HYMN-WRITERS I HAVE KNOWN
_Montgomery--Bonar--Bowring--Palmer and Others_
Hymnology has always been a favorite study with me, and it has been my
privilege to be acquainted with several of the most eminent hymn-writers
within the last sixty or seventy years. It is a remarkable fact that
among the distinguished English-speaking poets, Cowper and Montgomery
are the only ones who have been successful in producing many popular
hymns; while the greatest hymns have been the compositions either of
ministers of the Gospel, like Watts, Wesley, Toplady, Doddridge, Newman,
Lyte, Bonar and Ray Palmer, or by godly women, like Charlotte Elliott,
Mrs. Sarah F. Adams, Miss Havergal and Mrs. Prentiss. During my visit to
Great Britain in the summer of 1842, I spent a few weeks at Sheffield as
the guest of Mr. Edward Vickers, the ex-Mayor of the city. His near
neighbor was the venerable James Montgomery, whose pupil he had been
during the short time that the poet conducted a school. Mr. Vickers
took me to visit the poet at his residence at The Mount. A short,
brisk, cheery old man, then seventy-one, came into the room with a spry
step. He wore a suit of black, with old-fashioned dress ruffles, and a
high cravat that looked as if it choked him. His complexion was fresh,
and snowy hair crowned a noble forehead. He had never married, but
resided with a relative. We chatted about America, and I told him that
in all our churches his hymns were great favorites. I unfortunately
happened to mention that when lately in Glasgow I had gone to hear the
Rev. Robert Montgomery, the author of "Satan," and other poems. It was
this "Satan Montgomery" whom Macaulay had scalped with merciless
criticism in the _Edinburgh Review_. The mention of his name aroused the
old poet's ire. "Would you believe it?" he exclaimed, indignantly, "they
attribute some of that fellow's performances to me, and lately a lady
wrote to me in reference to one of his most pompous poems, and said "it
was the _best that I had ever written!_" I do not wonder at my venerable
friend's vexation, for there was a world-wide contrast between his own
chaste simplicity and the stilted pomposity of his Glasgow namesake.
Montgomery, though born a Moravian and educated at a Moravian school,
was a constant worshipper at St. George's Episcopal Church, in
Sheffield. The people of the town were very proud of their celebrated
townsman, and after his death gave him a public funeral, and erected a
bronze statue to his memory. While he was the author of several volumes
of poetry, his enduring fame rests on his hymns, some of which will be
sung in all lands through coming generations. Four hundred own his
parentage and one hundred at least are in common use throughout
Christendom. He produced a single verse that has hardly been surpassed
in all hymnology:
"Here in the body pent
Absent from Him I roam.
Yet nightly pitch my moving-tent,
A day's march nearer home."
Hymnology has known no denominational barriers. While Toplady was an
Episcopalian, Wesley a Methodist. Newman and Faber Roman Catholics,
Montgomery a Moravian, and Bonar a Presbyterian, the magnificent hymn,
"In the cross of Christ I glory,"
was written by a Unitarian. I had the great satisfaction of meeting its
author, Sir John Bowring, at a public dinner in London during the summer
of 1872. A fresh, handsome veteran he was, too--tall and straight as a
ramrod, and exceedingly winsome in his manners. He had been famous as
the editor of the _Westminster Review_ and quite famous in civil life,
for he was a member of the British Parliament and once had been the
Governor of Hong Kong. He produced several volumes, but will owe his
immortality to half a dozen superb hymns. Of these the best is "In the
cross of Christ I glory"; but we also owe to him that fine missionary
hymn,
"Watchman, tell us of the night"
He told my Presbyterian friend, Dr. Harper, in China, that the first
time he ever heard it sung was at a prayer meeting of American
missionaries in Turkey. Sir John died about four months after I had met
him, at the ripe age of eighty, and on his monument is inscribed only
this single appropriate line, "In the cross of Christ I glory."
The first time I ever saw Dr. Horatius Bonar was in May, 1872, when I
was attending the Free Church General Assembly of Scotland as a delegate
from the Presbyterian Church in the United States. A warm discussion was
going on in the Assembly anent proposals of union with the U.P. body,
and the Anti-Unionists sat together on the left hand of the Moderator's
chair. In the third row sat a short, broad-shouldered man with noble
forehead and soft dark eyes. But behind that benign countenance was a
spirit as pugnacious in ecclesiastical controversy as that of the Roman
Horatius "who kept the bridge in the brave days of old." I was glad to
be introduced to him, for I was an enthusiastic admirer of his hymns,
and I had a personal affection for his brother, Andrew, the author of
the delightful "Life of M'Cheyne." Although Horatius had won his
world-wide fame as a composer of hymns, he was, at that time, stoutly
opposed to the use of anything but the old Scotch version of the Psalms
in church worship. During my address to the Assembly I said: "We
Presbyterians in America sing the good old psalms of David." At this
point Dr. Bonar led in a round of applause, and then I continued: "We
also sing the Gospel of Jesus Christ as versified by Watts, Wesley,
Cowper, Toplady and _your own Horatius Bonar!"_ There was a burst of
laughter, and then I rather mischievously added: "My own people have the
privilege, not accorded to my brother's congregation, of singing his
magnificent hymns." By this time the whole house came down in a perfect
roar, and the confused blush on Bonar's face puzzled us--whether it was
on account of the compliment, or on account of his own inconsistency.
However, before his death he consented to have his own congregation sing
his own hymns, although it is said that two pragmatical elders rose and
strode indignantly down the aisle of the church.
In August, 1889, when I was on a visit to Chillingham Castle, Lady
Tankerville said to me: "Our dear Bonar is dead." I left the next day
for Edinburgh and reached there in time to bear an humble part in the
funeral services. On the day of his obsequies there was a tremendous
downpour, which reminded me of the story of the Scotchman, who, on
arriving in Australia, met one of his countrymen, who said to him: "Hae
ye joost come fra Scotland and _is it rainin' yet_?" But in spite of the
storm the Morningside Church, by the entrance to the Grange Cemetery,
was well filled by a representative assembly. The service was confined
to the reading of the Scriptures, to two prayers and the singing of
Bonar's beautiful hymn, the last verse of which is
"Broken Death's dread hands that bound us,
Life and victory around us;
Christ the King Himself hath crown'd us,
Ah, 'tis Heaven at last."
As I was the only American present I was requested to close the service
with a brief word of prayer; and I rode down to the Canongate Cemetery
with grand old Principal John Cairns (who Dr. McCosh told me "had the
best head in Scotland"), and Bonar's colleague, the Rev. Mr. Sloane. On
our way to the place of burial Mr. Sloane told me that Bonar's two
finest hymns,
"I heard the voice of Jesus say," etc..
and
"I lay my sins on Jesus," etc,
were originally composed for the children of his Sabbath school. And yet
they are the productions by which he has become most widely known
throughout Christendom. The storm-swept streets that day were lined with
silent mourners; and, under weeping skies, we laid down to his rest the
mortal remains of the man who attuned more voices to the melodies of
praise than any Scotchman of the century.
Our own country has been very prolific in the production of hymns. The
venerable and devout blind songstress, Fanny Crosby (whom I often meet
at the house of my beloved neighbor, Mr. Ira D. Sankey), has produced
very many hundreds of them--none of very high poetic merit, but many of
them of such rich spiritual savour, and set to such stirring airs, that
they are sung by millions around the globe. By common consent in all
American hymnology the hymn commencing
"My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary," etc,
is the best. Its author, Dr. Ray Palmer, when a young man, teaching in a
school for girls in New York, one day sat down in his room and wrote in
his pocket memorandum book the four verses which he told me "were born
of my own soul," and put the memorandum book back into his vest pocket
and for two years carried the verses there, little dreaming that he was
carrying his own passport to immortality. Dr. Lowell Mason, the
celebrated composer of Boston, asked him to furnish a new hymn for his
next volume of "Spiritual Songs" for social worship, and young Palmer
drew out the four verses from his pocket. Mason composed for them the
noble tune, "Olivet," and to that air they were wedded for ever more. He
met Palmer afterwards, and said to him: "Sir, you may live many years,
and do many things, but you will be best known to posterity as the
author of 'My faith looks up to Thee.'" The prediction proved true. His
devoted heart flowed out in that one matchless lily that has filled so
many hearts and sanctuaries with its rich fragrance. Dr. Palmer preached
several times in my Brooklyn pulpit. He was once with us on a
sacramental Sabbath. While the deacons were passing the sacred elements
among the congregation the dear old man broke out in a tremulous voice
and sang his own heavenly lines:
"My faith looks up to Thee
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour Divine."
It was like listening to a rehearsal for the celestial choir, and the
whole assembly was most deeply moved. Dr. Palmer was short in stature,
but his erect form and habit of brushing his hair high over his forehead
gave him a commanding look. He was the impersonation of genuine
enthusiasm. Some of his letters I shall always prize. They were the
outpourings of his own warm heart on paper. He fell asleep just before
he reached a round four score, and of our many hymn-writers no one has
yet "taken away his crown."
It is quite fitting to follow this sketch of one noble veteran with a
brief reminiscence of an equally noble one, who bore the name of an
Episcopalian, although he was very undenominational in his broad
sympathies. Dr. William Augustus Muhlenberg was one of the most
apostolic men I have ever known in appearance and spirit. His gray head
all men knew in New York. He commanded attention everywhere by his
genial face and hearty manner of speech. I used to meet him at the
anniversaries of the Five Points Home of Industry. Everybody loved him
at first sight. All the world knows he was the founder of St. Luke's
Hospital in New York, and the extensive institutions of charity at St.
Johnsland, on Long Island. Of his hymns the most popular is
"I would not live alway," etc.
It was first written as an impromptu for a lady's album, and afterwards
amended into its present form.
In his later years he regarded the tone of that hymn as too lugubrious;
and in a pleasant note to me he said: "Paul's 'For me to live is Christ'
is far better than Job's 'I would not live alway.'" My favorite among
his productions is the one on Noah's Dove, commencing, "O cease, my
wandering soul"; but the man was greater than any song he ever wrote. As
he was a bachelor he lived in his St. Luke's Hospital; and once, when he
was carrying a tray of dishes down to the kitchen and some one
protested, the patriarch replied: "Why not; what am I but a waiter here
in the Lord's hotel?" When very near his end the Chaplain of the
hospital prayed at his bedside for his recovery. "Let us have an
understanding about this," said Muhlenberg. "You are asking God to
restore me, and I am asking God to take me home. There must not be any
contradiction in our prayers, for it is evident that He cannot answer
them both." This was characteristic of his bluff frankness, as well as
of his heavenly-mindedness--he "would not live alway."
In July, 1881, I was visiting Stockholm, and was invited to go on an
excursion to the University of Upsala with Dr. Samuel F. Smith. I had
never before met my celebrated countryman about whom his Harvard
classmate, Oliver Wendell Holmes, once wrote:
"And there's a nice youngster of excellent pith--
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith;
But he shouted a song for the brave and the free--
Just read on his medal--'My Country--of Thee'"
The song he thus shouted was written for the Fourth of July
celebration, in Park Street Church, Boston, in 1832, and has become our
national hymn. When I met the genial old man in Sweden, and travelled
with him for several days, he was on his way home from a missionary tour
in India and Burmah. He told me that he had heard the Burmese and
Telugus sing in their native tongue his grand missionary hymn, "The
Morning Light is Breaking." He was a native Bostonian, and was born a
few days before Ray Palmer. He was a Baptist pastor, editor, college
professor, and spent the tranquil summer evening of his life at Newton,
Mass.; and at a railway station in Boston, by sudden heart failure, he
was translated to his heavenly home. He illustrated his own sweet
evening hymn, "Softly Fades the Twilight Ray."
Among the elect-ladies who have produced great uplifting hymns that
"were not born to die" was Mrs. Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, the daughter
of the saintly Dr. Edward Payson, of Portland, Maine. Her prose works
were very popular, and "Stepping Heavenward" had found its way into
thousands of hearts. But one day she--in a few hours--won her
immortality by writing a hymn, beginning with the lines,
"More love to Thee, O Christ,
More love to Thee"
It was printed on a fly-sheet, for a few friends, then found its way
into a hymn-book, edited by my well-beloved friend, Dr. Edwin F.
Hatfield, and then it took wing and flew over the world into many
foreign languages. I often met Mrs. Prentiss at the home of her husband,
Dr. George L. Prentiss, an eminent professor in the Union Theological
Seminary. She was a very bright-eyed little woman, with a keen sense of
humor, who cared more to shine in her own happy household than in a wide
circle of society. Her absolutely perfect hymn--for such it truly
is--was born of her own deep longings for a fuller inflow of that love
that casteth out all fear. This has been the genesis of all the
soul-songs that devout disciples of our Lord chant into the ears of
their Master in their hours of sweetest and closest fellowship. Mrs.
Prentiss has put a new song into the mouths of a multitude of those who
are "stepping heavenward."