A TREASURE OF HYMNS ii-'l!i|ii AMOS R. UDELLS '""iitiiii h- i i! ill }i iji i'' Mi!! ' illPWiilil'Hliiili.M !lii!!!ih" ill iiji I'u feliiijijl!'" iiiiili m I mm Pik. i ! ! III" ''illililiili !' r' 1 it i I t: ) !<• FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D. BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Section 30W^ / A Treasure of Hymns Brief Biographies of One Hundred and Twenty Leading Hymn-Writers with Their Best Hymns By ^y AMOS R. WELLS BOSTON AND CHICAGO UNITED SOCIETY OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR Copyrighted, 19 14, by the United Society of Christian Endeavor Preface. FOR ten years it has been my pleasure to write articles on the leading hymns and hymn- writers for The Christian Endeavor Worlds one a month. These hymns were suggested as memory hymns for the Christian Endeavor societies, the hymns to be sung from memory in the meetings, and the facts regarding their writers to be stated to the young people. The considerable amount of hymn lore thus collected is here presented in per- manent form for the use of pastors, church workers, young people's societies, and all lovers of hymns. No claim is made to originality ; only a few of these chapters consist of material here presented for the first time ; most of the book is collected from a large number of volumes. The usefulness of the book will spring from the wide range of hymn literature which has been examined, the most inter- esting and inspiring facts being collated for this volume. A knowledge of the authors of our hymns, and of the stirring incidents connected with the use of them, cannot fail to make the hymns more pre- cious to every Christian. The one hundred and twenty hymn-writers here treated include the greatest of these poets, and many of the lesser writers. In each case all their most im- 4 Preface portant hymns are named, while one hymn, usually the most famous and beloved, is selected for printing in full. I can have no happier wish for this book than that it may bring the same pleasure and profit to its readers that the writing of it has brought to me. Amos R. Wells. Boston, Mass, Contents. PAGE All Hail the Power of Jesus* Name '3 Edward Perronet. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God i8 Martin Luther. Calm on the Listening Ear of Nigh 22 Edmund Hamilton Sears, O Little Town of Bethlehem . 25 Bishop Brooks, From Greenland's Icy Mountains 28 Bishop Heber. Speed Away 33 Fanny Crosby, How Firm a Foundation 37 Trobably by Robert Keene, My Country, *Tis of Thee . 43 Samuel Francis Smith. God Bless Our Native Land . 47 Charles T. Brooks and John Dwight, Jesus, Lover of My Soul 49 Charles Wesley. Nearer, My God, to Thee . 54 Sarah Flower Adams, Just as I Am 59 Charlotte Elliott, Rock of Ages ^Z Augustus M, Toplady. Take My Life 68 Frances Ridley Havergal. My Faith Looks Up to Thee . 72 Ray Palmer, Contents In the Cross of Christ I Glory Sir John Bowring, Sun of My Soul . John Keble. Am I a Soldier of the Cross . Isaac Watts. Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus George Duffield. Onward, Christian Soldiers . Sabine Baring-Gould. Awake, My Soul .... Bishop Thomas Ken, Abide with Me .... Henry Francis Lyte. God Be with You Till We Meet Again J. E. Rankin. O Day of Rest and Gladness . Bishop Wordsworth. In This Consecration Hour . Howard Benjamin Grose. Blest Be the Tie That Binds . John Fawcett. If You Cannot on the Ocean . Ellen M. Huntington Gates. Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Languid John Mason Neale. Courage, Brother ! Do Not Stumble Norman Macleod. Two Empires by the Sea George Huntington. Summer Suns Are Glowing William Walsham How. Behold ! a Stranger at the Door Joseph Grigg. Bright Was the Guiding Star That Led Harriet Auber, Contents Father, Let Me Dedicate Lawrence Tuttiett. Oh, Could I Speak the Matchless Worth Samuel Medley. Crown Him with Many Crowns Matthew Bridges, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go George Matheson. Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee . Bernard of Clairvaux. Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned . Samuel Stennett. The Battle Hymn of the Republic . Julia Ward Howe, For the Beauty of the Earth . Folliott Sandford Pierpoint. Onward, Christian, Though the Region Samuel Johnson. Golden Day So Long Desired Charles Albert Dickinson. In the Field with Their Flocks Frederic William Farrar. Rise, My Soul, and Stretch Thy Wings Robert Seagrave. Sweet Hour of Prayer . William W. Walford. The Day of Resurrection St. John of Damascus. While Thee I Seek, Protecting Power Helen Maria Williams. 1 Love Thy Kingdom, Lord . Timothy Dwight. Hail ! Columbia .... Joseph Hop kinson. The Sands of Time Are Sinking . Annie Ross Cousin. 8 Contents There Are Lonely Hearts to Cherish George Cooper. What Shall the Harvest Be . Emily Sullivan Oakey. The God of Abraham Praise . Thomas Olivers. There's a Song in the Air Josiah Gilbert Holland. When Morning Gilds the Skies Edward Caswall. Somebody Did a Golden Deed John R. Clements. O God, the Rock of Ages . Edward Henry Bickersteth. Lord, It Belongs Not to My Care . Richard Baxter. Lord, How Full of Sweet Content Madame Guyon. Cast Thy Burden on the Lord Rowland Hill. The Breaking Waves Dashed High . Felicia Dorothea Hemans. There Is a Happy Land Andrew Young. 1 Am So Glad That Our Father in Heaven P. P, Bliss. When He Cometh William Orcutt Gushing. Day by Day the Manna Fell . josiah Conder. Shout the Glad Tidings William Augustus Muhlenberg, Jesus, Saviour, Pilot Me Edward Hopper. Let Us with a Gladsome Mind John Milton. Contents We Give Thee Thanks, O God, This Day Robert M. Offord. Break Thou the Bread of Life Mary Artemisia Lathbury, Still, Still with Thee . Harriet Beecher Stozve. Come, Ye Thankful People, Come . Henry Alford. Softly Now the Light of Day George Washington Doane. Lord ! While for All Mankind We Pray John Reynell Wreford. Come, Ye Disconsolate . Thomas Moore. Oh, Worship the King, All-glorious Above Robert Grant. We Thank Thee, Lord, for This Fair Earth George Edward Lynch Cotton, Once in Royal David's City . Cecil Frances Alexander. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night Nahum Tate. Great God ! We Sing Thy Mighty Hand Philip Doddridge. Father, I Know That^All My Life . Anna Laetitia Waring. O, Where Are Kings and Empires Now Arthur Cleveland Coxe. Come, Said Jesus' Sacred Voice Anna Laetitia Barbauld. That Sweet Story of Old Jemima Luke. The Star-Spangled Banner . Francis Scott Key. Lord of All Being, Throned Afar . Oliver Wendell Holmes. "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name/' Edward Perronet. THIS, one of the greatest of hymns, was written by Edward Perronet, and is the one thing that has kept his name green in the earth. Nevertheless, Perronet was a man worth knowing about, quite apart from his magnificent hymn. He was descended from French Protestants, and his father was an English clergyman who joined the Wesleys in carrying on their great revival of religion. His son Edward also became a clergyman, and for a time labored with the Wesleys. Charles Wesley writes of his boldness in preaching. At one time he and Perronet were beset in a house by a mob of rough revilers, whom Perronet opposed coura- geously, while they abused him and threw dirt on him. In his note-book, three years later, Charles Wesley speaks of a journey he made to London, with his brother John and with Perronet. ** We were in perils of robbers, who were abroad, and had robbed many the night before," writes Wesley. But, he stoutly adds, ** We commended ourselves to God, and rode over the heath singing." What a scene that must have been I John Wesley wanted to hear Perronet preach, and Perronet, for some reason, would not preach before 13 ; — 14 A Treasure of Hymns Wesley. One day Wesley, seeing Perronet in the congregation, announced that he would preach the next morning. Perronet did not want to make a scene, so the next morning he mounted the pulpit, explained that he had not consented to preach and felt that he could not, but nevertheless he would give them the best sermon that had ever been delivered. Thereupon he opened the Bible, and read the Ser- mon on the Mount from beginning to end, and with- out a word of comment. A song and prayer finished the service. After eight years of co-operation with the Wesleys, Perronet left them, disagreeing with some of their regulations. They continued, however, to esteem and love each other. The last years of Perronet were spent at Canter- bury, where he was pastor of an independent church, and where he died in 1792, at the age of sixty-six. He published three volumes of religious poems, one being made up of versified Scripture. Some of these poems deserve to be widely used, as, for instance, the hymn containing the stanza : " O grant me, Lord, that sweet content That sweetens every state Which no internal fears can rent, Nor outward foes abate." None of Perronet's poems, however, have attained fame except the immortal **A11 hail the power of Jesus' name." It was written in 1779, and was first printed, in 1 780, in The Gospel Magazine. The poet ;; !! — All Hail the Power of Jesus* Name 15 gave it the title, *' On the Resurrection," and as he wrote it, there were eight stanzas, as follows : All hail the power of Jesus' name, Let angels prostrate fall Bring forth the royal diadem, To crown Him Lord of all 1 Let high born seraphs tune the lyre, And, as they tune it, fall Before His face who tunes their choir.