The Story of the Hymns and Tunes Part 24

CHAPTER IV.

MISSIONARY HYMNS.

"JESUS SHALL REIGN WHERE'ER THE SUN."

One of Watts' sublimest hymns, this Hebrew ode to the final King and His endless dominion expands the majestic prophesy in the seventy-second Psalm:

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun Does his successive journeys run, His kingdom stretch from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

The hymn itself could almost claim to be known "where'er the sun" etc., for Christian missionaries have sung it in every land, if not in every language.

One of the native kings in the South Sea Islands, who had been converted through the ministry of English missionaries, subst.i.tuted a Christian for a pagan const.i.tution in 1862. There were five thousand of his subjects gathered at the ceremonial, and they joined as with one voice in singing this hymn.

_THE TUNE._

"Old Hundred" has often lent the notes of its great plain-song to the sonorous lines, and "Duke Street," with superior melody and scarcely inferior grandeur, has given them wings; but the choice of many for music that articulates the life of the hymn would be the tune of "Samson," from Handel's Oratorio so named. It appears as No. 469 in the _Evangelical Hymnal_.

Handel had no peer in the art or instinct of making a note speak a word.

"JOY TO THE WORLD! THE LORD IS COME!"

This hymn, also by Watts, is often sung as a Christmas song; but "The Saviour Reigns" and "He Rules the World" are bursts of prophetic triumph always apt and stimulating in missionary meetings.

Here, again, the great Handel lends appropriate aid, for "Antioch," the popular tone-consort of the hymn, is an adaptation from his "Messiah."

The arrangement has been credited to Lowell Mason, but he seems to have taken it from an English collection by Clark of Canterbury.

"O'ER THE GLOOMY HILLS OF DARKNESS."

_Dros y brinian tywyl niwliog._

This notable hymn was written, probably about 1750, by the Rev. William Williams, a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist, born at Cefnycoed, Jan. 7, 1717, near Llandovery. He began the study of medicine, but took deacon's orders, and was for a time an itinerant preacher, having left the established Church. Died at Pantycelyn, Jan. 1, 1781.

His hymn, like the two preceding, antedates the great Missionary Movement by many years.

O'er the gloomy hills of darkness Look my soul! be still, and gaze!

See the promises advancing To a glorious Day of grace!

Blessed Jubilee, Let thy glorious morning dawn!

Let the dark, benighted pagan, Let the rude barbarian see That divine and glorious conquest Once obtained on Calvary.

Let the Gospel Loud resound from pole to pole.

This song of antic.i.p.ation has dropped out of the modern hymnals, but the last stanza lingers in many memories.

Fly abroad, thou mighty Gospel!

Win and conquer, never cease; May thy lasting wide dominion Multiply and still increase.

Sway Thy scepter, Saviour, all the world around!

_THE TUNE._

Oftener than any other the music of "Zion" has been the expression of William Williams' Missionary Hymn. It was composed by Thomas Hastings, in Was.h.i.+ngton, Ct., 1830.

"HASTEN, LORD, THE GLORIOUS TIME."

Hasten, Lord, the glorious time When beneath Messiah's sway Every nation, every clime Shall the Gospel call obey.

Mightiest kings its power shall own, Heathen tribes His name adore, Satan and his host o'erthrown Bound in chains shall hurt no more.

Miss Harriet Auber, the author of this melodious hymn, was a daughter of James Auber of London, and was born in that city, Oct. 4, 1773. After leaving London she led a secluded life at Broxbourne and Hoddesdon, in Hertfords.h.i.+re, writing devotional poetry and sacred songs and paraphrases.

Her _Spirit of the Psalms_, published in 1829, was a collection of lyrics founded on the Biblical Psalms. "Hasten Lord," etc., is from Ps.

72, known for centuries to Christendom as one of the Messianic Psalms.

Her best-known hymns have the same inspiration, as--

Wide, ye heavenly gates, unfold.

Sweet is the work, O Lord.

With joy we hail the sacred day.

Miss Auber died in Hoddesdon, Jan. 20, 1862. She lived to witness and sympathise with the pioneer missionary enterprise of the 19th century, and, although she could not stand among the leaders of the battle-line in extending the conquest of the world for Christ, she was happy in having written a campaign hymn which they loved to sing. (It is curious that so pains-taking a work as Julian's _Dictionary of Hymns and Hymn-writers_ credits "With joy we hail the sacred day" to both Miss Auber and Henry Francis Lyte. Coincidences are known where different hymns by different authors begin with the same line; and in this case one writer was dead before the other's works were published. Possibly the collector may have seen a forgotten hymn of Lyte's, with that first line.)

The tune that best interprets this hymn in spirit and in living _music_ is Lowell Mason's "Eltham." Its harmony is like a chime of bells.

"LET PARTY NAMES NO MORE."

Let party names no more The Christian world o'erspread; Gentile and Jew, and bond and free, Are one in Christ the Head.

This hymn of Rev. Benjamin Beddome sounds like a prelude to the grand rally of the Christian Churches a generation later for united advance into foreign fields. It was an after-sermon hymn--like so many of Watts and Doddridge--and spoke a good man's longing to see all sects stand shoulder to shoulder in a common crusade.

Tune--Boylston.

"WATCHMAN, TELL US OF THE NIGHT."

The tune written to this pealing hymn of Sir John Bowring by Lowell Mason has never been superseded. In animation and vocal splendor it catches the author's own clear call, echoing the shout of Zion's sentinels from city to city, and happily reproducing in movement and phrase the great song-dialogue. Words and music together, the piece ranks with the foremost missionary lyrics. Like the greater Mason-Heber world-song, it has acquired no arbitrary name, appearing in Mason's own tune-books under its first hymn-line and likewise in many others. A few hymnals have named it "Bowring," (and why not?) and some later ones simply "Watchman."

1.

Watchman, tell us of the night.

What its signs of promise are!

(Antistrophe) Traveler, on yon mountain height.

See that glory-beaming star!