The Feast of the Presentation

Forty days after Christmas we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation, or Candlemas, an occasion described in Luke 2:22-40. Mary and Joseph have brought the infant Jesus to the temple to carry out the required rituals, and there they meet Simeon and Anna, two faithful servants of God who have been waiting for the fulfillment of God's promise.

This hymn by James Montgomery is probably most often sung at Christmas, but in fact it encompasses these whole forty days, moving on to Epiphany in stanza three and this feast day in stanza four. I must admit that I had sung this hymn for many years before realizing that the saints mentioned in the last stanza were actually Anna and Simeon.

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Refrain
Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Shepherds, in the field abiding,
Watching o’er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing;
Yonder shines the infant Light:
Refrain

Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations;
Ye have seen his natal star.
Refrain

Saints, before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear;
Suddenly the Christ, descending,
In the temple shall appear.
Refrain

James Montgomery, 1816; alt.
Tune: REGENT SQUARE (8.7.8.7.8.7.)
Henry T. Smart, 1867

REGENT SQUARE is probably the most well-known tune by Victorian composer Henry Smart (though LANCASHIRE would be a close second). In the course of writing this blog I have discovered that I like several other tunes by Smart which are no longer sung often, and have presented some of them here on the site (click Smart's tag below).


P.S. - The illustration above is detail from The Presentation in the Temple by Philippe de Champaigne (1648) done for the high altar of the Church of Saint-Honore in Paris.



Eight Years Ago: O Zion, open wide thy gates

Seven Years Ago: Hail to the Lord who comes

Six Years Ago: O Jerusalem beloved (now on Facebook)

Five Years Ago: In peace and joy I now depart

Three Years Ago: In the temple now behold him

Two Years Ago: Joy! joy! the Mother comes

Forever and Forever Alleluia Is Outpoured

Another hymnic theme I want to explore further involves heaven, or perhaps, the Life to Come. As discussed before, the final stanza of many hymns takes us there, but there are also many hymns and songs solely about the afterlife; what we might find there and how we might find ourselves there. This blog, of course, takes its name from one of these, Jerusalem the golden, where the walls themselves are infused with the music of the praise of God (conjubilant with song). We have seen others, such as the gospel song When we all get to heaven and the collaboration between Isaac Watts and Robert Lowry (though they lived more than a century apart), Marching to Zion.

Here in the twenty-first century, in many places, death and the hoped-for nearness of heaven can seem almost metaphorical when it's encountered in church. Barring a sudden illness or accident, death mostly comes to older people who may even no longer be able to come to church regularly, so the community can sometimes avoid the reality for long periods of time. This was not the experience of churches in earlier times; death was more present for them, I think, as mortality rates were much higher. There is even an entire subcategory of hymns specifically written for the death of children that we would probably find hopelessly maudlin and sentimental today.

But I have lived in a time and a place where death was always present, where friends and colleagues and neighbors died on a weekly basis. I can tell you that hymns about heaven are just as important and meaningful and immediate in that situation as they were in the Victorian age, or any earlier time. A visiting contingent of Mennonites once came to a service where there were many men who would not be there a year later. One of their leaders memorably said "they sing like they've already been to heaven."

All this probably has something to do with my own interest in and love for these texts. I didn't know this one back then, but yes, we would have sung it like we'd already been there.

Light's abode, celestial Salem,

Vision whence true peace doth spring,
Brighter than the heart can fancy,
Mansion of the highest King;
O how glorious are the praises
Which of thee the prophets sing!

There forever and forever
Alleluia is outpoured;
For unending, for unbroken
Is the feast-day of the Lord;
All is pure and all is holy
That within thy walls is stored.

There no cloud nor passing vapor
Dims the brightness of the air;
Endless noonday, glorious noonday,
From the Sun of suns is there;
There no night brings rest from labor,
For unknown are toil and care.

O how glorious and resplendent,
Fragile body, thou shalt be,
When endued with heavenly beauty,
Full of health, and strong, and free,
Full of vigor, full of pleasure
That shall last eternally!

Now with gladness, now with courage,
Bear the burden on thee laid,
That hereafter these thy labors
May with endless gifts be paid,
And in everlasting glory
Thou with brightness be arrayed.

Thomas a Kempis, 15th cent.
tr. John Mason Neale, 1854
Tune: RHUDDLAN (8.7.8.7.D.)
Welsh traditional melody

I can never, ever get through the fourth stanza.

The original Latin text, Jerusalem luminosa, is attributed to Thomas à Kempis (or perhaps one of his followers) and was subtitled Of the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem, so far as concerneth the Glorified Body. Thomas à Kempis was a medieval monk best known for the book The Imitation of Christ. Our old friend John Mason Neale first published his translation in the 1858 edition of his Hymnal Noted.

The Welsh melody RHUDDLAN (which should ideally be played just a tad slower and more majestically) comes from a battle song called Dowch i'r Frwydr and was perhaps first published in Musical Relics of the Welsh Bards (1800). From there is was arranged into a hymn tune in the English Hymnal of 1906. Some hymnals also set this text to the popular (if slightly overused) REGENT SQUARE by Henry Smart.

P.S. - The painting above is a portion of Ascent of the Blessed, also from the early fifteenth century and a concept of heaven from Hieronymous Bosch.

Harry Emerson Fosdick

Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878 - October 5, 1969) was one of the most famous ministers of his time. Born in Buffalo, NY, he graduated from Colgate University and Union Seminary and was ordained in the Baptist church in 1903. He was widely acclaimed for his preaching and was hired as pastor by the First Presbyterian Church in NYC even though he was a Baptist.

At First Presbyterian his preaching drew crowds to the church-- sometimes there was a two-hour line to get in. However, in 1923 a sermon titled Shall the Fundamentalists Win? was not well-received by the Presbyterian hierarchy and Fosdick resigned in 1924 to avoid formal censure at a church trial. He was immediately hired by the Park Avenue Baptist Church largely due to the influence of philanthopist John D. Rockefeller Jr., who envisioned an important future for that church. Funded by Rockefeller millions, the Park Avenue Baptist Church under Fosdick's leadership became the interdenominational Riverside Church, moving into a vast new building (pictured below) overlooking the Hudson River in 1930.

Today's hymn was written by Fosdick for the dedication service of Riverside Church and has become one of the most widely-known and loved hymns of the twentieth century. I randomly pulled out six or seven hymnals of the last twenty years from varying denominations and every one included this hymn. Its message of social justice is as timely today as when it was written.

God of grace and God of glory,
On thy people pour thy power.
Crown thine ancient church’s story,
Bring its bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour,
For the facing of this hour.

Lo! the hosts of evil ’round us,
Scorn thy Christ, assail thy ways.
From the fears that long have bound us,
Free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the living of these days,
For the living of these days.

Cure thy children’s warring madness,
Bend our pride to thy control.
Shame our wanton selfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
Lest we miss the Savior’s goal,
Lest we miss the Savior’s goal.

Set our feet on lofty places,
Gird our lives that they may be,
Armored with all Christ-like graces,
In the fight to set us free.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
That we fail not earth nor thee,
That we fail not earth nor thee.

Save us from weak resignation,
To the evils we deplore.
Let the search for thy salvation,
Be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
Serving thee whom we adore,
Serving thee whom we adore.

Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1930; alt.
Tune: CWM RHONDDA (8.7.8.7.8.7.)
John Hughes, 1907

This hymn was first sung to the tune REGENT SQUARE by Henry Smart, but John Hughes's CWM RHONDDA (previously seen and heard on the blog) has become the accepted tune, used perhaps as early as the Methodist Hymnal of 1935. Though Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote three other hymns they are all but unknown today. His autobiography took its title from this text: The Living of These Days (1956).

Fosdick remained at Riverside Church until retiring in 1946. His radio program, The National Vesper Hour was heard across the country for nineteen years. He published more than forty books and sermon collections and several are still in print today. Though conflict over a sermon had driven him from the First Presbyterian Church, today on their website they honor his preaching ministry.

He did become more conservative in later years, believing that the Great Depression, the totalitarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin, and World War II raised questions about the essential goodness of humanity, and that modernism could "water down" the reality of God. "What Christ does to modern culture is to challenge it," he wrote, though this was not really in opposition to the words of his famous hymn: Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore.

One Year Ago: Emily Divine Wilson

Henry Smart

Composer Henry Thomas Smart (October 26, 1813 - July 6, 1879) was primarily employed as an organist at several churches in London, though he had originally studied law and practiced it for a few years. He also designed pipe organs for two concert halls in Leeds and Glasgow, and was a music critic for The Atlas, a weekly journal.

His compositions included many anthems (two can be seen at the Choral Public Domain Library) and other church music (I believe my choir will be singing one of his settings of the evening canticles at a festival in February). There was also an opera (Bertha), an oratorio (Jacob) and a cantata (The Bride of Dunkerron). All were acclaimed in their day but are no longer known. He also wrote many hymn tunes and was editorially involved in a number of hymnals.

Two of his tunes are still very well known today. LANCASHIRE, named for the location of the first church he served as organist, has been used for many different hymn texts, including one here. The other, REGENT SQUARE, is perhaps most often used with Angels from the realms of glory, but since I am not at all ready for Christmas hymns, we shall have this text instead, usually used as a closing hymn.

Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing;
Fill our hearts with joy and peace;
Let us each thy love possessing,
Triumph in redeeming grace.
O refresh us, O refresh us,
Traveling through this wilderness.

Thanks we give and adoration
For thy Gospel’s joyful sound;
May the fruits of thy salvation
In our hearts and lives abound.
Ever faithful, ever faithful,
To the truth may we be found.

So, whene'er the signal's given
Us from earth to call away,
Borne on angel's wings to heaven,
Glad thy summons to obey,
May we ever, may we ever
Reign with thee in endless day

John Fawcett, 1773; alt.
Tune: REGENT SQUARE (8.7.8.7.8.7.)
Henry T. Smart, 1867

Regent Square was the location of a prominent Presbyterian church in London, where the editor of Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship (where Smart's tune was first published in 1867) was the pastor.

Smart's eyesight had been weak since his young adulthood, and eventually he became blind. One of his daughters then transcribed his works for him as he composed them. The Cyber Hymnal site lists more of his tunes, though by no means all. If you want to read more about his tunes, another blogwriter has a rundown at this site.

Henry Purcell

Henry Purcell (September 10, 1659 - November 21, 1695) is considered to be England's most important pre-twentieth century composer (he was supplanted after that by Edward Elgar).

He began his musical life, as many English composers do, as a boy chorister at the Chapel Royal. His earliest known compositions date from his pre-teen years. At seventeen he was appointed as the organist at Westminster Abbey. He went on to compose both sacred and secular pieces: many anthems and choral works (though the pieces listed as "hymns" are not what we would consider hymns), as well as a great amount of music for the theater. Toward the end of his life he served as organist at both Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal.

The following hymn tune was adapted from a melody in the final "Alleluia" section of Purcell's anthem O God, thou art my God (around 1692). The adaptation was by Ernest Hawkins and first appeared in Vincent Novello's tune collection The Psalmist (1843), though the tune (named WESTMINSTER ABBEY in honor of Purcell's longtime association with the church) did not become widely popular for another hundred years or so.

Christ is made the sure foundation,

Christ the head and cornerstone;

Chosen of our God, and precious,

Binding all the church in one,

Holy Zion’s help forever,

Zion's confidence alone.

All that dedicated city,

Dearly loved of God on high,

In exultant jubilation,

Pours perpetual melody,

God the One in Three adoring

In glad hymns eternally.

To this temple, where we call you,
Come, O God of hosts, today;

With your wonted lovingkindness

Hear your people as they pray.

And your fullest benediction

Shed within its walls alway.

Grant, we pray, to every people

All the grace they ask to gain;

What they gain from you forever

With the blessèd to retain,

And hereafter in your glory

Evermore with you to reign.

Latin, 7th century; tr. John Mason Neale, 1851; alt.

Tune: WESTMINSTER ABBEY (8.7.8.7.8.7.)

Henry Purcell, c.1692; adapt. Ernest Hawkins, 1843

This hymn is better known in some denominations to the tune REGENT SQUARE by Henry Smart (usually without the second verse). The text has been modernized (thou changes to you, etc.), which works fine in this case, I think.

Purcell died at the age of 36; one theory holds that he died of "chocolate poisoning." He was buried in Westminster Abbey, next to the organ. His epitaph reads: "Here lyes Henry Purcell Esq., who left this life and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded". Today there is a Purcell Club that gives tours and concerts in support of the Abbey.

P.S. Thus far September has seemed weighted toward hymn tune composers rather than text writers, and a look at the rest of the month shows that the trend continues. Just the way the calendar worked out. So I may insert some interesting texts here and there (not that I think the texts so far have been deficient, just not so much the focus).