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“A little while,” - our Lord shall come. James George Deck* (1807-1884).
This hymn was first published in the Appendix to the 1841 edition of the Brethren book, Hymns for the Poor of the Flock (JJ, p. 3). It was prefaced by ' “A little while, and ye shall see me.” – John xvi. 16.' It had four 6-line stanzas:
“A little while,” – our Lord shall come, And we shall wander here no more;He'll take us to our Father's Home, Where He, for us, has gone before,To dwell with Him, to see his...
A brighter dawn is breaking. Percy Dearmer* (1867-1936).
Written for EH (1906) to fit the German tune SELNECKER (NUN LASST UNS GOTT DEM HERREN). Dearmer said that it was written for Eastertide 'because there was a dearth of cheerful Easter tunes' (Songs of Praise Discussed, 1933, p. 231):
A brighter dawn is breaking,And earth with praise is waking;For thou, O King most highest,The power of death defiest;
And thou hast come victorious,With risen Body glorious,Who now for ever livest,And life...
A charge to keep I have. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (Bristol, 1762), in two 8-line DSM verses. It is one of 21 hymns on Leviticus, mostly one-verse hymns but including 'O thou who camest from above'*. This one is based on Leviticus 8: 35: 'Keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not.' Its original ending followed the last phrase: 'Assur'd, if I my trust betray,/ I shall for ever die.' The severity of these lines (based...
A city radiant as a bride. Timothy Dudley-Smith* (1926- ).
First published in the quarterly News of Hymnody in 1987. Drawing on Revelation 21, it is a hymn on the subject of 'citizens of heaven'; which was, at that point in the development in the Church of England's alternative liturgies, the theme for the 'Last Sunday after Pentecost'. Although since the replacement of the 1980 Alternative Service Book this is no longer the case, the same chapter from Revelation now appears as an option for...
A few more years shall roll. Horatius Bonar* (1808-1889).
This was one of Bonar's earliest hymns, written when he was minister of North Parish Church, Kelso. It was printed as a leaflet and sung at Kelso on New Year's Day, 1843. It was published in Bonar's Songs of the Wilderness, No 2 (1844). It had six 8-line stanzas. A five-stanza text, omitting Bonar's stanza 5, was printed in the Appendix (1868) to the First Edition of A&M, and that remained the standard A&M version until the hymn...
A fitly spoken word. George Burden Bubier* (1823-1869).
From Hymns and Sacred Songs for Sunday-schools and Social Worship (Manchester, 1855), the hymnbook in which Bubier collaborated with George MacDonald* and his brother Charles. It was dated January 1855 (JJ, p. 190). Its originality is characteristic of Bubier's and MacDonald's work:
A fitly spoken word, It hath mysterious powers; Its far off echoes shall be heard Ringing through future hours.
An honest, truthful word, It has a...
A glorious company we sing. Albert Frederick Bayly* (1901-1984).
Written in 1946 for a Sunday School Anniversary at Morpeth Congregational Church, and published in The Sunday School Chronicle (1946), Rejoice O People (1950), and Sunday School Praise (1958). It has appeared in many books since, including HP, with four of the original five verses, omitting verse three:
A daring company we sing,
who bore by land and sea
the tidings of their Saviour's love,
his cross and victory:
till...
A great and mighty wonder. Greek, attributed to St Germanos of Constantinople* (ca. 655-before 754), translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866).
The Greek text, 'Mega kai paradoxon thauma tetelestai', is found in editions of the Menaea (twelve sections, one for each month, or 'men', hence the name Menaea) where it is attributed to Germanos of Constantinople* (or Germanus, for whom see Sabine Baring-Gould*, The Lives of the Saints, New Edition, 1897, v. 174-80). Neale's translation appeared in...
A hymn for martyrs sweetly sing. Bede* (673/4-735), translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866).
This hymn, 'Hymnum canentes Martyrum', is found in an anthology, Hymni Ecclesiastici (Cologne, 1556), ascribed to the Venerable Bede. Neale's translation of some of the verses appeared in Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1851), with a first line 'The hymn for conquering martyrs raise', and a note saying that it was 'a Hymn for the Holy Innocents'. It appeared in the First Edition of A&M with the...
A hymn of glory let us sing. Bede* (673/4-735), translated by Elizabeth Rundle Charles* (1828-1896).
Charles's translation of Hymnum canamus gloriae* appeared in her The Voice of Christian Life in Song (1858), where it had six verses:
A hymn of glory let us sing,
New hymns throughout the world shall ring;
By a new way none ever trod,
Christ mounteth to the throne of God.
The apostles on the mountain stand –
The mystic mount – in Holy Land;
They, with the Virgin-mother see
Jesus ascend in...
A light from heaven shone around. Gracia Grindal* (1943- ).
This was written in response to a general request from the committee of H82, which circulated a list of Festivals and Saints' Days for which it was seeking new hymns. This one, on the Conversion of St Paul, follows the account in Acts 9 closely. Since that time it has also appeared in Singing the New Testament (ed. Joyce Borger, Faith Alive, 2008).
JRW
A Light is Gleaming ('When light comes pouring into the darkest place'). Linnea Good* (1962– ).
Written first for The Whole People of God church school curriculum (1992), Linnea Good's 'A Light Is Gleaming' appeared subsequently in Voices United (VU, 1996) the denomination hymnal of the United Church of Canada.
The song begins with a refrain inviting the singers to come and share in the light and love of God. Notable in its text construction, the line 'living in the light', sung twice in the...
A little child may know. Jane Eliza Leeson* (1807/8-1881).
From Leeson's Hymns and Scenes of Childhood (1842) where it was entitled 'God's Love of Little Children', in six verses. Its description of the world as 'a picture-book' suggests that it was intended for very young children:
Around me when I look, His handiwork I see;This world is like a picture book To teach his name to me.
The thousand little flowers Within our garden found,The rainbow and the soft spring showers, And every...
A little child the Saviour came. William Robertson, of Monzievaird* (1820-1864).
This hymn for Holy Baptism with its attractive first line was published in the Church of Scotland's Hymns for Public Worship (1861), and subsequently in the Scottish Hymnal (1870). It was also used by the Presbyterian Church of England, and is found in Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867), and in Church Praise (1884). In JJ, p. 2, it was reported that it had become more popular in America than in Britain,...
A living stream, as crystal clear. John Keble* (1792-1866), based on a hymn by John Mason* (ca. 1645-1694).
Keble wrote this hymn for the Salisbury Hymn-Book (1857). It was forthwith taken up by the compilers of the First Edition of A&M (1861), and it appeared in all editions of A&M until it was dropped by A&MR. Keble's seven 4-line verses were based on a hymn by John Mason from his Spiritual Songs: or Songs of Praise to Almighty God Upon several Occasions (1683). In Mason's book it...
A man there lived in Galilee. Somerset Lowry* (1855-1932).
According to Wesley Milgate* this hymn 'was apparently first published in School Worship (1926), set to FOREST GREEN' (Milgate, 1982, p. 88). In that version it had a refrain, which has been omitted in most subsequent books, though not in CP:
O Son of Man, O more than man,
Canst Thou our comrade be?
Then help us all, who hear Thy call,
To rise and follow Thee.
It had three stanzas, neatly celebrating the life, death and...
A mighty fortress is our God. Martin Luther* (1483-1546), translated by Frederic Henry Hedge* (1805-1890).
This translation of Luther's version of Psalm 46 ('Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott'*) is the one that is most commonly used in the USA. As expected it is found in Lutheran publications, but it appears in books of all denominations. Hedge's translation, entitled 'Luther's Psalm', was included in the last part ('Supplement') of Hymns for the Church of Christ (Boston, 1853) edited by Hedge...
A mighty mystery we set forth. Mary Peters* (1813-1856), altered by George Rawson* (1807-1889).
This hymn appeared in Psalms and Hymns for the use of the Baptist Denomination (1858). In the Baptist Church Hymnal (1900) it was credited to Rawson. He has continued to be named as the author in some books, such as HP. The hymn is based on one by Mary Peters beginning 'O Lord, whilst we confess the worth', published in her Hymns intended to help the Communion of Saints (1847), a book published by...
A purple robe, a crown of thorn. Timothy Dudley-Smith* (1926-2024).
Written at the author's home at Sevenoaks, Kent, in October 1968, this Passiontide text was published the next year in Youth Praise 2. This was followed by several mainstream hymnals in the UK (including A&MRW) and the USA as well as two of the author's own collections; other appearances include at least two publications in a Chinese translation.
It has usually been set to David Wilson*'s composition A PURPLE ROBE,...
A safe stronghold our God is still. Martin Luther* (1483-1546), translated by Thomas Carlyle* (1795-1881).
This is a translation of Luther's magnificent hymn based on Psalm 46, 'Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott'*, the date of which is uncertain (perhaps 1529). Carlyle had been studying German literature during the 1820s, and was supporting himself in part by publishing essays on German authors and by translating. This translation appeared in Fraser's Magazine in 1831, entitled 'Luther's Psalm'....
A Saviour who died our salvation to win. Ada Ruth Habershon* (1861-1918).
This hymn is dated 1905, one of many written for the evangelistic campaign of Charles M. Alexander* with his teacher Reuben Archer Torrey*. It was sometimes entitled 'Is He Yours?', taken from the refrain:
Is He yours? Is He Yours? Is this Saviour, who loves you, yours?
Another title was 'The Pilot Song', from stanza 3, which stands out from the other three more traditional stanzas, which celebrate 'Saviour',...
A sovereign protector I have. Augustus Montague Toplady* (1740-1778).
This hymn was published in The Gospel Magazine (December 1774), with the title 'A chamber hymn'. It is found in Toplady's diary for 1 January 1768. 'A sovereign protector I have' is actually the fifth line of the opening stanza; the hymn originally began with a vivid description of the need for sleep, from which comes the 'chamber' (bedchamber) of the title:
What tho' my frail Eyelids refuse
Continual watching to...
A stable lamp was lighted. Richard Wilbur* (1921-2017).
According to The Hymnal 1982 Companion, this was written for a candlelight service on 7 December 1958 at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, prefaced by a quotation from Luke 19: 40: 'I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the very stones would cry out'. It was used by the Wilbur family as its Christmas card in 1958 (Companion, Volume 3A, pp. 203-4, note to hymn 104).
Entitled 'A Christmas Hymn', this was published in...
A stranger once did bless the earth. John Clare* (1793-1864).
This is from a poem by Clare beginning 'When trouble haunts me, need I sigh', which has ten 6-line stanzas. It was not published during Clare's life-time, but was included in John Clare: Poems chiefly from Manuscript, edited by Edmund Blunden and Alan Porter (1920). It is found in Margaret Grainger's Index to the Clare manuscripts held at Peterborough Museum (under A 57, so written 1824-35). It is printed in The Poems of John Clare,...
A type of those bright rays on high. Latin, 15th Century, translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866), and the Compilers of A&M (1861).
This translation of 'Caelestis formam gloriae'* (Neale and JJ use 'Coelestis...'. Frere, 1909, and Frost, 1962, use 'Caelestis') is from The Hymnal Noted Part II (1854), where it was headed 'O Nata Lux de Lumine' incorrectly. The other details on the 1854 page are 'For the Transfiguration' and 'From the Salisbury Hymnal', with a quotation from Philippians...
A virgin unspotted, the prophet foretold. English traditional carol.
An alternative first line begins 'A virgin most pure, as the prophets foretold'. The text appears in many different versions. It originated probably in the western counties of England, perhaps in broadsheets: it is found in William Sandys*'s Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern, including the most popular in the West of England, with the tunes to which they are sung (1833). The New Oxford Book of Carols identifies the first...
Abide among us with thy grace. Josua Stegmann* (1588-1632), translated by Catherine Winkworth* (1829-1878).
This translation of Stegmann's 'Ach bleibe mit deiner Gnade'* was printed in Winkworth's Lyra Germanica II (1858), in the section for 'Evening Prayer', entitled 'At the Close of the Sabbath'. It subsequently appeared in her Chorale Book for England (1863). Its six 4-line stanzas present a simple but profound exposition of the Christian life, moving out to a general presentation from its...
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide. Henry Francis Lyte* (1793-1847).
Probably written in 1847, this is one of the world's best known hymns. Based on Luke 24:49, it is particularly associated with funeral services, but has had wide appeal in secular contexts as well. Its origins are somewhat uncertain. It was originally thought that Lyte had written it in his study on the evening before preaching his farewell sermon in the parish of Brixham, Devon, in September 1847; this account is...
Above the clear blue sky. John Chandler* (1806-1876).
First published in Chandler's The Hymns of the Church, mostly Primitive (1841). It is one of the few hymns by Chandler that are not translations. It appeared in the Second Edition of A&M (1875) in the section 'For the Young', and was at one time very well known: JJ described its use as 'somewhat extensive' (p.8):
Above the clear blue sky,In heaven's bright abode,The Angel host on highSing praises to their God: Alleluia! They love...
Above the starry spheres. Edward Caswall* (1814-1875).
This translation of 'Iam Christus astra ascenderat' was made by Caswall for his Lyra Catholica (1849). It was placed there for Matins on Whit-Sunday. It was a hymn of nine 4-line stanzas, the last of which was a doxology. The previous eight stanzas were a succinct narrative of the events of the first Whit-Sunday, beginning with the reminder that this came ten days after Ascension Day - 'Above the starry spheres,/ To where He was before,/...
Accept, O Lord, our Alms, though small. Wilson Carlile* (1847-1942).
This was printed by Lady Victoria Carbery* in the Church Hymnal for the Christian Year (1917, retained in the 1920 edition). It was included in the 'Introduction', in a section 'Hymns for the Alms and Oblations'. It was preceded by a quotation from 1 Peter 2: 5: 'Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.' It also referred...
According to thy gracious word. James Montgomery* (1771-1854).
First published in Montgomery's The Christian Psalmist (Glasgow, 1825), with the heading '“This do in remembrance of me” Luke 22:19' in six stanzas. It was repeated in Montgomery's Original Hymns (1853), and since that time it has appeared in many books, with slight variations. It was printed in EH and NEH, and came into the A&M tradition with A&MCP in 2000. It has long been a favourite with nonconformists, though it was...
Adam lay y-bounden. English, ca. 1400, author unknown.
This carol is found in the British Library Sloane MS 2593. It is thought to date from ca. 1400. It was printed in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928), with a tune by Peter Warlock (1894-1930). It has since become widely known through its inclusion in the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols* at King's College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve, when it normally follows the First Lesson, telling of the judgement of God on Adam and Eve and the serpent....
Advent tells us Christ is near. (Arabella) Katherine Hankey* (1834-1911).
According to JJ, p. 483, this was written in 1888 for Sunday School children at St Peter's, Eaton Square, London, then as now a prosperous part of the city (although Hankey organised classes for shop girls). It was printed on a card, with a tune composed by Hankey herself, before being included in many English-speaking hymnbooks on both sides of the Atlantic. It is not a hymn for Advent, in spite of the first line: it is...
Affirm anew the three-fold name. Timothy Dudley-Smith* (1926-2024).
Built upon its four imperatives of 'Affirm…Declare…Confirm…Renew…', this hymn of Christian dedication and renewal was written for the 1998 Lambeth Conference of worldwide Anglican bishops (see Lambeth Praise*). The Archbishop of Canterbury's Secretary for this event wrote well in advance to Dudley-Smith outlining the conference's four main themes; a small selection of hymns was to be used including some new texts. Dudley-Smith...
Afflicted souls, to Jesus dear. John Fawcett* (1740-1817).
Published in Fawcett's Hymns adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782). It was headed 'As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Deut. xxxiii 25.'. It had seven stanzas, each ending with graceful variations on the same line:
Afflicted souls, to Jesus dear,Thy Saviour's gracious promise hear, His faithful word declares to thee, That as thy days, thy strength shall be.
Let not thy heart despond and...
After darkness, light. Fred Pratt Green* (1903-2000).
Written for Seven Words from the Cross (1972), an unpublished cantata by Francis Westbrook*, the text appeared in Partners in Praise (1979), after The Methodist Recorder had printed this Easter hymn, inviting tunes for its unusual metre, 5.5.5.4. Two tunes were selected: it is normally sung to RIDGEWAY, by Brian R. Hoare*. It is a remarkable example of a modern hymn in simple rhythm, with sharp contrasts and oppositions, and economy of...
Again the Lord of life and light. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1743-1825).
First published in her friend William Enfield*'s Hymns for Public Worship: selected from various authors, and intended as a supplement to Dr Watts's Psalms (Warrington, 1772), where it was entitled 'For Easter-Sunday'. It appeared in Barbauld's Poems (1773), as 'Hymn III', with the same title. It had eleven stanzas.
Many different selections from the eleven stanzas have been made, beginning with William Bengo...
Again the Lord's own day is here. Attributed to Thomas à Kempis* (ca. 1380-1471), translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866) and the Compilers of A&M (1861).
This hymn was used in the 'Evening' section for 'Sunday' in the First Edition of A&M. It was based on a translation by Neale in The Hymnal Noted, Part II (1854). The Latin text began 'En dies est dominica'. Frost (1962, p. 149) notes that the translation is of a selection of stanzas (1, 4, 5, 6, 29) of a poem of 29 stanzas...
Ah Jesu Christ, my Lord most dear. Heinrich von Laufenburg* (ca. 1390- ca. 1460), translated by Catherine Winkworth* (1827-1878).
This tender German hymn is from a Strasbourg MS, dated 1429 in Wackernagel, Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, II. p. 534 (modern books date it 1430).
Winkworth translated the five 6-line stanzas, as follows:
Ah Jesu Christ, my Lord most dear, As Thou wast once an infant here,So give this little child, I pray,Thy grace and blessing day by day: Ah Jesu, Lord Divine, ...
Ah, holy Jesu, how hast thou offended. Johann Heermann* (1585-1647), translated by Robert Bridges* (1844-1930).
From the Yattendon Hymnal, Part II (1897). This is Bridges's translation of 'Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen'*, first published in Heermann's Devoti Musica Cordis (Leipzig and Breslau, 1630) together with its tune, HERZLIEBSTER JESU. This was itself a translation of a text at one time attributed to St Augustine* and then to St Anselm, but now thought to be by Jean de...
Alas! and did my Saviour bleed. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
From Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), Book II, 'Composed on Divine Subjects', with the title 'Godly Sorrow arising from the Sufferings of Christ'. It had six stanzas.
The original stanza 2 has usually been omitted:
Alas! and did my Saviour bleed, And did my sov'reign die?Would he devote that sacred Head For such a Worm as I?
Thy Body slain, sweet Jesus, thine,
And bath'd in its own Blood,
While all expos'd to Wrath divine
The...
Alas, what hourly dangers rise. Anne Steele* (1717-1778).
From Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760), where the author was named as 'Theodosia'. It was entitled 'Watchfulness and Prayer, Matt. 26: 41'. The reference is to the verse beginning 'Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation'. It had six stanzas:
Alas, what hourly dangers rise! What snares beset my way! To heaven then let me lift my eyes, And hourly watch and pray.
How oft my mournful thoughts complain, ...
All as God wills, who wisely heeds. John Greenleaf Whittier* (1807-1892).
From Whittier's 'My Psalm', written ca. 1859, beginning 'I mourn no more my vanished years'. It was published as a leaflet in 1859, and then in the Atlantic Monthly (August 1859); and in Whittier's Home Ballads and Poems (Boston. 1860/61). (It is incorrectly said in JJ, p. 1277, that it appeared in The Panorama, and other Poems, 1856).
The poem is, as the title suggests, his psalm, a reflection on nature, the goodness of...
All beautiful the march of days. Frances Whitmarsh Wile* (1878-1939).
According to Henry Wilder Foote, American Unitarian Hymn Writers and Hymns (Cambridge, Mass., 1959) (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/53833/53833-h/53833-h.htm), this was written ca. 1907 in Rochester with the help of her pastor, William Channing Gannett*. It had three stanzas:
All beautiful the march of days, As seasons come and go; The hand that shaped the rose hath wrought The crystal of the snow; Hath sent the hoary...
All creating heavenly giver. Michael Saward* (1932-2015).
Written in 1979 at Ealing Vicarage for a Stewardship Programme in the parish. However, it is a traditional Trinitarian hymn, and can serve for any occasion or enterprise for which God's blessing is sought. It has stanzas devoted to Father, Son ('Ever-living Lord and Saviour') and Holy Spirit ('Life-conceiving wind of heaven'). Stanza 4 begins 'Father, Son, and Holy Spirit'. It has been published in 11 books, including Sing Glory (1999)...
All creatures of our God and King. William Henry Draper* (1855-1933).
This is a free versification of the 'Cantico di frate sole'* of St Francis. It was written for a children's Whitsuntide Festival at Adel, Leeds, when Draper was the incumbent at Adel, between 1899 and 1919. Draper could not remember the exact year in which he wrote the translation, but it was published in the Public School Hymn Book (1919), so it was known before that book was compiled. It was written to be sung to the tune...
All for Jesus, all for Jesus. William John Sparrow-Simpson* (1859-1952).
This was written as the closing chorus, entitled 'For the love of Jesus', in John Stainer*'s cantata The Crucifixion, first performed in Marylebone Parish Church, London, on Ash Wednesday, 24 February 1887. The hymn should not be confused with a piece by the American writer Mary Dagworthy James* (1810-1883), which begins 'All for Jesus, all for Jesus! All my being's ransomed powers'*, and which may have been known to...
All for Jesus, all for Jesus!/All my being's ransomed powers. Mary Dagworthy James* (1810-1883).
This hymn was written at the opening of the year 1871 (James, 1886, p. 199). It was almost certainly published in one of the books that came out of the Wesleyan Holiness movement, of which James was an ardent member, but the exact source of first publication has not been located. It was given a tune by Asa Hull, ALL FOR JESUS. It became more widely known after its inclusion in Redemption Songs...
All glory to God in the sky. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord (1744), in five 8-line stanzas, and reprinted in full in John Wesley*'s A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), in the Section 'For Believers Rejoicing'; and in subsequent Wesleyan Methodist hymnbooks.
Since the Wesleyan Methodist Hymn Book (1904), the final stanza has been omitted:
No horrid alarum of war
Shall break our eternal repose;
No...
All glory, laud and honour. Theodulf of Orleans* (ca. 760- ca. 821), translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866).
This is a translation of the Latin hymn, 'Gloria, laus et honor'*, attributed to St Theodulf (or Theodulph), who was bishop of Orleans, France. During the reign of Louis I (the son of Charlemagne), Theodulf was imprisoned in Angers for some time beginning in 818. According to Clichtoveus in his Elucidatorium Ecclesiasticum (Paris, 1516), the imprisoned bishop sang the hymn from his...
All hail the power of Jesu's name. Edward Perronet* (172?-1792).
First published in full in The Gospel Magazine (April 1780), in eight stanzas, with the title 'On the Resurrection, the Lord is King'. Before that, the opening stanza had appeared anonymously in the same magazine (November 1779) together with a tune, now known as MILES LANE.
The hymn was later printed in Perronet's Occasional Verses, Moral and Sacred (1785), entitled 'On the Resurrection'. The text was much altered, and...
All hail, adorèd Trinity. Latin, before 11th century, translated by John David Chambers* (1805-1893).
The Latin text of this hymn began 'Ave! Colenda Trinitas'. According to JJ, p. 98, it was in The Latin Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church (Durham: the Surtees Society, 1851), from the Durham MS of the 11th century. Frost described it as 'One of the Anglo-Saxon hymns for the Trinity office, but it did not find a place in the Norman and later Uses. Its versification is, in parts, not even...
All my heart this night rejoices. Paul Gerhardt* (1607-1676), translated by Catherine Winkworth* (1827-1878).
Gerhardt's hymn, beginning 'Fröhlich soll mein Herze springen'*, was first published in Johann Crüger*'s Praxis Pietatis Melica (1653). It had 15 stanzas of eight lines each, portraying the Christ child as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and who is worshipped by the shepherds and the Wise Men. Winkworth translated 10 stanzas, omitting stanzas 3-5, 13 and 14, for...
All my hope on God is founded. Joachim Neander* (1650-1680), translated by Robert Bridges* (1844-1930).
Joachim Neander's 'Meine Hoffnung stehet feste'* was published in A und Ω. Joachimi Neandri Glaub- und Liebesübung: auffgemuntert durch einfältige Bundes Lieder und Danck-Psalmen (Bremen, 1680) where it was entitled 'Der nach dem Essen Danckende' ('Grace after food'). Bridges's free translation appeared in the Yattendon Hymnal Part III (1898), in five stanzas, with its 1680 tune, labelled...
'All my living fountains will spring up in you!' Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig* (1783-1872), translated by Alan Gaunt* (1935-2023).
This hymn, 'Alle mine kilder skal vaere hos dig!', has its roots in Psalm 87: 'On the holy mountain stands the city God has founded; the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O City of God.' A standard commentary speaks of this particular psalm as expressing the highest point of the universalism...
All Nature's works his praise declare. Henry Ware, Jr.* (1794-1843).
This hymn is dated 9 November 1822 (JJ, p. 1233). This was during Ware's time as pastor of the Second Unitarian Church at Boston (later incorporated into First Church: see https://www.uuworld.org/articles/exploring-bostons-churches). It was entitled, with nice Unitarian plainness, 'On opening an Organ':
All nature's works his praise declare To whom they all belong; There is a voice in every star, In every breeze a...
All people that on earth do dwell. Probably by William Kethe* (d. 1594).
This paraphrase of the 100th psalm was printed in two collections of psalms by the English Protestant exiles in Geneva, both entitled Four Score and Seven Psalmes of David in English Mitre [sic] (with slight differences in the title page) and published in 1561. It also appeared in John Day*'s Psalter of 1560-61. It was not included in The Whole Booke of Psalmes, the 'Old Version'* of 1562, but appeared as one of two...
All praise to God who reigns above. Johann Jakob Schütz* (1640-1690), translator unknown.
This is a variant translation of Schütz's 'Sei Lob und Ehr' dem höchsten Gut'*, found in the Scripture Union's Hymns of Faith (1964). For details of better known translations, see 'Sing praise to God who reigns above'* by Frances Elizabeth Cox*.
JRW
All praise to our redeeming Lord. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
Entitled 'At Meeting of Friends', this was first published in Hymns for those that seek and those that have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ (1747), in three 8-line stanzas:
All Praise to our Redeeming Lord, Who joins us by his GraceAnd bids us, Each to Each restor'd, Together seek his Face.He bids us build each other up, And gather'd into One;To our high Calling's glorious Hope We Hand in Hand go on.
The Gift which He on...
See 'Glory to thee my God, this night'*
All praise to thee, for thou, O King divine. F. Bland Tucker* (1895-1984).
Written in 1938 on Philippians 2: 5-11. It was written for the tune SINE NOMINE, by Ralph Vaughan Williams*, although set in H40 (for copyright reasons) to ENGELBERG, by Charles Villiers Stanford*. It has been frequently used in subsequent books: it is very popular in Britain, and is found in 100HfT and thus in A&MNS, NEH and A&MCP. A modernized version, to avoid 'thee' (but not wanting 'All praise to you...') is...
All praise to Thee, O Lord. Hyde Wyndham Beadon* (1812-1891).
From The Parish Hymn Book (1863), the book edited by Beadon, Greville Phillimore*, and James Russell Woodford*. It began 'Glory to Thee, O Lord', altered to the present first line, perhaps to avoid confusion with 'Glory to Thee, O Lord'* by Emma Toke*, published a decade earlier in 1852. It has appeared in a number of books, if only because it is one of the few hymns to celebrate the first miracle of Christ at the marriage of Cana...
All prophets hail thee, from of old rejoicing. Thomas Alexander Lacey* (1853-1931).
This is one of the few hymns on the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as related in Luke 2: 22-33. It is a translation of a Latin hymn attributed to Hrabanus Maurus* (ca. 780-856) beginning 'Quod chorus vatum venerandus olim'. It was translated into fluent Sapphic stanzas:
All prophets hail thee, from of old announcing, By the inbreathèd Spirit of the Father, God's Mother, bringing prophecies to...
All the past we leave behind. Walt Whitman* (1819-1892).
This hymn is made up of lines from Whitman's poem 'Pioneers, O Pioneers!', from Leaves of Grass (1882 edition). The first instance that we have found of its use in a hymnbook was in 1925, when Percy Dearmer* included it in SofP. He commissioned Martin Shaw* to write a tune for the unusual metre, which he called PIONEERS.
Sranzas 4-6 of Whitman's poem are the basis of stanza 1 of the hymn:
All the past we leave behind:
We take up the task...
All things are possible to him. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), Book II, where it was entitled 'All things are possible to him that believeth' (from Mark 9: 23), one of a sub-section entitled 'Hymns for those that wait for full Redemption'. It had eight complex stanzas:
All Things are possible to Him, That can in Jesu's Name believe:Lord, I no more thy Truth blaspheme, Thy Truth I lovingly receive;I can, I do believe in Thee,All Things are possible to me.
The...
All things are thine: no gift have we. John Greenleaf Whittier* (1807-1892).
Written in 1872 for the opening of Plymouth Church, St Paul, Minnesota, presumably on request. It had five stanzas, with a graceful reference in stanza 3 to the geographical location:
No lack Thy perfect fullness knew;
For human needs and longings grew
This house of prayer, this home of rest,
In the fair garden of the West.
This local reference has led to the omission of this stanza in many hymnals. Without it, the...
All things praise thee, Lord most high. George William Conder* (1821-1874).
First published in an Appendix of 1874 to Psalms, Hymns, and Passages of Scripture for Christian Worship (Leeds, 1853), generally known as the 'Leeds Hymn Book', edited by Conder and other Congregationalists, including George Rawson*. The book had been first compiled when Conder was minister of Belgrave Chapel, Leeds, from 1849 to 1864, but it is not known when this hymn was written. It had six stanzas, beginning:
'All...
All things which live below the sky. Edward John Brailsford* (1841-1921).
First published in the Wesleyan Methodist School Hymnal (1911), and then in SofPE, with seven stanzas:
All things which live below the sky, Or move within the sea,Are creatures of the Lord most high, And brothers unto me.
I love to hear the robin sing, Perched on the highest bough;To see the rook with purple wing Follow the shining plough.
I love to watch the swallow skim The river in his flight;To mark, when day is...
All to Jesus I surrender. Judson W. Van De Venter* (1855-1939).
Van De Venter was torn between his ambition to be a great artist, and the call to be an evangelist. While supporting himself by teaching art in Pennsylvania, he resisted the encouragement of those who thought he should be an evangelist. The hymn was written 'in memory of the time, when, after a long struggle, I had surrendered and dedicated my life to active Christian service' (Reynolds, 1964, p. 13). The word 'in memory of a time'...
All who believe and are baptized. Thomas Hansen Kingo* (1634-1703), translated by George Alfred Taylor Rygh* (1860-1942).
Kingo's hymn began 'Enhver som tror og bliver døbt', in his Danmarks og Norges Kirkes forordnede Salmebog (1689) (Milgate, p. 158: this hymnal was not approved by the church authorities, but Kingo's hymn was found in the official book that succeeded it, Den forordnede ny Kirke-Psalme-Bog, 1699, 'The authorized hymn book'). It was translated from the Danish by Rygh as 'He...
All who hunger, gather gladly. Sylvia Dunstan* (1955-1993).
Dunstan wrote: 'At the Hymn Society Congress in 1990 I had the chance to acquaint myself with the tunes of the Southern Harmony. After the conference, some of us vacationed at Folly Beach outside Charleston, where I worked out this text, wandering up and down the beach singing the tune HOLY MANNA.' The hymn was sung for the first time in worship that Fall at one of the weekly Eucharistic liturgies at the chapel of Emmanuel College,...
All who love and serve your city. Erik Routley* (1917-1982).
This was the first hymn text by the author. It was written during a workshop session of the Scottish Churches' Music Consultation at Dunblane in 1966 and was first printed in Dunblane Praises (No. 2, 1967). The hymn was characteristic of those produced in the course of this seven-year long consultation in engaging in the name of the gospel with the structures of contemporary society. The life of the modern city is vividly evoked, its...
All ye that pass by. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns on the Great Festivals, and Other Occasions (1746), the book in which Wesley's texts, some unpublished, were set to music by his friend John Frederick Lampe*. This is hymn 4 in the book, entitled 'On the Crucifixion', the first of three hymns with that title. It was then published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), with the title 'Invitation to Sinners'. It is based on Lamentations 1: 12: 'Is it nothing to you, all ye...
All ye that seek a comfort sure. Latin, probably 18th century, translated by Edward Caswall* (1814-1878).
The Latin hymn, 'Quicunque certum quaeritis', is found in a Breviary published at Lisbon in 1786 (Ulysse Chevalier cites a Franciscan Breviary of 1757; see Frost, 1962, p. 193). It was appointed for vespers in the Office of the Sacred Heart, which is referred to in stanza 2, 'ad cor reclusum vulnere,/ ad mite cor, accedite'. Caswall's translation appeared in his Lyra Catholica (1849), with...
All ye that seek the Lord who died. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns for our Lord's Resurrection (1746), in which it had 12 stanzas. It was the first hymn in the book, a vivid and moving presentation of the first Easter morning. It was not included in the 1780 Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists, and it remained neglected until Hymns and Songs (1969), which printed a four-stanza selection, continued in HP. Stanza 1 in modern texts is made up of...
All ye who seek for sure relief. Latin, probably 18th century, translated by Edward Caswall* (1814-1878).
This is an alternative to 'All ye that seek a comfort sure'*, a variant on Caswall's translation of 'Quicunque certum quaeritis' in his Lyra Catholica (1849). It was set for Vespers and Matins in 'Another Office of the same Feast', referring to 'Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi', the 'Feast of the most sacred heart of Jesus'. It had six stanzas:
All ye who seek a...
All, yes, all I give to Jesus. Jonathan Burtch Atchinson* (1840-1882).
First published in Triumphant Songs No. 2 (Chicago: the Edwin O. Excell Co., 1889), with a tune by Edwin O. Excell* named ESCONDIDO. It was headed 'Dedicated to the “Deaconesses” of America' (Deaconesses were active in several churches and hospitals in the 1880s and 1890s). It had four stanzas:
All, yes, all I give to Jesus, It belongs to Him; All my heart I give to Jesus It belongs to Him; Evermore to be His dwelling,...
Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks to the risen Lord. Don Fishel* (1950- ).
This popular Easter chant, with five stanzas and a refrain, was written by Fishel in 1971 when he was a student at the University of Michigan. The stanzas are of two unrhymed lines. Stanza 3 quotes Galatians 2: 20, which is an important text for this chant: it was written later than the other stanzas, added when Fishel was preparing for Baptism.
The chant was published in The Word of God (Michigan, 1973), and in Britain in...
See 'Alleluia, song of sweetness'*. The first line as above is that preferred by many books in Canada and the USA, and in H40 and H82 , although the Latin original, 'Alleluya, dulce carmen', is closer to 'sweetness' (dulce = sweet) than to 'gladness'. 'Alleluia, song of gladness' is also the first line in Cooke* and Denton*'s Church Hymnal* of 1853.
Alleluia, song of sweetness. Latin, 11th century or earlier, translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866).
This is Neale's translation of 'Alleluya, dulce carmen'*, the hymn used in various rites to mark the pre-season of Lent, normally sung before Septuagesima Sunday, the ninth Sunday before Easter, the third Sunday before Ash Wednesday. It was printed in Neale's Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1851), with a preface:
The Latin Church, as is well known, forbade, as a general rule, the use of...
Almighty Father, God of love. Hester Periam Hawkins* (1846-1928).
This hymn was not included in the list of Hawkins' hymns by James Mearns* in Appendix II of JJ (p. 1646). It may have been written after the completion of the Appendix. It is included here because it was the best known of her hymns in America (British books preferred 'Heavenly Father, may thy blessing'*, although the present hymn was in FHB, 1933). The editors would welcome information about the composition and first...
Almighty Father, hear our cry. Edward Henry Bickersteth* (1825-1906).
Written in 1869, this was published in Bickersteth's Hymnal Companion to the Book of Common Prayer* (1870). It was then printed in the Second Edition of A&M (1875) in the section 'For Those at Sea'. It was retained in A&M (1904), and in the Standard Edition of 1922, but dropped from A&MR.
Another version, also dated 1869, was published in Bickersteth's The Two Brothers, and other poems (1871), beginning 'Lord...
Almighty Father, Lord most High. Vincent Stuckey Stratton Coles* (1845-1929).
Written in 1904, when Coles was Principal of Pusey House, Oxford, and first published in A&M (1904). It is a hymn for Holy Communion, entitled in A&M 'At the Offertory', and it may well have been written for that specific purpose in that book. It had five stanzas, of which the three central ones are the most specific:
Almighty Father, Lord most High,Who madest all, Who fillest all,Thy Name we praise and...
Almighty Father, who dost give. John Howard Bertram Masterman* (1867-1933).
First published in In Hoc Signo: hymns of war and peace (1914), with music edited by Walford Davies*. It is eminently suitable for war time, but because the sentiments are general, it can be seen as a hymn for various purposes: after the war of 1914-1918 it came to be seen as a hymn for World Peace and Brotherhood (the heading of the section in which it appears in MHB). It could also be used for missions: it appeared in...
Almighty Father, who for us thy Son didst give. George Bradford Caird* (1917-1984).
Written in 1941 as an entry for the Scott Psalmody Prize at Mansfield College, Oxford, set as 'a hymn to be sung after a sermon on the social implications of the gospel'. It won the prize and was subsequently included in CP(1951). From there it was included in many books, including 100HfT and thus A&MNS, A&MCP, HP and RS (with alterations to produce inclusive language in two places).
Its long lines of...
Almighty God, Thy word is cast. John Cawood* (1775-1852).
Written in 1816, and first published in Thomas Cotterill*'s suppressed Eighth Edition of his Selection of Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship (1819), in five stanzas. It was entitled 'After a Sermon'. It was based on Mark 4: 3-9. It was printed in James Montgomery*'s Christian Psalmist (Glasgow, 1825), and other books, including Godfrey Thring*'s A Church of England Hymn Book (1880), and became widely known.
There are two texts of this...
Almost persuaded now to believe. Philip P. Bliss* (1838-1876)
According to Taylor (1989, p. 7) this was first published in The Charm: A Collection of Sunday School Music (Chicago, 1871). JJ, p. 150, quotes a source to the effect that it was inspired by a sermon from a Revd Brundage, who said, 'He who is almost persuaded is almost saved, but to be almost saved is to be entirely lost.'
The hymn is in three stanzas, sometimes printed with an abundance of quotation marks, which increases the drama....
Alone thou goest forth, O Lord. F. Bland Tucker* (1895-1984).
Written in 1938 and published in H40. It is a free translation of a hymn by Peter Abelard* on the Passion of our Lord, 'Solus ad victimam procedis, Domine'*, found in Abelard's Hymnarius Paraclitensis. Abelard's hymn was written for the nocturnal office on Good Friday at the Convent of the Paraclete where Heloise was abbess. In H82 it is found in the 'Holy Week' section, set to BANGOR, an 18th-century psalm tune. It has been...
Alone with none but thee, my God. St Columba* (521-597), translated by Duncan MacGregor* (1854-1923).
This was first published in Saint Columba. A Record and a Tribute. To which are added the Altus and some other remains, with offices for the thirteen hundredth anniversary of his death (from ancient sources)(Edinburgh and Aberdeen, 1897), one of the first fruits of MacGregor's scholarly interest in the early Celtic church.It had four stanzas:
Alone with none but thee, my God, I journey on...
Am I a soldier of the Cross. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
This was printed in Watts's Sermons on Various Subjects, Volume III (1729), added to a sermon entitled 'Holy Fortitude, or Remedies against Fear'. The sermon was on 1 Corinthians 16: 13: 'Stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong'. The hymn was never included in editions of Watts's Hymns and Spiritual Songs. It came into hymnbooks with John Rippon*'s A Selection of Hymns from the best authors, intended to be an Appendix to Dr...
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound). John Newton* (1725-1807).
First published in Olney Hymns (1779) Book I, 'On select Passages of Scripture'. It had six Common Metre verses with the title 'Faith's Review and Expectation' and a reference to 1 Chronicles 17: 16-17. Here David exclaims in humble wonder at what the prophet, Nathan, has just said about God's care for him from his early days to his present position as king, a care that would extend to his successors. Newton applies this to his...
An exile for the faith. Nicholas le Tourneaux* (1640-1686), translated by Edward Caswall* and others.
This hymn, 'Iussu tyranni pro fide', is found in the Cluniac Breviary of 1686, for the Festival of St John the Evangelist. It describes the visionary experience recounted in the last book of the Bible; and refers to the tradition, thought improbable, that St John the Apostle and author of the Fourth Gospel, was also the author of Revelation ('of St John the Divine'). A translation by Caswall...
An image of that heavenly light. Latin, 15th Century, translated by Richard Ellis Roberts* (1879-1963).
This is the translation of the Latin hymn, 'Caelestis formam gloriae'* used by EH in preference to the one by John Mason Neale*, 'A type of those bright rays on high'*, which formed the base text for the hymn in the A&M tradition, 'O wondrous type, O vision fair'*. It was the first of four hymns on the Transfiguration in EH, which paid more attention to the Feast of the Transfiguration...
Ancient of Days, who sittest throned in glory. William Crosswell Doane* (1832-1913).
Written in 1886 by Doane, the local bishop, for the bicentenary of the charter for the city of Albany, New York, the first chartered city in America. Its original first stanza refers to the occasion:
Ancient of Days, who sittest, throned in glory,
To whom a thousand years are but a day;
First, on this day that crowns our City's story,
With its two hundred years, to Thee we pray.
This verse was amended...
And am I born to die. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Hymns for Children (1763), where it had six DCM stanzas. All were reprinted, with minor changes, by John Wesley* in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), in spite of (or because of) their uncompromising severity (they are found in the section entitled 'Describing Death', the first of the four Advent themes, Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell). This may be seen in the first three stanzas:
And am I born...
And am I only born to die. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This hymn is closely related to 'And am I born to die'* in Charles Wesley's Hymns for Children (Bristol, 1763). It is found immediately after it in John Wesley*'s A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780). Much of what is said about that hymn and its suitability for children applies also to the present one.
It had six 6-line stanzas. The child is encouraged to think about life after death, and the possibility...
And are we yet alive. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), volume II, one of a series of 'Hymns for Christian Friends'. It had four 8-line stanzas:
And are we yet alive, And see Each other's Face?Glory, and Thanks to Jesus give For his Almighty Grace: Preserv'd by Power Divine To full Salvation here,Again in Jesu's Praise we join, And in his Sight appear.
What Troubles have we seen, What mighty Conflicts past,Fightings without, and Fears...
And can it be that I should gain. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739) in six 6-line stanzas, with the title 'Free Grace'. It was argued at one time that this was the hymn written by Charles Wesley on his conversion, but that is now thought to have been 'Where shall my wond'ring soul begin'*. This hymn, in the same metre, may have followed shortly after. It is certainly one of the spiritual-autobiographical hymns of this period, and few hymns enable the...
And God will raise you up on eagle's wings. Jan Michael Joncas* (1951- ). According to the Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal [1991], this was written in 1978, when Joncas was visiting a friend. The friend received a telephone call to say that his father had had a heart attack, from which he died. Joncas sang this song to guitar accompaniment at the service before the funeral Eucharist. It began 'And he will raise you up...'.
It was published in Glory and Praise (Phoenix, Arizona, 1979), and has...
And let our bodies part. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Volume II of Charles Wesley's Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), where it was hymn CCXXXIII, entitled 'At Parting'. It was XLIII in the section entitled 'Hymns for Christian Friends'. It was in two parts: Part I had six 8-line stanzas, Part II four stanzas. Part I was printed, with slight alterations, by John Wesley* in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780) in 12 four-line stanzas, in the section 'For the...
And now the wants are told, that brought. William Bright* (1824-1901).
First published in Bright's Hymns and Other Poems (1866), in six stanzas. It was almost immediately used in the Appendix (1868) to the First Edition of A&M (1861), where it had a doxology. Beginning with Mark 9: 36, the story of Christ setting a child 'in the midst of them' [the disciples], it portrays very exactly a child's approach to the wonder and mystery of God, although it is a hymn for adults also. Stanza 6,...
And now this holy day. Edward Harland* (1810-1890).
Published in the Supplement (1876) to Harland's Church Psalter and Hymnal (1855). It was included in the Supplement (1889) to the Second Edition of A&M, and thus in A&MS, after which it was omitted from A&MR. It is a hymn for Sunday evening, designated 'For the Young' in both books: its simplicity is appealing, although it expresses an idea of a kind of Sunday that has disappeared, and one that was probably never very popular with...
And now, my soul, another year. Simon Browne* (1680-1732).
This hymn was found in a number of British books in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a shortened form of a dramatic hymn by Browne, from Volume 1 of his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in Three Books, designed as a Supplement to Dr Watts (1720). It was entitled 'New Year's Day'. The original text is dramatic and revealing:
And now, my soul, another year Of my short life is past: I cannot long continue here, And this may be...
Angels lament, behold your God. Charles Coffin* (1676-1749), translated by John Chandler* (1806-1876).
The text by Coffin was in the Paris Breviary, 1736, and in Hymni Sacri Auctor Carolo Coffin (1736). It began 'Lugete, pacis Angeli', and was set for Friday Vespers. It proved attractive to translators, including Isaac Williams*, William John Blew*, Robert Campbell*, John David Chambers*, and David Thomas Morgan* (JJ, pp. 701-2). The compilers of the First Edition of A&M chose Chandler's,...
Angels we have heard on high. French traditional carol, translated by James Chadwick* (1813-1882).
The French carol, in eight stanzas, is printed in the New Oxford Book of Carols (1992), to which this entry is greatly indebted. The original text seems to have been in dialogue form, and the editors of NOBC have arranged it for singing by the Shepherds ('Bergers', stanzas 1, 3, 6) and the Women ('Femmes de Bethlehem', stanzas 2, 4 and 7). Stanzas 5 and 8 were sung by all ('Tous'):
'Les anges...
Another Sabbath ended. T. Vincent Tymms* (1842-1921).
According to JJ, p. 1190, this was one of the hymns by Tymms printed in the 1880 Supplement to the Baptist Psalms and Hymns of 1858, and in the Baptist Psalms and Hymns for School and Home (n.d.). It was included in the Baptist Church Hymnal (1900), preceded by a quotation: 'The shadows of the evening are stretched out – Jeremiah vi. 4.' It had four graceful stanzas, expressing the ideal of a Sunday that has now disappeared from British...
Another six days' work is done. Joseph Stennett* (1663-1713).
This hymn appeared in fourteen 4-line stanzas in The Works of the Late Reverend and Learned Mr. Joseph Stennett (1732). With alterations, it appeared in a greatly shortened form in several collections, notably the collection by John Ash* and Caleb Evans*, A Collection of Hymns adapted to Public Worship (Bristol, 1769; see Ash and Evans's A Collection of Hymns*), in six stanzas, entitled 'Hymn on the Sabbath'. It crossed the Atlantic...
Another year is dawning. Frances Ridley Havergal* (1836-1879).
According to JJ, p. 72, this was written in 1874 for an ornamental card or leaflet published by a firm called Caswell in 1875 (this publisher has not been found, and it may be an error for Caswell, the part of Swansea where FRH died). It is not in Under the Surface (1874), as JJ goes on to state. In The Poetical Works of Frances Ridley Havergal (1884), edited by her sister Maria, it was included in the section entitled 'New Year...
Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go. Jessie Brown Pounds* (1861-1921).
One of Pounds' early hymns, written when she was still Jessie Brown, this was published in Hymns Old and New No 1, edited by Daniel B. Towner* (Chicago/New York, 1887). It had three stanzas:
Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go;Anywhere He leads me in this world below;Anywhere without Him dearest joys would fade;Anywhere with Jesus I am not afraid.
Anywhere with Jesus I am not alone;Other friends may fail me, He is still my...
'Are Ye Able', said the Master. Earl B. Marlatt* (1892-1976).
This hymn of self-dedication, entitled 'Challenge', was written for the 23 February 1926 consecration service of the School of Religious Education and Social Service at Boston University (it was relocated on Boston's Beacon Hill in 1921: http://www.bu.edu/sth-history/graduates/school-of-religious-education-and-social-service/). It was composed to an existing and familiar tune by Harry Mason (1881-1964), a student at the School, and...
Arise, your light is come. Ruth C. Duck* (1947-2024).
This was one of Ruth Duck's earliest hymns, published in Because We Are One People (Chicago: Ecumenical Women's Center, 1974). It was based on verses from Isaiah 60 and 61. She said that it was inspired by 'Lead on, O King eternal'* and 'Rise up, O men of God'*, presumably in the sense that these texts, the latter especially, offended her and caused her to write an inclusive text (see Wootton, 2010, p. 264). It was included by Erik...
Arm of the Lord, awake, awake (Shrubsole). William Shrubsole (II)* (1759-1829).
According to JJ, William Shrubsole (II) was a Director and one of the Secretaries of the London Missionary Society, founded in 1795. In the same year this hymn appeared in Missionary Hymns (JJ, p. 1056). It was included in John Dobell*'s New Selection of Seven Hundred Evangelical Hymns (1810), with the title 'Zion's Increase prayed for…...Isaiah li. 9.':
Arm of the Lord, awake! awake! Put on Thy strength, the...
Art thou weary, art thou languid. John Mason Neale* (1818-1866), based on a Greek text by St Stephen the Sabaite (725-794).
This translation of a Greek text, 'Kopon te kai kamaton', was first printed in Neale's Hymns of the Eastern Church (1862), where it is assigned to the 'Second Epoch' of Greek hymnody (726-820) and described as 'Idiomela in the week of the First Oblique Tone'. Neale wrote: 'These Stanzas, which strike me as very sweet, are not in all the editions of the Octoechos' (Third...
As a chalice cast of gold. Thomas Troeger* (1945-2022).
From Troeger's New Hymns for the Lectionary: to Glorify the Maker's Name (New York and Oxford, 1986), reprinted in Borrowed Light (1994). It is based on Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23, with its contrast between the outward forms of worship and the inward self, and its reminder (verse 15) that 'there is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.'...
As a fire is meant for burning. Ruth C. Duck* (1947-2024).
Written in 1982 after visiting United Church of Christ Missions in Turkey, which is reflected in the first lines: 'As a fire is meant for burning/ with a bright and warming flame/ so the church is meant for mission/ giving glory to God's name'. It was published in her Dancing in the Universe (1992), and has since been included in a number of books, including the Canadian VU and the Scottish CH4. There is a Spanish translation by...
As comes the breath of spring. David Lakie Ritchie* (1865-1951).
This hymn for Pentecost is from the Congregational tradition in Canada. Alexander MacMillan (1864-1961) noted that Ritchie wrote this hymn for youth, featuring 'aspects of the manifold work of the Divine Spirit in the transforming of human life.' It was first published in The Hymnary (1930). The author, a Scottish Congregationalist, was Dean of United Theological College in Montreal. His use of vivid imagery makes the hymn...
As men of old their first-fruits brought. Frank Von Christierson* (1900-1996).
Written in 1960, and submitted to a 'hymn search' of the Hymn Society of America together with the Department of Stewardship and Benevolence of the National Council of Churches in America. It was published in the Hymn Society's booklet, Ten New Stewardship Hymns (1961). Von Christierson wrote of this hymn:
As pastor of two new churches, with small memberships and great financial needs, I have been deeply concerned...
As now the sun's declining rays. Charles Coffin* (1676-1749), translated by John Chandler* (1806-1876).
Coffin's hymn, beginning 'Labente jam solis rota' was written for the revised Paris Breviary of 1736, edited by the Archbishop of Paris, Charles-Gaspard de Vintimille, who encouraged Coffin to write new Latin hymns. It was set for the service of None. It was published in the same year as the Breviary in Hymni Sacri Auctore Carolo Coffin (1736).
John Chandler's translation appeared in his...
As pants the hart for cooling streams. Nahum Tate* (1652-1715) and Nicholas Brady* (1659-1726). This is Psalm 42 in A New Version of the Psalms of David by Tate and Brady [New Version*] (1696, 1698). It had 11 stanzas, corresponding to the 11 verses of the psalm. Most books abbreviate the original to produce a text of fewer stanzas: almost all hymnbooks begin with stanzas 1 and 2 ('As pants the hart' and 'For Thee, my God, the living God') and end with stanza 11 ('Why restless, why cast down,...
As the bridegroom to his chosen. John Tauler* (ca. 1300-1361), translated by Emma Frances Bevan* (1827-1909). This hymn appeared in the first series of Frances Bevan's Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso and Others (1894-97). To date no specific text by Tauler has been identified, and the hymn is thought to have been a paraphrase of some of his ideas, perhaps those preached in a sermon at a nunnery, which referred to the bridegroom. It was reprinted in Bevan's Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso and Others...
As the fainting deer cries out. David George Preston* (1939- ).
This version of Psalm 42 was one of the last texts written for The Book of Praises: 70 Psalms for singing today, which the author compiled in 1986. It was paired from then on with his version of Psalm 43, 'God defend me; traitors rise'. As the two Psalms have much in common, including their refrain, and because they may have been a single song which was later divided, Preston has rendered them in the same 7777D metre and given...
As the sun doth daily rise. Horatio Bolton Nelson* (1823-1913).
The origins of this hymn are shrouded in mystery. It was a Latin text, beginning 'Matutinus altiora', translated by a 'J. Masters'. Nothing seems to be known of the Latin text or of its translator. JJ, p. 1579, followed by all commentators, gave the first line of Masters' translation as 'As the sun to brighter skies', and noted that the hymn was described as 'King Alfred's Hymn. Words by O.B.C. Music by Dr Smith'. The entry...
As the wind song through the trees. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
Dated 2005, this hymn was the outcome of a partnership between New Zealander Shirley Erena Murray and Singaporean Lim, Swee Hong (林瑞峰)* (1963— ). It started with the music, not the text. The composer, Lim Swee Hong, completed the tune shortly before the season of Pentecost in 2004, marking a departure from his usual practice of creating tunes for existing words. He then sent this tune to his long-time friend Shirley...
As Thou didst rest, O Father, o'er nature's finished birth. Alfred Barry* (1826-1910).
This hymn was written before 1886, when it appeared in Henry Allon*'s Congregational Psalmist Hymnal. It was subsequently included in Godfrey Thring*'s A Church of England Hymn Book (1880), and William Garrett Horder*'s The Hymn Lover: an account of the rise and growth of English Hymnody (1889). It was retained in Horder's Worship-Song (1905). It was also found in the revised edition of Church Hymns (1903),...
As we gather at your table. Carl P. Daw, Jr.* (1944- ).
Written by request in 1989 for Eastern Shore Chapel (Episcopal), Virginia Beach, Virginia, which was celebrating the tricentenary of its founding in 1689. The motto for the occasion was 'Repeat the sounding joy' (from Isaac Watts*, 'Joy to the world, the Lord is come'*) which Daw has incorporated in the last line, the climax of this fine hymn of worship and service. The first line is simple and beautiful in its simplicity: it suggests...
Ask ye what great thing I know. Johann Christoph Schwedler* (1672-1730), translated by Benjamin Hall Kennedy* (1804-1889).
Schwedler's hymn, beginning 'Wollt ihr wissen was mein Preis?', has the response at the end of each stanza, 'Jesu, der Gekreuzigte' ('Jesus the crucified'):
Wollt ihr wissen, was mein Preis? Wollt ihr wissen, was ich weiß? Wollt ihr sehn mein Eigentum? Wollt ihr hören, was mein Ruhm? Jesus, der Gekreuzigte, Jesus, der Gekreuzigte.
The hymn was published after his...
At break of day three women came. Janet Wootton* (1952- ).
This was originally published in Hymns and Congregational Songs Vol. 2 No.1 (1990) and then unaltered in Story Song and Reflecting Praise (both 1993). The hymn was originally set to STOURBRIDGE (anonymous but arranged by June Boyce-Tillman*). Two versions of the text are offered, one for this tune and the other for KINGSFOLD. This latter shortens the penultimate line of each stanza, so in stanza 1 'They worship in the light of day'...
At the cross her station keeping. Latin, probably 13th century, translated by Edward Caswall* (1814-1878), Richard Mant* (1776-1848) and others.
This is a translation of 'Stabat Mater dolorosa'*, which in its Latin original is of unknown authorship. It has been attributed to Pope Innocent III (1161-1216), but recent editions of A&M and EH ascribe it to Jacopone da Todi* (died 1306). For the arguments about authorship, see JJ, p. 1082.
There are two versions of the Latin hymn: the full...
At the Lamb's high feast we sing. Latin, Roman Breviary, 1632, translated by Robert Campbell* (1814-1868).
This Easter Communion hymn is a translation of 'Ad regias Agni dapes'*, a hymn in the Roman Breviary (1632) derived from 'Ad cenam Agni providi'* (pre-8th-century). Campbell's translation appeared in his Hymns and Anthems for Use in the Holy Services of the Church within the United Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane (Edinburgh, 1850). It was then printed with alterations in the...
At thy feet, O Christ, we lay. William Bright* (1824-1901).
First published in the Monthly Packet of Evening Readings for Members of the English Church (October 1867), and then in the Second Edition of Bright's Hymns and Other Poems (1874). It became widely known after its printing in the Second Edition of A&M (1875). It is a morning hymn, meditating upon human weakness, but its simplicity of line, and the rhyming couplets, also make it suitable for children. It has been frequently...
At Thy feet, our God and Father. James Drummond Burns* (1823-1864).
According to JJ, p. 1551, this was first published in The Family Treasury, presumably a Christian periodical, in 1861 (Gordon Bell notes 'July'). It later appeared in the Presbyterian Church of England's Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867), and in James Hamilton's Memoir and Remains of the Rev James D. Burns (1869). The text in 1869 was entitled 'New Year's Hymn', and was preceded by '“Thou crownest the year with thy...
Author of faith, eternal Word. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in 1740 in a pamphlet entitled 'The Life of Faith, exemplified in the Eleventh Chapter of St Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews', taking the reader through several verses of the epistle. It was then printed in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740). The six stanzas, sub-titled 'Verse i', and given the same title as the pamphlet, were the first of twenty-two:
Author of Faith, Eternal Word, Whose Spirit breathes the active Flame,...
Author of life divine. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns on the Lord's Supper (1745), in two 6-line stanzas, in section II, 'As it is a Sign and a Means of Grace'. It was included in the Second Edition of A&M (1875). It has been included in subsequent editions of A&M, and in many Anglican hymnbooks (EH/NEH, SofP, SofPE) as well as those of Congregationalists, the United Reformed Church and others. After a long period of neglect by Methodists, it was included in MHB...
Awake our souls, away our fears. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
This appeared in Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1709), Book I, 'Collected from the Holy Scriptures', with the title, 'The Christian Race, Isa. 40. 28, 29, 30, 31.' It is a free paraphrase of the Old Testament passage, and, unusually for Watts, does not make any direct reference to Christ as the source of strength, apart from its title. The text in 1709 was as follows:
Awake our Souls, (away our Fears, Let every trembling Thought be...
Awake, and sing the song. William Hammond* (1719-1783).
From Hammond's Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs (1745), where it had 14 stanzas. It was entitled 'Before singing of Hymns, by Way of Introduction'. The 14 stanzas were shortened and altered by successive 18th-century editors, including George Whitefield*, Martin Madan* and Augustus Montague Toplady* and further revised by William John Hall* and Edward Osler* for the 'Mitre' hymn book, Psalms and Hymns adapted to the Services of the...
Awake, awake, and greet the new morn. Marty Haugen* (1950- ). Written in 1983 as a Christmas hymn, and published in Haugen's Rejoice, Rejoice (Chicago, 1983). Haugen's tune, REJOICE, REJOICE, takes its name from the opening words of the last stanza. In verse 1 line 3 Haugen wrote 'for now he is born', which was changed by the editors of Worship - Third Edition (1986), of whom Haugen was one, to 'for soon he is born', which turns the hymn into one for Advent.
JRW
Awake, awake: fling off the night. John Raphael Peacey* (1896-1971).
This hymn was one of a number of Peacey's hymns published in 100HfT and thus in A&MNS. It had the title 'The New Life'. It is based on phrases from Ephesians 5: 8-10, in the New English Bible translation: 'For though you were once all darkness, now as Christians you are light. Live like men who are at home in daylight; for where light is, there all goodness springs up, all justice and truth.' So Peacey's verse 2 (of 5)...
Awake, my soul! lift up thine eyes. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1743-1825).
First published in her friend William Enfield*'s Hymns for Public Worship: selected from various authors, and intended as a supplement to Dr Watts's Psalms (Warrington, 1772), entitled 'The Conflict'. It had six stanzas:
Awake, my soul, lift up thine eyes;See where thy foes against thee rise,In long array, a numerous host;Awake my soul, or thou art lost.
Here giant danger threat'ning standsMustering his pale terrific...
Awake, my soul, and with the sun. Thomas Ken* (1637-1711).
Ken's three hymns for morning, evening and midnight were included as an appendix to the 1695 edition of A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Scholars of Winchester College, having previously circulated in pamphlet form. The date and place of writing are uncertain. The 1674 edition of the Manual of Prayers contains the direction to the boys 'be sure to sing the Morning and Evening Hymn in your chamber devoutly'. It is possible that...
Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve. Philip Doddridge* (1702-1751).
This was hymn CCXCVI in Doddridge's Hymns Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures (1755). This was headed 'Pressing on in the Christian Race. Phil. iii. 12-14.' It was a variant on the common 'Awake, my soul' theme', distinguished from other examples by its exhortation to zeal and vigour:
Awake, my Soul, stretch ev'ry Nerve And press with Vigour on: A heav'nly Race demands thy Zeal, And an immortal Crown.
While...
Awake, O sleeper, rise from death. F. Bland Tucker* (1895-1984).
Written originally as an anthem text for David N. Johnson, published by Augsburg Fortress Press (Minneapolis, 1980), this was revised and made metrically stable for H82. It is based on phrases from Ephesians chapters 3,4, and 5, beginning with Ephesians 5: 14 ('Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light'), itself 'a very ancient Christian hymn, probably' (Tucker, quoted in Young, 1993, p....
Awaked from sleep we fall. Greek, 8th Century, translated by Robert Maude Moorsom* (1831-1911).
First published in the Supplement (1889) to the Second Edition of A&M. It is a translation in three stanzas, of an 8th-century Horologion, or Book of Hours, which, as its name implies, was used for the fixed hours of Divine Service in the Eastern Church. This particular text comes from the midnight service: the word 'Awaked' (rather than the more common 'Awake') is particularly significant:...
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. USA, 19th century, author unknown.
Stanzas 1 and 2 of this Christmas hymn were published in Little Children's Book for Schools and Families (Philadelphia, 1885) published by the Lutheran Church in America. Verse 3, 'Be near me, Lord Jesus', was added in Gabriel's Vineyard Songs (Louisville, Kentucky, 1892), edited by the Lutheran pastor Charles Hutchinson Gabriel*.
For various reasons, summarized below, it has been attributed to Martin Luther*; but in the...
Away with our fears/ Our troubles and tears. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Hymns of Petition and Thanksgiving for the Promise of the Father. By the Reverend Mr. John and Charles Wesley (Bristol, 1746), where it was Hymn XXXII, the last in the book. It had five 8-line stanzas:
Away with our Fears, Our Troubles and Tears! The Spirit is come, The Witness of Jesus Return'd to hs Home: The Pledge of our Lord To his Heaven restor'd, Is sent from the Sky, And tells us our...
Away with our sorrow and fear. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
Funeral Hymns (1744), a small book of 24 pages, contained 16 hymns. It was dated by JJ, p. 1259, as 1744, but by the modern editors of A Collection of Hymns (1780) as 1746 (Hildebrandt and Beckerlegge, 1983; no copy dated 1744 has been found). The text in 1746 was as follows:
Away with our Sorrow and Fear! We soon shall recover our Home; The City of Saints shall appear, The Day of Eternity come; From Earth we shall quickly...
Baptized in water. Michael Saward* (1932-2015).
This was the second of three hymns for baptism written within four days, and the third of four used in a teaching series on the subject when the author was vicar of Ealing in West London. Like others, he had become concerned at the dearth of convincing and singable hymns for baptism. The date of writing this one was 29 May 1981; the following year all four were published in HFTC of which he was the words editor, together with two by Michael Perry*...
Be still, for the presence of the Lord. David J. Evans* (1957- ).
This was written in 1985, when Evans was involved in leading worship in what he himself describes as 'new' churches (Companion to Church Hymnal, Fifth Edition, 2005, p. 458). It was sung at Spring Harvest occasions, and published in Let's Praise 1 (1988). It became hugely successful, and has appeared in many books, such as Worship Songs Ancient & Modern (1992), with the first line changed to 'Be still, for the Spirit of the...
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side. Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel* (1697-?), translated by Jane Laurie Borthwick* (1813-1897).
This is a translation of the German text, 'Stille, mein Wille; dein Jesus hilft siegen', published in Neue Sammlung geistlicher Lieder ('A New Collection of Spiritual Songs') (Wernigerode, 1752). It was published in Hymns from the Land of Luther, Second Series (Edinburgh, 1855), where it was entitled 'Submission', followed by the quotation '“In your...
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Irish, 8th century, translated by Mary E. Byrne* (1880-1931), versified by Eleanor Hull* (1860-1935).
This text is found in two manuscripts in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, dating possibly from the 8th century, one a poor copy of the other. The Irish text begins:
Rop tú ma baile a Choimdiu cride:
ní ní nech aile acht Rí secht nime.
It had sixteen 2-line stanzas, many beginning 'Rop tú' ('Be thou'). The stanzas were translated by...
Beams of heaven as I go ('Some Day'). Charles Albert Tindley* (1851-1933).
'Some Day' is an evocative and emotional title which connects with other hymns, such as 'We shall overcome'* of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s (a development of Tindley's 'I shall overcome someday'), and with many 'By and by'* hymns, including Tindley's 'We'll understand it better by and by'*. Early printings, such as the one in Soul Echoes (Philadelphia, 1909) mark the hymn as 'copyright, 1906'. The title is...
Beautiful Savior. German hymn, 17th century, translated by Joseph A. Seiss* (1823-1904).
In The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) this is the opening line of the translation of 'Schönster Herr Jesu'* from a Roman Catholic Münster Gesangbuch of 1677. Seiss, the translator, was a prominent Lutheran minister and prolific author. His translation was published in The Sunday School Book for the Use of Evangelical Lutheran Congregations (Philadelphia, 1873). It had four stanzas, the last of which returns to...
Beauty for brokenness. Graham Kendrick* (1950- ).
This song was written in 1993 for the 25th anniversary of the charity Tearfund. It was influenced by a visit that Kendrick had made to India in 1992 and his perception of the contrast between Indian poverty and Western affluence. It was included in his CD album Spark to a Flame (1993), and has since been included in a number of mainstream hymn books, including the Australian Together in Song: The Australian Hymn Book II (1999), Sing...
Because He lives. Gloria Gaither* (1942- ) and William J (Bill) Gaither* (1936- ).
This song is based on John 14:19c, 'because I live, you also will live,' a theme that is effectively supported by a soaring melody in the refrain. After the opening reference to the Incarnation ('God sent his son, hey called him Jesus'), the first stanza turns to to the empty grave on Easter Day and its significance. Stanza two is about hope, even in uncertain days, because of the singular significance of the...
Because you live, O Christ. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931–2020).
The author described the impetus for this hymn: 'The creative irritant to write this came from the outdated words in our parish hymnbook and my love of this great tune. I wanted a fresh expression of community joyfulness, with light, color and the vision of the covenant rainbow through the Resurrection' (Murray, 1992, Notes).
The tune is the buoyant 17th-century Dutch melody VRUECHTEN, music usually associated with Easter, most...
Before I take the body of my Lord. John Lamberton Bell* (1949- ) and Graham Maule* (1958-2019).
From Love from Below (Wild Goose Songs 3) (1989), where the title is 'These I lay down'. It was written for a Thursday night Eucharist at Iona Abbey, in which the participants are seated round tables rather than facing the altar. It is a hymn of confession, although John Bell is on record as saying that he sometimes feels that 'we overdose ourselves in confession' at Holy Communion (Companion to...
Before the cock crew twice. Hallgrim Pjetursson* (1614-1674), translated by Charles Venn Pilcher* (1879-1961).
Hallgrim Pjetursson (Hallgrímur Pétursson) wrote fifty hymns on the Passion of Christ, which he completed in 1659. This is from the twelfth hymn, entitled 'Um ithran Péturs' ('The Remorse of Peter'), beginning 'Péter þar sat í sal'. It is still sung in Iceland at Passiontide and during Lent.
The translation of selected portions of Pjetursson's hymn was made by Pilcher in 1921 and...
Before the ending of the day. Latin, 5th-7th century, translated by Robert Campbell* (1814-1868) and John Mason Neale* (1818-1866).
The translations of the Latin 'Te lucis ante terminum'* by these two authors are the best known of many English versions. Campbell's appeared in Hymns and Anthems for Use in the Holy Services of the Church within the United Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane (Edinburgh, 1850). Neale's appeared two years later in The Hymnal Noted Part 1 (1851). Neale's...
Before the marvel of this night. Jaroslav Vajda* (1919-2008).
Vajda wrote this poem on 1 January 1979, in response to a request for an Advent or Epiphany song. His submission appeared in the 1981 edition of Christmas: An American Annual of Christmas Literature and Art published by Augsburg, one of five chosen for the publication. Vajda notes: 'One of the suggested themes was the angel song. But what could one possibly say in music that had not already been covered in the hundreds of extant...
Before the world's foundation. Timothy Dudley-Smith (1926- ).
This hymn was written in 1998. Like many of Dudley-Smith's hymns, it was his response to a commission. The Methodist Publishing House, which traced its history back to the time of John Wesley*, had moved from London to Peterborough in 1988. Its Chief Executive, Brian Thornton, planned a Service of Thanksgiving to mark ten years since the move, and Dudley-Smith responded to a request for a hymn to be sung to mark the occasion (2003,...
Begone my worldly cares, away. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
This hymn that looks forward to Sunday was Hymn V in Songs of the Night (1780). It was entitled 'Saturday Night'. It is an original meditation on the holy joys of a religious Sunday. It had six stanzas:
Begone my worldly cares, away! Nor dare to tempt my sight;Let me begin th'ensuing day Before I end this night.
Yes, let the work of prayer and praise Employ my heart and tongue; Begin my soul! - Thy sabbath days Can never be...
Behold a broken world, we pray. Timothy Dudley-Smith* (1926-2024).
In 1984 the Hymn Society of America (now The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada*) announced a hymn search on the theme of 'Peace'. Rooting his text firmly in Micah 4:1-4, Dudley-Smith wrote this in August that year, and it was one of five chosen for publication, appearing in the society's journal The Hymn in July 1985. Like many of the author's hymns, it was put together during the morning hours devoted to...
Behold a Stranger at the door. Joseph Grigg* (ca. 1720-1768).
From Grigg's Four Hymns on Divine Subjects; Wherein the Patience and Love of our divine Saviour is displayed (1765), where it was a hymn of eleven 4-line stanzas:
Behold a Stranger at the door! He gently knocks, has knocked before, Has waited long, is waiting still; You treat no other friend so ill.
But will He prove a friend indeed? He will; the very Friend you need; The Friend of sinners--yes 'tis He, With garments dyed on...
Behold the great Creator makes. Thomas Pestel* (1586-1667).
First published in Pestel's Sermons and Devotions, Old and New (1659), where it forms verses from 'A Psalm for Christmass day morning'. This begins:
Fairest of morning Lights appear, Thou blest and gaudy day,On whom was born our Saviour dear, Make haste and come away.
The hymn begins at verse 5 of this poem, and in its usual form continues to the end (verse 9). It was included in EH, set to the 15th-century tune THIS ENDRIS NYGHT,...
Behold the Lamb of God. Matthew Bridges* (1800-1894).
From Bridges's Hymns of the Heart, for the use of Catholics (1848), where it was entitled 'Ecce Agnus Dei' (many of the hymns in that collection had Latin titles). It had seven 7-line stanzas, based on John 1: 29. Because, as JJ pointed out (p.129), the hymn is rarely printed in this form, the original text is printed here:
Behold the Lamb! Oh! Thou for sinners slain, - Let it not be in vain, That Thou hast died: Thee for my Saviour let...
Behold the sun that seemed but now. George Wither* (1588-1667).
First published in Haleluiah, or Britan's second Remembrancer (1641), in the section 'Hymns Occasionall'. Wither hoped, as his prefatory note stated, that a meditation at sunset on the lines of this hymn 'may perhaps expel unprofitable musings, and arm against the terrors of approaching darkness': hence its theme of the decline or sunset of physical life, and the hope of spiritual life:
Behold the sun that seemed but now Enthronèd...
Behold we come, dear Lord, to Thee. John Austin* (1613-1669).
First published in Austin's Devotions in the Antient Way of Offices (Paris, 1668) in seven 4-line stanzas, where it was the first hymn in 'The Office for Sunday', appointed for Matins on Sunday. John Wesley* used stanzas 1-6 in his first hymnbook, A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (Charlestown, 1737), omitting the final stanza. Austin's original text was:
Behold we come, dear Lord, to Thee, And bow before Thy throne;We come to...
Behold! the mountain of the Lord. Michael Bruce* (?) (1746-1767).
This is paraphrase 18, of Isaiah 2: 2-6, in the Scottish Psalter (1929). An earlier version was included in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (1745) beginning 'In latter days the mount of God,/ His sacred House, shall rise' (annotated under this heading in JJ, pp. 564-5). The present version was published by John Logan* in Poems. By the Rev. Mr. Logan, One of the Ministers of Leith (1781), and printed in the same year in...
Believing fathers oft have told. Archibald Hamilton Charteris* (1835- 1908).
This was written in 1889 on a steamer on Lake Como, Italy, where Charteris was presumably on holiday from his duties as a Professor of Biblical Criticism at the University of Edinburgh. It was written for the Young Man's Guild, of which Charteris was a founder, and published in the August number of The Guild Magazine in the same year. It was entitled 'Guild Hymn'. It was a long hymn of five 8-line stanzas, each of...
Beloved, “it is well !”. George Washington Doane* (1799-1859).
In Songs by the Way: the poetical writings of the Right Rev. George Washington Doane, DD., LL.D., arranged and edited by his son, William Crosswell Doane (Third Edition, Albany, 1875) this hymn is dated 'March 2, 1833' (JJ has 'Mar. 12', in error, p. 304). It was entitled 'To my wife'. The text was as follows:
Beloved, “It is well! - ” God's ways are always right; And love is o'er them all, Though far above our sight.
...
Beyond all mortal praise. Timothy Dudley-Smith* (1926-2024).
Written in August 1981. The first line and the metre 66.66.44.44. (the metre of the 148th Psalm in the 'Old Version'*) may seem at first sight to recall 'We give immortal praise'* by Isaac Watts*. But while Watts's hymn is on the Holy Trinity, Dudley-Smith's is based on Daniel 2: 20-23, in which Daniel and his companions desired 'mercies of the God of heaven' that would enable them to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Daniel's prayer...
Bind us together, Lord. Robert (Bob) Gillman* (1946— ).
'Bind us together, Lord' grew out of the controversy that developed over the impact of Pentecostal influences in churches in London during the 1970s, known as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Those who had experienced the presence of the gifts of the Spirit wished for congregations with established historical liturgies to allow for more freedom to express these gifts during worship. As a result, a house church movement developed during...
Blessed be the God of Israel. Carl P. Daw, Jr.* (1944- ).
Written in 1985 for an Advent hymn competition of the Hymn Society of America. It is a paraphrase of the Benedictus* from Luke 1: 68-79, the song that marvellously breaks the silence of Zecharias, or Zechariah, as he contemplates his son John, who will become St John the Baptist ('My child, as prophet of the Lord/ you will prepare the way', verse 3 lines 1-2). Other texts employed include Isaiah 11: 1 ('a Branch from David's tree') and...
Blessed city, heavenly Salem. Latin, probably 7th century, translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866).
This is a translation of the Latin hymn 'Urbs beata Ierusalem'*, found in manuscripts of the 11th century, but probably of greater antiquity, perhaps 6th or 7th century (see JJ, p. 1198-9). The translation was first published in Neale's Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1851), in nine stanzas. In The Hymnal Noted Part I (1851) it was divided into two hymns, the first beginning as above, the...
Blessed Jesus, here we stand. Benjamin Schmolck* (1672-1737), translated by Catherine Winkworth* (1827-1878).
Schmolck's hymn, 'Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, deinem Worte nachzuleben'*, was published in his Heilige Flammen der Himmlisch-gesinnten Seele (Third Edition, 1706) in seven 6-line verses, entitled 'Seasonable Reflections of the sponsors on their way with the child to Baptism'. Winkworth translated six verses for Lyra Germanica II (1858), where it appeared as the first hymn in the...
Blest are they, the poor in spirit. David R. Haas* (1957-).
Blest are they, the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of God.
Blest are they, full of sorrow; they shall be consoled.
Rejoice and be glad!Blessed are you, holy are you.Rejoice and be glad!Yours is the kingdom of God.
© 1986 GIA Publications, Inc. www.giamusic.com. Used by permission.
This paraphrase of Matthew 5:3-16, 'The Beatitudes', maintains the two-part structure of scripture in each blessing—(1) 'Blest are they, the poor...
Blest be the dear uniting love. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in eight stanzas in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1742), where it was entitled 'At Parting':
Blest be the dear, Uniting Love That will not let us part:Our Bodies may far off remove, We still are join'd in heart.
Join'd in One Spirit to our Head, Where He appoints we go,And still in Jesu's Footsteps tread, And do His Work below.
O let us ever walk in Him, And Nothing know beside,Nothing desire, Nothing esteem But...
Blest is the man whose softening heart. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1743-1825).
This text is taken from the hymn beginning 'Behold, where breathing love divine'*, first published in her friend William Enfield*'s Hymns for Public Worship: selected from various authors, and intended as a supplement to Dr Watts's Psalms (Warrington, 1772), where it was entitled 'Christian Charity'. It had eight stanzas. The present hymn starts at stanza 3. It was published in Barbauld's Poems (1773) as 'Hymn IV'...
See 'I was there to hear your borning cry'*.
Break, day of God, O break. Henry Burton* (1840-1930).
According to Telford, annotating the 1904 Wesleyan Methodist Hymn Book, this was written on Christmas Eve 1900 at Blundellsands, near Liverpool: stanza 1 was written on a railway bridge, the remainder at Burton's home (Telford, 1906, p. 165). It was later printed in Burton's Songs of the Highway (1924). It had four stanzas:
Break, day of God, O break, Sweet light of heavenly skies! I all for thee forsake, And from my dead self rise: O...
Brightly beams our Father's mercy. Philip P. Bliss* (1838-1876).
First published in The Charm, a collection of Sunday School music (Cincinnati, 1871), with the heading 'Let the Lower Lights be Burning'. Like a number of Gospel hymns, this was based on an anecdote (cf. 'Ho! my comrades, see the signal'*). In this case it was told and moralised by Dwight L. Moody* and versified by Bliss. It concerned a ship attempting to make the harbor at Cleveland during a storm on Lake Erie:
'Are you sure...
Brother, hast thou wandered far. James Freeman Clarke* (1810-1888).
This hymn appeared in Service Book: for the use of the Church of the Disciples (1844), and then in The Disciples' Hymn Book (Boston, 1844). This hymn was credited as 'Anonymous'. It is not clear why the authorship should have been so designated, when a much more polemical hymn such as 'For all thy gifts we bless thee, Lord'* was clearly attributed to Clarke. The present hymn remained his best known hymn for many years. It was...
Brother, sister, let me serve you. Richard Gillard* (1953-). Written in 1976/7 by New Zealand author and composer Richard Gillard when he was a member of St Paul's Church, Auckland, and known as 'The Servant Song', this hymn began as a verse (now the third verse) and a tune jotted down in 1976, then further developed in 1977. The author says,
In the back of my mind was the passage in John's Gospel [John 13: 2-9] where Jesus washes the disciples' feet, and the re-enactments of that moment I...
By all your saints still striving. F. Bland Tucker* (1895-1984) and Jerry D. Godwin (1944-).
This is a modern version of 'From all Thy saints in warfare'*, written by Tucker and revised by Godwin for H82. In addition to using the 'you' form, it has been described as 'an edited version of the Tucker revision that reflected concern for language that was both nonmilitaristic and inclusive, yet remained faithful to the lives of the saints as the Church has received them' (The H82 Companion).
Like...
'By and by'
The phrase 'by and by', meaning 'in a little while' or 'at some time in the future' has been common in American English parlance since the 19th century. In spite of its simplicity, it is a haunting phrase, much more powerful than any alternatives such as the two above.
'By and by' is the title given to an African American spiritual of unknown origin. It was printed in Folk Song of the American Negro (Nashville, Tennessee: Fisk University, 1907), an account written and edited by...
Called as partners in Christ's service. Jane Parker Huber* (1926-2008).
Written in 1981 for a 'women's breakfast' at the General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Churches of America at Houston, Texas, and published in Huber's A Singing Faith (1981). It is concerned with the partnerships between men and women in Christ's service, but then extends this to include (stanza 2) 'men and women, richer, poorer,/ All God's people, young and old'. In addition to books in the USA, it is included in the...
Carol our Christmas. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
Written in 1986 as a reaction to Northern hemisphere carols and their imagery of holly and snow which dominated New Zealand Christmas celebrations well into the 20th century, despite the fact that New Zealanders actually celebrate the festival in high summer. This carol joyfully plays with the term 'Antipodean', offering itself as an 'Up-side-down' vision of Christmas where snow is not falling and trees are not bare, a time when the Christ...
Carol, brothers, carol. William Augustus Muhlenberg* (1796-1877).
Written in 1840 for the boys of St Paul's College, Flushing, Long Island, the College that Muhlenberg had founded as the Flushing Institute in 1828. It was published in Muhlenberg's later collection, I Would not Live Alway, and Other Pieces in Verse by the same Author (New York, 1860), printed for the benefit of St Luke's Hospital. It received wider notice when it was printed in Christ in Song (New York, 1869), edited by Philip...
Cast thy bread upon the waters (Anon).
This is a hymn with the same first line, and in the same metre, as 'Cast thy bread upon the waters'* by Phebe Ann Hanaford*. It is based, like hers, on Ecclesiastes 11: 1, but it is so different from her hymn that it requires a separate entry. It is found in many revival hymnals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Gospel Hymns 5 and 6 Combined (1892) and in editions of Sacred Songs and Solos, where (in both books) the tune is attributed to...
Cast thy care on Jesus. Frederick George Scott* (1861-1944).
Written during Scott's time as rector of St George's, Drummondville, Quebec (1887-96), after hearing that a close friend was suffering from a terminal illness and had few months left to live. It was included in the Canadian Book of Common Praise (Toronto, 1909) of which Scott was one of the editors. It was retained in a number of hymnals in the 20th century. It is Scott's best known hymn:
Cast thy care on Jesus, Make Him now thy...
Change my heart, O God. Eddie Espinosa* (1953– ).
Written in 1982, this is is Eddie Espinosa's best-known song. Espinosa tells the song's story:
The year was 1982. I had been a Christian since 1969, but I saw a lot of things in my life that needed to be discarded. I had slowly become very complacent. I acknowledged my complacency, and I prayed to the Lord, 'The only way that I can follow you is for you to change my appetite, the things that draw me away. You must change my heart! . ....
Child of Joy and Peace. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
Shirley Murray wrote this text in 1987. It was entitled 'Hunger Carol'. She described it as 'a protest at our consumer society'. It was first published in the Asian hymnal Sound the Bamboo (1990) and the author's American collection In Every Corner, Sing (1992) before reaching New Zealand publication in Alleluia Aotearoa (1993) and Carol our Christmas (1996).
Fired by indignation, the text steadily extends its assault on the secular...
Children of Jerusalem. John Henley* (1800-1842).
This Palm Sunday hymn for children has appeared in many forms. The text that is found in the Memorials compiled by his widow is presumably the one that Henley approved before his untimely death. It was printed as follows:
“HOSANNA! BLESSED IS HE THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD! HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST!”
1.Children of JerusalemSang the praise of Jesu's name;Children, too, of modern daysJoin to sing the Saviour's praise.
CHORUS: - Hark! while...
Children of the Heavenly Father. Lina Sandell-Berg* (1832-1903), translated by Ernst W. Olson.
Many commentaries on this hymn state that Sandell-Berg wrote the original Swedish hymn 'Tryggare kan ingen vara' in 1858 as a result of her father's tragic death by drowning. Per Harling*, author of Sandell's most recent biography, Blott en dag: Lina Sandell og hennes sanger (Stockholm, 2004), drawing upon research by Swedish hymnologist Oscar Lövgren, suggests that Sandell wrote the hymn much...
Christ has risen while earth slumbers. John Bell (b. 1949) and Graham Maule* (1958-2019).
'Christ has risen' first appeared in the collection Enemy of Apathy: Songs of the Passion and the Resurrection, and the Coming of the Holy Spirit (1988), the second of three early volumes of songs developed with over a dozen dialogue partners in the Wild Goose Worship Group (WGWG). The collaborative creative process with the WGWG was evident in the production of the early volumes: they sought to prepare a...
Christ is coming! Let creation. John Ross Macduff* (1818-1895).
Based on Revelation 22: 20, this Advent hymn is from Macduff's Altar Stones (1853), published when he was minister of St Madoes, Perthshire (Barkley, 1979, p. 141). It became Macduff's best known hymn. It had four stanzas:
Christ is coming! Let creation From her groans and travail cease; Let the glorious proclamation Hope restore and faith increase: Christ is coming! Come, Thou blessèd Prince of Peace.
Earth can now but...
Christ is our light! The bright and morning star. Leith Fisher* (1941-2009).
This hymn was written for the first Sunday after the Epiphany, which also marks the Baptism of Christ. It was written while Fisher was minister of the Old Parish Church of Falkirk (1979-90). On being invited back to Falkirk from his new parish of Wellington in Glasgow (1990-2006) to conduct a wedding, the author added a third stanza, based on the wedding at Cana (John 2: 1-11). The first stanza refers to 'the bright...
Christ is the heavenly food that gives. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
This hymn for Holy Communion was first published in The Mirfield Mission Hymn-Book (Mirfield, 1922) with the first line 'Christ is the Sacrifice we plead', in three 8-line stanzas with a refrain, and subsequently in John Lambert Rees's Sermons and Hymns by Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff (1946). Stanza 1 was as follows in 1922:
Christ is the Sacrifice we plead Before th'eternal Throne;His Cross alone can cancel guilt And for...
Christ is the world's Redeemer. St Columba* (521-597), translated by Duncan MacGregor* (1854-1923).
This is a translation of the second part of a Latin hymn, found in two manuscripts held in Dublin, in the library of Trinity College, and in the Franciscan College.This second part begins 'Christe Redemptor gentium'. Both sections were traditionally attributed to St Columba, but a note in the Trinity College MS casts doubt on his authorship of the first part, beginning 'In Te, Christe,...
Christ of all my hopes the ground. Ralph Wardlaw* (1779-1853).
First published in the supplement of 1817 to A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship: Intended primarily for the Church in Albion Street Chapel (Glasgow, 1803). It was in two parts: the first was entitled 'Christ All, and in all'. Seven stanzas, from parts 1 and 2 were printed in the Church Hymnary (1898), but thereafter it disappeared from Scottish books. SofP has a text of three 8-line stanzas, and SofPE shortens this to two. It...
'Christ the Lord is risen today'. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), entitled 'Hymn for Easter-Day', in eleven 4-line stanzas. It was not included in John Wesley*'s A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), the scheme of which precluded seasonal hymns, but six stanzas found their way into the 1831 Supplement to the Collection among the additional hymns. Its use has become and remained widespread since then, though in...
Christ, when for us you were baptized. F. Bland Tucker* (1895-1984).
Written in 1973 at the request of an Australian theology student at Trinity College, Melbourne, Dirk van Dissel. It is interesting to note that at the same time van Dissel was writing to Fred Pratt Green*, the British Methodist hymn writer, with a similar request. He was asking these two great hymn writers for a hymn on the Baptism of Christ for the forthcoming Australian Hymn Book (WOV, 1977). However, neither hymn was used...
Christ, who knows all his sheep. Richard Baxter* (1615-1691).
This is from Baxter's poem, 'The Exit', dated 'Decemb. 19.1682' and printed in Additions to the Poetical Fragments of Richard Baxter (1683). It begins 'My Soul go boldly forth,/ Forsake this Sinful Earth', and the theme throughout is the contrast between the joys of heaven and the pain and sorrow of earth. Verse 11, for example reads:
O Blessed Company,
Where all in Harmony,
Jehovah's Praises Sing,
Still without ceasing:
And all...
Christ, you are the fullness. Bert Polman* (1945-2013).
This is a Bible song on Colossians 1:15-18 and 3:1-4, 15-17; written in 1986 for the Psalter Hymnal (1987). Bert Polman wrote this unrhymed paraphrase of the New Testament epistle to ensure that a Korean folk melody, ARIRANG, would be included in this Christian Reformed hymnal. The biblical text reaffirms the new life in Christ. The tune was adapted by Bert Polman for congregational singing, and harmonized by composer Dale Grotenhuis who...
Christian, do you struggle. Bert Polman* (1945-2013).
This is based on an ancient New Testament hymn text about Christian experience of conflict. Polman comments, in the Psalter Hymnal Handbook (p. 751):
The Christian battle is 'not against flesh and blood' but against the 'powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil.' It is a deadly serious battle that requires Christians to 'put on the full armour of God,' which his Word and Spirit provide. This spiritual warfare is...
Christians, if your hearts be warm. John Leland* (1754–1841).
Leland probably composed this hymn in 1788, and it appeared in print two years later in Richard Broaddus and Andrew Broaddus, Collection of Sacred Ballads (unpaged, Caroline Co, Virginia, 1790). The first page scan in Hymnary.org is from Divine Hymns, or Spiritual Songs: for the use of religious assemblies and private Christians (Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1794), where it was headed 'Admonition to Christian Duties':
Christians,...
Christ's is the world in which we move. John Lamberton Bell* (1949- ) and Graham Maule* (1958-2019).
From Love from Below (Wild Goose Songs 3) (1989) and reprinted in When Grief Is Raw (1997), this is a fervent plea for Christians to feel compassion for others. The hymn, with its title 'A Touching Place', has four stanzas with a refrain, and 'Feel for' are the opening words of stanzas 2-4. It names those for whom we should care, including the people whom we most avoid (stanza 2 line 2), those...
Clare Taylor. b. probably early 18th century, date unknown; d. February 1778. Her hymns were published by Daniel Sedgwick* in a small volume containing the hymns of John Ryland*, Clare Taylor, and Samuel Crossman*. The title of the Taylor section was Hymns composed chiefly on The Atonement of Christ, and Redemption Through His Blood (1765). This was followed by two quotations: 'The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1. 7', and another from the first stanza of Hymn...
Come and find the quiet centre. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
This hymn, a favourite among North American congregations, was originally written in 1989 for a New Zealand Presbyterian Women's Conference whose theme was 'Making Space'. There it was sung to a Gaelic folk melody from the island of Lewis, also used in the Scottish CH4. When it was published in Shirley Murray's first major American collection, In Every Corner, Sing: The Hymns of Shirley Erena Murray (1992), it was set to a...
Come and journey with a Saviour. T. Herbert O'Driscoll* (1928-2024).
In his hymn notes (in Praise, My Soul) O'Driscoll recalled a teaching of Dag Hammarskjṏld, second Secretary General of the United Nations (1953-61), that 'The longest journey is the journey inwards'. The hymn writer/priest commented: 'true as long as the whole of one's journey is not inward. A healthy spirituality also hears a call to journey outward and upwards. Above all is the call to journey, so that one's spirituality is...
Come and let us drink of that new river. John Damascene* (ca. 655- ca. 745), translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866).
This hymn by St John of Damascus, or St John Damascene, 'Δευτε πόμα πίωμεν', was Ode III of the 'Canon for Easter Day, called the Golden Canon, or, The Queen of Canons', from the Pentekostarion Kharmosynon ('Joyful Pentecostarion'), used from Easter Day to the first Sunday after Pentecost (see Litvack, 1994, p. 131, and the entry under 'The Day of Resurrection'). It had nine...
Come and taste, along with me. John Leland* (1754–1841).
This hymn was entitled 'The Christian's Consolation'. It was probably first published in 1801, in at least three collections: Richard Allen*, A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs: from various authors (Philadelphia: T. L. Plowman, 1801); Richard Allen, A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns (Philadelphia: John Ormrod, 1801); and Josiah Goddard, A New and Beautiful Collection of Select Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Walpole, New...
Come Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,/ To whom we for our children cry. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This was headed 'At the Opening of a School at Kingswood', referring to the school founded by John Wesley*. It was opened in 1739 for the children of the local colliers near Bath, and reopened as an enlarged school for the children of Wesley's preachers and others in 1748 (Hildebrandt and Beckerlegge, 1983, p. 643). It is not known which of these events is signified in the title: probably the 1748...
Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/ Honour the means... Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This is No. 182 from Volume II of Charles Wesley's Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), the book published under his own name with John Wesley*'s approval. This hymn was headed 'At the Baptism of Adults'. It had six stanzas:
Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost Honour the Means Injoin'd by Thee, Make good our Apostolic Boast And own thy Glorious Ministry.
We now thy Promis'd Presence claim, Sent to disciple All...
Come into my heart, blessed Jesus ('Into my heart'). Harry D. Clarke* (1889–1957).
This hymn began as a short chorus, composed in 1924; Clarke expanded the chorus into a gospel hymn with four stanzas in 1927. The earliest publication is unclear, but the refrain without the stanzas appears in Homer A. Rodeheaver*'s Praise and Worship Hymns (Chicago, 1927), with the subtitle 'My Prayer', an inscription occasionally used in later publications. The entire hymn was included in several...
Come let us to the Lord our God. John Morison* (1750-1798), perhaps with John Logan* (1747/8-1788).
This paraphrase of Hosea 6: 1-4 was printed in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (1781). It has continued in use in the Church of Scotland from that time on, and is found in successive psalters and hymnbooks, up to and including CH3 and CH4. It was used in a number of 19th-century books, but in the 20th century its spread was remarkable, and it is found in many places outwith...
Come see the place where Jesus lay. James Montgomery* (1771-1854).
In JJ, p. 251, there is precise information about this hymn. It was written for 'The Seventh Anniversary of the Sheffield and Attercliffe Missionary Union in aid of the London Missionary Society', and was first sung in Howard Street Independent Chapel, Sheffield on Easter Sunday, April 2nd, 1820. In leaflet form, it was signed 'J.M.'
It was included in Montgomery's The Christian Psalmist (Glasgow, 1825) and, with minor...
Come Sunday. Duke (Edward Kennedy) Ellington (1899-1974).
The music of this jazz spiritual is adapted from the similarly titled section of Ellington's instrumental suite, Black, Brown and Beige, premiered at Carnegie Hall, New York City, (January 23, 1943). Ellington introduced the work at the premier as 'a tone parallel to the history of the negro in America.'
The lyrics resulted from a two-year collaboration of Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) and Ellington, as described by Irving Townsend in his...
Come to our dark nature's night. George Rawson* (1807-1889).
This hymn was printed in Psalms, Hymns, and passages of Scripture for Christian Worship (1853), the 'Leeds Hymn Book', a book in which Rawson assisted the local Congregationalist editors. There were originally nine stanzas, as found in the Primitive Methodist Hymnal (1887, 1889):
Come to our dark nature's nightWith thy blessèd inward light,Holy Ghost, the Infinite, Comforter Divine.
We are sinful; cleanse us, Lord:Sick and...
Come with us, O blessed Jesus. John Henry Hopkins, Jr.* (1820-1891).
First published in the Second Edition, enlarged, of Hopkins's Carols, Hymns, and Songs (New York, 1872). It was entitled 'Retrocessional for Christmas Day'; it provides a fine conclusion to a service on that day.
After having been neglected for many years, the first stanza of this hymn was printed in H40, with a tune by Johann Schop*, sometimes called WERDE MUNTER, after the hymn by Johann Rist*, 'Werde munter, mein Gemüte'*,...
Come, all harmonious Tongues. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
From Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), Book II, 'Composed on Divine Subjects, Conformable to the Word of God'. It was Hymn 84, entitled 'The Same' (as the previous hymn, 'The Passion and Exaltation of Christ'). The text in 1707 was in eight Short Metre stanzas:
Come, all harmonious Tongues, Your noblest Music bring;'Tis Christ the Everlasting God, And Christ the Man we sing.
Tell how he took our Flesh To take away our Guilt, Sing...
Come all whoe'er have set. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788)
From Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), the two volumes issued by Charles Wesley in his own name, though with his brother's approval. This was headed 'Another'; it was one of three poems entitled 'On a Journey'. The first prays for guidance, but the other two are confident expressions of a progress towards the promised land, 'the New Jerusalem above,/ The seat of everlasting love' (stanza 2 lines 5-6).
The hymn had five 6-line stanzas, marking...
Come, Christmas Child. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
This new four-stanza text, written in 2013, is entitled 'A Carol for Advent'. It prays for the Christ child to 'come again in your wonder' to change the world, to come 'where our cruelties keep us in chains' (stanza 2). In a modern phrase, the Christ child is asked to 'bring us your mindset that mends and restores', and Murray is acutely aware that children still suffer as the Holy Innocents did: 'Herod still hunts for the innocent...
Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,/ One God in persons three. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
Charles Wesley wrote at least three hymns with this first line. One continued
Come Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/ Honour the means...*.
Another began
Come Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,/ To whom we for our children cry...*.
Another was the hymn above. It was printed in the 'Numbers' section of Volume I of Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (Bristol, 1762). It began with No. 200, headed...
Come, Holy Ghost, all quickening fire/ Come, and in me. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
One of Charles Wesley's most beautiful hymns, this was first printed in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), where it was entitled 'Hymn to the Holy Ghost'. It had six stanzas, all of which were used, with minor alterations, by John Wesley* in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), where it was in the section entitled 'For Believers Groaning for full Redemption'. Later Wesleyan...
Come, Holy Ghost, all quickening fire/Come, and my hallowed heart inspire. Charles Wesley* (1707-88).
This companion hymn to 'Come, Holy Ghost, all-quickening fire/Come and in me'* [delight to rest'] was published one year later than that hymn. It was in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740), where it was entitled 'Hymn to God the Sanctifier'. It was a longer hymn of eight stanzas, with (like the earlier hymn) the first stanza repeated as the last, with one principal alteration, in which line 2 of the...
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire. John Cosin* (1595-1672).
This is probably the best known of the many English translations of the medieval Latin hymn 'Veni creator spiritus'*. It was first printed in Cosin's A Collection of Private Devotions in the Practice of the Ancient Church (1627), where it was assigned to the Third Hour, at which the Holy Ghost was traditionally thought to have descended at Pentecost. It may have been written for the coronation of King Charles I in 1625, at which...
Come, Holy Spirit, Dove divine. Adoniram Judson* (1788-1850).
'Come, Holy Spirit, Dove divine' is the most widely sung of three hymns written by Adoniram Judson. This four-stanza hymn is extracted from Judson's seven-stanza baptism hymn 'Our Savior bowed beneath the wave'*. The original hymn, written ca. 1829 and first printed in Thomas Ripley's A Selection of Hymns, for Conference & Prayer Meetings, and Other Occasions, Second Edition (1831), appeared under the title 'Hymn written by Mr....
Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
First published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), from Book II, 'Composed on Divine Subjects, Conformable to the Word of God'. It was entitled 'Breathing after the Holy Spirit; or, Fervency of Devotion desir'd'. It had five 4-line stanzas:
Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove, With all thy quickning Powers, Kindle a Flame of sacred Love In these cold Hearts of ours.
Look, how we grovel here below, And hug these trifling Toys; Our...
Come, join the dance of Trinity. Richard Leach* (1953- ).
This is Richard Leach's most published hymn. The author states that he desires to write hymn texts that are 'biblically and theologically accurate and sound' (Leach, 2007, p. 7). He accomplishes this goal in in this this by engaging the singer in an imaginative, multi-sensory celebration of the Trinity.
Leach notes that 'Dancing has a very long association with the Trinity, going back to the eighth-century theologians who used the word...
Come, let us join with faithful souls. William George Tarrant* (1853-1928).
Written in 1915, and published in the Congregational Hymnary (1916). It was one of four hymns by Tarrant in the revised Fellowship Hymn Book (1933). It remained in use in Unitarian churches (Hymns of Worship, 1927, Hymns of Worship Revised , 1962) and it remains in HFF (1991), though not in HFL (which prints only two hymns by Tarrant). It had six stanzas:
Come, let us join with faithful souls Our song of faith to...
Come, let us sing the song of songs. James Montgomery* (1771-1854).
This was written for the Sheffield Sunday School Whitsun Festival, May 1841. It was later published in Montgomery's Original Hymns (1853), where it was Hymn LXXXIX, entitled 'The Song of Songs'. The title comes from The Song of Solomon, which opens with the words 'The song of songs, which is Solomon's.' Montgomery daringly takes the phrase and uses it to mean 'the song that is the song of all songs' (cf. 'the Holy of Holies')....
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life. George Herbert* (1593-1633).
From Herbert's collection The Temple (Cambridge, 1633), published just after his death, this poem was first used as a hymn in the Oxford Hymn Book (1908), and then in SofP. Herbert's original title for the piece was 'The Call' and, in a neat inversion of the traditional idea that God calls us, Herbert makes this call a personal plea for God, through Jesus, to heal and enrich his life.
The poem takes as its starting point Jesus'...
Come, pure hearts, in sweetest measures. Latin, translated by Robert Campbell* (1814-1868).
First published in Campbell's Hymns and Anthems for Use in the Holy Services of the Church within the United Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane (Edinburgh, 1850), where it was entitled 'Commemoration of Evangelists'. It was a translation of three stanzas from two anonymous Sequences of the 12th century, 'Iucundare, plebs fidelis'*, and 'Plausu chorus laetabundo'* (altered by Clichtoveus*: see...
Come, said Jesus' sacred voice. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1742-1825).
From Barbauld's Poems (1792). It was headed 'Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' (from part of Matthew 11: 28). It had five stanzas:
Come, said Jesus' sacred voice, Come and make my paths your choice: I will guide you to your home; Weary pilgrim, hither come!
Thou who houseless, sole, forlorn, Long hast borne the proud world's scorn, Long hast roamed the barren waste, Weary pilgrim,...
Come, sinner, to the gospel feast. Nineteenth century, author unknown.
This hymn is annotated under Charles Wesley*'s 'Come, sinners, to the Gospel feast'* in JJ, p. 251. It is attributed in some books, such as Henry Ward Beecher*'s Plymouth Collection*, to 'Huntingdon' (see 'Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon'*). There were many variants of hymns in editions of the Countess of Huntingdon's hymnals, and the first line obviously derives from Wesley's hymn: but this hymn is exceptional in...
Come, sound his praise abroad. Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
This is Watts's Short Metre paraphrase of Psalm 95 in The Psalms of David imitated in the language of the New Testament, and apply'd to the Christian State and Worship (1719). It was entitled 'Psalm XCV. Short Metre. A Psalm before Sermon.' Watts also wrote a CM and an LM version. The customary text in hymnals is one of three or four stanzas, corresponding to verses 1-7 of the Psalm. In 1719 the stanzas were as follows:
Come sound his...
Come, thou fount of every blessing. Robert Robinson* (1735-1790).
The first known publication of this hymn was in A Collection of Hymns for the use of the Church of Christ: meeting in Angel-Alley, Whitechappel, Margaret-Street, near Oxford-Market, and other churches in fellowship with them (1759). It was made widely known when it was included in Martin Madan*'s A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1760) and in John Rippon*'s Selection of Hymns (1787), and it appeared in other 18th-century...
Come, though we can truly sing. John Murray* (ca. 1740-1815).
This is one of five hymns by Murray, all first published in the 1782 edition of Christian Hymns, Poems and Sacred Songs, Sacred to the Praise of God, Our Saviour, compiled by the English Universalist James Relly* and his brother John Relly. The book was first published in London in 1754, and the 1782 edition was published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Noah Parker (1734-1787), a convert of Murray's and preacher in Portsmouth...
Come, weary souls with sin distressed. Anne Steele* (1717-1778).
From Poems on Subjects chiefly devotional (1760). It was entitled 'Weary Souls invited to Rest. Mat. xi. 28.' It is a versification of the beautifully expressed and very comforting saying, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' It had five stanzas:
Come weary souls with sin distrest, The Saviour offers heavenly rest; The kind, the gracious call obey, And cast your gloomy sins...
Come, ye disconsolate, where'er you languish. Thomas Moore* (1779-1852).
First published in Moore's A Series of Sacred Songs, Duetts and Trios (1824), the second volume with this title (following that of 1816). It was written to be sung to a tune known as 'German Air' by the music editor, John Andrew Stevenson (1761-1833). It had three stanzas:
Come, ye disconsolate, where'er you languish, Come at the shrine of God, fervently kneel, Here bring your wounded hearts, here...
Come, ye that love the Savior's name. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
This was Hymn CXXVI in John Ash* and Caleb Evans*s Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship (Bristol, 1769). It was entitled 'The King of Saints' and attributed to 'T.', for Theodosia, the name chosen by Steele for her hymns. It had eight stanzas:
Come, ye that love the Savior's Name, And joy to make it known; The Sovereign of your Hearts proclaim, And bow before His Throne.
Behold your King, your Savior crown'd With...
Community of Christ. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
Written to provide a hymn on the theme of social justice, this hymn was first officially sung at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand in that year, linked as it has been since with the familiar tune LEONI. It was then taken up in Australia and published first in an inclusive language collection Out of the Darkness, then in Songs for the Journey (1991) and Together in Song: the Australian Hymn Book II (1999). It...
Courage, brother! do not stumble. Norman Macleod* (1812-1872).
Written for a Christian rally of working men, this was first published in 1857 in The Edinburgh Christian Instructor (Macleod was at one time its editor). With its strong ethical message ('Trust in God, and do the right') it was a very popular hymn in the 19th century, and in the first part of the 20th.
It had four 8-line stanzas in the Church Hymnary (1898), set to a tune, COURAGE, BROTHER, by Arthur Sullivan*:
Courage, brother! do...
Crashing waters at creation. Sylvia Dunstan* (1955-1993).
A member of the National Worship Committee of the United Church of Canada, Sylvia Dunstan was the editor of the trial 1986 liturgical resource 'Baptism and Renewal of Baptismal Faith' that contained her own 'Prayer of Thanksgiving and Pouring of Water'. She wrote 'Crashing waters' to accompany that prayer, calling to mind the richness of salvation history. Published in the first volume of Dunstan's collected works, In Search of Hope and...
Creating God, your fingers trace. Jeffery Rowthorn* (1934- ).
This is a metrical version of Psalm 148, 'Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above.' It was written in 1974 and submitted in 1979 for a competition set by the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada* to find 'New Psalms for Today'. It was printed in The Hymn (April 1979).
It has four stanzas, beginning 'Creating God...', 'Sustaining God...', 'Redeeming God...' and 'Indwelling God...'. It was printed in...
Creation sings. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931–2020).
This hymn was written for a Hymn Search by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians to celebrate the gift of music. It was first published in four 4-line stanzas in the meter of 11.10.11.10 in the author's collection, Faith Makes the Song: New Hymns Written between 1997 and 2002 (Carol Stream, Illinois, 2003). This collection paired the text with the tune CREATION SINGS by Hal H. Hopson* (1933- ). It appeared in the collection Hope Is Our...
Creator Spirit, by whose aid. Latin, translated by John Dryden* (1631-1700).
Dryden's translation of the Latin hymn 'Veni creator spiritus'* appeared first in one of a series of poetical collections published by a bookseller in London, Jacob Tonson, entitled Examen Poeticum: Being the Third Part of Miscellany Poems (1693). It consisted of 39 lines, arranged in irregular verses from four to nine lines in length. It was used, with some alteration, by John Wesley* in his first British hymnbook, A...
Daily, daily sing to Mary. Henry Bittleston* (1818-1886), from the 'Hymn of Saint Casimir' probably by Bernard of Cluny* (12th century).
The Latin hymn from which this translation is taken is part 7 of a cycle of hymns, the Mariale, beginning 'Ut jucundas cervus undas, aestuans desiderat'. In the course of a careful discussion of possible authorship, James Mearns* comes down on the side of Bernard of Cluny as the most likely author (JJ, pp. 1200-1202). Section vii of the Mariale begins 'Omni...
Dance and sing. John Lamberton Bell* (1949- ) and Graham Maule* (1958-2019).
This text was first published in Heaven Shall Not Wait (Wild Goose Songs 1) (1987), paired with the Scottish traditional melody PULLING BRACKEN. The authors' advice is that it should be sung (and danced?) unaccompanied, but a recorder or violin might provide extra confidence. The theme is God's creation; the verses follow the pattern of the first chapter of Genesis while the refrain urges the whole earth to 'dance and...
Dark, dark indeed, the grave would be. William Gaskell* (1805-1884).
This comforting hymn was published in James Martineau*'s Hymns for the Christian Church and Home (1840, many editions). It was entitled 'The light of the Gospel on the tomb.' It had four stanzas:
Dark, dark indeed the grave would be, Had we no light, O God, from thee; If all we saw were all we knew, Or hope from reason only grew.
But fearless now we rest in faith, A holy life makes happy death,'Tis but a change ordained by...
Day by day, dear Lord. Richard of Chichester* (ca. 1197-1253).
This prayer was printed on a card of 1915 in the British Library collection, with the words 'Partly — at least — by St Richard, Bishop of Chichester…'. It was used by Percy Dearmer* in SofPE, in Part VIII, 'Verses and Other Doxologies', as the first of 'Graces and Other Verses':
Day by day, Dear Lord, of thee three things I pray: To see thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more...
Day of Arising. Susan Palo Cherwien* (1953– )
This hymn was commissioned for the 1996 annual assembly of the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The opening line recalls Christ's encounter with those traveling on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13–35) on the afternoon of Easter Day. Carl P. Daw, Jr.* comments:
Because our liturgical calendar has traditionally separated the reading of this story from the other Resurrection narratives, we usually do not hear about...
Dear Angel! ever at my side. Frederick William Faber* (1814-1863).
There are two entries in JJ for this hymn, both under the heading 'Dear Angel! ever at my side', which was Faber's own first line. The first gives the printing in Faber's Jesus and Mary; or, Catholic Hymns (1849). The entry in the 'New Supplement', p. 1627, also gives the date of publication as 1849, in Faber's St Wilfrid's Hymns (Faber, converted in 1846, had founded the 'Brothers of the Will of God of the Congregation of St...
Dear Refuge of my weary soul. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
From Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760). It was entitled 'God the only Refuge of the Troubled Mind.' It had eight stanzas:
Dear Refuge of my weary soul, On thee, when sorrows rise: On thee, when waves of trouble roll, My fainting hope relies.
While hope revives, though prest with fears, And I can say, my God, Beneath thy feet I spread my cares, And pour my woes abroad.
To thee, I tell each rising grief, For thou...
Deep in our hearts. John Wesley Oldham* (1945– ).
Though John Wesley Oldham (b. 1945) has written more than eight thousand hymns and songs, 'Deep in our hearts' is his most popular and beloved. Written in 1994 while walking in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the text came to Oldham over the course of about an hour and a half. He subsequently sent it to composer Ronald Klusmeier* to be set to music, which did not occur until 1996, just prior to its performance in concert. It was subsequently published with...
Deep in the human heart. William (Bill) Wallace* (1933- ).
Written by New Zealand Methodist minister Bill Wallace, the received text was written in November 1977 for a 'People's Night' of the combined Methodist and Presbyterian Churches held in the Christchurch Town Hall. It has its biblical model in Luke 4: 18-19 and calls for 'a vision of a world renewed through radical concern'. It sets out a social and political programme to build a world of peace, justice, truth and freedom, a world...
Do no sinful action. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
From Alexander's Hymns for Little Children (1848). It was Hymn V, on the first promise in the catechism, to 'renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the lusts of the flesh' (following the promise made by the godparents at Baptism). It had seven stanzas:
Do no sinful action, Speak no angry word; Ye belong to Jesus, Children of the Lord.
Christ is kind and gentle, Christ is pure and...
Down to the valley [river] to pray. African American spiritual*.
The earliest printed version of this song, entitled 'The Good Old Way', appears in the first collection of folk song published in the United States, Slave Songs of the United States* (New York, 1867). Ascribed in the index (No. 104) to 'Mr. G[eorge] H. Allan', Nashville, it is included in section 'III. Inland Slave States: Including Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Mississippi River'. It is likely that Allan transmitted the song...
Draw the circle wide. Gordon S. Light* (1944- ).
Inclusive language for humankind and for God was a strong current in the tide of liturgical renewal among mainstream Canadian churches in the 1980s and 1990s. Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian and United Churches responded to the call for new congregational song with collections that included not only strophic hymns new and revised, but also songs in many genres and languages from writers and composers around the globe. How seriously the hymnal...
Drawn to the Cross which Thou hast blest. Geneviève Mary Irons* (1855-1928).
Written in 1880, this hymn was published in the Sunday Magazine in October of that year, entitled 'Consecration of Self to Christ', and in Irons's manual for Holy Communion, Corpus Christi (1884). It was included without an author's name in the Congregational Church Hymnal (1887), and in the Primitive Methodist Hymnal (1887, music edition 1889), from which it passed into MHB. Later British books to include it were...
Drop, drop, slow tears. Phineas Fletcher* (1582-1650).
From Fletcher's Piscatorie Eclogs and other Poeticall Miscellanies (1633), where it is a short six-line poem entitled 'An Hymne', written in ten-syllabled lines, thus:
Drop, drop, slow tears, and bathe those beauteous feet...
In hymnals these were normally divided into lines of six and four syllables to make a total of twelve lines, divided into three stanzas:
Drop, drop, slow tears, And bathe those beauteous feet,Which brought from...
Easter people, raise your voices. William Marcus James* (1915-2013).
Following in the tradition of many pastors who write hymns, James wrote 'Easter people, raise your voices' for his congregation at Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in New York City in 1979. In 2005 James told the present writer 'I wrote hymns for my congregation whenever I needed one. “Easter People” is not the greatest hymn I have, but it took better than the others. Most of my hymns have themes around the...
Eat this bread. Robert Batastini* (1942– ) and Jacques Berthier* (1923–1994).
John 6:35, one of the 'I AM' sayings of Jesus, provides the basis for the text of 'Eat this bread': 'Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”' (NIV):
Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry.Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.
©1984 Ateliers et Presses de Taizé,...
Eternal beam of light divine. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
From Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739). It was entitled 'In Affliction'. It had six stanzas:
Eternal Beam of Light Divine,
Fountain of unexhausted Love,
In whom the Father's Glories shine,
Thro' Earth beneath, and Heaven above!
Jesu! The weary Wand'rer's Rest;
Give me thy easy Yoke to bear,
With stedfast Patience arm my Breast,
With spotless Love, and holy Fear.
Thankful I take the Cup from Thee,
Prepar'd and mingled...
Eternal Father bless our land. Hugh Sherlock* (1905-1998).
Written in 1962, this was entitled 'Jamaica, land we love'. It has two stanzas, each ending with the same three lines:
Justice, Truth be ours forever,
Jamaica, land we love
Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica land we love.
It was given a tune by Robert Lightbourne, arranged by Mapletoft Poulle. Words and music were chosen as the national anthem by a committee of the Jamaican Parliament, and sung at the independence ceremonies of 1962. It is...
Eternal, spotless Lamb of God. John Wesley* (1703-1791).
First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1742), as stanzas 7-9 of a long hymn (nine 8-line stanzas) entitled 'The Lord's Prayer Paraphrased'. See 'Father of all, whose powerful voice'* and 'Eternal Son, eternal Love'*. The whole hymn was appended by John Wesley to his sixth sermon on the Sermon on the Mount (see Outler, 1984). In the 1780 Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists, the hymn was divided into three...
Eternal, Unchanging, we sing to thy praise. Robert Balgarnie Young Scott* (1899-1987).
Written in 1937 for the Fellowship for a Christian Social Order, this is one of four hymns by Scott, who was president of the Fellowship. It was published on a broadsheet for an organization dedicated to world peace. Then Professor of Old Testament at United Theological College in Montreal, Scott began to write hymns about peace and social justice. The penultimate line is 'His comfort in sorrow, his patience...
Expand thy wings, celestial Dove. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This hymn is made up of five stanzas taken from Charles Wesley's Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures (Bristol, 1762). Two are from Genesis 1 and three from II Chronicles 6. They are reproduced here from the 1762 text to show the 'select passage' in each case:
Genesis: 'The Spirit of GOD moved upon the face of the waters. - i. 2.'
Expand thy wings, celestial Dove, And brooding o'er my nature's night, Call...
Faith of our Mothers, living yet. Arthur Bardwell Patten* (1864-1952).
This is a praiseworthy attempt to assert the rights of women in opposition to the gender-exclusive language of 'Faith of our fathers! living still'* the famous hymn by Frederick William Faber* of 1849 (each stanza of Patten's hymn ends, as Faber's does, with the stirring 'We will be true to thee till death'). The earliest page scans in Hymnary.org print 'living yet', which suggests that Patten was attempting to make his...
Far from these narrow scenes of night. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
This was published in Steele's Poems on Subjects, chiefly Devotional (1760), in 11 stanzas. It was preceded by 'The Promised Land. Isaiah XXXIII. 17.' This refers to the visionary verse which must have inspired Steele: 'Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.' The text in the 1780 Edition of Poems..., chiefly Devotional was:
Far from these narrow scenes of night Unbounded...
Father in heaven. Daniel Thambyrajah Niles* (1908-1970).
This touchingly simple hymn in three stanzas was written for the EACC Hymnal (1963) to fit the tune HALAD by Elena G. Maquiso* . The tune had been composed in 1961 for an offering hymn (HALAD means 'offering') in the Cebuano dialect (see 'Philippine hymnody'). Niles's hymn celebrates Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was originally in the second person singular ('Father in heaven,/ Grant to Thy children'). It has been altered to the 'you'...
Father of everlasting grace/ Be mindful. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
Charles Wesley sometimes used and re-used lines that he found graceful or appropriate. This hymn has the same opening as the better known 'Father of everlasting grace'*, found in many Methodist (and some other) books, published in Hymns of Petition and Thanksgiving for the Promise of the Father (Bristol, 1746).
The present hymn, which has been used in a few books in the USA and Canada (see below), is from Volume I of Short...
Father of lights, from whom proceeds. John Wesley* (1703-1791) or Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
This is from Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), the first hymnbook published by John and Charles Wesley after their 'conversion' in 1738. It was entitled 'A Prayer under Convictions', that is 'under the conviction of sin'. The hymn had eight stanzas:
Father of Light, from whom proceeds Whate'er thy Ev'ry Creature needs, Whose Goodness providently nigh Feeds the young Ravens when they cry; To Thee I...
Father! Thy wonders do not singly stand. Jones Very* (1813-1880).
The first eight lines of this hymn come from Very's Essays and Poems (1839), a volume that was published with the encouragement of Ralph Waldo Emerson*. It was entitled 'The Spirit Land', and was a poem of fourteen lines, one of a series of poems in that form and in that metre:
Father! Thy wonders do not singly stand, Nor far removed where feet have seldom strayed; Around us ever lies the enchanted land In marvels rich to thine...
Father, behold us here. John Murray* (ca. 1740-1815).
This is the third of five hymns, all first published in the 1782 edition of Christian Hymns, Poems and Sacred Songs, Sacred to the Praise of God, Our Saviour, compiled by English Universalist James Relly and his brother John Relly. The book was first published in London in 1754, and the 1782 edition was published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Noah Parker (1734-1787), a convert of Murray's and preacher in Portsmouth (Brewster, pp....
Father, in whom we live. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788).
First published in Hymns for those that seek, and those that have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ (1747), where it was entitled 'To the Trinity'. It was not included by John Wesley* in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780), but it was added in an early supplement of 1796. The original text began:
Father, in whom we live, In whom we are, and move, The Glory, Power, and Praise receive Of thy...
Father, to Thee we look in all our sorrow. Frederick Lucian Hosmer* (1840- 1929).
According to JJ, p. 1650, this was written in 1881 to mark the death of a member of Hosmer's congregation. This must have been during his pastorate at Cleveland, Ohio (1878-92). It was published in The Thought of God in Hymns and Poems, First Series (Boston, 1885), edited by Hosmer with William Channing Gannett*. It had four stanzas:
Father, we look to Thee in all our sorrow, Thou art the fountain whence our...
Father, we thank thee who hast planted. F. Bland Tucker* (1895-1984).
Written in 1939, and published in H40, this hymn has been published throughout the world. It is a paraphrase of the Didache*, consisting of the supposed teaching of the twelve apostles: it provides 'rules for baptism, fasting, prayer, visiting teachers and apostles, and the Lord's Supper, and containing the fine prayers which F. Bland Tucker has effectively paraphrased' (Young, 1993, p 332).
Stanza 1 corresponds to 10: 2 of...
Father, whate'er of earthly bliss. Anne Steele* (1717-1778).
This hymn is not found in JJ, but it was chosen for inclusion by the compilers of A&M (1904), and it remained in A&M books until it was omitted by the editors of A&MNS. It consists of the last three stanzas of a hymn in ten stanzas. The hymn in Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760) was entitled 'Desiring Resignation and Thankfulness'. It began:
When I survey life's varied scene, Amid the darkest hours...
For all the faithful women. Herman G. Stuempfle* (1923–2007).
Several recent hymn writers have contributed hymns that acknowledge the role of women in the biblical narrative and their contribution to the history of Christianity. These include, among others, 'For ages women hoped and prayed' (1986) by Jane Parker Huber* (1926–2008), 'Woman, weeping in the garden' (1991) and 'God, we praise you for the women' (2006) by Daniel C. Damon* (b. 1955), 'Of women, and of women's hopes we sing' (1988) by...
For all thy gifts we praise thee, Lord. James Freeman Clarke* (1810-1888).
Published in Service Book: for the use of the Church of the Disciples of Christ (1844), and then in The Disciples' Hymn Book (Boston, 1844), where it was entitled 'Feast of the Reformation'. The word 'Feast' in the title suggests that Clarke was attempting to create a new Feast Day, in opposition to the traditional calendar of Saints' Days and other days in the church calendar. It had eight stanzas, and was given as by...
For beauty of prairies, for grandeur of trees. Walter Farquharson* (1936- ).
Written in 1966, this hymn celebrates the prairie landscape and calls for responsible stewardship of the gifts of God's creation. Stanley Osborne*described it as a prayer: 'It asks us the question what have we done with the garden God has leased to us? Says the author, 'We threaten all existence with our blindness.' In the warnings of ecologists we may even hear the voice of God today, and it is clear that the author...
For everyone born, a place at the table. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
This was written in 1996 from Murray's involvement in the work of Amnesty International, and the liberal theology of her husband, John Stewart Murray*, in his church at Wellington, New Zealand. It has its origins in the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' of the United Nations (December 1948), which stated that 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights', and that 'Everyone has the right to...
For the music of creation. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
Written in 1988 as a contribution to a Festival of Praise celebrating the Arts at an ecumenical event at the Civic Centre in Shirley Murray's then home town, Wellington.
It was first published in Murray's collection, In Every Corner, Sing: The Hymns of Shirley Erena Murray (1992) set to her preferred tune RUSTINGTON by C.H.H. Parry* (1848-1918). It has since been included in New Zealand, Canadian and North American hymnals such as...
Fountain of mercy, God of love. Alice Flowerdew* (1759-1830).
This is from the Third Edition of Flowerdew's Poems, on Moral and Religious Subjects (1811). It was entitled 'Harvest Hymn', and is of some interest as preceding the general establishment of Harvest Festival services. It had six stanzas:
Fountain of mercy, God of love!
How rich Thy bounties are!
The rolling seasons, as they move,
Proclaim Thy constant care.
When, in the bosom of the earth,
The sower hid the grain,
...
Free at last. African American spiritual*.
The concept of freedom is integral the theology of the spirituals according to liberation theologian James H. Cone (1936-2018):
The divine liberation of the oppressed from slavery is the central theological concept in the black spirituals. These songs show that black slaves did not believe that human servitude was reconcilable with their African past and their knowledge of the Christian gospel. They did not believe that God created Africans to be...
From out the cloud of amber light. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
This hymn for St Mark's Day (25 April) was written by Alexander for the Second Edition of A&M (1875). It draws upon the traditional association of St Mark with a winged lion. It had five stanzas:
From out the cloud of amber light, Borne on the whirlwind of the north, Four living creatures wing'd and bright Before the Prophet's eye came forth.
The Voice of God was in the Four Beneath that awful crystal mist, And...
From the river to the desert. Sylvia Dunstan* (1955-1993).
For the liberal Protestant church the adoption of the Revised Common Lectionary has meant a recovery of the church year and a need for hymns to mark particular events in the life of Christ. 'The Temptation', as Sylvia Dunstan called this hymn, was written for the first Sunday of Lent, 1989: 'I prepared this hymn on the temptation story. It is essentially a conversation between Jesus and Satan, bracketed by narration in the first stanza...
Full in the panting heart of Rome. Nicholas Wiseman* (1802-1865).
This remarkable hymn, notable for its devotion to the supreme head of the Roman Catholic Church, was published in Britain in Crown of Jesus: a complete Catholic manual of devotion, doctrine, and instruction (1862), edited by R.R. Suffield and C.F.R. Palmer. It was included in Catholic Hymns, Original and Translated, edited by Albert Edmonds Tozer* with the assistance of Richard Runciman Terry*, and in many others (JJ, p. 1728)....
Full Salvation! Full Salvation! Francis Bottome* (1823-1894).
According to JJ, p. 164, this hymn was first published in 'a collection by Dr Cullis of Boston, 1873', but this has not been verified. JJ was referring to Charles Cullis (1833-1892), a physician who specialized in faith healing. Cullis's Faith Hymns appeared in a number of editions published by the Willard Tract Repository, Boston, from 1870 onwards (Bottome's hymn was not in the 1870 edition, but was certainly in one of 1887;...
Gather us in, thou love that fillest all. George Matheson* (1842-1906).
Written in 1890, and first published in Matheson's Sacred Songs (1890). It is a most unusual hymn, characteristic of Matheson's unexpected turns of thought and fertile poetic imagination (although blind, he uses the rainbow image, as he does in 'O love that wilt not let me go'*). Percy Dearmer*, who included it in SofPE, described it as 'unlike any other missionary hymn, and full of originality' (Songs of Praise Discussed,...
Give me a clean heart. Margaret Pleasant Douroux* (1941- ).
This was Douroux's first song, written in 1970. It caught on after Thurston G. Frazier (1930-1974), founder of the 'Voices of Hope' choir, who was Douroux's mentor and predecessor at the Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, Los Angeles, introduced it at a national gospel convention (Gordon, 2006).
Douroux composed the song when encouraged by her grandmother to pray for the people of Mount Mariah Baptist Church, where her father...
Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning. Traditional, author unknown.
The Companion to ICH5 (2005) suggests that the 'oil in my lamp' song 'has all the feeling of an American traditional spiritual' (Darling and Davison, 2005, p. 751). It may indeed be a song that has its origins in the culture of the African American spiritual*. Hymnary.org reports a song by the influential hymn writer and tune composer Thoro Harris* beginning 'While the dread hour of darkness is settling o'er the earth' with...
Give me that old time religion. African American spiritual*.
The pre-publication origins of this spiritual, sometimes referred to as 'Old Time Religion', are unknown, though hymnals usually identify it as an African American spiritual. The earliest print version, linked to the Fisk Jubilee Singers*, appears in Gustavus D. Pike's The Jubilee Singers and their campaign for twenty thousand dollars (Boston, 1873) and J.B.T. Marsh's The Story of the Jubilee Singers with their songs (Boston, 1880)....
'Give Me thy heart,' says the Father above. Eliza E. Hewitt* (1851-1920).
Written in 1898, and first published in Pentecostal Praises (Philadelphia, Hall-Mack Company, 1900), in three stanzas with a refrain. The refrain was:
'Give Me thy heart, give Me thy heart' - Hear the soft whisper, wherever thou art; From this dark world He would draw thee apart, Speaking so tenderly, - 'Give Me thy heart.'
The stanzas were:
'Give me thy heart,' says the Father above - No gift so precious to Him as...
Give of your best to the Master. Howard B. Grose*(1851-1939).
This was published in The Endeavor Hymnal (New York, 1902). It had three stanzas with a refrain:
Give of your best to the Master, Give of the strength of your youth, Throw your soul's fresh, glowing ardor Into the battle for truth. Jesus has set the example, Dauntless was He, young and brave: Give Him your loyal devotion, Give Him the best that you have.
Refrain:
Give of your best to the Master, Give of the strength of...
Give to us laughter, O Source of our life. Walter Farquharson* (1936- ).
First published in Praise to the Lord! 12 Modern Hymns with Contemporary Music (Oakville, Ontario, 1974), a production of Farquharson in collaboration with Ron Klusmeier*. This hymn was described by Erik Routley* in A Panorama of Christian Hymnody (1979). It was one of two hymns by Farquharson cited by Routley for their references to Canadian landscape: 'joining with stars and with bright northern lights,/ laughing and...
Gloria, gloria
This chant, a version of the doxology ( see Doxology*), is very ancient, but with the progress of ecumenism it has recently become very popular in hymnals. The normal text begins with the first part of Luke 2: 14:
Gloria, gloria,in excelsis Deo,
Gloria, gloria,alleluia, alleluia.
This is sometimes repeated. It is found in many books, sometimes with a translation, 'Glory to God, Glory to God in the highest'. It has been found useful for worship by many denominations,...
Glory to thee my God, this night. Thomas Ken* (1637-1711).
This evening hymn shares its origins with the morning hymn, 'Awake, my soul, and with the sun'*, and its early history is described under that heading. Like the morning hymn, it exists in a pamphlet, A Morning and Evening Hymn, Formerly made by a Reverend Bishop of 1692, as follows:
All Praise to thee, my God, this Night;
For all the blessings of the Light.
Keep me, O keep me, King of Kings
Under thine own Almighty...
Go down, Moses ('Let my people go'). African American spiritual*, 19th century
This song of liberty is of unknown date, but certainly existed before December 1861, when it was published in sheet music form as 'The Song of the Contrabands', 'O Let my people Go', with words and music written down by a chaplain to the escaped slaves, the Revd L.C. Lockwood, and arranged by Thomas Baker. The 'Contrabands' were given that name because they were 'contraband of war'. They were 'the fugitive slaves who...
Go tell it on the mountain. African American spiritual*, verses by John Wesley Work (II)* (1872?-1925).
The several versions of this spiritual are based on settings in two collections. The first appeared with the caption 'Christmas Plantation Song' in Religious Folk Songs of The Negro, as Sung on The Plantations, new edition (Hampton, Virginia, 1909):
When I was a seekerI sought both night and day.I ask de Lord to help me,An' He show me de way.
He made me a watchmanUpon the city wall,An' if I...
Go to the world. Sylvia Dunstan* (1955-93).
'Alan Barthel commanded me to write a hymn for the 1985 Emmanuel College Convocation, on the scriptural text of the great commission, saying, “And I'll need it Thursday to go to the printers.” So I did as he commanded me' (author's note). The hymn became an 'instant' tradition at the Emmanuel Convocations where Sylvia Dunstan was working on her ThM. degree and Barthel was professor of church music. The hymn's use quickly spread as part of the closing...
God be in my head. 15th century, author and provenance unknown. The first trace of this very moving verse is in a French text dating from ca. 1490:
Jesus soit en ma teste et mon entendement.
Jesus soit en mes yeulx et mon regardement.
Jesus soit en ma bouche et mon parlement.
Jesus soit en mon cueur et en mon pensement.
Jesus soit en ma vie et mon trespassement. Amen.
The English text is found in a Book of Hours printed by Robert Pynson at London, Hore beate marie/virginis ad vsum in/signis ac...
God be with you. Thomas A. Dorsey* (1899-1993), Artelia W. Hutchins, and Jeremiah Eames Rankin* (1828-1904).
This hymn of benediction by gospel legend Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993), often labeled as 'The Father of Gospel Music' in the African American context, is second its popularity following 'Precious Lord, take my hand'* (1932) in the composer's gospel compositions (Kemp, n.p.).
The text of this hymn is similar to 'God be with you till we meet again'* (1880) by American congregational...
God everlasting, wonderful and holy. Harold Riley* (1903-2003).
This was written before 1968, when it appeared in the Catholic hymnal The Parish Hymn Book. It was subsequently included in English Praise (1975) before being included in MHfT (1980) and thus in A&MNS. It was headed 'To the altar of God': its four stanzas explore the liturgical custom in many churches of reverencing the altar. They are wonderfully compact and meaningful: they describe adoration (stanza 1), thankfulness (stanza...
God is love: let heaven adore him. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
From The Mirfield Mission Hymn-Book (1922), and republished in J.L. Rees's Sermons and Hymns by Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff (1946). Its first appearance in a major hymn-book was in BBCHB (1951), set to ABBOT'S LEIGH. It was included in 100HfT and thus in A&MNS, and has been retained in A&MCP and A&MRW. There have been a number of alterations to the original text. It has subsequently become one of the most popular of...
God loved the world of sinners lost. Martha Matilda Stockton*.
According to Taylor (1989, p. 50), this was written ca. 1871, and published in The Voice of Praise (Richmond, Virginia, 1872), edited by Ebenezer T. Baird and Karl Reden, and then in Winnowed Hymns: a collection of sacred songs, especially adapted for revivals, prayer and camp meetings (New York and Chicago, 1873).
It entered mainstream gospel hymnody in Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs (Cincinnati, New York and Chicago, 1875), edited...
God named Love, whose fount Thou art. Elizabeth Barrett Browning* (1806-1861).
From The Seraphim, and other poems (1838). This book, besides containing 'The Sleep' (see 'Of all the thoughts of God, that are'* and 'What would we give to our beloved'*), has a sequence of four hymns. The present text is 'Hymn I', entitled 'A Supplication for Love'. It had nine 4-line stanzas, with an unusual accent in line 1 ('namèd') to make up the eight syllables:
God, namèd Love, whose fount Thou art, Thy...
God of eternity, Lord of the ages. Ernest Northcroft Merrington (1876-1953).
This was the first, and for many years the only Australian hymn to gain international recognition. It was written in 1912 for the Jubilee of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Brisbane, where Merrington was the minister. He wrote of his hymn: 'The main thought in my heart was of thankfulness to the Giver of all good for the splendid services rendered in the [British] Colonies of our blood and creed, and thankfulness for...
God of freedom, God of justice. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
Described by its author as one of her first 'gap-fillers', this hymn was written in 1980 for Amnesty International's Campaign Against Torture when she could find nothing relevant to sing at a service for prisoners of conscience.
It was first published in Murray's New Zealand collection, In Every Corner, Sing: New Hymns to Familiar Tunes in Inclusive Language (Wellington, 1987) where the suggested setting was PICARDY. It has...
God of love and truth and beauty. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
From The Mirfield Mission Hymn-Book (1922), where it is dated 1916. It was included in BBCHB, to a tune, CAROLYN, commissioned from Herbert Murrill (1909-1952), then head of music at the BBC. It appeared subsequently in 100HfT (1969) and thus in A&MNS, headed 'Hallowed be thy name'; it is also in HP. It is little known outside Britain, although in the USA it was included in Rejoice in the Lord (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985), of...
God of Nations at thy feet. Thomas Bracken (1843-1898).
New Zealand's second national anthem, of equal official standing with its first, 'God Save the Queen', is a hymn written in 1876 by Thomas Bracken, Irish-born journalist, poet and parliamentarian. The text was published in a weekly journal under the title 'National hymn' together with a competition to compose a suitable melody. The winner was John Joseph Woods (1849-1932), an Otago schoolteacher.
In 1940, at the time of New Zealand's...
God sends us the Spirit. Tom Colvin* (1925-2000).
Written in Ghana during Colvin's period of missionary service, 1959-1964, and set to the melody of a Gonja folk song originally in praise of the tribe and its past leaders. The text was written, according to the author, for 'churches, particularly new churches, where the Spirit is experienced as a powerful presence'. It is included in several standard collections, and captures both the intimacy and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit....
God weeps. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931–2020).
Shirley Erena Murray explores the profound and complex reality of God's Incarnation in this hymn. She describes the context for the composition in her collection, Every Day in Your Spirit (1996), where it was first published: 'God Weeps (1994). A protest at violence, including child abuse and the battering of women, as well as violence on a world scale' (Murray, 1996, n.p.).
As is common with Murray's texts, she sets the structure and tone in the...
God who gives to life its goodness. Walter Farquharson* (1936-). A summer holiday inspired this two-verse hymn of celebration, written while the Farquharson family camped at Kenosee Lake in Moose Mountain Provincial Park in Saskatchewan.
It was sung at the ecumenical service of dedication for The Hymn Book (1971) organized by the United Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. Within a decade congregations in both churches across Canada knew it so well many had forgotten it was a 'new'...
God who hast caused to be written thy word for our learning. T. Herbert O'Driscoll* (1928 - ).
Herbert O'Driscoll recast the Collect, Epistle (Romans 15:4-13) and Gospel (Luke 21:25-33) from the Book of Common Prayer into language of the mid 20th century for worship on the second Sunday of Advent. The new hymn would fit in congregational worship with the vocabulary and structure of recent translations of the Bible and of Anglican liturgy. The 'thy' in the first line has been changed to 'your'...
God, who art the Lord of Harvest (Prayer for a Labor Force). D. Elton Trueblood* (1900-1994).
This hymn is also known by its title, 'Prayer for a Labor Force'. For more than eleven years, Trueblood wrote a monthly column entitled 'Plain Speech' for Quaker Life. In the column 'Hymns for Today', (April 1968, vol/series 8, issue 4, p. 118), he notes that 'The period when Quakers refused to sing ended a hundred years ago… It must have been hard for our ancestors to neglect “And when they had...
God, who stretched the spangled heavens. Catherine Cameron* (1927- ).
This was written ca. 1967 for the tune AUSTRIA. It was published in Contemporary Worship 1 (1969), the first volume of an inter-Lutheran series of hymn and worship samplers issued in preparation for the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978). Cameron revised the language for LBW, where the hymn was shortened to three verses, and this version appeared in the joint hymnal of the Anglican Church and the United Church of Canada, The...
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore. Thomas Aquinas* (ca. 1224/5-1274), translated by Gerard Manley Hopkins* (1844-1889).
One version of this translation was published in the Irish Monthly in 1903. It was a rendering of a variant of Aquinas's 'Adoro te devote, latens Deitas'*, beginning 'Adoro te supplex, latens deitas', found in editions of the Paris Breviary and in a Paris Processionale of 1697 (Milgate, 1982, p. 204). This was the text printed in John Henry Newman*'s Hymni Ecclesiae...
God's spirit is in my heart ('Go, tell everyone'). Alan Dale* (1902-1979 and Hubert Richards* (1921-2010).
This modern hymn with refrain has become very popular in Britain since it was published in Ten Gospel Songs (1969). That book was a collaboration between Dale and Richards (1921-2010). Richards composed the tune for guitar to fit Dale's stanza 1 and refrain ('He sent me to bring the good news to the poor'). These had been published in Dale's New World: The Heart of the New Testament in...
Golden breaks the dawn. (Qing zao qi zan-mei Shen). Tzu Chen Chao* (1888-1979).
First published in Mien ZhuengSheng Ge Ji ('Hymns for the People', Peking, 1931), it gained wider use from its inclusion in Pu Tian Sueng Zan (Hymns of Universal Praise (Putian Songzan, 普天頌讚) (Shanghai, 1936)*, a collection by six major Christian churches in China.. There are two translations, 'Rise to greet the sun', by Bliss Wiant* (1895-1975) and Mildred Wiant (1898-2001), in their small collection of Chinese...
Good people all, this Christmas time. Irish traditional.
'The Wexford Carol', sometimes called 'The Enniscorthy Christmas Carol' ('Carúl Loch Garman, Carúl Inis Córthaidh'), originates from Enniscorthy, County Wexford, in the north-eastern corner of Ireland. The precise origins are unknown, though some commentaters suggest that its roots extend to the 12th century. Though the only carol known by this name, several carols come from Wexford (Costello, 2016). The Wexford Carol is often confused...
Goodness is stronger than evil. Desmond Tutu* (1931–2021).
The text for this poem, 'Victory is Ours', by Archbishop Desmond Tutu is from his An African Prayer Book (New York, 1995), a compilation of writings ranging from the Xhosa and Coptic traditions, to St Augustine and the worldwide African diaspora. This is one of only two prayers in the book written by him.
The prayer's compact structure, and its version as a one-stanza hymn, reflects the rhetorical style of paired opposites common...
Gracious Power, the world pervading. William Johnson Fox* (1786-1864).
First published in Fox's Hymns and Anthems (1841), in six 3-line stanzas. It is a characteristic Unitarian hymn, addressing God as the 'Gracious Power' that gives wisdom, light and love, and is the soul of thought and feeling:
Gracious Power, the world pervading,Blessing all, and none upbraiding, We are met to worship thee.
Not in formal adorations,Nor with servile depredations, But in spirit true and free.
By thy...
Great God, this sacred day of Thine. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
First published in John Ash* and Caleb Evans*'s Collection of Hymns adapted to Public Worship (Bristol, 1769). It was entitled 'Hymn for the Lord's Day Morning'. It had four stanzas. The following text is from the Third Edition of 1778:
Great God, this sacred Day of Thine, Demands our Soul's collected Powers: May we employ in Work divine, These solemn, these devoted Hours! O may our Souls, adoring, own, The Grace, which calls...
Great God, to thee my evening song. Anne Steele* (1716-1778).
In Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional (1760) this was entitled 'An Evening Hymn'. It had nine stanzas:
Great God, to thee my ev'ning song With humble gratitude I raise:O let thy mercy tune my tongue, And fill my heart with lively praise.
Mercy, that rich unbounded shore, Does my unnumber'd wants relieve;Among thy daily, craving poor, On thy all-bounteous hand I live.
My days unclouded, as they pass, And ev'ry...
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah/Redeemer (Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch). William Williams, Pantycelyn* (1717-1791).
This hymn, by the greatest of all the Welsh hymn writers, is the best known of all the Welsh hymns in English.
The original Welsh hymn, with six stanzas, originally appeared in Williams' collection Caniadau y rhai sydd ar y Môr o Wydr ('The Songs of those upon the Sea of Glass', Carmarthen, 1762) (JJ, p.77, wrongly ascribed it to the pamphlet Alleluia, Bristol 1745, and this...
Hail glorious angels, heirs of light. John Austin* (1613-1669).
First published in Austin's Devotions in the Antient Way of Offices (Paris, 1668), in the section 'Office of the Saints', where it was prescribed in 'Lauds for Saints'. It is a selection from a hymn of eleven 4-line stanzas, beginning with two not used in modern books:
Wake all my hopes, lift up your eys, And crown your heads with mirth· See how they shine beyond the skys, Who once dwelt on our earth.
Peace busy thoughts,...
Hail, glorious Saint Patrick, dear Saint of our isle. Sister Agnes, 19th century.
Published in Henri Friedrich Hemy*'s Easy Hymn Tunes with the words in full, adapted for Catholic Schools (1851), where it attributed to Sister Agnes, 'of the Convent of Charleville, Co. Cork'. This was the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy, founded in 1831. The hymn appeared in Suffield and Palmer's Crown of Jesus (1862), and in many later books, including Albert Edmonds Tozer*'s Catholic Hymns: original and...
Hail, Queen of Heaven, the ocean Star. John Lingard* (1771-1851).
This is Lingard's translation of 'Salve, regina'* (sometimes 'Salve, regina (mater) misericordiae'). According to Milgate (1982, p. 209) it was published in The Catholic Magazine V (1834) and signed 'Pros'. It was included in Lingard's Manual of Prayers (York, 1840), and in Suffield and Palmer's Crown of Jesus* (1862). Milgate notes its publication in the USA in The Sacred Wreath 1867, 'and in innumerable others to the present...
Hark! ten thousand harps and voices. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
According to JJ, p. 488, this was first published in Kelly's Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (Second Edition, Dublin, 1806) in seven 6-line stanzas. It was headed 'Let all the Angels of God worship him. Heb. 1.6.':
Hark ten thousand harps and voices, Sound the note of praise above! Jesus reigns, and heav'n rejoices: Jesus reigns the God of love: See, he sits on yonder throne; Jesus rules the world alone.
Well may...
Hark! the herald angels sing (Jesus the light of the world). Arranged by George D. Elderkin (1845–1928).
Gospel musical traditions in the United States have enlivened the 18th-century hymns for over 150 years. Those by Isaac Watts*, Charles Wesley*, and John Newton* were among those heard by those influenced by the Second Great Awakening (c. 1795–1835), during which rural whites and enslaved Africans reinvented and reinterpreted hymns from England for their own situation. The enlivening of...
Hark! the voice of love and mercy. Jonathan Evans* (1748/49-1809).
First published anonymously in George Burder*'s A Collection of Hymns from Various Authors (Coventry, 1784). It was written in five 6-line stanzas. Stanza 4 has a direct reference to the Holy Communion, and is often omitted to give the hymn a more general application:
Happy souls, approach the table, Taste the soul-reviving food! Nothing half so sweet and pleasant As the Saviour's flesh and blood. 'It is finished!' 'It is...
Hark, my soul, how everything. John Austin* (1613-1669).
From Austin's Devotions in the Antient Way of Offices (1668), where it is the hymn for Lauds on Monday, with the first line as 'every Thing'. It found its way, via George Hickes's Reformed Devotions, into John Wesley*'s first hymn book, the Collection of Psalms and Hymns (Charlestown, 1737), where Wesley altered the metre from 7.7.7.7. to 8.8.8.8., probably for the sake of a tune, thus:
Hark, my dull Soul, how every Thing
Strives to adore...
Hark, ten thousand voices sounding. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
According to JJ, p. 488, this was first published in Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (Second Edition, Dublin, 1806). It was prefaced by the heading: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Cor.xv. 54.'
In the original version, the first stanza is in a different metre from the other three: it rhymes AABB and is in the metre of 77.77., whereas the other three are in 8.7.8.7. In the 1820 edition the text was as follows:
Hark ten...
Hark, 'tis the Saviour of Mankind. John Murray* (ca. 1740-1815).
This is the last of five hymns, all first published in the 1782 edition of Christian Hymns, Poems and Sacred Sons, Sacred to the Praise of God, Our Saviour, compiled by English Universalist James Relly* and his brother John Relly. The book was first published in London in 1754, and the 1782 edition was published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Noah Parker (1734-1787), a convert of Murray's and preacher in Portsmouth (Brewster,...
Hath not thy heart within thee burned. Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch* (1809-1870).
From Bulfinch's Contemplations of the Saviour: a series of extracts from the Gospel history, with reflections and original and selected hymns (Boston, 1832). For the structure and arrangement of this book, see the entry on 'Hail to the Sabbath day'*. This hymn comes from Part VIII, 'To the Ascension of Jesus': section xlviii (the sections are numbered independently) is entitled 'Jesus appears to his disciples'. It...
Have you had a kindness shown. Henry Burton* (1840-1930).
Written at Acton on 8 April 1885, and first printed in The Christian Advocate (New York, 1886), and in Burton's Wayside Songs of the Inner and the Outer Life (1886). JJ quoted from the author's manuscript:
This is based on a little incident in the life of my brother-in-law, the Rev. Mark Guy Pearse. When a boy returning home from a Moravian school in Holland, the steward of the boat on which he sailed from Bristol to Hayle showed him...
He came down. Cameroon traditional.
In the mid 1980s, John Bell* officiated at a wedding in Frankfurt. 'He came down' was chosen for the ceremony by a couple from Cameroon. They requested that it be sung unaccompanied with the guests in a circle, reminiscent of the ring shout prevalent in the music of enslaved Africans in North America and the Caribbean (see 'Ring shout'*). First printed by Wild Goose Publications in Many and Great: Songs of the World Church (Glasgow, 1990), it was copyrighted...
He came singing love. Colin Gibson* (1933-2022).
Written in 1972, when it was submitted for a national hymn competition organized by Television New Zealand, this has become an iconic hymn sung by congregations throughout New Zealand and far beyond its shores. It has received several arrangements and been recorded by choirs and solo singers.
It was first published in the local hymn book supplement of the Mornington Methodist Church, Dunedin, then in WOV, in Colin Gibson's own 1988 collection...
He is arisen! Glorious word! Birgitte Katerine Boye*(1742-1824), translated by George Alfred Taylor Rygh* (1860-1942).
Boye's one-stanza hymn began 'Han er opstanden! Store Bud!' from Psalme-bog eller En Samling af gamle og nye Psalmer (Copenhagen, 1778), edited by Ove Høeg Guldberg. Rygh's translation was dated 1909 (Polack, 1942, 1958, p. 144). The single stanza was written in the metre of Philipp Nicolai*'s 'Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern'*, and sung to his tune.
The Companion to...
He that is down needs fear no fall. John Bunyan* (1628-1688).
This song is from Part II of The Pilgrim's Progress (1684). It is sung by the shepherd boy in the Valley of Humiliation, 'the best and most fruitful piece of ground in all those parts'. He sings to the pilgrims from his own experience. Mr Greatheart, the guide of the pilgrims, draws attention to the shepherd boy's contentment in a simple life:
Then said their guide, do you hear him? I will dare to say, that this boy lives a merrier...
He wants not friends that hath thy love. Richard Baxter* (1615-1691).
The hymn as it stands in most books, with the first line as above, is a selection of verses from Baxter's poem 'The Resolution', dated 3 December 1663, with a note, 'Psal. 119. 96. Written when I was Silenced and cast out, &c.'. The 'Silenced and cast out' refers to the exclusion under the Act of Uniformity on St Bartholomew's Day 1662 of those incumbents who were not prepared to adhere strictly to the Book of Common...
He who by a mother's love. George MacDonald* (1824-1905).
This two-stanza poem appeared in MacDonald's 'Organ Songs', in his Works of Fancy and Imagination (1871), and then in his Poetical Works (1893). It was entitled 'Christmas Meditation':
He who by a mother's love Made the wandering world his own, Every year comes from above, Comes the parted to atone, Binding Earth to the Father's throne.
Nay, thou comest every day! No, thou never didst depart! Never hour hast been away! Always...
Hear my prayer, O! Heavenly Father. Harriet Parr*.
This was first published in a Christmas number of Charles Dickens's Household Words. Harriet Parr had earlier submitted her second novel, Gilbert Massenger, to Dickens, who admired it, and helped to get it published in 1855. In the years that followed she contributed to his periodicals Household Words and All the Year Round. One of her stories, 'The Wreck of the Golden Mary', was used by Dickens in Household Words in 1856. The full title...
Hear thy children, gentle Jesus. Francis Stanfield* (1835-1914).
Stanfield wrote two very similar hymns for children. The first, 'Hear thy children, gentlest Mother'*, addressed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, was published in his Catholic Hymns (1858, 1860). The second, with the first line as above, was in his Holy Family Hymns (1860). Each had four stanzas, in the same metre.
Both were published in the Westminster Hymnal (WH, 1912). The present one addressed to Jesus survived into the Revised...
Hear thy children, gentlest Mother. Francis Stanfield* (1835-1914).
This was the first of two hymns for children by Stanfield, written in the same four stanzas, and in the same metre. The other was 'Hear thy children, gentle Jesus'*. The present (earlier) hymn was published in his Catholic Hymns (1858, 1860):
Hear thy children, gentlest Mother, Prayerful hearts to thee arise; Hear us while our evening Ave Soars beyond the starry skies.
Darkling shadows fall around us, Stars their silent...
Heralds of Christ. Laura L. Copenhaver* (1868-1940).
Laura Copenhaver was scheduled to speak for a conference in Northfield, Massachusetts in the summer of 1894. For personal reasons she could not attend. She wrote the poem 'The King's Highway' and sent it to the conference asking, according to her daughter Eleanor Copenhaver Sherwood, that it be 'accepted in my place' (Reynolds, 1964, p. 66).
Robert Guy McCutchan*, Methodist hymnologist and pastor, cited the author's own account of...
Here a little child I stand. Robert Herrick* (1591-1674).
From Herrick's His Noble Numbers: or, His Pious Pieces, Wherein (amongst other things) he Sings the Birth of his Christ: and Sighes for his Saviours Suffering on the Crosse (1647). It was entitled 'Another grace for a Child', following 'Grace for children', a little known poem-grace that began:
What God gives, and what we take'Tis a gift for Christ His sake:Be the meale of Beanes and Pease,God be thank'd, for those, and...
Here is love, vast as the ocean. William Rees* (1802-1883), translated by William Edwards (1848-1929) and Howell Elvet Lewis* (1860-1953).
This is Rees's best known and finest hymn, dating from some time in the 1870s. In the manner of earlier Moravian and Methodist hymns, there is an intense focus on the shedding of Christ's blood, which Rees explores through a series of water-inspired metaphors in the second stanza. Though Edwards' translation is somewhat free, he faithfully preserves this...
Here, Lord, we take the broken bread. Charles Venn Pilcher* (1897-1961).
Written in 1935, this hymn was published in the Canadian Book of Common Praise (1938), the hymnbook of the Church of England in Canada and a revision of the original BCP of 1908. Pilcher's hymn was in the 'thou' form normal at that time. The first stanza was as follows:
Here, Lord, we take the broken Bread
And drink the Wine, believing
That by thy life our souls are fed,
Thy dying gifts receiving.
The phrase 'dying...
Ho! ye that rest beneath the rock. Edmund Hamilton Sears* (1810-1876).
This hymn was published in Hymns of the Spirit (Boston, 1864), an important Unitarian collection edited by Samuel Johnson* and Samuel Longfellow* (JJ, p. 1036), and this is sometimes taken as its first appearance. However, Hymnary,org has identified at least two earlier printings, in Children's Praise: a book of prayers and hymns for the children of the church (Boston, 1858) and the Second Edition of A Book of Hymns and...
Holy Spirit, breathe on me. Baylus B. McKinney* (1886-1952).
This hymn was copyrighted by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and published in Songs of Victory (of which McKinney was the music editor) in 1937. It was published in The Broadman Hymnal (Nashville, 1940: McKinney was again music editor). It is a rewriting, with a refrain, of 'Breathe on me, breath of God'* by Edwin Hatch*, dated 1878. In The Broadman Hymnal it was attributed to Hatch; McKinney was named as...
Holy Spirit, ever dwelling. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
From The Mirfield Mission Hymn-Book (Mirfield, 1922), where the date of composition was given as 1922, and in John Lambert Rees's Sermons and Hymns by Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff (1946). It was written in four 8-line stanzas, but it was shortened to three in Sermons and Hymns. The original stanza 4 was:
Holy Spirit, fount and channel
Of the sevenfold gifts of grace,
May we in our hearts for ever
Give to holy fear a place.
Fill...
How beauteous were the marks divine. Arthur Cleveland Coxe* (1818-1896).
These stanzas were identified in JJ, p. 267, as coming from Coxe's 'Hymn to the Redeemer', a poem of seven 8-line stanzas, written ca. 1840 and published in Halloween (Hartford, 1845) as one of the 'Lays, Meditative and Devotional' that followed 'Halloween' itself. It is uncertain when the selection of stanzas that became so popular was made, or by whom: it may have been by Henry Ward Beecher* for the Plymouth...
How blest the righteous when he dies. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1742-1825).
According to JJ, p.1107, this was published in the Leisure Hour Improved (Ironbridge, 1809) with the first line as 'Sweet is the scene when virtue dies'. It was then included in The Works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, with memoir by Lucy Aikin (1825), with the title 'The Death of the Virtuous'. It had five stanzas:
Sweet is the scene when Virtue dies! - When sinks a righteous soul to rest, How mildly beam the closing...
How blest the sacred tie that binds. Anna Letitia Barbauld* (1742-1825).
This was entitled 'Pious Friendship'. It was written, when Barbauld and her husband were living in Suffolk, for the marriage of Sarah Rigby and Caleb Parry at Palgrave in October 1778. Parry was a graduate of the Warrington Academy (McCarthy and Kraft, 1994, p. 274). The hymn was published in Barbauld's Poems (1792):
How blest the sacred tie that binds In union sweet according minds! How swift the heavenly course they...
How can I say thanks (My tribute). Andraé Crouch* (1942–2015).
'My tribute', composed in 1971, is one of the signature songs by Andraé Crouch. The final chapter of Crouch's autobiography, entitled 'To God be the glory', is from the song's refrain, which is an allusion to the hymn 'To God be the glory, great things He hath done'* by Fanny Crosby*. In the language of his African American Pentecostal heritage in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) tradition, the composer offers his own Soli Deo...
How can I say that I love the Lord ('Koinonia'). V. Michael McKay* (1952— ).
In the context of Christian worship, this worship song functions as a song of greeting near the beginning of worship or at the passing of the peace—a time of reconciliation before receiving communion when God's love for us in Christ is visible in a shared meal at the table. This intimate family meal is an expression of the fellowship, sharing, and participation of the Body of Christ.
The text is as follows:
How can...
How few receive with cordial faith. William Robertson, d. 1745*.
According to James Mearns* in JJ, p. 536, this paraphrase of Isaiah 53 ('Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?') was identified by the daughter of William Cameron* as having been written by William Robertson for the unpublished Translations and Paraphrases of 1745, and amended by John Logan* for the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases in Verse of 1781. Mearns noted that it was 'still in C.U....
How happy is he born and taught. Sir Henry Wotton* (1568-1639).
According to Logan Pearsall Smith (1907) this was written during one of the times when Wotton, who led a hectic and adventurous life, was out of favour with King James I. It was published by Isaak Walton in Reliquiae Wottonianae (1651) with the title 'The character of a happy life'. It had six stanzas:
How happy is he born and taught, That serveth not another's will? Whose armour is his honest thought: And simple truth his utmost...
How high Thou art! our songs can own. Elizabeth Barrett Browning* (1806-1861).
This is one of the four hymns printed by Elizabeth Barrett (as she then was) in The Seraphim, and other poems (1838) (cf. 'God named Love, whose fount Thou art'*). This was 'Hymn II', entitled 'The Mediator'. It was prefaced by 'As the greatest of all sacrifices was required, we may be assured that no other would have sufficed.' - BOYD's Essay on the Atonement.' This refers to Hugh Stuart Boyd's An Essay on the...
How lovely are thy dwellings fair. John Milton* (1608-1674).
This metrical version of Psalm 84 was one of the Psalms 80-88, dated 'April, 1648 . J.M.' published in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions (1673). The date of 1648 marks a period between the end of the Civil War and the execution of Charles I, in which there was much tension between the army and Parliament. Milton's most recent biographers suggest that 'the psalms chosen have a particular resonance in the context of the impending...
How lovely is thy dwelling place. Scottish Psalter*, 1564 onwards.
This metrical psalm was the version of Psalm 84 in the first Scottish psalm book after the Reformation, entitled The forme and ministration of the sacraments &c. used in the English church at Geneva, approved and received by the Church of Scotland. Whereunto besydes that was in the former bokes, are also added sondrie other prayers, with the whole psalms of David in English meter (Edinburgh: Robert Lekprevik, 1564). Psalm...
How lovely on the mountains. Leonard E. Smith, Jr.* (1942- ).
The full first line is 'How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him'. Based on Isaiah 52: 7-10, this worship song was written at Riverton, New Jersey in 1973. With its refrain ('Our God reigns') it was first sung in the New Covenant Community Church, where Smith was a worship leader. Copyrighted in 1974, three further stanzas were added in 1978.
The song became widely known through its use by evangelists. Its effect comes from...
How lovely shines the morning star. Philipp Nicolai* (1556-1608), translated by Henry Harbaugh* (1817-1867).
This is a translation of Nicolai's great hymn, 'Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern'*, written at Unna during an outbreak of the plague in 1597, and subsequently imitated by others. The original German text was included in the Deutsches Gesangbuch: eine Auswahl geistlicher Lieder aus allen Zeitender Christlichen Kirche für öffentlichen und häuslichen Gebrauch , edited by Philip Schaff*...
How precious is the book divine. John Fawcett* (1740-1817)
First published in his Hymns adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782), on the Holy Scriptures. It had six 4-line stanzas. It was headed 'Ps. cxix.105. Thy word is a Lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths.'
It was printed in three stanzas only (1, 5 and 6) in Rippon's Selection of Hymns* (1787):
How precious is the book divine, By inspiration given! Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine To...
How shall I sing that majesty. John Mason* (ca.1645-94).
Written probably at Water Stratford, Buckinghamshire, and first published in Mason's Spiritual Songs: or Songs of Praise to Almighty God, upon Several Occasions (1683), as 'A General Song of Praise to Almighty God', a hymn of twelve stanzas. Modern versions print only the first four stanzas, often with the second halves of the second and third stanzas transposed. Although it is not one of Mason's versifications of Psalms, it seems to...
How sweet, how heavenly is the sight. Joseph Swain* (1761-1796)
According to JJ, this hymn is found in Swain's Walworth Hymns (1792, 1796). An earlier publication, however, was in Experimental Essays on Divine Subjects, in verse and prose: and hymns for social worship (1791). It had five 4-line stanzas, and was entitled 'The Grace of Christian Love':
How sweet, how heav'nly is the sight, When those that love the Lord In one another's peace delight, And so fulfil his word.
When each can...
Humble souls who seek salvation. John Fawcett* (1740-1817).
According to JJ, this appeared in Hymns on Believers' Baptism (Birmingham, 1773), edited by John Fellows. In Fawcett's Hymns: adapted to the circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion (Leeds, 1782) it had the heading 'Invitation to follow the Lamb. Matt. iii. 15.' It had three stanzas:
Humble souls, who seek salvation, Thro' the Lamb's redeeming blood, Hear the voice of revelation, Tread the path that Jesus trod. Flee to...
Humbly in your sight we come together, Lord. J.P. Chirwa (d. 1940), translated by Tom Colvin* (1925-2000).
This is a translation of 'Tiza Pantazi Pinu', a hymn in Tumbuka, a Bantu language spoken in northern Malawi and some neighbouring countries. The first line appears as above in Colvin's Fill us with your love (1983), and then in Songs of God's People (1988), World Praise (1993), Glory to God (1994), and Sing Glory (1999). In Colvin's last book, Come, let us walk this road together (1997),...
Hush'd was the evening hymn. James Drummond Burns* (1823-1864).
This hymn of five stanzas on 1 Samuel 3: 3-10 was entitled 'The Child Samuel', and published in The Evening Hymn (1857). This book, published by Nelsons of London, consisted of an original hymn and prayer for every evening in the month. In 1869, when James Hamilton's Memoir and Remains of the Late Rev. James D. Drummond was posthumously published, Hamilton had included a section 'Selected by his desire from ''The Evening Hymn,''...
Hymns and Poems by Elizabeth Scott
Among the collections in the Beineke Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Yale University is a manuscript volume by Elizabeth Scott*. Although a label on the spine the shows 'Hymns & Poems by Eliz. Scott', the manuscript itself shows no title. In the 19th century, John Julian*, in JJ, called it 'Yale College MS', and today it is the main constituent of GEN MSS VOL. 635.
This 'Yale College MS' consists of 90 hymns and poems (henceforth, just 'hymns')....
I am resolved no longer to linger. Palmer Hartsough* (1844-1932).
William J. Reynolds* describes the origins of this hymn. James H Fillmore (1849-1936), of Fillmore Publishers, Cincinnati, wrote the words and music in 1896 for a Christian Endeavour conference in San Francisco. It was sung by fourteen trainloads of attenders who travelled from Ohio to California (Reynolds, 1990, pp.108-109). Fillmore then asked Hartsough to write a text that would allow the hymn to be used more generally. It...
I am thinking today of that beautiful land. Eliza E. Hewitt* (1851-1920).
This hymn is usually dated 1897, following its publication in Songs of Love and Praise, No. 4 (Philadelphia, 1897). It is frequently known as 'Will there be any stars', from the first line of the refrain:
Will there be any stars, any stars in my crown, When at evening the sun goeth down? When I wake with the blest, In the mansions of rest, Will there be any stars in my crown?
It had three stanzas:
I am thinking today...
I am weak but Thou art strong. Anonymous.
This traditional hymn is frequently known as 'Just a closer walk with Thee' from the first line of the refrain. Its precise origins are unknown. It seems to have gained popularity, both in print and in recordings, during the 1940s. During this era and in the musical cultures that generated this song, it was common to for a musician to take a commonly known song, make a musical arrangement including adding a stanza or refrain, and then claim ownership....
I believe in God Almighty. Sylvia Dunstan* (1955-1993).
This is a metrical version of the Apostles' Creed about which, in her own words, Sylvia Dunstan says, 'Although the United Church of Canada has a denominational statement of faith which is commonly used in worship, the national worship committee has been committed to fostering the use of the great ecumenical creeds. Encouraged (and nagged) by Fred McNally, I worked out this metrical version, which has not had the desired effect on United...
I bind unto myself today. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895). This hymn, in its original Irish form has been attributed to St Patrick, although the dating and authorship remain obscure: in the Irish Liber hymnorum it is said to be 'a lorica [breastplate] of faith for the protection of body and soul against demons and men and vices'. The pagan king, Laoghaire, was confronted by Patrick at Tara in County Meath on Easter Eve: the druids were silenced, and Patrick lit the paschal fire on the hill...
I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship. William Young Fullerton* (1857-1932).
This four-stanza hymn was written to be sung to LONDONDERRY AIR, the plangent tune from Fullerton's native Northern Ireland. Probably the first use of the tune with a hymn was in SofP (1925), when it was set to Frank Fletcher*'s 'O Son of Man, our hero strong and tender'*.
The date of composition of the words is uncertain, but must be before 1930, when they were printed in a Baptist supplement for young...
I have decided to follow Jesus. Simon Kara Marak* (1877–1975). Formerly attributed to Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929).
Very few hymnals ascribe an author or composer to this widely sung piece, usually indicating 'Source unknown' or 'Anonymous'. Several hymnals produced during the decade of the 1950s include it, the earliest catalogued in Hymnary.org being Choice Light and Life Songs (Winona Lake, IN, 1950). It has appeared in over fifty collections in North America published since 1950.
Baptist...
I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow* (1807-1882).
A version of this hymn, 'Christmas Bells', was written in 1863 during the Civil War, as a response to the news that his son, Charles Appleton Longfellow, had been wounded fighting for the Union side (Longfellow himself was a strong supporter of abolition). It was published in February 1865 in Our Young Folks, a magazine for young people published by Ticknor and Fields in Boston, and then in Longfellow's Flower-de-Luce...
I know that my Redeemer. Hallgrim Pjetursson* (1614-1674), translated by Charles Venn Pilcher* (1879-1961).
This hymn by Hallgrim Pjetursson (Hallgrímur Pétursson) exists in manuscript form in the museum at Reykjavík. It was printed in Magnús Jónsson's Hallgrímur Pétursson (Rekjavík, 1947). It begins 'Allt eins og blómstrið eina' ('Even as a little flower') and has 13 verses. Pilcher translated seven stanzas for his Icelandic Christian Classics (Melbourne, 1950). The selection used in the...
I know that my Redeemer liveth. Jessie Brown Pounds* (1861-1921).
Based on Job 19: 25, this was written for an Easter Cantata by James H. Fillmore, Hope's Messenger, published by the Fillmore Music House (Cincinnati, 1893). Its first appearance in a hymnal was in The Praise Hymnal: a collection of hymns and tunes, edited by Fillmore and Gilbert J. Ellis (Cincinnati and New York, 1896). This is one of several hymns on this verse (see, for example, I know that my Redeemer lives* by Samuel...
I lay my sins on Jesus. Horatius Bonar* (1808-1889).
This was first published in Bonar's Songs for the Wilderness, First Series (Kelso, 1843) (not 'in the Wilderness' as in JJ, p. 556). It was entitled 'The Fulness of Jesus', and preceded by a quotation from Isaiah: 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed - Isaiah, liii. 5.' It had four 8-line stanzas.It was later printed in his...
I once was a stranger to grace and to God. Robert Murray McCheyne* (1813-1843).
This hymn is sometimes known as 'Jehovah Tsidkenu'. It is dated 18 November 1834, and was first published in the Scottish Christian Herald (March 1836) (JJ, p. 557). It was then published in Songs of Zion to cheer and guide Pilgrims on their way to the Heavenly Jerusalem (Edinburgh, 1841), and (with the following words added) 'By the late Rev. R.M. McCheyne' (Dundee, 1843); and then in Memoir and Remains of the Rev...
I sing the birth was born tonight. Ben Jonson* (?1573-1637). Published in Underwoods, a collection of his writings added to his Workes and published in 1640 after his death. It was entitled 'A Hymne On the Nativitie of my Saviour'. The first appearance in a modern book was in the Oxford Hymn Book (1908). It shows Jonson's cleverness, especially in stanza 3 (of 4):
The Father's wisedome will'd it so, The Sonnes obedience knew no No, Both wills were in one stature; And, as that wisedome hath...
I sought him dressed in finest clothes. John Lamberton Bell* (1949- ).
This hymn is entitled 'Carol of the Epiphany'. Written in 1988, it first appeared in the collection Innkeepers and Light Sleepers: Seventeen New Songs for Christmas (Chicago: 1992). It may be seen as completing a trilogy of hymns that provide insightful socio-political commentary on the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany cycle:
Carol of the Advent ('From a woman and a weary nation')
The Carol of the Nativity ('A pregnant...
I think, when I read that sweet story of old. Jemima Luke* (1813-1906).
Two verses of this hymn, based on Mark 10: 14, were written during a journey between Wellington and Taunton, Somerset, by stage-coach in 1841 to match a Greek marching tune that she had heard in a school, the Normal Infants' School, in London. They were intended for use at a village school, and were published in The Sunday School Teachers' Magazine, and Journal of Education in 1841, entitled 'The Child's Desire'. Her...
I to the hills will lift mine eyes. Scottish Psalter* (1650).
This metrical version of Psalm 121 is one of the best known and most loved of Scottish psalm texts. The text dates from the 1650 Scottish Psalter, and has been in continuous use since that time in Scotland and beyond. It paraphrases the eight verses of the psalm in four Common Metre stanzas of great dignity and simplicity. The 1650 text replaced that of the earlier Scottish Psalter, The Forme Of Prayers And Ministration Of The...
I waited for the Lord my God. Scottish Psalter, 1650.
This metrical version of Psalm 40 has 17 stanzas in The Psalms of David in Metre of 1781 and The Scottish Psalter, 1929, but the text that is customarily used in worship is from stanzas 1-4:
I waited for the Lord my God, and patiently did bear; At length to me he did incline My voice and cry to hear.
He took me from a fearful pit, and from the miry clay, And on a rock he set my feet, establishing my way.
He put a new song in my...
I was there to hear your borning cry ('Borning Cry'). John Ylvisaker* (1937-2017).
Ylvisaker was the author of the text and composer of the music. The following narrative from the author's website described the circumstances surrounding the composition of this song:
During 1985, the ALC [American Lutheran Church] was doing a series on baptism called 'Reflections'. John began work on the song before any footage for the video had been shot. When the media team met to put the music with the video...
I will come to you in the silence ('You are mine'). David Robert Haas* (1957- ).
In 2017 The National Association of Pastoral Musicians (USA)* (NPM) conducted a hymn survey in which 3,000 participants ranked hymns. Known popularly by its title, David Haas' 'You Are Mine' was number four on the list. The hymn first appeared in the composer's collection Who Calls You by Name: Music for Christian Initiation (Chicago, 1988-1991).
The words are based on texts from Psalm 46: 10, 'Be still and...
I will follow thee, my Savior. James Lawson* (1847-1926).
This hymn is dated 1866 in Songs of Pilgrimage: a hymnal for the Churches of Christ (Boston, 1886), edited by Horace Lorenzo Hastings (1831-1889) and attributed to James Lawson (in some later books 'Rev. James Lawson'). There has been confusion about the authorship, because in some books it was attributed to 'Jas. L., Elginburg', and in The Revivalist (1872), edited by Joseph Hillman, the words and music are said to be by 'Jas. L.,...
I worship Thee, sweet will of God. Frederick William Faber* (1814-1863).
First published in Jesus and Mary: or Catholic Hymns (1849), where it was entitled 'The Will of God'. It was then published in Faber's Hymns (1962). It had fourteen 4-line stanzas. Hymnbooks have normally shortened the hymn, normally to five or six stanzas. It was in six stanzas in the Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes (New York, 1855), edited by Henry Ward Beecher*, which began with two stanzas identical to those in...
I would I were at last at home. Heinrich von Laufenburg* (ca. 1390- ca. 1460), translated by Catherine Winkworth* (1827-1878).
The German text, beginning 'Ich wollte, dass ich daheime wär', is found in the copy of the Strasbourg manuscript used by Wackernagel, dated 1429 (modern books date it 1430) and printed in Das Deutsche Kirchenlied, II. pp. 540. James Mearns* adds a typically learned reference to manuscript sources and to 19th-century printings of the German text (JJ, p. 507). ...
I would not live alway. William Augustus Muhlenberg* (1796-1877).
A version of this hymn is said to have been written in 1824 at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for a lady's album, where it began:
I would not live alway; no, no, holy man, Not a day, not an hour, should lengthen my span.
This suggests the jeu d'esprit of a young clergyman, although it was based on Job 7: 16: 'I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.' The original text had six 8-line stanzas. The text given in...
I'll sing a hymn to Mary. John Wyse* (1825-1898).
Published in Crown of Jesus: a complete Catholic manual of devotion, doctrine, and instruction (1862), edited by R.R. Suffield and C.F.R. Palmer. It was also in Catholic Hymns: Original and Translated, with accompanying tunes (1898), edited by Albert Edmonds Tozer* with the help of Richard Runciman Terry*. It was the only hymn by Fr Wyse to be included in the Westminster Hymnal (1912, revised 1940), but its inclusion in those books ensured that...
Imagine the dream of creation (Caring Community). Pat Mayberry* (1950– ).
Mayberry credits Rev. Elisabeth Jones as co-writer of the lyrics of 'Caring Community' (2016). Listening from the choir loft as Jones spoke at church during a period of several weeks, Mayberry wove into the song Jones's images of becoming part of 'the dream of God', and of being a 'caring community' (Mayberry, 2021, email).
Pat Mayberry has collaborated in recent years with pianist, composer and lyric writer David...
Immortal, invisible, God only wise. Walter Chalmers Smith* (1824-1908).
First published in Smith's Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life (1867), in the third section, 'Hymns of the Holy Trinity'. It had six stanzas. This text differs considerably from the one found in most modern hymnbooks, apart from the resounding first stanza.
The hymn was published in a revised form in William Garrett Horder*'s Congregational Hymns (1884) and in his Worship-Song (1905), and thereafter in EH, after which...
In Adam we have all been one. Martin Franzmann* (1907-1976).
This hymn, based on Genesis 3 and 4, was written in 1961, and first published in 1963 by the Augsburg Publishing House as a supplement to their bulletin, with the tune ST FLAVIAN. It was then printed in another Lutheran context in A Selection of 13 Hymns… for use in public worship as a supplement to present hymnals (St Louis, 1967). It has appeared in subsequent Lutheran collections, including LBW and LSB. The Companion to LSB draws...
In faith and hope and love. James Phillip McAuley (1917-76).
Following the success of the collaboration between Australian poet James Phillip McAuley* and composer Richard Connolly* which led to the publication in the 'Living Parish' series of their first collection of hymns, We Offer the Mass (Sydney, 1959), they were commissioned to continue their work. 'In faith and hope and love' was written in 1963 and tried out with the small Roman Catholic congregation at North Ryde, Sydney, to which...
In God's most holy presence. Ernest James Dodgshun* (1876-1944).
This was published in the Fellowship Hymn-Book (1909). It was one of the earliest hymns by Dodgshun, who had joined the Society of Friends in 1908, and who later gave up work as a businessman to join the National Adult School Union, of which he became Secretary in 1924. It remained in the 1933 revision of FHB, published by the NASU and The Brotherhood Movement, Incorporated. Dodgshun and his wife Mary were members of the...
In grief and fear to Thee, O Lord. William Bullock* (1798-1874).
According to JJ, p. 564, this appeared in Bullock's Songs of the Church (Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1854), with the title 'The Church in Plague or Pestilence'. It had five stanzas:
In grief and fear, to Thee, O Lord, We now for succour fly,Thine awful judgments are abroad, O shield us, lest we die!
The fell disease on every side, Walks forth with tainted breath;And Pestilence, with rapid stride, Bestrews the land with death.
Our...
In our dear Lord's garden. Ella Sophia Armitage* (1841-1931).
Written at Dedham, on the Essex-Suffolk border, in 1881, and published in the same year in Armitage's The Garden of the Lord. It was entitled 'Christ's love for children'. Probably Armitage's fondness for this hymn led to the book's title. It was popular as a children's hymn in the first part of the 20th century, and was printed in MHB and CP. In the metre of 6.5.6.5., it has an affecting simplicity, but its language has not...
In the dark and cloudy day. George Rawson* (1807-1889).
From Psalms, Hymns, and Passages of Scripture for Christian Worship (the 'Leeds Hymn Book', 1853), the book in which Rawson assisted the local Congregationalist ministers. It had six stanzas:
In the dark and cloudy day, When earth's riches flee away, And the last hope will not stay, Saviour, comfort me.
When the secret idol's gone, That my poor heart yearned upon, Desolate, bereft, alone, Saviour, comfort me.
Thou, who wast so sorely...
In the hour of my distress. Robert Herrick* (1591-1674).
From Herrick's His Noble Numbers: or, His Pious Pieces, Wherein (amongst other things) he Sings the Birth of his Christ: and Sighes for his Saviours Suffering on the Crosse (1647). It was entitled 'His Letanie, to the Holy Spirit'. It had twelve triple-rhymed stanzas, with a refrain, 'Sweet Spirit, comfort me!'
Twelve stanzas was too long even for a litany hymn, and most hymnbooks select five or six.The original text of the six-stanza...
In the secret of His presence how my soul delights to hide. Ellen Lakshmi Goreh* (1853-1937).
First published in Goreh's 'From India's Coral Strand': Hymns of Christian Faith (1883). It was entitled 'My Refuge', and was based on a text from Psalm 31: 20. Ira D. Sankey* introduced it to the British public during the London Winter Mission of 1883-4:
The hymn at once came into general favor, and the deeply spiritual tone of the words brought blessing to many. The song was afterwards published in...
In the silent midnight watches. Arthur Cleveland Coxe* (1818-1896).
First published in the Second Edition of Coxe's poem, Athanasion (1842), where it was among the 'Several Poems, now first collected', further described as 'Miscellaneous Poems', that followed the main poem. It was called 'The Heart's Song' (it may well be considered alongside the words from the preface to Athanasion quoted in the entry on Coxe). It was printed by Philip Schaff * in Christ in Song (New York, 1869). It had three...
In this world, the isle of Dreams. Robert Herrick* (1591-1674).
Herrick published His Noble Numbers: or, His Pious Pieces, Wherein (amongst other things) he Sings the Birth of his Christ: and Sighes for his Saviours Suffering on the Crosse in1647. It included this poem, entitled 'The white Island: or place of the Blest'. It celebrates the reality of heaven, the 'white Island' (' white' signifying innocence) and contrasts it with the 'teares and terrors' of earth (it should perhaps be...
Infant holy, infant lowly. Edith Margaret Gellibrand Reed* (1885-1933).
This is a translation of a Polish carol, beginning 'W Żłobie Leży', found in Spiewniczek Piesni Koscielne (1908), thought to be from the 13th or 14th century (Milgate, 1982, p. 104). Gillibrand's translation was published in Music and Youth I/12 (December 1921), and later published in the Congregational Church's School Worship (1926), after which it became very popular:
Infant holy, infant lowly, For his bed a cattle...
Infinite Spirit, who art round us ever. James Freeman Clarke* (1810-1888).
See 'Father, to us, Thy children, humbly kneeling'*.
Inspired by love and anger. John Lamberton Bell* (1949- ) and Graham Maule* (1958-2019).
This song, 'Inspired by love and anger, disturbed by endless pain', was the title piece to Love & Anger: songs of lively faith and social justice (Wild Goose Publications, 1997). It was reprinted from Heaven Shall Not Wait (Wild Goose Songs 1) (1987), with the first line as 'Inspired by love and anger, disturbed by need and pain'. With the first line as '…endless pain…' this was reprinted in a 1997...
Is this thy will, and must I be. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
From Songs in the Night (1780). It is an interesting example of a hymn by an uneducated woman writer who is nervous about her work appearing in the public domain, with herself as a 'living witness'. It had a note at the foot of the page: 'Composed after being made acquainted that her verses were designed to be printed.' She claims to be unworthy of this, but this serves as an artifice which allows her to declare to all the saints...
It passeth knowledge, that dear love of Thine. Mary Shekleton* (1827-1883).
Written in 1863 and first published in broadsheet form. It was later included in Ira D. Sankey*'s Sacred Songs and Solos No 1 (ca. 1873) to be sung to Sankey's tune IT PASSETH KNOWLEDGE. It is a reflection on Ephesians 3: 17-19, ending 'to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God'.
It had seven verses. It still appears in some hymn books (WOV, HP) in...
Jerusalem, my happy home. Author unknown, ca. 1580. This hymn exists in many versions, most of which come from two sources:
British Library Add. MS 15, 225. This is a text of 26 4-line verses, described as 'A Song Mad (i.e. 'made') by F:B:P.'. The initials may have referred to a Roman Catholic priest (the 'P' standing for 'Pater') persecuted and perhaps imprisoned during the reign of Elizabeth I. For various theories, see 'F.B.P.'*.
A poem entitled 'Hymn on the New Jerusalem', by 'W. P.',...
See 'Kneels at the feet of his friends'*
Jesus, Lord, Redeemer. Patrick Miller Kirkland* (1857-1943).
This moving Easter hymn was first published in the English Presbyterian hymnbook, Church Praise (revised edition, 1907). It is unusual in hymnody because it includes the story of the road to Emmaus and the ten disciples (without Judas and Thomas) in hiding on the first Easter day:
Faithful ones, communing, Towards the close of day, Desolate and weary, Met Thee in the way...
In the upper chamber, Where the ten, in fear,...
Jesu, Son of Mary. Edmund Stuart Palmer* (1856-1931).
This touching funeral hymn was originally written in Swahili sometime before 1901, during Palmer's first period in Africa. It was written for the Requiem of a colleague in the UMCA (Universities' Mission to Central Africa). According to Frost (1962, p. 381) it was included in the Mission's Swahili Hymn Book, but it is not in Kitabu cha Sala za Kanuni ilivyo desturi ya kanisa la unguja (Swahili Zanzibar prayer and hymns) (SPCK, 1950).
The...
Jesus calls us! O'er the tumult. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
Written for St Andrew's Day (30 November) and included in a book published by the SPCK, Hymns for Public Worship (1852), edited by Thomas Vincent Fosbery*. It was published with an inferior and amended text in its successor, the SPCK Church Hymns (1871) and in the Second Edition of A&M (1875). EH returned to Alexander's version, and many 20th-century books followed, although successive editions of A&M have stuck to...
Jesus, high in glory. Harriet Burn McKeever* (1807-1886 or 1887).
In JJ, p. 1574, this hymn is noted as from the Methodist Episcopal Church's Sunday School Harmonist (1847), without an author's name. McKeever was identified as the author when it appeared in her Twilight Musings: and Other Poems (Philadelphia, 1857) (JJ, p. 1667). It became very popular in the USA and Canada, appearing in many hymnals, mainly those for Sunday schools and young people. It crossed the Atlantic to appear in the...
Jesus, King of glory. W. Hope Davison* (1827-1894).
This has the same first line, and is written in the same metre as a hymn by Edward Harland*, published in his Church Psalter and Hymnal (1855). According to JJ, Davison's hymn was first published in one of two 'Services of Song for Passiontide', but this has not been found: the hymn exists in papers held in Bolton Archives and Local Studies Collections, entitled 'Sermons & Lectures. W.H. Davison Senr.'
Harland's hymn began:
Jesus! King of...
Jesus, my Saviour and my Lord. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
This is from the Fourth Edition (1788) of Harrison's Songs of the Night, where it was Hymn IX, entitled 'Opening My New Bible'. It was preceded by a quotation: 'Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of Thy law. --- PS. cxix. 18.':
Jesus, my Saviour and my Lord, To Thee I lift mine eyes;Teach and instruct me by Thy word, And make me truly wise.
Make me to know and understand Thy whole revealed will; Fain...
Jesus, my Saviour, full of grace. Benjamin Ingham* (1712-1772).
This hymn appeared in the Inghamite hymnal, A Collection of Hymns for the Use of Those that seek, and Those that have Redemption in the Blood of Christ (Kendal, 1757), known as the 'Kendal Hymn Book'. It had six stanzas:
Jesus, the Saviour of my soul, Be Thou my heart's delight;Remain the same to me always, My joy by day and night.
Hungry and thirsty after Thee, May I be found each hour; Humble in heart, and happy kept By...
Jesus, our mighty Lord. F. Bland Tucker* (1895-1984).
This was printed in H40 with a first stanza beginning:
Master of eager youth,
Controlling, guiding,
Lifting our hearts to truth,
New power providing;
Shepherd of innocence,
Thou art our Confidence;
To thee, our sure Defence,
We bring our praises.
This first stanza was omitted and stanza 2 changed from 'Thou art' to 'Jesus' in H82. The reason given was that the imagery seemed 'more congenial to modern thought' than the original stanza 1 had...
Jesus, Savior Lord, lo to you I fly ('Saranam, saranam'). Traditional Pakistani, translated by Daniel Thambyrajah Niles* (1908-1970).
Asian hymns are perhaps the most neglected repertoire in Western hymnals. Hymns that are available in Asian musical idioms are rarer. The normative practice in Asian churches is to sing Western classic hymns in translation or use contemporary Christian music. Because of their experience with many Western missionaries who did not encourage composition in Asian...
Kneels at the feet of his friends. Tom Colvin* (1925-2000).
Often known by the first line of its refrain, 'Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love', this song was written in Ghana during Colvin's period of missionary service, 1959-64, and set to an indigenous love-song melody collected at Chereponi in northern Ghana. The text, based on John 13: 12-16, had its birth during a lay training course for evangelists, where the curriculum also included agricultural and community development, reflecting the...
Kum ba yah, my Lord. African American spiritual*, of Gullah origin.
The origins of this song are unknown. It was recorded in the 1920s; the recording is found in the American Folklife Center Archive of the Library of Congress. There is a detailed account of various possible histories in the Archive's Folklife Center News, 32, Nos. 3-4 (Summer/Fall, 2010) available on-line (see below). The article suggests that it was known 'fairly early throughout the American south, including Texas, Alabama,...
Lead, Holy Shepherd, lead us. Hamilton Montgomerie MacGill* (1807-1880).
This translation was included in the hymnbook of the United Presbyterian Church, The Presbyterian Hymnal (1877). The Church had been formed in 1847 through a union between the United Secession Church and the Synod of Relief (see 'Synod of Relief hymns'*). MacGill was one of the compilers of the 1877 hymnbook.
It was a translation of a hymn by Clement of Alexandria* (Titus Flavius Clemens, ca. 150- ca. 215), entitled 'Hymn...
Let Christian faith and hope dispel. Granton Douglas Hay* (1943- ).
This seven-stanza text, based on Romans 8: 31-39, was written for the Australian Hymn Book (WOV). According to Wesley Milgate*, it was written at the request of the texts committee, which found the original 'rather wordy and archaic' (Milgate, 1982, p. 46).
It is a reworking of a slightly longer paraphrase in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (1781). See 'Let Christian faith and hope dispel (Logan)*. See also 'The...
Let Christian faith and hope dispel. John Logan* (1748-1788).
This was paraphrase 48 in Translations and Paraphrases (1781), part of the material for worship, together with the Scottish Psalter*, that dominated services in the Church of Scotland until recent times. The full title was Translations and Paraphrases, in verse, of several passages of Sacred Scripture. Collected and Prepared by a Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in order to be sung in...
Let me be Thine for ever. Nikolaus Selnecker* (1530/32- 1592), translated by Matthias Loy (1828-1915).
This is based on Loy's translation of 'Laß mich dein sein und bleiben'*, from Selnecker's 'Passio', entitled Passio. Das Leiden und Sterben unsers Herrn Jesu Christi, aus den Vier Evangelisten (Wolfenbüttel, 1572). According to the Companion to the Hymns of LSB (Herl et al., 2019, p. 928, note to Hymn 659) Loy's translation dates from 1863 in the Fourth Edition of A Collection of Hymns for...
Let not your hearts with anxious thoughts. William Robertson, d. 1745*.
This is one of two paraphrases of chapter 14 of St John's Gospel. The first begins as above, and paraphrases verses 1-7; its companion-piece, 'You now must hear my voice no more', paraphrases verses 25-28. According to James Mearns* in JJ (p. 672), Robertson wrote them both for the draft of the never-published Translations and Paraphrases of 1745; they were identified as the work of Robertson by the daughter of William...
Let us be bread (I am the bread of life, broken for all). Tom Porter* (1958– ).
This song was written in 1987 for the author/composer's wedding. It was initially published as an anthem with GIA Publications, Inc.* (Chicago, 1990), this song first appeared in congregational form in Gather Comprehensive (Chicago, 1994). 'Let us be bread' reflects post-Vatican II liturgical theology and practice. This refrain style liturgical song weaves together themes of Eucharist, Paschal Mystery and mission....
Lift your glad voices in triumph on high. Henry Ware, Jr.* (1794-1843).
This joyful hymn for Easter was first published in the Christian Disciple (1817), a liberal periodical, of which Ware was at one time editor. Its name was changed to the Christian Examiner and (in the words of Ware's brother) it became 'the principal, if not the accredited, organ of Unitarianism in the United States' (Memoir, 1846, p. 440). In the unusual metre of 10.11.11.11.12.11.10.11., it nevertheless became Ware's...
Light up this house with glory, Lord. John Harris* (1802-1856).
Written, presumably, for the opening of a chapel, and first published in the New Congregational Hymn Book (1859) not long after Harris's death. It is found in the 'Special Occasions' section under 'Founding and Opening Places of Worship'.
The original text in 1859 was as follows:
Light up this house with glory, Lord; Enter, and claim Thine own; Receive the homage of our souls, Erect Thy temple throne.
We rear no altar, – Thou...
Like Noah's weary dove. William Augustus Muhlenberg* (1796-1877).
This imaginative treatment of Genesis 8: 8-9 was one of the hymns contributed by Muhlenberg to the 1826 hymnal of the Episcopal Church in America entitled The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church in the United States of America, known as the 'Prayer Book Collection'. It had five stanzas:
Like Noah's weary dove, That soared the earth around, But not a...
Living Spirit, holy fire. Ruth C. Duck* (1947–2024).
This hymn was written in 2003. It first appeared in Duck's collection Welcome God's Tomorrow (Chicago, 2005). The hymn then appeared in three collections in the United States in the same year, Gather,Third Edition (Chicago, 2011), Worship, Fourth Edition (Chicago, 2011), and Worship and Song (Nashville, 2011).
Duck had been conducting research at Pilgrim Congregational Church, Oak Park, Illinois, a United Church of Christ (UCC)...
Long ago the lilies faded. William George Tarrant* (1853-1928).
Tarrant was one of the editors of the Essex Hall Hymnal (1890), a book for the use of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, and named after Essex Hall in London, the headquarters of the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. None of his hymns was found in that book, but in the Revised Edition of 1902 this hymn, with its beautiful first line, was included. It was entitled 'The Constant Presence'. It was loosely based on the...
Longing for light, we wait in darkness ('Christ, be our light'). Bernadette Farrell* (1957- ).
This hymn is frequently known as 'Christ, be our light', from the first line of the refrain. It was published in 1993 by the Oregon Catholic Press (OCP) in Portland, Oregon. Since its first publication, with Farrell's own tune, it has become widely known and much loved in many countries. It has appeared in subsequent OCP books, including Journeysongs (2003), Glory and Praise (2015) and One in Faith...
Lord Jesu Christ, by Whom alone. Thomas George Crippen* (1841-1929).
In the Congregational Church Hymnal (1887) this was the single hymn in the section 'Election of Deacons' part 4 of 'The Church of Christ'. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, 'In congregational (independent) churches the diaconate is usually an elective body of lay officers in a local congregation responsible for financial and administrative affairs and the distribution of the elements at Communion. Such deacons are, in...
Lord of might, and Lord of glory. John Stuart Blackie* (1809-1895).
In Blackie's Songs of Religion and Life (Edinburgh and New York, 1876) this hymn was entitled 'Prayer for Direction':
Lord of might, and Lord of glory, On my knees I bow before Thee, With my whole heart I adore Thee, Great Lord! Listen to my cry, O Lord!
Passions proud and fierce have ruled me, Fancies light and vain have fooled me, But Thy training stern hath schooled me; Now, Lord, Take me for Thy child, O Lord.
...
Lord of our highest love. Gilbert Young Tickle* (1819-1888).
The earliest printing of this hymn recorded in Hymnary.org. is in The Christian Hymnal (Cincinnati, 1882), published for the Churches of Christ. It was published in the same year in New Christian Hymn and Tune Book (Cincinnati: Fillmore Brothers). In Britain it was almost certainly among the 34 hymns by Tickle in A Collection of Hymns for Churches of Christ (Birmingham, 1888), edited by David King (1819-1894), with Tickle as an...
Lord, can a helpless worm like me. Susanna Harrison* (1752-1784).
From Harrison's Songs in the Night, by a young woman under deep afflictions, first published in 1780. In the Seventh American Edition (New York, 1847) it was no. LXIII. It was prefaced with a quotation: '“Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.” - Heb. xii. 1,2.' It had five stanzas:
Lord, can a helpless worm like me Attempt to make her way to thee? Yes, let me raise thy praises high - In...
Lord, her watch Thy church is keeping. Henry Downton* (1818-1885).
This stirring hymn for mission was written in 1866 during Downton's time in Geneva, and sung at the annual meeting of the Church Missionary Society in that year. It was published in the Seventh Edition of D.T. Barry's Psalms and Hymns for the Church, School, and Home (1867) and subsequently in Downton's Hymns and Verses, Original and Translated (1873). Too late for the First Edition of A&M, and missed by the 1868 Appendix,...
Lord, now the time returns. John Austin* (1613-1669).
First printed in Austin's Devotions in the Antient Way of Offices (Paris, 1668), in the section 'The Office of our B. Saviour', where it is part of 'Complin for our B. Saviour'. It had eight 4-line stanzas:
Lord, now the time returns, For weary man to rest; And lay aside those pains and cares With which our day's opprest:
Or rather change our thoughts To more concerning cares: How to redeem our mispent time, With sighs, and...
Lord, thy church on earth is seeking. Hugh Sherlock* (1905-1998).
Written in 1965 for the Jamaica District of the Methodist Church, to be sung at a service inaugurating a 'year of renewal'. It was printed in a pamphlet containing seven of Sherlock's hymns (n.d.), with the title 'Renewal'. It had no tune in this printing, but was set to ABBOT'S LEIGH by Cyril Taylor* in the Methodist Supplement Hymns and Songs (1969).
Some subsequent books have used other tunes (EVERTON, by Henry Smart* in HFTC,...
Loving Creator. Daniel Thambyrajah Niles* (1908-1970).
This is the version in CH4 of Niles's Trinitarian hymn addressed in its three stanzas to the three persons of the Holy Trinity, beginning 'Father in heaven'*. In stanza 1 the CH4 version avoids the image of 'Father' for God, changing the first line, and also lines 7-8 from 'Father in heaven,/ Father, our God' to 'Loving Creator,/ Parent and God'. Stanzas 2 and 3 also have substantial alterations from Niles's...
Loving Spirit, loving Spirit. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
This hymn, written as what the author calls 'a simple reflection into images of God', was written in 1986, and has since been used at a number of ordination and commitment services as well as a general hymn.
It was first published in Murray's New Zealand collection, In Every Corner, Sing: New Hymns to Familiar Tunes in Inclusive Language (Wellington, 1987) where the suggested setting was OMNI DIE, and has since been published in a...
Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child ('Coventry Carol'). The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, 1534, 1591.
This carol is from the mystery play entitled The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors [Taylors], is known as the 'Coventry Carol' because it was first performed in Coventry, England. It was the property of the two guilds, the Shearmen and the Tailors, and is known as a 'mystery play' because each craft jealously preserved the secrets, or mysteries, of its trade. The original incipit is...
Mary immaculate, star of the morning. F.W. Weatherell, dates unknown.
This hymn was printed in The Book of Hymns with Tunes (1910), edited by Samuel Gregory Ould* and William Sewell, but in the opinion of Wesley Milgate* (1982), it 'may well be earlier'. Milgate also states that it was in the Westminster Hymnal (1912), but it has not been found there. It was certainly in WH (1940), and Milgate describes it as 'very popular'. It begins with the image of Mary as the stella matutina, star of the...
Most glorious Lord of life, that on this day. Edmund Spenser* (ca. 1552-1599).
Spenser's Amoretti, published in the same volume as Epithalamion in 1595, are love sonnets, probably written to Elizabeth Boyle, whom he married in 1594. The sonnet sequence was a common literary form of the period. Sonnet 68 is unusual in the sequence in using the Easter story as a reason for loving one another; but its rare beauty makes it a valuable addition to devotional poetry, and it has been included in a...
My God, all nature owns Thy sway. Helen Maria Williams* (1759-1827). This is one of four 'Paraphrases from Scripture' from Williams's Poems (1786). This one is on Psalm 74: 16, 17. It was described in JJ as being 'in C.U.' ('Common Use'), and as found in Hymns for the Christian Church and Home (1840), compiled by James Martineau*. It is no longer used in Britain, and its time in the USA seems to be over also:
PSALM lxxiv. 16, 17.
My God! all nature owns Thy sway,Thou giv'st the night, and...
My Shepherd will supply my need.Isaac Watts* (1674-1748).
Psalm 23 has always been a great comfort in life, and in the face of death (it is often used in funerals). By the time Watts wrote his version, it had attracted several versifiers, from William Whittingham* ('The Lord is only my support') and George Herbert* ('The God of love my shepherd is'*) to Nahum Tate*/Nicholas Brady* ('The Lord himself, the mighty Lord') and Joseph Addison* ('The Lord my pasture shall prepare'*). Watts provided...
My soul cries out with a joyful shout ('Canticle of the Turning'). Rory Cooney* (1952- ).
Carl P. Daw, Jr.* correctly notes: 'From the very beginning it is evident that this is no tame paraphrase of the Song of Mary (Luke 1:46-55). . . [This setting of the Magnificat*] identifies with, and draws energy from, the deeply revolutionary implications of what it means for the mighty to be put down from their thrones and the lowly to be lifted up' (Daw, 2016, p. 100). First published as the...
Night has fallen. Malawian, translated by Tom Colvin* (1925-2000).
The original was written by a Scottish missionary, probably Clement Scott, about 1885, to a melody collected by him from boatmen on the Zambezi river, and which had become established as a Malawi evening hymn. Colvin made the translation while himself serving in Malawi. The melody is believed to be the remnant of a song about the Virgin Mary introduced by Jesuits some two or three centuries earlier. In performance, the hymn is...
Not now, but in the coming years. Maxwell N. Cornelius* (1842-1893)
According to Sankey* (1906) the stanzas of this hymn, dated 1891, were published 'in a Western newspaper' (pp. 222-3). This would have been during the years that Cornelius was a Presbyterian pastor in California (1885-91). They were found in the newspaper by Daniel Webster Whittle*, who (according to Sankey) added the refrain:
Then trust in God thro' all the days; Fear not, for he doth hold thy hand; Though dark thy way, still...
Not what these hands have done. Horatius Bonar* (1808-1889).
From Bonar's Hymns of Faith and Hope, Second Series (1861), where it had twelve stanzas. It was entitled 'Salvation through Christ alone' in 1861 but not in the edition of 1871, where its first line was used as a title:
Not what these hands have done Can save this guilty soul;Not what this toiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do Can give me peace with God;Not all my prayers, and sighs, and tears, ...
Now Israel. William Whittingham* (ca. 1525/1530- 1579).
This is one of the two metrical versions of Psalm 124 of 1551: the other begins 'Had not the Lord been on our side'. According to Millar Patrick*, the metrical version of 'Now Israel' in French and the tune are by Théodore de Bèze*, in Pseaumes octante trois de David, mise en rime francoise. A savoir quarante neuf par Clement Marot. et trente quatre par Theodore de Besze (Geneva, 1551). The first stanza of this, the better known version...
O blessed spring. Susan Palo Cherwien* (1953– )
'O blessed spring' was written in 1993 and first appeared as a choral anthem (1994) in a setting by Robert Buckley Farlee*, followed by a second choral setting entitled Life Tree by the author's husband David Cherwien* (Herl et al., 2019, p. 595). The first appearance in a hymnal was in the Canadian VU (1996) and then in the author's collection O Blessed Spring: Hymns of Susan Palo Cherwien (Minneapolis, 1997). Since these publications, the hymn...
O blest Creator of the Light (Caswall). Latin, author unknown, 8th Century or earlier, translated by Edward Caswall* (1814-1878).
This translation of 'Lucis Creator optime'* is from Caswall's Lyra Catholica (1849). It was one of the 'Hymns for the Week'. This one was entitled 'Hymn at Vespers. On Sunday when no other hymn is appointed.' The five stanzas were as follows:
O blest Creator of the Light!Who dost the dawn from darkness bring;And framing Nature's depth and height,Didst with the...
O Bread of Life from heaven. Latin, 17th century or earlier, translated by Philip Schaff* (1819-1893).
This was published in Schaff's Christ in Song (New York, 1869), with an exclamation mark in the title and the Latin inscribed below ('O esca viatorum, O panis angelorum, O manna coelitum'). Schaff noted that this came from a Latin hymn, 'De Sanctissimo Sacramento', found in Daniel*, Thesaurus Hymnologicus II. 369. Like the original, it had three stanzas:
O Bread of Life from heaven To saints...
O crucified Redeemer. Timothy Rees* (1874-1939).
This hymn was printed in John Lambert Rees's Sermons and Hymns by Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff (1946), where it was headed 'Calvary'. J.L. Rees said that it was taken from CR: the Chronicle of the Community of the Resurrection, but a careful search of the Chronicle has failed to reveal it there. It was included in BBCHB and crossed the Atlantic to find a place in The Hymn Book (1971) of Canada. In Britain it appeared in 100HfT and thus in...
O for the robes of whiteness. Charitie Lees De Chenez* (1841-1923).
According to JJ, p. 109, this was published in Within the Veil, by C.L.S. [Charitie Lees Smith, her maiden name] (1867), but this has not been verified. It has also been stated that it was published in leaflet form in 1860. It was certainly printed in Lyra Britannica (1867), edited by Charles Rogers, where it was entitled 'Heavenly Anticipations'. Philip Schaff*, who printed it in Christ in Song (New York, 1869), described it...
O God my strength and fortitude. Thomas Sternhold* (d. 1549).
According to JJ, p. 863, this metrical version of Psalm 18 was added to the collection of Psalms published by John Daye in 1561 entitled Psalmes of David in Englishe Metre. It then passed into The whole Book of Psalmes, collected into English metre by T. Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others (1562) (the 'Old Version'*). Originally it was in five parts. The first, from which most modern printings derive, had ten stanzas, preceded by the...
O God, Thou art the Father. Attributed to St Columba* (521-597), translated by Duncan MacGregor* (1854-1923).
This is a translation of the hymn beginning 'In Te, Christe, credentium miserearis omnium'. Both sections were traditionally attributed to St Columba, but a note in the Trinity College MS casts doubt on his authorship of the first part. For details of the MS, the translation, its original, and its first publication, see the entry on 'Christ is the world's Redeemer'*. This translates...
O God, we bear the imprint of your face. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931–2020).
This hymn was originally entitled 'A Hymn about Racism'. It was written in 1981, when the New Zealand Anti-Apartheid Movement organized demonstrations against the proposed tour of the South African Rugby Team, New Zealand's most formidable opponents (which made the protests more important in NZ). Shirley Murray's husband, John Stewart Murray* (1929–2017), was a leader in these unsuccessful protests, resulting in...
O Lord, turn not thy face away. John Marckant (d. 1586).
This was one of the additional hymns added to the psalms in The Whole Booke of Psalmes (1562) (see 'Old Version'*). There it was entitled 'The Lamentation of a Sinner'. It was signed 'M', indicating Marckant as the author; his name is given in full in the edition of 1565.
It had 11 verses, beginning
O Lord, turn not thy face away
from him that lies prostrate,
Lamenting sore his sinful life,
Before thy mercy gate.
According to...
O send thy light forth and thy truth. Scottish Psalter*.
These well known stanzas paraphrase verses 3-5 of Psalm 43. In the Scottish Psalter of 1650, The Psalmes of David in Meeter, the text was as follows:
O send thy light forth, and thy truth: let them be guides to me, And bring me to thine holy Hill, ev'n where thy dwellings be.
Then will I to Gods altar go, to God my chiefest joy: Yea, God, my God, thy Name to praise my harp I will employ.
Why art thou then cast down, my soul? what...
O sleep now, holy baby. Mexican carol, translated by John Donald Robb (1892-1989).
This carol, 'Duérmete, Niño lindo', was translated by Robb, a lawyer who changed career to become Professor of Music at the University of New Mexico, and printed in Hispanic Songs of New Mexico (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1954). It is one of many 'lullaby carols'. It was used in a folk play, Los Pastores, sung in villages in New Mexico during the Christmas season. Originally from Mexico, it tells of sorrows to...
O Son of God, in Galilee. Anna Hoppe* (1889-1941).
This hymn is often printed with the first line as 'O thou who once in Galilee'. It was published in The Northwestern Lutheran (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1928), with the title 'Jesus, the Great Physician'. It also appeared in Hoppe's Songs for the Church Year (Rock Island, Illinois, 1928), and in an altered version in the American Lutheran Hymnal (Columbus, Ohio, 1930), headed 'For the Deaf Mute' (Companion to LSB, 2019, Volume 1, pp. 1287-89,...
O that mine eyes would closed be. Thomas Ellwood* (1639-1713).
This hymn is taken from The History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood. Or, an Account of his Birth, Education, &c… Written by his own hand. To which is added a Supplement by J. W. (1714). Published after Ellwood's death, his autobiography was supplemented by Joseph Wyeth (J.W.) in which this poem is quoted on page 462:
O that mine Eye might closed be To what becomes me not to see! The Deafness might possess mine Ear, To what...
O the bitter shame and sorrow. Théodore Monod* (1836-1921).
This hymn was entitled 'The Altered Motto', referring to its transition from 'All of self, and none of Thee' (stanza 1) to 'None of self, and all of Thee' (stanza 4). Written during one of Monod's many evangelising visits to England in 1874 for a 'consecration meeting' at Broadlands, Hampshire, it was given to Lord Mount-Temple, who took it to another meeting at Oxford in the same year:
O the bitter shame and sorrow, That a time could...
O the deep, deep love of Jesus. Samuel Trevor Francis* (1834-1925).
Written before 1898, when it was published in Francis's Whence-Whither, and Other Poems. It had eight stanzas (accessible at https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/o-the-deep-deep-love-of-jesus). It was shortened to three stanzas in Hymns of Consecration and Faith 2 (1902), and in The Song Companion to the Scriptures (1911), and this has become the customary version in hymnals (the full hymn is in the posthumously-published...
O thou by long experience tried. Jeanne Marie Guyon* (1648-1717), translated by William Cowper* (1731-1800).
Madame Guyon's spiritual songs, entitled Poésies et Cantiques Spirituels (1722), were published after her death in 1717. Cowper translated 37 of them into English in 1782. His attention was drawn to them by his friend William Bull, the evangelical rector of Newport Pagnell. Bull published them after Cowper's death, as Poems Translated from the French of Madame de la Mothe Guion (1801)....
O thou my soul, forget no more. Joshua Marshman* (1768-1837), from the Bengali of Krishna Pal* (1764-1822), translated by William Carey (1761-1834). Pal's hymn, 'Je Jone Apon Pan', must have been written shortly after his conversion in December 1800. It was later published in Quarterly Papers, for the use of the weekly and monthly contributors to the Baptist Missionary Society, January 1830). A 'free translation' was published in the same number (the author's name is not given, but the...
O Thou Who driest the mourner's tear. Thomas Moore* (1779-1852)
From Moore's A Series of Sacred Songs, Duetts and Trios (1816) in two 12-line stanzas, prefaced by a quotation: 'He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. – Ps. cxlvii. 3.' The text was as follows (Godley, 1907):
Oh, Thou! Who dry'st the mourners' tear, How dark this world would be, If, when deceiv'd and wounded here, We could not fly to Thee! The friends, who in our sunshine live, When winter comes, are...
O threefold God of tender unity. William (Bill) Wallace* (1933-).
Written by a New Zealand Methodist minister, Bill Wallace, for the 1988 Hymn Society of America's search for 'new hymns with a new vision of the living God'. It was the winning entry. In the author's words, 'the text attempts to hold together the intangible and incarnate dimensions of the Trinity while avoiding paternalistic concepts of power'. Typical of Wallace's reforming theology, in this hymn the Trinity, 'Parent, Spirit,...
O where are kings and empires now. Arthur Cleveland Coxe* (1818-1896).
The customary form of this hymn is that of four quatrains, selected from Coxe's longer poem, 'Chelsea', a tribute to the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, Chelsea, Massachusetts, where he was a divinity student. According to JJ, p. 267, it first appeared in the Churchman (1839). In ten 8-line stanzas, it was published in Coxe's Christian Ballads (1840). It is a confident poem in which the opening is...
O'er the gloomy hills of darkness. William Williams* (1717-1791).
From Williams's Gloria in Excelsis (Carmarthen, 1772), where it was Hymn XXXVII. A correspondent to the Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal of 1941 suggests that the diction and imagery may have been inspired by the Black Mountain range in Carmarthenshire which may be seen from Williams's home (Polack, 1958, p. 352).
The customary text is one of three (or sometimes four) stanzas, selected from the original seven. It was included in...
On Christmas night. English Traditional, ascribed to Luke Wadding (1628–1691).
Paul Westermeyer* notes that this is a '“Wexford carol” (though not the carol most often called the “The Wexford Carol”' (Westermeyer, 2010, p. 50). The text and the tune of this favorite carol have distinct backgrounds, though the exact origins of each are unclear. The first printed version of an earlier form of the text appears with the ascription, 'Another short Carroll for Christmas day' in A Smale Garland of...
Once in royal David's city. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
First published in Hymns for Little Children (1848) in six stanzas. Alexander wrote hymns for the articles of the Apostles' Creed: this one is on 'was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary'. It was printed in the Appendix (1868) to the First Edition of A&M, together with the tune by Henry John Gauntlett* entitled IRBY; since that time it has featured in the Christmas section of almost every hymn book. It has...
One who is all unfit to count. Narayan Vaman Tilak* (1861-1919), translated by Nicol MacNicol* (1870-1952).
Written in Marathi, and translated by MacNicol, who published it in a periodical, The Indian Interpreter, in 1919. It was subsequently published in J.C. Winslow, Narayan Vaman Tilak, the Christian Poet of Maharashtra (Calcutta, 1923). It was included in A Missionary Hymn Book (1922) and then in RCH, in both books to the tune WIGTOWN (or WIGTON) from the Scottish Psalter of 1635. It has...
Our Father, by whose name. F. Bland Tucker* (1895-1984).
Written in 1939 on the theme of the Christian home, and published in H40: it was written in a different metre (66.66.88.) for the Report of the Joint Commission on the Revision of the Hymnal, but modified to fit the tune RHOSYMEDRE, also called LOVELY (66.66.888). It then appeared in the Irish ICH4 (1960) and the Scottish CH3 (1973). It was included in MHfT (with the title 'The family') and thus in A&MNS. In the USA it is found in...
Our king went forth to Normandy. English, 15th-century, author unknown.
This is known as the 'Agincourt hymn'. It was written to celebrate the campaign of Henry V in France, culminating in the victory at Agincourt on St Crispin's Day (25 October) 1415. It had stanzas in English, beginning as above, and 'Burdens' or refrains in Latin, beginning 'Deo gracias, Anglia, redde pro victoria'. Burden I begins, and Burden II ends each stanza, as follows:
Deo gracias, Anglia, redde pro Victoria
Our king...
Praise ye Jehovah! Praise the Lord most holy. Margaret Cockburn-Campbell* (1808-1841).
Lady Campbell was a member of the Brethren, and this hymn, with others by her, was first published a year after her early death in James George Deck*'s Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1842, enlarged 1847). It had four stanzas:
Praise ye Jehovah! Praise the Lord most holy, Who cheers the contrite, girds with strength the weak; Praise him who will with glory crown the lowly, And with salvation beautify...
Put forth, O God, thy Spirit's might. Howard Chandler Robbins* (1876-1952).
First published in New Church Hymnal (New York, 1937), edited by Robbins and three others, H. Augustine Smith*, Edward Shippen Barnes*, and James Dalton Morrison. It was set there to the Scottish 'common tune' DUNDEE. It was then included in H40, to a tune called CHELSEA SQUARE, 'hummed by the author to Ray Francis Brown at the General Theological Seminary, Chelsea Square, New York City, 1941' (The Hymnal 1940...
Refreshed by gentle slumbers. JJohann Kaspar Lavater* (1741-1801), translated by Henrietta Joan Fry* (1799-1860).
We have not been able to discover the publication details of this hymn (the Editors would welcome any information). Although Henrietta Fry translated many hymns by Lavater, this one was not found in The Pastor's Legacy; or Devotional Fragments from the German of Lavater (Bristol and London, 1842: thanks to Lucy Saint-Smith, Society of Friends Library, London, for this...
Remember, O thou man. English traditional carol, 16th or 17th century.
This carol or hymn was set to music in Thomas Ravenscroft*'s Melismata (1611), where it was entitled 'A Christmas Carroll':
Remember, O thou man, O thou man, O thou man, Remember, O thou man, Thy time is spent: Remember, O thou man, How thou cam'st to me then, And I did what I can, Therefore repent.
Six stanzas were printed in The Oxford Book of Carols (1928), from which the above text is taken. Stanzas 2-6 began:
2....
Ride on, Jesu, all-victorious. William Williams* (1717-1791), translated by Gwilym Owen Williams* (1913-1990).
This hymn by William Williams Pantycelyn, 'Marchog Jesu, yn llwyddiannus', is part of a five-stanza hymn printed in Williams's Gloria in Excelsis (1772), beginning 'Mewn anialwch 'r wyf yn trigo'. The full text of the hymn is in Llyfr Emynau a Thonau y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd a Wesleaidd (1929) at nos. 420 (stanzas 4 and 5) and 421 (stanzas 1, 2 and 3).
This translation is of stanzas...
Savior, I follow on. Charles S. Robinson* (1829-1899).
This hymn of discipleship bears the inscription fom Isaiah 42: 16: 'And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them'(KJV). Written from the perspective of first person singular, the four stanzas are composed in 6.4.6.4.6.6.6.4 (or 10.10.12.10). The second...
Saviour, send a blessing to us. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
First published in four stanzas (not three, as is sometimes stated) in Kelly's Hymns on Various Passages from Scripture (Dublin, 1804):
Saviour, send a blessing to us, Send a blessing from above: All thy truth and mercy shew us, Be thou here, in pow'r and love, Grant thy presence, Be it ours thy grace to prove.
Art thou here? – then have we blessing; Art thou not? – we nothing have; All our good in thee possessing, For...
Saviour, who thy flock art feeding. William Augustus Muhlenberg* (1796-1877).
This prayer for the welfare of children was first published in The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church in the United States of America, known as the 'Prayer Book Collection' (1826). According to JJ, this was 'the most widely known of Dr Muhlenberg's hymns' (p. 775). In Britain it was printed in Lyra Americana (1865), with a title, 'He carrieth the...
Says Jesus, 'Come and gather round'. Leith Fisher* (1941-2009).
Leith Fisher began writing hymns while minister of the Old Parish Church at Falkirk (1979-90). This continued when he was appointed as minister of Wellington Church, Glasgow (1990-2006). During the latter period, he was writing commentaries on the synoptic gospels, based on his preaching, and this work sometimes emerged in the form of hymns. This hymn derives from the incidents recorded in, for example, Matthew 18: 1–5 (Jesus...
Shout the glad tidings, exultingly sing. William Augustus Muhlenberg* (1796-1877).
First published in the hymnal of the Episcopal Church in America (1826) entitled The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church in the United States of America, known as the 'Prayer Book Collection'. According to JJ, Muhlenberg said that it was written 'at the particular request of Bishop John Henry Hobart (1775-1830), who wanted something that would...
Sing a happy hallelujah. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931-2020).
Written in 1989 and given its first performance at the World Council of Churches Assembly in Canberra, Australia, in the same year, this hymn is dedicated to the writer's son Alistair, and is one of a number of hymns expressing Shirley Murray's infectious sense of delight and joy. As she says, 'despite all, I know God must have a sense of humour'.
It was first published in Murray's American collection, In Every Corner, Sing: The Hymns...
Somos uno en Cristo ('We are one in Christ Jesus'). Author unknown.
This anonymous Spanish-language scripture chorus (corito) focuses on Ephesians 4:4–6. It was undoubtedly transmitted via oral/aural tradition before being included in Celebremos su gloria (Dallas, 1992), a collection produced by an association of evangelical churches in Central America. Philip Blycker* (1939-2023), the music editor of the collection, arranged the music under his Spanish name Felipe Blycker J. Most collections...
Speak, O Lord, Thy servant heareth. Anna Sophia*, Countess of Hesse-Darmstadt (1638-1683), translated by George Alfred Taylor Rygh* (1860-1942).
The German original began 'Rede, liebster Jesu, rede'. It was printed in the Countess's Der treue Seelen-Freund Christus Jesus (Jena, 1658). The full text is available in Polack (1942, Revised 1958, p. 213). Rygh translated four stanzas of the German five, dated 1909, printed in the Lutheran Hymnary (Minneapolis, 1913) of the Norwegian Churches in...
Spirit of God, that moved of old. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
First published in Hymns for Public Worship (1852, 1855), edited by Thomas Vincent Fosbery* for the SPCK (it is possible that Fosbery, born in Ireland, had a particular interest in Irish authors: cf. Emma Toke*). It had four stanzas. Taylor (1989, p. 172) notes that it was then printed in Alexander's Hymns Descriptive and Devotional (1858), with an additional stanza (stanza 3 in the following text; this stanza has not been...
See 'I bind unto myself today'*
Sunday's palms are Wednesday's ashes. Rae E. Whitney* (1927- ).
This was published initially in the first of four collections of hymns, With Joy Our Spirits Sing: The Hymns of Rae E. Whitney (Pittsburgh, 1995). It begins:
Sunday's palms are Wednesday's ashesas another Lent begins;thus we kneel before our Makerin contrition for our sins.
We have marred baptismal pledges, in rebellion gone astray; now, returning, seek forgiveness; grant us pardon, God, this day!
(Words © 1991 Selah Publishing...
Sunset to sunrise changes now. Clement of Alexandria* (ca. 150- ca. 215/220), translated by Howard Chandler Robbins* (1876-1952).
This is described in The H40 Companion (p. 61)as 'a paraphrase and expansion' of a passage in Clement's Exhortation to the Greeks, or the Protreptikos. The original occurs in Chapter XI:
The universe has become sleepless light, and the setting has turned into a rising. For He who rides over the universe, 'the sun of righteousness', visits mankind impartially,...
That boy-child of Mary. Tom Colvin* (1925-2000).
Written in Malawi to a traditional dance tune. The theme of naming reflects the fact that in Africa generally the name given is carefully chosen to express the hopes the family has for the child or to record the events associated with his/her birth. Here, through the naming of Jesus and the circumstances of his birth, the meaning of the Incarnation is simply and tellingly expressed. The song is shared between a soloist and a wider group.
Douglas...
The cross, the cross, O that's my gain. Clare Taylor* (d. 1778).
This hymn is dated 1742 in Moravian books in Britain. In that year the original of the present hymn was published, with no author's name, in A Collection of Hymns, With several translations From the hymn-book of the Moravian Brethren. It was a long hymn of 15 stanzas, beginning:
The Cross, the Cross, O that's my Gain!Because on that, the Lamb was slain;'Twas there my Lord was crucify'd;'Twas there the Saviour for me...
The great love of God. Daniel Thambyrajah Niles* (1908-1970).
Published in the EACC Hymnal (1963), with the note 'the Thai original is a chorus, which here is the first verse'. That first verse was written by Charoen Vijaya, of Bangkok, and set to music by him to a tune that he called THAILAND. Niles translated the chorus and added three stanzas to make what has become his best known hymn outside East Asia. He entitled it 'The Love of God in Jesus'. In Australia it was in WOV (1977) and...
The happy Christmas comes once more. Nicolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig*, translated by Charles Porterfield Krauth* (1823-1883).
This Christmas hymn,'Det kimer nu til Julefest', is from Grundtvig's Nyeste Skilderie af Kjøbenhagen (1817). It was translated by Krauth for the Lutheran Church Book (Philadelphia, 1867), and almost immediately included in Christ in Song, edited by his fellow Lutheran Philip Schaff* (New York, 1869). It has become Krauth's best known work in hymnals.
It had nine...
The head that once was crowned with thorns. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
First published in the Fifth Edition of Kelly's Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (Dublin, 1820). It is based on Hebrews 2:10. It is particularly associated with Ascension-tide.
It is probable that Kelly took his first line, and the inspiration for his theme, from a poem by John Bunyan*, 'One Thing is Needful, or Serious Meditations upon the Four Last Things, Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell'. This poem began:
The head...
The holly and the ivy. Traditional English carol, collected and arranged by Cecil Sharp* (1859-1924). This is a carol rather than a hymn, but its appearance in a number of hymnbooks (CP, AHB, the English Hymnal Service Book, ICH5 (2000), and others) justifies its inclusion. Its date is unknown, but certainly before the early 18th century, and it may be medieval (though it is not in Richard Leighton Greene's The Early English Carols). The most common form in which it is found in hymn books is...
The King shall come when morning dawns. Greek, translated by John Brownlie* (1857-1925).
The author of the Greek text of this hymn is unknown (Stulken 1981, p. 133). The English text was from Brownlie's Hymns from the East, Being Centos and Suggestions from the Service Books of the Holy Eastern Church (Paisley, 1907). It is possible that it was by Brownlie himself, using a 'suggestion': The Companion to LSB (2019) describes it as 'an original text by Brownlie' (Volume 1, p. 46, note to Hymn...
The Lord is risen indeed. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
This hymn was first published in Kelly's Collection of Psalms and Hymns (Dublin, 1802). It began with a direct quotation: it was headed 'The Lord is risen indeed. Luke xxiv.34.'. The text in Kelly's Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (1820) was as follows:
'The Lord is ris'n indeed,' And are the tidings true? Yes, they beheld the Saviour bleed, And saw him living too.
'The Lord is ris'n indeed,' Then...
The one thing needful, that good part. Benjamin Ingham* (1712-1772).
This unusual hymn was published in The Gospel Magazine (July 1768), and was included in A Collection of Hymns sung in the Countess of Huntingdon's Chapels, Bath (Bristol, ca. 1774). It is based on the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10: 38-42, in which Martha was 'cumbered about much serving', but 'one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.' It had six stanzas:
The one...
The Saviour's precious blood. Tai Jun Park* (1900-1986), translated by William Scott and Yung Oon Kim.
This hymn, 'Yu Yesu hul lin pi', was written in May 1949. It was written for a Korean student, who was attending an international youth rally in India and who wanted a Korean hymn to take with him. It was then printed in Cantate Domino (1951), with the English translation by Dr Scott and Miss Kim, and with further translations in French and German. The first book in England to print it was...
The Virgin Mary had a baby boy. West Indian carol.
This carol, sometimes called a spiritual, reflects one of the varied experiences and cultures encountered by enslaved Africans when they came to the Americas. Since it does not find its origins in the continental United States, 'The Virgin Mary' does not appear in the historical collections of African American spirituals* such as the monumental Slave Songs of the United States* (New York: 1867), the first extensive collection of African...
They are all gone into the world of light. Henry Vaughan* (1622-1695).
From Silex Scintillans: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, the second Edition, in two Books; by Henry Vaughan, Silurist (1655). The word 'Silurist' refers to the Silures, the ancient inhabitants of South Wales, where Vaughan lived. The second part of this book, with 'The Authors Preface To the following Hymns', was dated 30 September 1654. It contains a tribute to 'the blessed man, Mr George Herbert, whose holy life and...
Thou, whose purpose is to kindle. D. Elton Trueblood* (1900-1994).
This hymn is also known by its title, 'Baptism by Fire'. In the Preface to The Incendiary Fellowship, dated Labor Day, 1966, Trueblood comments that it was written 'because of the conviction that the message of this book may be expressed more succinctly in poetry than in prose.' He writes of his admiration for the hymn 'God of grace and God of glory'* by Harry Emerson Fosdick*, and of 'the Biblical basis for his own hymn: ...
Thy holy wings, O Savior. Lina Sandell-Berg* (1832-1903), translated by Ernest E. Ryden* and Gracia Grindal* (1943- ).
Like Sandell Berg's beloved Swedish hymn, 'Children of the Heavenly Father'*, this hymn (sometimes 'Thy holy wings, dear Savior') is also sung to a Swedish folk song, in this case, BRED DINA VIDA VINGAR. The relationship between this text and tune extends back to 1889 in a hymnal compiled in part by Sandell-Berg, Sionstoner ('Melodies of Zion'). See Swedish hymnody*. The text...
'Tis the gift to be simple. Shaker spiritual, 19th century, probably by Joseph Brackett, Jr. (1797-1882).
This is a Shaker song, described by them as a 'Gift Song from Mother's work' (referring to Ann Lee, known as 'Mother Ann'. See 'Shaker hymnody'*). David Holbrook*, who printed it in the Cambridge Hymnal* (1967), dated it from between 1837 and 1847. The Hymnal 1982 Companion agreed, noting that this was 'a period of renewed spiritual dedication' among the Shakers. Various theories are...
Up to those bright and gladsome hills. Henry Vaughan* (1622-1695).
From Silex Scintillans: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (1650). The first two words of this title mean 'sparkling flint'. It was headed 'Psalm 121'. It is a simple paraphrase of the Psalm by one who loved the hills of South Wales, where he lived. The 1650 text was as follows:
Up to those bright, and gladsome hils, Whence flowes my weal and mirth, I look, and sigh for him, who fils, (Unseen,) both heaven, and earth.
He...
We are living, we are dwelling. Arthur Cleveland Coxe* (1818-1896).
First published in the Second Edition of Coxe's Athanasion (Coxe's word 'Athanasius-ism' refers to St Athanasius of Alexandria, d. 373, a doughty opponent of Arianism). It was originally (1840) 'an ode pronounced before the Associate Alumni of Washington College, in Christ Church, Hartford, on the day before Commencement, 1840.' The Second Edition (New York, 1842) had 'notes and corrections' together with 'Several Poems, now...
We are marching in the light of God. South African Freedom song, translated by Anders Nyberg* (1955- ).
In 1978 Nyberg led a Swedish worship group called 'Fjedur' to South Africa, then under an apartheid regime. After the return to Sweden, ca. 1980, 'Fjedur' published the freedom songs of the black churches (see South African freedom songs*). These were then edited by Nyberg, who provided English translations, and published with the title Freedom is Coming (Church of Sweden Mission, 1984)....
We praise thy name, all-holy Lord. Ebenezer Josiah Newell* (1853-1916).
This hymn on Saint David (ca. 500- ca. 589) was included in EH and NEH, SofPE, and A&MR. The three stanzas in EH and subsequent books were selected from a hymn in seven stanzas on the Welsh saints, published in The Northern Churchman and St David's Weekly (29 February 1896, i.e. just before Saint David's day, 1 March). There is reference to David's noble birth (he was the son of Ceredig ap Cunedda, king of Ceredigion)...
We would see Jesus, for the shadows lengthen. Anna Bartlett Warner* (1827-1915).
This hymn appeared in Anna Warner's novel, Dollars and Cents (New York, 1852) (JJ, p. 1725). The novel was republished in Britain as Speculation; or the Glen-Luna family (London: Routledge, 1853), with the author's name as 'Amy Lothrop' (Anna Warner's pseudonym).
A previous entry in JJ, p. 1595, had said that the hymn was 'usually atributed to Ellen Ellis, a contributor to the Golden Grain Series' (a...
What are these in bright array. James Montgomery* (1771-1854).
From Montgomery's collection entitled Greenland, and Other Poems (1819), headed 'Saints in Heaven'. In his Christian Psalmist (Glasgow, 1825), it was entitled 'The song of the hundred and forty and four thousand', referring to Revelation 7: 4: 'And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.'
What are these in bright array,...
What service shall we render thee. Ernest James Dodgshun* (1876-1944)
Written shortly before the outbreak of World War I for inclusion on a 'Peace Hymn Sheet', and printed in a Supplement (1920) to the 1909 Fellowship Hymn Book. It was then included in RCH and MHB . It is a fine expression of Dodgshun's Quaker pacifism, turning the normal demands of the love of one's own country ('O Fatherland we love') into peaceful channels:
The service of the commonwealth Is not in arms alone; A nobler...
When Christmas morn is dawning. Abel Burckhardt (1805–1882); formerly attributed to Betty Ehrenborg-Posse (1818–1880); translated by. Joel L. Lundeen (1918–1990).
This Swedish Christmas children's hymn captures the moment of Jesus' birth when the shepherds followed the directions of the angel, heard the angel hosts singing, 'Glory to God', and 'found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger' (Luke 2: 16, NIV).
Nothing is known of the author of the hymn text. The hymn first...
While Thee I seek, protecting Power. Helen Maria Williams* (1759-1827).
This was from Williams's Poems (1786), in which it was entitled 'Hymn':
While thee I seek, protecting Power! Be my vain wishes still'd; And may this consecrated hour With better hopes be fill'd. Thy love the powers of thought bestow'd, To thee my thoughts would soar; Thy mercy o'er my life has flow'd- That mercy I adore. In each event of life, how clear, Thy ruling hand I see; Each blessing to my soul more dear, Because...
Why should cross and trial grieve me. Paul Gerhardt* (1607-1676), translated by John Kelly* (1834-1890).
This is a translation of part of Gerhardt's 'Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen'*, first published in Johann Crüger* and Christoph Runge*'s D.M. Luthers und andere vornehmen geistrichen und gelehrten Männer geistlicher Lieder und Psalmen (Berlin, 1653) ('the Crüger-Runge Gesangbuch'); it was then published in the 1656 edition of Crüger's Praxis Pietatis Melica. Kelly's translation was made...