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Tag Archives: Hymn

George Herbert: On Christian Worship in Song

21 Saturday May 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in George Herbert, Music, Uncategorized, Worship

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George Herbert, Hymn, Literature, Music, poem, Poet, Poetry

This is a fascinating poem — which makes a profound point on the importance of singing in Christian worship. First, his poem “A True Hymn” begins with the observation –which any Christian has had– of singing joyfully partial lines and fragments of hymns. (The singer has created series of short phrases which he sings repeatedly):

MY Joy, my Life, my Crown !
My heart was meaning all the day,
Somewhat it fain would say,
And still it runneth muttering up and down
With only this, My Joy, my Life, my Crown !

Herbert tacitly concedes that the few lines are not great, but he then turns around and says “they may take part/Among the best in art”.  What makes the “few words” great is that the words perfectly accord with the soul:

Yet slight not those few words ;
If truly said, they may take part
Among the best in art :
The fineness which a hymn or psalm affords
Is, when the soul unto the lines accord.

Herbert is not saying that the songs of gathered worship should be poorly drafted (Herbert is one of the finest poets of the English language).  He is speaking about the joyful heart spontaneously bursting out lines. I think it would be turning Herbert on his head to argue that he would support poorly written songs as part of gathered worship.

But, we also must not make worship hang solely upon the artistry of the expression:

He who craves all the mind,
And all the soul, and strength, and time,
If the words only rhyme,
Justly complains that somewhat is behind
To make His verse, or write a hymn in kind.

Because, artistry is not alone the true measure of worship:

 

Whereas if the heart be moved,
Although the verse be somewhat scant,
God doth supply the want ;
As when the heart says, sighing to be approved,
“O, could I love !” and stops, God writeth, “Loved.”

An analogy may help here: Imagine two men who each write a letter to a young lady. One man writes without true love, without any actual desire for the woman, but he writes as well as Shakespeare. The second man writes with far less artistry, but he writes as well as his bursting heart can manage. The young lady knows the truth of both men: which man has successfully expressed love?

 

 

 

 

More than the watchman waits

03 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Psalms

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Hymn, Psalm 130, Psalms, Sons of Korah

Destitute, Despised, Forsaken

04 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Music

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Hymn, Jesus I My Cross Have Taken, Music

Pilgrims and strangers

O That Day

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Uncategorized

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Come Thou Font, Hymn

These are the originally published verses for Come Thou Font. If you have ever sang the song, you will note some substantial differences:

Come, Thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothèd then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send Thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

You May Heal Your Wounds

09 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Isaac Watts, Literature, Music

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Hymn, Hymns, Isaac Watts, poem, Poetry, salvation

Hymn 103
Meter: C. M.
Christ’s commission.
(John 3:16, 17)

Come, happy souls, approach your God
With new melodious songs;
Come, tender to almighty grace
The tribute of your tongues.

So strange, so boundless was the love
That pitied dying men,
The Father sent his equal Son
To give them life again.

Thy hands, dear Jesus, were not armed
With a revenging rod,
No hard commission to perform
The vengeance of a God.

But all was mercy, all was mild,
And wrath forsook the throne,
When Christ on the kind errand came,
And brought salvation down.

Here, sinners, you may heal your wounds,
And wipe your sorrows dry;
Trust in the mighty Savior’s name,
And you shall never die.

See, dearest Lord, our willing souls
Accept thine offered grace;
We bless the great Redeemer’s love,
And give the Father praise.

Thomas Manton on the Wonder of Salvation

23 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Preaching, Thomas Manton

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And Can it Be, Charles Wesley, Heaven, Hymn, Privilege, Psalm 119:129, reconciliation, salvation, Thomas Manton, wonder

Thomas Manton in his sermon on Psalm 119:129 (Sermon CXLI) lists the wonders which one should see in being reconciled to God in Jesus Christ.

First, to be called at all:

1 Peter 2:9, ‘He hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.’

There is no man converted by the word of God but hath cause to wonder at his own estate, at the condescension of God in plucking him as a brand out of the burning, or that woful condition wherein he was before, when others are left to perish: John 14:22, ‘Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world?’

Second, the privilege of reconciliation and communion with God:

And then that we are brought into the possession of such excellent privileges as we enjoy in our new estate, peace that passeth all understanding, Phil. 4:7, joy unspeakable and full of glory, 1 Peter 1:8; privileges greater than can be imagined or expressed. So are their hearts ravished in the sense of their reconciliation with God and communion with him.

Third, everlasting blessings promised:

So also in giving them such an undoubted right to an everlasting blessed estate in the heavens: 1 Cor. 2:9, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.’

He hath promised them a happiness which they can never think of, but every day they must fall a-wondering anew; and all this wrought by an exceeding great power working together with the word, Eph. 1:19;

Manton compares the wonder of the man rescued by God to the rescue of Peter by the angel. Peter had been imprisoned by Herod and was awaiting death. During the evening, an angel appeared in the prison, rescued Peter, and delivered him free of his chains:

as Peter wondered at his own deliverance, when chains and gates and bars did all give way to the power of the angel that brought him forth: Acts 12:9–11, ‘And he went out, and followed him, and wist not that it was true that was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth into the city, which opened to them of its own accord, and they went out and passed on through one street, and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.’

So may every one that is converted to God stand wondering, when he considereth how, from whence, and to what he is called by God; all this is wonderful indeed.

This image reminds one of Charles Wesley’s verse in the hymn, “And Can it Be?”

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Fourth, there is the wonder of the change wrought within u:

There is more of God seen in inward experiences than in outward; in converting, comforting, quickening, and carrying on the work of grace in our own hearts, than in governing the courses of nature; therefore the apostle appealeth to this internal power, Eph. 3:20, ‘Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.’

He instanceth in that which God hath done for us in Christ, which is beyond our prayer, conceptions, and hopes; transcending the hopes and apprehensions of the most enlarged hearts. Thus is a Christian a wonder to himself.

Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 8 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1872), 333–334.

Our One Life

01 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Eschatology, Horatius Bonar

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Horatius Bonar, Hymn, Hymns of Faith and Hope, Our One Life, poem, Poetry

‘Tis not for man to trifle! Life is brief,
And sin is here.
Our age is but the falling of a leaf,
A dropping tear.
We have not time to sport away the hours,
All must be in earnest in a world like ours.

Not many lives, but only one have we,
One, only one;
How sacred should that one life ever be,
That narrow span!
Day after day filled up with blessed toil,
Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil.

Our being is no shadow of thin air,
No vacant dream;
No fable of the things that never were,
But only seem.
‘Tis full of meaning as of mystery,
Tho’ strange and solemn may that meaning be.

Our sorrows are no phantom of the night
No idle tale;
No cloud that floats along a sky of light,
On summer gale.
They are the true realities of earth,
Friends and companions even from our birth.

O life below, how brief, and poor, and sad!
One heavy sigh.
O life above, how long, how fair, and glad!
An endless joy.
Oh, to be done with daily dying here!
Now to begin the living in yon sphere!

O day of time, how dark! O sky and earth,
How dull your hue!
O day of Christ, how bright! O sky and earth,
Made fair and new!
Come, better Eden, with thy fresher green;
Come, brighter Salem, gladden all the scene.

Hymns of Faith and Hope
Horatius Bonar
London: James Nisbet & Co.
Berners Street, 1877

Interesting how one can understand “you only live once”.

20140801-142048-51648916.jpg

Was it for crimes that I had done

14 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Atonement, Christology, Confession, Desire, Humility, Isaac Watts, Joy, Literature, Music

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Alas and Did my Savior Die, Hymn, Isaac Watts, poem, Poetry

Alas! and did my Savior bleed?
And did my Sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?

Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, thine,
And bathed in its own blood,
While all exposed to wrath divine
The glorious Suff’rer stood!

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shut his glories in,
When God, the mighty Maker, died
For man, the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face,
While his dear cross appears;
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away;
’Tis all that I can do.

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
-2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Ye saints, ascend the skies

31 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Isaac Watts, Resurrection

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Hymn, Isaac Watts, poem, Poetry, Resurrection, Ye Saints Ascend the Skies

Why do we mourn departing friends,
Or shake at death’s alarms?’
Tis but the voice that Jesus sends
To call them to his arms.

Are we not tending upward too
As fast as time can move?
Nor would we wish the hours more slow
To keep us from our love.

Why should we tremble to convey
Their bodies to the tomb?
There the dear flesh of Jesus lay,
And left a long perfume.

The graves of all his saints he blessed
And softened every bed;
Where should the dying members rest,
But with the dying Head?

Thence he arose, ascending high,
And showed our feet the way;
Up to the Lord our flesh shall fly,
At the great rising day.

Then let the last loud trumpet sound,
And bid our kindred rise;
Awake, ye nations under ground;
Ye saints, ascend the skies.

–Isaac Watts, Hymn 3

Affliction Homework: Part III

27 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by memoirandremains in Uncategorized

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Affliction, Biblical Counseling, Homework, Hymn, It is Well With My Soul, Memorization, Thomas Brooks, Uncategorized

Read Psalm 38:

To whom does David attribute his troubles? List verses/note the details:

God:
Self:
Others:

Note that David calls out to God to rescue him from his troubles. If God were not the ultimate cause of his troubles, would it make sense to call to God for relief? Why or why not?

Read Psalm 39: Answer the same questions as for Psalm 38.

Additional Questions for both Psalms:

1.  Does David deny the material facts of his pain (physical pain, actions of others)?

2.  Does David deny the potential for his own sin contributing to his pain?

3.  To whom does David ultimately ascribe the source of his pain?

Read and consider seriously the following related meditations by Thomas Brooks (from The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod).  Apply these propositions to your own situation:

God is in every affliction: There is no sickness so little but God has a finger in it; though it be but the aching of the little finger. . . . . So the Lord, who is the chief agent and mover in all actions, and who has the greatest hand in all our afflictions, is more to be eyed and owned than any inferior or subordinate causes whatever.

Since God is in every affliction, it is to God that we must look for deliverance: So Job, he beheld God in allCJob 1:21, ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.’ Had he not seen God in the affliction, he would have cried outCOh these wretched Chaldeans, they have plundered and spoiled me; these wicked Sabeans, they have robbed and wronged me! Job discerns God’s commission in the Chaldeans’ and the Sabeans’ hands, and then lays his own hand upon his mouth.

If we can’t see God’s hand our afflictions, we will become angry and hopeless: Men who don’t see God in an affliction, are easily cast into a feverish fit, they will quickly be in a flame, and when their passions are up, and their hearts on fire, they will begin to be saucy [they will complain disrespectfully about God), and make no bones of telling God to his teeth, that they do well to be angry, Jonah 4:8, 9. . . .Such as can see the ordering hand of God in all their afflictions, will, with David, lay their hands upon their mouths, when the rod of God is upon their backs, 2 Sam. 16:11, 12. If God’s hand be not seen in the affliction, the heart will do nothing but fret and rage under affliction.

Memorization/meditation:  Ps. 38:5 & 21-22.  In addition to memorization, make sure there is meditation and prayer.  What is the specific prayer in these verses? Understand this prayer in the context of the entire Psalm. How would such a prayer apply to my particular circumstance?

Hymn:  It is Well With my Soul

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