the Lord,\" \"The Lord is my\nshepherd, no want shall I know,\" \"Jerusalem, my happy home,\" and \"Go to\ndark Gethsemane!\" Montgomery wrote about four hundred hymns in all, and\nnearly one-fourth of these are still in common use.\n\nMontgomery began writing hymns as a little boy. He was born at Irvine,\nAyrshire, Scotland, November 4, 1771. His father was a Moravian minister,\nand it had been determined that the son James should also be trained for\nthe same calling. Accordingly he was sent to the Moravian seminary at\nFulneck, Yorkshire, England. The parents, however, were sent to the West\nIndies as missionaries, and their death there made it necessary for James\nto discontinue his schooling.\n\nFor a while he worked as a clerk in a store, but this was entirely\ndistasteful to one who possessed the literary gifts of Montgomery. At the\nage of nineteen we find him in London with a few of his poems in\nmanuscript form, trying to find a publisher who would print them. In this\nhe was unsuccessful, and two years later we follow him to Sheffield,\nwhere he became associated with Robert Gales, editor of the Sheffield\nRegister.\n\nGales was a radical, and, because he displeased the authorities by some\nof his articles, he found it convenient in 1794 to leave England for\nAmerica. Montgomery, then only twenty-three years old, took over the\npublication of the paper and changed its name to the Sheffield Iris.\nMontgomery, however, proved as indiscreet as Gales had been, and during\nthe first two years of his editorship he was twice imprisoned by the\ngovernment, the first time for publishing a poem in commemoration of \"The\nFall of Bastille,\" and the second time for his account of a riot at\nSheffield.\n\nIn 1797 he published a volume of poems called \"Prison Amusements,\" so\nnamed from the fact that some of them had been written during his\nimprisonment. In later years the British government granted him a pension\nof $1,000 per year in recognition of his achievements and perhaps by way\nof making amends for the indignity offered him by his two imprisonments.\n\nIn Montgomery's hymns we may hear for the first time the missionary note\nin English hymnody, reflecting the newly-awakened zeal for the\nevangelization of the world which had gripped the English people. The\nBaptist Missionary Society had been organized in 1792; Carey had gone to\nIndia as its great apostle; and in 1799 the English Church Missionary\nSociety had been formed.\n\nIn the fervor aroused for foreign missions in England we may discern a\ncontinuation of the impulses which went forth from the Pietistic movement\nat Halle, Germany, nearly a century earlier, when Bartholomew Ziegenbalg\nand Henry Pluetschau were sent from that cradle of the modern missionary\nmovement as the first missionaries to India. We may also see something of\nthe influences emanating from the great Moravian missionary center at\nHerrnhut. John Wesley visited both these places before he began his great\nrevival in England, and became deeply imbued with zeal for missions.\n\nMoravian contact with England had resulted in the formation of many\nMoravian societies, and it was one of these that had sent Montgomery's\nparents as missionaries to the West Indies. It was not without reason,\ntherefore, that Montgomery became the first English hymnist to sound the\nmissionary trumpet. He could never forget that his parents had given\ntheir lives in bringing the gospel to the wretched blacks of the West\nIndies. His father's grave was at Barbadoes and his mother was sleeping\non the island of Tobago. And for the same reason, Montgomery was a bitter\nopponent of slavery.\n\nThe first missionary note is heard in Montgomery's great Advent hymn,\n\"Hail to the Lord's Anointed,\" written in 1821. One of the stanzas not\nusually found in hymn-books reads:\n\n Kings shall fall down before Him,\n And gold and incense bring;\n All nations shall adore Him,\n His praise all people sing;\n For He shall have dominion\n O'er river, sea, and shore,\n Far as the eagle's pinion\n Or dove's light wing can soar.\n\nTwo other missionary hymns are \"Lift up your heads, ye gates of brass\"\nand \"Hark! the song of jubilee.\" The latter sweeps along in triumphant\nmeasures:\n\n He shall reign from pole to pole,\n With illimitable sway;\n He shall reign, when like a scroll\n Yonder heavens have passed away;\n Then the end: beneath His rod\n Man's last enemy shall fall:\n Hallelujah! Christ in God,\n God in Christ, is all in all!\n\nAlthough \"Jerusalem, my happy home!\" ranks highest among the hymns of\nMontgomery, judged by the standard of popular favor, his hymn on prayer\nand \"Forever with the Lord\" have aroused the most enthusiasm on the part\nof literary critics. Julian says of the latter that \"it is full of lyric\nfire and deep feeling,\" and Dr. Theodore Cuyler declares that it contains\nfour lines that are as fine as anything in hymnody. This beautiful verse\nreads:\n\n Here, in the body pent,\n Absent from Thee I roam,\n Yet nightly pitch my moving tent\n A day's march nearer home.\n\nMontgomery's last words were words of prayer. After his usual evening\ndevotion on April 30, 1854, he went to sleep, a sleep from which he never\nwoke on earth. And so was fulfilled in his own experience the beautiful\nthought contained in his glorious hymn on prayer:\n\n Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,\n The Christian's native air,\n His watchword at the gates of death--\n He enters heaven with prayer.\n\n\n\n\n A Sublime Hymn of Adoration\n\n\n Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!\n Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee:\n Holy, Holy, Holy! merciful and mighty;\n God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!\n\n Holy, Holy, Holy! all the saints adore Thee,\n Casting down their golden crowns upon the glassy sea;\n Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before Thee,\n Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.\n\n Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee,\n Though the eyes of sinful man Thy glory may not see,\n Only Thou art holy: there is none beside Thee,\n Perfect in power, in love, in purity.\n\n Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!\n All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea:\n Holy, Holy, Holy! merciful and mighty;\n God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!\n\n Reginald Heber, 1826.\n\n\n\n\n HEBER, MISSIONARY BISHOP AND HYMNIST\n\n\nIn the glorious hymns of Reginald Heber, missionary bishop to India, we\nfind not only the noblest expression of the missionary fervor which in\nhis day was stirring the Church, but also the purest poetry in English\nhymnody. Christians of all ages will gratefully remember the name of the\nman who wrote the most stirring of all missionary hymns, \"From\nGreenland's icy mountains,\" as well as that sublime hymn of adoration,\n\"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!\"\n\nThe latter was regarded by Alfred Tennyson as the world's greatest hymn.\n\nBorn April 21, 1783, at Malpas, Cheshire, England, Heber was educated at\nOxford, where he formed the friendship of Sir Walter Scott. His gift for\nwriting poetry revealed itself in this period of his life, when he won a\nprize for a remarkable poem on Palestine. It is said that Heber, who was\nonly seventeen years old at the time, read the poem to Scott at the\nbreakfast table, and that the latter suggested one of the most striking\nlines.\n\nFollowing the award of the prize, for which young Heber had been\nearnestly striving, his parents found him on his knees in grateful\nprayer.\n\nFor sixteen years Heber served in the obscure parish of Hodnet as a\nminister of the Church of England. It was during this period that all of\nhis hymns were written. He was also engaged in other literary activities\nthat brought him some fame. All this while, however, he nourished a\nsecret longing to go to India. It is said that he would work out\nimaginary journeys on the map, while he hoped that some day he might\nbecome bishop of Calcutta.\n\nHis missionary fervor at this time is also reflected in the famous hymn,\n\"From Greenland's icy mountains,\" written in 1819. The allusions to\n\"India's coral strand\" and \"Ceylon's isle\" are an indication of the\nlongings that were running through his mind.\n\nHis earnest prayer was answered in 1822, when at the age of forty years\nhe was called to the episcopate as bishop of Calcutta. After three years\nof arduous work in India, the life of the gifted bishop was cut short.\nDuring this period he ordained the first native pastor of the Episcopal\nChurch--Christian David.\n\nA man of rare refinement and noble Christian personality, Heber was\ngreatly beloved by all who knew him. \"One of the best of English\ngentlemen,\" was the tribute accorded him by Thackeray. It was not until\nafter his death, however, that he leaped into fame through his hymns.\n\nThe story of how \"From Greenland's icy mountains\" was written reveals\nsomething of the poetic genius of Heber. It seems that he was visiting\nwith his father-in-law, Dr. Shipley, vicar and dean of Wrexham, on the\nSaturday before Whitsunday, 1819. The dean, who was planning to preach a\nmissionary sermon the following morning, asked young Heber to write a\nmissionary hymn that could be sung at the service. The latter immediately\nwithdrew from the circle of friends to another part of the room. After a\nwhile the dean asked, \"What have you written?\" Heber replied by reading\nthe first three stanzas of the hymn. The dean expressed satisfaction, but\nthe poet replied, \"No, no, the sense is not complete.\" And so he added\nthe fourth verse--\"Waft, waft, ye winds, His story\"--and the greatest\nmissionary hymn of the ages had been born.\n\nThe story of the tune to which the hymn is sung is equally interesting. A\nChristian woman in Savannah, Georgia, had come into possession of a copy\nof Heber's words. The meter was unusual, and she was unable to find music\nto fit the words. Learning of a young bank clerk who was said to be\ngifted as a composer, she sent the poem to him. Within a half hour it was\nreturned to her with the beautiful tune, \"Missionary Hymn,\" to which it\nis now universally sung. The young bank clerk was none other than Lowell\nMason, who afterwards achieved fame as one of America's greatest\nhymn-tune composers. The marvel is that both words and music were written\nalmost in a moment--by real inspiration, it would seem.\n\nBishop Heber's hymns are characterized chiefly by their lyrical quality.\nThey are unusually rich in imagery. This may be seen particularly in his\nbeautiful Epiphany hymn, \"Brightest and best of the sons of the morning.\"\nIn some respects the hymns of Heber resemble the later lyrics of Henry\nFrancis Lyte, writer of \"Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.\" They\nring, however, with a much more joyous note than the hymns of Lyte, in\nwhich are always heard strains of sadness.\n\nWe have already referred to Tennyson's estimate of Heber's hymn to the\nHoly Trinity. It should be observed that this great hymn is one of pure\nadoration. There is nothing of the element of confession, petition or\nthanksgiving in it, but only worship. Its exalted language is Scriptural\nthroughout, indeed it is the Word of the Most High. It is doubtful if\nthere is a nobler hymn of its kind in all the realm of hymnody. The tune\nto which it is always sung, \"Nicaea,\" was written by the great English\ncomposer, Rev. John B. Dykes, and is comparable to the hymn itself in\nmajesty.\n\nOther fine hymns by Heber include \"The Son of God goes forth to war,\"\n\"God that madest earth and heaven,\" \"O Thou, whose infant feet were\nfound,\" \"When through the torn sail,\" \"Bread of the world in mercy\nbroken,\" and \"By cool Siloam's shady rill.\"\n\nAltogether Heber wrote fifty-seven hymns, all of which were published in\na single collection after his death. It is said that every one of them is\nstill in use, a rare tribute to the genius of this consecrated writer.\n\nHeber's life was closely paralleled in many respects by another great\nhymn-writer who lived in the same period. His name was Sir Robert Grant.\nHe was born two years later than the gifted missionary bishop and, like\nHeber, died in India. Although he did not enter the service of the Church\nbut engaged in secular pursuits, he was a deeply spiritual man and his\nhymns bear testimony of an earnest, confiding faith in Christ. Between\nhis hymns and those of Heber there is a striking similarity. The language\nis chaste and exalted. The rhythm is faultless. The lines are chiseled as\nperfectly as a cameo. The imagery is almost startling in its grandeur.\nTake, for example, a stanza from his magnificent hymn, \"O worship the\nKing\":\n\n O tell of His might, and sing of His grace,\n Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;\n His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,\n And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.\n\nThere is something beautifully tender in that other hymn of Grant's in\nwhich he reveals childlike trust in Christ:\n\n When gathering clouds around I view,\n And days are dark, and friends are few,\n On Him I lean, who, not in vain,\n Experienced every human pain;\n He sees my wants, allays my fears,\n And counts and treasures up my tears.\n\nNor would we forget his other famous hymn, \"Saviour, when in dust to\nThee,\" based on the Litany. When we learn that the man who wrote these\nhymns was never engaged in religious pursuits, but that his whole life\nwas crowded with arduous tasks and great responsibilities in filling high\ngovernment positions, we have reason to marvel.\n\nSir Robert Grant was born in the county of Inverness, Scotland, in 1785.\nHis father was a member of Parliament and a director of the East India\nCompany. The son also was trained for political life, and, after\ngraduating from Cambridge University in 1806, he began the practice of\nlaw. In 1826 he was elected to Parliament, five years later became privy\ncounselor, and in 1834 he was named governor of Bombay. He died at\nDapoorie, in western India, in 1838.\n\nWhile a member of Parliament, Sir Robert introduced a bill to remove the\nrestrictions imposed upon the Jews. The historian Macaulay made his\nmaiden speech in Parliament in support of this measure.\n\nBrief mention should also be made here of another of Bishop Heber's\ncontemporaries who gained undying fame by a great hymn. He was John\nMarriott, a minister of the Church of England, whose missionary hymn,\n\"Thou, whose almighty word,\" is ranked among the finest in the English\nlanguage. Marriott was born in 1780, three years before Heber's birth,\nand he died in 1825, a year before the death of the famous missionary\nbishop.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn That Wins Souls\n\n\n Just as I am, without one plea\n But that Thy blood was shed for me,\n And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,\n O Lamb of God, I come, I come!\n\n Just as I am, and waiting not\n To rid my soul of one dark blot,\n To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,\n O Lamb of God, I come, I come!\n\n Just as I am, though tossed about\n With many a conflict, many a doubt,\n Fightings and fears, within, without,\n O Lamb of God, I come, I come!\n\n Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;\n Sight, riches, healing of the mind,\n Yea, all I need, in Thee I find,\n O Lamb of God, I come, I come!\n\n Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,\n Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,\n Because Thy promise I believe,\n O Lamb of God, I come, I come!\n\n Just as I am; Thy love unknown\n Hath broken every barrier down;\n Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,\n O Lamb of God, I come, I come!\n\n Charlotte Elliott, 1836.\n\n\n\n\n AN INVALID WHO BLESSED THE WORLD\n\n\n\"Just as I am\" will doubtlessly be sung to the end of time, and as often\nas Christians sing it they will praise God and bless the memory of the\nwoman who wrote it--Charlotte Elliott.\n\nThis hymn will have a greater value, too, when we know something of the\npain and effort that it cost the writer to produce it. Miss Elliott was\none of those afflicted souls who scarcely know what surcease from\nsuffering is. Though she lived to be eighty-two years old, she was never\nwell, and often endured seasons of great physical distress. She could\nwell understand the sacrifice made by one who\n\n Strikes the strings\n With fingers that ache and bleed.\n\nOf her own afflictions she once wrote: \"He knows, and He alone, what it\nis, day after day, hour after hour, to fight against bodily feelings of\nalmost overpowering weakness, languor and exhaustion, to resolve not to\nyield to slothfulness, depression and instability, such as the body\ncauses me to long to indulge, but to rise every morning determined to\ntake for my motto: 'If a man will come after Me, let him deny himself,\ntake up his cross daily, and follow Me.'\"\n\nBut God seemed to have had a purpose in placing a heavy cross upon her.\nHer very afflictions made her think of other sufferers like herself and\nmade her the better fitted for the work that He had prepared for her--the\nministry of comfort and consolation. How beautifully she resigned herself\nto the will of God may be seen in her words: \"God sees, God guides, God\nguards me. His grace surrounds me, and His voice continually bids me to\nbe happy and holy in His service, just where I am.\"\n\n\"Just as I am\" was written in 1836, and appeared for the first time in\nthe second edition of \"The Invalid's Hymn Book,\" which was published that\nyear and to which Miss Elliott had contributed 115 pieces.\n\nThe great American evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, once said that this hymn\nhad probably touched more hearts and brought more souls to Christ than\nany other ever written. Miss Elliott's own brother, who was a minister in\nthe Church of England, himself wrote:\n\n\"In the course of a long ministry, I hope to have been permitted to see\nsome fruit of my labors; but I feel far more has been done by a single\nhymn of my sister's.\"\n\nIt is said that after the death of Miss Elliott, more than a thousand\nletters were found among her papers, in which the writers expressed their\ngratitude to her for the help the hymn had brought them.\n\nThe secret power of this marvelous hymn must be found in its true\nevangelical spirit. It sets forth in very simple but gripping words the\nall-important truth that we are not saved through any merit or worthiness\nin ourselves, but by the sovereign grace of God through faith in Jesus\nChrist. It also pictures the utter helplessness and wretchedness of the\nhuman soul, and its inability to rise above its own sins; but very\nlovingly it invites the soul to come to Him \"whose blood can cleanse each\nspot.\"\n\nThe hymn was born out of the author's personal spiritual experiences.\nThough a daughter of the Church, brought up in a pious home, it seems\nthat Miss Elliott had never found true peace with God. Like so many other\nseeking souls in all ages, she felt that men must do something themselves\nto win salvation, instead of coming to Christ as helpless sinners and\nfinding complete redemption in Him.\n\nWhen Dr. Caesar Malan, the noted Swiss preacher of Geneva, came to visit\nthe Elliott home in Brighton, England, in 1822, he soon discovered the\ncause of her spiritual perplexity, and became a real evangelical guide\nand counsellor. \"You have nothing of merit to bring to God,\" he told her.\n\"You must come just as you are, a sinner, to the Lamb of God that taketh\naway the sin of the world.\"\n\nThroughout the remainder of her life, Miss Elliott celebrated every year\nthe day on which her friend had led her to Christ, for she considered it\nto be her spiritual birthday. Although it was fourteen years later that\nshe wrote her immortal hymn, it is apparent that she never forgot the\nwords of Dr. Malan, for they form the very core and essence of it. The\ninspiration for the hymn came one day when the frail invalid had been\nleft alone at the home of her brother. She was lying on a couch and\npondering on the words spoken by Dr. Malan many years before, when\nsuddenly the whole glorious truth of salvation as the free gift of God\nflashed upon her soul. Then came the heavenly gift. Rising from her\ncouch, she wrote:\n\n Just as I am, without one plea,\n But that Thy blood was shed for me,\n And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,\n O Lamb of God, I come, I come!\n\nMiss Elliott was the author of some 150 hymns. Perhaps her finest, aside\nfrom her great masterpiece, is \"My God, my Father, while I stray.\" By\ncommon consent, Miss Elliott is given first place among English women\nhymn-writers.\n\n\n\n\n The Sun That Ne'er Goes Down\n\n\n Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear,\n It is not night if Thou be near;\n O may no earthborn cloud arise\n To hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes.\n\n When the soft dews of kindly sleep\n My wearied eyelids gently steep,\n Be my last thought, how sweet to rest\n Forever on my Saviour's breast.\n\n Abide with me from morn till eve,\n For without Thee I cannot live;\n Abide with me when night is nigh,\n For without Thee I dare not die.\n\n If some poor wandering child of Thine\n Have spurned today the voice divine,\n Now, Lord, the gracious work begin;\n Let him no more lie down in sin.\n\n Watch by the sick; enrich the poor\n With blessings from Thy boundless store;\n Be every mourner's sleep tonight,\n Like infant's slumber, pure and light.\n\n Come near and bless us when we wake,\n Ere through the world our way we take;\n Till in the ocean of Thy love\n We lose ourselves in heaven above.\n\n John Keble, 1827.\n\n\n\n\n HOW HYMNS HELPED BUILD A CHURCH\n\n\nMany of the classic hymns of the Christian Church have been derived from\ndevotional poems that were never intended as hymns by their writers. This\nis true of the beautiful morning hymn, \"New every morning is the love,\"\nand the equally beautiful evening hymn, \"Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour\ndear.\" Both of these gems in the treasury of hymnody have been taken from\none of the most famous devotional books ever written--John Keble's \"The\nChristian Year.\"\n\nKeble was born at Fairford, England, April 25, 1792, the son of a country\nvicar. The only elementary training he received was at the hands of his\ngifted father, but at the age of fifteen years he was ready to enter\nOxford University. Here he distinguished himself as a brilliant scholar,\nand at the age of twenty-three he was ordained as a clergyman of the\nChurch of England. He remained as a tutor at Oxford for a number of\nyears, but when his mother died he returned to Fairford to assist his\nfather. Although he received a number of tempting offers at this time, he\npreferred to labor in this obscure parish, where he might be of help and\ncomfort to his father and his two sisters.\n\nIt was not until 1835, when his father died and the home was broken up,\nthat Keble accepted the vicarage of Hursley, another humble and scattered\nparish, with a population of 1,500 people. He married in the same year,\nand here he and his devoted wife labored until 1866, when they passed\naway within six weeks of each other.\n\nIt was in 1827, when Keble was only twenty-seven, that he yielded to the\nstrong entreaties of his father and many of his friends and consented to\npublish the volume of poems known as \"The Christian Year.\" The verses\nfollow the church calendar, and it was the author's desire that the book\nshould be a devotional companion to the Book of Common Prayer. For this\nreason it has been called \"The Prayer Book in Poetry.\"\n\nKeble was so modest concerning his work that he refused to permit the\nvolume to bear his name, and so it was given to the world anonymously.\nThe work was a marvelous success. From 1827 to 1867, a year after the\nauthor's death, the book had passed through one hundred and nine\neditions. Keble used a large part of the proceeds derived from the sales\nof his book in helping to rebuild the church at Hursley. He also was\ninstrumental in having churches built at Otterbourne and Ampfield,\nhamlets that belonged to his parish.\n\nReligious leaders, as well as literary critics, have been unanimous in\nrendering tribute to this remarkable volume. Dr. Arnold, the great\nschoolmaster of Rugby, speaking of Keble's poems, says: \"Nothing equal to\nthem exists in our language. The knowledge of Scripture, the purity of\nheart, and the richness of poetry, I never saw equaled.\" \"It is a book,\"\nsays Canon Barry, \"which leads the soul up to God, not through one, but\nthrough all of the various faculties which He has implanted in it.\" And\nDr. Pusey adds: \"It taught, because his own soul was moved so deeply; the\nstream burst forth, because the heart that poured it out was full; it was\nfresh, deep, tender, loving, because he himself was such; he was true,\nand thought aloud, and conscience everywhere responded to the voice of\nconscience.\"\n\nThe publication of \"The Christian Year\" brought Keble such fame that, in\n1831, he was elected professor of poetry at Oxford. He did not remove\nthither, but in 1833 he preached at Oxford his famous sermon on \"National\nApostasy\" which is credited with having started the so-called \"Oxford\nMovement.\"\n\nThis movement had its inception in the earnest desire on the part of many\nprominent leaders of the Church of England, including John Newman, to\nbring about a spiritual awakening in the Church. They looked askance at\nthe evangelistic methods of the Wesleyan leaders and turned to the other\nextreme of high church ritualism. All England was profoundly stirred by a\nseries of \"Tracts for the Times,\" written by Newman and his friends,\namong them Keble. A disastrous result of the movement was the desertion\nof Newman and a large number of others to the Church of Rome; but Keble\nshrank from this final step and remained a high church Episcopalian.\n\nAlthough a great part of his later life was occupied with religious\ncontroversy, we would like to remember Keble as a consecrated Christian\npoet and an humble parish pastor. For more than thirty years he labored\nfaithfully among his people, visiting from house to house. If it was\nimpossible for a candidate to attend confirmation instruction during the\nday, Keble would go to his house at night, armed with cloak and lantern.\nHe gave each candidate a Bible, in which he had marked the passages that\nwere to be learned. These Bibles were highly prized, and some of them are\nto be found in Hursley to this day. It was noticed that, whenever the\nVicar prepared to read and explain a passage of Scripture, he would first\nbow his head and close his eyes while he asked for the guidance of the\nHoly Spirit.\n\nKeble's famous morning hymn, \"New every morning is the love,\" is taken\nfrom a poem of sixteen verses. The first line reads, \"O timely happy,\ntimely wise.\" It contains the two oft quoted stanzas that ought to be\ntreasured in the heart of every Christian:\n\n The trivial round, the common task,\n Will furnish all we ought to ask,\n Room to deny ourselves; a road\n To bring us daily nearer God.\n\n Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love\n Fit us for perfect rest above;\n And help us this, and every day,\n To live more nearly as we pray.\n\nThe evening hymn is also taken from a longer poem, in which the author\nfirst describes in graphic words the setting of the sun:\n\n 'Tis gone! that bright and orbed blaze,\n Fast fading from our wistful gaze;\n Yon mantling cloud has hid from sight\n The last faint pulse of quivering light.\n\n In darkness and in weariness\n The traveler on his way must press,\n No gleam to watch on tree or tower,\n Whiling away the lonesome hour.\n\nThen comes the beautiful and reassuring thought:\n\n Sun of my soul! Thou Saviour dear,\n It is not night if Thou be near!\n O may no earthborn cloud arise\n To hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes.\n\nThe peculiar tenderness in Keble's poetry is beautifully illustrated in\nthe second stanza:\n\n When the soft dews of kindly sleep\n My wearied eyelids gently steep,\n Be my last thought, how sweet to rest\n Forever on my Saviour's breast.\n\nOther familiar hymns by Keble are \"The Voice that breathed o'er Eden,\"\n\"Blest are the pure in heart,\" and \"When God of old came down from\nheaven.\"\n\n\n\n\n The Hymn of a Perplexed Soul\n\n\n Lead, kindly light, amid th' encircling gloom,\n Lead Thou me on!\n The night is dark, and I am far from home;\n Lead Thou me on!\n Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see\n The distant scene; one step enough for me.\n\n I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou\n Shouldst lead me on;\n I loved to choose and see my path; but now\n Lead Thou me on!\n I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,\n Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!\n\n So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still\n Will lead me on\n O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till\n The night is gone,\n And with the morn those angel faces smile,\n Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.\n\n John Henry Newman, 1833.\n\n\n\n\n A FAMOUS HYMN BY A PROSELYTE OF ROME\n\n\nWhen the children of Israel were about to resume the march from Mount\nSinai and Moses had received the command to lead the people into the\nunknown wilderness, we are told in Exodus that Moses hesitated.\n\n\"See,\" said the great leader, \"Thou sayest unto me, 'Bring up this\npeople': and Thou hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me.\" And\nGod answered, \"My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee\nrest.\"\n\nIt was this sublime thought of the guiding presence of God that gave to\nJohn Henry Newman the inspiration for \"Lead, kindly Light.\"\n\nThere was much of tragedy in the strange life of Newman. He was born in\nLondon, the son of a banker, February 21, 1801. It is said that he was\nextremely superstitious as a boy, and that he would cross himself, after\nthe custom of Roman Catholics, whenever he entered a dark place. He also\ncame to the conclusion that it was the will of God that he should never\nmarry.\n\nHe graduated from Trinity College, Oxford, at the age of nineteen, and\nfour years later was ordained as a minister of the Church of England. He\nsoon began to be attracted by Roman Catholic teachings and to associate\nwith leaders of that communion. In 1833 he was in poor health, and\ndetermined to go to Italy. This was the year of the famous \"Oxford\nMovement,\" which was destined to carry so many high Anglicans into the\nRoman communion. While in Rome he came still further under the influence\nof the Romanists, who lost no opportunity to take advantage of his\nperplexed state of mind. Leaving Rome, he went down to Sicily, where he\nwas stricken with fever and was near death. After his recovery, his one\nthought was to return to his native shores. He writes:\n\n\"I was aching to get home; yet for want of a vessel was kept at Palermo\nfor three weeks. At last I got an orange-boat bound for Marseilles. We\nwere becalmed a whole week on the Mediterranean Sea. Then it was (June\n16, 1833) that I wrote the lines: 'Lead, kindly Light.'\"\n\nThe hymn, therefore, may be said to be the work of a man who found\nhimself in deep mental, physical, and spiritual distress. Newman was\ngreatly dissatisfied with conditions within his own Church. In his\nperplexity he scarcely knew where to turn, but he had no intention at\nthis time, as he himself states, to forsake the Church of England for the\nRoman Catholic communion. This step was not taken by him until twelve\nyears later.\n\n\"Lead, kindly Light\" was published for the first time in \"The British\nMagazine,\" in the month of March, 1834. It bore the title,\n\"Faith--Heavenly Leadings.\" Two years later he printed it with the title,\n\"Light in the Darkness,\" and the motto, \"Unto the godly there ariseth up\nlight in the darkness.\" At a later date he published it under the title,\n\"The Pillar of the Cloud.\"\n\nNewman ascribed its popularity as a hymn to the appealing tune written\nfor it in 1865 by Dr. John B. Dykes. As to its poetic qualities there has\nbeen the widest divergence of opinion. While one critic has called it\n\"one of the outstanding lyrics of the nineteenth century,\" William T.\nStead observes, caustically, that \"It is somewhat hard for the staunch\nProtestant to wax enthusiastic over the invocation of a 'Kindly Light'\nwhich led the author straight into the arms of the Scarlet Woman of the\nSeven Hills.\"\n\nThe hymn has often been attacked on the ground that it is not definitely\nChristian in character. In this respect it is similar to Mrs. Adams'\nfamous hymn, \"Nearer, my God, to Thee.\" When the Parliament of Religions\nconvened in Chicago a few years ago, Newman's hymn was the only one sung\nby representatives of all creeds from every part of the world. Bishop\nBickersteth of England, feeling the need of the Christian note in the\nhymn, added the following stanza:\n\n Meantime along the narrow rugged path\n Thyself hast trod,\n Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith,\n Home to my God\n To rest for ever after earthly strife\n In the calm light of everlasting life.\n\nThis was done, said Bishop Bickersteth, \"from a deep conviction that the\nheart of the belated pilgrim can only find rest in the Light of Light.\"\nThe additional stanza, however, has not come into general use.\n\nMany interpretations have been given to the closing lines,\n\n And with the morn those angel faces smile,\n Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.\n\nSome have believed that Newman by \"angel faces\" had in mind loved ones\nlost through death. Yet others are convinced that the author had\nreference to the actual visions of angels which are said to have come to\nhim in youth, and the loss of which greatly grieved him in later life.\nNewman himself, in a letter written January 18, 1879, refused to throw\nfurther light on the lines, pleading that he had forgotten the meaning\nthat he had in mind when the hymn was written forty-six years before.\n\nRome honored its distinguished proselyte by making him a cardinal. It is\nsaid, however, that Newman was never again a happy man after having\nsurrendered the faith of his fathers. He died at Birmingham, England,\nAugust 11, 1890, at the age of eighty-nine years.\n\nA disciple of Newman's, Frederick William Faber, may be mentioned in this\nconnection, for the lives of the two men were strangely intertwined.\nFaber, who was the son of an English clergyman, was born at Yorkshire,\nJune 28, 1814. He was graduated from Oxford in 1836, and became a\nminister of the English Church at Elton in 1843.\n\nWhile at Oxford he came under the influence of the \"Oxford Movement\" and\nformed a deep attachment for Newman. It was inevitable, therefore, that\nhe too should be carried into the Roman Church, which communion he joined\nin 1846. For some years he labored with Newman in the Catholic church of\nSt. Philip Neri in London. He died in 1863 at the age of forty-nine\nyears.\n\nFaber wrote a large number of hymns, many of them before his desertion to\nthe Church of Rome. Others, written after his defection, containing\neulogies of Mary and petitions addressed to the saints, have been changed\nin order to make them suitable for Protestant hymn-books. His inordinate\nuse of the word \"sweet\", and his familiar manner of addressing Christ as\n\"sweet Saviour\" has called down harsh criticism on his hymns as\nsentimental and effeminate. However, such hymns as \"There's a wideness in\nGod's mercy,\" \"Hark, hark, my soul! angelic songs are swelling,\" \"O\nSaviour, bless us ere we go,\" \"O Paradise, O Paradise,\" and \"Faith of our\nfathers, living still\" have probably found a permanent place in the\nhymn-books of the Church Universal, and will be loved and cherished both\nfor their devotional spirit and their poetic beauty.\n\nFaber wrote \"Faith of our fathers\" after his defection to the Church of\nRome. In its original form the author expressed the hope that England\nwould be brought back to the papal fold. The opening lines, as Faber\nwrote them, were:\n\n Faith of our fathers! Mary's prayers\n Shall win our country back to thee.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn Written in the Shadows\n\n\n Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;\n The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!\n When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,\n Help of the helpless, O abide with me!\n\n Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;\n Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away;\n Change and decay in all around I see;\n O Thou who changest not, abide with me!\n\n I need Thy presence every passing hour:\n What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power?\n Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?\n Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me!\n\n I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless:\n Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.\n Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory?\n I triumph still, if Thou abide with me!\n\n Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes,\n Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;\n Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;\n In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!\n\n Henry Francis Lyte, 1847.\n\n\n\n\n HENRY FRANCIS LYTE AND HIS SWAN SONG\n\n\nMany a man who has labored in obscure places, practically unnoticed and\nunpraised by his own generation, has achieved a fame after his death that\ngrows in magnitude with the passing years.\n\nWhen Henry Francis Lyte died in 1847, he was little known beyond his\nhumble seashore parish at Lower Brixham, England; but today, wherever his\nbeautiful hymns are sung throughout the Christian world, he is gratefully\nremembered as the man who wrote \"Abide with me.\"\n\nIn response to a questionnaire sent to American readers recently by \"The\nEtude,\" a musical magazine, 7,500 out of nearly 32,000 persons who\nreplied named \"Abide with me\" as their favorite hymn. It easily took\nfirst rank, displacing such older favorites as \"Rock of Ages\" and \"Jesus,\nLover of my soul.\"\n\nHow often we have sung this hymn at the close of an evening service, and\na settled peace has come into our hearts as we have realized the nearness\nof Him who said, \"And lo! I am with you always.\" Yet, this is not in\nreality an evening hymn. Its theme is the evening of life, and it was\nwritten when Lyte felt the shadows of death gathering about his own head.\nWe catch his meaning in the second stanza:\n\n Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;\n Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away.\n\nLyte was always frail in health. He was born in Scotland, June 1, 1793,\nand was early left an orphan. Nevertheless, despite the handicap of\npoverty, he struggled through college, and on three occasions won prizes\nwith poems.\n\nHis first ambition was to become a physician, but during his college days\nhe determined to enter the ministry. The death of a young friend, a\nbrother clergyman, brought about a profound change in the spiritual life\nof Lyte. Called to the bedside of his friend to give him consolation, he\ndiscovered to his sorrow that both he and the dying man were blind guides\nwho were still groping for light. Through a prayerful search of the\nScriptures, however, they both came to a firm faith in Christ. Lyte wrote\nof his friend:\n\n\"He died happy under the belief that though he had deeply erred, there\nwas _One_ whose death and sufferings would atone for his delinquencies,\nand that he was forgiven and accepted for His sake.\"\n\nConcerning the change that came into his own life, he added: \"I was\ngreatly affected by the whole matter, and brought to look at life and its\nissue with a different eye than before; and I began to study my Bible and\npreach in another manner than I had previously done.\"\n\nFor nearly twenty-five years after this incident Lyte labored among\nhumble fisherfolk and sailors of the parish at Lower Brixham, and his\ndeep spiritual zeal and fervor led him to overtax his physical powers.\nFrom time to time he was obliged to spend the winters in more friendly\nclimes.\n\nIn the autumn of 1847 he wrote to a friend that the swallows were flying\nsouthward, and he observed, \"They are inviting me to accompany them; and\nyet alas; while I am talking of flying, I am just able to crawl.\"\n\nThe Sunday for his farewell service came. His family and friends\nadmonished him not to preach a sermon, but the conscientious minister\ninsisted. \"It is better,\" he said, \"to _wear_ out than to _rust_ out.\"\n\nHe did preach, and the hearts of his hearers were full that day, for they\nseemed to realize that it would probably be the last time they would hear\nhim. The faithful pastor, too, seemed to have a premonition that it would\nbe his last sermon. The service closed with the Lord's Supper,\nadministered by Lyte to his sorrowing flock.\n\n\"Though necessarily much exhausted by the exertion and excitement of this\neffort,\" his daughter afterward wrote, \"yet his friends had no reason to\nbelieve that it had been hurtful to him.\"\n\nThis was September 4, 1847. That afternoon he walked out along the shore\nto watch the sun as it was setting in a glory of crimson and gold. It was\na peaceful, beautiful Sabbath evening. Returning to his home, he shut\nhimself up in his study for the brief space of an hour, and when he came\nout, he handed a near relative the manuscript containing the famous hymn,\n\"Abide with me.\" He also had composed a tune of his own for the words,\nbut this never came into general use.\n\nDuring the following week Lyte left his beloved England for Italy.\nHowever, he got no farther than Nice, in France, where he was obliged to\ndiscontinue his journey. Here he passed away November 20 of the same\nyear. His last words were, \"Joy! Peace!\" and then he fell asleep.\n\nA little cross marks his grave in the English cemetery at Nice, for he\nwas buried there. Every year hundreds of pilgrims visit his grave and\ntell touching stories of how Lyte's hymn brought them to faith in Christ\nJesus.\n\nIt was Lyte's life-long wish that he might leave behind him such a hymn\nas this. In an earlier poem he had voiced the longing that he might write\n\n Some simple strain, some spirit-moving lay,\n Some sparklet of the soul that still might live\n When I was passed to clay....\n\n O Thou! whose touch can lend\n Life to the dead, Thy quick'ning grace supply,\n And grant me, swanlike, my last breath to spend\n In song that may not die!\n\nLyte's prayer was fulfilled. As long as men shall worship the crucified\nand risen Lord, so long will they continue to sing the sad and beautiful\nwords of Lyte's swan song.\n\nIn Lyte we have a hymn-writer of the first rank. Indeed, he is comparable\nto any of England's greatest hymnists, not excepting Watts or Wesley. His\nhymns are real lyrics, Scriptural in language, rich in imagery, and\nexalted in poetic conception. \"In no other author,\" says an eminent\nauthority, \"is poetry and religion more exquisitely united.\"\n\nAside from the sublime hymn we have mentioned, Lyte has given to the\nChurch such noble lyrics as \"Jesus, I my cross have taken,\" \"Pleasant are\nThy courts above,\" \"Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,\" \"God of mercy,\nGod of grace,\" \"My spirit on Thy care,\" \"As pants the hart for cooling\nstreams,\" and \"O that the Lord's salvation.\" The latter hymn is one of\nthe few ever written that voice a prayer for the salvation of Israel.\n\nThe poetic rapture to which Lyte's poetry sometimes rises is most\nbeautifully reflected in his hymn of adoration:\n\n Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;\n To His feet thy tribute bring;\n Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,\n Who like thee His praise should sing?\n Alleluia! Alleluia!\n Praise the everlasting King!\n\n Praise Him for His grace and favor\n To our fathers in distress;\n Praise Him, still the same as ever,\n Slow to chide, and swift to bless:\n Alleluia! Alleluia!\n Glorious in His faithfulness!\n\n\n\n\n A Woman's Gift to the Church\n\n\n Nearer, my God, to Thee!\n Nearer to Thee!\n E'en though it be a cross\n That raiseth me,\n Still all my song shall be,\n Nearer, my God, to Thee,\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n Though, like the wanderer,\n The sun gone down,\n Darkness be over me,\n My rest a stone,\n Yet in my dreams I'd be\n Nearer, my God, to Thee,\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n There let my way appear\n Steps unto heaven;\n All that Thou sendest me\n In mercy given;\n Angels to beckon me\n Nearer, my God, to Thee,\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n Then with my waking thoughts,\n Bright with Thy praise,\n Out of my stony griefs\n Bethel I'll raise,\n So by my woes to be\n Nearer, my God, to Thee,\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n Or if on joyful wing,\n Cleaving the sky,\n Sun, moon, and stars forgot,\n Upwards I fly;\n Still all my song shall be,\n Nearer, my God to Thee,\n Nearer to Thee!\n\n Sarah Adams, 1840.\n\n\n\n\n SARAH ADAMS AND THE RISE OF WOMEN HYMN-WRITERS\n\n\nNineteenth century hymnody was characterized by an extraordinary number\nof women hymn-writers. It is significant that this development came, as\nwe have noted in a previous chapter, with the great spiritual revivals\nwhich aroused evangelical Europe and America from 1800 to 1875. It was\nalso coincident with the general movement resulting in the enlargement of\nwomen's influence and activity in all spheres of human endeavor. In the\nrealm of hymnody women have become the chief exponents of church song.\n\nDr. Breed has pointed out that the large increase of women hymnists, as\nwell as the preponderance of hymn translations, is indicative of a period\nof decadence in sacred song. While this is probably true of the latter\nhalf of the nineteenth century, which saw the rise of the so-called\n\"Gospel song,\" we must cheerfully recognize the fact that such women as\nCharlotte Elliott, Sarah Adams, Cecil Alexander and Frances Havergal in\nEngland and Mary Lathbury, Anna Warner, Catherine Esling, Harriet Beecher\nStowe, Phoebe Gary, Elizabeth Prentiss and Fanny Crosby in America have\ncontributed some of the most precious gems to the treasure-store of\nChristian hymns. Indeed, the hymnody of the Church would have been\nimmeasurably poorer had these consecrated women failed to make use of\ntheir heaven-born talent.\n\nAnd, although we must deplore the apparent fact that \"original utterance\nin sacred song is departing from the Church,\" we must be forever grateful\nto such gifted women as Catherine Winkworth and the Borthwick sisters,\nwho, through their excellent translations, gave to the English-speaking\nworld some of the choicest pearls of German hymnody.\n\nCharlotte Elliott was the forerunner of the long line of women hymnists.\nThen came Sarah Flower Adams, the writer of \"Nearer, my God, to Thee,\"\none of the greatest sacred lyrics ever given to the world, and probably\nthe finest ever written by a woman.\n\nSarah Flower was born at Harlow, England, February 22, 1805, the daughter\nof Benjamin Flower, editor of the Cambridge \"Intelligencer.\" The mother\ndied when Sarah was only five years old. A sister, Eliza, was a gifted\nmusician, while Sarah early showed talent along literary lines. In later\nyears Eliza wrote music for the hymns of her sister.\n\nSarah was fond of the stage. She believed that it could be made to teach\ngreat moral truths as well as the pulpit. Her dreams of becoming an\nactress, however, failed to materialize because of poor health. In 1834\nshe became the wife of John Bridges Adams, a civil engineer, after which\nshe made her home in London. Her health was seriously impaired through\ncaring for her sister, who died a consumptive in 1846, and she survived\nher less than two years.\n\nHer great hymn was written in 1840. It was published the following year\nin a volume of hymns and anthems edited by her pastor, Rev. William\nJohnson Fox. This man was a Unitarian, and for this reason Mrs. Adams has\nalso been classified with that sect. It is said, however, that she became\na Baptist near the close of her life. Other hymns written by her indicate\nthat she had arrived at a living faith in Christ. Perhaps the many trials\nshe suffered proved in the end to be the means of bringing her to the\nSaviour. And thus was fulfilled in her own life the beautiful lines:\n\n E'en though it be a cross\n That raiseth me.\n\n\"Nearer, my God, to Thee\" has probably aroused more discussion than any\nother hymn. Because it is based entirely on the story of Jacob at Bethel\nand omits reference to Christ, it has been called more Unitarian than\nChristian. Many efforts have been made, but without much success, to\nwrite a substitute hymn with a definite Christian note. In 1864 Bishop\nHow of London wrote a hymn, the first stanza of which reads:\n\n Nearer, O God, to Thee!\n Hear Thou our prayer;\n E'en though a heavy cross\n Fainting we bear.\n Still all our prayer shall be\n Nearer, O God, to Thee,\n Nearer to Thee!\n\nProf. Henry Eyster Jacobs of Philadelphia, in 1887, also wrote a version:\n\n Nearer, my God, to Thee,\n Nearer to Thee!\n Through Word and Sacrament\n Thou com'st to me.\n Thy grace is ever near,\n Thy Spirit ever here\n Drawing to Thee.\n\nThe hymn was a favorite with William McKinley, the martyred president.\nWhen he was dying, his attending physician heard him murmur, \"'Nearer, my\nGod, to Thee, E'en though it be a cross,' has been my constant prayer.\"\n\n\n\n\n That Sweet Story of Old\n\n\n I think, when I read that sweet story of old,\n When Jesus was here among men,\n How He called little children as lambs to His fold,\n I should like to have been with them then.\n\n I wish that His hand had been placed on my head,\n That His arm had been thrown around me,\n And that I might have seen His kind look when He said,\n \"Let the little ones come unto Me.\"\n\n Yet still to His footstool in prayer I may go,\n And ask for a share in His love;\n And if only I earnestly seek Him below,\n I shall see Him and hear Him above.\n\n In that beautiful place He has gone to prepare\n For all who are washed and forgiven,\n Full many dear children are gathering there,\n \"For of such is the kingdom of heaven\"\n\n But thousands and thousands who wander and fall\n Never heard of that heavenly home:\n I should like them to know there is room for them all,\n And that Jesus has bid them to come.\n\n And O how I long for that glorious time,\n The sweetest and brightest and best,\n When the dear little children of every clime\n Shall crowd to His arms and be blest!\n\n Jemima Luke, 1841.\n\n\n\n\n A HYMN WRITTEN IN A STAGE-COACH\n\n\nSome one has said, \"Let me write the songs of a nation, and I care not\nwho may write its laws.\"\n\nIt is a wise saying; for who can estimate the influence of the songs we\nsing, especially the songs of children? There is no better way to teach\nChristian truths to children than to have them sing those truths into\ntheir hearts and souls.\n\nWhen Jemima Luke sat in an English stage-coach in 1841 composing the\nlines of a little poem that had been ringing in her mind, she could\nscarcely have known she was writing a hymn that would gladden the hearts\nof thousands of children in many years to come. But that is how she wrote\n\"I think when I read that sweet story of old,\" and that is the happy fate\nthat was in store for her labor of love.\n\nHer maiden name was Jemima Thompson. Her father was a missionary\nenthusiast, and she herself was filled with zeal for mission enterprises.\nEven as a child, at the age of thirteen, she was an anonymous contributor\nto \"The Juvenile Magazine.\" When she was twenty-eight years old she\nvisited a school where the children had been singing a fine old melody as\na marching song.\n\n\"What a lovely children's hymn it would make,\" she thought, \"if only\nthere were suitable religious words for it.\"\n\nShe hunted through many books for the words she desired, but could find\nnone that satisfied her. Some time later, as she was riding in a stage\ncoach with nothing to occupy her, she thought of the tune again. Taking\nan old envelope from her pocket, she recorded on the back of it the words\nthat have come to be loved on both sides of the Atlantic, and some day\nprobably will be sung by the children of all the world.\n\nWhen she returned home, she taught the words and the melody to her Sunday\nschool class. Her father, who was superintendent of the school, chanced\nto hear them one day.\n\n\"Where did that hymn come from?\" he asked.\n\n\"Jemima made it!\" was the proud answer of the youngsters.\n\nWithout telling his daughter about it, the father sent a copy of the\nwords to the \"Sunday School Teachers' Magazine,\" and in a few weeks it\nappeared for the first time in print. Since that time it has continued to\nfind a place year after year in almost every juvenile hymnal published in\nthe English language.\n\nThe last stanza of the hymn, which begins with the words, \"But thousands\nand thousands who wander and fall,\" was added subsequently by the author,\nwho desired to make it suitable for missionary gatherings. Her interest\nin foreign missions continued unabated throughout her life. At one time\nshe was accepted as a missionary to the women of India, but poor health\nprevented her from carrying out her purpose. However, she edited \"The\nMissionary Repository,\" the first missionary magazine for children, and\nnumbered among her contributors such famous missionaries as David\nLivingstone, Robert Moffatt and James Montgomery.\n\nIn 1843 she married a minister, Rev. Samuel Luke. After his death in 1868\nshe devoted much of her time to promoting the erection of parsonages in\nparishes that were too poor to provide them for their pastors.\n\nWhen an international convention of the Christian Endeavor society was\nheld in Baltimore in 1904, Mrs. Luke sent the following message to the\nyoung people:\n\n\"Dear children, you will be men and women soon, and it is for you and the\nchildren of England to carry the message of a Saviour's love to every\nnation of this sin-stricken world. It is a blessed message to carry, and\nit is a happy work to do. The Lord make you ever faithful to Him, and\nunspeakably happy in His service! I came to Him at ten years of age, and\nat ninety-one can testify to His care and faithfulness.\"\n\nShe died in 1906 at the age of ninety-three years. Although she wrote a\ngreat deal of inspiring Christian literature, it is only her beautiful\n\"Sweet Story of Old\" that has come down to us.\n\n\n\n\n Redemption's Story in a Hymn\n\n\n There is a green hill far away,\n Without a city wall,\n Where the dear Lord was crucified,\n Who died to save us all.\n\n We may not know, we cannot tell,\n What pains He had to bear;\n But we believe it was for us\n He hung and suffered there.\n\n He died that we might be forgiven,\n He died to make us good,\n That we might go at last to heaven,\n Saved by His precious blood.\n\n There was no other good enough\n To pay the price of sin;\n He only could unlock the gate\n Of heaven, and let us in.\n\n O dearly, dearly has He loved,\n And we must love Him too,\n And trust in His redeeming blood,\n And try His works to do.\n\n Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848.\n\n\n\n\n AN ARCHBISHOP'S WIFE WHO WROTE HYMNS\n\n\nShortly before the death in 1911 of Archbishop William Alexander, primate\nof the Anglican Church in Ireland, he remarked that he would be\nremembered as the husband of the woman who wrote \"The roseate hues of\nearly dawn\" and \"There is a green hill far away.\"\n\nThe humble prelate was right. Although he occupied an exalted position in\nthe Church less than two decades ago, few people today recall his name.\nBut who has not heard the name of Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander, who,\nin spite of multitudinous duties as wife and mother, found time to be a\nparish worker among the poor and to write hymns that shall never die?\n\nWhen Cecil Frances was only a little girl, she began to reveal poetic\ntalent. Because her father was an officer in the Royal Marines and rather\na stern man, she was not sure that he would be pleased with her efforts\nand therefore she hid her poems under a carpet! When he finally\ndiscovered what his nine-year-old daughter was busying herself with, he\nset aside a certain hour every Saturday evening, at which time he read\naloud to the family the poems she had written.\n\nThe family numbered among its friends none other than John Keble, writer\nof the famous collection of devotional poems known as \"The Christian\nYear,\" and he, too, gave encouragement to the youthful poet.\n\nIn 1848, at the age of twenty-five, she published a volume of hymns for\nlittle children that probably has never been excelled by a similar\ncollection. Two years later she became the bride of Rev. William\nAlexander, afterwards Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, and later Archbishop of\nArmaugh. He was rector of a country parish in the county of Tyrone at the\ntime, and there was much poverty among his people. Among these needy folk\nthe young minister's wife moved about like a ministering angel. A\nbeautiful tribute to her memory from the pen of her husband reads: \"From\none poor home to another, from one bed of sickness to another, from one\nsorrow to another, she went. Christ was ever with her, and in her, and\nall felt her influence.\"\n\nBut the poetic spark within her was not permitted to languish. Even when\nchildren began to bless this unusual household and the cares of the\nmother increased, her harp was tuned anew and sweeter songs than ever\nbegan to well up from her joyous, thankful heart.\n\nPractically all of the four hundred hymns and poems written by Mrs.\nAlexander were intended for children, and for this reason their language\nis very simple. At the same time she succeeds in teaching some of the\nmost profound truths of the Christian faith. Witness, for example, the\nsimple language of \"There is a green hill far away.\" A child has no\ndifficulty in comprehending it, and yet this precious hymn sets forth in\na most touching way the whole story of the Atonement.\n\n He died that we might be forgiven,\n He died to make us good,\n That we might go at last to heaven,\n Saved by His precious blood.\n\nAgain, the infinite value of the sacrifice which Christ made when He, the\nSinless One, died for sinners is expressed in these simple, appealing\nwords:\n\n There was no other good enough\n To pay the price of sin,\n He only could unlock the gate\n Of heaven, and let us in.\n\nArchbishop Alexander mentioned two hymns by which his wife's name, and\nincidentally his own, would be remembered. He might have added several\nothers, such as the challenging hymn, \"Jesus calls us; o'er the tumult,\"\nor the two beautiful children's hymns, \"Once in royal David's city\" and\n\"All things bright and beautiful.\" And among her splendid poems he might\nhave mentioned the sublime verses entitled \"The Burial of Moses.\" Her own\nspirit of confiding trust in God is reflected in the lines:\n\n O lonely tomb in Moab's land!\n O dark Beth-peor's hill!\n Speak to these curious hearts of ours,\n And teach them to be still;\n\n God has His mysteries of grace,\n Ways that we cannot tell;\n He hides them deep, like the secret sleep\n Of him He loved so well.\n\nMrs. Alexander died in 1895 at the age of seventy-two years. She was\nburied in Londonderry, Ireland. At Archbishop Alexander's funeral sixteen\nyears later \"The roseate hues of early dawn\" was sung in Londonderry\ncathedral, and when the body was lowered into the grave the mourners\nsang, \"There is a green hill far away.\"\n\nDuring the years when Mrs. Alexander was penning her beautiful lyrics,\nthree other women were giving hymns to the English people in another way.\nThey were Catherine Winkworth and the sisters Jane Borthwick and Sarah\nBorthwick Findlater, all three of whom had conceived a deep love for the\nwonderful hymns of Germany and were translating them into their native\ntongue.\n\nMiss Winkworth, who is the foremost translator of German hymns, was born\nin London, September 13, 1829. Her \"Lyra Germanica,\" published in 1855,\nmet with such favorable reception that a second series was issued in\n1858. Her \"Christian Singers of Germany\" was published in 1869.\n\nMiss Winkworth possessed a marvelous ability of preserving the spirit of\nthe great German hymns while she clothed them in another language. It was\nshe who gave us in English dress such magnificent hymns as Rinkart's \"Now\nthank we all our God,\" Luther's \"Out of the depths I cry to Thee,\"\nDecius' \"All glory be to God on high,\" Neander's \"Praise to the Lord, the\nAlmighty, the King of creation,\" Schmolck's \"Open now thy gates of\nbeauty,\" and Gerhardt's \"All my heart this night rejoices.\" Miss\nWinkworth, more than any other one person, is responsible for having\naroused in England and America an appreciation of the treasure store of\nGerman hymnody. She died in 1869.\n\nThe two Borthwick sisters, Jane Laurie and Sarah, were born in Edinburgh,\nScotland, the former in 1813 and the latter in 1823. They came from an\nold Scotch family. Sarah married a Rev. Eric Findlater and lived for a\ntime in Perthshire.\n\nThe Borthwick sisters collaborated in the preparation of the translations\nentitled \"Hymns from the Land of Luther.\" These appeared first in 1854\nand continued in four series until 1862. Although it is difficult to\ndistinguish the individual work of the sisters, Jane is generally\ncredited with the translation of such noble hymns as Zinzendorf's \"Jesus,\nstill lead on,\" and Schmolck's \"My Jesus, as Thou wilt,\" while Sarah is\nbelieved to be the translator of Tersteegen's \"God calling yet,\" Spitta's\n\"O happy home, where Thou art loved the dearest,\" Schmolck's \"My God, I\nknow that I must die,\" and a large number of other famous German hymns.\n\nJane Borthwick died in 1897, and her younger sister followed her ten\nyears later.\n\n\n\n\n The Voice of Jesus\n\n\n I heard the voice of Jesus say:\n \"Come unto Me and rest;\n Lay down, thou weary one, lay down\n Thy head upon My breast.\"\n I came to Jesus as I was,\n Weary, and worn, and sad;\n I found in Him a resting-place,\n And He has made me glad.\n\n I heard the voice of Jesus say,\n \"Behold, I freely give\n The living water, thirsty one,\n Stoop down, and drink, and live.\"\n I came to Jesus and I drank\n Of that life-giving stream;\n My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,\n And now I live in Him.\n\n I heard the voice of Jesus say,\n \"I am this dark world's Light;\n Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,\n And all thy day be bright.\"\n I looked to Jesus, and I found\n In Him my Star, my Sun;\n And in that Light of life I'll walk,\n Till traveling days are done.\n\n Horatius Bonar, 1846.\n\n\n\n\n BONAR, THE SWEET SINGER OF SCOTLAND\n\n\nOne of Scotland's most earnest soul-winners was also its greatest\nhymnist. He was Horatius Bonar, a name that will be forever cherished by\nall who are filled with a fervent love for the Saviour and who find that\nlove so beautifully expressed in the spiritual songs of the noble\nScotchman.\n\nLike the hymns of Mrs. Alexander, Dr. Bonar wrote his songs for children;\nbut they are so profound and intensely spiritual in their very simplicity\nthey will always satisfy the most mature Christian mind. No matter how\nold we become, our hearts will ever be stirred as we sing the tender\nwords:\n\n I long to be like Jesus,\n Meek, loving, lowly, mild;\n I long to be like Jesus,\n The Father's holy Child.\n I long to be with Jesus,\n Amid the heavenly throng,\n To sing with saints His praises,\n To learn the angels' song.\n\nThe subjective, emotional element is strongly present in the hymns of\nBonar. In this respect there is a striking resemblance to the hymns of\nthe great German writer, Benjamin Schmolck. Both use the name \"Jesus\"\nfreely, and both become daringly intimate, yet the hymns of neither are\nweak or sentimental.\n\nIn Bonar we behold the strange anomaly of a man with a strong physique\nand powerful intellect combined with the gentle, sympathetic nature of a\nwoman and the simple, confiding faith of a child. The warmth and\nsincerity of his personal faith in Christ may be seen reflected in all\nhis hymns. \"I try to fill my hymns with the love and light of Christ,\" he\nonce said, and certainly he has drawn many souls to the Saviour by the\ntenderness of their appeal.\n\nBonar is ever pointing in his hymns to Christ as an all-sufficient\nSaviour, dwelling in simple language on the blessings of the Atonement\nand the willingness of God to accept all who come to Him through Christ.\nIn these days of modernistic teachings when practically all stress is\nplaced on \"living the Christ-life\" while the meritorious work of Christ\non behalf of the sinner is largely ignored and forgotten, it would be\nsalutary for the Church to listen anew to such words as these:\n\n Upon a Life I have not lived,\n Upon a Death I did not die,\n Another's Life; Another's Death:\n I stake my whole eternity.\n\n Not on the tears which I have shed;\n Not on the sorrows I have known:\n Another's tears; Another's griefs:\n On them I rest, on them alone.\n\n Jesus, O Son of God, I build\n On what Thy cross has done for me;\n There both my death and life I read;\n My guilt, my pardon there I see.\n\n Lord, I believe; O deal with me\n As one who has Thy Word believed!\n I take the gift, Lord, look on me\n As one who has Thy gift received.\n\nBonar was born in Edinburgh, December 19, 1808. His father was a lawyer,\nbut he came from a long line of eminent Scottish ministers. His mother\nwas a gentle, pious woman, and it was largely through her influence that\nher three sons, John, Horatius and Andrew, entered the ministry of the\nChurch of Scotland. Andrew became a noted Bible commentator.\n\nAfter completing his course at the University of Edinburgh, Horatius\nbegan mission work in Leith, under Rev. James Lewis. In one of the most\nsqualid parts of the city he conducted services and Sunday school in a\nhall. The children did not seem to enjoy singing the Psalm paraphrases,\nwhich were still exclusively used by the Church of Scotland at that late\ndate, and therefore Bonar decided to write songs of his own. Like Luther,\nhe chose happy tunes familiar to the children, and wrote words to fit\nthem. His first two hymns were \"I lay my sins on Jesus\" and \"The morning,\nthe bright and beautiful morning.\" Still others were \"I was a wandering\nsheep\" and \"A few more years shall roll.\" Needless to say, the children\nsang and enjoyed them.\n\nAt this time, also, he wrote his first hymn for adults, \"Go, labor on!\nSpend and be spent!\" It was intended to encourage those who were working\nwith him among the poor of his district.\n\nAfter four years Bonar was ordained as a minister of the Church of\nScotland, assuming charge of a new church at Kelso. He was a man of\nprayer, and his first sermon to his people was an exhortation to prayer.\nIt is said that a young servant in his home was converted by his prayers.\nHearing his earnest supplications from his locked study, she thought: \"If\nhe needs to pray so much, what will become of me, if I do not pray!\"\n\nMany stories are related of his methods of dealing with seeking souls. A\nyoung man who was troubled by a grievous sin came to Bonar for help. The\nlatter told him that God was willing to forgive and that the blood of\nJesus His Son cleanseth from all sin. The despairing young man seemed\nunable to believe the gospel message, however, and continually reminded\nBonar of the greatness of his transgression. Finally an inspiration came\nto the pastor. \"Tell me,\" he demanded, \"which is of greater weight in the\neyes of God--your sin, black as it is, or the blood of Jesus, shed for\nsinners?\" Light dawned on the soul of the troubled young man, and he\ncried joyfully, \"Oh, I am sure the blood of Jesus weighs more heavily\nthan even my sin!\" And so he found peace.\n\nBonar was a man of boundless energy. When he was not preaching, he was\nwriting hymns or tracts or books. One of his tracts, \"Believe and Live,\"\nwas printed in more than a million copies, and the late Queen Victoria of\nEngland was much blessed by it. His hymns number about 600, and the fact\nthat at least 100 are in common use today is a testimonial to their\nworth. Dr. Bonar never used his hymns in his own church worship, but\nwhen, on a certain occasion near the close of his life, he broke the\nrule, two of his elders showed their emphatic disapproval by walking out\nof church.\n\nPerhaps the finest hymn we have received from his pen, if we except \"I\nlay my sins on Jesus,\" is \"I heard the voice of Jesus say.\" Other\nfamiliar hymns are \"Thy works, not mine, O Christ,\" \"Not what my hands\nhave done,\" \"Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power,\" \"All that I was,\nmy sin, my guilt,\" \"Thy way, not mine, O Lord,\" and \"A few more years\nshall roll.\"\n\nIn 1843 Dr. Bonar married Miss Jane Lundie, and for forty years they\nshared joy and sorrow. She, too, was a gifted writer, and it is she who\nhas given us the beautiful gem, \"Fade, fade, each earthly joy.\"\n\nSorrow was one of the means used by the Lord to enrich and mellow the\nlife of Bonar. Five of his children died in early years. It required much\nof divine grace in such experiences to write lines like these:\n\n Spare not the stroke; do with us as Thou wilt;\n Let there be naught unfinished, broken, marred.\n Complete Thy purpose, that we may become\n Thy perfect image, O our God and Lord.\n\nBonar himself was sorely afflicted during the last two years of his life.\nHe died in 1889, deeply mourned by all Scotland as well as by Christians\nthroughout the world who had come to know him through his tracts and\nhymns. At his funeral one of his own hymns was sung. It was written on\nthe theme of his family motto, \"Heaven at Last.\"\n\n What a city! what a glory!\n Far beyond the brightest story\n Of the ages old and hoary:\n Ah, 'tis heaven at last!\n\n Christ Himself the living splendor,\n Christ the sunlight mild and tender;\n Praises to the Lamb we render:\n Ah, 'tis heaven at last!\n\n Now, at length, the veil is rended,\n Now the pilgrimage is ended,\n And the saints their thrones ascended:\n Ah, 'tis heaven at last!\n\n Broken death's dread bands that bound us,\n Life and victory around us;\n Christ, the King, Himself hath crowned us;\n Ah, 'tis heaven at last!\n\n\n\n\n The Dayspring from on High\n\n\n O very God of very God,\n And very Light of Light,\n Whose feet this earth's dark valley trod,\n That so it might be bright!\n\n Our hopes are weak, our foes are strong,\n Thick darkness blinds our eyes;\n Cold is the night, and O we long\n For Thee, our Sun, to rise!\n\n And even now, though dull and gray,\n The east is brightening fast,\n And kindling to the perfect day\n That never shall be past.\n\n O guide us till our path be done,\n And we have reached the shore\n Where Thou, our everlasting Sun,\n Art shining evermore!\n\n We wait in faith, and turn our face\n To where the daylight springs,\n Till Thou shalt come our gloom to chase,\n With healing on Thy wings.\n\n John Mason Neale, 1846.\n\n\n\n\n TWO FAMOUS TRANSLATORS OF ANCIENT HYMNS\n\n\nLittle more than a century ago--in the year 1818, to be exact--there was\nborn in the great city of London a child who was destined to become an\nunusual scholar. He was christened John Mason Neale, a name that may be\nfound today throughout the pages of the world's best hymn-books.\n\nWhen he was only five years old, his father died, and, like so many other\nmen who have achieved fame, he received the greater part of his\nelementary training from a gifted mother.\n\nAt Cambridge University, which he entered at an early age, he became a\nbrilliant student, leading his classes and winning numerous prizes. After\nhis graduation he was ordained as a minister in the Church of England.\n\nHis interest in the ancient hymns of the Christian Church led him to\nspend much time in the morning lands of history, particularly in Greece.\nTo him, more than any one else, we owe some of the most successful\ntranslations from the classical languages. By his sojourn in eastern\nlands, he seems to have been enabled to catch the spirit of the Greek\nhymns to such a degree that his translations read almost like original\npoems. For instance, in order to do justice to the famous Easter hymn of\nJohn of Damascus, written some time during the eighth century, Neale\ncelebrated Easter in Athens and heard the \"glorious old hymn of victory,\"\nas he called it, sung by a great throng of worshipers at midnight. The\nresult is his sublime translation:\n\n The day of resurrection!\n Earth, tell it out abroad!\n The Passover of gladness,\n The Passover of God!\n From death to Life eternal,\n From earth unto the sky,\n Our Christ hath brought us over,\n With hymns of victory.\n\nAnother very famous translation from the Greek by Neale is the hymn:\n\n Art thou weary, art thou languid,\n Art thou sore distressed?\n \"Come to me,\" saith One, \"and, coming,\n Be at rest.\"\n\nThis hymn is often regarded as an original by Neale, but the author was\nSt. Stephen the Sabaite, a monk who received his name from the monastery\nin which he spent his life, that of St. Sabas, near Bethlehem,\noverlooking the Dead Sea. St. Stephen, who was born in 725 A.D., had been\nplaced in the monastery at the age of ten years by his uncle. He lived\nthere more than half a century until his death in 794 A.D.\n\nNeale was equally successful in the translation of ancient Latin hymns.\nPerhaps the most notable is his rendering of Bernard of Cluny's immortal\nhymn:\n\n Jerusalem, the golden,\n With milk and honey blest!\n Beneath thy contemplation\n Sink heart and voice oppressed:\n I know not, O I know not,\n What blissful joys are there,\n What radiancy of glory,\n What light beyond compare!\n\nSo facile was Neale in the art of writing either English or Latin verse,\nthat he often astounded his friends. It is said that on one occasion John\nKeble, author of \"The Christian Year,\" was visiting him. Absenting\nhimself from the room for a few minutes, Neale returned shortly and\nexclaimed: \"I thought, Keble, that all your poems in 'The Christian Year'\nwere original; but one of them, at least, seems to be a translation.\"\nThereupon he handed Keble, to the latter's amazement, a very fine Latin\nrendering of one of Keble's own poems. He had made the translation during\nhis absence from the room.\n\nBut Neale did not confine himself to translations. He also wrote a large\nnumber of splendid original hymns. He was fond of writing hymns for holy\ndays and festivals of the church year. The hymn printed in connection\nwith this sketch is for Advent. \"Oh Thou, who by a star didst guide,\" for\nEpiphany, and \"Blessed Saviour, who hast taught me,\" for confirmation,\nare among his other original hymns.\n\nBecause of his \"high church\" tendencies, accentuated no doubt by the\ninfluence of the \"Oxford Movement,\" Neale incurred the suspicion of some\nthat he leaned toward the Church of Rome. However, there is nothing of\nRoman error to be found in his hymns. The evangelical note rings pure and\nclear, and for this reason they will no doubt continue to be loved and\nsung through centuries yet to come.\n\nNeale died August 6, 1866, at the age of forty-eight years, trusting in\nthe atoning blood of Christ, and with the glorious assurance expressed in\nhis version of St. Stephen's hymn:\n\n If I still hold closely to Him,\n What hath He at last?\n \"Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,\n Jordan passed.\"\n\n If I ask Him to receive me,\n Will He say me nay?\n \"Not till earth and not till heaven\n Pass away.\"\n\nAnother Englishman who gained renown by translations of the old classical\nhymns of the Church was Edward Caswall. He was a contemporary of Neale,\nand, like the latter, came under the influence of the \"Oxford Movement,\"\nwhich cost the Church of England some of its ablest men. While Neale,\nhowever, remained faithful to his own communion, Caswall resigned as a\nminister of the English Church and became a Romanist. He was made a\npriest in the Congregation of the Oratory, which Cardinal Newman had\nestablished in Birmingham, a position he continued to fill until his\ndeath in 1878.\n\nTwo of the most beautiful hymns in the English language--\"Jesus, the very\nthought of Thee\" and \"O Jesus, King most wonderful\"--were derived by\nCaswall from the famous Latin poem, _De Nomine Jesu_, by Bernard of\nClairvaux. Of the former hymn Dr. Robinson has said: \"One might call this\npoem the finest in the world and still be within the limits of all\nextravagance.\"\n\nAmong other fine translations from the Latin by Caswall are \"Hark! a\nthrilling voice is sounding\" and \"Glory be to Jesus.\" He also has given\nus some hymns from the German, including the exquisite morning hymn,\n\"When morning gilds the skies.\" This is such a free rendering, however,\nthat it may rather be regarded as an original hymn by Caswall. Three of\nits stanzas read:\n\n When morning gilds the skies,\n My heart, awaking, cries,\n May Jesus Christ be praised!\n Alike at work and prayer,\n To Jesus I repair;\n May Jesus Christ be praised!\n\n In heaven's eternal bliss\n The loveliest strain is this,\n May Jesus Christ be praised!\n Let air, and sea, and sky\n From depth to height reply,\n May Jesus Christ be praised!\n\n Be this, while life is mine,\n My canticle divine,\n May Jesus Christ be praised!\n Be this the eternal song\n Through all the ages on,\n May Jesus Christ be praised!\n\n\n\n\n A Great Marching Song\n\n\n Onward, Christian soldiers,\n Marching as to war,\n With the cross of Jesus\n Going on before.\n Christ, the royal Master,\n Leads against the foe;\n Forward into battle,\n See, His banners go!\n\n At the sign of triumph\n Satan's armies flee;\n On, then, Christian soldiers,\n On to victory!\n Hell's foundations quiver\n At the shout of praise;\n Brothers, lift your voices,\n Loud your anthems raise.\n\n Crowns and thrones may perish,\n Kingdoms rise and wane,\n But the church of Jesus\n Constant will remain;\n Gates of hell can never\n 'Gainst that church prevail;\n We have Christ's own promise,\n And that cannot fail.\n\n Onward, then, ye people!\n Join our happy throng,\n Blend with ours your voices\n In the triumph-song;\n Glory, laud, and honor\n Unto Christ the King,\n This through countless ages\n Men and angels sing.\n\n Sabine Baring-Gould, 1865.\n\n\n\n\n BARING-GOULD AND HIS NOTED HYMN\n\n\nWhen Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, on Whitsunday, 1865, sat up a greater\nportion of the night to compose a hymn, he did not realize he was writing\nwords that would be sung through the centuries; but that no doubt will be\nthe result of his zeal. The hymn he wrote was \"Onward, Christian\nsoldiers.\"\n\nThe story is an interesting one. At that time Baring-Gould was minister\nof the Established Church at Lew-Trenchard, England. On Whitmonday the\nchildren of his village were to march to an adjoining village for a\nSunday school rally.\n\n\"If only there was something they could sing as they marched,\" the pastor\nthought, \"the way would not seem so long.\" He searched diligently for\nsomething suitable but failed to find what he wanted. Finally he decided\nto write a marching song. It took the greater part of the night to do it,\nbut the next morning the children's pilgrimage was made the lighter and\nhappier by \"Onward, Christian soldiers.\"\n\nCommenting on the hymn some thirty years later, the author said: \"It was\nwritten in great haste, and I am afraid some of the rhymes are faulty.\nCertainly, nothing has surprised me more than its popularity.\"\n\nIn this instance, as in many others that might be mentioned, the tune to\nwhich it is inseparably wedded, has no doubt contributed much to make it\npopular. Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan, the great English organist who\nwrote \"The Lost Chord,\" in 1872 composed the stirring music now used for\nBaring-Gould's hymn.\n\nObjection has sometimes been voiced against the hymn because of its\nmartial spirit. However, it should be noted that this hymn gives not the\nslightest hint of warfare with carnal weapons. The allusion is to\nspiritual warfare, and the warrior is the Christian soldier.\n\nWe are reminded throughout this hymn of Paul's martial imagery in the\nsixth chapter of Ephesians, where he tells us that \"our wrestling is not\nagainst flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the\npowers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual\nhosts of wickedness in the heavenly places,\" and admonishes us to put on\n\"the whole armor of God.\" We also recall the same apostle's exhortation\nto Timothy to \"war the good warfare,\" and to \"fight the good fight of\nfaith.\"\n\nIt is salutary to be reminded by such a hymn as this of the heroic\ncharacter of the Christian life. The follower of Jesus is not to sit with\nfolded hands and sing his way into Paradise. A sickly, sentimental\nreligion has no more place in the Christian Church today than it had in\nthose early days when apostles and martyrs sealed their faith with their\nlife-blood. Baring-Gould's hymn seems almost an exultant answer to Isaac\nWatts' challenging stanza:\n\n Must I be carried to the skies\n On flowery beds of ease,\n While others fought to win the prize,\n And sailed through bloody seas?\n\nWe sometimes hear it said that the Church of Christ has fallen on evil\ndays, and more than one faithful soul fears for the future. Baring-Gould\nhas reminded us here of Christ's \"own promise\" that, though kingdoms may\nrise and fall, His kingdom shall ever remain, for the gates of hell shall\nnot prevail against it.\n\nDuring a desperate battle between the French and Austrians in the\nNapoleonic wars, a French officer rushed to his commander and exclaimed,\n\"The battle is lost!\" Quietly the general answered, \"One battle is lost,\nbut there is time to win another.\" Inspired by the commander's\nunconquerable optimism, the French army renewed the struggle and snatched\nvictory out of the jaws of defeat. That has ever been the history of the\nChurch of Christ.\n\nBaring-Gould was one of England's most versatile ministers. In addition\nto his hymn-writing, he was a novelist of considerable reputation. For\nmany years he regularly produced a novel every year. His \"Lives of the\nSaints\" in fifteen volumes, his \"Curious Myths of the Middle Ages\" and\nhis \"Legends of the Old Testament\" are all notable works. It is said that\nhe did all his writing in long hand without the aid of a secretary. He\nonce declared that he often did his best work when he felt least inclined\nto apply himself to his task. He never waited for an \"inspiration,\" but\nplunged into his work and then stuck to it until it was finished.\n\nThe beautiful evening hymn, \"Now the day is over,\" is also from\nBaring-Gould's pen, and, to show his versatility, he also composed the\ntune for it. He was also the translator of Bernhardt Severin Ingemann's\nfamous Danish hymn, \"Through the night of doubt and sorrow.\"\n\nDespite his arduous and unceasing labors, Baring-Gould lived to the ripe\nold age of ninety years. He died in 1924, but his hymn goes marching on.\n\n\n\n\n A Rapturous Hymn of Adoration\n\n\n O Saviour, precious Saviour,\n Whom, yet unseen, we love;\n O Name of might and favor,\n All other names above:\n We worship Thee, we bless Thee,\n To Thee alone we sing;\n We praise Thee and confess Thee,\n Our holy Lord and King.\n\n O Bringer of salvation,\n Who wondrously hast wrought,\n Thyself the revelation\n Of love beyond our thought;\n We worship Thee, we bless Thee,\n To Thee alone we sing;\n We praise Thee and confess Thee,\n Our gracious Lord and King.\n\n In Thee all fulness dwelleth,\n All grace and power divine;\n The glory that excelleth,\n O Son of God, is Thine.\n We worship Thee, we bless Thee,\n To Thee alone we sing;\n We praise Thee and confess Thee,\n Our glorious Lord and King.\n\n O grant the consummation\n Of this our song above,\n In endless adoration\n And everlasting love;\n Then shall we praise and bless Thee\n Where perfect praises ring,\n And evermore confess Thee,\n Our Saviour and our King.\n\n Frances Ridley Havergal, 1870.\n\n\n\n\n FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL, THE CONSECRATION POET\n\n\nThe beauty of a consecrated Christian life has probably never been more\nperfectly revealed than in the life of Frances Ridley Havergal. To read\nthe story of her life is not only an inspiration, but it discloses at\nonce the secret of her beautiful hymns. She lived her hymns before she\nwrote them.\n\nThis sweetest of all English singers was born at Astley, Worcestershire,\nDecember 14, 1836. She was such a bright, happy and vivacious child that\nher father, who was a minister of the Church of England and himself a\nhymn-writer of no mean ability, called her \"Little Quicksilver.\" Her\nfather was also a gifted musician, and this quality too was inherited by\nthe daughter, who became a brilliant pianist and passionately fond of\nsinging. However, because she looked upon her talents as gifts from God\nto be used only in His service, she would sing nothing but sacred songs.\n\nHer sunshiny nature became even more radiant following a deep religious\nexperience at the age of fourteen. Of this she afterwards wrote:\n\n\"I committed my soul to the Saviour, and earth and heaven seemed brighter\nfrom that moment.\"\n\nAt the age of eighteen she was confirmed. It is evident that she looked\nupon her confirmation as one of the most blessed experiences of her life,\nfor when she returned home she wrote in her manuscript book of poems:\n\n\n\n\n \"THINE FOR EVER\"\n\n\n Oh! Thine for ever, what a blessed thing\n To be for ever His who died for me!\n My Saviour, all my life Thy praise I'll sing,\n Nor cease my song throughout eternity.\n\nShe also wrote a hymn on Confirmation, \"In full and glad surrender.\" This\nhymn her sister declared was \"the epitome of her life and the focus of\nits sunshine.\"\n\nFour years later, while pursuing studies in Duesseldorf, Germany, Miss\nHavergal chanced to see Sternberg's celebrated painting, _Ecce Homo_,\nwith the inscription beneath it:\n\n This have I done for thee;\n What hast thou done for me?\n\nThis was the same painting that once made such a profound impression on\nthe youthful mind of Count Zinzendorf. Miss Havergal was likewise deeply\nmoved, and immediately she seized a piece of scrap paper and a pencil and\nwrote the famous hymn:\n\n I gave My life for thee,\n My precious blood I shed,\n That thou might'st ransomed be,\n And quickened from the dead.\n I gave My life for thee:\n What hast thou given for Me?\n\nShe thought the verses so poor after she had read them over that she\ntossed them into a stove. The piece of paper, however, fell out untouched\nby the flames. When she showed the words to her father a few months\nlater, he was so touched by them he immediately composed a tune by which\nthey could be sung.\n\nThis seems to have been one of the great turning points in the life of\nthe young hymnist. Her hymns from this period reveal her as a fully\nsurrendered soul, her one ambition being to devote all her talents to\nChrist. She did not consider herself to be a poet of a high order, but so\nfilled was she with the love of Christ that her heart overflowed with\nrapturous praise. Indeed, her hymns may be said to be the record of her\nown spiritual experiences. Always she was proclaiming the evangel of full\nand free salvation through Jesus' merits to all who believe.\n\nShe is often referred to as \"the consecration poet.\" This is an allusion\nto her famous consecration hymn, written in 1874:\n\n Take my life, and let it be\n Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.\n Take my moments and my days;\n Let them flow in ceaseless praise.\n\nThe circumstances that led to the writing of this hymn are interesting.\nMiss Havergal was spending a few days in a home where there were ten\npersons, some of them unconverted, and the others rather half-hearted\nChristians who seemed to derive no joy from their religion. A great\ndesire came upon her that she might be instrumental in bringing them all\nto true faith in Christ. Her prayer was wonderfully answered, and on the\nlast night of her stay her heart was so filled with joy and gratitude she\ncould not sleep. Instead, she spent the night writing the consecration\nhymn.\n\nHer prayer, \"Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold,\"\nwas not an idle petition with her. In August, 1878, she wrote to a\nfriend: \"The Lord has shown me another little step, and of course I have\ntaken it, with extreme delight. 'Take my silver and my gold,' now means\nshipping off all my ornaments to the Church Missionary House (including a\njewel cabinet that is really fit for a countess), where all will be\naccepted and disposed of for me. I retain a brooch or two for daily wear,\nwhich are memorials of my dear parents, also a locket containing a\nportrait of my dear niece in heaven, my Evelyn, and her two rings; but\nthese I redeem, so that the whole value goes to the Church Missionary\nSociety. Nearly fifty articles are being packed up. I don't think I ever\npacked a box with such pleasure.\"\n\nIn addition to her other accomplishments, Miss Havergal was a brilliant\nlinguist, having mastered a number of modern languages. She was also\nproficient in Greek and Hebrew. Her sister records that she always had\nher Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament at hand when she read the\nScriptures.\n\nThe study of the Bible was one of her chief joys. During summer she began\nher Bible reading at seven in the morning, and in winter at eight\no'clock. When, on cold days, her sister would beg her to sit near the\nfire, she would answer: \"But then, Marie, I can't rule my lines neatly.\nJust see what a find I've got. If one only searches, there are such\nextraordinary things in the Bible!\" Her Bible was freely underscored and\nfilled with notations. She was able to repeat from memory the four\nGospels, the Epistles, Revelation and all the Psalms, and in later years\nshe added Isaiah and the Minor Prophets to the list.\n\nMiss Havergal was only forty-two at the time of her death, on June 3,\n1879. When her attending physician told her that her condition was\nserious, she replied, \"If I am really going, it is too good to be true!\"\nAt the bottom of her bed she had her favorite text placed where she could\nsee it: \"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.\"\nShe also asked that these words be inscribed upon her coffin and on her\ntombstone. Once she exclaimed: \"Splendid! To be so near the gates of\nheaven!\" And again, \"So beautiful to go! So beautiful to go!\" She died\nwhile singing:\n\n Jesus, I will trust Thee,\n Trust Thee with my soul;\n Guilty, lost, and helpless,\n Thou hast made me whole:\n There is none in heaven\n Or on earth like Thee;\n Thou hast died for sinners,\n Therefore, Lord, for me!\n\nSome of the more popular hymns by Miss Havergal, aside from those already\nmentioned, are: \"O Saviour, precious Saviour,\" \"I am trusting Thee, Lord\nJesus,\" \"Thou art coming, O my Saviour,\" \"Lord, speak to me, that I may\nspeak,\" and \"Singing for Jesus, our Saviour and King.\" While she was\nwriting the hymns that were destined to make her famous, another\nremarkable young woman, \"Fanny\" Crosby, America's blind hymn-writer, was\nalso achieving renown by her hymns and songs. Miss Havergal and Miss\nCrosby never met, but each was an ardent admirer of the other, and on one\noccasion the English poet sent a very touching greeting to the American\nhymn-writer. It read:\n\n Dear blind sister over the sea,\n An English heart goes forth to thee.\n We are linked by a cable of faith and song,\n Flashing bright sympathy swift along:\n One in the East and one in the West\n Singing for Him whom our souls love best;\n \"Singing for Jesus,\" telling His love\n All the way to our home above,\n Where the severing sea, with its restless tide,\n Never shall hinder and never divide.\n Sister! What shall our meeting be,\n When our hearts shall sing, and our eyes shall see!\n\n\n\n\n The Emblem That Survives\n\n\n In the cross of Christ I glory,\n Towering o'er the wrecks of time;\n All the light of sacred story\n Gathers round its head sublime.\n\n When the woes of life o'ertake me,\n Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,\n Never shall the cross forsake me;\n Lo! it glows with peace and joy.\n\n When the sun of bliss is beaming\n Light and love upon my way,\n From the cross the radiance streaming\n Adds new luster to the day.\n\n Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,\n By the cross are sanctified;\n Peace is there that knows no measure,\n Joys that through all time abide.\n\n John Bowring, 1825.\n\n\n\n\n A UNITARIAN WHO GLORIED IN THE CROSS\n\n\nAmong the great hymns of the cross, Sir John Bowring's classic, \"In the\ncross of Christ I glory,\" occupies a foremost place. This is all the more\nremarkable when we are reminded that Bowring was known as a Unitarian, a\ncommunion which not only denies the deity of Christ, but ignores the true\nsignificance of the cross. And yet he has given us a hymn that every\nevangelical Christian rejoices to sing, for it is a hymn that magnifies\nthe cross and makes it the very center of the Christian religion.\n\nIn justice to Bowring it ought to be stated that he himself was \"a\ndevoted and evangelical believer,\" and that his connection with the\nUnitarian Church was merely accidental and nominal. When he died, in\n1872, the opening line of his famous hymn was inscribed in bold letters\nupon his tombstone:\n\n In the Cross of Christ I Glory\n\nKnowing these things, every true Christian will cherish an inner\nconviction that the man who wrote so beautiful a tribute to Christ and\nthe cross did not really die but only fell asleep, trusting in the\natoning death of a Saviour who is God.\n\nBowring was a learned man, especially famed as a linguist. He is said to\nhave been able to speak twenty-two languages fluently, and was able to\nconverse in at least one hundred different tongues. He found special\ndelight in translating poems from other languages. His published works\ncontain translations from Bohemian, Slavonic, Russian, Servian, Polish,\nSlovakian, Illyrian, Teutonic, Esthonian, Dutch, Frisian, Lettish,\nFinnish, Hungarian, Biscayan, French, Provencal, Gascon, Italian,\nSpanish, Portuguese, Catalonian and Galician sources.\n\nSir John was particularly fond of the study of hymns. Even at the age of\neighty years he was said to begin the day with some new song of\nthanksgiving.\n\nIn addition to all his other accomplishments, Bowring had a very\ndistinguished career in English politics. He was twice a member of the\nBritish parliament. Later he became consul general for the English\ngovernment at Hong Kong, China. During this period he chanced to sail\ndown the Chinese coast to Macao, where nearly 400 years earlier the\nPortuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, had built an imposing cathedral. The\nstructure had been wrecked by a typhoon, but the tower still remained,\nand surmounting it a great bronze cross, sharply outlined against the\nsky. Far above the wreckage surrounding it, the cross seemed to Bowring\nto be a symbol of Christ's Kingdom, glorious and eternal, living through\nthe centuries while other kingdoms have come and gone. So inspired was he\nby the sight, the words of the hymn seemed to suggest themselves to him\nat once, and in a short while a famous poem had been written.\n\nThe plan of the hymn is interesting. The first stanza declares the cross\nof Christ to be the central fact in divine revelation and the one theme\nin which the Christian never ceases to glory. The second stanza pictures\nthe cross as the Christian's refuge and comfort in time of affliction,\nwhile the third tells how it also adds luster to the days of joy and\nsunshine. The final stanza summarizes these two ideas, and the hymn\ncloses by telling of the eternal character of the peace and joy that flow\nfrom the cross.\n\nAn interesting story is told of this hymn in connection with the Boxer\nuprising in China. All foreigners in Peking had been besieged by the\ninfuriated Chinese for several weeks. When the allied troops finally\nreached the city and the terrible strain was ended, the Christian\nmissionaries gathered in the Temple of Heaven, the remarkable pagan\nshrine where the Emperor of China was accustomed to worship, and, lifting\nup their voices in thanksgiving, the messengers of the cross sang:\n\n In the cross of Christ I glory,\n Towering o'er the wrecks of time;\n All the light of sacred story\n Gathers round its head sublime.\n\nSir John Bowring eventually became governor of Hong Kong, and wielded\ngreat influence in the Orient. He did much to promote Christian\nbenevolences and other enterprises for the good of the peoples in the Far\nEast. When his health began to fail, his friends warned him to cease some\nof his activities, but in vain. His answer was, \"I must do my work while\nlife remains to me; I may not long be here.\"\n\nHe was often gratified to hear his hymns sung at unexpected times and in\nunusual places. In 1825 he wrote a poem beginning with the words,\n\"Watchman, tell us of the night.\" He did not know it was being used as a\nhymn until ten years later, when he heard it sung by Christian\nmissionaries in Turkey. Among other hymns of Bowring that have come into\ngeneral use is the beautiful one beginning with the words:\n\n God is Love; His mercy brightens\n All the path in which we rove;\n Bliss He wakes, and woe He lightens:\n God is Wisdom, God is Love.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn That Opens Hearts\n\n\n O Jesus, Thou art standing\n Outside the fast-closed door,\n In lowly patience waiting\n To pass the threshold o'er:\n Shame on us, Christian brothers,\n His Name and sign who bear:\n O shame, thrice shame upon us,\n To keep Him standing there!\n\n O Jesus, Thou art knocking;\n And lo, that hand is scarred,\n And thorns Thy brow encircle,\n And tears Thy face have marred:\n O love that passeth knowledge,\n So patiently to wait!\n O sin that hath no equal,\n So fast to bar the gate!\n\n O Jesus, Thou art pleading\n In accents meek and low,\n \"I died for you, My children,\n And will ye treat Me so?\"\n O Lord, with shame and sorrow\n We open now the door;\n Dear Saviour, enter, enter,\n And leave us nevermore.\n\n William Walsham How, 1867.\n\n\n\n\n A MODEL HYMN BY A MODEL MINISTER\n\n\nIt is a significant fact that many of the greatest hymns of the Church\nhave been written by pastors who have been noted for their zeal in\nwinning souls. Their hymns have been a part of their spiritual stratagem\nto draw the wayward and erring into the gospel net. Bishop William\nWalsham How, one of the more recent hymnists of England, is a shining\nexample of true devotion in a Christian shepherd.\n\nBishop How once gave a striking description of the characteristics which\nhe believed should be found in an ideal minister of the gospel. \"Such a\nminister,\" he said, \"should be a man pure, holy, and spotless in his\nlife; a man of much prayer; in character meek, lowly, and infinitely\ncompassionate; of tenderest love to all; full of sympathy for every pain\nand sorrow, and devoting his days and nights to lightening the burdens of\nhumanity; utterly patient of insult and enmity; utterly fearless in\nspeaking the truth and rebuking sin; ever ready to answer every call, to\ngo wherever bidden, in order to do good; wholly without thought of self;\nmaking himself the servant of all; patient, gentle, and untiring in\ndealing with the souls he would save; bearing with ignorance, wilfulness,\nslowness, cowardice, in those of whom he expects most; sacrificing all,\neven life itself, if need be, to save some.\"\n\nThose who knew How best said it was almost a perfect description of his\nown life and character.\n\nWhen Queen Victoria, in 1879, made him Bishop of Bedford, with East\nLondon as his diocese, he was tireless in his efforts to alleviate\nconditions in that poverty-stricken district. When he first began his\nwork in the slums, people would point to him and say, \"There goes a\nbishop.\" But as they came to know him better, they said, \"There goes\n_the_ bishop.\" And finally, when they learned to love him, they\nexclaimed, \"There goes _our_ bishop.\"\n\nBishop How's most celebrated hymn is \"O Jesus, Thou art standing.\" It is\nbased on the impressive words of the Saviour in the Book of Revelation,\n\"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice, and\nopen the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with\nme.\"\n\nThough the language of the hymn is commonplace, there are striking\nexpressions here, as in How's other hymns, that arrest the attention of\nthe worshiper. In the first stanza we are reminded that there are many\nnominal Christians bearing \"His Name and sign\" who yet are keeping the\nwaiting, patient Saviour outside a \"fast-closed door.\" In the succeeding\nverse we are told that it is sin that bars the gate. Then there is the\nconcluding stanza with its gripping appeal, picturing the surrender of\nthe human heart to the pleading Christ.\n\nThe imagery in the hymn was, no doubt, suggested by Holman Hunt's\ncelebrated painting, \"The Light of the World.\" This was executed by Hunt\nin 1855, while the hymn by How was written twelve years later. Those who\nare familiar with the Hunt masterpiece will remember how it pictures the\nSaviour standing patiently and knocking earnestly at a fast-closed door.\nThe high weeds, the tangled growth of vines, as well as the unpicked\nfruit lying on the ground before the door, suggest that it has not been\nopened for a long time. A bat is hovering in the vines overhead.\n\nRuskin tells us that the white robe worn by the heavenly Stranger shows\nus that He is a Prophet, the jeweled robe and breastplate indicate a\nPriest, and the crown of gold a King. The crown of thorns is now bearing\nleaves \"for the healing of the nations.\" In His scarred hand He carries a\nlighted lantern, signifying \"the Light of the world.\"\n\nWhen Holman Hunt's picture was first exhibited, it excited considerable\ncomment. Some one, however, ventured the criticism that there was a fault\nin the painting inasmuch as Hunt had forgotten to indicate a latch on the\ndoor.\n\n\"There is no mistake,\" said the great artist. \"I did not put a latch on\nthe outside of the door because it can only be opened from within. The\nLord Jesus Christ Himself cannot enter an unwilling heart; it must be\nopened to Him. He must be invited to enter.\"\n\nBishop How's hymn pictures in language what Holman Hunt put into his\ncelebrated canvass.\n\n\"O Jesus, Thou art standing\" is not the only famous hymn written by\nBishop How. His lovely New Year's hymn, \"Jesus, Name of wondrous love,\"\nand his All Saints' hymn, \"For all the saints who from their labors\nrest,\" have won a place forever in English hymnody. \"O Word of God\nIncarnate,\" \"We give Thee but Thine own\" and \"Summer suns are glowing\"\nalso have found their way into a large number of the standard hymn-books.\n\nThe talented bishop died in the year 1897, mourned not only by those who\nhad learned to love him because of his noble Christian character, but\nalso by those who had come to know him through his beautiful hymns. With\nthe passing of only three decades since his death, there is increasing\nevidence that Bishop How will be numbered among the great hymn-writers of\nthe Christian Church.\n\n\n\n\n A Blind Man's Hymn of Faith\n\n\n O Love that wilt not let me go,\n I rest my weary soul in Thee:\n I give Thee back the life I owe,\n That in Thine ocean depths its flow\n May richer, fuller be.\n\n O Light that followest all my way,\n I yield my flickering torch to Thee:\n My heart restores its borrowed ray,\n That in Thy sunshine's blaze its day\n May brighter, fairer be.\n\n O Joy that seekest me through pain,\n I cannot close my heart to Thee:\n I trace the rainbow through the rain,\n And feel the promise is not vain\n That morn shall tearless be.\n\n O Cross that liftest up my head,\n I dare not ask to fly from Thee:\n I lay in dust life's glory dead,\n And from the ground there blossoms red\n Life that shall endless be.\n\n George Matheson, 1882.\n\n\n\n\n MATHESON AND HIS SONG IN THE NIGHT\n\n\nThe most recent of English hymn-writers to gain recognition in the\nstandard hymn-books of the Church is George Matheson. The fame of this\nman will probably rest on a single hymn, \"O Love that wilt not let me\ngo,\" written on a summer evening in 1882.\n\nA deeper appreciation and understanding will be felt for this hymn when\nwe know that it is truly a \"song in the night,\" for Matheson was blind\nwhen he wrote it.\n\nBorn in Glasgow, Scotland, March 27, 1842, Matheson enjoyed partial\nvision as a boy. However, after he entered Glasgow University at the age\nof fifteen, his sight began to fail and he became totally blind.\nNevertheless, in spite of this handicap, he was a brilliant scholar and\ngraduated with honor in 1861. Having decided to enter the ministry, he\nremained four additional years for theological studies.\n\nIt was while he was parish minister at Innellan, a seaport summer resort\nin Scotland, that the famous hymn was written. He tells the story in his\nown words:\n\n\"It was written in the manse of my former parish (Innellan) one summer\nevening in 1882. It was composed with extreme rapidity; it seemed to me\nthat its construction occupied only a few minutes, and I felt myself\nrather in the position of one who was being dictated to than an original\nartist. I was suffering from extreme mental distress, and the hymn was\nthe fruit of pain.\"\n\nMany conjectures have been made regarding the cause of the \"mental\ndistress\" from which the author was suffering. Because of the opening\nline, \"O Love that wilt not let me go,\" it has been suggested that\nMatheson had been bitterly disappointed in his hopes of marrying a young\nwoman to whom he had become deeply attached. It is said that her refusal\nto marry him was due to his blindness.\n\nAlthough this story cannot be vouched for, there are many significant\nhints in the hymn to his sad affliction, such as the \"flickering torch\"\nand the \"borrowed ray\" in the second stanza, the beautiful thought of\ntracing \"the rainbow through the rain\" in the third stanza, and the\n\"cross\" referred to in the final stanza. The hymn is so artistically\nconstructed and is so rich in poetic thought and symbolic meaning, it\nwill well repay careful study.\n\nDespite his handicap, Dr. Matheson was blessed with a fruitful ministry.\nA devoted sister who had learned Greek, Latin and Hebrew in order to aid\nhim in his theological studies remained his co-worker and helper\nthroughout life. In all of his pastoral calls she was his constant guide.\n\nDuring the early part of his ministry, he wrote all his sermons in full.\nHe possessed such a remarkable memory that after a sermon had been read\nto him twice, he was able to repeat it perfectly. After he had followed\nthis practice for twelve years, he suffered a complete collapse of memory\none Sunday in the midst of a sermon. Unable to proceed, he calmly\nannounced a hymn and sat down. At the conclusion of the singing he told\nthe congregation what had happened, and then preached a sermon of great\nappeal from another text.\n\nAfter a ministry at Innellan lasting for eighteen years, he was called as\npastor of St. Bernard's church in Edinburgh. Here he remained for\nthirteen years, attracting large multitudes by his preaching.\n\nThe later years of his life were spent in literary work. He was the\nauthor of several volumes in prose, among them a very fine devotional\nbook called \"Moments on the Mount.\" He fell asleep August 28, 1906, to\nawait the break of eternity's dawn, confident in the assurance that\n\n ... the promise is not vain\n That morn shall tearless be.\n\n\n\n\nPART V\nAMERICAN HYMNODY\n\n\n\n\n The First American Hymn\n\n\n I love Thy Zion, Lord,\n The house of Thine abode;\n The Church our blest Redeemer saved\n With His own precious blood.\n\n I love Thy Church, O God;\n Her walls before Thee stand,\n Dear as the apple of Thine eye,\n And graven on Thy hand.\n\n For her my tears shall fall;\n For her my prayers ascend:\n To her my cares and toil be given,\n Till toils and cares shall end.\n\n Beyond my highest joy\n I prize her heavenly ways,\n Her sweet communion, solemn vows,\n Her hymns of love and praise.\n\n Jesus, Thou Friend divine,\n Our Saviour and our King,\n Thy hand from every snare and foe\n Shall great deliverance bring.\n\n Sure as Thy truth shall last,\n To Zion shall be given\n The brightest glories earth can yield,\n And brighter bliss of heaven.\n\n Timothy Dwight, 1800.\n\n\n\n\n THE BEGINNINGS OF HYMNODY IN AMERICA\n\n\nThe rise of hymnody in America ran parallel with the development of\nhymn-singing in England. The Puritans who came from Holland in the\nMayflower in 1620 were \"separatists\" from the Church of England, hence\nthey used a psalm-book of their own, published by Henry Ainsworth at\nAmsterdam in 1612. This was the book that cheered their souls on the\nperilous crossing of the Atlantic and during the hard and trying years\nthat followed their landing at Plymouth.\n\n Amid the storm they sang,\n And the stars heard and the sea;\n And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang\n With the anthems of the free.\n\nThis was also the book that comforted Priscilla, when John Alden stole in\nand found that\n\n Open wide on her lap lay the well-worn psalm-book of Ainsworth.\n\nThe later Puritans who came directly from England, on the other hand,\nwere not \"separatists,\" hence they brought with them the psalm-book of\nSternhold and Hopkins, which was the version of the Psaltery approved at\nthat time by the Established Church.\n\nThe wretched paraphrases of the Psalms in both the Ainsworth and the\n\"orthodox\" version of Sternhold and Hopkins eventually led to an\ninsistent demand among the New England Puritans for an entirely new\npsalm-book which should also adhere more closely to the Hebrew original.\nThe result was the famous \"Bay Psalmist\" of 1640, which was the first\nbook printed in British America.\n\nThe Puritan editors of this first attempt at American psalmody cared no\nmore for poetic effect than did their brother versifiers across the\nwaters. This they made quite plain in the concluding words of the Preface\nto the \"Bay Psalmist\": \"If therefore the verses are not always so smooth\nand elegant as some may desire or expect; let them consider that God's\nAltar needs not our pollishings: Ex. 20, for wee have respected rather a\nplaine translation, than to smooth our verses with the sweetness of any\nparaphrase, and soe have attended to Conscience rather than Elegance,\nfidelity rather than poetry, in translating the hebrew words into english\nlanguage, and David's poetry into english meetre: that soe wee may sing\nin Sion the Lords songs of praise according to his own will; untill hee\ntake us from hence, and wipe away all our tears, & bid us enter into our\nmasters joye to sing eternall Halleluiahs.\"\n\nThe editors scarcely needed to apprise the worshiper that he should not\nlook for artistic verses, for a glimpse within its pages was sufficient\nto disillusion any one who expected to find sacred poetry. The metrical\nform given the 137th Psalm is an example of the Puritan theologians'\ncontempt for polished language:\n\n The rivers on of Babilon\n there when wee did sit downe:\n yea even then wee mourned, when\n wee remembred Sion.\n\n Our Harps wee did hang it amid,\n upon the willow tree.\n Because there they that us away\n led in captivitee,\n\n Required of us a song, & thus\n askt mirth: us waste who laid,\n sing us among a Sions song,\n unto us then they said.\n\n The lords song sing can wee? being\n in strangers land. Then let\n loose her skill my right hand, if I\n Jerusalem forget.\n\n Let cleave my tongue my pallate on,\n if minde thee doe not I:\n if chiefe joyes o'er I prize not more\n Jerusalem my joye.\n\nNevertheless, strange as it may seem, the \"Bay Psalmist\" passed through\ntwenty-seven editions, and was even reprinted several times abroad, being\nused extensively in England and Scotland. Gradually, however, psalmody\nbegan to lose its hold on the Reformed churches, both in Europe and\nAmerica, and hymnody gained the ascendancy. The publication in 1707 of\nthe epoch-making work of Isaac Watts, \"Hymns and Spiritual Songs,\" was\nthe first step in breaking down the prejudice in the Calvinistic churches\nagainst \"hymns of human composure.\" In America the Great Awakening under\nJonathan Edwards, which began in 1734 and which received added impetus\nfrom the visit of John Whitefield in 1740, also brought about a demand\nfor a happier form of congregational singing. Then came the influence of\nthe Wesleyan revival with its glorious outburst of song.\n\nJonathan Edwards himself, stern Puritan that he was, was finally forced\nto confess that it was \"really needful that we should have some other\nsongs than the Psalms of David.\" Accordingly hymn singing grew rapidly in\nfavor among the people.\n\nThe first attempt to introduce hymns in the authorized psalm-books was\nmade by Joel Barlow, a chaplain in the Revolutionary War. Instructed by\nthe General Association of Congregational Churches of Connecticut to\nrevise Watts' \"Psalms of David\" in order to purge them of their British\nflavor, he was likewise authorized to append to the Psalms a collection\nof hymns. He made a selection of seventy hymns, and the new book was\npublished in 1786.\n\nIt was received with delight by the Presbyterians, but the\nCongregationalists who had sponsored it were thoroughly dissatisfied. As\nan example of the morbid character of Puritan theology, Edward S. Ninde\nhas called attention to the fact that while Barlow failed to include\nWesley's \"Jesus, Lover of my soul\" or Watts' \"When I survey the wondrous\ncross,\" he did select such a hymn by Watts as \"Hark, from the tombs, a\ndoleful sound,\" and another beginning with the lines,\n\n My thoughts on awful subjects roll,\n Damnation and the dead.\n\nA second attempt to make a complete revision of Watts' \"Psalms of David\"\nwas decided upon by the Congregational churches, and this time the task\nwas entrusted to Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College. Dwight, who\nwas a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, was born in 1752. He entered Yale at\nthe age of thirteen and graduated with highest honors in 1769. At the\noutbreak of the Revolutionary War he was commissioned a chaplain and\nthroughout the conflict he wrote songs to enthuse the American troops. In\n1795 he was elected president of Yale College, in which position he\nserved his Alma Mater for twenty years.\n\nDwight exhibited a spirit of bold independence when he added to the\nrevised \"Psalms\" by Watts a collection of two hundred and sixty-three\nhymns. Of these hymns, one hundred and sixty-eight were also by Watts,\nindicating the hold which that great hymnist retained on the\nEnglish-speaking world. Other hymn-writers represented in Dwight's book\nincluded Stennett, Doddridge, Cowper, Newton, Toplady, and Charles\nWesley. Only one of the latter's hymns was chosen, however, and Toplady's\n\"Rock of Ages\" was not included!\n\nDwight himself wrote thirty-three paraphrases of the Psalms, but they\nwere so freely rendered that they are properly classified as original\nhymns. Among these is his splendid version of the 137th Psalm, \"I love\nThy Zion, Lord,\" which may be regarded as the earliest hymn of American\norigin still in common use today. It is usually dated 1800, which is the\nyear when Dwight's work was published.\n\nDwight, who will always be remembered as the outstanding figure in the\nbeginnings of American hymnody, died in 1817. The story of his life is an\ninspiring one, illustrating how his heroic qualities conquered despite a\n\"thorn in the flesh.\" A chronicler records that \"during the greater part\nof forty years he was not able to read fifteen minutes in the twenty-four\nhours; and often, for days and weeks together, the pain which he endured\nin that part of the head immediately behind the eyes amounted to\nanguish.\"\n\n\n\n\n The Hymn of a Wounded Spirit\n\n\n I love to steal awhile away\n From every cumbering care,\n And spend the hour of setting day\n In humble, grateful prayer.\n\n I love in solitude to shed\n The penitential tear,\n And all His promises to plead\n Where none but God can hear.\n\n I love to think of mercies past,\n And future good implore,\n And all my cares and sorrows cast\n On Him whom I adore.\n\n I love by faith to take a view\n Of brighter scenes in heaven;\n The prospect doth my strength renew,\n While here by tempests driven.\n\n Thus when life's toilsome day is o'er,\n May its departing ray\n Be calm as this impressive hour\n And lead to endless day.\n\n Phoebe Hinsdale Brown, 1818.\n\n\n\n\n AMERICA'S FIRST WOMAN HYMNIST\n\n\nLess than twenty years after Timothy Dwight's hymns were published, a\nvery poor and unpretentious American woman began to write lyrics that\nhave been treasured by the Church until this present day, nor will they\nsoon be forgotten. Her name was Phoebe Hinsdale Brown, and the story of\nher life is the most pathetic in the annals of American hymnody.\n\n\"As to my history,\" she wrote near the end of her life, \"it is soon told;\na sinner saved by grace and sanctified by trials.\"\n\nShe was born at Canaan, N. Y., May 1, 1783. Both parents died before she\nwas two years old and the greater part of her childhood was spent in the\nhome of an older sister who was married to a keeper of a county jail. The\ncruelties and privations suffered by the orphaned child during these\nyears were such that her son in later years declared that it broke his\nheart to read of them in his mother's diary. She was not permitted to\nattend school, and could neither read nor write. She was eighteen years\nold before she escaped from this bondage and found opportunity to attend\nschool for three months. This was the extent of her education within\nschool walls.\n\nIn 1805, at the age of twenty-two, she married Timothy H. Brown, a house\npainter. He was a good man, but extremely poor. Moving to Ellington,\nMass., they lived in a small, unfinished frame house at the edge of the\nvillage. Four little children and a sick sister who occupied the only\nfinished room in the house added to the domestic burdens of Mrs. Brown.\nIn the summer of 1818 a pathetic incident occurred that led to the\nwriting of her most famous hymn.\n\nThere being no place in her crowded home where she might find opportunity\nfor a few moments of quiet prayer and meditation, she would steal away at\ntwilight to the edge of a neighboring estate, where there was a\nmagnificent home surrounded by a beautiful garden.\n\n\"As there was seldom any one passing that way after dark,\" she afterwards\nwrote, \"I felt quite retired and alone with God. I often walked quite up\nto that beautiful garden ... and felt that I could have the privilege of\nthose few moments of uninterrupted communion with God without encroaching\nupon any one.\"\n\nBut her movements had been watched, and one day the lady of the mansion\nturned on her in the presence of others and rudely demanded: \"Mrs. Brown,\nwhy do you come up at evening so near our house, and then go back without\ncoming in? If you want anything, why don't you come in and ask for it?\"\n\nMrs. Brown tells how she went home, crushed in spirit. \"After my children\nwere all in bed, except my baby,\" she continues, \"I sat down in the\nkitchen, with my child in my arms, when the grief of my heart burst forth\nin a flood of tears. I took pen and paper, and gave vent to my oppressed\nheart in what I called 'My Apology for my Twilight Rambles, addressed to\na Lady.'\" The \"Apology,\" which was sent to the woman who had so cruelly\nwounded her began with the lines:\n\n Yes, when the toilsome day is gone,\n And night, with banners gray,\n Steals silently the glade along\n In twilight's soft array.\n\nThen continued the beautiful verses of her now famous \"Twilight Hymn:\"\n\n I love to steal awhile away\n From little ones and care,\n And spend the hours of setting day\n In gratitude and prayer.\n\nSeven years later, when Dr. Nettleton was preparing his volume of\n\"Village Hymns,\" he was told that Mrs. Brown had written some verses. At\nhis request she brought forth her \"Twilight Hymn\" and three other lyrics,\nand they were promptly given a place in the collection. Only a few slight\nchanges were made in the lines of the \"Twilight Hymn,\" including the\nsecond line, which was made to read \"From every cumbering care,\" and the\nfourth line, which was changed to \"In humble, grateful prayer.\" Four\nstanzas were omitted, otherwise the hymn remains almost exactly in the\nform of the \"Apology.\"\n\nOne of the omitted stanzas reveals a beautiful Christian attitude toward\ndeath. Mrs. Brown wrote:\n\n I love to meditate on death!\n When shall his message come\n With friendly smiles to steal my breath\n And take an exile home?\n\nOne of the other hymns by Mrs. Brown included in \"Village Hymns\" is a\nmissionary lyric, \"Go, messenger of love, and bear.\" This was written a\nyear earlier than her \"Twilight Hymn.\" Her little son Samuel was seven\nyears old at the time, and the pious mother's prayer was that he might be\nused of the Lord in His service. It was the period when the\nEnglish-speaking world was experiencing a tremendous revival of interest\nin foreign missions, and in her heart she cherished the fond hope that\nher own boy might become a messenger of the gospel. Then came the\ninspiration for the hymn:\n\n Go, messenger of love, and bear\n Upon thy gentle wing\n The song which seraphs love to hear,\n The angels joy to sing.\n\n Go to the heart with sin oppressed,\n And dry the sorrowing tear;\n Extract the thorn that wounds the breast,\n The drooping spirit cheer.\n\n Go, say to Zion, \"Jesus reigns\"--\n By His resistless power\n He binds His enemies with chains;\n They fall to rise no more.\n\n Tell how the Holy Spirit flies,\n As He from heaven descends;\n Arrests His proudest enemies,\n And changes them to friends.\n\nHer prayer was answered. The son, Samuel R. Brown in 1838 sailed as a\nmissionary to China, and eleven years later, when Japan was opened to\nforeigners, he was transferred to that field. He was the first American\nmissionary to the Japanese.\n\nMrs. Brown died at Henry, Illinois, October 10, 1861. She was buried at\nMonson, Mass., where some thirty years of her life had been spent. Her\nson, the missionary, has written this beautiful tribute to her memory:\n\n\"Her record is on high, and she is with the Lord, whom she loved and\nserved as faithfully as any person I ever knew; nay, more than any other.\nTo her I owe all I am; and if I have done any good in the world, to her,\nunder God, it is due. She seems even now to have me in her hands, holding\nme up to work for Christ and His cause with a grasp that I can feel. I\nought to have been and to be a far better man than I am, having had such\na mother.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Triumphant Missionary Hymn\n\n\n Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning!\n Joy to the lands that in darkness have lain!\n Hushed be the accents of sorrow and mourning,\n Zion in triumph begins her glad reign.\n\n Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning,\n Long by the prophets of Israel foretold!\n Hail to the millions from bondage returning!\n Gentiles and Jews the blest vision behold.\n\n Lo, in the desert rich flowers are springing,\n Streams ever copious are gliding along;\n Loud from the mountain-tops echoes are ringing,\n Wastes rise in verdure, and mingle in song.\n\n Hark, from all lands, from the isles of the ocean,\n Praise to Jehovah ascending on high;\n Fallen the engines of war and commotion,\n Shouts of salvation are rending the sky.\n\n Thomas Hastings.\n\n\n\n\n THOMAS HASTINGS, POET AND MUSICIAN\n\n\nHigh among the names of those who in the early days of America labored to\nraise the standard of hymnody must be inscribed the name of Thomas\nHastings, Doctor of Music. Poet and musician by nature, Hastings may\ntruly be said to have devoted his entire life to the elevation of sacred\nsong.\n\nThe story of his life is typical of the struggles and hardships of many\nAmerican pioneers who conquered in spite of the most adverse\ncircumstances. Born at Washington, Conn., October 15, 1784, young\nHastings removed with his parents to Clinton, N. Y., when he was only\ntwelve years old. The journey was made in ox-sleds through unbroken\nwilderness in the dead of winter.\n\nThe frontier schools of those days offered little opportunity for\neducation, but the eager lad trudged six miles a day to receive the\ninstruction that was given. A passionate fondness for music was first\nsatisfied when he secured a musical primer of four pages costing six\npence. The proudest moment in his life came when he was named leader of\nthe village choir.\n\nIt was not until he was thirty-two years old that Hastings was able to\nsecure employment as a music teacher, but from that time until his death,\nin 1872, he devoted all his energies to the work he loved.\n\nHastings was ever tireless in contending that good music should have a\nrecognized place in religious worship. From 1823 to 1832, during which\ntime he edited the Western Recorder, in Utica, N. Y., he had an excellent\nopportunity to spread his views on music. In the latter year twelve\nchurches in New York City jointly engaged his services as choir director,\nand for the remainder of his life Hastings made the great American\nmetropolis his home.\n\nThough seriously handicapped by eye trouble, Hastings produced a\nprodigious amount of work. It is claimed that he wrote more than one\nthousand hymn tunes. He also published fifty volumes of church music.\nSome of the finest tunes in our American hymnals were composed by him.\nWho has not found inspiration in singing that sweet and haunting melody\nknown as \"Ortonville\"? And how can we ever be sufficiently grateful for\nthe tune called \"Toplady,\" which has endeared \"Rock of Ages\" to millions\nof hearts? Besides these there are at least a score of other beautiful\nhymn tunes that have been loved by the singing Church for nearly a\ncentury, any one of which would have won for the composer an enduring\nname.\n\nThrough the composing of tunes, Hastings was led to write words for\nhymns. More than six hundred are attributed to him, although many were\nwritten anonymously. \"Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning\" is\ngenerally regarded as his best hymn. It strikingly reflects the spirit of\nthe missionary age in which Hastings lived.\n\nAnother very popular and stirring missionary hymn, written by Hastings in\n1831, is a song of two stanzas:\n\n Now be the gospel banner\n In every land unfurled;\n And be the shout, Hosannah!\n Reechoed through the world;\n Till every isle and nation,\n Till every tribe and tongue,\n Receive the great salvation,\n And join the happy throng.\n\n Yes, Thou shalt reign forever,\n O Jesus, King of kings!\n Thy light, Thy love, Thy favor,\n Each ransomed captive sings:\n The isles for Thee are waiting,\n The deserts learn Thy praise,\n The hills and valleys, greeting,\n The songs responsive raise.\n\nA hymn with the title, \"Pilgrimage of Life,\" though very simple, is\nsingularly beautiful and very tender in its appeal. The first stanza\nreads:\n\n Gently, Lord, O gently lead us,\n Pilgrims in this vale of tears,\n Through the trials yet decreed us,\n Till our last great change appears.\n\nHastings did not cease writing and composing hymns until three days\nbefore his death. It is said that more of his hymns are found in the\nstandard church hymnals of America than those of any other American\nwriter. Their survival through almost a century is a testimony to their\nenduring quality.\n\n\n\n\n Key's Hymn of Praise\n\n\n Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise thee\n For the bliss Thy love bestows,\n For the pardoning grace that saves me,\n And the peace that from it flows.\n Help, O God, my weak endeavor;\n This dull soul to rapture raise;\n Thou must light the flame, or never\n Can my love be warmed to praise.\n\n Praise, my soul, the God that sought thee,\n Wretched wanderer, far astray;\n Found thee lost, and kindly brought thee\n From the paths of death away;\n Praise, with love's devoutest feeling,\n Him who saw thy guilt-born fear,\n And, the light of hope revealing,\n Bade the blood-stained cross appear.\n\n Lord, this bosom's ardent feeling\n Vainly would my lips express;\n Low before Thy footstool kneeling,\n Deign Thy suppliant's prayer to bless;\n Let Thy grace, my soul's chief treasure,\n Love's pure flame within me raise;\n And, since words can never measure,\n Let my life show forth Thy praise.\n\n Francis Scott Key, 1823.\n\n\n\n\n FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, PATRIOT AND HYMNIST\n\n\nFrancis Scott Key is known to every American child as the author of our\nnational anthem, \"The star spangled banner\"; but his fame as a Christian\nhymnist has not gone abroad to the same degree. And yet, as the author of\n\"Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise Thee,\" he ranks among the foremost\nof American hymn-writers.\n\nKey lived during the stirring days of our country's early history. His\nfather was an officer in the Continental army who fought with distinction\nduring the Revolutionary War. Francis was born at Frederick, Maryland,\nAugust 1, 1779. After receiving a legal education he began to practice\nlaw in Washington, and served as United States district attorney for\nthree terms, holding that office at the time of his death.\n\nThe story of how he came to write \"Star spangled banner\" scarcely needs\nto be repeated. It was during the War of 1812 that Key was authorized by\nPresident Madison to visit the British fleet near the mouth of the\nPotomac in order to obtain the release of a friend who had been captured.\n\nThe British admiral granted Key's request, but owing to the fact that an\nattack was about to be made on Fort McHenry, which guarded the harbor of\nBaltimore, Key and his party were detained all night aboard the\ntruce-boat on which they had come.\n\nIt was a night of great anxiety. A fierce bombardment continued during\nthe hours of darkness, and as long as the shore fortifications replied to\nthe cannonading, Key and his friends were certain that all was well.\nToward morning, the firing ceased, and they were filled with dark\nforebodings. The others went below to obtain some sleep, but Key\ncontinued to pace the deck until the first streaks of dawn showed that\nthe \"flag was still there.\"\n\nHis joy was so unbounded that he seized a piece of paper, and hastily\nwrote the words of his famous anthem. It was not completed until later in\nthe day, when he reached Baltimore and joined in the victorious joy that\nfilled the city.\n\nWhile \"Star spangled banner\" is not a Christian hymn, there are noble\nsentiments in it that reveal the writer at once as a devout Christian,\nand this was eminently true of Key.\n\nAs a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church he held a lay reader's\nlicense, and for many years read the service and visited the sick. He\nalso conducted a Bible class in Sunday school. Although he lived in a\nslave state, he was finally moved by conscientious scruples to free his\nslaves. He also did much to alleviate conditions among other unfortunate\nblacks.\n\nWhen the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1823 appointed a committee to\nprepare a new hymn-book for that body, Key was made a lay member of it.\nAnother member of the committee was Dr. William Muhlenberg, who in that\nsame year had published a little hymnal for use in his own congregation.\nIt was in this hymnal, known as \"Church Poetry\", that Key's beautiful\nhymn, \"Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise Thee,\" was first published.\n\nIn Dr. Muhlenberg's hymn-book the hymn had only three stanzas, and that\nis the form in which it has since appeared in all other hymnals. In 1900,\nhowever, Key's autograph copy of the hymn was discovered, and it was\nfound that the hymn originally had four stanzas. The missing one reads:\n\n Praise thy Saviour God that drew thee\n To that cross, new life to give,\n Held a blood-sealed pardon to thee,\n Bade thee look to Him and live.\n Praise the grace whose threats alarmed thee,\n Roused thee from thy fatal ease,\n Praise the grace whose promise warmed thee,\n Praise the grace that whispered peace.\n\nAnother excellent hymn, \"Before the Lord we bow\", was written by Key in\n1832 for a Fourth of July celebration.\n\nA bronze statue of Key, placed over his grave at Frederick, Md., shows\nhim with his hand outstretched, as at the moment when he discovered the\nflag \"still there,\" while his other hand is waving his hat exultantly.\n\n\n\n\n Bryant's Home Mission Hymn\n\n\n Look from Thy sphere of endless day,\n O God of mercy and of might!\n In pity look on those who stray\n Benighted, in this land of light.\n\n In peopled vale, in lonely glen,\n In crowded mart, by stream or sea,\n How many of the sons of men\n Hear not the message sent from Thee!\n\n Send forth Thy heralds, Lord, to call\n The thoughtless young, the hardened old,\n A scattered, homeless flock, till all\n Be gathered to Thy peaceful fold.\n\n Send them Thy mighty Word to speak,\n Till faith shall dawn, and doubt depart,\n To awe the bold, to stay the weak,\n And bind and heal the broken heart.\n\n Then all these wastes, a dreary scene\n That makes us sadden, as we gaze,\n Shall grow with living waters green,\n And lift to heaven the voice of praise.\n\n William Cullen Bryant, 1840.\n\n\n\n\n AMERICA'S FIRST POET AND HIS HYMNS\n\n\nWilliam Cullen Bryant, America's first great poet, was also a\nhymn-writer. Although he did not devote much of his thought and genius to\nsacred lyrics, he wrote at least two splendid hymns that merit a place in\nevery hymn collection. The one, \"Thou, whose unmeasured temple stands,\"\nis a church dedication hymn of rare beauty; the other, \"Look from Thy\nsphere of endless day,\" is unquestionably one of the finest home mission\nhymns ever written.\n\nBorn at Cummington, Mass., November 3, 1794, he was educated at Williams\nCollege to be a lawyer. It was his writing of \"Thanatopsis\" as a boy of\nseventeen years that gave the first notice to the world that America had\nproduced a great poet.\n\nIt is said that when the lines of \"Thanatopsis\" were submitted to Richard\nH. Dana, editor of the \"North American Review,\" he was skeptical.\n\n\"No one on this side of the Atlantic,\" he declared, \"is capable of\nwriting such verses.\"\n\nBryant was brought up in a typical New England Puritan home. Family\nworship and strict attendance at public worship was the rule in the\nBryant household. Every little while the children of the community would\nalso gather in the district schoolhouse, where they would be examined in\nthe Catechism by the parish minister, a venerable man who was loved by\nold and young alike.\n\nWhile yet a little child Bryant began to pray that he might receive the\ngift of writing poetry. No doubt he had been influenced to a large degree\nin this desire by the fact that his father was a lover of verse and\npossessed a splendid library of the great English poets. The youthful\nBryant was taught to memorize the noble hymns of Isaac Watts, and when he\nwas only five years old he would stand on a chair and recite them to\nimaginary audiences.\n\nEarly in life Bryant came under the influence of the Unitarian doctrines\nwhich were then sweeping through New England as a reaction against the\nstern, harsh teachings of Puritanism. When he was only twenty-six years\nold he was invited to contribute to a volume of hymns then in course of\npreparation by the Unitarians. He responded by writing five hymns. Six\nyears later he wrote \"Thou, whose unmeasured temple stands\" for the\ndedication of the Second Unitarian Church of New York City. He usually\nattended the First Congregational Unitarian Church of that city.\n\nAbout thirty years later, however, when Bryant was sixty-four years old,\na profound change occurred in his religious convictions. During a trip\nabroad his wife became critically ill in Naples. At first her life was\ndespaired of, but when she finally was on the road to recovery Bryant\nsent for a warm friend of the family, Rev. R. C. Waterston, who was in\nNaples at the time. The latter tells of his meeting with the aged poet in\nthe following words:\n\n\"On the following day, the weather being delightful, we walked in the\nroyal park or garden overlooking the Bay of Naples. Never can I forget\nthe beautiful spirit that breathed through every word he (Bryant)\nuttered, the reverent love, the confiding trust, the aspiring hope, the\nrooted faith.... He said that he had never united himself with the\nChurch, which, with his present feeling, he would most gladly do. He then\nasked if it would be agreeable to me to come to his room on the morrow\nand administer the communion, adding that, as he had never been baptized,\nhe desired that ordinance at the same time.\n\n\"The day following was the Sabbath, and a most heavenly day. In\nfulfilment of his wishes, in his own quiet room, a company of seven\npersons celebrated together the Lord's Supper.... Previous to the\nbreaking of bread, William Cullen Bryant was baptized. With snow-white\nhead and flowing beard, he stood like one of the ancient prophets, and\nperhaps never, since the days of the apostles, has a truer disciple\nprofessed allegiance to the divine Master.\"\n\nTwenty years after this experience, in the last year of the poet's life,\nhe made some contributions to the Methodist Episcopal hymnal. A revision\nof one of the hymns which he had written in 1820 for the Unitarian hymnal\nreveals his changed attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ. For the\nUnitarian book he had written:\n\n Deem not that they are blest alone\n Whose days a peaceful tenor keep;\n The God who loves our race has shown\n A blessing for the eyes that weep.\n\nFor the Methodist hymn-book he changed the third line to read:\n\n The anointed Son of God makes known.\n\nThe hymn was sung in its changed form at the poet's funeral, as well as\nanother beautiful hymn entitled \"The Star of Bethlehem,\" written in 1875\nfor the semi-centennial of the Church of the Messiah in Boston.\n\n\n\n\n An Exquisite Baptismal Hymn\n\n\n Saviour, who Thy flock art feeding\n With the shepherd's kindest care,\n All the feeble gently leading,\n While the lambs Thy bosom share.\n Now, these little ones receiving,\n Fold them in Thy gracious arm;\n There, we know, Thy word believing,\n Only there secure from harm.\n\n Never, from Thy pasture roving,\n Let them be the lion's prey;\n Let Thy tenderness, so loving,\n Keep them through life's dangerous way.\n Then, within Thy fold eternal,\n Let them find a resting place,\n Feed in pastures ever vernal,\n Drink the rivers of Thy grace.\n\n William Augustus Muhlenberg, 1826.\n\n\n\n\n THE HYMN-WRITER OF THE MUHLENBERGS\n\n\nWilliam Augustus Muhlenberg, one of America's early hymn-writers, came\nfrom a most distinguished family. His great grandfather, Henry Melchior\nMuhlenberg, was the \"patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America,\" having\ncome to these shores from Germany in 1742, and being the founder in that\nyear of the first permanent Lutheran organization in the new world.\n\nA son of the patriarch and grandfather of the hymn-writer bore the name\nof Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg. He, too, was a Lutheran minister, but\nduring the stirring days of the Revolutionary period he entered into the\npolitical affairs of the struggling colonies. He was president of the\nconvention which ratified the Constitution of the United States and also\nserved as first speaker of the new House of Representatives. His brother,\nRev. Peter Muhlenberg, was also a distinguished patriot. When the\nRevolution broke out, he was serving a congregation at Woodstock, Va. It\nwas he who stood in the pulpit of his church and, throwing aside his\nclerical robe, stood revealed in the uniform of a Continental colonel.\n\n\"There is a time to preach and a time to pray,\" he cried, \"but these\ntimes have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now\ncome!\"\n\nThereupon he called upon the men of his congregation to enlist in his\nregiment. Before the war ended he had risen to the rank of major general.\n\nWilliam Augustus Muhlenberg, the hymn-writer, was born in Philadelphia in\n1796. Since the German language was then being used exclusively in the\nGerman Lutheran churches, he and his little sister were allowed to attend\nChrist Episcopal Church. In this way William Augustus drifted away from\nthe Church of his great forbears, and when he grew up he became a\nclergyman in the Episcopal communion.\n\nIt is evident that Muhlenberg brought something of the spirit of the\n\"singing church\" into the church of his adoption, for in 1821 he issued a\ntract with the title, \"A Plea for Christian Hymns.\" It appears that the\nEpiscopal Church at this time was using a prayer-book that included only\nfifty-seven hymns, and no one felt the poverty of his Church in this\nrespect more keenly than did Muhlenberg.\n\nTwo years later the General Convention of the Episcopal body voted to\nprepare a hymn-book, and Muhlenberg was made a member of the committee.\nOne of his associates was Francis Scott Key, author of \"Star spangled\nbanner.\"\n\nAs a member of the committee Muhlenberg contributed four original hymns\nto the new collection. They were \"I would not live alway,\" \"Like Noah's\nweary dove,\" \"Shout the glad tidings, triumphantly sing,\" and \"Saviour,\nwho Thy flock art leading.\" The latter is a baptism hymn and is one of\nthe most exquisite lyrics on that theme ever written. Although Muhlenberg\nnever married, he had a very deep love for children. No service seemed so\nhallowed to him as the baptism of a little child. It is said that shortly\nafter his ordination, when asked to officiate at such a rite, Muhlenberg\nflushed and hesitated, and then asked a bishop who was present to baptize\nthe babe. The latter, however, insisted that the young clergyman should\ncarry out the holy ordinance, and from that day there was no duty that\nafforded Muhlenberg more joy.\n\nMuhlenberg often expressed regret that he had written \"I would not live\nalway.\" It seems that the poem was called into being in 1824, following a\n\"heart-breaking disappointment in the matter of love.\" Muhlenberg was a\nyoung man at the time, and in his later years he sought to alter it in\nsuch a way that it would breathe more of the hopeful spirit of the New\nTestament. He contended that Paul's words, \"For me to live is Christ\"\nwere far better than Job's lament, \"I would not live alway.\" However, the\nhymn as originally written had become so fixed in the consciousness of\nthe Church, that all efforts of the author to revise it were in vain.\n\nNearly all the hymns of Muhlenberg that have lived were written during\nhis earlier years. His later ministry centered in New York City, where he\nwas head of a boys' school for a number of years, and later rector of the\nChurch of the Holy Communion. He soon became an outstanding leader in the\ngreat metropolis. After having founded St. Luke's hospital, the first\nchurch institution of its kind in New York City, he spent the last twenty\nyears of his life as its superintendent.\n\nHis death occurred when he was past eighty years. It is said that when\nthe end was drawing near, the hospital chaplain came to his bedside to\npray for his recovery.\n\n\"Let us have an understanding about this,\" said the dying Muhlenberg.\n\"You are asking God to restore me and I am asking God to take me home.\nThere must not be a contradiction in our prayers, for it is evident that\nHe cannot answer them both.\"\n\n\n\n\n The Way, the Truth, and the Life\n\n\n Thou art the Way; to Thee alone\n From sin and death we flee,\n And he who would the Father seek,\n Must seek Him, Lord, by Thee.\n\n Thou art the Truth; Thy Word alone\n Sound wisdom can impart;\n Thou only canst inform the mind,\n And purify the heart.\n\n Thou art the Life; the rending tomb\n Proclaims Thy conquering arm;\n And those who put their trust in Thee\n Nor death nor hell shall harm.\n\n Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life;\n Grant us that Way to know,\n That Truth to keep, that Life to win\n Whose joys eternal flow.\n\n George Washington Doane, 1824.\n\n\n\n\n THE LYRICS OF BISHOP DOANE\n\n\nCritics will forever disagree on the subject of the relative merits of\ngreat hymns. Bishop George Washington Doane's fine hymn, \"Thou art the\nWay; to Thee alone,\" has been declared by some to be the foremost of all\nhymns written by American authors. Dr. Breed, on the other hand, declares\nthat it is \"by no means the equal\" of other hymns by Doane. Another\nauthority observes that it \"rather stiffly and mechanically paraphrases\"\nthe passage on which it is founded, while Edward S. Ninde rejects this\nconclusion by contending that although \"metrical expositions of\nScriptures are apt to be stilted and spiritless ... this one is a\nsuccess.\"\n\nNinde, however, does not agree that it is \"the first of American hymns,\"\nreserving this honor, as do most critics, for Ray Palmer's \"My faith\nlooks up to Thee.\"\n\nBishop Doane was born in Trenton, N. J., May 27, 1799. This was the year\nin which George Washington died. The future hymn-writer was named after\nthe great patriot. At the age of nineteen he was graduated by Union\nCollege with the highest scholastic honors. After teaching for a season,\nhe became pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church, Boston, Mass., the church\nafterwards made famous by Phillips Brooks.\n\nWhen only thirty-three years old he was elevated to the bishopric of New\nJersey, which position he held until his death in 1859. By this time he\nhad already won fame as a hymn-writer. It was in 1824, at the age of\ntwenty-five, that Doane published a little volume of lyrics entitled\n\"Songs by the Way.\" One of the hymns in this collection was the beautiful\nparaphrase, \"Thou art the Way; to Thee alone.\" This hymn alone would have\nbeen sufficient to have perpetuated the name of the young poet, but there\nwas another gem in the same collection that will always be treasured by\nthose who love Christian song. It is the exquisite evening hymn:\n\n Softly now the light of day\n Fades upon my sight away;\n Free from care, from labor free,\n Lord, I would commune with Thee.\n\nAmong the many achievements of this versatile bishop was the founding of\nSaint Mary's Hall, a school for young women, at Burlington, N. J. Doane\nlies buried in the neighboring churchyard, and it is said that the\nstudents on every Wednesday evening at chapel services sing \"Softly now\nthe light of day\" as a memorial tribute to the founder of the\ninstitution.\n\nBoth of these hymns were quickly recognized as possessing unusual merit,\nand almost immediately found their way into Christian hymn-books. Today\nthere is scarcely a hymnal published in the English language that does\nnot contain them.\n\nBut Bishop Doane's fame does not rest on these two hymns alone. He was\ndestined to write a third one, equally great but of a very different\ncharacter from the other two. It is the stirring missionary hymn:\n\n Fling out the banner! let it float\n Skyward and seaward, high and wide;\n The sun that lights its shining folds,\n The cross, on which the Saviour died.\n\nIt was written in 1848 in response to a request from the young women of\nSt. Mary's Hall for a hymn to be used at a flag-raising. The third stanza\nis one of rare beauty:\n\n Fling out the banner! heathen lands\n Shall see from far the glorious sight,\n And nations, crowding to be born,\n Baptize their spirits in its light.\n\nThe hymn, as may be surmised, is based on the passage from the Psaltery:\n\"Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be\ndisplayed because of the truth.\"\n\nBishop Doane was a zealous advocate of missions. It was during his\nchildhood that the modern missionary movement had its inception and swept\nlike a tidal wave over the Christian world. \"Fling out the banner\" is a\nreflection of the remarkable enthusiasm that filled his own soul and that\nrevealed itself in his aggressive missionary leadership. Indeed, he\nbecame known in his own Church as \"the missionary bishop of America.\"\n\nA son, William C. Doane, also became one of the most distinguished\nbishops of the Episcopal Church. Writing of his father's rare gifts as a\nhymnist, he declares that his heart was \"full of song. It oozed out in\nhis conversation, in his sermons, in everything that he did. Sometimes in\na steamboat, often when the back of a letter was his only paper, the\nsweetest things came.\"\n\n\n\n\n The Quaker Poet's Prayer\n\n\n Dear Lord and Father of mankind,\n Forgive our feverish ways;\n Reclothe us in our rightful mind,\n In purer lives Thy service find,\n In deeper reverence, praise.\n\n In simple trust like theirs who heard,\n Beside the Syrian sea,\n The gracious calling of the Lord,\n Let us, like them, without a word\n Rise up and follow Thee.\n\n O Sabbath rest by Galilee!\n O calm of hills above,\n Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee\n The silence of eternity\n Interpreted by love.\n\n Drop Thy still dews of quietness,\n Till all our strivings cease;\n Take from our souls the strain and stress,\n And let our ordered lives confess\n The beauty of Thy peace.\n\n Breathe through the heat of our desire\n Thy coolness and Thy balm;\n Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire,\n Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,\n O still, small voice of calm.\n\n John Greenleaf Whittier, 1872.\n\n\n\n\n THE QUAKER POET AS A HYMN-WRITER\n\n\nOf all American poets, there is none who is so genuinely loved as John\nGreenleaf Whittier. A man of the people, a true American, and full of the\nmilk of human kindness, Whittier's poetry reflects so much of his own\ncharacter that it will never lose its singular charm and beauty.\n\nWhittier's life is a story of struggle. He was born of humble Quaker\nparents at Haverhill, Mass., December 17, 1807. Instead of receiving the\nadvantages of an education, he knew of nothing but drudgery and hard work\nthroughout his childhood. But the poetic spark was in him even as a\nchild. One day, when a small boy, he sat before the kitchen fire and\nwrote on his slate:\n\n And must I always swing the flail\n And help to fill the milking pail?\n I wish to go away to school;\n I do not wish to be a fool.\n\nNo doubt it was the memory of these childhood experiences that later\ninspired him to write with such depth of feeling and understanding the\nlines of \"The Barefoot Boy\":\n\n Blessings on thee, little man,\n Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!\n With thy turned-up pantaloons,\n And thy merry whistled tunes;\n With thy red lips, redder still\n Kissed by strawberries on the hill;\n With the sunshine on thy face,\n Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace:\n From my heart I give thee joy--\n I was once a barefoot boy!\n\nThrough hard work he managed to save enough to attend Haverhill academy\ntwo seasons. Though this was the extent of his scholastic training, he\nnever ceased to be a student.\n\nA wandering Scotchman who chanced to visit the quiet Quaker home and sang\nsuch rollicking (!) lyrics as \"Bonny Doon,\" \"Highland Mary,\" and \"Auld\nLang Syne\" kindled the boy's imagination. He immediately borrowed a copy\nof Burns' poems from the village schoolmaster, and now for the first time\nhe seriously began to think of becoming a poet.\n\nWhen he was only twenty-five years old he had already begun to attract\nattention by his poetry. He had also achieved some success in politics\nand was planning to run for Congress. Soon, however, came the call of the\nAbolition movement, and Whittier, always true to his Quaker conception of\n\"the inner voice,\" determined to sacrifice all of his political ambitions\nto become a champion of the slaves.\n\nIt was not long before he was recognized as preeminently the poet of\nanti-slavery, as Phillips was its orator, Mrs. Stowe its novelist, and\nSumner its statesman. The fervor with which he threw himself into the\ncause may be seen reflected in the stirring lines of his poems written in\nthose days, notably \"The Star of Bethlehem.\" However, since his\nanti-slavery poems are more vehement than inspiring, and as the events\nwhich suggested them were temporary, they will be read with constantly\nwaning interest.\n\nThe vigor with which he espoused the Abolition cause stirred up deep\nresentment among his enemies. At Philadelphia, where he published \"The\nPennsylvania Free-man,\" the office of the paper was attacked by a mob and\nburned. But Whittier was not dismayed. When Daniel Webster in 1850 made\nhis notable defense of the Fugitive Slave law in the United States\nsenate, Whittier wrote \"Ichabod\" in reply.\n\nAt a time when the Abolition movement seemed to be losing, rather than\ngaining, ground, the poet gave expression to his faith in God in the\nbeautiful poem, \"Seed-Time and Harvest.\" His duty, as he saw it, was to\nsow the seed; God would take care of the harvest.\n\nBecause the Quakers do not sing in their services, Whittier knew little\nof music. However, he once wrote: \"A good hymn is the best use to which\npoetry can be devoted, but I do not claim that I have succeeded in\ncomposing one.\"\n\nAnd yet, the poems of Whittier, notably \"Our Master\" and \"The Eternal\nGoodness,\" have been the source of some of the finest hymns in the\nEnglish language. There are at least seventy-five hymns now in use that\nbear his name. Practically all of them are extracts from longer poems.\n\"Dear Lord and Father of mankind,\" \"I bow my forehead to the dust,\" and\n\"We need not climb the heavenly steeps\" are among the best loved of\nWhittier's hymns. Probably his most famous poem is \"Snowbound.\"\n\nWhittier died in 1892. His last words were, \"Love--love to all the\nworld.\" A friend bent over the dying man and whispered the words of his\npoem, \"At Last.\"\n\n\n\n\n Palmer's Famous Hymn\n\n\n My faith looks up to Thee,\n Thou Lamb of Calvary,\n Saviour divine;\n Now hear me while I pray,\n Take all my guilt away,\n O let me from this day\n Be wholly Thine.\n\n May Thy rich grace impart\n Strength to my fainting heart,\n My zeal inspire;\n As Thou hast died for me,\n O may my love for Thee\n Pure, warm, and changeless be,\n A living fire.\n\n When life's dark maze I tread,\n And griefs around me spread,\n Be Thou my Guide;\n Bid darkness turn to day,\n Wipe sorrow's tears away,\n Nor let me ever stray\n From Thee aside.\n\n When ends life's transient dream,\n When death's cold, sullen stream\n Shall o'er me roll,\n Blest Saviour, then, in love,\n Fear and distrust remove;\n O bear me safe above,\n A ransomed soul.\n\n Ray Palmer, 1830.\n\n\n\n\n AMERICA'S GREATEST HYMN AND ITS AUTHOR\n\n\nAlthough a number of America's great poets wrote hymns, it was not given\nto any one of them to compose America's finest Christian lyric. Bryant\nwrote \"Look from Thy sphere of endless day,\" Whittier was the author of\n\"Dear Lord and Father of mankind,\" Holmes composed \"O Love Divine, that\nstooped to share,\" and Longfellow has given us \"I heard the bells of\nChristmas day;\" but, beautiful as these hymns are, none of them can\ncompare with \"My faith looks up to Thee.\" This, \"the most precious\ncontribution which American genius has yet made to the hymnology of the\nChristian Church,\" came from the pen of a very humble but gifted\nminister, Ray Palmer.\n\nPalmer, who was born at Little Compton, R. I., November 12, 1808, was a\ndirect descendant of John Alden and his good wife, Priscilla. One of his\nforebears was William Palmer, who came to Plymouth in 1621.\n\nThrough pressure of poverty Ray found it necessary to leave home at the\nage of thirteen, after having received a grammar education. For two years\nhe clerked in a Boston dry goods store, during which time he passed\nthrough some deep spiritual experiences, with the result that he gave his\nheart to God.\n\nFriends who recognized unusual gifts in the young man urged him to attend\nschool. Eventually he graduated from Phillips Andover Academy and from\nYale. For a while he taught in New York and New Haven, but in 1835 he was\nordained to the Congregational ministry. He served a congregation in\nBath, Maine, for fifteen years, and another at Albany, N. Y., for a like\nperiod, after which he became Corresponding Secretary of the American\nCongregational Union, a position which he held until 1878, when he was\ncompelled to retire because of failing health.\n\nIt was while he was teaching in New York City that \"My faith looks up to\nThee\" was written. He was only twenty-two years old at the time, and he\nhad no thought when writing it that he was composing a hymn for general\nuse. He tells in his own account of the hymn how he had been reading a\nlittle German poem of two stanzas, picturing a penitent sinner before the\ncross. Deeply moved by the lines, he translated them into English, and\nthen added the four stanzas that form his own hymn.\n\nThe words of the hymn, he tells us, were born out of his own spiritual\nexperience.\n\n\"I gave form to what I felt, by writing, with little effort, the\nstanzas,\" he said. \"I recollect I wrote them with very tender emotion,\nand ended the last lines with tears.\"\n\n\"A ransomed soul!\" Who would not have been moved to deep emotion after\nhaving written a poem with such a sublime closing line!\n\nThis happened in the year 1832, almost a hundred years ago.\n\nPalmer copied the poem into a little note-book which he constantly\ncarried in his pocket. Frequently he would read it as a part of his\nprivate devotion. It never seemed to occur to him that it might some day\nbe used as a hymn.\n\nBut God was watching over that little poem. One day as Palmer was walking\nalong the busy streets of Boston, he chanced to meet Lowell Mason, the\nfamous musician and composer of Savannah, Ga. Mason was compiling a\nhymn-book at the time and asked Palmer, who had established something of\na reputation as a poet, if he could give him some words for which he\ncould compose music. Palmer remembered the poem in his note-book, and,\nwhile the two men stepped into a nearby store, a copy of the poem was\nmade and given to Mason.\n\nWhen the two men met again a few days later, Mason exclaimed: \"Dr.\nPalmer, you may live many years and do many good things, but I think you\nwill be best known to posterity as the author of 'My faith looks up to\nThee.'\"\n\nMason wrote the beautiful tune known as \"Olivet\" for the hymn, and\nperhaps the music contributed as much as the words to endear it to the\nhearts of millions. Certainly here is an instance where words and music\nare wedded, and should never be parted asunder.\n\nPalmer wrote many other splendid hymns. Some of his most famous are\ntranslations from the Latin. His rendering of the noted hymn of Bernard\nof Clairvaux, \"O Jesus, Joy of loving hearts,\" is a gem of wondrous\nbeauty. It has become a favorite communion hymn.\n\nIn his ministry Palmer laid much emphasis on the Lord's Supper, and many\nof his hymns were written for communion services. He once said, in a\ncommunion address: \"When the cares and the business of life have hurried\nme hither and thither with no little distraction of mind, I love to come\nback again, and sit down before the cross, and gaze on the blessed\nSufferer with silent, tender memories. It is like coming once more into\nthe sunshine after long walking through gloom and mist.\"\n\nPalmer's whole life was characterized by a warm, almost passionate,\ndevotion to Christ. His faith in the Saviour was so childlike and strong\nthat it enabled him to rise above all external burdens and trials.\nSomething of his personal love to Christ may be seen beautifully\nreflected in his hymn, \"Jesus, these eyes have never seen,\" which was his\nown favorite and which many regard as inferior only to \"My faith looks up\nto Thee.\" It is such an appealing lyric, we feel we must quote it in\nfull.\n\n Jesus, these eyes have never seen\n That radiant form of Thine!\n The veil of sense hangs dark between\n Thy blessed face and mine!\n\n I see Thee not, I hear Thee not,\n Yet art Thou oft with me!\n And earth hath ne'er so dear a spot\n As where I meet with Thee.\n\n Like some bright dream that comes unsought,\n When slumbers o'er me roll,\n Thine image ever fills my thought,\n And charms my ravished soul.\n\n Yet though I have not seen, and still\n Must rest in faith alone,\n I love Thee, dearest Lord, and will,\n Unseen, but not unknown.\n\n When death these mortal eyes shall seal,\n And still this throbbing heart,\n The rending veil shall Thee reveal,\n All glorious as Thou art.\n\nPalmer looked upon his hymns as gifts from heaven, and therefore he\nrefused to accept money for their use. He insisted, however, that those\nwho published his hymns should print them exactly as they were written.\nHe regarded the somewhat common practice of tampering with texts as\n\"immoral.\"\n\nPalmer died in 1887. On the day before he breathed his last, he was heard\nrepeating feebly the last stanza of his favorite hymn:\n\n When death these mortal eyes shall seal,\n And still this throbbing heart,\n The rending veil shall Thee reveal,\n All glorious as Thou art.\n\n\n\n\n A Hopeful Missionary Lyric\n\n\n The morning light is breaking;\n The darkness disappears;\n The sons of earth are waking\n To penitential tears;\n Each breeze that sweeps the ocean\n Brings tidings from afar,\n Of nations in commotion,\n Prepared for Zion's war.\n\n See heathen nations bending\n Before the God we love,\n And thousand hearts ascending\n In gratitude above;\n While sinners, now confessing,\n The gospel call obey,\n And seek the Saviour's blessing,\n A nation in a day.\n\n Blest river of salvation,\n Pursue thine onward way;\n Flow thou to every nation,\n Nor in thy richness stay;\n Stay not till all the lowly\n Triumphant reach their home:\n Stay not till all the holy\n Proclaim: \"The Lord is come!\"\n\n Samuel Francis Smith, 1832.\n\n\n\n\n SAMUEL SMITH, A PATRIOTIC HYMN-WRITER\n\n\nNearly a century has now elapsed since our national hymn, \"America,\" was\nwritten, and, despite all efforts to displace it by other anthems, it\nseems to retain its hold on the hearts of the people. Samuel Francis\nSmith will always be gratefully remembered as the author of this hymn,\nbut we should not lose sight of the fact that the New England pastor who\ngave his country such an inspiring patriotic song has also given to the\nChristian Church some of the choicest gems in her hymnody.\n\nAssociated with \"My country, 'tis of thee\" will be the stirring\nmissionary hymn, \"The morning light is breaking,\" the two being regarded\nas the foremost of Dr. Smith's poetical works. Both were written in the\nwinter of 1832, when he was only twenty-four years old. He was a student\nat Andover Theological Seminary at the time.\n\nAltogether Dr. Smith contributed nearly 150 hymns to American hymnody,\nmany of them on missionary themes. They were written in an era that\nwitnessed a remarkable revival of interest in foreign missions. The\nfamous \"Haystack Meeting\" at Williams College, which marked the beginning\nof the modern missionary movement in America, was held in 1806, just two\nyears before Smith was born. Smith himself, while a theological student\nat Andover, caught the spirit of the times and felt constrained to become\na missionary.\n\nAt this time reports came from Adoniram Judson in Burmah that, after\nyears of painful disappointment and failure, the light was breaking, and\nmultitudes were turning to Christ. Smith was fired with hopeful\nenthusiasm, and it was in this spirit of glad exultation that he sat down\nto write his immortal missionary hymn:\n\n The morning light is breaking,\n The darkness disappears;\n The sons of earth are waking\n To penitential tears.\n\nMany other missionary hymns came from the gifted writer in succeeding\nyears, and immediately after his graduation from Andover he became editor\nof a missionary magazine, through which he wielded a great influence.\nWhen the \"Lone Star\" mission in India was in danger of being abandoned\nbecause of lack of funds, Smith did much to save it by writing a poem\nwith the title, \"Lone Star.\" Another missionary hymn by him begins with\nthe line, \"Onward speed thy conquering flight.\" However, it does not\nattain to the poetic heights of \"The morning light is breaking,\" which\nhas been compared to Heber's \"From Greenland's icy mountains\" in\nspiritual fervor and literary merit.\n\nAnother interesting hymn written by Smith during his student days is\ncalled \"The Missionary's Farewell.\" The first stanza reads:\n\n Yes, my native land, I love thee;\n All thy scenes, I love them well;\n Friends, connections, happy country,\n Can I bid you all farewell?\n Can I leave you,\n Far in heathen lands to dwell?\n\nAlthough Dr. Smith never carried out his earlier resolve to become a\nmissionary, he visited many foreign fields and had the satisfaction of\nhearing his own hymns sung in many tongues. Referring to \"The morning\nlight is breaking,\" he once wrote:\n\n\"It has been a great favorite at missionary gatherings, and I have myself\nheard it sung in five or six different languages in Europe and Asia. It\nis a favorite with the Burmans, Karens and Telugus in Asia, from whose\nlips I have heard it repeatedly.\"\n\nA son of the distinguished hymn-writer became a missionary to the\nBurmans.\n\nDr. Smith filled many important pulpits in New England during his long\nand illustrious career. At one time he was a professor in modern\nlanguages. He was an unusual linguist, being familiar with fifteen\ntongues. In 1894, a year before his death, he was still vigorous in mind\nand body, writing and preaching, although he was eighty-six years old. It\nwas in this year that he was found looking around for a textbook that\nwould enable him to begin the study of Russian. It was in this year, too,\nthat he wrote one of his finest hymns, for a church dedication.\n\n Founded on Thee, our only Lord,\n On Thee, the everlasting Rock,\n Thy Church shall stand as stands Thy Word,\n Nor fear the storm, nor dread the shock.\n\n For Thee our waiting spirits yearn,\n For Thee this house of praise we rear;\n To Thee with longing hearts we turn;\n Come, fix Thy glorious presence here.\n\n Come, with Thy Spirit and Thy power,\n The Conqueror, once the Crucified;\n Our God, our Strength, our King, our Tower,\n Here plant Thy throne, and here abide.\n\n Accept the work our hands have wrought;\n Accept, O God, this earthly shrine;\n Be Thou our Rock, our Life, our Thought,\n And we, as living temples, Thine.\n\nThe celebrated hymnist happily has left a personal account of how he\nwrote \"America.\" Lowell Mason, the composer, had given him a collection\nof German books containing songs for children with the request that Smith\nshould examine them and translate anything of merit.\n\n\"One dismal day in February, 1832,\" he wrote long afterward, \"about half\nan hour before sunset, I was turning over the leaves of one of the music\nbooks when my eye rested on the tune which is now known as 'America.' I\nliked the spirited movement of it, not knowing it at that time to be 'God\nsave the King.' I glanced at the German words and saw that they were\npatriotic, and instantly felt the impulse to write a patriotic hymn of my\nown, adapted to the tune. Picking up a scrap of waste paper which lay\nnear me, I wrote at once, probably within half an hour, the hymn\n'America' as it is now known everywhere. The whole hymn stands today as\nit stood on the bit of waste paper, five or six inches long and two and a\nhalf wide.\"\n\nDr. Smith was a member of the celebrated Harvard class of 1829, to which\nOliver Wendell Holmes also belonged. The latter wrote a poem for one of\nthe class reunions, in which he referred to the distinguished hymn-writer\nin the following lines:\n\n And there's a nice youngster of excellent pith--\n Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith;\n But he shouted a song for the brave and the free--\n Just read on his medal, 'My country,' 'of thee.'\n\nOn November 19, 1895, the venerable pastor and poet was called suddenly\nto his eternal home. He died as he was taking a train from Boston to\npreach in a neighboring town.\n\n\n\n\n A Pearl among Christmas Carols\n\n\n It came upon the midnight clear,\n That glorious song of old,\n From angels bending near the earth\n To touch their harps of gold;\n \"Peace on the earth, good will to men,\n From heaven's all-gracious King:\"\n The world in solemn stillness lay\n To hear the angels sing.\n\n Still through the cloven skies they come\n With peaceful wings unfurled,\n And still their heavenly music floats\n O'er all the weary world;\n Above its sad and lowly plains\n They bend on hovering wing,\n And ever o'er its Babel sounds\n The blessed angels sing.\n\n And ye, beneath life's crushing load,\n Whose forms are bending low,\n Who toil along the climbing way\n With painful steps and slow--\n Look now! for glad and golden hours\n Come swiftly on the wing:\n O rest beside the weary road,\n And hear the angels sing!\n\n For lo! the days are hastening on\n By prophet-bards foretold,\n When with the ever-circling years\n Comes round the age of gold;\n When peace shall over all the earth\n Its ancient splendors fling,\n And the whole world send back the song\n Which now the angels sing.\n\n Edmund Hamilton Sears, 1834.\n\n\n\n\n TWO FAMOUS CHRISTMAS HYMNS AND THEIR AUTHOR\n\n\nTo be the writer of one great hymn classic on the nativity is an enviable\ndistinction, but to be the author of two immortal Christmas lyrics is\nfame that has probably come to only one man, and he an American. His name\nwas Edmund Hamilton Sears, and so long as Christians celebrate Christmas,\nthey will sing the two hymns he wrote--\"It came upon a midnight clear\"\nand \"Calm on the listening ear of night.\"\n\nStrangely enough, an interval of sixteen years separated the writing of\nthe two hymns. Sears had just graduated from Union College at the age of\ntwenty-four when he wrote \"Calm on the listening ear of night.\" It\nappeared in the \"Boston Observer,\" and was immediately recognized as a\npoem of unusual merit. Oliver Wendell Holmes spoke of it as \"one of the\nfinest and most beautiful hymns ever written.\"\n\nSixteen years elapsed, and then at Christmas time in 1850 the Christian\nworld was delighted to find in the \"Christian Register\" another lyric,\n\"It came upon the midnight clear,\" which many believe is superior to the\nearlier hymn. The language of this hymn is so surpassingly lovely and its\nmovement so rhythmical, it fairly sings itself.\n\nThere is, in fact, a close resemblance between the two hymns, and yet\nthey are different. While the earlier hymn is largely descriptive, the\nlater one is characterized by a note of joyous optimism and triumphant\nfaith. In Sears' \"Sermons and Songs\" he published the one at the\nbeginning, and the other at the close, of a sermon for Christmas Eve on 1\nTim. 2:6.\n\nEach of the two hymns had five stanzas in its original form. The fourth\nstanza of the older hymn is usually omitted. It reads:\n\n Light on thy hills, Jerusalem!\n The Saviour now is born;\n More bright on Bethlehem's joyous plains\n Breaks the first Christmas morn;\n And brighter on Moriah's brow,\n Crowned with her temple-spires,\n Which first proclaim the new-born light,\n Clothed with its orient fires.\n\nThe stanza omitted from the second Christmas hymn sounds the only minor\nnote heard in that otherwise hopeful and joyous lyric:\n\n Yet with the woes of sin and strife\n The world hath suffered long;\n Beneath the angel-strain have rolled\n Two thousand years of wrong;\n And man, at war with man, hears not\n The love song which they bring:\n O hush the noise, ye men of strife,\n And hear the angels sing!\n\nSears was a native of New England, having been born in Berkshire County,\nMassachusetts, in 1810. He completed his theological course at Harvard\nDivinity School in 1837, whereupon he entered the Unitarian Church,\nserving as a pastor for nearly forty years.\n\nSurprise has often been expressed that a Unitarian could write such\nmarvelous hymns on the nativity; but Sears was a Unitarian in name rather\nthan in fact. He leaned strongly toward Swedenborgian teachings, and\nbelieved implicitly in the deity of Christ.\n\nIn addition to his hymns, he wrote a few works in prose. His books on\n\"Regeneration,\" \"Foregleams of Immortality,\" and \"The Fourth Gospel the\nHeart of Christ\" were widely read in his day. These have now been almost\nentirely forgotten, but his two great hymns go singing through the years.\nThey are found in practically all standard hymn-books, although the final\nstanza of \"It came upon the midnight clear\" is often altered. Sears died\nin 1876.\n\n\n\n\n Mrs. Stowe's Hymn Masterpiece\n\n\n Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,\n When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee;\n Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight,\n Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee!\n\n Alone with Thee, amid the mystic shadows,\n The solemn hush of nature newly born;\n Alone with Thee, in breathless adoration,\n In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.\n\n When sinks the soul, subdued by toil, to slumber,\n Its closing eye looks up to Thee in prayer;\n Sweet the repose beneath Thy wings o'ershading,\n But sweeter still to wake and find Thee there.\n\n So shall it be at last, in that bright morning,\n When the soul waketh, and life's shadows flee;\n O for that hour when fairer than the dawning\n Shall rise the glorious thought, I am with Thee!\n\n Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1855\n\n\n\n\n HARRIET BEECHER STOWE AND HER HYMNS\n\n\nThrough the fame that her book, \"Uncle Tom's Cabin,\" brought her, the\nname of Harriet Beecher Stowe has become almost a household word on both\nsides of the Atlantic. But not many, perhaps, are familiar with Mrs.\nStowe the hymn-writer. And yet she wrote a number of hymns that are\nworthy of finding a place in the best of collections. Indeed, for sheer\npoetic beauty there is probably not a single American lyric that can\nexcel \"Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh.\"\n\nIt was her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, who introduced Mrs. Stowe as a\nhymn-writer, when he included three of her hymns in the \"Plymouth\nCollection,\" which he edited in 1865. One of the three was the hymn\nmentioned above; the other two were \"That mystic word of Thine, O\nsovereign Lord\" and \"When winds are raging o'er the upper ocean.\"\n\nLike the Wesley family in England, the Beecher family became one of the\nmost famous in religious and literary circles in America. Harriet Beecher\nwas born in Litchfield, Conn., June 14, 1812. Her father was the noted\nDr. Lyman Beecher, a distinguished clergyman of his day. Her mother, a\nvery devout Christian, died when Harriet was less than four years of age.\nHer dying prayer was that her six sons might be called into the ministry.\nThat prayer was answered, and the youngest of them, Henry Ward Beecher,\nwho was only a boy when the mother died, became one of America's greatest\npreachers. We do not know what the dying mother's prayer for her daughter\nwas, but we do know that Harriet Beecher achieved fame such as comes to\nfew women. Even as a child she revealed a spiritual nature of unusual\ndepth. An earnest sermon preached by her father when she was fourteen\nmade such an impression on her youthful heart that she determined to give\nherself wholly to Christ. She tells of the experience in these words:\n\n\"As soon as my father came home and was seated in his study, I went up to\nhim and fell in his arms, saying, 'Father, I have given myself to Jesus,\nand He has taken me.' I never shall forget the expression of his face as\nhe looked down into my earnest childish eyes; it was so sweet, so gentle,\nand like sunlight breaking out upon a landscape. 'Is it so?' he said,\nholding me silently to his heart, as I felt the hot tears fall on my\nhead. 'Then has a new flower blossomed in the kingdom this day.'\"\n\nIn 1832 the father removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became president\nof Lane Theological Seminary. Here Harriet married Prof. Calvin E. Stowe,\na member of the faculty. Many misfortunes and sorrows came into her life,\nbut always she was sustained by her strong faith in God, and she bore\nthem with unusual Christian fortitude. In 1849 her infant boy was\nsnatched from her by the dreadful cholera scourge. Her husband, broken in\nhealth, was in an Eastern sanatorium at the time, and all the cares and\nanxieties of the household fell upon the shoulders of the brave young\nwife. A letter written to her husband, dated June 29, 1849, gives a\ngraphic description of the plague as it was then raging in Cincinnati.\nShe wrote:\n\n\"This week has been unusually fatal. The disease in the city has been\nmalignant and virulent. Hearse drivers have scarce been allowed to\nunharness their horses, while furniture carts and common vehicles are\noften employed for the removal of the dead. The sable trains which pass\nour windows, the frequent indications of crowding haste, and the absence\nof reverent decency have, in many cases, been most painful.... On\nTuesday, one hundred and sixteen deaths from cholera were reported, and\nthat night the air was of that peculiarly oppressive, deathly kind that\nseems to lie like lead on the brain and soul. As regards your coming\nhome, I am decidedly opposed to it.\"\n\nUnder date of July 26, she wrote again: \"At last it is over and our dear\nlittle one is gone from us. He is now among the blessed. My Charley--my\nbeautiful, loving, gladsome baby, so loving, so sweet, so full of life,\nand hope and strength--now lies shrouded, pale and cold, in the room\nbelow.... I write as though there were no sorrow like my sorrow, yet\nthere has been in this city, as in the land of Egypt, scarce a house\nwithout its dead. This heart-break, this anguish, has been everywhere,\nand when it will end God alone knows.\"\n\nThe succeeding years brought other tragedies to the sorely tried family.\nIn 1857 the eldest son, Henry, pride of his mother's heart, was drowned\nat the close of his freshman year at Dartmouth College. Then came the\nCivil War with its bloody battles. At Gettysburg a third son, Fred, was\nwounded in the head by a piece of shrapnel. Although it did not prove\nfatal, his mental faculties were permanently impaired.\n\nThrough all these afflictions the marvelous faith of Mrs. Stowe remained\nfirm and unshaken. Many years afterwards, in looking back upon these\nbitter experiences, she wrote: \"I thank God there is one thing running\nthrough all of them from the time I was thirteen years old, and that is\nthe intense unwavering sense of Christ's educating, guiding presence and\ncare.\"\n\nIt was in the midst of these dark tragedies that Mrs. Stowe wrote a hymn\nentitled \"The Secret.\"\n\n When winds are raging o'er the upper ocean,\n And billows wild contend with angry roar,\n 'Tis said, far down, beneath the wild commotion,\n That peaceful stillness reigneth evermore.\n\n Far, far beneath, the noise of tempests dieth,\n And silver waves chime ever peacefully;\n And no rude storm, how fierce soe'er it flieth,\n Disturbs the Sabbath of that deeper sea.\n\n So to the heart that knows Thy love, O Purest!\n There is a temple sacred evermore,\n And all the babble of life's angry voices\n Dies in hushed stillness at its sacred door.\n\n Far, far away, the roar of passion dieth,\n And loving thoughts rise calm and peacefully;\n And no rude storm, how fierce soe'er it flieth,\n Disturbs that deeper rest, O Lord, in Thee!\n\n O Rest of rests! O Peace serene, eternal!\n Thou ever livest, and Thou changest never;\n And in the secret of Thy presence dwelleth\n Fulness of joy, forever and forever.\n\nIt was the writing of \"Uncle Tom's Cabin\" that brought world-wide fame to\nthis unusual mother. The family had moved from Cincinnati to Brunswick,\nMaine, where Professor Stowe had accepted a position in the faculty of\nBowdoin College. There were six children now and the father's income was\nmeager. In order to help meet the family expenses, Mrs. Stowe began to\nwrite articles for a magazine known as the \"National Era.\" She labored\nunder difficulties. \"If I sit by the open fire in the parlor,\" she wrote,\n\"my back freezes, if I sit in my bedroom and try to write my head and my\nfeet are cold.... I can earn four hundred dollars a year by writing, but\nI don't want to feel that I must, and when weary with teaching the\nchildren, and tending the baby, and buying provisions, and mending\ndresses, and darning stockings, I sit down and write a piece for some\npaper.\"\n\nThe passage of the Fugitive Slave Act aroused the deepest feeling among\nAbolitionists in the North. While living in Cincinnati her family had\naided the so-called \"underground railway,\" by which runaway slaves were\nhelped in their efforts to reach the Canadian boundary. Now Mrs. Stowe's\nspirit burned within her. \"I wish,\" she writes at this period, \"some\nMartin Luther would arise to set this community right.\"\n\nIt was then she conceived the idea of writing \"Uncle Tom's Cabin.\" In the\nmonth of February, 1851, while attending communion service in the college\nchurch at Brunswick, the scene of the death of Uncle Tom passed before\nher mind like the unfolding of a vision. When she returned home she\nimmediately wrote down the mental picture she had seen. Then she gathered\nher children around her and read what she had written. Two of them broke\ninto violent weeping, the first of many thousands who have wept over\n\"Uncle Tom's Cabin.\"\n\nThe first chapter was not completed until the following April, and on\nJune 5 it began to appear in serial form in the \"National Era.\" She had\nintended to write a short tale of a few chapters, but as her task\nprogressed the conviction grew on her that she had been intrusted with a\nholy mission. Afterwards she said: \"I could not control the story; it\nwrote itself.\" At another time she remarked: \"The Lord himself wrote it,\nand I was but the humblest of instruments in His hand. To Him alone\nshould be given all the praise.\"\n\nMrs. Stowe received $300 for her serial story! However, scarcely had the\nlast instalment appeared when a Boston publisher made arrangements to\nprint it in book form. Within one year it had passed through 120\neditions, and four months after the book was off the press the author had\nreceived $10,000 in royalties. Almost in a day Mrs. Stowe had become one\nof the most famous women in the world, and the specter of poverty had\nbeen banished forever. \"Uncle Tom's Cabin\" exerted a profound influence\nnot only over the American people, but its fame spread to Europe. The\nyear following its publication Jenny Lind came to America. Asked to\ncontribute to a fund Mrs. Stowe was raising for the purpose of purchasing\nthe freedom of a slave family, the \"Swedish Nightingale\" gladly\nresponded, also writing a letter to Mrs. Stowe in the following prophetic\nvein: \"I have the feeling about 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' that great changes\nwill take place by and by, from the impression people receive from it,\nand that the writer of that book can fall asleep today or tomorrow with\nthe bright, sweet consciousness of having been a strong means in the\nCreator's hand of having accomplished essential good.\"\n\nTributes like this came to Mrs. Stowe from the great and lowly in all\nparts of the world.\n\nConcerning Jenny Lind's singing, Mrs. Stowe wrote to her husband from New\nYork: \"Well, we have heard Jenny Lind, and the affair was a bewildering\ndream of sweetness and beauty. Her face and movements are full of poetry\nand feeling. She has the artless grace of a little child, the poetic\neffect of a wood-nymph.\"\n\nMrs. Stowe died in 1896 at the ripe age of eighty-four. Not long before\nher death she wrote to a friend: \"I have sometimes had in my sleep\nstrange perceptions of a vivid spiritual life near to and with Christ,\nand multitudes of holy ones, and the joy of it is like no other joy--it\ncannot be told in the language of the world.... The inconceivable\nloveliness of Christ!... I was saying as I awoke:\n\n 'Tis joy enough, my All in all,\n At Thy dear feet to lie.\n Thou wilt not let me lower fall,\n And none can higher fly.\"\n\n\n\n\n Bishop Coxe's Missionary Hymn\n\n\n Saviour, sprinkle many nations,\n Fruitful let Thy sorrows be;\n By Thy pains and consolations\n Draw the Gentiles unto Thee.\n Of Thy cross the wondrous story,\n Be it to the nations told;\n Let them see Thee in Thy glory,\n And Thy mercy manifold.\n\n Far and wide, though all unknowing,\n Pants for Thee each mortal breast:\n Human tears for Thee are flowing,\n Human hearts in Thee would rest.\n Thirsting as for dews of even,\n As the new-mown grass for rain,\n Thee they seek, as God of heaven,\n Thee as Man, for sinners slain.\n\n Saviour, lo, the isles are waiting,\n Stretched the hand, and strained the sight,\n For Thy Spirit, new-creating,\n Love's pure flame, and wisdom's light.\n Give the word, and of the preacher\n Speed the foot, and touch the tongue,\n Till on earth by every creature,\n Glory to the Lamb be sung.\n\n Arthur Cleveland Coxe, 1851.\n\n\n\n\n A HYMN WRITTEN ON TWO SHORES\n\n\n\"Saviour, sprinkle many nations\" has been called the \"loveliest of\nmissionary hymns.\" The praise is scarcely too great. All the elements\nthat make a great hymn are present here. Scriptural in language and\ndevotional in spirit, it is fervent and touching in its appeal and\nexquisitely beautiful in poetic expression. It was given to the Church by\nArthur Cleveland Coxe, an American bishop, in 1851, and since that time\nit has made its victorious course around the world.\n\nA study of the hymn is interesting. The first stanza at once suggests the\nwords of Jesus, uttered in the last week of His life, when Greek pilgrims\nin Jerusalem came seeking for Him: \"And I, if I be lifted up from the\nearth, will draw all men unto me.\" In the second stanza the author no\ndoubt had in mind the immortal words of St. Augustine: \"Thou, O Lord,\nhast made me for Thyself, and my heart can find no rest till it rest in\nThee.\" And in the final stanza we find almost an echo of the thought\nexpressed by Paul in Romans: \"How then shall they call on him in whom\nthey have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they\nhave not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall\nthey preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the\nfeet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of\ngood things!\"\n\nCuriously enough, this beautiful missionary lyric was written on two\nshores of the Atlantic. It was on Good Friday, in the year 1850, that the\nfirst stanza was written by Bishop Coxe at his home in Hartford, Conn.\nFor lack of time, however, or because the needed inspiration did not come\nto him the unfinished manuscript was laid aside.\n\nThe next year he visited England, and one day, while wandering about the\ncampus of Magdalen College, Oxford, the thought flashed through his mind\nthat he had never completed the hymn. Finding a scrap of paper and a\npencil, he sat down to write, and in a few moments the touching words of\nthe two concluding stanzas were composed, and the hymn was sent on its\nway to stir the heart of the world.\n\nBishop Coxe was not primarily a hymn-writer. His fame rests chiefly on\nhis religious ballads. It was in 1840, when a young student of\ntwenty-two, that he published his first volume, entitled \"Christian\nBallads.\" These are mostly moral poems, impressive and challenging in\ncharacter, but not usually suitable as hymns. One of them, however,\nbearing the name of \"Chelsea,\" has yielded the famous hymn, \"O where are\nkings and empires now?\"\n\nAn interesting story is told concerning this hymn. In 1873 the General\nConference of the Evangelical Alliance was held in New York City. It was\na period when many scientific objections had been raised regarding the\nvalue of prayer, and many anxious souls were fearful that the faith of\nthe Church was being shaken to its foundations. President Woolsey of Yale\nUniversity gave the opening address. After he had referred to the wave of\nskepticism that had swept over the world, particularly in regard to\nprayer, he looked out upon the assembly with a quiet, confident smile\nlighting his features, and then quoted the first stanza of Bishop Coxe's\nhymn:\n\n O where are kings and empires now,\n Of old that went and came?\n But, Lord, Thy church is praying yet,\n A thousand years the same.\n\n\"For a moment,\" writes an eye-witness, \"there was silence. In another\nmoment the full significance of the reference had flashed on every mind,\nand the response was instantaneous and universal. Shouts, waving of\nhandkerchiefs, clapping of hands, stamping of feet--I never knew anything\nlike it. Round after round continued, until the storm of applause ended\nin a burst of grateful tears. No one doubted that the Church still\nbelieved in prayer and that the tempest had passed without the loss of a\nsail.\"\n\nIn the same volume of \"Christian Ballads\" there appears another little\npoem, most appealing in its simplicity:\n\n In the silent midnight-watches,\n List--thy bosom door!\n How it knocketh, knocketh, knocketh,\n Knocketh, evermore!\n Say not 'tis thy pulse is beating:\n 'Tis thy heart of sin;\n 'Tis thy Saviour knocks, and crieth,\n \"Rise, and let Me in!\"\n\nFor a time Coxe gave promise of becoming the \"John Keble of America,\" but\nafter his election as a bishop in the Episcopal Church, pressing duties\ninterfered with his literary work, and in later years he wrote few poems.\n\nBishop Coxe was the son of a noted Presbyterian minister, Rev. Samuel H.\nCox. He was born in Menham, N. J., in 1818. After his graduation from the\nUniversity of the City of New York, he decided to leave the Presbyterian\nChurch and to enter the Episcopalian fold. At the same time he added an\n\"e\" to the end of his name, much to his father's displeasure! He died in\n1896 at the age of seventy-eight years.\n\n\n\n\n The Hymn of a Consecrated Woman\n\n\n More love to Thee, O Christ,\n More love to Thee;\n Hear Thou the prayer I make\n On bended knee;\n This is my earnest plea,\n More love, O Christ, to Thee,\n More love to Thee.\n\n Once earthly joy I craved,\n Sought peace and rest;\n Now Thee alone I seek,\n Give what is best;\n This all my prayer shall be,\n More love, O Christ, to Thee,\n More love to Thee.\n\n Then shall my latest breath\n Whisper Thy praise;\n This be the parting cry\n My heart shall raise;\n This still its prayer shall be,\n More love, O Christ, to Thee,\n More love to Thee.\n\n Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, 1856.\n\n\n\n\n A HYMN THAT GREW OUT OF SUFFERING\n\n\nThe fruits of a sanctified life are often seen long after the person who\nlived that life has ceased from earthly strivings. This was true in a\nvery special sense of Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, author of \"More love to\nThee, O Christ.\" Although it is fifty years since Mrs. Prentiss went home\nto glory, her beautiful Christian life still radiates its spirit of trust\nand hope through her hymns and devotional writings.\n\nAs a child she was blessed with an unusual home. Her father, Edward\nPayson, was one of New England's most famous clergymen, revered and\nbeloved by thousands because of his saintly life. It is said that after\nhis death the name of \"Edward Payson\" was given in baptism to thousands\nof children whose parents had been blessed through his consecrated\nministry.\n\nThe daughter, who was born in 1818, was much like her father. Spiritually\nminded from childhood, she possessed unusual gifts as a writer. When she\nwas only sixteen years old she contributed verses and prose to \"The\nYouth's Companion.\" Later she taught school at Portland, Me., her\nbirthplace, and in Ipswich, Mass., and Richmond, Va., at each place being\ngreatly beloved by her pupils.\n\nIn 1845 she became the bride of Rev. George L. Prentiss, who later was a\nprofessor in Union Theological Seminary, New York City.\n\nHer home life was beautiful. Those who knew her best, described her as \"a\nvery bright-eyed little woman, with a keen sense of humor, who cared more\nto shine in her own happy household than in a wide circle of society.\"\n\nBut all the while she was carrying a heavy burden. Throughout life she\nwas a sufferer, and scarcely knew what it meant to be well. Chronic\ninsomnia added to her afflictions, but as her body languished under\nphysical chastening her spirit rose above pain and tribulation, daily\ngrowing more radiant and beautiful. It was out of these trying\nexperiences that she wrote her famous story, \"Stepping Heavenward.\" The\npurpose of the book, as she herself explained, was \"for strengthening and\ncomforting other souls.\"\n\nIt met with instant success, more than 200,000 copies being sold. It also\nwas translated into many foreign languages. Another story, \"The Flower of\nthe Family,\" likewise became very popular.\n\nIt was as poet and hymn-writer, however, that Mrs. Prentiss was destined\nto achieve fame. Her volume, \"Religious Poems,\" numbering one hundred and\ntwenty-three, breathes a spirit of fervent devotion to Christ. \"To love\nChrist more,\" she said, \"is the deepest need, the constant cry of my\nsoul.... Out in the woods, and on my bed, and out driving, when I am\nhappy and busy, and when I am sad and idle, the whisper keeps going up\nfor more love, more love, more love!\"\n\nIt is easy to understand how such a longing should finally find\nexpression in her most famous hymn, \"More love to Thee, O Christ.\" The\nhymn in reality was the prayer of her life. It was born in 1856 during a\ntime of great physical suffering and spiritual anxiety. It was written in\ngreat haste, and the last stanza was left incompleted. Not until thirteen\nyears later did Mrs. Prentiss show it to her husband. She then added a\nfinal line with a pencil and gave it to the printer, intending it only\nfor private distribution. The following year, however, the \"Great\nRevival\" swept over America, and the hymn sprang into popularity\neverywhere.\n\nWhen in August, 1878, the mortal remains of the sanctified singer were\nlowered into the grave, a company of intimate friends stood with bared\nheads and sang \"More love to Thee, O Christ.\" The whole Christian world\nseemed to join in mourning her death. From far-off China came a message\nof sympathy to the bereaved husband in the form of a fan on which\nChristian Chinese had inscribed the famous hymn in native characters.\n\nAfter her death the following verse was found written on the flyleaf of\none of her favorite books:\n\n One hour with Jesus! How its peace outweighs\n The ravishment of earthly love and praise;\n How dearer far, emptied of self to lie\n Low at His feet, and catch, perchance, His eye,\n Alike content when He may give or take,\n The sweet, the bitter, welcome for His sake.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn of the Sea\n\n\n Jesus, Saviour, pilot me\n Over life's tempestuous sea;\n Unknown waves before me roll,\n Hiding rock and treacherous shoal;\n Chart and compass came from Thee:\n Jesus, Saviour, pilot me.\n\n As a mother stills her child,\n Thou canst hush the ocean wild;\n Boisterous waves obey Thy will\n When Thou say'st to them, \"Be still!\"\n Wondrous Sovereign of the sea,\n Jesus, Saviour, pilot me.\n\n When at last I near the shore,\n And the fearful breakers roar\n 'Twixt me and the peaceful rest,\n Then, while leaning on Thy breast,\n May I hear Thee say to me,\n \"Fear not, I will pilot thee.\"\n\n Edward Hopper, 1871.\n\n\n\n\n A FAMOUS HYMN WRITTEN FOR SAILORS\n\n\nIt does not surprise us that the writer of \"Jesus, Saviour, pilot me\" was\nthe pastor of a sailors' church. Rev. Edward Hopper, who for many years\nwas minister of the Church of Sea and Land in New York harbor, had in\nmind the daily life of the seamen attending his church when he wrote his\nfamous lyric. A hymn on the theme of the stormy sea, picturing Jesus as\nthe divine Pilot--this, he felt, would appeal to sailors and be a source\nof constant comfort and encouragement.\n\nPerhaps Hopper got his idea from Charles Wesley. It was a common practice\nof the great English hymn-writer to compose hymns that were particularly\nadapted to the audiences he addressed. When he visited the men who worked\nin the Portland quarries in England, he wrote the hymn containing the\nlines:\n\n Strike with the hammer of Thy Word,\n And break these hearts of stone.\n\nIn any event, Hopper's beautiful hymn at once sprang into popular use,\nnot only with sailors, but with Christians everywhere. It appeared for\nthe first time anonymously in \"The Sailors' Magazine,\" but several\nhymn-books adopted it. It was not until 1880, nine years after it was\npublished, however, that the author's name became known. In that year the\nanniversary of the Seamen's Friend Society was held in Broadway\nTabernacle, New York City, and Hopper was asked to write a hymn for the\noccasion. He responded by producing \"Jesus, Saviour, pilot me,\" and the\nsecret was out.\n\nHopper wrote several other hymns, but only this one has lived. Like\nEdward Perronet, the author of \"All hail the power of Jesus' Name,\" he\nwas \"a bird of a single song.\" We could have wished that the fires of\ninspired genius had continued to burn with both of these men. Here,\nhowever, apply the words: \"Happy is the man who can produce one song\nwhich the world will keep on singing after its author shall have passed\naway.\"\n\nThe author of \"Jesus, Saviour, pilot me\" was a child of the city. He was\nborn in America's great metropolis, New York City, in the year 1818. His\nfather was a merchant. His mother was a descendant of the Huguenots, the\npersecuted French Protestants. He was educated for the ministry, and,\nafter serving several churches in other places, he returned to New York\nin 1870 to begin his work among the men who go down to the sea in ships.\nHe remained as pastor of the Church of Sea and Land until his death in\n1888, and we scarcely need to add that his ministry was singularly\nsuccessful.\n\nThe beautiful prayer in the third stanza of Hopper's hymn was answered in\nhis own passing. He was sitting in his study-chair, pencil in hand, when\nthe final summons came. On the sheet before him were found some freshly\nwritten lines on \"Heaven.\" Thus was fulfilled in his own death the\nbeautiful prayer expressed in the final stanza of his hymn:\n\n When at last I near the shore,\n And the fearful breakers roar\n 'Twixt me and the peaceful rest,\n Then, while leaning on Thy breast,\n May I hear Thee say to me,\n \"Fear not, I will pilot thee.\"\n\n\n\n\n A Rally Hymn of the Church\n\n\n Stand up, stand up for Jesus,\n Ye soldiers of the cross;\n Lift high His royal banner,\n It must not suffer loss;\n From victory unto victory\n His army He shall lead,\n Till every foe is vanquished,\n And Christ is Lord indeed.\n\n Stand up, stand up for Jesus,\n The trumpet call obey;\n Forth to the mighty conflict\n In this His glorious day:\n Ye that are men, now serve Him\n Against unnumbered foes;\n Your courage rise with danger,\n And strength to strength oppose.\n\n Stand up, stand up for Jesus,\n Stand in His strength alone;\n The arm of flesh will fail you,\n Ye dare not trust your own;\n Put on the gospel armor,\n And watching unto prayer,\n Where duty calls or danger,\n Be never wanting there.\n\n Stand up, stand up for Jesus,\n The strife will not be long;\n This day the noise of battle,\n The next the victor's song:\n To him that overcometh,\n A crown of life shall be;\n He with the King of glory\n Shall reign eternally.\n\n George Duffield, 1858\n\n\n\n\n A TRAGEDY THAT INSPIRED A GREAT HYMN\n\n\nThe Christian Church has many stirring rally hymns, but none that is more\neffective when sung by a large assembly than George Duffield's \"Stand up,\nstand up for Jesus.\" Who has not been moved to the depths of his soul by\nthe inspiring words and resounding music of this unusual hymn?\n\nA tragedy lies in its background. It was in the year 1858, and a great\nspiritual awakening was gripping the city of Philadelphia. Men referred\nto this revival afterwards as \"the work of God in Philadelphia.\"\n\nOne of the most earnest and zealous leaders in the movement was a young\npastor, Dudley A. Tyng, not quite thirty years old. Because of his\nevangelical convictions and his strong opposition to slavery he had\nshortly before been compelled to resign as rector of the Church of the\nEpiphany, and in 1857 he had organized a little congregation that met in\na public hall.\n\nIn the midst of the revival in 1858 he preached a powerful sermon at a\nnoon-day meeting in Jayne's Hall to a gathering of 5,000 men. His text\nwas Exodus 10:11: \"Go now, ye that are men, and serve the Lord.\" It is\nsaid that the effect was overwhelming, no less than a thousand men giving\nthemselves to the Lord.\n\nA few weeks later the young pastor was watching a corn-shelling machine\nwhen his arm was caught in the machinery and terribly mangled. Though\nevery effort was made to save his life, he died within a few hours.\nShortly before the end came he cried to the friends who were gathered\nabout him, \"Sing, sing, can you not sing?\" He himself then began the\nwords of \"Rock of Ages,\" with the others trying to join him in the midst\nof their grief. When his father, the distinguished clergyman, Stephen H.\nTyng, bent over him to ask if he had a last message for his friends, the\ndying soldier of the cross whispered:\n\n\"Tell them to stand up for Jesus!\"\n\nRev. George Duffield, also of Philadelphia and a close friend of the\ngreatly lamented Tyng, felt that the words were too impressive to be\nlost. On the following Sunday he preached a sermon in his own church on\nEphesians 6:14, \"Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with\ntruth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.\" As he concluded\nhis sermon, he read the words of a poem he had written, \"Stand up, stand\nup for Jesus.\"\n\nNot only did Duffield preserve the dying words of his devoted friend, but\nit will be noted that the second stanza also contains the challenge of\nTyng's last revival sermon: \"Go now, ye that are men, and serve the\nLord.\"\n\nThe superintendent of Duffield's Sunday school printed the words of the\npoem for distribution among his scholars. One of these leaflets found its\nway to a religious periodical, where it was published. Soon it began to\nappear in hymn-books, being generally set to a tune composed by George J.\nWebb a few years earlier. It is said that the first time the author heard\nit sung outside of his own church was in 1864, when the Christian men in\nthe Army of the James sang it in their camp, just before they were about\nto enter into a bloody battle.\n\nAs originally written, the hymn contained six stanzas. The second and\nfifth are omitted from most hymn-books. These stanzas read:\n\n Stand up, stand up for Jesus,\n The solemn watchword hear;\n If while ye sleep He suffers,\n Away with shame and fear;\n Where'er ye meet with evil,\n Within you or without,\n Charge for the God of Battles,\n And put the foe to rout.\n\n Stand up, stand up for Jesus,\n Each soldier to his post:\n Close up the broken column,\n And shout through all the host:\n Make good the loss so heavy,\n In those that still remain,\n And prove to all around you\n That death itself is gain.\n\nThe omission of these lines is really no loss, since they sink far\nbeneath the literary level of the remaining verses. They also carry the\nmilitary imagery to needless length.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn of Spiritual Yearning\n\n\n We would see Jesus, for the shadows lengthen\n Across this little landscape of our life;\n We would see Jesus, our weak faith to strengthen\n For the last weariness, the final strife.\n\n We would see Jesus, the great Rock-foundation\n Whereon our feet were set by sovereign grace:\n Nor life nor death, with all their agitation,\n Can thence remove us, if we see His face.\n\n We would see Jesus: other lights are paling,\n Which for long years we have rejoiced to see;\n The blessings of our pilgrimage are failing:\n We would not mourn them, for we go to Thee.\n\n We would see Jesus: this is all we're needing;\n Strength, joy, and willingness come with the sight;\n We would see Jesus, dying, risen, pleading;\n Then welcome day, and farewell, mortal night.\n\n Anna Bartlett Warner, 1851.\n\n\n\n\n ANNA WARNER AND HER BEAUTIFUL HYMNS\n\n\nIn the last week of our Saviour's life, a very beautiful and touching\nincident occurred in the city of Jerusalem. The Evangelist John tells the\nstory in the following words:\n\n\"Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the\nfeast: these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee,\nand asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth\nAndrew: Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell Jesus. And Jesus\nanswereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be\nglorified.\"\n\nIt was the petition of these Gentile pilgrims from the land of the\nSpartans and Athenians that inspired an American young woman to write one\nof our beautiful hymns, \"We would see Jesus.\"\n\nHer name was Anna Bartlett Warner, and for almost a century she lived at\na beautiful retreat in the Hudson river known as Constitution island,\nunder the very shadows of the great military academy at West Point. She\nhad a sister named Susan who achieved even greater literary fame than\nshe, but it is Anna's name, after all, that will live on and be cherished\nfor her songs. We wonder if any child in America during the last half\ncentury has not learned to know and to love the little hymn--\n\n Jesus loves me, this I know,\n For the Bible tells me so.\n\nChildren throughout the world are singing it now, and missionaries tell\nus that the simplicity of its message also makes a wonderful appeal to\nthe newly-converted heathen. This hymn is one of the reasons why the name\nof Anna Warner will never be forgotten.\n\nAn exquisite lullaby, also written by Miss Warner, begins with the words,\n\"O little child, lie still and sleep.\"\n\nTwo volumes of sacred song were composed by this gifted young woman. The\nfirst bore the title, \"Hymns of the Church Militant,\" and was published\nin 1858. The second, called \"Wayfaring Hymns, Original and Translated,\"\nappeared in 1869. \"We would see Jesus\" was included in the first of these\ncollections. It appears, however, that it was written at least seven\nyears before its publication. An interesting item from her sister Susan's\ndiary, under date of February 8, 1851, tells of the impression the hymn\nmade on her when she first read it. She writes:\n\n\"The next day, Sunday, in the afternoon, Anna had been copying off some\nhymns for Emmelin's book, and left them with me to look over. I had not\nread two verses of 'We would see Jesus,' when I thought of Anna, and\nmerely casting my eye down, the others so delighted and touched me that I\nleft it for tears and petitions. I wished Anna might prove the\nauthor--and after I found she was, I sat by her a little while with my\nhead against her, crying such delicious tears.\"\n\nAnother hymn that has found a place in many hearts bears the title, \"The\nSong of the Tired Servant.\" It was inspired by a letter received by Miss\nWarner from a friend who was a pastor, in which he spoke of the weariness\nhe felt after the tasks of an arduous day, but of the joy that his soul\nexperienced in serving the Master. The first stanza reads:\n\n One more day's work for Jesus,\n One less of life for me!\n But heaven is nearer,\n And Christ is dearer\n Than yesterday, to me;\n His love and light\n Fill all my soul tonight.\n\nAlthough the two Warner sisters lived in a corner apart from the busy\nworld, they made their influence felt in widespread circles. They felt a\nparticular responsibility in reference to the many thousands of young men\nfrom all parts of the United States who were being trained at West Point\nfor service in the army, and for many years they conducted a Bible class\nfor the cadets.\n\nMilitary honors were accorded each of the sisters when they were buried.\nAnna Warner was ninety-five years old when she died in 1915.\n\n\n\n\n A Famous Christmas Carol\n\n\n O little town of Bethlehem\n How still we see thee lie;\n Above thy deep and dreamless sleep\n The silent stars go by;\n Yet in thy darkness shineth\n The everlasting Light;\n The hopes and fears of all the years\n Are met in thee tonight.\n\n For Christ is born of Mary,\n And gathered all above,\n While mortals sleep, the angels keep\n Their watch of wondering love.\n O morning stars, together\n Proclaim the holy birth,\n And praises sing to God the King,\n And peace to men on earth.\n\n How silently, how silently,\n The wondrous Gift is given!\n So God imparts to human hearts\n The blessings of His heaven.\n No ear may hear His coming,\n But in this world of sin,\n Where meek souls will receive Him still,\n The dear Christ enters in.\n\n O holy Child of Bethlehem!\n Descend to us, we pray;\n Cast out our sin, and enter in,\n Be born in us today.\n We hear the Christmas angels\n The great glad tidings tell:\n O come to us, abide with us,\n Our Lord Immanuel!\n\n Phillips Brooks, 1868.\n\n\n\n\n PHILLIPS BROOKS AND HIS CAROLS\n\n\nPhillips Brooks was a great man. Not only was he a giant in stature, but\nhe possessed a great mind and a great heart. Also, he was a great\npreacher--one of America's greatest--and he just missed being a great\npoet. Indeed, the flashes of poetic genius revealed in the few verses he\nwrote indicate that he might have become famous as a hymn-writer had he\nchosen such a career.\n\nHis poetic gift had its roots in childhood. Phillips was brought up in a\npious New England home. Every Sunday the children of the Brooks household\nwere required to memorize a hymn, and, when the father conducted the\nevening devotion on the Lord's day, the children recited their hymns.\nWhen Phillips was ready to go to college, he could repeat no less than\ntwo hundred hymns from memory. In his later ministry this knowledge\nproved to be of inestimable value, and he frequently made effective use\nof hymn quotations in his preaching. But, more than that, the childhood\ntraining unconsciously had made of him a poet!\n\n\"O little town of Bethlehem,\" his most famous Christmas carol, was\nwritten for a Sunday school Christmas festival in 1868, when Brooks was\nrector of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. He was only\nthirty-two years old at the time. Three years earlier he had visited the\nHoly Land, and on Christmas eve he had stood on the star-lit hills where\nthe shepherds had watched their flocks. Below the hills he had seen the\n\"little town of Bethlehem,\" slumbering in the darkness just as it had\ndone in the night when Jesus was born. Later he had attended midnight\nservices in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.\n\nHe could never entirely forget the impressions of that sublime night,\nand, when he was asked in 1868 to write a Christmas hymn for his Sunday\nschool, he put down on paper the song that long had been ringing in his\nmind.\n\nThe beautiful tune \"St. Louis,\" to which the hymn is usually sung, also\nhas an interesting story. It was composed by Lewis H. Redner, who was\norganist and Sunday school superintendent of Dr. Brooks' church. When\nBrooks asked Redner to write a suitable tune for the words, the latter\nwaited for the inspiration that never seemed to come. Christmas eve\narrived and Redner went to sleep without having written the tune. In the\nmiddle of the night, however, he dreamed that he heard angels singing. He\nawoke with the melody still sounding in his ears. Quickly he seized a\npiece of paper, and jotted it down, and next morning he filled in the\nharmony.\n\nRedner always insisted that the hymn tune was \"a gift from heaven,\" and\nthose who have learned to love its exquisite strains are more than\nwilling to believe it!\n\nPhillips Brooks, though he never had a family of his own, possessed a\nboundless love for children. That, perhaps, is one reason why the\nChristmas season so fascinated him, and why he wrote so many Christmas\ncarols for children. One of these is famous for its striking refrain,\n\"Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight.\" \"The voice of the\nChrist-child\" is the title of another Christmas carol. He also wrote a\nnumber of Easter carols, among them, \"God hath sent His angels.\"\n\nBut Phillips Brooks not only made a strong appeal to children; it was not\nlong before the great and learned men of America began to realize that a\ngreat preacher and prophet had risen among them. There was need of such a\nspiritual leader, for Unitarianism had threatened to engulf all New\nEngland.\n\nIn its beginnings this movement was merely a protest against the stern\nand forbidding aspects of the Christian religion as it had been\nexemplified in New England Puritanism. It grew more and more radical,\nhowever, until the deity of Christ was denied.\n\nThe old-fashioned religion of \"Christ and Him crucified\" was all but\nforgotten in the intellectual circles of New England when a young man\nthirty-four years of age began preaching in Trinity church, Boston. He\nwas preaching Jesus Christ, but he was presenting Him in a new and\nwonderful light. Crowds began to fill the church. Even sedate old Harvard\nwas stirred.\n\nThat was the beginning of the ministry of Phillips Brooks in Boston, a\nministry that made him famous throughout the land. It marked the turning\npoint in religious tendencies in New England, and perhaps was the most\npotent factor in checking the spread of the Unitarian doctrine. Brooks\nwas later elevated to a bishopric in his Church. He died in 1893.\n\nIt is said that when a little girl of five years was told by her mother\nthat \"Bishop Brooks has gone to heaven,\" the child exclaimed, \"Oh, mamma,\nhow happy the angels will be!\"\n\n\n\n\n The Story that Never Grows Old\n\n\n I love to hear the story\n Which angel voices tell,\n How once the King of glory\n Came down to earth to dwell.\n I am both weak and sinful,\n But this I surely know,\n The Lord came down to save me,\n Because He loved me so.\n\n I'm glad my blessed Saviour\n Was once a child like me,\n To show how pure and holy\n His little ones should be;\n And if I try to follow\n His footsteps here below,\n He never will forget me,\n Because He loves me so.\n\n To sing His love and mercy\n My sweetest songs I'll raise!\n And though I cannot see Him,\n I know He hears my praise;\n For He has kindly promised\n That even I may go\n To sing among His angels,\n Because He loves me so.\n\n Emily Huntington Miller, 1867.\n\n\n\n\n WOMEN WHO WROTE HYMNS FOR CHILDREN\n\n\nEverybody loves the hymns the children sing. And that, perhaps, is the\nreason why Emily Huntington Miller's name will not soon be forgotten, for\nthe hymns she wrote were children's hymns indeed--hymns that came from\nthe heart of one who understood the heart of a child.\n\nThe daughter of a Methodist clergyman, Emily Huntington was born in\nBrooklyn, Conn., October 22, 1833. The spiritual and cultural influence\nof a New England parsonage was not lost on this little child, who early\nin life began to reveal unusual literary gifts. It was very unusual in\nthose days for young women to attend college, but Emily enrolled at\nOberlin College and graduated in the class of 1857.\n\nTen years later she became one of the editors of \"_The Little Corporal_,\"\na very popular magazine for children. Each month she contributed a poem\nto this publication. Like all other contributors, she often found it\ndifficult to have her poem ready each month on the required day. One\nmonth in 1867 she was handicapped by illness. The final day came, and her\npoem was not written. In spite of her weakness, she aroused herself to\nthe task. The inspiration seemed to come immediately, and, so she tells\nus, \"in less than fifteen minutes the hymn was written and sent away\nwithout any correction.\"\n\nThe hymn referred to was \"I love to hear the story.\" Almost immediately\nit sprang into popularity. In England it was admitted in 1875 to \"Hymns\nAncient and Modern,\" the hymn-book of the Church of England. This was a\nvery unusual honor, since very few hymns of American origin have been\nincluded in that famous collection. It is said that no one was more\nsurprised at the popularity achieved by the hymn than the author herself.\n\nAnother of her hymns that has won a place in the hearts of the smaller\nchildren is the sweet little gem:\n\n Jesus bids us shine\n With a clear, pure light\n Like a little candle\n Burning in the night;\n In the world is darkness,\n So we must shine,\n You in your small corner,\n And I in mine.\n\nAnother of her hymns for children, though not so well known as the other\ntwo mentioned, possesses unusual merit:\n\n Father, while the shadows fall,\n With the twilight over all,\n Deign to hear my evening prayer,\n Make a little child Thy care.\n Take me in Thy holy keeping\n Till the morning break;\n Guard me thro' the darkness sleeping,\n Bless me when I wake.\n\nEmily Huntington became the wife of Prof. John E. Miller in 1860. After\nhis death she became dean of the Woman's College of Northwestern\nUniversity, in which position she exerted a blessed influence over large\nnumbers of young women. She died in 1913.\n\nAnother American woman who at this time was also writing hymns for\nchildren was Mrs. Lydia Baxter. Although born at Petersburg, N. Y.,\nSeptember 2, 1809, it was not until nearly fifty years later that she\nseems to have begun to exercise her gifts as a song writer. Her \"Gems by\nthe Wayside\" were published in 1855, after which she became a frequent\ncontributor to hymn collections for Sunday schools and evangelistic\nservices.\n\nMrs. Baxter may be regarded as one of the forerunners of the Gospel hymn\nmovement of America. Her lyrics fall short of the severer standards\nrequired in a true hymn, and for this reason few of her hymns have been\nadmitted to the authorized collections of the principal church\ncommunions. However, the woman who wrote \"Take the Name of Jesus with\nyou\" and \"There is a gate that stands ajar\" will not soon be forgotten by\npious Christians, even though the author receives scant notice at the\nhands of hymnologists. It is a significant fact that in 1921 the Church\nof Sweden included a translation of the latter hymn in the appendix to\nits \"Psalm-book,\" one of the most conservative hymn collections in\nChristendom. Mrs. Baxter died in New York, June 22, 1874.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn of Sweet Consolation\n\n\n Safe in the arms of Jesus,\n Safe on His gentle breast,\n There by His love o'ershaded,\n Sweetly my soul shall rest.\n Hark! 'tis the voice of angels,\n Borne in a song to me,\n Over the fields of glory,\n Over the jasper sea.\n\n Safe in the arms of Jesus,\n Safe from corroding care,\n Safe from the world's temptations,\n Sin cannot harm me there.\n Free from the blight of sorrow,\n Free from my doubts and fears;\n Only a few more trials,\n Only a few more tears!\n\n Jesus, my heart's dear refuge,\n Jesus has died for me;\n Firm on the Rock of Ages\n Ever my trust shall be.\n Here let me wait with patience,\n Wait till the night is o'er;\n Wait till I see the morning\n Break on the golden shore.\n\n Frances Jane Crosby, 1869.\n\n\n\n\n FANNY CROSBY, AMERICA'S BLIND POET\n\n\nBlindness is not always an affliction. If it serves to give the soul a\nclearer vision of Christ and of His redeeming love, as it did with Fanny\nCrosby, it may rather be regarded as a blessing.\n\nAmerica's most famous hymn-writer could never remember having seen the\nlight of day, nevertheless her life was one of the most happy and\nfruitful ever lived. Always she radiated a sweet and cheerful spirit,\nrefusing to be pitied, while her soul poured out the songs that brought\njoy and salvation to countless multitudes.\n\nBorn of humble parents at Southeast, N. Y., March 24, 1823, she was only\nsix weeks old when, through the application of a poultice to her eyes,\nher sight was forever destroyed. Such a disaster would have cast a\nperpetual gloom over most lives, but not so with Fanny Crosby. Even at\nthe age of eight years she gave evidence not only of her happy optimism\nbut also of her poetic genius by penning the following cheerful lines:\n\n O what a happy soul am I!\n Although I cannot see,\n I am resolved that in this world\n Contented I will be.\n\n How many blessings I enjoy,\n That other people don't;\n To weep and sigh because I'm blind,\n I cannot, and I won't!\n\nWhen she was fifteen years old she entered the Institution for the Blind\nin New York City, where she soon began to develop her remarkable talent\nfor writing verse. At first she wrote only secular songs. One of these,\n\"Rosalie, the Prairie Flower,\" brought the blind girl nearly $3,000 in\nroyalties.\n\nStrange to state, it was not until she was forty-one years old that her\nfirst hymn was written. It was in 1864 that she met the famous composer,\nW. B. Bradbury, and it was at his request that she made her first attempt\nat hymn-writing. Her first hymn began:\n\n We are going, we are going,\n To a home beyond the skies,\n Where the fields are robed in beauty,\n And the sunlight never dies.\n\nShe now felt that she had found her real mission in life, and she wrote\nthat she was \"the happiest creature in all the land.\" Until her death in\n1915, hymns flowed from her inspired pen in a ceaseless stream. For a\nlong time she was under contract to furnish her publishers, Biglow &\nMain, with three hymns every week. It has been estimated that no less\nthan 8,000 hymns and songs were written by this unusual woman.\n\nNot all of her hymns possess high poetical excellence. In fact, they have\nbeen subjected to the most severe criticism. John Julian, the English\nhymnologist, with his usual candor, declares that \"they are, with few\nexceptions, very weak and poor, their simplicity and earnestness being\ntheir redeeming features.\"\n\nHowever, whether we consider her hymns of high poetic standard or not,\nthe fact remains that no one has written more hymns that are being sung\nand loved today than Fanny Crosby. Certainly the hymnody of the Christian\nChurch is infinitely richer for \"Pass me not, O gentle Saviour,\" \"Sweet\nhour of prayer,\" \"Safe in the arms of Jesus,\" \"All the way my Saviour\nleads me,\" \"Jesus is tenderly calling thee home,\" \"I am thine, O Lord,\"\n\"Rescue the perishing,\" \"Speed away,\" \"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,\"\n\"Jesus keep me near the Cross,\" \"Some day the silver cord will break,\"\nand scores of other inspiring gems that have come to us from this blind\ngenius.\n\nPractically all her hymns are very subjective in character. Although this\nis doubtless an element of weakness, it probably explains their unusual\npersonal appeal. It was the prayer of Miss Crosby that she might win a\nmillion souls for Christ, and there are many who believe that her prayer\nhas been more than realized. A strong Scriptural note is heard in most of\nher hymns. When she was yet a child, she committed to memory the first\nfour books of the Old Testament, as well as the four Gospels, and this\nproved a rich treasure store from which she drew in later life.\n\nFanny Crosby's fault apparently lay in the fact that she was too prolific\na writer. Most of her songs were composed in a few minutes. Often the\nlines came as rapidly as they could be dictated. It was this circumstance\nthat led Dr. S. W. Duffield to observe rather facetiously that \"It is\nmore to her credit as a writer that she has occasionally found a pearl\nthan that she has brought to the surface so many oyster shells.\" However,\nbefore his death he evidently had altered his opinion, for he wrote: \"I\nrather think her talent will stand beside that of Watts or Wesley,\nespecially if we take into consideration the number of hymns she has\nwritten.\"\n\nCertainly there are many pearls among the 8,000 songs she wrote, and\nperhaps none has given more solace to broken hearts than \"Safe in the\narms of Jesus.\" Often the themes of her hymns were suggested to her by\npublishers or musical composers. At other times a musician would play a\ntune for her and ask her to write words for it. It was in 1868 that\nWilliam H. Doane, the popular hymn composer, came to her one day and\nsaid: \"Fanny, I have a tune I would like to have you hear.\" He played it\nfor her, and she exclaimed, \"That says 'Safe in the arms of Jesus!'\" She\nwent to her room immediately, and within half an hour the words had been\nwritten.\n\nAlthough Fanny Crosby never permitted the fact of her blindness to make\nher life gloomy, there are many touching allusions in her hymns to her\naffliction. \"All the way my Saviour leads me\" suggests how much a guiding\nhand means to the blind. The same thought appears in the song, \"God will\ntake care of you,\" especially in the lines,\n\n Tenderly watching, and keeping His own,\n He will not leave you to wander alone.\n\nThere also are pathetic passages in her hymns that reflect the hope that\nsome day the long night of blindness would be ended--in heaven.\n\n Here let me wait with patience,\n Wait till the night is o'er;\n Wait till I see the morning\n Break on the golden shore.\n\nThat is also the constant refrain heard in the exquisite hymn, \"Some day\nthe silver cord will break.\"\n\n And I shall see Him face to face,\n And tell the story--Saved by grace.\n\nNevertheless, she never permitted any one to express sympathy on account\nof her blindness. Once a Scotch minister remarked to her, \"I think it is\na great pity that the Master, when He showered so many gifts upon you,\ndid not give you sight.\"\n\nShe answered: \"Do you know that, if at birth I had been able to make one\npetition to my Creator, if would have been that I should be made blind?\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked the surprised clergyman.\n\n\"Because, when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my\nsight will be that of my Saviour,\" was the unexpected reply.\n\nAt a summer religious conference in Northfield, Mass., Miss Crosby was\nsitting on the platform when the evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, asked her\nfor a testimony concerning her Christian experience. At first she\nhesitated, then quietly rose and said: \"There is one hymn I have written\nwhich has never been published. I call it my Soul's poem, and sometimes\nwhen I am troubled I repeat it to myself, for it brings comfort to my\nheart.\" She then recited:\n\n Some day the silver chord will break,\n And I no more as now shall sing:\n But, the joy when I shall wake\n Within the palace of the King!\n And I shall see Him face to face,\n And tell the story--Saved by grace.\n\nThe sight of her uplifted face, with its wistful expression, made a deep\nimpression upon the vast audience, and many were moved to tears.\n\nIn 1858 Miss Crosby married Alexander Van Alstyne, a blind musician,\nwherefore she is often referred to as Mrs. Frances Jane Van Alstyne. She\ndied on February 12, 1915.\n\n\n\n\n The Call of the Gospel Song\n\n\n Sing them over again to me,\n Wonderful words of life,\n Let me more of their beauty see,\n Wonderful words of life.\n Words of life and beauty,\n Teach me faith and duty;\n Beautiful words,\n Wonderful words,\n Wonderful words of life.\n\n Christ, the blessed One, gives to all\n Wonderful words of life;\n Sinner, list to the loving call,\n Wonderful words of life.\n All so freely given,\n Wooing us to heaven,\n Beautiful words,\n Wonderful words,\n Wonderful words of life.\n\n Sweetly echo the gospel call,\n Wonderful words of life;\n Offer pardon and peace to all,\n Wonderful words of life.\n Jesus, only Saviour,\n Sanctify forever,\n Beautiful words,\n Wonderful words,\n Wonderful words of life.\n\n Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876).\n\n\n\n\n ONE OF AMERICA'S EARLIEST GOSPEL SINGERS\n\n\nAmong hymn-books that have exerted a profound influence over the\nspiritual lives of Christian people none has probably achieved greater\nfame or wider circulation than the volume known as Gospel Hymns. It was\nissued in a series of six editions, but now is usually found combined in\na single book.\n\nPhilip P. Bliss, the subject of this chapter, was the first editor of\nGospel Hymns. Associated with him in the publication of the first two\neditions was the renowned Ira D. Sankey, who gained world-wide fame\nthrough his evangelistic campaigns with Dwight L. Moody.\n\nThe story of the life of Bliss reads like romance.\n\nLike many a poor lad endowed with love for the artistic, he was compelled\nto struggle almost all his life for the opportunity that finally came to\nhim. Born at Rome, Pa., in 1838, he early revealed a passion for music\nwhen, as a boy, he made crude instruments on which he tried to produce\ntones.\n\nThe story is told of how Philip, when a ragged and barefoot boy of ten\nyears, heard piano music for the first time. So entranced did he become\nthat he entered the home unbidden, and stood listening at the parlor\ndoor. When the young woman at the instrument ceased playing, the child\nwho hungered for music cried:\n\n\"O lady, play some more!\"\n\nInstead of complying with the request, the startled young woman is said\nto have invited young Bliss to leave the house forthwith!\n\nAlthough he received practically no musical education, except from\noccasional attendance at a singing school, he wrote his first song at the\nage of twenty-six years. It was called \"Lora Vale,\" and because of its\npopular reception, Bliss was encouraged to devote all his time to writing\nsongs and giving concerts.\n\nBliss usually wrote both the words and music of his hymns. His work was\ndone very quickly, the inspiration for the whole song, text and melody,\nbeing born in his mind at once.\n\nAny incident of an unusually impressive nature would immediately suggest\na theme to his mind. He heard the story of a shipwreck. The doomed vessel\nwas abandoned, and the captain ordered the sailors to exert their utmost\nstrength to \"pull for the shore.\" Immediately he wrote his well-known\nsong with the words as a refrain.\n\nOne night he listened to a sermon in which the preacher closed with the\nwords, \"He who is almost persuaded is almost saved, but to be almost\nsaved is to be entirely lost.\" He went home from the service and wrote\n\"Almost persuaded,\" a hymn that is said to have brought more souls to\nChrist than anything else Bliss ever composed.\n\nIn 1870 he heard Major Whittle, an evangelist, tell the story of how the\nmessage, \"Hold the fort!\" was signalled to the besieged garrison at\nAllatoona Pass. The words suggested the passage from Revelations 2:25,\n\"That which ye have, hold fast till I come.\" The result was one of his\nmost famous Gospel songs, the chorus of which runs:\n\n \"Hold the fort, for I am coming,\"\n Jesus signals still,\n Wave the answer back to heaven,--\n \"By Thy grace we will.\"\n\nOther popular songs by Bliss are \"Whosoever heareth, shout, shout the\nsound,\" \"I am so glad that our Father in heaven,\" \"There's a light in the\nvalley,\" \"Sing them over again to me,\" \"Let the lower lights be burning,\"\n\"Free from the law, Oh, happy condition,\" \"Down life's dark vale we\nwander\" and \"Where hast thou gleaned today?\"\n\nThese songs, like the greater number of the Gospel Hymns, do not possess\nhigh literary merit. The most that can be said for them is that they are\nimaginative and picturesque. They are usually strong in emotional appeal.\nThe same is true of the tunes composed for them. They are usually very\nlight in character, with a lilt and movement that make them easily\nsingable, but lacking in the rich harmony found in the standard hymns and\nchorales. No doubt there will always be a certain demand for this type of\nreligious song, and a few of the Gospel Hymns will probably live on, but\nthe present trend in all of the principal Christian denominations is\ntoward a higher standard of hymnody.\n\nA terrible tragedy brought the life of the Gospel singer to a close in\nhis thirty-eighth year. He had visited the old childhood home at Rome,\nPa., at Christmas time in 1876, and was returning to Chicago in company\nwith his wife when a railroad bridge near Ashtabula, Ohio, collapsed on\nthe evening of December 29. Their train plunged into a ravine, sixty feet\nbelow, where it caught fire, and one hundred passengers perished\nmiserably.\n\nBliss managed to escape from the wreckage, but crawled back into a window\nin search for his wife. That was the last seen of him.\n\nThe song-writer's first name was originally \"Philipp.\" He disliked the\nunusual spelling, however, and in later years he used the extra \"P\" as a\nmiddle initial.\n\n\n\n\n Chautauqua Vesper Hymn\n\n\n Day is dying in the west;\n Heaven is touching earth with rest:\n Wait and worship while the night\n Sets her evening lamps alight\n Through all the sky.\n\n Refrain:\n Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts!\n Heaven and earth are full of Thee!\n Heaven and earth are praising Thee,\n O Lord Most High!\n\n Lord of life, beneath the dome\n Of the universe, Thy home,\n Gather us who seek Thy face\n To the fold of Thy embrace,\n For Thou art nigh.\n\n While the deepening shadows fall,\n Heart of Love, enfold us all;\n Through the glory and the grace\n Of the stars that veil Thy face,\n Our hearts ascend.\n\n When forever from our sight\n Pass the stars, the day, the night,\n Lord of angels, on our eyes\n Let eternal morning rise,\n And shadows end.\n\n Mary Artimisia Lathbury, 1880, 1890.\n\n\n\n\n THE LYRIST OF CHAUTAUQUA\n\n\nThose who have had the privilege of attending a vesper service in the\ngreat Chautauqua Institution auditorium on the shores of beautiful Lake\nChautauqua, N. Y., have come away with at least one impression that is\nlasting. It is the singing by the vast assembly of Mary Lathbury's famous\nvesper hymn, \"Day is dying in the west.\"\n\nThis beautiful evening lyric, which was written especially for the\nChautauqua vesper hour, has been called by a distinguished critic \"one of\nthe finest and most distinctive hymns of modern times,\" and there are few\nwho will not concur in his judgment.\n\nThe \"lyrist of Chautauqua\" was born in Manchester, N. Y., August 10,\n1841. As a child she began to reveal artistic tendencies. She developed a\nspecial talent in drawing pictures of children, and her illustrations in\nmagazines and periodicals made her name widely known. She also wrote\nbooks and poetry, illustrating them with her own sketches.\n\nVery early in life she felt constrained to dedicate her talent to\nChristian service. She tells how she seemed to hear a voice saying to\nher: \"Remember, my child, that you have a gift of weaving fancies into\nverse, and a gift with the pencil of producing visions that come to your\nheart; consecrate these to Me as thoroughly and as definitely as you do\nyour inmost spirit.\"\n\nAn opportunity to serve her Lord in a very definite way came in 1874,\nwhen Dr. John H. Vincent, then secretary of the Methodist Sunday School\nUnion, employed her as his assistant. The Chautauqua movement had just\nbeen launched the previous year and the formal opening on the shores of\nthe beautiful lake from which the institution has received its name took\nplace on August 4, 1874. Dr. Vincent became the outstanding leader of the\nmovement, and he began to make use of Miss Lathbury's literary talent\nalmost immediately.\n\nDr. Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, historian of Chautauqua, writes: \"In Dr.\nVincent's many-sided nature was a strain of poetry, although I do not\nknow that he ever wrote a verse. Yet he always looked at life and truth\nthrough poetic eyes. Who otherwise would have thought of songs for\nChautauqua and called upon a poet to write them? Dr. Vincent found in\nMary A. Lathbury a poet who could compose fitting verses for the\nexpression of the Chautauqua spirit.\"\n\nThe beautiful evening hymn, \"Day is dying in the west,\" was written in\n1880, at Dr. Vincent's request, for the vesper services which are held\nevery evening. It originally consisted of only two stanzas, and it was\nnot until ten years later that Miss Lathbury, at the strong insistence of\nfriends, added the last two stanzas. We are happy that she did so, for\nthe last two lines, with their allusion to the \"eternal morning\" when\n\"shadows\" shall end, bring the hymn to a sublime conclusion.\n\nIt was also in 1880 that she wrote another hymn of two stanzas that has\nshared in the fame that has come to her evening hymn. It was composed for\nthe Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and Miss Lathbury called\nit \"A Study Song.\" Its beautiful reference to the Sea of Galilee is made\nthe more interesting when we are reminded that the hymn was written on\nthe shores of lovely Lake Chautauqua. The hymn is particularly adapted\nfor Bible study, and it is said that the great London preacher, G.\nCampbell Morgan, always announced it before his mid-week discourse. The\nhymn reads:\n\n Break Thou the Bread of life,\n Dear Lord, to me,\n As Thou didst break the loaves\n Beside the sea;\n Beyond the sacred page\n I seek Thee, Lord;\n My spirit pants for Thee,\n O living Word!\n\n Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord,\n To me, to me,\n As Thou didst bless the bread\n By Galilee;\n Then shall all bondage cease,\n All fetters fall;\n And I shall find my peace,\n My All-in-all!\n\nMiss Lathbury was greatly esteemed, not only for her lovely lyrics which\nhave given inspiration to thousands of souls, but also for her gentle,\nChristian character. There was an indescribable charm about her\npersonality, and she exerted an abiding influence over those who came in\ncontact with her devout and consecrated spirit. She died in New York City\nin 1913.\n\n\n\n\n In His Footsteps\n\n\n O Master, let me walk with Thee\n In lowly paths of service free;\n Tell me Thy secret, help me bear\n The strain of toil, the fret of care.\n\n Help me the slow of heart to move\n By some clear winning word of love;\n Teach me the wayward feet to stay,\n And guide them in the homeward way.\n\n Teach me Thy patience; still with Thee\n In closer, dearer company,\n In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,\n In trust that triumphs over wrong.\n\n In hope that sends a shining ray\n Far down the future's broadening way,\n In peace that only Thou canst give,\n With Thee, O Master, let me live!\n\n Washington Gladden, 1879.\n\n\n\n\n GLADDEN'S HYMN OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE\n\n\nFor more than half a century, until his death in 1918, the name of\nWashington Gladden was known throughout the length of the country as one\nof America's most distinguished clergymen. A prolific writer, his books\nand his magazine contributions were widely read by the American people.\n\nLike most literary productions, however, his books and pamphlets have\nalready been largely forgotten. It is only a little hymn, written on a\nmoment's inspiration, that seems destined to preserve Gladden's name for\nposterity. That hymn is \"O Master, let me walk with Thee.\"\n\nThe author was born in Pottsgrove, Pa., February 11, 1836. After his\ngraduation from Williams College in 1859, he was called as pastor to a\nCongregational church in Brooklyn. In 1882 he removed to Columbus, O.,\nwhere he remained as pastor until 1914, a period of thirty-two years.\n\nDuring these years he exerted a profound influence, not only over the\ncity of Columbus, but in much wider circles. Gladden was deeply\ninterested in social service, believing that it is the duty of the\nChristian Church to elevate the masses not only spiritually and morally,\nbut in a social and economic sense as well. By sermons, lectures and by\nhis writings, he was ever trying to bring about more cordial relationship\nbetween employer and employee.\n\nGladden was often the center of a storm of criticism on the part of those\nwho charged him with liberalism. His beautiful hymn, written in 1879,\nseems to be in part an answer to his critics. It originally consisted of\nthree stanzas of eight lines each. The second stanza, which was omitted\nwhen the poem was first published as a hymn, indicates how keenly Gladden\nfelt the condemnation of his opponents:\n\n O Master, let me walk with Thee\n Before the taunting Pharisee;\n Help me to bear the sting of spite,\n The hate of men who hide Thy light,\n The sore distrust of souls sincere\n Who cannot read Thy judgments clear,\n The dulness of the multitude,\n Who dimly guess that Thou art good.\n\nDr. Gladden always insisted that he was nothing but a preacher, and he\ngloried in his high calling. In spite of busy pastorates, however, he\nalways found time to give expression to his literary talent. At one time\nhe was a member of the editorial staff of the New York Independent. Later\nhe was an editor of the \"Sunday Afternoon,\" a weekly magazine. It was in\nthis magazine that \"O Master, let me walk with Thee\" was first published.\n\nThe writer had no idea of composing a hymn when it was written, and no\none was more surprised than he at its popularity. He himself agreed that\nthe second stanza quoted above was not suitable for hymn purposes.\n\nWhatever judgment may be passed on Dr. Gladden's liberalistic views, it\nwill be agreed that he looked upon Christianity as an intensely practical\nthing; and, if he underestimated the value of Christian dogma, it was\nbecause he emphasized so strongly the necessity of Christian life and\npractice.\n\nHe was always buoyed up by a hopeful spirit, and he believed implicitly\nthat the Kingdom of Light was gradually overcoming the forces of evil. In\none of his last sermons, he said:\n\n\"I have never doubted that the Kingdom I have always prayed for is\ncoming; that the gospel I have preached is true. I believe ... that the\nnation is being saved.\"\n\nSomething of his optimism may be seen reflected in the words of his hymn.\n\n\n\n\n A Hymn of the City\n\n\n Where cross the crowded ways of life,\n Where sound the cries of race and clan,\n Above the noise of selfish strife,\n We hear Thy voice, O Son of man!\n\n In haunts of wretchedness and need,\n On shadowed thresholds dark with fears,\n From paths where hide the lures of greed,\n We catch the vision of Thy tears.\n\n From tender childhood's helplessness,\n From woman's grief, man's burdened toil,\n From famished souls, from sorrow's stress,\n Thy heart has never known recoil.\n\n The cup of water given for Thee\n Still holds the freshness of Thy grace;\n Yet long these multitudes to see\n The sweet compassion of Thy face.\n\n O Master, from the mountain-side,\n Make haste to heal these hearts of pain,\n Among these restless throngs abide,\n O tread the city's streets again,\n\n Till sons of men shall learn Thy love\n And follow where Thy feet have trod;\n Till glorious from Thy heaven above\n Shall come the city of our God.\n\n Frank Mason North, 1905.\n\n\n\n\n A HYMN WITH A MODERN MESSAGE\n\n\nAmong the more recent hymns that have found their way into the hymn-books\nof the Christian churches in America, there is none that enjoys such\npopularity and esteem as Frank Mason North's hymn, \"Where cross the\ncrowded ways of life.\" It is a hymn of the highest order, beautiful in\nthought and unusually tender in expression. It is typical of the trend in\nmodern hymns to emphasize the Church's mission among the lowly and the\nfallen.\n\nFrom beginning to end this hymn is a picture of the modern city with its\nsins and sorrows and spiritual hunger. We see the city as the meeting\nplace of all races and tongues; we hear the din and noise of selfish\nstriving; we behold the haunts of poverty and sin and wretchedness; we\ncatch a glimpse of the sufferings of helpless childhood, of woman's\nsecret griefs and man's ceaseless toil. And all these multitudes are\nhungering for Christ!\n\nNorth has, consciously or unconsciously, made a striking distinction\nbetween mere social service work, which aims at the alleviation of human\nneed and suffering, and inner mission work, which seeks to help men\nspiritually as well as physically. \"The cup of water\" is never to be\ndespised, but when it is given in Christ's Name it has double value; for\nit is Christ Himself, after all, that men need, and it is only Christ who\ncan truly satisfy. Social service can never take the place of salvation.\n\nWhat a beautiful prayer is that contained in the fifth stanza, where the\nMaster is entreated to \"tread the city's streets again!\" And then, as a\nfitting climax to this whole remarkable poem, comes the triumphant\nthought expressed in the final lines of the coming of the New Jerusalem\nfrom above--\"the city of our God.\"\n\nNorth was well qualified to write such a hymn. He himself was a child of\nthe city, having been born in America's greatest metropolis in 1850. His\nearly education, too, was received in New York City and after his\ngraduation from Wesleyan University in 1872 he served several\ncongregations in the city of his birth. In 1892 he was made Corresponding\nSecretary of the New York City Church Extension and Missionary Society\nand in 1912 he was elected a Corresponding Secretary of the Methodist\nEpiscopal Board of Foreign Missions. Thus, almost his whole life has been\ndevoted to missionary activities at home and abroad.\n\nIt was in 1905, in response to a request from the Methodist hymnal\ncommittee, that North wrote his celebrated hymn. He tells the story in\nthe following words:\n\n\"My life was for long years, both by personal choice, and official duty,\ngiven to the people in all phases of their community life. New York was\nto me an open book. I spent days and weeks and years in close contact\nwith every phase of the life of the multitudes, and at the morning, noon\nand evening hours was familiar with the tragedy, as it always seemed to\nme, of the jostling, moving currents of the life of the people as\nrevealed upon the streets and at great crossings of the avenues; and I\nhave watched them by the hour as they passed, by tens of thousands. This\nis no more than many another man whose sympathies are with the crowd and\nwith the eager, unsatisfied folk of the world, has done.\n\n\"As I recall it, I came to write the hymn itself at the suggestion of\nProfessor C. T. Winchester, who, as a member of the committee on the new\nhymnal, was struggling with the fact that we have so few modern\nmissionary hymns. He said to me one day, 'Why do you not write us a\nmissionary hymn?' I wrote what was in my thought and feeling.... That it\nhas found its way into so many of the modern hymnals and by translation\ninto so many of the other languages, is significant not as to the quality\nof the hymn itself but as to the fact that it is an expression of the\ntremendous movement of the soul of the gospel in our times which demands\nthat the follower of Christ must make the interest of the people his own,\nand must find the heart of the world's need if he is in any way to\nrepresent his Master among men.\"\n\nAnother lovely hymn by North was written in 1884. The first stanza reads:\n\n Jesus, the calm that fills my breast\n No other heart than Thine can give;\n This peace unstirred, this joy of rest,\n None but Thy loved ones can receive.\n\nThe spirit of this hymn reminds us very much of the two classic hymns of\nBernard of Clairvaux--\"O Jesus, joy of loving hearts\" and \"Jesus, the\nvery thought of Thee.\" The last line quoted above is evidently inspired\nby a line from the latter hymn.\n\n\n\n\n A Gripping Hymn by a Girl\n\n\n O'er Jerusalem Thou weepest\n In compassion, dearest Lord!\n Love divine, of love the deepest,\n O'er Thine erring Israel poured,\n Crieth out in bitter moan,\n \"O loved city, hadst thou known\n This thy day of visitation,\n Thou wouldst not reject salvation.\"\n\n By the love Thy tears are telling,\n O Thou Lamb for sinners slain,\n Make my heart Thy temple dwelling,\n Purged from every guilty stain!\n O forgive, forgive my sin!\n Cleanse me, cleanse me, Lord, within!\n I am Thine since Thou hast sought me,\n Since Thy precious blood hath bought me.\n\n O Thou Lord of my salvation,\n Grant my soul Thy blood-bought peace.\n By the tears of lamentation\n Bid my faith and love increase.\n Grant me grace to love Thy Word,\n Grace to keep the message heard,\n Grace to own Thee as my Treasure,\n Grace to love Thee without measure.\n\n Anna Hoppe, 1919.\n\n\n\n\n A LUTHERAN PSALMIST OF TODAY\n\n\nIt is gratifying to know that the spirit of hymnody is not dead, and that\nstill today consecrated men and women are being inspired to \"sing new\nsongs unto Jehovah,\" In Milwaukee, Wis., lives a young woman who for\nseveral years has been attracting wide-spread attention by her Christian\nlyrics. Her name is Anna Hoppe, and the hymns she writes suggest strongly\nsomething of the style and spirit of the Lutheran hymns of a by-gone age.\n\nBorn of German parents in Milwaukee in 1889, she began to write verse in\nearly childhood. Most of them were on patriotic themes, such as\nWashington, Lincoln, The Battle of Gettysburg, and Paul Jones.\n\n\"At the age of about eleven,\" Miss Hoppe tells us, \"I wrote a few lines\non Angels.\"\n\nIt was at the age of twenty-five years, however, that she began in\nearnest the writing of spiritual poetry. Many of her poems were published\nin religious periodicals and aroused much interest. In the hymnal of the\nAugustana Synod, published in 1925, twenty-three of her hymns were\nincluded. Since that time a collection of her hymns under the title,\n\"Songs of the Church Year,\" has appeared. In 1930 eight of her lyrics\nwere published in the \"American Lutheran Hymnal.\"\n\nAs a prolific writer of hymns, Miss Hoppe probably has no equal in the\nLutheran Church today. Her unusual talent seems all the more remarkable\nwhen it is known that she is practically self-educated. After she had\nfinished the eighth grade in the Milwaukee public schools, she entered a\nbusiness office. Since that time she has worked continuously, and has\nreceived the benefit of only a few months' training at evening schools.\nAt present she is employed in the office of the Westinghouse Company.\n\nHer hymns are composed in the midst of the stress and hurry of modern\nlife.\n\n\"Many of my hymns,\" she writes, \"have been written on my way to and from\nchurch, and to and from work. I utilize my lunch hours for typing the\nhymns and keeping up correspondence. I used to do quite a bit of writing\non Sunday afternoons, but now we have a Layman's Hour in our church at\nthat time, and I do not like to miss it. I also attend our Fundamentalist\nBible lectures, Jewish mission meetings, and the like. Still I find a\nminute here and there in which to jot down some verse.\"\n\nAlthough few of Miss Hoppe's hymns rise to heights of poetic rapture,\nthey are characterized by a warmth of feeling and fervency of spirit that\nmake them true lyrics. They are thoroughly Scriptural in language,\nalthough they sometimes become too dogmatic in phraseology. A deep\ncertainty of faith, however, breathes through their lines and saves them\nfrom becoming prosaic.\n\nOne of her most beautiful hymns is for New Year's. Its opening stanza\nreads:\n\n Jesus, O precious Name,\n By heaven's herald spoken,\n Jesus, O holy Name,\n Of love divine the token.\n Jesus, in Thy dear Name\n This new year we begin;\n Bless Thou its opening door,\n Inscribe Thy Name within.\n\nA hymn for Epiphany reflects something of the same spirit of adoration:\n\n Desire of every nation,\n Light of the Gentiles, Thou!\n In fervent adoration\n Before Thy throne we bow;\n Our hearts and tongues adore Thee,\n Blest Dayspring from the skies.\n Like incense sweet before Thee,\n Permit our songs to rise.\n\nThe final stanza of her Ascension hymn is full of poetic fire:\n\n Ascend, dear Lord!\n Thou Lamb for sinners slain,\n Thou blest High Priest, ascend!\n O King of kings, in righteousness e'er reign,\n Thy kingdom hath no end.\n Thy ransomed host on earth rejoices,\n While angels lift in song their voices.\n Ascend, dear Lord!\n\nHer fidelity to Scriptural language may be seen in the following simple\nverses:\n\n Have ye heard the invitation,\n Sinners ruined by the fall?\n Famished souls who seek salvation,\n Have ye heard the loving call?\n Hark! a herald of the Father\n Bids you of His supper taste.\n Round the sacred table gather;\n All is ready; sinners, haste!\n\n O ye chosen, have ye slighted\n This sweet call to you proclaimed?\n Lo! the King hath now invited\n All the halt, the blind, the maimed:\n Come, ye poor from out the highways,\n Come, a feast awaits you, come!\n Leave the hedges and the byways,\n Hasten to the Father's home.\n\n We have heard Thee call, dear Father,\n In Thy Word and sacrament;\n Round Thy festal board we'll gather\n Till our life's last day is spent.\n Ours the risen Saviour's merit,\n Ours the bounties of Thy love,\n Ours Thy peace, till we inherit\n Endless life in heaven above.\n\nMiss Hoppe speaks in glowing terms of the spiritual impressions received\nin childhood from pious parents and a consecrated pastor, the sainted\nJohn Bading, who both baptized and confirmed her. Her father died in\n1910.\n\n\"He was a very pious Lutheran,\" she writes, \"and so is mother. They often\nspoke of afternoon prayer meetings they attended in Germany.\"\n\nSome of her hymns not already mentioned are, \"By nature deaf to things\ndivine,\" \"Heavenly Sower, Thou hast scattered,\" \"How blest are they who\nthrough the power,\" \"Lord Jesus Christ, the children's Friend,\" \"O dear\nRedeemer, crucified,\" \"O precious Saviour, heal and bless,\" \"O'er\nJerusalem Thou weepest,\" \"Precious Child, so sweetly sleeping,\" \"Repent,\nthe Kingdom draweth nigh,\" \"The Sower goeth forth to sow,\" \"Thou camest\ndown from heaven on high,\" \"Thou hast indeed made manifest,\" \"Thou Lord\nof life and death,\" \"Thou virgin-born incarnate Word,\" \"O Lord, my God,\nThy holy law,\" \"Jesus, Thine unbounded love,\" \"He did not die in vain,\"\n\"I open wide the portals of my heart,\" \"Rise, my soul, to watch and\npray,\" \"O joyful message, sent from heaven,\" \"O Thou who once in\nGalilee,\" and \"Thou goest to Jerusalem.\" She is the translator of \"O\nprecious thought! some day the mist shall vanish,\" a hymn from the\nSwedish, as well as some eighty gems from German hymnody. Thirty-two of\nher German translations appeared in \"The Selah Song Book,\" edited by\nAdolf T. Hanser in 1922.\n\nMany of Miss Hoppe's hymns have been written on the pericopes of the\nChurch Year. She has consistently refused to have her hymns copyrighted,\nbelieving that no hindrance should be put in the way of any one who\ndesires to use them.\n\nUp to 1930 nearly 400 hymns had appeared from Miss Hoppe's pen. Her\nambition is to write a thousand original Christian lyrics.\n\n\n\n\n A Song of Victory\n\n\n Rise, ye children of salvation,\n All who cleave to Christ, the Head!\n Wake, arise, O mighty nation,\n Ere the foe on Zion tread:\n He draws nigh, and would defy\n All the hosts of God Most High.\n\n Saints and heroes, long before us,\n Firmly on this ground have stood;\n See their banner waving o'er us,\n Conquerors through the Saviour's blood!\n Ground we hold whereon of old\n Fought the faithful and the bold.\n\n Fighting, we shall be victorious\n By the blood of Christ our Lord;\n On our foreheads, bright and glorious,\n Shines the witness of His Word;\n Spear and shield on battlefield,\n His great Name; we cannot yield.\n\n When His servants stand before Him,\n Each receiving his reward--\n When His saints in light adore Him,\n Giving glory to the Lord--\n \"Victory!\" our song shall be,\n Like the thunder of the sea.\n\n Justus Falckner, 1697.\n\n\n\n\n SURVEY OF AMERICAN LUTHERAN HYMNODY\n\n\nIt is a significant fact that the first Lutheran pastor to be ordained in\nAmerica was a hymn-writer. He was Justus Falckner, author of the stirring\nhymn, \"Rise, ye children of salvation.\"\n\nFalckner, who was born on November 22, 1672, in Langenreinsdorf, Saxony,\nwas the son of a Lutheran pastor at that place. He entered the University\nof Halle in 1693 as a student of theology under Francke, but for\nconscientious reasons refused to be ordained upon the completion of his\nstudies. Together with his brother Daniel he became associated with the\nWilliam Penn colony in America and arranged for the sale of 10,000 acres\nof land to Rev. Andreas Rudman, who was the spiritual leader of the\nSwedish Lutherans along the Delaware.\n\nThrough Rudman's influence Falckner was induced to enter the ministry,\nand on November 24, 1703, he was ordained in Gloria Dei Lutheran Church\nat Wicacoa, Philadelphia. The ordination service was carried out by the\nSwedish Lutheran pastors, Rudman, Erik Bjork, and Andreas Sandel.\nFalckner was the first German Lutheran pastor in America, and he also had\nthe distinction of building the first German Lutheran church in the New\nWorld--at Falckner's Swamp, New Hanover, Pa. Later he removed to New\nYork, where for twenty years he labored faithfully among the German,\nDutch, and Scandinavian settlers in a parish that extended some two\nhundred miles from Albany to Long Island.\n\nIt seems that Falckner's hymn, \"Rise, ye children of salvation,\" was\nwritten while he was a student at Halle. It appeared as early as 1697 in\n\"Geistreiches Gesangbuch,\" and in 1704 it was given a place in\nFreylinghausen's hymn-book. There is no evidence that Falckner ever\ntranslated it into English.\n\nSince the Lutheran Church in America to a large extent employed the\nGerman and Scandinavian languages in its worship, it was content for\nnearly two hundred years to depend on hymn-books originating in the Old\nWorld. Not until the latter half of the nineteenth century were serious\nefforts made to provide Lutheran hymn-books in the English language.\nWriters of original hymns were few in number, but a number of excellent\ntranslators appeared.\n\nThrough the efforts of these translators, an increasing number of\nLutheran hymns from the rich store of German and Scandinavian hymnody are\nbeing introduced in the hymn-books of this country. Pioneers in this\nendeavor about half a century ago were Charles Porterfield Krauth, noted\ntheologian and vice-provost of the University of Pennsylvania; Joseph A.\nSeiss, of Philadelphia, pastor and author, to whom we are indebted for\nthe translation of \"Beautiful Saviour\" and \"Winter reigns o'er many a\nregion\"; and Charles William Schaeffer, Philadelphia theologian, who\ntranslated Held's \"Come, O come, Thou quickening Spirit\" and Rambach's\nbeautiful baptism hymn, \"Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.\" Mrs. Harriet\nKrauth Spaeth also belongs to this group, her most notable contribution\nbeing the translation of the medieval Christian hymn, \"Behold, a Branch\nis growing.\"\n\nLater translators of German hymns were Matthias Loy, for many years\npresident of Capital University, Columbus, Ohio; August Crull, professor\nof German at Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Conrad H. L.\nSchuette, professor of theology at Capital University and later president\nof the Joint Synod of Ohio. Loy was not only a translator but also an\nauthor of no mean ability. Among his original hymns that seem destined to\nlive are \"Jesus took the babes and blessed them,\" \"I thank Thee, Jesus,\nfor the grief,\" and \"O great High Priest, forget not me.\" His splendid\ntranslations include such hymns as Selnecker's \"Let me be Thine forever,\"\nSchenck's \"Now our worship sweet is o'er\" and Hiller's \"God in human\nflesh appearing.\" From Schuette we have received in English dress Behm's\n\"O holy, blessed Trinity,\" while Crull's most successful translations are\nHomburg's \"Where wilt Thou go, since night draws near?\" and Ludaemilia\nElizabeth of Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt's beautiful hymn, \"Jesus, Jesus,\nJesus only.\"\n\nAmong the living translators of German hymns, H. Brueckner, professor at\nHebron College, Hebron, Nebraska, takes first rank. In the American\nLutheran Hymnal, published in 1930 by a Lutheran intersynodical\ncommittee, he is represented by some seventy translations from the\nGerman, three from the French, and four original hymns. Although\nBrueckner's work is too recent to be properly evaluated, his hymns reveal\nevidences of genuine lyrical quality and true devotional spirit.\n\nOther successful translators of German hymns are John Caspar Mattes,\nLutheran pastor at Scranton, Pa.; Emmanuel Cronenwett, pastor emeritus at\nButler, Pa., and Paul E. Kretzmann, of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis,\nMo., Lutheran theologian and commentator. To Mattes we are indebted for\nthe English version of Gotter's \"Friend of the weary, O refresh us\" and\nAlbinus' \"Smite us not in anger, Lord.\" Cronenwett and Kretzmann have\nwritten a number of excellent original hymns in addition to their\ntranslations. The American Lutheran Hymnal contains nine of these by the\nformer and seventeen from the pen of the latter. Cronenwett's hymns are\nchiefly didactic, but occasionally he soars to lyrical heights, as in \"Of\nomnipresent grace I sing.\" Among Kretzmann's best efforts are \"Lead on, O\nLord\" and \"Praise and honor to the Father.\" A note of praise to the Holy\nTrinity is heard in practically all of Kretzmann's hymns.\n\nThe foremost translator of Swedish hymns is Ernst W. Olson, office editor\nof Augustana Book Concern, Rock Island, Ill. From his gifted pen we have\nreceived the English version of such gems as Wallin's \"All hail to thee,\nO blessed morn,\" \"From peaceful slumber waking,\" \"Jerusalem, lift up thy\nvoice,\" \"Mute are the pleading lips of Him,\" and \"Heavenly Light,\nbenignly beaming\"; Franzen's \"Ajar the temple gates are swinging,\" \"Come,\nO Jesus, and prepare me,\" and \"When vesper bells are calling\";\nSoderberg's \"In the temple where our fathers,\" Geijer's \"In triumph our\nRedeemer,\" Petri's \"Now hail we our Redeemer\" and \"Thy sacred Word, O\nLord, of old,\" and Carl Olof Rosenius' \"With God and His mercy, His\nSpirit and Word.\" Olson has also written a number of excellent original\nhymns, including \"Mine eyes unto the mountains,\" \"Behold, by sovereign\ngrace alone,\" and \"Glorious yuletide, glad bells proclaim it.\"\n\nOther translators of Swedish hymns include Claude W. Foss, professor of\nhistory at Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill.; Victor O. Peterson,\nformerly with the same institution, but now deceased; George H. Trabert,\nLutheran pastor at Minneapolis, Minn.; Augustus Nelson, Lutheran pastor\nat Gibbon, Minn.; Olof Olsson, for many years president of Augustana\nCollege, and August W. Kjellstrand, who until his death in 1930 was\nprofessor of English at the same institution. Among the finest\ncontributions by Foss are translations of Nystrom's \"O Fount of truth and\nmercy,\" Hedborn's \"With holy joy my soul doth beat,\" and Franzen's \"Thy\nscepter, Jesus, shall extend.\" Nelson has given us beautiful renderings\nof Franzen's \"Prepare the way, O Zion\" and \"Awake, the watchman crieth,\"\nand Wallin's \"Jesus, Lord and precious Saviour.\" Peterson is the\ntranslator of Arrhenius' \"Jesus is my friend most precious\" and Wallin's\nAdvent hymn, \"O bride of Christ, rejoice.\" Olsson, who was one of the\nearliest translators of Swedish lyrics, has given us Franzen's communion\nhymn, \"Thine own, O loving Saviour,\" and another on the Lord's Supper by\nSpegel, \"The death of Jesus Christ, our Lord.\" Kjellstrand's version of\nHedborn's sublime hymn of praise, \"Holy Majesty, before Thee,\" is one of\nthe most successful efforts at converting Swedish hymns into the English\nlanguage. To these translators should also be added the name of Anders O.\nBersell, for many years professor of Greek at Augustana College, who gave\npoetic English form to Lina Sandell's \"Jerusalem, Jerusalem\" and\nRutstrom's \"Come, Saviour dear, with us abide.\"\n\nA number of translators and writers besides those here named made new\ncontributions to the Hymnal of the Augustana Synod published in 1925.\n\nAbout twenty-five years ago a group of literary men within the Norwegian\nLutheran Synods undertook the task of translating some of the gems of\nDanish and Norwegian hymnody. Among these were C. Doving, now a city\nmissionary in Chicago; George T. Rygh, also residing at the present time\nin Chicago; C. K. Solberg, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church,\nMinneapolis, Minn.; O. T. Sanden, and O. H. Smedby, former Lutheran\npastor at Albert Lea, Minn., now deceased. Doving's masterpiece\nundoubtedly is his translation of Grundtvig's \"Built on the Rock, the\nChurch doth stand,\" although he will also be remembered for his rendering\nof Holm's \"How blessed is the little flock,\" and Landstad's \"Before Thee,\nGod, who knowest all.\" Rygh's contribution consists of the translation of\nsuch hymns as Grundtvig's \"Peace to soothe our bitter woes,\" Kingo's \"Our\ntable now with food is spread,\" Landstad's \"Speak, O Lord, Thy servant\nheareth,\" Boye's \"O Light of God's most wondrous love,\" and Brun's\n\"Heavenly Spirit, all others transcending.\" Sanden has translated Brun's\n\"The sun has gone down,\" while Smedby has left us a fine version of\nBoye's \"Abide with us, the day is waning.\" While Solberg has translated\nsome hymns, he is known better as a writer of original lyrics. Among\nthese are \"Lift up your eyes, ye Christians,\" \"Fellow Christians, let us\ngather,\" and \"O blessed Light from heaven.\"\n\nForemost among recent translators of Danish hymns are J. C. Aaberg,\npastor of St. Peter's Danish Lutheran church, Minneapolis, Minn., and P.\nC. Paulsen, pastor of Golgotha Danish Lutheran church, Chicago, Ill. In\nthe American Lutheran Hymnal there are nineteen translations by Aaberg,\nwhile Paulsen is represented by a like number. Through the efforts of\nthese men, both of whom possess no mean poetic ability, many of the\nfinest hymns of Brorson, Kingo, Grundtvig, Ingemann, Vig, and Pawels have\nbeen introduced to American Lutherans. Paulsen is the author of three\noriginal hymns, \"Blest is he who cries to heaven,\" \"Take my heart, O\nJesus,\" and \"Let us go to Galilee,\" while Aaberg has written \"There is a\nblessed power.\"\n\nOne of the most richly endowed hymn-writers in the Lutheran Church today\nis A. F. Rohr, pastor at Fremont, O. From his pen we have received such\nhymns as \"Eternal God, omnipotent,\" \"Lord of life and light and\nblessing,\" \"From afar, across the waters,\" and \"Living Fountain, freely\nflowing.\" For poetic expression and graceful rhythm his hymns are\nunsurpassed by any contemporary writer. He also combines such depth of\nfeeling with the lyrical qualities of his hymns, they no doubt possess\nenduring qualities. Witness the following hymn:\n\n Living Fountain, freely flowing\n In the sheen of heaven's day,\n Grace and life on us bestowing,\n Wash Thou all our sins away.\n\n Fountain whence alone the living\n Draw the life they boast as theirs,\n By Thy grace, a gift whose giving\n Life of life forever shares.\n\n Who Thy mighty depths can measure?\n Who can sound, with earthly line,\n Thy profundity of treasure,\n Thy infinity divine?\n\n They who quaff Thy wave shall never\n Thirst again; for springing free\n In their hearts, a fount forever\n Thou to them of life shall be.\n\n May we drink of Thee rejoicing,\n Till on heaven's sinless shore\n We Thy virtues shall be voicing\n With the blest for evermore.\n\nSamuel M. Miller, dean of the Lutheran Bible Institute, Minneapolis,\nMinn., is the writer of a number of spiritual songs and hymns that have\nbecome popular in Bible conference circles. Among his hymns are \"In the\nholy Father's keeping\" and \"When Jesus comes in glory.\"\n\nW. H. Lehmann, superintendent of home missions in the American Lutheran\nChurch, has written \"Take Thou my life, dear Lord,\" and \"Beneath Thy\ncross I stand,\" the latter a passion hymn of rare beauty:\n\n Beneath Thy cross I stand\n And view Thy marred face;\n O Son of man, must Thou thus die\n To save a fallen race?\n\n Alone Thou bear'st the wrath\n That should on sinners fall,\n While from Thy holy wounds forthflows\n A stream of life for all.\n\n O Lamb of God so meek,\n Beneath Thy cross I bow:\n Heart-stricken, all my sins confess--\n O hear, forgive me now!\n\n O Son of God, look down\n In mercy now on me\n And heal my wounds of sin and death,\n That I may live to Thee!\n\n\n\n\n INDEX OF NOTABLE HYMNS\n ESPECIALLY PRESENTED IN THIS VOLUME\n\n\n The Angelic Hymn 12\n Glory be to God on high.\n The Oldest Christian Hymn 18\n Shepherd of tender youth.--_Clement of Alexandria._\n An Ambrosian Advent Hymn 24\n Come, Thou Saviour of our race.--_Aurelius Ambrose._\n A Prophetic Easter Hymn 30\n Welcome, happy morning!--_Venantius Fortunatus._\n A Tribute to the Dying Saviour 34\n O sacred Head, now wounded.--_Bernard of Clairvaux._\n The Battle Hymn of the Reformation 42\n A mighty Fortress is our God.--_Luther._\n A Metrical Gloria in Excelsis 52\n All glory be to Thee, Most High.--_Nicolaus Decius._\n A Beautiful Confirmation Hymn 58\n Let me be Thine forever.--_Nicolaus Selnecker._\n A Masterpiece of Hymnody 64\n Wake, awake, for night is flying.--_Philipp Nicolai._\n A Tribute to the Dying Saviour 68\n Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended.--_Johann Heermann._\n The Swan Song of Gustavus Adolphus 76\n Be not dismayed, thou little flock.--_Johann Michael Altenberg._\n Rinkart's Hymn of Praise 80\n Now thank we all our God.--_Martin Rinkart._\n A Joyous Christmas Carol 84\n All my heart this night rejoices.--_Paul Gerhardt._\n A Glorious Paean of Praise 92\n Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.--_Joachim Neander._\n A Hymn Classic by Scheffler 98\n Thee will I love, my Strength, my Tower.--_Johann Scheffler._\n A Gem among Pietistic Hymns 102\n O Jesus, Source of calm repose.--_Johann Anastasius\n Freylinghausen._\n A Hymn of Longing for Christ 110\n O Son of God, we wait for Thee.--_Philipp Friedrich Hiller._\n A Noble Hymn of Worship 116\n Light of light, enlighten me.--_Benjamin Schmolck._\n A Hymn on the Mystical Union 122\n Thou hidden love of God.--_Gerhard Tersteegen._\n Following a Heavenly Leader 126\n Jesus, still lead on.--_Nicolaus Ludwig Count Zinzendorf._\n A Glorious Hymn of Adoration 130\n Beautiful Saviour.\n A Classical Harvest Hymn 134\n We plow the fields.--_Matthias Claudius._\n A Picture of a Christian Home 140\n O happy home, where Thou art loved the dearest.--_Carl Johann\n Spitta._\n A Hymn in Luther's Style 148\n Our Father, merciful and good.--_Olavus Petri._\n A Model Hymn of Invocation 154\n O Lord, give heed unto our plea.--_Jesper Swedberg._\n Wallin's Sublime Morning Hymn 160\n Again Thy glorious sun doth rise.--_Johan Olof Wallin._\n A Vision of Christ's Triumph 168\n Thy scepter, Jesus, shall extend.--_Frans Michael Franzen._\n A Longing For Home 176\n Jerusalem, Jerusalem.--_Carolina Vilhelmina Sandell Berg._\n Kingo's Sunrise Hymn 184\n The sun arises now.--_Thomas Kingo._\n The Great White Host 190\n Behold, a host arrayed in white.--_Hans Adolph Brorson._\n A Prayer to the Holy Spirit 196\n Holy Spirit, come with light.--_Nicolai Grundtvig._\n A Norwegian Miserere 202\n Before Thee, God, who knowest all.--_Magnus Brorstrup Landstad._\n Ken's Immortal Evening Hymn 208\n Glory to Thee, my God, this night.--_Thomas Ken._\n The Pearl of English Hymnody 214\n When I survey the wondrous cross.--_Watts._\n Seeking the Heavenly Prize 220\n Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve.--_Philip Doddridge._\n A Hymn of the Ages 224\n Jesus, Lover of my soul.--_Charles Wesley._\n Another Hymn of the Ages 232\n Rock of Ages, cleft for me.--_Augustus M. Toplady._\n The Coronation Hymn 238\n All hail the power of Jesus' Name.--_Edward Perronet._\n In Praise of the Word of God 244\n Father of Mercies.--_Anne Steele._\n The Name above All Names 248\n How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds.--_John Newton._\n A Hymn on God's Providence 252\n God moves in a mysterious way.--_William Cowper._\n A Hymn of Gracious Invitation 258\n Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish.--_Thomas Moore._\n A Beautiful Lyric on Prayer 262\n Prayer is the soul's sincere desire.--_James Montgomery._\n A Sublime Hymn of Adoration 268\n Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.--_Reginald Heber._\n A Hymn That Wins Souls 274\n Just as I am, without one plea.--_Charlotte Elliott._\n The Sun That Ne'er Goes Down 278\n Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear.--_John Keble._\n The Hymn of a Perplexed Soul 284\n Lead, kindly Light.--_John Henry Newman._\n A Hymn Written in the Shadows 290\n Abide with me! fast falls the eventide.--_Henry Francis Lyte._\n A Woman's Gift to the Church 296\n Nearer, my God, to Thee.--_Sarah Adams._\n That Sweet Story of Old 300\n I think, when I read that sweet story of old.--_Jemima Luke._\n Redemption's Story in a Hymn 304\n There is a green hill far away.--_Cecil Frances Alexander._\n The Voice of Jesus 310\n I heard the voice of Jesus say.--_Horatius Bonar._\n The Dayspring from on High 316\n O very God of very God.--_John Mason Neale._\n A Great Marching Song 322\n Onward, Christian soldiers.--_Sabine Baring-Gould._\n A Rapturous Hymn of Adoration 326\n O Saviour, precious Saviour.--_Frances Ridley Havergal._\n The Emblem that Survives 332\n In the cross of Christ I glory.--_John Bowring._\n A Hymn That Opens Hearts 336\n O Jesus, Thou art standing.--_William Walsham How._\n A Blind Man's Hymn of Faith 340\n O Love that wilt not let me go.--_George Matheson._\n The First American Hymn 346\n I love Thy Zion, Lord.--_Timothy Dwight._\n The Hymn of a Wounded Spirit 352\n I love to steal awhile away.--_Phoebe Hinsdale Brown._\n A Triumphant Missionary Hymn 358\n Hail to the brightness of Zion's glad morning.--_Thomas Hastings._\n Key's Hymn of Praise 362\n Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise Thee.--_Francis Scott Key._\n Bryant's Home Mission Hymn 366\n Look from Thy sphere of endless day.--_William Cullen Bryant._\n An Exquisite Baptismal Hymn 370\n Saviour, who Thy flock art feeding.--_William Augustus Muhlenberg._\n The Way, the Truth, and the Life 374\n Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life.--_George Washington Doane._\n The Quaker Poet's Prayer 378\n Dear Lord and Father of mankind.--_John Greenleaf Whittier._\n Palmer's Famous Hymn 382\n My faith looks up to Thee.--_Ray Palmer._\n A Hopeful Missionary Lyric 388\n The morning light is breaking.--_Samuel Francis Smith._\n A Pearl among Christmas Carols 394\n It came upon the midnight clear.--_Edmund Hamilton Sears._\n Mrs. Stowe's Hymn Masterpiece 398\n Still, still with Thee.--_Harriet Beecher Stowe._\n Bishop Coxe's Missionary Hymn 406\n Saviour, sprinkle many nations.--_Arthur Cleveland Coxe._\n The Hymn of a Consecrated Woman 410\n More love to Thee, O Christ.--_Elisabeth Payson Prentiss._\n A Hymn of the Sea 414\n Jesus, Saviour, pilot me.--_Edward Hopper._\n A Rally Hymn of the Church 418\n Stand up, stand up for Jesus.--_George Duffield._\n A Hymn of Spiritual Yearning 422\n We would see Jesus.--_Anna Bartlett Warner._\n A Famous Christmas Carol 426\n O little town of Bethlehem.--_Phillips Brooks._\n The Story That Never Grows Old 430\n I love to hear the story.--_Emily Huntington Miller._\n A Hymn of Sweet Consolation 434\n Safe in the arms of Jesus.--_Frances Jane Crosby._\n The Call of the Gospel Song 440\n Sing them over again to me.--_Philip P. Bliss._\n Chautauqua Vesper Hymn 444\n Day is dying in the west.--_Mary Artimisia Lathbury._\n In His Footsteps 448\n O Master, let me walk with Thee.--_Washington Gladden._\n A Hymn of the City 452\n Where cross the crowded ways of life.--_Frank Mason North._\n A Gripping Hymn by a Girl 456\n O'er Jerusalem Thou weepest.--_Anna Hoppe._\n A Song of Victory 462\n Rise, ye children of salvation.--_Justus Falckner._\n\n\n\n\n ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF HYMNS AND SOURCES\n\n\n PAGE\n A Babe is born in Bethlehem 200\n A charge to keep I have 227\n A few more years shall roll 313, 314\n A great and mighty wonder 22\n A mighty Fortress is our God 42, 78\n A pilgrim and a stranger 89\n A voice, a heavenly voice I hear 167\n Abide with me, fast falls the eventide 183, 271, 290, 291\n Abide with us, Our Saviour 73\n Abide with us, the day is waning 468\n According to Thy gracious Word 263\n Again Thy glorious sun doth rise 160, 167\n Agnus Dei 57\n Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended 68\n Ajar the temple gates are swinging 170, 466\n Alas, and did my Saviour bleed 218\n Alas, my God, my sins are great 63\n All blessing, honor, thanks, and praise 54\n All glory be to God on high 52, 56, 308\n All glory be to Thee, Most High 52, 56\n All glory, laud, and honor 35\n All hail the power of Jesus' Name 238, 239, 241, 416\n All hail to thee, O blessed morn 65, 466\n All my heart this night rejoices 84, 89, 308\n All praise to Thee, my God, this night 242\n All that I was, my sin, my guilt 314\n All the way my Saviour leads me 437\n All things bright and beautiful 307\n Almost persuaded 442\n Amazing grace! how sweet the sound 251\n Am I a soldier of the cross 218\n Angels, from the realms of glory 263\n Approach, my soul, the mercy seat 251\n Arise, arise, ye Christians 90\n Arise, my soul, arise 227\n Arise, the kingdom is at hand 90\n Art thou weary 23, 318\n Ascend, dear Lord 459\n As pants the hart for cooling streams 294\n As the rose shall blossom here 200\n Awake, all things that God has made 192\n Awake, my heart, and marvel 89\n Awake, my soul, and with the sun 209, 211\n Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve 220\n Awake, my soul, to joyful lays 247\n Awake, the watchman crieth 170, 467\n Awake, Thou Spirit, who didst fire 106, 107\n Baptized into Thy Name most holy 108\n Beautiful Saviour 130, 131, 132, 464\n Before Jehovah's awful throne 218\n Before Thee, God 202, 206, 468\n Behold, a Branch is growing 464\n Behold a host, arrayed in white 190, 191, 193\n Behold, by sovereign grace alone 466\n Behold the glories of the lamb 216\n Behold, the joyful day is nigh 167\n Behold the man! how heavy lay 139\n Behold, the Saviour of mankind 226\n Benedicite 14\n Benedictus 14\n Be not dismayed, thou little flock 76, 77, 78, 79\n Beneath Thy Cross I stand 470\n Beside Thy manger here I stand 89\n Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine 437\n Blessed, blessed, he who knoweth 165\n Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word 74\n Blessed Jesus, here we stand 118\n Blessed Saviour, who hast taught me 319\n Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power 314\n Bless us, Father, and protect us 157\n Blest are the pure in heart 283\n Blest be the tie that binds 247\n Blest Easter day, what joy is thine 151\n Blest is he who cries to heaven 469\n Bread of the world in mercy broken 272\n Break Thou the Bread of life 447\n Brethren, called by one vocation 143\n Brief life is here our portion 39\n Built on the Rock, the Church doth stand 199, 200, 468\n By cool Siloam's shady rill 272\n By faith we are divinely sure 194\n By nature deaf to things divine 460\n By the holy hills surrounded 143\n Calm on the listening ear of night 395, 396\n Chime, happy Christmas bells, once more 199\n Children of God, born again of His Spirit 194\n Children of the heavenly Father 178\n Children of the heavenly King 242\n Christ, the Life of all the living 72\n Christ, whose glory fills the sky 227\n Come, follow me, the Saviour spake 101\n Come, Holy Spirit, from above 51\n Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord 51\n Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove 218\n Come, my soul, thy suit prepare 251\n Come, O come, Thou quickening Spirit 72, 464\n Come, O Jesus, and prepare me 170, 466\n Come, Saviour dear, with us abide 467\n Come, sound His praise abroad 218\n Come, Thou long-expected Jesus 227\n Come, Thou Saviour of our race 24, 28, 51\n Come to Calvary's holy mountain 263\n Come, ye disconsolate 228, 260\n Come, ye faithful, raise the strain 23\n Comfort, comfort ye My people 73\n Commit thou all thy griefs 89, 229\n Crushed by my sin, O Lord, to Thee 137\n Day is dying in the west 444, 445\n Day of judgment, day of wonders 251\n Dayspring of eternity 74\n De contemptu mundi 39\n De Nomine Jesu 38, 39\n Dear Christians, one and all rejoice 51\n Dear Lord and Father of mankind 378, 381, 383\n Dear Refuge of my weary soul 246\n Dearest Jesus, draw Thou near me 188\n Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness 74\n Deem not that they are blest alone 369\n Den yndigste Rose er funden 192\n Desire of every nation 459\n Despair not, O heart, in thy sorrow 29\n Deus ignee fons animarum 29\n Dies irae, dies illa 39\n Down life's dark vale we wander 443\n Earth has nothing sweet or fair 101\n Ein Feste Burg 49, 82\n Eternal God, omnipotent 469\n Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight 428\n Fade, fade, each earthly joy 315\n Fair beyond telling 200\n Fairest Lord Jesus 130, 131, 132\n Faith of our fathers, living still 288, 289\n Faithful cross! above all other 32\n Faithful God, I lay before Thee 71\n Father, merciful and holy 90\n Father of all, Thy care we bless 223\n Father, whate'er of earthly bliss 245\n Father of lights, eternal Lord 167\n Father of mercies, in Thy Word 244, 246\n Father, Son, and Holy Spirit 464\n Father, while the shadows fall 432\n Father, who hast created all 144\n Fellow Christians, let us gather 468\n Fierce was the wild billow 22\n Fling out the banner! let it float 376, 377\n For all the saints who from their labors rest 183, 339\n For a season called to part 251\n For thee, O dear, dear country 39\n Forever with the Lord 263, 266\n Founded on Thee, our only Lord 391\n Free from the law, O happy condition 443\n Friend of the weary, O refresh us 466\n From afar, across the waters 469\n From Greenland's icy mountains 269, 270, 390\n From peaceful slumber waking 466\n From the grave remove dark crosses 200\n Full of reverence, at Thy Word 139\n Gently, Lord, O gently lead us 361\n Gloria in Excelsis, A metrical 52, 56\n Gloria in Excelsis 14, 15\n Gloria Patri 14, 82\n Glorious things of Thee are spoken 251\n Glorious yuletide, glad bells proclaim it 466\n Glory be to God on high 12\n Glory be to Jesus 320\n Glory to Thee, my God, this night 208, 209\n God calling yet! shall I not hear 125, 309\n God hath sent his angels 428\n God Himself is present 125\n God, in human flesh appearing 112, 465\n God is Love; His mercy brightens 335\n God is in His temple 125\n God moves in a mysterious way 252, 254\n God of Ages, all transcending 91\n God of mercy, God of grace 294\n God save the King 392\n God that madest earth and heaven 272\n God will take care of you 438\n Go forth, my heart, and seek delight 89\n Go, labor on! Spend and be spent! 313\n Go, messenger of love, and bear 355, 356\n Go to dark Gethsemane 263\n Good news from heaven the angels bring 51\n Great God, we sing that mighty hand 223\n Great joy and consolation 167\n Great White Host, The 190, 191, 193\n Guardian of pure hearts 167\n Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah 243\n Hail the day that sees Him rise 227\n Hail to the brightness of Zion's 358, 360\n Hail to the Lord's Anointed 263\n Hallelujah, Lo, He wakes 118\n Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding! 320\n Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound 350\n Hark, hark, my soul! angelic songs 288\n Hark, the glad sound, the Saviour comes 223\n Hark! the herald angels sing 227, 242\n Hark! the song of jubilee 266\n Hast to the plow thou put thy hand 200\n Have ye heard the invitation 459\n Heaven and earth, and sea and air 97\n Heavenly Light, benignly beaming 167, 466\n Heavenly Sower, Thou hast scattered 460\n Heavenly Spirit, all others transcending 468\n He did not die in vain 460\n He lives! O fainting heart, anew 167\n He that believes and is baptized 188\n He who has helped me hitherto 201\n Help us, O Lord, behold we enter 90\n Here behold me, as I cast me 97\n Herzlich thut mich verlangen 36\n Herzliebster Jesu 70\n Hold the fort, for I am coming 442\n Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness 89\n Holy, holy, holy, blessed Lord 146\n Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty 268, 269, 271\n Holy Majesty, before Thee 65, 171, 467\n How art Thy servants blest, O Lord 212\n How beauteous are their feet 218\n How blessed from the bonds of sin 143\n How blessed is the little flock 468\n How blest are they who through the power 460\n How doth the busy little bee 218\n How gracious, kind and good, my great High Priest 124\n How helpless guilty nature lies 246\n How precious is the Book divine 247\n How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds 248, 249, 250\n Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber 218\n I am so glad that our Father in heaven 443\n I am Thine, O Lord 437\n I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus 331\n I bow my forehead to the dust 381\n I come, invited by Thy Word 189\n I come to Thee, O blessed Lord 206\n I gave My life for thee 328\n I have a Friend, so patient, kind, forbearing 182\n I heard the bells of Christmas day 383\n I heard the voice of Jesus say 310, 314\n I know in whom I trust 167\n I know no life divided 143\n I know of a sleep in Jesus' Name 206\n I lay my sins on Jesus 313, 314\n I love Thy Zion, Lord 346, 351\n I love to hear the story 430ff\n I love to steal awhile away 352, 354, 355\n I near the grave, where'er I go 194\n I open wide the portals of my heart 460\n I place myself in Jesus' hands 143\n I see Thee standing, Lamb of God 194\n I thank Thee, Jesus, for Thy grief 465\n I think, when I read that sweet story 300ff\n I was a wandering sheep 313\n I would not live alway 372, 373\n I'll praise my Maker, while I've breath 229\n If God Himself be for me 87\n If God were not upon our side 56\n If thou but suffer God to guide thee 90\n Immanuel, we sing Thy praise 89\n In age and feebleness extreme 226\n In death's strong grasp the Saviour lay 51\n In heaven above, in heaven above 173, 174\n In holy contemplation 254\n In my quiet contemplation 167\n In the cross of Christ I glory 332ff\n In the Holy Father's keeping 470\n In the temple where our fathers 466\n In the hour of trial 263\n In the silent midnight watches 409\n In Thy dear wounds I fall asleep 55\n In triumph our Redeemer 162, 466\n In vain we seek for peace with God 218\n It came upon the midnight clear 394ff\n Jeg gaar i Kare, hvor jeg gaar 193\n Jehovah, Thee we glorify 166\n Jerusalem, Jerusalem 176, 467\n Jerusalem, lift up thy voice 167, 466\n Jerusalem, my happy home 263, 266\n Jerusalem the golden 39, 318\n Jerusalem, thou city fair and high 73\n Jesus bids us shine 432\n Jesus calls us; o'er the tumult 307\n Jesus Christ as King is reigning 113\n Jesus, I my cross have taken 294\n Jesus, I will trust Thee 331\n Jesus is my Friend most precious 159, 467\n Jesus is my Joy, my All 90\n Jesus is tenderly calling thee home 437\n Jesus, Jesus, Jesus only 465\n Jesus, keep me near the cross 437\n Jesus, lead the way 126, 129\n Jesus lives! thy terrors now 137\n Jesus, Lord and precious Saviour 167, 467\n Jesus, Lover of my soul 224, 227, 230, 231, 235, 291, 350\n Jesus loves me, this I know 423, 424\n Jesus, Name of wondrous grace 194\n Jesus, Name of wondrous love 339\n Jesus, O precious Name 458\n Jesus, priceless Treasure 75\n Jesus, Saviour come to me 101\n Jesus, Saviour, pilot me 414ff\n Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 216\n Jesus sinners doth receive 119\n Jesus, still lead on 126, 129, 308\n Jesus, the very thought of Thee 38, 320, 455\n Jesus, these eyes have never seen 386\n Jesus, Thine unbounded love 460\n Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts (O Jesus, Joy of loving hearts)\n Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness 129, 229\n Jesus took the babes and blessed them 465\n Jesus, where'er Thy people meet 254\n Jesus, whom Thy Church doth own 125\n Joy to the world, the Lord is come 217\n Just as I am, without one plea 274ff\n Lauda, Sion, salvatorem 40\n Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom 284ff\n Lead on, Lord 466\n Let dogs delight to bark and bite 218\n Let me be thine forever 58, 465\n Let, O my soul, thy God direct thee 90\n Let the earth now praise the Lord 72\n Let the lower lights be burning 443\n Let us go to Galilee 469\n Life's day is ended 194\n Lift up your eyes, ye Christians 468\n Lift up your heads, ye gates of brass 266\n Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates 72\n Light of light, enlighten me 116, 118\n Light of Light, O Sun of heaven 72\n Light of the Gentile nations 74\n Like Noah's weary dove 372\n Like the golden sun ascending 187\n Living Fountain, freely flowing 469\n Lobe den Herren 92, 95, 183\n Lo, God is here, let us adore 124\n Lo, He comes, with clouds descending 242\n Look from Thy sphere of endless day 366ff, 383\n Look to Jesus Christ thy Saviour 171\n Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing 247\n Lord, disperse the mists of error 173\n Lord God, we praise Thee 46\n Lord God, we worship Thee 75\n Lord Jesus Christ, my Life, my Light 61\n Lord Jesus Christ, the children's Friend 460\n Lord, Jesus Christ, to Thee we pray 51\n Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God 56\n Lord, keep us in Thy Word and work 53\n Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word 51, 53, 183\n Lord of life and light and blessing 469\n Lord of the worlds above 218\n Lord, speak to me 331\n Lord, Thou Source of all perfection 139\n Lord, Thy death and passion give 71\n Lord, to Thee I make confession 74\n Lord, we confess our numerous faults 218\n Lord, with glowing heart I'd praise Thee 362ff\n Love divine, all love excelling 227\n Love, the fount of light from heaven 200\n Loving Shepherd, kind and true 101\n Lustra sex qui jam peregit 33\n Magnificat 14, 15\n Majestic sweetness sits enthroned 247\n May the grace of Christ our Saviour 251\n Mine eyes unto the mountains 466\n More love to Thee, O Christ 410ff\n Mute are the pleading lips of Him 167, 466\n My country, 'tis of thee 389, 392, 393\n My dear Redeemer and my Lord 218\n My faith looks up to Thee 375, 382ff\n My God, I know that I must die 118, 309\n My God, my Father, while I stray 277\n My heart, prepare to give account 194\n My hope is God 21\n My inmost heart now raises 56\n My Jesus, as Thou wilt 118, 308\n My soul, repeat His praise 218\n My spirit on Thy care 294\n My thoughts on awful subjects roll 350\n My truest Friend abides in heaven 118\n Nearer, my God, to Thee 183, 287, 296ff\n Near the cross was Mary weeping 40\n New every morning is the love 279\n Not all the blood of beasts 218\n Not what my hands have done 314\n Now be the gospel banner 360\n Now hail we our Redeemer 28, 151, 466\n Now I have found the ground wherein 114\n Now our worship sweet is o'er 465\n Now Israel's hope in triumph ends 65, 172\n Now rest beneath night's shadow 89\n Now thank we all our God 80, 81, 82, 308\n Now the day is over 325\n Nunc Dimittis 14\n Nun danket alle Gott 80, 81, 82\n Nun ruhen alle Walder 88, 89\n O bless the Lord, my soul 218\n O blessed is the man who stays 161\n O blessed Light from heaven 468\n O blessed sun, whose splendor 144\n O blest the house, whate'er befall 113\n O boundless joy, there is salvation 113\n O bride of Christ, rejoice 467\n O Christ, our true and only Light 71\n O Christ, Thy grace unto us lend 73\n O come, Eternal Spirit 143\n O could I speak the matchless worth 247\n O darkest woe 90\n O dear Redeemer, crucified 460\n O dearest Lord, receive from me 188\n O enter, Lord, Thy temple 89\n O for a closer walk with God 254\n O Fount of good, to own Thy love 223\n O Fount of truth and mercy 175, 467\n O gladsome Light 20\n O God, our help in ages past 217, 218\n O God, whom we as Father know 144\n O great High Priest, forget not me 465\n O happy home where Thou art loved the dearest 140, 142, 309\n O happy day, that stays my choice 222\n O holy, blessed Trinity 61, 62, 465\n O Holy Spirit, enter in 65, 90\n O how blest are ye 73, 74\n O how shall I receive Thee 88\n O Jesus, Saviour dear 71\n O Jesus Christ, Thou Bread of Life 90\n O Jesus, Joy of loving hearts 39, 385, 455\n O Jesus! King most wonderful 39, 320\n O Jesus, King of glory 61\n O Jesus, Source of calm repose 102, 106, 229\n O Jesus, Thou art standing 336\n O joyful message, sent from heaven 460\n O Lamb of God, most holy 57\n O let the children come to Me 167\n O let Thy Spirit with us tarry 200\n O Light of God's most wondrous love 468\n O little child, lie still and sleep 424\n O little town of Bethlehem 426ff\n O Living Bread from heaven 90\n O Love divine, all else transcending 125\n O Love divine, that stooped to share 383\n O Love that wilt not let me go 340ff\n O Lord, devoutly love I Thee 63\n O Lord, give heed unto our plea 154\n O Lord, my God, Thy holy law 460\n O Master, let me walk with Thee 448, 449\n O Paradise, O Paradise 288\n O precious Saviour, heal and bless 460\n O precious thought! some day the mist shall vanish 182, 460\n O sacred Head, now wounded 34, 35, 89, 183\n O Saviour, bless us ere we go 288\n O Saviour dear 89\n O Saviour of our race 108\n O Saviour, precious Saviour 326, 331\n O seek the Lord today 194\n O Shepherd, abide with us, care for us still 182\n O Son of God, we wait for Thee 110, 113\n O that I had a thousand voices 115\n O that the Lord would guide my ways 218\n O that the Lord's salvation 294\n O Thou, who by a star didst guide 319\n O Thou who once in Galilee 460\n O Thou, whose infant feet were found 272\n O Thou whose tender mercy hears 247\n O timely happy, timely wise 282\n O Tree of beauty, Tree of light 33\n O very God of very God 316\n O watch and pray 194\n O where are kings and empires now 408, 409\n O wondrous kingdom here on earth 200\n O Word of God Incarnate 339\n O worship the King 272\n O would, my God, that I could praise Thee 114\n O'er Jerusalem Thou weepest 456, 460\n Of omnipresent grace I sing 466\n On my heart imprint Thine image 188\n On what has now been sown 251\n Once in David's royal city 307\n One more day's work for Jesus 425\n One there is above all others 251\n Onward, Christian soldiers 322ff\n Onward speed thy conquering flight 390\n Open now thy gates of beauty 118, 308\n Others He hath succored 178\n Our Father, merciful and good 148, 150, 151\n Our table now with food is spread 468\n Out of the depths I cry to Thee 51, 308\n Over Kedron Jesus treadeth 188\n Pange lingua glorioso 33\n Pass me not, O gentle Saviour 437\n Peace to soothe our bitter woes 210, 468\n Pleasant are Thy courts above 294\n Praise and honor to the Father 466\n Praise, my soul, the King of heaven 294, 295\n Praise the Lord, each tribe and nation 75\n Praise the Saviour 33\n Praise to Thee and adoration 188\n Praise to the Lord, the Almighty 92, 95, 308\n Prayer is the soul's sincere desire 262, 263\n Precious Child, so sweetly sleeping 460\n Precious Word from God in heaven 118, 119\n Prepare the way, O Zion 170, 467\n Rejoice, all ye believers 108\n Repent, the Kingdom draweth nigh 460\n Rescue the perishing 437\n Rise, my soul, to watch and pray 460\n Rise, O Salem, rise and shine; 90\n Rise, ye children of salvation 462, 463, 464\n Rock of Ages, cleft for me 232ff, 291, 351, 420\n Safely through another week 251\n Safe in the arms of Jesus 434, 438\n Salve caput cruentatum 38\n Saviour, O hide not Thy loving face from me 178\n Saviour, sprinkle many nations 406, 407\n Saviour, when in dust to Thee 273\n Saviour, who Thy flock art feeding 370, 372\n Say, my soul, what preparation 144\n Schoenster Herr Jesu 130, 131, 132\n See Israel's gentle Shepherd stand 222\n Shepherd of tender youth 18, 19, 20\n Shine on our souls, eternal God 222\n Shout the glad tidings 372\n Shun, my heart, the thought forever 89\n Silent night, holy night 183\n Sinful world, behold the anguish 74\n Sing them over again to me 440, 443\n Singing for Jesus, our Saviour 331\n Sinners may to Christ draw near 119\n Smite us not in anger, Lord 466\n So let our lips and lives express 218\n Softly now the day is ending 189\n Softly now the light of day 376\n Soldiers of Christ, arise 227\n Some day the silver cord will break 437, 439\n Sometimes a light surprises 254\n Soul of mine, to God awaking 90\n Spare not the stroke 315\n Speak, O Lord, Thy servant heareth 468\n Speed away 437\n Splendid are the heavens high 200\n Stabat mater dolorosa 40\n Stand fast, my soul, stand fast 194\n Stand up, stand up for Jesus 418ff\n Stars of the morning 23\n Stille Nacht! heilige Nacht 131, 132, 133\n Still, still with Thee 398, 399\n Strike up, O harp and psaltery 107\n Strike with the hammer of Thy Word 415\n Suffering Son of Man, be near me 227\n Summer suns are glowing 339\n Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear 278, 279, 282, 283\n Sunk is the sun's last beam of light 56\n Sweet hour of prayer 437\n Sweet Saviour, bless us ere we go 288\n Take my heart, O Jesus 469\n Take my life, and let it be 329\n Take the Name of Jesus with you 433\n Take Thou my life, dear Lord 470\n Te Deum, German 82\n Te Deum Laudamus 14, 28, 165\n Ter Sanctus 14\n That day of wrath, that dreadful day 40\n That mystic word of Thine, O sovereign Lord 399\n The day departs, yet Thou art near 169\n The day is past and over 22\n The day of resurrection 23, 318\n The day is surely drawing nigh 61\n The death of Jesus Christ, our Lord 157, 158, 467\n The kingdoms of this world 66\n The last rose of summer 259\n The little while I linger here 171\n The Lord is my Shepherd 263\n The Lord my Shepherd is 218\n The Lord my pasture shall prepare 212\n The Lord to thee appealeth 200\n The morning light is breaking 388, 389, 390\n The morning, the bright and beautiful morning 313\n The peace of God protects our hearts 200\n The restless day now closeth 89\n The roseate hues of early dawn 305, 307\n The silent moon is risen 138\n The Son of God goes forth to war 272\n The Sower goeth forth to sow 460\n The spacious firmament on high 212\n The sun arises now 184, 189\n The sun has gone down 468\n The sweetest, the fairest of roses 192\n The voice of the Christ-child 428\n The voice that breathed o'er Eden 283\n Thee will I love, my Strength, my Tower 98, 101, 229\n There is a blessed power 469\n There is a Fountain filled with blood 254, 255\n There is a gate that stands ajar 183, 433\n There is a green hill far away 305, 306, 307\n There is a land of pure delight 218\n There is a truth so dear to me 164\n There many shall come from the East and the West 206\n There's a light in the valley 443\n There's a wideness in God's mercy 288\n Thine agony, O Lord, is o'er 167\n Thine own, O loving Saviour 170, 467\n This is the day that our Father hath given 200\n Thou art coming, O my Saviour 331\n Thou art the way; to Thee alone 374, 375, 376\n Thou camest down from heaven on high 460\n Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life from heaven 145\n Thou goest to Jerusalem 460\n Thou hast indeed made manifest 460\n Thou hidden love of God, whose height 122, 124, 229\n Thou holiest Love, whom most I love 101\n Thou Lord of life and death 460\n Thou lovely source of true delight 247\n Thou only Sovereign of my heart 247\n Thou virgin-born Incarnate Word 460\n Thou whose almighty Word 183, 273\n Thou, whose coming seers and sages 143\n Thou, whose unmeasured temple stands 367, 368\n Though troubles assail us and dangers affright 251\n Through the night of doubt and sorrow 325\n Thy cross, O Jesus, Thou didst bear 172\n Thy little ones, dear Lord, are we 194\n Thy sacred Word, O Lord, of old 466\n Thy scepter, Jesus, shall extend 168, 171, 467\n Thy soul, O Jesus, hallow me 101\n Thy way, not mine, O Lord 314\n Thy Word, O Lord, like gentle dews 144\n Thy works, not mine, O Christ 314\n 'Tis finished, so the Saviour cried 247\n 'Tis gone! that bright and orbed blaze 282\n To realms of glory I behold 165\n To us salvation now is come 54\n Triumph, ye heavens 125\n Unbegreiflich Gut, Wahrer Gott alleine 96\n Unto the Lord of all creation 175\n Upon a Life I have not lived 312\n Valet will ich dir geben 62\n Veni, Creator Spiritus 35\n Veni, Redemptor gentium 28\n Wachet auf (Wake, awake, for night is flying) 65, 66, 67, 203\n Wake, awake, the night is flying 64, 65, 66, 67, 203\n Watch, my soul, and pray 167\n Watchman, tell us of the night 335\n We all believe in one true God 51\n We are going, we are going 436\n We are the Lord's: His all-sufficient merit 143\n We Christians should ever consider 157\n We give Thee but Thine own 339\n We would see Jesus 422, 423\n We need not climb the heavenly steeps 381\n We plow the fields and scatter 134, 137\n We praise and bless Thee, gracious Lord 143\n Welcome, happy morning 30, 33\n Welcome, Thou Victor in the strife 118\n What a city! what a glory 315\n What our Father does is well 118\n When all Thy mercies, O my God 212\n When gathering clouds around I view 273\n When God of old came down from heaven 283\n When I can read my title clear 218\n When I survey the wondrous cross 214, 217, 350\n When in the hour of utmost need 56, 83\n When Jesus comes in glory 470\n When morning gilds the skies 320\n When rising from the bed of death 212\n When sinners see their lost condition 206\n When through the torn sail 272\n When vesper bells are calling 169, 466\n When winds are raging o'er the upper ocean 399, 402\n Where cross the crowded ways of life 452, 453\n Where hast thou gleaned today 443\n Where is the Friend for whom 166\n Where wilt Thou go, since night draws near 465\n While with ceaseless course the sun 251\n Who are these in bright array 263\n Who are these, like stars appearing 75\n Who is there like Thee 106\n Who trusts in God, a strong abode 63\n Who will join the throng to heaven 194\n Whosoever heareth, shout, shout the sound 443\n Wie schoen leuchtet der Morgenstern 65, 66, 67, 204\n Winter reigns o'er many a region 464\n With gladness we hail this blessed day 200\n With God and His mercy, His Spirit, and Word 182, 466\n With holy joy my heart doth beat 172, 467\n Withhold not, Lord, the help I crave 144\n Woe unto him who says, There is no God 139\n\n\n\n\n AUTHORS' AND GENERAL INDEX\n\n\n Aaberg, J. C., 468f.\n Abney, Sir Thomas, 217.\n Abolition movement, 380, 381, 403.\n Achtliederbuch, 47, 54.\n Adam of St. Victor, 40.\n Adams, Sarah, 183, 287, 296, 297ff.\n Adams, Sarah Flower, 183.\n Addison, Joseph, 211, 212, 213, 215.\n A Few Godly Hymns Derived from Holy Writ, 151.\n Afzelius, Arvid, 169, 175.\n Ahnfelt, Oskar, 178ff.\n Ahnfelt's Songs, 179.\n Ainsworth, Henry, 347.\n Albinus, 466.\n Alden, John, 347.\n Alexander, Archbishop William, 305.\n Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, 19.\n Alexander, Cecil, 297, 304, 305ff, 311.\n Alexander, James W., 36.\n Alexandrian liturgy, 16.\n Alin, Svante, 183.\n Altenberg, Johann M., 76, 79.\n Ambrose, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31.\n America, 389, 392.\n American Hymnody, 345ff.\n American Lutheran Church, 470.\n American Lutheran Hymnal, 457, 465, 468, 470.\n American Lutheran Hymnody, 463ff.\n America's first woman hymnist, 353ff.\n American translators of Lutheran hymns, 464ff.\n America's greatest hymn, 383ff.\n Anatolius, 22.\n Anderson, George N., 49.\n Andreae, Jacob, 60.\n Andreae, Laurentius, 150.\n Anglican Hymnology, 242.\n Angelic hymn, 12, 13.\n Antichrist, Pope as, 53.\n Aquinas, Thomas, 40.\n Arians, 21, 22, 25, 26.\n Arminianism, 234.\n Arnold, Dr., 280.\n Arnold, Gottfried, 109.\n Arnold, Matthew, 217.\n Arrebo, Bishop A., 203.\n Arrhenius, Jacob, 158, 159, 467.\n Astrom, Johan, 169, 173, 174.\n Athanasius, 28.\n Augsburg Confession, 128.\n Augustana Synod Hymnal, 170, 457, 467.\n Augustine, 16, 27, 28, 67, 407.\n Bach, John S., 36, 61, 89, 117ff.\n Baptist Church, Greatest hymnist of, 246.\n Baptist Missionary Society, 264.\n Bardesanes, 21.\n Baring-Gould, Sabine, 322, 323ff.\n Barlow, Joel, 350.\n Battle Hymn of the Reformation, 42.\n Baxter, Lydia, 183, 433.\n Bay Psalmist, 348ff.\n Beddome, Benjamin, 247.\n Beecher, Henry Ward, 230, 399.\n Beecher, Lyman, 399.\n Beethoven, 120.\n Behm, Martin, 61, 465.\n Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, 259.\n Bentley, 29.\n Bengel, Johann A., 111, 113.\n Berg, Carolina V. (Sandell), 176, 177ff, 467.\n Bernard of Clairvaux, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 89, 320, 385, 455.\n Bernard of Cluny, 39, 318.\n Bersell, Anders O., 467.\n Beza, Theodore de, 94.\n Bickersteth, Bishop, 287.\n Bjork, Erik, 463.\n Bliss, Philip P., 440, 441ff.\n Borthwick sisters, 298, 307, 308, 309.\n Boer War, 83.\n Boethius, Jacob, 155.\n Bogatzky, Karl H. von, 106.\n Bohemian Brethren, 128.\n Bonar, Andrew, 313.\n Bonar, Horatius, 310, 311ff.\n Bourgeois, Louis, 94.\n Bowring, John, 332, 333ff.\n Boxer uprising, 335.\n Boye, 468.\n Brandenburg Margrave of, 77.\n Brandt, 200.\n Breed, Dr., 297, 375.\n Brentano, Clemens, 71.\n Brooks, Phillips, 426, 427ff.\n Brorson, Hans Adolph, 183, 190, 191ff, 197, 200, 468.\n Brown, Samuel R., 355, 356.\n Brown, Phoebe Hinsdale, 352.\n Browning, Mrs., 257.\n Brueckner, H., 465.\n Bruun, 468.\n Bryant, William Cullen, 366, 367ff, 383.\n Buchanan, Claudius, 251.\n Budbararen, 178.\n Bunyan, John, 217.\n Burial of Moses, 307.\n Burney, 131.\n Burns, Robert, 185, 380.\n Calvin, 93, 94, 209, 215.\n Calvinistic Methodist, 243.\n Cantata, Church, 117, 120.\n Cantus Romanus, 31.\n Carey, William, 104, 129, 264.\n Carlyle, Thomas, 50.\n Cary, Phoebe, 297.\n Carlsson, Bishop Carl, 156.\n Catholic League, 77.\n Catholic Schola Cantorum, 121.\n Cassel, 82.\n Caswall, Edward, 38, 320, 321.\n Cennick, John, 242.\n Charles II, King of England, 210.\n Chautauqua movement, 446.\n Chautauqua vesper hymn, 444, 445ff.\n Chelsea, 408.\n Chemnitz, Martin, 60.\n Cholera plague, 400.\n Christaller, 50.\n Christian Ballads, 408, 409.\n Christian Singers of Germany, 308.\n Christian IV, King of Denmark, 185.\n Christian V, King of Denmark, 185.\n Christian VI, King of Denmark, 192.\n Christian Year, The, Keble's, 279ff.\n Christus, Oratorio, 66.\n Chrysostom, 16.\n Civil War, 401.\n Claudius, Matthias, 134, 136, 137, 138, 139.\n Clausnitzer, Tobias, 74.\n Clement of Alexandria, 18, 19, 20.\n Collegia Pietatis, 103.\n Cologne, Cathedral of, 82.\n Conrad, Emperor, 38.\n Consecration poet, 327, 329.\n Controversial period, 59ff.\n Copenhagen, Bombardment of, 198.\n Coronation hymn, 238, 241.\n Cotta, Ursula, 43.\n Council of Constance, 45.\n Council of Laodicea, 23.\n Council of Nicaea, 21.\n Cowper, William, 250, 252, 253ff, 351.\n Cox, Samuel H., 409.\n Coxe, Arthur Cleveland, 406, 407ff.\n Creation hymn, 212.\n Cronenwett, Emanuel, 465f.\n Crosby, Fanny, 177, 297, 331, 434ff.\n Crosby, Fanny, of Sweden, 177ff.\n Cruger, Johann, 70, 85.\n Crull, August, 465.\n Crusades, 35, 38, 39.\n Crusaders' Hymn, 130, 131.\n Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, 325.\n Cuyler, Theodore, 266.\n Dach, Simon, 73.\n D'Aubigne, 48.\n Dana, Richard H., 367.\n David, Christian, 270.\n Decius, Nicolaus, 52, 56, 57, 308.\n Defoe, Daniel, 217.\n Delaware Swedes, 155, 156, 463.\n Diet of Augsburg, 48.\n Doane, George Washington, 374, 375ff.\n Doane, William C., 377.\n Doane, William H., 438.\n Dober, Leonard, 128.\n Doddridge, Philip, 220, 221ff, 351.\n Doving, C., 468.\n Doxology of the Church of Sweden, 157.\n Doxology, Long Meter, 209.\n Draus vor Schleswig, 71.\n Duffield, S. W., 101, 437.\n Duffield, George, 231, 418, 419ff.\n Dwight, Timothy, 346, 347ff.\n Dykes, John B., 272, 286.\n Early Christian Chants, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.\n Early Christian Hymnody, 11ff.\n East India Company, 273.\n Eastern Church, 17, 21, 23.\n Eber, Paul, 54, 55, 56, 83.\n Ecce Homo, Sternberg's, 328.\n Edwards, Jonathan, 349, 350.\n Eklund, Alfred, 183.\n Elliott, Charlotte, 177, 274, 275ff, 297, 298.\n Emerson, 100.\n English Hymnody, 207ff.\n England's first woman hymnist, 245.\n Ephrem Syrus, 21.\n Erfurt Enchiridion, 47.\n Esch, Johannes, 46.\n Esling, Catherine, 297.\n Eusebius, 19.\n Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz, 144.\n Evers, Edvard, 183.\n Faber, Frederick W., 288, 289.\n Fabricius, 78.\n Falckner, Daniel, 463.\n Falckner, Justus, 462, 463, 464.\n Father of Evangelical Hymnody, 43.\n Father of public high school in Scandinavia, 201.\n Father of Swedish hymnody, 152.\n Fawcett, John, 247.\n Ferdinand III, Emperor, 90.\n Fess, Bishop, 239.\n Fields, James T., 254.\n Findlater, Sarah Borthwick, 125, 308, 309.\n First American Hymn, 346.\n First German Lutheran church, 463.\n First German Lutheran pastor, 463.\n First missionary hymn, 106.\n Formula of Concord, 50, 60, 63.\n Fortunatus, Venantius, 30, 32, 33.\n Foss, Claude W., 466f.\n Fox, William Johnson, 298.\n Franck, Johann, 74, 75.\n Francis I, King of France, 93.\n Francke, August Hermann, 103ff, 127.\n Francke, G. A., 105, 107, 109, 110.\n Franco-Prussian War, 82.\n Franzen, Frans M., 168, 169ff, 466f.\n Frederick the Great, 48, 71, 82, 113.\n Fredrik V, King of Denmark, 136.\n Freuden Spiegel, 66, 203.\n Freylinghausen, Johann A., 102, 105, 106, 108, 229, 464.\n Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Prussia, 86.\n Fritsch, Ahasuerus, 90.\n Fugitive slave law, 381, 403.\n Garve, Carl B., 144.\n Geijer, Erik G., 169, 172, 466.\n Geistliches Liederkaestlein, 112.\n Geistreiches Gesangbuch, 105, 464.\n Gellert, Christian, 136, 137.\n Gems by the Wayside, 433.\n Genevan Psalter, 94.\n Gerhardt, Paul, 36, 70, 84, 85ff, 93, 94, 99, 117, 136, 138, 229, 308.\n German hymnody, 41ff.\n Gerok, Karl von, 145, 146.\n Gettysburg, Battle of, 401.\n Gladden, Washington, 448, 449ff.\n Gluck, 120.\n Goethe, 136, 137, 138.\n Golden Age of Latin Hymnody, 35ff.\n Golden Age of Swedish hymnody, 169.\n Golden Legend, 29.\n Gospel hymn movement, 433, 435ff, 441ff.\n Gospel Magazine, 234.\n Gotter, 466.\n Grant, Sir Robert, 272, 273.\n Greek and Syriac hymns, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.\n Gregorian music, 31.\n Gregory Nazianzen, 22.\n Gregory the Great, 31.\n Grieg, Edvard, 193.\n Gruber, Franz, 133.\n Grundtvig, Nikolai, 183, 189, 197ff, 468.\n Gustavus Adolphus, 49, 73, 76, 77, 78, 79.\n Gustavus Vasa, 149, 150, 153.\n Halle Institutions, 103ff, 127, 191.\n Halle movement, 119, 127, 135.\n Hallel Series, 13.\n Hallelujah Chorus, 66.\n Handel, 66, 120.\n Hanser, Adolf T., 461.\n Harmonius, 21.\n Harms, Claus, 141.\n Hassler, Hans Leo, 36.\n Hastings, Thomas, 260, 261, 350ff.\n Havergal, Frances, 177, 297, 327ff.\n Haydn, 212.\n Haystack meeting, 389.\n Heber, Reginald, 268, 269ff, 390.\n Hedborn, Samuel J., 169, 171, 172, 467.\n Heermann, Johann, 69, 70, 71, 136.\n Heine, 48, 112.\n Held, Heinrich, 71, 72, 463.\n Herberger, Valerius, 62.\n Hermann, Nicholas, 56.\n Hernosand, Bishop of, 169.\n Herrnhut, 128, 129, 265.\n Herrnhut movement, 119.\n Hexaemeron, Bishop A. Arrebo's, 203.\n Hilary of Gaul, 25.\n Hiller, Philipp P., 110, 111ff, 465.\n Holden, Oliver, 241.\n Holm, 468.\n Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 383, 392, 395.\n Homburg, Ernst, 71, 72, 465.\n Hoppe, Anna, 182, 456, 457ff.\n Hopper, Edward, 414, 415ff.\n How, Bishop, 299, 336, 337ff.\n Huguenots, 94, 142.\n Hunt, Holman, 338, 339.\n Hurlburt, Jesse Lyman, 446.\n Huss, John, 45.\n Hymn of Praise, 66.\n Hymn to the Saviour, 29.\n Hymnal of the Augustana Synod, 170, 457, 467.\n Hymns and Sacred Poems, by John and Charles Wesley, 227.\n Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Watts, 125, 308.\n Hymns of Worship, 201.\n Hymn-book, Wesleyan, 225.\n Ichabod, 381.\n Ignatius, 15.\n Imitation of Christ, 250.\n Ingemann, Bernhardt S., 201, 325, 468.\n Inner Mission work, 453.\n Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen, 89.\n Invalid's Hymn Book, 276.\n Isaak, Heinrich, 89.\n Isadore of Seville, 25.\n Jacob of Misi, 45.\n Jacobs, 141.\n Jacobs, Henry Eyster, 299.\n Jacobus de Benedictis, 40.\n James II, King of England, 210.\n Jerome, 16.\n Jerusalem liturgy, 16.\n Jesu Hertz-Buchlein, 82.\n Jesus hymns, 75, 106, 311.\n John of Damascus, 22, 23, 317.\n Jonas, Justus, 47, 54, 56.\n Jonassen, Soren, 187.\n Joseph the Hymnographer, 23.\n Judson, Adoniram, 389.\n Julian, John, 217, 266.\n Justina, Empress, 26.\n Kaisermarsch, 49.\n Kant, Immanuel, 141.\n Karl XI, King of Sweden, 156.\n Karl XIV, King of Sweden, 162.\n Karl XV, King of Sweden, 179, 180.\n Keble, John, 278, 279ff, 305, 319.\n Keble of America, 409.\n Kempis, Thomas a, 250.\n Ken, Bishop Thomas, 208, 209ff, 215, 242.\n Key, Francis Scott, 362, 363ff, 372.\n King James, 242.\n King and Queen of Chorales, 65ff.\n Kingo, Thomas, 184, 185ff, 197, 199, 200, 206, 468.\n Kirke-Salmebog, 205.\n Kjellstrand, A. W., 467.\n Klopstock, Friedrich G., 136.\n Klug, Joseph, 47.\n Knapp, Albert, 79, 101, 136, 144, 167.\n Kolmodin, Israel, 155.\n Krauth, Charles Porterfield, 464.\n Kretzmann, Paul E., 465f.\n Kripplein Christi, 62.\n Krummacher, Friedrich A., 145.\n Lagerlof, Petrus, 15.\n Lalla Rookh, 260.\n Landstad, Magnus B., 183, 202, 203ff, 468.\n Lasare, 181.\n Lathbury, Mary, 297, 444, 445ff.\n Latin Hymnody, 25ff, 45, 155.\n Laurentii, Laurentius, 108.\n Laurini, M. Laurentii, 173.\n Lauxmann, 36.\n Legends of the Old Testament, 325.\n Leipzig, Battle of, 79.\n Lehmann, W. H., 470.\n Les Huguenots, 49.\n Lessing, 136, 137.\n Leuthen, Battle of, 82.\n Lind, Jenny, 179, 404.\n Lion of the North, 78.\n Lives of the Saints, 325.\n Livingstone, David, 302.\n Lobwasser, Ambrosius, 94.\n Longfellow, H. W., 29, 73, 161, 383.\n Louis, King of France, 38.\n Loy, Matthias, 465.\n Ludaemilia Elizabeth, 46.\n Luke, Jemima, 300, 301ff.\n Luersen, Sylvester, 96.\n Luther, Martin, 28, 29, 37, 42-51, 53-57, 65, 70, 82, 85, 104, 136,\n 149-151, 206, 209, 225, 228, 243, 308, 313, 403.\n Lutheran chorale, 120.\n Lutheran martyrs, 46.\n Luetzen, battle of, 77, 78, 79.\n Lyra Germanica, 308.\n Lyte, Henry Francis, 183, 271, 290, 291ff.\n Mabillon, 25.\n Macao, 334.\n Macaulay, 211, 273.\n Maccall, William, 174.\n Magdeberg, J., 63.\n Malan, Caesar, 277.\n Marriot, John, 183, 273.\n Martyrs, Poet of, 29.\n Maronite Christians, 22.\n Marot, Clement, 93, 94.\n Marseillaise of the Reformation, 48.\n Mason, Lowell, 271, 384, 385.\n Mathesius, Johannes, 56.\n Matheson, George, 340, 341ff.\n Mattes, John Caspar, 465.\n Maurus, Rhabanus, 35.\n Maximilian, Emperor, 89.\n McKinley, William, 299.\n Mearnes, James, 132.\n Medley, Samuel, 247.\n Melanchthon, Philip, 49, 55, 59, 63, 70.\n Mendelssohn, 48, 66.\n Mentzer, Johann, 114.\n Methodism, 225ff.\n Methodist Hymnal, 369, 454.\n Meyerbeer, 48.\n Meyfart, Johann, 73.\n Miller, Emily Huntington, 430, 431ff.\n Miller, Samuel M., 469.\n Mirror of Joy, 66, 67.\n Missionary bishop of America, 377.\n Missionary hymn, 271.\n Modern missionary movement, 264, 265, 389.\n Moffatt, Robert, 302.\n Mohr, Joseph, 132, 133, 183.\n Mohnike, 167.\n Moments on the Mount, 343.\n Montgomery, James, 129, 262, 263ff, 302.\n Monica, 27.\n Moody, Dwight, 276, 439, 441.\n Moore, Thomas, 258, 259ff.\n Moravian hymnody, 100, 114, 127ff, 144, 145.\n Moravian movement, 119.\n Moravians, 114, 124, 127ff, 228, 263, 265.\n Morgan, G. Campbell, 447.\n Morning Hymns, 201.\n Moule, Bishop, 256.\n Mozart, 89, 120.\n Muhlenberg, Frederick A., 371.\n Muhlenberg, Henry Melchior, 371.\n Muhlenberg, Peter, 371.\n Muhlenberg, William, 364, 370, 371ff.\n Munter, Balthasar, 136, 139.\n Muenster Gesangbuch, 130, 132.\n Mysticism, 99, 100, 124.\n Napoleon, 141, 145.\n Napoleonic wars, 141, 205.\n National apostasy, 281.\n Neale, John Mason, 23, 316, 317ff.\n Neander, Joachim, 92, 93ff, 183, 308.\n Neander's cave, 96.\n Nelson, Augustus, 467.\n Nettleton, Dr., 355.\n Neumann, Caspar, 90, 91.\n Neumark, Georg, 90.\n Neumeister, Erdmann, 117ff.\n Newman, John, 281, 284, 285ff.\n New Testament fragments, 14, 15.\n New Theology, 164, 197, 198.\n Newton, John, 248, 249ff, 253.\n Nicolai, Philipp, 49, 63, 64, 65ff, 203.\n Ninde, Edward S., 350, 375.\n Nitschmann, David, 128.\n North, Frank Mason, 452, 453ff.\n Nystrom, Per O., 169, 179, 467.\n Oldest Christian hymn, 18.\n Old Hundredth, 94.\n Olearius, Johannes, 71, 72.\n Olivet, 385.\n Olney Hymns, 250, 253, 254.\n Olson, Ernst W., 152, 466.\n Olsson, Olof, 467.\n Order of Grain of Mustard Seed, 127.\n Origen, 16, 19.\n Ortonville, 360.\n Our Master, 381.\n Oxford Movement, 281, 285, 288, 319, 320.\n Oxford University, 226.\n Palestrina, 120.\n Palmblaetter, 145.\n Palmer, Ray, 39, 255, 375, 382, 383ff.\n Pantaenus, 19.\n Parliament of Religions, 287.\n Passion chorale, 36.\n Passion music, Bach's, 120.\n Patriarch of American Lutheran church, 371.\n Paulsen, P. C., 468.\n Pawels, 468.\n Penn colony, 463.\n Perronet, Edward, 238, 239ff, 416.\n Petri, Laurentius, 149ff.\n Peterson, Victor O., 466f.\n Petri, Olavus, 148, 149ff, 466.\n Pfeil, Baron Christoph C. L. von, 113.\n Pietisten, 181.\n Pietistic hymnology, 75, 103ff, 111, 112, 119.\n Pietistic movement, 103ff, 119, 127, 135, 141, 191, 229, 265.\n Pietists of Sweden, 177ff.\n Pilgrim's Hut, 124.\n Pliny, 14.\n Pluetschau, 104, 265.\n Plymouth, 347.\n Poet of Christmas, 191, 192.\n Poet of Easter-tide, 185.\n Poet of Whitsuntide, 197.\n Pontoppidan, Erik, 193.\n Praxis Pietatis Melica, 86.\n Prentiss, Elizabeth, 297, 410, 411ff.\n Prudentius, Aurelius Clemens, 29.\n Priscilla, 347, 384.\n Psalm book, Swedish, 28, 155, 161-64, 167, 169, 173, 175, 182, 183,\n 433.\n Psalm Book for Church and Private Devotion, 201.\n Psalmody, 93, 209, 213, 215, 347ff.\n Psalms of David, Watts', 216, 245.\n Psalter und Harfe, 143.\n Puritan movement, 103, 347-350, 368, 429.\n Pusey, Dr., 280.\n Quaker poet, 378, 379ff.\n Queen of chorales, 65, 66, 67.\n Quirsfeld, Johann, 74.\n Raff, 49.\n Rambach, Johann J., 107, 108, 464.\n Rationalism, 135ff, 141, 163, 164, 173, 175, 197.\n Redner, Lewis H., 428.\n Reformation, Hymn-writers of, 53ff.\n Reformation symphony, 48.\n Reformed hymnody, 93, 94, 123ff, 183, 209, 215ff, 347ff.\n Renaissance, Spiritual, 141ff, 177, 191.\n Reynolds, William R., 28.\n Revolutionary war, 350.\n Richter, Christian, 109.\n Ringwalt, B., 61.\n Rinkart, Martin, 80-83, 308.\n Rise of Latin hymnody, 25.\n Rist, Johann, 90.\n Robinson, Dr., 320.\n Rohr, A. F., 469.\n Rosenius, Carl O., 177, 179ff, 466.\n Rosenroth, Christian K. von, 74.\n Rostock hymn-book, 56.\n Rothe, Johann A., 113.\n Runeberg, Johan Ludvig, 183.\n Ruskin, 339.\n Rudman, Andreas, 463.\n Rutilius, Martin, 63.\n Rutstrom, 467.\n Rygh, George, T., 468.\n Sacred Songs, Moore's, 260.\n Sandel, Andreas, 463.\n Sandell, Lina (See Berg).\n Sanden, O. T., 468.\n Sankey, Ira D., 441.\n Saxony, Duke of, 77.\n Scandinavian hymnody, 147ff.\n Schaeffer, Charles William, 464.\n Schaff, Philip, 36, 43.\n Schalling, Martin, 63.\n Scheffler, 98ff, 111, 229.\n Schenck, Heinrich, 75, 465.\n Schiller, Friedrich von, 88, 136.\n Schirmer, Michael, 90.\n Schleiermacher, Friedrich, 141.\n Schmolck, Benjamin, 116ff, 123, 308, 311.\n Schrader, Johan Herman, 191.\n Schubert, 120, 225.\n Schwartz, Christian, 36, 37.\n Schuette, Conrad H. L., 465.\n Scott, E. P., 240.\n Scott, George, 177, 180, 181.\n Scott, Sir Walter, 39, 269.\n Scott, Thomas, 251.\n Scriver, Christian, 108.\n Sears, Edmund H., 394ff.\n Sedan, Battle of, 82.\n Seelenschatz, 108, 109.\n Seiss, Joseph A., 132, 464.\n Selah Song Book, 461.\n Selnecker, Nicolaus, 58ff, 136, 465.\n Semler, Johann, 135.\n Severus, 29.\n Syriac hymns, 16, 19, 21.\n Shakespeare, 189.\n Sheffield Iris, 264.\n Sigismund, King of Poland, 62.\n Silesius, Angelus, 99.\n Skara, Bishopric of, 157.\n Smedby, O. H., 468.\n Smith, Samuel Francis, 388ff.\n Snowbound, 381.\n Snow King, 78.\n Social service, 453.\n Soderberg, Erik N., 156, 183, 466.\n Solberg, C. K., 468.\n Songs by the Way, 376.\n Songs of Tears, 70.\n Songs of the Church Year, 457.\n Spaeth, Harriet Krauth, 464.\n Spanish hymnist, 29.\n Spectator, The, 211ff.\n Spegel, Haqvin, 155ff, 467.\n Spener, Philipp J., 103.\n Speratus, Paul, 47, 54.\n Spiritual Songs, Kingo's, 185, 186.\n Spitta, Carl J. P., 140ff, 309.\n St. Louis, 428.\n St. Paul, Overture to, 66.\n St. Sabas, 23, 318.\n Star Spangled Banner, 363ff, 372.\n Stead, William T., 286.\n Steele, Anne, 244.\n Stegmann, Josua, 72, 73.\n Stennett, Samuel, 247, 351.\n Stephen the Sabaite, 23, 318, 319.\n Stepping Heavenward, 412.\n Sternberg, 127, 328.\n Sternhold and Hopkins, 216, 347.\n Stillen im Lande, 124.\n Stockholm massacre, 149.\n Strengnas, Bishop of, 149.\n Stowe, Calvin E., 400, 402.\n Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 297, 380, 398ff.\n Sufis, 100.\n Sullivan, Sir Arthur Seymour, 232.\n Sutherland, Allan, 231.\n Svebilius, Archbishop, 156.\n Swan song, Brorson's, 191, 193.\n Swan song of Gustavus Adolphus, 76.\n Swedberg, Jesper, 154ff.\n Swedberg's Psalm-book, 155, 156.\n Swedish Church-book, 152.\n Swedish Hymns or Songs, 150.\n Swedish Nightingale, 404.\n Swedish reformers, 149ff.\n Te Deum, Lutheran, 81.\n Tennyson, Alfred, 269.\n Tersteegen, Gerhard, 122ff, 229, 309.\n Tertullian, 16.\n Teschner, Melchior, 63.\n Thackeray, 270.\n Thanatopsis, 367.\n The Black Knights, 201.\n The Christian Year, Keble's, 279ff, 305, 319.\n The Eternal Goodness, 381.\n The Lost Chord, 324.\n Theodosius, 27.\n Theodulph of Orleans, 35.\n Thirty Years' War, 61, 69ff, 77, 81ff, 85, 90, 103.\n Thomas of Celano, 39.\n Tilly, 49, 73, 77.\n Topelius, Zacharias, 183.\n Toplady, Augustus, 232ff, 351, 360.\n Trabert, George H., 467.\n Tracts for the Times, 281.\n Trajan, 14.\n Trench, Archbishop, 29.\n Treuer Waechter Israel, 70.\n Turkish invasion, 53.\n Tyng, Dudley A., 419.\n Uncle Tom's Cabin, 399, 402ff.\n Under-Eyck, Theodore, 95, 97.\n Unitarian hymnal, 369.\n Unitarian movement, 429.\n Uppsala, Archbishop of, 150, 162.\n Uppsala, Cathedral of, 156.\n Uppsala, University of, 158, 161, 180.\n VanAlstyne, Frances Jane (See Fanny Crosby).\n Vasco da Gama, 334.\n Victoria, Queen, 314, 337.\n Vig, 468.\n Village Hymns, 355.\n Vincent, John H., 445, 446.\n Voes, Heinrich, 46.\n Wackernagel, 167.\n Wagner, 49.\n Wallenstein, 69, 77, 78.\n Wallin, Archbishop Johan Olof, 29, 160ff, 169, 172, 173, 175, 182, 183,\n 466ff.\n Walther, John, 44.\n Walton, Isaac, 210.\n Warner, Anna B., 297, 422ff.\n Warner, Susan, 423ff.\n Waterston, R. C., 368.\n Watts, Isaac, 213ff, 222, 225, 229, 230, 233, 245, 263, 294, 349, 350,\n 351, 368, 437.\n Wayfaring Hymns, 424.\n Webb, George J., 420.\n Webster, Daniel, 381.\n Weiss, 167.\n Weissel, George, 71, 72.\n Wesley, Charles, 224ff, 263, 294, 351, 415, 437.\n Wesley family, 221.\n Wesley, John, 104, 106, 114, 125, 129, 225ff, 234, 236, 239, 240, 242,\n 265.\n Wesley, Samuel, 215, 226.\n Wesley, Susannah, 226.\n Wesleyan movement, 103, 141, 177, 225ff, 241, 242, 250, 281.\n Westphalia, Peace of, 74, 81, 118.\n Western Church, 25ff.\n Whitefield, John, 229, 236, 239, 242, 250, 349.\n Whittier, John Greenleaf, 378ff, 383.\n Wieland, 136.\n Wilberforce, Prime Minister, 129.\n Wilhelm II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 71, 73, 90.\n William III, 210.\n William of Orange, 210.\n Williams, John, 242, 243.\n Willis, Richard Storrs, 131.\n Winkworth, Catherine, 87, 298, 307, 308.\n Wolff, Christian, 135.\n Woltersdorf, Ernst G., 109, 111.\n Wrangel, General, 74.\n Wuerttemberg hymnists, 111ff.\n Ziegenbalg, Bartholomew, 104, 265.\n Zinzendorf, Count von, 100, 114, 126, 127ff, 229, 308, 328.\n Zwingli, 93.\n\n\n\n\n BIBLIOGRAPHY\n\n\n Donahue, Daniel Joseph--_Early Christian Hymns._\n Duffield, Samuel A. W.--_English Hymns: Their Authors and History._\n --_Latin Hymn-writers and Their Hymns._\n Hunton, William Lee--_Favorite Hymns._\n Benson, Louis F.--_Studies in Familiar Hymns._\n --_The English Hymn._\n Hatfield, Edwin Francis--_The Poets of the Church._\n Hogue, Wilson T.--_Hymns That Are Immortal._\n Stead, William T.--_Hymns That Have Helped._\n Lightwood, James T.--_Hymn-tunes and Their Story._\n Price, Carl Fowler--_One Hundred and One Hymn Stories._\n --_More Hymn Stories._\n Reeves, Jeremiah B.--_The Hymn as Literature._\n Stebbins, George Coles--_Reminiscences and Gospel Hymn Stories._\n Von Jolizza, W. K.--_Das Lied und Seine Geschichte._\n Dickinson, Edward--_Music in the History of the Western Church._\n Bonar, Horatius--_Hymns of Faith and Hope._\n Bacon, Mary Schall--_Hymns That Every Child Should Know._\n Beckman, Johan Wilhelm--_Forsok till svensk psalmhistoria._\n Wells, Amos R.--_A Treasure of Hymns._\n Lambert, James F.--_Luther's Hymns._\n K., J. M.--_Bright Talks on Favorite Hymns._\n Smith, Robert E.--_Modern Messages from Great Hymns._\n Dahle, John--_Library of Christian Hymns._\n Nothstein, Ira O.--_My Church, Vol. V._\n Soderberg, E. N.--_Den Kristna Psalmen._\n Ekman, E. J.--_Inre Missionens Historia._\n Laurin, Sigfrid--_Oscar Ahnfelt._\n Stephenson, George M.--_Religious Aspects of Swedish Immigration._\n Skaar, J. N.--_Norsk Salmehistorie._\n Breed, David R.--_The History and Use of Hymns and Hymn-tunes._\n Ninde, Edward S.--_The Story of the American Hymn._\n Julian, John--_Dictionary of Hymnology._\n Polack, W. G.--_Favorite Christian Hymns._\n Forsander, N.--_Olavus Petri._\n Tait, Gilbert--_The Hymns of Denmark._\n Winkworth, Catherine--_Lyra Germanica._\n Borthwick, Jane--_Hymns from the Land of Luther._\n Jacobs, Charles M.--_The Story of the Church._\n Welsh, Alfred H.--_Development of English Literature and Language._\n Terry, Benjamin--_A History of England._\n Kurtz--_Church History._\n Lovgren, N.--_Church History._\n Cope, Henry F.--_One Hundred Hymns You Ought to Know._","title":"The Story of Our Hymns","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":113572}