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in the tunes sometimes still sung to the words, “O Thou in Whose Presence My Soul Takes Delight,” and a minor tune to “Come, ye Sinners* Poor and Needy.” One of the unique characters of this period during which the Gospel song was developing, was Philip Phil lips, known as “The Singing Pilgrim” because of his wide travels in giving “Song Services." In 1868 he was invited to London to give one hundred evenings of sacred song, which he accomplished with pronounced success, receiving an invitation to return. In this he proved to be a sort of “John the Baptist” for Mr. Sankey, pre paring the way before him. Mr. Phillips had a winning way with him, and his song services, given literally around the world—across America, Australia, India, Ceylon, Egypt, Jerusalem, Italy, and for the third time in England —gave a foretaste of what was to be accomplished by the great army of Gospel singers that were to follow. His book “Hallowed Hymns” was used by Mr. Sankey in his first English campaign. Henry Ward Beecher became pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, in 1851, and he found the music in a very bad state, old-style psalm singing being in vogue. “One of Mr. Beecher’s oddities” was that he determined to improve the music. The result of this was the great “Plymouth Collection of Hymns” published in 1855. This incident shows the musical condition at this time in one of the largest and most widely known churches. The Gos pel-song movement did not have material ready for this great leader in the crisis he faced in his local church. In his. Introduction to this new hymn book Mr. Beecher says this about Watts and the Wesleys: “The contributions of the Wesleys to Hymnology have been so rich as to leave the Christian world under an obligation which can not be paid so long as there is a struggling Christian brotherhood to sing and be comforted amid the trials of this world.” And of Watts’ hymns he says: “With whatever partiality to Dr. Watts we may have begun this compilation, a comparison of his hymns and psalms with the best effusions of the best hymn writers has only served to increase our admiration and our con viction that he stands incomparably above all other Eng lish writers.” This opinion of Mr. Beecher represents the true estimate of these two great men whose work so largely dominated English hymnody for two centuries and who still maintain their supremacy in all standard hymn books. But the time was fast approaching when a new body of sacred song was to take its place alongside these classics of the hymn book—not to displace but to supple ment. T he N ature and F unction of the G ospel S ong There will always be a large place for the stately, devo tional hymn. The Gospel song can never take its place. It is made for a different purpose and has a distinct and unique function. A true hymn is a medium of worship. Through it we approach God in adoration and praise. It coordinates with prayer. The Gospel song is more objec tive and coordinates with preaching. It tells an experience, states a Gospel truth, or gives an invitation. It is directed manward and carries, with it the spirit of missionary zeal or evangelistic inspiration. There are hymns that suggest some of the elements of the Gospel song: “Come, Said Jesus’ Sacred Voice” or “Rejoice, All Ye Believers.” And there are Gospel songs that have some worship elements in them—such as Whit tle’s “Christ Liveth in Me” (music by McGranahan) or Mrs. Hawks’ “I Need Thee Every Hour” (music by
“A ll the Days” YEA , I am with thee when there falls no shadow Across the golden glory of the day, And I am with thee when the storm-clouds gather, Dimming the brightness of the onward way; In days of loss and loneliness and sorrow, Of care and weariness and fretting pain, In days o f weakness and of deep depression, O f futile effort when thy life seems vain; When Youth has fled and Death has put far from thee Lover and friend who made the journey sweet; When Age has come with slowly failing powers, And the dark valley waits thy faltering feet, When courage fails thee for the unknown future And the heart sinks beneath its weight of fears;— S till-L am with thee—Strength and Rest and Comfort,' Thy Counselor through all earth’s changing years. George F. Root was the second Mason pupil referred to as being a maker of music history. His work was more like that of his famous teacher, except that he launched out fearlessly, wrote many popular home songs, such as “Hazel Dell” and “There’s Music in the Air,” and during the Civil War he wrote patriotic songs that were doubtless the most effective of the period,—“Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching,” “Battle Cry of Freedom,” and “Just Before the Battle, Mother.” These songs may be classed with Stephen C. Foster’s songs such as “Old Folks at Home,’*“Massa’s in the Cold, Cold Ground,” and “Old Black Joe,” and Daniel Decatur Emmett’s inimitable “Dixie,” and other songs, all of which had a wholesome moral influence on a people hungry for something to sing, and a real practical influence in quickening the musical pulse of America and preparing the way for the burst of Gospel song that was to follow. The writings of Root were extremely simple in struc ture and almost entirely free from chromatic tones, and the harmonies were elementary—yet his melodies were chaste and clear as crystal and there is something extreme ly wholesome and appealing about them. “Come to the Saviour,” “Jewels,” and “The Shining Shore” are illus trations of his Gospel-song writings that make models that should be followed more closely by some of the writers of present-day Gospel songs. During this time a body of spontaneous religious “ folk songs” was growing in America, west of the Alleghanies in the pioneer regions of the Middle West and South, that without doubt had a great influence on the develop ment of the Gospel-song tune. Some have claimed that the “ Spiritual” was the progenitor of the Gospel song and that the melodies grew out of ballad tunes from Scotland and England brought over by the Colonists. They served their day in the old frontier camp meetings, and can be traced Whatever goes, whatever stays, Lo, I am with thee all the days. —Evangelical Christian.
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