Continuing my own countdown of favorite ten hymns (as of the end of May), submitted to the survey at Semicolon, we come to the previously unrevealed Number Three. This hymn did make the top one hundred -- but it was, in fact, at Number Ninety-Nine (and I was pretty shocked to see what came in below it, at Number One Hundred). Since I ranked it third, it would have received at least eight points in the survey (but possibly no more than that, if no one else had it on their list).
I've talked about my fondness for the Exodus story before, so it's not surprising that it shows up in these verses. The opening lines come directly from the third verse of Psalm 87.
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!
God, whose word cannot be broken,
Formed thee for a safe abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation’s walls surrounded,
Thou may’st smile at all thy foes.
See! the streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal love;
Well supply thy sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove:
Who can faint while such a river
Ever flows their thirst to assuage?
Grace, which like our God, the Giver,
Never fails from age to age.
Round each habitation hovering,
See the cloud and fire appear!
For a glory and a cov’ring
Showing that our God is near.
Thus deriving from our banner
Light by night and shade by day;
Safe they feed upon the manna
Which God gives them when they pray.
Savior, if of Zion’s city,
I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in thy Name.
Fading is our worldly pleasure,
All is boasted pomp and show;
Solid joys and lasting treasure
All of Zion’s children know.
John Newton, 1779; alt.
Tune: AUSTRIA (8.7.8.7.D.)
Franz Josef Haydn, 1797
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!
God, whose word cannot be broken,
Formed thee for a safe abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation’s walls surrounded,
Thou may’st smile at all thy foes.
See! the streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal love;
Well supply thy sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove:
Who can faint while such a river
Ever flows their thirst to assuage?
Grace, which like our God, the Giver,
Never fails from age to age.
Round each habitation hovering,
See the cloud and fire appear!
For a glory and a cov’ring
Showing that our God is near.
Thus deriving from our banner
Light by night and shade by day;
Safe they feed upon the manna
Which God gives them when they pray.
Savior, if of Zion’s city,
I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in thy Name.
Fading is our worldly pleasure,
All is boasted pomp and show;
Solid joys and lasting treasure
All of Zion’s children know.
John Newton, 1779; alt.
Tune: AUSTRIA (8.7.8.7.D.)
Franz Josef Haydn, 1797
This hymn first appeared in the Olney Hymns (1779) of John Newton (and William Cowper). The fourth verse here (which was Newton's fifth) is often left out. The tune originally appeared in an anthem written by Franz Joseph Haydn for the birthday of the Austrian Emperor, and later in Haydn's String Quartet in C (Opus 76 No. 3). Though text and tune are nearly contemporaneous, they were not matched until the 1889 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern.
They were used together nearly always after that for many years, but in more recent times some hymnals prefer not to use AUSTRIA as many people connect it to the German national anthem used during World War II. Another tune, ABBOT'S LEIGH, was written by British composer Cyril Taylor in 1941 (perhaps because of the German association) and is often used today (you can hear it at the Cyber Hymnal, where they have permission to reproduce it).
One Year Ago: Edward J. Hopkins
