The Feast of Pentecost

O God, the Holy Ghost,
In this accepted hour,
As on the day of Pentecost,
Descend in all thy power.

Like mighty rushing wind
Upon the waves beneath,
Move with one impulse every mind;
One soul, one feeling breathe.

The young, the old inspire
With wisdom from above;
And give us hearts and tongues of fire,
To pray, and praise, and love.

Spirit of light, explore
And chase our gloom away,
With luster shining more and more
Unto the perfect day.

Spirit of truth, be thou
In life and death, our guide;
O Spirit of adoption, come!
May we be sanctified!

James Momtgomery, 1819; alt.
Tune: PETERBOROUGH (S.M.)
William H. Monk, 1868



Four Years Ago: Joy! because the circling year

Three Years Ago: O prophet souls of all the years

Two Years Ago: Above the starry spheres

One Year Ago: Hail thee, festival day!

The Feast of the Ascension

On Olivet a little band

Around their risen Savior stand:

And after charge and blessing giv’n,

He passes from them into heav’n.

Wistful their eyes, but angels twain

Cheer them with glorious words: “Again

One day shall Jesus even so

Return, as ye have seen Him go.”

Whom have we, Christ, in heav’n but thee?

Like ships safe moored on stormy sea

Our souls in peril, with thee there

Find anchorage of hope and prayer.

Set loose from earth, and evermore

Fast bound to that eternal shore,

So all our life and love shall be,

Ascended Savior, ris'n with thee!

Samuel J. Stone, 1866; alt.

Tune: MENDON (L.M.)

German melody; arr. Samuel Dyer, 1828

Four Years Ago: Alleluia! Sing to Jesus

Two Years Ago: A hymn of glory let us sing

One Year Ago: Hail the day that sees him rise

Samuel Webbe

The birthdate of composer Samuel Webbe is unknown, and the date of his death is apparently also uncertain, but several sources do list it as May 15.  He had a son by the same name who was also a composer, but not of any hymn tunes that survived to the present day.

The tunes of Webbe that we do know mostly appeared first in his Essay on the Church Plain Chant (1782), and thus were not harmonized as we know them.  Webbe was a Roman Catholic in England, writing for their liturgy and not for the Church of England.  

Today we have what is probably Webbe's best known tune, MELCOMBE, the melody of which came from that first book, and is still included in modern hymnals.  The tune gained popularity in a relatively short period of time; it next appeared in a 1791 collection called Sacred Harmony (where it received its name).  Webbe then included it in his later Collection of Motets (1792) with a rudimentary harmonixation.  Ir probably arrived in America through the efforts of Lowell Mason; it appeared in early as 1828 in one of his collections, where it was called NAZARETH.

Like so many other familiar text and tune combinations, this one comes from the first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), where music editor William H. Monk harmonized the tune as we now know it.  In addition to today's well-known text by John Keble, that hymnal also matched MELCOMBE to Lord, speak to me that I may speak by Frances Ridley Havergal, but that pairing did not prove popular.

New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove;
Through sleep and darkness safely brought,
Restored to life and power and thought.

New mercies, each returning day,
Hover around us while we pray;
New perils past, new sins forgiven,
New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.

If, on our daily course, our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.

The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish all we ought to ask;
Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be,
As more of heav'n in each we see.

Only, O God, in thy dear love,
Fit us for perfect rest above,
And help us, this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.

John Keble. 1827; alt.
Tune: MELCOMBE (L.M.)
Samuel Webbe, 1782
harm. Willliam H. Monk, 1861

This text is from John Keble's The Christian Year (1828), part of a sixteen-stanza poem entitled Morning. Of course, some modern hymnals cut it even further to four stanzas.  In The Christian Year, this poem was preceded by a quote from Lamentations 3:22-23: "God's compassions fail not. They are new every morning," which may also remind you of a more recent hymn, Great is thy faithfulness.

I've already admitted that MELCOMBE is not a favorite of mine but someone must like it if it continues to appear in hymnals today. Archibald Jacob, in Songs of Praise Discussed (1933), calls it "an extremely well-balanced tune, of great dignity," which just shows what I know.

Three Years Ago: Samuel Webbe

Two Years Ago: Austin C. Lovelace

Phebe Hanaford

Universalist minister, activist, author and poet Phebe Hanaford was born on May 6, 1829 in Massachusetts.  I have already covered several aspects of her biography in previous entries (linked below), but she led a long and active life.

Her early concern with social justice issues led her to write an anti-slavery novel, Lucretia the Quakeress in 1853, the same year that Harriet Beecher Stowe's more well-known Uncle Tom's Cabin appeared.   After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln she wrote a popular biography of the president.  Her most popular book, however, was Daughters of America (1883), an encyclopedia of renowned and accomplished women from colonial times to her day.

Today's communion hymn by Hanaford is taken from a poem in one of her collectiions, From Shore to Shore (1871).

The feast of life is sweet;
I am a willing guest,
And joyful, at my Savior's feet
I heed his high behest.

I eat the living Bread,
I drink the Cup divine;
And love within my heart is shed
And light shall 'round me shine.

With what exultant joy
My Savior, I shall sing!
Thy praise shall be my soul's employ
Till heav'n's high arch shall ring,

My soul feeds on thy Word
And strength receives from thee
I weary not of thee, O Lord,
O weary not of me!

Still at the feast of life
For strength let me sit down
Till victor, through thee, in the strife
I wear the glorious crown.

Phebe Hanaford, 19th cent.; adapt.
Tune: FESTAL SONG (S.M.)
William H. Walter, 1872

The tune FESTAL SONG is most often associated with the hymn Rise up, O men of God, by William Pierson Merrill, but that's not a text I would ever be writing about.  Contemporary hymn writer Ruth Duck has written a modern text for this tune as a sort of replacement: Arise, your light is come!, which appears in some newer hymnals.  I think you should seek it out if possible; it's quite good (and more grounded in scripture than Merrill's).

The picture below depicts Phebe Hanaford in the pulpit of the New Haven Universalist Church which she pastored in the 1870s.  Since I first wrote about her a few years ago, a biography of her (the first!) has been published, A Mighty Social Force.  One of the contributors, Sarah Barber-Braun, is a long-time scholar of Hanaford and her work, and successfully campaigned for a headstone to finally be placed at Hanaford's unmarked gravesite in 1998.

Three Years Ago: Phebe Hanaford

Two Years Ago: Phebe Hanaford

Saint Philip and Saint James

Today is the double celebration of the feast day of Saint Philip and Saint James in some churches.  We know that Philip was one of the Twelve Apostles, but the identity of this James has shifted over the years.  For a long time he was believed have been the James who was called the brother of Jesus, which is how Christopher Wordsworth identified him in this hymn for the day, published in Wordsworth's hymnal The Holy Year (1865).

O Jesus, blest the grace of Love
Shed on our hearts by thee;
Which makes us to another's soul
Dear as our own to be.

"Follow thou me?" that question dear
Thou once to Philip said;
He followed thee, and on the way
To heav'n he others led.

Today with thine own brother, Lord,
Philip is linked in love;
As kindred, to each other joined
By graces from above.

O bring us to that holy place,
That heav'nly home above;
Where kindred shall as angels be,
And ev'ry word be Love.

Christopher Wordsworth, 1865; alt.
Tune: BEATITUDO (C,M,)
John Bacchus Dykes, 1875

P.S. - Last summer, a group of Italian archaeologists believe that they found the tomb of Philip the Apostle in Turkey.



Three Years Ago: Saint Philip and Saint James

Two Years Ago: Joseph Addison

I Drink From Their Plenty

As discussed before, we're back again to Good Shepherd Sunday, celebrated in many churches on the Fourth Sunday of Easter.  If it was observed in your church, you undoubtedly heard Psalm 23, perhaps in more than one format or setting.  It's certainly the most paraphrased psalm I've presented here, and we have not run out of them yet!  This one may not be as complete a paraphrase as some others, but deserves a look anyway.


Beside the still waters, my Shepherd, my Lord,
There lead me, there feed me, there show me your Word;
There give me your counsel, there grant me your peace,
There make all my sorrows and wanderings cease.

Beside the still waters, oh bountiful store,
I drink from their plenty and thirst nevermore;
No more I am weary when there I may rest,
And feel with your mercy and love I am blessed.

Beside the still waters, your goodness is there,
Protects me from danger, preserves me from care;
For pain has no terror and death has no sting,
While you are so near me, my thanks will I sing.

Inge E. Diekinga, 1896
Tune: BROTHERTON (6.5.6.5.D.)
English folk melody, arr. 1905


This text originally appeared in Uplifting Songs (1896), but with a rather uninteresting tune.  BROTHERTON suits it better, though perhaps it should be played a bit more gently than the sound file here.

I have lost count of all the Psalm 23 paraphrases presented here (more than just the four below) but you may be able to see them by clicking on the "Psalm 23" tag below.

Four Years Ago: My Shepherd, you supply my need

Three Years Ago:  Since God is my Shepherd

Two Years Ago:  Thou art my Shepherd

One Year Ago:  I shall not want, in deserts wild

The Earth Arrayed in Green

We have talked before about hymns with a spring theme that sometimes tie into Eastertide.  This one actually doesn't, but still contains some nice images.  It was published anonymously in this country in 1799, in The Hartford Selection of Hymns, from the Most Approved Authors : To Which are Added a Number Never Before Published (I always love those long titles), a Congregationalist hymnal edited by Nathan Strong, though that may not have been the text's first appearance. In fact, the first stanza sometimes appears with completely different succeeding stanzas, and is attributed to John Newton, but that seems like an inexact credit from the days when hymnals were not indexed well, if at all.  Copyright law was also non-existent, and writers rewrote other people's texts all the time.

At length the wished for spring is come;
How altered is the scene!
The trees and shrubs are dressed in bloom,
The earth arrayed in green.

I see my Savior from on high,
Break through the clouds and shine!
No creature now more blest than I,
No song more loud than mine.

Your Word will all my hope revive,
It overcomes my foes;
It makes my thirsting spirit thrive,
And blossom like a rose.

And now, a monument I stand,
Of what your grace can do,
Uphold me by your gracious hand,
Each changing season through.

Text anonymous, 1799; alt.
Tune: ARLINGTON (C.M.)
Thomas Arne. 1762;
arr. Ralph Harrison, 1784

ARLINGTON, a tune which is still known in modern hymnals, would likely have been familiar to those who sang from the Hartford Selection of 1799.   Thomas Arne was an English composer of opera and instrumental music and this tune was arranged by Ralph Harrison from a minuet in Arne's opera Artaxerxes, which was a very successful work in its day.  Though Arne did not write any sacred choral music, perhaps because he was a Roman Catholic in a time when that was not considered acceptable in England, he has two very familiar tunes to his credit, even today: Rule, Britannia is a patriotic song from his opera Alfred, and his particular arrangement of God Save the King (or Queen) was adopted as Great Britain's national anthem (which also appears in UK hymnals).

Steps Unto Heav'n

Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee!
E'en though it be a cross
That raiseth me;
Still, all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God to thee;
Nearer to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Though like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I'd be,
Nearer, my God, to thee;
Nearer to thee,
Nearer to thee!

There let the way appear,
Steps unto heav'n;
All that thou sendest me,
In mercy giv'n;
Angels to beckon me,
Nearer, my God, to thee;
Nearer to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Then, with my waking thoughts
Bright with thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs,
Bethel I'll raise;
So by my woes to be
Nearer, my God, to thee;
Nearer to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Or if on joyful wing,
Cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot,
Upwards I fly,
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to thee;
Nearer to thee,
Nearer to thee!

Sarah Flower Adams, 1841
Tune: PROPIOR DEO (6.4.6.4.6.6.4.4.)
Arthur Sullivan, 1872

Context is here at the bottom of the entry.

All the Earth Shall Be Made New

In hundreds of churches all over the world, some version of this hymn was sung this morning, but probably not this particular one. Many more sang at least this tune, but with a different (perhaps related) text.

Jesus Christ is ris'n today, Alleluia!

Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!

Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!

Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

Haste, ye seekers from your fright, Alleluia!

Take to Galilee your flight, Alleluia!

To the sad disciples say, Alleluia!

Jesus Christ is ris'n today. Alleluia!

Lo, the earth awakes again, Alleluia!

From the winter's bond and pain, Alleluia!

Bring we leaf and flower and spray, Alleluia!

To adorn this happy day. Alleluia!

Once again the Word comes true, Alleluia!

All the earth shall be made new, Alleluia!

Now the long, cold days are o'er, Alleluia!

Life and gladness are before, Alleluia!

Jesus Christ is ris'n today! Alleluia!

Christ our Light, our Life, our Way, Alleluia!

Who, by dying conquered death. Alleluia!

Ever sing our love and faith! Alleluia!

Text: Composite

Tune: EASTER HYMN (7.7.7.7. with Alleluias)

Lyra Davidica, 1708;

arr. William H. Monk, 19th cent.

As I said, there are, and have been many different versions of this text in English over the last three centuries (it originally derives from a Latin text, perhaps from the fourteenth century). The last stanza here comes from a nine-stanza version published in 1800. The third and fourth stanzas are actually taken from a text by the Unitarian Samuel Longfellow. I can't prove this, but it seems possible that it was written so that Unitarians could get to sing this popular tune also (though it may have only been matched to this tune later).

The second stanza no longer appears in many hymnals, but it actually comes from Lyra Davidica (1708 - full title: Lyra Davidica, or a Collection of Divine Songs and Hymns, partly new composed, partly translated from the High German and Latin Hymns; and set to easy and pleasant tunes), the book where three stanzas of the old Latin text were first translated into English. That version reads:

Jesus Christ is risen today, Halle-Halle-lujah.

Our triumphant Holyday

Who so lately on the Cross

Suffer'd to redeem our loss.

Haste, ye females from your fright

Take to Galilee your flight

To the sad Disciples say

Jesus Christ is risen today.

In our Paschal joy and feast

Let the Lord of life be blest

Let the Holy Trine be prais'd

And thankful hearts to Heaven be rais'd.

The third stanza of this version seems unlikely to be revived; particularly the reference to the "Holy Trine" which does not appear to be a usual shortening of "Trinity," but perhaps an alteration to make it fit the meter of the text.

There is a similar hymn by Charles Wesley which is sometimes sung to this tune: Christ the Lord is risen today, which you might have sung today instead (particularly if you're a Methodist). Many hymnals have even combined stanzas from Wesley and the original.

The tune known now as EASTER HYMN, as first printed in Lyra Davidica is not what we sing today. There it was described as "a little freer air than the grand movement of the Psalm tunes." A later arrangement, closer to what we know, appeared in The Compleat Psalmodist (1749), and this version was later harmonized by William H. Monk. In at least one nineteenth century hymnbook, the tune was matched with a very different text by Charles Wesley: Hark, how all the welkin rings, which we know today by a rather different first line. Christmas might feel a bit different today if that had caught on.

P.S. The art above, The Resurrection of Christ and Women at the Tomb is a fresco by Fra Angelico, from the Convent of San Marco in Florence.

Three Years Ago: Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Two Years Ago: The strife is o'er, the battle done

Good Friday

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?

Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

African American spiritual, 19th cent.
Tune: WERE YOU THERE (irregular)
harm. C. Winfred Douglas, 1940



Three Years Ago: There is a green hill far away

Two Years Ago: Ah, holy Jesus

One Year Ago: When I survey the wondrous cross