Christ is risen! he meets our eyes:
Saviour, teach us so to rise.
For comments on James Montgomery see [Hymn 62].
MUSIC. GETHSEMANE is a dignified tune in the minor mode, well adapted to carry the words of this hymn. It was composed by Christopher Tye (c. 1508-72), a musician and minister in the Anglican Church, of whom a contemporary document says that he is “a doctor of music but not skilful at preaching.” He has been called the “father of the anthem,” having given it a model for others to follow.
For comments on W. H. Monk, who adapted the tune, see [Hymn 40].
108. Alas! and did my Savior bleed
Isaac Watts, 1674-1748
A fine hymn of consecration, published by Watts in his Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707, under the title “Godly Sorrow Arising from the Sufferings of Christ.” Dr. Charles S. Robinson states that “more conversions in Christian biography are credited to this hymn than to any other.” Fanny Crosby, the blind poet, ten of whose lyrics are found in the Hymnary, credits this hymn with a share in her conversion. In telling the story she says that during a revival in the old Thirtieth Street Church, New York, in 1850, several times she sought the Saviour at the altar; but not until one evening, November 20, did the light come. “After a prayer was offered they began to sing the good old consecration hymn, ‘Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,’ and when they had reached the third line of the fourth stanza, ‘Here, Lord, I give myself away,’ my very soul flooded with celestial light.”
For comments on Isaac Watts see [Hymn 11].
MUSIC. MARTYRDOM. The original form of this melody is in common time (4/4). It appeared in triple time in R. A. Smith’s Sacred Music sung in St. George’s Church, Edinburgh, 1825, where it was designated “Old Scottish Melody.” In 1827, it appeared in The Seraph, Selection of Psalms and Hymns, edited by J. Robertson and published at Glasgow. In a footnote to the tune it is stated that “the above tune ‘Fennich,’ or ‘Martyrdom,’ and by some called ‘Drumclog,’ was composed by Hugh Wilson, a native of Fennick.” A legal dispute arose between Smith and Wilson over the ownership of the tune. The evidence was abundant to show that Wilson composed it. It is an effective tune. When it was first sung in St. George’s, Edinburgh, the minister, Dr. Thomson, said, “O man! I could not sing for weeping.”