The Susquehanna Valley in the United Methodist Hymnal by Dr
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HYMNS OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA The Susquehanna Valley in the United Methodist Hymnal by Dr. Milton Loyer, 1998 0. Prelude I invite you to journey with me through the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church. We'll travel down the Susquehanna River Valley -- from the headwaters of the West Branch of the Susquehanna near Clearfield and the entrance of the North Branch of the Susquehanna into Pennsylvania north of Towanda, through Sunbury, past Harrisburg, and toward the Chesapeake Bay. But this trip will be unlike any you have ever taken. It will be a musical journey, and our roadmap will be our United Methodist Hymnal! This excursion leads to 10 cities, 11 authors and 22 hymns in the present United Methodist Hymnal that have a direct connection to the Central Pennsylvania Conference -- the itinerary is given on the following page. Sit back, relax, and a have a pleasant trip. And don't forget your roadmap -- having a copy of the United Meth- odist Hymnal at hand as you read will help you get the most from this adventure. 1. Williamsport Turn to hymn #254, We Three Kings of Orient Are . Our journey fittingly begins considering the birth of Jesus. The words and music to this popular Christmas carol were composed by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in 1857, and they have been in- cluded in Methodist hymnals since 1935. Geographically, we begin at Christ Epis- copal Church at Fourth and Mulberry Streets in Williamsport, where Hopkins served as pastor for 11 years -- from 1876 to 1887. Born in Pittsburgh, this son of an Episcopal bishop worked as a reporter and studied law at the University of Vermont before entering General Theological Seminary in New York City. After graduation, he remained at the seminary to become its first instructor in church music and wrote We Three Kings of Orient Are while teaching music there. Ordained a priest late in life, in 1872, Hopkins only ever pastored at two churches -- briefly at Trinity Church in Plattsburg NY and Williamsport's Christ Episcopal, which maintains an archives of his musical works and other personal artifacts. Hopkins was a scholarly man of many talents. He published two books of poems, from one of which, Poems by the Wayside , 1883, several hymns have been taken. The companion to the 1940 Episcopal Hymnal describes him as "one of the great leaders in the development of hymnody in the Episcopal church during the mid- nineteenth century." 5 Itinerary: The Susquehanna Valley in the United Methodist Hymnal 1. Williamsport John Henry Hopkins #254 We Three Kings of Orient Are (1820-1891) 2. Pottsgrove Washington Gladden #430 O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee (1836-1918) 3. Lewisburg Robert Lowry #322 Up from the Grave He Arose (1826-1899) #362 Nothing but the Blood of Jesus #397 I Need Thee Every Hour #723 Shall We Gather at the River #733 Marching to Zion 4. New Berlin Elisha A. Hoffman #133 Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (1839-1929) 5. Towanda Philip P. Bliss #165 Hallelujah! What a Savior (1838-1876) #377 It Is Well with My Soul #600 Wonderful Words of Life 6. Danville Joseph Parry #479 Jesus, Lover of My Soul (1841-1903) 7. Duncannon William Kirkpatrick #462 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (1838-1921) 8. Harrisburg John Wyeth #198 My Soul Gives Glory to My God (1770-1858) #226 My Master, See, the Time Has Come #400 Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing #518 O Thou, in Whose Presence #726 O Holy City, Seen of John 9. Carlisle George Duffield #514 Stand Up, Stand Up, for Jesus (1818-1888) Lee Hastings Bristol #589 The Church of Christ, in Every (1923-1979) Age 10. Mechanicsburg Benjamin Hanby #190 Who Is He in Yonder Stall? (1833-1867) 6 This particular hymn is more than beautiful words with an inspiring tune, and it typifies Hopkins' careful style. The first stanza sets the stage, stanzas 2-4 describe the significance of the three gifts, and the last stanza majestically proclaims Jesus to be "King and God and sacrifice." The next time you sing this hymn, remember that its author was for over ten years the Episcopal rector in Williamsport. 2. Pottsgrove Turn to hymn #430, O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee . Following the West Branch of the Susquehanna south to Milton, we leave the river to journey five miles east into Northumberland County to Pottsgrove. Born there in 1836 on the family farm at the edge of town, Washington Gladden went on to become a Congregational pastor. Known as` a social activist, particularly in the area of industrial relations between workers and their employers, Gladden wrote a poem of 3 eight-line stanzas in 1879 to encourage common people working in a hostile world. The text given in most hymnals is the first and third stanzas of that poem, each broken into two four-line verses. What was the second stanza of the original poem reveals the author's sense of frustration in this area and has been omitted from the text of the hymn. That omitted second stanza reads as follows. O master, let me walk with thee Before the taunting Pharisee; Help me to bear the sting of spite, The hate of men who hide thy light. The sore distrust of souls sincere Who cannot read Thy judgments clear, The dullness of the multitude, Who dimly guess that thou are good. Gladden served as moderator of the National Council of Congregational Churches 1904-07. An early advocate of the Social Gospel, he gives his personal social creed in his Recollections , 1909, as follows: Because the Christian life is the noblest life; because it is more blessed to give than to receive, and better to minister than to be ministered unto; because the good life is not found in separating yourself from your fellows, but by identifying yourself with them -- therefore, let us be Christians. If the church would dare to preach and practice the things which Jesus Christ commanded, she would soon regain her lost power. While Gladden's militant preaching and writing stirred the nation for many years, Methodist hymnologist Robert Guy McCutchan pays this tribute to him and his words to O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee . "This hymn alone, had he done no other writing, would have given him a place among the leaders in awakening the new 7 social consciousness." From the Pottsgrove farmlands of Northumberland County arose this man of conviction and his stirring message. 3. Lewisburg Turn to hymn #723, Shall We Gather at the River . Returning to the Susque- hanna River, we continue south to Lewisburg. It was there that Robert Lowry graduated from Bucknell University in 1854 with the highest honors of his class. Born in Philadelphia in 1826, he returned to Lewisburg to pastor the Baptist church there and to teach at Bucknell University 1869-1875. This preacher, professor, administrator and popular orator did not take up the study of music seriously until after his fortieth birthday. Highly gifted with musical and poetic talent, he wrote both words and melody for many of his songs. Asked whether he wrote the music to fit the words or vice- versa, he said: I have no method. Sometimes the music comes and the words follow, fitted insensibly to the melody. I watch my moods, and when anything strikes me, whether words or music, no matter where I am, at home, or on the street, I jot it down. Often the margin of a newspaper or the back of an envelope serves as a note book. My brain is a sort of spinning machine, I think, for there is music running through it all the time. I do not pick out my music on the keys of an instrument. The tunes of nearly all the hymns I have written have been completed on paper before I tried them on the organ. Frequently the words of the hymn and the music have been written at the same time. 8 Robert Lowry (1826-1899) Listing all the well-known gospel songs of Lowry would expand this section beyond its limits. The United Methodist Hymnal includes five works of this prolific writer and composer. While living in Lewisburg, Lowry wrote the words and music to #322 Low in the Grave He Lay, and the music to #397 I Need Thee Every Hour and #733 Marching to Zion . He wrote the words and music to #362 Nothing But the Blood of Jesus and #723 Shall We Gather at the River while living outside the Central Pennsylvania Conference . Bucknell University awarded Lowry an honorary doctor's degree in 1875 and has preserved the Robert Lowry House, which stands at the north edge of the campus, as an office and display area. It has been said that Lowry was inspired by thoughts of the Susquehanna when he wrote Shall We Gather at the River . Probably the most popular of all his hymns, it was so successful, Lowry believed, because its steady tempo conjured up images of brass bands and popular Sousa-style march music. In his writings, he relates the following story of local interest. Going from Harrisburg to Lewisburg once I got into a car filled with half-drunken lumbermen. Suddenly one of them struck up 'Shall We Gather at the River' and they sang it over and over again, repeating the chorus in a wild, boisterous way. I did not think so much of the music then as I listened to those singers, but I did think that perhaps the spirit of the hymn, the words so flippantly uttered, might somehow survive and be carried forward into the lives of those careless men, and ultimately lift them upward to the realization of the hope expressed in the hymn.