Horatius Bonar

Scottish poet Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) presents us with a bit of a paradox - a clerical hymnwriter whose hymns could not be sung in his own church. It was not until six years ago, in 2010, that the Free Church of Scotland (of which Bonar was a founding member) allowed the singing of hymns. The web site of that denomination today gives a "comprehensive list of recommended hymns," and fortunately some of Bonar's many hymn texts are included.

Bonar was one of eleven children, born into an Edinburgh family which can boast of more than three hundred years of service to the church. In 1837 he took on his first pastorate in the Church of Scotland, at the North Church in Kelso. Over the next few years he became widely known for his evangelical writings, published in tracts and devotional books. He joined the Great Disruption in 1843 and he and his church became affiliated with the new Free Church of Scotland, separating from the state religion. He was for several years the joint editor of the Free Church's newspaper The Border Watch.

Like his Irish contemporary, Cecil Frances Alexander, his earliest hymns were written for children, but his themes became much broader. His hymns eventually numbered close to six hundred, and while some critics felt that he wrote "too many," and that some of them were written carelessly and clumsily, about a hundred of them passed into common use across many denominations in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Come, mighty Spirit, penetrate
This heart and soul of mine;
And my whole being with your grace
Infuse, O Life divine.

As this clear air surrounds the earth,
Your grace around me roll;
As the bright light pervades the air,
So pierce and fill my soul.

As from these clouds drops down in love
The precious summer rain,
So from yourself pour down the flood
That freshens all again.

Thus life within our weary hearts
Shall make its glad abode;
And we shall shine in beauteous light,
Filled with the light of God.

Horatius Bonar, 1861; alt.
Tune: ABIDING GRACE (C.M.)
John Spencer Camp, 1905




Four Years Ago: Horatius Bonar

Six Years Ago: Horatius Bonar

Seven Years Ago: Horatius Bonar

Cecil Frances Alexander

Today is the anniversary of the death of Irish poet Cecil Frances Alexander, who died in 1895. The date of her birth in 1818 is still unknown. She was born in Dublin to Elizabeth and John Humphreys, and began writing verse at an early age. 

Two of her earliest collections contain poetry that was later taken up by hymnal editors: Verses for Holy Seasons (1848) and Hymns for Little Children (1848). The latter collection was edited by the esteemed hymn writer John Keble, and went through sixty-nine editions before the end of the nineteenth century.  

In 1856, her poem "The Burial of Moses" appeared in the Dublin University Magazine (anonymously, for some reason). Alfred, Lord Tennyson declared that it was the only poem that he had read by a living author that he wished he had written himself.

She married the Reverend William Alexander in 1850. She was six years older than he, which was said to cause "great family concern," so the year of her birth was "adjusted," and many older sources claimed that she was born in 1823.  William became Bishop of Derry and Raphoe in 1867, and Archbishop of All Ireland in 1896 (after his wife's death).

Alexander's hymns still appear in modern hymnals, though most of the ones we still know were originally written for children (All things bright and beautiful, Once in royal David's city, There is a green hill far away). Today's hymn, for adults, originally appeared in Hymns (1852), published by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, an organization that was largely responsible for sending Church of England missionaries to the American colonies in the eighteenth century, and remains active today as a publishing house.

Spirit of God, that moved of old
Upon the waters' threat'ning face,
Come, when our weary hearts are cold,
And stir them with an inward grace.

For you are power and peace combined,
All highest strength, all purest love,
The rushing of the mighty wind,
The brooding of the gentle dove.

Come, give us still your pow'rful aid,
And urge us to that higher place;
Nor leave the hearts that once were made
Fit temples for your quick'ning grace. 

Nor let us quench your sev’nfold light;

But still with softest breathings stir

Our wand'ring souls, and lead us right,

O Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1852; alt.

Tune: TRUTH FROM ABOVE (L.M.)

English folk melody; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1919

The score for the folk tune TRUTH FROM ABOVE, can be seen here, which may help you to better match the text with the tune, which I believe is a good combination.

English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1957), the arranger of this tune, was also born today, which also makes the match appropriate (to my mind, at least).  Originally sung with the carol of the same name, Vaughan Williams published his version in his Eight Traditional Christmas Carols (1919) and he had previously used the melody in his Fantasia on Christmas Carols (1912).

The memorial window to Mrs. Alexander below, at St. Columb's Cathedral in Derry, was dedicated in 1913. The left window represents Once in royal David's city, the center window, There is a green hill far away, and the right window, The golden gates are lifted up. 

(Photograph of the window is attributed to Andreas Franz Borchert)


Eight Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Eight Years Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

Eight Years Ago: Healey Willan

Seven Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Six Years Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

Four Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day may not (yet) be a liturgical observance in most places, but I believe
that it is marked in an increasing number of ways. It's not possible for any site to
consolidate and list them all, but there are different sites for different countries and
umbrella organizations.  Social media and the internet has made it much easier for 
such organizations to help people plan a local event in the last decade, and in many places 
churches have stepped up to do their part.

Thinking about the day this year I was reminded of a hymn connection from several years
ago.  In 1989 we were just beginning our hymnal project for Metropolitan Community
Church, and sketching out lists of the hymns we wanted to distribute over the next three
years. The worship leaders for the denomination's General Conference to be held that
summer had agreed to use these new resources, endorsing the inclusive and expansive 
language and theology of our texts.  We then received a special request from the Reverend
Elder Nancy Wilson for a hymn that she particularly wanted to be sung at the conference:
Charles Wesley's And are we yet alive.  This hymn was not on our lists at the time (and we
had no former Methodists on our committee who might have suggested it).  Left to our own
devices we might not have encountered it at all.

But in that time and place it expressed something important, the affirmation of a community
in crisis.  When we gathered for worship, either at an annual conference or even week-to-
week in local churches, we knew that we were in the midst of a great struggle -- fightings
without and fears within / Since we assembled last.  It was a significant question: And are
we yet alive, / And see each other's face?

And are we yet alive,
And see each other’s face?
Glory and thanks to Jesus give
For great redeeming grace!

Preserved by power divine
To full salvation here,
Again in Jesus’ praise we join
In Jesus' sight appear.

What troubles have we seen,
What mighty conflicts past,
Fightings without, and fears within,
Since we assembled last!

Yet out of all our God
Hath brought us by great love;
And all along our paths hath trod,
To guard our life above.

Then let us make our boast
Of God's redeeming power,
Which saves us to the uttermost,
Till we can sin no more.

Let us take up the cross
Till we the crown obtain,
And gladly reckon all things loss
So we may Jesus gain.

Charles Wesley, 1749; alt.

Tune: DENNIS (S.M.)

Hans Nageli, 19th cent.
arr. Lowell Mason, 1845

Over time it became more important for many of the the hymns we sang to include two
additional  themes: the life to come (seen here in the final stanza), and the memorialization
of those we loved and lost (see the hymn at the link below). Our churches sang about heaven
with an urgency that the rest of the world did not always comprehend.  We came to under-
stand why the hymnwriters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries often concluded their
texts with a stanza about heaven, so that even on Christmas Day, when we sang Once in
royal David's city, the final stanza begins: 

Not in that poor, lowly stable

With the oxen standing by,

We shall see you, but in heaven,

Set at God's right hand on high.

In those earlier times, life expectancy was short (which also inspires Wesley's hymn).  The
hope of a life to come was an important comfort.  Toward the end of the twentieth century
we understood in a profound way the continuing need for that hope.

Five Years Ago:  World AIDS Day

Cecil Frances Alexander

Irish hymnwriter Cecil Frances Alexander died on this day in 1895 (the date of her birth in 1823 is not recorded). Her first published writing was in a series of religious tracts she produced with her friend Lady Harriet Howard. They were both influenced by the Oxford Movement (also sometimes called the Tractarian Movement because its precepts were laid out in a series called Tracts for the Times, published from 1833 to 1841). Harriet and Fanny (as she was known) decided to put out their own tracts in 1842. Harriet supplied the prose and Fanny the poetry, intended to reflect and expand upon Harriet's themes. The tracts attracted much interest and were collected into a book in 1848.

By that time she had already published two collections of poetry: Verses for Holy Seasons (1846) and Hymns for Little Children, and texts from these collections began appearing in hymnals. Several more collections followed, and hymnal editors often contacted her for a new text or two for their books. By the time of her death her hymns were known and loved throughout the world, and many survive into our time.

Here are the blog we have already seen all of her most familiar hymns (click on the tag below), so I found something a bit more obscure for today.

From many a close and crowded place,
From many a lowly room,
Out of the strife of common life,
Out of its toil and gloom,

We come, for strength to keep our hope,
To feed the life we live;
The feast is spread, the cup and bread,
And Christ is there to give.

Each time we seek thy table blest,
Again, again, 'tis dear --
Joy thus to be rememb'ring thee.
And joy to know thee near.

Be with us at thy sweet love-feast,
Still feed us with thy grace,
Till faith's strong might be lost in sight,
And we behold thy face.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 19th cent.; alt.
Tune: CAITHNESS (C.M.)
Scottish Psalter, 1625

Following her death, her husband William Alexander, the Archbishop of All Ireland, published a larger collection of her hymns and poems. Though he included some biographical information in the preface, he did not reveal her birthdate either. Most of the preface tells about Mrs. Alexander's many works of charity and somewhat less about her writing. In a brief personal recollection, writing of their marriage in 1850, he says: it is not the exaggeration of affection which says that she was a singularly attractive person. Perhaps not the most effusive tribute, but he was, after all, an archbishop.

Two Years Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

Two Years Ago: Healey Willan

Two Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

One Year Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Trinity Sunday

We are now entering the longest “season” in the church year, the Sundays after Pentecost (33 or 34 of them), which are in some churches numbered until we get back again to the First Sunday in Advent next fall. But today, the First Sunday after Pentecost, is also known as Trinity Sunday, a particular celebration of the Holy Trinity, the “foundational doctrine of God in the Christian faith” (though many churches will say that they celebrate the Trinity every Sunday).

Today's hymn below will be sung in many places today, though I believe it's now mostly confined to Episcopal and Anglican churches, as well as the Church of Ireland, where this English translation was first used.

The hymn has been attributed to Saint Patrick (and is sometimes sung on his feast day, March 17, as well), though modern scholarship believes it originated after his lifetime, perhaps in the eighth century. The original text is known as St. Patrick's Breastplate, or Lorica; or, to the Irish, Faeth Fiada (The Deer's Cry). The lorica, literally, refers to body armor, but in the Christian monastic tradition the word is also used to describe a kind of prayer, or even incantation, to be recited for protection from enemies and evil forces. From the preface of one of the earliest manuscripts to print this text:

Patrick made this hymn (...) and the cause of its composition was for the protection of himself and his monks against the deadly enemies that lay in ambush for the clerics. And it is a lorica of faith for the protection of body and soul against demons and men and vices...

Hundreds of years later Cecil Frances Alexander was asked to produce a metrical translation for the hymnal of the Church of Ireland, but her hymn was first published in a pamphlet so that it could be sung throughout the denomination on St. Patrick's Day in 1889, This is almost certainly related to the fact that Alexander's husband was William Alexander, the Archbishop of Armagh and head of the Irish Church (and thus a direct successor of Patrick himself).

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One, and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever,
By power of faith, Christ's Incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet "Well done" in judgment hour;
The service of the seraphim;
Confessors' faith, apostles' word,
The patriarchs' prayers, the prophets' scrolls;
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of faithful souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
God's eye to watch, God's might to stay,
God's ear to hearken, to my need;
The wisdom of my God to teach,
God's hand to guide, God's shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
God's heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me,

Christ within me,
Christ behind me,

Christ before me,
Christ beside me,

Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort

And restore me.
Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,
Christ in quiet,

Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of

All that love me,
Christ in mouth of

Friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the God of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

attrib. Saint Patrick, 5th cent.
tr. Cecil Frances Alexander, 1889; alt.
Tune: ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE (Irregular)
Tune (st. 6): DIERDRE
arr. Charles V. Stanford, 1902

The hymn is unusual for a few different reasons (not its length). The first stanza is only four lines long, followed by several eight-line stanzas. Then, when you get into singing those, suddenly there's a stanza that's sung to a completely different tune (because it wouldn't fit to the other one). Then back to the main tune for one more stanza. I believe I've seen it printed somewhere without that different stanza, where the hymnal editors probably believed it was just too confusing. However, I've sung it in various places where it went just fine, most recently at the consecration of our new bishop last month.

Unfortunately, we are singing only the first two and last two stanzas today at my church, which makes the hymn a little too Christ-centered (sts. 2 & 6) for Trinity Sunday IMHO. If you think the hymn as printed here is too long, there are actually two additional stanzas (originally the sixth and seventh) from Mrs. Alexander's translation that aren't generally included in hymnals these days. These stanzas are particularly relevant to the text as lorica.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death-wound and the burning
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till thy returning.

Charles Villiers Stanford first arranged the main tune (now known as ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE) for inclusion in the Complete Collection of Irish Music (1902) which he edited. His tune and the sixth-stanza tune were matched with Alexander's text in the English Hymnal (1906), where DIERDRE claims to be “Adapted from an Ancient Irish Melody.”

Yes, it's a long hymn, even without those extra two stanzas. But it's certainly memorable, if you ever get the chance to sing it all the way through.

P.S. - this is Post #400 for the blog, not so bad, I think, for (nearly) two and a half years.

Two Years Ago: Trinity Sunday

One Year Ago: Trinity Sunday

The Feast of the Ascension

Today is the “official” day in the church calendar that marks the Ascension, forty days (that number again!) after Easter, though not many churches will hold services today. The story is told in different passages, including Luke 24: 44-53, of Jesus' miraculous departure from our world. Some sources claim that the celebration of the Ascension began about forty years after tha life of Jesus, but it was not formalized until the third century. Given the varying days of Easter, Ascension can fall anywhere between April 30 and June 3, so we're fairly close of the mid-range this year.

Today;s hymn by Cecil Frances Alexander did not first appear in one of her collections for children, but in an 1852 hymnal published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

The eternal gates are lifted up,
The doors are opened wide;
Our Savior Jesus is gone in,
Now reigning at God's side.

Thou art gone up before us, Christ.
To make for us a place,
That we may be where now thou art,
And look upon God’s face.

Lift up our thoughts, lift up our songs:
And let thy grace be giv’n;
That, while we wander here below,
Our hearts may look toward heav’n.

That where thou art, at God’s right hand,
Our hope, our love, may be:
Dwell in us here, that we may dwell
Forevermore in thee.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1852; alt.
Tune: REDCLIFFE (C.M.)
Phyllis Skene, c. 1902

Composer Phyllis Skene is another Voice Found, though unfortunately I have not yet discovered very much about her. This tune, with four others by her, appears in Hymns of Consecration and Faith (1902?), a hymnal compiled by Mrs. Evan Hughes. On the actual pages where her tunes appear, she is credited only as P. Skene, but “Miss Phyllis Skene” is thanked in the foreword of the book along with other composers, for “abundant help in contributing to the musical part of the collection, many of the Tunes being written expressly for this book.” I've sent this meager information to the Cyber Hymnal, where they were apparently unaware of even her first name or gender. (UPDATE: They have revised Skene's listing now with my submitted info.)

In prior years, I have marked the birthday of Sir Arthur Sullivan on this date. As it happens, he wrote the tune for an Ascension text seen here in 2008. While I was not terribly impressed by his tune ST. PATRICK at that time, another version can be heard here, at the Gilbert & Sullivan Archive, which gives a better sense of it. It's still no ST. GERTRUDE, though.

P.S. The picture above is a small portion of The Ascension of Christ by Tintoretto; you can see the full painting here.


One (Liturgical) Year Ago: The Feast of the Ascension

One (Calendar) Year Ago: Sir Arthur Sullivan

Good Friday

There is a green hill far away,
Outside a city wall,
Where Jesus Christ was crucified,
Who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains you had to bear;
But we believe it was for us
You hung and suffered there.

You died that we might be forgiv’n,
You died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heav’n,
Saved by your precious blood.

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
You only could unlock the gate
Of heaven and let us in.

O dearly, dearly you have loved,
And we must love you, too,
And trust in your redeeming blood,
And try your works to do.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1847; alt.
Tune: HORSLEY (C.M.)
William Horsley, 1844

We Too May Seek That Cradle

So here we are on the twelfth day after Christmas, the actual day of the Feast of the Epiphany in Western tradition. Churches that are especially strict about the liturgical calendar have waited until today to celebrate the coming of the Magi, though their attendance would probably have been better this past Sunday.

Today's hymn has come up in discussion before but I still wanted to use it today because it's a particular favorite of mine, even though I don't see it in any of the contemporary hymnals where it might logically be found.

Saw you never, in the twilight,
When the sun had left the skies,
Up in heav’n the clear stars shining
Through the gloom, like silver eyes?
So of old the sages, watching,
Saw a little stranger star,
And they knew the Christ was given,
And they followed it from far.

Heard you never of the story
How they crossed the desert wild,
Journeyed on by plain and mountain,
Till they found the holy Child?
How they opened all their treasure,
Knelt in awe and wondering;
Gave the gold and fragrant incense,
Gave the myrrh in offering?

Know ye not that lowly baby
Was the bright and morning Star?
One who came to light the nations,
And the scattered isles afar?
And we, too, may seek that cradle;
There our hearts’ best treasures lay;
Love, and faith, and true devotion
For our Savior, God, alway.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1853: alt.
Tune: CHARTRES (8.7.8.7.D.)
French melody, 15th c.; arr. Charles Wood, 1902

This hymn was first published in Cecil Frances Alexander's Narrative Hymns for Village Schools (1853), where it was titled The Adoration of the Wise Men. It is perhaps considered too quaint for modern-day worshippers, but its charm is not lost on me, and hopefully not on you either.

Irish composer Charles Wood, probably best known for his Anglican anthems and service music, arranged this tune from a medieval French love song (Helas! je l'ay perdu, or Alas! I am lost) for the Cowley Carol Book in 1902.

With the Oxen Standing By

Cecil Frances Alexander published her popular Hymns for Little Children (text only, no music) in 1848. She wrote these hymns to explain various parts of Christian doctrine, and today's hymn was to illustrate a portion of the Apostles' Creed (...conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary...)


Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for a bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little child.

You came down to earth from heaven,
As the living God of all,
And your shelter was a stable,
And your cradle was a stall;
You, with all the meek and lowly,
Lived on earth, our Savior holy.

For you are our lifelong pattern,
Day by day like us you grew;
You were little, weak and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us you knew.
And you feel for all our sadness,
And you share in all our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see you,
Through your own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle
Now is Christ in heaven above;
And you lead your children on
To the place where you have gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see you; but in heaven,
Set at God's right hand on high;
Where like stars your children crowned,
Shall with joy your courts surround.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848; alt.
Tune: IRBY (8.7.8.7.7.7.)
Henry J. Gauntlett, 1849

Composer Gauntlett wrote this tune specifically for Mrs. Alexander's text, and it remains his most well-known. There have been a few other unsuccessful attempts at writing a new tune, such as Katie Smith's in 1876, but none have lasted.

Ever since 1919, this hymn has been used as the opening processional for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at Kings College, Oxford University (broadcast around the world since 1928).

Saint Andrew

The feast day of Saint Andrew is generally celebrated on November 30, except in those years when it falls on a Sunday, in which case it can get bumped to Monday for something more significant (in this case, the First Sunday in Advent).

Andrew, one of the twelve disciples, was one of the earliest, with his brother Peter, to hear the call to follow Jesus. In some accounts he was first a follower of John the Baptist. He appears in some of the inportant Gospel stories, but is mentioned only once in the Book of Acts. Years later, he was martyred in Greece, crucified on a x-shaped cross now called the "St. Andrew's cross," usually shown in pictures of him (as above).

This hymn for St. Andrew's Day is known in many denominations.

Jesus calls us over the tumult
Of our life’s wild, restless, sea;
Day by day that clear voice soundeth,
Saying, “Christian, follow me!”

As of old Saint Andrew heard it
By the Galilean lake,
Turned from home and toil and kindred,
Leaving all for Jesus’ sake.

In our joys and in our sorrows,
Days of toil and hours of ease,
Jesus calls, in cares and pleasures,
“Christian, love me more than these!”

Jesus calls us! By thy mercies,
Savior, may we hear thy call,
Give our hearts to thine obedience,
Serve and love thee best of all.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1852; alt.
Tune: GALILEE (8.7.8.7.)
William H. Jude, 1874

Now, most of those denominations don't actually mark St. Andrew's Day. This hymn is used year-round for the theme of following Christ's call to discipleship and service. But, of course, it's about a man. The women who heard the call didn't generally find their way into our hymnody until recently. So I wrote this additional verse for Mrs. Alexander's hymn some years ago, based on the story of Lydia, the "seller of purple," from Acts 16:11-15.

Faithful Lydia, selling purple,
Heard of Jesus' power to save;
Opened first her heart as off'ring,
Then her home as refuge gave.

Insert between the third and fourth verses above for use any time other than St. Andrew's Day.

Cecil Frances Alexander

The exact birthdate of hymnwriter Cecil Frances Alexander in April, 1818, is unknown, but she died on October 12, 1895. She was the wife of William Alexander who was later named Archbishop of all Ireland.

She began writing verse as a child, and by the 1840s her hymns were already being published in Church of Ireland hymnals, and they soon spread to other denominations. Her most popular book was Hymns for Little Children, first published in 1848 and continuing through many editions. The profits from that book went to support a school for the hearing-impaired that she and her sister had helped to found.

Though many of her hymns were first written for children, they were used in standard hymnals as well and you will recognize several of them as still popular today. We no longer think of them as restricted to Sunday school use.

Refrain
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
God made their glowing colors,
God made their tiny wings.
Refrain

The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.
Refrain

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
God made them every one.
Refrain

God gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
Refrain

Cecil Frances Alexander, c.1848; alt.
Tune: ROYAL OAK (C.M. with refrain)
English melody, 17th c.; arr. Martin Shaw, 1915

All right, that one is a bit more child-like than some of the others, but it is frequently sung in "regular" church as well. Alexander intended her hymns to be instructional, and there's one verse, about English class structure, which is not generally used anymore:

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
God made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

There have been several tunes sung with this hymn before Martin Shaw's ROYAL OAK appeared and became the standard, most of them written specifically for it. William Monk's ALL THINGS BRIGHT was popular in the nineteenth century, and was used again in Voices Found along with ROYAL OAK. Someday I would also like to hear two other tunes that were written by women: Emma T. Mitchell's BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL from The Life Hymnal (1904) and Mary Shaw Attwood's GREAT AND SMALL from The Sunday School Hymnal (1912).

Saint James

Saint James the Greater (to differentiate him from other Jameses named in the New Testament) is commemorated today in Western Christianity. This James was the son of Zebedee who, with his brother John, left their fisherman father by the seashore to follow Jesus. James and John were called the Sons of Thunder by Mark.

Unlike some of the disciples, James is specifically placed in several of the stories of Jesus's ministry, so more is known about him than others. He was also the first of the disciples to be martyred, beheaded by Herod in the year 44. Some accounts claim that his body was taken to Spain and buried there, where he had evangelized for some years, and thus he is named as the patron saint of that country. He is often depicted as a pilgrim, carrying a staff, as in the window here.

For all thy saints, a noble throng,
Who fell by sword and flame,
Who soon were called, or waited long,
O Christ, we praise thy Name!

For James, who left his father’s side,
Nor lingered by the shore,
When, softer than the rolling tide,
Thy summons glided o’er.

Who stood beside the maiden dead,
Who climbed the mount with thee,
And saw the glory round thy head,
One of thy chosen three.

Who knelt beneath the olive shade,
Who drank thy cup of pain,
And passed from Herod’s flashing blade
To see thy face again.

So shall we learn to drink thy cup,
So strong and firm be found,
When thou shalt come to take us up
Where all thy saints are crowned.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1875, alt.
Tune: ST. JAMES (C.M.)
Ralph Courteville, 1696

Cecil Frances Alexander was the wife of an Anglican bishop who wrote many hymns, some of which are still familiar today, such as the recently-mentioned Once in royal David's city. This text was probably written specifically to go with this older tune, which originally had appeared in a hymnal with the unwieldy title of Se­lect Psalms and Hymns for the Use of the Par­ish Church and Ta­ber­na­cle of St. James’, West­min­ster.