The Feast of Pentecost

O heavenly Fount of light and love,
Adoring praise to thee we pay;
Pour down, blest Spirit, from above
Fresh streams of grace this day.

At Pentecost thou camest down
As sound of rushing wind went by,
With tongues of heavenly fire to crown
That glorious company.

Thou on each new-born child of grace
Dost now in hidden power descend
To strengthen for life’s daily race,
To comfort and defend.

Thou in each meek and lowly heart,
With streams of living waters bright,
Sweet Fount of strength and gladness art,
Fresh Spring of life and light.

William Walsham How, 1871; alt.
Tune: DERRY (8.8.8.6.)
John Bacchus Dykes, 1875




Eleven (Liturgical) Years Ago: Joy! because the circling year

Ten (Liturgical) Years Ago:  O prophet souls of all the years

Nine (Liturgical) Years Ago: Above the starry spheres 

Eight (Liturgical) Years Ago: Hail thee, festival day

Seven (Liturgical) Years Ago: Hail festal day! through every age

Six (Liturgical) Years Ago: O God, the Holy Ghost

Five (Liturgical) Years Ago: Spirit of grace and health and pow'r

Four (Liturgical) Years Ago: Come, O come, thou quick'ning Spirit

Three (Liturgical) Years Ago: Our blest Redeemer, ere he breathed

Two (Liturgical) Years Ago: Come, Holy Ghost 

One (Liturgical) Year Ago: Come, Holy Ghost, my spirit fill

Saint Philip and Saint James

This anonymous text for today's double feast was first published in A Book of Church Hymns (1865), which was generally known as Bosworth's Church Hymns, and shortly thereafter in The Year of Praise (1867) which was compiled by Henry Alford for Canterbury Cathedral. Like Alford, I've left out the final rather generic doxological stanza of the original.

O Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth,
The Life -- the Crown of all
Who here on earth confess your Name;
O hear us when we call!

We bring to mind with grateful joy
Your servants, who of old
Withstood the trials of the world
And now your face behold;

Who sought on earth the joys of prayer,
And that communion knew
Which saints and angels share above
With those who seek it too.

Vouchsafe us, Lord, we pray, that now
To us it may be giv'n,
Like them to live and die in you,
And with you, rise to heav'n.

Anonymous, 1865; alt.
Tune: GERONTIUS (C.M.)
John Bacchus Dykes, 1868



Eight Years Ago: Saint Philip and Saint James

Seven Years Ago: Joseph Addison

Five Years Ago: Saint Philip and Saint James

One Year Ago: Saint Philip and Saint James

Palm Sunday

To commemorate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, today we continue a series of social justice hymns with this text by Congregational minister James Gordon Gilkey (1889-1964) that links the story from the Gospels to our lives in the present.

Outside the Holy City
Unnumbered footsteps throng,
And crowded mart and streets of trade
Fling back a swelling song.
The voices echo nearer,
In flaming hope they sing:
Throw down your branches at his feet!
To Christ your praises bring!

Once more outside our cities
God's liberation waits,
Once more the people throng to bring
A welcome at the gates.
Within, our hearts are burdened
Our feet may go astray;
O Christ of God, come near and walk
Our city streets today!

The branches that we offer
Are no unmeaning sign;
Take thou the hands we lift on high
And make them wholly thine.
No songs of shallow welcome
Are these we raise to thee;
O give us faith to face the cross
And set thy city free!

A distant music mingles
With all our songs today,
Hosannas from a city fair
Where sin has passed away.
There rides the Christ triumphant
And glorious songs ring clear;
O God, give us the strength to build
With Christ that city here!

James G. Gilkey, 1915; alt.
Tune: ALFORD (7.6.8.6.D.)
John Bacchus Dykes, 1875



Nine (Liturgical) Years Ago: Green Palms and Blossoms Gay

Eight (Liturgical) Years Ago: Hosanna, loud hosanna

Seven (Liturgical) Years Ago: Ride on, ride on in majesty

Six (Liturgical) Years Ago: Come, faithful people, come away

Five (Liturgical) Years Ago: See what unbounded zeal and love

One (Liturgical) Year Ago: O Christ, who through this holy week

Seven (Calendar) Years Ago: Jane Laurie Borthwick

One (Calendar) Year Ago: Jane Laurie Borthwick

Frederick Lucian Hosmer

The dean of Unitarian hymnwriters, Frederick Lucian Hosmer, was born on this day in 1840. Many details of his life and career have been shared here in previous years (see links below).

This year I discovered a nice article in the November, 1920 issue of The Pacific Unitarian, a church magazine published in San Francisco, marking Hosmer's eightieth birthday. A celebration of the occasion on the exact date was planned by the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley (CA), where Hosmer had been named pastor emeritus in 1915, upon his (second) retirement. However, it was not certain that he would be present, as he had left California three years earlier "to visit his friends in the East." He had been staying in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester for much of that time, but when he learned of the planned celebration he cut his extended trip short and returned to Berkeley, to the evident delight of his former parishioners.  According to the article: "He was as glad to meet his old friends as they were to have him back, and his informal hand-grasping reception had nothing perfunctory about it." Various speeches of acclamation were also delivered that night.

The article also recounts a celebration held in Boston three days earlier at a board meeting of the American Unitarian Association. Unfortunately, Hosmer was not in attendance as he would have already been on his way to California, but it's not unlikely that the Board thought that he would be there as he had been staying nearby for many months.  A portrait of Hosmer was given to the Association by a committee of his friends, and Association President Samuel Atkins Eliot II spoke warmly of Hosmer and his accomplishments, and recalled his many hymn texts.

They bear witness to the unceasing revelation of truth and to the reality and perpetual influence of the life of God [...] They are prophetic utterances of the cheerful and confident faith that we associate with the animating and radiant personality of our friend.

The article also included the following hymn by Hosmer, which he had written to mark the 75th anniversary of the American Unitarian Association twenty years earlier.

From old to new, with broadening sweep,
The stream of life moves on;
And still its changing currents keep
A changeless undertone.

In prophet word and martyr faith,
Visions of saint and seer, 
The poet's song, the Spirit's breath --
That undertone we bear.

A sense we have of things unseen, 
Transcending things of time;
We catch, earth's broken chords between,
The everlasting chime!

And light breaks through the rifted haze
In shining vistas broad;
We stand amid th'eternal ways,
Held by the hand of God.

Frederick Lucian Hosmer, 1900; alt.
Tune: GERONTIUS (C.M.)
John Bacchus Dykes, 1868

It seems to me that there must be more references to Hosmer in The Pacific Unitarian, since he lived in California for most of the last thirty years of his life. He is one of the hymnwriters that most intrigues me, so I will have to investigate further.



Eight Years Ago: Frederick Lucian Hosmer

Seven Years Ago: Frederick Lucian Hosmer

Six Years Ago: Frederick Lucian Hosmer

Two Years Ago: Frederick Lucian Hosmer

One Year Ago: Frederick Lucian Hosmer

The Dayspring From On High (Day Four)

Calm on the listening ear of night
Come heaven's melodious strains,
Where wild Judea stretches far
Her silver-mantled plains.

Celestial choirs from courts above
Shed sacred glories there;
And angels, with their sparkling lyres,
Make music on the air.

The answering hills of Palestine
Send back the glad reply;
And greet, from all their holy heights,
The Dayspring from on high.

O'er the blue depths of Galilee
There comes a holier calm,
And Sharon waves, in solemn praise,
Her silent groves of palm.

"Glory to God!" the sounding skies
Loud with their anthems ring,
"Peace to the earth, good-will to all,
From heaven the news we bring!"

Light on thy hills, Jerusalem!
The Savior now is born!
And bright on Bethlehem's joyous plains
Breaks the first Christmas morn.

Edmund Hamilton Sears, 1834; alt.
Tune: ST. AGNES (C.M.)
John Bacchus Dykes, 1866

Though minister and poet Edmund Hamilton Sears was a Unitarian, he wrote at least two hymns for Christmas. His other one is far more well known, but this text was in more than 300 hymnals up until the middle of the twentieth century.

Sears was also the uncle of hymnwriter Eliza Scudder.



Six Years Ago: Peaceful the wondrous night

William Walsham How

William Walsham How, born on this date in 1823, was a priest in the Church of England and eventually Bishop of Wakefield (though he resisted being named a bishop for some years).  He had originally planned to enter the legal profession, but changed his mind while in college at Oxford and went on to divinity school at Durham University.

He was ordained in 1846, and served as rector of Whittington for twenty-eight years (1851-1879).  His first book of poetry was published anonymously, and was updated and enlarged in 1886. His collected hymns, 54 in number, were also published separately.  

He was chair of the committee that produced Church Hymns (1871) for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and that volume became the second-most widely-used hymnal in the UK (after our old friend Hymns Ancient & Modern). He was also one of the editors for The Children's Hymn Book (1881).

Since Bishop How's birthday falls on the third Sunday in Advent this year I tried to find a text with some connection to the season, so here we have the second stanza about the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), which is usually read during Advent though it also has a separate feast day on March 25 - nine months before Christmas.

Jesus! Name of wondrous love!
Name all other names above!
Unto which must every knee
Bow in deep humility.

Jesus! Name decreed of old,
To the maiden mother told,
Kneeling in her lowly cell,
By the angel Gabriel.

Jesus! Name of mercy mild,
Given to the holy Child
When the cup of human woe
First he tasted here below.

Jesus! Name of priceless worth
To your people here on earth!
Jesus! Name of wondrous love!
Human Name of God above!

William Walsham How, 1854; alt.
Tune: ST. BEES (7.7.7.7.)
John Bacchus Dykes, 1862

In 1898 How's son Frederick Douglas How published a memoir of the bishop.  Perhaps not surprisingly, he writes thusly of his father's hymns: "Among the good hymn-writers Bishop Walsham How takes his place without challenge."  Though How wrote fewer hymns than several of his Victorian contemporaries, a good proportion of them are still being sung, so this assessment is not without merit.



Seven Years Ago: William Walsham How

Five Years Ago: Edwin O. Excell

One Year Ago: William Walsham How

Claudia Frances Hernaman

Hymnwriter Claudia Frances Hernaman was born on this day in 1838, in the English village of Addlestone, the daughter of the Reverend W. H. Ibotson, an Anglican priest. She wrote for a number of church publications at a fairly young ago, turning her attention to religious poetry and hymn texts, primarily for children. She also translated several hymns from Latin. and published several collections of her work.

Her most familiar text (perhaps the only one still regularly in use), sung across many denominations, is the Lenten hymn Lord, who throughout these forty days.  Today's hymn for children was written to mark any saints' day in the church calendar.  While we have seen many hymns written for particular saints, there are others such as this that can be sung for any saint's day. October 19, for example, does not mark any well-known saints, but there are still people on the calendar.

All thy saints adore thee, Lord,
Sing thy praise with one accord;
Magnify thy holy Name,
And thy boundless love proclaim.

Saints in paradise at rest,
Saints, by earthly trials pressed,
One in thee, with one glad voice,
Evermore in thee rejoice.

Now, O God, thy praise we tell,
In this saint who served thee well,
Who was strong in Jesus' might,
Conquering evil in the fight.

Grant us, God, with equal faith,
Thee to follow until death,
And, through all eternity,
With the saints to worship thee.

Claudia Frances Hernaman, 19th cent.; alt.
Tune: ST. BEES (7.7.7.7.)
John Bacchus Dykes, 1862

This simple tune by the prolific Victorian composer John Bacchus Dykes, was apparently named for the village of St. Bees in northern England.

Emma Mundella

Emma Mundella, a somewhat obscure British composer, died on this day in 1896, but her birth date in 1858 seems to be unknown.  She is described in Otto Ebel's Women Composers (1913) as "a highly gifted lady" who had written part-songs, piano pieces, and "some church music."  She also wrote an oratorio, Victory of Song, for female voices and strings which was published by Novello.

Among her music instructors were Arthur Sullivan and John Stainer, and she attended the Royal College of Music, becoming one of the first students to receive the Associate of the R.C.M. degree.

I mention her here because she was the editor of The Day School Hymn Book (1896)., which was also published by Novello.  She writes in the foreword that it was her aim to

...provide a Hymn Book for school use which should combine throughout an elevated tone of thought and feeling, both in the words and the music, with sufficient sympathy of ideas to make it acceptable to the young people for whom is is especially intended

Of course, dozens, if not hundreds, of other hymnbooks for the use of young persons had already claimed and would continue to express similar intentions.  At any rate, this book included hymns in German, Latin, and French in addition to many standard Church of England hymns.

In the foreword she also thanks her former teacher John Stainer for "his invaluable help and the unfailing interest he has shown throughout the preparation of this book." Stainer had provided her with a previously-unpublished tune by John Bacchus Dykes as well as composing six new tunes for the book.  

Twelve of Mundella's own tunes appear in the book (remember, the best way for women to get their tunes or texts into a hymnbook was to edit it themselves).  Several of these tunes are in unusual meters that would make them unlikely to be used today, but there are a few possibilities. Unfortunately, none of her tunes are available to hear online.  The Cyber Hymnal does not list Mundella at all, and Hymnary.org only acknowledges her as the editor of a hymnbook, without listing any of her tunes.  Maybe someday.

In Mercy Save Thine Israel

For the third Sunday in Advent we take a look back to last week's familiar hymn and find a much lesser known text based on the same material.  The O Antiphons of the eighth century have been set to music in varying ways over the years, but the one we know best, of course,  is O come, O come Emmanuel.

Today's text is also based on the O Antiphons, adapted from the prose version that had appeared in John Mason Neale's Hymnal Noted (1854).  Primary translator Horatio Bolton (Earl Nelson), grand-nephew of the renowned British admiral Lord Nelson, included this hymn in the Sarum Hymnal (1868) which was largely compiled by him.

O Wisdom, spreading mightily,

From out the mouth of God most high,

All nature sweetly ordering,

Within thy paths thy people bring:

Refrain

Draw near, O Christ, with us to dwell,

In mercy save thine Israel.

Ruler of Israel, God of might!

Who gav'st the law from Sinai's height;

Once in the burning bush revealed.

With outstretched arm thy people shield:

Refrain

O Root of Jesse! Ensign thou!

To whom the nations' kings shall bow,

From ev'ry foe thy people save,

And give them victory o'er the grave:

Refrain

O Israel's Sceptre! David's Key!

Come thou and set all people free;

Unlock the gate that bars the road

And lead them to the house of God:

Refrain

O Dayspring and Eternal Light!

Pierce through the gloom of sorrow's might;

The promised Sun of Righteousness,

Haste with thy rising beams to bless:

Refrain

O dear Desire of nations! come,

Lead us from earth to heav'n's high home;

Thou chief and precious Cornerstone,

Binding the scattered into one:

Refrain

O Comforter! Emmanuel! King!

Thy praises we would ever sing;

The nations' hope, the Savior blest,

Take us to thine eternal rest:

Refrain

Latin; tr. Horatio Bolton and others, 1868; alt.

Tune: MELITA (8.8.8.8.8.8.)

John Bacchus Dykes, 1861

This hymn was included in the 1871 hymnal of the Episcopal Church (which is where I found it), on the page opposite O come, O come Emmanuel, with similar instructions for singing one stanza each day between December 17 and 23.  It has not appeared in any later Episcopal hymnals, presumably because it was considered redundant.  No, it will never supplant the hymn we all know, but I thought it worth a look.

Four Years Ago: John Ellerton

Three Years Ago: John Ellerton

Saint Philip and Saint James

Today is the double celebration of the feast day of Saint Philip and Saint James in some churches.  We know that Philip was one of the Twelve Apostles, but the identity of this James has shifted over the years.  For a long time he was believed have been the James who was called the brother of Jesus, which is how Christopher Wordsworth identified him in this hymn for the day, published in Wordsworth's hymnal The Holy Year (1865).

O Jesus, blest the grace of Love
Shed on our hearts by thee;
Which makes us to another's soul
Dear as our own to be.

"Follow thou me?" that question dear
Thou once to Philip said;
He followed thee, and on the way
To heav'n he others led.

Today with thine own brother, Lord,
Philip is linked in love;
As kindred, to each other joined
By graces from above.

O bring us to that holy place,
That heav'nly home above;
Where kindred shall as angels be,
And ev'ry word be Love.

Christopher Wordsworth, 1865; alt.
Tune: BEATITUDO (C,M,)
John Bacchus Dykes, 1875

P.S. - Last summer, a group of Italian archaeologists believe that they found the tomb of Philip the Apostle in Turkey.



Three Years Ago: Saint Philip and Saint James

Two Years Ago: Joseph Addison

John Bacchus Dykes

John Bacchus Dykes, born today in 1823, was for many years the most popular of the English Victorian hymn tune composers, and still today most hymnals include his tunes.

His musical career began first, at the age of ten when he began playing the organ at the church where his grandfather was the vicar, but following his graduation from Cambridge University (where he co-founded the Cambridge University Musical Society) he was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. He was precentor at Durham Cathedral for several years before leading the parish of St. Oswald's in Durham.

Though he was influenced by the Oxford Movement, he was blocked by his bishop from instituting any practices in his own parishes that might be seen as "high church." His requests for assisting clergy were denied until he promised three things: that incense would not be used during worship, that no clergy would wear colored stoles, and that the celebrant of the Eucharist would not face away from the people. He appealed his case to the Queen's Bench, but was not successful.

Several of his hymn tunes appeared in the first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861) and after that were in great demand in the big business of Victorian hymnal publishing. He supplied tunes for nearly every editor who requested them, regardless of denomination. In response to one American hymnal editor, J. Ireland Tucker (whose work was very influential in spreading Dykes's music to this country), regarding terms, he wrote:

I have never been accustomed to write for money, although I have frequently had an honorarium sent to me for work done. (...) Bur when a man has a large parish, and a family growing up, and is not overburdened with the world's goods, and finds considerable difficulty in making both ends meet, I suppose there is nothing objectionable in resorting to any legitimate means which God's good Providence may throw in his way for enabling him to pay his just and lawful debts. and obtain a little help for those who are dependent on him.

You will recognize many of his tunes, and most of his familiar tunes have already been seen here. This one is less familiar, but suits this German text by Wolfgang Dessler (translated by John Wesley).

Into thy gracious hands I fall,

And with the arms of faith embrace;

Loving Redeemer, hear my call,

O raise me, heal me, by thy grace!

Still let thy wisdom be my guide,

Nor take thy light from me away,

Still with me let thy grace abide,

That I from thee may never stray:

Let thy word richly in me dwell;

Thy peace and love my portion be;

My joy to endure and do thy will,

Till perfect I am found in thee.

From faith to faith, from grace to grace,

So in thy strength shall I go on,

Till heaven and earth flee from thy face,

And glory end what grace begun.

Wolfgang C. Dessler, 1692;

tr. John Wesley, 1739; alt.

Tune: CALM (L.M.)

John Bacchus Dykes, 19th cent.

Two Years Ago: John Bacchus Dykes

To See the Approaching Sacrifice

Ride on! ride on in majesty!

Hark! all the tribes “Hosanna” cry;

O Savior meek, pursue thy road

With palms and scattered garments strowed.

Ride on! ride on in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die;

O Christ, thy triumphs now begin

o'er captive death and conquered sin.

Ride on! ride on in majesty!

The angel armies of the sky

Look down with sad and wondering eyes

To see the approaching sacrifice.

Ride on! ride on in majesty!

In lowly pomp ride on to die;

Bow thy meek head to mortal pain,

Then take, O God, thy power, and reign.

Henry Hart Milman, 1820

Tune: ST. DROSTANE (L.M.)

John Bacchus Dykes, 1862

One Year Ago: The Victor Palm Branch Waving

John Mason Neale

John Mason Neale, born in 1818, is commemorated today in the Episcopal calendar (on July 1 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church), which as explained last year, is actually the day after his death.

It is for his translations of ancient and medieval Latin and Greek hymns that he is most remembered rather than for texts of his own. He seems to have started this work when he was fourteen and began a translation of the poems of Caelius Sedelius, a Christian poet of the fifth century (Neale's translation was eventually published in 1822). He was also much interested in the history and practices of the Eastern Church and wrote at least three books on the subject.

Neale felt that his translated hymns were more appropriate for use in worship than the "modern" vernacular hymns of Watts and Wesley, which he felt tended to teach erroneous doctrine.

This hymn, still sung today, was written in Latin in the twelfth century by French theologian and philosopher Peter Abelard, O quan­ta qual­ia sunt il­la Sab­ba­ta, translated by Neale for his Hymnal Noted (1854).

O what their joy and their glory must be,
Those endless Sabbaths the blessèd ones see;
Crown for the valiant, to weary ones, rest;
God shall be all, and in all ever blessed.

Truly, “Jerusalem” name we that shore,
City of peace that brings joy evermore;
Wish and fulfillment are not severed there,
Nor do things prayed for come short of the prayer.

Now, in the meanwhile, with hearts raised on high,
We for that country must yearn and must sigh;
Seeking Jerusalem, dear native land,
Through our long exile on Babylon’s strand.

There, where no troubles distraction can bring,
We the sweet anthems of Zion shall sing;
While for thy grace, God, their voices of praise
Thy blessèd people eternally raise.

Peter Abelard, 12th cent.;
tr. John Mason Neale, 1854
Tune: O QUANTA QUALIA (10.10.10.10.)
Paris Antiphoner, 1681
harm. John Bacchus Dykes, 1868

Never much in favor with the Anglican powers of his day, Neale was still highly respected by many. At his funeral in 1866, the highest ranking clergy in attendance were from the Orthodox Church, probably in recognition of his interest and writings on their history and worship.