Thou Land of the Free

Perhaps we can avoid the debate over using patriotic hymns in worship since Independence Day falls on a Wednesday this year and not on a Sunday. Some churches sang one or more of these on Sunday, some did not. 

The choice of which to sing (if any at all) has narrowed considerably over the last century.  I would venture a guess that America the beautiful may be the most-often sung, though a few others certainly appear as well: My country 'tis of thee by Samuel Francis Smith, Mine eyes have seen the glory by Julia Ward Howe, and of course, the national anthem, written by Francis Scott Key, who among his many accomplishments was also a member of the committee that produced the Episcopal hymnal of 1826 (and wrote a few other hymns as well). One other possibility, which was written to mark the 1876 centennial, might not even be recognized as a patriotic hymn as it is probably sung at other times of the year.

Like Christmas songs and hymns, there were many other patriotic hymns written that are included in the hymnals of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including several specifically for children. Also like those written for Christmas, relatively few have survived to the present day.

Not surprisingly, among her thousands of song texts, Fanny Crosby also contributed a patriotic song of her own (and this is probably not the only one).

Our country, our beautiful country,
Thy rock-girded mountains sublime
Look over the wide spreading forests
That stand like the pillars of time.
Thy rivers majestic roll onward
To meet the glad waves of the sea;
Columbia, the home of our forebears,
God bless thee, thou land of the free.

Thy valleys are smiling with verdure,
Thy hilltops with plenty are crowned,
And sweetly the songs of thy children
From ocean to ocean resound;
God grant that our nation forever
United and happy may be,
And Peace, with its white-crested pinions,
Abide in the land of the free.

Fanny Crosby, 1873; alt.
Tune: DOWNEY (9.8.9.8.D.)
Daniel B. Towner, 1899
'
Fanny's text appeared in Songs of the Bible for the Sunday School (1873) with a different tune by Alonzo J. Abbey, one of the editors of the collection who was a prolific composer of Sunday School music (only a fraction is listed at his Cyber Hymnal entry - and not the original tune for this text). Since there is no sound file for the original, I have matched it to a later tune by Daniel B. Towner. The original included one more stanza (even more unlikely to be sung today than the rest), as well as the following refrain:

Our country, our country, our beautiful country,
The fairest and dearest of earth,
God keep the old flag of the Union,
And prosper the land of our birth.

Of course, the Civil War was less than a decade before Crosby wrote this.

The reference to "Columbia" as a name for the United States is also rather obscure today. Columbia also referred to a female personification of the country (as in the picture above) until the early twentieth century when she came to be replaced by the Statue of Liberty.


P.S. The picture above is from the cover of The Theatre magazine for January 1917 (during World War I), depicting actress Hazel Dawn as Columbia with doves of peace.

Ten Years Ago: God of creation, whose almighty hand

Eight Years Ago: Many and great, O God, are thy things

Six Years Ago: O beautiful, for spacious skies

Five Years Ago: Our helper, God, we bless your name

Gushing From the Rock Before Me

Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) is definitely in the running to be the most well-known woman to write texts for congregational singing, even today when the musical style that accompanied most of her songs is somewhat out of fashion in many places.

Several contemporary composers around the world have written new tunes for some of her texts, and more than one recording has been made (though this is the only one that seems to be readily available). Since most of her songs were written in the contemporaneous gospel song/Sunday School style, including a refrain that helped with memorization, they don't generally match well to existing tunes. 

There are exceptions. I've always thought that this is one of her most accomplished texts (still unused here in the past nine years), and since it does not include the usual refrain, it could be paired with a more conventional hymn tune, and sung in places that might never consider singing one of her songs.

All the way my Savior leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt his tender mercy,
Who through life has been my guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Christ to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread;
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living bread.
Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me
O the fullness of his love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my heav'nly home above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages—
Jesus led me all the way.

Fanny Crosby, 1875; alt.
Tune: WEISSE FLAGGEN (8.7.8.7.D.)
Tochter Sion, 1741

This hardly replaces the original setting by Robert Lowry, which will continue to be sung. However, this text could also work with HYFRYDOL, IN BABILONE, HOLY MANNA, NETTLETON, and other familiar tunes.

The gravestone above (erected in 1955 at her burial site) refers to Crosby's "more than 3000 hymns and poems," which is true as far as it goes, but the real number could be more than twice as many, especially when her unpublished texts are included.

Of course, her songs are still usually sung in their original form, not only as the occasional selection in Sunday worship, but also at special events, such as a Fanny Crosby hymn sing recently held in her home town of Southeast, New York, sponsored by the local historical society. Sometimes churches will use one writer's texts for an entire service, and today's service at MCC of the Coachella Valley in California includes all Crosby songs. Many people would still happily sing the playful refrain:

Pastor, Pastor, hear my irate cry --
When you pick the hymns for Sunday,
Don't pass Fanny by!

(Scroll down at this link for the whole text.)

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter!

We usually think of gospel songs as general in theme or subject, but given the great volume of them that were produced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, many were also written for particular occasions such as Christmas and Easter. Of course, this is true of hymns in general as well. We've seen several of the Christmas gospel songs over the years here, but not so many of those written for the Easter season (with one main exception, which is still often sung today).

Naturally, with approximately eight thousand songs to her credit, Fanny Crosby must have written some for Easter, and here's one.

Jesus Christ is risen today,
He is ris'n indeed!

Jesus Christ is risen today,

He is ris'n indeed!

Who, captive led captivity,

Who robbed the grave of victory,

Who broke the bars of death,

Who broke the bars of death!

Refrain:

Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Amen.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Amen.

Let every mourning soul rejoice,
And sing with one united voice;
The Savior rose today,
The Savior rose today.

Refrain

Let all that fill the earth and sea
Break forth in tuneful melody,
And swell the mighty song,
And swell the mighty song.

Refrain

Fanny Crosby, 1869; alt.

Tune: UNITED VOICE (L.M. with refrain)
Chester G. Allen, 1869



Eight (Liturgical) Years Ago: Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Seven (Liturgical) Years Ago: The strife is o'er, the battle done

Five (Liturgical) Years Ago: Jesus Christ is risen today

Four (Liturgical) Years Ago: Lift your voice rejoicing, Mary

One (Liturgical) Year Ago: Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands

John Robson Sweney (Day Seven)

Composer and songbook editor John R. Sweney (1837-1899) loved music all his life. He began teaching music in schools and leading Sunday School music as a teen, and a few years later began to study in earnest, taking lessons in piano and violin, while at the same time conducting a number of choral groups both sacred and secular.

It's estimated that he wrote tunes for more than a thousand gospel songs, and wrote texts for some of them as well.  He edited many songbooks for the firm of John J. Hood in Philadelphia, as well as a few other publishers, and collaborated with most of the famous songwriters of his day, including, of course, Fanny Crosby. It appears that this Christmas song by Sweney and Crosby was first published in Bright Melodies for the Sunday School and Young People's Societies (1899), though copyrighted a year earlier - probably in time for Sweney's Christmas celebrations in 1898.

Come away, the bells are calling,
Merry bells of Christmas time;
Youthful hearts again are bounding
While we catch their tuneful chime.

Refrain
Merry, merry bells, merry, merry bells,
Listen to their carol and the joy it tells;
Ringing far and near, ringing sweet and clear,
O the blessèd music of the old-time bells.

Come away, they still are calling,
While, to crown our festal scene,
Busy fingers now are twining
Wreaths of holly bright and green
Refrain

Come away, our faith is calling,
And we look with loving eyes
On a lowly manger cradle
Where the infant Savior lies.
Refrain

Fanny Crosby, 1898
Tune: BELLS ARE CALLING (8.7.8.7. with refrain)
John R. Sweney, 1898

Eight Years Ago: A year of precious blessings

Seven Years Ago: John Robson Sweney (with more Christmas Fanny Crosby)

Six Years Ago: William Orcutt Cushing

One Year Ago: The winter night was dark and still

Frances Ridley Havergal

Today is the 180th birthday of hymnwriter and composer Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879).  She was the daughter of William Henry Havergal, a menber of the clergy of the Church of England, who also wrote and composed hymns. Her middle name was given in honor of Bishop Nicholas Ridley (c.1500-1555), an English Protestant martyr who was executed for heresy after the Roman Catholic Mary Tudor became queen (Ridley had supported the brief accession of Lady Jane Grey).

Young Frances was quite a prodigy; her father nicknamed her 'Little Quicksilver.' She began to read at age three, and to memorize the Bible at age four. She learned at least seven languages, including Greek and Hebrew so that she could further her Biblical studies.  At seven, she began to write poetry. She also memorized much piano music of the great composers of her day, sang, and composed music of her own.

As an adult, she was very involved with mission work and other social causes, including temperance and the YWCA.  She founded the Flannel Petticoat Society, which provided clothing to poor children.

Many of her early hymns were first published in pamphlet form, and the first collection of her writings was not published until 1869, only ten years before her death at 46. Over the next few years she became well known for her hymn texts and other religious poetry and prose. One of her famous correspondents was the American Fanny Crosby, and the two sometimes exchanged poems. The Seeing Heart (1872) is a long poem to Crosby by Havergal, from which the phrase "Her heart can see" was taken for the title of a modern biography of Crosby. The poem ends with the following stanza:

Singing for Jesus! Telling his love
All the way to our home above,
Where the severing sea, with its restless tide
Never shall hinder and never divide.
Sister, what shall our meeting soon be
When our hearts shall sing and our eyes shall see?

Most of Havergal's hymn texts and poetry express her deep relationship with Jesus, rarely dealing with the wider variety of themes that many Victorian hymnwriters explored.  Though I have only marked her birthday twice, several more of her texts have appeared here (click her tag below) and a few of her tunes as well. This text was published in Loyal Responses (1878) though it may have been released earlier in a pamphlet.

Christ is with us! He has said it,
In his truth and tender grace;
Sealed the promise, softly spoken,
With how many a mighty token,
Of his love and faithfulness.

Christ is with us! in our living,
Shielding us from fear of ill;
All our burdens kindly bearing,
For our loved ones gently caring,
Guarding, keeping, blessing still.

Christ is with us! with us always,
All the nights and all the days;
Never failing, never frowning,
With his loving-kindness crowning,
Tuning all our lives to praise.

Christ is with us! Our own Savior,
Leading, loving to the end;
Bright'ning joy and light'ning sorrow,
All today, yet more tomorrow,
Lamb of God, our Guide and Friend.

Frances Ridley Havergal, 1878; alt.
Tune: WINDERMERE (Maker) (8.7.8.8.7.)
Frederick C. Maker, 19th cent.

The meter of this text is a bit unusual and there are not many tunes that fit it - WINDERMERE, by Frederick Maker (composer of ST. CHRISTOPHER) is a compromise.  The score may help you match the text with the words.

Havergal died of peritonitis on June 3, 1879. She had been staying for several months with her sister Maria, who wrote an account of the poet's decline which was published as The Last Week (1879). Family members were with her in her last days, and they sang together several times. Just before she died she sang her own tune, HERMAS, one last time, to the following words by Mary J. Walker:

Jesus, I will trust thee, 
Trust thee with my soul;
Guilty, lost, and helpless,
Thou canst make me whole.
There is none in heaven
Or on earth like thee:
Thou hast died for sinners—
Therefore, Lord for me.



Eight Years Ago: Frances Ridley Havergal

Seven Years Ago: Frances Ridley Havergal

Horatio R. Palmer

On the birthday of Baptist composer Horatio Richmond Palmer (1834-1907) we remember a man dedicated to spreading sacred song as far as possible.

Palmer's various musical occupations were described here six years ago (music teacher, choir leader and organizer, writer of gospel song tunes and texts, editor of fifty hymn and song collections, author of several books on music and other subjects) but he was even busier than that.  From 1877-1891 he led the Summer School of Music at the Chautauqua Institution, a program that has continued to expand to the present day. While there he must have met hymnwriters Mary Lathbury and William Fisk Sherwin. For eleven years he also directed the choir at the Broome Street Tabernacle in New York City.

Today's tune by Palmer (with text by Fanny Crosby) appeared first in Our Treasury of Song (1883) compiled by Hubert P. Main and published by Biglow & Main, probably the largest producer of Sunday School music and gospel songs in its day.  You can imagine this as a popular marching song for children, but adults probably liked it too.

Sing praise to God,
Joyfully sound hosanna,
Praising God with glad acclaim.
Lift up your hearts
Unto the throne with gladness,
Magnify God's holy name.
Marching along
Under that banner bright,
Trust in promised mercy as we go,
God's light divine
Tenderly o’er us will shine,
Guided by God's protecting hand
Now and forever.

Refrain
Steadily marching on,
With our banners waving o’er us;
Steadily marching on,
While we sing the joyful chorus;
Steadily marching on,
Pillar and cloud going before us,
To the realms of glory
To our home on high.

Sing praise to God,
Ruler on high eternal,
Glory be to God on high.
Sing praise to God,
Tell of that loving kindness,
Join the chorus of the sky.
Still marching on,
Cheerily marching on,
In the ranks of heaven we will go,
Home to our rest,
Joyfully home where the blest
Gather and sing our Maker’s name,
Praising forever.
Refrain

Fanny Crosby, 1883; alt.
Tune: STEADILY MARCHING ON (Irregular with refrain)
Horatio R. Palmer, 1883

The picture below is a musical autograph of Palmer's which quotes one of his most famous songs, Yield not to temptation (1868).

Six Years Ago: Horatio R. Palmer

Phoebe Palmer Knapp

Phoebe Palmer Knapp (March 9, 1839 - July 10, 1908) is primarily remembered as the composer of the tune for Fanny Crosby's text Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. In the well-known story of the song's creation, the tune came first, and then Crosby knew exactly what the first line should be.

Much of the biographical information known about Knapp has been derived from her connection with the much-more famous Fanny Crosby.  The two women were close friends and Knapp and her husband often provided financial support to Fanny.  Phoebe believed that Fanny's publishers, Biglow & Main, had not dealt fairly with her as they paid her a flat sum for all rights to each song they published (some sources say as low as $3 apiece) rather than allowing her to copyright her material and receive royalties (as Knapp's husband did for Phoebe's tunes).  The people at Biglow & Main strongly objected to Knapp's assertions, and apparently described her as "interfering" and "overbearing" in private correspondence. At any rate, Crosby was eventually given more favorable terms from the publisher.

Phoebe Knapp was also a social activist for several charitable causes, which she supported from the family fortune.  She once claimed that she 'care(d) more for the active movements of the world of society than for spiritual abstraction.'

The text of today's gospel song is not by Crosby, but by Mary Dagworthy James, who was a colleague of Knapp's mother, Phoebe Worrall Palmer, in the Methodist Holiness movement.

Wondrous words! how rich in blessing!
Deeper than th’unfathomed sea;
Broader than its world of waters,
Boundless, infinite and free.
Higher than the heav’ns above,
Is that everlasting love!
Higher than the heav’ns above,
Is that everlasting love!

Weary spirits, sad with toiling,
’Mid the sorrows of life’s way -—
Feel their heavy burdens lightened,
As they journey day by day.
How with quickened steps they move,
Cheered by everlasting love;
How with quickened steps they move,
Cheered by everlasting love.

In that house of many mansions,
God prepares a place for thee,
Where there are no clouds or tempests,
Where God is, there thou shalt be—
All the untold bliss to prove,
Of that everlasting love;
All the untold bliss to prove,
Of that everlasting love.

Mary Dagworthy James, 1878; alt.
Tune: EVERLASTING LOVE (8.7.8.7.7.7.7.7.)
Phoebe Palmer Knapp, 1878

Phoebe Knapp died of a stroke in 1908 while staying at the Mansion House, a resort hotel in Poland Springs, Maine.




Seven Years Ago: Phoebe Palmer Knapp

Six Years Ago: Phoebe Palmer Knapp

Four Years Ago: Phoebe Palmer Knapp

Three Years Ago: Phoebe Palmer Knapp

George C. Stebbins

Evangelist and gospel song composer George Coles Stebbins was born today in 1846 on a farm in upstate New York. He moved to Chicago as a young man and became the organist at the First Baptist Church in 1870.  While in Chicago he met Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey, as well as some of the other song writers that contributed to the Moody-Sankey revivals. 

Five years later he moved to Boston where he worked at more churches, including the Tremont Temple Baptist Church. When Stebbins encountered Dwight Moody again, the noted evangelist persuaded him to join the Moody-Sankey organization as a soloist, to lead the choir, and write songs, first in Chicago and later on various tours, traveling to Europe, India,  and the Middle East in addition to trips inside the US.  He was also one of the editors of Sankey's popular Gospel Hymns (first published in 1875 but proceeding through many subsequent editions) and other collections sponsored by Moody, including the Northfield Hymnal (1904).  He was also associated with YMCA conventions and other large religious gatherings where he led the music.

He retired from evangelistic work in 1908 when his hearing began to fail, but continued his composing and editing. In 1924 he published Reminiscences and Gospel Hymn Stories, a book containing biographical sketches of many of the song writers and composers he had worked with over his career.  He had composed tunes for most of the major text writers of the day, including (of course) Fanny Crosby.  Today's song is one of their collaborations (with an added stanza from me).

Gather them in! for yet there is room
At the feast that our God has spread;
O gather them in! let this house be filled,
And the hungry and poor be fed.

Refrain
Out in the highway, out in the byway,
Out to the far and the near,
Go forth, go forth, with a loving heart,
And gather the wanderers here!

Gather them in! for yet there is room
For the downtrodden in despair;
O gather them in! we will love them all;
For the outcasts a place prepare.
Refrain

Gather them in! for yet there is room;
’Tis a message from God above;
O gather them into the fold of grace,
And the arms of the Savior’s love.
Refrain

Fanny Crosby, 1883; alt.; st. 2 CWS, 2016
Tune: GATHER THEM IN (Irregular with refrain)
George C. Stebbins, 1883

Stebbins lived to the age of 99 and reportedly continued to compose songs nearly to the end of his life. His son, George Waring Stebbins (1869-1930), was also a musician and an organist in New York City, but composed far fewer works.

Echoes of Mercy, Whispers of Love

Nearly two weeks ago, on December 29, I was in the middle of the Twelve Days of Christmas posts and so didn't get around to posting this, but if you haven't seen it it's definitely worth watching.  On that night, the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony was broadcast (the event itself was on December 6).  Five worthy honorees in different artistic categories were celebrated for their contributions to the arts in the United States.

The day after, most of the buzz was about Aretha Franklin's performance in honor of songwriter Carole King, but for our purposes, CeCe Winans'  rendition of Blessed assurance for Cicely Tyson was the one to savor. Presenter Kerry Washington explains the reason for this particular tribute, in which Winans is joined by students from the Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts in East Orange, New Jersey.



I think Fanny Crosby and Phoebe Knapp would be quite honored as well to know that their song is still known and loved more than a century later, and has spread its message to more people around the world than they could have imagined.

Our Sure Defense Forever Be

I recently acquired a new (to me) hymnal, pictured here. Hymnal: A Worship Book (1992) was a joint project of the Church of the Brethren, the General Conference Mennonite Church, and the Mennonite Church in North America (it appears that those last two denominations merged in 2002 but I could be wrong).  Anyway, it's an interesting book to me because, in addition to many new hymns of the 1980s and 90s it also has many hymns from earlier days that had not survived in the hymnals of other denominations but which were apparently still being sung.

The hymnal opens with a section of hymns called "Gathering," which caught my eye for some reason, though I'm sure it's not the only hymnal with such a section.  These are suggested for use as the opening hymn in worship, which I've always just thought of as "opening hymns," but "Gathering" sounds much nicer.  Also, it seems like a good theme for summer Sundays here, so even though I have already written about many such hymns before, we'll see some more this year.

Working together, Fanny Crosby and composer William Howard Doane probably collaborated on dozens of songs, including Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Jesus, keep me near the cross, and To God be the glory, but I had never encountered this one, which I like very much.

God of our strength, enthroned above,
The source of life, the fount of love;
O let devotion’s sacred flame
Our souls awake to praise thy name.

Refrain
God of our strength, we sing to thee,
Our sure defense forever be.

To thee we lift our joyful eyes,
To thee on wings of faith we rise;
Come thou, and let thy courts on earth
Ring out thy praise in holy mirth.
Refrain

God of our strength, from day to day
Direct our thoughts and guide our way;
O may our hearts united be
In sweet communion here with thee.
Refrain

God of our strength, on thee we call;
God of our hope, our light, our all,
Thy name we praise, thy love adore,
Our rock, our shield, forevermore.
Refrain

Fanny Crosby, 1882; alt.
VISION (L.M. with refrain)
William H. Doane, 1883

This hymn was first published in the Baptist Hymnal (1883), for which Doane was the musical editor.  Although the Cyber Hymnal suggests that Doane's tune was written earlier, this appears to have been a new text for Crosby.  At this point she was probably the most famous writer of gospel songs and hymns in her day, having been successful for about fifteen years. Though she lived until 1915, her most popular songs (mostly the ones we still know today) were written in those early years.  By 1883, the songs she was writing did not gain the same traction as the earlier ones and are generally less known, though I have written about several of these as well.   

     

Phoebe Palmer Knapp

Today is the birthday of the prolific song composer Phoebe Palmer Knapp, (which we have often marked here) born into a Methodist family in New York City in 1839.  Her parents help popular prayer meetings in their home, amd her mother, also named Phoebe, was a well-known evangelist and writer.

Her long friendship with Fanny Crosby led to many collaborations between the two, with Knapp writing tunes for the Fanny's texts.  Knapp, a wealthy woman through her husband Joseph Fairchild Knapp of the Metropolitan Life insurance firm, often provided financial assistance to Crosby, who earned a confortable income from the publication of her hundreds of gospel songs but gave most of it away to charitable causes.  Fanny and Phoebe's most well-loved song is undoubtedly Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.

Knapp's spproximately 500 tunes accompanied the texts of several other writers (including her mother's).  Today's song appeared in her first collention, Notes of Joy (1869), the text by Mary D. James.  It was apparently popular at camp meetings in those days, with its refrain about waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit,.

My body, soul and spirit,
O Christ, I give to thee,
A consecrated offering,
Thine evermore to be.

Refrain
My all is on the altar,
I’m waiting for the fire;
Waiting, waiting, waiting,
I’m waiting for the fire.

O Jesus, mighty Savior,
I trust in thy great name;
I look for thy salvation,
Thy promise now I claim.
Refrain

O let the fire, descending
Just now upon my soul,
Consume my humble offering,
Refine and make me whole!
Refrain

Mary D. James, 1869
Tune: ALL ON THE ALTAR (7.6.7.6. with refrain)
Phoebe Knapp, 1869

Mary Dagworthy James was another Methodist woman who had worked with Knapp's mother Phoebe Worrall Palmer in the Holiness Movement and wrote for some of the publications Palmer edited.

P.S. The photograph above is from the July 21, 1900 Saturday Evening Post, in which Phoebe Knapp was named one of their Women of the Hour.



One Year Ago: Phoebe Palmer Knapp

Three Years Ago: Phoebe Palmer Knapp

Four Years Ago: Phoebe Palmer Knapp

William Howard Doane

William Howard Doane, who was born on this date in 1832, has often been described in hymn histories as an enthusiastic amateur, but the hundreds of gospel song melodies he composed have been sung by many thousands of people over the last 150 years.  He worked for more than forty years in the manufacturing field, but continued composing and editing collections of gospel and Sunday school songs in his spare time.

He composed his first music at age sixteen, and by the age of twenty he was the conductor of the Norwich Harmonic Society in Connecticut.  The first collection he compiled, Sabbath School Gems, was published in 1862, but by that time he had already been employed for more than a decade by the J. A. Fay Company, and had been the managing partner of the firm for two years.

A later collection, Pure Gold for the Sunday School (1871), which he edited with Robert Lowry, contained this popular song, which is probably still remembered by many.

Take the name of Jesus with you,
Through your sorrow and your woe,
It will joy and comfort give you;
Take it then, where’er you go.

Refrain

Precious name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of heav’n.
Precious name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of heav’n.

Take the name of Jesus ever,
As a shield from every care;
If temptations round you gather,
Breathe that holy name in prayer.

Refrain

O the precious name of Jesus!
How it thrills our souls with joy,
When his loving arms receive us,
Blissful songs our tongues employ!

Refrain

Lydia Baxter, 1870; alt.

Tune: PRECIOUS NAME (8.7.8.7. with refrain)

William H. Doane, 1871

Many of Doane's most well-known songs were written to texts by Fanny Crosby, but he composed tunes for many other writers, and even wrote a number of texts himself.  He also wrote a series of Christmas cantatas which were widely sung, and some of these were secular, including one called Santa Claus (1879).

Some of Doane's papers, including correspondence with other gospel song writers and composers, are preserved at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, IL

Four Years Ago: William Howard Doane

Three Years Ago:  William Howard Doane

Not With Costly Treasure

On the sixth day of Christmas...

Many churches are still celebrating the Nativity in one way or another, probably with the many familiar carols and hymns of the season.  But, as I have mentioned before, there are hundreds of hymnals from the last century or so with Christmas music that no one sings any more, and, honestly, may never have sung very often.

Like the sound of many waters
Rolling on through ages long;
In a tide of rapture breaking—
Hark! the mighty choral song!

Refrain
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Let the heav’nly portals ring!
Christ is born, the Word of glory, 
Born a child and yet a king

Lo! the Morning Star appeareth,
O’er the world bright beams are cast;
Christ, the Alpha and Omega,
Christ is born, the First, the Last.
Refrain

Clap your hands with exultation!
Sing aloud, rejoice with mirth,
Peace her silver wing hath folded:
Lo! she comes to dwell on earth!
Refrain

Savior, not with costly treasure
Do we gather at thy throne,
All we have, our hearts we give thee,
Consecrate them thine alone.
Refrain

Fanny Crosby, 1902; alt.

Tune: WEBSTER GROVES (8.7.8.7. with refrain)

Hubert P. Main, 1902

You can see more Christmas songs by Fanny Crosby at this entry from a few years ago.

Fanny Crosby

Fanny Crosby, whose work has been often presented here, was born on this day in 1820. Six weeks later a doctor's mistake blinded her for life, yet she pursued her education and a career writing gospel songs that were (and still are) sung around the world, becoming one of the most famous people of her day.

In addition to her song lyrics she was a popular public speaker, giving lectures and speaking a revival meetings. This skill was probably developed in earlier years when she lobbied states and even the Federal government on behalf of education for the blind. In 1843 she became the first woman to speak before the United States Senate.

Fanny herself believed that her most important work was helping in rescue missions around New York City where she lived most of her adult life. In 1880 she decided that this would now be her primary calling (though she also continued to write gospel songs for the rest of her life). She worked at the Water Street Mission and the Bowery Mission for many years, and nearly all the money she made for her songs went to these and similar causes.

Of the thousands of gospel songs she is reputed to have written, hundreds were still unpublished at the time of her death in 1915 (and many remain unpublished to this day). Today's song was set to music by composer Bentley D. Ackley in 1920.

God. who brought the folk of Israel,
With a strong and mighty hand,
Out of all their cruel bondage
Into Canaan’s promised land

Refrain:
God has said, and we believe it,
’Tis a promise made of old,
From the trusting and the loving
No good thing will God withhold.

God is faithful to that promise,
God is mindful of God's own;
On our journey unto glory
We shall never walk alone.
Refrain

We shall have that kind protection,
Wondrous love as in the past;
Though our days be few or many,
God will guide us to the last.
Refrain

Fanny Crosby, 20th cent.?; alt.
Tune: GOD'S PROMISE (8.7.8.7. with refrain)
B. D. Ackley, 1920

Though Crosby had received a strong musical education, and sang and played the guitar, she did not generally write the tunes for her texts. Only two tunes are known to have been composed by her, and one of those is finally available to hear at the Cyber Hymnal site: The Blood-Washed Throng.

Three Years Ago: Fanny Crosby

Two Years Ago: Fanny Crosby

One Year Ago: Fanny Crosby