MUSIC. BRATTLE STREET. For comments on the composer of this tune, Ignace Pleyel, see [Hymn 238].
200. Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings
Robert Seagrave, 1693-c. 1759
This hymn, entitled “The Pilgrim’s Song,” first appeared in Hymns for Christian Worship, by Robert Seagrave, London, 1742.
Robert Seagrave, son of Rev. Robert Seagrave, was educated at Cambridge and was ordained a clergyman in the Church of England. He became interested in the Wesleys and Whitefield and published pamphlets and sermons designed to reform the clergy and Church of England. He wrote 50 original hymns, of which this one is still in use. The exact year of Seagrave’s death is not certain.
MUSIC. AMSTERDAM is attributed to James Nares, 1715-1783, but most authorities believe the tune to be much older. It appears in what is known as the Foundery Collection, the first Methodist hymnal, by John Wesley, 1742, and is said to be one of the German chorale tunes which John Wesley acquired from the Moravian Brethren.
201. We would see Jesus
Anna B. Warner, 1820-1915
Based on John 12:20-23: “There were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: the same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.... And Jesus answered them saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.”
The hymn first appeared in six stanzas in Hymns of the Church Militant, compiled by Anna Warner, New York, 1858, and published in 1861. It is another example of a fine hymn contributed by a woman.