The living know that they must die,But all the dead forgotten lie;Their memory and their sense are gone,Alike unknowing and unknown.And likewise from the fourth stanza,—There are no acts of pardon passedIn the cold grave to which we haste.* One of Israel Holroyd's tunes. He was born in England, about 1690, and was both a composer and publisher of psalmody. His chief collection is dated 1746.“AND WILL THE JUDGE DESCEND?â€Is one of Doddridge's monitory hymns, once sung to J.C. Woodman's tune of “State St.†with the voice of both the Old and New Testaments in the last verse:Ye sinners, seek His graceWhose wrath ye cannot bear;Fly to the shelter of His Cross,And find Salvation there.Jonathan Call Woodman was born in Newburyport, Mass., July 12, 1813, and was a teacher, composer, and compiler. Was organist of St. George's Chapel, in Flushing, L.I., and in 1858 publishedThe Musical Casket. Died January, 1894. He wrote “State St.†for William B. Bradbury, in August, 1844.“HASTEN SINNER, TO BE WISEâ€Is one of the few unforgotten hymns of Thomas Scott, every second line repeating the solemn caution,—Stay not for tomorrow's sun,467 /411—and every line enforcing its exhortation with a new word, “To be wise,†“to implore,†“to return,†and “to be blest†were natural cumulatives that summoned and wooed the sinner careless and astray. It is a finished piece of work, but it owes its longevity less to its structural form than to its spirit. For generations it has been sung to “Pleyel's Hymn.â€The Rev. Thomas Scott (not Rev. Thomas Scott the Commentator) was born in Norwich, Eng., in 1705, and died at Hupton, in Norfolk, 1776. He was a Dissenting minister, pastor for twenty-one years—until disabled by feeble health—at Lowestoft in Suffolk. He was the author of—Angels roll the rock away.“MUST JESUS BEAR THE CROSS ALONE?â€This emotional and appealing hymn still holds its own in the hearts of millions, though probably two hundred years old. It was written by a clergyman of the Church of England, the Rev. Thomas Shepherd, Vicar of Tilbrook, born in 1665. Joining the Nonconformists in 1694, he settled first in Castle Hill, Nottingham, and afterward in Bocking, Essex, where he remained until his death, January, 1739. He published a selection of his sermons, andPenitential Cries, a book of sacred lyrics, some of which still appear in collections.The startling question in the above line is answered with emphasis in the third of the stanza,—468 /412No!There's a cross for every one,And there's a cross forme,—and this is followed by the song of resolve and triumph,—The consecrated cross I'll bear,Till death shall set me free.And then go home my crown to wear,For there's a crown for me.* * * * * *O precious cross! O glorious crown!O Resurrection Day!Ye angels from the stars flash downAnd bear my soul away!The hymn is a personal New Testament. No one who analyzes it and feels its Christian vitality will wonder why it has lived so long.THE TUNE.For half a century George N. Allen, composer of “Maitland,†the music inseparable from the hymn, was credited with the authorship of the words also, but his vocal aid to the heart-stirring poem earned him sufficient praise. The tune did not meet the hymn till the latter was so old that the real author was mostly forgotten, for Allen wrote the music in 1849; but if the fine stanzas needed any renewing it was his tune that made them new. Since it was published nobody has wanted another.George Nelson Allen was born in Mansfield, Mass., Sept. 7, 1812, and lived at Oberlin, O. It469 /413was there that he composed “Maitland,†and compiled theSocial and Sabbath Hymn-book—besides songs for theWestern Bell, published by Oliver Ditson and Co. He died in Cincinnati, Dec. 9, 1877.“AWAKE MY SOUL, STRETCH EVERY NERVE!â€This most popular of Dr. Doddridge's hymns is also the richest one of all in lyrical and spiritual life. It is a stadium song that sounds the starting-note for every young Christian at the outset of his career, and the slogan for every faint Christian on the way.Aheavenlyrace demands thy zeal,And an immortal crown.Like the “Coronation†hymn, it transports the devout singer till he feels only the momentum of the words and forgets whether it is common or hallelujah metre that carries him along.A cloud of witnesses aroundHold thee in full survey;Forget the steps already trod,And onward urge thy way!'Tis God's all-animating voiceThat calls thee from on high,'Tis His own hand presents the prizeTo thine aspiring eye.In all persuasive hymnology there is no more kindling lyric that this. As a field-hymn it is indispensable.470 /414THE TUNE.Whenever and by whomsoever the brave processional known as “Christmas†was picked from among the great Handel's Songs and mated with Doddridge's lines, the act gave both hymn and tune new reason to endure, and all posterity rejoices in the blend. Old “Christmas†was originally one of the melodies in the great Composer's Opera of “CirϠ(Cyrus) 1738. It was written to Latin words (Non vi piacque) and afterwards adapted to an English versification of Job 29:15, “I was eyes to the blind.â€Handel, himself became blind at the age of sixty eight (1753).471 /opp 414George Frederick HandelGeorge Frederick HandelHymnal“THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY.â€Written in 1848 by Miss Cecil Frances Humphreys, an Irish lady, daughter of Major John Humphreys of Dublin. She was born in that city in 1823. Her best known name is Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander, her husband being the Rt. Rev. William Alexander, Bishop of Derry. Among her works areHymns for Little Children,Narrative Hymns,Hymns Descriptive and Devotional, andMoral Songs. Died 1895.“There is agreenhill†is poetic license, but the hymn is sweet and sympathetic, and almost childlike in its simplicity.There is a green hill far awayWithout the city wall,473 /415Where our dear Lord was crucifiedWho died to save us all.We may not know, we cannot tellWhat pains He had to bear;But we believe it was for usHe hung and suffered there.THE TUNES.There is no room here to describe them all. Airs and chorals by Berthold Tours, Pinsuti, John Henry Cornell, Richard Storrs Willis, George C. Stebbins and Hubert P. Main have been adapted to the words—one or two evidently composed for them. It is a hymn that attracts tune-makers—literally so commonplace and yet so quiet and tender, with such a theme and such natural melody of line—but most of the scores indicated are choir music rather than congregational. Mr. Stebbins' composition comes nearest to being the favorite, if one judges by the extent and frequency of its use. It can be either partly or wholly choral; and the third stanza makes the refrain—O dearly, dearly has He lovedAnd we must love Him too,And trust in His redeeming blood,And try His works to do.“REJOICE AND BE GLAD!â€This musical shout of joy, written by Dr. Horatius Bonar, scarcely needs a new song helper, as did474 /416Bishop Heber's famous hymn—not because it is better than Heber's but because It was wedded at once to a tune worthy of it.Rejoice and be glad! for our King is on high;He pleadeth for us on His throne in the sky.Rejoice and be glad! for He cometh again;He cometh in glory, the Lamb that was slainHallelujah! Amen.The hymn was composed in 1874.THE TUNE.The author of the “English Melody†(as ascribed inGospel Hymns) is said to have been John Jenkins Husband, born in Plymouth, Eng., about 1760. He was clerk at Surrey Chapel and composed several anthems. Came to the United States In 1809. Settled in Philadelphia, where he taught music and was clerk of St. Paul's P.E. Church. Died there in 1825.His tune, exactly suited to the hymn, is a true Christian pæan. It has few equals as a rouser to a sluggish prayer-meeting—whether sung to Bonar's words or those of Rev. William Paton Mackay (1866)—We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love,—with the refrain of similar spirit in both hymns—Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! Amen,Hallelujah! Thine the glory; revive us again;—or,—Sound His praises! tell the story of Him who was slain!Sound His praises! tell with gladness, “He liveth again.â€475 /417Husband's tune is supposed to have been written very early in the last century. Another tune composed by him near the same date to the words—“We are on our journey homeTo the New Jerusalem,â€â€”is equally musical and animating, and with a vocal range that brings out the full strength of choir and congregation.“COME, SINNER, COME.â€A singular case of the same tune originating in the brain of both author and composer is presented in the history of this hymn of Rev. William Ellsworth Witter, D.D., born in La Grange, N.Y., Dec. 9, 1854. He wrote the hymn in the autumn of 1878, while teaching a district school near his home. The first line—While Jesus whispers to you,—came to him during a brief turn of outdoor work by the roadside and presently grew to twenty-four lines. Soon after, Prof. Horatio Palmer, knowing Witter to be a verse writer, invited him to contribute a hymn to a book he had in preparation, and this hymn was sent. Dr. Palmer set it to music, it soon entered into several collections, and Mr. Sankey sang it in England at the Moody meetings.Dr. Witter gives this curious testimony,“While I cannot sing myself, though very fond of music, the hymn sang itself to me by the roadside476 /418in almost the exact tune given to it by Professor Palmer.†Which proves that Professor Palmer had the feeling of the hymn—and that the maker of a true hymn has at least a sub-consciousness of its right tune, though he may be neither a musician nor a poet.While Jesus whispers to you,Come, sinner, come!While we are praying for you,Come, sinner, come!Now is the time to own Him,Come, sinner, come!Now is the time to know Him,Come, sinner, come!“ONE MORE DAY'S WORK FOR JESUS.â€The writer of this hymn was Miss Anna Warner, one of the well-known “Wetherell Sisters,†joint authors ofThe Wide World,Queechy, and a numerous succession of healthful romances very popular in the middle and later years of the last century. Her own pen name is “Amy Lothrop,†under which she has published many religious poems, hymns and other varieties of literary work. She was born in 1820, at Martlaer, West Point, N.Y., where she still resides.One more day's work for Jesus,One less of life for me:But heaven is nearer,And Christ is dearerThan yesterday to me.477 /419His love and lightFill all my soul tonight.Refrain:—One more day's work for Jesus,(ter)One less of life for me.The hymn has five stanzas all expressing the gentle fervor of an active piety loving service:THE TUNEwas composed by the Rev. Robert Lowry, and first published inBright Jewels.THE GOSPEL HYMNS.These popular religious songs have been criticised as “degenerate psalmody†but those who so style them do not seem to consider the need that made them.The great majority of mankind can only be reached by missionary methods, and in these art and culture do not play a conspicuous part. The multitude could be supplied with technical preaching and technical music for their religious wants, but they would not rise to the bait, whereas nothing so soon kindles their better emotions or so surely appeals to their better nature as even the humblest sympathetic hymn sung to a simple and stirring tune. If the music is unclassical and the hymn crude there is no critical audience to be offended.478 /420The artless, almost colloquial, words “of a happily rhymed camp-meeting lyric and the wood-notes wild†of a new melody meet a situation. Moral and spiritual lapse makes it necessary at times for religion to put on again her primitive raiment, and be “a voice crying in the wilderness.â€Between the slums and the boulevards live the masses that shape the generations, and make the state. They are wage-earners who never hear the great composers nor have time to form fine musical and literary tastes. The spiritual influences that really reach them are of a very direct and simple kind; and for the good of the church—and the nation—it is important that at least this elementary education in the school of Christ should be supplied them.It is the popular hymn tunes that speed a reformation. So say history and experience. Once in two hundred years a great revival movement may produce a Charles Wesley, but the humbler singers carry the divine fire that quickens religious life in the years between.All this is not saying that the gospel hymns, as a whole, are or ever professed to be suitable for the stated service of the sanctuary. Their very style and movement show exactly what they were made for—to win the hearing of the multitude, and put the music of God's praise and Jesus' love into the mouths and hearts of thousands who had been strangers to both. They are the modern lay songs that go with the modern lay sermons. They give479 /421voice to the spirit and sentiment of the conference, prayer and inquiry meetings, the Epworth League and Christian Endeavor meetings, the temperance and other reform meetings, and of the mass-meetings in the cities or the seaside camps.During their evangelistic mission in England and Scotland in 1873, Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey used the hymnbook of Philip Phillips, a compilation entitledHallowed Songs, some of them his own. To these Mr. Sankey added others of his own composing from time to time which were so enthusiastically received that he published them in a pamphlet. This, with the simultaneous publication in America of the revival melodies of Philip P. Bliss, was the beginning of that series of popular hymn-and-tune books, which finally numbered six volumes. Sankey'sSacred Songs and Soloscombined with Bliss'sGospel Songswere the foundation of theGospel Hymns.Subjectively their utterances are indicative of ardent piety and unquestioning faith, and on the other hand their direct and intimate appeal and dramatic address are calculated to affect a throng as if each individual in it was the person meant by the words. The refrain or chorus feature is notable in nearly all.A selection of between thirty and forty of the most characteristic is here given.480 /422“HALLELUJAH! 'TIS DONE.â€This is named from its chorus. The song is one of the spontaneous thanksgivings in revival meetings that break out at the announcement of a new conversion.'Tis the promise of God full salvation to giveUnto him who on Jesus His Son will believe,Hallelujah! 'tis done; I believe on the Son;I am saved by the blood of the crucified One.Though the pathway be lonely and dangerous too,Surely Jesus is able to carry me through—Hallelujah! etc.The words and music are both by P.P. Bliss.THE NINETY AND NINE.The hymn was written by Mrs. Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane at Melrose, Scotland, early in 1868. She was born in Edinburgh, June 10, 1830, and died of consumption, Feb. 19, 1869. The little poem was seen by Mr. Sankey in theChristian Age, and thinking it might be useful, he cut it out. At an impressive moment in one of the great meetings in Edinburgh, Mr. Moody said to him in a quiet aside, “Sing something.†Precisely what was wanted for the hour and theme, and for the thought in the general mind, was in Mr. Sankey's vest pocket. But how could it be sung without a tune? With a silent prayer for help, the musician took out the slip containing Mrs. Clephane's poem, laid it on the little reed-organ481 /423and began playing, and singing. He had to read the unfamiliar words and at the same time make up the music. The tune came—and grew as he went along till he finished the first verse. He remembered it well enough to repeat it with the second, and after that it was easy to finish the hymn. A new melody was born—in the presence of more than a thousand pairs of eyes and ears. It was a feat of invention, of memory, of concentration— and such was the elocution of the trained soloist that not a word was lost. He had a tearful audience at the close to reward him; but we can easily credit his testimony,“It was the most intense moment of my life.â€In a touching interview afterwards, a sister of Mrs. Clephane told Mr. Sankey the authoress had not lived to see her hymn in print and to know of its blessed mission.The first six lines give the situation of the lost sheep in the parable of that name—There were ninety and nine that safely layIn the shelter of the fold;But one was out on the hills away,Far off from the gates of gold.Away on the mountains wild and bare,Away from the tender Shepherd's care.And, after describing the Shepherd's arduous search, the joy at his return is sketched and spiritualized in the concluding stanza—But all through the mountains, thunder-riven,And up from the rocky steeps482 /424There arose a cry to the gate of heaven,“Rejoice! I have found my sheep.â€And the angels echoed around the Throne,“Rejoice! for the Lord brings back His own.â€â€œHOLD THE FORT!â€This is named also from its chorus. The historic foundation of the hymn was the flag-signal waved to Gen. G.M. Corse by Gen. Sherman's order from Kenesaw Mountain to Altoona during the “March through Georgia,†in October, 1863. The flag is still in the possession of A.D. Frankenberry, one of the Federal Signal-Corps whose message to the besieged General said, “Hold the fort! We are coming!†A visit to the scene of the incident inspired P.P. Bliss to write both the words and the music.Ho! my comrades, see the signalWaving in the sky!Reinforcements now appearing,Victory is nigh.“Hold the fort, for I am coming!â€Jesus signals still;Wave the answer back to heaven,“By Thy grace we will!â€The popularity of the song (it has been translated into several languages), made it the author's chief memento in many localities. On his monument in Rome, Pennsylvania, is inscribed “P.P. Bliss—author of ‘Hold the Fort.’â€483 /425“RESCUE THE PERISHING.â€Few hymns, ancient or modern, have been more useful, or more variously used, than this little sermon in song from Luke 14:23, by the blind poet, Fanny J. Crosby, (Mrs. Van Alstyne). It is sung not only in the church prayer-meetings with its spiritual meaning and application, but in Salvation Army camps and marches, in mission-school devotions, in social settlement services, in King's Daughters and Sons of Temperance Meetings, and in the rallies of every reform organization that seeks the lost and fallen.Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;Weep o'er the erring ones, lift up the fallen,Tell them of Jesus, the Mighty to Save.* * * * * *Down in the human heart crushed by the Tempter,Feelings lie buried that grace can restore.Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.The tune is by W.H. Doane, Mus. D., composed in 1870.“WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS.â€The author was a pious gentleman of Dublin, Ireland, who came to Canada when he was twenty-five. His name was Joseph Scriven, born in Dublin, 1820, and graduated at Trinity College. The accidental death by drowning of his intended bride484 /426on the eve of their wedding day, led him to consecrate his life and fortune to the service of Christ. He died in Canada, Oct. 10, 1886, (Sankey'sStory of the Gospel Hymns, pp. 245–6.)THE TUNE.The music was composed by Charles Crozat Converse, LL.D., musician, lawyer, and writer. He was born in Warren, Mass., 1832; a descendant of Edward Converse, the friend of Gov. Winthrop and founder of Woburn, Mass. He pursued musical and other studies in Leipsic and Berlin. His compositions are numerous including concert overtures, symphonies and many sacred and secular pieces. Residence at Highwood, Bergen Co., N.J.The hymn is one of the most helpful of the Gospel Collections, and the words and music have strengthened many a weak and failing soul to “try again.â€Have we trials and temptations?Is there trouble anywhere?We should never be discouraged:Take it to the Lord in prayer.“I HEAR THE SAVIOUR SAY.â€This is classed with theGospel Hymns, but it was a much-used and much-loved revival hymn—especially in the Methodist churches—several years before Mr. Moody's great evangelical movement. It was written by Mrs. Elvina M. Hall (since Mrs.485 /427Myers) who was born in Alexandria, Va., in 1818. She composed it in the spring of 1865, while sitting in the choir of the M.E. Church, Baltimore, and the first draft was pencilled on a fly-leaf of a singing book,The New Lute of Zion.I hear the Saviour say,Thy strength indeed is small;Child of weakness, watch and pray,Find in me thine all in all.The music of the chorus helped to fix its words in the common mind, and some idea of the Atonement acceptable, apparently, to both Arminians and Calvinists; for Sunday-school children in the families of both, hummed the tune or sang the refrain when alone—Jesus paid it all,All to Him I owe,Sin had left a crimson stain;He washed it white as snow.THE TUNE.John Thomas Grape, who wrote the music, was born in Baltimore, Md., May 6, 1833. His modest estimate of his work appears in his remark that he “dabbled†in music for his own amusement. Few composers have amused themselves with better results.“TELL ME THE OLD, OLD STORY.â€Miss Kate Hankey, born about 1846, the daughter486 /428of an English banker, is the author of this very devout and tender Christian poem, written apparently in the eighteen-sixties. At least it is said that her little volume,Heart to Heart, was published in 1865 or 1866, and this volume contains “Tell me the Old, Old Story,†and its answer.We have been told that Miss Hankey was recovering from a serious illness, and employed her days of convalescence in composing this song of devotion, beginning it in January and finishing it in the following November.The poem is very long—a thesaurus of evangelical thoughts, attitudes, and moods of faith—and also a magazine of hymns. Four quatrains of it, or two eight-line stanzas, are the usual length of a hymnal selection, and editors can pick and choose anywhere among its expressive verses.Tell me the old, old storyOf unseen things above,Of Jesus and His glory,Of Jesus and His love.Tell me the story simplyAs to a little child,For I am weak and weary,And helpless and defiled.* * * * * *Tell me the story simplyThat I may take it in—That wonderful Redemption,God's remedy for sin.487 /429THE TUNE.Dr. W.H. Doane was present at the International Conference of the Y.M.C.A. at Montreal in 1867, and heard the poem read—with tears and in a broken voice—by the veteran Major-General Russell. It impressed him so much that he borrowed and copied it, and subsequently set it to music during a vacation in the White Mountains.The poem of fifty stanzas was entitled “The Story Wanted;†the sequel or answer to it, by Miss Hankey, was named “The Story Told.†This second hymn, of the same metre but different accent, was supplied with a tune by William Gustavus Fischer.I love to tell the storyOf unseen things above,Of Jesus and His glory,Of Jesus and His love.* * * * * *I love to tell the storyBecause I know its true;It satisfies my longingsAs nothing else can do.Chorus.I love to tell the story;'Twill be my theme in glory;To tell the old, old storyOf Jesus and his love.William Gustavus Fischer was born in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 14, 1835. He was a piano-dealer in the488 /430firm (formerly) of Gould and Fischer. His melody to the above hymn was written in 1869, and was harmonized the next year by Hubert P. Main.THE PRODIGAL CHILD.This is not only an impressive hymn as sung in sympathetic music, but a touching poem.Come home! come home!You are weary at heart,For the way has been darkAnd so lonely and wild—O prodigal child,Come home!Come home! Come home!For we watch and we wait,And we stand at the gateWhile the shadows are piled;O prodigal child,Come home!The author is Mrs. Ellen M.H. Gates, known to the English speaking world by her famous poem, “Your Mission.â€THE TUNETo “The Prodigal Child†was composed by Dr. Doane in 1869 and no hymn ever had a fitter singing ally. All a mother's yearning is in the refrain and cadence.Come home! Oh, come home!489 /431“LET THE LOWER LIGHTS BE BURNING!â€An illustration, recited in Mr. Moody's graphic fashion in one of his discourses, suggested this hymn to P.P. Bliss.“A stormy night on Lake Erie, and the sky pitch dark.â€â€˜Pilot, are you sure this is Cleveland? There's only one light.’‘Quite sure, Cap'n.’‘Where are the lower lights?’‘Gone out, sir.’‘Can you run in?’‘We've got to, Cap'n—or die.’“The brave old pilot did his best, but, alas, he missed the channel. The boat was wrecked, with a loss of many lives. The lower lights had gone out.“Brethren, the Master will take care of the great Lighthouse. It is our work to keep the lower lights burning!â€Brightly beams our Father's mercyFrom His lighthouse evermore;But to us He gives the keepingOf the lights along the shore.Chorus.Let the lower lights be burning!Send a gleam across the wave;Some poor fainting, struggling seamanYou may rescue, you may save.Both words and music—composed in 1871—are by Mr. Bliss. There are wakening chords in490 /432the tune—and especially the chorus—when the counterpoint is well vocalized; and the effect is more pronounced the greater the symphony of voices. Congregations find a zest in every note. “Hold the Fort†can be sung in the street. “Let the Lower Lights be Burning†is at home between echoing walls.The use of the song in “Bethel†meetings classes it with sailors' hymns.“SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER.â€Included with theGospel Hymns, but of older date. Rev. William W. Walford, a blind English minister, was the author, and it was probably written about the year 1842. It was recited to Rev. Thomas Salmon, Congregational pastor at Coleshill, Eng., who took it down and brought it to New York, where it was published in the New YorkObserver.Little is known of Mr. Walford save that in his blindness, besides preaching occasionally, he employed his mechanical skill in making small useful articles of bone and ivory.The tune was composed by W.B. Bradbury in 1859, and first appeared with the hymn inCottage Melodies.Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayerThat calls me from a world of care,And bids me at my Father's throneMake all my wants and wishes known.491 /433In seasons of distress and griefMy soul has often found relief,And oft escaped the tempter's snareBy thy return, sweet hour of prayer.“O BLISS OF THE PURIFIED! BLISS OF THE FREE!â€Rev. Francis Bottome, D.D., born in Belper, Derbyshire, Eng., May 26, 1823, removed to the United States in 1850, and entered the Methodist ministry. A man of sterling character and exemplary piety. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. Was assistant compiler of several singing books, and wrote original hymns. The above, entitled “O sing of His mighty love†was composed by him in 1869. The last stanza reads,—O Jesus the Crucified! Thee will I sing,My blessed Redeemer, my God and my King!My soul, filled with rapture shall shout o'er the graveAnd triumph in death in the Mighty to save.Chorus.O sing of His mighty love (ter)Mighty to save!Dr. Bottome returned to England, and died at Tavistock June 29, 1894.THE TUNE.Bradbury's “Songs of the Beautiful†(inFresh Laurels). The hymn was set to this chorus in 1871.492 /434“WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE?â€Very popular in England. Mr. Sankey in hisStory of the Gospel Hymnsrelates at length the experience of Rev. W.O. Lattimore, pastor of a large church in Evanston, Ill., who was saved to Christian manhood and usefulness by this hymn. It has suffered some alterations, but its original composition was Mrs. Emily Oakey's work. The Parables of the Sower and of the Tares may have been in her mind when she wrote the lines in 1850, but more probably it was the text in Gal. 6:7—Sowing the seed by the daylight fair,Sowing the seed by the noonday glare,Sowing the seed by the fading light,Sowing the seed in the solemn night.O, what shall the harvest be?Lattimore, the man whose history was so strangely linked with this hymn, entered the army in 1861, a youth of eighteen with no vices, but when promoted to first lieutenant he learned to drink in the officers' mess. The habit so contracted grew upon him till when the war was over, though he married and tried to lead a sober life, he fell a victim to his appetite, and became a physical wreck. One day in the winter of 1876 he found himself in a half-drunken condition, in the gallery of Moody's Tabernacle, Chicago. Discovering presently that he had made a mistake, he rose to go out, but Mr. Sankey's voice chained him. He sat down and heard the whole of the thrilling hymn from beginning to end.493 /435Then he stumbled out with the words ringing in his ears.Sowing the seed of a lingering pain,Sowing the seed of a maddened brain,Sowing the seed of a tarnished name,Sowing the seed of Eternal shame.O, what shall the harvest be?In the saloon, where he went to drown the awakenings of remorse, those words stood in blazing letters on every bottle and glass. The voice of God in that terrible song of conviction forced him back to the Tabernacle, with his drink untasted. He went into the inquiry meeting where he found friends, and was led to Christ. His wife and child, from whom he had long been exiled, were sent for and work was found for him to do. A natural eloquence made him an attractive and efficient helper in the meetings, and he was finally persuaded to study for the ministry. His faithful pastorate of twenty years in Evanston ended with his death in 1899.Mrs. Emily Sullivan Oakey was an author and linguist by profession, and though in her life of nearly fifty-four years she “never enjoyed a day of good health,†she earned a grateful memory. Born in Albany, N.Y., Oct. 8, 1829, she was educated at the Albany Female Academy, and fitted herself for the position of teacher of languages and English literature in the same school, which she honored by her service while she lived. Her contributions to the daily press and to magazine literature were494 /436numerous, but she is best known by her remarkable hymn. Her death occurred on the 11th of May, 1883.THE TUNE,By P.P. Bliss, is one of that composer's tonal successes. The march of the verses with their recurrent words is so automatic that it would inevitably suggest to him the solo and its organ-chords; and the chorus with its sustained soprano note dominating the running concert adds the last emphasis to the solemn repetition. The song with its warning cry owes no little of its power to this choral appendix—Gathered in time or eternity,Sure, ah sure will the harvest be.“O THINK OF THE HOME OVER THERE.â€A hymn of Rev. D.W.C. Huntington, suggested by Ps. 55:6. It was a favorite from the first.Rev. DeWitt Clinton Huntington was born at Townshend,Vt., Apr.27, 1830. He graduated at the Syracuse University, and received the degrees of D.D. and LL.D. from Genesee College. Preacher, instructor and author—Removed to Lincoln, Nebraska.O think of the home over there,By the side of the river of light,Where the saints all immortal and fairAre robed in their garments of white.Over there, (rep)495 /437O think of the friends over there,Who before us the journey have trod,Of the songs that they breathe on the air,In their home in the palace of God.Over there. (rep)THE TUNE.The melody was composed by Tullius Clinton O'Kane, born in Delaware, O., March 10, 1830, a hymnist and musician. It is a flowing tune, with sweet chords, and something of the fugue feature in the chorus as an accessory. The voices of a multitude in full concord make a building tremble with it.“WHEN JESUS COMES.â€Down life's dark vale we wanderTill Jesus comes;We watch and wait and wonderTill Jesus comes.Both words and music are by Mr. Bliss. A relative of his family, J.S. Ellsworth, says the song was written in Peoria, Illinois, in 1872, and was suggested by a conversation on the second coming of Christ, a subject very near his heart. The thought lingered in his mind, and as he came down from his room, soon after, the verses and notes came to him simultaneously on the stairs. Singing them over, he seized pencil and paper, and in a few minutes fixed hymn and tune in the familiar harmony so well known.496 /438
The living know that they must die,But all the dead forgotten lie;Their memory and their sense are gone,Alike unknowing and unknown.
The living know that they must die,But all the dead forgotten lie;Their memory and their sense are gone,Alike unknowing and unknown.
The living know that they must die,
But all the dead forgotten lie;
Their memory and their sense are gone,
Alike unknowing and unknown.
And likewise from the fourth stanza,—
There are no acts of pardon passedIn the cold grave to which we haste.
There are no acts of pardon passedIn the cold grave to which we haste.
There are no acts of pardon passed
In the cold grave to which we haste.
* One of Israel Holroyd's tunes. He was born in England, about 1690, and was both a composer and publisher of psalmody. His chief collection is dated 1746.
* One of Israel Holroyd's tunes. He was born in England, about 1690, and was both a composer and publisher of psalmody. His chief collection is dated 1746.
Is one of Doddridge's monitory hymns, once sung to J.C. Woodman's tune of “State St.†with the voice of both the Old and New Testaments in the last verse:
Ye sinners, seek His graceWhose wrath ye cannot bear;Fly to the shelter of His Cross,And find Salvation there.
Ye sinners, seek His graceWhose wrath ye cannot bear;Fly to the shelter of His Cross,And find Salvation there.
Ye sinners, seek His grace
Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of His Cross,
And find Salvation there.
Jonathan Call Woodman was born in Newburyport, Mass., July 12, 1813, and was a teacher, composer, and compiler. Was organist of St. George's Chapel, in Flushing, L.I., and in 1858 publishedThe Musical Casket. Died January, 1894. He wrote “State St.†for William B. Bradbury, in August, 1844.
Is one of the few unforgotten hymns of Thomas Scott, every second line repeating the solemn caution,—
Stay not for tomorrow's sun,
—and every line enforcing its exhortation with a new word, “To be wise,†“to implore,†“to return,†and “to be blest†were natural cumulatives that summoned and wooed the sinner careless and astray. It is a finished piece of work, but it owes its longevity less to its structural form than to its spirit. For generations it has been sung to “Pleyel's Hymn.â€
The Rev. Thomas Scott (not Rev. Thomas Scott the Commentator) was born in Norwich, Eng., in 1705, and died at Hupton, in Norfolk, 1776. He was a Dissenting minister, pastor for twenty-one years—until disabled by feeble health—at Lowestoft in Suffolk. He was the author of—
Angels roll the rock away.
This emotional and appealing hymn still holds its own in the hearts of millions, though probably two hundred years old. It was written by a clergyman of the Church of England, the Rev. Thomas Shepherd, Vicar of Tilbrook, born in 1665. Joining the Nonconformists in 1694, he settled first in Castle Hill, Nottingham, and afterward in Bocking, Essex, where he remained until his death, January, 1739. He published a selection of his sermons, andPenitential Cries, a book of sacred lyrics, some of which still appear in collections.
The startling question in the above line is answered with emphasis in the third of the stanza,—
No!There's a cross for every one,And there's a cross forme,
No!There's a cross for every one,And there's a cross forme,
No!There's a cross for every one,
And there's a cross forme,
—and this is followed by the song of resolve and triumph,—
The consecrated cross I'll bear,Till death shall set me free.And then go home my crown to wear,For there's a crown for me.* * * * * *O precious cross! O glorious crown!O Resurrection Day!Ye angels from the stars flash downAnd bear my soul away!
The consecrated cross I'll bear,Till death shall set me free.And then go home my crown to wear,For there's a crown for me.
The consecrated cross I'll bear,
Till death shall set me free.
And then go home my crown to wear,
For there's a crown for me.
* * * * * *
* * * * * *
O precious cross! O glorious crown!O Resurrection Day!Ye angels from the stars flash downAnd bear my soul away!
O precious cross! O glorious crown!
O Resurrection Day!
Ye angels from the stars flash down
And bear my soul away!
The hymn is a personal New Testament. No one who analyzes it and feels its Christian vitality will wonder why it has lived so long.
For half a century George N. Allen, composer of “Maitland,†the music inseparable from the hymn, was credited with the authorship of the words also, but his vocal aid to the heart-stirring poem earned him sufficient praise. The tune did not meet the hymn till the latter was so old that the real author was mostly forgotten, for Allen wrote the music in 1849; but if the fine stanzas needed any renewing it was his tune that made them new. Since it was published nobody has wanted another.
George Nelson Allen was born in Mansfield, Mass., Sept. 7, 1812, and lived at Oberlin, O. It469 /413was there that he composed “Maitland,†and compiled theSocial and Sabbath Hymn-book—besides songs for theWestern Bell, published by Oliver Ditson and Co. He died in Cincinnati, Dec. 9, 1877.
This most popular of Dr. Doddridge's hymns is also the richest one of all in lyrical and spiritual life. It is a stadium song that sounds the starting-note for every young Christian at the outset of his career, and the slogan for every faint Christian on the way.
Aheavenlyrace demands thy zeal,And an immortal crown.
Aheavenlyrace demands thy zeal,And an immortal crown.
Aheavenlyrace demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.
Like the “Coronation†hymn, it transports the devout singer till he feels only the momentum of the words and forgets whether it is common or hallelujah metre that carries him along.
A cloud of witnesses aroundHold thee in full survey;Forget the steps already trod,And onward urge thy way!'Tis God's all-animating voiceThat calls thee from on high,'Tis His own hand presents the prizeTo thine aspiring eye.
A cloud of witnesses aroundHold thee in full survey;Forget the steps already trod,And onward urge thy way!
A cloud of witnesses around
Hold thee in full survey;
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way!
'Tis God's all-animating voiceThat calls thee from on high,'Tis His own hand presents the prizeTo thine aspiring eye.
'Tis God's all-animating voice
That calls thee from on high,
'Tis His own hand presents the prize
To thine aspiring eye.
In all persuasive hymnology there is no more kindling lyric that this. As a field-hymn it is indispensable.
Whenever and by whomsoever the brave processional known as “Christmas†was picked from among the great Handel's Songs and mated with Doddridge's lines, the act gave both hymn and tune new reason to endure, and all posterity rejoices in the blend. Old “Christmas†was originally one of the melodies in the great Composer's Opera of “CirϠ(Cyrus) 1738. It was written to Latin words (Non vi piacque) and afterwards adapted to an English versification of Job 29:15, “I was eyes to the blind.â€
Handel, himself became blind at the age of sixty eight (1753).
George Frederick HandelGeorge Frederick HandelHymnal
Written in 1848 by Miss Cecil Frances Humphreys, an Irish lady, daughter of Major John Humphreys of Dublin. She was born in that city in 1823. Her best known name is Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander, her husband being the Rt. Rev. William Alexander, Bishop of Derry. Among her works areHymns for Little Children,Narrative Hymns,Hymns Descriptive and Devotional, andMoral Songs. Died 1895.
“There is agreenhill†is poetic license, but the hymn is sweet and sympathetic, and almost childlike in its simplicity.
There is a green hill far awayWithout the city wall,473 /415Where our dear Lord was crucifiedWho died to save us all.We may not know, we cannot tellWhat pains He had to bear;But we believe it was for usHe hung and suffered there.
There is a green hill far awayWithout the city wall,473 /415Where our dear Lord was crucifiedWho died to save us all.
There is a green hill far away
Without the city wall,
Where our dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tellWhat pains He had to bear;But we believe it was for usHe hung and suffered there.
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.
There is no room here to describe them all. Airs and chorals by Berthold Tours, Pinsuti, John Henry Cornell, Richard Storrs Willis, George C. Stebbins and Hubert P. Main have been adapted to the words—one or two evidently composed for them. It is a hymn that attracts tune-makers—literally so commonplace and yet so quiet and tender, with such a theme and such natural melody of line—but most of the scores indicated are choir music rather than congregational. Mr. Stebbins' composition comes nearest to being the favorite, if one judges by the extent and frequency of its use. It can be either partly or wholly choral; and the third stanza makes the refrain—
O dearly, dearly has He lovedAnd we must love Him too,And trust in His redeeming blood,And try His works to do.
O dearly, dearly has He lovedAnd we must love Him too,And trust in His redeeming blood,And try His works to do.
O dearly, dearly has He loved
And we must love Him too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.
This musical shout of joy, written by Dr. Horatius Bonar, scarcely needs a new song helper, as did474 /416Bishop Heber's famous hymn—not because it is better than Heber's but because It was wedded at once to a tune worthy of it.
Rejoice and be glad! for our King is on high;He pleadeth for us on His throne in the sky.Rejoice and be glad! for He cometh again;He cometh in glory, the Lamb that was slainHallelujah! Amen.
Rejoice and be glad! for our King is on high;He pleadeth for us on His throne in the sky.Rejoice and be glad! for He cometh again;He cometh in glory, the Lamb that was slainHallelujah! Amen.
Rejoice and be glad! for our King is on high;
He pleadeth for us on His throne in the sky.
Rejoice and be glad! for He cometh again;
He cometh in glory, the Lamb that was slain
Hallelujah! Amen.
The hymn was composed in 1874.
The author of the “English Melody†(as ascribed inGospel Hymns) is said to have been John Jenkins Husband, born in Plymouth, Eng., about 1760. He was clerk at Surrey Chapel and composed several anthems. Came to the United States In 1809. Settled in Philadelphia, where he taught music and was clerk of St. Paul's P.E. Church. Died there in 1825.
His tune, exactly suited to the hymn, is a true Christian pæan. It has few equals as a rouser to a sluggish prayer-meeting—whether sung to Bonar's words or those of Rev. William Paton Mackay (1866)—
We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love,
We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love,
We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love,
—with the refrain of similar spirit in both hymns—
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! Amen,Hallelujah! Thine the glory; revive us again;
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! Amen,Hallelujah! Thine the glory; revive us again;
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! Amen,
Hallelujah! Thine the glory; revive us again;
—or,—
Sound His praises! tell the story of Him who was slain!Sound His praises! tell with gladness, “He liveth again.â€
Sound His praises! tell the story of Him who was slain!Sound His praises! tell with gladness, “He liveth again.â€
Sound His praises! tell the story of Him who was slain!
Sound His praises! tell with gladness, “He liveth again.â€
Husband's tune is supposed to have been written very early in the last century. Another tune composed by him near the same date to the words—
“We are on our journey homeTo the New Jerusalem,â€
“We are on our journey homeTo the New Jerusalem,â€
“We are on our journey home
To the New Jerusalem,â€
—is equally musical and animating, and with a vocal range that brings out the full strength of choir and congregation.
A singular case of the same tune originating in the brain of both author and composer is presented in the history of this hymn of Rev. William Ellsworth Witter, D.D., born in La Grange, N.Y., Dec. 9, 1854. He wrote the hymn in the autumn of 1878, while teaching a district school near his home. The first line—
While Jesus whispers to you,
—came to him during a brief turn of outdoor work by the roadside and presently grew to twenty-four lines. Soon after, Prof. Horatio Palmer, knowing Witter to be a verse writer, invited him to contribute a hymn to a book he had in preparation, and this hymn was sent. Dr. Palmer set it to music, it soon entered into several collections, and Mr. Sankey sang it in England at the Moody meetings.
Dr. Witter gives this curious testimony,
“While I cannot sing myself, though very fond of music, the hymn sang itself to me by the roadside476 /418in almost the exact tune given to it by Professor Palmer.†Which proves that Professor Palmer had the feeling of the hymn—and that the maker of a true hymn has at least a sub-consciousness of its right tune, though he may be neither a musician nor a poet.
While Jesus whispers to you,Come, sinner, come!While we are praying for you,Come, sinner, come!Now is the time to own Him,Come, sinner, come!Now is the time to know Him,Come, sinner, come!
While Jesus whispers to you,Come, sinner, come!While we are praying for you,Come, sinner, come!Now is the time to own Him,Come, sinner, come!Now is the time to know Him,Come, sinner, come!
While Jesus whispers to you,
Come, sinner, come!
While we are praying for you,
Come, sinner, come!
Now is the time to own Him,
Come, sinner, come!
Now is the time to know Him,
Come, sinner, come!
The writer of this hymn was Miss Anna Warner, one of the well-known “Wetherell Sisters,†joint authors ofThe Wide World,Queechy, and a numerous succession of healthful romances very popular in the middle and later years of the last century. Her own pen name is “Amy Lothrop,†under which she has published many religious poems, hymns and other varieties of literary work. She was born in 1820, at Martlaer, West Point, N.Y., where she still resides.
One more day's work for Jesus,One less of life for me:But heaven is nearer,And Christ is dearerThan yesterday to me.477 /419His love and lightFill all my soul tonight.Refrain:—One more day's work for Jesus,(ter)One less of life for me.
One more day's work for Jesus,One less of life for me:But heaven is nearer,And Christ is dearerThan yesterday to me.477 /419His love and lightFill all my soul tonight.
One more day's work for Jesus,
One less of life for me:
But heaven is nearer,
And Christ is dearer
Than yesterday to me.
His love and light
Fill all my soul tonight.
Refrain:—One more day's work for Jesus,(ter)One less of life for me.
Refrain:—
One more day's work for Jesus,(ter)
One less of life for me.
The hymn has five stanzas all expressing the gentle fervor of an active piety loving service:
was composed by the Rev. Robert Lowry, and first published inBright Jewels.
These popular religious songs have been criticised as “degenerate psalmody†but those who so style them do not seem to consider the need that made them.
The great majority of mankind can only be reached by missionary methods, and in these art and culture do not play a conspicuous part. The multitude could be supplied with technical preaching and technical music for their religious wants, but they would not rise to the bait, whereas nothing so soon kindles their better emotions or so surely appeals to their better nature as even the humblest sympathetic hymn sung to a simple and stirring tune. If the music is unclassical and the hymn crude there is no critical audience to be offended.
The artless, almost colloquial, words “of a happily rhymed camp-meeting lyric and the wood-notes wild†of a new melody meet a situation. Moral and spiritual lapse makes it necessary at times for religion to put on again her primitive raiment, and be “a voice crying in the wilderness.â€
Between the slums and the boulevards live the masses that shape the generations, and make the state. They are wage-earners who never hear the great composers nor have time to form fine musical and literary tastes. The spiritual influences that really reach them are of a very direct and simple kind; and for the good of the church—and the nation—it is important that at least this elementary education in the school of Christ should be supplied them.
It is the popular hymn tunes that speed a reformation. So say history and experience. Once in two hundred years a great revival movement may produce a Charles Wesley, but the humbler singers carry the divine fire that quickens religious life in the years between.
All this is not saying that the gospel hymns, as a whole, are or ever professed to be suitable for the stated service of the sanctuary. Their very style and movement show exactly what they were made for—to win the hearing of the multitude, and put the music of God's praise and Jesus' love into the mouths and hearts of thousands who had been strangers to both. They are the modern lay songs that go with the modern lay sermons. They give479 /421voice to the spirit and sentiment of the conference, prayer and inquiry meetings, the Epworth League and Christian Endeavor meetings, the temperance and other reform meetings, and of the mass-meetings in the cities or the seaside camps.
During their evangelistic mission in England and Scotland in 1873, Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey used the hymnbook of Philip Phillips, a compilation entitledHallowed Songs, some of them his own. To these Mr. Sankey added others of his own composing from time to time which were so enthusiastically received that he published them in a pamphlet. This, with the simultaneous publication in America of the revival melodies of Philip P. Bliss, was the beginning of that series of popular hymn-and-tune books, which finally numbered six volumes. Sankey'sSacred Songs and Soloscombined with Bliss'sGospel Songswere the foundation of theGospel Hymns.
Subjectively their utterances are indicative of ardent piety and unquestioning faith, and on the other hand their direct and intimate appeal and dramatic address are calculated to affect a throng as if each individual in it was the person meant by the words. The refrain or chorus feature is notable in nearly all.
A selection of between thirty and forty of the most characteristic is here given.
This is named from its chorus. The song is one of the spontaneous thanksgivings in revival meetings that break out at the announcement of a new conversion.
'Tis the promise of God full salvation to giveUnto him who on Jesus His Son will believe,Hallelujah! 'tis done; I believe on the Son;I am saved by the blood of the crucified One.Though the pathway be lonely and dangerous too,Surely Jesus is able to carry me through—Hallelujah! etc.
'Tis the promise of God full salvation to giveUnto him who on Jesus His Son will believe,Hallelujah! 'tis done; I believe on the Son;I am saved by the blood of the crucified One.
'Tis the promise of God full salvation to give
Unto him who on Jesus His Son will believe,
Hallelujah! 'tis done; I believe on the Son;
I am saved by the blood of the crucified One.
Though the pathway be lonely and dangerous too,Surely Jesus is able to carry me through—Hallelujah! etc.
Though the pathway be lonely and dangerous too,
Surely Jesus is able to carry me through—
Hallelujah! etc.
The words and music are both by P.P. Bliss.
The hymn was written by Mrs. Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane at Melrose, Scotland, early in 1868. She was born in Edinburgh, June 10, 1830, and died of consumption, Feb. 19, 1869. The little poem was seen by Mr. Sankey in theChristian Age, and thinking it might be useful, he cut it out. At an impressive moment in one of the great meetings in Edinburgh, Mr. Moody said to him in a quiet aside, “Sing something.†Precisely what was wanted for the hour and theme, and for the thought in the general mind, was in Mr. Sankey's vest pocket. But how could it be sung without a tune? With a silent prayer for help, the musician took out the slip containing Mrs. Clephane's poem, laid it on the little reed-organ481 /423and began playing, and singing. He had to read the unfamiliar words and at the same time make up the music. The tune came—and grew as he went along till he finished the first verse. He remembered it well enough to repeat it with the second, and after that it was easy to finish the hymn. A new melody was born—in the presence of more than a thousand pairs of eyes and ears. It was a feat of invention, of memory, of concentration— and such was the elocution of the trained soloist that not a word was lost. He had a tearful audience at the close to reward him; but we can easily credit his testimony,
“It was the most intense moment of my life.â€
In a touching interview afterwards, a sister of Mrs. Clephane told Mr. Sankey the authoress had not lived to see her hymn in print and to know of its blessed mission.
The first six lines give the situation of the lost sheep in the parable of that name—
There were ninety and nine that safely layIn the shelter of the fold;But one was out on the hills away,Far off from the gates of gold.Away on the mountains wild and bare,Away from the tender Shepherd's care.
There were ninety and nine that safely layIn the shelter of the fold;But one was out on the hills away,Far off from the gates of gold.Away on the mountains wild and bare,Away from the tender Shepherd's care.
There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold;
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold.
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender Shepherd's care.
And, after describing the Shepherd's arduous search, the joy at his return is sketched and spiritualized in the concluding stanza—
But all through the mountains, thunder-riven,And up from the rocky steeps482 /424There arose a cry to the gate of heaven,“Rejoice! I have found my sheep.â€And the angels echoed around the Throne,“Rejoice! for the Lord brings back His own.â€
But all through the mountains, thunder-riven,And up from the rocky steeps482 /424There arose a cry to the gate of heaven,“Rejoice! I have found my sheep.â€And the angels echoed around the Throne,“Rejoice! for the Lord brings back His own.â€
But all through the mountains, thunder-riven,
And up from the rocky steeps
There arose a cry to the gate of heaven,
“Rejoice! I have found my sheep.â€
And the angels echoed around the Throne,
“Rejoice! for the Lord brings back His own.â€
This is named also from its chorus. The historic foundation of the hymn was the flag-signal waved to Gen. G.M. Corse by Gen. Sherman's order from Kenesaw Mountain to Altoona during the “March through Georgia,†in October, 1863. The flag is still in the possession of A.D. Frankenberry, one of the Federal Signal-Corps whose message to the besieged General said, “Hold the fort! We are coming!†A visit to the scene of the incident inspired P.P. Bliss to write both the words and the music.
Ho! my comrades, see the signalWaving in the sky!Reinforcements now appearing,Victory is nigh.“Hold the fort, for I am coming!â€Jesus signals still;Wave the answer back to heaven,“By Thy grace we will!â€
Ho! my comrades, see the signalWaving in the sky!Reinforcements now appearing,Victory is nigh.“Hold the fort, for I am coming!â€Jesus signals still;Wave the answer back to heaven,“By Thy grace we will!â€
Ho! my comrades, see the signal
Waving in the sky!
Reinforcements now appearing,
Victory is nigh.
“Hold the fort, for I am coming!â€
Jesus signals still;
Wave the answer back to heaven,
“By Thy grace we will!â€
The popularity of the song (it has been translated into several languages), made it the author's chief memento in many localities. On his monument in Rome, Pennsylvania, is inscribed “P.P. Bliss—author of ‘Hold the Fort.’â€
Few hymns, ancient or modern, have been more useful, or more variously used, than this little sermon in song from Luke 14:23, by the blind poet, Fanny J. Crosby, (Mrs. Van Alstyne). It is sung not only in the church prayer-meetings with its spiritual meaning and application, but in Salvation Army camps and marches, in mission-school devotions, in social settlement services, in King's Daughters and Sons of Temperance Meetings, and in the rallies of every reform organization that seeks the lost and fallen.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;Weep o'er the erring ones, lift up the fallen,Tell them of Jesus, the Mighty to Save.* * * * * *Down in the human heart crushed by the Tempter,Feelings lie buried that grace can restore.Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;Weep o'er the erring ones, lift up the fallen,Tell them of Jesus, the Mighty to Save.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o'er the erring ones, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the Mighty to Save.
* * * * * *
* * * * * *
Down in the human heart crushed by the Tempter,Feelings lie buried that grace can restore.Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.
Down in the human heart crushed by the Tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore.
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.
The tune is by W.H. Doane, Mus. D., composed in 1870.
The author was a pious gentleman of Dublin, Ireland, who came to Canada when he was twenty-five. His name was Joseph Scriven, born in Dublin, 1820, and graduated at Trinity College. The accidental death by drowning of his intended bride484 /426on the eve of their wedding day, led him to consecrate his life and fortune to the service of Christ. He died in Canada, Oct. 10, 1886, (Sankey'sStory of the Gospel Hymns, pp. 245–6.)
The music was composed by Charles Crozat Converse, LL.D., musician, lawyer, and writer. He was born in Warren, Mass., 1832; a descendant of Edward Converse, the friend of Gov. Winthrop and founder of Woburn, Mass. He pursued musical and other studies in Leipsic and Berlin. His compositions are numerous including concert overtures, symphonies and many sacred and secular pieces. Residence at Highwood, Bergen Co., N.J.
The hymn is one of the most helpful of the Gospel Collections, and the words and music have strengthened many a weak and failing soul to “try again.â€
Have we trials and temptations?Is there trouble anywhere?We should never be discouraged:Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations?Is there trouble anywhere?We should never be discouraged:Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged:
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
This is classed with theGospel Hymns, but it was a much-used and much-loved revival hymn—especially in the Methodist churches—several years before Mr. Moody's great evangelical movement. It was written by Mrs. Elvina M. Hall (since Mrs.485 /427Myers) who was born in Alexandria, Va., in 1818. She composed it in the spring of 1865, while sitting in the choir of the M.E. Church, Baltimore, and the first draft was pencilled on a fly-leaf of a singing book,The New Lute of Zion.
I hear the Saviour say,Thy strength indeed is small;Child of weakness, watch and pray,Find in me thine all in all.
I hear the Saviour say,Thy strength indeed is small;Child of weakness, watch and pray,Find in me thine all in all.
I hear the Saviour say,
Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in me thine all in all.
The music of the chorus helped to fix its words in the common mind, and some idea of the Atonement acceptable, apparently, to both Arminians and Calvinists; for Sunday-school children in the families of both, hummed the tune or sang the refrain when alone—
Jesus paid it all,All to Him I owe,Sin had left a crimson stain;He washed it white as snow.
Jesus paid it all,All to Him I owe,Sin had left a crimson stain;He washed it white as snow.
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain;
He washed it white as snow.
John Thomas Grape, who wrote the music, was born in Baltimore, Md., May 6, 1833. His modest estimate of his work appears in his remark that he “dabbled†in music for his own amusement. Few composers have amused themselves with better results.
Miss Kate Hankey, born about 1846, the daughter486 /428of an English banker, is the author of this very devout and tender Christian poem, written apparently in the eighteen-sixties. At least it is said that her little volume,Heart to Heart, was published in 1865 or 1866, and this volume contains “Tell me the Old, Old Story,†and its answer.
We have been told that Miss Hankey was recovering from a serious illness, and employed her days of convalescence in composing this song of devotion, beginning it in January and finishing it in the following November.
The poem is very long—a thesaurus of evangelical thoughts, attitudes, and moods of faith—and also a magazine of hymns. Four quatrains of it, or two eight-line stanzas, are the usual length of a hymnal selection, and editors can pick and choose anywhere among its expressive verses.
Tell me the old, old storyOf unseen things above,Of Jesus and His glory,Of Jesus and His love.Tell me the story simplyAs to a little child,For I am weak and weary,And helpless and defiled.* * * * * *Tell me the story simplyThat I may take it in—That wonderful Redemption,God's remedy for sin.
Tell me the old, old storyOf unseen things above,Of Jesus and His glory,Of Jesus and His love.
Tell me the old, old story
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory,
Of Jesus and His love.
Tell me the story simplyAs to a little child,For I am weak and weary,And helpless and defiled.
Tell me the story simply
As to a little child,
For I am weak and weary,
And helpless and defiled.
* * * * * *
* * * * * *
Tell me the story simplyThat I may take it in—That wonderful Redemption,God's remedy for sin.
Tell me the story simply
That I may take it in—
That wonderful Redemption,
God's remedy for sin.
Dr. W.H. Doane was present at the International Conference of the Y.M.C.A. at Montreal in 1867, and heard the poem read—with tears and in a broken voice—by the veteran Major-General Russell. It impressed him so much that he borrowed and copied it, and subsequently set it to music during a vacation in the White Mountains.
The poem of fifty stanzas was entitled “The Story Wanted;†the sequel or answer to it, by Miss Hankey, was named “The Story Told.†This second hymn, of the same metre but different accent, was supplied with a tune by William Gustavus Fischer.
I love to tell the storyOf unseen things above,Of Jesus and His glory,Of Jesus and His love.* * * * * *I love to tell the storyBecause I know its true;It satisfies my longingsAs nothing else can do.Chorus.I love to tell the story;'Twill be my theme in glory;To tell the old, old storyOf Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the storyOf unseen things above,Of Jesus and His glory,Of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory,
Of Jesus and His love.
* * * * * *
* * * * * *
I love to tell the storyBecause I know its true;It satisfies my longingsAs nothing else can do.
I love to tell the story
Because I know its true;
It satisfies my longings
As nothing else can do.
Chorus.I love to tell the story;'Twill be my theme in glory;To tell the old, old storyOf Jesus and his love.
Chorus.
I love to tell the story;
'Twill be my theme in glory;
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love.
William Gustavus Fischer was born in Baltimore, Md., Oct. 14, 1835. He was a piano-dealer in the488 /430firm (formerly) of Gould and Fischer. His melody to the above hymn was written in 1869, and was harmonized the next year by Hubert P. Main.
This is not only an impressive hymn as sung in sympathetic music, but a touching poem.
Come home! come home!You are weary at heart,For the way has been darkAnd so lonely and wild—O prodigal child,Come home!Come home! Come home!For we watch and we wait,And we stand at the gateWhile the shadows are piled;O prodigal child,Come home!
Come home! come home!You are weary at heart,For the way has been darkAnd so lonely and wild—O prodigal child,Come home!
Come home! come home!
You are weary at heart,
For the way has been dark
And so lonely and wild—
O prodigal child,
Come home!
Come home! Come home!For we watch and we wait,And we stand at the gateWhile the shadows are piled;O prodigal child,Come home!
Come home! Come home!
For we watch and we wait,
And we stand at the gate
While the shadows are piled;
O prodigal child,
Come home!
The author is Mrs. Ellen M.H. Gates, known to the English speaking world by her famous poem, “Your Mission.â€
To “The Prodigal Child†was composed by Dr. Doane in 1869 and no hymn ever had a fitter singing ally. All a mother's yearning is in the refrain and cadence.
Come home! Oh, come home!
An illustration, recited in Mr. Moody's graphic fashion in one of his discourses, suggested this hymn to P.P. Bliss.
“A stormy night on Lake Erie, and the sky pitch dark.â€
‘Pilot, are you sure this is Cleveland? There's only one light.’
‘Quite sure, Cap'n.’
‘Where are the lower lights?’
‘Gone out, sir.’
‘Can you run in?’
‘We've got to, Cap'n—or die.’
“The brave old pilot did his best, but, alas, he missed the channel. The boat was wrecked, with a loss of many lives. The lower lights had gone out.
“Brethren, the Master will take care of the great Lighthouse. It is our work to keep the lower lights burning!â€
Brightly beams our Father's mercyFrom His lighthouse evermore;But to us He gives the keepingOf the lights along the shore.Chorus.Let the lower lights be burning!Send a gleam across the wave;Some poor fainting, struggling seamanYou may rescue, you may save.
Brightly beams our Father's mercyFrom His lighthouse evermore;But to us He gives the keepingOf the lights along the shore.
Brightly beams our Father's mercy
From His lighthouse evermore;
But to us He gives the keeping
Of the lights along the shore.
Chorus.Let the lower lights be burning!Send a gleam across the wave;Some poor fainting, struggling seamanYou may rescue, you may save.
Chorus.
Let the lower lights be burning!
Send a gleam across the wave;
Some poor fainting, struggling seaman
You may rescue, you may save.
Both words and music—composed in 1871—are by Mr. Bliss. There are wakening chords in490 /432the tune—and especially the chorus—when the counterpoint is well vocalized; and the effect is more pronounced the greater the symphony of voices. Congregations find a zest in every note. “Hold the Fort†can be sung in the street. “Let the Lower Lights be Burning†is at home between echoing walls.
The use of the song in “Bethel†meetings classes it with sailors' hymns.
Included with theGospel Hymns, but of older date. Rev. William W. Walford, a blind English minister, was the author, and it was probably written about the year 1842. It was recited to Rev. Thomas Salmon, Congregational pastor at Coleshill, Eng., who took it down and brought it to New York, where it was published in the New YorkObserver.
Little is known of Mr. Walford save that in his blindness, besides preaching occasionally, he employed his mechanical skill in making small useful articles of bone and ivory.
The tune was composed by W.B. Bradbury in 1859, and first appeared with the hymn inCottage Melodies.
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayerThat calls me from a world of care,And bids me at my Father's throneMake all my wants and wishes known.491 /433In seasons of distress and griefMy soul has often found relief,And oft escaped the tempter's snareBy thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayerThat calls me from a world of care,And bids me at my Father's throneMake all my wants and wishes known.491 /433In seasons of distress and griefMy soul has often found relief,And oft escaped the tempter's snareBy thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father's throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter's snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
Rev. Francis Bottome, D.D., born in Belper, Derbyshire, Eng., May 26, 1823, removed to the United States in 1850, and entered the Methodist ministry. A man of sterling character and exemplary piety. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. Was assistant compiler of several singing books, and wrote original hymns. The above, entitled “O sing of His mighty love†was composed by him in 1869. The last stanza reads,—
O Jesus the Crucified! Thee will I sing,My blessed Redeemer, my God and my King!My soul, filled with rapture shall shout o'er the graveAnd triumph in death in the Mighty to save.Chorus.O sing of His mighty love (ter)Mighty to save!
O Jesus the Crucified! Thee will I sing,My blessed Redeemer, my God and my King!My soul, filled with rapture shall shout o'er the graveAnd triumph in death in the Mighty to save.
O Jesus the Crucified! Thee will I sing,
My blessed Redeemer, my God and my King!
My soul, filled with rapture shall shout o'er the grave
And triumph in death in the Mighty to save.
Chorus.O sing of His mighty love (ter)Mighty to save!
Chorus.
O sing of His mighty love (ter)
Mighty to save!
Dr. Bottome returned to England, and died at Tavistock June 29, 1894.
Bradbury's “Songs of the Beautiful†(inFresh Laurels). The hymn was set to this chorus in 1871.
Very popular in England. Mr. Sankey in hisStory of the Gospel Hymnsrelates at length the experience of Rev. W.O. Lattimore, pastor of a large church in Evanston, Ill., who was saved to Christian manhood and usefulness by this hymn. It has suffered some alterations, but its original composition was Mrs. Emily Oakey's work. The Parables of the Sower and of the Tares may have been in her mind when she wrote the lines in 1850, but more probably it was the text in Gal. 6:7—
Sowing the seed by the daylight fair,Sowing the seed by the noonday glare,Sowing the seed by the fading light,Sowing the seed in the solemn night.O, what shall the harvest be?
Sowing the seed by the daylight fair,Sowing the seed by the noonday glare,Sowing the seed by the fading light,Sowing the seed in the solemn night.O, what shall the harvest be?
Sowing the seed by the daylight fair,
Sowing the seed by the noonday glare,
Sowing the seed by the fading light,
Sowing the seed in the solemn night.
O, what shall the harvest be?
Lattimore, the man whose history was so strangely linked with this hymn, entered the army in 1861, a youth of eighteen with no vices, but when promoted to first lieutenant he learned to drink in the officers' mess. The habit so contracted grew upon him till when the war was over, though he married and tried to lead a sober life, he fell a victim to his appetite, and became a physical wreck. One day in the winter of 1876 he found himself in a half-drunken condition, in the gallery of Moody's Tabernacle, Chicago. Discovering presently that he had made a mistake, he rose to go out, but Mr. Sankey's voice chained him. He sat down and heard the whole of the thrilling hymn from beginning to end.493 /435Then he stumbled out with the words ringing in his ears.
Sowing the seed of a lingering pain,Sowing the seed of a maddened brain,Sowing the seed of a tarnished name,Sowing the seed of Eternal shame.O, what shall the harvest be?
Sowing the seed of a lingering pain,Sowing the seed of a maddened brain,Sowing the seed of a tarnished name,Sowing the seed of Eternal shame.O, what shall the harvest be?
Sowing the seed of a lingering pain,
Sowing the seed of a maddened brain,
Sowing the seed of a tarnished name,
Sowing the seed of Eternal shame.
O, what shall the harvest be?
In the saloon, where he went to drown the awakenings of remorse, those words stood in blazing letters on every bottle and glass. The voice of God in that terrible song of conviction forced him back to the Tabernacle, with his drink untasted. He went into the inquiry meeting where he found friends, and was led to Christ. His wife and child, from whom he had long been exiled, were sent for and work was found for him to do. A natural eloquence made him an attractive and efficient helper in the meetings, and he was finally persuaded to study for the ministry. His faithful pastorate of twenty years in Evanston ended with his death in 1899.
Mrs. Emily Sullivan Oakey was an author and linguist by profession, and though in her life of nearly fifty-four years she “never enjoyed a day of good health,†she earned a grateful memory. Born in Albany, N.Y., Oct. 8, 1829, she was educated at the Albany Female Academy, and fitted herself for the position of teacher of languages and English literature in the same school, which she honored by her service while she lived. Her contributions to the daily press and to magazine literature were494 /436numerous, but she is best known by her remarkable hymn. Her death occurred on the 11th of May, 1883.
By P.P. Bliss, is one of that composer's tonal successes. The march of the verses with their recurrent words is so automatic that it would inevitably suggest to him the solo and its organ-chords; and the chorus with its sustained soprano note dominating the running concert adds the last emphasis to the solemn repetition. The song with its warning cry owes no little of its power to this choral appendix—
Gathered in time or eternity,Sure, ah sure will the harvest be.
Gathered in time or eternity,Sure, ah sure will the harvest be.
Gathered in time or eternity,
Sure, ah sure will the harvest be.
A hymn of Rev. D.W.C. Huntington, suggested by Ps. 55:6. It was a favorite from the first.
Rev. DeWitt Clinton Huntington was born at Townshend,Vt., Apr.27, 1830. He graduated at the Syracuse University, and received the degrees of D.D. and LL.D. from Genesee College. Preacher, instructor and author—Removed to Lincoln, Nebraska.
O think of the home over there,By the side of the river of light,Where the saints all immortal and fairAre robed in their garments of white.Over there, (rep)495 /437O think of the friends over there,Who before us the journey have trod,Of the songs that they breathe on the air,In their home in the palace of God.Over there. (rep)
O think of the home over there,By the side of the river of light,Where the saints all immortal and fairAre robed in their garments of white.Over there, (rep)
O think of the home over there,
By the side of the river of light,
Where the saints all immortal and fair
Are robed in their garments of white.
Over there, (rep)
O think of the friends over there,Who before us the journey have trod,Of the songs that they breathe on the air,In their home in the palace of God.Over there. (rep)
O think of the friends over there,
Who before us the journey have trod,
Of the songs that they breathe on the air,
In their home in the palace of God.
Over there. (rep)
The melody was composed by Tullius Clinton O'Kane, born in Delaware, O., March 10, 1830, a hymnist and musician. It is a flowing tune, with sweet chords, and something of the fugue feature in the chorus as an accessory. The voices of a multitude in full concord make a building tremble with it.
Down life's dark vale we wanderTill Jesus comes;We watch and wait and wonderTill Jesus comes.
Down life's dark vale we wanderTill Jesus comes;We watch and wait and wonderTill Jesus comes.
Down life's dark vale we wander
Till Jesus comes;
We watch and wait and wonder
Till Jesus comes.
Both words and music are by Mr. Bliss. A relative of his family, J.S. Ellsworth, says the song was written in Peoria, Illinois, in 1872, and was suggested by a conversation on the second coming of Christ, a subject very near his heart. The thought lingered in his mind, and as he came down from his room, soon after, the verses and notes came to him simultaneously on the stairs. Singing them over, he seized pencil and paper, and in a few minutes fixed hymn and tune in the familiar harmony so well known.