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Today in 1858 – Maltbie Babcock Born

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Maltbie Davenport Babcock belonged to a socially prominent family in Syracuse, New York. After graduating from university there, he took seminary training and became a Presbyterian pastor in Lockport. Later, serving a church in Baltimore, he became so popular with the students at Johns Hopkins University that the school set aside a room for his use, where he could meet with them. In his own college days, Babcock was involved in both music and athletics (baseball and swimming). Even as a pastor he tried to stay fit. Sadly, Pastor Babcock died of a bacterial infection at the age of 43, while on a trip to the Holy Land.

Babcock had definite gifts as a poet. Consider these beautiful and insightful lines:

Back of the loaf is the snowy flour,
And back of the flour the mill;
And back of the mill is the wheat and the shower,
And the sun and the Father’s will.

In Lockport, when heading out for his daily jogs, he used to say, “I’m going out to see my Father’s world.” It was that phrase that the pastor turned into a poem. From its 16 stanzas, 3 have been used for the familiar hymn, This Is My Father’s World.

Graphic Nature Scene

Deceptively simple, the hymn is carefully structured and beautifully written. The second stanza makes use of a figure of speech with the tongue-twister name onomatopoeia–which refers to using words that produce the sound being described. We can hear the hissing whisper of grass in the wind, with the repeated “s” in the line, “In the rustling grass I hear Him pass.”

The concluding stanza turns our attention from nature to the imperfections of the moral world, and to God’s final triumph over evil.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and heav’n be one.

(2) Risen! (Data Missing)

Here is a little resurrection hymn, first published in 1903. To hear William H. Doane’s tune for Risen! check the Cyber Hymnal.

See, the seal is rudely broken!
Lo! the stone is rolled away!
Kept is every sign and token,
He is risen, angels say.

Lo, the tomb is standing open
And the Marys weeping near,
Angel tones within are spoken,
He is risen, do not fear!

Hark! the joyful tidings ringeth!
Christ hath triumphed o’er the grave!
Joy to all His followers bringeth,
Christ hath risen!—lives to save!

Today in 1941 – Anna Hoppe Died

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With only an eighth grade education, Anna Bernardine Dorothy Hoppe left school to face the working world. She got a job as a secretary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but that was not to be where she made her most lasting mark. Anna had been writing poetry since childhood, and by her mid-twenties her verses had taken on a marked devotional flavour. Today, several of her poems have been published in hymnals of the Lutheran church, set to traditional melodies.

The author said of her work, “Many of my hymns have been written on my way to and from church, and to and from work. I utilize my lunch hours for typing the hymns.” Anna also did some translation of German hymns. For example, she gave us this seventeenth-century hymn by Paul Gerhardt.

O world, see here suspended
His loving arms extended,
Thy Saviour on the cross!
The Prince of life is willing,
All righteousness fulfilling,
To suffer anguish, scorn and loss.

Graphic Manger Scene

The lovely carol, Precious Child, So Sweetly Sleeping is one of Anna Hoppe’s own songs. I tried to find a more familiar tune that could be used with it, but could discover none that exactly fit. Though the stanzas are one beat short in the fifth line, the hymn might be sung, with a slight adjustment, to Regent Square, the tune commonly used for Angels from the Realms of Glory. (You can see the entire hymn and hear the original tune on the Cyber Hymnal.)

Precious Child, so sweetly sleeping
In a virgin’s fond embrace;
Heav’nly hosts their watch are keeping
O’er Thy humble dwelling place;
Blest Messiah, newborn King,
Let my heart its tribute bring.

Promised Saviour, I adore Thee,
Son of David, Son of God!
What can mortals bring before Thee?
All is Thine on earthly sod.
Take my heart and let it be
Filled with love, dear Child, to Thee.

(2) More from Isaac Watts – Before Jehovah’s Awful Throne

In our day, the word “awful” has been given a negative connotation. It has come to mean revolting, or disgusting (as in, “Wasn’t that an awful dress Christine was wearing!). But its original meaning was awe-inspiring, and that is what Dr. Watts meant when he published his great hymn (the original version in 1706). It is based on Psalm 100.

To avoid misunderstanding, the first line is sometimes sung today as, “Before Jehovah’s awesome throne.” That is the version sung in Westminster Abbey below, in a service at the beginning of the Gulf War.

Before Jehovah’s awful throne,
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create, and He destroy.

His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us men;
And when like wandering sheep we strayed,
He brought us to His fold again.

We’ll crowd Thy gates with thankful songs,
High as the heav’ns our voices raise;
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,
Shall fill Thy courts with sounding praise.

Wide as the world is Thy command,
Vast as eternity Thy love;
Firm as a rock Thy truth must stand,
When rolling years shall cease to move.

Today in 1779 – Francis Scott Key Born

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Graphic American Flag

The name Francis Scott Key is well known to most Americans. He is the author of that country’s national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. Key’s father was an army officer who fought with distinction in the Revolutionary War. The son studied law and served three terms as district attorney for the District of Columbia.

But there was another side to the man. Francis Key was a committed Christian. He was a Sunday School teacher, and a writer of devotional verse. In 1823, he became a member of a committee charged with preparing a new hymnal for the Protestant Episcopal Church. In addition to the anthem mentioned above, Key also authored a couple of hymns that are still in use: Lord, with Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee, and Before the Lord We Bow.

The latter (sung to the tune Darwall), is actually a strongly-worded national hymn, written for the July 4th celebration in 1832.

Before the Lord we bow, the God who reigns above,
And rules the world below, boundless in power and love.
Our thanks we bring in joy and praise,
Our hearts we raise to heav’n’s high King.

The nation Thou hast blessed may well Thy love declare,
From foes and fears at rest, protected by Thy care.
For this fair land, for this bright day,
Our thanks we pay, gifts of Thy hand.

Because it is nonspecific with regard to the details, the hymn could be used by other countries besides the United States. It says in its final stanzas:

Earth, hear thy Maker’s voice, thy great Redeemer own;
Believe, obey, rejoice, and worship Him alone.
Cast down thy pride, thy sin deplore,
And bow before the Crucified.

And when in power He comes, O may our native land,
From all its rending tombs, send forth a glorious band;
A countless throng, ever to sing
To heav’n’s high King salvation’s song.

(2) Eternal Monarch, King Most High (Data Missing)

The need to recognize the rule of God, not only as a nation, but individually–particularly as it relates to the ascended Lord Jesus Christ–is reflected in this hymn of unknown authoriship. Eternal Monarch, King Most High was translated from Latin by John Mason Neale. You can hear the tune paired with it on the Cyber Hymnal.

Eternal Monarch, King most high,
Whose blood hath brought redemption nigh,
By whom the death of Death was wrought,
And conquering grace’s battle fought.

Ascending to the throne of might,
And seated at the Father’s right,
All power in heav’n is Jesu’s own,
That here His manhood had not known.

Be Thou our joy and strong defense,
Who art our future recompense;
So shall the light that springs from Thee
Be ours through all eternity.

O risen Christ, ascended Lord,
All praise to Thee let earth accord,
Who art, while endless ages run,
With Father and with Spirit One.

Today in 1865 – Margaret Harris Born

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Mrs. Harris and her husband were gospel musicians and evangelists in the United States with the holiness movement, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Margaret Jenkins Harris was also acclaimed as an effective speaker. Two gospel hymns she wrote are still in use. One is He Took My Sins Away.

I came to Jesus, weary, worn, and sad.
He took my sins away, He took my sins away.
And now His love has made my heart so glad,
He took my sins away.

He took my sins away, He took my sins away,
And keeps me singing every day!
I’m so glad He took my sins away,
He took my sins away.

The other of Margaret Harris’s songs that I’ve heard sung recently is I Will Praise Him.

When I saw the cleansing fountain
Open wide for all my sin,
I obeyed the Spirit’s wooing,
When He said, “Wilt thou be clean?”

I will praise Him! I will praise Him!
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
Give Him glory, all ye people,
For His blood can wash away each stain.

(2) Today in 1889 – Horatius Bonar Died

Horatius Bonar, a pastor in Scotland, was a powerful preacher, as well as being the noted author of about 600 hymns. He was a man of great physical energy, with a powerful voice. It was not unusual for him to preach three times in his church, and once more in the open air, all in one day. He seemed to some to be always preaching. Others said he was always visiting, others that he was always writing, and still others that he was always praying. Known as the Prince of Scottish Hymn Writers, he kept a notebook in which he jotted down bits of verse as they occurred to him, often as he was travelling by railroad. His hymns include:

Go Labour on; Spend and Be Spent
Hallelujah for the Cross!
Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face
I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say
I Lay My Sins on Jesus (a hymn for children)
No Blood, No Altar, Now
No, Not Despairingly
Not What These Hands Have Done

But there is a sad peculiarity about the hymns of this good man. Beautiful, and spiritually enriching though they are, they were never sung in his own church! In the Free Church of Scotland at the time, only the Psalms were sung. Once when someone tried to introduce one of the pastor’s songs in a service, two of the elders rose up angrily and stormed out of the meeting. Yet such a closed door did not deter Bonar from writing songs that proved to be a blessing in many other churches and denominations.

A hymn published in 1846 he called The Voice from Galilee. We know it today as I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say. The first stanza is based on the promise of the Lord Jesus, “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). The song celebrates the sufficiency of Christ to meet our deepest needs.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting place, and He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one, stoop down, and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him.

Several tunes are used for this hymn. John Dykes’s Vox Dilecti is common, with its dramatic shift from a minor to a major key suiting a turning point in the text. The tune for the secular ballad Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes also works well. Here is another rendition of this beautiful hymn, by a Mennonite choir, using yet another tune.

Another beautiful but lesser-known of Bonar’s hymns is Fill Thou My Life. I encourage you to check out the complete hymn on the Cyber Hymnal. It’s wonderful.

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God,
In every part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim
Thy being and Thy ways.
Not for the lip of praise alone,
Nor e’en the praising heart
I ask, but for a life made up
Of praise in every part!

Lord’s Day Meditation – Why?

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. (Ps. 42:5)

“His countenance” (or His face) is a Hebrew expression referring to God’s presence and intervening help. The psalmist is telling himself, “Hope in God; He will help you!”

The verse and chapter divisions in our Bibles are not part of the inspired text. They were added much later to help us locate the passages we want. And the verse division at this point is probably incorrect. The words that begin vs. 7 likely belong to vs. 6. The Bible in Basic English seems to have it right, with, “Why are you crushed down, O my soul? and why are you troubled in me? put your hope in God; for I will again give him praise who is my help and my God.”

There is at least one ancient Hebrew manuscript that has it that way. And the latter rendering has a better poetic cadence, as well as matching vs. 12 and Ps. 43:5. (Many old Hebrew manuscripts also combine Ps. 42 and 43, which would mean that our verse is a kind of refrain, three times repeated in the full psalm.)

But there is that jarring question to deal with: “Why are you cast down?” Why bowed down and virtually in despair? Why? And there are many possible answers. Here are a few.

  • Perhaps the person suffers from some physical weakness, an illness, or chronic disability, or possibly a mental-emotional disorder that leaves him or her vulnerable to discouragement.
  • Perhaps there is unconfessed sin to be dealt with, sin that is hindering the person’s fellowship with God and an effective ministry for Him.
  • The trials of life, common to all in this fallen world, can at times drag us down and dishearten us. Even the sagging economy can have this depressing effect.
  • Added to this, the burdens of Christian ministry are great, and can be overwhelming for the servant of God at times (cf. Rom. 9:1-3; II Cor. 11:28).
  • The attacks of Satan, the enemy of our souls, can bring on such feelings. And the devil has many human agents who willingly do his evil work. That was the psalmist’s particular problem, enemies that mocked him because God didn’t seem to be coming to his rescue (Ps. 42:3, 9-10; Ps. 43:1).

With all of this in view, perhaps the question could as well be, “Why not?” Discouragement and even despair is surely not surprising. And yet there is a remedy in God. Despair is actually the antithesis of hope.  It sees nothing better up ahead, and no relief in sight. But there is a glorious future for each child of God. Sometimes it helps, when we’re going through such a time, to look in the mirror and give ourselves a good talking to! That seems to be what the psalmist is doing by the repeated refrain of these two psalms. But there has to be more than that. More than simply our determination and effort.

There is a dimension that is missing from the pop psychology and secular self help techniques of our day. Here the psalmist brings to mind the greatness of God, and His power, and he prays for help. He prays honestly about how he feels, and calls upon the Lord to come to his aid. He also reflects upon the blessings of past days (vs. 4). And he challenges himself to continue to hope in the Lord, and expresses his confidence for the future: “I shall yet praise Him.” Brethren Bible teacher F. W. Grant writes:

Hope thou in God. Yes, here is what is permanent, what is eternal: hope in God even though thou canst not find Him; though clouds are round about Him, and thou canst not come unto His seat; though His ways are deepest mystery; though even thou couldst not find a promise thou couldst claim undoubtedly. He Himself is promise!…In Himself thou canst find refuge….Can He say, “You have trusted Me too much?” Nay, He cannot. Here is His word at last that applies, if nothing else does: “Blessed are all they who put their trust in Him” (Ps. 2:12).

From Nahum Tate’s metrical version of Ps. 42 we have:

As pants the hart for cooling streams,
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God, for Thee
And Thy refreshing grace.

Why restless, why cast down, my soul?
Hope still; and thou shalt sing
The praise of Him who is thy God,
Thy health’s eternal spring.

Today in 1842 – Maxwell Cornelius Born

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The years of Mr. Cornelius’s life were dotted with difficulties. He learned the trade of bricklaying and became a building contractor in Pittsburgh. Then, an injury on the job site led to the amputation of his leg, and he saw the need to change his occupation. He went to college and became a minister of the gospel, but was forced to leave his first church in Pennsylvania due to his wife’s severe and protracted illness.

He moved to California and built a large new church there, but many who had promised to fund the project failed in business, and he was left to cover much of the cost himself. Maxwell Newton Cornelius did so, but shortly afterward his wife died. He conducted the memorial service himself, quoting the lines of what is likely the only hymn from his pen, Sometime We’ll Understand.

The song provides a wonderful statement of faith in God that looks beyond the trials of today and rests in God’s wisdom. Even when we cannot explain why something has happened we can trust in the goodness of God (Rom. 8:28). What is so often a mystery here, God’s purpose in our trials, will be made clear one day.

Not now, but in the coming years,
It may be in the better land,
We’ll read the meaning of our tears,
And there, some time, we’ll understand.

Then trust in God through all the days;
Fear not, for He doth hold thy hand;
Though dark thy way, still sing and praise,
Some time, some time we’ll understand.

God knows the way, He holds the key,
He guides us with unerring hand;
Some time with tearless eyes we’ll see;
Yes, there, up there, we’ll understand.

(2) More from Oswald Smith – Then Jesus Came

Evangelist and creationist Dr. Harry Rimmer was preaching on John chapter 11. He pictured the sorrow that darkened the home, and the sadness of Mary and Martha, when their brother Lazarus died. Suddenly, he paused, and shouted triumphantly, “Then Jesus came!”

Sitting in the audience that evening was gospel musician Homer Rodeheaver. The phrase struck him as a great theme for a song. Shortly after, he was visiting with pastor and hymn writer Oswald Smith. It was May of 1939. The musician said, “I want a hymn depicting the change that took place in the lives of men and women when Jesus came. Dr. Smith provided the text, and Rodeheaver set it to music.

One sat alone beside the highway begging,
His eyes were blind, the light he could not see;
He clutched his rags and shivered in the shadows,
Then Jesus came and bade his darkness flee.

When Jesus comes, the tempter’s pow’r is broken;
When Jesus comes, the tears are wiped away.
He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory,
For all is changed when Jesus comes to stay.

The song became an oft-repeated solo of George Beverly Shea’s. If you can find it on YouTube, you may be impressed, as I have been, with not only his technical mastery of singing technique but his ability to present a message in song in a sincere and unaffected way. Missing are the frequent theatrical grimaces and the posturing that are the bad habit of many contemporary gospel singers.

Today in 1866 – Thomas Chisholm Born

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Thomas Obediah Chisholm was born in Kentucky, and educated in a country schoolhouse–where he himself became the teacher at the age of 16! For a while, he worked as a reporter and the associate editor of a newspaper in Louisville. Then, after becoming a Christian, Chisholm became a pastor, but ill health soon forced his resignation. For most of his adult life he worked as an insurance salesman. He died on February 29th of 1960 (a leap year).

A humble man, Tom Chisholm sometimes described himself as “just an old shoe,” but he blessed the Christian community again and again with his writing–over 1200 poems and hymns in all. Among the best known of the latter are:

Great Is Thy Faithfulness
He Was Wounded for Our Transgressions
Living for Jesus
O to Be Like Thee
Trust in the Lord

Great Is Thy Faithfulness was written in 1923, and it soon became the unofficial school hymn of Moody Bible Institute, in Chicago. The theme is based on the words of the prophet Jeremiah, “His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Chisholm’s hymn Trust in the Lord is loosely based on Prov. 3:5-6. It says,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
This is God’s gracious command;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
So shall you dwell in the land.

Trust in the Lord, O troubled soul,
Rest in the arms of His care;
Whatever your lot, it mattereth not,
For nothing can trouble you there;
Trust in the Lord, O troubled soul,
Nothing can trouble you there.

(2) Today in 1957 – William Runyan Died

William Marion Runyan was a pastor and evangelist, with an outstanding musical gift. (He served as a church organist at the age of 12!) Among his work on other songs, Runyan supplied the tune for Chisholm’s Great Is Thy Faithfulness, and for God Hath Not Promised, a poem of Annie Johnson Flint’s. He also wrote words and music for some hymns, such as Lord, I Have Shut the Door, a great prayer hymn that emphasizes the need for personal fellowship with God.

Lord, I have shut the door, speak now the word
Which in the din and throng could not be heard;
Hushed now my inner heart, whisper Thy will,
While I have come apart, while all is still.

Today in 1750 – Johann Sebastian Bach Died

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Bach is universally considered one of the greatest composers who ever lived. Some say he ranks above all the rest. Certainly, he was the greatest composer of church music, and an ardent Christian himself. He was the most gifted organist of his day, and composed a great deal of music for the organ, as well as many orchestral works. Also, his sacred music includes the unparalleled St. Matthew Passion, and over 200 cantatas.

Bach said, “Music’s only purpose should be for the glory of God and the recreation of the human spirit.” That is worth pondering. It parallels the two-dimensional description the Lord Jesus gave of “the great commandment:” love God, and love others (Matt. 22:35-40). How much music in the world today would be cast aside if we would ask, Does this truly glorify God? And is it wholesome and edifying to me and others?

The great composer sensed his need of God in his work, and relied upon divine enablement. Bach said, “Where there is devotional music, God is always at hand with His gracious presence.” As he took up a blank manuscript sheet to begin writing music notation, he frequently put “J.J.” at the top of the page, standing for Jesu Juva, “Help me, Jesus.” And at the bottom of the manuscript he would add “S.D.G.” representing Soli Deo Gloria, “To God alone the glory.”

Some tunes for hymns were taken from Bach’s works. For example, the tune Green Fields is used for John Newton’s How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours. Or the tunes were arrangements of the music of others, harmonized by Bach for use with a hymn. The most familiar example of the latter is the tune Passion Chorale, used with the hymn O Sacred Head Now Wounded.

Bach wrote the music for Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring to accompany the original German text by Martin Janus. (And incidentally, the last line of the first stanza is not speaking of actual death. It is describing poetically the flight of worshipers around the throne of God. The thought is that they rise and fall, like the glittering waters of a fountain, in their ceaseless circling of the throne.)

Jesu, joy of man’s desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.
Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.

Through the way where hope is guiding,
Hark, what peaceful music rings;
Where the flock, in Thee confiding,
Drink of joy from deathless springs.
Theirs is beauty’s fairest pleasure;
Theirs is wisdom’s holiest treasure.
Thou dost ever lead Thine own
In the love of joys unknown.

Bach was troubled with cataracts in his latter years, and two surgeries failed to restore his sight. His latter days were spent in almost total blindness. But he continued to compose to the end. At the age of 65, on his deathbed, he dictated his last piece of music, a chorale entitled, Before Thy Throne I Now Appear.

(2) Today in 1857 – Ballington Booth Born

Ballington Booth was the son of Salvation Army founder William Booth. He headed up the Salvation Army, first in Australia (1885-1887), then in America (1887-1896). In the latter years, he broke with his father’s organization and founded the Volunteers of America. The only hymn of his in wide use today is The Cross Is Not Greater, using the cross as a symbol of the believer’s suffering and sacrifice for the cause of Christ (cf. Matt. 16:24).

The cross that He gave may be heavy,
But it ne’er outweighs His grace;
The storm that I feared may surround me,
But it ne’er excludes His face.

The cross is not greater than His grace,
The storm cannot hide His blessèd face;
I am satisfied to know
That with Jesus here below,
I can conquer every foe.

(3) Today in 1894 – Jesse White Died

Jesse Tom White, a lifelong Baptist layman, was a composer and arranger of music for The Sacred Harp hymn book. He is credited with writing the tune sometimes called All Is Well which first appeared in The Sacred Harp in 1844. The Mormons adopted the melody for their signature hymn Come, Come, Ye Saints, speaking of the group’s search, under the leadership of Brigham Young, for a place to build a community of their own in America, where they could follow their beliefs.

We’ll find a place which God for us prepared
Far away, in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints will be blessed.

Most of the lyrics, however, could apply to a spiritual pilgrimage, and the hymn has been adapted at least a couple of times for orthodox Christian use. Avis B. Christiansen used some of the first stanza of the original, but almost entirely rewrote the rest of the song. In her lovely version, the stanza above begins:

God hath prepared a glorious home above
Round His throne, for His own,
Where they may rest forever in His love,
Toil and tears all unknown.

Today in 1741 – Francois Barthelemon Born

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Francois Hippolyte Barthelemon was a violinist, orchestra conductor, and composer. Though born in France, his mother was from a wealthy Irish family. Barthelemon served briefly in the Irish army, but left to study music. He lived in London from 1764 onward and was an associate of composer Franz Joseph Haydn. He wrote operas, symphonies, violin sonatas and one oratorio, as well as some hymn tunes.

Barthelemon was asked to write a tune for the hymn Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun and produced a tune called Morning Hymn for the purpose. It is worth a listen, though I like the tune Mainzer as well. (You can hear both on the Cyber Hymnal.)

The composer wrote the tune Autumn in 1785, used with Robert Robinson’s wonderful hymn Mighty God While Angels Bless Thee. Though many congregations know only Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing from Robinson’s pen, the latter is a marvellous hymn of worship, especially focusing on Christ in the latter stanzas.

Mighty God, while angels bless Thee,
May a mortal sing Thy name?
Lord of men as well as angels,
Thou art every creature’s theme.
Lord of every land and nation,
Ancient of eternal days.
Sounded through the wide creation
Be Thy just and endless praise.

For the grandeur of Thy nature,
Grand beyond a seraph’s thought;
For the wonders of creation,
Works with skill and kindness wrought.
For Thy providence, that governs,
Through Thine empire’s wide domain,
Wings an angel, guides a sparrow,
Blessèd be Thy gentle reign.

For Thy rich, Thy free redemption,
Bright, though veiled in darkness long,
Thought is poor, and poor expression;
Who can sing that wondrous song?
Brightness of the Father’s glory,
Shall Thy praise unuttered lie?
Break, my tongue, such guilty silence!
Sing the Lord Who came to die.

Graphic WW1 Red Cross

(2) Today in 1861 – Cyrus Nusbaum Born

Cyrus Sylvester Nusbaum was a pastor who also served the Lord with his Methodist denomination as an evangelist, and for a time he worked in an administrative role at Southwestern College in Kansas. An American army captain during the First World War, he was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to inspect the work of the Red Cross in France.

Only a single hymn is credited to Cyrus Nusbaum, His Way with Thee, for which he wrote both words and music. It was written during his early struggles in pastoral ministry. He was assigned to an extremely poor district, and he and his wife had difficulty making ends meet. He hoped and prayed that he might be appointed to a better situation, but the denominational leaders left him where he was. Pastor Nusbaum confesses:

I was very unhappy and a spirit of rebellion seemed to possess me. About midnight, I finally knelt in prayer beside my chair. After some struggle, a deep peace came stealing into my heart. I told the Lord I would be willing to let Him have His way with me, regardless of the cost. With that feeling of surrender to the will of God came the inspiration for the song.

It is a hymn encouraging surrender to the will and power of the Lord. As well as saying, “Your will be done on earth” (Matt. 6:10), we need to say, “Your will be done in me.” Romans puts it this way: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God [because of all the Lord has done for you], that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). (You can see the complete hymn on the Cyber Hymnal.)

Would you live for Jesus, and be always pure and good?
Would you walk with Him within the narrow road?
Would you have Him bear your burden, carry all your load?
Let Him have His way with thee.

His power can make you what you ought to be;
His blood can cleanse your heart and make you free;
His love can fill your soul, and you will see
’Twas best for Him to have His way with thee.

Today in 1933 – Charles Tindley Died

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American pastor and hymn writer Charles Albert Tindley’s story is an amazing one of striving to overcome hardship and succeeding, by the grace of God. He was born in 1851, the son of Charles and Esther Tindley. Charles’s father was a slave, but his mother was a free woman. Thus, he was born free but brought up among enslaved people. His mother died when he was 4 years old, and he was separated from his father a year later. Charles was raised by his Aunt Caroline.

In that day, white slave owners considered it dangerous for blacks to receive an education. But after the Emancipation Proclamation, young Charles taught himself to read and write. He moved to Philadelphia, where he worked as a janitor in a small church, attending school in the evenings and taking a correspondence course. He mastered Hebrew and Greek, largely on his own, and prepared himself for Christian ministry.

In 1902 he became the pastor of the church where he had once worked as a janitor. It grew steadily under his leadership, until, at the time of his death, it had 12,500 members. Most unusually for the time, it was an integrated congregation, with both blacks and whites serving in leadership positions. In spite of Pastor Tindley’s objections, the church was renamed the Tindley Temple Methodist Church.

As well as being a busy pastor, Charles Tindley wrote a number of fine gospel songs. In fact, he is considered one of the founding fathers of American gospel music. Twenty years after his death, his son Elbert and his wife Hazel ministered in music in our church in Ontario, singing some of the songs written by his father.

Charles Tindley wrote We’ll Understand It Better By and By. And his song I’ll Overcome Some Day became the inspiration for the secular Civil Rights song We Shall Overcome. Some of his songs grew out of incidents in his daily life. Pastor Tindley was working in his study one day when a puff of wind from the open window blew some papers over the notes he was jotting down. The thought came to him, “Let nothing between,” and the idea for a song was born. I have an old recording of son Albert singing it, and I can still see his shining face as I listen.

Nothing between my soul and the Saviour,
Naught of this world’s delusive dream;
I have renounced all sinful pleasure;
Jesus is mine, there’s nothing between.

Graphic Sack Full

On another occasion, a worried believer came to see Tindley, pouring out all his troubles and complaints. The pastor offered this counsel, based on I Pet. 5:7, “Put all your troubles in a sack, take ‘em to the Lord, and leave ‘em there!” Out of that conversation grew the hymn Leave It There. In succeeding stanzas, he lists several kinds of difficulty we can commit to the Lord in prayer: financial distress, illness and pain, hurts caused by others, and the problems of old age.

If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold,
An you have to get along with meagre fare,
Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird;
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Leave it there, leave it there,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
If you trust and never doubt,
He will surely bring you out.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Here’s a link to a unique rendering of Leave It There. From 1927 to 1929, black gospel singer and songwriter Washington Phillips recorded a series of 18 songs. His style is unmistakably his own. And the instrument he plays has remained something of a mystery. It has a zither-like sound, but some have concluded it must have been a homemade stringed instrument he invented himself.

(2) More from Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts is so significant to English hymnody that I wanted to include a hymn here or there that was not tied to a particular date. There Is a Land of Pure Delight came to mind. As he sat in his home at Southampton, looking out across the water at the green verdure of the Isle of Wight, he thought of the glories of heaven that await the believer beyond the “narrow sea” of death.

There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.

There everlasting spring abides,
And never withering flowers:
Death, like a narrow sea, divides
This heav’nly land from ours.

Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood
Stand dressed in living green:
So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
While Jordan rolled between.

But timorous mortals start and shrink
To cross this narrow sea;
And linger, shivering on the brink,
And fear to launch away.

O could we make our doubts remove,
Those gloomy doubts that rise,
And see the Canaan that we love
With unbeclouded eyes!

Could we but climb where Moses stood,
And view the landscape o’er,
Not Jordan’s stream, nor death’s cold flood,
Should fright us from the shore.

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