Today in 1593 – George Herbert Born
George Herbert attended Trinity College, at Cambridge, England. He married Jane Danvers after a remarkably short courtship of three days! (This abbreviation perhaps suited his short life. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 40.) At Cambridge, when he was appointed the school’s Public Orator, it was his duty to give speeches (in Latin) to visiting dignitaries, and to express thanks for books donated to the school library. Herbert served briefly in Parliament, and King James I was impressed with the man, and considered making him an ambassador, but the king died before this could be done. Instead, George Herbert became an Anglican clergyman.
He maintained a lively interest in music, and devoted his spare time to practicing on the lute and the viol. He wrote a number of hymns, which were published posthumously in a little book called The Temple. Susannah Wesley introduced Herbert’s poetry to her children, and we have John Wesley to thank for promoting its use in our hymnody. I can recall years ago, singing in a college choral, George Herbert’s call to praise, Let All the World in Every Corner Sing.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The heavens are not too high, His praise may thither fly,
The earth is not too low, His praises there may grow.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The church with psalms must shout, no door can keep them out;
But, above all, the heart must bear the longest part.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
I’m most familiar with hearing this brief hymn sung to the tune All the World, written by Robert Guy McCutchan (under the pen name John Porter), but it has been arranged by a number of composers as a choral anthem. The following choral version is not too bad (to put it mildly!).
(2) Today in 1769 – Gerhard Tersteegen Died
Gerhard Tersteegen was the great poet of the mystical Pietist movement in eighteenth century Germany. He wrote 111 hymns, of which a few are still in use. Because of the poverty of his family, he was unable to receive the university education he had hoped for. After an apprenticeship, he was employed in weaving silk ribbons. He lived alone, eating one meagre meal a day, and giving all he could to help others living in impoverished conditions.
Tersteegen went through a period of deep depression. When he recovered, he wrote, in his own blood, a solemn covenant committing himself to God. He spent 10 hours a day working at his loom, and then 2 hours in prayer, and 2 hours in writing and study. He lived an ascetic and somewhat eccentric life, but is recognized as an outstanding self-taught theologian and preacher. One of his hymns that has survived is God Calling Yet.
God calling yet; shall I not hear?
Earth’s pleasures shall I still hold dear?
Shall life’s swift passing years all fly,
And still my soul in slumber lie?
God calling yet, and shall He knock,
And I my heart the closer lock?
He still is waiting to receive,
And shall I dare His Spirit grieve?
God calling yet; I cannot stay;
My heart I yield without delay;
Vain world, farewell! from thee I part;
The voice of God hath reached my heart.
(3) Today in 1885 – Pass It On written
Henry Burton was born in England. His family were staunch Methodists, and he was converted at the age of 15 in a meeting conducted by his father. A year later, the family emigrated to America, where Burton served as a Methodist Episcopal clergyman for a short time, after which he returned to England and continued ministry there for many years, writing several books and a number of hymns. One of them has an interesting story behind it.
A young man named Mark Pearse booked passage on a ship that would take him from Bristol, England, back home to America. He had limited funds, just enough for his ticket. All began well, but on the way across the stormy Atlantic, he got terribly seasick and remained in his bunk for several days. During this time, there came a knock at the door. It was the steward, with a bill for the meals he had eaten before taking sick. Pearse had assumed that the ticket included the cost of his meals, but it did not.
Sick as he was, he tried to plead his case to the steward, but to no avail. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I shall have to keep your luggage as security. What is your name and address.” When the sick passenger told him his name was Mark Pearse, the astonished steward took off his cap and reached out a hand. He said that many years before, when he was a boy, his father had died, leaving his mother to care for the family. But Mark’s father had heard about their need, and helped them out. “I never thought the chance would come for me to repay even a little,” the steward said. “But I’m glad I have the opportunity.” And he paid the outstanding amount.
When he arrived at his destination, Pearse told his father what had happened. The father replied, “See how a bit of kindness lives?” and he encouraged his son to pass the kindness shown on to others. Years later, it was Mark Pearse’s son-in-law, Henry Burton, who wrote the gospel song Pass It On, after hearing the story (a song not to be confused with Kurt Kaiser’s with the same name, which begins, “It only takes a spark…”).
Have you had a kindness shown? Pass it on!
‘Twas not giv’n for thee alone. Pass it on;
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another’s tears,
Till in heav’n the deed appears–Pass it on.
Have you found the heav’nly light? Pass it on!
Souls are groping in the night, daylight gone;
Hold thy lighted lamp on high,
Be a star in someone’s sky,
He may live who else would die–Pass it on!
