The Story of the Hymns and Tunes Part 35

Yea, hope and despondency, pleasure and pain, Are mingled together like sunshine and rain; And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge, Still follow each other like surge upon surge.

'Tis the wink of an eye; 'tis the draft of a breath From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud, Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?

Philip Phillips was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua Co., N.Y., Aug. 11, 1834, and died in Delaware, O., June 25, 1895. He wrote no hymns and was not an educated musician, but the airs of popular hymn-music came to him and were harmonized for him by others, most frequently by his friends, S.J. Vail and Hubert P. Main. He compiled and published thirty-one collections for Sunday-schools and gospel meetings, besides the _Methodist Hymn and Tune Book_, issued in 1866.

He was a pioneer gospel singer, and his tuneful journeys through America, England and Australia gave him the name of the "Singing Pilgrim," the t.i.tle of his song collection (1867).

"WHEN ISRAEL OF THE LORD BELOVED."

The "Song of Rebecca the Jewess," in "Ivanhoe," was written by Sir Walter Scott, author of the Waverly Novels, "Marmion," etc., born in Edinburgh, 1771, and died at Abbotsford, 1832. The lines purport to be the Hebrew hymn with which Rebecca closed her daily devotions while in prison under sentence of death.

When Israel of the Lord beloved Out of the land of bondage came Her fathers' G.o.d before her moved, An awful Guide in smoke and flame.

Then rose the choral hymn of praise, And trump and timbrel answered keen, And Zion's daughters poured their lays.

With priest's and warrior's voice between.

By day along th' astonished lands The cloudy Pillar glided slow, By night Arabia's crimson'd sands Returned the fiery Column's glow.

And O, when gathers o'er our path In shade and storm the frequent night Be Thou, long suffering, slow to wrath, A burning and a shining Light!

The "Hymn of Rebecca" has been set to music though never in common use as a hymn. Old "Truro", by Dr. Charles Burney (1726-1814) is a grand Scotch psalm harmony for the words, though one of the Unitarian hymnals borrows Zeuner's sonorous choral, the "Missionary Chant." Both sound the lyric of the Jewess in good Christian music.

"WE SAT DOWN AND WEPT BY THE WATERS."

The 137th Psalm has been for centuries a favorite with poets and poetical translators, and its pathos appealed to Lord Byron when engaged in writing his _Hebrew Melodies_.

Byron was born in London, 1788, and died at Missolonghi, Western Greece, 1824.

We sat down and wept by the waters Of Babel, and thought of the day When the foe, in the hue of his slaughters, Made Salem's high places his prey, And ye, Oh her desolate daughters, Were scattered all weeping away.

--Written April, 1814. It was the fashion then for musical societies to call on the popular poets for contributions, and tunes were composed for them, though these have practically pa.s.sed into oblivion.

Byron's ringing ballad (from II Kings 19:35)--

Th' a.s.syrian came down like a wolf on the fold And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold,

--has been so much a favorite for recitation and declamation that the loss of its tune is never thought of.

Another poetic rendering of the "Captivity Psalm" is worthy of notice among the lay hymns not unworthy to supplement clerical sermons. It was written by the Hon. Joel Barlow in 1799, and published in a pioneer psalm-book at Northampton, Ma.s.s. It is neither a translation nor properly a hymn but a poem built upon the words of the Jewish lament, and really reproducing something of its plaintive beauty. Two stanzas of it are as follows:

Along the banks where Babel's current flows Our captive bands in deep despondence strayed, While Zion's fall in deep remembrance rose, Her friends, her children mingled with the dead.

The tuneless harps that once with joy we strung When praise employed, or mirth inspired the lay, In mournful silence on the willows hung, And growing grief prolonged the tedious day.

Like Pope, this American poet loved onomatope and imitative verse, and the last line is a word-picture of home-sick weariness. This "psalm"

was the best piece of work in Mr. Barlow's series of attempted improvements upon Isaac Watts--which on the whole were not very successful. The sweet cantabile of Mason's "Melton" gave "Along the banks" quite an extended lease of life, though it has now ceased to be sung.

Joel Barlow was a versatile gentleman, serving his country and generation in almost every useful capacity, from chaplain in the continental army to foreign amba.s.sador. He was born in Redding, Ct., 1755, and died near Cracow, Poland, Dec. 1812.

"AS DOWN IN THE SUNLESS."

Thomas Moore, the poet of glees and love-madrigals, had sober thoughts in the intervals of his gaiety, and employed his genius in writing religious and even devout poems, which have been spiritually helpful in many phases of Christian experience. Among them was this and the four following hymns, with thirty-four others, each of which he carefully labelled with the name of a music composer, though the particular tune is left indefinite. "The still prayer of devotion" here answers, in rhyme and reality, the simile of the sea-flower in the unseen deep, and the mariner's compa.s.s represents the constancy of a believer.

As, still to the star of its worship, though clouded, The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea, So, dark as I roam in this wintry world shrouded, The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee.

It is sung in _Plymouth Hymnal_ to Barnby's "St. Botolph."

"THE TURF SHALL BE MY FRAGRANT SHRINE"

Is, in part, still preserved in hymn collections, and sung to the n.o.ble tune of "Louvan," Virgil Taylor's piece. The last stanza is especially reminiscent of the music.

There's nothing bright above, below, From flowers that bloom to stars that glow; But in its light my soul can see Some feature of Thy deity.

"O THOU WHO DRY'ST THE MOURNER'S TEAR"

Is a.s.sociated in the _Baptist Praise Book_ with Woodbury's "Siloam."

"THE BIRD LET LOOSE IN EASTERN SKIES"

Has been sung in Mason's "Coventry," and the _Plymouth Hymnal_ a.s.signs it to "Spohr"--a namesake tune of Louis Spohr, while the _Unitarian Hymn and Tune Book_ unites to it a beautiful triple-time melody from Mozart, and bearing his name.

"THOU ART, O G.o.d, THE LIFE AND LIGHT."

This is the best of the Irish poet's sacred songs--always excepting, "Come, Ye Disconsolate." It is said to have been originally set to a secular melody composed by the wife of Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

It is joined to the tune of "Brighton" in the Unitarian books, and William Monk's "Matthias" voices the words for the _Plymouth Hymnal_.

The verses have the true lyrical glow, and make a real song of praise as well a composition of more than ordinary literary beauty.

Thou art, O G.o.d, the life and light Of all this wondrous world we see; Its glow by day, its smile by night Are but reflections caught from Thee.

Where'er we turn Thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are Thine.

When night with wings of starry gloom O'ershadows all the earth, and skies Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume Is sparkling with unnumbered eyes, That sacred gloom, those fires divine, So grand, so countless, Lord, are Thine.