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Companion, 1880, he says it was written is said that a lady once quoted this hymn in 1860. It is a beautiful and almost lit- in his presence, and spoke of the spiritual eral rendering of certain verses contained benefit she had derived from the use of in the ninetieth Psalm. it.

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Robinson was deeply moved, for he was a man of quick sensibilities, and with much emotion said: "Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that hymn many years ago; and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then."

The Scripture reference in the second verse is to 1 Samuel vii. 12: "Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped me."

This old hymn has indeed been a "fount of blessing" to multitudes.

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The author of this hymn was one of a committee of seven men appointed by the General Conference of 1844 to prepare a standard edition of the Methodist Hymn Book. This excellent hymn was contributed to that book, 1849. It has retained its place since then without the change of a word.

There are two distinct definitions of the word "hymn." One, found in the Century Dictionary, is very broad: "A religious ode, song, or other poem." this definition, almost any worthy lyric could be called a hymn. A narrow definition is given in Webster's Dictionary: "A hymn is a sacred lyric, a song of praise or thanksgiving to a deity or to God."

COME

S. M.

OME, ye that love the Lord,
And let y
your joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
While ye surround his throne.

2 Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God,
But servants of the heavenly King
May speak their joys abroad.

3 The God that rules on high,
That all the earth surveys,
That rides upon the stormy sky,
And calms the roaring seas;

4 This awful God is ours,

Our Father and our Love;

He will send down his heavenly powers,
To carry us above.

5 There we shall see his face,
And never, never sin;

There, from the rivers of his grace,
Drink endless pleasures in.

6 Yea, and before we rise
To that immortal state,

The thoughts of such amazing bliss
Should constant joys create.

7 The men of grace have found
Glory begun below;

Celestial fruit on earthly ground
From faith and hope may grow.

8 Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Immanuel's
ground

To fairer worlds on high.

Isaac Watts.

"Heavenly Joy on Earth" is the title of According to this truly joyful song in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707. In the first stanza the author wrote in the first line "we" instead of "ye;" in the second line "our" instead of "your;" and in the fourth line "And thus" instead of "While ye," and "the" instead of "his." In the third line According to this narrow definition, this of the second stanza he wrote "fav'rites" is not a hymn. It is lacking in direct ad- instead of "servants." Some hymnals dress to God. It sings about Christ, not have "children" here, which is perhaps to Christ. According to some hymnolo- better than either "favorites" or "servgists, this fine lyric must be relegated to ants." The third stanza the author put hymns of the second class. It is certain-in brackets. As he wrote it the reading ly one of the best of its kind.

is as follows:

The God that rules on high,

And thunders when he please,
That rides upon the stormy sky,

And manages the seas.

It was altered by John Wesley. This is one of the most cheerful and enlivening hymns found in the entire range of English hymnody.

Stanzas two and nine are omitted:

2 The sorrows of the mind

Be banished from the place!
Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less.
9 The hill of Zion yields

A thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields,
Or walk the golden streets.

senger on the Rothesay Castle when she was wrecked between Liverpool and Beaumaris, when ninety-three persons perished and only twenty-one were saved. When he was floating on a plank from which several had been washed off by the tempestuous waves, he was heard singing above the roar of the sea,

"The God that rules on high,

That all the earth surveys,
That rides upon the stormy sky,
And calms the roaring seas."

He was one among those saved, and after his rescue he dedicated his life afresh to God. He became a leader of three classes and worked with untiring energy and holy zeal in the cause of God. Dying in his seventyninth year, after forty-five years of devoted service as a class leader, he was heard to say in his last hours of consciousness: "I know nothing of doubts and fears."

L. M.

OME, O my soul, in sacred lays,

COME

Attempt thy great Creator's praise:
But O what tongue can speak his fame?
What mortal verse can reach the theme?

2 Enthroned amid the radiant spheres,
He glory like a garment wears;
To form a robe of light divine,

It is not often that a clergyman can afford to use a hymn to administer a rebuke to a contentious choir. 23 But Dr. Samuel West, a New England clergyman, is said to have used this hymn very effectively for that purpose many years ago. A difficulty had arisen in the congregation which had extended to the choir, and it had been whispered around that the choir would refuse to sing if the pastor should announce the hymn. The pastor was quite equal to the emergency. He introduced the services by announcing this hymn. After reading it slowly and impressively, he looked up at the choir and asked them please to begin with the second stanza:

Let those refuse to sing

Who never knew our God,
But servants of the heavenly King
May speak their joys abroad.

It is needless to add that not only the choir but the congregation generally all joined in the singing of the hymn that day; and its use did much toward healing the strife.

George John Stevenson in his Methodist Hymn Book described an impressive use of a part of this hymn:

In 1831 James Martin, of Liverpool, a Wesleyan class leader of deep piety, was a pas

Ten thousand suns around him shine.

3 In all our Maker's grand designs,
Omnipotence with wisdom shines;
His works, through all this wondrous frame,
Declare the glory of his name.

4

Raised on devotion's lofty wing,

Do thou, my soul, his glories sing;
And let his praise employ thy tongue,

Till listening worlds shall join the song.
Thomas Blacklock.

This is a fine sacred ode rather than a hymn. It came into the hymn book of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1849.

No hymnologist that I have read seems to know its history.

It is found in Dobell's New Selections, 1806, six stanzas, where it has the title "Majesty of God." It is founded upon Psalm civ. 1, 2:

Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honor and majesty: who coverest

self with light as with a
stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.

garment: who in the third line of the second stanza. The fourth stanza of the original has been omitted:

Persistent efforts have been made to verify the authorship of this widely circulated and very useful hymn, but so far without success. It may have been written by the blind poet Thomas Blacklock, but it does not appear in any of his published works.

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Love and praise to Christ belong!
Thomas Olivers.

Title: "An Hymn of Praise to Christ." Daniel Sedgewick, who reprinted Thomas Olivers's poems, said: "This hymn is

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wis-attributed to him on the circumstantial dom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.

evidence that surrounds its history. It first appeared appended to a short account of the death of Mary Langson, of Taxall, in Cheshire, who died January 29, 1769, when Olivers was stationed on that circuit." The internal evidence so substantiates the claim that the authorship is not

Watts wrote "lips" instead of "hearts" questioned. It has something of the con

fident inspiration of "The God of Abra- er Poems, 1849. ham praise" (No. 4).

The author of this hymn was a great admirer of John Wesley, and wrote a long and valuable elegy on his death, in 1791. Here are the closing stanzas:

Then let us still maintain the Truth he taught,
And Faithful prove in Deed, and Word, and
Thought;

The path he trod before, let us through life
pursue,

And help each other on, and keep the Prize in view.

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It takes up a lofty and beautiful strain not found in any other hymn, and hence fills a useful place in the hymnal. If there be a sense in which the Church in heaven and the Church on earth are truly one, it is well to indulge occasionally in thoughts like that running through this hymn and have our worship here purified and ennobled in the effort to make it like unto the worship above.

27

A

8, 5, 8, 5, 8, 4, 3.
NGEL voices, ever singing
Round thy throne of light,
Angel harps forever ringing,
Rest not day nor night;
Thousands only live to bless thee,
And confess thee
Lord of might.

2 Thou who art beyond the farthest
Mortal eye can scan,

Can it be that thou regardest
Songs of sinful man?

Can we feel that thou art near us,
And wilt hear us?

Yea, we can.

3 Here, great God, to-day we offer
Of thine own to thee;

And for thine acceptance proffer,

All unworthily,

Hearts and minds, and hands and voices,
In our choicest
Melody.

4 Honor, glory, might, and merit,
Thine shall ever be,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Blessed Trinity:

Of the best that thou hast given
Earth and heaven
Render thee.

Francis Pott.

This popular modern hymn makes up in sweetness what it lacks in dignity. The author edited a book of Hymns Fitted to the Order of Common Prayer, to one of the editions of which this hymn The title was: "For the was contributed. Dedication of an Organ or for a Meeting of Choirs." Here is an omitted stanza, the third of the original:

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