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"Why will ye die!"
Author: Josiah Hopkins Appears in 392 hymnals Topics: Access to God First Line: Oh, turn ye, oh, turn ye, for why will ye die Lyrics: 1 Oh, turn ye, oh, turn ye, for why will ye die,
When God in great mercy is coming so nigh?
Now Jesus invites you, the Spirit says, Come,
And angels are waiting to welcome you home.
2 And now Christ is ready your souls to receive,
Oh, how can you question, if you will believe?
If sin is your burden, why will you not come?
'Tis you he bids welcome; he bids you come home. Scripture: Ezekiel 18:31 Used With Tune: EXPOSTULATION
"Why will ye die!"
The Penitent's Plea
Author: R. M. Offord Appears in 12 hymnals Topics: Access to God First Line: Jesus, heed me, lost and dying Lyrics: 1 Jesus, heed me, lost and dying,
Unto thee for shelter flying,
Hear, oh, hear, my heart's sore crying:
Heed me, or I die!
2 All my sin and sorrow feeling,
Come I, as the leper, kneeling;
Come to thee for help and healing,
Heal me, or I die!
3 Naught have I to plead of merit,
Naught but curse do I inherit;
By thy gracious, quickening Spirit
Save me, or I die!
4 Not my tears of deep contrition
Can secure one sin's remission,
Helpless, hopeless my condition:
Help me, or I die!
5 Far away my dead works flinging,
Nothing owning, nothing bringing,
Only to thy mercy clinging:
Bless me, or I die!
6 By thy cross, where hope is beaming,
By its crimson fountain streaming,
Flowing for the world's redeeming:
Cleanse me, or I die!
7 So my soul shall praise thee ever,
For the love which changes never,
From which not ev'n death can sever:
Saved no more to die. Scripture: Isaiah 1:18 Used With Tune: IRENE
The Penitent's Plea
"Salvation"
Author: Isaac Watts Appears in 839 hymnals Topics: Access to God First Line: Salvation!--oh, the joyful sound! Lyrics: 1 Salvation!--oh, the joyful sound!
'Tis pleasure to our ears;
A sovereign balm for every wound,
A cordial for our fears.
2 Buried in sorrow and in sin,
At hell's dark door we lay;--
But we arise by grace divine,
To see a heavenly day.
3 Salvation!--let the echo fly
The spacious earth around;
While all the armies of the sky
Conspire to raise the sound.
4 Salvation! O thou bleeding Lamb!
To thee the praise belongs:
Salvation shall inspire our hearts,
And dwell upon our tongues. Scripture: Psalm 3:8 Used With Tune: ROGET
"Salvation"
EXPOSTULATION
Appears in 65 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: J. Hopkins Topics: Access to God Tune Key: G Major or modal Incipit: 13213 21656 53565 Used With Text: Procrastination
EXPOSTULATION
Confident Access to God
Hymnal: The Psalter #10 (1912) Meter: 7.7.7.7 Topics: Access to God First Line: In the fullness of thy grace Lyrics: 1 In the fulness of Thy grace
To Thy house I will repair;
Bowing tow'rd thy holy place,
In Thy fear to worship there.
Lead me in thy righteousness,
Let my foes assail in vain;
Lest my feet be turned aside,
Make Thy way before me plain.
2 False and faithless are my foes,
In their mouth no truth is found;
Deadly are the words they speak,
All their tho'ts with sin abound.
Bring, O God, their plans to nought,
Hold them guilty in thy sight,
For against Thee and thy law
They have set themselves to fight.
3 O let all that trust Thy care
Ever glad and joyful be;
Let them joy who love Thy Name,
Safely guarded, Lord, by Thee.
For a blessing from Thy store
To the righteous Thou wilt yield;
Thou wilt compass him about
With Thy favor as a shield. Scripture: Psalm 5 Languages: English Tune Title: MARTYN
Confident Access to God
God Our Only Good
Hymnal: The Psalter #204a (1912) Topics: Access to God; Access to God First Line: O God, how good Thou art Lyrics: 1 O God, how good Thou art
To all the pure of heart,
Tho' life seems vain;
Burdened with anxious care,
I groped in dark despair,
Till in Thy house of prayer
All was made plain.
2 Ever, O Lord, with Thee,
All shall be well with me,
Held by Thy hand;
And Thou wilt guide my feet
By Thy own counsel sweet,
Till I, for glory meet,
In glory stand.
3 In earth or heav'n above
Who is there that I love
Compared with Thee?
My heart may faint with fears,
But God my strength appears,
And will to endless years
My portion be.
4 O it is good that I
May still to God draw nigh,
As oft before;
The Lord Jehovah blest,
My refuge and my rest,
Shall be in praise confessed
For evermore. Scripture: Psalm 73 Languages: English Tune Title: OLIVET
God Our Only Good
Longings for Sanctuary Fellowship
Hymnal: The Psalter #226 (1912) Meter: 8.6.8.6 Topics: Access to God; Access to God First Line: O Lord of Hosts, to Thee I cry Lyrics: 1 O Lord of Hosts, to Thee I cry,
Our fathers' God to Thee;
Let my petitions reach Thy ear,
My prayer accepted be;
O God our shield, look Thou on us,
Reveal Thyself in grace,
And let Thy own anointed one
Behold Thee face to face.
2 A single day within Thy courts,
Where I Thy beauty see,
Is better than a thousand days,
My God, apart from Thee.
A lowly station in Thy house
Were dearer to my heart
Than in the tents of wickedness
to claim the chiefest part.
3 A sun and shield is God, the Lord,
To lighten and defend;
The Lord to such as look to Him
Will grace and glory send;
To those that walk in righteousness
No good will He deny;
The Lord of Hosts, how blest are they
Who on Thy grace rely. Scripture: Psalm 84 Languages: English Tune Title: AUDITE AUDIENTES ME
Longings for Sanctuary Fellowship
Andrew Reed
1787 - 1862 Topics: Access to God Author of ""The Cross alone"" in Laudes Domini Reed, Andrew, D.D., son of Andrew Reed, was born in London on Nov. 27, 1787, and educated for the Congregational Ministry at Hackney College, London. He was first the pastor of the New Road Chapel, St. George's-in-the-East, and then of the Wycliffe Chapel, which was built through his exertions in 1830. His degree was conferred by Yule College, America. He died Feb. 25, 1862. As the founder of "The London Orphan Asylum," "The Asylum for Fatherless Children," “The Asylum for Idiots” "The Infant Orphan Asylum," and "The Hospital for Incurables," Dr. Reed is more fully known, and will be longer remembered than by his literary publications. His Hymn Book was the growth of years. The preparation began in 1817, when he published a Supplement to Watts, in which were a few originals. This was enlarged in 1825; and entirely superseded by his collection The Hymn Book, prepared from Dr. Watts's Psalms & Hymns and Other Authors, with some Originals, in 1842 (Preface). His hymns, mostly of a plain and practical character, numbering 21, were contributed to these various editions, and were republished with those of his wife in the Wycliffe Supplement, 1872. The best known are "Ah Jesus, let me hear Thy voice” and ”Spirit Divine, attend our prayer." All Dr. and Mrs. Reed's hymns are anonymous in The Hymn Book, 1842, but are given with their names in the Wyclife Supplement, 1872. His hymns now in common use include, in addition to those annotated under their respective first lines :—
1. Come, let us strike our harps afresh. Praise.
2. Come, my Redeemer, come. Desiring Christ's Presence.
3. Gentle Saviour, look on me. Christ's protection Desired.
4. Gracious Lord, as Thou hast taught us. Public Worship.
5. Hark, hark, the notes of joy. Missions.
6. Holy Ghost, with light divine (1817). Prayer to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes given as "Holy Ghost, Thou light divine;" and again as "Holy Spirit, Light divine."
7. Listen, sinner, mercy hails you. Invitation. Generally given as "Hear, O Sinner, mercy hails you."
8. Rich are the joys of solitude. Retirement. Some-times given as "How deep and tranquil is the joy."
9. There [comes] is an hour when I must part. Death anticipated.
10. Ye saints your music bring. Praise of the Cross.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Andrew Reed
William Cowper
1731 - 1800 Topics: Access to God Author of "Zech. 13:1" in Laudes Domini William Cowper (pronounced "Cooper"; b. Berkampstead, Hertfordshire, England, 1731; d. East Dereham, Norfolk, England, 1800) is regarded as one of the best early Romantic poets. To biographers he is also known as "mad Cowper." His literary talents produced some of the finest English hymn texts, but his chronic depression accounts for the somber tone of many of those texts. Educated to become an attorney, Cowper was called to the bar in 1754 but never practiced law. In 1763 he had the opportunity to become a clerk for the House of Lords, but the dread of the required public examination triggered his tendency to depression, and he attempted suicide. His subsequent hospitalization and friendship with Morley and Mary Unwin provided emotional stability, but the periods of severe depression returned. His depression was deepened by a religious bent, which often stressed the wrath of God, and at times Cowper felt that God had predestined him to damnation.
For the last two decades of his life Cowper lived in Olney, where John Newton became his pastor. There he assisted Newton in his pastoral duties, and the two collaborated on the important hymn collection Olney Hymns (1779), to which Cowper contributed sixty-eight hymn texts.
Bert Polman
============
Cowper, William, the poet. The leading events in the life of Cowper are: born in his father's rectory, Berkhampstead, Nov. 26, 1731; educated at Westminster; called to the Bar, 1754; madness, 1763; residence at Huntingdon, 1765; removal to Olney, 1768; to Weston, 1786; to East Dereham, 1795; death there, April 25, 1800.
The simple life of Cowper, marked chiefly by its innocent recreations and tender friendships, was in reality a tragedy. His mother, whom he commemorated in the exquisite "Lines on her picture," a vivid delineation of his childhood, written in his 60th year, died when he was six years old. At his first school he was profoundly wretched, but happier at Westminster; excelling at cricket and football, and numbering Warren Hastings, Colman, and the future model of his versification. Churchill, among his contemporaries or friends. Destined for the Bar, he was articled to a solicitor, along with Thurlow. During this period he fell in love with his cousin, Theodora Cowper, sister to Lady Hesketh, and wrote love poems to her. The marriage was forbidden by her father, but she never forgot him, and in after years secretly aided his necessities. Fits of melancholy, from which he had suffered in school days, began to increase, as he entered on life, much straitened in means after his father's death. But on the whole, it is the playful, humorous side of him that is most prominent in the nine years after his call to the Bar; spent in the society of Colman, Bonnell Thornton, and Lloyd, and in writing satires for The Connoisseur and St. James's Chronicle and halfpenny ballads. Then came the awful calamity, which destroyed all hopes of distinction, and made him a sedentary invalid, dependent on his friends. He had been nominated to the Clerkship of the Journals of the House of Lords, but the dread of appearing before them to show his fitness for the appointment overthrew his reason. He attempted his life with "laudanum, knife and cord,"—-in the third attempt nearly succeeding. The dark delusion of his life now first showed itself—a belief in his reprobation by God. But for the present, under the wise and Christian treatment of Dr. Cotton (q. v.) at St. Albans, it passed away; and the eight years that followed, of which the two first were spent at Huntingdon (where he formed his lifelong friendship with Mrs. Unwin), and the remainder at Olney in active piety among the poor, and enthusiastic devotions under the guidance of John Newton (q. v.), were full of the realisation of God's favour, and the happiest, most lucid period of his life. But the tension of long religious exercises, the nervous excitement of leading at prayer meetings, and the extreme despondence (far more than the Calvinism) of Newton, could scarcely have been a healthy atmosphere for a shy, sensitive spirit, that needed most of all the joyous sunlight of Christianity. A year after his brother's death, madness returned. Under the conviction that it was the command of God, he attempted suicide; and he then settled down into a belief in stark contradiction to his Calvinistic creed, "that the Lord, after having renewed him in holiness, had doomed him to everlasting perdition" (Southey). In its darkest form his affliction lasted sixteen months, during which he chiefly resided in J. Newton's house, patiently tended by him and by his devoted nurse, Mrs. Unwin. Gradually he became interested in carpentering, gardening, glazing, and the tendance of some tame hares and other playmates. At the close of 1780, Mrs. Unwin suggested to him some serious poetical work; and the occupation proved so congenial, that his first volume was published in 1782. To a gay episode in 1783 (his fascination by the wit of Lady Austen) his greatest poem, The Task, and also John Gilpin were owing. His other principal work was his Homer, published in 1791. The dark cloud had greatly lifted from his life when Lady Hesketh's care accomplished his removal to Weston (1786): but the loss of his dear friend William Unwin lowered it again for some months. The five years' illness of Mrs. Unwin, during which his nurse of old became his tenderly-watched patient, deepened the darkness more and more. And her death (1796) brought “fixed despair," of which his last poem, The Castaway, is the terrible memorial. Perhaps no more beautiful sentence has been written of him, than the testimony of one, who saw him after death, that with the "composure and calmness" of the face there “mingled, as it were, a holy surprise."
Cowper's poetry marks the dawn of the return from the conventionality of Pope to natural expression, and the study of quiet nature. His ambition was higher than this, to be the Bard of Christianity. His great poems show no trace of his monomania, and are full of healthy piety. His fame as a poet is less than as a letter-writer: the charm of his letters is unsurpassed. Though the most considerable poet, who has written hymns, he has contributed little to the development of their structure, adopting the traditional modes of his time and Newton's severe canons. The spiritual ideas of the hymns are identical with Newton's: their highest note is peace and thankful contemplation, rather than joy: more than half of them are full of trustful or reassuring faith: ten of them are either submissive (44), self-reproachful (17, 42, 43), full of sad yearning (1, 34), questioning (9), or dark spiritual conflict (38-40). The specialty of Cowper's handling is a greater plaintiveness, tenderness, and refinement. A study of these hymns as they stood originally under the classified heads of the Olney Hymns, 1779, which in some cases probably indicate the aim of Cowper as well as the ultimate arrangement of the book by Newton, shows that one or two hymns were more the history of his conversion, than transcripts of present feelings; and the study of Newton's hymns in the same volume, full of heavy indictment against the sins of his own regenerate life, brings out the peculiar danger of his friendship to the poet: it tends also to modify considerably the conclusions of Southey as to the signs of incipient madness in Cowper's maddest hymns. Cowper's best hymns are given in The Book of Praise by Lord Selborne. Two may be selected from them; the exquisitely tender "Hark! my soul, it is the Lord" (q. v.), and "Oh, for a closer walk with God" (q. v.). Anyone who knows Mrs. Browning's noble lines on Cowper's grave will find even a deeper beauty in the latter, which is a purely English hymn of perfect structure and streamlike cadence, by connecting its sadness and its aspiration not only with the “discord on the music" and the "darkness on the glory," but the rapture of his heavenly waking beneath the "pathetic eyes” of Christ.
Authorities. Lives, by Hayley; Grimshaw; Southey; Professor Goldwin Smith; Mr. Benham (attached to Globe Edition); Life of Newton, by Rev. Josiah Bull; and the Olney Hymns. The numbers of the hymns quoted refer to the Olney Hymns. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
================
Cowper, W. , p. 265, i. Other hymns are:—
1. Holy Lord God, I love Thy truth. Hatred of Sin.
2. I was a grovelling creature once. Hope and Confidence.
3. No strength of nature can suffice. Obedience through love.
4. The Lord receives His highest praise. Faith.
5. The saints should never be dismayed. Providence. All these hymns appeared in the Olney Hymns, 1779.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
=====================
Cowper, W., p. 265, i. Prof. John E. B. Mayor, of Cambridge, contributed some letters by Cowper, hitherto unpublished, together with notes thereon, to Notes and Queries, July 2 to Sept. 24, 1904. These letters are dated from Huntingdon, where he spent two years after leaving St. Alban's (see p. 265, i.), and Olney. The first is dated "Huntingdon, June 24, 1765," and the last "From Olney, July 14, 1772." They together with extracts from other letters by J. Newton (dated respectively Aug. 8, 1772, Nov. 4, 1772), two quotations without date, followed by the last in the N. & Q. series, Aug. 1773, are of intense interest to all students of Cowper, and especially to those who have given attention to the religious side of the poet's life, with its faint lights and deep and awful shadows. From the hymnological standpoint the additional information which we gather is not important, except concerning the hymns "0 for a closer walk with God," "God moves in a mysterious way," "Tis my happiness below," and "Hear what God, the Lord, hath spoken." Concerning the last three, their position in the manuscripts, and the date of the last from J. Newton in the above order, "Aug. 1773," is conclusive proof against the common belief that "God moves in a mysterious way" was written as the outpouring of Cowper's soul in gratitude for the frustration of his attempted suicide in October 1773.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
William Cowper
Samuel Webbe
1740 - 1816 Person Name: S. Webbe Topics: Access to God Composer of "COME, YE DISCONSOLATE" in Laudes Domini Samuel Webbe (the elder; b. London, England, 1740; d. London, 1816) Webbe's father died soon after Samuel was born without providing financial security for the family. Thus Webbe received little education and was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker at the age of eleven. However, he was determined to study and taught himself Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, German, and Italian while working on his apprenticeship. He also worked as a music copyist and received musical training from Carl Barbant, organist at the Bavarian Embassy. Restricted at this time in England, Roman Catholic worship was freely permitted in the foreign embassies. Because Webbe was Roman Catholic, he became organist at the Portuguese Chapel and later at the Sardinian and Spanish chapels in their respective embassies. He wrote much music for Roman Catholic services and composed hymn tunes, motets, and madrigals. Webbe is considered an outstanding composer of glees and catches, as is evident in his nine published collections of these smaller choral works. He also published A Collection of Sacred Music (c. 1790), A Collection of Masses for Small Choirs (1792), and, with his son Samuel (the younger), Antiphons in Six Books of Anthems (1818).
Bert Polman
Samuel Webbe
