The Story of Our Hymns Part 27

Perronet died January 2, 1792. His last words were:

"Glory to G.o.d in the height of His divinity!

Glory to G.o.d in the depth of His humanity!

Glory to G.o.d in His all-sufficiency!

Into His hands I commend my spirit."

Two other hymn-writers who, like Perronet, were a.s.sociated with the Wesleyan movement may be mentioned in this connection. They were John Cennick and William Williams. Like Perronet, too, each was the author of one great hymn, and through that hymn their names have been preserved to posterity.

Cennick, who was of Bohemian ancestry, first met John Wesley in 1739. Of that meeting Wesley has the following notation in his diary: "On Friday, March 1739, I came to Reading, where I found a young man who had in some measure known the powers of the world to come. I spent the evening with him and a few of his serious friends, and it pleased G.o.d much to strengthen and comfort them."

For a while Cennick a.s.sisted Wesley as a lay preacher, but in 1741 he forsook the Methodist movement on account of Wesley's "free grace"

doctrines and organized a society of his own along Calvinistic lines.

Later he joined himself to John Whitefield as an evangelist, but finally he went over to the Moravians, in which communion he labored abundantly until his death in 1755 at the early age of thirty-seven years.

To Cennick we are indebted for the majestic hymn on the theme of Christ's second coming, "Lo! He comes, with clouds descending." James King, in his "Anglican Hymnology," gives this hymn third place among the hymns of the Anglican Church, it being excelled in his estimation only by Bishop Ken's "All praise to Thee, my G.o.d, this night" and Wesley's "Hark! the herald angels sing." Cennick has also bequeathed to the Church the lovely hymn, "Children of the heavenly King." Though he wrote and published many more hymns, they are mostly of an inferior order.

Williams, a Welshman by birth, has also left a hymn that has gone singing down through the centuries. It is the rugged and stirring hymn that sets forth in such striking imagery the experiences of the Israelites in the wilderness, "Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah."

Williams, who earned the t.i.tle of the "Watts of Wales," wrote the hymn originally in Welsh. Of him it has been said that "He did for Wales what Wesley and Watts did for England, or what Luther did for Germany." His first hymn-book, "Hallelujah," was published in 1744, when he was only twenty-seven years old.

The Welsh hymnist originally intended to enter the medical profession, but, after pa.s.sing through a spiritual crisis, he was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England. Because of his free methods of evangelism, he was denied full ordination, and later identified himself with the Wesleyan revival. Like Cennick and Perronet, however, he soon forsook the Wesleys, and now we find him a Calvinistic Methodist, having adopted Wales as his parish. He was a powerful preacher and an unusual singer, and for forty-five years he carried on a blessed work until, on January 11, 1791, he pa.s.sed through "the swelling current" and was landed "safe on Canaan's side."

In Praise of the Word of G.o.d

Father of Mercies, in Thy Word What endless glory shines!

Forever be Thy Name adored For these celestial lines.

Here the Redeemer's welcome voice Spreads heavenly peace around; And life and everlasting joys Attend the blissful sound.

O may these heavenly pages be My ever dear delight; And still new beauties may I see, And still increasing light.

Divine Instructor, gracious Lord, Be Thou forever near; Teach me to love Thy sacred Word, And view my Saviour there.

Anne Steele, 1760.

ENGLAND'S FIRST WOMAN HYMNIST

While Isaac Watts was working on his immortal version of "Psalms of David," a baby girl was born to a Baptist minister at Broughton, fifteen miles away. The baby was Anne Steele, destined to become England's first woman hymn-writer. This was in 1716.

Her father, who was a merchant as well as a minister, served the church at Broughton for sixty years, the greater part without pay. The mother died when Anne was only a babe of three years. From childhood the future hymnist was delicate in health, and in 1735 she suffered a hip injury which made her practically an invalid for life.

The hardest blow, however, came in 1737, when her lover, Robert Elscourt, was drowned on the day before he and Anne were to have been married. The grief-stricken young woman with heroic faith nevertheless rose above her afflictions and found solace in sacred song. It is believed that her first hymn, a poem of beautiful resignation, was written at this time:

Father, whate'er of earthly bliss Thy sovereign will denies, Accepted at Thy throne, let this My humble prayer arise:

Give me a calm and thankful heart, From every murmur free; The blessings of Thy grace impart, And make me live to Thee.

Let the sweet hope that Thou art mine My life and death attend, Thy presence through my journey shine, And crown my journey's end.

That the Lord heard her prayer may be attested by the fact that she became the greatest hymn-writer the Baptist Church has produced.

Throughout her life she remained unmarried, living with her father and writing n.o.ble hymns. In 1760 her first poems appeared in print under the pen name of "Theodosia." Her father at this time makes the following notation in his diary: "This day Nanny sent part of her composition to London to be printed. I entreat a gracious G.o.d, who enabled and stirred her up to such a work, to direct it and bless it for the good of many. I pray G.o.d to make it useful, and keep her humble." The book proved immensely popular, and the author devoted the profits from its sale to charity.

Miss Steele is the author of 144 hymns and 34 paraphrases of the Psalms.

That many of them breathe a spirit of melancholy sadness is not to be wondered at, when we consider the circ.u.mstances under which they were written. Although they do not rise to great poetic heights, their language is so artless and simple they seem to sing their way into the heart of the worshiper. When Trinity Episcopal Church of Boston, in 1808, printed its own hymn-book of 151 hymns, fifty-nine of them, or more than one-third, were selected from Miss Steele's compositions. The fact that so many of them are still found in the hymnals of today is another testimony of their worth.

Among the more famous hymns from her pen are: "Father of Mercies, in Thy Word," "How helpless guilty nature lies," "Dear Refuge of my weary soul,"

"O Thou whose tender mercy hears," "Thou only Sovereign of my heart," and "Thou lovely source of true delight."

England's pioneer woman hymnist fell asleep in November, 1788, her last words being, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Her epitaph reads:

Silent the lyre, and dumb the tuneful tongue, That sung on earth her great Redeemer's praise; But now in heaven she joins the angelic song, In more harmonious, more exalted lays.

The decades during which Miss Steele lived and wrought were remarkable for the number of hymn-writers of her own communion who flourished in England. In addition to Miss Steele, the Baptist Church produced such hymnists as Samuel Medley, Samuel Stennett and John Fawcett. Benjamin Beddome also was a prolific writer of this period, but his hymns are not of a high order.

Medley lived a dissipated life in the navy until he was severely wounded in battle in 1759. The reading of a sermon led to his conversion, and he later became pastor of a Baptist congregation in Liverpool. His most famous hymns are "O could I speak the matchless worth" and "Awake, my soul, to joyful lays." Stennett in 1757 succeeded his father as pastor of a Baptist church in London, where he gained fame as a preacher. His best hymns are "Majestic sweetness sits enthroned" and "'Tis finished, so the Saviour cried." Fawcett was minister of an humble Baptist congregation in Wainsgate when, in 1772, he received a call to a large London church. He preached his farewell sermon and had loaded his household goods on wagons, when the tears of his parishioners constrained him to remain. A few days later he wrote the tender lyric, "Blest be the tie that binds."

Among his other hymns are "How precious is the Book divine" and "Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing."

The Name above All Names

How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds In a believer's ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole, And calms the troubled breast; 'Tis Manna to the hungry soul, And to the weary Rest.

Dear Name! the Rock on which I build, My Shield and Hiding-place; My never-failing Treasury, filled With boundless stores of grace.

By Thee my prayers acceptance gain, Although with sin defiled: Satan accuses me in vain, And I am owned a child.

Weak is the effort of my heart, And cold my warmest thought; But when I see Thee as Thou art, I'll praise Thee as I ought.

Till then I would Thy love proclaim With every fleeting breath; And may the music of Thy Name Refresh my soul in death.

John Newton, 1779.