363
T h e ; K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
June 1928
edited the works of Jeremy Taylor, besides other literary work, including hymn writing. Practically all of his hymns were written during his sixteen years at Hodnet. H is P r in c ip a l H ym n s Heber has not left as long a list o f hymns as many have done, but no writer has a greater proportion o f his hymns in common use. Practically every hymn he ever wrote is found in standard hymnals today. “ Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,” based on Rev. 4 :8, is at once simple, stately and intensely devotional. It has been crit icized for dealing with the Trinity, a controverted dogma. It should rather be treasured as a simple and reverent statement o f one of the great vital truths from the in spired Word. It is universally sung to Dykes’' beautiful tune, Nieaea. “ Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning,” “ By Cool Siloam’s Shady Rill,” “ The Son of God Goes Forth to War,” are polished gems, each in its widely different setting. But the hymn that is probably the most widely known and best loved, is “ From Greenland’s Icy Mountains,” which ranks a close second to Watts’ “ Jesus Shall Reign” as a great missionary classic. The hymn was written on the Saturday before Whitsunday, 1819. Heber had been invited to lecture at Wrexham on the evening o f this par ticular Sunday,: and his father-in-law, who was Dean of St. Asaph’s, was to preach a missionary sermon on the morning of the same day! Spending the Saturday to gether, the Dean requested Heber to “ write something for them to sing in the morning.” He at once sat down in another part of the room and in a short time had written the four immortal stanzas. This great hymn is inseparably wedded to the well- known tune by Lowell Mason, “ Missionary Hymn,” and the writing of the music is quite as romantic as and some what parallel to the writing o f the words. A Christian woman in Savannah, Georgia, read Heber’s words in a religious journal, and was impressed- with the thought that they would sing well. She had heard of a young bank clerk, somewhat o f a musician, who had recently come from Boston. So she sent the clipping down to the young man, Lowell Mason, and in a short time the mes senger brought back the musical setting, almost note for note as we find it in our hymn books today. Heber was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823, at the age qf forty. Here he had large scope for the powers of organization and administration shown in his earlier work. He entered upon the duties of his new office with characteristic enthusiasm and effectiveness. After a stren uous day in the extreme heat of India, confirming a large group of believers, he retired to his home, exhausted, and after a short time was found dead in his private room. One of Heber’s most beautiful hymns was.!written after the death of his child— “ He Has Gone to the Grave.” After his own death, one who loved him wrote the follow ing lines in the same style and meter: “ Thou art gone to the grave; and while nations bemoan thee Who drank from thy life the glad tidings of peace; Yet grateful, they still in their heart shall enthrone thee, And ne’er shall thy name from their memory cease. “ Thou art gone to the grave, but thy work shall not perish, That work which the spirit o f wisdom hath blest; His might shall support it, His mercy shall cherish, His love make it prosper tho’ thou art at rest.”
Hymns of Bishop Heber B y P rof . J Ï ein B issell T rowbridge
HE hymns of Bishop Reginald Heber mark the beginning of a new development in English hymnody. With the dawn of the nineteenth century, an era of hymn writing began in which the “ churchman” predominated. Hebèr was the first in line of notable hymn writers—includ ing Henry Milman, John Keble, John Henry Newman, Henry Francis Lyte, John Mason Neale and Frederick W . Faber. The hymns of the èighteenth century had been largely the product o f non-conformist writers,, or men who, if not openly in this class, were favorable to the idea of greater liturgical freedom in worship. Watts was a non conformist pure and simple— as were Perronet, Doddridge and Toplady. John Newton gavé his long ministry to the established church, but he offended many of his fellow- churchmen by his simple, direct, informal methods of work, and his interest in the work of Wesley and Whit field was increasingly manifest throughout his life. The whole Wesleyan revival was a protest against formality in the services of the established church. And though Charles Wesley never broke with the established church, and while he “ fully sympathized with his brother in his great work of evangelization, yet he did not approve his action when it involved departure from the recognized principles of the church o f j England, as when he began to ‘ordain’ preachers. He was resolved to die, as he had lived, in the communion o f the church of England, and be buried in the graveyard o f hfs parish church.” ' But the hymns o f both John and Charles Wesley, and also those o f John Newton, are distinctly non-conformist in spirit. Heber was a man of brilliant intellect, and as a young student at Oxford took high standing as a scholar. He won the prize for English verse with his poem entitled “ Palestine”— one of the first prize poems that has, lived. It has been called “ a flight as upon an eagle’s wings over the Holy Land." The author read it to Walter Scott, who called his attention to the fact that in his account of the building of the Temple, there was an omission of the strik ing circumstance that no tools were used in its erection. Heber at once added the following lines— “ No hammer fell, no ponderous axes rung, Like some tall palm, the mystic fabric sprung. Majestic silence!” Heber’s longest period of service in the. church was at Hodnet, where he went at the age o f twenty-four as vicar. He'was greatly beloved and gave his efforts un stintedly to the work o f the parish, entering into the life of his people in a most whole-hearted anc? sympathetic way, “ kneeling often at sick-beds at the risk o f his life; where there was strife, the peace-maker ; where there was want, the free-giver.” “ He was gay and witty, yet of deep, unaffected piety”— one of the most companionable and lovable of pen, “ making friends easily—losing them only by death.” ' He was a popular, enthusiastic, spiritual preacher-S and in addition to his parish duties he was appointed Bampton lecturer in 1815—contributed to magazines,
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