Maria Weston Chapman

Maria Weston Chapman (July 25, 1806 - July 12, 1885) was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, the oldest of eight children.  When she was in her teens, a wealthy uncle took her to England to complete her education, and upon returning to Boston she became the principal of the Young Ladies' High School, a new progressive school.

In 1830 she married Henry Grafton Chapman, a prominent abolitionist. Maria also joined the abolition movement, and in 1833 she was a founding member of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society with eleven other women (including two of her sisters).

Maria gradually grew more and more committed to the cause, particularly after she got to know William Lloyd Garrison, perhaps the best-known abolitionist in the country.  She became Garrison's assistant, helping him to run the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and she also edited The Liberator, the weekly abolitionist newspaper he published. She avoided public speaking, and worked behind the scenes, organizing fundraisers and eventually writing her own material for the cause.

In 1836 she compiled, contributed to, and published Songs of the Free, and Hymns of Christian Freedom, which may have been the first songbook of the abolition movement.  In the introduction to the collection, Chapman writes that those who were working for the end of slavery felt the need for "...the encouragement, consolation, and strength afforded by poetry and music." There were new hymn texts by people in her circle, including Garrison, her sisters, and other prominent women writers such as Eliza Follen and Lydia Sigourney, and she interspersed these among hymns by prominent hymnwriters such as Watts, Wesley, James Montgomery, Reginald Heber, and Anna Laetitia Barbauld. Those older hymns had not been expressly written against slavery, but Chapman chose texts that included the same themes of justice and freedom that her contemporaries were using.  She also included other poetry that was not written for singing (that is, in regular meters).

Today's hymn is one of those written by Chapman.

O God of Freedom, bless this night
The steadfast hearts that toil as one,
Till thy sure law of truth and right
Alike in heav'n and earth be done.

A piercing voice of grief and wrong
Goes upward from the groaning earth!
Oh true and holy Lord! how long?
In majesty and might come forth!

Yet, God, rememb'ring mercy too,
Behold th'oppressors in their sin;
Make all their actions just and true,
Renew their wayward hearts within.

From thee let righteous purpose flow,
And find in every heart its home,
Till truth and justice reign below;
On earth thy free dominion come.

Maria Weston Chapman, 1836; alt
Tune: UXBRIDGE (L.M.)
Lowell Mason, 1830

This text was titled Monthly Concert of Prayer for Emancipation, and "this night," as mentioned in the first line of the text, was footnoted "the last Monday night of every month," which was apparently the regular meeting time for Garrison's Society and this may have been emulated in other abolitionist groups.

Songs of the Free contained texts only, no tunes. At the close of the book's introduction, Chapman wrote:

The machinery of metres, names of tunes, numerals, and characters has been omitted, because they are useless to those who are unable to sing, and because the spirit and the understanding are a sufficient directory to those who can.

Song leaders in local abolitionist groups were free to choose whichever tunes they wanted, and likely chose familiar tunes that most people would know (such as the tunes of Bostonian Lowell Mason, which quickly spread within a few years of publication).



Eight Years Ago: Saint James

Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, one of the most prolific hymnwriters in history, was born on this date in 1707, the eighteenth of nineteen children born to his parents.  Born prematurely, he nearly died in the first weeks of his life.  The Wesley children were tutored for six hours daily by their mother Susanna, who also spoke Latin, Greek, and French, so they were well prepared to continue their educational studies in more formal settings. While at Oxford University, Charles founded the Holy Club in 1727, a small group who conducted Bible study and celebrated the Eucharist weekly, and also visited prisoners and taught children to read. 

Of course, Charles and his older brother John went on to become the founders of the Methodist Church. Though they had never intended to leave the Church of England, those who followed them eventually set themselves up as a separate denomination. The Wesley brothers were committed to teaching a faith which was based in their classical educations and not on a fundamentalist view of the Bible.

Charles is best known for his hymns, of which more than 6500 have been identified.  Like John Calvin and Martin Luther before them, the Wesleys believed congregational singing to be a good way to spread their message. Duke Divinity School, founded by the Methodists in 1926, maintains a directory of Wesley's published and unpublished hymn texts on their website.

Today's lesser-known hymn was first published in Charles's 1747 collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. 

See how great a flame aspires,
Kindled by a spark of grace!
Jesus' love the nations fires,
Sets earth's kingdoms all ablaze:
To bring fire on earth he came;
Kindled in our hearts it is:
O that all might catch the flame,
All partake the glorious bliss!

Saints of God, your Savior praise!
Christ the door hath opened wide!
He hath giv’n the word of grace,
Jesus’ word is glorified;
Jesus, mighty to redeem,
He alone the work hath wrought;
Worthy is this work of God,
God, who made the world from naught.

Saw ye not the cloud arise,
Little as a human hand?
Now it spreads along the skies,
Hangs o’er all the thirsty land!
Lo! the promise of a shower
Drops already from above;
And our God will shortly pour
On the world eternal love.

Charles Wesley, 1746; alt.
Tune: CULFORD (7.7.7.7.D.)
Edward J. Hopkins, 1867

I like how the hymn begins with fire and ends with water (the cloud "little as a human hand" comes from 1 Kings 19:44, when Elijah's prayers to God bring rain after many years of drought). 

Charles and John Wesley are also commemorated together on March 3 in the calendar of the Episcopal Church.




Seven Years Ago: Phoebe Worrall Palmer

Five Years Ago: Charles Wesley

Three Years Ago: Charles Wesley

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

The Feast of Pentecost

Happy Birthday to the Church!  One more Pentecost - a day that I have not yet missed here for the last six years (so there are plenty of hymns to explore again below).  You have to look closely at the picture above to see the tongues of fire on the heads of Mary and the apostles.

Spirit of grace and health and pow'r,
Fountain of life and light below,
On us your healing influence show'r
O'er all the nations let it flow.

Inflame our hearts with perfect love;
In us the work of faith instill;
So not heavn's host shall swifter move
Than we on earth to do your will.

In faith we wait and long and pray
To see that time by prophets told,
When nations, new-born into day,
Shall be ingathered to your fold.

We cannot doubt your gracious will,
O Spirit, merciful and just;
And you will speedily fulfill
The word in which your people trust.

Charles Wesley, 1742; alt.
Tune: HEBRON (L.M.)
Lowell Mason, 1830

This text, which I found in the Mission Hymnal (1929) of the Unitarian Laymen's League, is at least partly taken from Charles Wesley's Son of thy Sire's eternal love,  The text as amended seems to have appeared first in a later edition of A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion, which was originally compiled in 1844 by our old friends Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson, so it's likely that they adapted it from Wesley's original words. 



Six Years Ago: Joy! because the circling year

Five Years Ago:  O prophet souls of all the years

Four Years Ago: Above the starry spheres

Three Years Ago: Hail thee, festival day

Two Years Ago: Hail festal day! through every age

One Year Ago: O God, the Holy Ghost

Hail the Sun of Righteousness

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Refrain
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ, by highest heav’n adored;
Christ the ever-living Word;
Late in time, behold him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Lo! you come with us to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Refrain

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Ris’n with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that we no more may die.
Born to raise us from the earth,
Born to give us second birth.
Refrain

Charles Wesley, 1739; alt.
Tune: MENDELSSOHN (7.7.7.7.D. with refrain)
Felix Mendelssohn, 1840;
adapt. William H. Cummings, 1855

Charles Wesley's text, originally titled Hymn for Christmas Day, has been altered by many hands since shortly after it was first published, long before it became familiar around the world.  Indeed, his original first line was Hark! how all the welkin rings, "welkin" being a word for the vault of heaven.

When we were working on our hymnal project for the Metropolitan Community Churches, we received an angry letter from someone accusing us of changing this Christian hymn into a pagan one because we had supposedly exchanged "Sun" for "Son" in the third stanza.  However, "Sun" was actually Wesley's word, coming from Malachi 4:2: But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. This is part of a longer passage where the prophet Malachi is telling of the promised Savior to come.  I still wonder how many people who sing this hymn by heart assume that the word really is "Son." And of course, I couldn't resist using the line as the title of this post.

Wesley's final two stanzas are rarely, if ever, sung any more (though I would love to hear if anyone did sing them this year).  They would sound a bit odd to many.

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conq’ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to thine.
Refrain

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Let us thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.
Refrain

Before the text became joined to Mendelssohn's tune, it was sung to several others, and often to the tune we now know as EASTER HYMN, divided into four-line stanzas with no refrain, but with an Alleluia at the end of each line.

Mendelssohn's tune is derived from the first twenty measures of the second movement of his Festgesang, composed in 1840.  The composer thought that this melody might go well with another song of some sort, but he wrote to a friend that "it will never do to sacred words. (...) The words must express something gay and popular, as the music tries to do."  After Mendelssohn's death. William H. Cummings, organist at Waltham Abbey in England, adapted the tune to Wesley's text, probably not knowing anything of  Mendelssohn's letter.

Four Years Ago: Once in royal David's city

Three Years Ago: Where is this stupendous stranger?

Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, born today in 1707, has been called the "sweet singer of Methodism," and the "bard of Wesleyanism" by various writers.  His more than 6500 hymns could be said to have formed the foundation of the Methodist Church for many of its early members.  Charles and his brother John believed in the power of congregational singing to reinforce their teaching and preaching to their followers. 

In those days, the Methodist meetings were held on Friday nights, assuming that most people went to their local Church of England parish on Sunday mornings.  Charles himself always insisted that he remained a faithful member of the Anglican clergy throughout his life, though the Church did not necessarily agree.  Anglican bishops and many of the clergy still maintained at this time that psalm paraphrases were the only acceptable form of congregational singing.  Hymns were sung by the Nonconformist churches, like the Congregationalists, the Baptists, and the Methodists, which made them suspect to the Anglicans, who feared that incorrect doctrine might be transmitted.

Today's hymn by Charles Wesley remains one of his most well-known, though originally his brother thought it overly sentimental.  There are several stories as to its origin, one being that it was written after an angry mob who objected to the Mothodists chased Charles away from a prayer meeting, leading him to compose this hymn on the theme of Jesus' protecting love.

Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed,
All my help from thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of thy wing.

Plenteous grace with thee is found,
Grace to free from all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound;
Make and keep me whole within.
Thou of life the fountain art,
Freely let me take of thee;
Spring thou up within my heart;
Rise to all eternity.

Charles Wesley, 1740; alt.
Tune: ABERYSTWTYTH (7.7.7.7.D.)
Joseph Parry, 1875

Like many of Wesley's hymns, this one has traveled far beyond its Methodist roots. The website hymnary.org finds this hymn in 2,524 hymnals (which only includes hymnals published in North America, so the total number must be much larger).  In 1899, hymnologist Louis Benson listed it at #3 in The Best Church Hymns, finding it in 104 of the 107 hymnals he researched.  I'm sure it still appears on the favorite list of many people today.



Four Years Ago: Phoebe Worrall Palmer

Two Years Ago: Charles Wesley

The Lodestone of Thy Love

It's the last unofficial weekend of summer and many churches all over will be starting their program years next week. Attendance is often down in the summer months and some people who haven't been around since June will return again. So today's hymn is a sort of gathering song for the busy times ahead as Sunday school teachers prepare to meet their classes and choirs and music directors look ahead to a busy Christmas season. 

Jesus, united by thy grace,
And each to each endeared,
With confidence we seek thy face
And know our prayer is heard.

Make us into one spirit drink;
Baptize into thy name;
And let us always kindly think,
And sweetly speak, the same.

Help us to help each other, Lord,
Each other’s burdens bear;
Let all their friendly aid afford,
And feel each other’s care.

Touched by the lodestone of thy love,
Let all our hearts agree,
And ever toward each other move,
And ever move toward thee.

To thee, inseparably joined,
Let all our spirits cleave;
O may we all the loving mind,
That was in thee receive.

And when the fullest joy is given,
The same delight we prove,
In earth, till when we rise to heav'n,
Our all in all be Love.

Charles Wesley, 1742; alt.
Tune: ST. FULBERT (C.M.)
Henry J. Gauntlett, 1849




Four Years Ago: Queen Liliuokalani

Three Years Ago: Queen Liliuokalani

For You Have Set Me Free

One of the readings for this particular Sunday from the Revised Common Lectionary (used in many churches across various denominations) is Psalm 30.  In some places, the psalms are sung in metrical paraphrases (what most people would consider hymns) rather than read or chanted.

The following paraphrase of Psalm 30 is from The Psalter (1912), a collection chosen and assembled by several different subdivisions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States and Canada, working together. 

God, I will praise your name,
For you have set me free,
Nor suffered foes to claim
A triumph over me;
O Lord, my God, to you I cried
And you have health and strength supplied.

You have my soul restored
When I was near the grave,
And from the depths, O Lord,
You graciously did save;
O blessed saints, sing to the Lord,
God's holiness with thanks record.

God's wrath is quickly past,
God's favor lives for aye;
Though grief a night may last,
Joy comes at break of day;
In my prosperity secure
I said, “My peace shall still endure.”

The Psalter, 1912; alt.
Tune: GOPSAL (H.M.)
George Frederick Handel, c. 1750

The tune GOPSAL was indeed written by Handel, and is apparently not an arrangement from one of his other works.  In 1826, the composer Samuel Wesley (son of Charles Wesley and father of Samuel Sebastian Wesley) was cataloguing the music in the library of the Fitzwiliam Museum at Cambridge, and he discovered three tunes by Handel still in manuscript, never published.  Samuel described them in a letter to his wife:

"...fine Hymn-Tunes from Handel's own manuscript, and what is uncommonly fortunate, they are all set to my father's own words, so that my dear father's poetry must have highly delighted Handel."

GOPSAL, originally called THE RESURRECTION, accompanied Charles Wesley's hymn Rejoice, the Lord is King, and is still sometimes sung with that text.  Its new(er) name comes from Gopsal Hall, the former residence of Charles Jennens, who wrote the texts for some of Handel's choral works, including Messiah.

All the Earth Shall Be Made New

In hundreds of churches all over the world, some version of this hymn was sung this morning, but probably not this particular one. Many more sang at least this tune, but with a different (perhaps related) text.

Jesus Christ is ris'n today, Alleluia!

Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!

Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!

Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Haste, ye seekers from your fright, Alleluia!

Take to Galilee your flight, Alleluia!

To the sad disciples say, Alleluia!

Jesus Christ is ris'n today. Alleluia!

Lo, the earth awakes again, Alleluia!

From the winter's bond and pain, Alleluia!

Bring we leaf and flower and spray, Alleluia!

To adorn this happy day. Alleluia!

Once again the Word comes true, Alleluia!

All the earth shall be made new, Alleluia!

Now the long, cold days are o'er, Alleluia!

Life and gladness are before, Alleluia!

Jesus Christ is ris'n today! Alleluia!

Christ our Light, our Life, our Way, Alleluia!

Who, by dying conquered death. Alleluia!

Ever sing our love and faith! Alleluia!

Text: Composite

Tune: EASTER HYMN (7.7.7.7. with Alleluias)

Lyra Davidica, 1708; arr. William H. Monk, 19th cent.

As I said, there are, and have been many different versions of this text in English over the last three centuries (it originally derives from a Latin text, perhaps from the fourteenth century). The last stanza here comes from a nine-stanza version published in 1800. The third and fourth stanzas are actually taken from a text by the Unitarian Samuel Longfellow. I can't prove this, but it seems possible that it was written so that Unitarians could get to sing this popular tune also (though it may have only been matched to this tune later).

The second stanza no longer appears in many hymnals, but it actually comes from Lyra Davidica (1708 - full title: Lyra Davidica, or a Collection of Divine Songs and Hymns, partly new composed, partly translated from the High German and Latin Hymns; and set to easy and pleasant tunes), the book where three stanzas of the old Latin text were first translated into English. That version reads:

Jesus Christ is risen today, Halle-Halle-lujah.

Our triumphant Holyday

Who so lately on the Cross

Suffer'd to redeem our loss.

Haste, ye females from your fright

Take to Galilee your flight

To the sad Disciples say

Jesus Christ is risen today.

In our Paschal joy and feast

Let the Lord of life be blest

Let the Holy Trine be prais'd

And thankful hearts to Heaven be rais'd.

The third stanza of this version seems unlikely to be revived; particularly the reference to the "Holy Trine" which does not appear to be a usual shortening of "Trinity," but perhaps an alteration to make it fit the meter of the text.

There is a similar hymn by Charles Wesley which is sometimes sung to this tune: Christ the Lord is risen today, which you might have sung today instead (particularly if you're a Methodist). Many hymnals have even combined stanzas from Wesley and the original.

The tune known now as EASTER HYMN, as first printed in Lyra Davidica is not what we sing today. There it was described as "a little freer air than the grand movement of the Psalm tunes." A later arrangement, closer to what we know, appeared in The Compleat Psalmodist (1749), and this version was later harmonized by William H. Monk. In at least one nineteenth century hymnbook, the tune was matched with a very different text by Charles Wesley: Hark, how all the welkin rings, which we know today by a rather different first line. Christmas might feel a bit different today if that had caught on.

P.S. The art above, The Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb is a fresco by Fra Angelico, from the Convent of San Marco in Florence.

Three Years Ago: Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Two Years Ago: The strife is o'er, the battle done

Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Today is the 201st birthday of composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley, the grandson of hymnwriter Charles Wesley. His father, also Samuel, was a composer of some renown in his day but is largely forgotten now. The elder Samuel worked to promote the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in England, and his son (whose middle name came from the German master) would do the same in his day.

Young Samuel Sebastian became a boy chorister at the Chapel Royal at age ten. One story told of his time there claims that his singing caught the attention of King George IV, who gave him a gold watch.

He obtained his first position as an organist at sixteen at St. James Church, Hampstead Road, and over the next five years worked at three additional London churches (sometimes at more than one at a time). In 1832 he became organist at Exeter Cathedral, and would go on to serve at the cathedrals of Winchester and Gloucester. He published the book A Few Words on Cathedral Music (1849) which argued for higher standards (and therefore higher salaries) for cathedral musicians.

Wesley wrote some music for the organ, but most of his output was choral music, both anthems and music for the service, as well as 130 hymn tunes, several of which we have already heard here.

Today's hymn is set to a tune by Wesley which appeared in The European Psalmist (1872), a collection he edited. The text is by an unknown author, but it has been used as a gospel song with a tune by James McGranahan.

O Christ, in thee my soul hath found,
And found in thee alone,
The peace, the joy I sought so long,
The bliss till now unknown.

I sighed for rest and happiness,
I yearned for them, not thee;
But, while I passed my Savior by,
Thy love laid hold on me.

I tried the broken cisterns, Lord,
But, ah, the waters failed;
Even as I stooped to drink they fled,
And mocked me as I wailed.

Now none but Christ can satisfy,
None other Name for me!
There’s love, and life, and lasting joy,
Dear Jesus, found in thee.

Author unknown, 19th cent.; alt.
Tune: WETHERBY (C.M.)
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1872

The 'broken cisterns' in stanza three are presumably those in Jeremiah 2:13.


Two Years Ago: Samuel Sebastian Wesley

Philip Doddridge

Philip Doddridge (June 26, 1702 - October 26, 1751) is probably the third-most popular hymnwriter from the eighteenth century, behind Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, in the number of his texts which are still sung today.

Both of his grandfathers were ministers (though he never knew them); his mother's father lived in Germany for a time and returned to England with a Luther Bible, which was passed down to Philip, who was eventually to follow in his grandfathers' profession. His mother, Monica, taught him stories from the Bible when he was a child, pointing out the scenes as painted on Delft tiles surrounding the family fireplace.

For Doddridge's previous birthdays I have used more familiar hymns, but this one is probably not so well-known. Like all his texts, it was not published during his lifetime.

O Zion, tune your voice,
And raise your hands on high;
Tell all the earth your joys,
Proclaim salvation nigh;
Cheerful in God,
Arise and shine
While rays divine
Stream all abroad.

God gilds your mourning face
With beams that cannot fade;
God's all-resplendent grace
Is poured around your head;
The nations round
Your form shall view
With luster new
Divinely crowned.

In honor to God's name
Reflect that sacred light;
And loud that grace proclaim,
Which makes the whole world bright;
Pursue God's praise
Till sovereign love
In worlds above,
The glory raise.

Philip Doddridge, 1755; alt.
Tune: DARWALL (H.M.)
John Darwall, 1770

The church that Doddridge pastored in Northhampton for more than twenty years is still open today as the Castle Hill United Reformed Church (interior pictured below).

A note on the tune: The Hallelujah meter, or as it is often written out, (6.6.6.6.8.8.) is not so widely used in modern hymnwriting, and overall there are fewer tunes written for it than some of the more oft-used ones. I think it could be due to the fact that there is only one truly great tune that has been written to fit that meter, the one above by John Darwall. I have used two others previously at the blog, BEVAN and SAMUEL, but neither is a good fit for these words. I looked at several others: ZEBULON was not quite right, and ST. SWITHIN was hopelessly Victorian. LAUS DEO and ST. GODRIC were both closer to the right feel, but really, if anyone was going to sing this hymn today, why would they not choose the familiar DARWALL, which is about as joyful a tune as you could want, proceeding to a powerful climax.

Three Years Ago: Philip Doddridge

Two Years Ago: Philip Doddridge

One Year Ago: Philip Doddridge

Seeking Thee Beyond the Skies

The Feast of the Ascension, forty days after Easter (and thus always a Thursday), is often moved to the Sunday after.

Hail the day that sees him rise, Alleluia!
Glorious to his native skies, Alleluia!
Christ, awhile to mortals given, Alleluia!
Enters in the highest heaven, Alleluia!

Circled round with angel pow'rs, Alleluia!
Their triumphant Lord, and ours, Alleluia!
There the glorious triumph waits, Alleluia!
Lift your heads, eternal gates, Alleluia!

See! He lifts his hands above, Alleluia!
See! He shows the prints of love, Alleluia!
Hark! His gracious lips bestow, Alleluia!
Blessings on the church below, Alleluia!

Grant our hearts may thither rise, Alleluia!
Seeking thee beyond the skies, Alleluia!
Ever upward let us move, Alleluia!
Wafted on the wings of love, Alleluia!

There we shall with thee remain, Alleluia!
Partners of thy endless reign, Alleluia!
There thy face unclouded see, Alleluia!
Find our heav'n of heav'ns in thee, Alleluia!

Charles Wesley, 1739; alt.
Tune: LLANFAIR (7.7.7.7. with Alleluias)
Robert Williams, 1817;
harm. John Roberts, 1837

Short entry today as I am off to NYC to sing a performance of Haydn's Creation in a memorial concert fot Johannes Somary, a famed choral conductor who died earlier this year, with a chorus of 200.


Three Years Ago: The Feast of the Ascension

Two Years Ago: The Feast of the Ascension

One Year Ago: The Feast of the Ascension

Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley (December 18, 1707 - March 29, 1788) and his brother John are commemorated today in the calendar of the modern Episcopal Church. Charles was a priest in the Church of England, ordained in 1735, and always insisted that he remained faithful to that church, though he and his brother are considered the founders of the Methodist denomination.

Since the message of the Wesley brothers was not welcome in their own churches, they traveled widely and preached in many different places (including a year in the American colony of Georgia). Charles began writing hymns as a way to teach their doctrines in a shorter and more easily-remembered way than sermons. It's said that many of his hymns were composed on horseback while riding from place to place. Eventually his health forced him to curtail his traveling ministry and settle in one place, whereupon he devoted more time to hymnwriting. His final output was more than six thousand hymns, most published in many different collections during his lifetime.

Many of Wesley's hymns are still sung today, and by many more people than Methodists. Today's text is not as well-known as some, but many people have believed it to be his finest verse, including Isaac Watts, who wrote that this text was worth all the hymns he himself had written. Its immediate inspiration comes from Genesis 32:22-30, which is the story of Jacob wrestling with an unknown man in the night, and the hymn is often sung to accompany that lesson. But Wesley broadens the meaning to encompass an individual and personal meeting with God, coming to know God's true name and nature through the physical contact of "wrestling."

Come, O thou Traveler unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see!
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with thee;
With thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.
With thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.

I need not tell thee who I am,
My misery and sin declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name,
Look on thy hands, and read it there;
But who, I ask thee, who art thou?
Tell me thy name, and tell me now.
But who, I ask thee, who art thou?
Tell me thy name, and tell me now.

Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer;
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if thy name is Love.
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if thy name is Love.

’Tis Love! ’tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear thy whisper in my heart;
The morning breaks, the shadows flee,
Pure, universal love thou art;
To me, to all, thy mercies move;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.
To me, to all, thy mercies move;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.

Charles Wesley, 1742; alt.
Tune: CANDLER (L.M.D.)
Scottish melody, adapt. 1847

(The sound file is a bit faster than I think it should be sung.)

Wesley's original text was fourteen stanzas long, later shortened to twelve by his brother John. Twelve stanzas was the usual length in hymnbooks through the nineteenth century. The US Methodist Hymnal of 1905 shortened it to seven, and the 1935 edition to these four, which are generally sung today. The latest United Methodist Hymnal (1989), however, does include the entire fourteen-stanza text on the page following the four stanzas with music.

Two weeks after Charles' death, John Wesley was teaching this hymn to a congregation and broke down during the first stanza at the lines My company before is gone / And I am left alone with thee.

Two Years Ago: John and Charles Wesley