HYMN STORIES OF THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY

by
WILLIAM J. HART, M.A., D.D.
Member of the Hymn Society of America, author of
“Unfamiliar Stories of Familiar Hymns”

With a Foreword by
BISHOP W. EARL LEDDEN, D.D., LL.D.

Publishers W. A. WILDE COMPANY Boston

Copyright, 1948
By W. A. Wilde Company
All rights reserved
Made in the United States of America

Dedicated
to
The Churches I Have Served as Pastor

FOREWORD

The most important musical feature of any service of worship is the singing of hymns by the congregation. When voices are united in Christian song, hearts may readily be joined in common worship. Then it becomes much more than a musical feature. It becomes an act of worship. And all who thus sing are builders of a Temple of Tone wherein their own hearts become the altar, high and lifted up.

Before this great thing can come to pass, there must be a familiarity with the hymns—an appreciation of these “crown jewels of the church.” Anyone, then, who directs attention to Christian hymns and stimulates interest in them is adding to our resources for private and public worship.

The author of this volume is continuing and extending his Christian ministry by calling attention to the use of hymns and gospel songs on various occasions and exhorting us all to sing. He is a retired member of the Northern New York Conference of The Methodist Church, honored for his long and fruitful ministry, and beloved for his unfailing devotion to the spreading of the gospel through the still wider use of Christian hymns.

W. Earl Ledden.

Syracuse, New York

TABLE OF CONTENTS

[Introduction] 9 [Chapter I. Let’s Sing] 13 [1. They Sang with the Marine Band] [2. Song of the Chaplain’s Wife] [3. Our Popular Processional Hymn] [4. Heard Lauder’s Song and Wesley’s Hymn] [5. The Hymn with Exclamation Points] [Chapter II. Morning Melodies] 25 [1. The Morning Call] [2. Morning Hymn on an Ocean Voyage] [3. Morning Songs Fill the Day with Music] [4. Hymn Suggested by a “Blaze of Leafage”] [Chapter III. Sunset Songs] 32 [1. Nature Gave the Perfect Touch] [2. The Bells of Trinity] [3. Singing Soldiers] [4. Hymn Discussion at Oyster Bay] [Chapter IV. Serenading the Soul With Song] 39 [1. That Was Yesterday!] [2. Song of the Hidden Singer] [3. Americans Sang with the Japanese Lady] [4. Northfield’s Festival of Sacred Music] [Chapter V. Hymns of Comfort] 47 [1. God’s Angels in Charge] [2. Singing Welshmen at Oxford] [3. Singing Amid Suffering] [4. Songs of a Sorrowing Nation] [Chapter VI. Occasions To Remember] 58 [1. “Abide With Me” in a Submarine] [2. Wheel Chair Singers] [3. Sang the Hymn from Memory] [4. Hymn Expressed the Hearer’s Feelings] [5. Hymn of the Homesick American] [6. His Ordination Hymn] [7. Soldiers Sang at Their General’s Funeral] [Chapter VII. Hymns That Changed Lives] 71 [1. When Catherine Booth Made the Great Decision] [2. His Song and Experience in a Coal Mine] [3. Decision of the “Incorrigible”] [4. The Hymn That Wrought a Miracle] [Chapter VIII. Songs of Childhood and Youth] 80 [1. Song of the Child in the Shelter] [2. What the Scouts Sang] [3. “Jesus Bids Us Shine”] [4. Men Loved the Kiddies’ Hymn] [Chapter IX. Sang in Their Own Tongues] 87 [1. Chinese and Americans Sang a Negro Spiritual] [2. Christmas Carols in Two Tongues] [3. “Everybody Knows ‘Holy Night’”] [4. Unifying Influence Of Song at Eastertide] [Chapter X. Patriotic Music in War and Peace] 93 [1. Surprise for American Soldiers] [2. “America the Beautiful” Heard at Arlington] [3. An American Home on Invasion Day] [4. “Our God is Marching On!”] [5. “The Star-Spangled Banner” at War’s End] [6. Kipling’s “Recessional”] [Chapter XI. Thanksgiving in Song] 105 [1. Two Statesmen Sang “America”] [2. Gunner Led the Song Of Praise] [3. Minister Thrilled by Singing of Philadelphia Laymen] [4. “We Love the Place”] [5. Memorable Rendering of the Doxology] [Chapter XII. Carols at Christmastide] 115 [1. Christmas Carols on Deck of Battleship] [2. Christmastide Song of Blind Singers] [3. Not Too Late to Hear the Christmas Music] [4. Carol the Children Wanted] [Chapter XIII. The Cross and the Church] 121 [1. Building Gone, but Hymn Remains] [2. An Army with Banners] [3. Church Cross Inspired Grocer’s Song] [4. Visiting Singer Familiar with the Hymn] [Chapter XIV. Easter With the Hymnal] 127 [1. Easter Song of a Centenarian] [2. Easter in New Guinea] [3. Eastertide Hymn at an Easter Funeral] [4. Mother’s Hymn at Eventide] [Bibliography] 135 [Index of Hymns] 137

INTRODUCTION

“That was heavenly,” said a Welshman at the close of a service of sacred song at which he had listened to the narration of incidents with apparent delight and had joyously joined in the singing. Hymns are a source of joy to persons of all ages; and youth and age alike enjoy singing them. The hymnal stands next to the Bible in the devotional reading of many people. Workers among young people find hymn stories to be an important feature of their work; and preachers know that an illustration relating to a hymn not only makes an effective appeal but is also long remembered. Short hymn stories give comforting satisfaction to sick people in their quiet chambers, especially when they can sometimes sing or hum them.

Great hymns belong to the ages. They are timeless, and always new stories are being associated with them. But this collection of stories does not range over the centuries; it comes from our own century almost entirely. The hymns are mostly old; but the stories are new. Two quotations indicate what a hymn is and its effects.

The following was adopted by The Hymn Society of America as its definition of a Christian hymn:

“A Christian hymn is a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung and which expresses the worshipper’s attitude toward God, or God’s purposes in human life. It should be simple and metrical in form, genuinely emotional, poetic and literary in style, spiritual in quality, and in its ideas so direct and so immediately apparent as to unify a congregation while singing it.”—Carl F. Price.

“Some kinds of music are like mental and spiritual food. They console us when we have lost someone dear to us. They inspire us to higher forms of living, which give us greater inner satisfaction. They stimulate us to make greater effort to overcome the immense difficulties in the future. This kind of music is beyond question of great value to every individual, community, and nation. This kind of music was bequeathed to us from many lands and is the birthright of everyone.”—Leopold Stokowski in “The New York Times Magazine.”

Hymn stories are related to a definite moment and to an unusual experience, such as the one which tells of the men in the submarine ([p. 60]); or that which relates how the visiting Scotsman thrilled the Presbyterian ministers in Philadelphia, and their kindled emotions found expression in a hymn ([p. 109]). Many of them came spontaneously from the heart, and thus they make a lasting impression.

Such incidents as these, coming from several lands, the author has gleaned from many sources, both American and British, and now he shares them with his readers. The sources from whence they came have been indicated, and his gratitude for the privilege of passing them on to others is very great.

The index will enable the reader to find the hymns included. The hymns themselves come from standard hymnals of the churches. A short bibliography is included. Among the books mentioned, that of Dr. Moffatt is especially useful, because it partakes, somewhat, of the nature of a short dictionary of hymnology. Professor Smith’s work is unique in its arrangements and will be particularly helpful to those preparing programs for special occasions. A copy of the handbook to the hymnal which the reader uses will prove to be very valuable.

The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful service rendered by the Rev. Herbert Harrison.

Readers will peruse with deep interest the Foreword written by Bishop W. Earl Ledden. His life has been intimately related to church music. During his student days in both college and theological seminary, he was actively associated with musical leadership. Since his election to the episcopacy, he has sometimes given addresses to group meetings of ministers and church lay leaders on the importance of appropriate music in church services. His words, therefore, come from the pen of one who has had ripe experience in the field of hymnology.

William J. Hart.

Lacona, New York

CHAPTER I
LET’S SING

“So will we sing and praise thy power”

—(Psa. 21:13).

“Lend a voice to swell the chorus,

Chant the songs that time endears;

They were sung by those before us,

They will chime along the years.”

—Arthur Guiterman in “The Classmate.”

“We have no surer link with our fathers of generations past, and with our fellow-Christians of to-day, than is provided by the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs which are our spiritual heritage.” —Preface to The Hymnary of the United Church of Canada.

“The echoes of your music die;

Some say, ‘The song is ended’—but

They do not know.

It lives on—in my soul;

And I stay nearer God

Because of it.”

—Bessie C. Hicks in “The Church School.”

Congregational singing, as we know it, we really owe to Luther and to Calvin. —Dr. Arthur John Gossip.

They Sang with the Marine Band

The community Christmas Tree at Washington in 1946 afforded a pleasant occasion when it was illuminated. The scene was outlined for, probably, millions of listeners in all parts of the country. The nation was enjoying an unusually happy season, for though World War II had ended more than a year before, many of the nation’s sons and daughters who had taken a part in the terrific struggle had only recently returned to their homes. Wartime restrictions had made a tree impossible for a few years; and so this lighting of the tree at the capital was an enjoyable feature, and Washington, apparently, made the most of it. The evening was fair. The crowds were in attendance, and President Truman delivered an address.

The United States Marine Band played, of course, and the school children, in festive mood, sang, as well as others. The tree was ablaze with lights.

The ceremonies were announced to close with the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by the band, and the musicians began to play. Soon there came over the radio the humming of many voices, then the people began to sing as the band played. Gradually the volume of voices increased. And before the music ceased it sounded as though a mighty chorus expressed their pent-up feelings in the happy strains:

“Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner still wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

The joy of freedom was in their hearts and voices at that happy and memorable moment. Band and voices made mighty and glorious music for the many who sat in their homes and listened to the convenient radio.

Song of the Chaplain’s Wife

She was lonesome as she sat in the small parsonage. Her preacher husband had entered the army as a chaplain in World War II, and this little woman, like many others of that period, had several problems to solve. A family of small children had to be looked after. Furthermore, being a lay preacher, she had been asked to care for her husband’s church during the period of his service with the armed forces of the United States. Household help was almost impossible to secure; but, with the aid of a high school girl, mostly, she cared for the home, with its three small children, and also the church.

This little woman (for she was really small physically) was a trained musician. She could both play and sing, if need be, as well as preach. Natural was it, therefore, that she should turn to her hymnal as well as her Bible for needed strength of soul. She found it in a comparatively new hymn. Its prayerful spirit expressed the yearning desire of her soul:

“Come! Peace of God, and dwell again on earth,

Come, with the calm that hailed Thy Prince’s birth,

Come, with the healing of Thy gentle touch,

Come, Peace of God, that this world needs so much.”

She asked to have it sung when I led a devotional service. Then I later wrote her, asking: “What particular association has this hymn with your life?” Her answer was as follows: “It is a favorite hymn with me, partly because of the unusual and beautiful harmony to be found in the music, and partly because the words are my own prayer for the world, and also for myself, now that my husband is serving as a chaplain.”

Seeking information concerning the hymn itself, I turned to the informing work of Dr. McCutchen. There I learned that it “was written about 1928, when there was much talk about the peace of the world and a great desire for it amid the unrest of the nations.” The author, Miss May Rowland, submitted it in manuscript to the commission preparing the new hymnal of The Methodist Church, “and its inclusion in this book (1935) marked its first publication.”

The author of the hymn, and also the composer of the tune (“Pax”), are both residents of England, and each is a prize-winner. When The Hymn Society of America issued an appeal for a “Hymn for Airmen,” though there were more than twelve hundred competitors from all parts of the world, Miss Rowland won. Musicians were then invited to furnish a musical setting for the same. This contest was also world-wide, and Miss Lily Rendle was the winner. This was in 1928; and both women were greatly surprised to learn that they each lived in Bournemouth within a mile of each other, though they were born in different parts of the country. “Since that time their artistic association has been close.” One of their beautiful joint productions is this:

“The day is slowly wending

Toward its silent ending,

But ’mid its light declining

The evening star is shining:

O Father, while we sleep,

Thy children keep!”

World War II ended suddenly and dramatically. Soldiers were returning home in large numbers by the latter part of 1945. “Will Daddy be home for Christmas?” the chaplain’s children began to ask. “We hope so,” was the cheery reply of the anticipating woman. “Perhaps he’ll even return for Thanksgiving,” she added.

One day early in November Chaplain Donald M. Cobb, of the United States Army, appeared at the parsonage in the little railroad center at Richland, New York. What an unspeakably happy moment for him, his wife, and the three growing children! Thanksgiving and Christmas would both be spent at home. Now a manly voice could blend with the voices of his wife and the growing girls, as that night the family circle gathered around the piano and sang:

“Come! Blessed Peace, as when, in hush of eve,

God’s benediction falls on souls who grieve;

As shines a star when weary day departs,

Come! Peace of God, and rule within our hearts.”

Our Popular Processional Hymn

The annual picnic in many of our American Sunday Schools has some features in common with the annual tea treat in the program of the village Sunday Schools in England. The latter, however, has some more spectacular features, such as the procession through the village streets headed, most likely, by a band as well as the minister and the superintendent. Whit-Monday is a favored time in many sections of the country for this eagerly anticipated event.

For such a day as this a young curate in Horbury, a Yorkshire village, was asked to select a hymn to be sung for the Whit-Monday occasion. He thought of a good marching tune, but he did not like the words. So he sat up late one night, composed his own song, and it was sung the next day for the first time. That was in 1864; and it was published in The Church Times (October 15) that same year as a “Hymn for Procession with Cross and Banners”:

“Onward, Christian soldiers!

Marching as to war,

With the cross of Jesus

Going on before.

Christ, the royal Master,

Leads against the foe;

Forward into battle,

See His banners go!”

This hymn rates high both in the United States and in England. St. Gertrude is ideally associated with the song. This tune came from Sir Arthur Sullivan; but someone has sagely remarked, “It took Baring-Gould to inspire Sir Arthur.” “As a hymn of inspiration it has no superior,” said Dr. E. S. Lorenz. More than half a century ago Dr. Charles S. Robinson made this illuminating comment: “It meets an American ideal, mechanically speaking, in that it is simple, rhythmical, lyric, and has a refrain at the end of each stanza.”

The little folks like to sing this song whenever they have the opportunity, and this is one of the hymns they often learn before they can read. “It is fundamentally a Sunday School song; but it has grown up and is now sung many more times in the congregation than in the Sunday school.”

Gloriously inspiring is it to hear a great company of people of all ages sing:

“Crown and thrones may perish,

Kingdoms rise and wane,

But the Church of Jesus

Constant will remain.”

Sabine Baring-Gould, the author (1834-1924) a graduate of Cambridge University, was a man of unusual versatility. Some of his experiences were exceptional. He had means at his disposal, and spent considerable time in his youth in France and Germany. Writing extensively, “it is said that he has more book titles listed in the literary catalogue of the British Museum than any other writer of his times.” Various parishes were served by him until 1881. He then exercised his rights “as squire of the estate in Lew Trenchard, Devon,” which he inherited from his father, and appointed himself as rector.

This historic incident has been preserved for us by Dr. E. S. Lorenz: “It had been carefully arranged by the Executive Committee of the World’s Sunday School Convention, held at Washington, D. C., in 1910, that the hymn ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers,’ should be sung in Sunday Schools in every part of the world on Sunday, May 22, of that year. For this purpose the hymn was translated and printed in more than one hundred languages and dialects. What a magnificent illustration of the solidarity of the Christian Church in a progressive, aggressive attitude!”

Heard Lauder’s Song and Wesley’s Hymn

“Before going to our watch-night services many of us heard Sir Harry Lauder singing his old favorite, ‘Keep right on to the end of the road,’ from ‘Though the way be long, let your heart be strong,’” wrote a woman at the beginning of 1947. She was thus reminded that though we take a long look backward at the close of a year, we are also disposed to take a forward look when the New Year dawns.

Then the woman went to the watch-night service at the church. Soon she found herself singing with the others the hymn written for this occasion by Charles Wesley:

“Come, let us anew our journey pursue,

Roll round with the year,

And never stand still till the Master appear.

His adorable will let us gladly fulfill,

And our talents improve,

By the patience of hope, and the labor of love.”

Returning home, she confessed that she found herself with the feeling that the Scotch minstrel and the English hymn writer each had an appropriate message for the human spirit.

The Hymn with Exclamation Points

After Dr. Charles Kendall Gilbert was elected to succeed Bishop William T. Manning as head of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of New York in the latter part of January, 1947, The New York Times said in an editorial: “It will now be his responsibility to build his church on ever stronger foundations in a world beset by doubt, bewilderment and confusion. But it is also an inspiring task. The hymn sung before his election was dedicatory:

“‘Rise up, O men of God!

Have done with lesser things.’”

“That hymn will be sung when everything else about you is forgotten,” the great pulpit orator of Brooklyn, Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, once remarked to the author of the vigorous hymn which both clergymen and laymen sang together on that responsible day.

“Every stanza has at least one exclamation point,” remarked Dr. Charles A. Boyd, when he called attention to this peculiar feature of the hymn written by Dr. William Pierson Merrill. In fact, out of the four stanzas in the copy now in front of the writer, two of these have two exclamation points each. The vivid style of this hymn, therefore, is an emphatic call for speedy action. The hymn was written to incite men to “do something,” and to do it without delay. Hence the call:

“Give heart and mind and soul and strength

To serve the King of kings.”

This hymn was written for a definite purpose and a particular occasion. It came to us early in the twentieth century when the Brotherhood movement was one of large proportions in some of the great denominations in the United States; and the large conventions which were held in vital centers of the country were scenes of tremendous enthusiasm. During that period Nolan R. Best, then editor of The Continent, remarked to Dr. Merrill that there was need of a Brotherhood hymn. The suggestion lingered in the mind of the latter. About the same time (1911) Dr. Merrill read an article by Gerald Stanley Lee on “The Church of Strong Men.” “I was on one of the Lake Michigan steamers,” Dr. R. G. McCutchen quotes him as saying, “going back to Chicago for a Sunday at my own church, when suddenly this hymn came up, almost without conscious thought or effort.”

Quickly the hymn made an appeal to various denominations, which included it in their revised hymnals. Other countries, also, approvingly placed this hymn in their new books. Thus it is found in The Hymnary of the United Church of Canada, and The Methodist Hymn Book, London. Dr. Merrill once said, “It has given me very deep satisfaction to have the hymn obtain such general use. Several times each year I am asked for permission to include it in some new collection of hymns.” But, as Dr. C. M. Washburn has remarked, “Any hymnal is enriched because of the inclusion of these challenging lines.”

A newspaper reporter (Ernest J. Bowden) in an upstate city of New York has an assignment each Sunday to attend a selected church, and then write his impressions. He is peculiarly sensitive to the music rendered, and often makes illuminating comments on the same. He was peculiarly gratified when, on a December Sunday, he was assigned to a Presbyterian church to report a visiting minister. Thirty years earlier he had heard a new hymn sung in a city in California, and he had remembered the name of the writer. Now came the opportunity to hear him. After the service he met the author, and the two talked about Dr. Merrill’s choice hymn. The author told the newspaper man that while on a trip to Oriental missions he had heard this hymn sung in both Japanese and Chinese. Also, it was sung at a meeting in India which he addressed. At the close of the gathering Dr. Merrill said to the leader of the music, “It was very thoughtful of you to sing my hymn.”

“We didn’t know that you wrote it; we sang it because we like it,” was the reply.

“Better still,” continued Dr. Merrill. “That’s the finest tribute it could have received.”

This sketch was then given by the reporter of Dr. Merrill, in 1944, “He is a genial soul, free and friendly as the gospel he preached in Brick Church, New York. He retired in 1938, and is now climbing toward eighty. But you would never think it to see him. His voice rang clear as a bell through every pew.” Then, speaking as a layman, he remarked: “When a group of men have been sitting for hours, or days, in conference, threshing over the routine of church or community, what more fitting climax could there be than the call to sing in parting:

“‘Rise up, O men of God!

Have done with lesser things;

Give heart and mind and soul and strength

To serve the King of kings.’”

The wide service rendered by this hymn to the Christian Church is indicated by the fact that when the Bishop of Ripon congratulated Dr. Merrill on having written such a choice and practical hymn, he said: “I use it at every communion service in my diocese where young people are received into the church.” Thus did the Episcopalian leader pay tribute to the appeal of the hymn written by the eminent Presbyterian author. Doubtless this hymn is destined to play a valiant part in helping to

“Bring in the day of Brotherhood

And end the night of wrong.”

I cherish a program sent me by a friend who lives in a Cornish town beyond the wide Atlantic. It outlined a great service of thanksgiving for the return of peace held in one of the largest churches in the county, when the several churches of the community participated. The rector of the parish and the several ministers of the town united in conducting a carefully prepared service of hymns, responsive readings, prayers and addresses. Thus they that day remembered those who had fallen in World War II. Then, in closing, those men, women and youth, which packed the great building, led by a worthy choir, stood and sang the hymn of our American author:

“Rise up, O men of God!

The Church for you doth wait,

Her strength unequal to her task;

Rise up, and make her great!”

Then came the closing stanza, with also two exclamation points:

“Lift high the cross of Christ!

Tread where His feet have trod;

As brothers of the Son of Man,

Rise up, O men of God!”

CHAPTER II
MORNING MELODIES

“But I sing of thy strength,

a morning song to thy love.”

(Psa. 59:16, Moffatt).

“For lovely morning songs we have:

(1)

‘Come, my soul, thou must be waking;

Now is breaking

O’er the earth another day.’

(2)

‘When morning gilds the skies,

My heart awaking cries,

May Jesus Christ be praised!’

(3)

‘Fairest Lord Jesus,

Ruler of all nature,

O Thou of God and man the Son,

Thee will I cherish

Thee will I honor,

Thee, my soul’s Glory, Joy, and Crown.’

The third of these is something which seems to me a perfect hymn.”—From an address by Dean Howard Chandler Robbins at the Northfield General Conference, 1938.

The Morning Call

Her father was a lay preacher, and she, a school teacher, followed in his steps. She was in the pulpit on that Sunday morning when an American citizen visited the country of his birth, in the summer of 1946 to observe post-war conditions. He was now amid familiar scenes in the far south of England. The morning was full of glorious sunshine, and he went to church as he had done when a boy. Then he wrote an account of the service, and sent it to his home folks.

What, he wondered, would be the hymn which this “spiritually and mentally disciplined woman” might select for the opening of the service. That question was answered when this preacher-daughter of a preacher-father announced the charming lines of Geoffrey A. Studdert Kennedy:

“Awake, awake to love and work,

The lark is in the sky,

The fields are wet with diamond dew,

The worlds awake to cry

Their blessings on the Lord of Life,

As He goes meekly by.”

There the visitor blended his voice with some of those he had known in his boyhood days as they together worshipped in the village church. The preacher stood in the pulpit with the ease of one born to it, and “joined in the singing with the full-voiced enthusiasm of a thrush or mockingbird on a spring morning.”

This song is placed among the morning hymns in The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church (1940). Imaginative and impressive is the language used in the second verse:

“Come, let thy voice be one with theirs,

Shout with their shout of praise;

See how the giant sun roars up,

Great Lord of years and days!

So let the love of Jesus come

And set thy soul ablaze.”

“Woodbine Willie” was the name, for some reason, given to the author when he became a chaplain in World War I. His was a charmed name in the army, and his experiences there “made him an enthusiast for peace.” He became a rector in London, and in 1924 he made a visit to the United States and added many persons to the long list of friends already his. Death came to him in Liverpool in 1929. Someone characterized him as “the wholly lovable prophet of social righteousness.” Through coming years he will continue to speak to the hearts of many who joyfully sing his inspiring morning hymn with its lilting tune.

Morning Hymn on an Ocean Voyage

Time for reflection is found on an ocean voyage, and, as the writer and many others can testify, lasting impressions are often made. Such an experience came to one who was making a trip around the world in the days between two world wars. “The sea,” said he, “was not a friend of mine as we rode the mountainous waves for nearly three weeks without a port of call.” Much of the time, indeed, he lay in his cabin simply watching the rising and the falling of the waves through the porthole.

A Sunday morning, however, dawned fair and bright; and he found himself “able to make his way to the top deck for divine worship.” Never, he confessed, was he more deeply touched by a hymn than when the company of passengers, and some members of the crew, united in singing as their opening hymn:

“New every morning is the love

Our wakening and uprising prove;

Through sleep and darkness safely brought,

Restored to life and power and thought.”

The memory of that hymn proved to be cheering and invigorating. He later wrote: “How beautiful this sunny Sunday morning with no land, or fish, or bird in sight. Just the sun, the sky, and the sea. How sacred the upper deck seemed that morning! Can you not believe that I never hear this hymn sung without again feeling the waves lifting me, the scene crowding my brain with its poignancy—sea, sky, sun, and God’s care through another night on the ocean waves.”

A brilliant scholar was John Keble, author of “The Christian Year,” from which this hymn comes. It is regarded as one “of the greatest religious classics in the English language.” This tribute has been paid to this work by Nutter and Tillett: “What the Prayer Book is in prose for public worship, ‘The Christian Year’ is in poetry for private devotion.” Mentally suggestive are the lines which have such a direct relation to daily living:

“New mercies, each returning day,

Hover around us while we pray;

New perils past, new sins forgiven,

New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.”

Morning Songs Fill the Day with Music

Skilled in both the art and science of making lovely gardens, Silas Kenton loved to sing while working. The story of this interesting English gardener was related by the Rev. S. Horton in “Say It with Song.”

“Good morning, Kenton,” was the cheery greeting of Lady Lawder, by whom he was employed, one day. Then she added: “You were singing early this morning, Silas. I could hear you as I lay in bed.”

“I hope I didn’t disturb your ladyship,” he answered. “I had forgotten the green-houses were so near your room. It was thoughtless of me and I am sorry indeed.”

“Well, it did wake me up, but I didn’t mind. What was it you were singing? The tune was familiar to me.”

“It was an old favorite of mine,” replied Silas:

“‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee.’”

The musical gardener then made this observation: “You see, ma’am, when the world gets busy, there are doubtless thousands upon thousands of singers whose songs are rising like sweet music to the skies. I like to think that most mornings I’m one of the earliest of the Lord’s servants offering my tribute of praise. Besides I always think a few songs before breakfast fill the heart with music all the day.”

Hymn Suggested by a “Blaze of Leafage”

For eight months an English Episcopalian bishop confined to a Japanese prison saw no sunlight. But this prisoner of war did witness what he described as “a blaze of leafage on some trees.” This sight recalled to the mind of the bishop a hymn from the heart and pen of Charles Wesley:

“Christ, whose glory fills the skies,

Christ, the true, the only Light,

Sun of righteousness, arise,

Triumph o’er the shades of night;

Day-Spring from on high, be near;

Day-Star, in my heart appear.”

This experience which came to Dr. J. L. Wilson, Bishop of Singapore, who was representing the Church of England, stood out above all others, and represented the value of a mind stored with memories of hymns. Three thousand people listened most attentively for forty-five minutes in the City Hall, Sheffield, England, in September, 1946, as the speaker narrated experiences which can come only in war time.

A reporter was among those who heard with amazement the words of the bishop as he explained how, charged with being a “spy,” he was “imprisoned, tortured, and flogged with ropes almost beyond endurance” by the Japanese. Four thousand persons were crowded into a prison designed to accommodate seven hundred. They were a courageous company, however. “When men and women came downstairs bleeding from torture, they might not speak; but they smiled, and the others smiled back.” Bishop Wilson was the only “European among Malayans, Indians and Chinese.” But his fellow-prisoners, observing his firmness and forgiving spirit, asked him to teach them to pray.

Bread and wine were lacking, but Bishop Wilson used tea or water in the celebration of the Holy Communion on Sundays. “It might be irregular,” the speaker remarked with a smile; but he could not be convinced that it was not valid. A Christian girl, he learned, was there for helping the British, and the elements were passed through the prison bars to her.

The hymn which lifted the soul of the imprisoned bishop above his immediate surroundings came from the singing spirit of Charles Wesley, and appeared in 1740 in his “Hymns and Sacred Poems.” The hymnology of both British and American Methodism is enriched by the inclusion of this song of worship; and it is also found in the Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church, The Hymnal (Presbyterian), The Hymnary (of the United Church of Canada), The Inter-Church Hymnal, etc. The three verses will be found “full of the sunshine of which they sing,” observed Dr. Charles S. Robinson. Lovers of literature will be especially interested in a comment made by Dr. James Moffatt, where he says, “George Eliot uses this hymn in Adam Bede describing how Seth Bede, the young Methodist, on leaving his brother one Sunday morning in February, ‘walked leisurely homeward, mentally repeating one of his favorite hymns.’ It was this one.”

Easy is it, therefore, for us to imagine Bishop Wilson, the liberty-loving Englishman, confined to a sunless prison in a foreign country, catching a glimpse of “a blaze of leafage on some trees,” then refreshing his singing spirit by mentally repeating the lines which he had often joined with others in publicly singing when a youth in his homeland:

“Dark and cheerless is the morn

Unaccompanied by Thee;

Joyless is the day’s return

Till Thy mercy’s beams I see;

Till they inward light impart,

Cheer my eyes and warm my heart.”

“Stone walls do not a prison make” when one has a song in his soul. And he who knows his hymnal well has one for every occasion.

CHAPTER III
SUNSET SONGS

“In the night I sang of him.”

(Psa. 42:10, Moffatt).

“One of the most successful numbers sung in the series of Sunday evening concerts, which for several years it was my privilege and pleasure to sponsor, was that old English hymn, ‘Now the Day is Over.’ That hymn marked the close of each Sunday night concert, and the thousands of letters I received from listeners throughout the country gave sure evidence that this old religious song struck a responsive chord in the heart of listeners everywhere.” —A. Atwater Kent in a broadcast on “Radio’s Influence on Music.”

A group of young men from an English theological college, the “Cliff College Trekkers,” went, during the summer of 1936, to Morecambe, and there this band of energetic youth held Sunday services on the slipway.

Evening prayer was also held by them at the slipway, and one who was present expressed gratitude through the press for the privilege of sharing these moments of quiet devotion. Following prayers, the entire company united in singing:

“All hail the power of Jesus’ name.”

People who had listened to the inspirational hymn were doubtless singing in their hearts, as they walked to their seaside residences, the glowing words:

“And crown Him Lord of all.”

Nature Gave the Perfect Touch

Some of the great moments of a lifetime were experienced by lovers of sacred music on an evening in late June, 1931, at the stadium of Cornell University. The Westminster Choirs, arrayed in their resplendent robes, sang under the leadership of the distinguished conductor, Dr. J. Finley Williamson. A representative of The Syracuse Post-Standard thus sketched the event for his newspaper:

“The scene:—Eleven harps were ranged on the velvet green in front of the singers. The skies were hung with black clouds for a canopy. The soft beauty of the marvellous scenery, as far as the eye could reach, surrounded all. Lightning darted through the clouds, and the low rumble of thunder was a background for the celestial music of the harps as they played the hymn:

“‘Day is dying in the west;

Heaven is touching earth with rest:

Wait and worship while the night

Sets her evening lamps alight

Through all the sky.’

“When the voices, in unison with the harps, hummed the melody, it was something to be cherished in memory. Words fail to describe adequately the impression. It was the perfect touch that only nature is able to give to human effort.”

During such sublime moments the musicians passed to the close of the hymn:

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!

Heaven and earth are full of Thee!

Heaven and earth are praising Thee,

O Lord most high!”

The music combined with the display of nature to induce a mood which brought God very close to his earthly children that June afternoon.

The Bells of Trinity

Startled as he wandered rather aimlessly amid lower New York, a distinguished visitor listened to the Bells of Trinity Church as they joyously pealed forth the strains of:

“Hark, hark, my soul! angelic songs are swelling

O’er earth’s green fields and ocean’s wave-beat shore;

How sweet the truth those blessèd strains are telling

Of that new life when sin shall be no more!”

The music fell with soul-stirring effect on the ears of Dr. John A. Hutton, long-time editor of The British Weekly, who was in the United States, as he frequently was in summer-time, to fulfill engagements in preaching and lecturing.

The location of Trinity Church, whence came the eventide music, deepened the interest in the hymn. Said Dr. Hutton: “I was hearing the Lord’s song just where the Lord’s song stands in most need of being heard, and just where the Lord’s song sounds most sweetly. I was hearing the Lord’s song in a strange land.” Down opposite Wall street, “Where Mammon holds the throne, dwarfed and almost overshadowed by immense business and financial houses, rises the spire of Trinity.” Hence, “where men were engrossed in the things of time and sense, there fell upon the ear a song that spoke of heaven.”

The most popular setting in America for this hymn is “Pilgrims” by Henry Smart, with what H. Augustine Smith calls its “plaintive wistfulness.” This hymn therefore, according to Boyd, “appeals to both the poetic sense and the musical ear.”

Personally I have seen congregations deeply moved as they have joined in singing, at an evening service of worship:

“Angels, sing on! your faithful watches keeping;

Sing us sweet fragments of the songs above;

Till morning’s joy shall end the night of weeping,

And life’s long shadows break in cloudless love.”

Singing Soldiers

Fifteen soldiers were gathered together on a Thursday evening in a little French village behind the line during the First World War. Forming themselves into a semicircle around the chaplain, Thomas Tiplady, who has described the scene in “The Cross at the Front,” they made choice of the hymn they would like sung to open their devotional meeting. Then they joined in singing:

“At even, ere the sun was set,

The sick, O Lord, around Thee lay;

O in what divers pains they met!

O with what joy they went away!

“Once more ’tis eventide, and we,

Oppressed with various ills, draw near;

What if Thy form we cannot see?

We know and feel that Thou art here.”

The evening was still, and the voices of the men playing football not far away were heard, as well as the sound of guns. Yet as the men sang the birds were also singing in some neighboring trees. Chaplain Tiplady makes this observation: “To him who has only sung this hymn in a church much of its beauty must of necessity be hidden. It is revealed only in the light of the setting sun. The men were facing the Golden West. The pomp of the dying day lay upon the rustling leaves of the trees and upon the grass at our feet. It lit up with beauty the faces of the men as they sang. Soon it would be gone, and the shadows would wrap us round as with a mantle.” But those Englishmen in France sang their faith and prayer:

“Thy touch has still its ancient prayer,

No word from Thee can fruitless fall;

Hear in this solemn evening hour,

And in Thy mercy heal us all.”

Hymn Discussion at Oyster Bay

Captain Archibald W. Butt, personal aide to President Theodore Roosevelt, spending a week-end at the Roosevelt residence in Oyster Bay, N. Y., accompanied the family to a morning service of worship on July 27, 1908, at the Episcopal Church. Mrs. Roosevelt was a member of this church. Mr. Roosevelt was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, but when in Oyster Bay he used to worship with the family; and so, on this occasion, he took Captain Butt, also an Episcopalian, with him. Later in the day Captain Butt referred to the hymns sung in the service, and, being from the South, made this observation: “I think the South likes strong, sentimental hymns, while every one which was sung at Oyster Bay had some poetic value.”

Theodore Roosevelt sang hymns with zest, and enjoyed variety. On this day, however, he declared that his favorite hymn was:

“Christ is made the sure Foundation,

Christ the head and corner-stone,

Chosen of the Lord, and precious,

Binding all the Church in one;

Holy Sion’s help for ever,

And her confidence alone.”

This is a translation from an old Latin hymn by Dr. John Mason Neale. Information concerning this hymn by Dr. Charles S. Robinson is as follows: “It is more popular in England than it is on this side of the water, except, perhaps, among Episcopalians, who, as a denomination, seem very fond of it. It is used for corner-stone services, and for dedications and the like, with much acceptance.”

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!”

was given by Mr. Roosevelt as his next choice. But he also expressed admiration for “Jerusalem the Golden,” and very naturally for a man of his type:

“The Son of God goes forth to war.”

Mrs. Roosevelt, on the other hand, named as her choice:

“Nearer, my God, to Thee;”

and also:

“Art thou weary, art thou laden,

Art thou sore distrest?

‘Come to Me,’ saith One, ‘and coming,

Be at rest.’”

“For the first time I realized that I had no favorite hymn,” said Captain Butt in a letter which he wrote to his mother that very night; and which, fortunately, has been preserved in “The Letters of Archie Butt.” He added: “I have thought of it during the day, and I believe that I shall take ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee,’ as my favorite. It appeals to the sentimental side of me at least.”

“I think I should like to have sung at my funeral, ‘Nearer, My God, to Thee,’” said Butt in this letter. Singularly enough, this was the last music which he heard played before he died. He was drowned when the Titanic sank; and the ship’s band, which had been playing popular music during the fateful period after the great ship had struck an iceberg on a Sunday night, rendered as its last selection, when the boat was going down and carrying hundreds of the passengers and crew to a swift death in the Atlantic:

“Nearer, my God, to Thee.”

The following interesting observation, which I have not elsewhere seen, is made by Lawrence F. Abbott, who edited “The Letters of Archie Butt”: “It is said by survivors of the Titanic that as the ship was going down Captain Butt ordered the band to play the music of this hymn.”

Most fruitful was the discussion of hymns held at Oyster Bay on that July Sunday afternoon and evening. As a result we know the first choice of Theodore Roosevelt of the many hymns he loved; the hymns which most appealed to Mrs. Roosevelt; and on that eventful day Archibald Butt made his decision in favor of the hymn which went with him to his death in the Atlantic Ocean.

CHAPTER IV
SERENADING THE SOUL WITH SONG

“In London Town there are always queer, unexpected things to be seen and heard. The other day my wife and I went out to lunch, and we were waiting in a queue. Suddenly above the noise of the busy street we heard a tin whistle being played. The tune was ‘O Jesus, I have promised’—and it was played very well, too. This was followed by ... ‘Jerusalem the golden.’ I looked, but couldn’t see the musician.

“The queue moved up, and I was afraid I wasn’t going to see the tin whistle expert at all. But just as we got level with the door I did see him. He was now giving a spirited rendering of ‘The Church’s one foundation’—and he was a grey-headed old Negro. He wore what had been a very smartly cut officer’s tunic. The tune finished, the old fellow sat down on a doorstep.

“Where, I wondered, had he learned these hymn-tunes? And where had that Lascar seaman in the street in West Hartlepool learnt ‘There’s a Friend for Little Children?’—for he was humming it as he passed me by.” —F. H. E. in “The Methodist Recorder,” London.

Nothing is more beautiful than the sight of a company of Christians singing their hymns of praise. —Roy L. Smith.

That Was Yesterday!

“Why, Samuel!” exclaimed the surprised wife of the beloved Bishop Samuel Fallows, one morning.

The story as related by Dr. Roy L. Smith referred to a night when the ageing bishop returned from a rather stormy meeting. Harsh things had been said, and he appeared thoroughly discouraged. Entering the home, his wife, with womanly instinct, sensed the situation. The bishop even went to bed without partaking of his usual cup of hot milk.

Full of understanding sympathy, his wife expected him to remain in bed a little later than usual, and possibly have breakfast taken to him. But when she quietly entered his room, he was pulling the “weights of his ancient exercise machine.” Meanwhile he was singing:

“Come, Thou Fount of every blessing;

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace,

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.”

All this was so unexpected that the good and anxious woman, in her astonishment, could only say, “Why, Samuel!”

“Why what?” questioned the bishop, without missing a beat in the rhythm of his morning exercise.

“Why that board meeting last night. I thought you would stay in bed this morning, and try to get a bit of rest.”

“That board meeting, what about it?” he asked, as he came to a halt.

“Why it must have been terrible. You came home utterly spent and discouraged,” was the reply.

Resuming his exercise, the bishop quietly remarked, “O that was yesterday.”

The gentle man would not permit what happened yesterday to take from him his praiseful song.

Therefore as he continued to pull his exercise machine he resumed the singing of his hymn:

“Here I raise mine Ebenezer;

Hither by Thy help I’m come;

And I hope by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.”

Song of the Hidden Singer

A woman of culture was standing in a large London store waiting to be served. The customers were many, and some of them became impatient. Tired and irritated, occasionally someone would make an unpleasant remark.

Somewhere up toward the roof, a workman, invisible to the one who narrated the incident, was busy making structural alterations. Said Mrs. G. Elsie Harrison: “As he worked above us, like some ham-strung lark, he carolled.” The notes that fluttered down to her were:

“Tell me the old, old story

Of unseen things above,