Today in 1676 – Paul Gerhardt Died

Gerhardt wrote many hymns. Two of them were translated into English by John Wesley: Give to the Winds Thy Fears, and Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me. The latter is best sung to the tune St. Catherine (commonly used for Faith of Our Fathers). It is one of those songs that just overflows with passionate adoration of the Lord. (For more about Paul Gerhardt and this hymn, see Today in 1607.)

Jesus, Thy boundless love to me
No thought can reach, no tongue declare;
Unite my thankful heart with Thee
And reign without a rival there.
To Thee alone, dear Lord, I live;
Myself to Thee, dear Lord, I give.

(2) Today in 1821 – Henry Baker Born

Sir Henry Williams Baker was an Anglican clergyman who organized and led a group of 40 contributors in the creation of a historically famous hymnal, Hymns, Ancient and Modern (1861). It sold 60 million copies. Baker’s readiness to edit and alter the hymns of others caused one person to say sarcastically that the book should have been called “Hymns Asked for and Mutilated”! But the passing years have shown that in most cases Baker’s judgment was solid.

The Bible tells us many times to praise the Lord. Psalm 106 begins and ends with this. “Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!” (vs. 1)  And, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ Praise the Lord!” (vs. 48). The Hebrew word for praise (halal) is interesting. It means to boast. When used of God it includes the elements of thankfulness, satisfaction, and joy. We are very prone to boast about ourselves and our accomplishments. But the One who truly deserves our “boasting” is the Lord (cf. II Cor. 10:17).

Henry Baker also wrote what I believe is one of the greatest hymns of praise in the English language. Find a hymn book that includes all 8 stanzas of O Praise Ye the Lord (or check it out on the Cyber Hymnal). Possibly you could have your church sing it on Thanksgiving Sunday (using the stirring tune Laudate Dominum).

O praise ye the Lord! praise Him in the height;
Rejoice in His Word, ye angels of light;
Ye heavens, adore Him by whom ye were made,
And worship before Him in brightness arrayed.

On his deathbed on February 12, 1877, Henry Baker quoted the words of another of his hymns,  his paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm, The King of Love My Shepherd Is. He said:

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.

(3) Today in 1927 – Ralph Carmichael Born

[Note: some sources give Carmichael’s birth date as May 28.]

Mr. Carmichael wrote a number of popular gospel songs in the ’60s and ’70s: Is Your Burden Heavy? The Saviour Is Waiting; In the Stars His Handiwork I See; and Because the Lord Is My Shepherd, the latter being a paraphrase of Psalm 23. It begins:

Because the Lord is my shepherd,
I have everything that I need;
He lets me rest in meadows green
And leads me beside the quiet stream.

The New 23rd sung by The Horizons.