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VOLLER WUNDER
Meter: 7.7.7.7.7.7 Appears in 19 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: Johann G. Ebeling Tune Key: B Flat Major Incipit: 15611 71712 56765 Used With Text: Safely Through Another Week
VOLLER WUNDER
Blessed Are the Saints of God
Author: Joseph Hymphreys, b. 1720 Meter: 7.7.7.7.7.7 Appears in 207 hymnals Lyrics: 1 Blessed are the saints of God;
They are bought with Christ's own blood.
They are ransomed from the grave;
Life eternal they shall have.
With them numbered may we be
Here and in eternity.
2 They are justified by grace;
They enjoy the Savior's peace.
All their sins are washed away;
They shall stand in God's great day.
With them numbered may we be
Here and in eternity.
3 They are lights upon the earth,
Children of a heav'nly birth.
One with God, with Jesus one,
Glory is in them begun.
With them numbered may we be
Here and in eternity. Topics: Justification; Justification Used With Tune: VOLLER WUNDER
Blessed Are the Saints of God
Safely Through Another Week
Author: John Newton Meter: 7.7.7.7.7.7 Appears in 1,012 hymnals Lyrics: 1 Safely through another week
God has brought us on our way;
Let us now a blessing seek
Waiting in His courts today:
Day of all the week the best,
Emblem of eternal rest!
2 Mercies multiplied each hour
Thro' the week our praise demand;
Guarded by almighty pow'r,
Fed and guided by His hand,
How ungrateful we have been
In repaying love with sin!
3 While we pray for pard'ning grace,
Thro' the dear Redeemer's Name,
Show Thy reconciled face,
Look not on our sin and shame.
From our worldly cares set free,
May we rest this day with Thee.
4 As we come Thy name to praise,
May we feel Thy presence near;
May Thy glory meet our eyes
While we in Thy house appear!
Here afford us, Lord, a taste
Of our everlasting feast.
5 May Thy Gospel's joyful sound
Conquer sinners, comfort saints;
May the fruits of grace abound,
Bring relief for all complaints.
This may all our Sabbaths prove,
Till we join the Church above.
Amen. Topics: Adoration Lord's Day Scripture: Psalm 65:4 Used With Tune: VOLLER WUNDER
Safely Through Another Week
Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me
Author: Thomas T. Lynch Appears in 198 hymnals Used With Tune: VOLLER WUNDER
Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me
Full Of Wonder, Full Of Art
Author: Paul Gerhardt; John Kelly Hymnal: The Cyber Hymnal #15337 Meter: 7.7.7.7.7.7 Lyrics: 1 Full of wonder, full of art,
Full of wisdom, full of power,
Full of kindness, grace, and heart,
Full of comfort flowing o’er,
Full of wonder, still I say,
Is love’s chaste and gentle sway.
2 Those who’ve never met before,
Ne’er each other known nor seen,
Never in the idlest hour
Thus employed their thoughts have been,
Yet whose hearts and hands in love
Tieth God who lives above!
3 His child doth this Father guide,
That one traineth His each day,
Each their special wind and tide
Speed upon their separate way,
When the time appointed’s there,
Lo! they’re a well-mated pair!
4 Here grows up a prudent son,
And a noble daughter there;
One will be the other’s crown,
One the other’s rest from care
Each will be the other’s light,
But from both ’tis hidden quite,
5 Till it’s pleasing in His sight
Who the world holds in His power,
To all giveth what is right
Freely in th’appointed hour;
Then appears in word and deed
What hath been by Him decreed.
6 Then Ahasuerus’ eye
First doth quiet Esther see;
To where Sara peacefully
Dwells, Tobias leadeth He;
David then, with pliant will,
Fetcheth prudent Abigail.
7 Jacob flees from Esau’s face,
And he meeteth Rachel fair;
Joseph in a foreign place
Serves, and winneth Asnath there;
Moses did with Jethro stay,
And bore Zipporah away.
8 Each one taketh, each doth find
What the Lord doth choose for him;
What in Heaven is designed,
Comes to pass on earth in time.
And whatever happens thus
Ordered wisely is for us.
9 This or that might better be,
Oft this foolish thought is ours;
But as midnight utterly
Fails to be like noonday’s hours,
So the feeble mind of man
God’s great wisdom cannot scan.
10 Whom God joins together live,
What the best is knoweth He,
Our thoughts only can deceive,
His from all defects are free;
God’s work standeth firm for aye,
When all other must decay.
11 Look at pious children who
Entered have the holy state,
How well for them God doth do,
See what joys upon them wait;
To their doings God doth send
Evermore a happy end.
12 Of their virtues the renown
Blossometh for evermore,
As a shadow when is gone
Of all other love the flower;
When truth faileth everywhere,
Theirs still bloometh fresh and fair,
13 Fresh their love is evermore,
Ever doth its youth renew,
Love their table covers o’er,
Sweetens all they say and do.
Love their hearts aye giveth rest,
When they’re burdened and oppressed.
14 Though things oft go crookedly,
Even then this love is still,
Can the cross bear patiently,
Thinking ’tis the Father’s will.
From this thought doth comfort taste,
Better days will come at last.
15 Meanwhile streams of blessing gives
God with bounty rich and free,
Mind and body He relieves,
And the house too foundeth He;
What is small and men despise,
Makes He great and multiplies.
16 And when all is over here
That the Lord designs in love,
For His faithful children dear,
Taketh them to courts above,
And with great delight in grace
Folds them in His warm embrace.
17 Now ’tis ever full of heart,
Full of comfort flowing o’er,
Full of wonder, full of art,
Full of wisdom, full of power,
Full of wonder, still I say,
Is love’s chaste and gentle sway. Languages: English Tune Title: VOLLER WUNDER
Full Of Wonder, Full Of Art
Safely Through Another Week
Author: John Newton Hymnal: The Lutheran Hymnal #11 (1941) Meter: 7.7.7.7.7.7 Lyrics: 1 Safely through another week
God has brought us on our way;
Let us now a blessing seek
Waiting in His courts today:
Day of all the week the best,
Emblem of eternal rest!
2 Mercies multiplied each hour
Thro' the week our praise demand;
Guarded by almighty pow'r,
Fed and guided by His hand,
How ungrateful we have been
In repaying love with sin!
3 While we pray for pard'ning grace,
Thro' the dear Redeemer's Name,
Show Thy reconciled face,
Look not on our sin and shame.
From our worldly cares set free,
May we rest this day with Thee.
4 As we come Thy name to praise,
May we feel Thy presence near;
May Thy glory meet our eyes
While we in Thy house appear!
Here afford us, Lord, a taste
Of our everlasting feast.
5 May Thy Gospel's joyful sound
Conquer sinners, comfort saints;
May the fruits of grace abound,
Bring relief for all complaints.
This may all our Sabbaths prove,
Till we join the Church above.
Amen. Topics: Adoration Lord's Day Scripture: Psalm 65:4 Tune Title: VOLLER WUNDER
Safely Through Another Week
Hail, thou bright and sacred morn
Author: Julia Anne Elliott Hymnal: The Hymnal #39 (1921) Meter: 7.7.7.7.7.7 Topics: Times of Worship Languages: English Tune Title: VOLLER WUNDER
Hail, thou bright and sacred morn
John Newton
1725 - 1807 Author of "Safely Through Another Week" in The Lutheran Hymnal John Newton (b. London, England, 1725; d. London, 1807) was born into a Christian home, but his godly mother died when he was seven, and he joined his father at sea when he was eleven. His licentious and tumultuous sailing life included a flogging for attempted desertion from the Royal Navy and captivity by a slave trader in West Africa. After his escape he himself became the captain of a slave ship. Several factors contributed to Newton's conversion: a near-drowning in 1748, the piety of his friend Mary Catlett, (whom he married in 1750), and his reading of Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and, in association with William Wilberforce, eventually became an ardent abolitionist. After becoming a tide-surveyor in Liverpool, England, Newton came under the influence of George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley and began to study for the ministry. He was ordained in the Church of England and served in Olney (1764-1780) and St. Mary Woolnoth, London (1780-1807). His legacy to the Christian church includes his hymns as well as his collaboration with William Cowper (PHH 434) in publishing Olney Hymns (1779), to which Newton contributed 280 hymns, including “Amazing Grace.”
Bert Polman
==================
Newton, John, who was born in London, July 24, 1725, and died there Dec. 21, 1807, occupied an unique position among the founders of the Evangelical School, due as much to the romance of his young life and the striking history of his conversion, as to his force of character. His mother, a pious Dissenter, stored his childish mind with Scripture, but died when he was seven years old. At the age of eleven, after two years' schooling, during which he learned the rudiments of Latin, he went to sea with his father. His life at sea teems with wonderful escapes, vivid dreams, and sailor recklessness. He grew into an abandoned and godless sailor. The religious fits of his boyhood changed into settled infidelity, through the study of Shaftesbury and the instruction of one of his comrades. Disappointing repeatedly the plans of his father, he was flogged as a deserter from the navy, and for fifteen months lived, half-starved and ill-treated, in abject degradation under a slave-dealer in Africa. The one restraining influence of his life was his faithful love for his future wife, Mary Catlett, formed when he was seventeen, and she only in her fourteenth year. A chance reading of Thomas à Kempis sowed the seed of his conversion; which quickened under the awful contemplations of a night spent in steering a water-logged vessel in the face of apparent death (1748). He was then twenty-three. The six following years, during which he commanded a slave ship, matured his Christian belief. Nine years more, spent chiefly at Liverpool, in intercourse with Whitefield, Wesley, and Nonconformists, in the study of Hebrew and Greek, in exercises of devotion and occasional preaching among the Dissenters, elapsed before his ordination to the curacy of Olney, Bucks (1764).
The Olney period was the most fruitful of his life. His zeal in pastoral visiting, preaching and prayer-meetings was unwearied. He formed his lifelong friendship with Cowper, and became the spiritual father of Scott the commentator. At Olney his best works—-Omicron's Letters (1774); Olney Hymns (1779); Cardiphonia, written from Olney, though published 1781—were composed. As rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, London, in the centre of the Evangelical movement (1780-1807) his zeal was as ardent as before. In 1805, when no longer able to read his text, his reply when pressed to discontinue preaching, was, "What, shall the old African blasphemer stop while he can speak!" The story of his sins and his conversion, published by himself, and the subject of lifelong allusion, was the base of his influence; but it would have been little but for the vigour of his mind (shown even in Africa by his reading Euclid drawing its figures on the sand), his warm heart, candour, tolerance, and piety. These qualities gained him the friendship of Hannah More, Cecil, Wilberforce, and others; and his renown as a guide in experimental religion made him the centre of a host of inquirers, with whom he maintained patient, loving, and generally judicious correspondence, of which a monument remains in the often beautiful letters of Cardiphonia. As a hymnwriter, Montgomery says that he was distanced by Cowper. But Lord Selborne's contrast of the "manliness" of Newton and the "tenderness" of Cowper is far juster. A comparison of the hymns of both in The Book of Praise will show no great inequality between them. Amid much that is bald, tame, and matter-of-fact, his rich acquaintance with Scripture, knowledge of the heart, directness and force, and a certain sailor imagination, tell strongly. The one splendid hymn of praise, "Glorious things of thee are spoken," in the Olney collection, is his. "One there is above all others" has a depth of realizing love, sustained excellence of expression, and ease of development. "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds" is in Scriptural richness superior, and in structure, cadence, and almost tenderness, equal to Cowper's "Oh! for a closer walk with God." The most characteristic hymns are those which depict in the language of intense humiliation his mourning for the abiding sins of his regenerate life, and the sense of the withdrawal of God's face, coincident with the never-failing conviction of acceptance in The Beloved. The feeling may be seen in the speeches, writings, and diaries of his whole life. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.]
A large number of Newton's hymns have some personal history connected with them, or were associated with circumstances of importance. These are annotated under their respective first lines. Of the rest, the known history of which is confined to the fact that they appeared in the Olney Hymns, 1779, the following are in common use:—
1. Be still, my heart, these anxious cares. Conflict.
2. Begone, unbelief, my Saviour is near. Trust.
3. By the poor widow's oil and meal. Providence.
4. Chief Shepherd of Thy chosen sheep. On behalf of Ministers.
5. Darkness overspreads us here. Hope.
6. Does the Gospel-word proclaim. Rest in Christ.
7. Fix my heart and eyes on Thine. True Happiness.
8. From Egypt lately freed. The Pilgrim's Song.
9. He Who on earth as man was Known. Christ the Rock.
10. How blest are they to whom the Lord. Gospel Privileges.
11. How blest the righteous are. Death of the Righteous.
12. How lost was my [our] condition. Christ the Physician.
13. How tedious and tasteless the hours. Fellowship with Christ.
14. How welcome to the saints [soul] when pressed. Sunday.
15. Hungry, and faint, and poor. Before Sermon.
16. In mercy, not in wrath, rebuke. Pleading for Mercy.
17. In themselves, as weak as worms. Power of Prayer.
18. Incarnate God, the soul that knows. The Believer's Safety.
19. Jesus, Who bought us with His blood. The God of Israel. "Teach us, 0 Lord, aright to plead," is from this hymn.
20. Joy is a [the] fruit that will not grow. Joy.
21. Let hearts and tongues unite. Close of the Year. From this "Now, through another year," is taken.
22. Let us adore the grace that seeks. New Year.
23. Mary to her [the] Saviour's tomb. Easter.
24. Mercy, 0 Thou Son of David. Blind Bartimeus.
25. My harp untun'd and laid aside. Hoping for a Revival. From this "While I to grief my soul gave way" is taken.
26. Nay, I cannot let thee go. Prayer. Sometimes, "Lord, I cannot let Thee go."
27. Now may He Who from the dead. After Sermon.
28. 0 happy they who know the Lord, With whom He deigns to dwell. Gospel Privilege.
29. O Lord, how vile am I. Lent.
30. On man in His own Image made. Adam.
31. 0 speak that gracious word again. Peace through Pardon.
32. Our Lord, Who knows full well. The Importunate Widow. Sometimes altered to "Jesus, Who knows full well," and again, "The Lord, Who truly knows."
33. Physician of my sin-sick soul. Lent.
34. Pleasing spring again is here. Spring.
35. Poor, weak, and worthless, though I am. Jesus the Friend.
36. Prepare a thankful song. Praise to Jesus.
37. Refreshed by the bread and wine. Holy Communion. Sometimes given as "Refreshed by sacred bread and wine."
38. Rejoice, believer, in the Lord. Sometimes “Let us rejoice in Christ the Lord." Perseverance.
39. Salvation, what a glorious plan. Salvation.
40. Saviour, shine and cheer my soul. Trust in Jesus. The cento "Once I thought my mountain strong," is from this hymn.
41. Saviour, visit Thy plantation. Prayer for the Church.
42. See another year [week] is gone. Uncertainty of Life.
43. See the corn again in ear. Harvest.
44. Sinner, art thou still secure? Preparation for the Future.
45. Sinners, hear the [thy] Saviour's call. Invitation.
46. Sovereign grace has power alone. The two Malefactors.
47. Stop, poor sinner, stop and think. Caution and Alarm.
48. Sweeter sounds than music knows. Christmas.
49. Sweet was the time when first I felt. Joy in Believing.
50. Ten thousand talents once I owed. Forgiveness and Peace.
51. The grass and flowers, which clothe the field. Hay-time.
52. The peace which God alone reveals. Close of Service.
53. Thy promise, Lord, and Thy command. Before Sermon.
54. Time, by moments, steals away. The New Year.
55. To Thee our wants are known. Close of Divine Service.
56. We seek a rest beyond the skies. Heaven anticipated.
57. When any turn from Zion's way. Jesus only.
58. When Israel, by divine command. God, the Guide and Sustainer of Life.
59. With Israel's God who can compare? After Sermon.
60. Yes, since God Himself has said it. Confidence.
61. Zion, the city of our God. Journeying Zionward.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
=================
Newton, J., p. 803, i. Another hymn in common use from the Olney Hymns, 1779, is "Let me dwell on Golgotha" (Holy Communion).
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
-----
John Newton was born in London, July 24, 1725. His mother died when he was seven years old. In his eleventh year he accompanied his father, a sea captain, on a voyage. For several years his life was one of dissipation and crime. He was disgraced while in the navy. Afterwards he engaged in the slave trade. Returning to England in 1748, the vessel was nearly wrecked in a storm. This peril forced solemn reflection upon him, and from that time he was a changed man. It was six years, however, before he relinquished the slave trade, which was not then regarded as an unlawful occupation. But in 1754, he gave up sea-faring life, and holding some favourable civil position, began also religious work. In 1764, in his thirty-ninth year, he entered upon a regular ministry as the Curate of Olney. In this position he had intimate intercourse with Cowper, and with him produced the "Olney Hymns." In 1779, Newton became Rector of S. Mary Woolnoth, in London, in which position he became more widely known. It was here he died, Dec. 21, 1807, His published works are quite numerous, consisting of sermons, letters, devotional aids, and hymns. He calls his hymns "The fruit and expression of his own experience."
--Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872
See also in:
Hymn Writers of the Church
=======================
John Newton
Thomas T. Lynch
1818 - 1871 Author of "Gracious spirit, dwell with me" in The Beacon Song and Service book Lynch, Thomas Toke, was born at Dunmow, Essex, July 5, 1818, and educated at a school at Islington, in which he was afterwards an usher. For a few months he was a student at the Highbury Independent College; but withdrew, partly on account of failing health, and partly because his spirit was too free to submit to the routine of College life. From 1847 to 1849 he was Minister of a small charge at Highgate, and from 1849 to 1852 of a congregation in Mortimer Street, which subsequently migrated to Grafton Street, Fitzroy Square. From 1856 to 1859 he was laid aside by illness. In 1860 he resumed his ministry with his old congregation, in a room in Gower Street, where he remained until the opening of his new place of worship, in 1862, (Mornington Church), in Hampstead Road, London. He ministered there till his death, on the 9th of May, 1871.
The influence of Lynch's ministry was great, and reached far beyond his own congregation (which was never large), since it included many students from the Theological Colleges of London, and thoughtful men from other churches, who were attracted to him by the freshness and spirituality of his preaching. His prose works were numerous, beginning with Thoughts on a Day, 1844, and concluding with The Mornington Lecture, 1870. Several of his works were published after his death. His Memoir, by W. White, was published in 1874.
Lynch's hymns were published in:—
The Rivulet: a Contribution to Sacred Song, London., Longman, 1855, 2nd ed., 1856. This was enlarged by an addition of 67 hymns in 1868.
From the first edition of The Rivulet, 1855, the following hymns have come into common use:—
1. All faded is the glowing light. Second Advent.
2. Be Thy word with power fraught. Before Sermon.
3. Christ in His word draws near. Holy Scripture.
4. Dismiss me not Thy service, Lord. Work for Christ.
5. Gracious Spirit, dwell with me. Holy Spirit's presence desired.
6. How calmly the evening once more is descending. Evening. Sometimes "How calmly once more the night is descending."
7. I give myself to prayer. Prayer in Trouble.
8. Lord, on Thy returning day. Public Worship.
9. Lord, when in silent hours I muse. Resignation.
10. Love me, O Lord, forgivingly. Resignation.
11. Mountains by the darkness hidden. Resignation.
12. Now have we met that we may ask. Public Worship.
13. O, break my heart; but break it as a field. Penitence desired.
14. O Lord, Thou art not fickle. Sympathy.
15. O where is He that trod the sea. Christ Walking on the Sea.
16. Oft when of God we ask. Trust in Trial.
17. Rise, He calleth thee, arise. Blind Bartimaeus.
18. Say not, my soul, from whence. Resignation.
19. Where is thy God, my soul? Resignation and Hope.
There are also from the 1856 and 1868 eds. the following:—
20. A thousand years have come and gone. Christmas.
21. Lift up your heads, rejoice; (1856.) Advent.
22. Praying by the river side. Holy Baptism.
23. The Lord is rich and merciful. Have Faith in God.
24. There is purpose in this waste. Easter.
Lynch's hymns are marked by intense individuality, gracefulness and felicity of diction, picturesqueness, spiritual freshness, and the sadness of a powerful soul struggling with a weak and emaciated body. Although The Rivulet was published for use by his own congregation as a supplement to Watts, more than one half of the hymns were designed for private use only, but were not so distinguished in the work. Its publication caused one of the most bitter hymnological controversies known in the annals of modern Congregationalism. Time, however, and a criticism, broader and more just, have declared emphatically in favour of his hymns as valuable contributions to cultured sacred song. [Rev. W. Garrett Horder]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
==================
Lynch, T. T., p. 705, ii. Other hymns by him in recent books are:—
1. My faith it is an oaken staff. Faith in Christ. In the Rivulet, 1855, p. 78.
2. Together for our country now we pray. National, In the Rivulet, 1868, p. 170. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
Thomas T. Lynch
Christopher Wordsworth
1807 - 1885 Author of "Sing, O sing, this blessed morn`" in The Hymnal Christopher Wordsworth--nephew of the great lake-poet, William Wordsworth--was born in 1807. He was educated at Winchester, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A., with high honours, in 1830; M.A. in 1833; D.D. in 1839. He was elected Fellow of his College in 1830, and public orator of the University in 1836; received Priest's Orders in 1835; head master of Harrow School in 1836; Canon of Westminster Abbey in 1844; Hulsean Lecturer at Cambridge in 1847-48; Vicar of Stanford-in-the-Vale, Berks, in 1850; Archdeacon of Westminster, in 1865; Bishop of Lincoln, in 1868. His writings are numerous, and some of them very valuable. Most of his works are in prose. His "Holy Year; or, Hymns for Sundays, Holidays, and other occasions throughout the Year," was published in [1862], and contains 127 hymns.
--Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A., 1872.
===================
Wordsworth, Christopher, D.D., was born at Lambeth (of which parish his father was then the rector), Oct. 30, 1807, and was the youngest son of Christopher Wordsworth, afterwards Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Priscilla (née Lloyd) his wife. He was educated at Winchester, where he distinguished himself both as a scholar and as an athlete. In 1826 he matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where his career was an extraordinarily brilliant one. He swept off an unprecedented number of College and University prizes, and in 1830 graduated as Senior Classic in the Classical Tripos, and 14th Senior Optime in the Mathematical, won the First Chancellor's Medal for classical studies, and was elected Fellow of Trinity. He was engaged as classical lecturer in college for some time, and in 1836 was chosen Public Orator for the University. In the same year he was elected Head Master of Harrow School, and in 1838 he married Susan Hatley Freere. During his head-mastership the numbers at Harrow fell off, but he began a great moral reform in the school, and many of his pupils regarded him with enthusiastic admiration. In 1844 he was appointed by Sir Robert Peel to a Canonry at Westminster; and in 1848-49 he was Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge. In 1850 he took the small chapter living of Stanford-in-the-Vale cum Goosey, in Berkshire, and for the next nineteen years he passed his time as an exemplary parish priest in this retired spot, with the exception of his four months' statutable residence each year at Westminster. In 1869 he was elevated to the bishopric of Lincoln, which he held for more than fifteen years, resigning it a few months before his death, which took place on March 20th, 1885. As bearing upon his poetical character, it may be noted that he was the nephew of the poet-laureate, William Wordsworth, whom he constantly visited at Rydal up to the time of the poet's death in 1850, and with whom he kept up a regular and lengthy correspondence. Christopher Wordsworth was a very voluminous writer, his principal works being:—
(1) Athens and Attica, 1836; (2) Pompeian Inscriptions, 1837; (3) Greece Pictorial and Descriptive, 1839; (4) King Edward VIth's Latin Grammar, 1841; (5) Bentley's Correspondence, 1842; (6) Theophilus Anglicanus, 1843; (7) Memoirs of William Wordsworth, 1851; (8) Hippolytus, 1853; (9) Notes at Paris, 1854; (10) A Commentary on the whole Bible, 1856-1870;
(11) The Holy Year, 1862; (12) Church History, 1881-1883; many volumes of Sermons, and an enormous amount of Pamphlets, Addresses, Letters, Speeches, on almost every subject in which the interests of the church were concerned, and also on subjects connected with classical literature.
Of his many works, however, the only one which claims notice from the hynmologist's point of view is The Holy Year, which contains hymns, not only for every season of the Church's year, but also for every phase of that season, as indicated in the Book of Common Prayer. Dr. Wordsworth, like the Wesleys, looked upon hymns as a valuable means of stamping permanently upon the memory the great doctrines of the Christian Church. He held it to be "the first duty of a hymn-writer to teach sound doctrine, and thus to save souls." He thought that the materials for English Church hymns should be sought (1) in the Holy Scriptures, (2) in the writings of Christian Antiquity, and (3) in the Poetry of the Ancient Church. Hence he imposed upon himself the strictest limitations in his own compositions. He did not select a subject which seemed to him most adapted for poetical treatment, but felt himself bound to treat impartially every subject, and branch of a subject, that is brought before us in the Church's services, whether of a poetical nature or not. The natural result is that his hymns are of very unequal merit; whether his subject inspired him with poetical thoughts or not, he was bound to deal with it; hence while some of his hymns (such as "Hark! the sound of holy voices," &c, “See the Conqueror mounts in triumph," &c, "O, day of rest and gladness") are of a high order of excellence, others are prosaic. He was particularly anxious to avoid obscurity, and thus many of his hymns are simple to the verge of baldness. But this extreme simplicity was always intentional, and to those who can read between the lines there are many traces of the "ars celans artem." It is somewhat remarkable that though in citing examples of early hymnwriters he almost always refers to those of the Western Church, his own hymns more nearly resemble those of the Eastern, as may be seen by comparing The Holy Year with Dr. Mason Neale's Hymns of the Eastern Church translated, with Notes, &c. The reason of this perhaps half-unconscious resemblance is not far to seek. Christopher Wordsworth, like the Greek hymnwriters, drew his inspiration from Holy Scripture, and he loved, as they did, to interpret Holy Scripture mystically. He thought that ”the dangers to which the Faith of England (especially in regard to the Old Testament) was exposed, arose from the abandonment of the ancient Christian, Apostolic and Patristic system of interpretation of the Old Testament for the frigid and servile modern exegesis of the literalists, who see nothing in the Old Testament but a common history, and who read it (as St. Paul says the Jews do) ‘with a veil on their heart, which veil' (he adds) 'is done away in Christ.'" In the same spirit, he sought and found Christ everywhere in the New Testament. The Gospel History was only the history of what "Jesus began to do and to teach" on earth; the Acts of the Apostles and all the Epistles were the history of what he continued to do and to teach from Heaven; and the Apocalypse (perhaps his favourite book) was "the seal and colophon of all." Naturally he presents this theory, a theory most susceptible of poetical treatment, in his hymns even more prominently than in his other writings. The Greek writers took, more or less, the same view; hence the resemblance between his hymns and those of the Eastern Church. [Rev. J. H. Overton, D.D.]
During the time that Bishop Wordsworth was Canon of Westminster, and Vicar of Stanford-in-the-Vale cum Goosey, he published his collection of hymns as:—
The Holy Year; or Hymns for Sundays and Holy-days, And other Occasions. London, Rivingtons, 1862.
This work contained an extended Preface; a Calendar of Hymns; 117 Original Compositions; and a Supplement of 82 hymns from other sources. In the 3rd edition, 1863, the Supplement was omitted, and the Original hymns were increased to 127. Several of these hymns are annotated under their respective first lines, the rest in common use are:—
From The Holy Year, first edition, 1862:—
1. Five pebbles from the brook. Temptation. Stanza ix. added in 1863.
2. Giver of law is God's [Thy] dear Son. Circumcision. Doxology added in 1863.
3. Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost. Quinquagesima.
4. Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of Hosts, Eternal King. Holy Trinity.
5. Holy of Holies! awful name. Epistle 5th Sunday in Lent.
6. How blest are hearts which Christ the Lord. Holy Matrimony. In 1863 in two parts, Pt. ii. being "Bless these Thy servants, gracious Lord."
7. How blessed is the force of prayer. St. Peter. In 1863, in two parts, Pt. i. being "Behold! at hand is Herod's doom."
8. How wondrous and mysterious are. Holy Baptism. In the 1863 ed. it is divided into four parts:— Pt. ii. "In Jordan Thou didst sanctify"; Pt. iii. "Thee, risen in triumph from the grave"; Pt. iv." Baptized in Christ we put on Christ." The cento, "By Water and the Holy Ghost," is also from this hymn.
9. In sorrow and distress. Ash Wednesday.
10. In Thy glorious Resurrection . Easter. In the 1863 ed. it begins, "Lord, Thy glorious Resurrection," and the doxology was added.
11. Lord, may we never, save to One. Against False Worship. Stanza viii. was added in 1863.
12. Lord not with [by] poor and paltry gifts. Offertory.
13. Lord, Who didst the Prophets teach. 2nd Sunday in Advent, or, Holy Scripture. The doxology was added in 1863.
14. Man fell from grace by carnal appetite. Gospel 1st S. in Lent.
15. Mankind in Adam fell. Good Friday. In the 1863 ed. it is divided into three parts: Pt. ii. being "We fell by Adam's sin;" and Pt. iii. "Thy Cross a Trophy is."
16. Not bound by chains, nor pent in cells. The Gifts of the Holy Ghost. This hymn is preceded by a special note on the Holy Spirit and His gifts.
17. Not gifts of prophecy can save. Self Discipline, or, 8th Sunday after Trinity.
18. 0 Jerusalem beloved, joyful morn has dawned on Thee. Purification of Blessed Virgin Mary, or, The Presentation. In the 1863 edition it is divided into two parts, Pt. ii. Being “Light the Gentile world to lighten, and thy glory Israel."
19. 0 Saviour, Who at Nain's gate. The Raising of the Widow's Son.
20. 0 Son of God, the Eternal Word. The Queen's Accession.
21. Once all the nations were as one. Babel and Sion a Contrast.
22. Sing, 0 sing this blessed morn. Christmas. In the 1863 edition a doxology was added, and the hymn was divided into two parts, Pt. ii. being, "God comes down that man may rise."
23. The banner of the Cross. Missions. In the 1863 ed. it is in three parts, Pt. ii., "Now for the Lord our God"; Pt. iii. "The earth from East to West."
24. The Galilean Fishers toil. Collect 4th Sunday in Advent. From this "0 Lord, when storms around us howl" is taken.
25. Thou bidd'st us visit in distress. The Promise of the Comforter, or, Sunday before Ascension. In the 1863 edition it is in two parts, Pt. ii. being “At Thy first birth, Thou, Lord, didst wait."
26. Thou hast a Temple founded. The Christian Temple; or, Epistle 11th Sunday after Trinity.
27. To-day, 0 Lord, the Holy James. St. James. In the 1863 ed. in two parts, Pt. ii. being "God in His word does not display."
28. Today with bright effulgence shine. Conversion of St. Paul. In the 1863 ed. it begins "Today in Thine Apostle shine," and is in two parts, Pt. ii being "From East to West, from North to South."
29. Upon the sixth day of the week. Easter Eve. Stanzas x., xi. of the 1863 text were added then, and the hymn was given in two parts, Pt. ii. being "By tasting the forbidden fruit."
30. We hear the tolling bell. Burial. The doxology was added in 1863, and the hymn was divided, Pt. ii. being "0 gracious Lord, to Thee." The cento "We see the open grave" is from this hymn.
31. When from the City of our God. The Good Samaritan. From this is taken “What beams of grace and mercy, Lord."
32. When Thou, 0 Lord, didst send the Twelve. SS. Simon and Jude. In the 1863 ed. stanza x. is new, and Pt. ii. begins, "Zeal, swollen with passion's cloudy smoke."
ii. From the Holy Year, 3rd ed., 1863.
33. Heavenly Father, send Thy blessing. For Schools. In extensive use.
34. Holy, holy, holy Lord, Maker of this worldly frame. Septuagesima. Based on the Epistle and Gospel of the week.
35. Lo He comes! Whom every nation. Advent. This is headed "The First Advent of Christ, coming to save."
36. 0 fear not though before thee lies. Communion of the Sick. Pt. ii. begins, "The Resurrection and the Life."
37. On every new-born babe of earth. Churching of Women. Pt. ii. begins, "Bright angels of the King of kings."
38. Peace to this house! O Thou Whose way. Visitation of the Sick. Pt. ii. "0 Conqueror by suffering; Pt. iii. "Restore us to Thine house of prayer."
39. The day is gently sinking to a close. Evening. A beautiful hymn.
40. We all, 0 God, unrighteous are. The Lord our Righteousness. Sometimes "We all, O Lord, unrighteous are." Based upon the Epistle of the Sunday next before Advent. Pt. ii. begins "Behold the day, the glorious day."
In addition to many of the hymns in the 1863 edition of The Holy Year being divided into parts, the texts of most of them were revised by the author, and are authorized.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
================
Wordsworth, Bp. C. (Lincoln) , p. 1294, i. Of his hymns, noted on p. 1294, i., ii., we find that No. 39 appeared in his Holy Year in 1864; and Nos. 34, 35, and 40 in 1862. The first edition in which the longer hymns were divided into parts was that of 1868. With regard to the date of Bp. Wordsworth's death, we find this reference thereto in his Biography: "He expired soon after midnight on Friday, March 20, or perhaps, it might be said, early on the Saturday morning." This gives the date of his death as March 21, 1885.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
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