The Story of the Hymns and Tunes Part 23

In the Cross, in the Cross Be my glory ever, Till my raptured soul shall find Rest beyond the river.

Near the Cross! O Lamb of G.o.d, Bring its scenes before me; Help me walk from day to day With its shadows o'er me.

CHORUS.

William Howard Doane, writer of the music to this hymn, was born in Preston, Ct., Feb. 3, 1831. He studied at Woodstock Academy, and subsequently acquired a musical education which earned him the degree of Doctor of Music conferred upon him by Denison University in 1875. Having a mechanical as well as musical gift, he patented more than seventy inventions, and was for some years engaged with manufacturing concerns, both as employee and manager, but his interest in song-wors.h.i.+p and in Sunday-school and church work never abated, and he is well known as a trainer of choirs and composer of some of the best modern devotional tunes. His home is in Cincinnati, O.

"I WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAY."

This threnody (we may almost call it) of W.A. Muhlenberg, ill.u.s.trating one phase of Christian experience, was the outpouring of a poetic melancholy not uncommon to young and finely strung souls. He composed it in his twenties,--long before he became "Doctor" Muhlenberg,--and for years afterwards tried repeatedly to alter it to a more cheerful tone.

But the poem had its mission, and it had fastened itself in the public imagination, either by its contagious sentiment or the felicity of its tune, and the author was obliged to accept the fame of it as it originally stood.

William Augustus Muhlenberg D.D. was born in Philadelphia, Sept. 16, 1796, the great-grandson of Dr. Henry M. Muhlenberg, founder of the Lutheran church in America. In 1817 he left his ancestral communion, and became an Episcopal priest.

As Rector of St. James church, Lancaster, Pa., he interested himself in the improvement of ecclesiastical hymnody, and did much good reforming work. After a n.o.ble and very active life as promoter of religious education and Christian union, and as a friend and benefactor of the poor, he died April, 8, 1877, in St. Luke's Hospital, N.Y.

_THE TUNE._

This was composed by Mr. George Kingsley in 1833, and ent.i.tled "Frederick" (dedicated to the Rev. Frederick T. Gray). Issued first as sheet music, it became popular, and soon found a place in the hymnals.

Dr. Louis Benson says of the conditions and the fancy of the time, "The standard of church music did not differ materially from that of parlor music.... Several editors have attempted to put a newer tune in the place of Mr. Kingsley's. It was in vain, simply because words and melody both appeal to the same taste."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Frances Ridley Havergal]

"SUN OF MY SOUL, MY SAVIOUR DEAR."

This gem from Keble's _Christian Year_ ill.u.s.trates the life and character of its pious author, and, like all the hymns of that celebrated collection, is an incitive to spiritual thought for the thoughtless, as well as a language for those who stand in the Holy of Holies.

The Rev. John Keble was born in Caln, St. Aldwyn, April 25, 1792. He took his degree of A.M. and was ordained and settled at Fairford, where he began the parochial work that ceased only with his life. He died at Bournmouth, March 29, 1866.

His settlement at Fairford, in charge of three small curacies, satisfied his modest ambition, though altogether they brought him only about 100 per year. Here he preached, wrote his hymns and translations, performed his pastoral work, and was happy. Temptation to wider fields and larger salary never moved him.

_THE TUNE._

The music to this hymn of almost unparalleled poetic and spiritual beauty was arranged from a German Choral of Peter Ritter (1760-1846) by William Henry Monk, Mus. Doc., born London, 1823. Dr. Monk was a lecturer, composer, editor, and professor of vocal music at King's College. This n.o.ble tune appears sometimes under the name "Hursley" and supersedes an earlier one ("Halle") by Thomas Hastings.

Sun of my soul, my Saviour dear, It is not night if Thou be near.

O may no earth-born cloud arise To hide Thee from Thy servants' eyes.

Abide with me from morn till eve, For without Thee I cannot live Abide with me when night is nigh, For without Thee I cannot die.

The tune "Hursley" is a choice example of polyphonal sweetness in uniform long notes of perfect chord.

The tune of "Canonbury," by Robert Schumann, set to Keble's hymn, "New every morning is the love," is deservedly a favorite for flowing long metres, but it could never replace "Hursley" with "Sun of my soul."

"DID CHRIST O'ER SINNERS WEEP?"

The Rev. Benjamin Beddome wrote this tender hymn-poem while pastor of the Baptist Congregation at Bourton-on-the-water, Gloucesters.h.i.+re, Eng.

He was born at Henley, Chatwicks.h.i.+re, Jan. 23, 1717. Settled in 1743, he remained with the same church till his death, Sept. 3, 1795. His hymns were not collected and published till 1818.

_THE TUNE._

"Dennis," a soft and smoothly modulated harmony, is oftenest sung to the words, and has no note out of sympathy with their deep feeling.

Did Christ o'er sinners weep, And shall our cheeks be dry?

Let floods of penitential grief Burst forth from every eye.

The Son of G.o.d in tears Admiring angels see!

Be thou astonished, O my soul; He shed those tears for thee.

He wept that we might weep; Each sin demands a tear: In heaven alone no sin is found, And there's no weeping there.

The tune of "Dennis" was adapted by Lowell Mason from Johann Georg Nageli, a Swiss music publisher, composer and poet. He was born in Zurich, 1768. It is told of him that his irrepressible genius once tempted him to violate the ethics of authors.h.i.+p. While publis.h.i.+ng Beethoven's three great solo sonatas (Opus 31) he interpolated two bars of his own, an act much commented upon in musical circles, but which does not seem to have cost him Beethoven's friends.h.i.+p. Possibly, like Murillo to the servant who meddled with his paintings, the great master forgave the liberty, because the work was so good.

Nageli's compositions are mostly vocal, for school and church use, though some are of a gay and playful nature. The best remembered of his secular and sacred styles are his blithe aria to the song of Moore, "Life let us cherish, while yet the taper glows" and the sweet choral that voices Beddome's hymn.

"MY JESUS, I LOVE THEE."

The real originator of the _Coronation Hymnal_, a book into whose making went five years of prayer, was Dr. A.J. Gordon, late Pastor of the Clarendon St. Baptist church, Boston. While the volume was slowly taking form and plan he was wont to hum to himself, or cause to be played by one of his family, s.n.a.t.c.hes and suggestions of new airs that came to him in connection with his own hymns, and others which seemed to have no suitable music. The anonymous hymn, "My Jesus, I Love Thee," he found in a London hymn-book, and though the tune to which it had been sung in England was sent to him some time later, it did not sound sympathetic.

Dissatisfied, and with the ideal in his mind of what the feeling should be in the melody to such a hymn, he meditated and prayed over the words till in a moment of inspiration the beautiful air sang itself to him[15]

which with its simple concords has carried the hymn into the chapels of every denomination.

[Footnote 15: The fact that this sweet melody recalls to some a similar tune sung sixty years ago reminds us again of the story of the tune "America." It is not impossible that an unconscious _memory_ helped to shape the air that came to Dr. Gordon's mind; though unborrowed similarities have been inevitable in the whole history of music.]

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine, For Thee all the pleasures of sin I resign; My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour art Thou, If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

I will love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death, And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath, And say when the death-dew lies cold on my brow, If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight I'll ever adore Thee, unveiled to my sight, And sing, with the glittering crown on my brow, If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.

The memory of the writer returns to a day in a railway-car en route to the great Columbian Fair in Chicago when the tired pa.s.sengers were suddenly surprised and charmed by the music of this melody. A young Christian man and woman, husband and wife, had begun to sing "My Jesus, I love Thee." Their voices (a tenor and soprano) were clear and sweet, and every one of the company sat up to listen with a look of mingled admiration and relief. Here was something, after all, to make a long journey less tedious. They sang all the four verses and paused. There was no clapping of hands, for a reverential hush had been cast over the audience by the sacred music. Instead of the inevitable applause that follows mere entertainment, a gentle but eager request for more secured the repet.i.tion of the delightful duet. This occurred again and again, till every one in the car--and some had never heard the tune or words before--must have learned them by heart. Fatigue was forgotten, miles had been reduced to furlongs in a weary trip, and a company of strangers had been lifted to a holier plane of thought.

Besides this melody there are four tunes by Dr. Gordon in his collection, three of them with his own words. In all there are eleven of his hymns. Of these the "Good morning in Glory," set to his music, is an emotional lyric admirable in revival meetings, and the one beginning "O Holy Ghost, Arise" is still sung, and called for affectionately as "Gordon's Hymn."

Rev. Adoniram Judson Gordon D.D. was born in New Hampton, N.H., April 19, 1836, and died in Boston, Feb. 2d, 1895, after a life of unsurpa.s.sed usefulness to his fellowmen and devotion to his Divine Master. Like Phillips Brooks he went to his grave "in all his glorious prime," and his loss is equally lamented. He was a descendant of John Robinson of Leyden.