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Hymn Almanac May

Today in 1867 – Frederick Blom Born

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Note: My story below of Fred Blom’s life is taken from numerous sources. However, it’s also been challenged by some. As happens occasionally, there are conflicting details of how a hymn came to be written. Often, both contain factual elements, but it may not be easy to combine the two.

Don Hustad, in his Dictionary-Handbook to Hymns for the Living Church, has two divergent accounts about Blom and his song, and says he’s been unable to reconcile them. The two notes below by Mats Ahlgren, a reader of my blog, have some details I haven’t seen elsewhere. I encourage you to check them out as well.

Fred Blom

We must not set pastors on a pedestal as some kind of plaster saints who have achieved near perfection. Frederick Arvid Blom certainly had not. Born in Sweden, he immigrated to America in the 1890s and began serving as an officer in the Salvation Army in the city of Chicago. Later, he pastored a Mission Covenant Church. But his life took a radical downward turn around 1915.

Blom became spiritually backslidden and resigned from the ministry. He says, “I became embittered with myself, [and] the world.” He drifted into a life of drunkenness and sin, and eventually was involved in illegal activities. When he was caught, he was convicted and sent to prison. But the Lord kept His hand on His wayward child. There, surrounded by locked gates and iron bars, he cried out to God, and sought forgiveness for his sins.

With his sentence fully served, Blom was released. When the prison gates clanged shut behind him, he felt the delivering power of God in a special way. It brought to his mind some gates of another kind. He rejoiced that not only was he no longer locked away as a prisoner, but he was assured of a welcome one day at the pearly gates of the heavenly city. With that thought in mind Frederick Blom wrote a hymn he called Because of the Blood. We know it by the opening phrase of the chorus.

Love divine, so great and wondrous,
Deep and mighty, pure, sublime!
Coming from the heart of Jesus,
Just the same through tests of time.

He the pearly gates will open,
So that I may enter in;
For He purchased my redemption
And forgave me all my sin.

Like a dove when hunted, frightened,
As a wounded fawn was I;
Brokenhearted, yet He healed me,
He will heed the sinner’s cry.

(2) Today in 1922 – Doris Akers Born

One of ten children, Doris Mae Akers was a gifted composer. Her family moved to Missouri when Doris was 5 years old. There as a musical prodigy and a self-taught musician, Doe (as she was known to her family) wrote her first gospel song at the age of 10. From her teen years, Doris Akers sang and played with various musical groups. She wrote over 300 gospel songs.

Akers received many awards, including back-to-back “Gospel Music Composer of the Year” in both 1960 and 1961. In 1992, she was honoured by the Smithsonian Institution as “the foremost black gospel songwriter in the United States.”  Doris Akers died in 1995. She was posthumously inducted to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Among many songs she wrote, is the popular 1963 gospel song There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit. It came to her one Sunday morning as she was about to lead the choir she directed into a church service. They had a brief time of prayer, but Doris Akers did not feel they had prayed enough. They began to pray again, and the fervour and blessing of that prayer meeting was such that nobody wanted to leave. Finally, Miss Akers told them, “We have to go…But there is such a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place.” Later she translated those words into a song.

There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place,
And I know that it’s the Spirit of the Lord.
There are sweet expressions on each face,
And I know they feel the presence of the Lord.

Today in 1726 – Nicholas Brady Died

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Nicholas Brady was born in Ireland. He attended Christ Church, Oxford, and Trinity College, and became an Anglican clergyman. He served in Ireland and later in London. As well as pastoring a church in the city, Brady became chaplain to King William II and Queen Anne. He is best known in hymn history for his collaboration with Nahum Tate (who gave us the carol While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night). The two men produced A New Version of the Psalms of David in 1696. This fresh paraphrase of the psalms went through several editions.

Quaint though the 300-year-old poetry may sound to our ears, it was a vast improvement over what came before. To give you some idea of their work, here is the beginning of Psalm 139 and what Brady and Tate did with it.

O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. (Ps. 139:1-6, KJV)

Thou, Lord, by strictest search hast known
My rising up and lying down;
My secret thoughts are known to Thee,
Known long before conceived by me.

Thine eye my bed and path surveys,
My public haunts and private ways,
Thou know’st what ’tis my lips would vent,
My yet unuttered word’s intent.

Surrounded by Thy power I stand,
On every side I find Thy hand;
O skill, for human reach too high!
Too dazzling bright for mortal eye!

(2) Today in 1738 – Charles Wesley Converted

British hymn writer Charles Wesley produced around 6,500 hymns. He has been called the poet laureate of Methodism. Five years younger than his famous brother John, he accompanied the latter in his evangelistic work. But after 1756 he did little travelling, preferring a more localized ministry that permitted him to care for his wife and family. (For more about Charles Wesley, see Today in 1707.)

It is impossible to treat many of Wesley’s great hymns in a short post, but here are a couple. First, there is O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing, written in 1739 to commemorate the first anniversary of Charles Wesley’s conversion. A stanza of the hymn no longer used shows that this was first meant as a personal testimony:

On this glad day the glorious Sun
Of Righteousness arose;
On my benighted soul He shone
And filled it with repose.

Think of how Wesley’s prayer has been answered as his hymns have “spread through all the earth abroad” the honours of the Lord’s name!

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honours of Thy name.

Another great hymn by Charles Wesley is the dramatic Arise, My Soul, Arise.

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead:
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

(3) Today in 1837 – When This Passing World Is Done published

The hymn was one of several written by the great Scottish preacher and evangelist Robert Murray McCheyne (whose songs were published posthumously). Educated at Edinburgh University, McCheyne was ordained as the minister of St. Peter’s Established Church in Dundee, Scotland. In 1839, he went to Palestine to consider what might be done to establish an evangelistic ministry among the Jews. He died at the age of 30.

I Once Was a Stranger (Jehovah Tsidkenu) was one of Robert McCheyne’s hymns, as was When This Passing World Is Done.

When this passing world is done,
When has sunk yon glaring sun,
When we stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o’er life’s finished story,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then—how much I owe.

When I stand before the throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own,
When I see Thee as Thou art,
Love Thee with unsinning heart,
Then Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then—how much I owe.

Today in 1856 – Mary Brown Born

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Mary Haughton Brown was born in Canada. She later taught school in Connecticut for many years, as well as working in the Sunday School. She died in the influenza pandemic of 1918. She has given us the opening stanza of one gospel song. (Charles Edward Prior added two more.) Originally called Go, Stand and Speak (after the words of Acts 5:20), we know it now as I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go.

Carrie Esther Parker Rounsefell wrote the tune. A tiny woman who lived in Boston, she travelled around in evangelistic work, accompanying her singing on a zither or autoharp. One day she was given the words of this song, and she immediately improvised the tune that is still used.

If you check the various rendings of the song on YouTube, you will see that words and tune are almost always claimed as a “Mormon hymn,” but it is nothing of the kind. Mr. Prior was a Baptist, and the song has long been found in Christian hymnals.

It may not be on the mountain’s height, or over the stormy sea;
It may not be at the battle’s front my Lord will have need of me;
But if by a still, small voice He calls to paths I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in Yours,
I’ll go where You want me to go.

I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord,
O’er mountain, or plain, or sea;
I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord,
I’ll be what You want me to be.

Perhaps today there are loving words which Jesus would have me speak;
There may be now, in the paths of sin, some wand’rer whom I should seek.
O Saviour, if You will be my Guide, though dark and rugged the way,
My voice shall echo the message sweet,
I’ll say what You want me to say.

(2) Today in 1895 – Albert Malotte Born

Albert Hay Malotte was an American composer, pianist, organist and educator. He served in the Second World War, was an amateur pilot, and even boxed with Jack Dempsey. Malotte’s musical career was focused mainly in Hollywood, where he produced a variety of music. He composed a number of film scores, as well as uncredited music for cartoons produced by the Disney Studios. A Presbyterian layman, he also wrote sacred music, including settings for the Beatitudes and the Twenty-third Psalm and a produced number of cantatas.

Albert Hay Malotte is best known for his setting of The Lord’s Prayer. The song has been widely used at weddings and other special occasions, and has been recorded by many artists. It also appears in a number of hymnals. It was written in the 1930s especially for the great baritone John Charles Thomas. Thomas died in 1960, but if you want to hear the original version of the prayer I encourage you to order the CD John Charles Thomas–Prima Voce.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil;
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power,
And the glory forever. Amen.

Today in 1864 – Cesar Malan Died

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Henri Abraham Cesar Malan was a Swiss pastor, evangelist and ardent soul-winner. He had a significant role to play in the conversion and spiritual development of Charlotte Elliot, author of the hymn Just As I Am. (For the story behind this hymn, see the second item under Today in 1858.) Malan had many gifts and skills in addition to those mentioned. He was an artist, author, mechanic, carpenter, blacksmith and printer, and he wrote more than a thousand hymns and hymn tunes.

Of his many songs, Malan wrote one with the intriguing title It Is Not Death to Die. This seeming contradiction is also found in the words of the Lord Jesus:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn. 11:25-26)

The empty tomb of Jesus proclaims to the world that He has conquered death. Through faith in Him, we will do the same.  To die as a Christian is not the end but the beginning. Death is merely a doorway to something greater that we can possibly imagine. Contemporary musician Bob Kauflin has produced a slightly modified version of Malan’s hymn. It says:

It is not death to die,
To leave this weary road
And join the saints who dwell on high,
Who’ve found their home with God.
It is not death to close
The eyes long dimmed by tears,
And wake in joy before Your throne,
Delivered from our fears

O Jesus, conquering the grave,
Your precious blood has power to save.
Those who trust in You
Will in Your mercy find
That it is not death to die.

It is not death to fling
Aside this earthly dust,
And rise with strong and noble wing
To live among the just.
It is not death to hear
The key unlock the door
That sets us free from mortal years
To praise You evermore.

candle

(2) Today in 1964 – Ina Ogdon Died

Ina Mae Duley attended college in Illinois and taught school in that state for a number of years. She wrote her first hymn in 1892 and began a long collaboration with hymn writer Charles Gabriel. In 1896, Ina married James Ogdon and the couple moved to Toledo, Ohio a few years later.

Ogdon’s most familiar song text is Brighten the Corner Where You Are (for which Charles Gabriel wrote the tune). Early in her life she had hoped to become a speaker on the Chautauqua circuit. However, her father was severely injured in an automobile accident and she was compelled to abandon the idea and care for him at home. She wrote this song to show how the Lord can used us in many different circumstances.

Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar,
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are.

Brighten the corner where you are!
Brighten the corner where you are!
Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar;
Brighten the corner where you are!

Brighten the Corner was written around 1912 or 1913. Here is the Criterion Quartet singing the song, on a recording made almost a century ago.

Today in 1840 – Lucy Whitmore Died

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Though born into a titled family, English author Lucy Elizabeth Georgiana Whitmore was a committed Christian who recognized her social status was not what gave her acceptance with God. In 1824, she published Family Prayers for Every Day in the Week. The book contained 14 hymns she had written. Among them was Father, Again in Jesus’ Name We Meet, expressing a deep humility before the Lord.

Father, again in Jesus’ name we meet,
And bow in penitence beneath Your feet;
Again to You our feeble voices raise,
To sue for mercy, and to sing Your praise.

O we would bless You for Your ceaseless care,
And all Your works from day to day declare;
Is not our life with hourly mercies crowned?
Does not Your arm encircle us around?

Alas, unworthy of Your boundless love,
Too oft with careless feet from You we rove;
But now, encouraged by Your voice, we come,
Returning sinners to a Father’s home.

open hands

(2) Today in 1847 – Charles Luther Born

Charles Caroll Luther was an American journalist and lay evangelist. Later, he was ordained as a Baptist clergyman. Then, other than a three-year pastorate in Connecticut, he served many more years as an evangelist. He wrote about 25 hymns, but only one is in common use today.

One day in 1877, Luther heard about a man who was dying after only being a Christian for one month. The fellow was troubled. But not at the prospect of death. What bothered him most was the wasted years of his life, and the little he’d been able to accomplish for the Lord. “I’m not afraid to die,” he said. “Jesus saves me now. But must I go empty handed?” Charles Luther’s heart was stirred by the man’s penetrating question and he wrote a gospel song about it. (The tune was composed by George Stebbins. to learn more about him, see the second item under Today in 1773.)

“Must I go, and empty handed,”
Thus my dear Redeemer meet?
Not one day of service give Him,
Lay no trophy at His feet?

“Must I go, and empty handed?”
Must I meet my Saviour so?
Not one soul with which to greet Him,
Must I empty handed go?

O the years in sinning wasted,
Could I but recall them now,
I would give them to my Saviour,
To His will I’d gladly bow.

Today in 1850 – Arthur Mann Born

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Arthur Henry Mann was a graduate of Oxford University. He became a chorister and assistant organist in several churches. In addition to composing a number of hymn tunes, he was the music editor for The Church of England Hymnal of 1894. Arthur Mann wrote the tune Angel’s Story which is commonly used for the hymn O Jesus, I Have Promised. (For more about this hymn, see the second item under Today in 1685.)

O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend;
I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my Guide.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised to all who follow Thee
That where Thou art in glory there shall Thy servant be.
And Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
O give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend.

(2) Today in 1851 – John Warner Born

John Allan Warner was an English clergyman who served as pastor of St. Paul’s, Southampton, and other congregations. He wrote the hymn Brothers, Joining Hand to Hand.

Brothers, joining hand to hand,
In one bond united,
Pressing onward to that land
Where all wrongs are righted:
Let your words and actions be
Worthy your vocation;
Chosen of the Lord, and free,
Heirs of Christ’s salvation.

Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life,
Who hath gone before you
Through the turmoil and the strife,
Holds His banner o’er you;
All who see the sacred sign
Press towards heav’ns portal,
Fired by hope that is divine,
Love that is immortal.

 (3) George Atkins (Data Discovered)

George Atkins was a Methodist pastor who served in Ohio and Tennessee. He died in 1827. Other than that, little is known of him. (Data recently found indicates Atkins was born in England, Apr. 16, 1793. He died in America, Aug. 29, 1827.) He has given us one hymn, Brethren We Have Met to Worship, which is still in use. The tune, Holy Manna, was composed by William Moore, a contemporary of Atkins.

The allusion in the final stanza of the hymn actually relates to a parable Jesus told. It seems to refer to the coming Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), when the church in glory will worship and celebrate with Christ. But the imagery in the parable suggests a circumstance that is stunning–the glorified Christ, taking upon Himself once again the role of a servant. Clearly, the passage (Lk. 12:35-40) has to do with Christ’s return, and the pertinent verse reads:

Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them (vs. 37).

Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.

Brethren, see poor sinners round you slumbering on the brink of woe;
Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers, and our children sinking down;
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.

Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses’ sister aided him;
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found;
Sisters, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around.

Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new.
Then He’ll call us home to heaven, at His table we’ll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.

Today in 1872 – Thomas Hastings Died

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The son of a doctor, American hymn writer Thomas Hastings grew up on a farm and had to walk 6 miles to school. He went on to train choirs, and wrote almost a thousand hymn tunes and 600 hymn texts.

Hastings wrote a number of tunes we use with our hymns: Hastings, used with Jesus, Wondrous Saviour; Toplady, to which Rock of Ages is sung; Retreat, for From Every Stormy Wind; and Ortonville used with Samuel Stennett’s Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned.

He also altered the text of Thomas Moore’s hymn Come, Ye Disconsolate, to give us the version we sing today. And Hastings wrote the words of Hail to the Brightness of Zion’s Glad Morning. Though he may have given it a different theological spin, this hymn perfectly fits the Bible’s description of the coming Millennial Kingdom and Christ’s earthly reign (cf. Isa. 2;1-4; 35:1-10).

Hail to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning!
Joy to the lands that in darkness have lain!
Hushed be the accents of sorrow and mourning;
Zion in triumph begins her mild reign.

Hail to the brightness of Zion’s glad morning!
Long by the prophets of Israel foretold!
Hail to the millions from bondage returning!
Gentiles and Jews the blest vision behold.

Lo, in the desert rich flowers are springing,
Streams ever copious are gliding along;
Loud from the mountain tops echoes are ringing,
Wastes rise in verdure, and mingle in song.

See, from all lands, from the isles of the ocean,
Praise to the Saviour ascending on high;
Fallen the engines of war and commotion;
Shouts of salvation are rending the sky.

(2) Today in 1958 – Robert McCutchan Died

Robert Guy McCutchan was an esteemed hymn historian, author of Our Hymnody–A Manual of the Methodist Hymnal (published in 1937). He also adapted and harmonized the tune Campmeeting, which is sometimes used with James Montgomery’s hymn, Prayer Is the Soul’s Sincere Desire. You can hear the tune on the Cyber Hymnal

For the Lord’s Supper, I encourage you to try the tune with Cowper’s There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood, adding the refrain. (See below.) There’s a bit more about Robert McCutchan in the third item under Today in 1827, and more about William Cowper in the second item under Today in 1792.

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

I do believe, I will believe
That Jesus died for me!
That on the cross He shed His blood
From sin to set me free.

There is a Fountain

Today in 1752 – Timothy Dwight Born

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Timothy Dwight began reading the Scriptures at the age of four. In adulthood, he was an ordained Congregational clergyman and became an educator and academic. He was the grandson of pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards, and a friend of George Washington. He served as a chaplain in the Connecticut Continental Brigade. When he was 22, Dwight published an epic poem (10,000 lines!) called The Conquest of Canaan, which was a strange mixture of biblical history and that of the contemporary New England of his day.

In 1795, Timothy Dwight became president of Yale University (from which he had graduated at the age of 13!). He also helped found Andover Theological Seminary. We know him in hymnody chiefly for one hymn, I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord.

I love Thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of Thine abode,
The church our blessed Redeemer saved
With His own precious blood.

Beyond my highest joy
I prize her heavenly ways,
Her sweet communion, solemn vows,
Her hymns of love and praise.

(2) Today in 1855 – Thomas Kelly Died

Irishman Thomas Kelly was the son of a judge. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was ordained as an Anglican clergyman in 1792.  He was a strong evangelical preacher, a brilliant man of exceptional learning, but humble and gracious in spirit. He was greatly beloved by the poor in the community because of his kindness and generosity toward them.

Thomas Kelly wrote many hymns. (The Cyber Hymnal lists 128.) For a bit more about the man and his hymns, see Today in 1769. Included in these songs, and still in common use are:

Hark, Ten Thousand Harps and Voices
Look, Ye Saints, the Sight Is Glorious
Praise the Saviour, Ye Who Know Him
The Head that Once Was Crowned with Thorns

From 1809 comes the triumphant second coming hymn, Look, Ye Saints, the Sight Is Glorious. It was originally called The Second Advent, and is based on Rev. 11:15,

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

A number of tunes have been used with Kelly’s song. Coronae, by William Monk, is most familiar to me. Other books use Regent Square or Cwm Rhondda (the latter is used in the video link below).

Look, ye saints! the sight is glorious:
See the Man of Sorrows now;
From the fight returned victorious,
Every knee to Him shall bow;
Crown Him, crown Him,
Crown Him, crown Him,
Crowns become the Victor’s brow,
Crowns become the Victor’s brow.

Sinners in derision scorned Him,
Mocking thus the Saviour’s claim;
Saints and angels crowd around Him,
Own His title, praise His name;
Crown Him, crown Him,
Crown Him, crown Him,
Spread abroad the Victor’s fame,
Spread abroad the Victor’s fame.

Today in 1839 – William Mackay Born

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There are many inspiring stories connected with the writing of our hymns. But it would be difficult to find a more unusual one than what happened to William Mackay.

When, at the age of seventeen, he left his humble Scottish home to attend college, his godly mother gave him a Bible in which she wrote his name and a verse of Scripture. Away from home, he began well. But as time went by he drifted further and further from the way he had been raised. He began drinking heavily. At a low point, to satisfy his thirst for whiskey, he carelessly pawned the Bible his mother had given him.

Many years went by. Eventually, MacKay completed medical training and took up his work in a city hospital. There one day the Lord met him in a special way. I imagine it started out like any other day, doing rounds, writing reports. But in one room he had an encounter that changed everything. It was a sad case. The patient was nearing the end. No hope for him. “Bring me my book!” he cried. “I need my book!” And the words seemed to echo in the flinty soul of Dr. MacKay.

Awhile later, he was told the fellow had died. And the doctor went back to the room, curious to find out what “book” had been so precious that holding it once more had been a dying man’s greatest desire. Soon his search uncovered a Bible. But not just any Bible. There inside the front cover, in his mother’s hand, was his own name, William Paton MacKay. It had been many years since he had seen it, but there could be no mistake. Someone had reclaimed the Bible from that pawn shop, and it had become a priceless treasure to a dying man.

MacKay went to his office and closed the door. He opened the Bible, slowly turning the worn and weathered pages.  Many contained specially marked verses his mother hoped he would read. He was alone in that room for many hours. But when he emerged the long night of sin had been blasted away by the life-changing light of heaven. With a newly tender heart, and a desire to reclaim wasted years, he resigned his place at the hospital. After training he went on to serve the Lord as a pastor. It is W. P. MacKay who wrote the hymn Revive Us Again.

We praise Thee, O God!
For the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus who died,
And is now gone above.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.

We praise Thee, O God!
For Thy Spirit of light,
Who hath shown us our Saviour,
And scattered our night.

pipe organ

(2) Today in 1842 – Arthur Sullivan Born

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan is known to most of the world as the partner of William Gilbert, the team that produced a series of immensely popular comic operettas, such as H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Mikado. Sullivan had a sense of humour, but he also had a serious side. He is recognized today as one of the greatest church musicians of the Victorian era.

Sullivan gave us a number of hymn tunes still in common use: St. Gertrude (for Onward Christian Soldiers), St. Kevin (for Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain), Hanford (for My God, My Father, While I Stray, and for Jesus, My Saviour, Look on Me), and Samuel (for Hushed Was the Evening Hymn). Sir Arthur also gave us the stirring music for The Lost Chord.

Is The Lost Chord a hymn? No, not exactly (though both Adelaide Proctor, who wrote the words, and Sullivan, who composed the tune, contributed to our hymnody). And it does touch on biblical themes. The song speaks to the unique power of music to inspire and uplift the soul. (Something God knew, because He created it.) The Bible says “He has put eternity in [our] hearts” (Ecc. 3:11, NKJV), and I personally believe music will be a universal language of heaven.

The Lost Chord deals with the elusiveness of those ephemeral moments when music blesses us beyond words, times almost impossible to recover or duplicate. Yet there is an expression of hope in the soaring climax of Adelaide Proctor’s lyric that such sublime experiences await the people of God in heaven. Sir Arthur Sullivan must have had similar thoughts about his music. He wrote it while sitting at the deathbed of his brother Fred. In 1888, Sir Arthur’s tune became one of the earliest to be recorded–a recording that can still be heard on YouTube.

For your interest, I have provided links to two beautiful renditions of this song. One is strictly instrumental, by an excellent concert band.

The other version of the song is by British tenor Webster Booth. Of the many famous singers who have attempted to do justice to this piece (including Enrico Caruso and John McCormack), I believe Booth’s version is one of the best. The singing is subdued but suggests intense emotion, expressed with impeccable diction. Here, from 1939, is Webster Booth singing The Lost Chord.

(3) Today in 1910 – Lister Derricks Born

Lister Cleavant Derricks was a Baptist clergyman who served in churches in Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Washington DC, not only as pastor, but as choir director. He also wrote more than 300 gospel songs, most published by Stamps-Baxter during the Depression. Mr. Derricks died in 1977. He was inducted posthumously into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Several of his songs became gospel quartet standards, including We’ll Soon Be Done with Troubles and Trials, and Just a Little Talk with Jesus.

In the 1930’s he was ministering in a small, impoverished black church. They badly needed new hymn books, but had no money to purchase them. Several urged Pastor Derricks to see if he could sell some of his songs to a publisher in exchange for some hymnals. And that is how the church got 50 new hymn books, and the world got Just a Little Talk with Jesus.

I once was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in.
And then a little light from heaven filled my soul.
It bathed my heart in love, and wrote my name above,
And just a little talk with Jesus made me whole.

Today in 1671 – Erdmann Neumeister Born

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The song Christ Receiveth Sinful Men sounds very much like the style of gospel songs written in the nineteenth century. It is a hymn of invitation, similar to Have You Any Room for Jesus? or Only Trust Him. But it was published more than a century earlier, in 1718. (For a bit about Emma Bevan, who translated it from German into English, see Today in 1827.)

Neumeister, the author of the original German hymn, was born in Hamburg, Germany. He became a pastor in 1698, and soon was known as an eloquent preacher and a defender of conservative Lutheranism. He wrote about 650 hymns, and is recognized as the originator of the church cantata. Pastor Neumeister wrote Christ Receiveth Sinful Men to be sung at the conclusion of a message on the parable of the lost sheep (Lk. 15:3-7).

Sinners Jesus will receive;
Sound this word of grace to all
Who the heavenly pathway leave,
All who linger, all who fall.

Sing it o’er and over again;
Christ receiveth sinful men;
Make the message clear and plain:
Christ receiveth sinful men.

Come, and He will give you rest;
Trust Him, for His Word is plain;
He will take the sinfulest;
Christ receiveth sinful men.

I’ve included the following video clip of Neumeister’s gospel song for a reason. The video will never win the group any recording contracts, or perhaps receive much attention beyond that of a few friends. A young pastor, and a tiny congregation, sincerely doing their best to testify to their faith in Christ. And their like is multiplied hundreds, and thousands of times, across North America and around the world. It’s the megachurches that get the press. But God is glorified whenever and wherever His people meet for praise and prayer, fellowship and the study of His Word.

Three Scriptures come to mind:

Jesus promised, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20).

“The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (I Sam. 16:7).

“It may be that the Lord will work for us [or them]. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few” (I Sam. 14:6).

May God bless each congregation, large or small, where God’s people gather and His Word is faithfully taught.

(2) Today in 1873 – Arthur Ingler Born

Not too much is known of Arthur Ingler. He apparently began his ministry as a gospel soloist, and later became a pastor with the Church of the Nazarene denomination and served a number of congregations. In 1902 he published the one gospel song for which he is known today, The Pearly White City, which is based on the description of the heavenly city in the closing chapters of the book of Revelation. Pastor Ingler died in 1935.

There’s a holy and beautiful city
Whose builder and ruler is God;
John saw it descending from heaven,
When Patmos, in exile, he trod;
Its high, massive wall is of jasper,
The city itself is pure gold;
And when my frail tent here is folded,
Mine eyes shall its glory behold.

In that bright city, pearly white city,
I have a mansion, a harp, and a crown;
Now I am watching, waiting, and longing,
For the white city that’s soon coming down.

No heartaches are known in that city,
No tears ever moisten the eyes;
There’s no disappointment in heaven,
No envy and strife in the sky;
The saints are all sanctified wholly,
They live in sweet harmony there;
My heart is now set on that city,
And some day its blessings I’ll share.

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