Another evening hymn, widely used, and destined to live as long as English hymns are sung. It is taken from the author’s Christian Year, a book of devotional poetry which sold 305,500 copies in forty-six years. The original poem of fourteen stanzas, composed November 25, 1820, appeared with the title, “’Tis Gone, that Bright and Orbèd Blaze,” and was headed with the text, “Abide with us” (Luke 24:29). The hymn represents a lone traveller pressing on his way after the sun has set, but trusting in Christ, the “Sun of the soul,” for guidance and protection, and lifting a prayer for the sick and poor and the helpless. Tennyson, too, likened Christ to the sun. Asked what Christ meant to him he paused beside a flower in the garden and answered: “What the sun is to that flower, Jesus Christ is to my soul. He is the Sun of my soul.”
For further comments on John Keble see Hymn 22.
MUSIC. HURSLEY is a good tune but not as good as the original, “Grosser Gott, wir loben Dich” (No. 519), from which some unknown person adapted it. The melody and harmonization have been changed, not for the better, to suit the English words. “Hursley” was the name of the parish of which Keble was vicar, and the tune was doubtless given this name when it came to be associated with Keble’s hymn.
An evening hymn of high rank which has been used widely in American churches during the past half century.
Mary A. Lathbury, daughter of a Methodist minister, was a successful art teacher but is remembered chiefly for her work with the Methodist Sunday School Union and her literary contributions to periodicals for young people. The “Look Up” Legion which she founded had for its motto, Edward Everett Hale’s four rules of good conduct:
Look up, not down;
Look forward, not back;
Look out, not in,
And lend a hand.
Miss Lathbury wrote this hymn for use at the vesper services at Lake Chautauqua, in western New York, where hundreds of young people, eager to deepen their spiritual life, have met every year since 1873 for Bible study and prayer. This hymn and “Break Thou the Bread of Life” give the author a permanent place in American hymnody.
MUSIC. CHAUTAUQUA was written especially for Miss Lathbury’s hymn. William F. Sherwin, 1826-88, studied music under Lowell Mason and later became a teacher of vocal music. He was unusually successful in leading choral groups and was appointed music director at Lake Chautauqua. The tune is dignified and stately, yet simple. The refrain should be sung softly at the beginning and rise gradually to a climax.
From an anonymous 8th-century or earlier Greek hymn. Some authorities believe it to be an expansion of the Greek candle lighting hymn (No. 34), also translated by Robert Bridges. The editors of the Hymnary, in search of a poem to fit the well-known UNTER LILIEN JENER FREUDEN tune in the Gesangbuch mit Noten, found for it this beautiful evening hymn published in the American Oxford Hymnal.
The translator, Robert Bridges, was one of England’s great literary scholars who gave serious attention to hymnology. After graduating from Eton and Oxford, he turned his attention to medicine and became a distinguished surgeon. At the early age of 38, however, he retired from medicine to give himself to literature and music. In 1913, he was made Poet Laureate of England. His most significant work in hymnology was the famous Yattendon Hymnal, which he published in 1899 while living in the village of Yattendon. It consisted of 100 hymns, 44 of which were from his own pen, either as author or translator. The hymns were set to music derived largely from the Genevan Psalter. The hymnal represented an extraordinarily high standard, both as to words and music, but it never became popular, and copies of it are nearly impossible to find.
MUSIC. The tune, UNTER LILIEN JENER FREUDEN, is found at No. 546 of the Gesangbuch mit Noten where it is set to a poem by J. Allendorf. No information has been traced concerning the composer, J. Voigtländer.
Based on Psalm 91:4: “He shall cover thee with his feathers; and under his wings shalt thou trust.”
This is the “Evening Hymn,” whereas No. 25 is the “Morning Hymn” which Bishop Ken wrote for the devotional use of students at Winchester College. His endeavor was to express in simple, fitting words the thoughts that ought to be in the minds of the boys of the school “and all other devout Christians” in the evening. The two hymns were published in 1695 and have been growing in fame and power these two and one-half centuries. Both concluded with the doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” now known and sung throughout Christendom.
MUSIC. The tune, EVENING HYMN, was originally in canon form, i.e., a form in which one voice begins the melody which is then imitated note for note by some other voice, as in a “round.” Tallis, as was customary at the time, started the melody in the tenor, imitated by the soprano. The tune used here is a later and altered form which, in the judgment of this writer, is less interesting than the canonic form used in many hymnbooks. Its choice was an editorial inadvertence.
Thomas Tallis, composer of the tune, died in 1585. The exact date of his birth, probably before 1520, remains uncertain. Styled the “Father of English Cathedral Music,” he was chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, and later held important posts as organist. He was indisputably the greatest English musician of his age, and EVENING HYMN is his most famous tune.
This is the oldest Christian hymn in common use, belonging to the first or second century. It was sung by the early Christians as a hymn of thanksgiving at the lighting of the candles at the vesper services in the church and probably also in the home. It is still so used in the Eastern churches. St. Basil wrote c. 370 regarding this hymn: “We cannot say who is the father of this expression at the Thanksgiving of the Lighting of the Lamps; but it is an ancient formula which the people repeat.” So in A.D. 370 the hymn was already ancient!
For comments on the translator, Robert Bridges, see Hymn 32.
MUSIC. The tune NUNC DIMITTIS is by the French musician, Louis Bourgeois, c. 1510-61, the best melodist of his day, and composer of most of the music for the Genevan Psalter, a French metrical version of the Psalms published in 1549. Many of his melodies have been altered, as for example, “Old Hundredth,” but this one has come to us unchanged. It is a glorious melody which needs to be listened to repeatedly to be appreciated. The harmonization is by Claude Goudimel, c. 1505/10-72, another eminent Protestant musician, who provided harmonies for many of the Genevan psalm tunes. Goudimel’s life came to an end in the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572, one of those tragedies during the counter-reformation in which the Protestants suffered at the hands of the Jesuits.
The original hymn consisted of the first stanza only which was written by Reginald Heber after hearing the tune used here played by a Welch harpist in a home where Heber was visiting. Retiring to a quiet place, he promptly wrote the stanza to suit the melody.
For comments on Reginald Heber see Hymn 1.
William Mercer, author of the second stanza, was a clergyman in the Church of England in Sheffield. In 1857, he issued The Church Psalter and Hymn Book, the most important Church of England book of its time. His aim was to promote greater participation by the congregation in the hymn singing.
Richard Whately was archbishop of Dublin. He was a man of great brilliance of mind, though, it is said, he had no ear for music and no eye for natural beauty.
MUSIC. The tune AR HYD Y NOS is a Welsh traditional melody commonly associated with the words “All through the night.” It appears in many modern hymnals. A growing number of folk tunes are being used for hymn tunes.
An American hymn characterized by simplicity and grace, and sung the world over wherever the English language is spoken. It appeared in 1824 in a collection of poems, Songs by the Way, with the heading “Evening.” It is based on Psalm 141:2, “Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”
George Washington Doane was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1799, the year that the “Father of our Country” died; hence his name. He was educated at Union College, Schenectady, New York, and ordained, at the age of 22, in the Episcopal Church. At the early age of 33 he was made bishop of New Jersey. A pioneer in education, and ahead of his time in many things, his life was full of trials. But his exceptional talents, learning and force of character made him one of the great church leaders of his time.
MUSIC. SEYMOUR is by the eminent German composer of opera, Carl M. von Weber, 1786-1826. This tune, a great favorite, is from the opening chorus of his opera, Oberon, which is sung while fairies “trip it lightly” on the stage. When contributions towards the musical edition of the famous English book, Hymns Ancient and Modern, London, 1861, were invited by advertisement, the editor, W. H. Monk, received more requests for the insertion of this tune than any other, despite its secular origin.
This evening hymn, a prayer for the healing of our bodily as well as spiritual ills, has been translated into many foreign tongues, and is found in nearly all standard hymn books both in America and abroad. The original has eight stanzas. It is based on the touching evening scene described in Mark 1:32, “At even, when the sun was set, they brought unto him all that were sick.”
Henry Twells was ordained in 1849 in the Church of England. Among the parishes he served was Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. At the time he wrote this hymn, he was headmaster of a large grammar school and penned the verses one afternoon while the boys were writing an examination.
MUSIC. The tune, ANGELUS, appeared in somewhat different form in Heilige Seelenlust, one of a series of Catholic collections of hymns in Germany, written in the vernacular, and edited by Johann Scheffler. The tune is credited to Georg Josephi, a German musician of whom little is known except that he was the musical editor of Heilige Seelenlust. It is a tune of rare beauty though its modulations into several different keys makes it more difficult to sing than some and gives it a sense of restlessness not found in other popular tunes.
This hymn ranks with the best of the evening hymns of the English language though it is practically all that survives of the more than two thousand hymns that came from the too prolific pen of the author.
James Edmeston, a member of the Church of England, was an eminent London architect and surveyor who had a great love for and interest in children and possessed a gift for writing sacred poetry. He had the habit of writing a hymn every Sunday and reading it at family worship.
During the Boxer uprising in China in 1900, in which many Americans lost their lives, a group of missionaries, beleaguered outside of Shanghai, found in this hymn the expression of their feelings, as well as a great source of comfort. One of them wrote:
Separated from home and friends, facing death in a far-off land, and full of tenderest feelings, we lifted our hearts in song:
“Though destruction walk around us,
Though the arrows past us fly:
Angel guards from Thee surround us;
We are safe if Thou art nigh.”
Out of the storm each soul, renewing its strength, mounted up with wings as eagles and found peace in the secret of His presence. Our Saviour breathed, in very deed, “an evening blessing,” the fragrance of which remains even unto this day. The last verse of the hymn, “Should swift death this night o’ertake us,” was omitted. It seemed too probable that it might. We wanted only to think of the safe-keeping, and such, thank God, it proved to be.
MUSIC. The tune EVENING PRAYER was written by Stebbins while music director at Tremont Temple, Boston, as a response to be sung after the morning prayer. Two years later it was set to this evening hymn by the composer himself, for use in an evangelistic campaign in Providence, R. I. Stebbins writes, “I arranged to have a male choir of 20 voices sing the music as set to the beautiful hymn, and to my gratification found they were admirably suited to each other. Since then the hymn has been used in many gospel hymn books and church hymnals, both here and abroad. It has been used also in St. Paul’s Cathedral, in London.”
George C. Stebbins, 1846-1945, was born and reared on a farm in New York. He became interested in music through the country singing school. After serving as music director at the First Baptist Church, Chicago, and Tremont Temple, Boston, he became associated with D. L. Moody and helped organize choruses for many of Moody’s evangelistic campaigns both here and abroad. He was co-editor with Ira Sankey and James McGranahan of various editions of Gospel Hymns and was himself one of the best composers of gospel hymn tunes. He lived to be nearly 100 years old.
The hymn is also set to the tune “Ringe Recht” (147) in some hymnals.
This hymn, emphasizing the silences of God as manifested in the world without and within, is of anonymous authorship. It is found in Hymns of the Spirit but most of the other modern hymnals have overlooked it.
MUSIC. WINDSOR is an English tune of unknown origin. It was set to Psalm 116 in a book of Psalm tunes by M. William Damon, published in 1591. It is one of a number of tunes written in the minor mode which appear in the Hymnary. Note that the “Amen” closes with the chord in F major, in keeping with the general practice of following a minor tune with an “Amen” in which the last chord is in the major mode.
In Songs of Praise, London, 1931, this tune is set to the hymn “Jesus, the very thought of Thee” (155).
One of the great consolation songs of Christianity. It is really not an evening hymn, but for a person in his last illness, when the thought of passing through the gateway of death, and the glory of the great beyond are the soul’s vital concern. It has long been sung at evening services because, presumably, the end of the natural day suggests the evening of life, and the mood of the tune is so well suited to the pensive quietness of the close of day.
Henry F. Lyte, a Scotsman, was a young clergyman in the Church of England when he wrote this hymn. There is a popular tradition that he wrote it near the end of his life when ill health compelled him to resign his parish and after he held his last communion on September 4, 1847. But James Moffatt, the distinguished historian and translator of the Bible, gives a different account of its origin. He says the hymn was inspired during the fatal illness of an intimate friend of the author, Rev. William A. Le Hunte. Dr. Lyte was constantly at the side of his dying friend who, in his closing hours, repeatedly said these words, “Abide with me,” which moved Dr. Lyte to write the hymn. Twenty-seven years later, 1847, when he felt his own end approaching, he recalled the hymn.
MUSIC. EVENTIDE is Monk’s best known tune. In a letter to J. C. Hadden, Mrs. Monk wrote: “This tune was written at a time of great sorrow—when together we watched, as we did daily, the glories of the setting sun. As the golden rays faded, he took up some paper and pencilled that tune which has gone over all the world.” The composition is said to have been completed in ten minutes. It was the last hymn sung by the Canadian nurse Edith Cavell before she suffered martyrdom in Belgium, October 12, 1915.
Wm. H. Monk, 1823-89, English organist and composer, devoted his life to the service of church music. For forty years he held the post of organist at King’s College, London, and St. Matthias, Stoke Newington, devoting himself to the advancement of good congregational singing. “He taught many to praise God who had never praised Him before; he taught others to praise Him more worthily than hitherto.” He was the music editor of the famous Hymns Ancient and Modern, published in England, 1861.
This hymn is often sung at the close of church meetings. Sometimes the custom of the people joining hands while singing is observed.
John Fawcett, an English Baptist minister, was serving a small country church in Yorkshire when he received and accepted a call to a large city church in London, which paid a salary more suited to the needs of his big family. His farewell sermon had been preached, six or seven wagons stood loaded with his furniture and books, and all was ready for his departure. But when the members of his humble flock turned out to bid farewell, many of them in tears, and imploring him to stay, it was more than he or Mrs. Fawcett could stand. He ordered the wagons unloaded and the furniture put back in its place, and sent a message to the London church that he was not coming. Afterwards he wrote this hymn which was to become one of the most famous in the English language.
MUSIC. DENNIS is simple and easy of performance, yet pleasing and effective. The tune was composed by Hans Georg Nägeli, 1768-1836, a Swiss, who was born near Zurich where he spent most of his life as music publisher, composer, and teacher. He was a prominent figure in public school music and was greatly interested in church music.
Lowell Mason found this melody in manuscript form and arranged it for use as a church tune.
For comments on Lowell Mason see Hymn 12. The tune “Boylston” (214) is also used with this hymn.
The hymn is particularly appropriate for the close of an evening service.
John Ellerton was a minister of the Church of England, a teacher, author, and one of England’s most distinguished hymnists. He assisted in editing the famous Hymns Ancient and Modern, London, 1861. He was early surrounded with religious influences and had a happy childhood life. Of his parents he wrote, “I used to feel how happy my father and mother were, even more than how good they were.” He composed about fifty hymns and made about ten translations, a large proportion of which have found their way into church hymnals. He refused to take out a copyright for any of his hymns, saying that “if any are counted worthy to contribute to Christ’s praise in the congregation, one ought to feel very thankful and humble.” His hymns, of which there are eight in the Hymnary, are elevated in tone and devotional spirit.
MUSIC. BEATITUDO was written for the Revised Edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1875, and was set to the words, “How bright these glorious spirits shine.”
For comments on the composer, J. B. Dykes, see Hymn 1.
This, the most popular of Ellerton’s hymns, was originally written in 1866 for a choir festival. It was revised and condensed to these four verses, rich in poetic beauty and spiritual power, to take a high place among our evening hymns. The first stanza may be used with good effect as a choral benediction. The last stanza was sung at Ellerton’s funeral on June 20, 1893.
For comments on John Ellerton see Hymn 42.
MUSIC. ELLERS was composed for this hymn in 1869.
Edward John Hopkins, 1818-1901, was a distinguished English church musician who served as organist in several important London churches, including Westminster Abbey. He was a prolific composer of church music of fine quality—services, hymn-tunes, anthems, organ pieces—and enjoyed a great reputation as editor of hymn books.
A hymn for the close of evening worship.
Frederick W. Faber was educated at Oxford and became a minister in the Church of England. He began his parish work at Elton where he became a forceful preacher and was known for his fine Christian character and lovely spirit. Church attendance increased, the parish grew, and the people who had been known for their intemperance and immorality were now reputed for their thrift and good behavior.
Under the influence of John Henry Newman, Faber changed his views and joined the Roman Catholic Church. After a trip to Rome, he lived at Birmingham where he formed, with eight others, a community called “Brothers of the Will of God.” Later he moved to London where he continued his service in the Catholic Church until his death at the age of forty-nine. He wrote many theological and devotional books but is best known for his hymns of which he wrote 150, among which are such favorites as “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy” (58) and “Faith of our fathers” (154). His hymns are numbered among the treasures of English hymnody. They are devotional in spirit and with slight alterations appropriate for use in all Christian churches.
MUSIC. SURREY is a beautiful tune which became immediately popular and has remained so, especially in England. The composer, Henry Carey, 1692-1743, was a teacher in boarding schools and private families in England. He composed a large number of secular songs and was only incidentally a writer of church music.
This popular dismission hymn is ascribed to the English Baptist minister, John Fawcett, who is best known as the author of “Blest be the tie that binds.” The hymn has undergone some alteration with the passing of the years. The third stanza originally read:
“So whene’er the signal’s given
“Us from earth to call away,
“Borne on angels’ wings to heaven
“Glad the summons to obey,
“May we ever
“Reign with Christ in endless day.”
For comments on John Fawcett see Hymn 41.
MUSIC. SICILIAN MARINERS is a familiar tune of unknown origin which has been set to various hymns, including the Latin “O Sanctissima, O Purissima,” and the German “O du fröliche, o du selige.” The tune, sometimes called “Sicily,” is not known in Sicily today.
The author of this hymn had a unique career. Robert Robinson, born in Norfolk, England, of lowly parentage, was left fatherless at eight to be the sole support of his widowed mother. At fourteen he was apprenticed to a barber in London who frequently reprimanded him for giving too much time to the reading of books and too little to business. At seventeen he heard the great evangelist Whitefield preach a sermon on Matthew 3:7 and decided to dedicate his life to God. His complete conversion he dates a few years later, 1755. He began preaching under the Methodists but soon developed independent views and in 1759 he received adult baptism and united with the Baptists. Shortly afterwards he became the pastor of a small Baptist church in the university town of Cambridge. He was a gifted scholar, and though he had little formal education, he held the respect of Cambridge students, notwithstanding the taunts of university professors. Serving a small and poor congregation and being without finances to support his large family, he helped himself by engaging in farming and carrying on business as a coal and corn merchant while preaching twice a Sunday and holding evangelistic meetings during the week. In this he succeeded in a very remarkable measure, aided by the fact that he knew the soil and the tillers of the soil and was gifted with the sense of humor and a Spurgeon-like wit. Besides this hymn, he also wrote the well-known hymn, “Come, Thou fount of every blessing” (189).
MUSIC. CRUCIFER, originally known as “Bethany,” was composed by Henry Smart for “Jesus, I my cross have taken.” The composer favored unison singing of this melody, at moderate tempo. Most congregations will find the pitch range in the melody too wide for best results in unison singing.
Henry Smart, 1813-1879, turned from the legal profession to devote his life to music. Though largely self-taught, he became one of England’s distinguished organists and builder of organs. He suffered from poor eyesight and the last fourteen years of his life he was totally blind, but he kept on playing and composing for he had a very retentive memory and possessed a rare skill in extempore playing. Smart was a strong advocate of congregational singing, but favored the unison singing of melodies, and had a decided prejudice against what he considered unduly fast congregational singing.
A hymn of praise, magnifying the power, wisdom, goodness, and omnipresence of God as revealed in creation. It appeared first in Watt’s Divine and Moral Songs for the Use of Children where it was entitled, “Praise for Creation and Providence.” The original has eight stanzas.
For comments on Watts see No. 11.
MUSIC. ELLACOMBE is a cheerful, unpretentious tune that deserves to be better known. The source designated is Gesangbuch der Herzogl published in 1784, but some of our best authorities are content to leave its exact origin in doubt. It found its way into English hymnals soon after it was published in Vollständige Sammlung der gewöhnlichen Melodien zum Mainzer Gesangbuche, by X. L. Hartig, in 1833.
The original has sixteen stanzas, each beginning with the words “This is my Father’s world,” a good slogan to begin and end the day. It appeared in the author’s Thoughts for Every Day Living, a book of religious verse. The hymn expresses a confident attitude toward life and a buoyant faith in God.
Maltbie D. Babcock, prominent Presbyterian minister, was born in Syracuse, New York, graduated from Syracuse University and Auburn Seminary and then began his first pastorate at the First Presbyterian Church, Lockport, N. Y. His second pastorate was at Brown Memorial Church, Baltimore, where he was popular with the students at Johns Hopkins University. He then received a call to the Brick Church, New York City, where he became the successor of Henry van Dyke. In his student days he was known as a fine student, a great athlete, a good musician, and a friend to all. He loved young people and during his ministry they turned to him for counsel.
MUSIC. The tune TERRA BEATA is simple, light in movement, and easy to sing. It was composed by Franklin Sheppard, 1852-1930, a Philadelphia business man, Presbyterian layman, and friend of Dr. Babcock. Sheppard was also an accomplished musician. He modestly attributed the tune to an old English folk melody, but it is known now that he himself was the composer. He named the tune “Terra Beata,” happy or blessed earth.
The arrangement in the Hymnary, known as “Terra Patris,” is by Edward Shippen Barnes, a contemporary American organist and composer. His harmonization is a little more difficult to sing but also more interesting than the original by Sheppard.
The hymn is an imitation of Psalm 148. It is a universal call to praise rather than an expression of praise, hence it is addressed not to God but to his creation everywhere, as a call to worship God. The hymn is characterized by literary grace, simplicity, and tenderness, and is included in many modern hymnals.
Stopford A. Brooke, born in Ireland, was educated at Dublin, then became a clergyman in the Anglican Church. For a time he was one of the most popular preachers in London. In 1880, being restive under the doctrinal standards of the church, he severed his relation with the Anglicans and continued a ministry of preaching and lecturing and writing as an independent, not associated with any denomination. His Life and Letters of F. W. Robertson ranks among the classic biographies. In 1881, he compiled Christian Hymns for use in his own congregation, in which this hymn is found, the original having ten stanzas.
MUSIC. ROLAND is an easy, flowing tune which congregations love to sing after learning it well. It is suitable for use as a processional. The composer, Caleb Simmer, born 1856, was an American musician. His sacred pieces include anthems, quartets, cantatas, and organ music.
This hymn was praised by Lord Selbourne as “a very perfect and finished composition, taking rank among the best hymns of the English language.” The author, Joseph Addison, was an eminent Englishman of letters. Dr. Samuel Johnson said of him, “Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar, but not coarse, elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.” In 1712, Addison wrote a series of essays in the Spectator, concluding each essay with a hymn. In the issue of August 23, this hymn, a free rendering of Psalm 19, formed the conclusion to an essay on “The Proper Means of Strengthening and Confirming Faith in the Mind of Man.”
MUSIC. CREATION is an adaptation of a part of the magnificent chorus (No. 14) in Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation. For comments on Haydn, see Hymn No. 27.
This delightful hymn of thanksgiving was originally written for the communion service to bring the note of joy into the solemn sacrament, making it truly an “eucharist.” It is now used frequently at Thanksgiving and children’s services. It names many causes for praise and thanksgiving, from the “beauty of the earth” to the “church that lifteth holy hands.”
The author, Folliott S. Pierpoint, was born at Bath, England, and educated at Cambridge. He was a teacher of the classics, published several books of poems, and made notable contributions to the hymnody of the church.
MUSIC. DIX appeared first in a collection of chorales edited and published by Kocher in Stuttgart in 1838, set to the hymn “Treuer Heiland, wir sind hier.” It has long been used with the words, “As with gladness men of old” (530), by W. C. Dix, hence the name “Dix.” It has a strong, joyous tune which marches with stately tread and is a favorite processional.
Conrad Kocher, 1786-1872, was a German student of church music, a composer and teacher. He studied at St. Petersburg and in Rome. He founded the School of Sacred Song in Stuttgart, which did much to improve German church music and popularize four-part singing in Germany.
A hymn which finds God in every aspect of nature. For comments on the author, Samuel Longfellow, see Hymn 28.
MUSIC. SHELTERING WING, a long-meter melody admirably suited to these words, is by the English church musician, Joseph Barnby, 1838-96. For comments on him see Hymn 19.
A hymn difficult to praise too highly, probably the greatest penned on the omnipresence of God. Its first appearance was in the Atlantic Monthly as the final installment of the series of articles later collected into book form and entitled The Professor at the Breakfast Table. The work closed with the following lines and the hymn:
Peace to all such as may have been vexed in spirit by any utterances these pages may have repeated! They will, doubtless, forget for the moment the differences in the hues of truth we look at through our human prisms and join in singing (inwardly) this hymn to the Source of the light we all need to lead us, and the warmth which alone can make us brothers:
Lord of all being! throned afar,
Thy glory flames from sun and star;
Centre and soul of every sphere,
Yet to each loving heart how near.
Oliver Wendell Holmes was the son of a Congregational minister in Cambridge, Massachusetts, although later when he became established as a physician in Boston, he united with the Unitarians. His writings are nevertheless permeated by an evangelical warmth which has made his hymns acceptable to all denominations. Holmes was a distinguished graduate of Harvard University in Arts and Medicine and spent most of his years teaching anatomy at Harvard. But he is best known to us as a man of letters. None of his writings is so widely known as the two hymns, “Lord of all being” and “O Love divine, that stooped to share” (172), both of them found in the author’s The Professor at the Breakfast Table.
MUSIC. LOUVAN is by an American musician, Virgil C. Taylor, 1817-91, organist and editor of song books. This is the only one of his tunes now in common use. An alternative tune that fits the hymn very well is “St. Crispin” found at No. 149.
The hymn is a translation of a poem by Katharina von Schlegel. She was born in Germany, 1697. No one seems to have found anything definite concerning her life, except that she wrote some hymns, one of which passed into the English language. The original, based on Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God,” had four stanzas, as follows:
Stille, mein Wille! Dein Jesus hilft siegen;
Trage geduldig das Leiden, die Not;
Gott ist’s, der alles zum besten will fügen,
Der dir getreu bleibt in Schmerzen und Tod.
Stille, mein Wille! Dein Jesus wird machen
Glücklichen Ausgang bedenklicher Sachen.
Stille, mein Wille! Der Herr hat’s in Händen;
Hält sich dein Herz nur im Glauben an ihn,
Wird er den Kummer bald wenden und enden
Herrlich wird endlich, was wunderbar schien.
Stille, mein Wille! Dein Heiland wird zeigen,
Wie vor ihm Meer und Gewitter muss schweigen.
Stille, mein Wille! Wenn Freunde sich trennen,
Die du so zärtlich und innig geliebt,
Wirst du die Freundschaft des Höchsten erkennen,
Der sich zum Eigentum treulich dir gibt.
Stille, mein Wille! Dein Jesus ersetzet,
Was dich beim Sterben der Liebsten verletzet.
Stille, mein Wille! Es kommen die Stunden,
Dass wir beim Herrn sind ohn’ Wechsel der Zeit;
Dann ist das Scheiden, der Kummer verschwunden.
Ewige Freundschaft vergütet das Leid.
Stille, mein Wille! Nach zeitlichem Scheiden
Sehn wir uns wieder ohn’ Schmerzen und Leiden.
The words, both in the original and in the English translation, are of great beauty and their message has brought real comfort to many a burdened and disquieted soul.
The translation is by Jane Borthwick, born in Edinburgh, who, with her sister, Sarah B. Findlater, did outstanding work as a translator of German hymns. Only Catherine Winkworth surpassed her. Miss Borthwick, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, was a devout Christian character, especially interested in the mission work of the church, both home and foreign. Another of her well-known translations is “My Jesus, as Thou wilt” (250) from the original by Benjamin Schmolke.
MUSIC. FINLANDIA is from the pen of Jean Sibelius, born December 8, 1865, in Finland, and undoubtedly the greatest living composer. At this writing, 1948, he is still living, but, through the misfortunes of war, reduced to penury and poverty. Besides seven symphonies, he wrote many smaller orchestral works. This tune is from the tone poem “Finlandia,” the arrangement having been made for the Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in 1932. It is included in a number of recent hymn books and has become a favorite with worshipping congregations wherever introduced.
A bright, joyful hymn which we owe to a layman, Sir John Bowring, born at Exeter, England, 1792. Though a member of the Unitarian Church, his faith was apparently that of an evangelical. On his tombstone are engraved the words of another great hymn which he himself wrote, “In the Cross of Christ I glory” (See 110). Bowring was the son of a manufacturer of woolen goods and he spent his early years travelling in all parts of the world in the interest of his father’s business. Though he left school at the age of 14, he became an outstanding linguist and scholar and writer. At the age of 16, he had acquired five languages and late in life he is said to have known 200 languages and spoken 100. One of his primary interests was politics. He was elected to the British Parliament and later became the British consul at Canton and the governor of Hong Kong. He published a book of Hymns with the desire that they might be useful in strengthening the religious faith of others who under suffering and disheartening circumstances might chance to read them.
The hymn is constructed to emphasize in each stanza the idea of God as wisdom (I Cor. 1:30) and love (I John 4:8).
MUSIC. STOCKWELL, a very useful tune, appeared in Lowell Mason’s popular collection of hymns, New Carmina Sacra, in 1850, set to the words, “Silently the shades of evening,” written by Christopher Cox.
The composer, Darius Eliot Jones, 1815-81, was born at Carroll, N. Y. His father, Abner Jones, was a well-known music teacher in New York. Darius spent twenty years of his adult life in business. He served for a time as assistant editor of the Choral Advocate, published by Mason Brothers, New York, and at the same time conducted the music in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, where Henry Ward Beecher was pastor. At Beecher’s suggestion, Jones prepared a new hymn book, Temple Melodies, 1861, for use in Plymouth Church. Feeling a call to the Christian ministry, Jones entered Iowa College, at Davenport, as a student and at the age of 43 was ordained as a Congregational minister. He served churches at Columbia City and Newton Center, Ia., until 1863, when he became treasurer of the Iowa General Association. For a year, he was agent for the American Bible Society; and for four years, 1866-70, he was agent for Iowa College, later located at Grinnell and known as Grinnell College. Here Jones published a second hymn book, Songs for the New Life, in 1869. From that time on, he served various churches in Iowa until his death in 1881.