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grace ’tis a charming sound

Grace, ‘Tis a Charming Sound

Words: Philip Doddridge (b. June 26, 1702; d. Oct. 26, 1751), and Augustus Montague Toplady (b. Nov. 4, 1740; d. Aug. 11, 1778)
Music: Silver Street, by Isaac Smith (b. _____ c. 1734; d. Dec. 14, 1805)

Note: Doddridge wrote stanzas (1), (2), (4), and (6), while Toplady (best known as the author of the hymn Rock of Ages) wrote stanzas (3) and (5). Hymn books today commonly use five of the seven original stanzas: (1), (3), (4), (5), and (7). Here are the other two stanzas:

(2) Grace first contrived the way
To save rebellious man;
And all the steps that grace display
Which drew the wondrous plan.

(6) Grace all the work shall crown,
Through everlasting days;
It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise.

There is a bit of a puzzle about the tune, which I and Dick Adams, creator of the Cyber Hymnal, haven’t been able to decisively unravel as yet. The Cyber Hymnal, as of the time I’m writing this, doesn’t include Ira Sankey’s fine tune as an alternative. That one has a nice refrain (see below) underlining the central message of the hymn.

Sankey’s tune, which I’m most familiar with, is found in a number of hymnals, including: Great Hymns of the Faith (1968), Praise–Our Songs and Hymns (1979), the Worship and Service Hymnal (1982), Living Hymns (2009), and Rejoice Hymns (2011). Strangely, the latter book calls Sankey’s tune Silver Street–though it’s quite different from the one by that name (composed by Isaac Smith) in the Cyber Hymnal. If you have a solution to the mystery, please let me know.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

For Philip Doddridge, the sound of the word itself, “Grace!” was “charming”–a word meaning delightful and pleasing. His hymn tells us some of the reasons why.

(1) Grace, ’tis a charming sound,
Harmonious to mine ear;
Heaven with the echo shall resound,
And all the earth shall hear.

Saved by grace alone!
This is all my plea:
Jesus died for all mankind,
And Jesus died for me.

The grace of God, His unearned, unmerited favour, is mentioned over 150 times in the Bible, and it will be our theme for all eternity. It’s first mentioned in our English Bibles when we’re told that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). But with the coming of Christ there was a kind of explosion of grace. The Lord Jesus was “full of grace” (Jn. 1:14), and from Him we receive grace [heaped] upon grace” (vs. 16).

In just two books of the New Testament, among other things, we learn of: great grace (Acts 4:33; 13:43); the grace of God (Acts 11:23; 14:26; 15:11, 40; 20:24, 32); the Word of God’s grace (Acts 14:3); and believing through grace (Acts 18:27). We discover: grace received (Rom. 1:5); that we are justified freely by God’s grace (Rom. 3:24); that we have access by faith into grace (Rom. 5:2); that there’s an abundance of grace (Rom. 5:17, 20); that we live under grace (Rom. 6:14, 15); and that we have gifts for service, according to grace (Rom. 12:6).

(3) ‘Twas grace that wrote my name
In life’s eternal book;
’Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,
Who all my sorrows took.

(4) Grace taught my wand’ring feet
To tread the heavenly road;
And new supplies each hour I meet,
While pressing on to God.

An appreciation of the grace of God will motivate us to dedicate ourselves wholly to live the the Lord and serve Him.

(7) O let Thy grace inspire
My soul with strength divine
My all my pow’rs to Thee aspire,
And all my days be Thine.

Questions:

  1. For what reason(s) do some reject the grace of God, and even become enemies of grace?
  2. Why is it impossible to be saved, apart from the grace of God?

Links:

Today in 1702 – Philip Doddridge Born

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Philip Doddridge was the youngest of 20 children. (Sadly, 18 of these died in infancy.) He was a pastor, and a man of great scholarship. Doddridge was a friend of Isaac Watts, and described himself as one of several lamps “kindled at Watts’s torch.” He died of tuberculosis at the age of 49, but he packed a lot in a few years!

Philip Doddridge entered  pastoral ministry at the age of 19, and at the urging of Isaac Watts, he also opened a theological school for training young pastors. During the years he taught there, he trained about 150 young men to serve Christ. In addition he wrote about 370 hymns. Several of these are still in use. It was Pastor Doddridge’s practice, after he had finished his sermon preparation, to write a hymn to suit the theme. Among the songs he has given us:

Great God, We Sing That Mighty Hand
How Gentle God’s Commands
How Rich Thy Bounty, King of Kings
My Gracious Lord, I Own Thy Right
O Happy Day
See Israel’s Gentle Shepherd Stand

The hymn My Gracious Lord, I Own Thy Right was headed in the original manuscript: “Christ’s Service, The Fruit of Our Labours on Earth.”  The hymn is a clear declaration of the sovereignty of God over our lives. That was the principle violated in Eden when our first parents disobeyed God’s command (Gen. 2:17; 3:6). They were asserting their independence, and we’ve been suffering from that ever since!

The Bible says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein” (Ps. 24:1). “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever” (Rom. 11:36). Therefore, “To God our Saviour, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 1:25). Doddridge’s hymn, a personal affirmation of these truths, begins:

My gracious Lord, I own Thy right
To every service I can pay,
And call it my supreme delight
To hear Thy dictates, and obey.

What is my being but for Thee,
Its sure support, its noblest end?
’Tis my delight Thy face to see,
And serve the cause of such a Friend.

Philip Doddridge’s hymn, O Happy Day, was written to accompany one of his sermons, and first appeared in 1755. (The refrain was added later.) His original title was “Rejoicing in our Covenant Engagements to God,” referring to the covenant the Israelites made with the Lord in II Chron. 15:12, 15. Dodderidge obviously applied this to the bond that is formed between the believer and Christ, at conversion.

O happy day, that fixed my choice
On Thee, my Saviour and my God!
Well may this glowing heart rejoice,
And tell its raptures all abroad.

Happy day, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away!
He taught me how to watch and pray,
And live rejoicing every day
Happy day, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away.

O happy bond, that seals my vows
To Him Who merits all my love!
Let cheerful anthems fill His house,
While to that sacred shrine I move.

’Tis done: the great transaction’s done!
I am the Lord’s and He is mine;
He drew me, and I followed on;
Charmed to confess the voice divine.

Now for something completely different, 🙂 here is the Cathedral Quartet performing the tune for O Happy Day, but singing the Tonic Solfa (doh, ray, me) instead of words. It’s a novelty number, done just for fun.

Grace, ‘Tis a Charming Sound is a joint effort between Doddridge and Augustus Toplady, author of the hymn Rock of Ages. The hymn is based on Eph. 2:5, “By grace you have been saved,” and Pastor Doddridge’s original title was “Salvation by Grace.” Most hymnals today add a refrain, which was not part of the original.

Grace, ’tis a charming sound,
Harmonious to mine ear;
Heav’n with the echo shall resound,
And all the earth shall hear.

Saved by grace alone!
This is all my plea;
Jesus died for all mankind,
And Jesus died for me.

‘Twas grace that wrote my name
In life’s eternal book;
’Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,
Who all my sorrows took.

Grace taught my wand’ring feet
To tread the heav’nly road;
And new supplies each hour I meet,
While pressing on to God.

O let Thy grace inspire
My soul with strength divine
May all my powers to Thee aspire,
And all my days be Thine.