Chapter 3

Be Thou, O God, exalted high,And as Thy glory fills the skySo let it be on earth displayedTill Thou art here as there obeyed.32 /12This sublime quatrain, attributed to Nahum Tate, like the Lord's Prayer, is suited to all occasions, to all Christian denominations, and to all places and conditions of men. It has been translated into all civilized languages, and has been rising to heaven for many generations from congregations round the globe wherever the faith of Christendom has built its altars. This doxology is the first stanza of a sixteen line hymn (possibly longer originally), the rest of which is forgotten.Nahum Tate was born in Dublin, in 1652, and educated there at Trinity College. He was appointed poet-laureate by King William III. in 1690, and it was in conjunction with Dr. Nicholas Brady that he executed his “New” metrical version of the Psalms. The entire Psalter, with an appendix of Hymns, was licensed by William and Mary and published in 1703. Thehymnsin the volume are all by Tate. He died in London, Aug. 12, 1717.Rev. Nicholas Brady, D.D., was an Irishman, son of an officer in the royal army, and was born at Bandon, County of Cork, Oct. 28, 1659. He studied in theWestminsterSchool at Oxford, but afterwards entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated in 1685. William made him Queen Mary's Chaplain. He died May 20, 1726.The other nearly contemporary form of doxology is in common use, but though elevated and devotional in spirit, it cannot be universal, owing to its credal line being objectionable to non-Trinitarian Protestants:33 /13Praise God from whom all blessings flow,Praise Him all creatures here below,Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.The author, the Rev. Thomas Ken, was born in Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, Eng., July, 1637, and was educated at Winchester School, Hertford College, and New College, Oxford. In 1662 he took holy orders, and seventeen years later the king (Charles II.) appointed him chaplain to his sister Mary, Princess of Orange. Later the king, just before his death, made him Bishop of Bath and Wells.Like John the Baptist, and Bourdaloue, and Knox, he was a faithful spiritual monitor and adviser during all his days at court. “I must go in and hear Ken tell me my faults,” the king used to say at chapel time. The “good little man” (as he called the bishop) never lost the favor of the dissipated monarch. As Macaulay says, “Of all the prelates, he liked Ken the best.”Under James, the Papist, Ken was a loyal subject, though once arrested as one of the “seven bishops” for his opposition to the king's religion, and he kept his oath of allegiance so firmly that it cost him his place. William III. deprived him of hisbishopric, and he retired in poverty to a home kindly offered him by Lord Viscount Weymouth in Longleat, near Frome, in Somersetshire, where he spent a serene and beloved old age. He died æt. seventy-four, March 17, 1711 (N.S.), and was34 /14carried to his grave, according to his request, by “six of the poorest men in the parish.”His great doxology is the refrain or final stanza of each of his three long hymns, “Morning,” “Evening” and “Midnight,” printed in aPrayer Manualfor the use of the students of Winchester College. The “Evening Hymn” drew scenic inspiration, it is told, from the lovely view in Horningsham Park at “Heaven's Gate Hill,” while walking to and from church.Another four-line doxology, adopted probably from Dr. Hatfield (1807–1883), is almost entirely superseded by Ken's stanza, being of even more pronounced credal character.To God the Father, God the Son,And God the Spirit, Three in One.Be honor, praise and glory givenBy all on earth and all in heaven.TheMethodist Hymnalprints a collection of ten doxologies, two by Watts, one by Charles Wesley, one by John Wesley, one by William Goode, one by Edwin F. Hatfield, one attributed to “Tate and Brady,” one by Robert Hawkes, and the one by Ken above noted. These are all technically and intentionally doxologies. To give a history of doxologies in the general sense of the word would carry one through every Christian age and language and end with a concordance of the Book of Psalms.37 /15THE TUNE.Few would think of any music more appropriate to a standard doxology than “Old Hundred.” This grand Gregorian harmony has been claimed to be Luther's production, while some have believed that Louis Bourgeois, editor of the FrenchGenevan Psalter, composed the tune, but the weight of evidence seems to indicate that it was the work of Guillaume le Franc, (William Franck or William the Frenchman,) of Rouen, in France, who founded a music school in Geneva, 1541. He was Chapel Master there, but removed to Lausanne, where he played in the Catholic choir and wrote the tunes for an Edition of Marot's and Beza's Psalms. Died in Lausanne, 1570.“THE LORD DESCENDED FROM ABOVE.”A flash of genuine inspiration was vouchsafed to Thomas Sternhold when engaged with Rev. John Hopkins in versifying the Eighteenth Psalm. The ridicule heaped upon Sternhold and Hopkins's psalmbook has always stopped, and sobered into admiration and even reverence at the two stanzas beginning with this leading line—The Lord descended from aboveAnd bowed the heavens most high,And underneath His feet He castThe darkness of the sky.38 /16On cherub and on cherubimFull royally He rode,And on the wings of mighty windsCame flying all abroad.Thomas Sternhold was born in Gloucestershire, Eng. He was Groom of the Robes to Henry VIII, and Edward VI., but is only remembered for hisPsalterpublished in 1562, thirteen years after his death in 1549.THE TUNE.“Nottingham” (now sometimes entitled “St. Magnus”) is a fairly good echo of the grand verses, a dignified but spirited choral in A flat. Jeremiah Clark, the composer, was born in London, 1670. Educated at the Chapel Royal, he became organist of Winchester College and finally to St. Paul's Cathedral where he was appointed Gentleman of the Chapel. He died July, 1707.The tune of “Majesty” by William Billings will be noticed in alater chapter.TALLIS' EVENING HYMN.Glory to Thee, my God, this nightFor all the blessings of the light,Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,Under Thine own Almighty wings.This stanza begins the second of Bp. Ken's three beautiful hymn-prayers in hisManualmentioned on aprevious page.39 /17THE TUNE.For more than three hundred and fifty years devout people have enjoyed that melody of mingled dignity and sweetness known as “Tallis' Evening Hymn.”Thomas Tallis was an Englishman, born about 1520, and at an early age was a boy chorister at St. Paul's. After his voice changed, he played the organ at Waltham Abbey, and some time later was chosen organist royal to Queen Elizabeth. His pecuniary returns for his talent did not make him rich, though he bore the title after 1542 of Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, for his stipend was sevenpence a day. Some gain may possibly have come to him, however, from his publication, late in life, under the queen's special patent, of a collection of hymns and tunes.He wrote much and was the real founder of the English Church school of composers, but though St. Paul's was at one time well supplied with his motets and anthems, it is impossible now to give a list of Tallis' compositions for the Church. His music was written originally to Latin words, but when, after the Reformation, the use of vernacular hymns, was introduced he probably adapted his scores to either language.It is inferred that he was in attendance on Queen Elizabeth at her palace in Greenwich when he died, for he was buried in the old parish church there in November, 1585. The rustic rhymer who40 /18indited his epitaph evidently did the best he could to embalm the virtues of the great musician as a man, a citizen, and a husband:Enterred here doth ly a worthy wyght,Who for long time in musick bore the bell:His name to shew was Thomas Tallis hyght;In honest vertuous lyff he dyd excell.He served long tyme in chappel with grete prayse,Fower sovereygnes reignes, (a thing not often seene);I mean King Henry and Prince Edward's dayes,Quene Marie, and Elizabeth our quene.He maryed was, though children he had none,And lyv'd in love full three and thirty yeresWith loyal spowse, whose name yclept was Jone,Who, here entombed, him company now bears.As he dyd lyve, so also dyd he dy,In myld and quyet sort, O happy man!To God ful oft for mercy did he cry;Wherefore he lyves, let Deth do what he can.“THE GOD OF ABRAHAM PRAISE.”This is one of the thanksgivings of the ages.The God of Abraham praise,Who reigns enthroned above;Ancient of everlasting days,And God of love.Jehovah, Great I AM!By earth and heaven confessed,I bow and bless the sacred Name,Forever blest.The hymn, of twelve eight-line stanzas, is too long41 /19to quote entire, but is found in both thePlymouthandMethodist Hymnals.Thomas Olivers, born in Tregynon, near Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales, 1725, was, according to local testimony, “the worst boy known in all that country, for thirty years.” It is more charitable to say that he was a poor fellow who had no friends. Left an orphan at five years of age, he was passed from one relative to another until all were tired of him, and he was “bound out” to a shoemaker. Almost inevitably the neglected lad grew up wicked, for no one appeared to care for his habits and morals, and as he sank lower in the various vices encouraged by bad company, there were more kicks for him than helping hands. At the age of eighteen his reputation in the town had become so unsavory that he was forced to shift for himself elsewhere.Providence led him, when shabby and penniless, to the old seaport town of Bristol, where Whitefield was at that time preaching,*and there the young sinner heard the divine message that lifted him to his feet.* Whitefield's text was, “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” Zach. 3:2.“When that sermon began,” he said, “I was one of the most abandoned and profligate young men living; before it ended I was a new creature. The world was all changed for Tom Olivers.”His new life, thus begun, lasted on earth more than sixty useful years. He left a shining record42 /20as a preacher of righteousness, and died in the triumphs of faith, November, 1799. Before he passed away he saw at least thirty editions of his hymn published, but the soul-music it has awakened among the spiritual children of Abraham can only reach him in heaven. Some of its words have been the last earthly song of many, as they were of the eminent Methodist theologian, Richard Watson—I shall behold His face,I shall His power adore,And sing the wonders of His graceForevermore.THE TUNE.The precise date of the tune “Leoni” is unknown, as also the precise date of the hymn. The story is that Olivers visited the great “Duke's Place” Synagogue, Aldgate, London, and heard Meyer Lyon (Leoni) sing the Yigdal or long doxology to an air so noble and impressive that it haunted him till he learned it and fitted to it the sublime stanzas of his song. Lyon, a noted Jewish musician and vocalist, was chorister of this London Synagogue during the latter part of the 18th century and the Yigdal was a portion of the Hebrew Liturgy composed in medieval times, it is said, by Daniel Ben Judah. The fact that the Methodist leaders took Olivers from his bench to be one of their preachers answers any suggestion that the converted shoemakercopiedthe Jewish hymn and put Christian phrases in it.43 /21He knew nothing of Hebrew, and had he known it, a literal translation of the Yigdal will show hardly a similarity to his evangelical lines. Only the music as Leoni sang it prompted his own song, and he gratefully put the singer's name to it. Montgomery, who admired the majestic style of the hymn, and its glorious imagery, said of its author, “The man who wrote that hymn must have had the finest ear imaginable, for on account of the peculiar measure, none but a person of equal musical and poetic taste could have produced the harmony perceptible in the verse.”Whether the hymnist or some one else fitted the hymn to the tune, the “fine ear” and “poetic taste” that Montgomery applauded are evident enough in the union.“O WORSHIP THE KING ALL GLORIOUS ABOVE.”This hymn of Sir Robert Grant has become almost universally known, and is often used as a morning or opening service song by choirs and congregations of all creeds. The favorite stanzas are the first four—O worship the King all-glorious above,And gratefully sing His wonderful love—Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.O tell of His might, and sing of His grace,Whose robe is the light, whose canopy, space;His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.44 /22Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,And sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.Thy mercies how tender! how firm to the end!Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!This is a model hymn of worship. Like the previous one by Thomas Olivers, it is strongly Hebrew in its tone and diction, and drew its inspiration from the Old Testament Psalter, the text-book of all true praise-song.Sir Robert Grant was born in the county of Inverness, Scotland, in 1785, and educated at Cambridge. He was many years member of Parliament for Inverness and a director in the East India Company, and 1834 was appointed Governor of Bombay. He died at Dapoorie, Western India, July 9, 1838.Sir Robert was a man of deep Christian feeling and a poetic mind. His writings were not numerous, but their thoughtful beauty endeared him to a wide circle of readers. In 1839 his brother, Lord Glenelg, published twelve of his poetical pieces, and a new edition in 1868. The volume contains the more or less well-known hymns—The starry firmament on high,Saviour, when in dust to Thee,and—When gathering clouds around I view.45 /23Sir Robert's death, when scarcely past his prime, would indicate a decline by reason of illness, and perhaps other serious affliction, that justified the poetic license in the submissive verses beginning—Thy mercy heard my infant prayer.* * * * * *And nowin ageand grief Thy nameDoes still my languid heart inflame,And bow my faltering knee.Oh, yet this bosom feels the fire,This trembling hand and drooping lyreHave yet a strain for Thee.THE TUNE.Several musical pieces written to the hymn, “O, Worship the King,” have appeared in church psalm-books, and others have been borrowed for it, but the one oftenest sung to its words is Haydn's “Lyons.” Its vigor and spirit best fit it for Grant's noble lyric.“MAJESTIC SWEETNESS SITS ENTHRONED.”Rev. Samuel Stennett D.D., the author of this hymn, was the son of Rev. Joseph Stennett, and grandson of Rev. Joseph Stennett D.D., who wrote—Another six days' work is done,Another Sabbath is begun.All were Baptist ministers. Samuel was born in 1727, at Exeter, Eng., and at the age of twenty-one46 /24became his father's assistant, and subsequently his successor over the church in Little Wild Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.Majestic sweetness sits enthronedUpon the Saviour's brow;His head with radiant glories crowned,His lips with grace o'erflow.* * * * * *To Him I owe my life and breathAnd all the joys I have;He makes me triumph over death,He saves me from the grave.* * * * * *Since from His bounty I receiveSuch proofs of love divine,Had I a thousand hearts to give,Lord, they should all be Thine.Samuel Stennett was one of the most respected and influential ministers of the Dissenting persuasion, and a confidant of many of the most distinguished statesmen of his time. The celebrated John Howard was his parishoner and intimate friend. His degree of Doctor of Divinity was bestowed upon him by Aberdeen University. Besides his theological writings he composed and published thirty-eight hymns, among them—On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,When two or three with sweet accord,Here at Thy table, Lord, we meet,and—“'Tis finished,” so the Saviour cried.47 /25“Majestic Sweetness” began the third stanza of his longer hymn—To Christ the Lord let every tongue.Dr. Stennett died in London, Aug. 24, 1795.THE TUNE.For fifty or sixty years “Ortonville” has been linked with this devout hymn, and still maintains its fitting fellowship. The tune, composed in 1830, was the work of Thomas Hastings, and is almost as well-known and as often sung as his immortal “Toplady.” (See chap. 3, “Rock of Ages.”)“ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS' NAME.”This inspiring lyric of praise appears to have been written about the middle of the eighteenth century. Its author, the Rev. Edward Perronet, son of Rev. Vincent Perronet, Vicar of Shoreham, Eng., was a man of great faith and humility but zealous in his convictions, sometimes to his serious expense. He was born in 1721, and, though eighteen years younger than Charles Wesley, the two became bosom friends, and it was under the direction of the Wesleys that Perronet became a preacher in the evangelical movement. Lady Huntingdon later became his patroness, but some needless and imprudent expressions in a satirical poem, “The Mitre,” revealing his hostility to the union of church and state, cost him her favor,48 /26and his contention against John Wesley's law that none but the regular parish ministers had the right to administer the sacraments, led to his complete separation from both the Wesleys. He subsequently became the pastor of a small church of Dissenters in Canterbury, where he died, in January, 1792. His piety uttered itself when near his happy death, and his last words were a Gloria.All hail the power of Jesus' name!Let angels prostrate fall;Bring forth the royal diadem,To crown Him Lord of all.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.Sinners, whose love can ne'er forgetThe wormwood and the gall,Go, spread your trophies at His feet,And crown Him Lord of all.Let every tribe and every tongueThat bound creation's call,Now shout the universal song,The crownéd Lord of all.With two disused stanzas omitted, the hymn as it stands differs from the original chiefly in the last stanza, though in the second the initial line is now transposed to read—Ye chosen seed of Israel's race.The fourth stanza now reads—49 /27Let every kindred, every tribeOn this terrestrial ballTo Him all majesty ascribe,And crown Him Lord of all.And what is now the favorite last stanza is the one added by Dr. Rippon—O that with yonder sacred throngWe at His feet may fall,And join the everlasting song,And crown Him Lord of all.THE TUNE.Everyone now calls it “Old Coronation,” and it is entitled to the adjective by this time, beingconsiderablymore than a hundred years of age. It was composed in the very year of Perronet's death and one wonders just how long the hymn and tune waited before they came together; for Heaven evidently meant them to be wedded for all time. This is an American opinion, and no reflection on the earlier English melody of “Miles Lane,” composed during Perronet's lifetime by William Shrubsole and published with the words in 1780 in theGospel Magazine. There is also a fine processional tune sung in the English Church to Perronet's hymn.35 /opp 14Oliver HoldenOliver HoldenHymnalThe author of “Coronation” was Oliver Holden, a self-taught musician, born in Shirley, Mass., 1765, and bred to the carpenter's trade. The little pipe organ on which tradition says he struck the first notes of the famous tune is now in the50 /28Historical rooms of the Old State House, Boston, placed there by its late owner, Mrs. Fanny Tyler, the old musician's granddaughter. Its tones are as mellow as ever, and the times that “Coronation” has been played upon it by admiring visitors would far outnumber the notes of its score.Holden wrote a number of other hymn-tunes, among which “Cowper,” “Confidence,” and “Concord” are remembered, but none of them had the wings of “Coronation,” his American “Te Deum.” His first published collection was entitledThe American Harmony, and this was followed by theUnion Harmony, and theWorcester Collection. He also wrote and published “Mt. Vernon,” and several other patriotic anthems, mainly for special occasions, to some of which he supplied the words. He was no hymnist, though he did now and then venture into sacred metre. The newMethodist Hymnalpreserves a simple four-stanza specimen of his experiments in verse:They who seek the throne of graceFind that throne in every place:If we lead a life of prayerGod is present everywhere.Sacred music, however, was the good man's passion to the last. He died in 1844.“Such beautiful themes!” he whispered on his death bed, “Such beautiful themes! But I can write no more.”The enthusiasm always and everywhere aroused by the singing of “Coronation,” dates from the51 /29time it first went abroad in America in its new wedlock of music and words. “This tune,” says an accompanying note over the score in the oldCarmina Sacra, “was a great favorite with the late Dr. Dwight of Yale College (1798). It was often sung by the college choir, while he, catching, as it were, the music of the heavenly world, would join them, and lead with the most ardent devotion.”“AWAKE AND SING THE SONG.”This hymn of six stanzas is abridged from a longer one indited by the Rev. William Hammond, and published inLady Huntingdon's Hymn-book. It was much in use in early Methodist revivals. It appears now as it was slightly altered by Rev. Martin Madan—Awake and sing the songOf Moses and the Lamb;Join every heart and every tongueTo praise the Savior's name.* * * * * *The sixth verse is a variation of one of Watts' hymns, and was added in theBrethren's Hymn-book, 1801—There shall each heart and tongueHis endless praise proclaim,And sweeter voices join the songOf Moses and the Lamb.The Rev. William Hammond was born Jan. 6, 1719, at Battle, Sussex, Eng., and educated at St.52 /30John's College, Cambridge. Early in his ministerial life he was a Calvinistic Methodist, but ultimately joined the Moravians. Died in London, Aug. 19, 1793. His collection ofPsalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songswas published in 1745.The Rev. Martin Madan, son of Col. Madan, was born 1726. He founded Lock Hospital, Hyde Park, and long officiated as its chaplain. As a preacher he was popular, and his reputation as a composer of music was considerable. There is no proof that he wrote any original hymns, but he amended, pieced and expanded the work of others. Died in 1770.THE TUNE.The hymn has had a variety of musical interpretations. The more modern piece is “St. Philip,” by Edward John Hopkins, Doctor of Music, born at Westminster, London, June 30, 1818. From a member of the Chapel Royal boy choir he became organist of the Michtam Church, Surrey, and afterwards of the Temple Church, London. Received his Doctor's degree from the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1882.“CROWN HIS HEAD WITH ENDLESS BLESSING.”The writer of this hymn was William Goode, who helped to found the English Church Missionary Society, and was for twenty years the Secretary of the “Society for the Relief of Poor Pious Clergymen.”55 /31For celebrating the praise of the Saviour, he seems to have been of like spirit and genius with Perronet. He was born in Buckingham, Eng., April 2, 1762; studied for the ministry and became a curate, successor of William Romaine. His spiritual maturity was early, and his habits of thought were formed amid associations such as the young Wesleys and Whitefield sought. Like them, even in his student days he proved his aspiration for purer religious life by an evangelical zeal that cost him the ridicule of many of his school-fellows, but the meetings for conference and prayer which he organized among them were not unattended, and were lasting and salutary in their effect.Jesus was the theme of his life and song, and was his last word. He died in 1816.Crown His head with endless blessingWho in God the Father's nameWith compassion never ceasingComes salvation to proclaim.Hail, ye saints who know His favor,Who within His gates are found.Hail, ye saints, th' exalted Saviour,Let His courts with praise resound.53 /opp 30Joseph HaydnJoseph HaydnHymnalTHE TUNE.“Haydn,” bearing the name of its great composer, is in several important hymnals the chosen music for William Goode's devout words. Its strain and spirit are lofty and melodious and in entire accord with the pious poet's praise.56 /32Joseph Haydn, son of a poor wheelwright, was born 1732, in Rohron, a village on the borders of Hungary and Austria. His precocity of musical talent was such that he began composing at the age of ten years. Prince Esterhazy discovered his genius when he was poor and friendless, and his fortune was made. While Music Master for the Prince's Private Chapel (twenty years) he wrote many of his beautiful symphonies which placed him among the foremost in that class of music. Invited to England, he received the Doctor's degree at Oxford, and composed his great oratorio of “The Creation,” besides his “Twelve Grand Symphonies,” and a long list of minor musical works secular and sacred. His invention was inexhaustible.Haydn seems to have been a sincerely pious man. When writing his great oratorio of “The Creation” at sixty-seven years of age, “I knelt down every day,” he says, “and prayed God to strengthen me for my work.” This daily spiritual preparation was similar to Handel's when he was creating his “Messiah.” Change one word and it may be said of sacred music as truly as of astronomy, “The undevout composer is mad.”Near Haydn's death, in Vienna, 1809, when he heard for the last time his magnificent chorus, “Let there be Light!” he exclaimed, “Not mine, not mine. It all came to me from above.”57 /33“NOW TO THE LORD A NOBLE SONG.”When Watts finished this hymn he had achieved a “noble song,” whether he was conscious of it or not; and it deserves a foremost place, where it can help future worshippers in their praise as it has the past. It is not so common in the later hymnals, but it is imperishable, and still later collections will not forget it.Now to the Lord a noble song,Awake my soul, awake my tongue!Hosanna to the Eternal Name,And all His boundless love proclaim.See where it shines in Jesus' face,The brightest image of His grace!God in the person of His SonHas all His mightiest works outdone.A rather finical question has occurred to some minds as to the theology of the word “works” in the last line, making the second person in the Godhead apparently a creature; and in a few hymn-books the previous line has been made to read—God in theGospelof His Son.But the question is a rhetorical one, and the poet's free expression—here as in hundreds of other cases—has never disturbed the general confidence in his orthodoxy.Montgomery called Watts “the inventor of hymns in our language,” and the credit stands practically undisputed, for Watts made a hymn style that no human master taught him, and his58 /34model has been the ideal one for song worship ever since; and we can pardon the climax when Professor Charles M. Stuart speaks of him as “writer, scholar, thinker and saint,” for in addition to all the rest he was a very good man.THE TUNE.Old “Ames” was for many years the choir favorite, and the words of the hymn printed with it in the note-book made the association familiar. It was, andis, an appropriate selection, though in later manuals George Kingsley's “Ware” is evidently thought to be better suited to the high-toned verse. Good old tunes never “wear out,” but they do go out of fashion.The composer of “Ames,” Sigismund Neukomm, Chevalier, was born in Salzburg, Austria, July 10, 1778, and was a pupil of Haydn. Though not a great genius, his talents procured him access and even intimacy in the courts of Germany, France, Italy, Portugal and England, and for thirty years he composed church anthems and oratorios with prodigious industry. Neukomm's musical productions, numbering no less than one thousand, and popular in their day, are, however, mostly forgotten, excepting his oratorio of “David” and one or two hymn-tunes.George Kingsley, author of “Ware,” was born in Northampton, Mass., July 7, 1811. Died in the Hospital, in the same city, March 14, 1884. He compiled eight books of music for young people and several manuals of church psalmody, and was for59 /35some time a music teacher in Boston, where he played the organ at the Hollis St. church. Subsequently he became professor of music in Girard College, Philadelphia, and music instructor in the public schools, being employed successively as organist (on Lord's Day) at Dr. Albert Barnes' and Arch St. churches, and finally in Brooklyn at Dr. Storrs' Church of the Pilgrims. Returned to Northampton, 1853.“EARLY, MY GOD, WITHOUT DELAY.”This and the five following hymns, all by Watts, are placed in immediate succession, for unity's sake—with a fuller notice of the greatest of hymn-writers at the end of the series.Early, my God, without delayI haste to seek Thy face,My thirsty spirit faints awayWithout Thy cheering grace.In the memories of very old men and women, who sang the fugue music of Morgan's “Montgomery,” still lingers the second stanza and some of the “spirit and understanding” with which it used to be rendered in meeting on Sunday mornings.So pilgrims on the scorching sand,Beneath a burning sky,Long for a cooling stream at handAnd they must drink or die.THE TUNE.Many of the earlier pieces assigned to this hymn were either too noisy or too tame. The best and60 /36longest-serving is “Lanesboro,” which, with its expressive duet in the middle and its soaring final strain of harmony, never fails to carry the meaning of the words. It was composed by William Dixon, and arranged and adapted by Lowell Mason.William Dixon, an English composer, was a music engraver and publisher, and author also of several glees and anthems. He was born 1750, and died about 1825.Lowell Mason, born in Medfield, Mass., 1792, has been called, not without reason, “the father of American choir singing.” Returning from Savannah, Ga., where he spent sixteen years of his younger life as clerk in a bank, he located in Boston (1827), being already known there as the composer of “The Missionary Hymn.” He had not neglected his musical studies while living in the South, and it was in Savannah that he made the glorious harmony of that tune.He became president of the Handel and Haydn Society, went abroad for special study, was made Doctor of Music, and collected a store of themes among the great models of song to bring home for his future work.The Boston Academy of Music was founded by him and what he did for the song-service of the Church in America by his singing schools, and musical conventions, and published manuals, to form and organize the choral branch of divine worship, has no parallel, unless it is Noah Webster's service to the English language.Dr. Mason died in Orange, N.J., in 1872.61 /37“SWEET IS THE WORK, MY GOD, MY KING.”This is one of the hymns that helped to give its author the title of “The Seraphic Watts.”Sweet is the work, my God, my KingTo praise Thy name, give thanks and singTo show Thy love by morning light,And talk of all Thy truth at night.THE TUNE.No nobler one, and more akin in spirit to the hymn, can be found than “Duke Street,” Hatton's imperishable choral.Little is known of the John Hatton who wrote “Duke St.” He was earlier by nearly a century than John Liphot Hatton of Liverpool (born in 1809), who wrote the opera of “Pascal Bruno,” the cantata of “Robin Hood” and the sacred drama of “Hezekiah.” The biographical index of theEvangelical Hymnalsays of John Hatton, the author of “Duke St.”: “John, of Warrington; afterwards of St. Helens, then resident in Duke St. in the township of Windle; composed several hymn-tunes; died in 1793.*His funeral sermon was preached at the Presbyterian Chapel, St. Helens, Dec. 13.”* Tradition says he was killed by being thrown from a stage-coach.“COME, WE THAT LOVE THE LORD.”Watts entitled this hymn “Heavenly Joy on Earth.” He could possibly, like Madame Guyon,62 /38have written such a hymn in a dungeon, but it is no less spiritual for its birth (as tradition will have it) amid the lovely scenery of Southampton where he could find in nature “glory begun below.”Come, we that love the Lord,And let our joys be known;Join in a song with sweet accord,And thus surround the throne.There shall we see His face,And never, never sin;There, from the rivers of His grace,Drink endless pleasures in.Children of grace have foundGlory begun below:Celestial fruits on earthly groundFrom faith and hope may grow.Mortality and immortality blend their charms in the next stanza. The unfailing beauty of the vision will be dwelt upon with delight so long as Christians sing on earth.The hill of Sion yieldsA thousand sacred sweets,Before we reach the heavenly fields,Or walk the golden streets.THE TUNE.“St. Thomas” has often been the interpreter of the hymn, and still clings to the words in the memory of thousands.The Italian tune of “Ain” has more music. It is a fugue piece (simplified in some tune-books),63 /39and the joyful traverse of its notes along the staff in four-four time, with the momentum of a good choir, is exhilarating in the extreme.Corelli, the composer, was a master violinist, the greatest of his day, and wrote a great deal of violin music; and the thought of his glad instrument may have influenced his work when harmonizing the four voices of “Ain.”Arcangelo Corelli was born at Fusignano, in 1653. He was a sensitive artist, and although faultless in Italian music, he was not sure of himself in playing French scores, and once while performing with Handel (who resented the slightest error), and once again with Scarlatti, leading an orchestra in Naples when the king was present, he made a mortifying mistake. He took the humiliation so much to heart that he brooded over it till he died, in Rome, Jan. 18, 1717.For revival meetings the modern tune set to “Come we that love the Lord,” by Robert Lowry, should be mentioned. A shouting chorus is appended to it, but it has melody and plenty of stimulating motion.The Rev. Robert Lowry was born in Philadelphia, March 12, 1826, and educated at Lewisburg, Pa. From his 28th year till his death, 1899, he was a faithful and successful minister of Christ, but is more widely known as a composer of sacred music.64 /40“BE THOU EXALTED, O MY GOD.”In this hymn the thought of Watts touches the eternal summits. Taken from the 57th and 108th Psalms—

Be Thou, O God, exalted high,And as Thy glory fills the skySo let it be on earth displayedTill Thou art here as there obeyed.

Be Thou, O God, exalted high,

And as Thy glory fills the sky

So let it be on earth displayed

Till Thou art here as there obeyed.

This sublime quatrain, attributed to Nahum Tate, like the Lord's Prayer, is suited to all occasions, to all Christian denominations, and to all places and conditions of men. It has been translated into all civilized languages, and has been rising to heaven for many generations from congregations round the globe wherever the faith of Christendom has built its altars. This doxology is the first stanza of a sixteen line hymn (possibly longer originally), the rest of which is forgotten.

Nahum Tate was born in Dublin, in 1652, and educated there at Trinity College. He was appointed poet-laureate by King William III. in 1690, and it was in conjunction with Dr. Nicholas Brady that he executed his “New” metrical version of the Psalms. The entire Psalter, with an appendix of Hymns, was licensed by William and Mary and published in 1703. Thehymnsin the volume are all by Tate. He died in London, Aug. 12, 1717.

Rev. Nicholas Brady, D.D., was an Irishman, son of an officer in the royal army, and was born at Bandon, County of Cork, Oct. 28, 1659. He studied in theWestminsterSchool at Oxford, but afterwards entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated in 1685. William made him Queen Mary's Chaplain. He died May 20, 1726.

The other nearly contemporary form of doxology is in common use, but though elevated and devotional in spirit, it cannot be universal, owing to its credal line being objectionable to non-Trinitarian Protestants:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,Praise Him all creatures here below,Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise Him all creatures here below,

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

The author, the Rev. Thomas Ken, was born in Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, Eng., July, 1637, and was educated at Winchester School, Hertford College, and New College, Oxford. In 1662 he took holy orders, and seventeen years later the king (Charles II.) appointed him chaplain to his sister Mary, Princess of Orange. Later the king, just before his death, made him Bishop of Bath and Wells.

Like John the Baptist, and Bourdaloue, and Knox, he was a faithful spiritual monitor and adviser during all his days at court. “I must go in and hear Ken tell me my faults,” the king used to say at chapel time. The “good little man” (as he called the bishop) never lost the favor of the dissipated monarch. As Macaulay says, “Of all the prelates, he liked Ken the best.”

Under James, the Papist, Ken was a loyal subject, though once arrested as one of the “seven bishops” for his opposition to the king's religion, and he kept his oath of allegiance so firmly that it cost him his place. William III. deprived him of hisbishopric, and he retired in poverty to a home kindly offered him by Lord Viscount Weymouth in Longleat, near Frome, in Somersetshire, where he spent a serene and beloved old age. He died æt. seventy-four, March 17, 1711 (N.S.), and was34 /14carried to his grave, according to his request, by “six of the poorest men in the parish.”

His great doxology is the refrain or final stanza of each of his three long hymns, “Morning,” “Evening” and “Midnight,” printed in aPrayer Manualfor the use of the students of Winchester College. The “Evening Hymn” drew scenic inspiration, it is told, from the lovely view in Horningsham Park at “Heaven's Gate Hill,” while walking to and from church.

Another four-line doxology, adopted probably from Dr. Hatfield (1807–1883), is almost entirely superseded by Ken's stanza, being of even more pronounced credal character.

To God the Father, God the Son,And God the Spirit, Three in One.Be honor, praise and glory givenBy all on earth and all in heaven.

To God the Father, God the Son,

And God the Spirit, Three in One.

Be honor, praise and glory given

By all on earth and all in heaven.

TheMethodist Hymnalprints a collection of ten doxologies, two by Watts, one by Charles Wesley, one by John Wesley, one by William Goode, one by Edwin F. Hatfield, one attributed to “Tate and Brady,” one by Robert Hawkes, and the one by Ken above noted. These are all technically and intentionally doxologies. To give a history of doxologies in the general sense of the word would carry one through every Christian age and language and end with a concordance of the Book of Psalms.

Few would think of any music more appropriate to a standard doxology than “Old Hundred.” This grand Gregorian harmony has been claimed to be Luther's production, while some have believed that Louis Bourgeois, editor of the FrenchGenevan Psalter, composed the tune, but the weight of evidence seems to indicate that it was the work of Guillaume le Franc, (William Franck or William the Frenchman,) of Rouen, in France, who founded a music school in Geneva, 1541. He was Chapel Master there, but removed to Lausanne, where he played in the Catholic choir and wrote the tunes for an Edition of Marot's and Beza's Psalms. Died in Lausanne, 1570.

A flash of genuine inspiration was vouchsafed to Thomas Sternhold when engaged with Rev. John Hopkins in versifying the Eighteenth Psalm. The ridicule heaped upon Sternhold and Hopkins's psalmbook has always stopped, and sobered into admiration and even reverence at the two stanzas beginning with this leading line—

The Lord descended from aboveAnd bowed the heavens most high,And underneath His feet He castThe darkness of the sky.38 /16On cherub and on cherubimFull royally He rode,And on the wings of mighty windsCame flying all abroad.

The Lord descended from aboveAnd bowed the heavens most high,And underneath His feet He castThe darkness of the sky.

The Lord descended from above

And bowed the heavens most high,

And underneath His feet He cast

The darkness of the sky.

On cherub and on cherubimFull royally He rode,And on the wings of mighty windsCame flying all abroad.

On cherub and on cherubim

Full royally He rode,

And on the wings of mighty winds

Came flying all abroad.

Thomas Sternhold was born in Gloucestershire, Eng. He was Groom of the Robes to Henry VIII, and Edward VI., but is only remembered for hisPsalterpublished in 1562, thirteen years after his death in 1549.

“Nottingham” (now sometimes entitled “St. Magnus”) is a fairly good echo of the grand verses, a dignified but spirited choral in A flat. Jeremiah Clark, the composer, was born in London, 1670. Educated at the Chapel Royal, he became organist of Winchester College and finally to St. Paul's Cathedral where he was appointed Gentleman of the Chapel. He died July, 1707.

The tune of “Majesty” by William Billings will be noticed in alater chapter.

Glory to Thee, my God, this nightFor all the blessings of the light,Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,Under Thine own Almighty wings.

Glory to Thee, my God, this night

For all the blessings of the light,

Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,

Under Thine own Almighty wings.

This stanza begins the second of Bp. Ken's three beautiful hymn-prayers in hisManualmentioned on aprevious page.

For more than three hundred and fifty years devout people have enjoyed that melody of mingled dignity and sweetness known as “Tallis' Evening Hymn.”

Thomas Tallis was an Englishman, born about 1520, and at an early age was a boy chorister at St. Paul's. After his voice changed, he played the organ at Waltham Abbey, and some time later was chosen organist royal to Queen Elizabeth. His pecuniary returns for his talent did not make him rich, though he bore the title after 1542 of Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, for his stipend was sevenpence a day. Some gain may possibly have come to him, however, from his publication, late in life, under the queen's special patent, of a collection of hymns and tunes.

He wrote much and was the real founder of the English Church school of composers, but though St. Paul's was at one time well supplied with his motets and anthems, it is impossible now to give a list of Tallis' compositions for the Church. His music was written originally to Latin words, but when, after the Reformation, the use of vernacular hymns, was introduced he probably adapted his scores to either language.

It is inferred that he was in attendance on Queen Elizabeth at her palace in Greenwich when he died, for he was buried in the old parish church there in November, 1585. The rustic rhymer who40 /18indited his epitaph evidently did the best he could to embalm the virtues of the great musician as a man, a citizen, and a husband:

Enterred here doth ly a worthy wyght,Who for long time in musick bore the bell:His name to shew was Thomas Tallis hyght;In honest vertuous lyff he dyd excell.He served long tyme in chappel with grete prayse,Fower sovereygnes reignes, (a thing not often seene);I mean King Henry and Prince Edward's dayes,Quene Marie, and Elizabeth our quene.He maryed was, though children he had none,And lyv'd in love full three and thirty yeresWith loyal spowse, whose name yclept was Jone,Who, here entombed, him company now bears.As he dyd lyve, so also dyd he dy,In myld and quyet sort, O happy man!To God ful oft for mercy did he cry;Wherefore he lyves, let Deth do what he can.

Enterred here doth ly a worthy wyght,Who for long time in musick bore the bell:His name to shew was Thomas Tallis hyght;In honest vertuous lyff he dyd excell.

Enterred here doth ly a worthy wyght,

Who for long time in musick bore the bell:

His name to shew was Thomas Tallis hyght;

In honest vertuous lyff he dyd excell.

He served long tyme in chappel with grete prayse,Fower sovereygnes reignes, (a thing not often seene);I mean King Henry and Prince Edward's dayes,Quene Marie, and Elizabeth our quene.

He served long tyme in chappel with grete prayse,

Fower sovereygnes reignes, (a thing not often seene);

I mean King Henry and Prince Edward's dayes,

Quene Marie, and Elizabeth our quene.

He maryed was, though children he had none,And lyv'd in love full three and thirty yeresWith loyal spowse, whose name yclept was Jone,Who, here entombed, him company now bears.

He maryed was, though children he had none,

And lyv'd in love full three and thirty yeres

With loyal spowse, whose name yclept was Jone,

Who, here entombed, him company now bears.

As he dyd lyve, so also dyd he dy,In myld and quyet sort, O happy man!To God ful oft for mercy did he cry;Wherefore he lyves, let Deth do what he can.

As he dyd lyve, so also dyd he dy,

In myld and quyet sort, O happy man!

To God ful oft for mercy did he cry;

Wherefore he lyves, let Deth do what he can.

This is one of the thanksgivings of the ages.

The God of Abraham praise,Who reigns enthroned above;Ancient of everlasting days,And God of love.Jehovah, Great I AM!By earth and heaven confessed,I bow and bless the sacred Name,Forever blest.

The God of Abraham praise,

Who reigns enthroned above;

Ancient of everlasting days,

And God of love.

Jehovah, Great I AM!

By earth and heaven confessed,

I bow and bless the sacred Name,

Forever blest.

The hymn, of twelve eight-line stanzas, is too long41 /19to quote entire, but is found in both thePlymouthandMethodist Hymnals.

Thomas Olivers, born in Tregynon, near Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales, 1725, was, according to local testimony, “the worst boy known in all that country, for thirty years.” It is more charitable to say that he was a poor fellow who had no friends. Left an orphan at five years of age, he was passed from one relative to another until all were tired of him, and he was “bound out” to a shoemaker. Almost inevitably the neglected lad grew up wicked, for no one appeared to care for his habits and morals, and as he sank lower in the various vices encouraged by bad company, there were more kicks for him than helping hands. At the age of eighteen his reputation in the town had become so unsavory that he was forced to shift for himself elsewhere.

Providence led him, when shabby and penniless, to the old seaport town of Bristol, where Whitefield was at that time preaching,*and there the young sinner heard the divine message that lifted him to his feet.

* Whitefield's text was, “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” Zach. 3:2.

“When that sermon began,” he said, “I was one of the most abandoned and profligate young men living; before it ended I was a new creature. The world was all changed for Tom Olivers.”

His new life, thus begun, lasted on earth more than sixty useful years. He left a shining record42 /20as a preacher of righteousness, and died in the triumphs of faith, November, 1799. Before he passed away he saw at least thirty editions of his hymn published, but the soul-music it has awakened among the spiritual children of Abraham can only reach him in heaven. Some of its words have been the last earthly song of many, as they were of the eminent Methodist theologian, Richard Watson—

I shall behold His face,I shall His power adore,And sing the wonders of His graceForevermore.

I shall behold His face,

I shall His power adore,

And sing the wonders of His grace

Forevermore.

The precise date of the tune “Leoni” is unknown, as also the precise date of the hymn. The story is that Olivers visited the great “Duke's Place” Synagogue, Aldgate, London, and heard Meyer Lyon (Leoni) sing the Yigdal or long doxology to an air so noble and impressive that it haunted him till he learned it and fitted to it the sublime stanzas of his song. Lyon, a noted Jewish musician and vocalist, was chorister of this London Synagogue during the latter part of the 18th century and the Yigdal was a portion of the Hebrew Liturgy composed in medieval times, it is said, by Daniel Ben Judah. The fact that the Methodist leaders took Olivers from his bench to be one of their preachers answers any suggestion that the converted shoemakercopiedthe Jewish hymn and put Christian phrases in it.43 /21He knew nothing of Hebrew, and had he known it, a literal translation of the Yigdal will show hardly a similarity to his evangelical lines. Only the music as Leoni sang it prompted his own song, and he gratefully put the singer's name to it. Montgomery, who admired the majestic style of the hymn, and its glorious imagery, said of its author, “The man who wrote that hymn must have had the finest ear imaginable, for on account of the peculiar measure, none but a person of equal musical and poetic taste could have produced the harmony perceptible in the verse.”

Whether the hymnist or some one else fitted the hymn to the tune, the “fine ear” and “poetic taste” that Montgomery applauded are evident enough in the union.

This hymn of Sir Robert Grant has become almost universally known, and is often used as a morning or opening service song by choirs and congregations of all creeds. The favorite stanzas are the first four—

O worship the King all-glorious above,And gratefully sing His wonderful love—Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.O tell of His might, and sing of His grace,Whose robe is the light, whose canopy, space;His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.44 /22Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,And sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.Thy mercies how tender! how firm to the end!Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

O worship the King all-glorious above,And gratefully sing His wonderful love—Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

O worship the King all-glorious above,

And gratefully sing His wonderful love—

Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,

Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

O tell of His might, and sing of His grace,Whose robe is the light, whose canopy, space;His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.

O tell of His might, and sing of His grace,

Whose robe is the light, whose canopy, space;

His chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,

And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.

Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,And sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.

Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,

It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,

And sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.Thy mercies how tender! how firm to the end!Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,

In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail.

Thy mercies how tender! how firm to the end!

Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!

This is a model hymn of worship. Like the previous one by Thomas Olivers, it is strongly Hebrew in its tone and diction, and drew its inspiration from the Old Testament Psalter, the text-book of all true praise-song.

Sir Robert Grant was born in the county of Inverness, Scotland, in 1785, and educated at Cambridge. He was many years member of Parliament for Inverness and a director in the East India Company, and 1834 was appointed Governor of Bombay. He died at Dapoorie, Western India, July 9, 1838.

Sir Robert was a man of deep Christian feeling and a poetic mind. His writings were not numerous, but their thoughtful beauty endeared him to a wide circle of readers. In 1839 his brother, Lord Glenelg, published twelve of his poetical pieces, and a new edition in 1868. The volume contains the more or less well-known hymns—

The starry firmament on high,Saviour, when in dust to Thee,

and—

When gathering clouds around I view.

Sir Robert's death, when scarcely past his prime, would indicate a decline by reason of illness, and perhaps other serious affliction, that justified the poetic license in the submissive verses beginning—

Thy mercy heard my infant prayer.* * * * * *And nowin ageand grief Thy nameDoes still my languid heart inflame,And bow my faltering knee.Oh, yet this bosom feels the fire,This trembling hand and drooping lyreHave yet a strain for Thee.

Thy mercy heard my infant prayer.

* * * * * *

And nowin ageand grief Thy nameDoes still my languid heart inflame,And bow my faltering knee.Oh, yet this bosom feels the fire,This trembling hand and drooping lyreHave yet a strain for Thee.

And nowin ageand grief Thy name

Does still my languid heart inflame,

And bow my faltering knee.

Oh, yet this bosom feels the fire,

This trembling hand and drooping lyre

Have yet a strain for Thee.

Several musical pieces written to the hymn, “O, Worship the King,” have appeared in church psalm-books, and others have been borrowed for it, but the one oftenest sung to its words is Haydn's “Lyons.” Its vigor and spirit best fit it for Grant's noble lyric.

Rev. Samuel Stennett D.D., the author of this hymn, was the son of Rev. Joseph Stennett, and grandson of Rev. Joseph Stennett D.D., who wrote—

Another six days' work is done,Another Sabbath is begun.

Another six days' work is done,

Another Sabbath is begun.

All were Baptist ministers. Samuel was born in 1727, at Exeter, Eng., and at the age of twenty-one46 /24became his father's assistant, and subsequently his successor over the church in Little Wild Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.

Majestic sweetness sits enthronedUpon the Saviour's brow;His head with radiant glories crowned,His lips with grace o'erflow.* * * * * *To Him I owe my life and breathAnd all the joys I have;He makes me triumph over death,He saves me from the grave.* * * * * *Since from His bounty I receiveSuch proofs of love divine,Had I a thousand hearts to give,Lord, they should all be Thine.

Majestic sweetness sits enthronedUpon the Saviour's brow;His head with radiant glories crowned,His lips with grace o'erflow.

Majestic sweetness sits enthroned

Upon the Saviour's brow;

His head with radiant glories crowned,

His lips with grace o'erflow.

* * * * * *

To Him I owe my life and breathAnd all the joys I have;He makes me triumph over death,He saves me from the grave.

To Him I owe my life and breath

And all the joys I have;

He makes me triumph over death,

He saves me from the grave.

* * * * * *

Since from His bounty I receiveSuch proofs of love divine,Had I a thousand hearts to give,Lord, they should all be Thine.

Since from His bounty I receive

Such proofs of love divine,

Had I a thousand hearts to give,

Lord, they should all be Thine.

Samuel Stennett was one of the most respected and influential ministers of the Dissenting persuasion, and a confidant of many of the most distinguished statesmen of his time. The celebrated John Howard was his parishoner and intimate friend. His degree of Doctor of Divinity was bestowed upon him by Aberdeen University. Besides his theological writings he composed and published thirty-eight hymns, among them—

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,When two or three with sweet accord,Here at Thy table, Lord, we meet,

and—

“'Tis finished,” so the Saviour cried.

“Majestic Sweetness” began the third stanza of his longer hymn—

To Christ the Lord let every tongue.

Dr. Stennett died in London, Aug. 24, 1795.

For fifty or sixty years “Ortonville” has been linked with this devout hymn, and still maintains its fitting fellowship. The tune, composed in 1830, was the work of Thomas Hastings, and is almost as well-known and as often sung as his immortal “Toplady.” (See chap. 3, “Rock of Ages.”)

This inspiring lyric of praise appears to have been written about the middle of the eighteenth century. Its author, the Rev. Edward Perronet, son of Rev. Vincent Perronet, Vicar of Shoreham, Eng., was a man of great faith and humility but zealous in his convictions, sometimes to his serious expense. He was born in 1721, and, though eighteen years younger than Charles Wesley, the two became bosom friends, and it was under the direction of the Wesleys that Perronet became a preacher in the evangelical movement. Lady Huntingdon later became his patroness, but some needless and imprudent expressions in a satirical poem, “The Mitre,” revealing his hostility to the union of church and state, cost him her favor,48 /26and his contention against John Wesley's law that none but the regular parish ministers had the right to administer the sacraments, led to his complete separation from both the Wesleys. He subsequently became the pastor of a small church of Dissenters in Canterbury, where he died, in January, 1792. His piety uttered itself when near his happy death, and his last words were a Gloria.

All hail the power of Jesus' name!Let angels prostrate fall;Bring forth the royal diadem,To crown Him Lord of all.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.Sinners, whose love can ne'er forgetThe wormwood and the gall,Go, spread your trophies at His feet,And crown Him Lord of all.Let every tribe and every tongueThat bound creation's call,Now shout the universal song,The crownéd Lord of all.

All hail the power of Jesus' name!Let angels prostrate fall;Bring forth the royal diadem,To crown Him Lord of all.

All hail the power of Jesus' name!

Let angels prostrate fall;

Bring forth the royal diadem,

To crown Him Lord of all.

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.

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.

Sinners, whose love can ne'er forgetThe wormwood and the gall,Go, spread your trophies at His feet,And crown Him Lord of all.

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.

Let every tribe and every tongueThat bound creation's call,Now shout the universal song,The crownéd Lord of all.

Let every tribe and every tongue

That bound creation's call,

Now shout the universal song,

The crownéd Lord of all.

With two disused stanzas omitted, the hymn as it stands differs from the original chiefly in the last stanza, though in the second the initial line is now transposed to read—

Ye chosen seed of Israel's race.

The fourth stanza now reads—

Let every kindred, every tribeOn this terrestrial ballTo Him all majesty ascribe,And crown Him Lord of all.

Let every kindred, every tribe

On this terrestrial ball

To Him all majesty ascribe,

And crown Him Lord of all.

And what is now the favorite last stanza is the one added by Dr. Rippon—

O that with yonder sacred throngWe at His feet may fall,And join the everlasting song,And crown Him Lord of all.

O that with yonder sacred throng

We at His feet may fall,

And join the everlasting song,

And crown Him Lord of all.

Everyone now calls it “Old Coronation,” and it is entitled to the adjective by this time, beingconsiderablymore than a hundred years of age. It was composed in the very year of Perronet's death and one wonders just how long the hymn and tune waited before they came together; for Heaven evidently meant them to be wedded for all time. This is an American opinion, and no reflection on the earlier English melody of “Miles Lane,” composed during Perronet's lifetime by William Shrubsole and published with the words in 1780 in theGospel Magazine. There is also a fine processional tune sung in the English Church to Perronet's hymn.

Oliver HoldenOliver HoldenHymnal

The author of “Coronation” was Oliver Holden, a self-taught musician, born in Shirley, Mass., 1765, and bred to the carpenter's trade. The little pipe organ on which tradition says he struck the first notes of the famous tune is now in the50 /28Historical rooms of the Old State House, Boston, placed there by its late owner, Mrs. Fanny Tyler, the old musician's granddaughter. Its tones are as mellow as ever, and the times that “Coronation” has been played upon it by admiring visitors would far outnumber the notes of its score.

Holden wrote a number of other hymn-tunes, among which “Cowper,” “Confidence,” and “Concord” are remembered, but none of them had the wings of “Coronation,” his American “Te Deum.” His first published collection was entitledThe American Harmony, and this was followed by theUnion Harmony, and theWorcester Collection. He also wrote and published “Mt. Vernon,” and several other patriotic anthems, mainly for special occasions, to some of which he supplied the words. He was no hymnist, though he did now and then venture into sacred metre. The newMethodist Hymnalpreserves a simple four-stanza specimen of his experiments in verse:

They who seek the throne of graceFind that throne in every place:If we lead a life of prayerGod is present everywhere.

They who seek the throne of grace

Find that throne in every place:

If we lead a life of prayer

God is present everywhere.

Sacred music, however, was the good man's passion to the last. He died in 1844.

“Such beautiful themes!” he whispered on his death bed, “Such beautiful themes! But I can write no more.”

The enthusiasm always and everywhere aroused by the singing of “Coronation,” dates from the51 /29time it first went abroad in America in its new wedlock of music and words. “This tune,” says an accompanying note over the score in the oldCarmina Sacra, “was a great favorite with the late Dr. Dwight of Yale College (1798). It was often sung by the college choir, while he, catching, as it were, the music of the heavenly world, would join them, and lead with the most ardent devotion.”

This hymn of six stanzas is abridged from a longer one indited by the Rev. William Hammond, and published inLady Huntingdon's Hymn-book. It was much in use in early Methodist revivals. It appears now as it was slightly altered by Rev. Martin Madan—

Awake and sing the songOf Moses and the Lamb;Join every heart and every tongueTo praise the Savior's name.* * * * * *

Awake and sing the songOf Moses and the Lamb;Join every heart and every tongueTo praise the Savior's name.

Awake and sing the song

Of Moses and the Lamb;

Join every heart and every tongue

To praise the Savior's name.

* * * * * *

The sixth verse is a variation of one of Watts' hymns, and was added in theBrethren's Hymn-book, 1801—

There shall each heart and tongueHis endless praise proclaim,And sweeter voices join the songOf Moses and the Lamb.

There shall each heart and tongue

His endless praise proclaim,

And sweeter voices join the song

Of Moses and the Lamb.

The Rev. William Hammond was born Jan. 6, 1719, at Battle, Sussex, Eng., and educated at St.52 /30John's College, Cambridge. Early in his ministerial life he was a Calvinistic Methodist, but ultimately joined the Moravians. Died in London, Aug. 19, 1793. His collection ofPsalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songswas published in 1745.

The Rev. Martin Madan, son of Col. Madan, was born 1726. He founded Lock Hospital, Hyde Park, and long officiated as its chaplain. As a preacher he was popular, and his reputation as a composer of music was considerable. There is no proof that he wrote any original hymns, but he amended, pieced and expanded the work of others. Died in 1770.

The hymn has had a variety of musical interpretations. The more modern piece is “St. Philip,” by Edward John Hopkins, Doctor of Music, born at Westminster, London, June 30, 1818. From a member of the Chapel Royal boy choir he became organist of the Michtam Church, Surrey, and afterwards of the Temple Church, London. Received his Doctor's degree from the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1882.

The writer of this hymn was William Goode, who helped to found the English Church Missionary Society, and was for twenty years the Secretary of the “Society for the Relief of Poor Pious Clergymen.”55 /31For celebrating the praise of the Saviour, he seems to have been of like spirit and genius with Perronet. He was born in Buckingham, Eng., April 2, 1762; studied for the ministry and became a curate, successor of William Romaine. His spiritual maturity was early, and his habits of thought were formed amid associations such as the young Wesleys and Whitefield sought. Like them, even in his student days he proved his aspiration for purer religious life by an evangelical zeal that cost him the ridicule of many of his school-fellows, but the meetings for conference and prayer which he organized among them were not unattended, and were lasting and salutary in their effect.

Jesus was the theme of his life and song, and was his last word. He died in 1816.

Crown His head with endless blessingWho in God the Father's nameWith compassion never ceasingComes salvation to proclaim.Hail, ye saints who know His favor,Who within His gates are found.Hail, ye saints, th' exalted Saviour,Let His courts with praise resound.

Crown His head with endless blessing

Who in God the Father's name

With compassion never ceasing

Comes salvation to proclaim.

Hail, ye saints who know His favor,

Who within His gates are found.

Hail, ye saints, th' exalted Saviour,

Let His courts with praise resound.

Joseph HaydnJoseph HaydnHymnal

“Haydn,” bearing the name of its great composer, is in several important hymnals the chosen music for William Goode's devout words. Its strain and spirit are lofty and melodious and in entire accord with the pious poet's praise.

Joseph Haydn, son of a poor wheelwright, was born 1732, in Rohron, a village on the borders of Hungary and Austria. His precocity of musical talent was such that he began composing at the age of ten years. Prince Esterhazy discovered his genius when he was poor and friendless, and his fortune was made. While Music Master for the Prince's Private Chapel (twenty years) he wrote many of his beautiful symphonies which placed him among the foremost in that class of music. Invited to England, he received the Doctor's degree at Oxford, and composed his great oratorio of “The Creation,” besides his “Twelve Grand Symphonies,” and a long list of minor musical works secular and sacred. His invention was inexhaustible.

Haydn seems to have been a sincerely pious man. When writing his great oratorio of “The Creation” at sixty-seven years of age, “I knelt down every day,” he says, “and prayed God to strengthen me for my work.” This daily spiritual preparation was similar to Handel's when he was creating his “Messiah.” Change one word and it may be said of sacred music as truly as of astronomy, “The undevout composer is mad.”

Near Haydn's death, in Vienna, 1809, when he heard for the last time his magnificent chorus, “Let there be Light!” he exclaimed, “Not mine, not mine. It all came to me from above.”

When Watts finished this hymn he had achieved a “noble song,” whether he was conscious of it or not; and it deserves a foremost place, where it can help future worshippers in their praise as it has the past. It is not so common in the later hymnals, but it is imperishable, and still later collections will not forget it.

Now to the Lord a noble song,Awake my soul, awake my tongue!Hosanna to the Eternal Name,And all His boundless love proclaim.See where it shines in Jesus' face,The brightest image of His grace!God in the person of His SonHas all His mightiest works outdone.

Now to the Lord a noble song,Awake my soul, awake my tongue!Hosanna to the Eternal Name,And all His boundless love proclaim.

Now to the Lord a noble song,

Awake my soul, awake my tongue!

Hosanna to the Eternal Name,

And all His boundless love proclaim.

See where it shines in Jesus' face,The brightest image of His grace!God in the person of His SonHas all His mightiest works outdone.

See where it shines in Jesus' face,

The brightest image of His grace!

God in the person of His Son

Has all His mightiest works outdone.

A rather finical question has occurred to some minds as to the theology of the word “works” in the last line, making the second person in the Godhead apparently a creature; and in a few hymn-books the previous line has been made to read—

God in theGospelof His Son.

But the question is a rhetorical one, and the poet's free expression—here as in hundreds of other cases—has never disturbed the general confidence in his orthodoxy.

Montgomery called Watts “the inventor of hymns in our language,” and the credit stands practically undisputed, for Watts made a hymn style that no human master taught him, and his58 /34model has been the ideal one for song worship ever since; and we can pardon the climax when Professor Charles M. Stuart speaks of him as “writer, scholar, thinker and saint,” for in addition to all the rest he was a very good man.

Old “Ames” was for many years the choir favorite, and the words of the hymn printed with it in the note-book made the association familiar. It was, andis, an appropriate selection, though in later manuals George Kingsley's “Ware” is evidently thought to be better suited to the high-toned verse. Good old tunes never “wear out,” but they do go out of fashion.

The composer of “Ames,” Sigismund Neukomm, Chevalier, was born in Salzburg, Austria, July 10, 1778, and was a pupil of Haydn. Though not a great genius, his talents procured him access and even intimacy in the courts of Germany, France, Italy, Portugal and England, and for thirty years he composed church anthems and oratorios with prodigious industry. Neukomm's musical productions, numbering no less than one thousand, and popular in their day, are, however, mostly forgotten, excepting his oratorio of “David” and one or two hymn-tunes.

George Kingsley, author of “Ware,” was born in Northampton, Mass., July 7, 1811. Died in the Hospital, in the same city, March 14, 1884. He compiled eight books of music for young people and several manuals of church psalmody, and was for59 /35some time a music teacher in Boston, where he played the organ at the Hollis St. church. Subsequently he became professor of music in Girard College, Philadelphia, and music instructor in the public schools, being employed successively as organist (on Lord's Day) at Dr. Albert Barnes' and Arch St. churches, and finally in Brooklyn at Dr. Storrs' Church of the Pilgrims. Returned to Northampton, 1853.

This and the five following hymns, all by Watts, are placed in immediate succession, for unity's sake—with a fuller notice of the greatest of hymn-writers at the end of the series.

Early, my God, without delayI haste to seek Thy face,My thirsty spirit faints awayWithout Thy cheering grace.

Early, my God, without delay

I haste to seek Thy face,

My thirsty spirit faints away

Without Thy cheering grace.

In the memories of very old men and women, who sang the fugue music of Morgan's “Montgomery,” still lingers the second stanza and some of the “spirit and understanding” with which it used to be rendered in meeting on Sunday mornings.

So pilgrims on the scorching sand,Beneath a burning sky,Long for a cooling stream at handAnd they must drink or die.

So pilgrims on the scorching sand,

Beneath a burning sky,

Long for a cooling stream at hand

And they must drink or die.

Many of the earlier pieces assigned to this hymn were either too noisy or too tame. The best and60 /36longest-serving is “Lanesboro,” which, with its expressive duet in the middle and its soaring final strain of harmony, never fails to carry the meaning of the words. It was composed by William Dixon, and arranged and adapted by Lowell Mason.

William Dixon, an English composer, was a music engraver and publisher, and author also of several glees and anthems. He was born 1750, and died about 1825.

Lowell Mason, born in Medfield, Mass., 1792, has been called, not without reason, “the father of American choir singing.” Returning from Savannah, Ga., where he spent sixteen years of his younger life as clerk in a bank, he located in Boston (1827), being already known there as the composer of “The Missionary Hymn.” He had not neglected his musical studies while living in the South, and it was in Savannah that he made the glorious harmony of that tune.

He became president of the Handel and Haydn Society, went abroad for special study, was made Doctor of Music, and collected a store of themes among the great models of song to bring home for his future work.

The Boston Academy of Music was founded by him and what he did for the song-service of the Church in America by his singing schools, and musical conventions, and published manuals, to form and organize the choral branch of divine worship, has no parallel, unless it is Noah Webster's service to the English language.

Dr. Mason died in Orange, N.J., in 1872.

This is one of the hymns that helped to give its author the title of “The Seraphic Watts.”

Sweet is the work, my God, my KingTo praise Thy name, give thanks and singTo show Thy love by morning light,And talk of all Thy truth at night.

Sweet is the work, my God, my King

To praise Thy name, give thanks and sing

To show Thy love by morning light,

And talk of all Thy truth at night.

No nobler one, and more akin in spirit to the hymn, can be found than “Duke Street,” Hatton's imperishable choral.

Little is known of the John Hatton who wrote “Duke St.” He was earlier by nearly a century than John Liphot Hatton of Liverpool (born in 1809), who wrote the opera of “Pascal Bruno,” the cantata of “Robin Hood” and the sacred drama of “Hezekiah.” The biographical index of theEvangelical Hymnalsays of John Hatton, the author of “Duke St.”: “John, of Warrington; afterwards of St. Helens, then resident in Duke St. in the township of Windle; composed several hymn-tunes; died in 1793.*His funeral sermon was preached at the Presbyterian Chapel, St. Helens, Dec. 13.”

* Tradition says he was killed by being thrown from a stage-coach.

Watts entitled this hymn “Heavenly Joy on Earth.” He could possibly, like Madame Guyon,62 /38have written such a hymn in a dungeon, but it is no less spiritual for its birth (as tradition will have it) amid the lovely scenery of Southampton where he could find in nature “glory begun below.”

Come, we that love the Lord,And let our joys be known;Join in a song with sweet accord,And thus surround the throne.There shall we see His face,And never, never sin;There, from the rivers of His grace,Drink endless pleasures in.Children of grace have foundGlory begun below:Celestial fruits on earthly groundFrom faith and hope may grow.

Come, we that love the Lord,And let our joys be known;Join in a song with sweet accord,And thus surround the throne.

Come, we that love the Lord,

And let our joys be known;

Join in a song with sweet accord,

And thus surround the throne.

There shall we see His face,And never, never sin;There, from the rivers of His grace,Drink endless pleasures in.

There shall we see His face,

And never, never sin;

There, from the rivers of His grace,

Drink endless pleasures in.

Children of grace have foundGlory begun below:Celestial fruits on earthly groundFrom faith and hope may grow.

Children of grace have found

Glory begun below:

Celestial fruits on earthly ground

From faith and hope may grow.

Mortality and immortality blend their charms in the next stanza. The unfailing beauty of the vision will be dwelt upon with delight so long as Christians sing on earth.

The hill of Sion yieldsA thousand sacred sweets,Before we reach the heavenly fields,Or walk the golden streets.

The hill of Sion yields

A thousand sacred sweets,

Before we reach the heavenly fields,

Or walk the golden streets.

“St. Thomas” has often been the interpreter of the hymn, and still clings to the words in the memory of thousands.

The Italian tune of “Ain” has more music. It is a fugue piece (simplified in some tune-books),63 /39and the joyful traverse of its notes along the staff in four-four time, with the momentum of a good choir, is exhilarating in the extreme.

Corelli, the composer, was a master violinist, the greatest of his day, and wrote a great deal of violin music; and the thought of his glad instrument may have influenced his work when harmonizing the four voices of “Ain.”

Arcangelo Corelli was born at Fusignano, in 1653. He was a sensitive artist, and although faultless in Italian music, he was not sure of himself in playing French scores, and once while performing with Handel (who resented the slightest error), and once again with Scarlatti, leading an orchestra in Naples when the king was present, he made a mortifying mistake. He took the humiliation so much to heart that he brooded over it till he died, in Rome, Jan. 18, 1717.

For revival meetings the modern tune set to “Come we that love the Lord,” by Robert Lowry, should be mentioned. A shouting chorus is appended to it, but it has melody and plenty of stimulating motion.

The Rev. Robert Lowry was born in Philadelphia, March 12, 1826, and educated at Lewisburg, Pa. From his 28th year till his death, 1899, he was a faithful and successful minister of Christ, but is more widely known as a composer of sacred music.

In this hymn the thought of Watts touches the eternal summits. Taken from the 57th and 108th Psalms—

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