Emma L. Ashford

I have written about Emma Ashford before on this date (see links below), but unfortunately have not unearthed anything new about her since.  However, in recent months a few people who are also interested in her work have visited the blog and left comments. (I now get many more readers who are searching for a particular writer or composer than those who are looking for the new material.)  One of those commenters has recorded several performances of Ashford's organ compositions and posted them on YouTube.

This is known as Emma Ashford's voluntary on Abide with me (a favorite of many), though of course it's really based on the tune EVENTIDE by composer William H. Monk rather than the text.  Chris S. performs it on a reed organ.



I have been having computer problems for a while now which have mostly curtailed posting but I hope to be back soon.


Four Years Ago: Emma L. Ashford

Two Years Ago: Emma L. Ashford 

The Patience of Unanswered Prayer

The Sundays after Pentecost do go on for quite a while. Today is only the sixteenth. Here's another hymn on the Holy Spirit that is sung by several denominations.

It seems like I've always known this one and I assumed that "everyone" knew it too. So it was a surprise to find that it has never been in any of the primary Episcopal hymnals (1871, 1892, 1916, 1940, 1982) since it was written. Finally it was included in the supplement Wonder, Love and Praise (2001), and we sang it this summer. Naturally, it was unfamiliar to some people. Any hymn can be a favorite of many and completely unknown to many others.

I am not enough of a theologian to be able to determine why this one has not been accepted by the various Episcopalian hymnal committees over the years, but I'm glad it's finally being used.

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth; through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as thou art;
And make me love thee as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
No sudden rending of the veil of clay,
No angel visitant, no opening skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.

Teach me to feel that thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear.
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh,
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Teach me to love thee as thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame;
The baptism of the heaven-descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and thy love the flame.

George Croly, 1854; alt.
Tune: MORECAMBE (10.10.10.10.)
Frederick Atkinson, 1870

You may remember that composer Atkinson had hoped that this tune would be sung with Abide with me, but that idea never took hold. I don't know what he had against EVENTIDE.

"Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer" has to be one of the most useful lines ever included in any hymn.

Henry Francis Lyte

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; God, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O thou who changest not, abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of pilgrims, thus abide with me.

I need thy presence every passing hour.
What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.

I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if thou abide with me.

Henry Francis Lyte, 1847, alt.
Tune: EVENTIDE (10.10.10.10)
William Henry Monk, 1861

Henry Francis Lyte was the author of dozens of hymns that appeared in the hymnals of the nineteenth century, but his two most enduring are this one and Praise, my soul, the King of heaven. Since Abide with me was previously voted a favorite among readers of this blog (a small group, admittedly) it had to be featured today for Lyte's birthday (215 years ago). This hymn has probably also been near the top on just about any poll on hymns taken in more than a hundred years. I do admit to shuffling the original eight verses a bit in order to choose a final five, using one that has rarely been sung since the nineteenth century.

Lyte wrote his own tune for the hymn which was probably sung at All Saints, the church in Brixham where he was pastor for more than twenty years. But in 1861 the hymn was published in Hymns Ancient and Modern (the influential English hymnal that sold more than 60 million copies) with a new tune by the prolific composer W.H. Monk (one of the editors of the collection), the tune by which everyone knows it today. Others have tried to write new tunes for it, including Frederick Atkinson's MORECAMBE, but none have stuck, as this page from the Oremus Hymnal shows, listing the tunes matched with this text in hymnals spanning nearly 150 years. As mentioned before, tunes are often just as important as texts in establishing a hymn's popularity (for better or worse, some would say).

I know that many people associate this hymn mostly with funerals, but I never have. We used to sing it at the close of evening worship, and (very) occasionally it's used at Evensong in my present church. Heck, we even used to sing it in the subway or at airports. The four-part harmony is irresistible

Here's another verse by Lyte that I particularly like, the final verse of Jesus, I my cross have taken (1824). Sometimes you just find one verse especially meaningful, without liking the whole hymn. Like Abide with me, and like many hymns of the Victorian era, the last verse of the hymn ends up in heaven (that theme again). We used to sing about heaven a lot, so maybe that's why this jumped out to me when I first read it some months ago

Haste then, on from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer;
Heav'ns eternal day before thee,
God's own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close the earthly mission,
Swift shall pass thy pilgrim days,
Hope soon change to glad fruition,
Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

Now there's a verse that deserves to close with an "Amen."