R. Kelso Carter

Today is the birthday of Russell Kelso Carter, born in Baltimore in 1849 into a Presbyterian family. As a young man he briefly pursued a military career.  In the 1870s he began to experience various health problems, which led him to investigate faith healing and eventually to join the Methodists, which seemed to him to provide a closer relationship with God. He was active in the Methodist Holiness movement and wrote Miracles of Healing in 1880. 

During this time he was also writing texts and tunes for gospel songs, either by himself or in collaboration with other writers and composers.  He later co-edited two song books, Songs of Perfect Love (1886) with John R. Sweney and Hymns of the Christian Life (1891) with A. B. Simpson.  He also edited a magazine called The Kingdom for a time.

Today's hymn comes from his second collection, a Carter tune with a text by Simpson.

The mercy of God is an ocean divine,
A boundless and fathomless flood.
Launch out in the deep, cut away the shore line,
And be lost in the fullness of God.

Refrain
Launch out, into the deep.
Oh let the shore line go.
Launch out, launch out in the ocean divine,
Out where the full tides flow.

But many, alas! only stand on the shore,
And gaze on the ocean so wide.
They never have ventured its depths to explore,
Or to launch on the fathomless tide.
Refrain

Oh, let us launch out on this ocean so broad,
Where floods of salvation o’erflow.
Oh, let us be lost in the mercy of God,
Till the depths of God's fullness we know.
Refrain

A. B. Simpson, 1891; alt.
Tune: OCEAN DIVINE (11.8.11.8. with refrain)
R. Kelso Carter, 1891

In 1892 Carter moved to the West Coast, leaving his family behind.  When he divorced his wife (and remarried in 1895) he was met with widespread disapproval, which may have been the reason why he left the church, and his faith healing beliefs, for a time and studied to become a physician.  In later years he reached a middle point and conceded that both faith and science had a role in the healing process. He eventually returned to Baltimore and died there in 1928.

More recently, the tune for Carter's most well-known song (at the link below) has gained a new text by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, titled Blessed are the poor among you.



Five Years Ago: R. Kelso Carter

R. Kelso Carter

Russell Kelso Carter, born today in Baltimore in 1849, was a man of several careers, including military cadet, professor of chemistry, civil engineering, and advanced mathematics, sheep rancher, Methodist deacon and evangelist, and finally physician. Somewhere in there he also wrote and composed several gospel songs and helped compile two hymnbooks.

Carter graduated from the Pennsylvania Military Academy (now Widener University) in 1867. He returned to the Academy shortly thereafter to begin his teaching career, but health problems interrupted it and he moved to California for three years to work an a sheep ranch, returning to the Academy again in 1879. Around this time he started to become involved with the Methodist Episcopal Church, attending camp meetings and starting to write gospel songs. He collaborated with John R. Sweney on Hymns of Perfect Love (1886) and with A.B. Simpson on Hymns of the Christian Life (1891).

The introduction to that second collection (which includes our previously-seen Carter song as #1) begins with a discussion that remains as topical today as it was then:

The musical taste of our day is in a state of transition. Beyond controversy, the people will have new tunes and hymns that move in a more spirited time than those which our fathers (and mothers! CWS) sang. But this fact should not send us to an extreme, and cause us to relegate all the old hymns to the dusty past. (...) Between the Scotch Psalter and the Salvation Army Song Book there is a wide stretch of territory in which the careful explorer will find much that is good, and possessing that rare quality, endurance.

How many hymnals and songbooks before and after Carter's time, right up to the present, contain a similar paragraph!

This is Carter's most well-known song, for which he wrote both words and music, and which first appeared in his earlier collection of 1886. It has been said that it evokes a martial mood similar to songs he might have known from his military school days.

Standing on the promises of Christ, my King,
Through eternal ages let the praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
List'ning every moment to the Spirit’s call
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain

R. Kelso Carter, 1886
Tune: PROMISES (11.11.11.9. with refrain)

Throughout his life Carter faced several serious health challenges, which led him to explore different theories and means of faith healing, which you can read more about here. It appears that a serious dispute developed in the 1890s which may have caused his moving away from his evangelistic work. He studied medicine and became a doctor sometime before 1900, practicing until his death in 1928. He came to believe that both medicine and prayer were necessary for healing, and that God provided both to us for that purpose.

Fill Us With Refining Fire

Choosing one of our Sunday themes during ordinary time we come around again to hymns of the Holy Spirit. They come from many denominations and different musical styles, but most of them contain similar images of wind, fire, and the breath of God. They are often prayers for change and renewal, which I think everyone can sing together, regardless of your own background or circumstances.

Breathe upon us now from heaven,
Fill us with the Holy Ghost;
Promise of the Savior given,
Send anew your Pentecost.

Refrain
Breathe upon us, breathe upon us,
With your love our hearts inspire.
Breathe upon us, breathe upon us,
O baptize us now with fire.

While the Spirit hovers o’er us,
Open all our hearts, we pray;
To your image, God, restore us,
Witness in our souls today.
Refrain

Lift us, Spirit, lift us higher,
From our fears and doubts set free;
Fill us with refining fire,
Give us perfect liberty.
Refrain

R. Kelso Carter, 1891; alt.
Tune: MEDJUGORJE (8.7.8.7. with refrain)

Russell Kelso Carter was for a time a Methodist minister, though he later became a physician. He was associated with the Holiness Movement (like fellow hymnwriters Phoebe Palmer, Alma White, and Margaret J. Harris) and also organized and led campmeetings. He wrote both texts and tunes, sometimes together, as in this case, and sometimes separately. His most well-known song is probably Standing on the promises, which is still sung today, but I'd make a case for reconsidering this one as well.

Carter also collaborated on at least three gospel song collections, including Hymns of the Christian Life (1891), where today's song was first published (as the first selection in the book). He contributed 51 texts and 68 tunes to that book, in addition to arranging 26 more tunes from the melodies of others.

Two Years Ago: Oliver Wendell Holmes