IIS, IOS. 151 2 To the, whose word, the fount of life unsealing, 3 Look from the height of heaven, and send to cheer us Thy light and truth, and guide us onward still; Still let thy mercy, as of old, be near us, And lead us safely to thy holy hill. 4 So when that morn of endless light is waking, 5 Be this by thee, O God thrice holy, granted, It is not known who wrote or compiled this cento, the excellent poetry of which deserves the favor of a meritorious name. It appeared in this country earliest in the hymnal issued by Dr. Hedge and Dr. Huntington, Hymns for the Church of Christ, Boston, 1853. Some effort has of late been made to connect its authorship with a translation published in 1848 by W. J. Copeland in Hymns for the Week. But that piece is not like this. It begins and continues entirely distinct. The first line reads thus: "Lo, now the melting shades of night are ending;" and it claims to be a rendering of Gregory's ancient Latin hymn: Ecce jam noctis tenuatur umbra. The resemblance is very remote. PRAISE ye Jehovah! praise the Lord most holy, Praise him who will with glory crown the lowly, 2 Praise ye Jehovah! for his loving-kindness 3 Praise ye Jehovah! source of all our blessings; 4 Praise ye the Father! God the Lord, who gave us, This hymn, which claims to be a version of Psalm 149, is found in a lithograph volume of the author's verses printed from the manuscript and issued without date for private circulation, by Margaret, Lady CockburnCampbell. She was the eldest daughter of Sir John Malcolm, a general in the British army. She was married on June 20, 1827, to Sir Alexander Thomas Cockburn-Campbell, a resident magistrate at Albany, in West Australia. He died at Alphington, near Exeter, England, February 6, 1841. Her husband was one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren, and in the Psalms and Hymns of that body her pieces became known. THE God of Abraham praise, And God of love! Jehovah! great I AM! By earth and heaven confessed; 2 The God of Abraham praise! I all on earth forsake, Its wisdom, fame, and power, 3 The God of Abraham praise! He calls a worm his friend! P. M. This hymn was written by Rev. Thomas Olivers, an itinerant Methodist clergyman, closely associated with the Wesleys in his work and aims. Without doubt he was an enthusiast and a dreamer, for he used to visions of our Lord on several occasions. He claim that with "the eye of his mind" he had was born at Tregynon, Montgomeryshire, in 1725. But his father died when he was only four years old, and his mother followed soon after. The boy was passed on around from one to another, and grew up uneducated and godless. His temper was bad and his life was vicious. Apprenticed to a shoemaker, he formed and kept low associations, and melancholy prophecies were made for his future. But George Whitefield preached a sermon which went into history; the text was, “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" That cobbler's boy was at Bristol at the time, and he heard the voice from heaven, and was among the thousands converted by it. The change was radical and permanent; there was never any doubt about Thomas Olivers after that. He told everybody that the rest of his years were going to be devoted to "getting and doing good." He had poverty and worry; even persecutions came upon him for his zeal. But he preached right along, courageously and patiently, till he died in London, March, 1799. He wrote other hymns; but this one in particular has a famous history. It has always been too long for the collections; only three or four out of twelve verses can be advantageously introduced in a compilation for church service. The poem is a free rendering of the Hebrew Vigdal or Doxology, with what the Methodist preacher called "a Christian character" given to it in the translation. In this song of worship the entire creed of thirteen articles, as the Jews hold it for their doctrine, is rehearsed in metrical form. It is claimed that it was composed a thousand years ago by Daniel ben Judah; but the exact date of his birth or death is not known. And the tune "Leoni" to which it is set, and to which it is sung every Friday night in the synagogues over the world, is equally famous. It was arranged for Olivers for his version of the Vigdal, by Meyer Lyon, chorister of the Great Synagogue in London at that date; so in recognition of his courtesy it has borne his 2 Sun and moon, bright night and moonlight; Cloud and rain, and wild wind's madness, Praise ye, praise ye God the Lord! 3 Ocean hoary, tell his glory, Cliffs, where tumbling seas have roared! 4 Rock and high land, wood and island, 5 Rolling river, praise him ever, 6 Praise him ever, bounteous Giver; Praise him, Father, Friend, and Lord! Each glad soul its free course winging, Each glad voice its free song singing, Praise the great and mighty Lord! From one of the morning papers of to-day (1892) we clip the brief sentence which shows the affectionate appreciation in which the author of this hymn is held over on our side of the sea: 'Hale and hearty old Professor Blackie, now eighty-two years old, gives lectures in England on Scotch songs, with specimens of Scottish minstrelsy given by accomplished assistants.” John Stuart Blackie, LL. D., Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh, is a rugged and independent Scotchman, of cultured mind and genial soul, a banker's son, a lawyer by profession. He was born in Glasgow, July 28, 1809. After graduating at Marischal College in Aberdeen, and also pursuing his studies extensively in the University of Edinburgh, he was called to the Scottish bar in 1834. But in 1841 his alma mater in Aberdeen elected him the Professor of Latin Literature, and subsequently he became Professor of Greek in Edinburgh University, 1850. He has been widely known in almost every field of literature, poetry and prose, and noted for his force and brilliancy of thought. He translated Goethe's Faust from the German, and Æschylus from the Greek, and gave works to the world on æsthetics and mythology with equal success. And now he is publicly lecturing on all sorts of themes in his old age with a versatility and strength of persistence which are wonderful. The hymn now before us was published in a book of his called Lays and Legends of Ancient Greece, with other Poems, 1857; it there bears the title Benedicite, the name of the Latin canticle of which it is at least a paraphrase. The spirit and temper of this happy-hearted man are best seen in the portrait he once drew of himself: "I am rather a young old boy, and I am one of the happiest creatures under the sun at this moment; and my amusement is to sing songs. In railway coaches and other places I see a number smoking what they call tobacco. Well, whatever may be said about that, it is not an intellectual or a moral stimulant, and the flavor of it is not at all like the rose or any poetic thing I know. It is essentially a vulgar amusement. My amusement is to sing songs. At home I am always singing Scotch songs; and abroad, when those wretches are smoking, I hum to myself, Scots wha hae,' or A man's a man for a' that,' and songs of that kind. I advise you to do the same. Your soul will become a singing-bird, and then the devil wont get near it." 2 Thou who art beyond the farthest Mortal eye can scan, Can it be that thou regardest Songs of sinful man? Can we feel that thou art near us, And wilt hear us? Yea, we can! 3 Here, great God, to-day we offer Of thine own to thee; And for thine acceptance proffer, Hearts and minds, and hands and voices, 4 Honor, glory, might, and merit Thine shall ever be, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Blessed Trinity! Of the best that thou hast given, Earth and heaven render thee! The well-known hymn quoted above is from the collection entitled Hymns Fitted to the Order of Common Prayer, which was published in 1866. The author, Rev. Francis Pott, is a clergyman of the Church of England, at present the incumbent of Norhill, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. He was born December 29, 1832, and was graduated from Brasenose College in 1854, and took his Master's degree 1857. His ministry was begun as a curate in Bishopsworth, Bristol; afterwards he officiated in 1858 at Ardingley, Sussex. 156 Divine Presence. God reveals his.presence; All within keep silence, Prostrate lie with deepest reverence. Him our God and Saviour: 2 God reveals his presence; See the crowds the throne surrounding: "Holy, holy, holy," Hear the hymn ascending Angels, saints, their voices blending- 3 O thou Fount of blessing, Trusting only in thy merit: Like the holy angels May we ceaselessly adore thee: Rule thy church terrestrial, As the hosts celestial. 4 Jesus, condescending From thy heaven high and holy, Till these eyes for ever P. M. The author of this version of one of the compositions of Gerhard Tersteegen is per haps best known to us as a translator. The Rev. William Mercer was born at Barnard Castle, County of Durham, England, about the year 1811. He was graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1835, and entered the ministry of the Church of England the next year. In 1839 he was made the rector of Trinity Church, Habergham Eaves, Lancashire. In 1840 he was called to the curacy of the larger church in Burnley, two miles away from his present charge. He labored there for a year, became the perpetual curate of St. George's Church in Sheffield; there he spent the remainder of his life. He died August 21, 1873, at Leavy Greave. The hymnbook called familiarly, Mercer's Collection, had for its real title, The Church Psalter and Hymn-Book, 1854. It was very popular as a manual of worship, being used in fifty-three London churches at one time, and in 1864 selling upwards of one hundred thousand copies a year. In the preparation of this volume the compiler was assisted by James Montgomery, who was responsible, no doubt, according to his well-known views as to alterations, for many of the changes which were made in other people's compositions. He makes the grass the mountains crown, 2 His steady counsels change the face He bids the sun cut short his race, His hoary frost, his fleecy snow, 3 He sends his word and melts the snow, The fields no longer mourn; He calls the warmer gales to blow And bids the spring return. The changing wind, the flying cloud, Obey his mighty word: With songs and honors sounding loud, Praise ye the sovereign Lord. This is Dr. Isaac Watts' version of Psalm 147, C. M. It consists altogether of eight stanzas, and is entitled, "The Seasons of the Year." It is one of the very few fitting pieces which we have for use when the spring turns in from the winter, or the autumn drops down into the experience of ice and snow. It can be made the theme of profitable comment as illustrating the revelation of many divine attributes. We judge of an artist's taste, his intelli gence, his character, by just the paintings which come forth from his pencil. Why not learn our Creator's finest attributes from the forms of wonderful beauty we see in creation? And if we put nature and the Word together, they will teach us much. Snowflakes have been caught at the moment of falling; and while they glistened in unbroken beauty upon a surface of black velvet, the scientists have classified the shapes of the crystals. Ninetythree exquisite forms of star and cross and crown, and what not else, they have put on the catalogue already. There never was a mechanician with so excellent an eyeglass, or so steady a nerve, that he could cut a pattern which would not be rude in outline and rough in surface beside one of these. And then especially the cleanliness of a field thus newly covered is a display of spotless purity inimitable and unmistakable. All these white blossoms of winter falling around us, like fruitful petals from a tree of life, or like feathers from the wing of almighty protection: all this exquisite frost-work on the window; all these lodged rainbows in the icicles and these jewels in the silvery drapery along the eaves; all this pluming of the gate-posts, like the helmets of hussars; all this crowning of the mountains and this fringing of the streams; all this is just the clear presenting to us of God in his works, the imaging forth of his character. 158 Psalm 139. JEHOVAH God! thy gracious power Oh, may the blessings of each hour Thy power is in the ocean deeps, Thine eye of mercy never sleeps, 2 From morn till noon, till latest eve, The hand of God we see; And all the blessings we receive, In all the varying scenes of time Our Father and our Friend. C. M. D. by the life of a man who saw his Creator in all his works. 159 Alpha and Omega. 2 Behold, on flying clouds he comes! Thou art the First, and thou the Last; The Almighty God, who was, and is, C. M. D. To give the credit of this piece entirely to Dr. Isaac Watts would be manifestly unfair, since really one line only can be traced to his authorship; that is, “Behold, on flying clouds he comes!" This appears in the familiar hymn commencing, "Now to the Lord that makes us know." In 1775 the Scotch General Assembly commissioned one William Cameron, among others, to revise a collection of hymns, which had been, in 1745, appended without authority to the Psalter in use in the Established Church. It is altogether probable that this hymn was revised and added to by Cameron, but as his authorship of it is uncertain, it is well to give Dr. Watts the benefit of the doubt. Rev. William Cameron was born in 1751, at or near Pananich, a hamlet near Ballater, Aberdeenshire. He studied at the University of Aberdeen (Marischal College), from which he was graduated in 1770, with the degree of M. A. He became the parish minister of Kirknewton, Midlothian, Scotland, in 1786, where he died, November 17, 1811. He was the author of many original hymns, but he translated and paraphrased more. 160 REV. JOHN FAWCETT, D. D. Rev. John Fawcett, D. D., the author of this hymn, was born at Lidget Green, near Bradford, Yorkshire, in England. The date of his birth is confused in the published reckoning, the change from Old Style becoming apparent more conspicuously because of the closeness to the beginning of the year. It is commonly given as January 6, 1739; but that is what we should now consider as January 17. His mother became a widow when this child was eleven years of age; by the death of his father the family of children fell heavily upon her care. The lad in his thirteenth year was apprenticed to a trader; he was converted by a sermon of Whitefield preached from the text John 3: 14. He saw Christ, as the bitten Israelite saw the brazen serpent of Moses, and turned his entire life upon the look of faith he gave him. Speaking of this incident many years afterward, he wrote: "As long as life remains I shall remember both the text and the sermon." For a while he attended service in the Church of England, but in 1758 he joined the company which organized the Baptist congregation in Bradford. Thenceforward he was identified with the history of that denomination of Christians in Great Britain, and his name is honored now most highly as that of an earnest and faithful worker, and as the author of many of their best hymns. He died July 25. 1817. 2 Chance and change are busy ever 3 Ev'n the hour that darkest seemeth 4 He with earthly cares entwineth God is wisdom, God is love. Sir John Bowring, LL. D., was born in Exeter, England, October 17, 1792. His education seems to have been confined to the ordinary course of the grammar school of Moreton; and then he was set by his father at work in his own trade, manufacturing woollen cloths for the market in China and the Spanish peninsula. The lad had a strong liking for the study of languages, and soon mastered at least five of those with which his business associations brought him more or less into contact. This was done before he reached his sixteenth year. The mercantile life, however, yielded to the literary, and he became a writer of no mean ability, especially upon political subjects. So he was brought forward into a public position, and entered Parliament while still a young man. During this iong career he continued writing, and at the same time occupied several prominent official positions, and in 1854 he was knighted by the queen. In 1828 he received from the University of Groningen the degree of LL. D. As a religious man he has always been reckoned among the Unitarians; but his faith was sincere and his life was evangelical. He was a most indefatigable worker and a greatly useful man. He gave aid to Prison Reform. He helped distribute the Bible. He was on the side of everything good and true. He rested for his salvation upon an atonement wrought out by the infinite Son of God. He died November 23, 1872, and on his tombstone is engraved the first line of the hymn by which it is likely he is most widely known, In the Cross of Christ I Glory." The present hymn was published in an almost forgotten volume, Hymns by John Bowring, 1825. This was a sort of sequel to Matins and Vespers, London, 1823, in which his religious life is at its best. 162 |