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THE REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD 
 
of pi mi 
 
 / v 
 
 STUDIES 
 
 FEB 14 18 
 
 A 
 
 OF 
 
 CAL 
 
 FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 SECOND SERIES 
 
 /BY 
 
 V 
 
 LOUIS F. BENSON, 
 
 D.D. 
 
 Editor of “The Hymnal Published in 1895 and Revised in 
 1911 by Authority of the General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A .,” and 
 Author of “ The English Hymn ” 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 
 
 1023 
 
Copyright, 1923, by the 
 
 BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OF THE 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. A. 
 
 Published November , 1923 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Twenty years have passed since the appearance of 
 an earlier series of Studies of Familiar Hymns. They 
 had been running through the numbers of “ Forward,” 
 the young people’s paper of the Presbyterian Church, 
 and in 1903 were gathered into a volume. The recep¬ 
 tion of the book was kindly — kindly enough at least 
 to make plain that a considerable number of people, 
 who wished information concerning the hymns they 
 loved, were willing to forego the primrose paths of 
 dalliance with myths and misstatements, anecdotage and 
 sentimentalism, and to be personally conducted along 
 the straiter and less flowery paths of truth. 
 
 The number of these stout hearts does not appear to 
 diminish. It was indeed the author’s discovery that 
 after so many years the demand for his little book con¬ 
 tinues, and is indeed larger now than at first, which 
 has encouraged him to invite his readers, old and new, 
 to accompany him a little farther afield. 
 
 In motive and in method the new Studies are very 
 like the old, even to the appending to each of “ Some 
 Points for Discussion ” in “ the hope (now renewed) 
 that groups or societies of young people might be led 
 to think over and discuss the message of the hymns 
 they so often sing, sometimes, it may be, too thought¬ 
 lessly.” 
 
 There are, however, between the earlier Studies and 
 these two points of difference to which an old reader’s 
 
 attention may well be calledo 
 
 • • 
 
 Vll 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 First. In making such studies it is necessary (now 
 as then) to have some standard, common to author and 
 reader, not only for the text of the hymns dealt with 
 but also in allusions to other hymns. In the earlier 
 book the standard was The Hymnal published by 
 authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the U. S. A. in 1895. Since then it has been 
 followed by The Hymnal . . . revised in ign. In the 
 present volume accordingly the Revision of 19 n be¬ 
 comes the standard. The author wishes he could alter 
 the plates of the earlier Studies so as to make all 
 references to hymns there conform with those in this 
 book. But in view of the great number of copies of 
 The Hymnal of 1895 still in actual use in the churches, 
 and for other reasons, this change is not now practicable.' 
 
 Second. In the earlier series there was no intended 
 connection between the hymns studied — no continued 
 story: each of them being chosen for its own sake and 
 with an eye upon the author’s ability to furnish an 
 autographed copy of the hymn by way of illustration. 
 The plan of the present series is more ambitious — there 
 is a continued story. The hymns, with one exception 
 that will explain itself, are arranged in chronological 
 order, and were chosen as representative of the histori¬ 
 cal development of hymnody and of hymn singing 
 among the peoples of England, Scotland, and America. 
 
 The story begins with the joy and pride of English- 
 speaking Christians in their new-found privilege of sing¬ 
 ing God’s praise in their own tongue, although with the 
 restriction (suggested by John Calvin) that they should 
 confine their praises to the very words of Scripture. 
 It recounts the fading of the joy out of the Psalmody, 
 and the growth of dissatisfaction with the restriction. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IX 
 
 It celebrates the advance of a young champion (Isaac 
 Watts) to attack single-handed the authority and tra¬ 
 dition of “ Bible-Songs,” and tells how the great 
 eighteenth century revival brought about the final vin¬ 
 dication of the people’s right to express their praises in 
 terms of their own experience rather than that of 
 “ David.” It goes forward to narrate how the spiritual 
 forces of the nineteenth century dealt with “ the hymn 
 of human composure ” it had inherited from the great 
 revival; and attempts to set some of our modern hymns, 
 one by one, against the background of that particular 
 epoch or phase of religious history out of which each 
 hymn came in its turn, and which so often explains the 
 content and even the form of the hymn. 
 
 In the preparation of these Studies the great aim of 
 the author has been the attainment of a scrupulous ac¬ 
 curacy in smaller as in larger things; his great pleasure 
 has been in the atmosphere of friendship with which 
 that preparation was surrounded. His outspoken thanks 
 are due to the Reverend Doctor John T. Faris, who en¬ 
 larged his editorial heart to make room in “ Forward ” 
 for so long a series of long papers; to his associate, the 
 Reverend Park Hays Miller, for that sympathetic en¬ 
 couragement which makes the sunny side of honest work; 
 to Miss Anne Henderson, who read all these Studies 
 in manuscript more than once (could kindness farther 
 go?) to their advantage; and to Mr. Henry F. Scheetz, 
 for his zeal “ to make this book [outwardly] better than 
 the last.” 
 
 Northeast Harbor, Maine 
 September 22, 1923. 
 
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 [The Spread of the Calvinistic Ordinance of 
 Psalm Singing] 
 
 1. All People That on Earth do Dwell. Wil¬ 
 
 liam Kethe, 1561. 
 
 (one of the original Psalms of the 
 English Reformation) 
 
 2. The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want. 
 
 Rous’s Version, 1650. 
 
 {representing the 17th century effort to 
 improve the Psalmody in Scotland) 
 
 [The Introduction of Evangelical Hymns 
 into England] 
 
 3. There is a Land of Pure Delight. Isaac 
 
 Watts, 1707. 
 
 {one of the new hymns he proposed to 
 the Independents ) 
 
 [The Spread of Evangelical Hymn Singing 
 Under the Impulse of the i8th Century 
 Revival] 
 
 4. Jesus, Lover of My Soul. Charles Wesley, 
 
 1740. 
 
 {the great hymn of the Methodist 
 Movement) 
 
 5. Children of the Heavenly King. John Cen- 
 
 nick, 1742. 
 
 {at the parting of the ways between 
 Methodists and “ Evangelicals ”; il¬ 
 lustrating the type of Christian ex¬ 
 perience developed by the Revival) 
 
 page 
 
 I 
 
 12 
 
 22 
 
 33 
 
 45 
 
 XI 
 
Xll 
 
 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 6. Christians, Awake! Salute the Happy Morn. 
 
 John Byrom, 1750. 
 
 (a Christmas hymn from the Wesley 
 circle ) 
 
 7. Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah. William 
 
 Williams, 1745.. . 
 
 (a hymn of the Evangelical Revival in 
 Wales) 
 
 8. Lord, I Am Thine, Entirely Thine. Samuel 
 
 Davies, c. 1759. 
 
 (illustrating the new hymn singing in¬ 
 spired by the Evangelical Revival 
 in America ) 
 
 9. Sweet the Moments, Rich in Blessing. Wal¬ 
 
 ter Shirley, 1770... 
 
 10. Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me. Augustus M. 
 
 Toplady, 1776. 
 
 (illustrating the hymn singing u Evan¬ 
 gelicals ” introduced into the 
 Church of England ) 
 
 11. God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand. 
 
 Daniel C. Roberts, 1876. 
 
 (a Centennial hymn, suggesting the con¬ 
 nection of the Revival with Ameri¬ 
 can Independence) 
 
 12. How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds. John 
 
 Newton, 1779. 
 
 13. God Moves in a Mysterious Way. William 
 
 Cowper, 1774. 
 
 (hymns of Church of England Evangeli¬ 
 cals carrying on the Revival in a 
 country parish) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 56 
 
 68 
 
 80 
 
 93 
 
 104 
 
 119 
 
 130 
 
 142 
 
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Xlll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 -14. All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Edward 
 
 Perronet, 1780. . 154 
 
 (the hymn of a very independent 
 Evangelical, who had worked at 
 first with the Methodist and then 
 with the Calvinistic side of the 
 Revival, but preferred a little 
 flock all his own) 
 
 [The Introduction oe Hymns into Scotland] 
 
 15. O God of Bethel, by Whose Hand. The Scot¬ 
 
 tish Paraphrases, 1781.167 
 
 (one of the original “ Translations and 
 Paraphrases of Scripture,” added to 
 the Psalm Book of the Church of 
 Scotland) 
 
 [The Earlier Nineteenth Century Hymns] 
 
 16. Hail to the Lord's Anointed. James Mont¬ 
 
 gomery, 1821.181 
 
 (a new voice of the new century: a 
 hymn inspired by the awakened in¬ 
 terest in Foreign Missions) 
 
 17. Just as I Am, Without One Plea. Charlotte 
 
 Elliott, 1836.194 
 
 (a hymn of the Evangelical Party in 
 the Church of England, carrying 
 on the traditions of the Evangelical 
 Revival) 
 
 18. I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say. Horatius 
 
 Bonar, 1846.207 
 
 . (by a Scottish Evangelical, breaking 
 
 forth into hymns that cannot at 
 the time be sung in his own 
 \ church) 
 
 \ 
 
XIV 
 
 ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 [The Hymns of the Oxford Movement] 
 
 19. There is a Green Hill Far Away. Cecil F. 
 
 Alexander, 1848.220 
 
 20. Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Languid. John 
 
 Mason Neale, 1862.232 
 
 21. Saviour, Again to Thy Dear Name We Raise. 
 
 John Ellerton, 1866.245 
 
 22. The Church's One Foundation. Samuel J. 
 
 Stone, 1866.255 
 
 (hymns of the High Church Party 
 who in the middle of the century 
 take the place of the Evangelicals 
 as leaders of the Church of England 
 hymnody and modify the hymnody 
 of all Churches ) 
 
 [The New Scottish Hymnody] 
 
 23. O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go. George 
 
 Matheson, 1882.268 
 
 (one of the later hymns of the Church 
 of Scotland, whose hymnody is at 
 length fully established on the same 
 lines as in the Church of England) 
 
 [The “ Gospel Hymns ”] 
 
 24. God be With You Till We Meet Again. Jere¬ 
 
 miah E. Rankin, 1880.279 
 
 (illustrating the lighter type of hymn 
 and tune introduced under Evangel¬ 
 istic auspices ) 
 

 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 George Whitefield . Frontispiece 
 
 {From the mezzotint by I liman Brothers) 
 
 John Calvin. 3 
 
 {After the portrait in the Museum Boijmans, Rotter¬ 
 dam) 
 
 The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune. 7 
 
 {From a copy of the Genevan Psalter of 1562 in the 
 author’s collection) 
 
 Title-page of “ The Psalms of David in meeter,” 1650 . . . 15 
 
 {From a copy in the author’s collection) 
 
 Francis Rous. 19 
 
 {From an old print in The Presbyterian Historical 
 Society’s collection) 
 
 Title-page of the first edition of Watts’s “ Hymns and 
 
 Spiritual Songs,” 1707. 26 
 
 {From a copy in the author’s collection) 
 
 Isaac Watts. 29 
 
 {From a photograph of the portrait by Sir Godfrey 
 Kneller in the National Portrait Gallery, London) 
 
 Charles Wesley. 35 
 
 {From an engraving of the portrait by Gush) 
 
 A Page of the Wesleys’ “Hymns and Sacred Poems,” 1740 41 
 
 {From a copy in the author’s collection) 
 
 John Cennick. 48 
 
 {From an old print) 
 
 John Byrom. 59 
 
 {From an engraving of the original drawing by G. Clint) 
 
 The Original Manuscript of “ Christians, Awake ! ” . . . 63 
 
 {Reproduced from Curnock’s edition of John Wesley’s 
 “ Journal ”) 
 
 xv 
 
XVI 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 William Williams . 7o 
 
 {From an old print in The Presbyterian Historical 
 Society’s Collection) 
 
 The Tune “ Caersalem ”. 77 
 
 {From the Hymnal of the Calvinistic Methodist Church) 
 
 Samuel Davies. 85 
 
 {From the portrait at Princeton University) 
 
 Autograph Preface of Samuel Davies. 89 
 
 {From the original MS. in The Presbyterian Historical 
 Society’s collection) 
 
 Whitefield’s Monument at Newburyport. 92 
 
 Walter Shirley. 95 
 
 {Reproduced from “ The Gospel Magazine” for Novem¬ 
 ber, 1774) 
 
 Two Pages of the Inghamite Hymn Book of 1757 .99 
 
 {From a copy in the author’s collection) 
 
 Autograph Lines from a Sermon of Toplady.107 
 
 {Reproduced from Wright’s u Life of Toplady”) 
 
 Augustus Montague Toplady.109 
 
 {From an engraving of the portrait by L. G. Garbrand) 
 
 The Crag at Burrington Combe.114 
 
 {From a photograph) 
 
 Autograph of “ God of our Fathers ”.123 
 
 {From the original in the author’s collection) 
 
 Daniel C. Roberts.127 
 
 {From a photograph) 
 
 John Newton.132 
 
 {From an engraving of the portrait by Russell) 
 
 Autograph Lines from a Letter of John Newton.138 
 
 {From the original in the author’s collection) 
 
 William Cowper.145 
 
 {From an engraving of the portrait by Romney) 
 
 The Cowper and Newton Museum, Olney.147 
 
 {From a photograph) 
 
N/ 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii 
 
 The Organ at Which “ Coronation ” was Composed .... 160 
 
 (Reproduced from “ The New England Magazine ”) 
 
 A Page from Perronet’s “Occasional Verses,” 1785 .... 162 
 
 (From a copy in the author’s collection ) 
 
 Philip Doddridge.170 
 
 (From an engraving of tne portrait made in 1750) 
 
 Title-page of Scottish “ Translations and Paraphrases,” 
 
 1781.175 
 
 (From a copy in the author’s collection) 
 
 James Montgomery’s Birth-place.183 
 
 (Reproduced from the “ Memoir ” by Holland and 
 Everett) 
 
 James Montgomery.185 
 
 (From an engraving of the portrait by Chantrey) 
 
 Autograph of a Hymn by Montgomery.191 
 
 (From the original in the author’s collection ) 
 
 Charlotte Elliott.197 
 
 (Reproduced from the “Selections” from her Poems 
 made by her Sister) 
 
 Autograph Note of Miss Elliott.199 
 
 (From the fly leaf of a copy of the “ Hours of Sorrow” 
 in the author’s collection) 
 
 Horatius Bonar.208 
 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 Rough Draft of “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” . . . 214 
 
 (Reproduced from “ Hymns of Horatius Bonar,” edited 
 by his Son ) 
 
 Cecil Frances Alexander.222 
 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 Autograph Verse of Mrs. Alexander.225 
 
 (From the original in the author’s collection ) 
 
 John Mason Neale.237 
 
 (Reproduced from “Letters of John Mason Neale”) 
 
 Autograph Hymn of Dr. Neale.239 
 
 (Reproduced from his “ Collected Hymns ”) 
 
XV111 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 John Ellerton...249 
 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 Autograph of “ Saviour, Again to Thy Dear Name We 
 
 Raise ”. 251 
 
 (Reproduced from the Historical Edition of “ Hymns 
 ancient and modern ”) 
 
 Autograph Lines of “The Church’s One Foundation” . . 259 
 
 {Reproduced from F. A. Jones’s “Familiar Hymns and 
 Their Authors”) 
 
 Samuel J. Stone.261 
 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 George Matheson.275 
 
 (Reproduced from “ The British Monthly ”) 
 
 Autograph of “ God be With You till we Meet Again ” . 281 
 
 (Reproduced from a facsimile) 
 
 Jeremiah E. Rankin. 283 
 
 (From a photograph) 
 
 / 
 
N/ 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR 
 
 HYMNS 
 
 I 
 
 ALL PEOPLE THAT ON EARTH DO DWELL 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE “PSALM” 
 
 1 All people that on earth do dwell, 
 
 Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, 
 
 Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell, 
 
 Come ye before Him and rejoice. 
 
 2 The Lord ye know is God indeed; 
 
 Without our aid He did us make; 
 
 We are His folk, He doth us feed; 
 
 And for His sheep He doth us take. 
 
 3 O enter then His gates with praise, 
 
 Approach with joy His courts unto; 
 
 Praise, laud, and bless His Name always, 
 
 For it is seemly so to do. 
 
 4 For why? the Lord our God is good, 
 
 His mercy is for ever sure; 
 
 His truth at all times firmly stood, 
 
 And shall from age to age endure. 
 
 The Hundredth Psalm. Translated into English me¬ 
 ter by the Rev. William Kethe, while an Exile at 
 Geneva, Switzerland. 
 
 Note. The text is that printed in the incomplete Metrical Psalter 
 published in London by John Day, 1561; without any changes 
 except for the modernizing of the punctuation and of some old- 
 time spellings. 
 
 1 
 
2 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 This version of the Hundredth Psalm, with “ The 
 Old Hundredth ” Psalm tune that belongs to it, is a real 
 antique. It is like a piece of old English silver plate, 
 more stately and massive than our modern make. The 
 Psalm and tune have been sung together, in England 
 and Scotland and America, for more than three cen¬ 
 turies and a half, and would be worth keeping in our 
 hymnals, if only for their associations. For they take 
 us back to the time when our forefathers first began 
 to praise God in His sanctuary in their own English 
 tongue. But in fact they still make a noble hymn of 
 praise. To hear it sung solidly and reverently by a 
 great congregation, with the support of the full organ, is 
 a religious experience. It gives one’s faith a fresh grip 
 on the big and holy things that “ shall from age to age 
 indure.” 
 
 THE STORY OF “OLD HUNDRED ” 
 
 It begins in Geneva. The city of Geneva lies within 
 that part of Switzerland where the people speak French 
 and not German. John Calvin went there in 1536 to 
 help on the Reformation. He was a very shrewd French¬ 
 man, and knew as well as Luther did that the best way 
 to arouse the hearts of the people was to get them to 
 singing religious songs. He asked to be allowed to make 
 a start by having the children taught to sing Psalms in 
 church, till the congregation should get familiar with 
 them and feel moved to join in. But Calvin’s rather 
 severe way of looking at things, together no doubt with 
 the uncompromising vigor of his character, very quickly 
 got him disliked both by the rulers and the people. Be¬ 
 fore any of his plans could be tried out, he was banished. 
 
4 
 
 JOHN CALVIN 
 
4 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Calvin found himself the pastor of a little flock 
 of French Protestant refugees in Strasburg, where all 
 the German Protestants around them were singing the 
 new hymns Luther and his friends had written for 
 them. Calvin took some of the German tunes, set them 
 to a few Bible Psalms and canticles translated into 
 French verse, and printed them in a thin Psalm book 
 for his congregation. But he took none of the German 
 hymns. He was a bit suspicious of hymns. It is so 
 easy, he thought, to slip false doctrines beneath the 
 pretty phrases of poetry, and to lodge them in the 
 singers’ hearts. Why not sing the songs God has given 
 us in the Bible, the Psalms, especially? Surely they 
 are the best, true because inspired, and quite as beauti¬ 
 ful as any man-made hymns. 
 
 When they recalled Calvin to Geneva, one of the 
 conditions of his return was that he should have his 
 own way about singing Psalms in church. And his 
 own way took shape in a somewhat larger Psalm book, 
 with some new versifyings of Psalms by the popular 
 poet, Clement Marot, and some fresh tunes by an 
 excellent French musician whom Calvin got to help him. 
 Our familiar “ Old Hundred ” is the tune composed 
 by Louis Bourgeois to fit the meter of the One Hundred 
 and Thirty-fourth Psalm, in an enlarged edition of this 
 Genevan Psalm Book printed in 1551. How it became 
 the One Hundredth and not the One Hundredth and 
 Thirty-fourth Psalm tune, we are now to see. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE “ PSALM ” 
 
 Switzerland and England were far apart in those 
 days. But Calvin’s doctrines and his doings at Geneva 
 
ALL PEOPLE THAT ON EARTH DO DWELL 
 
 5 
 
 were well known in London. The English Protestants 
 had come to take Calvin rather than Luther as their 
 model and leader. When they put together their first 
 English Prayer Book, their thought had been to depart 
 as little as might be from the structure and ceremonies 
 of the Latin Mass Book and Breviary of the old Church. 
 But the Prayer Book of 1549 was hardly printed before 
 Cranmer began to make changes of a kind that Calvin 
 would approve of. And the second Prayer Book of 1552 
 was a very different book, more Protestant, more Cal- 
 vinistic even. By that time many were hoping to drop 
 the Prayer Book altogether, and use the simpler services 
 Calvin had prepared for Geneva. They had already 
 begun to sing metrical Psalms in church after Calvin’s 
 model — an innovation in which the Chapel Royal itself 
 took the lead. Just then the boy king, Edward VI, died. 
 The Roman Catholic Queen Mary came to the throne, 
 and many of the Protestants fled the country. 
 
 A little company of these exiles, of the sort soon to 
 be called Puritans, settled at Frankfort. There they 
 felt free to simplify their worship. But they were soon 
 joined by another party of more churchly proclivities, 
 who insisted that the full Prayer Book services be 
 reinstated. That led to the historic “ Troubles at 
 Frankfort.” The Puritan party left, and went to Ge¬ 
 neva to be under the wing of Calvin. There they formed 
 an English church, with the Scotchman, John Knox, 
 as one of its pastors. 
 
 The Englishmen were deeply moved by the sight of 
 Calvin’s great congregation in the old cathedral, with 
 their little Psalm books in their own hands, by the 
 great volume of voices praising God in their own French 
 tongue, and by the beautiful melodies carrying the words, 
 
6 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 by the fervor of the singing and the spiritual uplift of the 
 singers. The English exiles felt that their ideals of 
 pure worship were realized, and had a vision of the 
 cathedrals and parish churches at home, freed of “ the 
 last dregs of popery ” and filled with the sound of 
 many voices praising God in the holy songs He had 
 put into their mouths. 
 
 They had with them a few Psalms that had been versi¬ 
 fied at home, and now they proceeded to prepare an 
 English Psalm Book with tunes in it, just like Calvin’s. 
 There were scholars among them who could translate 
 Psalms from the original Hebrew and several who could 
 turn the translations into respectable English verse. 
 The tunes were their greatest bother, because the meters 
 of the tunes the Genevans were singing would be awk¬ 
 ward to Englishmen. There was one tune, however, 
 that to the One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Psalm, in 
 what we call “ long meter,” that seemed available and 
 was certainly beautiful. And for its sake one of the 
 exiles, William Kethe, chose the Hundredth Psalm to 
 translate into that meter. And the words of his 
 Psalm, “ All people that on earth do dwell,” were then 
 and there married to Bourgeois’ tune in a union so close 
 and so lasting that it is hard to say which is “ The 
 Old Hundredth.” 
 
 Queen Mary’s reign was happily as short as Edward’s, 
 and the exiles did not stay at Geneva long enough to 
 complete their Psalm Book. Kethe’s Psalm appeared 
 in their last edition, containing eighty-seven Psalms. 
 That was printed in 1561, and by that time most of the 
 exiles had come home. The complete edition of the 
 English Psalter was prepared at London, printed there 
 in 1562. It was called The whole Booke oj Psalms, col - 
 
f' A V C X XX XIII. 
 
 iii 
 
 337 
 
 * Aaron le Preitre de la Loy. 
 a Etquidepfuslateftevientdefccndrc 
 lufqu’a labarbe,& en fin & vient rendre 
 Aux bords du facre vehement; 
 
 Comme l’humeur fe voir iournellcmcn. 
 
 Du monr Hermon>& Sion dccourir, 
 
 Et 1c pays d’cmbas noarrir:, 
 
 5 Ainfi pour vray cede aflennbkc heurcufe 
 Sent du Seigneur la-faueur plan 6 ireufc» 
 
 Voire pour iarnais r.e mourir. 
 lue^vtnc bcntdicilt. !> S E. C X X X LI I I. T. DE BE. 
 n a dmm»4hki fart tmr dm* M 0mtmt Jtlifknmdi 
 
 Uli!. _—---- 
 
 ! ~ k fus, feruiteurs du Seigneur, Vous 
 
 L .x A. ^ t ^ * ' 
 
 f 
 
 qui dc mat ch fon bonneur Dedans fa maifcrn 
 
 ju r___*_ 
 
 le fcrucz ) Loue2-le,&fonnotn ofleucz. 
 
 „ Lcuezles mains au plus faint lieu 
 Dece tref-faint temple de Dic'u* 
 
 Et le los qu’il a mcrirc 
 Soit par vos bouebes recite. ^ 
 
 3 Dieuqui a fair & entretient, 
 
 Et terre & ciel par fon pouuoir, 
 
 THE ORIGINAL OF “ OLD HUNDRED.” FROM CALVIN^ 
 
 PSALM BOOK, 1562 
 
8 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 lected into English metre, but is familiarly known as 
 “ Sternhold and Hopkins.” 
 
 A strange thing is that Kethe’s Hundredth Psalm 
 was not in it. A less attractive version took its place. 
 Kethe’s first appeared again in an appendix of 1564 and 
 in its proper place the following year. How that hap¬ 
 pened we shall never know. 
 
 The Puritan exiles’ dream of a Church of England in 
 which Calvin’s Genevan order of worship should re¬ 
 place the Prayer Book, was never to be realized. But 
 they did succeed in rooting firmly on English soil the 
 Calvinistic ideal and practice of having the congrega¬ 
 tion’s praise confined to the songs of Scripture. The 
 Prayer Book and the Psalm Book flourished side by 
 side. The curious result of this arrangement was to 
 provide the Church of England with a double system 
 of Psalmody, — the prose Psalms already in the Prayer 
 Book, and now its metrical Psalms in the Psalm Book. 
 But there were no hymn books in the pews till after 
 the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century. 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE “PSALM” 
 
 As to the author of the Hundredth Psalm itself, 
 the Bible gives us no information. As to William 
 Kethe, who made this English version, we know very 
 little. We do not know what he did in Edward Vi’s 
 time. The old authorities call him a Scotchman. We 
 know he was one of those who exiled themselves to 
 escape the attentions of bloody Mary. He was one 
 of the English congregation of rather radical Protestants 
 at Frankfort, and left there to go with them to 
 Geneva, where he became prominent in the English 
 
ALL PEOPLE THAT ON EARTH DO DWELL 9 
 
 Church. He was nearer to being a poet than were any 
 of his colleagues, and contributed twenty-four ver¬ 
 sions to the exiles’ Psalm Book. Besides his Psalms he 
 wrote poems and religious ballads: his “ Tye thy mare, 
 Tom boye ” becoming quite noted. He helped also in the 
 translation of the Bible, which was another achieve¬ 
 ment of the English exiles at Geneva. When he went 
 home he was made rector of a church in Dorset, and 
 was chaplain to the English troops in an expedition to 
 Havre and in a later campaign against Popish rebels in 
 the north. The preaching of a sermon in 1571 is the 
 latest record we have of Kethe’s life, though it may have 
 continued till the appointment in 1608 of a successor 
 in his Dorset rectorate. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. The English Metrical Psalms were printed com¬ 
 plete about two years before Shakespeare was born, 
 in April, 1564. The Psalm Book seems to have been used 
 in the homes as a religious primer as well as at church. 
 At any rate, the people in Shakespeare’s time were re¬ 
 quired by law to go to church regularly, and he became 
 very familiar with the Metrical Psalms. He quotes 
 from the Psalm Book several times. Indeed if we 
 are to follow the modern text of his plays, he singles out 
 this Hundredth Psalm for mention in The Merry Wives 
 of Windsor (Act II, scene i), speaking of the awkward¬ 
 ness of singing “ The Hundredth Psalm to the tune of 
 ‘ Green Sleeves.’ ” And we are at liberty to conclude 
 that Shakespeare was especially impressed by the sing¬ 
 ing of the Hundredth Psalm to the familiar tune. 
 
 But the old texts of the play do not read “ the Hun- 
 
10 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 dredth Psalm,” but “ the hundred psalms.” The present 
 writer has given elsewhere * his reasons for thinking the 
 old text correct, and that it refers to the title of a book 
 printed at London in 1561 for the Dutch and Flemish 
 refugees in England, and called Hondert Psalmen 
 Dauids. The predilection of these foreigners for Psalm 
 singing is noticed by Shakespeare more than once. 
 
 In Longfellow’s The Courtship of Miles Standish there 
 is also a reference to the Hundredth Psalm in metre, 
 when John Alden heard 
 
 “ the musical voice of Priscilla 
 Singing the hundredth Psalm, the grand old Puritan anthem, 
 Music that Luther sang to the sacred words of the Psalmist.” 
 
 The reference here is to the tune “ Old Hundred,” under 
 the supposition that it was one of the Lutheran chorales. 
 But the words Priscilla sang were from Henry Ains¬ 
 worth’s version of the Psalm in his The Book of Psalms: 
 Englished both in prose and metre. This was printed 
 in Amsterdam in 1612, and was the Psalm Book the 
 Pilgrim fathers brought to Plymouth. 
 
 2. Like the lettering on an ancient stone, the text of 
 Kethe’s Psalm is read differently by different people. 
 The first to give a new reading was an early printer 
 of the Metrical Psalms who mistook the word “ folck ” 
 (folk, people) in line seven. He printed it “ flock ” and 
 was followed by later printers of the Psalm Book and 
 by most modern hymn books. In the Scottish Psalm 
 Book “ Him serve with fear ” is changed to “ Him 
 serve with mirth,” and “ The Lord ye know ” to “ Know 
 that the Lord.” Are such changes worth while? The 
 Hymnal text is an attempt to print the original without 
 
 * In the Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society for 
 June, 1918. 
 
ALL PEOPLE THAT ON EARTH DO DWELL n 
 
 change except for the ancient spellings such as “ yt ” 
 for “ that,” “ ye ” for “ the,” “ shep ” for “ sheep,” 
 “ indure ” for “ endure.” It is a puzzle whether we 
 should retain the question mark after “For why?” as 
 it means simply “ because.” But why not? We like an 
 antique for its very quaintness. 
 
 3. The melodies Calvin had prepared for his Psalm 
 Book are very lovely. But it has not proved easy to 
 bring them back into use. “ St. Michael ” and “ Au¬ 
 tumn ” in The Hymnal are arranged from Genevan 
 melodies, but these have been subjected to rough treat¬ 
 ment. The facsimile will show how we have changed 
 the rhythm and movement even of “ Old Hundred ” 
 by making all the notes of equal length. We have done 
 it to our loss, many musicians think, and they are anx¬ 
 ious to have the tune restored to its original beauty. 
 
II 
 
 THE LORD’S MY SHEPHERD, I’LL NOT 
 
 WANT 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE “PSALM” 
 
 1 The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want; 
 
 He makes me down to lie 
 In pastures green, He leadeth me 
 The quiet waters by. 
 
 2 My soul He doth restore again; 
 
 And me to walk doth make 
 Within the paths of righteousness, 
 
 Ev’n for His own Name’s sake. 
 
 3 Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale, 
 
 Yet will I fear none ill; 
 
 For thou art with me, and Thy rod 
 And staff me comfort still. 
 
 4 My table Thou hast furnished 
 
 In presence of my foes; 
 
 My head Thou dost with oil anoint, 
 
 And my cup overflows. 
 
 5 Goodness and mercy all my life 
 
 Shall surely follow me; 
 
 And in God’s house for evermore 
 My dwelling-place shall be. 
 
 The Twenty-third Psalm in meter, as approved by the 
 General Assembly of the' Church of Scotland in 1649: 
 based on versions by Francis Rous, Sir William 
 Mure, and others. 
 
 12 
 
THE LORD’S MY SHEPHERD, I’LL NOT WANT 13 
 
 Note. The text (apart from a few spellings) is the original text 
 of The Psalms of David in meeter, 1650, with the exception 
 of the seventh line. In the writer’s copy that line begins with 
 “ Into ” and not “ Within.” The alteration was made at an early 
 date, perhaps for euphony’s sake, and “ Within ” became the ac¬ 
 cepted reading of the authorized editions of The Psalms in meeter. 
 
 THE PSALM THAT “NEVER RUNS DRY ” 
 
 The Hundredth Psalm, treated in our first study, was 
 one of the songs of the English Reformation. This ver¬ 
 sion of the Twenty-third is of Oliver Cromwell’s time, 
 and is altogether Scottish and Presbyterian in its origin, 
 its use, and its associations. It is one of The Psalms of 
 David in meeter adopted by the Church of Scotland in 
 1649, commonly called “ Rous’s Version ” or “ Rous ” 
 for short. Its real story can never be written. It was 
 spelled out in the religious experiences of the most self- 
 contained people on earth, the Scots. 
 
 The story begins with the printing of the Psalms in 
 meter at the end of the Scottish Bibles, in a day when 
 there were very few books in the cottages, and the sing¬ 
 ing of them twice a day at family worship as well as at 
 church. Gradually the Psalms in meter became, even 
 more than the prose Bible Psalms, the special word of 
 God to His people in Scotland on every occasion of 
 their lives, and especially in their times of trouble. 
 There were Psalms that appealed to the dour side of 
 the Scot and roused and sustained his combative in¬ 
 stincts. But there was also a side of real tenderness 
 in the Scottish heart; and this Twenty-third Psalm in 
 meter, most of all, touched it and brought it peace. 
 
 Word by word, every line of this Psalm was engraved 
 on the memory and clasped to the heart of generation 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 14 
 
 after generation of loyal Scots. It was a home song, 
 first of all, learned at the mother’s knee, a household 
 word; and then, as the children grew up and went out 
 of the old home, a possession, or rather a part of their 
 inmost selves, that went with them wherever they trav¬ 
 eled or found new homes; an inward vision of pastures 
 green, a rod and staff of comfort on the way, and at the 
 end a light in death’s dark vale. 
 
 It would not be difficult to collect incidents testify¬ 
 ing to the intense feeling of the Scots for their Psalms 
 in meeter, and for this Twenty-third Psalm in particular. 
 Better still for such a purpose is a story of Ian Mac- 
 laren, who understood so well the heart of his country¬ 
 men. It is the story of an old Scot, hard and rugged, but 
 laid low at last on one of the beds of an English hospital 
 ward. He had just been told that he would die at break 
 of day, but he had declined the ministrations of the 
 chaplain, an Episcopalian. “ He micht want to read a 
 prayer, and a’ cudna abide that.” 
 
 In the afternoon a good lady who had heard of the old 
 man’s loneliness came to his bedside and asked if she 
 might not sing some comforting hymn, opening the book 
 to find “ Rock of Ages.” He shook his head. 
 
 “ Ye’re verra kind, mem, and a’m muckle obleeged to 
 ye, but a’m a Scot and ye’re English, and ye dinna under¬ 
 stand. A’ my days hev I been protestin’ against the use 
 o’ human hymns in the praise o’ God; a’ve left three 
 kirks on that account, and raised my testimony in pub¬ 
 lic places, and noo wud ye send me into eternity wi’ the 
 sough o’ hymn in my ears? 
 
 “ Ye’ll excuse me, mem, for a’m no ungratefu’,” he 
 continued, “ and I wud like to meet yir wishes when 
 ye’ve been so kind to me. The doctor says I canna live 
 
1 
 
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 IN MEET-E R. 
 
 N^wljr tranflated , and diligently compared 
 
 with tin? onginaSlTm , and funner tranflstioru : 
 Mur« (month , and agreeable to the Text < 
 then any heretofore, 
 
 Aiiesnbiy of the Kirk of &uU«t, ,w<{. 
 
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 TITLE-PAGE OF THE SCOTTISH PSALMS OF 1650 
 
16 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 long, and it’s possible that my strength may sune give 
 way, but all tell ye what a’m willin’ to do. 
 
 “ Sae lang as a’ve got strength and my reason continues 
 clear, a’m prepared to argue with you concerning the 
 lawfulness of using onything except the Psalms o’ David 
 in the praise o’ God either in public or in private.” 
 
 “ No, no,” the lady said, “ I did not know the feeling 
 of the Scots about hymns. But I have been in the High¬ 
 lands, and learned to love your Psalms. I have some in 
 my book here.” 
 
 “ Div ye think that ye cud sing the Twenty-third 
 Psalm — 
 
 “ ‘ The Lord’s my Shepherd, a’ll not want ’ ? 
 
 for I wud count it verra comfortin.’ ” 
 
 “ Yes,” she said, “ I can, and I think I love that 
 Psalm more than any hymn.” 
 
 “ It never runs dry,” murmured the Scot. 
 
 So she sang it from beginning to end slowly and rever¬ 
 ently, as she had heard it in Scotland. He joined in no 
 word, but ever he kept time with his hand; and, after 
 she ceased, “ Thank ye, thank ye,” he said, and then 
 both were silent for a few minutes, because she saw that 
 he was in his own country, and did not wish to bring him 
 back. 
 
 “ Mem, ye’ve dune me the greatest kindness ony 
 Christian cud do for anither as he stands on the banks 
 of the Jordan.” 
 
 For a minute he was silent again, and then he said: 
 
 “ A’m gaein’ to tell ye somethin’, and I think ye’ll 
 understand. Ma wife and me wes married thirty-five 
 years, and ilka nicht of oor married life we sang a Psalm 
 afore we gaed to rest. She took the air and a’ took the 
 bass, and we sang the Psalms through frae beginning to 
 
THE LORD'S MY SHEPHERD, I’LL NOT WANT 17 
 
 end twal times. She was taken frae me ten year ago, 
 and the nicht afore she dee’d we sang the Twenty-third 
 Psalm. A’ve never sung the Psalm since, and a’ didna 
 join wi’ ye when ye sang it, for a’111 waitin’ to sing it 
 wi’ her noo in oor Father’s hoose the mornin’s mornin’, 
 where there’ll be nae nicht nor partin’ evermore.” 
 
 THE STORY OF ROUS’S VERSION 
 
 We spoke in the first study of the little church of 
 English exiles in Queen Mary’s time at Geneva, with 
 John Knox as pastor, and of the English Psalm Book 
 which they worked at and carried home to England, 
 where it was completed in 1562. When Knox went home 
 to Scotland he also took that Psalm Book, and there it 
 was completed in much the same way, and printed in 
 1564. And so the Episcopalians in England and the Pres¬ 
 byterians in Scotland became Psalm singers in Calvin’s 
 
 fashion. 
 
 * 
 
 The Scots kept on using the old Psalm Book for nearly 
 a century. That brings us down to the effort of Charles 
 I to turn the Church of Scotland into an episcopal 
 Church, and the outbreak of the Civil War in 1639. 
 Charles needed money to suppress the Scots, and had 
 to call a Parliament to provide it. But the Parliament, 
 mostly Puritans, declared war on Charles himself; and 
 to secure the aid of the Scots, united with them in the 
 Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, to preserve the 
 Presbyterian Church in Scotland and to set it up in 
 England and Ireland. Then it was that the famous 
 Westminster Assembly was called, to prepare common 
 standards of faith and worship for the three kingdoms. 
 It was agreed on all hands that the churches should sing 
 
Ig STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Psalms and not hymns. But what version of the 
 Psalms? The Assembly recommended the Parliament 
 to adopt a new version made by one of its own members, 
 Francis Rous. 
 
 He was an English gentleman of much distinction, 
 a Calvinist by conviction, a believer in the Presbyte¬ 
 rian system, and several times a member of Parliament. 
 He was sent to the Westminster Assembly as a lay com¬ 
 missioner, and was afterward Provost of Eton College. 
 He made his metrical version of the Psalms in hope of 
 meeting the widespread demand among the Puritans of 
 the time for a more exact and literal rendering than that 
 contained in the old Psalm Books of England and 
 Scotland. 
 
 It seems a bit odd to us, who take such things lightly 
 enough, that Parliament should wrangle over the par¬ 
 ticular version of the Psalms to be used in church. It 
 did not seem so then. The House of Commons agreed 
 to adopt Rous’s Version and ordered that it and none 
 other be sung in all the churches of the Kingdom. But 
 a rival of Rous, one William Barton, had many friends 
 in the House of Lords, 1 who put up a stiff fight for his 
 version, and when the Commons’ adoption of Rous 
 came there for concurrent action, they succeeded in 
 shelving it by having it referred to a committee. 
 
 It did not matter much, for this first “ Presbyterian 
 Alliance ” was soon to be broken up. The Church of 
 Scotland, left alone again, adopted the standards of the 
 Westminster Assembly, but hesitated about the Psalm 
 Book. Finally, after three years of debating and tinker¬ 
 ing, they adopted Rous’s Version, though it had been so 
 much altered and added to that it hardly deserved to 
 bear his name. Such as it was, it continued to be the 
 
FRANCIS ROUS, 1656 
 
20 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 only praise book of the Church of Scotland until recent 
 times, when the right to sing “ hymns of human com¬ 
 posure ” has been won after bitter struggles. “ Rous ” 
 was brought to this country also by the Scotch and Irish 
 immigrants, and was the chief Psalm Book of the Pres¬ 
 byterian Churches in America. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. Seventeen Presbyterian or Reformed denomina¬ 
 tions in various countries, some of them very small, still 
 confine their praise to Bible Psalms and reject human 
 hymns. So “ the subject matter of praise ” must still 
 be a topic for discussion. These denominations seem to 
 agree that God intended the Book of Psalms to be 
 the only praise book of His Church until the end of time. 
 As lately as 1905, two conventions were held under the 
 direction of the General Assembly of the United Pres¬ 
 byterian Church of North America, “ to promote the 
 claims of the Psalms in the field of worship.” And the 
 papers at these gatherings have been printed in an im¬ 
 posing volume. It is doubtful, however, whether the 
 cause was materially advanced by these means, or 
 whether in the minds of the great majority of Chris¬ 
 tians the old issue of Psalm versus Hymn is either alive 
 or capable of revival. 
 
 2. There are four versions of the Twenty-third 
 Psalm in The Hymnal revised . 
 
 The first is the one we are now discussing. Those who 
 have inherited Scottish blood and traditions very likely 
 feel that it has passed beyond the pale of criticism. 
 
 The second, “ The Lord my pasture shall prepare,” 
 was contributed to the famous weekly, The Spectator, 
 by the Right Honorable Joseph Addison. He was a de- 
 
THE LORD’S MY SHEPHERD, DLL NOT WANT 21 
 
 lightful writer, and a gentle wind still blows over the 
 “ verdant landscape ” of his Psalm. It is quite true, 
 however, as Canon Douglass has said, that Addison was 
 a great deal more fond of adjectives than David was. 
 
 The third, “ The Lord my Shepherd is,” one of Dr. 
 Isaac Watts’s versifications, is hardly one of his suc¬ 
 cesses. It is so hard and jerky. It was put in The 
 Hymnal to gratify a prominent elder and warm friend 
 of that book, who had associations with it. But he does 
 not need it any longer, and the Watts version might 
 well be allowed to drop out. 
 
 The fourth, “ The King of love my Shepherd is,” 
 represents the perfection of what we may call the 
 modern “ art and craft ” of hymn-making. “ How 
 beautiful are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! ” the writer 
 seems to be saying, as his pen flows on from verse to 
 verse of the old Psalm. It is a gospel Psalm to him, with 
 Christ, the Good Shepherd, holding the cross to guide 
 him. The Rev. Sir Henry Williams Baker wrote it for 
 the appendix to his Hymns ancient and modern, the 
 most famous hymnal of recent times. And when he came 
 to die, the last words that could be distinguished were: 
 
 “ And on His shoulder gently laid, 
 
 And home, rejoicing, brought me.” 
 
 3. In the old days “The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not 
 want ” was sung to one of the still older Scottish Psalm 
 tunes, often perhaps to the one they called “ French ” 
 and we call “ Dundee.” In modern days it is set to 
 “ Balerma ” as often as to any other; also a Scottish 
 tune. “Walden,” No. 577 in The Hymnal revised, was 
 composed for this Psalm by a Canadian lawyer, and is 
 well worth trying. 
 
Ill 
 
 THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 There is a land of pure delight, 
 
 Where saints immortal reign; 
 
 Infinite day excludes the night, 
 
 And pleasures banish pain. 
 
 2 There everlasting spring abides, 
 
 And never-withering flowers; 
 
 Death, like a narrow sea, divides 
 This heavenly land from ours. 
 
 3 Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood 
 
 Stand dressed in living green; 
 
 So to the Jews old Canaan stood, 
 
 While Jordan rolled between. 
 
 4 But timorous mortals start and shrink 
 
 To cross this narrow sea; 
 
 And linger, shivering, on the brink, 
 
 And fear to launch away. 
 
 5 O could we make our doubts remove, 
 
 Those gloomy doubts that rise, 
 
 And see the Canaan that we love 
 With unbeclouded eyes; 
 
 6 Could we but climb where Moses stood, 
 
 And view the landscape o’er. 
 
 Not Jordan’s stream, nor death’s cold flood, 
 Should fright us from the shore. 
 
 Rev. Isaac Watts, 1707 
 
 Note. The text is taken from the first edition of Dr. Watts’s 
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs, London, 1707, without any change. 
 
 22 
 
THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT 
 
 23 
 
 Isaac Watts was born on July 17, 1674, in that Eng¬ 
 lish town of Southampton which many Americans 
 know best as a port for steamships to Europe. If we 
 went ashore we should find a “ Watts Memorial Hall ” 
 and a statue of him in his gown and bands as a preacher. 
 But it is his sacred songs and not his sermons that have 
 given him his fame. In Southampton he passed his 
 childhood, and there he spent some six weeks of the 
 year before this hymn appeared in his volume of 
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707. He had come back 
 to the old home, weak from sickness and discouraged 
 no doubt, and very likely these verses reveal the turn 
 his thoughts took just then. 
 
 The town lies on a swell of land within the fork of 
 the Test and the Itchen rivers. It may well be that 
 the view across the water of the pleasant meadows of 
 Marchwood on the one side, or, on the other, of the 
 lawns of Weston, glowing in the evening sunlight, sug¬ 
 gested the lines: 
 
 “ Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood 
 Stand dressed in living green.” 
 
 Our poet Longfellow said that until he saw the first 
 verdure of spring on the meadows of southern England, 
 he did not quite appreciate the meaning of “ dressed 
 in living green.” “ There are some of us,” said the 
 Rev. J. Brierly, “ who can never look upon a green field 
 with the spring sun on it without this hymn coming 
 to us as a whisper from heaven.” 
 
 “ HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS” 
 
 The subjects of our first two studies were versions 
 of Psalms taken directly from the Bible. The subject 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 24 
 
 of this is “ a hymn of human composure ” taken out of 
 the writer’s own heart. And he did more than other 
 men to break down the custom of Psalm singing and to 
 conquer the English prejudice against uninspired hymns. 
 
 Tennyson says in one of his poems that 
 
 The old order changeth, yielding place to new; 
 
 And God fulfills himself in many ways, 
 
 Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. 
 
 Now we saw in our first study how Calvin, in his zeal 
 for “ the Bible only,” determined that even the songs of 
 his congregation in Geneva should be taken from inspired 
 Scripture, and so started the custom of Psalm singing. 
 It was a “ good custom ” for the time. In France and 
 Scotland Psalm singing became the very life of the 
 Reformation. In England there was some opposition 
 to introducing it, but the plain people took it up vigor¬ 
 ously, and it soon became an established feature of the 
 church services. So the Psalm Books were bound up 
 with the Prayer Books. 
 
 The singing of Psalms went on without change 
 through the whole of Elizabeth’s reign, and as long 
 as the Church of England held together. In the great 
 break-up of the Puritan Revolution some of the new 
 sects then formed — the Quakers, for instance — gave 
 up singing altogether. The large body of Independents, 
 or Congregationalists as we should call them, gave up 
 the Prayer Book but hung on to the old Psalm Book. 
 They kept up the custom, but the life had gone out 
 of the Psalmody. One of their young ministers, Isaac 
 Watts, said that the singing of God’s praise is the part 
 of worship nighest heaven, and its performance among 
 themselves the worst on earth. The Psalms were read 
 
THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT 
 
 25 
 
 out, one line at a time, by a “ clerk,” and then the con¬ 
 gregation sang that line and waited for the next. Very 
 few tunes were used, and these were drawled out in pro¬ 
 longed notes. “ To see the dull indifference, the negligent 
 and thoughtless air that sits upon the faces of a whole 
 assembly while the Psalm is on their lips, might tempt 
 even a charitable observer,” Watts wrote, “ to suspect 
 the fervency of inward religion.” 
 
 By the beginning of the eighteenth century the Psalm 
 singing in the Independent meeting-houses was so dis¬ 
 tressing that many of the pastors were in consultation 
 upon the situation. Watts, the youngest and bravest 
 of them, had his own view of the root of the trouble 
 and the remedy. The trouble, he thought, grew out 
 of confining the praise to Psalms, many of which were 
 inappropriate to our circumstances, and all were on a 
 lower plane of revelation than the gospel. “ We preach 
 the gospel and pray in Christ’s name, and then check 
 the aroused devotions of Christians by giving out a song 
 of the old dispensation.” 
 
 The remedy he proposed was twofold. First, a new 
 and free translation of the Psalms written in the way 
 David would have written them if he had been a fully 
 instructed Christian living in the eighteenth century. 
 And this scheme Dr. Watts ultimately carried out in 1719 
 by publishing his The Psalms of David imitated in the 
 language of the New Testament, and apply’d to the Chris¬ 
 tian state and worship. This book served as a bridge 
 over the chasm between the Old Testament Psalms and 
 the evangelical hymns, by which many congregations 
 passed over without fully perceiving just where they 
 were going. 
 
 The other feature of Watts’s proposed remedy was 
 

 HYMNS 
 
 AND 
 
 Spiritual Songs. 
 
 In Three BOOKS. 
 
 I. Collected from the Scriptures. 
 
 II. Compos'd on Divine Subje&s. 
 
 III. Prepared for the Lord’s Supper. 
 
 | With an ESSAY 
 
 Towards the Improvement of Chri- 
 Itian Pfalmody, by the Ufe of E- 
 vangelioal Hymns in Worth ip, as 
 well as the Pfalms of J David. 
 
 By I. WATTS. 
 
 And they fun? a new Song, [dying. Thou art 
 worthy, See. for thou waft [lain and haft re¬ 
 deemed ut, Sec. Rev. 5. 9. 
 
 SoUtitffcr.t (he. Chrifffoni) convenire, car- 
 menque Chriflo quad Deo dicere. Viin'rn 
 in Epift. 
 
 LONDON ; 
 
 Printed by J. Humfreys , for John Lawrence, 
 at the Angel in the Poultrey. 1707. 
 
 
 TITLE-PAGE OF THE FIRST EDITION OF WATTSES HYMNS 
 
THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT 
 
 27 
 
 the introduction of evangelical hymns, freely written 
 under the inspirations of the gospel and expressing all 
 the riches that are in Christ. And this he was prepared 
 to apply at once. He had ready, and printed in 1707, 
 more than two hundred of his own in a volume whose 
 full title can be read in the facsimile here given. The 
 essay to which it refers was a rather cruel attack on the 
 principles and prejudices of the Psalm singers, and a 
 vindication of hymns. We have just the same right, 
 he asserted, to compose and sing spiritual songs as to 
 compose and utter original prayers. The Bible is God’s 
 word to us. Our songs ought to be our word to God. 
 
 Whoever attacks an old religious custom or prejudice 
 must expect to make enemies. And Watts made many. 
 They spoke of his hymns as “ Watts’s whims.” But he 
 touched the hearts of the people, and one by one the 
 Independent congregations came under the spell of the 
 new hymns. We can scarcely appreciate all they 
 meant to people who had never been allowed to utter 
 the name of their Saviour in praise. Dr. Doddridge 
 tells of giving out “ Give me the wings of faith to rise ” 
 to a village congregation. Tears came to many eyes; 
 some were quite unable to sing at all, and the clerk said 
 he could hardly speak the words, as he lined them 
 out. When something was said after service as to a 
 possible visit from Dr. Watts, one of the company ex¬ 
 claimed, “ The very sight of him would be as good as 
 an ordinance to me! ” 
 
 This popularity of the hymns is said to explain why 
 so few copies of the earlier editions of Hymns and 
 Spiritual Songs have survived to our time: the theory 
 being that the great majority of copies were actually 
 thumbed out of existence by rude but affectionate 
 hands. 
 
28 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE HYMN 
 
 “ Before her stood not an Antinous or an Adonis, 
 not even a moderately presentable Englishman, but a 
 minute, sallow-faced anatomy with hook nose, promi¬ 
 nent cheek bones, heavy countenance, cadaverous com¬ 
 plexion and small eyes.” So it is that the latest 
 biographer of Watts describes him in the act of pro¬ 
 posing to the beautiful Elizabeth Singer somewhere 
 about 1706. That Miss Singer had formed a high con¬ 
 ception of Watts from his poems we know, and that 
 his appearance disappointed her we may assume. But 
 how does the biographer know that Miss Singer in re¬ 
 jecting him said, “ Mr. Watts, I only wish I could say 
 that I admire the casket as much as I admire the jewel ” ? 
 
 It is more to the point to remember that the aging 
 face, beneath its monstrous wig, that has come down to 
 us in the portraits may truly represent the famous and 
 venerated Dr. Watts, but not the somewhat headstrong 
 young man who wrote the hymns with the ardor of 
 youth, and gave battle to the Psalm singers with that 
 self-confidence and disregard of other people’s opin¬ 
 ions of which perhaps only youth is capable. 
 
 The household at Southampton was religious, and the 
 boy’s thoughts were serious. “ Fell under considerable 
 conviction of sin, 1688, and was taught to trust in Christ, 
 I hope, 1689; ” so his diary reads. He inherited from 
 his father a love of learning and a gift for poetry. It 
 was like the plucky, undersized lad to stand up for the 
 principles of his father, twice jailed for the crime of 
 being a dissenter, and to refuse an offer to pay his ex¬ 
 penses at the university, since admittance there involved 
 a profession of membership in the Church of England. 
 

 DR. ISAAC WATTS 
 
30 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Watts prepared for the ministry deliberately, and 
 became pastor of an Independent meeting in Mark Lane, 
 London. Almost at once his health broke, and the rest 
 of his life was a struggle between duty and weakness. 
 Invited by Sir Thomas Abney, a distinguished dissenter, 
 to spend a week in his magnificent house at Theobalds 
 in Hertfordshire, Watts remained as an honored guest 
 of the family for the rest of his life, some thirty-six 
 years. He gave such service as he could to his long- 
 suffering congregation in London, and managed to write 
 many books, useful in their day, which gave him high 
 reputation in university circles. He was probably the 
 most widely esteemed dissenter of his time; but he 
 himself regarded his “ Psalms and Hymns ” as incom¬ 
 parably the greatest work he did for the Church. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 i. In looking over a line of old Sunday school hymn 
 books, say from 1835 forward, one is struck with the 
 considerable proportion of children’s songs dealing with 
 dying and the life after death. These songs reflect the 
 tone of evangelical piety that prevailed among their 
 elders: what the great novelist, George Eliot, described 
 sarcastically as “ otherworldliness.” It was a time 
 when Dr. Muhlenberg’s “ I would not live alway ” was 
 a favorite for church use. 
 
 Then, gradually, the tone of piety began to change. 
 “ One world at a time,” people began to say, “ and now 
 for this world, where our duty lies. It is more pious to 
 rectify a foul drain, to minister to bodily suffering, to 
 show the way to self-help, and to equalize the distribu¬ 
 tion of the good things of life, than it is to sit and 
 
THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT 
 
 31 
 
 dream of heaven.” In our day the reaction from “ other¬ 
 worldliness ” is pretty complete. The heaven that lay 
 about us once and then got far enough away to seem 
 like a foreign country, has now to very many lost all 
 reality whatever. How seldom now are these old-time 
 hymns of heaven given out in our churches! 
 
 This present situation suggests certain questions. 
 Has the hope of heaven any proper place in Christian 
 experience or in our gospel message to others? Is it 
 right to teach children to sing of heaven; and if not, 
 what is a suitable age at which those who love them 
 might begin to make “ mention of her glory ” ? Or are 
 there good reasons for thinking the time has arrived for 
 expunging the songs of the heavenly home from our 
 church hymnals? 
 
 2. There are, no doubt, different types of hymns of 
 heaven and room for a choice. In one familiar type the 
 singer finds the body vile and the world evil. He turns 
 to the inward vision of a risen body and a dwelling 
 place free from temptations, and passionately longs for 
 the deliverance of death. This type came originally 
 from the monks, “ in retreat ” from the w T orld, and 
 their rhapsodies are not for everyone. St. Paul would 
 have understood them and loved them, but for most 
 people hymns of this type need watching in the interests 
 of sincerity. 
 
 This hymn of Watts is of a very different type. It 
 is less ecstatic. And it breathes no desire to depart. It 
 is the song of a young man who is at work and at play 
 in the open fields of life where God put him, and likes it. 
 He does not want to go home till after sunset. He 
 loves life. He loves the vision of heaven, too, at twi¬ 
 light or when things go wrong, though he does not 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 32 
 
 cherish the thought of coming to the brink of the nar¬ 
 row sea. But “ A Prospect of Heaven makes Death 
 easy so Dr. Watts entitled his verses. He meant that 
 such a prospect helps to overcome the perfectly natural 
 shrinking youth feels at the thought of death. And one 
 sometimes wonders if for many of us, for most perhaps, 
 this is not the most sincere and helpful song of heaven 
 ever written. 
 
 3. A recent writer in The Harvard Theological 
 Review , commenting on the loveliness of this hymn, 
 complains that Watts is as confident in regard to 
 heaven’s features and geography as of the country 
 around Theobald’s, and he is tempted to exclaim, “ No 
 such topography for me! ” Is that attitude just? 
 
 At the farewell dinner in New York to Charles 
 Dickens, at the end of his last visit to this country, the 
 brilliant George William Curtis, in closing his speech, 
 turned to the guest and, bending toward him, said: 
 “ Old ocean bear him safely over! England welcome 
 him with the blossoms of May! ” Is not that the 
 thought running through the words before us? Not 
 the topography of heaven, not the landscape of the un¬ 
 discovered country — only the thought of crossing the 
 narrow sea to find those things of which spring and 
 May blossoms are the symbol: green pastures of peace, 
 the pleasant company of the pure-hearted, the sunlight 
 of God’s Presence over all. 
 
IV 
 
 JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 i Jesus, Lover of my soul, 
 
 Let me to Thy bosom fly, 
 
 While the nearer waters roll, 
 
 While the tempest still is high: 
 Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, 
 
 Till the storm of life is past; 
 
 Safe into the haven guide, 
 
 O receive my soul at last. 
 
 2 Other refuge have I none; 
 
 Hangs my helpless soul on Thee; 
 Leave, ah! leave me not alone, 
 
 Still support and comfort me. 
 
 All my trust on Thee is stayed, 
 
 All my help from Thee I bring; 
 Cover my defenceless head 
 With the shadow of Thy wing. 
 
 3 Wilt Thou not regard my call? 
 
 Wilt Thou not accept my prayer? 
 Lo, I sink, I faint, I fall! 
 
 Lo, on Thee I cast my care; 
 Reach me out Thy gracious hand! 
 
 While I of Thy strength receive, 
 Hoping against hope I stand, 
 
 Dying, and behold I live! 
 
 33 
 
34 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 4 Thou, O Christ, art all I want; 
 
 More than all in Thee I find: 
 
 Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, 
 
 Heal the sick, and lead the blind. 
 
 Just and holy is Thy Name; 
 
 I am all unrighteousness; 
 
 False and full of sin I am, 
 
 Thou art full of truth and grace. 
 
 5 Plenteous grace with Thee is found, 
 
 Grace to cover all my sin; 
 
 Let the healing streams abound; 
 
 Make and keep me pure within. 
 
 Thou of life the Fountain art, 
 
 Freely let me take of Thee; 
 
 Spring Thou up within my heart, 
 
 Rise to all eternity. 
 
 Rev. Charles Wesley, 1740 
 
 Note. The text is taken from John and Charles Wesley’s Hymns 
 and Sacred Poems of 1740, with no change except for the printing 
 of the first word in the English rather than the Latin form. 
 
 This, perhaps the best loved of all English hymns, 
 is associated with the beginnings of the wonderful 
 Methodist Movement in the eighteenth century, of 
 which John Wesley was the leader and his brother 
 Charles the poet laureate. 
 
 THE WESLEYS AND THEIR HYMNS 
 
 About the time when Isaac Watts was writing and 
 publishing his sacred songs, two sons were born in the 
 parsonage of the village of Epworth to the Rev. Samuel 
 Wesley and his noble wife Susannah, “ Mother of the 
 Wesleys.” She was, in fact, the mother of nineteen 
 of them. John was born in 1703, and Charles on Decern- 
 
CHARLES WESLEY 
 
 * 
 
36 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 ber 18 of the very year—1707 — in which Watts pub¬ 
 lished those Hymns and Spiritual Songs that changed 
 the worship of the Independent meeting-houses. The 
 two brothers were destined to carry on Watts’s work, 
 and to win new triumphs for hymn singing in England. 
 So it is worth while to note that the atmosphere of the 
 parsonage was decidedly contemptuous of the old Psalm 
 singing, as it was then carried on in village churches. 
 As rector of one of them the father had to endure it. 
 But he did not suffer it gladly, and said some very harsh 
 things about it. He was himself a poet, and his sons 
 inherited not only their poetic gifts but their purpose to 
 write something to take the place of what John called the 
 “ scandalous doggerel ” of the old metrical Psalms. 
 
 The two boys grew up together in the Epworth par¬ 
 sonage, were at Oxford University together, were both 
 ordained as clergymen of the Church of England, and 
 in October, 1735, sailed together for the new colony of 
 Georgia. John went as a missionary; Charles nomi¬ 
 nally, at least, as secretary to General Oglethorpe, Gov¬ 
 ernor of the colony. In John’s kit there was a copy of 
 Watts’s Psalms and Hymns. And he was especially 
 impressed by the constant singing of a group of German 
 Moravian colonists on board. He learned from them 
 what spiritual songs can do for the spiritual life. He 
 studied German so as to translate some of those so dear 
 to his fellow voyagers. In Charleston he published 
 his first collection, and in Savannah was brought be¬ 
 fore the grand jury, charged with introducing unauthor¬ 
 ized hymns into church worship. 
 
 Neither brother was successful as a missionary, per¬ 
 haps because at that time their religion was of a rather 
 severe and formal type. It was the remarkable spiritual 
 
JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL 
 
 37 
 
 experiences they passed through among the Moravians 
 in London, after their return from America, that first 
 gave to both brothers the peace and joy of a confident 
 faith. These experiences changed their lives and de¬ 
 termined their future careers. Charles started out as 
 an itinerant preacher. John established the first of 
 those meetings, called “ societies,” that were the germ 
 of the Methodist Church. He went on translating and 
 writing hymns until organizing and preaching absorbed 
 all his energies. 
 
 But in Charles’s heart the new happiness seemed to 
 open a fountain of spiritual song that never ceased to 
 flow. He was naturally a poet, and now the writing of 
 religious verse became to him nothing less than a pas¬ 
 sion. In recording a horseback accident on one of his 
 preaching tours, he notes that his sprains and bruises 
 and stunned head “ spoiled my making hymns until 
 next day.” Every experience of his own, every scene 
 and occasion of the Methodist revival, became the in¬ 
 spiration of a new hymn. He wrote his first within a 
 day or two of his conversion. He dictated his last to 
 his wife from his deathbed, “ in age and feebleness ex¬ 
 treme.” The whole number is little if at all short of 
 seven thousand. The best of them are perhaps as 
 good as ever were written. Most of them have some 
 touch of hand or flash of thought that suggests a poet 
 rather than a manufacturer. 
 
 The unchurched masses among whom the Wesleys 
 worked had of course no preference in favor of Psalms. 
 They quickly caught up the new songs, and the singing 
 became a characteristic feature of the field meetings. 
 As the work went on, the hymns served as an outlet 
 for the extravagant enthusiasm of the converts, and at 
 
38 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 the same time kept its expression within limits of reality 
 and refinement. They were printed in cheap tracts and 
 booklets for distribution among the people. As “ so¬ 
 cieties ” were formed, new hymns were provided for 
 the class meeting, the children, and the occasions of wor¬ 
 ship, until finally, in 1780, John Wesley gathered up 
 four hundred and eighty-six of Charles’s compositions, 
 with some others, into a permanent Collection of Hymns 
 for the use of the people called Methodists. 
 
 Charles Wesley was a different type of man from his 
 great brother: not so commanding a personality, a helper 
 rather than a leader, a poet with all a poet’s moods, 
 even moods of deep depression, emotional and impetuous, 
 But probably he was the more lovable of the two men, 
 with a great gift of winning hearts. The future of the 
 Methodist Movement lay very heavy on his own heart. 
 He saw it drifting away from its moorings within the 
 established Church. He loved his Church with all his 
 heart and felt no sympathy whatever with his brother’s 
 arrangements for establishing a separate denomination 
 of Methodists in England and America. He wished 
 the Methodist societies to remain as a part of the 
 Church of England. This end he was unable to accom¬ 
 plish against his brother’s purpose, but as still a clergy¬ 
 man of that Church, he died on March 29, 1788, and 
 was buried in the yard of his parish church, Marylebone. 
 “ His least praise,” his brother said, “ was his talent 
 for poetry.” 
 
 THE HYMN AND ITS AUTHORSHIP 
 
 There are several differing stories of the romantic 
 origin of “ Jesus, Lover of my soul.” The most familiar 
 
JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL 
 
 39 
 
 represents Charles Wesley seated at an open window 
 during a storm, or sometimes on the deck of a vessel 
 laboring under a gale. Then a dove (or sea bird), with 
 its strength all spent, flies to his bosom to find a refuge 
 from the elements. And that inspired the hymn. All 
 these stories cannot be true, and there is no reason to 
 believe that there is a word of truth in any of them. It 
 remains a mystery that worthy people should care to 
 circulate these apocryphal “ incidents ” of which the 
 popular books are so full. 
 
 We do not, in fact, know anything of the occasion of 
 this lyric, except that it is entitled “ In Temptation,” 
 and sounds like a real cry for help out of such an ex¬ 
 perience. And there is no absolute assurance that Charles 
 Wesley wrote it. It may have been written by John. 
 The editors of the English Wesleyan Methodist Hymn 
 Book of 1875 went so far as to affix simply the letter 
 W to this hymn, as a token that they did not know 
 to which of the brothers it should be ascribed. 
 
 The matter stands in this way. The brothers printed 
 jointly three volumes of their earlier verses in 1739, 
 1740, and 1742, with pretty much the same title — 
 Hymns and Sacred Poems. Published by John Wesley, 
 M.A., and Charles Wesley, M.A. This one appeared at 
 page 67 of the 1740 volume. There is nothing in this or 
 the other volumes to show which brother wrote any 
 particular poem. Evidently the Wesleys wished it so. 
 In course of time a tradition grew up that only the 
 translations were John’s and all the original verse was 
 Charles’s. This, we now know, is a mistake, and John’s 
 share is much greater than was supposed. 
 
 What, then, is to be said of “ Jesus, Lover of my soul ”? 
 Which brother wrote it? 
 
40 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Anyone familiar with the Wesleyan poems will say 
 that this one is more in the style and manner of those 
 we know to be Charles’s than of those we know to be 
 John’s. We can go further. John showed later a dis¬ 
 like of anything approaching familiarity in intercourse 
 with God, and especially of the use of terms of human 
 endearment. He turned bitterly against the London 
 Moravians he had loved so well, when they printed 
 hymns with offensive amatory and fleshly images. In 
 a sermon of 1789 he said that familiarity does not so 
 well suit ,the mouth of a worm of the earth when ad¬ 
 dressing himself to the God of heaven, and went on, 
 “ I have indeed particularly endeavored in all the hymns 
 which are addressed to our blessed Lord, to avoid every 
 fondling expression, and to speak as to the most-high 
 God; to Him that is ‘ in glory equal with the Father, 
 in majesty co-eternal.’ ” 
 
 Now if John’s feeling about such matters was the 
 same in 1740 as in 1789, and there are good reasons for 
 thinking it was, then it is practically certain that he 
 would not have written the lines, 
 
 “ Jesu, Lover of my Soul, 
 
 Let me to Thy Bosom fly.” 
 
 John, as the elder brother, took the privilege of criti¬ 
 cizing his brother’s poems very freely. There were 
 many expressions in them which he did not like, and he 
 often altered them before printing. That he did not 
 quite approve the expressions in this hymn is shown 
 by the fact that in selecting Charles’s contributions to 
 the large permanent hymn book of 1780, he left it out 
 altogether. It was not inserted until after his death. 
 On the whole, it seems that we may ascribe “ Jesus, 
 
wn? rh 
 
 XB03S&& 
 
 THE FIRST PRINTING OF THE HYMN 
 
 \ 
 
42 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Lover of my soul ” to Charles Wesley with a fair degree 
 of assurance. The only absolute proof would be the 
 finding of an autograph draft of it in the masses of 
 Wesleyan manuscripts in the London Conference Office. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 i. Many people have claimed John Wesley’s privilege 
 of criticizing this lyric, notably that great lover of 
 sacred song, the late William E. Gladstone. A friend had 
 expressed in his hearing a warm admiration for it, and he 
 had emphatically dissented. And his feelings on the 
 subject were so strong that he was moved to write out 
 his objections, even though immediately about to un¬ 
 dergo an operation for cataract. 
 
 Criticisms of things we love are not very welcome. 
 But it might be worth while to examine the hymn 
 anew in the light of Gladstone’s objections: (i) That 
 it has no unity. A number of ideas are jumbled to¬ 
 gether rather than interwoven. “ This is not a whole, 
 for the parts seem to have no relation to one another.” 
 The theme clearly is that of a soul under stress of a 
 great temptation calling upon Christ for help. Is that 
 theme carried through consistently enough to give unity? 
 (2) That the metaphors are constantly changing and 
 crossing each other in such a way as to cause confusion. 
 Thus Christ is at once a Refuge from a storm at sea, 
 a Pilot into port, an overshadowing Wing, a good 
 Physician, and finally a Fountain of life. What is to be 
 said in explanation or defense on this point? (3) That 
 “ it has no procession. Every hymn should surely have 
 a movement calm, solemn,, and continuous. These zig¬ 
 zags are out of keeping with the nature of the com- 
 
JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL 
 
 43 
 
 position. They jar the mind of a reader and set him 
 questioning where he is and where he is going.” Is 
 it true that there is no development of thought in the 
 hymn? Or is it just possible that there is really a con¬ 
 tinuous “ procession ” of thought in which for some 
 reason Mr. Gladstone’s mind has failed to join and has 
 remained stationary? 
 
 2. Apart from criticism, the question has often been 
 raised whether a lyric so tender and so deeply felt should 
 be used in public worship or reserved for private devo¬ 
 tion. Mr. Ellerton, the hymn writer, confesses that to 
 him “ Jesus, Lover of my soul ” lies on the very border 
 line between the two. An English bishop thinks it “ in¬ 
 expressibly shocking ” to put such words into the 
 mouth of a large and mixed gathering of people. 
 Quaintly enough, actual investigation in the tramps’ 
 ward proved this to be one of three hymns most popular 
 with English tramps. The other two are “ Lead, kindly 
 Light ” and “ Abide with me.” 
 
 3. John Wesley was surely right in objecting to fa¬ 
 miliarity and fondling expressions in our hymns. Might 
 it not be well if some of our modern gospel songs were 
 submitted to that test? It is, however, a question how 
 far these objections apply to the first two lines of this 
 hymn. Charles Wesley used “ Lover ” in the divine 
 and not our human sense, taking it from the apocryphal 
 book, The Wisdom of Solomon: “ But thou sparest all, 
 because they are Thine, O Lord, Thou Lover of souls.” 
 The imagery of the second line is that of St. John lying 
 on the bosom of his Lord. It is true, however, that we 
 are not all St. Johns. A host of editors have proposed 
 alterations of these lines, and have succeeded in com¬ 
 pletely spoiling the poetry of them. 
 
44 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 4. The editors have also tried their hand on the third 
 line. Some of us remember when “ While the billows 
 near me roll ” was the familiar reading. Is there any 
 occasion for alteration? Dr. Julian says: “In life, 
 as in nature, storms are local. One ship may be dashed 
 hither and thither by the fury of the nearer waters, 
 whilst another is sleeping in the far distance on a throb¬ 
 less sea. Men cry for help, not against dangers which 
 are both distant and undefined, but out of the depths 
 of their immediate troubles.” 
 
 5. The Hymnal revised is one of the very few books 
 that print the whole of these five verses just as “ W ” 
 wrote them. The custom is to omit the third verse. 
 But then the third verse is exceptionally good. And 
 if we wish a four-verse hymn, is it not worth while to 
 consider the dropping out of the fourth verse and the 
 retaining of this? 
 
V 
 
 CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Children of the heavenly King, 
 
 As ye journey, sweetly sing; 
 
 Sing your Saviour’s worthy praise. 
 Glorious in His works and ways. 
 
 2 We are traveling home to God 
 In the way the fathers trod; 
 
 They are happy now, and we 
 Soon their happiness shall see. 
 
 3 Shout, ye little flock and blest; 
 
 You on Jesus’ throne shall rest; 
 
 There your seat is now prepared. 
 
 There your kingdom and reward. 
 
 4 Lift your eyes, ye sons of light, 
 
 Zion’s city is in sight; 
 
 There our endless home shall be, 
 
 There our Lord we soon shall see. 
 
 5 Fear not, brethren; joyful stand 
 On the borders of your land; 
 
 Jesus Christ, your Father’s Son, 
 
 Bids you undismayed go on. 
 
 6 Lord, obediently we go, 
 
 Gladly leaving all below; 
 
 Only Thou our Leader be, 
 
 And we still will follow Thee. 
 
 Rev. John Cennick, 1742 
 
 45 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 46 
 
 Note: The text here given is abridged (to its great gain) from 
 the twelve verses of the original as printed by Cennick, in the 
 third part of his Sacred Hymns for the Children of God, in the 
 days of their pilgrimage, London, 1742. The verses selected are 
 the original first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, printed 
 without change, except of spelling and punctuation. 
 
 This is one of the earlier hymns of the great eighteenth 
 century revival, written by an eager young convert, 
 John Cennick. He became a Methodist lay preacher 
 first of all, but soon ranged himself with Whitefield as 
 opposed to Wesley’s theology. In the end he found 
 his true home among the most simple-hearted of all 
 God’s people, the Moravians. 
 
 CENNICK’S STRANGE EXPERIENCE 
 
 When Cennick printed his first little book of hymns 
 he prefixed a sort of confession or spiritual auto¬ 
 biography. It began, “Perhaps it may not be unuseful 
 for some of those, who may read the following Verses, 
 to know the Manner wherein GOD has dealt with the 
 Soul of him who wrote them.” That is still good advice 
 to us if we wish to study Cennick’s, or indeed any of 
 the hymns of the great Revival. Those eighteenth- 
 century hymns are different from most later hymns. 
 They are the outpourings of converts who have passed 
 through such stru 0 gles in finding peace that ever after¬ 
 wards spiritual experiences seemed to them the most 
 real thing in life, and the inward state of one’s soul the 
 only thing that mattered much. The common feature 
 of these experiences, but the feature hardest for an easy¬ 
 going twentieth century Christian to understand, is the 
 dark despairs and acute agonies they had to endure 
 
CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING 
 
 47 
 
 under the grip of “ the conviction of sin.” Some of 
 them were reduced to a disorder of mind and body close 
 to the borders of insanity; but one and all of these con¬ 
 verts credited not only their deliverance but their suffer¬ 
 ings also to the hand of God. Cennick’s case was 
 peculiar only in the degree of his sufferings and in his 
 ability to express the joy of his deliverance. 
 
 He was born in the English town of Reading on Decem¬ 
 ber 12, 1718, being eleven years younger than Charles 
 Wesley. His family was respectable but somewhat im¬ 
 poverished. His mother trained him carefully in the 
 ways of Church of England religion, and the child appears 
 to have been unusually assiduous in attending St. 
 Laurence’s Church. What he and many like him seem 
 to have gained from the religious training of the time 
 was a conscience made sensitive by the fear of penalties, 
 and a constant dread of God that spoiled one’s pleasures 
 but was not allayed by observing church ordinances. 
 
 When Cennick went up to London to learn a trade he 
 fell, no doubt, into more careless ways of living; until, 
 while walking in Cheapside one day in 1735, he was 
 suddenly stricken down with an overwhelming sense of 
 sin, as though felled by God’s hand. He sank at once 
 into an abject fear and hopeless despondency, from 
 which through two bitter years he found no escape. 
 
 Within his conscience seared like a hot iron; without 
 “ everything seemed strange and wild,” and there was 
 no refuge in heaven or earth. He longed to hide himself 
 in some lonely cave and to sustain life on acorns and 
 leaves; hoping indeed that he might not sustain it and 
 yet afraid of the death he craved. He tried fasting, 
 and in his weakened condition began to see apparitions 
 and to hear approaching footfalls of the Devil. He 
 
48 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 shrank from the faces of men, and thought men shrank 
 from him and that friends grew cold. 
 
 Finally—it was in August, 1737 — he resolved in his 
 
 despair to cast himself on God’s mercy and leave the 
 rest with Him. Still waiting on Him in dejection, at 
 home one day in September, he heard “ the Saint’s Bell 
 
CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING 
 
 49 
 
 ring at St. Laurence’s Church for Prayers.” He felt 
 constrained to attend. “ Near the end of the Psalms, 
 when these Words were read: Great are the Troubles 
 of the Righteous but the LORD delivereth him out of 
 them all! And he that putteth his Trust in GOD shall 
 not be destitute: I had just Room to think, Who can 
 be more destitute than me? when I was overwhelmed 
 with Joy, I believed there was Mercy. My Heart 
 danced for Joy, and my dying Soul reviv’d! I heard 
 the Voice of JESUS saying, I am thy Salvation. I no 
 more groaned under the Weight of Sin. The Fear of 
 Hell was taken away, and being sensible that CHRIST 
 loved me, and died for me, 1 rejoiced in GOD, my 
 SAVIOUR.” 
 
 So sudden a change brings its own perplexities. 
 Cennick found help in Whitefield’s newly printed 
 Journal, and sought the counsel of both him and John 
 Wesley. They encouraged him and found a position 
 for him as a teacher in a school for coal miners’ children 
 at Kingswood. There he at once began to preach to 
 the miners and attained what, historically speaking, is 
 his special distinction: he was in all probability the 
 first of the “ lay preachers ” of Methodism. 
 
 “HYMNS FOR THE CHILDREN OF GOD ” 
 
 George Whitefield, and not Wesley, had been the 
 original field preacher, and in the early days of the 
 revival the two men had worked hand in hand. But 
 in 1739, after Whitefield had gone to America on his 
 revival tour, the Wesleys put out a pamphlet bitterly 
 attacking the Calvinistic doctrine of Predestination. 
 “ My dear Brothers,” Whitefield wrote, “ why did you 
 
f 
 
 50 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 throw out the bone of contention ? ” It was a bone of 
 contention indeed. Soon afterward John Wesley notes 
 a marked change in Cennick’s manner toward him. 
 
 When Whitefield came home from America in 1741, 
 the rift widened into a permanent breach between the 
 Methodists and Calvinists, with Whitefield as the leader 
 of the Calvinists. Cennick broke with the Wesleys, 
 became a helper in Whitefield’s revival work, and so 
 continued for four years. 
 
 He had begun to write hymns while a Methodist, 
 but it was during those four years that he printed all 
 of his hymns which are now remembered. In emulation 
 of the Wesleys on the Methodist side, it may have been; 
 but whether so or not, he was for those years as indus¬ 
 trious a maker of hymns as was Charles Wesley himself, 
 printing very nearly five hundred. 
 
 Cennick began to print his hymns in 1741 as Sacred 
 Hymns for the Children of God, in the days of their 
 pilgrimage. So rapid was his production that a second 
 and a third part appeared in 1742. In the year following 
 he published in two parts Sacred Hymns for the use of 
 Religious Societies. Generally composed in DIA¬ 
 LOGUES. By societies he meant companies of people 
 who met together, apart from the church services, to 
 cultivate the religious life. By “ dialogues ” he meant 
 what we call singing antiphonally or responsively. He 
 had in mind the Moravian custom of arranging the 
 people in separate choirs, according to age or sex: one 
 choir singing the first line or lines of each verse, the 
 other responding with the line or lines following. And 
 in his little book he made this practicable by printing 
 some lines of the verses in roman type, and some in 
 italics; like this: 
 
CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING 
 
 51 
 
 “ We sing to Thee, Thou Son of GOD! 
 
 Who Sav’d us by thy Grace: 
 
 We praise Thee, Son of Man! whose Blood 
 
 Redeem’d our fallen Race.” 
 
 The Moravians already had formed societies in Lon¬ 
 don, and very evidently Cennick was being attracted 
 toward them, just as John Wesley was; but in Cennick’s 
 case it was the call of the blood inherited from a Mora¬ 
 vian ancestry and still at work through the quaint 
 compellings of heredity. Cennick did not resist the 
 call. He left Whitefield and joined the Moravians. His 
 later years were spent partly in the spread of 
 Moravianism in England and Ireland, and partly in 
 visiting Germany. He came back to London in great 
 feebleness in June of 1755, and on the fourth of July 
 died there. 
 
 He was a man “ rather below the middle stature,” 
 Rev. Matthew Wilks says, “ of a fair countenance, but 
 of a fairer mind. A good understanding, an open temper, 
 and a tender heart characterized the man.” He was 
 distinguished by “ unaffected humility, deadness to the 
 ■world, a life of communion with God, and a cheerful 
 reliance on a crucified Saviour.” All of which is a good 
 hearing. If John Wesley dubbed Cennick “ that weak 
 man,” we can understand it. A follower who vacillates 
 is always weak to a great and single-hearted leader. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 Of Cennick’s familiar hymns, the one we are now 
 studying appeared in 1742 in the third part of the 
 Sacred Hymns for the Children of God. “ We sing to 
 Thee, Thou Son of God ” appeared a year later in Hymns 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 52 
 
 for the use of Religious Societies. Whitefield liked 
 Cennick’s hymns, and liked his idea of singing in 
 “ Dialogue.’’ It was because Whitefield put these two 
 and others of Cennick’s hymns into the hymn book 
 he made for his London Tabernacle in 1753 that they 
 became so widely known and sung. 
 
 Cennick was very modest about his hymns. “ Of 
 either good poetry, or fine language therein, indeed there 
 is none. A Child wrote them, who is but a young Stu¬ 
 dent in CHRIST’S school ” But they were intended to 
 be songs and not tracts in verse. Cennick was a great 
 believer in “ the ministry of song.” 
 
 It would not be possible to connect our present hymn, 
 or any other of Cennick’s hymns, with any particular 
 outward event or special experience of his life. Never¬ 
 theless we cannot catch the spiritual beauty of this 
 hymn of courage and good cheer until we connect it with 
 the life Cennick was leading. Truly these itinerant 
 preachers of Wesley and Whitefield had a hard time of it 
 — in journeyings often, in weariness and painfulness, in 
 hunger and thirst, and, most of all, in perils from their 
 own countrymen. Their own countrymen, even the best 
 of them, thought them disturbers of the settled order, 
 and the ruder, illiterate element of the people seems 
 to have hated them and their gospel instinctively. 
 Wherever these preachers went, they were met and sur¬ 
 rounded by a rough and often brutal hostility, some¬ 
 times egged on by the local authorities, including even 
 the clergy. 
 
 In June, 1741, Cennick went with some friends to 
 preach at Swindon. But before he could begin, he 
 writes, the mob “ fired guns over our heads, holding 
 the muzzles so near our faces, that Howell Harris and 
 
CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING 
 
 53 
 
 myself were both made as black as tinkers with the 
 powder. We were not affrighted, but opened our 
 breasts, telling them we were ready to lay down our 
 lives for our doctrine. Then they got dust out of the 
 highway, and covered us all over; and then played an 
 engine upon us, which they filled out of the stinking 
 ditches. While they played upon brother Harris, I 
 preached; and, when they turned the engine upon me, 
 he preached. This continued till they spoiled the 
 engine; and then they threw whole buckets of water 
 and mud over us. Mr. Goddard, a leading gentleman 
 of the town, lent the mob his guns, halberd, and engine, 
 and bade them use us as badly as they could, only not 
 to kill us; and he himself sat on horseback the whole 
 time, laughing to see us thus treated.” 
 
 It is such experiences as these, of the very time when 
 our hymn was written, that make its actual setting. 
 And out of them it shines in all of its spiritual beauty — 
 the pluck of an unconquerable purpose, the serenity of 
 an untroubled faith, the good cheer of an incorruptible 
 hope. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 i. The literary critics are not always very kind to 
 our hymns. But we must not hit back and say that 
 the critics themselves are not so spiritual-minded as 
 they ought to be. Sometimes they may be right. As 
 Mr. Toplady said, in the preface to his hymn book in 
 1776: “God is the God of Truth, of Holiness, and of 
 Elegance. Whoever, therefore, has the honor to com¬ 
 pose, or to compile, anything that may constitute a part 
 of His worship, should keep those three particulars, con¬ 
 stantly, in view.” It may be that some of our hymns 
 are not worthy of the God of Elegance. 
 
54 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 It is, then, comforting to know that Mr. Palgrave, 
 Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and editor of The Golden 
 Treasury — still generally regarded as the standard of 
 our lyrical poetry — did not hesitate to include these 
 six verses of Cennick’s in his later Treasury of Sacred 
 Song. These six, it may be added, are only the half 
 of the original hymn. But they are the better half. 
 
 2. These studies are not intended to be “ preachy.” 
 (The writer once read a sermon on this hymn preached 
 by Canon Duncan at St. Stephen’s, Newcastle-upon- 
 Tyne; and he still likes the hymn.) But with his 
 readers’ consent he would venture to say that in his 
 opinion the injunction in the second line of this hymn 
 is as good advice as we are likely to get in this world. 
 The road to heaven is not so hard for most of us as 
 Cennick found it; but it is never easy going. And he who 
 can meet the hard places with a song is the best traveler. 
 
 And that is the great argument in favor of committing 
 hymns to memory. You cannot always carry The 
 Hymnal in your grip “ as ye journey.” 
 
 3. May not Cennick’s hymn be ranged with Watts’s 
 “ There is a land of pure delight,” as one of the un¬ 
 doubtedly wholesome hymns dealing with the hope of 
 heaven? It is, at all events, one of the few hymns on 
 that subject which young people generally have liked to 
 sing. Of course the buoyant melody, arranged from a 
 movement in an instrumental quartet by Ignaz Joseph 
 Pleyel, helps to keep the hymn alive. Pleyel was an 
 Austrian, and it is odd that the tune was for a century 
 called “German Hymn ” by most people. 
 
 Cennick’s hymn may also be compared with Williams’ 
 “ Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah,” as being a dif¬ 
 ferent treatment of the journey of the Children of Israel 
 
CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING 
 
 55 
 
 to the promised country. Williams’ hymn is a prayer 
 for help from the dangers and difficulties of the road. 
 Cennick pictures a sunny-hearted pilgrim, who thinks 
 nothing of the perils of the road in view of the glory 
 beyond that shines on them. But Watts, to get back to 
 “ There is a land of pure delight,” leaves the Children 
 of Israel appraising the width of Jordan from its bank 
 where they are gathered, while he climbs the hill with 
 Moses to “ view the landscape o’er.” 
 
VI 
 
 CHRISTIANS, AWAKE! SALUTE THE 
 
 HAPPY MORN 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Christians, awake! salute the happy morn, 
 Whereon the Saviour of the world was born; 
 Rise to adore the mystery of love, 
 
 Which hosts of angels chanted from above; 
 
 With them the joyful tidings first begun 
 Of God Incarnate and the Virgin’s Son. 
 
 2 Then to the watchful shepherds it was told, 
 Who heard the angelic herald’s voice: “ Behold, 
 
 I bring good tidings of a Saviour’s birth 
 
 To you and all the nations upon earth: 
 
 This day hath God fulfilled His promised word; 
 This day is born a Saviour, Christ the Lord.” 
 
 3 He spake: and straightway the celestial choir 
 In hymns of joy, unknown before, conspire; 
 The praises of redeeming love they sang, 
 
 And heaven’s whole orb with alleluias rang: 
 God’s highest glory was their anthem still, 
 Peace upon earth, and mutual good will. 
 
 4 O may we keep and ponder in our mind 
 God’s wondrous love in saving lost mankind; 
 Trace we the Babe, who has retrieved our loss, 
 From His poor manger to His bitter cross; 
 Treading His steps, assisted by His grace, 
 
 Till man’s first heavenly state again takes place. 
 
 56 
 
CHRISTIANS, AWAKE! SALUTE THE HAPPY MORN 57 
 
 5 Then may we hope, the angelic thrones among, 
 
 To sing, redeemed, a glad triumphal song; 
 
 He that was born upon this joyful day 
 Around us all His glory shall display; 
 
 Saved by His love, incessant we shall sing 
 Eternal praise to heaven’s Almighty King. 
 
 Arranged from a Christmas poem of John Byrom, 1750; verse 4, 
 line 1; verse 5, line 6, altered 
 
 Two of our familiar Christmas hymns are associated 
 with the Methodist side of the eighteenth century re¬ 
 vival and with the Wesleys themselves. One of the 
 friends whose help they asked in preparing their first 
 hymn book after they had returned from Georgia was 
 Dr. John Byrom; and he is the author of “ Christians, 
 awake! ” The other Christmas hymn, “ Hark! the herald 
 angels sing,” was printed by the Wesleys themselves, 
 in 1739, in the earliest of the three collections they named 
 Hymns and Sacred Poems . 
 
 JOHN BYROM AND HIS POEMS 
 
 There is no need of a lingering look at Dr. Byrom’s 
 portrait to assure us that he was what is called a charac¬ 
 ter. From under the low slouched hat with its rim pro¬ 
 jecting like the prow of a racing yacht, the bewigged 
 head bends forward in an inquisitive intentness; and 
 the face is as striking as the hat, with a ruminating 
 look in the eye and a very whimsical but not unkindly 
 mouth. One notes the crook-handled cane and wonders 
 what the color of the long coat may have been. It 
 must have been a very long coat, for Byrom was con¬ 
 spicuously tall. He speaks in his diary of taking walks 
 with John Wesley. Now Wesley was rather short and 
 
58 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 slight, dressed in conventional clerical clothes, and a 
 model of neatness, so that the couple walking side by 
 side must have presented something of a spectacle. 
 
 Underneath these oddities Byrom was very much a 
 gentleman and something of a scholar, a devoted hus¬ 
 band and affectionate father, a loyal friend in fair 
 weather and foul; and in spite of a gift of bubbling 
 humor, he walked the earth in a sort of reverential 
 awe that made life very sacred and God very near. 
 
 He was the son of a linen merchant of Manchester, 
 England, near which city he was born in February, 
 1692 ; and was thus eighteen years younger than Isaac 
 Watts and eleven years older than John Wesley. The 
 biographical dictionaries sum him up as “ poet and 
 stenographer,” and he was already both of these while 
 still at college in Cambridge. While there he invented 
 a new system of shorthand, and also printed in The 
 Spectator for October 6, 1714, a playful pastoral poem 
 called “ Colin and Phoebe,” which attracted more atten¬ 
 tion and admiration than anything he wrote afterwards. 
 When through college he went to the continent to study 
 medicine, and though he never won his diploma he was 
 called “ Doctor ” for the rest of his life. 
 
 Byrom returned to England in *7*18 *amd married a 
 cousin. His elder brother had inherited the family 
 property, and he started to earn a living by teaching 
 his shorthand. His pupils paid him five guineas and 
 swore an oath to keep the secret of his system. They 
 liked him and no doubt had their fun out of him, calling 
 him “ the Grand Master ”; and among them were some 
 very distinguished men. 
 
 Between Byrom and the Wesleys were two bonds — 
 a common love of shorthand and of religion. Charles 
 
? f-t/V/* tf ft 
 
 7 
 
 w/a 
 
 // 
 
 
 4-v 
 
 ■7/ .'/// / 
 
 DR. JOHN BYROM 
 
60 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Wesley adopted Byrom’s system at a very early date, 
 and soon persuaded John to adopt it. Many of their 
 hymns, the diary of Charles, and the vast and invaluable 
 “ Journal ” of John Wesley, were all written in Byrom’s 
 shorthand. 
 
 There was not only a warm friendship between the 
 men, but a religious sympathy deeper than the differ¬ 
 ences of their temperaments and theological views. 
 Byrom was known at Manchester as a High Churchman 
 and a Jacobite — an adherent of the Pretender as 
 against the king. But he did not allow his church- 
 manship to interfere with his wide religious sympathies. 
 It is indeed probable that his deep spirituality alien¬ 
 ated him from the average clergy of that day and pre¬ 
 vented him from becoming a clergyman himself. He 
 was at heart a mystic, caring more about real personal 
 relations with God than about systems of theology or 
 church organizations. He never became a Methodist, 
 and probably never had the peculiar type of religious 
 experience that the great revival produced. But he was 
 sympathetic with the religious work of the Wesleys, at¬ 
 tended their services frequently, and was their warm 
 friend in days when so many despised and ridiculed 
 them. 
 
 The Wesleys consulted him about their first collection 
 of hymns of 1738 and asked him to contribute some. 
 He responded with excellent advice and with transla¬ 
 tions of two French mystical hymns. One of these 
 seems to have been the “Come, Saviour Jesus! from 
 above,” that became a well-known Methodist hymn and 
 is in use up to the present day. It may be that John 
 Wesley’s hand touched it up here and there, as was 
 his way. It is not likely that Byrom helped the Wesleys 
 
CHRISTIANS, AWAKE! SALUTE THE HAPPY MORN 6l 
 
 in actual religious activities. Meditation and study and 
 debate were more to his taste than activity. He liked 
 to do his own thinking and to cultivate lettered ease; 
 to let the world wag while he contemplated it with what 
 he calls in one of his poems “calm content.” 
 
 In 1740 Byrom’s brother died and he inherited the 
 family property. Henceforward shorthand was rather 
 a hobby than a means of livelihood, and he had all the 
 more time for writing poetry. He had always had a 
 gift for meter and for rhyming, and it got so that he 
 seemed to think in verse, as Mr. Henley puts it. Every 
 subject he wanted to argue about or poke fun at seemed 
 to him a suitable subject for poetry. Descriptions, nar¬ 
 ratives, criticisms, speeches, essays, theological dis¬ 
 quisitions as well as hymns — they were all in verse. 
 It is fair, however, to remember that he wrote for the 
 amusement of himself and friends and seldom printed 
 his verses. They were not collected and published until 
 after his death. His versifying, as he grew older, be¬ 
 came more and more religious in its character, and it 
 came to an end only with a long illness. He died on 
 September 26, 1763, and his poems were published in 
 two volumes at Manchester in 1773. 
 
 On July 12 of that year John Wesley read them on a 
 journey from Liverpool to Birmingham, and was de¬ 
 lighted with them. He said they showed all the wit of 
 Dean Swift, with more learning and piety, and expressed 
 some of the finest sentiments that ever appeared in 
 English arrayed in the strongest colors of poetry. The 
 present writer owns a copy of the same edition of the 
 poems that Mr. Wesley read, but has not found there all 
 that he did. The wit and learning and piety are all 
 there, and the charm of a quaint personality, but the 
 
62 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 “ colors of poetry ” have faded out somewhat. Byrom’s 
 verse will have few readers nowadays, but he will be 
 remembered by one of the wittiest of epigrams: 
 
 “ God bless the King, I mean the Faith’s Defender; 
 
 God bless — no Harm in blessing — the Pretender; 
 
 But who Pretender is, or who is King, 
 
 God bless us all — that’s quite another Thing.” 
 
 He will be remembered also by this Christmas carol 
 that may very likely be sung as long as the celebration 
 of that day survives among English-speaking people. 
 
 “ CHRISTMAS DAY FOR DOLLY ” 
 
 On the walls of the librarian’s room of the Chetham 
 Library at Manchester hangs the neatly framed original 
 manuscript of Byrom’s Christmas poem, on a very 
 crowded sheet of note paper. It bears the title “ Christ¬ 
 mas Day for Dolly.” And from this poem, by omitting 
 some of the lines and arranging the remainder into 
 verses which can be sung, our Christmas hymn, “ Chris¬ 
 tians, awake! ” has been made. 
 
 Francis Arthur Jones, in his Famous Hymns and 
 their Authors, tells an attractive little story about the 
 poem. “ It was written in 1745, and the story of its 
 composition is a pretty tale. John Byrom, the author, 
 had several children, but, like many another father, 
 he had his favorite. This child was a little girl named 
 Dolly, who afterwards became Mrs. * Dorothy Byrom. 
 A few days prior to Christmas, 1745, Mr. Byrom, after 
 having had a romp with the favored Dolly, promised 
 to write her something for Christmas Day. It was to 
 
 * Used, at that period, as a courtesy title. 
 
Mjsx, At 
 
 fit fo cuftrre f&c My/ftsy^ftf <Md~ve 
 
 H/ucA #*brfO^dtt/ 0 m<£i 
 
 Mifsl t^LL/Ti Jidjjl?} j~i 7 YA fdf iCfl 
 
 f 9°^ fncaJn&ft > t&/t/cr*itoW*n~ 
 
 1 ' ft- /o tfce UtodtAjuM J/UeferM/if On/ Joi^ 
 
 «* 0 'v. jU > „ 71 
 
 7 
 
 ¥ticLn4f of M& do. 
 
 % Atfh.CthiHx /frtujiA &ne)Ai{krbm. \ 
 
 Jo JtC A£>. f/Ml ("ft jf<rJ Ajl 4 uryru^hl forfa*.* 
 /f 2 crm t 9^7 J*u> fiCir Azineu#' a/ Kc ilnfcf JalM 
 C /j^l. t ^ /*M>*VQ.,A MiaJ in Mn-lftInf C> hi) 
 
 "* ' ^ S&tftf y /ftory X- dl/ftrefj <v /fair , J 
 
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 *AzaJu) tfc *flnftfUt Jtefabj (/oica-feAaQ 
 
 VfcJTi 
 
 'Orvxgoxj flit fa 
 
 • To eaMLStMc <£t£L &e flaAftUj eep^ftfx. 
 
 pA^ftMaik. foorb 
 
 cLom t/ ff<rm 4 y fM‘ ^ 
 
 9n e 2)a&-d. uiy *4*" sMc/M 
 
 fak* hny hrrfrnb /efteAnjirof i 
 PyMVjr to SvZ&na 
 {0 CfttiAA COn/cUftf roc Arty-Sdde eLutAe-- 
 
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 jn ftu/nnj cfjfcf ttoftmcoL kjm? tito/fii* 
 %u tyrcujcj err r<eki^nfVeby-Ju *~ 
 
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 H-CiK<-tr yCo-ry A >aj TauW jukfiu+ri <1 
 ^praM. o/'en? IxcMffc * € hm>p 'Idtxt, 
 
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 /J ^ f Ma,r-f A&pT if’ fr&nj&rx} tft Aarj/ea.)/- 
 
 ytx PypJn a? * 6 'Mi. tAjiUH/e/nfat/- 
 
 (Ml ft' P-CX-rff hMcHi/PAn'McA Mm » 
 
 At PiJ ufic M/JL. ftrox r PcfiPrft ffr-n efAfi'ey. 
 
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 Ml fix- Ml a n/ fe Mu/ pcfher//} ourt/U/M 
 'od/ hnndr/uj Mnk in Jaui/iy (ivlpwdoM 
 dTlt ' - ' " * '■ Hi" ' " ‘ 
 
 fr) 
 
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 l>*Ufh 
 
 Jc ml fl Mry 
 
 **■ prate n* tic* dJ>x «V AJAJd±)rf/net/ooutf}. 
 pnrhi 4 (> poor Manner 
 rc/pfv M Aim /?>& A-*/ UU> lxu/e tf/imM/,, 
 <h u 4 fft.fr ' ft rtf /ux;*/J*f /ul'MmftAl 
 
 ■0 
 
 THE POEM AS BYROM WROTE IT 
 
64 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 be written specially for herself, and no one else. The 
 child, highly honored and delighted, did not fail to re¬ 
 mind her father of his promise each day as Christmas 
 drew nearer. On the morning of the great day, when 
 she ran down to breakfast, she found several presents 
 waiting for her. Among these was an envelope addressed 
 to her in her father’s handwriting. It was the first thing 
 she opened, and to her great delight, proved to be a 
 Christmas carol addressed to her, and to her alone.” 
 Mr. Jones goes on to add that the present creased and 
 crumpled state of the original manuscript comes “ prob¬ 
 ably from being carried about in Miss Dolly’s pocket.” 
 
 It makes a pretty story and one would like to believe 
 it. But how can we? The title of the manuscript does 
 show that Byrom gave it to his daughter. But that 
 he wrote it for her especially is less evident, because the 
 words “ for Dolly ” are added in pencil, as though they 
 were an afterthought. And there is no evidence what¬ 
 ever that Byrom wrote the poem during Dolly’s child¬ 
 hood. She was born on April 26, 1730, and the earliest 
 date we have for the hymn is Christmas, 1750, at which 
 time Dolly was quite a grown-up young lady. In near¬ 
 by Manchester there was a young man, John Wain- 
 wright, who had some part in the music of the old 
 Church of St. Mary the Virgin, now the Cathedral. He, 
 too, had a copy of Byrom’s poem and saw its possibilities 
 as a Christmas carol. He divided it into verses and 
 composed for it the delightful tune to which it is still 
 sung. And on “ Xmas, 1750, the singing men and boys, 
 with Mr. Wainwright ” (in other words, the choir of St. 
 Mary’s) paid Dr. Byrom — or was it Dolly? — the 
 compliment of coming out to his home and singing 
 “Christians, awake! ” beneath his windows. This in 
 
CHRISTIANS, AWAKE! SALUTE THE HAPPY MORN 65 
 
 its way is as pleasing an incident as Mr. Jones’s little 
 story, and it has the quite inestimable advantage of 
 being true. 
 
 The Wesleys did not put their friend’s Christmas 
 
 hymn into any of their hymn books, and it was probably 
 
 unknown to Toplady and the others who soon began to 
 
 make Church of England hymn books. But in those 
 
 days of carol singing Wainwright’s tune attracted atten- 
 
 • 
 
 tion. “ It is instinct with the healthy frost and good 
 cheer of the old-fashioned English Christmas ”; and it 
 was as a Christmas carol rather than a church hymn 
 that the words and tune so happily mated began their 
 career, and became popular in northern England. The 
 Rev. Caleb Ashworth, a Lancashire man, heard and 
 liked the tune, and put it into his tune book printed 
 in 1760, but he divorced it from Byrom’s words and 
 made it a setting for Dr. Watts’s version of the Fiftieth 
 Psalm: 
 
 “ The God of Glory sends his Summons forth, 
 
 Calls the South Nations, and awakes the North.” 
 
 Ashworth’s book had only a local circulation. But in 
 1784 the Rev. Ralph Harrison, another Lancashire man, 
 included the tune in his tune book. His book became 
 very popular and made the tune widely known. Har¬ 
 rison’s book found its way into this country, and in 
 various American editions of “ Watts’s Psalms ” in the 
 first half of the nineteenth century the Fiftieth Psalm 
 is marked to be sung to “ Walworth ”; and on turning 
 to the tune books we find that Walworth was simply 
 Wainwright’s tune under another name. It is unlikely 
 that it was much sung. Congregations of the time were 
 not musical and would shrink from six lines of ten 
 
66 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 syllables. Perhaps sometimes the choirs attempted to 
 render it for them. 
 
 Over in England Byrom’s hymn had never been lost 
 sight of. Every Christmas it was sung to Wainwright’s 
 tune, but as an out-of-doors carol rather than in church. 
 It was the poet Montgomery who made a church hymn 
 out of it. He arranged it for the hymn book he com¬ 
 piled for his friend, the Rev. Thomas Cotterill, in 1819; 
 and from that book it has passed into most of the im¬ 
 portant church hymnals both in England and America. 
 The Presbyterians in Scotland and the Methodists in 
 America are exceptional, in that they have not yet 
 learned the pleasure of saluting the happy morn with 
 “ Christians, awake! ” 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. What is the difference between a Christmas hymn 
 and a Christmas carol? A hymnologist would say that 
 “ Hark! the herald angels sing ” was a hymn, and 
 that “ Christians, awake! ” and “ O little town of Beth¬ 
 lehem ” were carols. Is it because a carol treats the sub¬ 
 ject with a child’s simplemindedness and from a child’s 
 point of view? Or does the distinction refer only to the 
 character of the music used? 
 
 2. The reader has before him the full text of Byrom’s 
 poem as first written, except the last six lines, which he 
 can supply from The Hymnal revised. He is in the 
 same position as the editor of a hymn book who wants 
 to use the poem, but is confronted with the problem 
 of arranging it so that it can be sung. Probably no 
 editor ever solved that problem to his complete satis¬ 
 faction, and the reader can if he pleases apply his own 
 
CHRISTIANS, AW ARE l SALUTE THE HAPPY MORN 67 
 
 wits to it and try for a better arrangement. The con¬ 
 ditions are: 
 
 (1) Some lines must be omitted. The poem is too 
 long for a hymn. 
 
 (2) There should be the fewest possible alterations. 
 
 (3) The verses must be of six lines to fit Wain- 
 wright’s tune. Nobody wants to sing it to anything 
 else. 
 
 (4) Montgomery made six verses, which are too 
 many. An arrangement in four that kept the train of 
 thought unbroken would be ideal. 
 
 3. There are two types of hymn tunes. There are 
 choir tunes, of delicate beauty, that one likes to listen 
 to rather than to sing. And there are people’s tunes 
 that make one feel like joining in to swell the volume 
 of sound. “ Stockport ” is just such a tune. It repre¬ 
 sents a period when people were getting tired of the old 
 Psalm tunes sung in church, and church musicians 
 were seeking a somewhat lighter and more cheerful 
 type of tune. When one catches the spirit of its bluff 
 heartiness and the swing of its melody it is still quite 
 irresistible. If not sung in our churches as often as one 
 might wish, that may be because it makes no special 
 appeal to the choir, or because our congregations have 
 not become familiar with it. 
 
VII 
 
 GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah, 
 
 Pilgrim through this barren land; 
 
 I am weak, but Thou art mighty, 
 
 Hold me with Thy powerful hand: 
 
 Bread of heaven, 
 
 Feed me till I want no more. 
 
 2 Open now the crystal fountain, 
 
 Whence the healing stream doth flow; 
 
 Let the fire and cloudy pillar 
 
 Lead me all my journey through: 
 
 Strong Deliverer, 
 
 Be Thou still my Strength and Shield. 
 
 3 When I tread the verge of Jordan, 
 
 Bid my anxious fears subside; 
 
 Death of deaths and hell’s Destruction, 
 
 Land me safe on Canaan’s side: 
 
 Songs of praises 
 I will ever give to Thee. 
 
 Written in Welsh by the Rev. William Williams, 1745. 
 In making an English version, about 1772, he used a 
 translation of the first verse already (1771) made by the 
 Rev. Peter Williams, and himself translated the second 
 and third verses. 
 
 Note: The text of the three verses as here given is that of the 
 leaflet of 1772 prepared for Lady Huntingdon’s College at Trevecca, 
 without change except the capitalizing of “ Destruction ” in verse 
 three. A fourth verse given there is omitted but is quoted in the 
 course of this chapter. 
 
 68 
 
GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH 69 
 
 This hymn takes us back to the great revival in the 
 old country and the stirring scenes of the seventeen- 
 forties amid which it was written. But it carries us for 
 the moment across the border into Wales, for it was 
 written originally in the Welsh and not the English 
 language. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 In our study of “ Children of the heavenly King ” we 
 left Cennick and Howell Harris at Swindon in 1741, 
 preaching antiphonally. As the mob squirted mud on 
 each in turn, the other preached. Harris was a young 
 Welsh layman of the robust and hearty type; he had 
 already lighted the flame of revival in Wales, while the 
 Wesleys were still in Georgia. He began first to visit 
 from house to house, and then to preach to the people 
 who thronged to hear him. He made many converts 
 and gathered them into “ societies ”; and he drew to 
 his side many preachers, some of them from the estab¬ 
 lished Church itself. Among them, and the one who 
 most interests us, was William Williams, author of 
 “ Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah.” 
 
 When John Wesley went on a preaching tour in Wales, 
 he found this band of preachers already at work; and 
 with a great advantage over himself, who could speak 
 no Welsh. Howell Harris was a Calvinist, but he and 
 Wesley loved each other instinctively, and each re¬ 
 joiced in the other’s success. But when the split in the 
 revival forces came in 1741, the Welsh preachers took 
 Whitefield’s side. “ The people are wounded by scores, 
 and flock under the Word by thousands,” Harris wrote 
 him in 1742. And in the year following the Welsh 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 70 
 
 Calvinistic Methodist Church was organized, with 
 Whitefield in the moderator’s chair. 
 
 The revival preachers were much hindered by the 
 lack of spiritual and warm-hearted hymns in Welsh to 
 stir the people’s hearts. In Wales, as in England, the 
 parish churches were still singing metrical Psalm ver¬ 
 sions, and spiritual songs were few. Soon after organiz¬ 
 ing the Calvinistic Methodists, Harris summoned a 
 
 THE REV. WILLIAM WILLIAMS 
 
 group of preachers to a contest, of a sort not unfamiliar 
 in fervid and musical Wales, at competitive hymn 
 writing. The prize fell easily to William Williams, who 
 had the poet’s passion and a gift of verse-writing. 
 Therefore it was not very long before he was recognized 
 as poet laureate of the Welsh revival. 
 
 His hymns, with their passion and sweetness, and an 
 underlying tone of pathos, seemed at once to fly abroad 
 
GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH 
 
 71 
 
 as if the winds carried them. He began to gather and 
 print them, under the title of Halleluiah in 1744; and 
 in a second part published in 1745 appeared the Welsh 
 original of “ Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah.” A 
 new series entitled Hosannah , began to appear in 1751, 
 and was complete in 1754. Other volumes followed at 
 later dates. Williams also wrote and published Eng¬ 
 lish hymns: fifty-one of them as Hosannah to the Son 
 of David in 1759, and seventy-one more as Gloria in 
 excel sis in 1772. 
 
 “ Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah ” had been put 
 into English by another Williams (the Rev. Peter) in 
 1771. William Williams adopted his colleague’s first 
 verse, himself translated the second and third, added a 
 fourth, and printed the whole English version in a leaflet, 
 about 1772, with this heading: 
 
 A FAVOURITE HYMN, 
 sung by 
 
 Lady Huntingdon’s Young Collegians. 
 
 Printed by the desire of many Christian friends. 
 
 Lord, give it Thy blessing! 
 
 Lady Huntingdon, of whom we shall hear again, 
 was a great lady, whose whole heart and soul were in 
 Whitefield’s work. She had founded a college at 
 Trevecca in South Wales to educate young preachers, 
 and it was in the college chapel that the “ many Chris¬ 
 tian friends ” had heard the hymn. It plainly made a 
 great impression. Lady Huntingdon put it into the books 
 used in the chapels she had built. Whitefield added it 
 in 1774 to his popular hymn book used in the London 
 Tabernacle. Toplady put it into his collection of 1776, 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 72 
 
 dedicated to the God of Elegance. From these books 
 its use spread far and wide. Few English hymns have 
 started so auspiciously and held the pace so long. 
 
 THE POET OF THE WELSH REVIVAL 
 
 William Williams was born at Cefn-y-Coed in 1717, 
 of parents who were active dissenters from the Church 
 of England system, which was established by law in 
 Wales also. His education was carried on with a view 
 to making him a physician; but Providence had other 
 uses for him. 
 
 On a Sunday morning in 1738 he happened to attend 
 a lifeless service in the parish church of the little 
 village of Talgarth. On leaving the church the con¬ 
 gregation, instead of scattering to their homes, gathered 
 about the short, sturdy figure of a man who began to 
 preach from one of the flat gravestones, exhorting the 
 people to repent and escape the wrath to come. The 
 preacher was Howell Harris, and his impassioned oratory 
 could sway such a Welsh crowd as the wind sways the 
 wheat. He reached the heart of young Williams, and 
 changed his life. The young man left the churchyard 
 with the purpose of devoting his life to the ministry. 
 
 In 1740, Williams was ordained deacon in the Church 
 of England, and was given a small curacy up in the 
 mountains. But Howell Harris was his real bishop; 
 his heart was with the revival movement and not with 
 the Establishment. With several other clergy of the 
 established Church, he gave up his curacy and joined 
 the dissenting revivalists, though still “ in deacon’s 
 orders.” 
 
 He became an itinerant preacher, and never obtained 
 
GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH 73 
 
 fuller orders in the ministry of the Church of England. 
 That his bishop refused them is often stated, but does 
 not seem to be clearly proved. Whatever the bishop 
 may have thought of his course, Williams made an 
 extraordinary record as an itinerant evangelist. He 
 took the whole of Wales for his parish. His travels for 
 forty-three years are said to make an average of 2230 
 miles a year, at a time when there were no railroads and 
 few stage-coaches. In this way the greater pakt of 
 Williams’ life was spent, not in a preacher’s study, but 
 in the great world of out of doors. The breaking of 
 dawn, the play of sunlight and shadow, the changing 
 cloud effects, the gathering storm, the approach of twi¬ 
 light, and the darkness of night — these were the things 
 he lived with. The wonderful scenery of his native land, 
 with its visions of mountain and valley, brooks rushing 
 down the hills and placid rivers among the fields, the 
 seashore with its rocks and harbors — all these he saw 
 every day with a poet’s eye. 
 
 And just as the gospel story itself seems always to 
 have the landscape of Palestine for a setting and so 
 many of Christ’s sayings reveal his observation of na¬ 
 ture, so Williams’ poetry is set in the landscape of 
 Wales, and his hymns, the Welsh ones especially, are 
 full of allusions to the scenery amid which he lived. 
 The world of nature became to him a parable of the 
 world of grace. Even the unattractive opening of his 
 “ O’er the gloomy hills of darkness ” is said to reproduce 
 an early morning vision of the Prescelly hills looming 
 dark through the mist, while in the east the dawn was 
 breaking up the gloom with the promise of a new day. 
 
 It was a picturesque life, but it was not an easy one; 
 for nature is not always kind. It involved much ex- 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 74 
 
 posure and constant fatigue. It incurred also that 
 menace of the mob of which all these revival preachers 
 were victims. There is still extant a letter of Howell 
 Harris to Whitefield describing an attack of ruffians 
 armed with guns and staves, made upon Williams while 
 preaching in Cardiganshire, in which he was beaten with¬ 
 out mercy. And Harris writes that the attack was in¬ 
 stigated by “ a gentleman of the neighborhood.” Such 
 self-sacrificing years of evangelism and those weary 
 thousands of miles sum up the remainder of Williams’ 
 life: (not that many of the rich or great of the earth 
 were concerned to compute the sum. But his verse 
 must have made him a certain reputation outside of 
 Wales, for the eminently genteel Gentleman’s Magazine 
 of 1791 gave him quite a nice obituary notice. 
 
 “ After languishing some time, he finished his course 
 and life together, January nth, 1791, aged 74.” That 
 sounds as if the last long mile had been the hardest of 
 all. He was buried in the churchyard of an obscure 
 Welsh village, and, as the inscription upon his grave¬ 
 stone reads, “ He waits here the coming of the Morning 
 Star.” 
 
 Williams was evidently one of those sweet and wist¬ 
 ful souls who cross this world as pilgrims and strangers, 
 with their eyes fixed on a better one. He endured and 
 magnified the rough lot of a revival preacher of those 
 days, abounded in labors, and suffered perils for his 
 Master’s sake. His load was lightened a bit by a native 
 sense of humor, but he needed for himself and he 
 preached to others the consolations of the gospel. And 
 it is altogether pleasant to remember him as we sing 
 his pilgrim hymn. 
 
 But we should be doing a great injustice to Williams’ 
 
GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH 
 
 75 
 
 memory if we were to think of him simply as the author 
 of one English hymn that perhaps we like to sing. His 
 great work as a religious poet was done in his own 
 Welsh tongue. We who, like John Wesley, cannot speak 
 Welsh and who know much less of Wales than he did, 
 can hardly understand how great a place the hymns of 
 Williams hold in Welsh religious history and Welsh 
 hearts. On this subject it is better to let one of his 
 countrymen speak out of his personal knowledge. The 
 Rev. H. Elvet Lewis, himself a poet, writes: “ What Paul 
 Gerhardt has been to Germany, what Watts has been to 
 England, that and more has William Williams been to 
 the little principality of Wales. His hymns have both 
 stirred and soothed a whole nation for a hundred years; 
 they have helped to fashion a nation’s character and to 
 deepen a nation’s piety.” They have been sung, Mr. 
 Lewis goes on to say, by the shepherd on moor and 
 mountain, by the blacksmith at his anvil, by the miner 
 underground, by the milkmaid of an early morning, by 
 the mother beside the cradle, by the funeral procession 
 accompanying the dead to the long home, by the young 
 in their hour of temptation and the veteran in his failing 
 strength, and by the family of the Lord Christ at the 
 breaking of the bread in His house. “ His hymns be¬ 
 came the sacred ballads of the nation. As Luther sang 
 Germany into Protestantism, so did Williams sing the 
 Wales of the eighteenth century into piety.” 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 i. The writer of this study is quite out of sympathy 
 with any movement to revive the name “ Jehovah ” in 
 everyday use. And he hopes that the rendering “ Je- 
 
76 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 liovah is my shepherd ” (Ps. 23 : 1) in what is called the 
 “ American Standard Bible ” may never become the 
 standard of our nurseries and schools. As a title of God, 
 the Hebrew word rendered “ Jehovah ” seems to belong 
 exclusively to His people of an older time. It is archaic 
 and unfamiliar to our Christian habits of speech; and 
 to introduce it into the Twenty-third Psalm seems to 
 disconnect the Psalm from our present-day life. But 
 in this particular hymn the case is quite different. The 
 poet is trying to recreate the Old Testament atmosphere, 
 and is employing the journey of the Children of Israel 
 as a symbol of the Christian life. He almost makes us 
 feel ourselves a part of the marching host, and the 
 imagination without an effort thinks of God as Jehovah. 
 
 To the writer the phrase “ Great Jehovah ” here used 
 has also the surreptitious attraction of a patriotic sug¬ 
 gestion ; for he finds himself unable to read or sing the 
 first line without a momentary vision of Ethan Allen 
 knocking at the door of Fort Ticonderoga and demand¬ 
 ing its surrender “ In the name of the Great Jehovah 
 and the Continental Congress.” 
 
 2. Garrett Horder, the English hymnologist, twice 
 says in his Hymn Lover that Newman’s “ Lead, kindly 
 Light ” has almost supplanted “ Guide me, O Thou 
 Great Jehovah.” Does this remark tally with our own 
 observation and experience? 
 
 If so, we may remember that Cardinal Newman was 
 well aware that Dykes’s tune had carried his verses into 
 popularity. And we may well ask if Williams’ hymn is 
 not in need of a deeply felt, elevated, and melodious 
 tune that will fitly mate with the words. If the hymn 
 is a little rough, it is not more so than a marching song 
 ought to be. It is strong and full of feeling and dra- 
 
HYMNS 
 
 207 $ntat 
 
 Ciiersalem. M. 8.7.4. Alaw Gymreig 
 
 i«j' Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch 
 Fi, bererin gwael ei wedd, 
 
 Nad oes ynof nerth na bywyd, 
 
 Fel yh gorwedd yn y bedd: 
 ere w HQllalluog 
 
 Vdyw'r un a’ra cw>d i’r lan. 
 
 mf Guide me, 0 Thou Great Jehovah, 
 Pilgrim through this barren land; 
 p I am weak {eves) but Thou art mighty. 
 Hold tne with Thy powerful hand: 
 
 / Bread of heaven, 
 
 Feed me now and evermore. 
 
 THE HYMN AS SET IN THE HYMNAL OF THE CALVINISTIC 
 
 METHODIST CHURCH 
 
 (Note that the fifth line is sung three times.) 
 
78 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 matic force. It wants a tune with a thrill in it. Of 
 the tunes provided in The Hymnal revised, Lowell 
 Mason’s “ Oliphant ” begins impressively, but soon goes 
 all to pieces; Viner’s “ Dismissal ” is easy to sing, but 
 does not appeal to the imagination and the feelings as 
 the words do. It seems as if their true setting were yet 
 to seek. But might not our search end happily with 
 the tune “ Caersalem,” here printed? It is the tune to 
 which the original hymn is sung in Wales itself. The 
 Welsh people have understood it better than we have. 
 We have thought of it as timid and pathetic; they have 
 thought of it as resolute and confident. And in their 
 tune we hear the trumpeters at the head of the march¬ 
 ing host sounding forth the clear call of faith, and can 
 catch the response from every quickened heart, 
 
 “ I am weak, but Thou are mighty, 
 
 Hold me with Thy powerful hand.” 
 
 3. In translating his hymn for Lady Huntingdon’s 
 college, Williams added a fourth verse, which reads: 
 
 “ Musing on my habitation, 
 
 Musing on my heav’nly home, 
 
 Fills my soul with holy longings: 
 
 Come, my Jesus, quickly come; 
 
 Vanity is all I see; 
 
 Lord, I long to be with Thee! ” 
 
 That the addition spoils the hymn is perhaps hardly a 
 topic for discussion. It is as if the new verse said, “ I 
 was not really marching in the open: only meditating 
 here in my study.” 
 
 4. What is the meaning of “ Death of deaths and hell’s 
 Destruction”? And should “Destruction” be capital¬ 
 ized ? Was Mr. Horder, whom we have already referred 
 
GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH 
 
 79 
 
 to, justified in saying that the hymn is “ disfigured by 
 the unpoetic line, ‘ Death of deaths and hell’s destruc¬ 
 tion ’ ” ? The phrase seems certainly to have worried 
 a good many people who either did not understand it 
 or else did not like it. The hymnal of the American 
 Methodists has cut the line out and substituted “ Bear 
 me through the swelling current.” 
 
VIII 
 
 LORD, I AM THINE, ENTIRELY THINE 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Lord, I am Thine, entirely Thine, 
 
 Purchased and saved by blood Divine; 
 
 With full consent Thine I would be, 
 
 And own Thy sovereign right in me. 
 
 2 Grant one poor sinner more a place 
 Among the children of Thy grace; 
 
 A wretched sinner lost to God, 
 
 But ransomed by Emmanuel’s blood. 
 
 3 Thine would I live, Thine would I die. 
 
 Be Thine through all eternity: 
 
 The vow is past beyond repeal; 
 
 Now will I set the solemn seal. 
 
 4 Here, at that cross where flows the blood 
 That bought my guilty soul for God, 
 
 Thee my new Master now I call, 
 
 And consecrate to Thee my all. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Davies. Published 1769 
 
 Note: The hymn was written in Virginia before 1759, but first 
 printed in Dr. Gibbons’ London hymn book after Davies’ death 
 (1769). The four verses given above are taken from that book: 
 three other verses there found are quoted under “ Some Points for 
 Discussion.” 
 
 80 
 
LORD, 1 AM THINE, ENTIRELY THINE 
 
 8 l 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF HYMN SINGING AMONG 
 AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS 
 
 Whitefield, in his zeal to spread the great revival, 
 made no more of the long voyage to the American 
 colonies than of crossing the border into Wales. Seven 
 times he came, and on his seventh missionary tour died 
 of exhaustion in the home of the Presbyterian pastor 
 at Newburyport, Massachusetts, and was buried be¬ 
 neath the Presbyterian church there. An elaborate 
 cenotaph stands foursquare beside the pulpit, and in the 
 crypt beneath they still show you Whitefield’s skull and 
 bones within the glass lid of his coffin, shrined like “ the 
 relics ” of a saint. 
 
 Sitting in the church one Sunday of the summer of 
 1922 the writer tried to picture those wonderful evan¬ 
 gelistic tours of the great preacher: the posting from 
 town to town without rest; the stir of arrival with the 
 eager greetings of his sympathizers pressing close, and 
 from the background cold looks, even occasionally a 
 stone; the quickly gathering throng so soon under the 
 spell of his oratory, sometimes so wrought upon that 
 their cries of distress almost drowned that marvelous 
 voice; the flames of religious excitement rising higher 
 and spreading from place to place into a conflagration 
 that seemed to cover the land. For his heart-searching 
 gospel was a sword rather than a message of peace. It 
 “ set a man at variance against his father, and the 
 daughter against her mother ” and disrupted the house¬ 
 holds of faith. Most of the edifices of his own Church 
 of England and many of other denominations shut their 
 doors against him; and the Presbyterian Church was 
 rent into two rival and contentious synods, the one of 
 
82 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 his supporters, the other of his opponents. It mattered 
 little about the closing of the churches, for no building 
 could hold the throngs, no opposition could quench the 
 flames of the revival that spread into a “ Great Awak¬ 
 ening ” which changed the face of American religion; 
 most of all, perhaps, the face of American Presbyterian¬ 
 ism. Presbyterians of our time seem hardly aware of 
 the influence of Whitefield in unmaking and remaking 
 their Church. 
 
 Sitting that day in the Newburyport church the writer 
 looked at Whitefield’s monument, but it seemed to him 
 that the hymn books in every pew were an even greater 
 monument. For it was that “ Great Awakening ” which 
 turned the Presbyterian Church in America from a 
 Psalm singing into a hymn singing Church. They were 
 still conscientiously singing the old metrical Psalms 
 (“ Rous’s Version ” mostly) when Whitefield came and 
 stirred men’s hearts to the depths with his impassioned 
 gospel. To such overcharged feelings singing affords a 
 natural relief. But both preacher and hearers felt that 
 this new preaching and the old metrical Psalmody did 
 not fit. As Whitefield and his helpers made the cross to 
 shine before men’s eyes, their hearts demanded songs 
 that caught and reflected the glory of that cross. Wher¬ 
 ever the revival spread, a spontaneous movement began 
 to substitute the evangelical Psalms and hymns of Dr. 
 Watts for the familiar Psalm versions. In the Presby¬ 
 terian churches that movement began early. It met vio¬ 
 lent opposition and roused that bitter “ Psalmody Con¬ 
 troversy ” which makes one of the epochs of that 
 Church’s history. But it never halted until, after years 
 of strife and even disruption, it had borne down the 
 opposition of “ the Psalm singers ” and made that 
 
LORD, I AM THINE, ENTIRELY THINE 83 
 
 Church the hymn singing body it is to-day. We who 
 love hymns as one of God’s best gifts might well pause 
 to remember how hardly our fathers won for us the 
 right to sing them. For that is true of all denominations 
 that bear the impress of Calvin’s hand. 
 
 THE FIRST HYMNS OF AMERICAN PRESBY¬ 
 TERIANISM 
 
 The hymn we are studying is one of the landmarks of 
 the movement just described. It was written by Samuel 
 Davies, the most brilliant of Presbyterian clergymen in 
 the colonies. He was among the first to chafe under 
 the yoke of the old Psalmody and on his own responsi¬ 
 bility to introduce human hymns into his services. He 
 was the earliest Presbyterian hymn writer in the col¬ 
 onies. More than that, he was the earliest American 
 hymn writer of any denomination who wrote hymns 
 still kept in our hymn books and sung by our congre¬ 
 gations. 
 
 The story of the hymn takes us into Virginia. And 
 we may think of Virginia as the colony most nearly a 
 reproduction of eighteenth century England — in its 
 laws and institutions, its moral conditions and social 
 prejudices. Among other things the English Church 
 was established and rigorously upheld both by law and 
 custom. It was bad form socially to be a dissenter, and 
 unlawful for dissenters to meet for worship. When 
 Whitefield came he was received as a minister of the 
 Church of England, but (perhaps for that reason) his 
 work there was less effective than elsewhere. 
 
 It seems to have been a “ one-eyed Robinson ” who 
 kindled the spark of revival. And a few of “ the awak¬ 
 ened,” who found no help in religion as established, be- 
 
84 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 gan about 1743 to meet in the home of Samuel Morris 
 to listen to his reading of Whitefield’s printed sermons. 
 Similar gatherings began in other houses, and it was 
 eventually determined to build meeting-houses in which 
 the gospel might be freely preached. 
 
 The “ Newly awakened in Hanover County ” put 
 themselves under the care of the “ Newside Presby¬ 
 terians,” as Whitefield’s supporters were called. But 
 Church and State took alarm. The court demanded the 
 reasons for absence from the church services, and the 
 Governor issued an order against the meetings of the 
 “ New Lights.” While their trials were still pending the 
 Presbytery of Newcastle, Delaware, ordained young 
 Samuel Davies with a view to shepherding these new 
 congregations. He succeeded in getting from the Gen¬ 
 eral Court of Virginia a special license to preach to 
 them, and was wonderfully successful with two extreme 
 classes, the gentlemen and the black slaves. He was so 
 touched by the singing of the latter that he sent to 
 England for supplies of Watts’s “ Psalms and Hymns,” 
 as he felt those warmer evangelical strains made more 
 appeal to the emotional blacks than the old metrical 
 Psalm versions. To Davies, as to most of the preachers 
 who favored “ human hymns,” the great office of the 
 hymn was to enforce the appeal of the sermon. When 
 he could not find a hymn in Watts suitable to the ser¬ 
 mon in hand, he wrote one of his own in Watts’s style 
 and manner. His hymns were composed in the glow 
 of sermon-writing, and put into verse the points he most 
 wished to impress upon the heart and conscience. He 
 gave them out line by line to be sung after the sermon, 
 and sometimes when requested to print a particular 
 sermon, he printed the appropriate hymn also at the end. 
 
SAMUEL DAVIES 
 
86 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Most of his hymns, and of course most of his sermons 
 also, remained unprinted during his life. But Davies, 
 while in England on a mission to raise money for 
 Princeton College, had formed a warm friendship with 
 Dr. Thomas Gibbons, an influential pastor in London, 
 and a friend by the way both of Dr. Watts and Lady 
 Huntingdon. In 1757, Davies, getting up from a dan¬ 
 gerous illness, wrote Dr. Gibbons that he wanted to be 
 useful after he was dead, and had put in his will an 
 order to transmit all his sermon manuscripts to Dr. 
 Gibbons, to publish such as might promise to do good. 
 And so, after Davies’ death in 1761, his manuscript ser¬ 
 mons (with the appended hymns) were boxed up in 
 Princeton and made the long voyage to England in 
 safety. 
 
 Dr. Gibbons got ready enough sermons to fill three 
 volumes, and printed them in 1765. They were so success¬ 
 ful that he published other volumes later, and all have 
 often been reprinted since. In his preface he spoke of 
 the hymns and expressed a purpose of printing them also 
 in the future. This he did in a hymn book of his own, 
 Hymns adapted to Divine Worship, published in 1769: 
 sixteen of them in all with this note, “ The Pieces in the 
 following Miscellany ascribed to the Rev. Mr. Davies, 
 were found in his Manuscripts intrusted with the Editor.” 
 So it was that eight years after Davies had been laid to 
 rest at Princeton his hymns were given to the world in 
 far-off London, as the last kindly office of the hand of 
 friendship. 
 
 Dr. Gibbons’ hymn book reached a small circle, but 
 Dr. John Rippon gave a wider circulation to seven of 
 Davies’ hymns he took from it into his popular Baptist 
 Selection of 1787. The particular hymn we are now 
 
LORD, I AM THINE, ENTIRELY THINE 87 
 
 studying he spoiled by cutting it down to two verses and 
 changing the first line to a question, “ Lord, am I Thine, 
 entirely Thine ? ” Perhaps that is why it is so little 
 used in England. The one best known there is “ Great 
 God of wonders! all Thy ways,” which has been found 
 in over a hundred English hymn books. Rippon’s muti¬ 
 lated text of the present hymn was copied into several 
 early books in this country. But when the Presbyterian 
 Church in the U.S.A. ventured to make its own Psalms 
 and Hymns in 1830, “ Lord, I am Thine ” was included 
 as Dr. Gibbons had printed it. It has been a standard 
 hymn ever since and is familiarly used also by the Re¬ 
 formed, Baptist, Congregationalist, Methodist, and Luth¬ 
 eran Churches. In how many hearts is it tenderly as¬ 
 sociated with the hour of self-surrender and the scene 
 of the first Communion! 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE HYMN 
 
 Some twenty-three miles below Wilmington, in New¬ 
 castle County, Delaware, stands a colonial Presbyterian 
 church known as “ Old Drawyer’s,” which is still the 
 shrine of a yearly pious pilgrimage. On a farm not more 
 than twelve miles away Samuel Davies was born, 
 November 3, 1723, of plain Welsh parents. He was 
 educated at the academy of Samuel Blair at Fagg’s 
 Manor, who also prepared him for his ordination by the 
 Presbytery of Newcastle in February, 1747. 
 
 Davies’ work in Virginia was made difficult at first 
 by a physical breakdown supposed to indicate a hopeless 
 stage of consumption, and to this was added the sorrow 
 of a young wife’s death. But he went bravely on, often 
 preaching by day when so ill that attendants had to sit 
 
88 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 up with him by night. He recovered his health, and it 
 was probably on account of his persuasive eloquence 
 that he was chosen to go abroad with Gilbert Tennent 
 on behalf of Princeton College. 
 
 Coming back in February, 1755, he found the Virginia 
 settlements greatly agitated at the aggressions of the 
 French and Indian alliance. The alarm spread when, 
 in July, the little army of General Braddock sent out to 
 capture Fort Duquesne was defeated, with only a rem¬ 
 nant saved by the courage of George Washington, then 
 a youth of twenty-three. The always fervid preacher 
 now became a passionate patriot, arousing Virginia by 
 his call to arms. 
 
 It was in printing a sermon preached to Captain Over¬ 
 ton’s Company of Independent Volunteers in August of 
 the same year that Davies added the prophetic footnote 
 so often quoted, “ I may point out to the public that 
 heroic youth, Col. Washington, whom I cannot but hope 
 Providence has hitherto preserved, in so signal a manner, 
 for some important service to his country.” 
 
 Three years later Davies was called to succeed the 
 famous Jonathan Edwards as president of Princeton 
 College. He declined and only under the pressure of a re- 
 election consented to leave his beloved Virginia. He 
 took to Princeton great gifts and a great reputation, but 
 had filled the office hardly more than eighteen months 
 when he caught a cold to which he succumbed, dying on 
 February 4, 1761, at the age of thirty-six. His grave 
 now makes one of the famous Presidents’ Row at Prince¬ 
 ton, where he lies next to Jonathan Edwards. 
 
 Davies was not only the most brilliant but quite the 
 most engaging figure of colonial Presbyterianism. Ma- 
 kemie may have been a greater administrator, but one 
 
T* 
 
 ^ V~> **•*1 
 
 <r 
 
 
 V* ^ ,?\j! ^ 
 
go 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 imagines him a little rough. Gilbert Tennent in early 
 life was possibly an equally effective preacher, but he 
 had a vein of hardness and censoriousness. His later 
 preaching did not sustain his reputation, while even now 
 when we read Davies’ printed sermons we catch the light 
 and feel the glow. They far surpass the printed sermons 
 of Whitefield himself, which indeed make poor reading. 
 Makemie, Tennent, Davies — all three were God’s am¬ 
 bassadors, but Davies had the gracious manners and 
 social accomplishments of the trained diplomat. He had 
 the inscrutable quality we call “ charm,” that wins the 
 admiration of strangers, and the deeper qualities of 
 mind and heart that won from his friends the fullness of 
 affection so frankly written in all their reminiscences 
 of him. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 i. Dr. Gibbons did not tell us to which of the manu¬ 
 script sermons that came into his hands this hymn was 
 appended. It seems to fit the one he printed as “ XXXI, 
 Dedication to God argued from Redeeming Mercy,” from 
 I Cor. 6:19, 20. The preacher enters God’s claim to 
 all his hearers have and are; their solemn business 
 at the Lord’s Table is “ to yield themselves to God, and 
 seal their indenture to be His.” He asks them to follow 
 while he proposes the terms of the transaction, and, if 
 they consent, to “ rise and crowd round the table of their 
 Lord, and there annex their solemn seals and acknowl¬ 
 edge it to be their act and deed.” And this is the “ con¬ 
 tract ”: “ Lord, here is a poor sinner, thy creature re¬ 
 deemed by the blood of thy Son, that has long been a 
 slave to other masters, and withheld from thee thy just 
 
LORD, I AM THINE, ENTIRELY THINE 
 
 91 
 
 and dear-bought property; here, Lord, I would now, 
 freely and without reserve, devote and surrender myself, 
 my soul and body, and my all to thee, to be universally 
 and for ever thine. And let the omnipotent God, let 
 angels and men, be witness to the engagement.” 
 
 Does there seem much room to doubt that the hymn 
 was written to be used at the Communion service that 
 was to follow this particular sermon ? 
 
 2. But at what date? In The Hymnal revised the 
 footnote gives it as “ published in 1769 and that is the 
 only date we have. The sermon was preached in Virginia 
 (before July, 1759, that is to say), is addressed to black 
 and white, freeman and slave, and refers to a possible 
 persecution even unto death. May not that suggest as 
 a date the time of the French and Indian aggressions and 
 the dread that the conquering French might establish the 
 Roman Catholic discipline in the colony? 
 
 3. Dr. Gibbons printed this hymn in seven verses. The 
 familiar abridgment into four verses may perhaps be 
 of some practical advantage. But the whole hymn is 
 needed to show its full relation to Sermon XXXI. To 
 obtain this, insert after the first verse in The Hymnal 
 revised, 
 
 II. Here, Lord, my Flesh, my Soul, my All 
 I yield to Thee beyond Recall; 
 
 Accept thine own so long withheld, 
 
 Accept what I so freely yield! 
 
 after the third verse, 
 
 V. Be thou the Witness of my Vow, 
 
 Angels and Men attest it too, 
 
 That to thy Board I now repair, 
 
 And seal the sacred Contract there. 
 
g 2 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 and after the fourth verse, 
 
 VII. Do Thou assist a feeble Worm 
 The great Engagement to perform: 
 
 Thy Grace can full Assistance lend, 
 
 And on that Grace I dare depend. 
 
 4. Just what is the effect upon this hymn of the alter¬ 
 ation made by Dr. Rippon by which the affirmation of 
 its first line becomes the question, “ Lord, am I Thine, 
 entirely Thine? 
 
IX 
 
 SWEET THE MOMENTS, RICH IN 
 
 BLESSING 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, 
 
 Which before the cross I spend; 
 
 Life and health and peace possessing 
 From the sinner’s dying Friend. 
 
 2 Here I’ll sit, for ever viewing 
 
 Mercy’s streams in streams of blood; 
 Precious drops, my soul bedewing, 
 
 Plead and claim my peace with God. 
 
 3 Truly blessed is this station, 
 
 Low before His cross to lie, 
 
 While I see Divine compassion 
 Pleading in His languid eye. 
 
 4 Love and grief my heart dividing, 
 
 With my tears His feet I’ll bathe; 
 
 Constant still in faith abiding, 
 
 Life deriving from His death. 
 
 5 For Thy sorrows we adore Thee, 
 
 For the griefs that wrought our peace; 
 Gracious Saviour, we implore Thee, 
 
 In our hearts Thy love increase. 
 
 The Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley, 1770: based upon 
 an earlier (1757) hymn by the Rev. James Allen. 
 
 93 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 94 
 
 Note: The first four verses as here given are taken from Shirley’s 
 hymn book of 1770; with such changes as will appear by com¬ 
 parison with his text hereafter quoted in full. The fifth verse was 
 added to the hymn in the Rev. Messrs. Cooke and Denton’s Church 
 Hymnal of 1853. 
 
 In our study of “ Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah,” 
 we met, somewhat casually, the Lady Selina Shirley, by 
 marriage Countess of Huntingdon. And she, beyond a 
 doubt, is the proper person to introduce her first cousin, 
 the Honorable and Reverend Walter Shirley, whose skill¬ 
 ful hand gave to our present hymn its familiar shape. 
 Especially so, as it was written to be sung in her own 
 chapels. 
 
 “ HER LADYSHIP’S CONNEXION” 
 
 After a dangerous illness and a deep experience Lady 
 Huntingdon “ turned Methodist,” as the phrase was, to 
 the dismay of her friends. “ I thank your Ladyship,” 
 wrote the Duchess of Buckingham, “ for the information 
 concerning the Methodist preachers; their doctrines are 
 most repulsive, and strongly tinctured with impertinence 
 and disrespect towards their superiors, in perpetually 
 endeavoring to level all ranks, and do away with all dis¬ 
 tinctions. It is monstrous to be told, that you have a 
 heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl on 
 the earth. This is highly offensive and insulting; and I 
 cannot but wonder that your Ladyship should relish any 
 sentiments so much at variance with high rank and good 
 breeding.” Her Ladyship, on the other hand, persuaded 
 many of her friends, even the Duchess sometimes, to go 
 with her to the Methodist meetings, and gathered more 
 of them to hear Methodist preachers in her own London 
 
I 
 
q6 studies of familiar hymns 
 
 drawing-room. With her zeal and influence she gave a 
 new turn to the great revival. She introduced it into 
 aristocratic circles. “ Methodism/’ the cynical Horace 
 Walpole used to complain, “ is becoming quite fash¬ 
 ionable.” 
 
 When the split came in 1741, Lady Huntingdon ad¬ 
 hered to Whitefield. Beginning as his commissary, she 
 soon took the field in person as commander in chief of 
 his forces. Whitefield needed such a patron. John Wes¬ 
 ley was a master hand at organizing; and a world-wide 
 Methodist Church is his monument. Whitefield was a 
 great preacher, and just that. He could make converts, 
 but for organizing and molding these same converts into 
 a permanent body of Christian workers he had no gifts. 
 
 Just here Lady Huntingdon took hold. By birth and 
 marriage she was a great lady, with full sense of her high 
 social position. She was also a great woman, of the 
 “ modern ” type: a born executive, indifferent to conven¬ 
 tionalities, bent on getting results, deeply religious, with 
 an autocratic will. After her husband’s death she had 
 houses and an ample income at her command, and was 
 generous to the point of stripping herself of all but bare 
 necessities. She paid for her first chapel by selling her 
 jewels. 
 
 She built many other chapels in different parts of 
 England, and joined them as a “ connexion ” of which 
 she was the head. She sought out Calvinistic clergymen 
 to preach from their pulpits the gospel as she believed it, 
 and when the supply failed, founded that theological 
 school at Trevecca whose “ young collegians ” we heard 
 singing “ Guide me, 0 Thou Great Jehovah.” She re¬ 
 tained the Prayer Book services in her chapels, but the 
 bright and hearty hymn singing she set up in place of 
 
SWEET THE MOMENTS, RICH IN BLESSING 97 
 
 the droning of metrical Psalms in parish churches, proved 
 a great attraction. She had learned from the Wesleys 
 and Whitefield what evangelical songs had done for the 
 revival. She loved them and sang them and became one 
 of the influences that were gradually spreading the singing 
 of “ hymns of human composure.” In the end her 
 chapels got her into trouble with the Church authorities, 
 who liked neither her independence nor her gospel, and 
 in her old age she had to organize her forces as a dissent¬ 
 ing body outside the Church of England — “ Lady Hunt¬ 
 ingdon’s Connexion.” 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 The story circles about Lady Huntingdon, and involves 
 a number of people. There was first the Rev. Benjamin 
 Ingham, one of the original Methodists, who went to 
 Georgia with the Wesleys, and is said to have been too 
 handsome for a man. On his return he became a suc¬ 
 cessful evangelist, and formed many “ societies ” of his 
 converts in his native Yorkshire and thereabouts. In 
 1741 he married Lady Huntingdon’s sister-in-law. “ The 
 news I hear from London,” wrote Lady Mary Wortley 
 Montague from Rome, “ is that Lady Margaret Hastings 
 has disposed of herself to a poor, wandering Methodist 
 preacher.” In the year following he deserted the Metho¬ 
 dists and joined the Moravian Brethren. After some 
 years he changed his views again, and left the Moravians. 
 But instead of joining Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion, he 
 formed some thousands of his followers into a brand-new 
 denomination, the Inghamite Connexion. 
 
 Now it would never do for Inghamites to go on singing 
 Moravian hymns, or to fall back on those of the Meth- 
 
98 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 odists. And so some of Ingham’s helpers tried their 
 hand at hymn writing. The chief of these was one James 
 Allen, a young Yorkshireman who had been intended for 
 the ministry of the established Church, but who was con¬ 
 verted under Ingham’s preaching, and broke off a college 
 course at the University of Cambridge to become one of 
 his preachers. Allen wrote more than sixty hymns, and 
 these, with others by his colleagues, he printed in 1757 
 for the Inghamite Connexion. He called his book A 
 Collection of Hymns for the use of those that seek, and 
 those that have Redemption in the Blood of Christ; but 
 it is more generally referred to as “ The Kendal Hymn 
 Book.” Naturally enough, these new hymns retained a 
 good many of the Moravian peculiarities. Some that 
 dealt with the person of our Lord had the same un¬ 
 pleasant sensuous flavor that John Wesley protested 
 against. 
 
 The Inghamite collection is not attractive. If there 
 were no better “ hymns of human composure ” than 
 these, most people would gladly go back to metrical ver¬ 
 sions of the Psalms. But for a while they appealed to 
 the ecstatic feelings of the Inghamites. And only for a 
 while could Ingham hold his followers together. He 
 could not even hold James Allen. That good man at last 
 “ saw the light ” and became a “ Glassite.” “ My eyes,” 
 he said, “ were never fully opened till the latter end of 
 October, 1762. How am I now ashamed of my preaching, 
 and the hymn book I was concerned in printing! Almost 
 every page puts me to the blush.” In the end this honest 
 but erratic seeker for truth found such measure of 
 church unity as he was capable of by building a private 
 chapel on his Yorkshire estate, and ministering there un¬ 
 disturbed until his death in 1804. 
 

 2 ) 
 
 in. 
 
 ( ) 
 
 *. Oh > the; in heart none may draw hack; 
 
 So t.. It v*c ne’er Ms favours lack, 
 
 But fed ihsn ever new s 
 
 Pres” oss, and we the prise frets! win; 
 
 Unfold to him t'-h sjriei witMa; 
 lis's, ever Wet true, - 
 
 ITT Htr.F. my Jefus Pm poflcfTtng, 
 
 W <;, t t’s the foppinclt I know ; 
 
 While Jtl«4M|l» i am carmng, 
 
 S-.v eteft odours round me flow ; 
 
 Happy I'm in his embraces. 
 
 Proving aft Ms bullsJvvcet; 
 
 Singing ncctr-ec-Mfog praifb, 
 
 Mary dike before bis feet, 
 
 1 . Oh! bow happy ate the moments, 
 
 U'bkh 1 here in U.mfport fpcud; 
 
 Life deriving bom Ms torments, 
 
 Vbo remains die firmer'* FrfcnJ a 
 
 Here ill lit lot ever viewing 
 
 How the blood flows from cadi vein ’» 
 
 Lv’ry bream, my foul bedewing, 
 
 Mortihes the carnal iUnac. 
 
 3. Really bkfil’d is the fortion 
 
 Deftin'd me by iovYeigo grace; 
 
 Still to view divine eompaihon 
 
 In the Saviour’- brttifei face; 
 
 Tu my fixed reiulutlon 
 
 jefus Chriti my Lord to love* 
 
 At Ms feet to no. my Nation, 
 
 Hot from tbetue re bait’s breadth more. 
 
 jf. Here it is 1 find my heaven, 
 
 While vpoa my Lamb I gate; 
 
 Love t much. T’ve more forgiven y 
 
 I'M 3 Ojitael? of grace !. 
 
 r 
 
 ( 6i ) 
 
 Fiil'd with firmer-like contrition. 
 
 With my tears Ms feet I’ll bathe; 
 
 Happy tit the fwcet fruition 
 
 Qt‘ my Saviour's pmftfu* d^sth# 
 
 a. From his pierc’d and wounded body 
 ifftt'd 11 reams of facred gore ; 
 
 From his bands and feet fo bloody 
 Flow'd a roedelite for each fore; 
 
 From Ids fide, that fountain precious. 
 Pardons with the blood did flow; 
 
 This to mile is mod delicious, 
 
 Cattfing all within to glow. 
 
 <5. May I 1U11 enjoy this feeling, 
 
 In all need to Jefus go ; 
 
 Prove his wounds each day more nealmg. 
 And from hence latvation draw : 
 
 May I have the fpirit'c unltion 
 Ftfinig me with holy lhame ; 
 
 Still retain a clofe eormefUon 
 
 With the perfon of the Lamb. 
 
 LV.^/fo 
 
 J ESUS, how glorious was the day. 
 When Thou didil my releafe proclaim 
 Sweetly I furtg the hours away •, 
 
 I lung lsdvatioit thro' thy name, 
 i, i wonder’d how the carelefs crowd 
 Senfekfo could deep away their day ; 
 
 St> firoiig tby love in my heart flow'd, 
 Such foiid peace it did convey . 
 
 3 . Clofe with thy flock I was combin’d^ 
 Nought could my heart from their’* divide 
 fcy blood’s cementing power join’d. 
 
 With them i could have liv’d and dy’d, 
 
 4 . Beneath thy word refreih'd 1 flood; 
 Thy word to me with power came; 
 
 THE HYMN AS JAMES ALLEN WROTE IT 
 
IOO 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Among Allen’s contributions to the hymn book of 1757 
 was one of six double verses, beginning 
 
 “While my Jesus I’m possessing.” 
 
 We know it is his because he marked it with his initials 
 in his own copy of the book. It was far from being 
 good; and when the Inghamites were dispersed, and the 
 little book was disowned by its editor, that hymn would 
 seem to have been finally buried out of sight. 
 
 But now the Hon. and Rev. Walter Shirley comes on 
 to play his part. He was born in 1725 of noble blood: 
 a younger brother of the notorious Earl Ferrers, who 
 threatened his wife, murdered his steward, and was 
 hanged after a trial by the House of Lords. Shirley was 
 drawn into the revival movement through his connection 
 with Lady Huntingdon. He became one of her preachers, 
 although he remained in the Church of England all his 
 life, with a parish in Ireland. But his evangelical the¬ 
 ology and his revival preaching kept him in bad odor with 
 his bishop and fellow clergymen. 
 
 Lady Huntingdon trusted him, and seems to have 
 given him charge of the hymnological department of her 
 Connexion; but it was under her own eye. She attached 
 great importance to the character of the hymns. If 
 she did not write any (this is uncertain), she saw to it 
 that none was sung in her chapels of which she did 
 not approve. For the editing of her special collections 
 she depended upon Mr. Shirley. It was in the 1770 
 edition of The Collection of Hymns sung in the Countess 
 of Huntingdon’s Chapel [at Bath] that Shirley printed 
 the hymn we know so well as “ Sweet the moments, rich 
 in blessing.” Like a careful editor he had gone over 
 other books to find available material, even the Inghamite 
 
SWEET THE MOMENTS, RICH IN BLESSING ioi 
 
 book. By comparing Shirley’s verses with the facsimile 
 of Allen’s original as here given, we can see for our¬ 
 selves how he found the hymn embedded in Allen’s mate¬ 
 rial, just as a sculptor sees a symmetrical figure embedded 
 in the rough and shapeless mass of marble. He had a 
 keen eye and a cunning hand, certainly. He made what 
 for all practical purposes is a new hymn. 
 
 As we have before us the full text as Allen wrote it, 
 it may be interesting to have also the full text as Shirley 
 rewrote it: 
 
 Sweet the Moments rich in Blessing 
 Which before the Cross I spend; 
 
 Life and Health, and Peace possessing, 
 From the Sinner’s dying Friend. 
 
 Here I’ll sit for ever viewing 
 Mercy’s Streams in Streams of Blood; 
 
 Precious Drops my soul bedewing 
 Plead and claim my Peace with GOD. 
 
 Truly blessed is this Station 
 Low before his Cross to lye; 
 
 While I see divine Compassion 
 Floating in his languid Eye. 
 
 Here it is I find my Heaven, 
 
 While upon the Lamb I gaze; 
 
 Love I much, I’ve much forgiven, 
 
 I’m a Miracle of Grace. 
 
 Love and Grief my Heart dividing, 
 
 With my Tears his Feet I’ll bathe; 
 
 Constant still in Faith abiding, 
 
 Life deriving from his Death. 
 
 May I still enjoy this Feeling, 
 
 In all Need to Jesus go; 
 
 Prove his Wounds each Day more healing, 
 And himself more deeply know. 
 
102 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Comparison shows the weak parts of Shirley’s compila¬ 
 tion to be just those that adhered most closely to Allen’s 
 original: the second quatrain of verse two, culminating 
 in that smug line, “ I’m a Miracle of Grace,” and the last 
 four lines of all, which fail to reach a climax. It was 
 easy for later editors to drop these lines, but to arrange 
 a fitting climax for the whole hymn was another matter. 
 That indeed was wanting until two English clergymen, 
 Messrs. Cooke and Denton, in their Church Hymnal of 
 1853, added the fine lines: 
 
 For Thy Sorrows we adore Thee — 
 
 For the Griefs that wrought our peace — 
 
 Gracious Saviour! we implore Thee, 
 
 In our hearts Thy love increase. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. This is called by hymnologists a Good Friday hymn. 
 Until recent years no notice was taken of that day in 
 Presbyterian and some other churches. The observance 
 of Good Friday came about as a consequence of the ob¬ 
 servance of Easter Day. The writer can remember when 
 Easter itself was ignored in Presbyterian churches. But 
 when the celebration of Easter became firmly established, 
 the question began to be asked: Is it not a strange thing 
 for an evangelical Church, that puts the emphasis upon 
 the cross, to celebrate the anniversary of the resurrection 
 and ignore the anniversary of the crucifixion ? It was an 
 awkward question. And when once asked, there could 
 be only one logical answer. The recognition of Good 
 Friday has been to some extent forced upon the churches 
 in those states which had made it a legal holiday. It is 
 better certainly to keep the anniversary as a holy day, 
 
SWEET THE MOMENTS, RICH IN BLESSING 103 
 
 with religious services, than as a Roman holiday given 
 over to public amusements. It is, however, likely that 
 the propriety of recognizing the day in Presbyterian 
 churches may be a topic for discussion for years to come. 
 
 It is also a subject for discussion, whether the present 
 hymn might not well be reserved for use on some such 
 special occasion, when our feelings are moved by the 
 pathos of the cross. Is it not perhaps too tender in 
 feeling to justify the familiar use it has had in everyday 
 social services? 
 
 2. In the text, as printed in The Hymnal revised, there 
 is a striking change when we pass from the “ I ” of the 
 four Shirley verses to the “ we ” of the Cooke and Den¬ 
 ton verse. Much has been written as to whether our 
 congregational songs should have the “ I ” and “ my ” of 
 an individual singer or the “ we ” and “ our ” of the 
 congregation as a common body. And this hymn suggests 
 an answer. It is as if each singer came alone to the cross, 
 and there laid low his heart, all alone with Christ. And 
 as if all the singers then arose and stood together at the 
 cross in one common outburst of praise and adoration. 
 
 3. There are few meaner things in this world than 
 plagiarism. Plagiarism is the stealing of the products of 
 another’s brain, and giving them forth as our own. It 
 is good, therefore, in tracing these verses to the little 
 known original of the obscure James Allen, to remember 
 that Shirley was quite innocent of plagiarism. He 
 neither signed them nor claimed them as his own. His 
 only ambition was to furnish his cousin’s chapels with 
 good hymns. It is not even possible to say how many of 
 these were written by himself. 
 
X 
 
 ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
 
 Let me hide myself in Thee; 
 
 Let the water and the blood, 
 
 From Thy riven side which flowed, 
 
 Be of sin the double cure, 
 
 Cleanse me from its guilt and power. 
 
 2 Not the labors of my hands 
 Can fulfil Thy law’s demands; 
 
 Could my zeal no respite know, 
 
 Could my tears for ever flow, 
 
 All for sin could not atone; 
 
 Thou must save, and Thou alone. 
 
 3 Nothing in my hand I bring, 
 
 Simply to Thy cross I cling; 
 
 Naked, come to Thee for dress, 
 
 Helpless, look to Thee for grace; 
 
 Foul, I to the fountain fly; 
 
 Wash me, Saviour, or I die. 
 
 4 While I draw this fleeting breath, 
 
 When my eyelids close in death, 
 
 When I soar to worlds unknown, 
 
 See Thee on Thy judgment throne, 
 
 Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
 
 Let me hide myself in Thee. 
 
 Rev. Augustus M. Toplady, in The Gospel Magazine for March, 1776 
 
 Note: The text is that of Toplady’s own Psalms and Hymns of 
 1776, except in the second line of the last verse, whose alteration 
 is explained under “ Some Points for Discussion.” 
 
 104 
 
ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME 
 
 I0 5 
 
 “ Rock of Ages ” was written by Augustus Montague 
 Toplady, one of the converts of the same Methodist re¬ 
 vival that produced “ Jesus, Lover of my soul.” But 
 he had lost his sympathy with Wesley’s doctrinal views, 
 turned his back on Methodism, and become a Church of 
 England clergyman. Two things, however, he had kept 
 in his heart — the fervor of the Methodists and their 
 love for songs that had the glow of the gospel in them. 
 He not only wrote hymns of his own but he joined a 
 little group of men who were doing their best to win a 
 place for hymn singing in the Church of England itself. 
 
 A NEW ATTACK UPON THE OLD PSALM 
 
 SINGING 
 
 In our third study we saw how young Isaac Watts chal¬ 
 lenged the old custom of singing metrical Psalms, and 
 won the hearts of the Independent congregations with 
 his own very human hymns. In our fourth study we saw 
 how the Wesley brothers followed in the next generation 
 with their gospel songs, and made these a great power in 
 the Methodist Revival. 
 
 With the Independents singing Watts’s hymns and the 
 Methodists singing the Wesleys’, it might seem that the 
 “ hymn of human composure ” had come to its own in 
 England. But not yet. The great established Church 
 clung to the old Psalms. Most of its bishops and clergy 
 cared little for the Independents and despised the Meth¬ 
 odists as fanatics. The thing they most dreaded in re¬ 
 ligion was “ enthusiasm,” which they regarded as bad 
 form. As the Methodist singing became clamorous, they 
 felt the greater dislike for hymns as the particular 
 vehicle of this vulgar “ enthusiasm.” The good and 
 
I0 5 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 great Dr. Johnson, a churchman of the better sort, notes 
 in his diary that on Easter Day, 1764, he gave a crown 
 to a poor girl he met in church, although he saw a hymn 
 book in her hand. He was pluming himself on a char¬ 
 itable impulse that could even surmount the prejudice 
 against hymn singers. 
 
 But enthusiasm is a contagious thing, and even the 
 lethargic Church of England could not escape it alto¬ 
 gether. We have already seen how Lady Huntingdon 
 succumbed, and how, when the doctrinal split came in 
 1741, she took charge of Whitefield’s forces, and began 
 to stir up a revival in the Church itself. The little group 
 of clergy who shared Whitefield’s Calvinistic views and 
 sympathized with his revival measures, were content for 
 a while to preach and work under the great lady’s aus¬ 
 pices. But when she became a dissenter, most of them 
 kept their places in the established Church and gradu¬ 
 ally formed an Evangelical or Low Church Party to carry 
 on the revival within the bounds of the Church. They 
 protested against being called Methodists, but for a 
 good while they protested in vain. What seemed to 
 outsiders to give them away was their revival 
 preaching, and especially their addiction to the new and 
 strange practice of singing human hymns in place of the 
 long established Psalm singing. For with one exception, 
 these leaders were all agreed that evangelical religion has 
 the right to express itself in evangelical songs. In 1753, 
 Whitefield had made his own hymn book for use in the 
 revival services of his London Tabernacle. Seven years 
 later the Rev. Martin Madan followed with another for 
 use in his chapel at the Lock Hospital. It was a private 
 chapel and not a parish church, or else Mr. Madan would 
 have got into trouble, just as Mr. Wesley did at Savannah, 
 
AUTOGRAPH LINES FROM A SERMON OF TOPLADY 
 
108 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 for introducing unauthorized hymns into the Church 
 service. 
 
 To this Evangelical Party in the Church of England 
 Mr. Toplady attached himself as one of its younger 
 members. And in 1776 he, too, printed a collection of 
 Psalms and Hymns for his Orange Street Chapel in Lon¬ 
 don. It was his “ Declaration of Independence ” from 
 the fetters of the old Psalmody. It was even more mem¬ 
 orable as the first hymn book in which his own “ Rock 
 of Ages ” appeared and thus began its remarkable career. 
 Toplady wrote other hymns that have been widely sung. 
 But “ Rock of Ages ” is to-day in more church hymnals 
 than is any other English hymn. And in the opinion of 
 many judges it is the greatest hymn in the language. 
 Its warmth of feeling and fervor of devotion, with a cer¬ 
 tain note of solemnity like the rhythmic pealing of 
 deep-toned bells, have made an abiding impression upon 
 millions of human hearts. 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE HYMN 
 
 It is an odd coincidence that as Charles Wesley was 
 born in the year in which Watts printed “ There is a land 
 of pure delight,” so Toplady was born in the year in 
 which the Wesleys printed “ Jesu, Lover of my soul.” 
 
 He was born in the English village of Farnham on 
 November 4, 1740. His father, a major in the army, died 
 in the field within a few months of the birth of the son, 
 who was left to the abundant love of the widow. He was 
 a white-faced, fragile, neurotic child, mentally and spir¬ 
 itually so precocious as to be abnormal. He remarked in 
 his diary: “ I am now arrived at the age of eleven years. 
 I praise God I can remember no dreadful crime: and not 
 
ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME 
 
 109 
 
 to me but to the Lord be the glory. Amen. It is now 
 past eight o’clock, and now I think fit to withdraw, but 
 yet my heart is so full of divine and holy raptures, that 
 a sheet of paper could not contain my writings.” Self- 
 conscious, proud, and passionate, he composes a daily 
 prayer to be kept from quarreling with his schoolmates. 
 
 AUGUSTUS M. TOPLADY 
 
 At twelve he is writing sermons and preaching to those 
 who will hear; and his mother embroiders for him a 
 pulpit fall. She dotes on him, and is bringing him up, 
 the grandmother thinks, to be a scourge to her. His 
 uncle and aunt cannot make him out and frankly detest 
 him. These critical relatives, one by one, the child pil¬ 
 lories in his diary. Aunt Betsy, for example, “ is so 
 vastly quarrelsome; in short, she is so fractious, and 
 captious, and insolent, that she is unfit for human so- 
 
110 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 ciety.” A boy who fails to appear at the hour appointed 
 becomes “ the dishonourable Norreys.” A woman who 
 “ said I am a second Timothy ” fared better, though “ I 
 do not set this down from my vanity.” At thirteen he 
 composes a farce, which he intends to show to the great 
 Mr. Garrick of Drury Lane. At fourteen he becomes a 
 writer of hymns, and at nineteen publishes a volume of 
 them. 
 
 After his school days in London, Toplady went with 
 his mother to Ireland, and entered Trinity College, Dub¬ 
 lin. One summer day in 1756, at a revival meeting in 
 an Irish barn, he “ was brought nigh to God ” under a 
 sermon by a Methodist preacher, James Morris. He de¬ 
 termined to prepare for the ministry. But he then held 
 to the Arminian theology of Methodism. When he came 
 to study the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of Eng¬ 
 land he was surprised to find them Calvinistic, and 
 thought he would have to seek a sphere in one of the 
 Arminian sects. Further study brought deep misgiv¬ 
 ings, and in great agitation of mind he completely 
 changed his views. He became an ardent Calvinist, and 
 as such entered the ministry of the Church of England. 
 
 His ministry was to be short. He was curate of Blag- 
 don, in Somerset, in 1762, and of Farley Hungerford two 
 years later; then vicar of Harpford and Fen Ottery, and 
 later of Broad Hembury; three obscure villages of 
 Devon, not far from Exeter. He preached with great 
 nervous excitement, his flaming spirit set in the frail 
 candlestick of a diseased body. The seeds of consump¬ 
 tion developed — in those days an inevitable doom. He 
 craved a larger opportunity for his last years. His 
 friends engaged the Huguenot Chapel in Orange Street, 
 London, where he preached to great congregations, until 
 
ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME 
 
 ill 
 
 no longer able to mount the pulpit steps. On August 
 ii, 1778, that passionate heart ceased to beat. His body 
 was buried within the walls of Whitefield’s Tabernacle in 
 Tottenham Court Road. 
 
 Toplady lived in a time of theological controversy. 
 And when he adopted Calvinistic views in his ardent way, 
 he felt that he had been delivered from a dark pit, in 
 which John Wesley dwelt as a sort of Jinnee. In a pam¬ 
 phlet of 1769, The Church of England vindicated from 
 the charge of Arminianism, he tried to prove that the 
 Church was Calvinistic. Henceforward in conversation, 
 letters, sermons, hymns, tracts, and treatises he spent 
 himself in setting forth and defending the Calvinistic 
 doctrine of Election. 
 
 The actual quarrel with John Wesley began after Top- 
 lady published later in the same year a translation of 
 Zanchius on Predestination. Wesley printed an abridg¬ 
 ment of it for his societies, with a stinging preface of his 
 own, and at the end an unfair summary professing to 
 be signed “ A-T- 
 
 Toplady’s feelings were outraged by what he called 
 “ Mr. Wesley’s lying abridgment ” and “ forging ” of his 
 signature. He printed A Letter to the Rev. Mr. John 
 Wesley , which in the recklessness of its misjudgment of 
 a good man, the audacity of its unmerited charges, and 
 the offensiveness of its language, has never, one likes 
 to think, had a parallel in religious debate. It was in¬ 
 deed pitiful, if only a burst of sudden passion, or if it 
 stood alone. But it was followed by More work for Mr. 
 John Wesley , an old Fox tarred and feathered, and by 
 a hounding of Wesley’s name and reputation that ended 
 only with death. 
 
 In his last illness Toplady had himself taken to the 
 
112 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Orange Street Chapel. Some one had started a rumor 
 that he had changed his views and wished to converse 
 with Mr. Wesley. At the end of the sermon preached by 
 another, Toplady’s emaciated figure mounted the pulpit 
 steps. He hoped, he said, his last hours “ would be 
 much better employed than in conversing with such a 
 man.” Were he on his death-bed with a pen in his hand, 
 he “ would not strike out a single line ” he had written 
 relative to Wesley and his doctrines. 
 
 No wonder that Professor J. Ritchie Smith, of Prince- • 
 ton Seminary, should exclaim in his The Wall and the 
 Gates, “ Is this the author of Rock of Ages ? ” and should 
 cite Toplady as a historical illustration of the fact that 
 “ orthodoxy covers a multitude of sins in our sight, 
 though it may be itself the worst of sins.” The venera¬ 
 tion that surrounds Toplady’s name in so many books is 
 due to some extent to party spirit. Though not a widely 
 read theologian, he was the clearest brain and the recog¬ 
 nized leader on the Calvinistic side in “ a hot time,” and 
 his followers inevitably glorified him. It is best to 
 say frankly that his combative side deserves the venera- 
 ation of no Christian. To seek some palliation of Top- 
 lady’s offense in a morbid body and diseased nerves is 
 right enough. We may try to forgive it, but we cannot, 
 if we are to study “ Rock of Ages,” forget it, for he has 
 chosen to use the hymn as part of his “ case ” against 
 Wesley, just as a lawyer annexes an “ exhibit ” to his 
 brief. 
 
 In the meantime the pure and fervid hymn is none the 
 less the gift of God. He is pleased to store His gifts in 
 earthen vessels. Neither a holy sacrament nor a holy 
 hymn is spoiled by any lack of perfect whiteness in the 
 human hand through which it comes. 
 
ROCK OF AGES , CLEFT FOR ME 
 
 113 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 Outside the village of Burrington Combe in Somerset, 
 England, a limestone crag rises some seventy or eighty 
 feet. Down the center is a deep fissure, in whose re¬ 
 cesses ferns grow. During July, 1921, some English 
 newspapers announced that a pilgrimage was being or¬ 
 ganized to visit the spot, as that in which Toplady com¬ 
 posed “ Rock of Ages, cleft for me.” On the Bank 
 Holiday of August following, a great company, estimated 
 at ten thousand, made the pilgrimage, and in the natural 
 amphitheater facing the crag joined in prayer, heard 
 addresses, and sang the hymn. It was a wonderful 
 testimonial to the power of the hymn after a hundred 
 and forty-five years. 
 
 The odd feature of the occasion is that no one present 
 could have known that Toplady wrote the hymn 
 there or even had the crag in mind when he did write it. 
 There is a local tradition, apparently not old but care¬ 
 fully fostered, that he was caught one day by a thunder¬ 
 storm in Burrington Combe, took refuge in the fissure, 
 and there wrote the hymn. No evidence of the truth of 
 the story has ever been produced. It seems more likely 
 that the story grew out of the “ cleft for me ” in the 
 hymn, rather than that the hymn proceeded from the 
 fissure. Just as in the case of “ Jesus, Lover of my 
 soul,” the story of the dove taking refuge in Charles 
 Wesley’s breast grew out of the line, “ Let me to Thy 
 bosom fly.” 
 
 It is true that the crag is within walking distance of 
 Blagdon Church, where Toplady was curate. But he 
 left there in 1764, and not a line of the hymn is known 
 to exist until October, 1775 — eleven years afterwards. 
 
CLEFT FOR ME 
 
ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME 
 
 US 
 
 The present writer sees little room for doubt that what 
 Toplady actually had before him when he wrote the 
 hymn was a copy of the Wesleys’ Hymns on the Lord's 
 Supper (1745), of which eleven editions had appeared 
 before the date of the hymn. It was a book Toplady 
 would be sure to examine. And on page eight of the 
 prefatory matter he would find the following passage: 
 “ O Rock of Israel, Rock of Salvation, Rock struck and 
 cleft for me, let those two Streams of Blood and Water 
 which once gushed out of Thy side, bring down Pardon 
 and Holiness into my soul. And let me thirst after them 
 now, as if I stood upon the Mountain whence sprung this 
 Water; and near the Cleft of that Rock, the Wounds of 
 my Lord, whence gushed this sacred Blood.” If anyone 
 questions that we have here the source from which Top¬ 
 lady drew the theme and imagery of the hymn, he may 
 turn to Hymn XXVII of the same book, whose opening is, 
 
 “ Rock of Israel, cleft for me.” 
 
 It is not doubt one is likely to feel, but wonder; wonder 
 that Toplady could appropriate these materials and yet 
 write of John Wesley, “ I believe him to be the most ran¬ 
 corous hater of the gospel-system, that ever appeared in 
 this island.” 
 
 We get our first glimpse of the hymn in The Gospel 
 Magazine for October, 1775, where, in an article on “ Life 
 a Journey,” Toplady says: “ Yet, if you fall, be humbled; 
 but do not despair. . . . Look to the blood of the 
 covenant; and say to the Lord, from the depth of your 
 heart, 
 
 “ Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
 
 Let me hide myself in thee! 
 
 Foul, I to the fountain fly: 
 
 Wash me, Saviour, or I die.” 
 
n6 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Whether the hymn was completely written out then, we 
 shall never know. 
 
 After he became editor of the magazine, Toplady 
 printed in the number for March, 1776, a curious article 
 by “ J. F.” — aiming to show that England could never 
 pay her national debt. Toplady appended a “ spiritual 
 improvement,” showing that sinners are in the same case 
 as regards their debt to the moral law. Reckoning one 
 sin to every second, “ at ten years old, each of us is 
 chargeable with 315 millions and 36 thousand sins. At 
 twenty, with 630 millions, and 720 thousand,” and so on, 
 by decades, till the end of life. “ This debt we can 
 never pay. But Christ has redeemed us from the curse 
 of the Law and His Blood cleanseth from all sin. We 
 must bless God the Father for electing us, God the Son 
 for assuming our debts, God the Holy Spirit for His gift 
 of faith in Christ.” 
 
 Then follow the four verses of the hymn. Unfortu¬ 
 nately, even in this mood of exaltation, Toplady cannot 
 overlook John Wesley. And he heads his hymn, “ A liv¬ 
 ing and dying PRAYER for the HOLIEST BELIEVER 
 in the World” Possibly that sarcastic phrase, “ the 
 holiest believer in the world,” did not refer to Wefley in 
 person, but to any follower who thought he exemplified 
 Wesley’s doctrine that entire holiness is attainable while 
 in the flesh. Even a perfectionist, perhaps Toplady 
 means, is none too holy to use the words of this hymn. 
 
 Toplady, as has been said, included “ Rock of Ages ” 
 in his collection published that same year. It does not 
 seem to have attracted special attention, and during the 
 thirty years following it is not found in many hymn 
 books. But such postponement is a commonplace in the 
 history of hymns. The turn of this hymn came early 
 
ROCK OF AGES, CLEFT FOR ME 
 
 117 
 
 in the nineteenth century, and it gradually advanced to 
 the first place as regards the proportion of church 
 hymnals that found room for it. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. The Scriptures from which the imagery is taken, in 
 the passage of the Wesleys’ Hymns on the Lord’s Supper 
 and in the first verse of Toplady’s hymn, seem to be the 
 cleft rock of Ex. 33 122 and the smitten rock of Ex. 17 :6, 
 and these as interpreted by I Cor. 10:4, “ And that Rock 
 was Christ,” and by the pierced side of Jesus, with the 
 outflow of water and blood. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes 
 said it was these material images that made the hymn so 
 impressive. Are the images confused in the hymn ? The 
 Rev. William Henry Havergal thought so, and tried to 
 make two hymns of it; one on the Rock as the Shelter, 
 the other on the Rock as the Source of the water of life. 
 But no one seemed to care for his hymns. 
 
 The beautiful phrase, “ Rock of Ages,” is also Scrip¬ 
 tural. Toplady took it from the reading, in the margin 
 of the King James Version, of Isa. 26:4. 
 
 2. In printing the hymn in his Psalms and Hymns, 
 Toplady made some changes in it. The one for which 
 we are most grateful is in the new title of the hymn, 
 which leaves Mr. Wesley out. It reads “ A Prayer, living 
 and dying.” He now began the fourth verse with 
 “ while ” in place of the hissing “ whilst.” And he put 
 “ When I soar to worlds unknown ” for “ When I soar 
 through tracts unknown.” Is this change an improve¬ 
 ment? 
 
 The Hymnal revised follows this text, except in read¬ 
 ing “ When my eylids close in death ” in place of “ When 
 
n8 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 my eye-strings break in death.” It was a mistaken 
 notion that in dying the muscles or tendons of the eye 
 snapped. Shakespeare uses the same phrase in his 
 Cymbeline. The new line has been substituted by gen¬ 
 eral consent. As actual fact is in question, would not 
 “ When mine eyes are closed in death ” be still nearer 
 the truth? 
 
 In 1815 the Rev. Thomas Cotterill of Sheffield con¬ 
 densed the four verses into three for a hymn book of his 
 own. For many years this three-verse form of the hymn 
 was the only one known in Episcopalian and Methodist 
 hymn books. But the full form of the hymn has now 
 prevailed. 
 
 3. Of the tunes for this hymn in The Hymnal revised, 
 that by Redhead, to which he gave no name, is most 
 popular in England. It was Number 76 in his book of 
 Church Hymn Tunes, 1853, and is generally known as 
 “ Redhead Number 76.” In this country Thomas Hast¬ 
 ings’ “ Toplady ” is more popular. He wrote it for a 
 hymn book called Spiritual Songs that came out as a 
 series of little pamphlets, beginning in 1830, and was de¬ 
 signed to combat the introduction of revival and ballad 
 tunes into Presbyterian churches by offering some that 
 were more reverent and yet simple and easy to sing. 
 The tune “Reliance,” Number 322 in The Hymnal re¬ 
 vised, was also composed for this hymn at the request 
 of the committee in charge of the original edition. In 
 revising the book it was thought best to set other words 
 to this tune. Its composer was an English musician, 
 then living in Denver. 
 
XI 
 
 GOD OF OUR FATHERS, WHOSE 
 ALMIGHTY HAND 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 God of our fathers, whose almighty hand 
 Leads forth in beauty all the starry band 
 
 Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies, 
 Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise. 
 
 2 Thy love Divine hath led us in the past; 
 
 In this free land by Thee our lot is cast; 
 
 Be Thou our Ruler, Guardian, Guide, and Stay; 
 Thy word our law, Thy paths our chosen way. 
 
 3 From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence, 
 
 Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defence; 
 
 Thy true religion in our hearts increase, 
 
 Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace. 
 
 4 Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way, 
 
 Lead us from night to never-ending day; 
 
 Fill all our lives with love and grace Divine, 
 
 And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine. 
 
 Rev. Daniel C. Roberts, 1876 
 
 Note: The text is that printed in the Report of the Protestant 
 Episcopal Hymnal Commission to the General Convention of 1892. 
 
 This Fourth of July hymn was written in 1876 by Dr. 
 Daniel C. Roberts, a New England clergyman, for the 
 centennial of the Declaration of Independence. It seems 
 
 119 
 
120 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 at first a far cry from this hymn to those of the eight¬ 
 eenth century revival in old England which we have 
 been studying together; but there is, after all, a real con¬ 
 nection between the political events the new hymn cele¬ 
 brates and the great revival out of which the old ones 
 came. 
 
 The fact is that in England, as the fourth day of July, 
 1776, approached, most of the people were a great deal 
 more excited about the prospect of war with the American 
 colonies than about the progress of the revival; and none 
 more concerned than were the leaders of the revival, 
 which had made new bonds between the old country 
 and the colonies. Whitefield had gone over to them 
 again and again with his flaming gospel, and in one of 
 them his worn-out body had lain at rest since 1770; but 
 a host of his American converts remained. Both of the 
 Wesleys also had lived in the colonies, and the American 
 Methodists now numbered some thousands. 
 
 John Wesley’s sympathies were with the Americans at 
 first. Then his sense of loyalty changed his mind, and he 
 printed A calm Address to our American Colonies. In 
 this he appropriated, with or without permission, the con¬ 
 tents of a pamphlet, Taxation no tyranny , by that same 
 Dr. Johnson who gave a coin to the girl with a hymn 
 book in her hand. It was then that the redoubtable Mr. 
 Toplady put forth his An old Fox tarr’d and feather’d. 
 Toplady was earnestly opposed to making war against 
 the Americans, but it was not in their behalf that he 
 published his pamphlet. His intention, as he said, was, 
 first, to show Wesley’s dishonesty in stealing Dr. John¬ 
 son’s materials, “ and, second, to raise a little skin by 
 giving the Fox a gentle flogging as a turn-coat.” That 
 was in October, 1775. A few months later Mr. Toplady 
 
GOD OF OUR FATHERS , WHOSE ALMIGHTY HAND 121 
 
 printed something pleasanter to remember — his “ Rock 
 of Ages, cleft for me.” That was in March, 1776. It is, 
 of course, nothing more than an interesting coincidence 
 that the centennial year of the Declaration of Independ¬ 
 ence in which Dr. Roberts’ hymn was written was also 
 the centennial year of “ Rock of Ages.” And in view of 
 its great influence in both England and America, Top- 
 lady’s hymn might well have had a little centennial cele¬ 
 bration all its own. 
 
 A CENTENNIAL HYMN 
 
 When the present writer was gathering materials for 
 The Hymnal , published in 1895, he became familiar with 
 the hymn “ God of our fathers,” by the Rev. Daniel C. 
 Roberts, set to George William Warren’s music in that 
 musical edition of the Protestant Episcopal Hymnal 
 of 1892, commonly called “ Tucker’s Hymnal.” Mr. 
 Warren was a warm personal friend. Dr. Roberts 
 showed himself friendly. Permission to use hymn and 
 tune was readily given. And so the hymn got into The 
 Hymnal . 
 
 An unfamiliar hymn in a church hymnal is always a 
 venture, especially one with long lines. Would this one 
 “ take ” ? It soon became plain that it was being used 
 in patriotic services; and at the end of 1900 the present 
 writer, having in mind a study such as this, so long de¬ 
 ferred, asked the author for some account of the hymri 
 and for a copy of it by his own hand. 
 
 Dr. Roberts very kindly furnished the requested auto¬ 
 graph, which is here reproduced in facsimile; and this 
 is what he wrote from Concord, New Hampshire, on 
 January 8, 1901: 
 
122 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 “ The hymn was written in 1876 for a celebration of 
 the Centennial ‘ Fourth ’ of July, and sung at Brandon, 
 Vermont, to the tune called ‘ Russian Hymn,’ set to 
 ‘ Rise, crowned with light ’ in our Hymnals. When our 
 General Convention appointed a Commission to revise the 
 Hymnal, I sent it, without my name, promising to send 
 the name if the hymn were accepted. It was accepted, 
 and printed anonymously in the report of the Commis¬ 
 sion. Before the Hymnal was printed, the Rev d Dr. 
 Tucker, late of Troy, editor of our best musical Hymnal, 
 and Mr. Geo. Wm. Warren, organist of S. Thomas’ 
 Church, New York, were appointed a committee to 
 choose a hymn for the centennial celebration of the 
 adoption of the Constitution. They selected this hymn, 
 then anonymous, and, wanting a tune, Mr. Warren com¬ 
 posed a tune to which it has since been set in the 
 ‘ Tucker ’ Hymnal. Subsequently it was selected as the 
 ‘ Recessional ’ at the ‘ Bi-Centenary ’ of Trinity Church, 
 New York City. 
 
 “ My little hymn has thus had very flattering official 
 recognition. But that which would really gladden my 
 heart, popular recognition, it has not received. Mr. War¬ 
 ren’s tune is majestic. Mr. Parker’s in Hutchins’ 
 Hymnal rather academic: the kind of tune appealing to 
 the ‘ Demos ’ has not appeared. I should be more than 
 gratified if the ‘ people ’ should take it up. In fact, I con¬ 
 fess, that after its favorable official reception, I had a 
 little hope which took the form of an ambition, that it 
 might be so. But that has not happened. Recognition 
 from you is very grateful to me. It had never occurred 
 to me to think of it as of value, until the incidents above 
 related befell, and then I allowed myself to dream a 
 little.” 
 
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124 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 MR. WARREN’S “NATIONAL HYMN” 
 
 Dr. Roberts’ letter, with its frank human touch, is 
 very engaging, but he did not understand how heavy the 
 odds are against any new hymn getting a real hearing, 
 even after it has edged its way into our over-full church 
 hymnals. If he were now alive he would see that this 
 hymn has won its present favor very largely through the 
 appeal of the music Mr. Warren composed for it. And 
 that makes it proper that we should also give Mr. Warren 
 his share of the credit. 
 
 George William Warren was born in the city of Albany 
 in 1828 and was educated at Racine College. Although 
 he became Professor of Music at Columbia University, 
 his musical education was due to his own indefatigable 
 efforts: he was self-taught. Early in life he composed a 
 number of piano pieces, and the royalties from one of 
 them, “ Tam o’ Shanter,” brought him quite a little in¬ 
 come every year to the end of his life. He was an organ¬ 
 ist and choirmaster from the age of eighteen, at Albany, 
 Brooklyn, and for more than thirty years at St. Thomas’ 
 in New York. These were the years of his greatest 
 power and reputation; and the music of St. Thomas’ 
 became a popular feature of New York life, drawing 
 crowds to the church. His tunes, mostly composed for 
 St. Thomas’ choir, belonged rather to the older parlor- 
 music school than to the later “ Anglican ” school. They 
 were spontaneous and melodious, and were full of feel¬ 
 ing, as the composer himself was. 
 
 He was a man of high-strung temperament, of deep 
 affections, a sincere manner, and rather blunt speech. 
 He died of apoplexy on March 17, 1902, and was buried 
 from the church he loved with a solemn service in which 
 
GOD OF OUR FATHERS, WHOSE ALMIGHTY HAND 125 
 
 there was not a note of music, even of the organ. It was 
 intended to suggest that there was no one any longer to 
 lead the music of St. Thomas’; and it was in contrast 
 with an earlier commemoration of Mr. Warren’s twenty- 
 five years of service, at which all the music was of his 
 composition and his tune to Dr. Roberts’ hymn was sung 
 as the processional. 
 
 Mr. Warren contributed two tunes to The Hymnal of 
 1895, one of which, “Log College,” is retained in The 
 Hymnal revised. It was quite characteristic of him that 
 he refused to receive any compensation for this tune, 
 preferring that it should appear as a mark of friendship 
 for the writer of the words and the editor of the book. 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE CENTENNIAL HYMN 
 
 Dr. Roberts’ letter of 1901 went on to say: 
 
 “ My personal history is of little account. I was born 
 in Bridge Hampton, Long Island, N. Y., Nov. 5 th 1841. 
 Entered Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, in 1857. En¬ 
 listed as a private in 1862. Was ordained Deacon in 
 1865, Priest in 1866. Served as Rector of Christ Church, 
 Montpelier, Vermont; S. John’s, Lowell, Mass.; S. 
 Thomas’s, Brandon, Vermont, and for the last twenty- 
 three years have been Vicar of S. Paul’s Church, Con¬ 
 cord, N. H., of which parish the Bishop of New Hamp¬ 
 shire is titular Rector. I remain a country Parson, 
 known only within my own small world.” 
 
 This is the brief life record of a man efficient in his 
 parishes and trusted in the wider councils of his denom¬ 
 ination. He had more recognition than he has admitted: 
 as a Mason and a Civil War veteran; as President of 
 the State Historical Society while in New Hampshire, 
 
126 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 and President of the State Normal School in Vermont. 
 He was apparently a good, manly, warm-hearted, clear¬ 
 headed, hard-working clergyman: one of a type of which 
 no Church can have too many examples. Some occa¬ 
 sional verses and carols reveal another turn of his mind 
 and hand. He would have been the last to claim that 
 they revealed him as a poet. Dr. Roberts died “ on the 
 Vigil of All Saints Day ” of 1907: so the denominational 
 newspapers reported. Some of their readers might have 
 preferred a simpler record of the date. 
 
 The regiment in which Dr. Roberts enlisted in 1862 
 was the Eighty-fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers. 
 Like so many of those who survived the great adventure 
 of the Civil War, he was always afterward at heart a 
 veteran soldier. Indeed he reentered military service as 
 chaplain in the National Guard of New Hampshire. It 
 may therefore be fitting that this brief record of his life 
 should close with the last verse of his own word picture 
 of a soldier’s day, which he printed as War Etchings: 
 
 Now silence broods with shadowy wings, 
 
 The watchful sentry’s footfall rings, 
 
 The soldier sleeps beneath the sky, 
 
 While night winds murmur lullaby. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. When we attain the perfection to which Mr. Wesley 
 summoned us, to the great indignation of Mr. Toplady, 
 we shall no doubt be able to write perfect hymns. Dr. 
 Roberts had not yet attained perfection in the art of 
 writing verse, and his hymn is not free from faults. 
 
 That it begins with the same phrase as Kipling’s “ Re¬ 
 cessional ” does, is a bit unfortunate, but no fault of 
 
DR. DANIEL C. ROBERTS 
 
i2 8 studies of familiar hymns 
 
 Dr. Roberts, since Kipling’s fine hymn was yet unwritten. 
 It is, however, a question whether the opening lines, with 
 their majestic figure of the Almighty leading forth the 
 processional of starry worlds, are quite lived up to in 
 the lines that follow. It may be interesting to compare 
 the hymn in this respect with Mr. Chadwick’s “ Eternal 
 Ruler of the ceaseless round ” (No. 351 in The Hymnal 
 revised ), which opens with the same figure. And then, if 
 we are to sing a number of verses to the same tune, it is 
 plain that the accents or stresses of the voice should be 
 distributed uniformly, so that the emphasis in the music 
 and in the words should match throughout. Do any of 
 these lines fail in that respect, and, if so, which lines? 
 
 The hymn is a metrical prayer, not very poetical and 
 hardly more eloquent than many an extemporized prayer 
 one might hear from the pulpit on patriotic occasions. 
 But it is devout and dignified and serviceable. It has 
 the heart of the matter in it. Mr. Warren’s trumpets 
 call to the congregation, and the people respond gladly, 
 and not without a thrill “ for God and country.” Per¬ 
 haps we can hardly think of the hymn apart from Mr. 
 Warren’s music. But then we do not have to. 
 
 2. Of all the hymns written for the centennial of 
 American independence, this is the only one that appears 
 to have found a permanent place in our hymn books. 
 Attempts have been made to get a hearing for Whittier’s 
 “ Centennial Hymn,” beginning, 
 
 Our fathers’ God! from out whose hand 
 
 The centuries fall like grains of sand. 
 
 But his verses are so true to the particular occasion 
 for which they were written that they are not easily 
 adapted to a more general use. 
 
GOD OF OUR FATHERS , WHOSE ALMIGHTY HAND 129 
 
 3. The great World War made unexpected demands 
 upon our limited stock of patriotic songs. And it may 
 be a question still whether we have a full supply of good 
 hymns for the Fourth of July. If more are needed, it 
 might be worthwhile for anyone who has a copy of the 
 old Presbyterian Hymnal of 1874 to take a look at the 
 “ Hymn for the Fourth of July, 1832,” by the author of 
 “ The Star-Spangled Banner,” which begins, 
 
 Before the Lord we bow — 
 
 The God who reigns above, 
 
 And rules the world below, 
 
 Boundless in power and love. 
 
 Meantime it is satisfactory to have Dr. Roberts’ hymn to 
 commemorate the Centennial, alongside of Dr. Bacon’s 
 “ O God, beneath Thy guiding hand,” commemorating 
 the Pilgrim Fathers, and Dr. Holmes’ “ O Lord of hosts, 
 Almighty King! ” commemorating the Civil War. 
 
XII 
 
 HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds 
 
 In a believer’s ear! 
 
 It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, 
 
 And drives away his fear. 
 
 2 It makes the wounded spirit whole, 
 
 And calms the troubled breast; 
 
 ’Tis Manna to the hungry soul, 
 
 And to the weary Rest. 
 
 3 Dear Name! the Rock on which I build, 
 
 My Shield and Hiding-place, 
 
 My never-failing Treasury, filled 
 With boundless stores of grace; 
 
 4 Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend, 
 
 My Prophet, Priest, and King, 
 
 My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, 
 
 Accept the praise I bring. 
 
 5 Weak is the effort of my heart, 
 
 And cold my warmest thought; 
 
 But when I see Thee as Thou art, 
 
 I’ll praise Thee as I ought. 
 
 6 Till then I would Thy love proclaim 
 
 With every fleeting breath; 
 
 And may the music of Thy Name 
 Refresh my soul in death. 
 
 Rev. John Newton, 1779 
 
 Note: The text is taken from the first edition of Newton’s Olney 
 Hymns, 1779, with the omission of the original fourth verse and 
 the change of “Husband” to “Brother” in the fourth verse as 
 here numbered. 
 
 130 
 
HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS 131 
 
 When “ good Lady Huntingdon ” seceded from the 
 Church of England, a number of the clergy who had 
 helped her work felt it their duty to remain in the old 
 Church, although they knew very well that they were 
 not wanted. They formed themselves into that Evan¬ 
 gelical, or, as we usually call it, Low Church Party of 
 which we heard in connection with Mr. Toplady. These 
 men were Calvinistic in their theology, and claimed their 
 right to preach the gospel as they believed it, and also 
 to sing evangelical hymns in church as well as the met¬ 
 rical Psalms bound up with the prayer books. With not 
 much of a party organization, these Evangelicals tried 
 to carry on the revival, in London when they could, but 
 mostly in the isolation of their country parishes. 
 
 “OLNEY HYMNS” 
 
 The story of the hymn whose title heads this chapter 
 takes us into one of those country parishes, Olney, on the 
 bank of the river Ouse, in the county of Buckinghamshire. 
 The little town consisted mostly, and does yet, of one 
 street, widening into a market place; the most conspicu¬ 
 ous object being the parish church, with its ungraceful 
 spire. The town was not pretty, nor the people well-to-do 
 or well educated. Many pilgrims go to Olney nowadays 
 for the poet Cowper’s sake. But what first carried its 
 name far and wide in England and America was nothing 
 other than a hymn book written there and called Olney 
 Hymns. 
 
 The pulpit of the parish church was filled by a bluff 
 and manly Evangelical, John Newton, whose looks and 
 ways brought a whiff of the sea. He had been a sailor, 
 and in 1764 was ordained and appointed a curate of the 
 parish, the vicar being of the absentee sort. 
 
JOHN NEWTON 
 
HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS 133 
 
 Newton’s preaching began to fill the church, but he 
 gave special attention to young people’s work and se¬ 
 cured permission to use Lord Dartmouth’s empty man¬ 
 sion, the Great House. Here of a Thursday afternoon 
 he gathered the children, not for the usual catechism ex¬ 
 ercise, but to explain the Scriptures “ in their own little 
 way.” In the evenings he had meetings for older people, 
 with extempore prayers and exhortation; and he intro¬ 
 duced the singing of hymns. All of which may seem 
 commonplace now; but it was quite enough then and 
 there to stamp the curate a “ Methodist,” as the hard- 
 and-fast Churchman dubbed all Evangelicals. And one 
 at least of Newton’s neighboring rectors refused to speak 
 to him when they passed. 
 
 It was for these revival meetings at the Great House 
 that Newton began to write hymns of his own, not ven¬ 
 turing as yet to displace the metrical Psalms from the 
 parish church services. And that is the reason most of 
 his hymns are so confined to personal spiritual experi¬ 
 ences. They have the anxious tone that a pastor’s 
 preaching takes in time of revival. He wrote only one 
 great song of praise, the still familiar “ Glorious things 
 of thee are spoken.” 
 
 Newton was not a poet and did not pretend to be one. 
 “ There is,” he said, “ a stile and manner suited to the 
 composition of hymns, which may be more successfully, 
 or at least more easily attained by a versifier, than by a 
 poet.” He was writing for plain people, and made his 
 hymns so simple that these could follow and understand. 
 In all this he took his cue from Dr. Watts. Newton had 
 a ready pen, some imagination, deep feeling, a knowledge 
 of Scripture, and an urgent motive; something else, also, 
 that we may best call the power of virility. And once 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 134 
 
 in a while, as in this hymn and in “ Quiet, Lord, my fro- 
 ward heart,” he climbed nearer to the heights where poets 
 walk. 
 
 At one time Newton was writing a hymn every week 
 for his prayer meeting, where no doubt they were given 
 out verse by verse or even by couplets. By 1779 they 
 mounted up to two hundred and eighty, and that year he 
 gathered them with sixty-eight more by his friend and 
 neighbor, William Cowper, and published them at 
 London as 
 
 OLNEY HYMNS, 
 
 IN 
 
 THREE BOOKS. 
 
 Book I. On select Texts of Scripture. 
 
 Book II. On occasional Subjects. 
 
 Book III. On the Progress and Changes 
 of the Spiritual Life. 
 
 None of the hymns is dated. “ How sweet the Name of 
 Jesus sounds ” is No. 57 of “ Book I. On select Texts of 
 Scripture.” Its text is Solomon’s Song, chapter 113 ; and 
 its title is “ The name of JESUS.” 
 
 Olney Hymns is best understood as a revival hymn 
 book. In its day it had the same welcome and popularity 
 that Gospel Hymns of the Moody and Sankey revival had 
 in ours. But the books cannot be compared, since it was 
 the music of Gospel Hymns that won the day. Olney 
 Hymns had no tunes at all, but its hymns exactly met 
 the need of the Evangelical preachers and their converts. 
 It was the Evangelical theology put into rhyme for sing¬ 
 ing, but even more for reading and remembering. It 
 became an Evangelical handbook, printed over and over 
 in England and America, and it exerted an immense in- 
 
HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS 135 
 
 fluence. The simple verses exercised over many minds 
 the fascination that nursery rhymes have for children. 
 The Roman Catholic hymn writer, Faber, speaks of their 
 acting like a spell upon him for many years in his Pro¬ 
 testant youth and coming back unbidden through his 
 Catholic years. And now that the career of Olney Hymns 
 is run, a few of its choicer strains survive among the 
 permanent treasures of the Church. 
 
 JOHN NEWTON’S ROMANTIC CAREER 
 
 The curate of Olney was a marked man; not only be¬ 
 cause he was an Evangelical, but because he was “ a man 
 with a past.” He was one of those whom people point 
 to in the street with a nudge and a “ Do you know about 
 him?” This was due to the startling disclosure of his 
 experiences he published just after coming to Olney as 
 “ The authentic Narrative ” of his life. It was a record 
 of debauchery, and it would be hard for one man to 
 paint an enemy as black as Newton painted himself 
 in that book. 
 
 He was born in London in July, 1725, of a godly 
 mother who lived long enough to make a religious im¬ 
 pression upon his childish heart. His father was captain 
 of a merchantman in the Mediterranean trade; a severe, 
 silent man, of whom the boy was rather afraid. At the 
 age of eleven he was taken from school, and went to sea 
 with his father on half a dozen voyages. The boy plainly 
 was hot-blooded, willful, and “ irregular ” in his conduct. 
 But he was far from passing these years without 
 “ troublesome convictions ” and religious experiences. 
 “ I think I took up and laid aside a religious profession 
 three or four times before I was sixteen years of age; but 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 136 
 
 all this while my heart was insincere. I often saw a 
 necessity of religion as a means of escaping hell; but I 
 loved sin, and was unwilling to forsake it.” His “ last 
 reform ” was the most remarkable; a year or more of 
 prayer and Scripture-reading covering “ the greatest part 
 of every day.” As far as shipboard conditions would per¬ 
 mit, he became an ascetic, avoiding conversation, eating 
 no meat, and “ bemoaning his former miscarriages.” 
 
 It may all have been mistaken, but it does not sound 
 “ insincere,” as Newton called it. Surely to persevere 
 in such a course in face of a jeering crew and of the 
 temptations of southern ports shows a certain strength of 
 character. It left Newton dull and disheartened, and an 
 easy victim to some skeptical literature that fell in his 
 way. Before long he had lost all sense of religious real¬ 
 ity. He became an utter skeptic, “ an infidel,” as he 
 said; and with “ the way prepared for all that is to 
 follow.” 
 
 Returning from a voyage to Venice in 1743, he was 
 impressed on board a warship, but through his father’s 
 influence rated a midshipman. He deserted, was caught, 
 brought back to Plymouth in chains, publicly flogged, and 
 degraded to the rank of a common seaman. His disgrace, 
 which he thought undeserved, embittered and hardened 
 him. Quite reckless now, he plunged, according to his 
 own testimony, into a career of degrading debauchery and 
 moral shamelessness, and, “ like one infected with a 
 pestilence, was capable of spreading a taint wherever I 
 went.” 
 
 He effected an exchange from the warship, glad to be 
 rid of him, into a slave ship bound for the coast of 
 Africa: his thought being that there he could “ be as 
 abandoned as I pleased, without any control.” He en- 
 
HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS 137 
 
 tered the service of a slave trader in one of the Plantane 
 Islands, was treated with abominable cruelty and neglect, 
 and went down into a depth of physical degradation 
 where even most of the Negro slaves refused any dealings 
 with him. 
 
 In the end he got word to his father, and was rescued 
 by a vessel commissioned to look out for him. On the 
 way home he encountered a violent storm and was almost 
 lost. In the stress a review of his past life brought him 
 to shame, and from shame to prayer. He started out 
 deliberately to rediscover the grounds of faith in the 
 Gospels he had become accustomed to laugh over; and 
 step by step he went forward toward the reality and as¬ 
 surance of faith. He reached England in May, 1748, a 
 Christian by conviction, though still feeling his way. 
 
 Through all these wander-years Newton carried two 
 talismans, a boy’s memory of his mother and a man’s 
 love for a young girl he had left behind him in England. 
 On his return the girl married him — with a heroic trust, 
 one would think. In seeking a livelihood Newton’s new 
 convictions did not prevent his entering the slave trade. 
 The moral standards of the time had not yet condemned 
 it. He made two voyages to Africa and the West Indies, 
 and only an attack of apoplexy prevented a third. 
 
 He was appointed tide surveyor at Liverpool in 1755, 
 and held the post several years. There he came under 
 the direct influence of Whitefield and the Evangelical 
 Revival. He carried on his studies (even at his lowest he 
 had never wholly foregone them), began to preach oc¬ 
 casionally as a lay evangelist, and felt the call to enter 
 the ministry. He wavered between the established and 
 dissenting churches, and chose the established. But he 
 could not find in all England a bishop willing to ordain 
 
138 studies of familiar hymns 
 
 him, until Lord Dartmouth came to his rescue. Dart¬ 
 mouth was Secretary of State in charge of America, 
 friendly to the colonies, and after him our Dartmouth 
 College was named. He was at the same time an Evan¬ 
 gelical and a liberal helper of Lady Huntingdon. He 
 made new interest in high quarters and secured Newton’s 
 ordination on agreeing to appoint him to the curacy of 
 Olney. Newton “ was too much in earnest about religion 
 to be readily entrusted with a commission to teach it, 
 
 
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 A PASSAGE FROM AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER 
 
 except as a matter of favour to a great man: ” — so Sir 
 George Otto Trevelyan remarks in his delightful book, 
 The American Revolution. It is possible also that 
 Newton’s record seemed very “ irregular ” to the bishops. 
 
 In his own heart that record was indelible. He be¬ 
 came a faithful pastor, at Olney for nearly sixteen years, 
 and at St. Mary Woolnoth, London, for twenty-eight 
 more.* He became a leader of the Evangelical Party, 
 loved and trusted. But in his own heart, and on his own 
 
 * “ My race at Olney is nearly finished; I am about to form a 
 connection for life with one Mary Woolnoth, a respected London 
 saint in Lombard Street.” (Newton to Bull, Sept. 21, 1779.) 
 
HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS 139 
 
 tongue, to the end of his life, he was always “ the old 
 African blasphemer.” Was he really called upon, we 
 sometimes ask, to publish that Narrative and continually 
 to blacken a good name fairly won? He thought so. 
 He was the living proof that God could save even to the 
 uttermost. And he thought he was called upon to give 
 his testimony in plain terms and at any cost. 
 
 Into his hymns also Newton’s experiences are written 
 deep. One day, when his memory was almost gone, he 
 said, “ I can never forget two things: first, that I was a 
 great sinner, and, second, that Jesus is a great Saviour.” 
 The first memory explains an undertone of sadness in the 
 hymns: the second explains why he wrote “ How sweet 
 the Name of Jesus sounds.” 
 
 Newton lived to be eighty-two, and died December 
 21, 1807. He was buried beneath his church of St. Mary 
 Woolnoth, and a tablet was placed on the church wall 
 with a touching inscription prepared by himself: — 
 
 JOHN NEWTON 
 CLERK , 
 
 ONCE AN INFIDEL AND LIBERTINE, 
 
 A SERVANT OF SLAVES IN AFRICA, 
 
 WAS, 
 
 BY THE RICH MERCY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR 
 
 JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 PRESERVED, RESTORED, PARDONED, 
 
 AND APPOINTED TO PREACH THE FAITH 
 HE HAD LONG LABOURED TO DESTROY. 
 
 HE MINISTERED 
 
 NEAR XVI. YEARS AS CURATE AND VICAR 
 OF OLNEY IN BUCKS, 
 
 AND XXVIII. AS RECTOR 
 OF THESE UNITED PARISHES. 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 140 
 
 In 1893 the excavations for the London underground 
 railway disturbed the church vaults; and Newton’s re¬ 
 mains were removed and reburied in the churchyard at 
 Olney. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. The Daily Service book of the Roman Catholic 
 Church has an office for the “ Feast of the Most Holy 
 Name of Jesus.” It includes two parts of one of the 
 most beautiful of Latin hymns, “ Jesu, dulcis memoria.” 
 The Rev. Samuel W. Duffield, a Presbyterian lover of 
 Latin hymns, thought it probable that these verses of 
 Newton on the Name of Jesus are “ an echo or para¬ 
 phrase ” of the Latin original. One wishes he had said 
 why he thought so. Eighteenth century Evangelicals 
 were not much interested in Latin hymns. But in this 
 matter we have the materials at hand on which to base 
 our own conclusion. Good translations of both parts of 
 the Latin hymn are in The Hymnal revised: “ Jesus, the 
 very thought of Thee ” (No. 545) and “ O Jesus, King 
 most wonderful ” (No. 144). Is there any similarity be¬ 
 tween these and Newton’s hymn? 
 
 2. As originally written, “ How sweet the Name of 
 Jesus sounds ” had seven verses. The weakest of these 
 is omitted from The Hymnal revised; the original fourth 
 verse. It ran, 
 
 “ By thee my pray’rs acceptance gain, 
 
 Altho’ with sin defil’d: 
 
 Satan accuses me in vain, 
 
 And I am own’d a child.” 
 
 Is the hymn better without this verse, or should it be 
 restored ? 
 
HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS 141 
 
 3. There is also a change of one word from the original 
 text of the first line of the present fourth verse, which 
 read, 
 
 “Jesus! My Shepherd, Husband, Friend.” 
 
 We all dislike such changes from what an author wrote. 
 But if men are to go to church at all, how can they ad¬ 
 dress Christ as their husband? Was it not the Church 
 rather than the individual Christian that was described 
 as the Bride of Christ? 
 
 4. In singing the first verse we have to pronounce 
 “ wounds ” in such a way that the rhyme with “ sounds ” 
 may be preserved. It is no great hardship, as Shakspeare, 
 Marlowe, and Pope did the same thing habitually. In 
 other connections it may be best to conform to recent 
 usage by pronouncing the word as woond. 
 
XIII 
 
 GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 God moves in a mysterious way 
 
 His wonders to perform; 
 
 He plants His footsteps in the sea, 
 
 And rides upon the storm. 
 
 2 Deep in unfathomable mines 
 
 Of never-failing skill 
 He treasures up His bright designs, 
 
 And works His sovereign will. 
 
 3 Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; 
 
 The clouds ye so much dread 
 Are big with mercy, and shall break 
 In blessings on your head. 
 
 4 Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, 
 
 But trust Him for His grace; 
 
 Behind a frowning providence 
 He hides a smiling face. 
 
 5 His purposes will ripen fast, 
 
 Unfolding every hour; 
 
 The bud may have a bitter taste, 
 
 But sweet will be the flower. 
 
 6 Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
 
 And scan His work in vain; 
 
 God is His own Interpreter, 
 
 And He will make it plain. 
 
 William Cowper, 1774 
 
 Note: The text is taken from John Newton’s Twenty-six Letters 
 on religious subjects, London, 1774: from which book the hymn 
 passed into Olney Hymns of 1779 without change. 
 
 142 
 
GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY 
 
 143 
 
 The names of John Newton, curate of Olney, and his 
 neighbor, William Cowper, poet and author of this hymn, 
 join together as naturally as if they were partners in a 
 firm of “ Newton and Cowper.” Their lives were knit in 
 one of the historic friendships. And they were indeed 
 literary partners as joint authors of Olney Hymns , the 
 famous hymn book of the Evangelical Party in the 
 Church of England. Newton was the senior partner, and 
 it was only after the dissolution of the firm that the 
 junior partner became famous. 
 
 HOW THE POET CAME TO OLNEY 
 
 William Cowper (he pronounced it Cooper) was born 
 in the rectory of Berkhampstead in November, 1731. 
 Left motherless when only six, he was sent to boarding 
 school, and never forgot what he endured there from a 
 big bully. He was taken away on account of eye trouble, 
 and at the age of ten placed in the Westminster School 
 at London. He said afterwards that he left school as 
 ignorant of religion as the satchel at his back, but in that 
 he was very like many other boys. He was articled 
 to an attorney in whose office he idled away 
 “ three misspent years.” At the age of twenty-one he 
 entered the Temple as a regular student of law; not be¬ 
 cause he had any drawing to that profession, but to please 
 his father. He came of a legal family, his father being 
 brother of a judge and nephew of a lord chancellor. He 
 was admitted to the bar in 1754. 
 
 The young lawyer made no attempt to practice. He 
 made his office a gathering place of young wits. He 
 kept up his classics, began to write verse, and sought 
 gayety. He fell in love, first with his cousin Theodora, 
 
144 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 whose father interposed, and again with a girl of Green¬ 
 wich ; but his ardor cooled. If his life seems idle, it was 
 perhaps busy in trying to forget himself. For he was 
 already in the grip of the saddest of human ailments, 
 brain disease. As soon as he began to live alone in the 
 Temple, it showed itself. Gradually he lapsed into dread¬ 
 ful depression. “ Day and night I was upon the rack, 
 lying down in horror and rising up in despair.” 
 
 After a year of it he taught himself to pray, and com¬ 
 posed a little liturgy. On recovering his spirits he threw 
 the liturgy into the fire and relapsed into careless ways. 
 Meantime he was using up the little money he had. His 
 prospects at the bar were so hopeless that in his thirty- 
 second year a relative got him an appointment to a clerk¬ 
 ship in the House of Lords. Some difficulties arose, and 
 the dread of having to stand a public examination so 
 wrought upon him that he lost his reason and made sev¬ 
 eral attempts to kill himself. 
 
 These left behind an unutterable anguish and the firm 
 conviction that he was sentenced already to eternal 
 damnation; as he wrote, 
 
 Damned below Judas; more abhorred than he was, 
 
 Who for a few pence sold his holy Master: 
 
 and so through those dreadful lines in which he envies 
 the fate of the dead consigned to perdition, while he, 
 fed with judgment, is buried above ground in a fleshly 
 tomb. Visions and voices haunted him; an awful dark¬ 
 ness fell; heavy blows of some great hammer beat upon 
 the brain; body and soul writhed in pain. Cowper was 
 insane. There was nothing to do but to send him to an 
 asylum at St. Albans. 
 
 After eight months of despair the light began to glim- 
 
r 
 
146 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 mer during a visit of his brother. Deliriums and delu¬ 
 sions weakened, and he caught glimpses of God’s mercy. 
 Opening the Bible at Rom. 3:25 one day, “ Immediately 
 I received strength to believe, and the full beams of the 
 Sun of Righteousness shone upon me.” In that inward 
 radiance he was content to spend a year of convalescence 
 at St. Albans. 
 
 When Cowper left the asylum and took the lodgings 
 at Huntingdon his brother had provided, he needed surely 
 the inward comfort of his new evangelical faith. For 
 outward things were pretty forlorn. He was thirty-three; 
 he had failed in his profession, was dependent upon, his 
 relatives, was separated from all his friendships, and 
 was, to put it gently, an invalid. Happily he found new 
 friends in the Rev. Mr. Unwin and his family. They 
 agreed to take Cowper into their cheerful home, where 
 he lived contentedly with them until Mr. Unwin’s sudden 
 death in 1767. It is interesting to note in passing Cow- 
 per’s references to the family custom of gathering to sing 
 out of the new hymn book of the Rev. Martin 
 Madan, one of the Evangelical leaders; because they 
 show one of the ways in which the new Evangelical 
 hymns were insinuating themselves into Church of Eng¬ 
 land households to supplement the metrical Psalms they 
 were expected to use at church. 
 
 After Unwin’s death there happened one of those seem¬ 
 ingly casual incidents that change the course of men’s 
 lives. It was nothing more than a call of condolence 
 from the Rev. John Newton, curate of Olney. Cowper 
 had made up his mind to continue living with Mrs. Un¬ 
 win, “ whose behavior to me has been that of a mother 
 to a son.” And now both were so much drawn to New¬ 
 ton that they decided to move to Olney for the sake of 
 
GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY 
 
 147 
 
 being under his ministry. At their request he engaged 
 for them a house in the market place of that town, then 
 called “ Orchard Side ” and now kept up as the Cowper 
 and Newton Museum. 
 
 THE POET’S SHARE IN “ OLNEY HYMNS ” 
 
 Only an orchard lay between the gardens of Newton’s 
 vicarage and the house he chose for Cowper. They made 
 an opening in the vicarage wall; they wore a path across 
 the orchard, and they joined their hearts and lives in 
 
 THE COWPER AND NEWTON MUSEUM, OLNEY 
 
 an inseparable friendship. Newton thoroughly appreci¬ 
 ated Cowper, loved him tenderly, and no doubt in his 
 own way tried to protect that sensitive nature against 
 its own infirmity. Naturally he saw the importance of 
 keeping Cowper’s mind occupied, but he would not have 
 been the fervent Evangelical he was if he had not made 
 his friend’s gift contribute to the work that absorbed his 
 own energies. He engaged Cowper in visiting the sick 
 and dying, persuaded him to lead the extempore prayers 
 at the evening meetings, and to write hymns to be sung 
 
148 studies of familiar hymns 
 
 there after the sermon. It was for the occasion of re¬ 
 moving those meetings to the larger room of the Great 
 House that Cowper furnished his “ Jesus, where’er Thy 
 people meet.” 
 
 Other hymns express plainly Cowper’s own experi¬ 
 ences ; now cheerful, as in “ Sometimes a Light sur¬ 
 prises ”; now retrospective, as he recalls that sudden 
 radiance upon the text in Romans, 
 
 The Spirit breathes upon the word, 
 
 And brings the truth to sight; 
 
 now regretful of the fading of the joyfulness of those 
 latter days at St. Albans, 
 
 Where is the blessedness I knew 
 When first I saw the Lord? 
 
 and now in the depths of despondency, 
 
 My former hopes are dead, 
 
 My terror now begins; 
 
 I feel, alas! that I am dead 
 In trespasses and sins. 
 
 For again the shadows were closing in. It may be that 
 the revival atmosphere at Olney was too highly charged 
 for Cowper. It may be that Newton was unwise in 
 asking for those agitating public appearances at the 
 Great House. It may be merely that Cowper’s disease 
 was approaching an inevitable outbreak. Whatever the 
 occasion may have been, the visions and voices came 
 back; black melancholy settled down. The voices told 
 Cowper that God demanded his life in sacrifice, and once 
 more he attempted suicide. 
 
 With that catastrophe the hymn we are now studying 
 is closely connected. It was the last, and has been gen- 
 
GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY 
 
 149 
 
 erally regarded as the outcome of the attempt at suicide. 
 That was in October, 1773. Since The Hymnal was 
 first printed, some new evidence as to its date has come 
 to light. The writer is at present disposed to think it 
 was written toward the end of 1772 or very early in 1773. 
 This date gives added probability to the substantial ac¬ 
 curacy of the statement in the Rev. Samuel Greatheed’s 
 funeral sermon that Cowper “ conceived some presenti¬ 
 ment ” of the attack of insanity, and that “ as it drew 
 near, during a solitary walk in the fields,” he composed 
 this hymn “ so expressive of that faith and hope which he 
 attained so long as he possessed himself.” Newton tes¬ 
 tifies that even in the midst of his distress and fore¬ 
 boding, and up to the date of the “ terrible dream ” that 
 broke his heart early in 1773, Cowper often expressed 
 his submission to God’s sovereignty, and said that God 
 was trying him only for the purpose of bringing about 
 some good thing. 
 
 Cowper’s attack put an end to his hymn-writing. And 
 it is only with Cowper the hymn writer we have here to 
 deal. He was to recover from this attack and to spend 
 years of comparative peace of mind and of poetic achieve¬ 
 ment before the last onset of insanity ending only with 
 his death in 1800. Cowper was over fifty years of age 
 when he published his first volume of poems, and one 
 likes to think of the fame he won as some compensation 
 for the sorrows he endured. It was perhaps out of his 
 sorrows he wrought that tender grace of his verse which 
 keeps it still alive when the work of his contemporary 
 poets lies so dead and forgotten. In all his serious poetry 
 Cowper aimed to be the “ poet of Christianity.” And it 
 was the Christianity of the Evangelical Revival; Chris¬ 
 tianity as accepted and taught by the Evangelical Party 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 150 
 
 in the Church of England. His poems have indeed (quite 
 recently) been described as “ Methodism in verse.” 
 
 Cowper’s hymns, with very few exceptions, were first 
 put into print by John Newton. This particular one he 
 printed in his Twenty-six Letters on religious subjects 
 in 1774. It was copied into The Gospel Magazine for 
 July of the same year. In that year also it began its 
 career in the hymn books, being included in the “ Col¬ 
 lection ” of the Rev. Mr. Conyers, another of the Evan¬ 
 gelical Party. Its place in the affections of the Church 
 it has never lost. 
 
 The hymn appeared again in Olney Hymns of 1779, 
 with all the others Cowper had written before the attack 
 of 1773. Newton explains the situation in a preface. 
 It is odd that so many readers of books always skip the 
 preface, generally the most human part of a book. 
 Newton’s is quite touching. “ The whole number [of 
 hymns] were composed by two persons only. The orig¬ 
 inal design would not admit of any other association.” 
 The book “ was intended as a monument, to perpetuate 
 the remembrance of an intimate and endeared friendship. 
 With this pleasing view I entered upon my part, which 
 would have been much smaller than it is, and the book 
 would have appeared much sooner, and in a very different 
 form, if the wise, though mysterious providence of God, 
 had not seen fit to cross my wishes. We had not pro¬ 
 ceeded far upon our proposed plan, before my dear 
 friend was prevented, by a long and affecting indisposi¬ 
 tion, from affording me any further assistance. My grief 
 and disappointment were great; I hung my harp upon the 
 willows, and for some time thought myself determined 
 to proceed no further without him. Yet my mind was 
 afterwards led to assume the service. My progress in 
 
GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY 151 
 
 it, amidst a variety of other engagements, has been slow, 
 yet in a course of years the hymns amounted to a consid¬ 
 erable number. And my deference to the judgment and 
 desires of others, has at length overcome the reluctance 
 I long felt to see them in print, while I had so few of my 
 friend’s hymns to insert in the collection.” 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. When the earlier series of these studies was gathered 
 into a book, a reviewer of it began by saying, “No great 
 poet has ever written a hymn.” His remark suggests 
 several interesting topics for discussion. (1) Is there 
 any more ground for expecting a great poet to write a 
 hymn, simply because poems and hymns are both in 
 verse, than there is for expecting a great novelist to write 
 a sermon, simply because novels and sermons are both 
 in prose? (2) Is it not probable that most great poets 
 would be glad to write a great hymn ? Poets like recog¬ 
 nition and crave immortality. Is not the vision of multi¬ 
 tudes singing their words for years and perhaps for cen¬ 
 turies likely to appeal to them? (3) Are all great poets 
 able to write great hymns? Some of them cannot even 
 write a good song. But to write a good hymn requires 
 much more than a lyrical gift. When Dr. Jowett appealed 
 to Lord Tennyson to write “ a few hymns in a high 
 strain,” that great poet replied by saying that “ to write a 
 good hymn was the most difficult thing in the world.” 
 (4) But when all is said, some great and many eminent 
 poets have in fact written hymns. Among English poets 
 the names of Ben Jonson, Milton, Wordsworth, Scott, 
 Tennyson, and Kipling, come to mind at once; and on this 
 side of the water those of Emerson, Longfellow, Whittier, 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 152 
 
 Lowell, and Holmes. Some have written whole books of 
 hymns: Bryant in this country, and in England not only 
 Cowper but the present poet laureate, Dr. Bridges, who 
 has even compiled a parish hymn book. 
 
 2. It would be a mistake to infer that because all of 
 Cowper’s sixty-eight Olney hymns were written by a 
 poet they are all equally good. They are all spiritual 
 and refined, and quite a number have proved useful. 
 Some others seem like taskwork, and were perhaps writ¬ 
 ten at Newton’s request, to follow particular sermons of 
 his in the Great House. The most famous of them is 
 “ There is a fountain filled with blood,” in great favor 
 among the older Evangelicals. Now it has become the 
 fashion to criticize the imagery of its first verse as dis¬ 
 tasteful and not correctly interpreting Scripture. 
 
 Many would select as Cowper’s best hymns, besides the 
 one we are studying: 
 
 “ Hark, my soul, it is the Lord! ” 
 
 “ 0 for a closer walk with God ” 
 
 “ Sometimes a Light surprises ” 
 
 “ Jesus, where’er Thy people meet ” 
 
 with (for private use) 
 
 “ Far from the world, O Lord, I flee.” 
 
 3. In Olney Hymns, “ God moves in a mysterious way ” 
 is Number XV of the third “ Book.” Its title as there 
 given is, 
 
 “ C. Light shining out of darkness.” 
 
 The “ C ” stands for Cowper’s authorship, and the rest 
 stands just as appropriately for his own experience. The 
 text in The Hymnal revised is printed without change. 
 Professor John E. B. Mayor lately found a commonplace 
 
GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY 
 
 153 
 
 book apparently in the handwriting of Cowper’s first 
 cousin, Maria, who married another cousin, Major Wil¬ 
 liam Cowper. It contains copies of letters and verses of 
 Cowper and the fifth verse of this hymn ends: 
 
 The bud may have a bitter taste, 
 
 But wait to smell the flower. 
 
 Of the two readings, which is the better? 
 
XIV 
 
 ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! 
 
 Let angels prostrate fall; 
 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 2 Crown Him, ye morning stars of light, 
 
 Who fixed this floating ball; 
 
 Now hail the strength of Israel’s might, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 3 Crown Him, ye martyrs of your God 
 
 Who from His altar call; 
 
 Extol the Stem of Jesse’s rod, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 4 Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race, 
 
 Ye ransomed of the fall, 
 
 Hail Him who saves you by His grace, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 5 Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget 
 
 The wormwood and the gall, 
 
 Go, spread your trophies at His feet, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 6 Let every kindred, every tribe, 
 
 On this terrestrial ball, 
 
 To Him all majesty ascribe, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME 
 
 155 
 
 7 O that with yonder sacred throng 
 We at His feet may fall; 
 
 We’ll join the everlasting song, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all. 
 
 Rev. Edward Perronet, 1779-80: verse 1, line 4 altered, verse 
 6 recast, verse 7 added by Rev. John Rippon, 1787 
 
 Note: The text of the hymn found in modern hymnals is based 
 upon the altered form which Dr. John Rippon gave it in his Baptist 
 Selection of Hymns from the best Authors published in 1787. The 
 text from The Hymnal revised, as given above, is an attempt to 
 embody as much of the original text as seemed practicable without 
 causing confusion in congregations used to Rippon’s arrangement. 
 
 As the original text is hard to come upon, it may be convenient 
 to have it here as printed by Perronet himself in his Occasional 
 Verses, moral and sacred, of 1785. 
 
 ON THE RESURRECTION. 
 
 I 
 
 ALL hail the power of JESU’s name! 
 
 Let Angels prostrate fall; 
 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 
 To crown Him LORD of All. 
 
 II 
 
 Let high-born Seraphs tune the lyre, 
 
 And, as they tune it, fall 
 
 Before His face who tunes their choir, 
 
 And crown Him LORD of All. 
 
 m 
 
 Crown Him, ye morning stars of light, 
 
 Who fix’d this floating ball; 
 
 Now hail the strength of ISRAEL’S might, 
 
 And crown Him LORD of All. 
 
 IV 
 
 Crown Him, ye martyrs of your GOD, 
 
 Who from His ALTAR call; 
 
 Extol the stem of JESSE’s rod, 
 
 And crown Him LORD of All. 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 IS6 
 
 v 
 
 Ye seed of ISRAEL’S chosen race, 
 
 Ye ransom’d of the fall, 
 
 Hail Him who saves you by His grace, 
 
 And crown Him LORD of All. 
 
 VI 
 
 Hail Him, ye heirs of DAVID’s line, 
 
 Whom David LORD did call; 
 
 The GOD incarnate, man DIVINE; 
 
 And crown Him LORD of All. 
 
 VII 
 
 SINNERS! whose love can ne’er forget 
 The WORMWOOD and the GALL, 
 
 Go — spread your trophies at His feet, 
 
 And crown Him LORD of All. 
 
 VIII 
 
 Let every tribe, and every tongue, 
 
 That bound creation’s call, 
 
 Now shout in universal song, 
 
 THE CROWNED LORD OF ALL! 
 
 If one had a hymn or even a tune to contribute to the 
 common stock in the later years of the Evangelical Re¬ 
 vival, he sent it in to The Gospel Magazine, which had 
 become the organ of the Calvinists. (It was there that 
 Toplady in 1776 printed his “Rock of Ages.”) But it 
 was not quite the thing to sign your name to your hymn. 
 You gave a pen name, or perhaps none. 
 
 The Magazine for November, 1779, contained a tune 
 engraved in copperplate, to which was set a verse 
 beginning 
 
 “ All hail the Pow’r of Jesu’s Name.” 
 
 One verse and no more. And not a sign as to who com- 
 
ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME 
 
 1 S 7 
 
 posed the tune or wrote the words. We know now that the 
 composer was William Shrubsole, a young man of nine¬ 
 teen who had been a choir boy at the cathedral at Can¬ 
 terbury, and at the time was in London as a chapel 
 organist. Shrubsole’s tune at once attracted attention. 
 That would naturally lead to inquiries for the remainder 
 of the hymn. And in the April number of 1780 the whole 
 hymn appeared in eight verses, with a footnote referring 
 back to the tune, but without any clue as to the author. 
 
 WHO WROTE THE HYMN? 
 
 The editor of the Magazine must have been asked that 
 question. If he knew, he did not publish his knowledge, 
 and the authorship of the hymn remained a good deal of 
 a puzzle for more than sixty years. It may be interest¬ 
 ing now to arrange the pieces of the puzzle. 
 
 (1) In 1785 a little book appeared in London as Oc¬ 
 casional Verses, moral and sacred . Published for the 
 instruction and amusement of the candidly serious and 
 religious. These productions, the preface says, “ were 
 not originally intended for public view, but occasionally 
 shewn to a handful of friends ”: one of whom has per¬ 
 suaded the author “ to admit of their being made public ” 
 by his hands as “ editor.” 
 
 Among these verses, at page 22, is the hymn 
 
 “ All hail the power of JESU’s name! ” 
 
 with the same text as in The Gospel Magazine five years 
 earlier. To know the author of the book, then, was to 
 find the writer of the hymn. But the book was not pub¬ 
 lished and circulated by the book trade. It was printed 
 privately “ for the editor ”; and outside the circle of the 
 author’s friends was very likely not even heard of. 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 158 
 
 (2) The hymn itself, however, had appeared in the 
 Magazine at a time when Independents and Baptists had 
 been singing Dr. Watts’s hymns a long while, and were 
 looking out for fresh hymns to add to them. As early as 
 1784 George Burder had taken this hymn into his Col¬ 
 lection 0) Hymns intended as a Supplement to Dr. 
 Watts's Psalms and Hymns. But he did not give the 
 names of the authors of any of the hymns. 
 
 (3) In 1787 Dr. Rippon published his notable “ Selec¬ 
 tion ” as an Appendix to Dr. Watts. He included this 
 hymn, with some changes and a new verse. He was a 
 painstaking editor and sought to give the authors’ names. 
 But in this hymn he left a blank for the author’s name, 
 which evidently he did not know. 
 
 (4) In an edition of a hymn book called Select Hymns 
 and Anthems, printed at Tunbridge-Wells about 1790, 
 appeared a curious variation or revision of the hymn, 
 beginning 
 
 “All hail! the powers of Jesus’ grace. 
 
 Let angels prostrate fall: 
 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 
 And crown him, Lord of all.” 
 
 This was by “ T. B.” Now who was T. B.? Were these 
 the initials of the original author, now presenting a re¬ 
 vised version of his hymn? Or was T. B. a plagiarist, 
 appropriating for his own materials that no one else had 
 claimed? Neither the present writer nor his correspond¬ 
 ents in England have been able to identify “ T. B.” 
 
 (5) In 1801 two Independent clergymen, Messrs. Wil¬ 
 liams and Boden, published A Collection of Six Hundred 
 Hymns to supplement Watts. They copied this hymn 
 from Rippon’s book, but they filled Rippon’s blank with 
 “ PERRONETT ” as the author’s name. 
 
ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME 
 
 159 
 
 (6) John Dobell’s New Selection of 1806 won a great 
 success. In it he printed “ All hail ” with some changes. 
 He gave the author’s name as “ Duncan.” The Rev. 
 John Duncan was a Scottish Presbyterian and one of 
 four friends of Dobell who prefixed their “ Recommenda¬ 
 tion ” to his hymn book. Maybe Dr. Duncan had made 
 a revised text of the hymn for his own use, and gave a 
 manuscript copy to Dobell, who thought it Duncan’s 
 own. For some reason Duncan never had his own name 
 erased in later editions of Dobell’s book. And so a tradi¬ 
 tion arose that “ All hail ” was written by “ Duncan.” 
 Among Dr. Duncan’s own descendants the tradition 
 merged into an established truth. On the strength of 
 Dobell’s authority, even the enlarged edition of Rippon’s 
 book, as late as 1844, inserted Duncan’s name where 
 Rippon himself had left a blank. 
 
 (7) In 1808 Thomas Young published his Beauties of 
 Dr. Watts, &c. Young is said to have been the immedi¬ 
 ate successor of the Rev. Edward Perronet as pastor of 
 a small dissenting congregation at Canterbury. It is 
 further said that Young in his book attributes this 
 hymn to his predecessor and also quotes from Occasional 
 Verses of 1785 several pieces as Perronet’s. The writer 
 has a copy of Beauties of Dr. Watts, but not apparently 
 the same book here referred to. He does not question 
 these facts, but they are not within his knowledge. They 
 seem to show that Young acted on personal or at least 
 local information in ascribing this poem to Edward Per¬ 
 ronet. His ascription certainly attracted little attention 
 at the time. 
 
 (8) The hymn “All hail ” came over to this country 
 in copies of Dr. Rippon’s hymn book of 1787, brought 
 or sent here; the book itself being reprinted in New York 
 
160 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 as early as 1792. And thus the hymn came with a blank 
 space for the author’s name. It caught the eye of Oliver 
 Holden, a business man of Charlestown, Massachusetts, 
 who was a self-taught musician and quite successful in 
 composing hymn tunes in the florid style then in vogue. 
 
 THE ORGAN AT WHICH “ CORONATION ” WAS COMPOSED 
 
 He composed his jubilant “ Coronation ” for this hymn, 
 and printed it in his Union Harmony, an oblong tune 
 book in two volumes, published at Boston in 1793. From 
 Holden’s own copy, with the original copyright certificate 
 pasted in, the present writer quotes the heading of the 
 tune: “Coronation. C. M. Words by the Rev. Mr, 
 
ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME 161 
 
 Medley.” Samuel Medley was one of The Gospel Maga¬ 
 zine circle of hymn writers. But why Holden selected 
 him for this honor is not clear. Nor is it important, as 
 Holden did not start a Medley tradition. 
 
 (9) The hymn came anew to this country in Dobell’s 
 hymn book, reprinted here in 1810. With it came Dun¬ 
 can’s name as author; and here the “ Duncan ” tradition 
 gained new currency. So that when the time came around 
 for American Presbyterians and Congregationalists to 
 make hymn books of their own, it was as the hymn of 
 “ Duncan ” that “ All hail ” went into them one by one. 
 Not that any of the editors had the least idea who or 
 what “ Duncan ” was. 
 
 (10) The Evangelical Magazine for December, 1858, 
 had a rather teasing communication from “ J. K.” of 
 Stepney, who seems to have met a son of one of Edward 
 Perronet’s Canterbury friends. “ We have before us,” 
 he says, “ the hymn, 1 All hail, &c.,’ on a card printed 
 about 50 years since, at Canterbury, for the use of a 
 Sunday-school in that city, to which is appended the 
 following notice of the author, 4 The Rev. Edward Per- 
 ronet died at Canterbury, January 2, 1792.’ ” [His dying 
 words follow.] 
 
 “ This is evidential,” as the spiritualists say. But the 
 date is vague, and did the card say it was printed at 
 Canterbury, or did J. K’s friend say that it was? J. K. 
 adds that “ the copy of ‘ Occasional Verses ’ ” “ now be¬ 
 fore us was presented by Mr. Perronet himself to the late 
 Mrs. Gellatly.” But was the book so “ autographed by 
 the author ” ? Or was this only the remembered state¬ 
 ment of “ the late Mrs. Gellatly ” ? 
 
 (n) In 1892 Dr. Julian’s great Dictionary of Hymnol- 
 ology appeared. The annotator of this hymn is assured of 
 
C 39 2 
 
 ON SLEEP. 
 
 E MBLEM of death I as is its conch the Grave, 
 Doom'd to contain the Cotoard and the Brave ; 
 Where ftecp reclin'd, ih z guilty and the pure , 
 
 Alike tntomb’d — feque/Ier'd an i Jecure ; 
 
 Referv’d alike in that dread hour to wake, 
 
 Deftin’d ro Band—and each their defltne take. 
 
 Peace to the loft —while judgment mai ks the fit ft, 
 Ere yet arraign’d—accurfing, and aecuvft. 
 
 Rais'd from their bed, to wrap in deep no more. 
 Reviv’d they gaze, and horribly adore. 
 
 Oh, fatal deep ! that thus awak’d to woe. 
 
 No longer eafe—no longer reft fhalS know ! 
 
 E’en here a foretafte of that keener fleet. 
 
 That fools have mock’d—and dying fools rnuft feel. 
 
 THE POWDER OF DIVINE VENGEANCE, 
 
 A SACRED SONNET. 
 
 L 
 
 W HEN God for fin (hall death demand, 
 Who can before His judgment ftaud ! 
 The proud fhall bend-—the mighty fall. 
 
 Before the Lord, the Judge of' all, 
 
 D 2 
 
 II. 
 
 THE SOLUTION OF THE PUZZLE AS TO AUTHORSHIP 
 
ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME 163 
 
 Perronet’s authorship. But apparently he had not heard 
 of J. K. The only actual proofs he offers are (a) that one 
 piece in Occasional Verses is dedicated to the memory 
 of Vincent Perronet, who was Edward’s father, and others 
 “ apparently to various members of his family, who are 
 indicated by their initials only and ( b) that the copy 
 of Occasional Verses in the British Museum is bound up 
 with two poetical pamphlets, one of them bearing Per¬ 
 ronet’s signature, while the other “ may also be ascribed 
 to him with certainty.” 
 
 (12) When the writer began to prepare this study he 
 examined the grounds of his own faith in Perronet’s au¬ 
 thorship of “ All hail.” “ Is the evidence of it complete 
 and satisfying? ” he asked himself. He had to acknowl¬ 
 edge that it was not. 
 
 The writer made up his mind to examine his copy of 
 Occasional Verses minutely for some further clue of 
 authorship. This he did without result up to page 201. 
 There he found that the verses in memory of C. P. and 
 D. P. were acrostics. The first letter of each line of the 
 former, read downward, spelled Charles Perronet, and 
 those of the second spelled Damaris Perronet — Edward’s 
 brother and sister. Then the writer knew what further 
 to look for, and found it on page 39; an acrostic reveal¬ 
 ing Edward Perronet’s own name. 
 
 This little discovery seems to settle the matter finally. 
 Perronet acknowledged his authorship of the book and 
 the hymn in his own way. Doubtless he did not expect 
 to wait one hundred and twenty-six years for his ac¬ 
 knowledgement to be discovered. 
 
 We can now see easily enough how things happened 
 as they did. Shrubsole was living in the same city of 
 Canterbury as Perronet, and was no doubt one of the 
 
z64 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 friends to whom Perronet showed or gave a manuscript 
 copy of his hymn. Shrubsole liked it and set it to music 
 which he sent to The Gospel Magazine for publication. 
 And when the remainder of the hymn was asked for he 
 turned in his own copy or got one from the author. > 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE HYMN 
 
 There was probably no Church of England clergyman 
 whom the Wesleys relied on so much as Vincent Perro¬ 
 net, Vicar of Shoreham, in Kent. He was a gentle and 
 studious saint, son of a French refugee and retaining the 
 French charm of manner. His son Edward, born in 
 1721, was brought up in the Church and fully intended 
 to enter its ministry, but, under the influence of the 
 Wesleys, became a Methodist traveling preacher. He 
 started out at once to accompany Charles Wesley on a 
 preaching tour. “ He got a deal of abuse thereby, and 
 not a little dirt,” Charles said, “ both which he took 
 very patiently.” 
 
 Perronet seems to have been a bold and successful 
 preacher and a man of undoubted piety. But he was 
 impulsive and restless under the control of the Wesleys, 
 and soon began to make trouble for them. Visiting from 
 house to house he would criticize them, especially their 
 refusal to allow their preachers to administer the sacra¬ 
 ments. He developed an acrid antipathy to the Church 
 of England, and in 1756 published a satire in verse, The 
 Mitre , ridiculing episcopal government and priestly pre¬ 
 tension. It was a grief to his father and a serious matter 
 for the Wesleys. And among them they persuaded Per¬ 
 ronet to suppress it. He must have given away some 
 copies, for a few still survive. 
 
ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME 165 
 
 Later he left the Methodists and became a preacher 
 in the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion. But she, 
 too, remonstrated against his bitterness toward the 
 Church. He left her and became pastor of a small dis¬ 
 senting meeting in Canterbury, where he preached until 
 his death on January 8, 1792. He was buried in the 
 cloister of the famous cathedral. 
 
 And so closed obscurely just such a career as may be 
 worked out by a good man of no commanding gifts, with 
 an irascible temper, an impatience of authority, and a 
 touch of bitterness that grows with “ not being under¬ 
 stood.” His hymn is the one achievement of his life. It 
 breaks through the crusty manner of an unappreciated ^ 
 and disappointed man, and reveals him as one that had 
 “ such exalted views of the Lord Jesus, and so completely 
 enthroned Him in his thoughts and affections.” 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. In The Gospel Magazine the hymn was entitled 
 “ On the Resurrection. The Lord is King.” Hence the 
 opening “All hail”: the risen Lord’s salutation on the 
 resurrection morning according to Matt. 28:9. And 
 the angels were first to proclaim him. But is the hymn 
 really an appropriate Easter hymn? 
 
 2. This hymn is a religious song rather than a religious 
 poem. Its structure makes it very monotonous to read. 
 But its structure makes it also very effective for singing; 
 each verse beginning afresh and mounting to the full- 
 chorded refrain. Perhaps no other hymn is quite so 
 jubilant and triumphant. It has become very dear to 
 the heart of the Church, and, if sung reverently, can 
 hardly fail to warm that heart. It is of course possible 
 
166 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 to use it, like firecrackers, for the sake of making a noise 
 at a festival. 
 
 3. A strain from Shrubsole’s tune (it has long been 
 called “ Miles Lane ”) is carved on his tombstone at 
 Bunhill Fields, London. A verse of the hymn is engraved 
 on Oliver Holden’s tomb in the old Burying Ground at 
 Charlestown. In England the hymn has been inseparable 
 from Shrubsole’s tune. In this country it has been in¬ 
 separable from Holden’s. Both tunes are printed in The 
 Hymnal revised. Both are a part of the history of the 
 hymn; and having both we are at liberty to choose be¬ 
 tween them. 
 
XV 
 
 O GOD OF BETHEL, BY WHOSE HAND 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 O God of Bethel, by whose hand 
 
 Thy people still are fed, 
 
 Who through this weary pilgrimage 
 Hast all our fathers led, 
 
 2 Our vows, our prayers, we now present 
 
 Before Thy throne of grace; 
 
 God of our fathers, be the God 
 Of their succeeding race. 
 
 3 Through each perplexing path of life 
 
 Our wandering footsteps guide 
 Give us each day our daily bread, 
 
 And raiment fit provide. 
 
 4 O spread Thy covering wings around 
 
 Till all our wanderings cease, 
 
 And at our Father’s loved abode 
 Our souls arrive in peace. 
 
 5 Such blessings from Thy gracious hand 
 
 Our humble prayers implore; 
 
 And Thou shalt be our chosen God 
 And portion evermore. 
 
 Verses 1-4 by Rev. Philip Doddridge, 1737, recast by Rev. 
 John Logan, 1781: verse 1, line 1, altered, and verse 5 added 
 in Scottish Translations and Paraphrases , 1781 
 167 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 168 
 
 Note: There are three texts of this hymn: 
 
 1. Doddridge’s original text of 173% as hereinafter printed. From 
 this the hymn went into the Translations and Paraphrases of 1745, 
 with trifling changes. This is the first printed text. 
 
 2. The text given by Job Orton in his collection of Doddridge’s 
 hymns (1755), opening with “O God of Jacob.” The changes in 
 J. D. Humphrey’s 1839 edition of the hymns may be passed over. 
 
 3. The recast made by the Rev. John Logan, printed (with some 
 variances) in his Poems and in the Translations and Paraphrases, 
 both of 1781. It is the latter text (given above) that has become 
 so familiar. 
 
 This and the other hymns of Dr. Doddridge belong to 
 the period of the eighteenth century revival but are 
 scarcely of it. They run rather with the stream of hymn 
 singing and hymn writing among English Independents, 
 of which Dr. Watts was the fountainhead. Hymnologists 
 say that Doddridge is one of “ the school of Watts.” 
 They mean that Watts’s hymns became so much the pat¬ 
 tern for other hymn writers that he was like a school¬ 
 master giving out specimens of penmanship to be imi¬ 
 tated ; and that Doddridge was one of the imitators. But 
 he was head boy in the school, and his hymns came to be 
 regarded as a desirable addition even to those of his 
 master. 
 
 The hymn we are now studying won by its own merits 
 a place in the wider spreading movement to allow the 
 singing of human hymns. For when that movement 
 reached even Psalm-loving Scotland, this was one of the 
 “ Paraphrases ” selected by the General Assembly in 1781 
 and recommended to the churches. 
 
 “THE GOOD DR. DODDRIDGE” 
 
 In some “ unknown house in the labyrinth of London 
 streets ” Philip Doddridge was born in the summer of 
 
O GOD OF BETHEL, BY WHOSE HAND 169 
 
 1702. It was a humble home and a very sickly 
 baby. His earliest recollection was of his mother ex¬ 
 plaining the scenes of Bible history pictured on the blue- 
 and-white Dutch tiles lining the fireplace: Eve's apple 
 tree with the serpent, Noah at the window of the ark, 
 a very large Jonah coming forth from a very small whale, 
 Peter crossing the Sea of Galilee in a Dutch three-decker, 
 the prodigal son in a periwig, and the rest. She would 
 tell him of her father, driven from his Bohemian home 
 by religious persecution, and show him the Luther’s Bible 
 in black stamped leather he brought away beneath the 
 peasant clothes he wore; of his father’s father also, one 
 of the Church of England clergy ejected in 1662 for con¬ 
 science’ sake. 
 
 Both father and mother died while Philip was a child 
 at Kingston grammar school. Sent to another school at 
 St. Albans, he won the notice of Dr. Samuel Clark, the 
 Presbyterian pastor, who befriended him and admitted 
 him to the Communion at nineteen. He went up to 
 London to seek encouragement toward preparing for the 
 ministry. The Duchess of Bedford offered to finance 
 him, but only if he would conform to the established 
 Church. The dissenting leaders were cold. Dr. Clark 
 called him back, and sent him to be trained by John Jen¬ 
 nings, at Kibworth, where he was happy in his books 
 and content in his poverty. In 1723 he was qualified to 
 preach by the county meeting of ministers, and became 
 pastor at out-of-the-way Kibworth, where, he said, “ I 
 have not so much as a tea table in my whole diocese and 
 but one hoop petticoat within the whole circuit ”; but 
 where he could spend twelve hours a day in his study. 
 Doddridge’s chance came at Market Harborough, to 
 which he had moved, when the Independents decided to 
 
DR. PHILIP DODDRIDGE 
 
O GOD OF BETHEL , BY WHOSE HAND 
 
 171 
 
 set up an academy there and selected him as principal. 
 Only twenty-six years old, he consulted Dr. Watts, then 
 fifty-four, and thus began a warm friendship with the 
 great man. Very shortly he was called to a larger church 
 at Northampton. He took his academy with him and 
 made it famous; spending the rest of his life there as 
 teacher, pastor, and author. 
 
 In Doddridge’s time “ the dissenting interest ” was on 
 the down grade. Its heroic age was past: easy days 
 brought easy ways and spiritual indifference. Dr. Watts 
 and other Nonconformist leaders were as much opposed 
 to “ enthusiasm ” as were the bishops themselves. They 
 turned their backs on the revival and scorned the Wesleys 
 and Whitefield. The kindly Doddridge, when he got 
 to know them better, could not keep it up. In London, 
 one day in 1743, he even led in public prayer at White- 
 field’s Tabernacle. Whereupon Dr. Watts wrote him 
 that many of his friends were asking an explanation of 
 his “ sinking the character of a minister and especially 
 of a tutor among the dissenters, so low thereby.” When 
 later he had Whitefield to preach from his Northampton 
 pulpit, a very storm of protest and reproach rained on 
 him: all of which only strengthened the stand he 
 had taken. He was the first Nonconformist leader to 
 hold out a brotherly hand to the great evangelists. 
 
 Doddridge’s one aim in all his laborious ministry was 
 to deepen the spiritual life, not only among dissenters 
 but in general society. To this practical end his many 
 books were written. His Rise and Progress of Religion 
 in the Soul became something like a religious classic. 
 The Family Expository covering all the New Testament, 
 took twelve years of his life and was greatly esteemed in 
 its day. He disliked controversy and liked a theology 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 172 
 
 emphasizing the statements of Scripture rather than the 
 definitions of the schools. In a controversial age this 
 led some to question the straitness of his orthodoxy. 
 Nobody ever questioned his loving-kindness. 
 
 He was not a great writer and probably not a great 
 preacher. He could not stay the decline of dissent even 
 in his own parish. But he did good service in many 
 ways: the more easily because in spite of bodily weakness 
 and consumptive tendencies he had a healthy mind, a 
 heart full of God’s sunshine, and pleasant ways. Perhaps 
 he helped the most simply by being so lovable, for to 
 love a good man is a big step in anybody’s religious edu¬ 
 cation. Many hearts followed him on his voyage to 
 Lisbon in the autumn of 1751, made possible by the 
 bounty of Lady Huntingdon and other friends. “ I can 
 as well go to Heaven from Lisbon as from my own 
 study at Northampton,” he told her at parting. The 
 study at Northampton is still kept just as he left it, and 
 at Lisbon his body still lies in the English cemetery, near 
 the grave of the great novelist, Henry Fielding. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 Doddridge’s “ works ” gather dust on the shelves; some 
 of his hymns are in familiar use. Like those of Davies 
 and other eighteenth century preachers they were written 
 in the glow of sermon composition to be sung at the 
 sermon’s close. “ O God of Bethel ” was to follow a ser¬ 
 mon on “ Jacob’s Vow,” from Genesis 28:20-22. During 
 his life his hymns were more or less handed about in 
 manuscript. Four years after his death his friend Job 
 Orton copied three hundred and seventy of them from 
 his papers and published them as Hymns founded on 
 
O GOD OF BETHEL, BY WHOSE HAND 173 
 
 various texts in the Holy Scriptures. By the late Philip 
 Doddridge , D.D. [1755.] Others have been published 
 since and some are yet unprinted. In Orton’s book this 
 hymn begins, “ O God of Jacob.” The earliest form 
 known is that dated “Jan. 16, 1736” in Doddridge’s 
 own handwriting, which the present writer has not seen. 
 Dr. Julian, who has, gives it thus: 
 
 1 
 
 Oh God of Bethel, by whose Hand 
 Thine Israel still is fed 
 Who thro’ this weary Pilgrimage 
 Hast all our Fathers led 
 
 2 
 
 To thee our humble Vows we raise 
 To thee address our Prayer 
 And in thy kind and faithful Breast 
 Deposite all our Care 
 
 3 
 
 If thou thro’ each perplexing Path 
 Wilt be our constant Guide 
 If thou wilt daily Bread supply 
 And Raiment wilt provide 
 
 4 
 
 If thou wilt spread thy Shield around 
 Till these our wandrings cease 
 And at our Father’s lov’d Abode 
 Our Souls arrive in Peace 
 
 5 
 
 To thee as to our Covenant God 
 We’ll our whole selves resign 
 And count that not our tenth alone 
 But all we have is thine. 
 
I 7 4 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 So much for Dr. Doddridge and the hymn as he wrote 
 it. Its further study carries us over into Presbyterian 
 Scotland. 
 
 THE SCOTTISH “ PARAPHRASES ” 
 
 In our study of “ The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not 
 want,” we saw how Calvin’s ideal of singing “ the Bible 
 only ” conquered Scotland at the Reformation, and made 
 its Church a Psalm singing Church; how at the time of 
 the Westminster Assembly a new version of “ The Psalms 
 of David in meeter ” was adopted; and how fond Scottish 
 hearts became of that “ Rous’s Version.” But as Dr. 
 Watts’s more evangelical renderings of Psalms and his 
 hymns came to be known they caused a certain restless¬ 
 ness and on the part of many ministers a desire for lib¬ 
 erty to sing them or something like them in church. 
 Nevertheless the men who made the first proposals to 
 change the established usage of the Scottish people must 
 have had hopeful temperaments. Time and again when 
 a movement “ to enlarge the Psalmody ” came to the 
 surface in the General Assembly it was quietly side¬ 
 tracked. 
 
 The Assembly of 1741 pigeonholed a petition that 
 other passages of Scripture in meter be added to the 
 Psalms. Next year a persistent presbytery called it up. 
 They succeeded in getting a committee appointed to 
 gather materials and in putting such pressure on the 
 committee that after four years it laid before the As¬ 
 sembly of 1745 a meager collection of forty-five Trans¬ 
 lations and Paraphrases of several passages of Sacred 
 Scripture, nineteen of them taken from Dr. Watts. This 
 had to go down to the presbyteries for their approval. 
 Then followed a contest in which the innovators kept 
 
Tranilations and Parap 
 
 " 
 
 A. 
 
 Of feveral Paflages of 
 
 iSrIB 
 
 ■ ■ i 
 
 Mall 
 
 ■ .. uw w Mi nrini II i li liiiferMMiliMi 
 
 4 *ftv enss 1 
 
 SACRED SCRIPTURE, 
 
 Collefted and prepared by a Committee <rf 
 General Aflcmbly of the Choreh ' ~ 
 iRnd, in order to be fung io 
 
 f v s, .. v 
 
 _I 
 
 THE FIRST HYMN BOOK OF PRESBYTERIAN SCOTLAND 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 176 
 
 the little book for ten years before the General Assembly, 
 where they always seemed to be winning, only to be 
 baffled by the lovers of the old Psalms in the presbyteries. 
 These standfasts saw to it that enough of the presby¬ 
 teries refrained year after year from taking any action, 
 until the patience of the innovators was worn out and 
 their project abandoned. 
 
 Twenty years passed before it was renewed, and six 
 more before a new collection of sixty-seven “ para¬ 
 phrases ” and five “ hymns ” was ready to be sent down 
 for the presbyteries to report upon. That was in 1781, 
 and the Assembly gave the churches leave to sing them 
 while the matter was pending. The old tactics were re¬ 
 sumed, and so many presbyteries ignored the new book 
 also that no further action could be taken by the Assem¬ 
 bly. But perhaps the standfasts overreached themselves 
 this time, since the failure to take final action upon the 
 Paraphrases extended indefinitely the permission already 
 given to sing them pending such action. In this way the 
 little book, whose title page is before us, became the first 
 hymn book of Scottish Presbyterianism: it made the first 
 breach in the old Psalmody. 
 
 In some parishes bitter feeling and disturbances fol¬ 
 lowed when a minister attempted to have the new Par¬ 
 aphrases sung. There were, however, many ministers 
 who never gave them out until their life’s end; and the 
 outraged feelings of many plain people have a monument 
 in Scottish Bibles still preserved in which the leaves con¬ 
 taining the Paraphrases are carefully pasted down or 
 from which they are torn out. But in the end they fairly 
 won their place beside the Psalms and became almost 
 as dear to the people. 
 
 “ O God of Bethel ” is the second of the Paraphrases 
 
O GOD OF BETHEL, BY WHOSE HAND 177 
 
 of 1781, but holds the first place in Scottish hearts. In 
 illustration of this it is worth while to quote a charming 
 letter which Samuel R. Crockett, the novelist, sent in 
 response to Mr. W. T. Stead’s inquiry for “ the hymns 
 that have helped” him: — 
 
 “ One hymn I love, and that (to be Irish) is not a 
 hymn, but what in our country is mystically termed a 
 ‘ paraphrase.’ It is that which, when sung to the tune 
 of St. Paul’s, makes men and women square themselves 
 and stand erect to sing, like an army that goes gladly to 
 battle: ‘ O God of Bethel ’ — 
 
 “ I wish I could quote it all. Of course it is in vain 
 to try to tell what these songs of ‘ Christ’s ain Kirk and 
 Covenant ’ are to us who sucked them in with our mother- 
 milk and heard them crooned for cradle songs to ‘ Coles- 
 hill ’ and 1 Kilmarnock.’ But be assured that whatever 
 new songs are written, noble and sincere, there will al¬ 
 ways be a number who will walk in the old paths, and, 
 by choice, seek for their 4 helping ’ (about which they 
 will mostly keep silence) from the songs their fathers 
 sang.” 
 
 But the use of this paraphrase is not confined to Scot¬ 
 land. It has crossed the border and become as familiar 
 in England as in Scotland. It was sung in Westminster 
 Abbey in 1874 at the public funeral of David Livingstone, 
 the great African missionary and traveler, and again in 
 1879 at the funeral of Lord Lawrence, Governor-General 
 of India. And the biographers of both men refer to the 
 impressiveness of the simple words, as sung to the music 
 of Tallis. In this country and in Canada the Scottish 
 immigration would of itself insure a widespread use of 
 the paraphrase. 
 
i7» 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. No doubt the quaint title, Translations and Para¬ 
 phrases, was originally intended to conciliate those still 
 holding to the Calvinistic position that the inspired words 
 of Scripture should furnish the only “ subject-matter of 
 praise.” And yet it is hard to believe that such camou¬ 
 flage could deceive a people so keen-eyed in searching 
 the Scripture. “ O God of Bethel,” for instance. It cer¬ 
 tainly is not a “ translation ” of the passage in Genesis 
 on which it is based; but could it in any sense be regarded 
 as a “ paraphrase ” of that passage, or is it simply a 
 free human hymn? 
 
 2. The committee who prepared the Translations and 
 Paraphrases of 1745 procured a copy of Doddridge’s 
 hymn in manuscript (it had not appeared in print as 
 yet), and they adopted it with very few alterations. The 
 committee of 1781, on the other hand, made a great 
 many, as may be seen by comparing their text (The 
 Hymnal revised, No. 533) with the original as quoted 
 above. These amendments were doubtless made by the 
 Rev. John Logan, a member of the committee with a deft 
 hand at verse-making but of questionable character, to 
 say the least. Let us hope it was only an exaggerated 
 sense of the value of his improvements of Doddridge’s 
 hymn that led him to print this paraphrase as his own 
 among his Poems of that same year, 1781. 
 
 Modern feeling runs strongly against the practice of 
 “ tinkering ” hymns, as was done so freely by the com¬ 
 mittee of 1781, and in favor of singing them as their 
 authors wrote them. In the case of this paraphrase a 
 modern editor of a hymn book has to choose whether to 
 
O GOD OF BETHEL, BY WHOSE HAND 
 
 179 
 
 adopt the 1781 text or to go back to the original. If he 
 is a good editor he will probably say (1) that Logan’s 
 text is in many ways better than Doddridge’s; (2) that 
 the hymn as Doddridge wrote it is practically unknown, 
 and, as Logan altered it, widely loved; and, if he is 
 editing a Presbyterian hymn book, he will probably add 
 (3) that the form in which the hymn appeared in the 
 Paraphrases of 1781 is the accepted text of what must 
 be recognized as one of the historic hymns of Presby¬ 
 terianism. 
 
 3. In Scotland, “ O God of Bethel ” is still sung to 
 “ St. Paul,” of which Mr. Crockett wrote, a tune that 
 dates from 1749; sometimes to the older tune known 
 there as “ French ” and here as “ Dundee.” In West¬ 
 minster Abbey it is still sung to the sixteenth century 
 tune known as “ Tallis’s Ordinal ” or simply “ Tallis.” 
 “ Balerma,” to which the words are set in The Hymnal 
 revised, is also Scottish, an arrangement dating only from 
 1833, and is probably more acceptable to American con¬ 
 gregations than the older and graver tunes. 
 
 4. Of the thirteen hymns of Doddridge in The Hymnal 
 revised, “ Hark the glad sound! the Saviour comes ” and 
 “ Jesus, I love Thy charming Name ” seem to have most 
 of his vitality; “ How gentle God’s commands,” and “ See 
 Israel’s gentle Shepherd stand ” most of his tenderness. 
 Queen Victoria’s husband thought so much of “ O happy 
 day that fixed my choice ” that he had it sung at the 
 confirmations of their children. In this country it has 
 become associated (perhaps indissolubly) with an old- 
 time camp-meeting melody, carrying a jingle-like re¬ 
 frain, with which many good people would not care to 
 express their praise. Toward the close of the eighteenth 
 century, by some agency as yet undiscovered, “ My 
 
180 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 God, and is Thy table spread ” got itself bound up with 
 a few other hymns at the end of Church of England 
 prayer books, and it has been a favorite Communion 
 hymn ever since. To the writer it seems more appropri¬ 
 ate to those who stay away from the sacrament. 
 
 And there are a few more of the thirteen that raise 
 in his mind a question whether they may not have out¬ 
 lived their usefulness. Each generation develops its own 
 natural religious idiom, and it may be that Doddridge’s 
 “ Lord of the Sabbath, hear us pray ” and “ Grace! ’tis 
 a charming sound,” came more naturally from the lips 
 of his generation than they do from ours. 
 
XVI 
 
 HAIL TO THE LORD’S ANOINTED 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Hail to the Lord’s Anointed, 
 
 Great David’s greater Son! 
 
 Hail, in the time appointed, 
 
 His reign on earth begun! 
 
 He comes to break oppression, 
 
 To set the captive free, 
 
 To take away transgression, 
 
 And rule in equity. 
 
 2 He shall come down like showers 
 
 Upon the fruitful earth; 
 
 And love, joy, hope, like flowers, 
 
 Spring in His path to birth; 
 
 Before Him on the mountains 
 Shall peace, the herald, go. 
 
 And righteousness, in fountains, 
 
 From hill to valley flow. 
 
 3 Kings shall fall down before Him, 
 
 And gold and incense bring; 
 
 All nations shall adore Him, 
 
 His praise all people sing; 
 
 For Him shall prayer unceasing 
 And daily vows ascend; 
 
 His kingdom still increasing, 
 
 A kingdom without end. 
 
 4 O’er every foe victorious, 
 
 He on His throne shall rest, 
 
 From age to age more glorious, 
 
 All blessing and all-blest: 
 
 181 
 
182 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 The tide of time shall never 
 His covenant remove. 
 
 His name shall stand for ever, —- 
 That Name to us is Love. 
 
 James Montgomery’s version ol the Seventy-second Psalm, 
 written in 1821 
 
 Note: The above text is an abridgment of the original, which was 
 in eight verses as printed in Songs of Zion, 1822. 
 
 In taking up this hymn of James Montgomery we pass 
 over into the nineteenth century. And so we leave behind 
 us the eighteenth century hymns — of Watts and his 
 followers on the one side and of the Wesleys and other 
 singers of the great revival on the other. 
 
 It was of course from those eighteenth century stores 
 that our American Churches, whether Evangelical or Uni¬ 
 tarian, had to draw as they began to make hymn books 
 of their own. Now the dominant note of those hymns is 
 personal piety. It is interesting and in a way touching 
 to remember how the heart of our witty Boston poet, 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes, a rather radical Unitarian, 
 turned back in his old age to those eighteenth century 
 hymns. He perceived in them “ the old ring of saintli¬ 
 ness ” and a virility he missed in modern hymns. “ When 
 I turn to the hymn book, and when one strikes my eye, 
 I cover the name at the bottom and guess. It is,” he 
 said, “almost invariably by Watts or Wesley; after 
 them there are very few which are good for much.” 
 
 Perhaps the Unitarian hymn book which the poet had 
 in his gallery pew at King’s Chapel failed to do justice to 
 the later hymn writers, choosing those that gave out the 
 ring of modern liberalism rather than “ the old ring 
 of saintliness.” However that may be, most Christians 
 will not believe that deep and sincere piety passed away 
 
HAIL TO THE LORD’S ANOINTED 183 
 
 with the eighteenth century or that the true succession 
 of God’s singing men has been broken off. 
 
 When the nineteenth century dawned, the voices of 
 all the great hymn writers had passed into silence. Watts 
 and Doddridge had been dead for the half, Toplady for 
 the quarter of a century. The Wesleys had been dead 
 for a decade; Cowper had just died; only Newton sur¬ 
 vived in the weakness of old age. But with the early 
 
 THE CHAPEL COTTAGE WHERE JAMES MONTGOMERY WAS 
 
 BORN, IN IRVINE, SCOTLAND 
 
 years of the new century a new hymn writer appeared, 
 worthy to take his place in the great succession. This 
 was James Montgomery, a Moravian layman; a poor 
 boy with nothing to depend on but his literary talent; a 
 forward-looking man who kept abreast of the marked 
 religious progress of his time; a poet who could not only 
 sing over the old songs of Zion with a fresh and clear 
 voice but could also furnish new songs for new occasions. 
 
184 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE HYMN 
 
 Shortly after writing “ Children of the heavenly King,” 
 John Cennick started a little Moravian settlement in the 
 county of Antrim, Ireland. Among the neighbors who 
 joined it was John Montgomery, apparently a laborer, 
 who for some gift or grace was made a Moravian 
 preacher and sent over to Irvine on the Scottish coast. 
 There, on November 4, 1771, in a cottage adjoining the 
 Moravian chapel, his son James was born; “narrowly es¬ 
 caping,” he used afterwards to say, “ being an Irishman.” 
 When the parents went as missionaries to the West 
 Indies they left the boy at the Moravian school at Ful- 
 neck, near Leeds, and took with them the hope that he 
 would prepare himself for the ministry. 
 
 It was a very, severe school, as closely guarded against 
 the world as a convent, with most of the world’s litera¬ 
 ture forbidden. Dr. Blair’s poem, “ The Grave,” was an 
 exception, and hearing it read started Montgomery’s po¬ 
 etic impulse, just as the quaint Moravian hymn book in 
 constant use started his lifelong interest in hymns. He 
 neglected the prescribed studies and spent his time in 
 composing epics in Milton’s manner. The Brethren gave 
 him up as a candidate for the ministry and put him in a 
 baker’s shop as shopboy. 
 
 The lad became very unhappy there and at the age of 
 sixteen ran away, to begin the world with three shillings 
 and six and a bundle of poems in his pocket. It was 
 characteristic of him that he went off in his old suit, 
 leaving behind him a new one which his master had given 
 him, and which he did not think he had earned. And it 
 was no doubt humiliating to him that he had to ask his 
 
I 
 
I &6 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 old teachers at Fulneck for a recommendation before he 
 could get even a situation in another shop in the village 
 of Wath. This also he left after a year and went up to 
 London with a larger bundle of poems in his pocket and 
 the vision of a publisher ready to print them. When that 
 hope failed, he went back to his situation at Wath. 
 
 One day in his twenty-second year he saw in a radical 
 newspaper, The Sheffield Register, its publisher’s adver¬ 
 tisement for a clerk. He answered it in person and se¬ 
 cured the place. He began to exercise his literary talent 
 in the paper, and, when its proprietor and editor had to 
 flee from political prosecution, a fellow townsman found 
 the means of carrying it on, and put Montgomery in 
 charge. It was an exciting time in politics, and a critical 
 situation for the young editor of a suspected sheet. The 
 skies were lurid with reflections of the flames of the 
 French Revolution. Sheffield was in the thickest of the 
 conflict between the aristocrats and the Jacobins. And 
 amidst all the clamor for the rights of man, the govern¬ 
 ment was insistently trying to raise recruits for the ex¬ 
 pected war with France. 
 
 The ardent young editor’s sympathies were with the 
 democrats, and he was eager for parliamentary reform, 
 to say the least. Almost at once he was arrested for 
 printing a seditious ballad and put in jail for three 
 months. A few months after his release he was charged 
 with seditious libel for an account he printed of the man¬ 
 ner in which the military commander had put down a 
 riot in the streets, was found guilty, and imprisoned once 
 more for six months. He spent his enforced leisure in 
 jail in composing poetry, afterwards printed as Prison 
 Amusements. On coming out he resumed his editorship 
 and kept it up until 1825. But at heart he was neither 
 
HAIL TO THE LORD’S ANOINTED 187 
 
 a politician nor a newspaper man, but a poet, and 
 through these years he gave more thought to poetry than 
 to making the most of his newspaper. It was his old Ful- 
 neck School scheme of life over again, and not the way 
 that leads to fortune; but Montgomery was unmarried 
 and free to follow the gleam. 
 
 As calmer times came, Montgomery’s own opinions be¬ 
 came mellower, and his increasing poetic reputation re¬ 
 flected luster on Sheffield. The simple goodness of the 
 man and his unfailing helpfulness in every worthy cause 
 conquered all hearts. He became recognized as the first 
 citizen of the town, and the government that had twice 
 jailed him put him on its pension list. And so he spent 
 his last years contentedly and helpfully, esteemed by all 
 as the best of men and by many as a great poet. He had 
 not been without his struggles to gain a place, but he 
 bore no grudge against life, except perhaps at the persis¬ 
 tency with which many people confused his personality 
 with that of a namesake whose poetry he did not admire. 
 
 Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler, of Brooklyn, visited him in 
 1842. “ A short, brisk, cheery old man, then seventy-one, 
 came into the room with a spry step. He wore a suit 
 of black, with old-fashioned dress ruffles, and a high 
 cravat that looked as if it choked him. His complexion 
 was fresh, and snowy hair crowned a noble forehead. We 
 chatted about America, and I told him that in all our 
 churches his hymns were great favorites. I unfortu¬ 
 nately happened to mention that when lately in Glasgow 
 I had gone to hear the Rev. Robert Montgomery, the au¬ 
 thor of * Satan,’ and other poems. It was this 4 Satan 
 Montgomery ’ whom Macaulay had scalped with merci¬ 
 less criticism in the Edinburgh Review. The mention of 
 his name aroused the old poet’s ire. ‘ Would you believe 
 
i88 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 it?’ he exclaimed indignantly, ‘they attribute some of 
 that fellow’s performances to me, and lately a lady wrote 
 me in reference to one of his most pompous poems, and 
 said it was the best that I had ever written! ’ ” 
 
 The poet (James, not Robert) had arranged to spend 
 the Easter of 1854 with his brethren at Fulneck, was un¬ 
 able to go, and on April 30 was dead. He was buried 
 with such a funeral as Sheffield had never seen, and in 
 the years following two of his friends with great de¬ 
 votion but less judgment published a biography extend¬ 
 ing to no less than seven volumes. 
 
 MONTGOMERY AS POET AND HYMN WRITER 
 
 It is just as well that a popular poet should die before 
 . his reputation begins to fade, and Montgomery’s had 
 lasted a good while. The first of his poems to catch the 
 public ear was his Wanderer in Switzerland of 1806, of 
 which three editions were called for. Volume after vol¬ 
 ume followed, the series closing with the long poem of 
 The Pelican Island of 1826 and the short pieces collected 
 in The Poet’s Portfolio of 1835. They all appealed to a 
 large public, mostly the religious public who valued such 
 pure sentiments in the vesture of verse they could read 
 and understand. But the longer poems have found no 
 place in English literature, and the anthologies preserve 
 none of his lyrics except a few hymns. And this is just 
 as it ought to be. In his poetic work Montgomery mis¬ 
 took the easy flow of rhetorical or sentimental verse for 
 poetry. But his hymn writing was a thing apart, and in 
 the best of his hymns he made no mistake of any kind. 
 He understood exactly what to aim at, and he is one of 
 “ the little masters ” in the art of hymn writing. 
 
HAIL TO THE LORD’S ANOINTED 189 
 
 As early as 1822 Montgomery gathered his versions of 
 Psalms, including the one now before us, in his Songs of 
 Zion. He printed many of his hymns in a collection 
 called The Christian Psalmist, in 1825; and at the last 
 gathered up the hymns of a lifetime in the Original 
 Hymns of 1853. He wrote four hundred in all, of which 
 not less than a hundred have had a part in the worship 
 of some branch of the Church. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 Many have regarded this as the best of all, and at the 
 present time it is found in more hymn books than any¬ 
 thing else of Montgomery’s. And it has something of a 
 story. 
 
 It was written to be sung at a Christmas festival of 
 1821, at one of the Moravian settlements in England, 
 Fulneck probably. Which reminds us that Montgomery 
 was a Moravian all his life, though he did not formally 
 resume his birthright membership until his forty-third 
 birthday. In January, 1822, he inclosed a copy of the 
 hymn in a letter to a South Sea missionary, suggesting 
 that the isles afar are to share the glories of the Messianic 
 reign. In April of that year it was recited by the author 
 at a great Methodist missionary meeting at Liverpool, 
 under rather striking circumstances. The lights went 
 out while he was speaking, a crash resounded from a seat 
 back broken by the crowd, and it was uncertain what 
 might happen. The chairman called out, “ There is still 
 light within.” The speaker took his cue, proceeded not 
 without agitation, “ concluding with the full blaze of the 
 renovated illumination ” by reciting his “ Hail to the 
 Lord’s Anointed.” And we can imagine that it was not 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 190 
 
 spoken or heard without a perceptible thrill. Dr. Adam 
 Clarke, who presided at the meeting, was so impressed 
 that he secured a copy, and in 1822 appended the hymn 
 to his notes on the Seventy-second Psalm in his now 
 famous Commentary on the Bible , with a special note 
 calling attention to its excellence; which no doubt con¬ 
 tributed a good deal to the hymn’s success. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. In Montgomery’s Original Hymns this bears the 
 title, 
 
 “ The Reign of Christ on Earth. — Ps. lxxii,” 
 
 and it is of course a free rendering of that Psalm. The 
 Seventy-second Psalm is the vision of a great king who 
 brings righteousness and peace, redresses human wrongs, 
 and extends his rule to the world’s end. The Old Testa¬ 
 ment seems to apply the Psalm to Solomon’s reign, and 
 the New Testament does not apply it to Christ as Mes¬ 
 sianic King. The Early Church did, and chose it as the 
 special Psalm for the Epiphany season. Now just what 
 did they mean by that ? 
 
 The Epiphany (January 6) follows so soon after 
 Christmas that many people think of them as one. It 
 really commemorates the visit of the Wise Men, and 
 when the Church put the Psalm in that connection it 
 meant to say that it foretells the homage of the nations 
 to Christ, of which the visit of the Wise Men was the 
 beginning. What the Church did then was to choose the 
 Seventy-second as its special foreign missionary Psalm. 
 
 The nineteenth century Churches have done just the 
 same thing with Montgomery’s rendering of that Psalm. 
 
vw 
 
 
 AN AUTOGRAPH HYMN OF MONTGOMERY 
 
192 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 They have always regarded it as a foreign missionary 
 hymn, a trumpet call to advance toward the conquest of 
 the world, a blessed assurance of victory. We may be 
 quite sure that the author so intended it. He wrote in 
 the early glow of the new zeal for foreign missions that 
 dawned on England, and which so moved his heart. Is 
 the Church justified in making this hymn a song of the 
 final triumph of foreign missions; and just what bearing 
 upon this question has the old saying, “ My kingdom is 
 not of this world ? ” 
 
 2. There are no differences of text in this hymn as 
 printed in Songs of Zion in 1822 and in Original Hymns, 
 thirty-one years later. The fact is worth noting, as a 
 number of editors have made changes, especially in the 
 last line. But as Montgomery printed the hymn, there 
 were eight verses of eight lines each; not too many for a 
 proper presentation of the Psalm but too many for a con¬ 
 gregational hymn book; so that each editor has to de¬ 
 cide on his own abridgment. That in The Hymnal re¬ 
 vised is perhaps as effective as any; the best of the 
 omitted verses, the original second, is rather a loss: 
 
 He comes with succour speedy, 
 
 To those who suffer wrong; 
 
 To help the poor and needy, 
 
 And bid the weak be strong: 
 
 To give them songs for sighing, 
 
 Their darkness turn to light; 
 
 Whose souls, condemn’d and dying, 
 
 Were precious in His sight. 
 
 3. What is the meaning of “ For Him shall prayer 
 unceasing,” in the third verse, regarded by some as an 
 improper expression? Does the fact that the Seventy- 
 
HAIL TO THE LORD’S ANOINTED 
 
 193 
 
 second Psalm is itself a prayer for the king bear upon the 
 questioned propriety of the expression ? 
 
 4. Another and equally well-known missionary hymn, 
 “ Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” is also a version of 
 the Seventy-second Psalm, written in Dr. Watts’s very 
 best style. And it may be interesting to compare the 
 work of two excellent hymn writers dealing with the same 
 subject matter a century apart. Dr. Watts would prob¬ 
 ably have regarded Montgomery’s meter and rhythm as 
 a bit jaunty for a hymn. 
 
XVII 
 
 JUST AS I AM, WITHOUT ONE PLEA 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Just as I am, without one plea 
 
 But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
 
 And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee, 
 
 O Lamb of God, I come. 
 
 2 Just as I am, and waiting not 
 To rid my soul of one dark blot, 
 
 To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
 O Lamb of God, I come. 
 
 3 Just as I am, though tossed about 
 With many a conflict, many a doubt, 
 Fightings and fears within, without, 
 
 O Lamb of God, I come. 
 
 4 Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; 
 
 Sight, riches, healing of the mind, 
 
 Yea, all I need, in Thee to find, 
 
 O Lamb of God, I come. 
 
 5 Just as I am! Thou wilt receive, 
 
 Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; 
 Because Thy promise I believe, 
 
 O Lamb of God, I come. 
 
 6 Just as I am! Thy love unknown 
 Has broken every barrier down; 
 
 Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, 
 
 O Lamb of God, I come. 
 
 Charlotte Elliott, circa 1834 
 
 194 
 
JUST AS I AM, WITHOUT ONE PLEA 195 
 
 Note: The text is taken from the 1841 edition of The Invalid’s 
 Hymn Book. The only changes are (1) In punctuation: by elim¬ 
 inating an exclamation point at the end of each verse; and also 
 dashes, the position and number of which vary in Miss Elliott’s 
 printings of her hymn. Her final use of them was to make a 
 light parenthesis of all between “Just as I am” and “ O Lamb of 
 God”: in verse 1 for example, “Just as I am — ”. ... “ Come to 
 Thee —.” (2) In text: In 1841 verse 3, 1 . 3, reads, “Fightings 
 
 within, and fears without,” within quotation marks. Quoting, no 
 doubt, John Newton (from memory) and discovering verbal in¬ 
 accuracy, she changed the line to read (as in Hours of Sorrow, 
 ed. 1849, and her collected poems) as given above. 
 
 In these studies we have had occasion more than once 
 to refer to the Evangelical Party in the Church of Eng¬ 
 land. It was the succession of clergy and laity who con¬ 
 tinued to believe the doctrines of the Evangelical or 
 Calvinistic side of the eighteenth century revival, and 
 who carried out its principles in their parish work, as 
 far as they could. That Evangelical succession in the 
 Church of England has never failed yet. Its character¬ 
 istic might be expressed broadly by saying that it puts 
 the gospel first and the Church second, so that it is gen¬ 
 erally called the Low Church Party. 
 
 There never was anybody more directly in the line 
 of that succession than Miss Charlotte Elliott, the 
 author of “ Just as I am.” It was her heritage from a 
 line of Evangelical clergymen; she was born into a home 
 that was the center of a prominent Evangelical circle; 
 she was nurtured in the doctrines not only by her parents 
 but by an uncle and two brothers who were Evangelical 
 clergymen; and when she began to write hymns she took 
 her place at once in the succession of Evangelical hymn 
 writers, after Toplady and Newton and Cowper. Her 
 hymn, “ Just as I am,” is a clear expression of what the 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 196 
 
 Evangelical Party believed as to the doctrine of salva¬ 
 tion, and what it stood for as opposing High Church or 
 Broad Church doctrines. She thought of the Church 
 simply as “ The Church of pardoned sinners,” and it 
 was a sorrow to her to see one and another friend or 
 relative turn to what we call High Church views but 
 which she used to characterize as “ Puseyite errors.” 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF “JUST AS I AM” 
 
 Charlotte Elliott’s parents were gentlefolk in very 
 comfortable circumstances, who had homes at Clapham 
 and Brighton, and she was born at Brighton, March 17, 
 1789. From such memorials of her secluded life as have 
 been printed, one gathers that she had been more or less 
 of an invalid from quite early years, but that there was 
 a short period when she could take her part in such social 
 life as the Evangelical principles of that time allowed. 
 In 1821 she had a distressing illness from which there 
 seems to have been no real recovery, though for some 
 years at least the summers brought enough relief to per¬ 
 mit of easy traveling and visits to friends. 
 
 In 1822 she fell under the influence of Dr. Caesar 
 Malan, a pastor from Geneva, while her spirit was tossed 
 about with the “ fightings and fears within, without ” 
 60 natural to her condition and prospects; and under his 
 ministries of healing her faith took a firmer grip and her 
 heart found peace. It was well indeed: how else could 
 she have borne so nobly what was before her, fifty years 
 of invalidism, with much suffering and frequent periods 
 of utter prostration and helplessness? 
 
 The printed memorials of Miss Elliott deal very 
 frankly with her spiritual secrets, but do not, so far as 
 
CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT 
 
198 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 the writer has observed, disclose the nature of the phys¬ 
 ical ailment from which she suffered. Hers was the day 
 when gentle womanhood was veiled in “ delicacy,” and 
 doubtless any explanation of her bodily trouble would 
 have been regarded as indelicate. It does not matter now, 
 except to students of the reactions of body and spirit. 
 What matters are those fifty years of patience and even 
 of service. 
 
 It has been objected against Miss Elliott’s familiar 
 hymn, “ My God and Father, while I stray,” with its re¬ 
 frain, “ Thy will be done,” that its acceptance of God’s 
 will for our lives is too passive, that it stops with resig¬ 
 nation and does not go forward to cooperation. If the 
 objection is just, and perhaps it is, then the hymn fails 
 to express her own ideal and practice. For the ideal of 
 life which this elect lady set up in her heart included 
 not only a purpose to glorify God by her patience and 
 pluck but also to make use of such gifts of service as 
 she had; especially a literary gift which in girlhood had 
 expressed itself in humorous verse, but now in religious 
 poetry and hymns of a very tender and often beautiful 
 quality. 
 
 We do not know how soon she began to exercise her 
 talent. A number of her hymns appear in a collection 
 her brother printed in 1835. Her sister says it was a 
 correspondent, the Rev. Hugh White, who set her the 
 congenial task of rearranging a little collection of hymns 
 for the sick room made by a Miss Kiernan, of Dublin, 
 during her last illness in 1834. To this, published as The 
 Invalid’s Hymn Book, Miss Elliott contributed in all 
 more than a hundred of her own composition. The little 
 book was warmly welcomed and often reprinted. It was 
 followed in 1836 by her Hours of Sorrow, from a presen- 
 
A NOTE ON THE FLYLEAF OF A COPY OF “ HOURS OF SORROW 
 
200 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 tation copy of which the autograph note here reproduced 
 is taken; by Morning and Evening Hymns for a Week 
 in 1839; and after a long interval, by Thoughts in verse 
 on sacred Subjects in 1869. Her own hours of sorrow 
 ceased at Brighton on September 22, 1871. 
 
 She had indeed learned in suffering what she taught in 
 song. All the more welcome, therefore, are the glimpses 
 we catch in her letters of the compensations she herself 
 found in her hymn writing, — the human pleasure of suc¬ 
 cess and the spiritual satisfaction of doing good: “It 
 will be a real delight to me to send you a copy of the 
 Invalid’s Hymn Book. I have just had a copy bound for 
 dear Queen Adelaide, and shall be much pleased if I find 
 she likes it.” And this, a year later: “ I have now before 
 me a few supplemental hymns for the third edition of 
 the Invalid’s Hymn Book, which I have just corrected, 
 and of which the last has sold so quickly. The fifth edi¬ 
 tion of the Week’s Hymns is now all sold; and Seeley tells 
 me the Hours of Sorrow sell well, so that I feel as if I 
 ought to strive to finish and continue these little works 
 1 which are given me to do.’ ” 
 
 THE “TRUE HISTORY” OF THE HYMN 
 
 The annals of a sick room are obscure, and in Miss 
 Elliott’s case it is not always easy to get the date of the 
 writing or even of the first publication of a given hymn. 
 It is so with the one before us, of which no manuscript 
 is known to exist. Most books that deal with it repeat 
 the story that connects it with the ministrations of Dr. 
 Malan to Miss Elliott in 1822. They even lay it out on 
 the precise lines of a responsive service. The pastor ex¬ 
 horts the invalid to come to Christ. She answers, “ How 
 
JUST AS I AM, WITHOUT ONE PLEA 
 
 201 
 
 can I come? ” He tells her, “ Come just as you are ”; 
 and she responds, “ Just as I am, without one plea.” For 
 the truth of all this there seems to be no evidence what¬ 
 ever, and no amount of repetition adds anything to its 
 veracity. Truth indeed is a shy bird, and many good 
 sportsmen fail to bag it. 
 
 The Rev. Handley C. G. Moule, afterwards Bishop of 
 Durham, printed in The Record of October 16, 1897, the 
 “ true history ” of the hymn, of which he said, “ as Miss 
 Elliott’s nephew by marriage I happen to know the pre¬ 
 cise circumstances of its composition.” The bishop 
 stamps as “ inaccurate ” the stories that connect the 
 hymn in any way with her conversion and does not think 
 she could point to any early crisis of conversion. He al¬ 
 ludes to the spiritual comfort Dr. Malan brought her, 
 and goes on: 
 
 “ But ill health still beset her ... it often caused 
 her the peculiar pain of a seeming uselessness in her life 
 while the circle round her was full of unresting service¬ 
 ableness for God. Such a time of trial marked the year 
 1834, when she was forty-five years old, and living in 
 Westfield Lodge, Brighton. . . . Her brother, the Rev. 
 H. V. Elliott, had not long before conceived the plan of 
 St. Mary’s Hall, at Brighton — a school designed to give, 
 at nominal cost, a high education to the daughters of 
 clergymen. ... In aid of St. Mary’s Hall there was to 
 be held a bazaar. . . . Westfield Lodge was all astir; 
 every member of the large circle was occupied morning 
 and night in the preparations, with the one exception of 
 the ailing sister Charlotte — as full of eager interest as 
 any of them, but physically fit for nothing. The night 
 before the bazaar she was kept wakeful by distressing 
 thoughts of her apparent uselessness; and these thoughts 
 
202 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 passed — by a transition easy to imagine — into a spir¬ 
 itual conflict, till she questioned the reality of her whole 
 spiritual life, and wondered whether it were anything 
 better than an illusion of the emotions, an illusion ready 
 to be sorrowfully dissolved. 
 
 “ The next day, the busy day of the bazaar, she lay 
 upon her sofa. . . . The troubles of the night came back 
 upon her with such force that she felt they must be met 
 and conquered in the grace of God. She gathered up in 
 her soul the great certainties, not of her emotions, but 
 of her salvation: her Lord, his power, his promise. And 
 taking pen and paper from the table she deliberately set 
 down in writing, for her own comfort, ‘ the formulae of 
 her faith.’ Hers was a heart which always tended to 
 express its depths in verse. So in verse she restated to 
 herself the gospel of pardon, peace, and heaven. ‘ Prob¬ 
 ably without difficulty or long pause ’ she wrote the 
 hymn. . . . 
 
 “ As the day wore on, her sister-in-law, Mrs. H. V. 
 Elliott, came in to see her, and bring news of the 
 work. She read the hymn, and asked (she well might) 
 for a copy. So it first stole out from that quiet room 
 into the world.” 
 
 With this story of the hymn agrees in all particulars 
 an account furnished about 1902 to Mr. Francis A. Jones 
 by “ Mrs. Synge, a niece of the authoress.” And it is 
 interesting to note that the title-pages of the various 
 editions of Miss Elliott’s Hymns for a Week bear the 
 inscription: “ Sold for the benefit of St. Mary’s Hall, 
 Brighton.” 
 
 Bishop Moule says the hymn was written in 1834, 
 and nobody is in a position to question that date. But 
 the time and place of its first printing are equally inter- 
 
JUST AS I AM, WITHOUT ONE PLEA 
 
 203 
 
 esting, and on these points he is not convincing. He 
 says it appeared in the 1834 edition of The Invalid’s 
 Hymn Book; and that “ in 1835 it was printed, unknown 
 to the writer and without her name, as a leaflet; one of 
 the first copies was given to her by a friend with the 
 words, ‘ I am sure this will please you.’ ” Dr. Julian 
 a high authority, writing with the 1834 book before him, 
 says the hymn is not there, and was first printed in the 
 edition of 1836. Dr. Telford, a careful student of Wes¬ 
 leyan hymns, remarks that the hymn was printed a 
 second time in 1836 in Miss Elliott’s Hours of Sorrow; 
 but it is not found in the writer’s copy of that date. 
 Finally, the writer’s Canadian friend, James Edmund 
 Jones, Esq., who published a carefully annotated edition 
 of The Book of Common Praise in 1909, says there that 
 “Just as I am ” is not in The Invalid’s Hymn Book of 
 1836, but in the edition of 1841 for the first time. All 
 that the present writer can contribute at first hand to 
 this hotchpotch is to say that the earliest printing of the 
 hymn he has seen with his own eyes is in the 1841 edition 
 of The Invalid’s Hymn Book. 
 
 Whatever may be the exact date of publication, it 
 marks the beginning of a wide circulation, of a wonderful 
 career of usefulness. The Rev. Mr. Elliott (he who 
 founded St. Mary’s Hall) thought his sister had done 
 more by a single hymn than he had accomplished “ in 
 the course of a long ministry.” There is hardly an 
 evangelist without some tale to tell illustrating the 
 power of this hymn. Some such testimonies reached the 
 authoress herself. Probably the one that pleased her 
 most was the grateful letter from the husband of Dora 
 Wordsworth, the “ one and matchless daughter ” of the 
 great poet. “ Now my hymn,” he reports that sufferer 
 
204 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 as saying every morning of the last two months of her 
 life; “ and she would often and often repeat it after me, 
 line for line, many times in the day and night. I do 
 not think Mr. Wordsworth could bear to have it repeated 
 in his presence, but he is not the less sensible of the 
 solace it gave his one and matchless daughter.” 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 i. It is interesting to find two evangelical-hearted 
 bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church praising this 
 hymn in practically identical terms as shrining the heart 
 of Christ’s gospel. Bishop Stevens of Pennsylvania, 
 writing a preface for an American reprint of Hymns for 
 a Week, says of it: “ That hymn is the metrical com¬ 
 pendium of the Gospel. It is so simple that a child can 
 understand it, so truthful that the heart taught of the 
 Spirit instinctively approves it, so fervent that the soul 
 is warmed into glowing ardor by its burning words, so 
 grand and comprehensive that the departing saint de¬ 
 lights to use it as he commits his blood-washed soul into 
 the hands of his faithful Creator.” Bishop Mcllvaine 
 of Ohio tells us that in i860 he resumed a custom of 
 gathering the clergy around the chancel, at the close of 
 the annual Convention, for some parting words, a hymn 
 and extempore prayer. “ I had chosen [‘ Just as I am ’] 
 to be sung and had it printed on cards; and I have 
 adopted it for all time to come, as long as I shall be here, 
 as my hymn, always to be sung on such occasions, and 
 always to the same tune. That hymn contains my relig¬ 
 ion, my theology, my hope. It has been my ministry 
 to preach just what it contains. In health it expresses 
 all my refuge; in death I desire that I may know noth- 
 
JUST AS I AM, WITHOUT ONE PLEA 
 
 205 
 
 ing else, for support and consolation, but what it con¬ 
 tains. When I am gone, I wish to be remembered in 
 association with that hymn.” 
 
 In Miss Elliott’s books the hymn was printed beneath 
 the text, “ Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast 
 out,” and it is to be studied in relation to that text. It 
 may be worth while to make an analysis of the hymn, to 
 see just what is added verse by verse as to the terms of 
 the gospel. That done, one would be in a position to 
 estimate a seventh verse added afterwards by the author¬ 
 ess, as found in the writer’s copy of the 1849 edition of 
 Hours of Sorrow: 
 
 Just as I am — of that free love, 
 
 “ The breadth, length, depth, and height ” to prove, 
 
 Here for a season, then above — 
 
 O Lamb of God, I come! 
 
 2. There are some striking phrases in the hymn. Prin¬ 
 cipal Alexander Whyte, who liked to lecture on it, used 
 to dwell on the opening u Just as I am,” as a stroke of 
 evangelical genius. “ A better selected word is not in 
 all the world.” But why? He also contrasted the com¬ 
 ing for “ healing of the mind ” with Macbeth’s “ Canst 
 thou not minister to a mind diseas’d?” (Act v, 
 scene iii). 
 
 The line, 
 
 “ Fightings and fears within, without,” 
 
 has a parallel in a good many other hymns. We have 
 noted: 
 
 Wars without, and Fights within. John Cennick, 1741. 
 
 Fightings without, and fears within. John Newton, 1779, 
 
 By war without, and fears within. John Newton, 1779. 
 
 Foes without and fears within. J. D. Burns, 1857. 
 
 Fightings without, and fears each day within. H. Bonar, 1879. 
 
206 studies of familiar hymns 
 
 Are these writers quoting from one another, or is 
 there some text of Scripture appropriated by each in 
 turn? 
 
 3. Of the two tunes to these words in The Hymnal 
 revised , Bradbury’s appeared in The Mendelssohn Col¬ 
 lection of tunes, edited by Thomas Hastings and himself 
 in 1849. Bradbury was a pupil of Lowell Mason, and 
 his tunes mark the transition from Mason’s simple but 
 dignified music to the livelier “ gospel hymns ” that fol¬ 
 lowed. He “ won boundless popularity for light tunes in 
 the Sunday schools.” Few of his church tunes survive. 
 
 Familiar as is the association of his “ Woodworth ” 
 with “ Just as I am,” many will think such words worthy 
 of a better tune. Whether Sir Joseph Barnby has fur¬ 
 nished it in his setting is open to debate. He was a 
 much more accomplished musician than Bradbury, with 
 a lovely gift for melody, and greatly under the influence 
 of Gounod. Many of his tunes are in the four-part-song 
 style and seemed effeminate to lovers of solid old Psalm 
 tunes. 
 
 The number of good tunes adapted to the peculiar 
 meter of “ Just as I am ” is rather limited; but a repe¬ 
 tition of the final “ I come ” transfers the hymn to the 
 long-meter class, and once there, the choice of tunes be¬ 
 comes almost boundless. 
 
XVIII 
 
 I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 I heard the voice of Jesus say, 
 
 “Come unto Me and rest; 
 
 Lay down, thou weary one, lay down 
 Thy head upon My breast.” 
 
 I came to Jesus as I was, 
 
 Weary and worn and sad, 
 
 I found in Him a resting-place, 
 
 And He has made me glad. 
 
 2 I heard the voice of Jesus say, 
 
 “ Behold, I freely give 
 The living water; thirsty one, 
 
 Stoop down and drink, and live.” 
 
 I came to Jesus, and I drank 
 Of that life-giving stream; 
 
 My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, 
 
 And now I live in Him. 
 
 3 I heard the voice of Jesus say, 
 
 “I am this dark world’s Light; 
 
 Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise, 
 
 And all thy day be bright.” 
 
 I looked to Jesus, and I found 
 In Him my Star, my Sun; 
 
 And in that light of life I’ll walk, 
 
 Till traveling days are done. 
 
 Rev. Horatius Bonar, 1846 
 
 Note: The text is taken from Hymns of Faith and Hope (the 
 first series), where it bears the title, “The Voice from Galilee.” The 
 quotation marks indicating the words of Christ are not given there, 
 and for “ quenched ” the reading is “ quench’d.” 
 
 207 
 
208 studies of familiar hymns 
 
 One sunny morning in the summer of 1887 the writer 
 was making a call upon the Rev. Dr. William G. Blaikie 
 at his home in the city of Edinburgh. In the course of 
 it Dr. Blaikie drew him to the front window, and, point- 
 
 HORATIUS BONAR 
 
 ing to a figure on the opposite pavement, said, “ That 
 is Horatius Bonar ”; adding, “ I thought you would like 
 to see him,” or some words to that effect. It was indeed 
 a group rather than a figure to which Dr. Blaikie pointed. 
 In the center was a venerable man in clerical black, 
 
I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY 
 
 209 
 
 bowed down with years and tottering in infirmity, with an 
 arm thrown across the shoulders of an attendant on 
 either side, who had apparently no easy task to keep 
 him upon his feet. And this central figure, with the 
 large frame and head, and the white hair and whiskers 
 around the fresh skin of the face, having even in extreme 
 weakness that look of nobility which seems the peculiar 
 characteristic of the Scottish type of old age — this 
 venerable figure was Horatius Bonar, the author of “ I 
 heard the voice of Jesus say,” and of many another hymn 
 familiar in our churches. 
 
 THE GREATEST OF SCOTTISH HYMN WRITERS 
 
 When one recalls the fact that his hymn, “ I lay my 
 sins on Jesus,” was written before 1837, what could be 
 less surprising than finding the Bonar of 1887 venerable 
 and broken? He was then in the last years of a long 
 life. His latest appearance in public was in the follow¬ 
 ing April, although he lingered here until the thirty- 
 first of July, 1889. Born December 19, 1808, in Edin¬ 
 burgh, where his father was second solicitor of Excise 
 and a ruling elder of the Church of Scotland, the out¬ 
 ward course of his life was peculiarly quiet and unevent¬ 
 ful. Its one striking event was his secession from the 
 established Church of Scotland. He had finished his 
 studies at the University of Edinburgh, had gone into 
 the ministry, and been ordained as minister of the North 
 Parish in the border town of Kelso. Just then there 
 was a good deal of unrest throughout the Church, caused 
 by the action of “ patrons ” who held as their property 
 the right of naming the parish minister, and only too 
 often put in their nominee against the vehement protest 
 
210 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 of the congregation. This led to the great Disruption of 
 1843, and Bonar with many of his friends was among 
 the four hundred and fifty-one ministers who withdrew 
 from the Establishment and formed “ the Free Church 
 of Scotland.” 
 
 Most controversies are capable of being adjusted in 
 time and schism is never lovely. But these men were 
 conscientious and many of them were heroic in thus 
 renouncing their only means of support. Mr. Bonar 
 and his parish were exceptional in being able to retain 
 their property, and he continued at Kelso as the devoted 
 pastor of the church, now “ Free,” until 1866. 
 
 Some have wondered that one so gifted should spend 
 the greater part of his ministry in the obscure country¬ 
 side. Invitations to go elsewhere were not wanting. But 
 he was absorbed in his pastoral work and in evangelistic 
 labors which took in the whole Border country. “ Here 
 I am, and here I must remain till my Lord come to me or 
 for me,” he wrote to a church at Newcastle; and he 
 heard no clear call until, in 1866, the opportunity came 
 to found a new church in his native city. He was a man 
 set apart. He hated publicity and counted recognition 
 and honors from men’s hands a very empty thing. He 
 was like a pilgrim and stranger on the earth, anxious 
 to make it better for his passing through, but homesick 
 for heaven. He lived with God, the humblest of His 
 children, and had only one great aim in his life — to 
 bring men to Christ. 
 
 Those quiet years at Kelso no doubt made him what 
 he was intellectually and spiritually. There he carried 
 on his studies and attained the culture that is more than 
 scholarship. But, as in all he did, even his studies 
 centered in Christ. His attention was turned to the 
 
/ HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY 
 
 211 
 
 interpretation of prophecy and he became an ardent 
 “ premillenarian.” He believed that our Lord was to 
 return in person, soon, suddenly, and with power; to 
 destroy antichrist and restore Israel, and to inaugurate 
 an earthly kingdom of a thousand years. The Advent 
 hope became an absorbing passion. In its light he lived 
 and worked, and to spread it he wrote tracts and books, 
 and for twenty-five years edited The Quarterly Journal 
 of Prophecy. 
 
 This sense of detachment from the present world, 
 this homesickness for heaven, this hopeful but pensive 
 expectation of the Second Coming, are behind his hymns 
 and make them what they are. “ There is nobody like 
 Bonar to sing about heaven,” exclaims one of the char¬ 
 acters in Miss Phelps’s Gates Ajar. And it is true: 
 nobody since the time of Bernard of Cluny. His hymns 
 are like those that came out of the seclusion and other¬ 
 worldliness of the medieval monasteries, where the 
 monks sang of the growing evil of the world outside, of 
 the absent Bridegroom, and of the glories of Jerusalem 
 the golden. “ What! ” said a High Church lady at 
 Torquay, on meeting a member of Bonar’s Edinburgh 
 congregation: “Is Bonar, the hymn writer, still alive? 
 I always understood he was a medieval saint.” 
 
 He was in his fifty-seventh year when he went to Edin¬ 
 burgh to spend the remainder of life in upbuilding a new 
 parish. Largely under Dr. Thomas Chalmers’ influ¬ 
 ence he had entered the ministry; under Chalmers’ 
 leadership he had exchanged the established Church for 
 the Free; and in his regard that leader persisted as “ the 
 greatest man he had ever met.” He found special pleas¬ 
 ure therefore in becoming first pastor of the Chalmers 
 Memorial Church. In Edinburgh, as in the Border, he 
 
212 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 was evangelist as well as pastor, and when Dwight 
 L. Moody came to Scotland, Bonar took an active part 
 in his mission and even wrote some hymns for Sankey. 
 Sankey had set to music Tennyson’s song from “ Guine¬ 
 vere,” “ Late, late, so late! and dark the night and 
 chill! ” And, when copyright difficulties prevented 
 its printing, Bonar furnished a substitute, “ ‘ Yet there 
 is room ’: the Lamb’s bright hall of song.” 
 
 In 1883 Dr. Bonar was made Moderator of the Free 
 Church Assembly. The photograph of him here repro¬ 
 duced showed (more clearly than a reproduction can) the 
 facings on the coat of the court dress prescribed by 
 custom for a moderator’s wear. His last sermon in the 
 Chalmers Memorial was preached on September n, 1887. 
 
 At his funeral his assistant, the Rev. J. M. Sloan, 
 drove to the Canongate churchyard in the same car¬ 
 riage with Principal Cairns and Dr. Cuyler of Brook¬ 
 lyn. The three men fell to discussing their preferences 
 among Bonar’s hymns. One spoke for “ Here, O my 
 Lord, I see Thee face to face ”; another, for “ When the 
 weary, seeking rest ”; the third, for “ I heard the voice 
 of Jesus say.” 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 It was the shortest of stories according to Dr. Bonar. 
 “ I have nothing on record but a little scrap of paper 
 without a date and the hymn written in pencil.” But, 
 thanks to his son, we can now do a little better than that. 
 
 For the year before his ordination Bonar was assistant 
 at St. John’s, Leith, and superintended the Sunday 
 school. He worried because the children took no interest 
 in the singing. Nothing was provided for them except 
 
I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY 
 
 213 
 
 the Scottish Psalms in meter and a few hymns set to 
 solemn tunes, and neither the words nor music appealed 
 to them. The young superintendent tried the experiment 
 of writing simpler hymns to melodies the scholars al¬ 
 ready knew. “ I lay my sins on Jesus ” set to “ Heber ” 
 and “ The morning, the bright and the beautiful morn¬ 
 ing ” set to “ The Flowers of the Forest,” were the first, 
 printed on little leaflets. The results were so happy 
 that he wrote a few more, including “ I was a wandering 
 sheep,” and printed them with a number of selected 
 hymns on new leaflets. 
 
 Evidently the ban against human hymns was not 
 strictly enforced in the home and Sunday school, but 
 there was as yet no movement to introduce them into 
 the church service. When the Free Church went out 
 in 1843 it kept on using the metrical Psalms as a matter 
 of course, and during the whole of Bonar’s ministry at 
 Kelso, no hymns were sung in his church other than the 
 group of Paraphrases already in the Psalm books. 
 
 His first hymn for grown people, “ Go, labor on,” 
 was written at Leith, to hearten his fellow workers in his 
 mission district. After he went to the quieter scenes 
 of Kelso, his hymn writing grew into a habit. He kept 
 a note book at his side or in his pocket, wherever he 
 went, in which he would jot down a thought or a line or 
 a verse, to be worked up at leisure, or even a hymn 
 hastily written in pencil, with contractions, elisions, and 
 sometimes a phrase in shorthand. 
 
 Dr. Bonar’s son has had some pages from these note¬ 
 books reproduced, and we have before us a rough draft 
 of “ I heard the voice of Jesus say.” Here, indeed, is 
 the story of the hymn as we see it unfolding like a 
 flower from the first seed thought to the perfect form. 
 
c-r 
 
 THE ROUGH DRAFT OF THE HYMN 
 
 
/ HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS 54 Y 
 
 215 
 
 We have even the quaint little designs in the margin 
 that the hand makes almost unconsciously while the 
 brain is shaping its thoughts. The reproduction is 
 somewhat faint, but the original was in pencil and is now 
 rubbed and faded. The photographer who copied it is 
 said to have required an exposure of three quarters of 
 an hour to get the result that we have before us. 
 
 In the notebook this hymn comes next to the well- 
 known Advent hymn, “ The Church has waited long.” 
 It is not printed among the seventeen of his own hymns 
 Dr. Bonar included in his The Bible Hymn Book of 
 1845, and is said to have appeared first in another col¬ 
 lection, Hymns original and selected , 1846, which the 
 present writer has not seen. As one after another note¬ 
 book filled up during those quiet years at Kelso, Dr. 
 Bonar gathered and printed his hymns as Hymns of 
 Faith and Hope; a first volume in 1857, a second in 
 1861, a third in 1866. After going to Edinburgh he 
 brought out three more volumes: The Song of the new 
 Creation in 1872, Hymns of the Nativity in 1879, and 
 Communion Hymns in 1881. 
 
 When these “ Hymns of Faith and Hope ” were new 
 they took the religious world by storm. They were so 
 fresh and original, so beautiful in phrase and melodious, 
 so spiritual and tender, that people were disposed to 
 make a cult of them and to say, “ There never were 
 such hymns as these.” Canon Duncan, speaking no 
 doubt for England rather than for Bonar’s Scotland, is 
 responsible for the statement that “ they were at one 
 time found in almost every Christian home.” And the 
 editors of hymn books vied with one another in put¬ 
 ting a representative selection of them before the con¬ 
 gregations. 
 
216 studies of familiar hymns 
 
 Well, novelty wears off and an indiscriminate popular¬ 
 ity always brings about a reaction of criticism if not 
 indifference. Moreover the atmosphere of the religious 
 world changes, whether for better or worse, and at 
 present Bonar’s thought of life as a pilgrimage and his 
 homesickness for heaven do not make the wide appeal 
 they once did. These changing conditions have affected 
 the popularity of his hymns. The critics say now that 
 some of them are careless and some repetitious and me¬ 
 chanical; and good people say that others of them are 
 somewhat morbid. And so it has come about that fewer 
 of Bonar’s hymns are sung today than was the case a 
 generation ago. One can feel some sympathy, perhaps, 
 with a present-day bustling Christian who says that “ A 
 few more years shall roll ” gets on his nerves; but it is 
 hard to belive that any changes of atmosphere will affect 
 “ I heard the voice of Jesus say.” It adds something 
 even to the beautiful words of Christ: it adds the human 
 response, without which Christ’s words were quite in 
 vain. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 i. This hymn captivates us by its lyrical beauty, but 
 it deserves careful study. Bishop Fraser, of Manchester, 
 England, regarded it as the best in the language. It 
 belongs to the class known as “ subjective hymns ” or 
 “ hymns of inward experience.” Like so many of 
 Bonar’s, it mirrors the life of Christ in the soul. If the 
 writer understands it, it pictures human life as a pil¬ 
 grimage (Bonar seems to have thought of life in no other 
 aspect). The pilgrim has sought far and wide for things 
 unattained. As night comes on he is weary of it all, he 
 hears “ The Voice from Galilee,” and heeding it finds 
 
1 HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY 
 
 217 
 
 rest. But the new peace in the heart must be sustained, 
 and the pilgrim reaches out his hand to take from Christ’s 
 the offered water of life. And thus refreshed he rests in 
 the Lord. At dawn he awakes, at peace but a pilgrim 
 still. It is another day and he must go on — but not to 
 resume the old quest. It is a new day of which Christ 
 is the Light, and a transfigured world through which 
 Christ is the Way. And in that Light and by that Way 
 he will walk “ till traveling days are done.” 
 
 Is this a fair interpretation of the hymn? 
 
 2. Some of us will recall a discussion of the compar¬ 
 ative merits of Dickens and Thackeray as novelists, in 
 which the after-dinner speaker, having laid out his ap¬ 
 proaches in cold blood, waxes warmer and warmer as he 
 proceeds, until he ends in a spluttering confusion of 
 cross currents through which all that the ear can catch 
 are excited references to Dackeray and Thickens or 
 Thickeray and Dackens. 
 
 The purpose of this little skit no doubt was to poke 
 fun at criticism by comparison, the method of appraising 
 one writer by contrasting him with another. But the 
 method has its use, if only for bringing out the distinc¬ 
 tive features of each writer. It is not unprofitable, for 
 instance, to ask how the hymns of Bonar stand compar¬ 
 ison with those of Watts and Charles Wesley. We 
 might start by comparing what is regarded as the best 
 hymn of each writer: Watts’s “ When I survey the 
 wondrous cross,” Wesley’s “ Jesus, Lover of my soul,” 
 and Bonar’s “ I heard the voice of Jesus say.” 
 
 The comparison may well be confined to Bonar’s 
 choicer hymns. As was the case both with Watts and 
 Wesley, he wrote far too much, and allowed facility to 
 usurp the place of inspiration. Like them he was at 
 
218 studies of familiar hymns 
 
 times an extremely careless workman, and for some 
 reason never corrected infelicities that a little thought 
 might have remedied. In all the editions of his Hymns 
 of Faith and Hope, so far as the writer has collated them, 
 the plates remain unaltered, even as to a printer’s slip. 
 Bonar had also a painful way of ringing the changes 
 on his thought to wearisome lengths, through a series of 
 lines and phrases repeated with modifications of some 
 of their words, after the manner of Southey in his 
 “ Cataract of Lodore.” “ Beyond the smiling and the 
 weeping ” is his best in this manner. But even the 
 poorest of the hymns are by Bonar: they share in an 
 individuality of thought and expression which is as 
 fresh and characteristic as Charles Wesley’s was. 
 
 3. How are we to trace Bonar’s lineage and assign 
 him his place in the development of hymn writing as we 
 have followed it in these studies? He was, to begin 
 with, a Scottish hymn writer with few predecessors. 
 And is there anything in Watts or Wesley to suggest 
 him as a pupil in the school of either? He was more 
 akin to the writers of the Evangelical Revival, but his 
 own Evangelical theology he took not from them but 
 directly from the stern Reformation standards of Scot¬ 
 land, and drew forth crystal streams from that massive 
 rock. He seems like a prophet, solitary and apart from 
 the line of priestly succession. 
 
 4. The correspondents’ column in one of the literary 
 weeklies had a query, “ Is it true that no Presbyterian 
 writers have contributed hymns of lasting position to 
 the general stores of the Church ? ” There had been a 
 discussion on the subject perhaps, and some Presbyterian 
 was out looking for ammunition with which to defend 
 the claims of his own denomination. 
 
I HEARD THE VOICE OF JESUS SAY 
 
 219 
 
 Most people would now agree that the question is 
 not very important. We choose our hymns for what 
 they are, without anxiety as to the church connection 
 of their authors. The modern hymn book presents the 
 nearest approach to church unity so far achieved. If, 
 however, the question is raised, it is answered by saying 
 that Bonar’s hymns are sung in all Churches and are the 
 chief Presbyterian contribution to the common stock. 
 Among other Presbyterian hymn writers appearing in 
 the index of authors in The Hymnal revised are: 
 
 (1) From Scotland: Bruce, Logan, Morison, J. D. 
 Burns, Norman MacLeod, Matheson, Miss Borthwick 
 and Mrs. Findlater, Brownlie, Mrs. Cousin, and the 
 Duke of Argyll. 
 
 (2) From Canada: Robert Murray. 
 
 (3) From the United States: Davies, J. W. Alexander, 
 Duffield, Dunn, Hastings, Mrs. Prentiss, Wolfe, Hopper, 
 March, Mrs. C. L. Smith, and van Dyke. 
 
XIX 
 
 THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 There is a green hill far away, 
 
 Without a city wall. 
 
 Where the dear Lord was crucified, 
 
 Who died to save us all. 
 
 2 We may not know, we cannot tell, 
 
 What pains He had to bear; 
 
 But we believe it was for us 
 He hung and suffered there. 
 
 3 He died that we might be forgiven, 
 
 He died to make us good, 
 
 That we might go at last to heaven, 
 
 Saved by His precious blood. 
 
 4 There was no other good enough 
 
 To pay the price of sin; 
 
 He only could unlock the gate 
 Of heaven, and let us in. 
 
 5 O dearly, dearly has He loved, 
 
 And we must love Him too, 
 
 And trust in His redeeming blood, 
 
 And try His works to do. 
 
 Cecil Frances Humphreys (afterwards Mrs. Alexander), 1848 
 
 Note: The text is taken from the third edition of Hymns for 
 little Children, in which the second line is relieved from what was 
 apparently a typographical error in the first edition. 
 
 220 
 
THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY 
 
 221 
 
 HIGH CHURCH HYMNS 
 
 This hymn was written by a young Irish lady, Miss 
 Cecil Frances Humphreys, a little before 1848. If the 
 Evangelical authoress of “ Just as I am, without one 
 plea ” read it, as probably she did, she may have thought 
 it newfangled and queer, but she could not have found 
 anything in it contrary to the doctrines she loved. And 
 yet she must have disapproved very strongly of its 
 writer, for that lady was one of the young people brought 
 up on the Evangelical side of the Church who had come 
 under the influence of the new High Church Movement 
 and adopted the very “ Puseyite errors ” against which 
 Miss Elliott kept warning her friends. 
 
 To understand just what that means, we have to re¬ 
 call a bit of church history. Not long before, in the 
 early eighteen-thirties, the Church of England and of 
 Ireland (disposed at the time to be somewhat drowsy) 
 had been startled by strange goings-on at Oxford Uni¬ 
 versity, just where the Methodist Movement had started 
 a century before. It was the beginning of what is gen¬ 
 erally called the Oxford or High Church Movement, of 
 which Newman and Keble and Pusey were among the 
 leaders. To explain its purpose in a sentence is not 
 easy. It aimed to make the Church less Protestant, 
 to bring it closer to the principles of Catholicism — 
 Apostolic Succession, the priesthood of ministers, “ high ” 
 doctrines of the validity of sacraments, and Catholic 
 ceremonial. Newman and some of the other leaders were 
 to follow out these principles so far as to land themselves 
 in the Roman Catholic Church. But they left behind 
 them in the Church of England a powerful High Church 
 
MRS. ALEXANDER 
 
THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY 
 
 223 
 
 Party which has grown until it is to-day stronger and 
 more “ Catholic ” than it ever was. 
 
 Now every deeply felt religious movement shows an 
 impulse to make its own songs. The Reformation 
 Movement under Luther filled Germany with hymn 
 singing, and under Calvin turned the Bible Psalms into 
 people’s songs. The Methodist movement put its gospel 
 into revival hymns. The Evangelical Movement brought 
 out a wealth of hymns of personal experience. And the 
 High Church Movement has developed a whole com¬ 
 pany of writers of what we might call “ churchly ” 
 hymns. A feature of the new movement was its strict 
 observance of fasts, festivals and saints’ days, and its 
 setting up of daily services and at least weekly com¬ 
 munions. Suitable hymns had to be provided for all 
 these occasions, so that many of the new hymns were 
 “ churchly ” in the narrower sense. Others are churchly 
 only in the broader sense in which all good Christians 
 love the Church and the sanctities of God’s House. And 
 there are of course many more which deal with those 
 experiences of the gospel that lie deeper in the heart than 
 any theories of the Church that divide us. 
 
 To say that the High Church Movement has inspired 
 a large proportion of the best hymns of the nineteenth 
 century is simply to acknowledge the truth. And so it 
 happens that as we go forward in these studies we shall 
 have to follow the footsteps of Miss Humphreys and 
 cross over from the Evangelical side to the High Church 
 side of the Church of England, if we are to find some 
 of the hymns most familiar and best loved. In making 
 the crossing it may be as well to acknowledge that a 
 disregard of the claims of aesthetic feeling has always 
 been a weaker side of the Evangelical Movement. 
 
224 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 WHY THE HYMN WAS WRITTEN 
 
 “ There is a green hill far away ” is not a High Church 
 hymn nor even a churchly hymn, so far as its contents 
 go. It might have been written by an Evangelical; and 
 in fact Miss Humphreys never gave up her Evangelical 
 beliefs. Nevertheless the hymn was inspired by her 
 new churchly ideals and written as a part of a plan to ex¬ 
 tend them. 
 
 She felt that if the Catholic principles of the Oxford 
 Movement were to prevail, a beginning must be made 
 by instilling “ sound Church principles ” into the chil¬ 
 dren. And a first step was to provide them with at¬ 
 tractive hymns setting forth those principles. She wrote 
 some and tried them on her Sunday-school class. When 
 she had written forty she published them in 1848 as 
 Hymns for little Children, seventy-two pages in all. 
 There were two daily hymns, one on the Holy Trinity, a 
 group expounding the Order in the Prayer Book for a 
 child’s baptism, and other groups on the Apostles’ Creed, 
 the Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer: her selec¬ 
 tion of topics being evidently intended to cover just 
 the things a child was expected to know at its con¬ 
 firmation. 
 
 “ There is a green hill far away ” was one of the 
 Apostles’ Creed group, set beneath the article, “ Suffered 
 under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.” 
 Now it is necessary to know this original setting of the 
 hymn, the where and the why of its printing, in order 
 to understand it. Some people have failed to under¬ 
 stand it and' have misjudged it. Dr. Theodore L. 
 Cuyler, a great lover of hymns and not a bad judge of 
 them, wrote to The New York Evangelist in 1895: “I 
 
AN AUTOGRAPHED VERSE FROM MRS. ALEXANDER^ PEN 
 
226 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 confess that this popular lyric has always seemed to me 
 more like a snatch of sacred geography and sound 
 theology than a burst of praise.” Some theologians on 
 the other hand have objected that the “ theology ” was 
 too vague, and that “ He died to make us good ” is not 
 an intelligent statement of the atonement. 
 
 These objections are covered by knowing that it is 
 a child’s hymn, picturesque because a child takes in a 
 picture more readily than a thought, and endeavoring 
 to state doctrine from a child’s point of view and in a 
 child’s language. Its whole beauty lies in its simplicity, 
 and if it should tempt the most systematic theologian 
 to share even for a moment the mind of a child that 
 would be an added grace. 
 
 A number of Miss Humphreys’ hymns have taken 
 their place among the classics of Christian childhood. 
 But this hymn has gone further than that. It has firmly 
 established itself as a standard church hymn. There is 
 a type of children’s literature, such as Alice in Wonder¬ 
 land and Kenneth Grahame’s The Golden Age, that ap¬ 
 peals irresistibly to the child within us all; and the best 
 of Miss Humphreys’ children’s hymns are of that type. 
 Her “ There is a green hill far away,” like Phillips 
 Brooks’s “ O little town of Bethlehem,” cannot be hidden 
 in the nursery or confined within the Sunday schoolroom. 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE HYMN 
 
 It is usually spoken of as written by Mrs. Alexander, 
 wife of the Irish bishop or archbishop of that name, 
 just as “ Lead, kindly Light ” is spoken of as the work of 
 Cardinal Newman. But Newman was a Protestant 
 clergyman when he wrote his hymn, and Cecil Hum- 
 
THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY 
 
 227 
 
 phreys was not yet married when she wrote this one: 
 when she did marry, her husband was not a bishop but 
 rector of a remote parish, and did not become arch¬ 
 bishop until after her death. 
 
 Miss Humphreys was the daughter of a major in the 
 Royal Marines, a Norfolk gentleman who as a land 
 owner and land agent had come to reside in Wicklow 
 County, Ireland. She was born there in 1818 and spent 
 all her life in Ireland. 
 
 She wrote verses as a child, and it is not clear just how 
 she was turned from the Evangelical wing of the Church 
 to the High Church side. The romantic features of the 
 Oxford Movement would appeal to her, and no doubt the 
 beautiful poetry of John Keble’s Christian Year helped. 
 Her first volume of poetry, Verses for holy Seasons, was 
 itself a “ Christian Year ” adapted to the capacities of 
 children. It had a hymn for every Sunday and every 
 other day provided for in the Prayer Book “ in a kind 
 of sing-song style of versification ” a child could easily 
 learn. That was in 1846. Her Hymns for little Children 
 followed two years later, and had a preface by John 
 Keble. 
 
 In October, 1850, she married the Rev. William Alex¬ 
 ander, a rector in Tyrone, and a very eloquent preacher, 
 who seventeen years later became Bishop of Derry 
 and Raphoe and ultimately “ Primate of all Ireland.” 
 She was admirably fitted to be a pastor’s wife. She was 
 as far as possible from the dreamy, ineffectual type of 
 poet. She never posed, detested gush and sentimentality, 
 had a direct tongue and incisive speech, and she turned 
 a vigilant eye upon her husband’s house, garden and 
 farm. She kept her devotional life largely hidden in her 
 heart, but was a strict “ Prayer Book Christian,” going 
 
228 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 to church every day and to communion every week. 
 Beyond that her days were largely given over to errands 
 of charity and helpfulness, from one poor Irish home to 
 another, from one sick-bed to another, from one house of 
 sorrow to another, no matter how remote. She knew 
 all her neighbors, and loved them, especially the Irish 
 Presbyterians. “ Dear, good people! ” she would say; 
 u how kind they are to me, how ready to give for 
 Christ’s sake! I do like them.” 
 
 When her husband became bishop in 1867, she was 
 brought more into contact with society and large insti¬ 
 tutions. She became the hostess of many distinguished 
 people and shared the publicity of a bishop’s life. But 
 she was as much at home in the back streets of 
 Londonderry as in the Bishop’s Palace. It was in the 
 palace she died on October 12, 1895, and to her funeral 
 a great throng gathered from England as well as from 
 Ireland, thus paying a spontaneous tribute to a noble life. 
 
 If some of them were paying tribute also to the very 
 real vein of poetry that was in her, she herself would 
 not have welcomed it. She was possibly the only poet 
 that ever lived who did not like to hear her poems 
 praised. “ Again and again,” her husband says, “ I have 
 read to her words of lofty, of almost impassioned com¬ 
 mendation from men of genius or holiness, of rank and 
 position. She listened without a remark and looked up 
 almost with a frown.” The exception was his reading 
 a little tract by an English nonconformist minister. It 
 told the story (for whose truth the writer vouched) of 
 a great change in the heart and life of a very worldly 
 man. He happened to hear “ There is a green hill far 
 away ” exquisitely sung. It awakened feelings and 
 yearnings that proved to be the starting point of a new 
 
THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY 229 
 
 life. “ Mrs. Alexander almost sprang from her chair, 
 looked me in the face, and said: ‘ Thank God! I do like 
 to hear that ’ ” 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. The second line of this hymn has an interesting 
 little history all its own. 
 
 When Hymns for little Children was printed in 1848 
 it read there: 
 
 “ Beside a ruined city wall.” 
 
 That must have been a blunder, one would think, because 
 the two extra syllables could not possibly be sung to a 
 common meter tune. In the third edition (1849), the 
 line reads, 
 
 “ Without a city wall,” 
 
 and so it still stands in the 234th thousand issue of 1864. 
 
 But sometime later the authoress was asked by a 
 small child what was meant by a green hill not having a 
 city wall; and so she changed the dubious “ without ” to 
 “ outside,” and in her latest text and in Hymns ancient 
 and modern the line reads, 
 
 “ Outside a city wall.” 
 
 And yet when Bishop Alexander published her Poems 
 after her death, he restored the “ without,” which cer¬ 
 tainly falls more pleasantly on the ear. Is there any 
 real necessity for resorting to “ outside”? 
 
 2. Nothing sounds more sweet to us than the hymns 
 we love sung by the lips of children. But when we ask 
 what impression the words they sing make upon the 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 230 
 
 children's own hearts and minds, we get a different point 
 of view altogether. The line we have just discussed il¬ 
 lustrates the difficulty of getting to a child’s mind. 
 There are other illustrations in plenty. The child who 
 asked for the hymn about “ the boy who stole the 
 watch ” was referring to 
 
 “ The old man, meek and mild, 
 
 The priest of Israel, slept; 
 
 His watch the temple-child, 
 
 The little Levite, kept.” 
 
 Dr. Watts was the first Englishman to write hymns chil¬ 
 dren could understand: they could hardly mistake 
 
 “ Let dogs delight to bark and bite, 
 
 For God hath made them so; ” 
 
 and his Divine Songs for the use of Children monopo¬ 
 lized the field for a century. Charles Wesley tried to 
 improve upon them with his Hymns for Children . Of 
 these Dr. A. E. Gregory, not the less a good Wesleyan 
 for his sense of humor, remarks that some of them must 
 have frightened a poor little Methodist out of his wits. 
 And the Taylor sisters, Ann and Jane, followed in 1810 
 with their Hymns for infant minds, almost too infantile, 
 it seems now, but widely used in their day. 
 
 When the High Church Movement began there were 
 no children’s hymns extant that fitted in with High 
 Church ideals. Miss Humphreys was only one of sev¬ 
 eral who tried to provide them, but she was the most 
 successful with her Hymns for little Children. And yet 
 even of these the proportion that won their way was 
 small, and of the children’s hymns of her later life, which 
 were very many, scarcely any are even remembered. 
 
THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY 
 
 231 
 
 If then it is so extremely difficult to write good chil¬ 
 dren’s hymns, and if children get the strangest notions 
 out of their hymns even when they are good, a question 
 opens out that is at least worthy of discussion. May it 
 not prove the wise course to encourage the children to 
 learn the great hymns of the Church while memory is 
 strong, with such explanations as we can give, trusting 
 that as they grow older the hymns securely lodged in 
 their memory will prove a life-long treasure? Is not 
 this the course we pursue in respect of the Bible, the 
 Creed, and the Commandments, much of which is be¬ 
 yond a child’s understanding? 
 
 3. This hymn had the honor of being set to music, as 
 a solo, by one of the most distinguished of modern 
 French musicians, Charles Frangois Gounod, who is 
 said to have remarked that the words themselves were 
 so musical they hardly needed such setting. His music 
 to the minds of many is the most perfect interpretation 
 of the hymn. Mr. Gower’s “ Meditation,” to which the 
 words are set in The Hymnal revised, was written for 
 “ There is a land of pure delight,” but is becoming more 
 and more closely attached to the present hymn. Mr. 
 Gower was an Englishman who came early to this coun¬ 
 try, engaging himself with mining interests at Denver, 
 Colorado, where he died in 1922. The tune “ Horsley,” 
 printed beneath the words, is the favorite in most English 
 churches, and one of solid worth, likely to grow in the 
 esteem of those who make use of it. 
 
XX 
 
 ART THOU WEARY, ART THOU LANGUID 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Art thou weary, art thou languid, 
 
 Art thou sore distrest? 
 
 “Come to Me,” saith One, “and, coming, 
 Be at rest.” 
 
 2 Hath He marks to lead me to Him, 
 
 If He be my Guide? 
 
 “ In His feet and hands are wound-prints, 
 And his side.” 
 
 3 Is there diadem, as Monarch, 
 
 That His brow adorns? 
 
 “Yea, a crown, in very surety. 
 
 But of thorns.” 
 
 4 If I find Him, if I follow, 
 
 What His guerdon here? 
 
 “ Many a sorrow, many a labor, 
 
 Many a tear.” 
 
 5 If I still hold closely to Him, 
 
 What hath He at last? 
 
 “ Sorrow vanquished, labor ended, 
 
 Jordan passed.” 
 
 6 If I ask Him to receive me, 
 
 Will He say me nay? 
 
 “ Not till earth and not till heaven 
 Pass away.” 
 
 232 
 
ART THOU WEARY, ART THOU LANGUID 233 
 
 7 Finding, following, keeping, struggling, 
 
 Is He sure to bless? 
 
 “ Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs, 
 
 Answer, ‘Yes.’ ” 
 
 Rev. John Mason Neale, 1862 
 
 Note: The text is that of Dr. Neale’s Hymns of the Eastern Church 
 translated, except in the third line of the last verse, which there 
 reads, “ Angels, Martyrs, Prophets, Virgins.” 
 
 A HYMN IN DIALOGUE 
 
 The hymn takes the form of a dialogue between an 
 evangelist who offers Christ as the Way to rest and a 
 pilgrim who asks about the signposts and the road. The 
 form is striking but it is not strange. “ Watchman, tell 
 us of the night ” is also a dialogue, and those who have 
 followed these studies will recall John Cennick and his 
 Sacred Hymns “ mostly composed in DIALOGUES.” 
 
 The conversational form is older still. The Twenty- 
 fourth Psalm is a hymn in dialogue between two choirs, 
 one stationed within the holy walls, the other gathered 
 outside the gate and claiming the right to enter. But in 
 the present hymn the give-and-take between the speakers 
 is brisker, more dramatic. 
 
 Its dramatic quality is brought out in a passage to¬ 
 ward the close of Sally Pratt McLean’s novel, Cape Cod 
 Folks. The young men of the village had stayed “ down 
 to shore ” in the late afternoon putting the finishing 
 touches on “ mendin’ up the old schooner.” In the 
 evening a few sorrowing neighbors gathered at Grandma 
 Keeler’s, where Captain Satchell * was telling how 
 George Olver and Lute Cradlebow had sung this hymn 
 together as they worked upon the schooner, just be- 
 * These names were changed in later editions of the novel. 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 234 
 
 fore the black squall came, in which Lute went down 
 to his heroic death. 
 
 “ By and by, him and George Olver struck up a song. 
 I’ve heern ’em sing it before, them two. As nigh as I 
 calk’late, it’s about findin’ rest in Jesus, and one a askin’ 
 questions, all fa’r and squar ’, to know the way and 
 whether it’s a goin’ to lead thar’ straight or not, and the 
 other answerin’. And he — he was a tinkerin,’ ’way up 
 on the foremast, George Olver and the rest on us was 
 astern, — and I’ll hear to my dyin’ day how his voice 
 came a floatin’ down to us thar’, — chantin’-like it 
 was — cl’ar and fearless and slow. So he asks, for 
 findin’ Jesus, ef thar’s any marks to foller by; and George 
 Olver, he answers about them bleedin’ nail-prints, and 
 the great one in His side. 
 
 “ So then that voice comes down ag’in, askin’ if thar’s 
 any crown, like other kings, to tell Him by; and George 
 Olver, he answers straight about that crown 0’ thorns. 
 
 “ Then says that other voice, floatin’ so strong and 
 cl’ar, and if he gin up all and follered, what should he 
 have? what now? So George Olver, he sings deep 0’ the 
 trial and the sorrowin’. But that other voice never 
 shook, a askin’, and what if he helt to Him to the end, 
 what then should it be, what then? George Olver an¬ 
 swers: ‘Forevermore, the sorrowin’ ended — Death 
 gone over.’ 
 
 “ Then he sings out, like his mind was all made up, 
 ‘ And if he undertook it, would he likely be turned 
 away ? ’ 
 
 “ ‘ And it’s likelier,’ George Olver answers him, ‘ that 
 heaven and earth shall pass.’ 
 
 “ So I’ll hear it to my dyin’ day — his voice a floatin’ 
 down to me from up above thar’ somewhar’, askin’ them 
 
ART THOU WEARY, ART THOU LANGUID 235 
 
 questions that nobody could ever answer like, so soon, 
 he answered ’em for himself.” 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE HYMN 
 
 John Mason Neale was another young recruit of the 
 High Church Party in the Church of England who came 
 over from the Evangelical side. He was born in London 
 in January, 1818; the son of an Evangelical clergyman, 
 and at eighteen was sent up to Cambridge University. 
 The High Church Movement, begun at Oxford, was very 
 active there by this time, and Neale gave himself up to 
 it with his whole heart, becoming as much of a “ Cath¬ 
 olic ” as one can without submitting to the Pope’s au¬ 
 thority. The spread of the Movement was creating gen¬ 
 eral alarm throughout the country, and Neale, who was 
 nothing if not outspoken, was already a marked man. 
 The Bishop of Winchester refused his license, but Bishop 
 Monk ordained him in 1842. He passed his whole min¬ 
 istry under the shadow of reproach and disfavor. The 
 only preferment in the Church that came to him was the 
 wardenship of Sackville College at East Grinstead, 
 some twenty-nine miles from London. With a high- 
 sounding name the college was merely an endowed alms¬ 
 house, and the wardenship carried a salary of less than 
 thirty pounds. This position Neale obtained in 1846 and 
 retained until his death there in August, 1866; a period 
 of twenty years, for sixteen of which he was prohibited 
 by his bishop from exercising any ministerial functions, 
 and during several of them was occasionally subject to 
 visitation by the “ No-Popery ” men. 
 
 When he founded at East Grinstead a nursing “ Sister¬ 
 hood of S. Margaret ” he was felt to have capped his 
 
236 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 offenses by adding “ a Romish convent ” to the resources 
 of a Protestant Church. So intense were the feelings 
 aroused that, when Neale and the Sisters took the body 
 of one who had died to Lewes for burial, they were at¬ 
 tacked in the churchyard by a mob. Neale was knocked 
 down and maltreated, the Sisters were hustled along 
 the streets, and the whole party rescued with great diffi¬ 
 culty by the police and finally got on board the train 
 for East Grinstead. For such are the reversals of re¬ 
 ligious history. In one century a man is mobbed for 
 trying to stir up an “ Evangelical Revival,” in the next 
 for trying to stir up a “ Catholic Revival.” 
 
 Such experiences did not suggest to Neale any compro¬ 
 mise of his church views. Those were fixed ideas, on 
 which his whole life was built. He believed that in 
 the “ Catholic ” system of religion he had found ulti¬ 
 mate truth and was incapable of “liberal ” views in 
 theology or politics. The opposition or enmity he 
 aroused he met by ignoring it and turning his back upon 
 his accusers. With an elevation of mind that refused 
 to harbor resentment, he calmly pursued his own ideals 
 of life, in which scholarship and charity happily mingled. 
 In his study at East Grinstead or abroad he carried for¬ 
 ward his researches on the sources of early church his¬ 
 tory and worship, bringing forth work after work marked 
 by a learning that in his own lines had no equal and by 
 a productiveness almost without parallel. He gave 
 special attention to the hymns of the Latin Church, to 
 which the minds of High Churchmen had turned as more 
 ancient and seemly than the current hymns of the Evan¬ 
 gelicals. He explored their sources, gathered many 
 hitherto unknown, wrote their history, and translated 
 some of them with brilliant success. 
 
DR. JOHN MASON NEALE 
 
238 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 But Neale was more than a scholar. He wrote many 
 books for the people, — sermons, young people’s stories, 
 “ readings ” to the aged and the sick. There are some 
 who regard him as a great master of English, and a 
 great teacher of that pure religion which lies deeper 
 than the clash of rival systems. That accomplished 
 bookman, Sir William Robertson Nicoll, himself a Con- 
 gregationalist and Evangelical, shortly before his death 
 confessed that “ Neale’s Readings to the Aged is my 
 favorite amongst all religious books, and many pages of 
 it I could almost repeat by heart.” Good as these 
 books are, it is not by them that Neale’s memory is 
 kept green so much as by such hymns as “ Jerusalem the 
 golden ” and “ Art thou weary, art thou languid.” 
 
 WHY THE HYMN IS CALLED A GREEK HYMN 
 
 The Eastern or Greek Church, as well as the Roman, 
 claims to be “ Catholic.” It claims also to be, like its 
 Lord, unchangeable. And while Newman and others 
 were turning toward the Church of Rome, Neale was 
 strongly disposed to seek a refuge from modern liberal¬ 
 ism in' that immovable fortress of the faith, the Greek 
 Church. He devoted -much time to studying its history 
 and liturgies. He was the first Englishman to tackle 
 what he called “the eighteen quarto books of Greek 
 Church poetry,” and in 1862 he published a little volume 
 of Hymns of the Eastern Church translated. 
 
 It was a wonderful little book: as if he had discovered 
 a forgotten country, not in Arctic regions but in the fer¬ 
 tile East, which he had been cultivating alone for twelve 
 years, and now brought into our Western Churches 
 some of the flowers he had raised. Among them were 
 
ART THOU WEARY, ART THOU LANGUID 239 
 
 such hymns as “ The day is past and over,” “ Christian, 
 dost thou see them,” “ The day of resurrection,” and 
 “ Art thou weary, art thou languid.” 
 
 The book found a ready welcome among those inter¬ 
 ested in the old church hymns. Only a year earlier a 
 group of clergymen had put forth a collection with the 
 taking title, Hymns ancient and modern. It was en¬ 
 thusiastically received by High Churchmen, resented by 
 
240 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Evangelicals, and soon became (as it continues to be) 
 the chief hymnal of the Church of England. By 1868 
 the time had come to enlarge it, and an “ Appendix ” of 
 that year afforded the opportunity of adding eight of 
 Neale’s hymns of the Eastern Church. Of the eight 
 “ Art thou weary ” made the quickest appeal to the pub¬ 
 lic: it was simple and touching, and the catchy tune, 
 “ Stephanos,” has carried it all over the English-speaking 
 world. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that the little voyager sailed 
 under false colors. Dr. Neale had launched it flying the 
 Greek flag, and everywhere it was welcomed as an an¬ 
 cient Greek hymn, while in fact it was not a Greek hymn 
 at all, but a modern English hymn composed by Dr. 
 Neale himself. 
 
 He had printed it in 1862 among his translations of 
 the Hymns of the Eastern Church, naming “ S. Stephen 
 the Sabaite,” an eighth century Syrian monk, as its 
 author, giving a sketch of his life, quoting the first line 
 of the hymn in Greek, even naming the particular service 
 book in which he had found it: “ I copy,” he said, “ from 
 a dateless Constantinopolitan book.” What could be 
 more explicit? And who was there in England to ques- 
 -tion his facts? 
 
 And yet just before his last illness in 1866 Dr. Neale 
 brought out a third edition of his Hymns of the Eastern 
 Church with a new preface in which he said that “ Art 
 thou weary ” and two of the other hymns “ contain so 
 little from the Greek, that they ought not to have been 
 included in this collection; in any future Edition they 
 shall appear as an Appendix.” 
 
 We can imagine what had happened. He had been 
 anxious to make out the best case he could for the Greek 
 
ART THOU WEARY, ART THOU LANGUID 241 
 
 hymns as a link between the Greek and English 
 Churches. But even to make them presentable he had 
 to change and omit and piece together, and to water 
 some doctrines too strong for English palates. In some 
 of his translations a searcher would find it hard to 
 identify his originals, and on reflection his conscience 
 compelled him to confess that “ Art thou weary ” had no 
 original at all. Possibly some phrase or mannerism of 
 St. Stephen moved him to write it, but it was all his own. 
 
 Dr. Neale had made what the French call a faux pas; 
 an unfortunate one because when a mistake once gets 
 into circulation it is hard to correct. He did not live to 
 remove the three hymns from his translations, and after 
 his death his publishers did not help much. At least 
 one edition of Hymns of the Eastern Church was printed 
 just as he left it, and a fifth edition that did remove the 
 hymn to an appendix printed there with it all the data 
 about St. Stephen’s authorship and even omitted Dr. 
 Neale’s little confession from the preface. 
 
 This explains no doubt why Mr. King, dealing with this 
 hymn in his Anglican Hymnology of 1885, gives not only 
 a biography of the Syrian monk but an account of a visit 
 to the monastery of Mar Saba as “ more endeared ” to 
 him when he remembers that “ there eleven centuries 
 ago St. Stephen wrote the touching hymn.” All of which 
 in his turn Mr. Duffield has copied into his English 
 Hymns and Mr. Morrison in his turn into his Great 
 Hymns of the Church. And so it happens that our little 
 voyager still finds a harbor in many a Christian heart, 
 flying the Greek flag under which it was launched in 
 1862. 
 
242 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. The Church is a society of human beings, and al¬ 
 most as open to fluctuations of feeling and changes of 
 opinion and manners as worldly society is. The Word 
 of God does not change, but our response to it is always 
 changing. The Church’s hymn book is a sort of regis¬ 
 tering thermometer that first feels and then records these 
 changes. And the hymn books of to-day show a very 
 different face from those, say, of 1840. These changes 
 are of course largely due to the Oxford Movement and 
 the new ideals of churchliness it spread abroad, but in 
 bringing them about Dr. Neale has had more influence 
 than any other man. He linked the Church’s hymns with 
 the Church’s history; for which achievement he alone of 
 the men of his time had the requisite scholarship. He 
 invested our congregational praise with something like 
 an atmosphere of romance — the light of other days and 
 glimpses of far-off things: he awakened the Church to a 
 sense of “ her unending song.” And his matchless trans¬ 
 lations have actually made some hymns of the Middle 
 Ages as familiar as household words. 
 
 When we remember how extreme and uncompromis¬ 
 ing Dr. Neale’s High Church views were, it is amazing 
 to find that in some denominations which once sang no 
 hymns but those of Dr. Watts and still adhere in the 
 main to Watts’s theology, there are nearly as many of 
 Dr. Neale’s hymns in actual use to-day as of Watts 
 himself. And the fact may properly raise the question 
 whether he was not only the greatest personal influence 
 in modifying our hymnody but also the greatest of the 
 nineteenth century hymn writers. 
 
 2. The Evangelical hymn writer, Miss Havergal, says 
 
ART THOU WEARY , ART THOU LANGUID 243 
 
 in one of her letters that she “ cannot understand how 
 any Christian can stand still and sing such a misrepre¬ 
 sentation of Christ’s service as ” are the words of the 
 fourth verse,— 
 
 If I find Him, if I follow, 
 
 What His guerdon here? 
 
 “ Many a sorrow, many a labor, 
 
 Many a tear.” 
 
 “ Is not that too bad ? Do we not know it to be 
 unfair to our Lord and His happy service? Where does 
 He say that is ‘ His guerdon here ’? Let us just think 
 for our service what He does say: 4 Work; for I am 
 with you, saith the Lord of Hosts.’ That alone is the 
 grandest, richest, sweetest 4 guerdon here ’ that any lov¬ 
 ing heart can ask.” 
 
 Is there any actual difference between the “ work ” 
 which is a part of the guerdon here, according to Miss 
 Havergal, and the “ many a labor,” which is a part of 
 it, according to Dr. Neale? Is the saying “In this 
 world ye shall have tribulation ” to be separated from the 
 “Work; for I am with you,” or is Dr. Neale right in 
 joining “ many a labor ” with “ many a tear ”? It may 
 be that if Miss Havergal had been less impulsive and 
 willing to “ stand still ” long enough^ to sing the hymn 
 through, she might have come to feel that in verse four 
 Dr. Neale was only laying the ground adroitly for the 
 “ sorrow vanquished ” of verse five. 
 
 3. Of the tunes to this hymn in The Hymnal revised 
 “ Stephanos,” the lower one, is that which first attracted 
 attention to the words in Hymns ancient and modern . 
 The melody was composed by the Rev. Sir Henry Wil¬ 
 liams Baker, editor-in-chief of that book, author also of 
 
244 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 “ The King of love my Shepherd is,” and he asked Dr. 
 Monk, the musical editor, to manage the harmonies for 
 him. It is a good tune when sung deliberately and with 
 feeling. Rattled off without feeling, by American voices 
 especially, it becomes unpleasant and even acquires a 
 nasal twang. Perhaps the fact that it is so often rattled 
 off explains why many people have come to prefer the 
 more sentimental tune of Dr. Bullinger. 
 
 To which tune was it that George Olver and Lute 
 Cradlebow sang these words together? Having read 
 Cape Cod Folks, the writer is confident they sang the 
 tune provided in the Moody and Sankey Gospel Hymns 
 No. 2. But does not Captain Satchell’s description of 
 their singing afford in itself clues enough to identify 
 the tune ? 
 
XXI 
 
 SAVIOUR, AGAIN TO THY DEAR NAME 
 
 WE RAISE 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 Saviour, again to Thy dear Name we raise 
 With one accord our parting hymn of praise; 
 
 We stand to bless Thee ere our worship cease; 
 Then, lowly kneeling, wait Thy word of peace. 
 
 2 Grant us Thy peace upon our homeward way; 
 
 With Thee began, with Thee shall end the day: 
 Guard Thou the lips from sin, the hearts from shame, 
 That in this house have called upon Thy Name. 
 
 3 Grant us Thy peace, Lord, through the coming night; 
 Turn Thou for us its darkness into light; 
 
 From harm and danger keep Thy children free, 
 
 For dark and light are both alike to Thee. 
 
 4 Grant us Thy peace throughout our earthly life, 
 
 Our balm in sorrow, and our stay in strife; 
 
 Then, when Thy voice shall bid our conflict cease. 
 Call us, O Lord, to Thine eternal peace. 
 
 Rev. John Ellerton, 1866 
 
 Note: The text here given is that which was prepared for the 
 Appendix to Hymns ancient and modern, 1868. Other forms of the 
 hymn are referred to under “ Some Points for Discussion.” 
 
 245 
 
246 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 A CHURCHLY HYMN 
 
 This is the third in our little group of High Church 
 hymns, and anyone familiar with the history of the Eng¬ 
 lish Church and English hymns would know at a glance 
 that it was inspired by the Oxford Movement. It is 
 “ churchly.” 
 
 There is nothing romantic or striking in the origin 
 of the hymn or in the life of the clergyman who wrote 
 it. The interest lies rather in discovering the hymn to 
 be so natural an expression of the author’s personality 
 and his relation to the Movement that we feel the writ¬ 
 ing of it to have been almost inevitable. 
 
 Some strange tales, hard to credit nowadays, are told 
 of the neglected and sometimes disreputable conditions 
 of public worship in English parish churches in the 
 years before the Oxford Movement of the eighteen- 
 thirties : tales of ancient buildings falling into decay and 
 dirty, of furnishings shabby and unseemly, of sacra¬ 
 ments administered carelessly and uncouthly, of scanty 
 and irreverent congregations. With every allowance for 
 exaggeration it is plain that the ordinance of worship 
 was suffering from indifference. 
 
 To change all that was one of the very first tasks the 
 High Church Party set for itself: to make the worship 
 express visibly in dignity and even stateliness the high 
 doctrines it held of Church and Sacrament. The ex¬ 
 treme men aimed at more than this, at nothing less than 
 to restore the full Catholic ceremonial: but in an in¬ 
 sistence upon outward beauty and reverence and in giv¬ 
 ing more of a mystical tone to the celebration of Holy 
 Communion, all High Churchmen were agreed. The 
 brightening and embellishment of public worship be- 
 
SAVIOUR, AGAIN TO THY DEAR NAME WE RAISE 247 
 
 came the visible sign and token of the Movement, as 
 year by year it widened its bounds and gradually, against 
 great opposition, changed the outward face of the Church 
 of England. 
 
 This enrichment of the church services was the feature 
 of the Movement that especially attracted the Rev. 
 John Ellerton, author of “ Saviour, again to Thy dear 
 Name we raise.” The hymn itself shows this. It could 
 have been written only by one to whom the reverent 
 conduct of public worship meant a great deal. Its very 
 atmosphere is churchly. The “ we ” of the opening line 
 makes us feel ourselves members of a church engaged in 
 an act of corporate worship, now closing with a parting 
 hymn of praise. Our very attitudes of body are por¬ 
 trayed. We stand to sing: we kneel for the benediction, 
 and go out in the hush that follows God’s word of peace. 
 And the thought of the hymn is that lips and heart so 
 engaged in reverent offices should carry with them to 
 the life outside the peace of that benediction and the 
 purity of that worship. 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE HYMN 
 
 John Ellerton was born in a refined and religious home 
 in London nine days before the Christmas of 1826. 
 There had come to the city, shortly before a young Pres¬ 
 byterian minister from Scotland, Edward Irving. Tall, 
 white-faced, long-haired, an orator and enthusiast, his 
 preaching took the religious world by storm; a great 
 Presbyterian church was built for him at Regent Square, 
 and he became the fashionable preacher of London. 
 Feeling himself a prophet to Babylon the Great, his 
 message soon took the shape of heralding the imminent 
 
248 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 return of the Messiah, and was accompanied by a revival 
 of the miraculous gifts of the Apostolic Church. As his 
 eloquence grew less coherent, and “ the tongues ” began 
 to make themselves heard in unearthly shrieks and unin¬ 
 telligible “ prophecies,” he lost his vogue, was deposed 
 by the Church of Scotland, and faded out of notice by 
 the general public. 
 
 The excited interest Irving had aroused in millenarian 
 speculations, and the expectation of the Second Advent, 
 still continued among the London Evangelicals. Mr. 
 Ellerton tells us that in the religious circle in which his 
 boyhood was spent, the favorite and inexhaustible sub¬ 
 ject of talk and reading was unfulfilled prophecy. The 
 chfonology of the future was a chief concern: in what 
 year would the Jews be restored, Papacy be destroyed, 
 the Millenium begin? The shy and sensitive boy drank 
 it all in and awaited with perfect faith some great crisis 
 predicted for 1844. He was shocked when in 1841 his 
 father executed a seven-year lease of some real estate. 
 These religious speculations he soon left behind, but a 
 deep love for the Evangelical type of piety he had wit¬ 
 nessed at home stayed with him all his life, and served 
 as a corrective of later High Church opinions. 
 
 At eighteen he was sent up to Cambridge University, 
 into a changed atmosphere, where the center of debate 
 was not the marks of the Beast but the marks of the 
 true church. Here he came under the influence of Fred¬ 
 erick Denison Maurice, a Broad rather than High Church 
 theologian. And so it happened that as Mr. Ellerton fell 
 in gradually with the views of the new High Church 
 Party, his Evangelical heritage and the liberal doctrines 
 of Maurice diluted them. He was never tempted to go 
 to such extremes as Dr. Neale. 
 
SAVIOUR, AGAIN TO THY DEAR NAME WE RAISE 249 
 
 In these matters of opinion Mr. Ellerton, like most 
 of us, was a mirror rather than a shining light, reflecting 
 more or less of surrounding influences. So far as his 
 
 THE REV. JOHN ELLERT0N 
 
 outward career is concerned he was simply a typical 
 English country parson, important in his parish, not 
 widely influential outside: but something more than we 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 250 
 
 mean when in this country we speak of a country 
 minister. 
 
 In England the Church is a part of the political sys¬ 
 tem. The whole surface is plotted into a network of 
 parishes, each with a parish church and a parish clergy¬ 
 man, supported by taxes levied on the products of soil 
 and industry. At its best the system secures to each 
 parish the residence of a refined and educated gentle¬ 
 man as a friend of the poor and a sort of spiritual squire; 
 the parson has a social status and his lot often falls in 
 very pleasant places. There are hard places, too; par¬ 
 ishes remote, rude, or too poor to furnish even a decent 
 living, or where the only people who might make a con¬ 
 gregation in the parish church prefer to go to dissenting 
 chapels, or the man who owns perhaps the whole parish 
 is hostile to the church or parson. 
 
 Mr. Ellerton’s lot lay largely in obscure but appar¬ 
 ently not hard places. He began in 1850 with three 
 years in a Sussex village, followed by an assistant min¬ 
 istry in one of the Brighton churches. From there he 
 passed on to one country parish and another, four in all. 
 He was stricken with paralysis at the end of 1891, re¬ 
 tired to Torquay and died there on June 15, 1893. When 
 lying disabled he was nominated to a prebendary’s stall 
 of St. Alban’s Cathedral, the only recognition that ever 
 came to him; an honor empty enough, but entitling him 
 under some peculiar custom of that cathedral to be ad¬ 
 dressed during the last months of his illness as “ Canon ” 
 Ellerton. 
 
SAVIOUR, AGAIN TO THY DEAR NAME WE RAISE 251 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 Always and everywhere Mr. Ellerton was first of all 
 the faithful parson, but he had also ample opportunity 
 to cultivate a hobby. And his hobby was hymns. From 
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 AUTOGRAPH OF THE HYMN 
 
 his life — the study of hymns, the preparation of hymn 
 books, and most of all hymn writing. He had begun 
 writing them for his Sunday school while assistant at 
 Brighton, just as Dr. Bonar had done while assistant 
 at Leith; and, like Dr. Bonar again, he published a chil- 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 252 
 
 dren’s hymn book. He went on writing hymns through¬ 
 out his life, and five years before his death gathered them 
 into a volume of Hymns original and translated. They 
 were not sudden inspirations or flashes of poetic fire. 
 They were planned and wrought as contributions to the 
 new hymnody of his Church; sometimes to fit an occa¬ 
 sion, sometimes to supply a gap in the provision for spe¬ 
 cial days of the Prayer Book. 
 
 “ Saviour, again to Thy dear Name we raise ” was 
 written at Crewe Green in 1866, to be sung at a festival 
 of parish choirs held in Nantwich. Like others of his 
 hymns it was composed to fit a particular tune that 
 took his fancy and ran in his head; in this case a tune 
 called “ St. Agnes ” he found in a recently published col¬ 
 lection of Edward H. Thorne. Mr. F. A. Jones, who 
 made a diligent search for the original manuscripts of 
 familiar hymns, tells us it was written on the reverse of 
 a leaf of the sermon preached the Sunday before, and 
 that in the first draft the opening line read: 
 
 “ Father, once more before we part, we raise.” 
 
 As Mr. Ellerton wrote it, there were six verses; at one 
 time or another it has been revised, by his own hand 
 and the hands of other people also, so that several dif¬ 
 fering texts are current. When that 1868 Appendix to 
 Hymns ancient and modern was planned (the one that 
 took in some of Dr. Neale’s hymns of the Greek Church), 
 Mr. Ellerton sent in this hymn to the editors, and either 
 he or they prepared the abridgment in four verses as 
 there printed, which is still the most familiar text. A 
 little later he became one of the editors of the rival 
 Church Hymns of 1871 and prepared for it a different 
 form of the hymn, a facsimile of which is here given. 
 
SAVIOUR, AGAIN TO THY DEAR NAME WE RAISE 253 
 
 One wonders why he wished the “ approaching night ” 
 verse to have precedence over the “ homeward way ” 
 verse, and why he preferred the harsh “ through this ap¬ 
 proaching night ” to “ through the coming night.” But 
 even hymn writers have their little obstinacies. 
 
 With the hymn thus lodged in both the important 
 hymnals, its future in the Church of England was secure. 
 When it was taken from Hymns ancient and modern 
 into the Presbyterian Hymnal published at Philadelphia 
 in 1874, many good Presbyterians, who knew very little 
 about the Oxford Movement and had supposed that 
 Watts, the Wesleys and the Evangelicals wrote all the 
 good hymns, must have wondered sometimes from what 
 source the editor of their new book drew such hymns as 
 this and “ Jerusalem the golden ” and “ The Church’s 
 one Foundation.” 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. Mr. Ellerton was among the most accomplished of 
 the men who wrote churchly hymns in the latter half of 
 the nineteenth century. The whole number of his is 
 just short of a hundred, and many of them are in actual 
 use. All are marked by deep reverence and by feeling 
 carefully restrained within the limits of what may be 
 expected from average worshipers. They vary much in 
 quality, and some of those for saints’ days and special 
 occasions carry marks of manufacture. Whence indeed 
 could one draw inspiration for the commemoration of 
 St. Bartholomew, of whom we do not know a thing, or 
 for “ Catechising ” or for “ The Sunday after a funeral ” ? 
 
 Of the thirteen of Ellerton’s hymns (aside from the 
 two in which he had some part) in The Hymnal revised 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 254 
 
 which are the best? And are there any that could be 
 spared ? 
 
 2. Anyone interested in the text of the hymn should 
 examine the form given in The New Hymnal of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church (1916). It is in four verses 
 made up from the six as originally written, and the 
 third verse much extends the scope of the peace prayed 
 for, as follows: 
 
 Grant us Thy peace throughout our earthly life; 
 
 Peace to Thy Church from error and from strife; 
 
 Peace to our land, the fruit of truth and love; 
 
 Peace in each heart, Thy Spirit from above. 
 
 3. Of the tunes for this hymn in The Hymnal revised, 
 “ Pax Dei ” is the original setting composed by Dr. 
 Dykes for the Appendix of 1868; and Mr. F. A. Jones 
 quotes Mrs. Ellerton as saying that her husband was so 
 delighted with it that he sent the composer a letter of 
 thanks. It has been retained in all later issues of Hymns 
 ancient and modern, amounting now to many millions of 
 copies, and is sung the wide world over. 
 
 Dr. Hopkins’ “ Ellers,” originally named “ Benedic¬ 
 tion,” and written in 1869 for unison singing with varied 
 harmonies, was chosen for Church Hymns, and is cer¬ 
 tainly an ideal tune for congregational use. Mr. Ellerton 
 told his biographer that he had come to prefer it (when 
 sung in unison) to Dr. Dykes’s tune. Having both 
 before us we are as free as Mr. Ellerton was to make 
 our personal choice — and to change it. 
 
XXII 
 
 THE CHURCH’S ONE FOUNDATION 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 The Church’s one Foundation 
 
 Is Jesus Christ her Lord; 
 
 She is His new creation 
 By water and the word: 
 
 From heaven He came and sought her 
 • To be His holy Bride; 
 
 With His own blood He bought her, 
 
 And for her life He died. 
 
 2 Elect from every nation, 
 
 Yet one o’er all the earth, 
 
 Her charter of salvation 
 
 One Lord, one faith, one birth; 
 
 One holy Name she blesses, 
 
 Partakes one holy food, 
 
 And to one hope she presses, 
 
 With every grace endued. 
 
 3 Though with a scornful wonder 
 
 Men see her sore oppressed, 
 
 By schisms rent asunder, 
 
 By heresies distressed, 
 
 Yet saints their watch are keeping, 
 
 Their cry goes up, “How long?” 
 
 And soon the night of weeping 
 Shall be the morn of song. 
 
 4 ’Mid toil and tribulation, 
 
 And tumult of her war, 
 
 She waits the consummation 
 Of peace for evermore; 
 
 255 
 
256 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Till with the vision glorious 
 Her longing eyes are blest, 
 
 And the great Church victorious 
 Shall be the Church at rest. 
 
 5 Yet she on earth hath union 
 With God the Three in One, 
 
 And mystic sweet communion 
 With those whose rest is won: 
 
 O happy ones and holy! 
 
 Lord, give us grace that we, 
 
 Like them the meek and lowly, 
 
 On high may dwell with Thee. 
 
 Rev. Samuel John Stone, 1866 
 
 \ * 
 
 Note: As originally printed in the author’s Lyra Fidelium the 
 hymn had seven verses. Of these the third (hereinafter quoted) is 
 here omitted as polemical, and the sixth and seventh are combined, 
 greatly to their advantage, in one verse. There is, however, no 
 change in the text itself. 
 
 Does it not seem quaint that a pronounced High 
 Churchman, wishing to teach his people what the Church 
 really is, should write for them a hymn embodying prac¬ 
 tically every doctrine concerning the Church he held 
 most dear (its divine origin, its unbroken continuity, its 
 catholicity and essential unity, its orthodoxy, its sacra¬ 
 mental grace, its communion with God and with the 
 departed saints, its militancy and final triumph), and 
 then that his hymn should be welcomed not only by his 
 own party but by his Low Church opponents, and by 
 almost all communions or denominations or sects that be¬ 
 lieve in the Church at all, quite without regard to the 
 particular opinions they hold and promulgate as to 
 church history and doctrine, church authority, or church 
 organization ? 
 
THE CHURCH’S ONE FOUNDATION 
 
 257 
 
 It is indeed a very extraordinary happening; and the 
 writer has sometimes asked himself by what magic it 
 came about. Was the author “ Catholic ” in a larger 
 sense than he was aware of? It is possible. Or are all 
 the denominations of Christians becoming High Church ? 
 No: that could not be claimed, though all or most have 
 felt the effects of the Oxford Movement. The writer 
 has concluded that the explanation of the hymn’s gen¬ 
 eral acceptance lies in the fact that all its statements of 
 doctrine are made in the words and phrases of Scripture 
 itself, and thus every denomination is left free to in¬ 
 terpret the statements of the hymn in the same terms 
 in which it interprets the texts on which those statements 
 are based. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 This hymn was written by the Rev. Samuel John 
 Stone, then beginning his ministry as assistant or curate 
 in the town of Windsor. Windsor ii) on the Thames, 
 twenty-one miles from London, with the royal castle 
 looking down upon it, and across the river, a bit to the 
 north, Eton College, the most famous boys’ school in 
 England. Mr. Stone’s work was largely among the 
 poorer people in the outskirts, where he had a mission 
 chapel of his own. 
 
 He has said that the hymn really grew out of the 
 state of feeling aroused by the “ Colenso Controversy.” 
 Bishop Colenso, of South Africa, had published a book 
 denying the historical accuracy of the first five books 
 of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch. His metropoli¬ 
 tan bishop, Dr. Gray, deposed him from office, and 
 when an appeal to England was taken, Mr. Stone shared 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 258 
 
 the intense excitement of the controversy that followed. 
 He felt that Colenso was undermining “ the Catholic 
 faith,” approved of Bishop Gray’s course, and deplored 
 the schism Colenso’s followers made in the South Afri¬ 
 can Church. 
 
 That accounts for a heated verse in the hymn as first 
 printed, now happily dropped out: 
 
 “ The Church shall never perish! 
 
 Her dear Lord to defend, 
 
 To guide, sustain, and cherish 
 Is with her to the end: 
 
 Though there be those who hate her, 
 
 And false sons in her pale, 
 
 Against or foe or traitor 
 She ever shall prevail: ” 
 
 and also for the lines still retained: 
 
 “ Though with a scornful wonder 
 Men see her sore oppressed, 
 
 By schisms rent asunder, 
 
 By heresies distrest: ” 
 
 So much for the hymn’s origin; and now for the use 
 which its author found for it. He noticed that the cot¬ 
 tagers at Windsor were given to saying the Apostles’ 
 Creed as one of their private prayers, though without 
 clear ideas of what its various articles meant. This sug¬ 
 gested the writing of a series of hymns that would ex¬ 
 plain them, and could be used at home or in the chapel. 
 And he printed in 1866 Lyra Fidelium. Twelve Hymns 
 on the twelve articles of the Apostles’ Creed. By S. J. 
 Stone, B. A., Curate of Windsor. “The Church’s one 
 Foundation ” is headed: 
 
THE CHURCH’S ONE FOUNDATION 
 
 259 
 
 ARTICLE IX. 
 
 “ The Holy Catholic Church: the Communion of Saints.” 
 
 “ He is the Head of the Body, the Church.” 
 
 and on the opposite page is a prose “ Summary of Truths 
 confessed in Article IX,” followed by what the West¬ 
 minster Catechism would call “ the Scripture proofs.” 
 
 77 . 
 
 r /J 
 
 7 
 
 6a 
 
 
 
 AUTOGRAPH LINES OF THE HYMN 
 
 How far Mr. Stone’s cottagers were edified we do not 
 know, but the hymn was taken into that same 1868 
 Appendix to Hymns ancient and modern of which we 
 have already heard, and there set to the tune “ Aurelia ” 
 to which it has been sung ever since. The statement 
 that “ Aurelia ” was composed for these words is mis¬ 
 taken. It was written earlier as a setting for “ Jerusa¬ 
 lem the golden.” The conjunction of hymn and tune 
 was one of many happy things done by the editors of the 
 Appendix, and so joined they at once proceeded on their 
 triumphant way to become the marching song of the 
 Church. The only danger that threatens the continu¬ 
 ance of that career is the fatigue that waits on too con¬ 
 stant repetition. An English archbishop said that 
 
26 o STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 wherever called to open or dedicate a church, he could 
 always count on two things — cold chicken and “ The 
 Church’s one Foundation.” To which the obvious retort 
 is, “ There is nothing better.” 
 
 “A VERAY PARFIT GENTIL KNIGHT ” 
 
 We could wish for a portrait of the young curate who 
 wrote the hymn. Perhaps the one we have of his full 
 maturity is not less interesting. It is the photograph of 
 a sturdy, full-blooded, broad-shouldered and athletic 
 English gentleman (English all over). His clothes re¬ 
 veal the clergyman: we might have thought him an ad¬ 
 miral. A physiognomist could “ deduce ” a good deal 
 more from the leonine moulding of the head, the strong 
 straight nose, the piercing but kindly eye and general 
 air of command: more yet if the photographer had not 
 obliterated the lines of character and experience, and 
 the little crinkles of humor also that were surely there. 
 
 It is no surprise to learn that he had a quick temper, 
 and that like his “ gentle ” Master, who laid the whip 
 on the money changers, he was capable of a righteous 
 wrath that was serious. There was an occasion in a 
 lonely East End locality when he came upon three black¬ 
 guards attacking a poor unfriended girl. Stone heard 
 her cries, rushed to her help, knocked out the first 
 man with one blow, turned to the second and trounced 
 him until he cried for mercy, and ever after regretted 
 that the third got off before he could catch him. He told 
 a companion he thanked God he had learned to use his 
 fists at Charterhouse and would have given five pounds 
 to get at the third rascal’s hide. Then, seeing a quiz¬ 
 zical look in his companion’s eye and recalling clerical 
 
THE REV. SAMUEL JOHN STONE 
 
262 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 proprieties, he burst into hearty laughter directed wholly 
 against himself. We all love Don Quixote. 
 
 And Mr. Stone was nearer the ideal of a knight, with 
 his innate purity of soul, his chivalry, his hatred of 
 wrong, his unselfishness, and his spotless life, than he 
 was to the type of the “ muscular Christian.” He had 
 a sensitive temperament, “ the muscles of a prize-fighter 
 and the nerves of a violin,” his doctor said: he was 
 emotional and excitable, with an active brain and a very 
 tender heart. It was his way to idealize his friends, his 
 country, his church, and all womankind; but especially 
 his Queen, the type to him of motherhood and sover¬ 
 eignty in one, whom he loved and extolled, and if need 
 be defended, with a boyish devotion and heat. 
 
 The boy that continued to live in him till pretty near 
 the end was born at Whitmore, Staffordshire, in April, 
 1839, and had the good fortune for the first thirteen years 
 of his life to be a country boy; his father being parson 
 of one and another rural parish. Then his family moved 
 to London, and he was sent to the same Charterhouse 
 that Thackeray loved and made famous. From there 
 he went to Pembroke College, Oxford, and distinguished 
 himself in athletics at least, becoming captain of his 
 college boat, entered heartily into the Volunteer Move¬ 
 ment just beginning, and made a try for the poetry prize. 
 The boy’s whole bent was toward soldiering, and it was 
 only the “ one clear call for me ” that turned the man’s 
 face toward the ministry. 
 
 His began in 1862 with a curacy at Windsor of nearly 
 eight years. Then he went back to London to help his 
 father in an East End parish, St. Paul’s, Haggerston. It 
 was a thickly populated parish without a well-to-do 
 person within its bounds, its worst street on the lowest 
 
THE CHURCH’S ONE FOUNDATION 263 
 
 stratum of London poverty. And in it Mr. Stone, first 
 as his father’s assistant and then as his successor, spent 
 twenty years of pastoral life, unselfishly laboring from 
 early morning till late at night to meet the spiritual 
 needs of his parishioners, to educate their children in the 
 parish schools, and to get a bit of brightness into hard 
 lives. His combination of virility and sympathy gave 
 him real power over the people. He was a churchman 
 rather than a missionary, a shepherd rather than an evan¬ 
 gelist; and St. Paul’s, Haggerston, was the door of the 
 fold. But there was none of the ritualism there with 
 which many earnest workers appeal to the East End. 
 
 In a bit of garden back of the parsonage is a dog’s 
 grave, and this epitaph: 
 
 In the centre of this lawn lies 
 SANCHO 
 
 a gentleman in all but humanity; thoroughbred, 
 single in mind, true of heart; for seventeen years 
 the faithful and affectionate friend of his master, 
 who loved him, and now for him “ faintly trusts 
 the larger Hope,” contained, it may be, in Romans 
 
 viii. 19-21. 
 
 He died April 26, 1883. 
 
 It is a memorial of Mr. Stone as well as of Sancho. And 
 it reminds us of a similar but much statelier monument 
 to a dog in the garden of one of our Walnut Street man¬ 
 sions in Philadelphia, whose doors have never opened 
 since the dog’s master passed through them, now many 
 years ago. 
 
 By 1890 Mr. Stone had worn himself out. An easier 
 post was found for him in one of the surviving churches 
 of old London “ City,” All Hallows, London Wall; a 
 quaint, musty little church packed away amid great 
 
264 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 blocks of offices and warehouses, which he first made 
 beautiful and then proceeded to make useful, in a parish 
 swarming with workers all day and at night populated 
 only by care-takers and their families. One use he 
 made of the building was criticized, but was much ap¬ 
 preciated by a great number of girls who for economy’s 
 sake came up to Liverpool Street by the early workmen’s 
 trains and had to wander about the streets till their 
 places of work were opened. He threw the church open 
 from 6:30 to 8:30 each morning as a haven in which 
 they could sit and wait. Reading of books (not news¬ 
 papers) and sewing were allowed but no talking or eat¬ 
 ing. And to many of the girls the house of rest became 
 a house of prayer. 
 
 For the last of his ten years at All Hallows Mr. Stone 
 endured the increasing agonies of cancer, and he died 
 on November 19, 1900. On the 23rd many of the throng¬ 
 ing business men who hurried by the little church must 
 have caught the strains of his funeral hymn, “ The 
 Church’s one Foundation.” 
 
 Among his devoted friends Mr. Stone had one, an 
 accomplished man of letters, Mr. Coulson Kernahan. 
 Resolving to attempt some memorial of a man whom he 
 esteemed so great, Mr. Kernahan waited sixteen years, 
 for fear that his affection would tempt him to exag¬ 
 gerate, and then printed a graphic characterization of 
 Mr. Stone, which the present writer wishes could be 
 read by all young people who feel no impulse to follow 
 in the train of anaemic saints but can recognize a hero 
 even under a tall hat. 
 
 Mr. Kernahan, with a true artist’s instinct, discloses 
 frankly those frailties or limitations that reveal his 
 friend as human, and, as an essential part of him, be- 
 
THE CHURCH’S ONE FOUNDATION 265 
 
 come almost lovable: the fixedness of his ideas; the per¬ 
 fect confidence in his own beliefs and opinions that made 
 him seem obstinate; the irascibility of overstrained 
 nerves; an impatience of opposition that made him some¬ 
 times overbearing; a certain hot-headedness that inter¬ 
 fered with cool judgment; his unbending Toryism and 
 stiff churchmanship and incapacity of understanding 
 how an English gentleman could feel otherwise; and a 
 constitutional inability to see anything wrong in those 
 he loved and trusted that occasionally got him into 
 trouble. 
 
 And then, over these little shadows (how slight they 
 are made to seem) Mr. Kernahan throws the light of 
 his friend’s moral splendor in a tribute as heartfelt and 
 as noble as was ever given to mortal man: 
 
 “ So brave of heart was he as to make possible for us 
 the courage of a Coeur de Lion, so knightly of nature 
 as to make possible the honor of an Arthur or a Galahad, 
 so nearly stainless in the standard he set himself, in the 
 standard he attained, as to come, as near as human flesh 
 and blood can come, almost to making possible the 
 purity of the Christ.” 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. There is a small group of familiar hymns that do 
 not take the form of praise or prayer or exhortation, but 
 the form of teaching. They are called didactic hymns, 
 and consist of a series of statements setting forth some 
 doctrine. This, setting forth the doctrine of the Church, 
 Bishop Wordsworth’s “ Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost,” 
 expounding the doctrine of Love, and his “ O day of 
 rest and gladness,” setting forth the history and benefits 
 of the Christian Sunday, are examples. 
 
266 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 The number of successful didactic hymns is small. It 
 takes a cunning hand and a warm glow to overcome our 
 instinct against going to school when we are asked to 
 sing praise. Of Mr. Stone’s twelve hymns on the Creed, 
 only this and “ Weary of earth and laden with my sin ” 
 have come into use, and the latter is hardly didactic. 
 But “ The Church’s one Foundation ” uses this form 
 and manner triumphantly. What other didactic hymns 
 are familiar? 
 
 2. When Mr. Stone printed Lyra Fidelium for his cot¬ 
 tagers, against each line or couplet of the hymns he set 
 on the opposite page the texts on which it was based. 
 Here are the four texts set opposite the four couplets of 
 the first verse of our hymn. 
 
 “ Other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus 
 Christ.” 
 
 “ Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
 enter into the kingdom of God.” 
 
 “ Even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it, 
 that He might sanctify and cleanse it.” 
 
 “ The Church of God which He purchased with His own Blood.” 
 
 Some readers might find an interest in supplying 
 equally suitable “ proof texts ” for the other verses. 
 
 3. The weaving of Scriptural truth and church doctrine 
 into strains of song was Mr. Stone’s special gift in hymn 
 writing. His hymns, as gathered shortly before his 
 death, number fifty-five, many of which are in use in his 
 own communion, not many outside of it. He published 
 also three volumes of poetry, creditable to his head 
 and heart; but the writer would not care to have Mr. 
 Kernahan ask him how many of the leaves in his copies 
 
THE CHURCH’S ONE FOUNDATION 267 
 
 have been cut open. He does not find Mr. Stone’s poetry 
 at all convincing, and he thinks it would be a mistake to 
 regard “ The Church’s one Foundation ” as a poem. It 
 is good verse and full of feeling, but of spiritual and not 
 poetic feeling. So the writer thinks, but the question is 
 open for discussion: remembering, however, that while 
 rhythm makes verse only imagination makes poetry. 
 
XXIII 
 
 O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 O Love that wilt not let me go, 
 
 I rest my weary soul in Thee; 
 
 I give Thee back the life I owe, 
 
 That in Thine ocean depths its flow 
 May richer, fuller be. 
 
 2 O Light that followest all my way, 
 
 I yield my flickering torch to Thee; 
 
 My heart restores its borrowed ray, 
 
 That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day 
 May brighter, fairer be. 
 
 ¥ 
 
 3 O Joy that seekest me through pain 
 
 I cannot close my heart to Thee; 
 
 I trace the rainbow through the rain, 
 
 And feel the promise is not vain 
 That morn shall tearless be. 
 
 4 O Cross that liftest up my head, 
 
 I dare not ask to fly from Thee; 
 
 I lay in dust life’s glory dead, 
 
 And from the ground there blossoms red 
 Life that shall endless be. 
 
 Rev. George Matheson, 1882 
 
 Note: The text is taken from The Scottish Hymnal of 1885, with 
 the change in one line made for that book by the author. 
 
 268 
 
O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO 269 
 
 One of the effects of the High Church Movement in 
 Episcopalian England, whose hymns we have been study¬ 
 ing, was to make a considerable number of the clergy of 
 Presbyterian Scotland very much dissatisfied with the 
 architecture and worship of their parish churches and the 
 meager allowance of hymns which supplemented the 
 metrical Psalms. They formed a Church Service So¬ 
 ciety which brought about many changes, and they put 
 through The Scottish Hymnal, with Dr. Monk, who had 
 done such great things in Hymns ancient and modern , 
 in charge of its musical side. This book changed the 
 face of hymnody in the Church of Scotland to the 
 Anglican model. The enlarged edition of the book in 
 1885 gave to the Church for the first time the hymn 
 we are now studying with its “ proper tune ”; the words 
 having appeared in a church periodical a year or so be¬ 
 fore. So there is just that much connection (and no 
 more) between the High Church Movement and the 
 present hymn. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 The hymn was written by the Rev. George Matheson, 
 minister of the parish of Innellan in the Church of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Dr. Matheson was a large and many-sided personality, 
 of a powerful mind touched with genius, of great at¬ 
 tainments and with a distinguished career. It may 
 therefore seem far fetched to present him here as the 
 author of a single hymn, which in fact was thrown off in 
 a few minutes, as though the hymn was the center of his 
 career and his most characteristic performance. And 
 yet such is the simple truth. 
 
270 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 Very much the same thing happened in the case of the 
 great poet, Tennyson, to whom “ Sunset and Evening 
 Star ” came without volition and was also thrown off in 
 a few minutes. The poet at once recognized it as the 
 crown of his art and the measure of his faith, and di¬ 
 rected that it be printed at the close of every edition of 
 his works, as their culmination. 
 
 Dr. Matheson’s whole personality and deepest experi¬ 
 ences are behind the hymn: it is the most perfect 
 expression of the man at his highest : and it is the high- 
 water mark in his career as a writer. He was constantly 
 printing religious verses, and yet he knew quite well 
 that this hymn was a thing apart. Its writing, he said, 
 was “ to me a unique experience. I have no natural 
 gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written 
 are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring 
 from on high. I have never been able to gain once more 
 the same fervor in verse.” 
 
 We have his own account of the circumstances: 
 
 “ My hymn was composed in the manse of Innellan, 
 on the evening of 6th June, 1882. I was at that time 
 alone. It was the day of my sister’s marriage, and the 
 rest of the family were staying over night in Glasgow. 
 Something had happened to me, which was known only 
 to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental 
 suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It 
 was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I 
 had the impression rather of having it dictated to me by 
 some inward voice than of working it out myself. I am 
 quite sure that the whole work was completed in five 
 minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my 
 hands any retouching or correction. The Hymnal Com¬ 
 mittee of the Church of Scotland desired the change of 
 
O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO 
 
 271 
 
 one word. I had written originally ‘ I climbed the rain¬ 
 bow in the rain.’ They objected to the word ‘ climb 5 
 and I put in 4 trace.’ ” 
 
 The nature of the personal sorrow behind the hymn 
 Dr. Matheson did not disclose, and we may respect his 
 reticence. The statement one has read that it was the 
 failure of the love of the woman to whom he was engaged 
 on learning the doctor’s verdict of impending blindness, 
 her curt refusal “ to go through life with a blind man,” 
 may be ignored, as he had been “ a blind man ” for 
 twenty-five years. 
 
 The success of the hymn was largely due to the 
 tune “ St. Margaret,” written for it by Dr. Albert L. 
 Peace, then organist of Glasgow Cathedral and musical 
 editor of The Scottish Hymnal of 1885. He did for 
 Matheson’s words what Dr. Dykes’s “ Lux Benigna ” 
 did for Cardinal Newman’s “ Lead, kindly Light.” It 
 was his habit to carry about with him the words of the 
 hymns for which tunes were needed. Sitting on the 
 sands of Arran and reading these, he tells us, the tune 
 came upon him like a flash, and, taking out his pencil, 
 he wrote it off in a few minutes. 
 
 For a while the use of the hymn was confined to the 
 Church of Scotland and its preaching stations on the con¬ 
 tinent of Europe and elsewhere. From more than one 
 of these word came to the present writer, while prepar¬ 
 ing The Hymnal of 1895, of the deep impression hymn 
 and music had made upon one or another American 
 tourist, with an earnest request that they might not fail 
 of a place in the new book. Such a letter from as far 
 as Cairo, dated in April of 1895, lies under the writer’s 
 eye as he pens these words. 
 
272 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE HYMN 
 
 George Matheson was born in Glasgow, March 27, 
 1842 ; the son of a prosperous merchant there. His was 
 not therefore the heritage of poverty out of which so 
 many eminent Scottish clergymen have won their way. 
 There are, however, far worse handicaps than poverty, 
 and one of them is blindness. Even as a child his sight 
 was impaired by inflammation back of his eyes. At school 
 he could still read by the aid of powerful glasses, but 
 from his entrance to the University of Glasgow in 1857, 
 his sight failed him altogether, and we have to think 
 of a buoyant and eager boy, the best student in his 
 school, with all a scholar’s instincts and ambitions, fac¬ 
 ing a life fettered if not thwarted. He entered at once 
 the spiritual struggle his situation made inevitable, he 
 put to Heaven the old and unanswered question of why a 
 catastrophe so undeserved should befall him. Happily 
 he stood the test of his faith and won the Christian se¬ 
 cret of submission and something already of the self¬ 
 surrender of which his beautiful hymn was to sing. 
 
 Matheson’s blindness has been regarded by some as 
 an endowment, a blessing in disguise, that made possible 
 all that he became and the real spiritual influence he 
 exerted. Others regard it as seriously affecting his full 
 development, and as the obstacle that prevented his 
 becoming the great Scottish churchman of his time, and 
 the spiritual leader of his generation. Who can say? 
 What we know is that he had a brave and useful life, 
 became a successful preacher of a very high order, and 
 by his devotional and other books influenced for good a 
 great number of people. Looking back upon his career, 
 
O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO 273 
 
 he himself called it “ an obstructed life, a circumscribed 
 life, but a life of boundless sanguineness, a life of quench¬ 
 less hopefulness, a life which has beaten persistently 
 against the cage of circumstance, and which even at the 
 time of abandoned work has said not ‘ Good night,’ but 
 ‘ Good morning.’ ” 
 
 Quite possibly, if he had had his sight, he would have 
 followed his inclination to study law. He would have 
 proved a great advocate surely, a great lawyer it may be, 
 though not so assuredly. As things were he entered the 
 ministry of the Church of Scotland, to which his family 
 had adhered at the Disruption, and was licensed by the 
 Presbytery of Glasgow in June, 1866. 
 
 His first parish was Innellan, then a small place and 
 something of a summer retreat, on the Firth of Clyde. 
 There was strong opposition to a blind minister; but 
 he soon won all hearts, proved a capable pastor, and re¬ 
 mained there for eighteen years, with ever-spreading 
 reputation as a preacher of very unusual power, even 
 for Scotland, the land of great preachers. 
 
 Dr. Matheson first came before the general public as 
 a scientific theologian, with his Aids to the study of Ger¬ 
 man Theology in 1874, and three years later with his 
 The Growth of the Spirit of Christianity , a brilliant 
 book with marked defects. Some of its mistakes were 
 pointed out by critics, and its author was charged with 
 being an inaccurate student. One of his friends has re¬ 
 ferred to the effect these criticisms had upon the author 
 himself. “ When he saw that for the purposes of schol¬ 
 arship his blindness was a fatal hindrance, he withdrew 
 from the field — not without pangs, but finally.” 
 (“Abandoned work” already; and now to “say Good 
 morning.”) 
 
STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 274 
 
 He next undertook blithely the task of a reconciler 
 between the old faith and the new learning — evolution 
 and the higher criticism of the Bible. But gradually 
 his own mind became tangled in the perplexities and con¬ 
 tradictions he sought to solve, and he could not see his 
 way. In the end he turned his back on these problems, 
 and apparently on the new learning itself, and retired 
 within his own soul to renew the fires of faith and deepen 
 the inner life of communion with God. (“ Abandoned 
 work ” again, and again “ Good morning.”) His later 
 books are expository and devotional; glowing, mystical 
 and deeply spiritual, as of a prophet seeing things in¬ 
 visible, and trying to narrate his vision. 
 
 Before leaving Innellan he had the honor, dear to the 
 hearts of the clergy of the established Church, of being 
 summoned to Balmoral to preach before Her Majesty, 
 Queen Victoria, a Presbyterian while residing in Scot¬ 
 land and a communicant in her parish church of Craigie. 
 She wrote afterwards that she was “ immensely delighted 
 with the sermon and the prayers,” and with her usual 
 thoughtfulness she substituted for the customary signed 
 photograph a little bust of herself that the preacher 
 could feel. 
 
 In the fulness of his powers Matheson accepted a call 
 to Edinburgh, and in March, 1886, was installed as min¬ 
 ister of St. Bernard’s Parish Church, with some 1500 
 communicants. Here he repeated his earlier success on 
 a larger scale, and became a shining light, seen of all 
 men, waited upon by great congregations, honored by 
 the Scottish universities and esteemed in all the churches. 
 We have a description of him in the pulpit of St. Ber¬ 
 nard’s, as observed by the Rev. Charles Parkhurst of 
 New York: ‘He enters the pulpit not larger than a 
 
THE REV 
 
 GEORGE MATHESON 
 
276 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 flour barrel. He has the face and form of General Grant, 
 when the hero of Vicksburg was most stout, but is taller. 
 With natural open eye you would not have thought he 
 was blind. Now he rises, swaying a little until he gets 
 his equilibrium. Announcing a Psalm for alternate 
 reading, he takes his verses without the mistake of a 
 word, and throughout the whole service, calling for sev¬ 
 eral hymns and Scripture references with chapter and 
 verse, he never made an error. Then he prays, and such 
 a prayer! It seems profane to write about it. Though 
 his sight is eclipsed he does see God, he does see into the 
 hearts of his people. For forty minutes he preached on 
 the text, “ Holy men of God spake as they were moved 
 by the Holy Ghost.” We were instructed, refreshed, 
 inspired.'* 
 
 Dr. Matheson continued at St. Bernard’s for thirteen 
 years, when the burden became too heavy. His last 
 years were spent in preparing more books and in preach¬ 
 ing at large. He died during a summer holiday at North 
 Berwick on August 28, 1906. He had never married, 
 and was buried in his family’s vault at Glasgow. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. The hymn, let it be remembered, is autobiograph¬ 
 ical : the consecration of a great soul rising above the 
 despondency caused by a calamity. If sung at all by 
 the average Christian it should be sung very prayerfully. 
 To sing it flippantly would be an act of pure hypocrisy. 
 Even so its full meaning cannot be grasped without 
 study. It seems worth while, therefore, to print here an 
 analysis made by the Rev. Sydney Smith of Keith shortly 
 after Dr. Matheson’s death: — 
 
O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO 
 
 277 
 
 “ The unceasing appeal which the love of God makes 
 to the soul, the truth that God loved us into being, that 
 as we owe our life to Him, so it is only in love of Him 
 that we find rest, only in service of Him that our life 
 attains fullness — these are the thoughts with which 
 the singer starts on his flight: 
 
 “ O Love that wilt not let me go, 
 
 I rest my weary soul in Thee; 
 
 I give Thee back the life I owe, 
 
 That in Thine ocean depths its flow 
 May richer, fuller be. 
 
 “ That whatever light we have is but a spark from the 
 central fire, that the divine Light ever shines and never 
 fades, that the unsteady little lights by which we grope 
 may sometimes dim its dawning glory, that by quench¬ 
 ing them so as to let the Eternal Light shine, it does 
 shine more and more unto the perfect day, that in God’s 
 light we see light — are some of the ideas to which the 
 poet next gives expression: 
 
 “ O Light that followest all my way, 
 
 I yield my flickering torch to Thee; 
 
 My heart restores its borrowed ray, 
 
 That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day 
 May brighter, fairer be. 
 
 “ Then the poet, turning his eye inward, is conscious 
 of a mysterious joy mingling with and transfiguring his 
 grief, a joy which, however absorbed he is in sorrow, 
 will force itself upon him again and again, he sees a 
 shimmer of meaning and mercy in the darkness of his 
 lot, he beholds a bow in the cloud, giving assurance that 
 the destroying flood will cease. 
 
278 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 “O Joy that seekest me through pain, 
 
 I cannot close my heart to Thee; 
 
 I trace the rainbow through the rain, 
 
 And feel the promise is not vain 
 That morn shall tearless be. 
 
 “ The poet is convinced that it is so. As in the Light 
 that ‘ followeth all his way/ he sees his cross to be 
 his crown, he must not impatiently ask deliverance from 
 the burden, he entreats power to make in the spirit of 
 trust the sacrifice to which God plainly calls him: 
 
 “ I lay in dust life’s glory dead, 
 
 And from the ground there blossoms red 
 Life that shall endless be.” 
 
 It was in allusion to these last lines that a group of 
 clergymen, who had sometime served as Dr. Matheson’s 
 assistants, sent to his funeral a wreath of red roses. 
 
 2. When Dr. Matheson is made to state that he origi¬ 
 nally wrote “ I climbed the rainbow in the rain,” we 
 have perhaps an illustration of how hard it is for a blind 
 scholar to secure entire accuracy. He must have meant 
 “ climb,” one would think. Shall we agree with the 
 Scottish Hymnal Committee that “ I trace the rainbow 
 through the rain ” is the better line? 
 
 3. While speaking of accuracy it may be as well to 
 note that the fourth word of the hymn, so often printed 
 “ will,” is “ wilt,” and that it could not be anything else. 
 It is only a seasoned poet, such as Dr. Holmes was, who 
 would venture to print, 
 
 “ O Love Divine, that stooped to share.” 
 
 A poet whose reputation was still in the making would 
 probably have heard and heeded the call to write 
 “ stoopedest.” But what a mouthful it is! 
 
XXIV 
 
 GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN 
 
 THE TEXT OF THE HYMN 
 
 1 God be with you till we meet again, 
 
 By His counsels guide, uphold you, 
 
 With His sheep securely fold you, 
 
 God be with you till we meet again. 
 
 Till we meet, till we meet, 
 
 Till we meet at Jesus’ feet; 
 
 Till we meet, till we meet 
 God be with you till we meet again. 
 
 2 God be with you till we meet again, 
 
 ’Neath His wings protecting hide you. 
 
 Daily manna still divide you, 
 
 God be with you till we meet again. 
 
 Till we meet, etc. 
 
 3 God be with you till we meet again, 
 
 When life’s perils thick confound you, 
 
 Put His arms unfailing round you, 
 
 God be with you till we meet again. 
 
 Till we meet, etc. 
 
 4 God be with you till we meet again, 
 
 Keep love’s banner floating o’er you, 
 
 Smite death’s threatening wave before you, 
 God be with you till we meet again. 
 
 Till we meet, etc. 
 
 Rev. Jeremiah Eames Rankin, 1880 
 
 279 
 
280 studies of familiar hymns 
 
 We have now completed the studies of what we may 
 call nineteenth century church hymns, and they have 
 shown a progressive movement to improve the literary 
 quality of the hymnody and to make it more “ churchly.” 
 
 But the tale is not yet told. The Church included a 
 goodly proportion of those plain people of whom “ God 
 made so many ”; who are loyal, but without special ad¬ 
 diction to culture or churchliness. And among them 
 began the movement, with which we are all familiar, to 
 supplement the church hymns with popular religious 
 songs, of a lighter type of words and music. From the 
 evangelistic hymn book of Mr. Moody’s campaign, the 
 new songs took the name of “ Gospel Hymns,” and in 
 course of time some of them have become very “ Familiar 
 Hymns.” With a representative of these our studies 
 may fitly close: most fitly perhaps with “ God be with 
 you,” because it is the most familiar and because it is 
 also a song at parting. 
 
 THE STORY OF THE HYMN 
 
 The hymn was written by a Congregationalist clergy¬ 
 man, Dr. Jeremiah Earnes Rankin, while a pastor in 
 Washington, D. C. After it became popular he was often 
 asked about its origin. If his correspondents expected 
 to hear that it came forth from a fine frenzy of feeling 
 or under romantic circumstances, they must have been 
 disappointed with his reply. At all events we have the 
 actual facts from the author’s own pen. 
 
 This is from a letter to Mr. H. Porter Smith, about 
 1890: 
 
 “ God be With You, like most of my hymns and poems, 
 was the product of a cool purpose, and not the result of 
 
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 AUTOGRAPH OF THE HYMN 
 
282 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 any experience or feeling. The thought that that was 
 the meaning of our honest and hearty greeting, ‘ Good 
 by ’ was the germ of it. I tried to put into a hymn that 
 thing, making it Christian instead of common. I was 
 at the time getting up a gospel hymn book for use in my 
 church in Washington, at the night service. 
 
 “ Having written one stanza, I sent it to the author of 
 What a Friend We Have in Jesus, and also to another 
 man, some of whose melodies had pleased me. This 
 last gentleman, Mr. Tomer, sent me back the present 
 music of the hymn. It was put into shape a little — 
 arranged, perhaps musicians would call it — though very 
 little was done to it, by one of my co-editors, the accom¬ 
 plished blind organist, Dr. J. A. [It should be W.] 
 Bischoff, of my church in Washington. I then wrote 
 the other stanzas.” 
 
 “ I have been told,” Dr. Rankin said elsewhere, “ that 
 it is publicly stated that this hymn was written on the 
 departure of a certain temperance evangelist to Europe. 
 This is wholly a mistake. The above is a complete 
 history of its origin.” 
 
 And this is from an article Dr. Rankin sent to The 
 Christian Endeavor World, in 1894: 
 
 “ The hymn never was so much used by the First Con¬ 
 gregational Church as by all the rest of the world. With 
 the exception of the Sunday night service, it was almost 
 never sung. I think the Methodists at Ocean Grove first 
 began to glorify it. This they carried to such an extent 
 that on the last day of one of their camp meetings a 
 member of my family heard it sung five successive times, 
 as the closing hymn of five different assemblies there.” 
 He goes on to speak of his gratification at its adoption 
 by the Christian Endeavor Society. 
 
JEREMIAH EAMES RANKIN 
 
284 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF “GOD BE WITH YOU” 
 
 Dr. Rankin did good service in his day, and was re¬ 
 garded by his friends as a man of unusual gifts. He 
 wrote a number of books and became a college president. 
 But to the general public his name survives simply as 
 associated with a single hymn. 
 
 The son of a Congregationalist clergyman, he was 
 born on January 2, 1828, in the hamlet of Thornton, 
 that lies by its little river in the hill country of New 
 Hampshire. At twenty he was graduated by Middlebury 
 College, in the neighbor state of Vermont, which after¬ 
 wards gave him its highest degrees, and chose him to 
 preside over its centennial as a distinguished son. Later 
 in life Dr. Rankin became president of the Howard 
 University in Washington, D. C., founded after the Civil 
 War to help in the higher education of the Negro. He 
 was interested all his life in the advancement of the 
 colored people, and here he spent his last years of active 
 service. Retiring in 1902 to the home of his daughter 
 in Cleveland, there he died on November 28, 1904. 
 
 Dr. Rankin had a Scotch pedigree, a great love of 
 Robert Burns, a ready pen of his own, and an early ambi¬ 
 tion to make his mark in poetry; all of which things 
 showed themselves in his first book, in the Scottish 
 dialect, Auld Scotch Mither. Throughout life the writ¬ 
 ing of verse continued to be his avocation. But his real 
 vocation was in preaching and pastoral work. He served 
 many Congregational churches in New England, New 
 York, and New Jersey. One can picture, above the pul¬ 
 pit, his square face topped with the luxuriant head of 
 dark brown hair, and the piercing eyes underneath the 
 heavy brows, giving it such an intense look. One can 
 
GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN 285 
 
 almost hear the deep voice speaking rapidly his char¬ 
 acteristic short, sharp sentences with all his Scottish 
 fervor and conviction. 
 
 The pastorate that concerns us most was at the First 
 Congregational Church of Washington. It was one of 
 those churches started under the conviction that one’s 
 own denomination ought to have a representative at the 
 nation’s capital; and General Oliver O. Howard, of 
 Civil War fame, traveled all over the country raising 
 money to build it. Dr. Rankin came as pastor in 1869. 
 His fervid preaching at once drew a large congregation, 
 and the evenings gave him opportunity to conduct those 
 informal evangelistic services, for which, as we have seen, 
 his hymn was written. 
 
 THE COMPOSER OF THE TUNE 
 
 We might indeed say that the composer of the music 
 to “ God be with you ” was co-author of the hymn 
 itself, for one can hardly think of the words, much less 
 sing them, apart from Mr. Tomer’s melody. 
 
 William Gould Tomer was not a trained musician. 
 His only education was had at the public school of a 
 hamlet, in Warren County, New Jersey (now known as 
 Finesville). There he was born on October 5, 1833, of 
 Methodist stock, German on his father’s side. And 
 there, at the age of seventeen, he ceased to be a scholar 
 in the village school by becoming its teacher. He was 
 a country boy who loved music, who could carry his 
 part in the old-time singing school and lead the village 
 choir on a Sunday. He had taught himself to play the 
 bass viol and violin, and wrote musical sketches that 
 revealed a distinct gift for melody. 
 
286 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 The Civil War interrupted his teaching. In 1862 he 
 enlisted as a private and was detailed as clerk to General 
 Howard. On his return home he taught school again, 
 until, in 1865, appointed a clerk in one of the depart¬ 
 ments at Washington, where he served for some seven¬ 
 teen years. 
 
 There Dr. Rankin met him, and formed a pleasant 
 impression of his musical gift. In Washington he did 
 some newspaper work, and in later years was editor of 
 one and another local newspaper in New Jersey towns. 
 At the time of his death, September 26, 1896, in Phil- 
 lipsburg, where his home was, he was editing The Hunter¬ 
 don Gazette , published in the neighboring High Bridge, 
 New Jersey. And it is a leading article in that news¬ 
 paper, for October 1, 1896, that has made possible this 
 present sketch of Mr. Tomer’s life. 
 
 He is described as a figure of five feet ten, of bulky 
 frame, with “ a smooth Henry Ward Beecher face, large 
 head, gray eyes and a benign countenance ”; an attrac¬ 
 tive personality, a general utility man with many bents 
 and capacities and a liking to spread his own sunny at¬ 
 mosphere: at his best in his home, where each child 
 could play some musical instrument. Very fitly the 
 choir of the Phillipsburg Methodist Church sang “ God 
 be with you ” at his funeral; for that is his memorial. 
 
 SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION 
 
 1. Dr. Rankin’s hymn does not belong to literature 
 but to the outlying realm of popular song, where the 
 standard is the simpler one of popular effectiveness. It 
 ranges with sentimental songs (most effective songs are 
 sentimental), boating songs, camp-meeting melodies and 
 
GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN 287 
 
 “ gospel hymns.” Dr. Rankin regarded it as a 1 gospel 
 hymn,’ but in structure and effect it is more like the 
 old Negro ‘ spirituals ’ (“ Swing low, sweet chariot,” for 
 instance), that take a melodious phrase for a theme, 
 repeat it, play around it, and come back to it with brief 
 intervals. 
 
 As sung there are thirty-two lines in all. Of these 
 just twelve are the first line over and over again, and in 
 twelve other lines “ till we meet ” is read twenty times 
 and sung forty times. Only eight lines are left in which 
 to add any thoughts to the original theme, and most of 
 these are turned from very familiar Scripture phrases. 
 So commonplace are they indeed that one might almost 
 say the hymn contains hardly more than the melodious 
 first line itself. 
 
 In song, as we all know, the recurrence of the main 
 theme as a refrain is an old and effective device. But 
 a case so extreme as this seems to invite criticism; and 
 first, from the artistic point of view. Even the simplest 
 art should “ hold, as ’t were, the mirror up to nature,” 
 and in our human intercourse such a prolongation and 
 repetition of “ Good bye ” would be as unnatural as un¬ 
 welcome. Secondly, it invites criticism from a spiritual 
 point of view, for the hymn is throughout a prayer; and 
 in prayer we are forbidden to employ “ vain repetitions.” 
 Which probably means that we must not repeat phrases 
 mechanically without attending to what we say, or im¬ 
 agine that petitions, if repeated many times, are more 
 effective than if said only once. 
 
 The repetitions of the present hymn have not in actual 
 experience interfered with the powerful emotional ap¬ 
 peal it has made to a vast company of Christians: they 
 have probably consolidated it by diverting the singers 
 
288 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 from the necessity of doing any thinking or even much 
 remembering. Wherein does the power of that emo¬ 
 tional appeal lie? 
 
 First, in the simple words “ Good bye,” which the 
 opening line draws out so melodiously and the added 
 lines perhaps amplify. As Mark Rutherford says in his 
 novel, Catharine Furze, “ In all parting there is some¬ 
 thing infinite.” 
 
 Second, in Mr. Tomer’s music, which has the half- 
 pathetic strain loved by young people in their college 
 and other songs. In its way the music is quite remark¬ 
 able in suggesting the bright hopes and vague shadows 
 that lurk around “ good-bye.” Whether into the dark 
 or into the light, it’s “ God be with you ” where we can¬ 
 not go! And so the melody flows on and turns back; now 
 loud and clear at the doorway where we separate, now 
 lessening with the lengthening roads that bear us apart, 
 now as a last refrain, so faint, so far, and, then, remem¬ 
 bered music. 
 
 2. Dr. Rankin was somewhat vehement in protesting 
 against any alteration of his hymn. One “ tinker,” he 
 said, printed “ Put His loving arms around you ” in 
 place of “ Put His arms unfailing round you ”: “ an idea 
 unpleasant and out of taste, besides being unscriptural: 
 as in the Bible the arms always signify strength, espe¬ 
 cially when applied to Jehovah.” Is he right as to the 
 Biblical usage? 
 
 Another “ tinker ” printed “ still provide you ” in 
 place of “ still divide you,” intended to suggest Christ’s 
 breaking and distribution of bread. This tinker, Dr. 
 Rankin said, might have served as a butler or com¬ 
 missary. 
 
 3. When in 1889 Dr. Rankin printed his Hymns pro 
 
GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN 289 
 
 Patria, he doubled the length of this, adding four verses. 
 Could there have been a call for forty additional repeats 
 of “ Till we meet ” ? And was there no kindly hand 
 raised to prevent the printing of this final verse? 
 
 “ God be with you till we meet again, 
 
 Ended when for you earth’s story, 
 
 Israel’s chariot sweep to glory: 
 
 God be with you till we meet again.” 
 
 4. In concluding these studies of hymn origins, the 
 writer wonders how many readers have come so far with 
 him, and if any has learned to turn a more interested 
 eye on his church hymnal; and especially if he has yet 
 begun to notice the inconspicuous note to each hymn 
 and tune that discloses its authorship and date, and the 
 state of the hymn’s text. The writer would like to tell 
 the story of all that was involved in preparing the notes 
 to this hymn and tune as one illustration of the pains¬ 
 taking that goes into a good hymnal. For the sake of 
 directness he will tell it in the first person. 
 
 When I wrote Dr. Rankin for permission to use words 
 and music in The Hymnal of 1895, I asked for the cor¬ 
 rect date of each. He replied that he could not tell 
 “ without great inconvenience and loss of time.” He 
 did not even know Mr. Tomer’s full name or address. 
 So both hymn and tune went in without a date. Soon 
 after I secured for the tune a date I thought trustworthy 
 (as it was) ; and so in the second edition it was dated 
 1880. In correcting the plates for a fourth printing 
 this date was struck out through some misunderstanding, 
 and hymn and tune appeared once more without any 
 date. Then I came upon a quotation from a letter of 
 Dr. Rankin, saying that both were written in 1882. Sup- 
 
290 
 
 STUDIES OF FAMILIAR HYMNS 
 
 posing he had looked up the matter at last, that date 
 was given to both words and music in the edition of 
 The Hymnal printed in 1899, and was kept when The 
 Hymnal revised was published in 1911, and printed there 
 till now. 
 
 One day in May, 1921, I was looking over a poor lot 
 of old ‘ gospel ’ song books in Highlands’ second-hand 
 book store on Arch Street, Philadelphia, and came upon 
 one called Gospel Bells. Its editors were named as 
 “ Prof. J. W. Bischoff, Otis F. Presbrey and Rev. J. E. 
 Rankin, D.D.,” and it was published in Chicago, 1880. 
 Here plainly was the song book that Dr. Rankin and his 
 blind organist prepared for the evangelistic services at 
 Washington, and here, surely enough, was “ God be with 
 you,” on page 51, words and music, just as it is sung 
 now. Sometimes these books are dated ahead, for 
 reasons publishers know. But this particular copy has 
 a penciled note stating that it was bought “ Nov. 1880.” 
 So we have at last the correct date of the first printing 
 of our hymn and tune. And the Hymnal plates will 
 have to be altered once more. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 [Titles of books, etc., in Italics.] 
 
 Abney, Sir Thomas, 30 
 Addison, Joseph, 20 
 Advent, Second, 211, 215, 248 
 Aids to the Study of German 
 Theology, 273 
 Ainsworth’s Psalter, 10 
 Alden, John and Priscilla, 10 
 Alexander, Mrs. Cecil Frances:— 
 her hymn, “ There is a green 
 hill far away,” 220-231 
 sketch of, 226, 
 portrait of, 222 
 autograph verse of, 225 
 Alexander, Rev. James W., 219 
 Alexander, Archbishop William, 
 226, 227, 229 
 Alice in Wonderland, 226 
 All Hallows, London Wall, 263, 
 264 
 
 Allen, Ethan, 76 
 Allen, James, 93, 98, 99, ioi, 
 102, 103 
 
 Amatory hymns, 40, 98 
 American Colonies:— 
 
 The Wesleys in, 36, 120 
 Whitefield in, 49, 81, 82, 120 
 Toplady and, 120 
 American Revolution, The, 138 
 Anglican Hymnology, 241 
 Apostles’ Creed, The, 224, 258, 
 266 
 
 Argyll, the Duke of, 219 
 Arminianism, 46, 49, 50, no, 
 in 
 
 Ashworth, Caleb, 65 
 Auld Scotch Mither, 284 
 Aurelia (tune), 259 
 Autumn (tune), n 
 
 Bacon, Rev. Leonard W., 129 
 Baker, Rev. Sir Henry Williams, 
 21, 243 
 
 Balerma (tune), 21, 179 
 Balmoral, 274 
 Barnby, Sir Joseph, 206 
 Bartholomew, 253 
 Barton, William, 18 
 Bath, 100 
 
 Beauties of Dr. Watts, &c., 159 
 Bedford, Duchess of, 169 
 Benediction (tune), 254 
 Bernard of Cluny, 211 
 Bible:— 
 
 Genevan, 9 
 
 language of, in hymns, 257, 
 266 
 
 “ Bible only, The,” 4, 24, 
 174 
 
 “ Bible Songs,” 4 
 Bible Hymn Book, The, 215 
 Bischoff, J. W., 282, 290 
 Blaikie, Rev. Wm. Garden, 208 
 
 291 
 
292 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Blair, Robert, 184 
 Blair, Samuel, 87 
 Bonar, Rev. Horatius:— 
 
 his hymn, “ I heard the 
 voice of Jesus say,” 207- 
 219 
 
 his other hymns, 212, 213, 
 215, 251 
 sketch of, 209 
 portrait of, 208 
 autograph of his hymn, 214 
 his popularity, 215 
 criticisms of, 216 
 his place among hymn 
 writers, 218 
 
 Book of Common Praise, 203 
 Book of Common Prayer, 
 T he :— 
 of 1549 , 5 
 of 1552, 5, 8 
 
 its prose system of Psalm¬ 
 ody, 8 
 
 Calvin’s influence on, 5 
 hymns bound up with, 179 
 Borthwick, Jane, 219 
 Bourgeois, Louis, 4, 6 
 Bradbury, William B., 206 
 Braddock’s defeat, 88 
 Brandon, Vt., 121 
 Breviary, The, 5, 140 
 Bridges, Robert, 152 
 Brierley, J., 23 
 Brighton, 196, 201, 250 
 Broad Church, 196 
 Brooks, Bishop Phillips, 226 
 Brownlie, Rev. John, 219 
 Bruce, Michael, 219 
 Bryant, William Cullen, 152 
 Buckingham, Duchess of, 94 
 Bullinger (tune), 244 
 Bunhill Fields, 166 
 Burder, George, 158 
 Burns, Rev. James Drummond, 
 205, 219 
 
 Burns, Robert, 284 
 Burrington Combe, 113, 114 
 Byrom, John:— 
 
 his hymn “ Christians, 
 awake! ”, 56-67 
 sketch of, 57-62 
 portrait of, 59 
 autograph of, 63 
 and the Wesleys, 57-60 
 his shorthand, 58, 60 
 his epigram, 62 
 his daughter Dolly, 62, 64 
 
 Caersalem (tune), 77, 78 
 Cairns, Principal, 212 
 Cairo, 271 
 
 Calm Address to the American 
 Colonies, 120 
 Calvin, John:— 
 portrait of, 3 
 at Geneva, 2-5 
 inaugurates singing of metri¬ 
 cal Psalms, 4 
 provides the tunes, 4, 6 
 his Psalm Book, 4, 6, 7, 8, 
 11 
 
 his prescription of “ Bible 
 [songs] only,” viii, 4, 14, 
 20, 83, 178 
 
 his distrust of human hymns, 
 
 4, 83 
 
 his influence on English 
 Reformation, 4, 5, 8 
 his influence on Scottish 
 Reformation, 17, 175, 178 
 Calvinistic Methodist Church, 70 
 Calvinism:— 
 
 in English Reformation, 5 
 in Scottish Reformation, 17 
 of Francis Rous, 18 
 of Church of England, hi 
 of Whitefield; and his 
 breach with the Wesleys, 
 46, 49, 50, 69, 106 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 293 
 
 of the Evangelicals, 106, 108, 
 131, 143, 19s, 248 
 of Lady Huntingdon, 96, 
 106, 131 
 
 of the Welsh Revival, 69, 70 
 of The Gospel Magazine, 
 1S6 
 
 of Toplady, 110-112, 156 
 of Olney Hymns, 131, 134, 
 144, 149 
 of Bonar, 218 
 Cannongate, 212 
 Cape Cod Folks, 233, 244 
 Cataract of Lodore, 218 
 Catechizing, 132, 253 
 Catharine Furze, 288 
 Catholic Revival, The, 221, 223, 
 224, 235, 236, 246, 
 
 Cennick, John:— 
 
 his hymn, “ Children of the 
 Heavenly King,” 45-55, 
 184 
 
 his strange experience, 46 
 his portrait and autograph, 
 48 
 
 his hymns, 50, 233, 
 his relations with the Wes¬ 
 leys, 46, 49, 50 
 
 Centennial of American Inde¬ 
 pendence, 119, 121, 129 
 of “ Rock of Ages,” 121 
 of the Constitution, 122 
 “ Centennial Hymn ” (Whit-' 
 tier’s), 128 
 
 Chadwick, Rev. John White, 128 
 Chalmers, Dr. Thomas, 211 
 Chalmers’ Memorial, Edinburgh, 
 211 
 
 Charles I, 17 
 
 Charleston, Wesley at, 36 
 Charterhouse, The, 260, 262 
 Children’s Hymns:— 
 (otherworldly), 30 
 Watts’s, 231 
 
 C. Wesley’s, 231 
 Ann and Jane Taylor’s, 231 
 Mrs. Alexander’s (churchly), 
 224, 226, 230 
 Bonar’s, 212, 213 
 The fault in, and the 
 remedy, 229-231 
 Choir tunes, 67 
 
 Christian Endeavor Society, 282 
 Christian Endeavor World, The, 
 282 
 
 Christian Year, The, 227 
 Christian Psalmist, The, 189 
 Christmas:— 
 
 (two) Christmas hymns as¬ 
 sociated with the Wes¬ 
 leys, 57 
 
 “ Christmas Day for Dolly,” 
 62 
 
 hymns and carols, 66 
 English carol singing, 65 
 and Epiphany, 190 
 Church, The:— 
 doctrine of, 256 
 its fluctuations, 242 
 Miss Elliott’s conception of, 
 196 
 
 Church Hymns, 252, 254, 
 
 Church of England, see England 
 Church of Scotland, see Scotland 
 Church Service Society, 269, 
 
 “ Churchly ” hymns, 223, 230, 
 239, 242, 247, 252, 
 
 Civil War, English, 17 
 
 American, 125, 126, 129, 286 
 Clark, Rev. Samuel, 169 
 Clarke, Rev. Adam, 190 
 Colenso controversy, 257, 258 
 Coleshill (tune), 177 
 Collection of Hymns for the 
 people called Methodists, 38, 
 40 
 
 Colin and Phoebe, 58 
 Communion, Holy, 246 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 294 
 
 Communion Hymns, 90, 91, 180, 
 
 215 
 
 Congregationalists:— 
 in England: 
 
 retain metrical Psalmody, 24 
 decay of the Psalmody, 24, 
 26 
 
 introduce hymns (Watts), 
 
 27, 36, 158 
 
 stay apart from the Revival, 
 171 
 
 Doddridge as their leader, 
 171 
 
 decline of, 171, 172 
 in America: 
 
 inherit metrical Psalmody, 
 10 
 
 introduce Watts’s “ Psalms 
 and Hymns ” at the Great 
 Awakening, 82 
 in Washington, 285 
 Converse, Charles C. (com¬ 
 poser of “What a Friend”), 
 282 
 
 Conyers, Rev. Richard, 150 
 Cooke and Denton’s Church 
 Hymnal , 94, 102, 103 
 Coronation (tune), 160, 166 
 Cotterill, Rev. Thomas, 66, 118 
 Courtship of Miles Standish, 
 The, 10 
 
 Cousin, Anne Ross, 219 
 Cowper, William:— 
 
 his hymn, “ God moves in a 
 mysterious way,” 142-153 
 how he came to Olney, 143 
 and Newton, 134, 143, 146, 
 147 
 
 portrait of, 145 
 his part in Olney Hymns, 
 147, 148, 152 
 
 his insanity, 144, 146, 148, 
 149 
 
 his poems, 149 
 
 Cradlebow, Lute, 233, 244 
 Craigie Church, 274 
 Cranmer, Thomas, 5 
 Crewe Green, 252 
 Crockett, Samuel R., 177 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 13 
 Curtis, George William, 32 
 Cuyler, Rev. Theodore L., 187, 
 212, 224, 
 
 Cymbeline, 118 
 
 Dartmouth, Lord, 133, 138 
 Dartmouth College, 138 
 Davies, Rev. Samuel:— 
 
 his hymn, “ Lord I am 
 Thine,” 80-92; 
 sketch of* 87-90 
 autograph of, 89 
 portrait of, 85 
 the first American Presby¬ 
 terian hymn writer, 83-87, 
 172 
 
 introduces hymn singing in 
 Virginia, 84 
 his Sermons, 86, 90 
 at Princeton, 88 
 his allusion to Washington, 
 88 
 
 Death in the older Evangelical 
 hymnody, 30 
 
 Declaration of Independence, 119, 
 121 
 
 Dialogue, Hymns in, 50, 51, 233 
 Dickens, Charles, 32, 217 
 Dictionary of Hymnology, Jul¬ 
 ian’s, 161; (quoted), 44, 203 
 Didactic hymns, 265 
 Dismissal (tune), 78 
 Disruption of Church of Scot¬ 
 land, 271 
 
 “ Dissenting interest,” decline of, 
 171 
 
 Divine Songs for the use of 
 Children, 231 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Dobell’s New Selection of 
 Hymns, 159, 161 
 Doddridge, Rev. Philip:— 
 
 his hymn, “ O God of 
 Bethel, by whose hand,” 
 167-180 
 sketch of, 168 
 portrait of, 170 
 his Rise and Progress, 171 
 his Family Expositor, 171 
 his Hymns, 168, 172, 179 
 and Watts, 27, 168, 171 
 and the Revival, 171 
 and Whitefield, 171 
 and Lady Huntingdon, 172 
 Dog’s Monument The, in Lon¬ 
 don and in Philadelphia, 263 
 Douglass, Canon, 21 
 Drawyer’s Church, 87 
 Duffield, Rev. George, 219 
 Duffield, Rev. Samuel W., 241 
 Duncan, Canon, 54, 215 
 Duncan, Rev. John, 159, 161 
 Dundee (tune), 21, 179 
 Dunn, Rev. Robinson P., 219 
 Duquesne, Fort, 88. 
 
 Dutch Psalmody in England, 
 10 
 
 Dykes, Rev. John Bacchus, 76, 
 254, 271 
 
 East Grinstead, 235, 236 
 Easter, 102, 165 
 
 Eastern Church, hymns of the, 
 236 
 
 Edinburgh:— 
 
 Dr. Blaikie at, 208 
 Bonar at, 211 
 Matheson at, 274 
 Edinburgh Review, 187 
 Edward VI, 5, 8 
 Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, 88 
 Eighteenth century hymns, 4 °, 
 182 
 
 295 
 
 Election, Doctrine of, 49, in 
 Ellers (tune), 254 
 Ellerton, Rev. John:— 
 
 his hymn, “ Saviour again 
 to Thy dear Name we 
 raise,” 245-254 
 sketch of, 247 
 portrait of, 249 
 autograph of, 251 
 reference to, 43 
 Eliot, George, 30 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 24 
 Elliott, Charlotte:— 
 
 her hymn, “ Just as I am,” 
 194-206, 221 
 sketch of, 196 
 portrait of, 197 
 autograph of, 199 
 Elliott, Rev. Plenry V., 201, 203 
 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 151 
 England, Church of:— 
 
 adopts Calvin’s ideals of 
 Psalmody, 4-7 
 but retains its prose 
 Psalter also, 8 
 continues Psalm singing 
 through Elizabeth’s reign, 
 24 
 
 also after the Puritan Revo¬ 
 lution, 17-18, 24 
 and John Wesley (he prints 
 its first hymn book) 36- 
 38, 105 
 
 and Lady Huntingdon (who 
 introduces hymns) 94- 
 97 , 131 
 
 and the Evangelicals (their 
 hymns and hymn books) 
 106, 108, 131, 143, 146, 
 195, 248 
 
 it clings to the metrical 
 Psalms, 105, 133 
 its Calvinism vindicated, 
 no, in 
 
296 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 in Virginia, 83 
 its parish system, 250 
 and the High Church Move¬ 
 ment: 
 
 the effect on worship, 246 
 the Churchly hymns, 221- 
 223, 230, 239, 242, 247, 
 252 
 
 its Catholic Revival, and the 
 Old Church hymns, 235- 
 240 
 
 English Hymns (Duffield), 241 
 “ Enthusiasm,” 105, 106 
 Epiphany, 190 
 Epworth, 34, 36 
 Eton College, 18, 257 
 Evangelical Magazine, The, 161 
 Evangelical Revival:— 
 
 the breach with Methodism, 
 
 49, 5o, 69, 96 
 
 Whitefield’s leadership of, 
 
 50, 52, 69, 70, 71, 96 
 Lady Huntingdon’s part, 96, 
 
 97 , 
 
 its Calvinism, 46, 49, 50, 96, 
 106, 110-112, 131 
 its spiritual experiences, 46- 
 49 
 
 its hymns, 46 
 at Olney, 133 
 
 the Evangelical or Low 
 Church Party, 106, 108, 
 131, 143, 195, 248 
 the Evangelical Succession, 
 195 
 
 in Wales, 69, 70 
 in America, 81-84 
 and the Independents, 171 
 Evangelistic hymns, 280 
 
 Faber, Rev. Frederick W., 135 
 Familiarities in worship, 40 
 Family Expositor, The , 171 
 Famous Hymns and their Au¬ 
 
 thors (Jones), 62, 64, 65, 202, 
 252, 254 
 
 Ferrers, Earl, 100 
 Findlater, Mrs., 219 
 Finesville, N. J., 285 
 Flemish Psalmody, 10 
 Fleshly images in hymns, 40, 98 
 Flowers of the Forest (tune), 
 213 
 
 Foreign Missions, 189-193 
 Fourth of July, 119, 120, 124 
 Frankfort, Marian exiles at, 5, 8 
 Fraser, Bishop James, 216 
 Free Church of Scotland, 210, 
 213 
 
 French (tune), 21, 179 
 French and Indian War, 88, 91 
 French Psalmody, 2, 4, 24 
 French Revolution, 186 
 Fulneck School, 184, 186, 187, 
 188, 189 
 
 Garrick, David, no 
 Gates Ajar, 211 
 Geneva:— 
 
 Calvin at, 2, 4, 5, 
 
 English exiles at, 5, 6, 8, 17 
 English church formed at, 5 
 English Bible translated at, 9 
 English Psalm Book begun 
 at, 6 
 
 Gentleman’s Magazine, The, 74 
 Georgia, the Wesleys in, 36 
 German Hymn (tune), 54 
 German hymns, 4, 36, 223 
 Gibbons, Rev. Thomas, 80, 86, 
 87, 90, 91 
 
 Gladstone, William E., 42, 43 
 Glasgow: Cathedral, 271; Mathe- 
 son at, 272; Presbytery of, 273 
 Glassites, The, 98 
 Gloria in Excelsis, 71 
 Golden Age, The, 226 
 Golden Treasury, The, 54 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 297 
 
 Good bye, its meaning, 287, 288 
 Good Friday, 102 
 Gospel Bells, 290 
 Gospel Hymns, 134, 212, 244, 
 280, 287 
 
 Gospel Magazine, The, 104, 115, 
 116, 150, 156, 157, 161, 164, 
 165 
 
 Gounod, Charles Francois, 206, 
 229, 
 
 Gower John FL, (composer of 
 “Reliance”), 118, 231 
 Grahame, Kenneth, 226 
 Grant, Gen. U. S., 276 
 Grave, The, 184 
 Gray, Bishop, 257, 258 
 Great Awakening, The, 81, 82 
 Great House at Olney, 133, 148, 
 152 
 
 Great Hymns of the Church, 241 
 Greatheed, Rev. Samuel, 149 
 Greek Church and its hymns, 
 238-241 
 
 Green Sleeves (tune), 9 
 Gregory, Rev. A. E., 231 
 Growth of the Spirit of Christi¬ 
 anity, 273 
 
 Halleluiah, 71 
 
 Harris, Howell, 52, 53, 69, 72, 
 74 
 
 Harrison, Rev. Ralph, 65 
 Harvard Theological Review, 32 
 Hastings, Lady Margaret, 97 
 Hastings, Thomas, 118, 219 
 Havergal, Frances R., 242, 243 
 Havergal, Rev. William H., 117 
 Heaven, Hymns of, 30, 31, 32, 
 211, 216 
 
 Heber (tune), 213 
 Henley, William E., 61 
 High Bridge, N. J., 286 
 High Church Movement, see 
 Oxford Movement 
 
 hymns, 221, 223, 224, 230, 
 239, 242, 246, 252, 253 
 Holden, Oliver, 160, 166 
 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 117, 
 129, 152, 182, 278 
 Hondert Psalmen Dauids, 10 
 Hopkins, Edward J., 254 
 Hopper, Rev. Edward, 219 
 Horder, Rev. W. Garrett, 76, 78 
 Horsley (tune), 231 
 Hosannah, 71 
 
 Hosannah to the Son of David, 
 7i 
 
 Hours of Sorrow, 195, 198, 199, 
 200, 203 
 
 Howard, Genl. Oliver O., 285, 
 286 
 
 Howard University, 284 
 Humphrey, J. D., 168 
 Humphreys, Cecil Frances, see 
 Alexander 
 
 Hunterdon Gazette, 286 
 Huntingdon, Lady:— 
 
 her college in Wales, 68, 71, 
 78, 96 
 
 her chapels, 71, 96, 97 
 and Gibbons, 86 
 and Shirley, 94, 100 
 and Methodism, 94 
 and Whitefield, 71, 96, 106 
 her secession from the 
 Church of England, 97, 
 
 131 
 
 her “ Connexion,” 96, 97 
 her hymn singing, 96, 97, 
 100 
 
 her hymn books, 71, 100 
 and Doddridge, 172 
 and Perronet, 165 
 Hutchins’ Hymnal, 122 
 “ Hymn of human composure, 
 The ”:— 
 
 favored by Luther, 2, 4 
 distrusted by Calvin, 4, 83 
 
298 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 defended by Watts, 26, 27 
 employed by Wesley, 36, 37, 
 
 105 
 
 vindicated by the Evangeli¬ 
 cal Revival, 82, 83 
 introduced into Church of 
 England by “ Evangeli¬ 
 cals,” 106, 131, 146 
 resisted by Presbyterians in 
 America, 82, 
 
 resisted by Presbyterians in 
 Scotland, 175, 176 
 repudiated by some Presby¬ 
 terian denominations, 20 
 Hymn Books:—• 
 
 Early American, Evangelical 
 and Unitarian, 182 
 Wesleyan, 38 
 
 first, of the Church of Eng¬ 
 land, 106 
 
 first, of Scotland, 175, 176 
 high church, 239 
 Sunday school, 30 
 evangelistic, 280 
 as registering thermometers, 
 242 
 
 Hymnal, Presbyterian (of 
 1874):— 
 
 its use of the new 
 “ churchly ” hymns, 253 
 Key’s hymn in, 129 
 Hymnal, The (of 1895): — 
 
 the standard for reference in 
 first series of these Studies, 
 viii 
 
 in the making, 21, 121, 125, 
 149, 271, 289, 
 its texts of the hymns, 10 
 its tunes 10, 125 
 its notes to hymns and 
 tunes, 289 
 
 Hymnal revised, The :—• 
 
 the standard for reference in 
 this book, viii 
 
 in the making, 121, 290 
 its texts of the hymns, 10, 
 20, 44, 66, 117, 140, 152, 
 155, 179, 192, 205, 252, 
 258 
 
 its tunes, 10, 21, 78, 118, 
 121, 166, 179, 206, 231, 
 243 , 254 
 
 Doddridge’s hymns in, 179 
 Ellerton’s hymns in, 253 
 Hymnal of the Calvinistic 
 Methodist Church of the 
 
 U. S. A., 77 
 
 Hymn Lover, The, 76 
 Hymn tinkering, 40, 178, 288 
 Hymns:—■ 
 
 as our response to Scripture, 
 
 27 
 
 used to enforce the Sermon, 
 84, 172 
 
 of the 18th century, 46, 182 
 Dr. Holmes on, 182 
 the memorizing of, 54, 231 
 Hymns:— 
 
 amatory, 40 
 
 Centennial, 119, 121, 128 
 Children’s, see Children’s 
 of Christian experience, 46 
 Churchly, 223, 230, 239, 242, 
 247, 252 
 
 Christmas, see Christmas 
 Communion, 90, 91, 180, 215 
 in dialogue, 50, 51, 233 
 didactic, 265 
 Easter, 165 
 
 Evangelical, 27, 82, 106, 175, 
 195, 204, 218 
 evangelistic, 280 
 Fourth of July, 119, 122, 
 129 
 
 German, 4, 36, 223 
 Good Friday, 102 
 “ Gospel,” 134, 212, 244, 280, 
 287 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Greek, 238-241 
 of heaven, 30-32, 211, 216 
 high church, 221, 223, 224, 
 230, 239, 242, 246, 252, 
 2 S 3 
 
 “ I and we,” 103, 247 
 Latin, 140, 238 
 Missionary, 192 
 Moravian, 36, 40, 50, 97, 
 98, 184 
 
 otherworldly, 30, 211, 216 
 patriotic, 129 
 polemic, 112, 258 
 Presbyterian, 179, 218-219 
 Welsh, 69-75 
 
 Hymns ancient and modern, 21, 
 229, 239, 254, 269 
 
 its “ Appendix ” of 1868, 240, 
 243, 245, 252, 253, 254, 259 
 Hymns and Sacred Poems (the 
 Wesleys’), 34, 39. 57 , 60 
 Hymns and Spiritual Songs 
 (Watts), 22, 23, 27, 36 
 Hymns for Children (C. Wes¬ 
 ley), 230 
 
 Hymns for infant minds, 230 
 Hymns for little Children, 220, 
 224, 227, 229, 230 
 Hymns of the Eastern Church 
 translated, 233, 238, 240, 
 
 241 
 
 Hymns of Faith and Hope, 207, 
 215, 218 
 
 Hymns of the Nativity, 215 
 Hymns on the Lord’s Supper, 
 US, ii7 
 
 Hymns original and translated 
 (Ellerton), 252 
 Hymns pro Patria, 288, 289 
 Hymns that have helped, 177 
 
 “ I and we ” hymns, 103, 247 
 Independents:— 
 
 retain metrical Psalmody, 24 
 
 299 
 
 decay of their Psalmody, 24, 
 26 
 
 introduce Watts’s “ Psalms 
 and Hymns,” 27, 36, 158 
 oppose the Great Revival, 
 171 
 
 decline of, 171, 172 
 Ingham, Rev. Benjamin, 97 
 Inghamite Hymnody, 97, 98 
 Innellan, 269, 270, 273 
 Invalid’s Hymn Book, The, 195, 
 198, 200, 203 
 
 Ireland: Church of, 221; Mrs. 
 
 Alexander in, 227 
 Irish Presbyterians, 228 
 Irving, Rev. Edward, 247, 248 
 
 Jehovah, 75, 76 
 Jennings, John, 169 
 Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 106, 120 
 Jones, Francis Arthur, 62, 64, 
 65, 202, 252, 254 
 Jones, James Edmund (com¬ 
 poser of “Walden”), 21, 203 
 Jonson, Ben, 151 
 Journal of The Presbyterian His¬ 
 torical Society, ion 
 Jowett, Rev. Benjamin, 151 
 Julian, Rev. John, 44, 161, 203 
 Just as I am (tune), 206 
 
 Keble, Rev. John, 221, 227 
 Keeler, Grandma, 233 
 Kelso, 209, 210, 213, 215 
 Kernahan, Coulston, 264, 265, 
 266 
 
 Kethe, Rev. William:— 
 
 his Psalm, “ All people that 
 on earth do dwell,” 1-11 
 sketch of, 8 
 Key, Francis S., 129 
 Kibworth, 169 
 Kiernan, Miss, 198 
 Kilmarnock (tune), 177 
 
300 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 King, James, 241 
 King’s Chapel, 182 
 Kipling, Rudyard, 126, 128, 151 
 Knox, John, 5, 17 
 
 Latin hymns, 140, 238 
 Lawrence, Lord, 177 
 Leith, 212, 213, 251 
 Lewis, Rev. H. Elvet, 75 
 Lining the Psalm, 26 
 Lisbon, 172 
 
 Liverpool: Newton at, 137; 
 
 Montgomery at, 189 
 Livingstone, David, 177 
 Lock Hospital, 106 
 Log College (tune), 125 
 Logan, Rev. John, 168, 178, 
 
 179 
 
 London:— . 
 
 The Moravians in, 37, 40 
 Cennick at, 47 
 Toplady at, no 
 Newton at, 138 
 Doddridge at, 168 
 Evangelicals, 248 
 Stone at, 138 
 East End, 262, 263 
 “ City,” 263, 264 
 Irving at, 247, 248 
 Londonderry, 228 
 Long Metre, 6 
 
 Longfellow, Henry W., 10, 23, 
 
 151 
 
 Lowell, James Russell, 152 
 Low Church Party, 106, 108, 
 131, 143 , 195 , 248 
 Luther and his hymns, 2, 5, 75, 
 223 
 
 Lux Benigna (tune), 76, 271 
 Lyra Fidelium, 256, 258, 266 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, 187 
 Macbeth, 205 
 
 Mcllvaine, Bishop Charles P., 
 204 
 
 Maclaren, Ian, 14 
 McLean, Sally Pratt, 233 
 MacLeod, Rev. Norman, 219 
 Madan, Rev. Martin, 106, 146 
 Makemie, Rev. Francis, 88, 90 
 Malan, Rev. Caesar, 196, 200, 
 201 
 
 Mar Saba, 241 
 March, Rev. Daniel, 219 
 Market Harborough, 169 
 Marlowe, Christopher, 141 
 Marot, Clement, 4 
 Mary, Queen, 5, 6, 8, 17 
 Mason, Lowell, 78, 206 
 Matheson, Rev. George:— 
 
 his hymn, “ O Love that 
 wilt not let me go,” 268- 
 278 
 
 portrait of, 275 
 sketch of, 272 
 
 Maurice, Rev. Frederick D., 248 
 Mayor, J. E. B., 152 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, 9 
 Meditation (tune), 231 
 Medley, Rev. Samuel, 161 
 Memorizing of hymns, 54, 231 
 Mendelssohn Collection, 206 
 Methodist:— 
 
 Movement, 34, 37, 38 
 Societies, 38 
 hymns, 37, 38, 39 
 hymn books, 36, 38, 39 
 Hymnal, 79 
 
 as a nickname for Evangeli¬ 
 cals, 106, 133 
 
 Lady Huntingdon and 
 Methodism, 94 
 Middlebury College, 284 
 Miles Lane (tune), 156, 157, 
 160, 166 
 
 Millenium, 211, 248 
 Milton, John, 151 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 301 
 
 Missal, The, 5 
 
 Missionary hymns, 190, 192, 193 
 Mitre, The, 164 
 
 Mob interference with The Great 
 Revival, 52, 53 , 74 
 Mob interference with the 
 Catholic Revival, 236 
 Monastic hymns, 211 
 Monk, Bishop, 235 
 Monk, William Henry, 244, 269 
 Montague, Lady Mary, 97 
 Montgomery, James:— 
 
 his hymn, “ Hail to the 
 Lord’s Anointed,” 181-193 
 sketch of, 184 
 portrait of, 185 
 birthplace of, 183 
 autograph of, 191 
 as poet and hymn writer, 
 
 188 
 
 as hymn book editor, 66, 67 
 Montgomery, Robert, 187 
 Moody and Sankey Gospel 
 Hymns, 134, 212, 244, 280 
 Moravians:— 
 
 and the Wesleys, 36, 37, 4 °> 
 
 5 1 
 
 their hymns, 36, 40, 50, 97, 
 98, 184 
 
 and Cennick, 46, 51 
 
 and Ingham, 97 
 
 and Montgomery, 183, 184, 
 
 189 
 
 Morison, Rev. John, 219 
 Morning and Evening Hymns 
 for a week, 200, 202, 204 
 Morris, James, no 
 Morris, Samuel, 84 
 Morrison, Rev. John, 241 
 Moule, Bishop Handley C. G., 
 201, 202 
 
 Muhlenberg, Rev. William A., 30 
 Mure, Sir William, 12 
 Murray, Rev. John, 219 
 
 National Hymn (tune), 121, 122, 
 124, 125, 128 
 
 Neale, Rev. John Mason:— 
 
 his hymn, “ Art thou 
 
 weary, art thou languid,” 
 232-244 
 sketch of, 235 
 portrait of, 237 
 autograph of, 239 
 his work on Latin hymns, 
 236 
 
 his work on Greek hymns, 
 238, 252 
 
 his place in Hymnody, 
 
 242 
 
 Negro, The: his education, 284; 
 
 his “ spirituals,” 287 
 New Hymnal, The, 254 
 New Lights, 84 
 New side Presbyterians, 84 
 New York: Trinity Church, 
 122; St. Thomas’, 124, 125 
 New York Evangelist, 224 
 Newburyport:— 
 
 Geo. Whitefield at, 81 
 Old South Presbyterian 
 Church, 81 
 
 Whitefield’s Monument, 81, 
 92 
 
 “ Newly Awakened in Hanover 
 County,” 84 
 
 Newman, Cardinal, 76, 221, 226 
 Newton, Rev. John:— 
 
 his hymn, “ How sweet the 
 Name of Jesus sounds,” 
 130-141 
 
 his career, 135 
 portrait of, 132 
 autograph of, 138 
 his Olney Hymns, 130, 131, 
 
 134, 142, 143, 147, 150 
 his Authentic Narrative, 
 
 135 , 139 
 
 Twenty-six Letters, 142, 150 
 
302 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 his friendship with Cowper, 
 143, 146, 147, 148, 149, 
 152 
 
 Nicoll, Rev. Sir Wm. Robertson, 
 238 
 
 No-Popery movement, 235 
 
 Occasional verses, moral and 
 sacred, 155, 157, i59> 161, 162, 
 163 
 
 Ocean Grove, Methodists at, 282 
 Oglethorpe, Governor, 36 
 Old Hundred, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 
 11 
 
 Oliphant (tune), 78 
 Olney, 131, 132, 138, 140, 143, 
 147 
 
 Olney Hymns, 130, 131, 134, 147, 
 150, 152 
 
 Olver, George, 233, 244 
 Orange Street Chapel, 108, no, 
 112 
 
 Ordinal, Tallis’, 177, 179 
 Orton, Job, 168, 172 
 Otherworldliness, 30, 211, 216 
 Oxford Movement:— 
 
 its beginning at Oxford, 
 221, 235 
 
 at Cambridge, 235 
 its spread, 235, 247 
 its characteristic, 221 
 its hymnody, 221-223, 230, 
 239, 242, 247, 252 
 its extreme development, 
 235, 236, 246 
 
 and church worship, 223, 
 246, 247 
 
 outside the Church of Eng¬ 
 land, 257 
 in Scotland, 269 
 Oxford, University of, 221 
 
 Palgrave, Francis T., 54 
 Parish System, the English, 250 
 
 Parker, Horatio, 122 
 Parkhurst, Rev. Charles, 274 
 Parting, Mark Rutherford on, 
 288 
 
 Pax Dei (tune), 254 
 Peace, Dr. Albert L., 271 
 Pelican Island, 188 
 Perfectionism, 116, 126 
 Perronet, Rev. Edward:— 
 
 his hymn, “ All hail the 
 power of Jesus’ Name,” 
 154-166 
 sketch of, 164 
 his Occasional Verses, 155, 
 157, 159, 161, 162, 163 
 his Mitre, 164 
 and Wesley, 164 
 and Lady Huntingdon, 165 
 Perronet, Rev. Vincent, and 
 family, 163, 164 
 Phelps, Elizabeth S., 211 
 Philadelphia, The dog’s grave at 
 the Lawrence Pepper house, 
 1219 Walnut St., 263 
 Highlands’ Book Store, 290 
 Phillipsburg, 286 
 Pilgrim Fathers, 10, 129 
 Plagiarism, 103 
 Pleyel, Ignaz Joseph, 54 
 Poetry and hymns, 152, 267 
 Poets as hymn writers, 151 
 Poet’s Portfolio, 188 
 Pope, Alexander, 141 
 Prayer Book, see Book of Com¬ 
 mon Prayer 
 Predestination, 49, 111 
 Premillenarianism, 211, 248 
 Presbrey, Otis F., 290 
 Presbyterian Church:— 
 in America:— 
 
 inherits the ordinance of 
 Psalm Singing, 20, 82 
 Whitefield’s influence on, 
 81, 82, 84 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 splits at “ The Great Awak¬ 
 ening,” 81, 82 
 begins to sing hymns, 81-84 
 its “ Psalmody Contro¬ 
 versy,” 82 
 
 “ New side Presbyterians,” 84 
 its first hymn writer 
 
 (Davies), 83-92 
 its other hymn writers, 
 
 219 
 
 “ Old South Church ” (New- 
 buryport), 81, 82 
 “ Old Drawyer’s ” (Dela¬ 
 ware), 87 
 
 Easter and Good Friday in, 
 102 
 
 its hymn books:— 
 
 Psalms and Hymns 
 
 (1830), 87, 161; Presby¬ 
 terian Hymnal (1874), 
 
 129, 253; The Hymnal 
 (1895) ; see Hymnal; 
 
 The Hymnal revised 
 (1911); see Hymnal re¬ 
 vised 
 in Scotland: 
 see Scotland, Church of 
 Free Church of 
 in Ireland, 221 
 
 Presbyterian Historical Society, 
 ion. 
 
 Presbytery of Newcastle, 84 
 “ Presidents’ Row ” at Prince¬ 
 ton, 88 
 
 Princeton College and Davies, 86, 
 88 
 
 Prison Amusements, 186 
 Pro Patria (Parker’s), 122 
 Protestant Episcopal Church:— 
 its Hymnal Commission’s 
 Report, 119, 122 
 its Hymnal of 1892, 121 
 Tucker’s setting of, 121, 
 122 
 
 303 
 
 Hutchin’s setting of, 
 122 
 
 its New Hymnal (1916), 
 254 
 
 Trinity Church, N. Y., 122 
 St. Thomas’ Church, N. Y., 
 122 
 
 Psalm (metrical) Singing as a 
 divine ordinance:— 
 
 set up by Calvin, 2, 4, 24 
 adopted by English exiles 
 at Geneva, 4-6 
 in French Reformation, 2- 
 5; 24 
 
 in English Reformation, 5- 
 8, 9, 24 
 
 in Scottish Reformation, 17, 
 24, 171 
 
 in Dutch and Flemish Ref¬ 
 ormations, 10 
 in Wales, 70 
 
 in American Colonies, 20, 82 
 falls into decay, 24, 25, 36, 
 
 105 
 
 challenged by (1) Watts, 
 24-27, 105 
 
 (2) The Methodist Revi¬ 
 val, 36, 105 
 
 (3) The Evangelical Re¬ 
 vival, 70, 96, 105-109, 
 i3D 133 
 
 (4) The Great Awaken¬ 
 ing,. 82, 83 
 
 (5) In Scotland, 175, 176 
 lingers in Church of Eng¬ 
 land, 105 
 
 maintained by some Pres¬ 
 byterians, 20 
 
 referred to by Longfellow, 
 10 
 
 by Shakespeare, 9, 10 
 Psalm Books (Psalters):— 
 of Calvin, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11 
 of English exiles, 6, 9, 17 
 
304 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 
 of Church of England 
 
 (“ Sternhold and Hop¬ 
 
 kins,”), i, 6, 8, 9, io, 24 
 of Church of Scotland 
 
 (1564), 10, 17 
 (1650 “Rous”), 13, 14, 
 15, 18, 20, 82, 175 
 of the Pilgrim Fathers 
 
 (Ainsworth’s), 10 
 of American Presbyterian¬ 
 ism, 20, 82 
 
 of Watts ( Psalms of David 
 imitated ), 26, 36, 65 
 of Montgomery ( Songs of 
 Zion), 182, 189, 192 
 of The Book of Common 
 Prayer (in prose), 8 
 of William Barton, 18 
 Psalm tunes, 4, 6, n, 67 
 “ Psalmody Controversy ” in 
 American Presbyterian Church, 
 82 
 
 in Scotland, 175, 176 
 Psalmody Convention, 20 
 Psalms:— 
 
 23rd, 12-21, 76 
 24th, 233 
 50th, 65 
 72nd, 182-193 
 100th, i-ii, 13 
 134th, 4, 6, 7 
 
 Psalms and Hymns (1830), 87, 
 161 
 
 Psalms of David imitated, The 
 (Watts), 26, 36, 65 
 Psalms of David in meeter, 
 (1650), 13, 14, is (title page), 
 17-20, 17s, 214 
 Puritans, 5, 17, 18 
 “ Puseyite Errors,” 221 
 
 Quakers, 24 
 
 Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, 
 211 
 
 Rankin, Rev. Jeremiah Eames:— 
 His hymn, “ God be with 
 you,” 279-290 
 sketch of, 280 
 portrait of, 283 
 autograph of, 281 
 Readings to the Aged, 238 
 Recessional, Kipling’s, 126, 128 
 Record, The, 201 
 Regent Square Church, 247 
 Redhead No. 76 (tune), 
 118 
 
 Reliance (tune), 118 
 Revival of the 18th century:— 
 Methodist, see Methodist 
 Evangelical, see Evangeli¬ 
 cal 
 
 Great Awakening, 81, 82 
 its hymnody, 46, 182 
 Revival hymn books, 134 
 Revolution:— 
 
 American, 120, 138 
 English, 17, 18, 24 
 French, 186 
 
 Rippon, Rev. John, 86, 87, 92, 
 
 i55> 158 , iS9 
 
 Rise and Progress of Religion in 
 the Soul, 171 
 
 Roberts, Rev. Daniel C.:— 
 
 his hymn, “ God of our 
 fathers,” 119-129 
 sketch of, 125 
 portrait of, 127 
 autograph of, 123 
 Robinson, One-eyed, 83 
 Roman Catholic Church, 221, 
 236, 238 
 
 Rous, Francis, 12, 18; portrait 
 of, 19 
 
 Rous’s Version:— 
 
 its adoption, 13, 18, 175 
 its popularity, 13, 14, 214 
 title page of, 15 
 in America, 20, 82 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Russian Hymn (tune), 122 
 Rutherford, Mark, 288 
 
 Sacred Hymns for the Children 
 of God, 46, 49-51, 233 
 Sacred Hymns for the use of 
 Religious Societies, 50, 52 
 Sackville College, 235, 236 
 Saint Agnes (tune), 252 
 
 Alban’s; Cowper at, 144, 
 146; Doddridge at, 169; 
 Cathedral, 250 
 Bartholomew, 253 
 Bernard’s, Edinburgh, 274, 
 276 
 
 John’s, Leith, 212 
 Laurence’s, Reading, 47, 49 
 Margaret (tune), 271 
 Margaret, Sisterhood of, 
 235 , 236 
 
 Mary Woolnoth, 138, 139, 
 140 
 
 Mary’s Hall, Brighton, 201, 
 202, 203 
 
 Michael (tune), n 
 Paul (tune), 177, 179 
 Paul’s, Concord, 125 
 Paul’s, Haggerston, 262, 263 
 Stephen the Sabaite, 240, 
 241 
 
 Thomas’, New York, 122, 
 124 
 
 Sancho’s grave, 263 
 Sankey, Ira D., 134, 212, 244, 
 280 
 
 Satan, 187 
 
 Satchell, Captain, 233, 244 
 Savannah, Wesley at, 36, 106 
 Scotland: Church of:— 
 
 adopts Calvin’s ideals of 
 Psalmody, 17, 174 
 its Reformation Psalm Book, 
 10, 17 
 
 in the Civil War, 17 
 
 305 
 
 at Westminster Assembly, 
 17, 18, 174 
 
 its new Psalm Book (Rous), 
 13, 18, 174 
 
 its people’s devotion to the 
 Psalms, 13, 14-17, 168 
 proposal to “ enlarge the 
 Psalmody,” 174 
 the Psalmody Controversy, 
 i 74 , 176 
 
 its first hymns (Para¬ 
 phrases), 168, 174-178 
 its disruption, 209-210 
 its new Hymnody, 269 
 its Scottish Hymnal, 268- 
 278 
 
 Free Church of, 210 
 
 continues the old Psalm¬ 
 ody, 213 
 
 Hymn writers of, 8, 215, 219 
 Oxford Movement in, 269 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 151 
 Scottish Hymnal, The, 268, 269, 
 270, 271, 278 
 Second Advent, 211, 215 
 Select Hymns and Anthems, 158 
 Shakespeare, 9, 10, 118, 141, 205 
 Sheffield, 186, 187 
 Sheffield Register, 186 
 Shirley, Hon. and Rev. 
 Walter:— 
 
 his hymn, “ Sweet the mo¬ 
 ments, rich in blessing,” 
 93-103 
 
 sketch of, 100 
 portrait of, 95 
 
 Shrubsole, William, 157, 163, 
 
 164, 166 
 
 Singer, Elizabeth, 28 
 Sisterhood of S. Margaret, 235, 
 236 
 
 Sloan, Rev. J. M., 212 
 Smith, H. Porter, 280 
 Smith, Rev. J. Ritchie, 112 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 306 
 
 Smith, Rev. Sydney, 276 
 Societies, 37, 50 
 
 Solemn League and Covenant, 17 
 Song of the New Creation, 215 
 Songs of Zion, 182, 189, 192 
 Southampton, 23, 28 
 Spectator, The, 20, 58 
 Spiritual Songs for social wor¬ 
 ship, 118 
 Spirituals, 287 
 Stead, W. T., 177 
 Stephanos (tune), 243 
 Sternhold and Hopkins, 8 
 Stevens, Bishop Wm. Bacon, 204 
 Stockport (tune), 64, 65, 66, 67 
 Stone, Rev. Samuel John:— 
 his hymn, “ The Church’s 
 one Foundation,” 255-267 
 sketch of, 260 
 portrait of, 261 
 autograph of, 259 
 his hymns and poems, 266 
 his dog’s grave, 263 
 Strasburg, 4 
 
 “ Subject-matter of Praise,” 20, 
 178 
 
 Sunday school hymns: see 
 Children’s 
 Synge, Mrs., 202 
 
 Tam o’ Shanter, 124 
 Tallis (tune), 179 
 Tallis’ Canon (tune), 179 
 Taxation no Tyranny, 120 
 Taylor, Ann and Jane, 230 
 Tennent, Rev. Gilbert, 88, 90 
 Tennyson, Lord, 24, 151, 212, 
 270 
 
 Thackeray, Wm. M., 217, 262 
 Theobalds, 30, 32 
 Thorne, Edward H., 252 
 Thoughts in verse on Sacred 
 Subjects, 200 
 Ticonderoga, 76 
 
 Tinkering of hymns, 40, 178, 288 
 Tomer, William G., 282, 285, 
 286, 288 
 
 Toplady, Rev. Augustus M.:— 
 on the “ God of elegance,” 
 S 3 
 
 his hymn, “ Rock of Ages,” 
 104-118 
 
 his relation to Methodism, 
 105 
 
 his Church of England 
 hymn book, 71, 108 
 sketch of, 108 
 portrait of, 109 
 autograph of, 107 
 his controversy with Wes¬ 
 ley, hi, 112, 116, 120 
 and the American colonies, 
 120 
 
 Toplady (tune), 118 
 Torquay, 250 
 
 Translations and Paraphrases of 
 Scripture :— 
 
 of 1745, 175, 178 
 of 1781, 176, 178, 179, 
 
 (title page), 175, 213 
 Treasury of sacred Song, 54 
 Trevecca, 68, 71, 78, 96 
 Trevelyan, Sir Geo. Otto, 138 
 Trinity Church, New York, 122 
 “ Troubles at Frankfort, The,” 
 Tucker’s Hymnal, 121, 122 
 Tunes:— 
 
 Genevan, 4, 11 
 old Psalm tunes, 67 
 florid, 67 
 
 parlor music school, 124 
 four-part-song style, 206 
 Anglican, 124 
 
 the two types: choir and 
 congregational, 67 
 Bradbury’s, 206 
 Tunes referred to:— 
 
 Aurelia, 259 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Autumn, n 
 Balerma, 121, 179 
 Benediction, 254 
 Bullinger, 244 
 Caersalem, 77, 78 
 Coleshill, 177 
 Coronation, 160, 166 
 Dismissal, 78 
 Dundee, 21, 179 
 Ellers, 254 
 
 Flowers of the Forest, The, 
 213 
 
 French, 21, 179 
 German Hymn, 54 
 God be with you, 285 
 Green Sleeves, 9 
 Heber, 213 
 Horsley, 231 
 
 Just As I Am (Barnby), 206 
 Kilmarnock, 177 
 Log College, 125 
 Lux Benigna, 76, 271 
 Meditation, 231 
 Miles Lane, 156, 157, 160, 
 166 
 
 National Hymn, 121, 122, 
 124, 125, 128 
 
 Old Hundred, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 
 10, 11 
 
 Oliphant, 78 
 
 Ordinal (Tallis), 177, 179 
 Pax Dei, 254 
 
 Pro Patria (Parker), 122 
 Redhead No. 76, 118 
 Reliance, 118 
 Russian Hymn, 122 
 St. Agnes, 252 
 St. Margaret, 271 
 St. Michael, 11 
 St. Paul, 177, 179 
 Stephanos, 243 
 Stockport, 64, 65, 66, 67 
 Tallis, 177, 179 
 Tallis’ ordinal, 177 , 179 
 
 307 
 
 There is a Green Hill 
 (Gounod), 231 
 Toplady, 118 
 Walden, 21 
 Walworth, 65 
 
 What a Friend we have in 
 Jesus, 284 
 Woodworth, 206 
 Twenty-six letters, 142, 150 
 “ Tye thy mare, Tom boye,” 9 
 
 Union Harmony, 160 
 Unitarian hymn books, 182 
 United Presbyterian Church, 20 
 Unwin, Rev. Morley, 146 
 
 Verses for Holy Seasons, 227 
 Victoria, Queen, 262, 274 
 Viner, Wm. L., 78 
 Virginia, in 18th century, 83; 
 Church of England in, 83 ; 
 Davies in, 80; Whitefield in, 
 83 
 
 Wainwright, John, 64, 65, 66, 67 
 Walden (tune), 21 
 Wales:— 
 
 and the Great Revival, 69- 
 7 o, 74 
 
 Wesley in, 69, 75 
 Whitefield in, 69, 70 
 its Calvinistic Methodist 
 Church, 70 
 
 Lady Huntingdon’s College 
 in, 68, 71, 78, 96 
 its hymns, 70, 73, 75 
 Wall and the Gates, The, 112 
 Walnut Street (1219), Philadel¬ 
 phia (The Lawrence Pepper 
 house), 263 
 Walpole, Horace, 96 
 Walworth (tune), 65 
 Wanderer in Switzerland, The, 
 188 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 308 
 
 War Etchings, 126 
 Warren, George William, 121, 
 124 
 
 Washington, D. C., 280, 282, 
 284, 285 
 
 Washington, George, 88 
 Watts, Rev. Isaac:— 
 
 his hymn, “ There is a land 
 of pure delight,” 22-32 
 sketch of, 23, 28 
 portrait of, 29 
 his Hymns and Spiritual 
 Songs, 22, 23, 25, 27, 36, 
 242 
 
 his “ Renovation of [Inde¬ 
 pendent] Psalmody,” 24, 
 26, 27, 30 
 
 his Psalms of David im¬ 
 itated, 26, 36, 65 
 popularity of his hymns, 
 27 
 
 his “ Psalms and Hymns ” 
 in The Great Awakening, 
 82 
 
 in Virginia, 84 
 in Scotland, 175 
 his hymns the model of 
 hymn writing, 84, 133, 
 
 168 
 
 and Doddridge (“ The 
 School of Watts”), 27, 
 168, 171 
 
 his hostility to the Revival, 
 171 
 
 “Watts’s whims,” 27 
 Beauties of Dr. Watts, &c., 
 193 
 
 his hymns for children, 230 
 his missionary “ Psalm,” 
 193 
 
 “ We and I ” hymns, 103, 247 
 Welsh Revival. See Wales 
 Wesley, Rev. Charles:— 
 
 as poet laureate of the 
 
 Methodist movement, 34, 
 37 
 
 the hymn, “ Jesus, Lover of 
 my soul,” 33-44 
 his probable authorship of 
 it, 38-41 
 sketch of, 34-38 
 portrait of, 35 
 his attitude toward Method¬ 
 ism, 38 
 
 his seven thousand hymns, 
 37 
 
 his children’s hymns, 230 
 Wesley, Rev. John:— 
 
 as leader of the Methodist 
 movement, 34, 37, 38 
 sketch of, 34-38 
 his American mission, 36, 
 120 
 
 inaugurates hymn singing at 
 Savannah, 36 
 his first hymn book, 36 
 and the Moravians, 36, 37, 
 40, Si 
 
 his “ Societies,” 37 
 his Arminianism, 46, 49, 50, 
 no, in 
 
 his breach with Whitefield, 
 49, 50, 69, 96 
 
 his controversy with Top- 
 lady, in, 112, 116, 120 
 his Perfectionism, 116, 126 
 in Wales, 69, 75 
 his “Journal,” 60 
 his Calm Address to the 
 American Colonies, 120 
 his Colin, of Hymns for . . . 
 
 Methodists, 38, 40 
 his criticisms of Charles’s 
 hymns, 40, 42 
 
 his dislike of amatory 
 hymns, 40, 98 
 and Cennick, 46, 49, 50 
 and Watts, 36, 171 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 Wesleys, the (John and 
 Charles:— 
 
 their joint Hymns and 
 Sacred Poems, 34, 39, 57, 
 60 
 
 their joint Hymns on the 
 Lord’s Supper, 115, 117 
 and Byrom, 57, 58, 60, 61 
 their extension of hymn 
 singing, 37, 105 
 and Perronet, 164 
 Wesley, Rev. Samuel, 34, 36 
 Wesley, Susannah, 34 
 Wesleyan Methodist Hymn 
 
 Book, 39 
 
 Westminster Abbey, 177, 179 
 Westminster Assembly, 17, 18 
 Westminster Catechism, 259 
 White, Rev. Hugh, 198 
 Whitefield, Rev. George:— 
 portrait of, frontispiece 
 the original field preacher, 
 
 49 
 
 as Wesley’s colleague, 49 
 his Calvinism, 46, 49, 50, 
 106 
 
 his breach with Wesley, 49, 
 50, 69, 96 
 
 as leader of the Evangelical 
 Revival, 50, 69, 70, 71, 96 
 his Journal, 49 
 his Tabernacle and hymn 
 book, 52, 71, 106 
 in Wales, 69, 70 
 in America, 49, 81, 82, 83, 
 120 
 
 his evangelism there: The 
 Great Awakening, 81, 82 
 his influence on Presbyterian¬ 
 ism, 81, 82, 84 
 
 309 
 
 his influence on hymn sing¬ 
 ing, 82 
 
 his tomb at Newburyport, 
 81, 82, 92, 120 
 and Lady Huntingdon, 71, 
 96, 106 
 
 and Cennick, 46, 4y, 50, 51 
 and Newton, 137 
 and Doddridge, 171 
 and Watts, 171 
 Whittier, John G., 128, 151 
 Whole Booke of Psalms, The, 6, 
 8 
 
 Whyte, Principal Alexander, 205 
 Wilks, Rev. Matthew, 51 
 Williams and Boden Collection, 
 
 158 
 
 Williams, Rev. Peter, 68, 71 
 Williams, Rev. William:— 
 
 his hymn, “Guide me, O 
 Thou Great Jehovah,” 54, 
 68-79, 94, 9 h 
 sketch of, 72 
 portrait of, 70 
 influence of his hymns in 
 Wales, 75 
 
 Windsor, 257, 258, 262 
 Wisdom of Solomon, 43 
 Woodworth (tune), 206 
 Wordsworth, Bishop Christopher, 
 265 
 
 Wordsworth, William, 151, 203, 
 204 
 
 World War, The, 129 
 Worship in the Church of Eng¬ 
 land, 223, 246, 247 
 
 Young, Thomas, 159 
 
 Zanchius on Predestination, hi 
 
INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF HYMNS 
 
 [Those which are the subjects of the Studies are printed in Italics .] 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A few more years shall roll . 216 
 
 Abide with me: fast falls the eventide . 43 
 
 All hail the power of Jesus’ Name . 154-166 
 
 All hail the power of Jesus’ grace. 158 
 
 All people that on earth do dwell . 1-11 
 
 Art thou weary, art thou languid . 232-242 
 
 Before the Lord we bow . 129 
 
 Beyond the smiling and the weeping . 218 
 
 Children of the heavenly King . 45—55, 69, 184 
 
 Christian, dost thou see them . 239 
 
 Christians, awake! salute the happy morn . 56-67 
 
 Come, Saviour Jesus, from above . 60 
 
 Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round . 128 
 
 Far from the world, 0 Lord, I flee . 152 
 
 Give me the wings of faith to rise . 27 
 
 Glorious things of thee are spoken . 132 
 
 Go, labor on: spend, and be spent . 214 
 
 God be with you till we meet again . 279-290 
 
 God moves in a mysterious way . 14 2-153 
 
 God of our fathers, known of old . 126 
 
 God of our fathers, whose almighty hand . 119-129 
 
 Grace! ’tis a charming sound . 180 
 
INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF HYMNS 
 
 3 12 
 
 Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost . 267 
 
 Great God of wonders, all Thy ways . 87 
 
 Guide me, 0 Thou great Jehovah . 54, 68-79, 94, 96 
 
 Hail to the Lord’s Anointed . 181-193 
 
 Hark! my soul, it is the Lord . 152 
 
 Hark, the glad sound! the Saviour comes . 179 
 
 Hark! the herald angels sing. 57, 66 
 
 Here, 0 my Lord, I see Thee face to face. 212 
 
 How gentle God’s commands . 179 
 
 How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds . 130-141 
 
 Hushed was the evening hymn . 230 
 
 I heard the voice of Jesus say . 207-219 
 
 I lay my sins on Jesus . 209, 213 
 
 I was a wandering sheep . 213 
 
 I would not live alway, I ask not to stay. 30 
 
 Jerusalem the golden . 238, 253, 259 
 
 Jesu, dulcis memoria . 140 
 
 Jesus, I love Thy charming Name . 179 
 
 Jesus, Lover of my soul . 33-44, 105, 108, 113 
 
 Jesus shall reign where’er the sun . 193 
 
 Jesus, the very thought of Thee . 140 
 
 Jesus, where’er Thy people meet . 148,152 
 
 Just as I am, without one plea . 194-206, 221 
 
 t 
 
 Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill! .... 212 
 
 Lead, kindly Light . 43, 76, 226, 271 
 
 Lord, I am Thine, entirely Thine . 80-92 
 
 Lord of the Sabbath, hear us pray . 180 
 
 My former hopes are dead . 148 
 
 My God, and Father, while I stray. 198 
 
 My God, and is Thy table spread . 179 
 
INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF HYMNS 313 
 
 Now from Bethlehem let us fare . 239 
 
 O day of rest and gladness . 265 
 
 0 for a closer walk with God . 152 
 
 0 God, beneath Thy guiding hand . 129 
 
 0 God of Bethel, by whose hand . 167-180 
 
 0 happy day that fixed my choice . 179 
 
 O Jesus, King most wonderful . 140 
 
 O little town of Bethlehem . 66, 226 
 
 0 Lord of Hosts, almighty King . 129 
 
 0 Lord Divine, that stooped to share . 278 
 
 0 Love that wilt not let me go . 268-278 
 
 O’er the gloomy hills of darkness .. 73 
 
 Our fathers’ God, from out whose hand . 128 
 
 Pour out the Spirit from on high . 191 
 
 Quiet, Lord, my froward heart . 134 
 
 Rock of Ages cleft for me . 14, 104-118, 121, 156 
 
 Rock of Israel, cleft for me . 115 
 
 Saviour, again, to Thy dear Name we raise . 245-254 
 
 See Israel’s gentle Shepherd stand . 179 
 
 Sometimes a Light surprises . 148, 152 
 
 Sunset and evening star . 270 
 
 Sweet the moments, rich in blessing . 93-103 
 
 Swing low, sweet chariot . 287 
 
 The Church has waited long... 215 
 
 The Church’s one Foundation .. 255-267 
 
 The day is past and over . 239 
 
 The day of resurrection . 239 
 
 The God of glory sends His summons forth . 65 
 
 The King of love my Shepherd is . 21, 241 
 
 The Lord my pasture shall prepare . 20 
 
3i4 
 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES OF HYMNS 
 
 The Lord my Shepherd is . 21 
 
 The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want . 12-21, 175 
 
 The morning, the bright and the beautiful morning .. 213 
 
 The Spirit breathes upon the word . 148 
 
 There is a fountain filled with blood . 152 
 
 There is a green hill far away . 220-231 
 
 There is a land of pure delight . 22-32, 54, 55, 108 
 
 Watchman, tell us of the night . 233 
 
 We sing to Thee, Thou Son of God. 51 
 
 Weary of earth and laden with my sin . 266 
 
 What a Friend we have in Jesus . 282 
 
 When I survey the wondrous cross . 217 
 
 When the weary, seeking rest . 212 
 
 Where is the blessedness I knew. 148 
 
 While my Jesus I’m possessing. 99, 100 
 
 Yet there is room: the Lamb’s bright hall of song .. 212 
 
DATE DUE 
 
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