Hymn Story of the Week: I Gave My Life for TheeI apologize for the lateness of this post. I tried to post it late this afternoon, but it seemed like Blogger was down, so I was unable to. Better now than never, though.
Frances Ridley Havergal had a natural gift for language. “For instance, while the others were having their German lesson, she would take care to be in the room, and without any one's knowing that she was listening, picked up so much that the master begged to be allowed to teach her.” Her father composed sacred music and sacred poetry, and at a young age, she would write down her rhymes.
Outwardly, she was a happy child, clambering up trees and climbing walls. However, there was a darkness in her little life. Even at the age of six, she knew that she did not love God as she ought to. "Up to the time I was six years old," she writes, "I have no remembrance of any religious ideas whatever; I do not think I could ever have said any of those 'pretty things' that little children often do, though there were sweet and beloved and holy ones round me who I must have often tried to put good thoughts into my little mind. But from six to eight I recall a different state of things. The beginning of it was a sermon at Hallow. Of this I even now retain a distinct impression. It was to me a very terrible one, dwelling much on hell and judgment, and what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God. This sermon haunted me. I began to pray a good deal, though only night and morning, with a sort of fidget and impatience, almost angry at feeling so unhappy, and wanting and expecting a new heart, and to have everything put straight and be made happy all at once.”
Sometimes men who preached at her father’s church would come over to their home. She writes, “I did so wish they would talk about the Saviour whom I wanted, but had not found. It would have been so much more interesting to me, and oh! why didn't they ever talk to me about Him, instead of about my lessons or their little girls at home? They did not know how a hungry little soul went empty away.”
Her little world fell apart when she was eleven years old, when her mother died after a long period of illness. Her grief was extreme, but she hid it under a facade of merriment and laughter.
After her mother’s death, she spent much time with her sister, Ellen. About this period of time, Frances wrote, “Between thirteen and fourteen, a soberising thoughtful time seemed to fall on me like a mantle, and my strivings were no longer the passionate spasmodic meteor flashes they had been, but something deeper, more settled, more sorrowful. All this was secret, and only within my own breast very few knew me to be anything but a careless, merry girl, light-hearted in the extreme. Now came a more definite and earnest prayer, for faith. Oh, to believe in Jesus, to believe that He had pardoned me! I used to lie awake in the long summer twilight praying for this precious gift. I read a great deal of the Bible in a 'straight on' sort of way. Once I determined, if eternal life were in the Scriptures, find it I would, and resolved to begin giving an hour a day to very careful and prayerful reading of the New Testament.”
It was around that time that she began her formal education. Among all of her friends, there was one girl, Diana, whom Frances “loved with a perfectly idolatrous affection.” Up to this time, Frances had only spoken to her sister, Ellen, about her lack of love for God. However, the longing was still there.
On December 8, 1850, the light began to dawn on Frances’ soul. She writes, “For some time I had noticed a slight depression about [her ‘idol’ Diana]. That evening, as I sat nearly opposite to her at tea, I could not help seeing (nobody could) a new and remarkable radiance about her countenance. It seemed literally lighted up from within while her voice, even in the commonest remarks, sounded like a song of gladness. I looked at her almost with awe. As soon as tea was over she came round to my side of the table, sat down by me on the form, threw her arm around me and said: 'Oh Fanny, dearest Fanny, the blessing has come to me at last. Jesus has forgiven me, I know. He is my Saviour, and I am so happy! Only come to Him and He will receive you. Even now He loves you, though you don't know it.’”
In February, 1851, on her knees in her room, Frances trusted Christ as her Saviour. “Then and there I committed my soul to the Saviour; I do not mean to say without any trembling or fear, but I did; and earth and heaven seemed bright from that moment; I did trust the Lord Jesus.
"For the first time my Bible was sweet to me, and the first passage I distinctly remember reading, in a new and glad light, was the fourteenth and following chapters of St. John's Gospel.”
This glimpse into the tender heart of the young Frances Havergal reminds us of the need to preach the Gospel to children as well as to adults. Even a young child can understand the Gospel. Jesus said, after all, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.” It also helps to shed a new light on her first hymn, I Gave My Life for Thee.
Frances was about 22 years old. In Dusseldorf, Germany, she saw the painting Ecce Homo (Behold the Man), which portrays a flogged Christ standing before Pilate. Immediately the words of her hymn came to her. She wrote them down on a piece of paper, but decided to toss the paper into the fire. However, the paper was only singed. It was not until months after this that she showed the poem to her father. He wrote a melody for it, and it was first printed in 1859.
Frances Havergal also wrote the well-known hymn Take My Life, and Let It Be, as well as Golden Harps Are Sounding and Who Is on the Lord’s Side?
I recommend that you read the biography of her life at Wholesome Words. It is wonderfully written, and is the source of the quotes in this post.
1. I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might’st ransomed be
And quickened from the dead.
I gave My life for thee;
What hast thou given for Me?
2. I spent long years for thee
In weariness and woe
That an eternity
Of joy thou mightest know.
I spent long years for thee;
Hast thou spent one for Me?
3. My Father’s home of light,
My rainbow-circled throne,
I left for earthly night,
For wanderings sad and lone.
I left it all for thee;
Hast thou left aught for Me?
4. I suffered much for thee,
More than My tongue may tell,
Of bitterest agony,
To rescue thee from hell.
I suffered much for thee;
What canst thou bear for Me?
5. And I have brought to thee
Down from My home above
Salvation full and free,
My pardon and My love.
Great gifts I brought to thee;
What hast thou brought to Me?
6. Oh, let thy life be given,
Thy years for Me be spent,
World’s fetters all be riven,
And joy with suffering blent!
I gave Myself for thee:
Give thou thyself to Me.
I love to hear men sing. This is a general statement, of course, contingent upon the quality of the men’s voice, and the style of music they are singing. I enjoy hearing a well-blended, beautifully sung men’s chorus; I do not enjoy hearing the raw-voiced screaming that passes for music in many circles.
I Sing the Mighty Power of God is an example of the former kind of singing! It is the first men’s CD put out by Sacred Music Services, run by Tim Fisher (the author of the insightful book The Battle for Christian Music, which should be on every conservative Christian’s bookshelf, and which I am planning on reviewing for this blog). They have put out several more men’s CDs, all of excellent calibre; but this one to me is exceptional.
The songs are rich theologically: I Sing the Mighty Power of God; Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise; and Lamb of God. There are often-used and well-loved hymns and gospel songs: Faith of Our Fathers, Were You There, and There’s Room at the Cross. There are also pieces that are lesser known, quite undeservingly: Opened for Me, That Day at Calvary, and Praise Ye the Triune God.
This CD is easy to listen to, but this doesn't mean the songs are weak or tepid doctrinally, or empty of true spirituality. I have been ministered to by many of the songs. Permit me to talk about some of my favourite tracks.
The title track is the standard-setting men's arrangement of I Sing the Mighty Power of God, as far as I’m concerned. The men sing with power, and the piano playing is strong and artistic. The message of God’s majesty comes across loud and clear.
Opened for Me is an older song, written by Merrill Dunlop in 1936. It is a comforting, encouraging song. I have used it in our congregational singing, and will do so again. It is a hymn worth learning.
Another definitive arrangement is of Were You There. This song raises one’s soul to the very threshold of heaven! When the men sing, “Sometimes, I feel like shouting glory, glory, oh glory!” your spirit is irresistibly led to respond with excitement and joy!
Lamb of God is an old hymn, published in 1841, with lyrics by James Deck, accompanied by a new melody. The new melody was written by Ed Rae, who was on the music faculty at Bob Jones University. The music fits marvellously well with the words, and the perfect blend glorifies Jesus Christ in beauty, reverence and joy.
If you are looking for a conservative, excellent, uplifting, encouraging, soul-strengthening CD, this is it. Buy it, listen to it, and let the music enter your bloodstream. You will not be disappointed.
Purchase the CD (and listen to audio samples)
The author of this week’s hymn, George Beverly Shea, should be familiar to many of you. His rich, warm voice is well-known in the Christian world. You probably know the song, as it became famous through its use in Billy Graham’s crusades. The story of his hymn I’d Rather Have Jesus is told by Earl Willer.
“It was in the thirties. Business curves were still heading downward and there was rumor of a salary cut at the New York insurance office where twenty-two-year-old Beverly Shea was employed as a clerk. Possessor of a deep melodious voice, the young man was offered a radio contract and immediately saw opportunities for fame and possible riches in his regular appearance on a secular program.
He had been pondering the matter for several days when he sat down to the piano early one Sunday morning to rehearse a hymn he was to sing in church that morning. As he played and sang his eyes fell on a piece of paper, on which was written:
I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold
I’d rather be His than have riches untold!
The poem, by Mrs. Rhea Miller, had been placed where Beverly would see it by his mother, a minister’s wife, who knew of the offer her son was pondering. Above all, she wanted her son, a Christian, to become wholly consecrated to his service.
As his eyes raced over the words, the sentences I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause and I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame struck his very heart. His fingers unconsciously left the tune he was rehearsing and began to find this melody which is today known to millions.”
Shea is still alive at the age of 100! He is considered the first Christian singing star, and the Guinness Book of World Records has him as the world record holder for singing to the most people at one time, with “an estimated cumulative live audience of 220 million people” (Wikipedia).
However, I’m sure George Beverly Shea would still say, “I’d rather have Jesus.”
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold,
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands,
I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.
CHORUS:
Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin's dread sway;
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause,
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than world-wide fame,
I'd rather be true to His holy name.
He's fairer than liles of rarest bloom,
He's sweeter than honey from out the comb;
He's all that my hungering spirit needs,
I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead.
I have several favourite hymns. It would be hard for me to say which one is my favourite, although I have said in the past that Its Just Like His Great Love is my favourite hymn. However, it is not my only favourite hymn. There are other hymns that God has used to touch my heart at different times. Be Still My Soul is one shining star at the top of the list.
The lyrics were originally written in 1752, as Stille meine Wille, dein Jesus hilft siegen, by Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel. Von Schlegel wrote over 20 hymns in Germany during the Pietistic Revival, which was a related movement to the Wesleyan revivals in England. She lived in Köthen in Central Germany. Music students will recognize that small city as the place in Johann Sebastian Bach served as a music director from 1717 to 1723, and the city in which he wrote his Brandenburg Concertos.
The hymn was translated from the German in 1855 by Jane Laurie Borthwick. It didn’t become associated with the famous tune Finlandia until 1899, for the simple reason that Finlandia was written between 1899 and 1900!
Jean Sibelius was one of the greatest Finnish composers. He wrote Finlandia as a symphonic poem. The first section is full of restless movement, symbolizing the distress Finland felt under the occupation of Nazi Germany. At the end of the piece, the now-famous tune is heard, flowing calmly and serenely. To avoid Nazi censorship of the piece, it had to be performed under various innocuous titles, such as “Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring.” Truth’s enemies are often well-aware of the secret power of music! How often truth’s friends are ignorant of this same power.
Finnish lyrics were written for this music in 1941 by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi. It became one of the most famous national songs of Finland. Literally translated, the first verse reads:
O, Finland, behold, your day is dawning,
The threat of night has been banished away,
And the lark of morning in the brightness sings,
As though the very firmament would sing.
The powers of the night are vanquished by the morning light,
Your day is dawning, O land of birth.
Besides being the music to which Be Still My Soul is normally sung, Finlandia is the music associated with three other hymns: We Rest on Thee, A Christian Home, and This Is My Song. We Rest on Thee is the last hymn sung by Jim Elliot and the other martyrs of Operation Auca. The hymn’s inspiration was apparently I Chronicles 14:11: And Asa cried unto the LORD his God,and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.
The first verse reads:
"We rest on thee" - our shield and our defender!
We go not forth alone against the foe;
Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender,
"We rest on thee, and in thy name we go."
Be Still My Soul has been a hymn of encouragement to me. Reading the wonderful lyrics and experiencing the powerful music is a feast of the choicest foods; a balm of the most precious ointment; a calm during the roughest storm. What help, what comfort, what joy, and peace have been brought to my soul while my little bark had been tossed about by waves of discouragement and sorrow! I leave the words of the hymn itself with you to encourage and bless:
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.
Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, be leaving, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.
Helpful links:
Wikipedia
Wikipedia 2
Blessed Quietness
Fiddle-Sticks
This week’s hymn story is of the well-known hymn Abide with Me. I fell in love with this hymn after hearing a beautiful recording of it performed by choir, soloist, and orchestra, including the seventh verse (“I fear no foe...”), which I had not heard before.
This beautiful hymn was written by Henry F. Lyte in 1847 as he lay dying of tuberculosis. Lyte was the pastor of All Saints Church in Lower Brixham, Devonshire, England. He preached his farewell sermon at All Saints and wrote the words to the hymn on the same day. His state of mind can be seen in this excerpt from this final sermon:
“O brethren, I stand here among you today, as alive from the dead, if I may hope to impress it upon you, and induce you to prepare for that solemn hour which must come to all, by a timely acquaintance with the death of Christ.”
He departed for Italy, seeking to regain his health. Still on his way to Italy, in Nice, France, Lyte breathed his last breath, only three weeks after writing what is surely one of the most famous hymns in English hymnody. Perhaps the words he had written only three weeks earlier rang in his ears as he left this life: “Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still if Thou abide with me.”
The music for this hymn was written by William H. Monk in 1861. His wife described the music’s origin:
“This tune was written at a time of great sorrow—when together we watched, as we did daily, the glories of the setting sun. As the last golden ray faded, he took some paper and penciled that tune which has gone all over the earth.”
So the sorrow of two men, at two separate occasions, combined to give us this treasure, which has comforted many thousands of sorrowing hearts, and will surely comfort many thousands more.
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.
Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me.
Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.
I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
