The Story of the Hymns and Tunes Part 73

Come let us anew our journey pursue;

the one a voice at the next year's threshold, the other a song at the open door.

While with ceaseless course the sun Hasted thro' the former year Many souls their race have run Nevermore to meet us here.

As the winged arrow flies Speedily the mark to find, As the lightening from the skies Darts and leaves no trace behind, Swiftly thus our fleeting days Bear we down life's rapid stream, Upward, Lord, our spirits raise; All below is but a dream.

A grave occasion, whether unexpected or periodical, will force reflection, and so will a grave truth; and when both present themselves at once, the truth needs only commonplace statement. If the statement is in rhyme and measure more attention is secured. Add a _tune_ to it, and the most frivolous will take notice. Newton's hymn sung on the last evening of the year has its opportunity--and never fails to produce a solemn effect; but it is to the immortal music given to it in Samuel Webbe's "Benevento" that it owes its unique and permanent place. d.y.k.es'

"St. Edmund" may be sung in England, but in America it will never replace Webbe's simple and wonderfully impressive choral.

Charles Wesley's hymn is the antipode of Newton's in metre and movement.

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 fulfil And our talents improve By the patience of hope and the labor of love.

Our life is a dream, our time as a stream Glides swiftly away, And the fugitive moment refuses to stay.

The arrow is flown, the moment is gone, The millennial year, Rushes on to our view, and eternity's near.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Carl von Weber]

One could scarcely imagine a greater contrast than between this hymn and Newton's. In spite of its eccentric metre one cannot dismiss it as rhythmical jingle, for it is really a sermon shaped into a popular canticle, and the surmise is not a difficult one that he had in mind a secular air that was familiar to the crowd. But the hymn is not one of Wesley's _poems_. Compilers who object to its lilting measure omit it from their books, but it holds its place in public use, for it carries weighty thoughts in swift sentences.

O that each in the Day of His coming may say, "I have fought my way through, I have finished the work Thou didst give me to do."

O that each from the Lord may receive the glad word, "Well and faithfully done, Enter into my joy, and sit down on my throne."

For a hundred and fifty years this has been sung in the Methodist watch-meetings, and it will be long before it ceases to be sung--and reprinted in Methodist, and some Baptist hymnals.

The tune of "Lucas," named after James Lucas, its composer, is the favorite vehicle of song for the "Watch-hymn." Like the tune to "O How Happy Are They," it has the movement of the words and the emphasis of their meaning.

No knowledge of James Lucas is at hand except that he lived in England, where one brief reference gives his birth-date as 1762 and "about 1805"

as the birth-date of the tune.

"GREAT G.o.d, WE SING THAT MIGHTY HAND."

The admirable hymn of Dr. Doddridge may be noted in this division with its equally admirable tune of "Melancthon," one of the old Lutheran chorals of Germany.

Great G.o.d, we sing that mighty hand By which supported still we stand.

The opening year Thy mercy shows; Thy mercy crown it till its close!

By day, by night, at home, abroad, Still we are guarded by our G.o.d.

As this last couplet stood--and ought now to stand--pious parents teaching the hymn to their children heard them repeat--

By day, by night, at home, abroad, _We are surrounded still with G.o.d_.

Many are now living whose first impressive sense of the Divine Omnipresence came with that line.

_PARTING._

"G.o.d BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN."

A lyric of benediction, born, apparently, at the divine moment for the need of the great "Society of Christian Endeavor," and now adopted into the Christian song-service of all lands. The author, Rev. Jeremiah Eames Rankin, D.D., LL.D., was born in Thornton, N.H., Jan. 2, 1828. He was graduated at Middlebury College, Vt., in 1848, and labored as a Congregational pastor more than thirty years. For thirteen years he was President of Howard University, Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C. Besides the "Parting Hymn" he wrote _The Auld Scotch Mither_, _Ingleside Rhymes_, _Hymns pro Patria_, and various practical works and religious essays. Died 1904.

_THE TUNE._

As in a thousand other partners.h.i.+ps of hymnist and musician, Dr. Rankin was fortunate in his composer. The tune is a symphony of hearts--subdued at first, but breaking into a chorus strong with the uplift of hope. It is a farewell with a spiritual thrill in it.

Its author, William Gould Tomer, was born in Finesville, Warren Co., N.J., October 5, 1832; died in Phillipsburg, N.J., Sept. 26, 1896. He was a soldier in the Civil War and a writer of good ability as well as a composer. For some time he was editor of the _High Bridge Gazette_, and music with him was an avocation rather than a profession. He wrote the melody to Dr. Rankin's hymn in 1880, Prof. J.W. Bischoff supplying the harmony, and the tune was first published in _Gospel Bells_ the same year.

_FUNERALS._

The style of singing at funerals, as well as the character of the hymns, has greatly changed--if, indeed, music continues to be a part of the service, as frequently, in ordinary cases, it is not. "China" with its comforting words--and terrifying chords--is forever obsolete, and not only that, but Dr. Muhlenberg's, "I Would Not Live Alway," with its sadly sentimental tune of "Frederick," has pa.s.sed out of common use.

Anna Steele's "So Fades the Lovely, Blooming Flower," on the death of a child, is occasionally heard, and now and then Dr. S.F. Smith's, "Sister, Thou Wast Mild and Lovely," (with its gentle air of "Mt.

Vernon,") on the death of a young lady. Standard hymns like Watts', "Unveil Thy Bosom, Faithful Tomb," to the slow, tender melody of the "Dead March," (from Handel's oratorio of "Saul") and Montgomery's "Servant of G.o.d, Well Done," to "Olmutz," or Woodbury's "Forever with the Lord," still retain their prestige, the music of the former being played on steeple-chimes on some burial occasions in cities, during the procession--

Nor pain nor grief nor anxious fear Invade thy bounds; no mortal woes Can reach the peaceful sleeper here While angels watch the soft repose.

The latter hymn (Montgomery's) is biographical--as described on page 301--

Servant of G.o.d, well done; Rest from thy loved employ; The battle fought, the victory won, Enter thy Master's joy.

Only five stanzas of this long poem are now in use.

The exquisite elegy of Montgomery, ent.i.tled "The Grave,"--

There is a calm for those who weep, A rest for weary mortals found They softly lie and sweetly sleep Low in the ground.

--is by no means discontinued on funeral occasions, nor Margaret Mackay's beloved hymn,--

Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep,

--melodized in Bradbury's "Rest."

Mrs. Margaret Mackay was born in 1801, the daughter of Capt. Robert Mackay of Hedgefield, Inverness, and wife of a major of the same name.

She was the author of several prose works and _Lays of Leisure Hours_, containing seventy-two original hymns and poems, of which "Asleep in Jesus" is one. She died in 1887.

"MY JESUS, AS THOU WILT."

(_Mein Jesu, wie du willst._)