The Story of Our Hymns Part 31

Brief mention should also be made here of another of Bishop Heber's contemporaries who gained undying fame by a great hymn. He was John Marriott, a minister of the Church of England, whose missionary hymn, "Thou, whose almighty word," is ranked among the finest in the English language. Marriott was born in 1780, three years before Heber's birth, and he died in 1825, a year before the death of the famous missionary bishop.

A Hymn That Wins Souls

Just as I am, without one plea But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, O Lamb of G.o.d, I come, I come!

Just as I am, and waiting not To rid my soul of one dark blot, To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of G.o.d, I come, I come!

Just as I am, though tossed about With many a conflict, many a doubt, Fightings and fears, within, without, O Lamb of G.o.d, I come, I come!

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; Sight, riches, healing of the mind, Yea, all I need, in Thee I find, O Lamb of G.o.d, I come, I come!

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, Because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of G.o.d, I come, I come!

Just as I am; Thy love unknown Hath broken every barrier down; Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of G.o.d, I come, I come!

Charlotte Elliott, 1836.

AN INVALID WHO BLESSED THE WORLD

"Just as I am" will doubtlessly be sung to the end of time, and as often as Christians sing it they will praise G.o.d and bless the memory of the woman who wrote it--Charlotte Elliott.

This hymn will have a greater value, too, when we know something of the pain and effort that it cost the writer to produce it. Miss Elliott was one of those afflicted souls who scarcely know what surcease from suffering is. Though she lived to be eighty-two years old, she was never well, and often endured seasons of great physical distress. She could well understand the sacrifice made by one who

Strikes the strings With fingers that ache and bleed.

Of her own afflictions she once wrote: "He knows, and He alone, what it is, day after day, hour after hour, to fight against bodily feelings of almost overpowering weakness, languor and exhaustion, to resolve not to yield to slothfulness, depression and instability, such as the body causes me to long to indulge, but to rise every morning determined to take for my motto: 'If a man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.'"

But G.o.d seemed to have had a purpose in placing a heavy cross upon her.

Her very afflictions made her think of other sufferers like herself and made her the better fitted for the work that He had prepared for her--the ministry of comfort and consolation. How beautifully she resigned herself to the will of G.o.d may be seen in her words: "G.o.d sees, G.o.d guides, G.o.d guards me. His grace surrounds me, and His voice continually bids me to be happy and holy in His service, just where I am."

"Just as I am" was written in 1836, and appeared for the first time in the second edition of "The Invalid's Hymn Book," which was published that year and to which Miss Elliott had contributed 115 pieces.

The great American evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, once said that this hymn had probably touched more hearts and brought more souls to Christ than any other ever written. Miss Elliott's own brother, who was a minister in the Church of England, himself wrote:

"In the course of a long ministry, I hope to have been permitted to see some fruit of my labors; but I feel far more has been done by a single hymn of my sister's."

It is said that after the death of Miss Elliott, more than a thousand letters were found among her papers, in which the writers expressed their grat.i.tude to her for the help the hymn had brought them.

The secret power of this marvelous hymn must be found in its true evangelical spirit. It sets forth in very simple but gripping words the all-important truth that we are not saved through any merit or worthiness in ourselves, but by the sovereign grace of G.o.d through faith in Jesus Christ. It also pictures the utter helplessness and wretchedness of the human soul, and its inability to rise above its own sins; but very lovingly it invites the soul to come to Him "whose blood can cleanse each spot."

The hymn was born out of the author's personal spiritual experiences.

Though a daughter of the Church, brought up in a pious home, it seems that Miss Elliott had never found true peace with G.o.d. Like so many other seeking souls in all ages, she felt that men must do something themselves to win salvation, instead of coming to Christ as helpless sinners and finding complete redemption in Him.

When Dr. Caesar Malan, the noted Swiss preacher of Geneva, came to visit the Elliott home in Brighton, England, in 1822, he soon discovered the cause of her spiritual perplexity, and became a real evangelical guide and counsellor. "You have nothing of merit to bring to G.o.d," he told her.

"You must come just as you are, a sinner, to the Lamb of G.o.d that taketh away the sin of the world."

Throughout the remainder of her life, Miss Elliott celebrated every year the day on which her friend had led her to Christ, for she considered it to be her spiritual birthday. Although it was fourteen years later that she wrote her immortal hymn, it is apparent that she never forgot the words of Dr. Malan, for they form the very core and essence of it. The inspiration for the hymn came one day when the frail invalid had been left alone at the home of her brother. She was lying on a couch and pondering on the words spoken by Dr. Malan many years before, when suddenly the whole glorious truth of salvation as the free gift of G.o.d flashed upon her soul. Then came the heavenly gift. Rising from her couch, she wrote:

Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee, O Lamb of G.o.d, I come, I come!

Miss Elliott was the author of some 150 hymns. Perhaps her finest, aside from her great masterpiece, is "My G.o.d, my Father, while I stray." By common consent, Miss Elliott is given first place among English women hymn-writers.

The Sun That Ne'er Goes Down

Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear, It is not night if Thou be near; O may no earthborn cloud arise To hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes.

When the soft dews of kindly sleep My wearied eyelids gently steep, Be my last thought, how sweet to rest Forever on my Saviour's breast.

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

If some poor wandering child of Thine Have spurned today the voice divine, Now, Lord, the gracious work begin; Let him no more lie down in sin.

Watch by the sick; enrich the poor With blessings from Thy boundless store; Be every mourner's sleep tonight, Like infant's slumber, pure and light.

Come near and bless us when we wake, Ere through the world our way we take; Till in the ocean of Thy love We lose ourselves in heaven above.

John Keble, 1827.

HOW HYMNS HELPED BUILD A CHURCH

Many of the cla.s.sic hymns of the Christian Church have been derived from devotional poems that were never intended as hymns by their writers. This is true of the beautiful morning hymn, "New every morning is the love,"

and the equally beautiful evening hymn, "Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear." Both of these gems in the treasury of hymnody have been taken from one of the most famous devotional books ever written--John Keble's "The Christian Year."

Keble was born at Fairford, England, April 25, 1792, the son of a country vicar. The only elementary training he received was at the hands of his gifted father, but at the age of fifteen years he was ready to enter Oxford University. Here he distinguished himself as a brilliant scholar, and at the age of twenty-three he was ordained as a clergyman of the Church of England. He remained as a tutor at Oxford for a number of years, but when his mother died he returned to Fairford to a.s.sist his father. Although he received a number of tempting offers at this time, he preferred to labor in this obscure parish, where he might be of help and comfort to his father and his two sisters.

It was not until 1835, when his father died and the home was broken up, that Keble accepted the vicarage of Hursley, another humble and scattered parish, with a population of 1,500 people. He married in the same year, and here he and his devoted wife labored until 1866, when they pa.s.sed away within six weeks of each other.

It was in 1827, when Keble was only twenty-seven, that he yielded to the strong entreaties of his father and many of his friends and consented to publish the volume of poems known as "The Christian Year." The verses follow the church calendar, and it was the author's desire that the book should be a devotional companion to the Book of Common Prayer. For this reason it has been called "The Prayer Book in Poetry."

Keble was so modest concerning his work that he refused to permit the volume to bear his name, and so it was given to the world anonymously.

The work was a marvelous success. From 1827 to 1867, a year after the author's death, the book had pa.s.sed through one hundred and nine editions. Keble used a large part of the proceeds derived from the sales of his book in helping to rebuild the church at Hursley. He also was instrumental in having churches built at Otterbourne and Ampfield, hamlets that belonged to his parish.

Religious leaders, as well as literary critics, have been unanimous in rendering tribute to this remarkable volume. Dr. Arnold, the great schoolmaster of Rugby, speaking of Keble's poems, says: "Nothing equal to them exists in our language. The knowledge of Scripture, the purity of heart, and the richness of poetry, I never saw equaled." "It is a book,"