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The HIStory Behind the Hymn: #361 "Rock of Ages"
Author: Augustus Montague Toplady, 1776

from “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan p. 74

"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand." – John 10:29

On November 4, 1740, a baby in Farnham, England, was given the formidable name of Augustus Montague Toplady. His father died in a war, his mother spoiled him, his friends thought him "sick and neurotic" and his relatives disliked him.

But Augustus was interested in the Lord. "I am now arrived at the age of eleven years," he wrote on his birthday. "I praise God I can remember no dreadful crime; to the Lord be the glory." By age 12 he was preaching sermons to whoever would listen. At 14 he began writing hymns. At 16 he was soundly converted to Christ while attending a service in a barn. And at 22 he was ordained an Anglican priest.

As a staunch Calvinist, he despised John Wesley's Arminian theology and bitterly attacked the great Methodist leader.... Augustus Toplady died at age 38, but his poem (Rock of Ages) outlived him and has been called "the best known, best loved, and most widely useful" hymn in the English language. Oddly, it is remarkably similar to something Wesley had written 30 years before in the preface of a book of hymns for the Lord's Supper: "O Rock of Salvation, Rock struck and cleft for me,..." Perhaps the two men were not as incompatible as they thought.

The HIStory Behind the Hymn: #139 "Praise Ye (To) the Lord, the Almighty"
Author: Joachim Neander, 1680

from “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan p. 26

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding" – Job 38:4

This hymn was written by Joachim Neander, born in 1650, whose father, grandfather, great grandfather and great, great grandfather—all Joachim Neanders—had been preachers of the gospel. But as a student, Joachim was wild and rebellious. At 20, he joined a group of students who descended on St. Martin's Church in Bremen to ridicule and scoff the worshipers. But the sermon that day by Rev. Theodore Under-Eyck arrested him and led to his conversion. A few years later, he was the assistant preacher at that very church.

Joachim often too long walks near this home in Hochdal, Germany. They were worship walks, and he frequently composed hymns as he strolled, singing them to the Lord. He was the first hymnwriter from the Calvinist branch of Protestantism. When he was 30, the year he died, he wrote this while battling tuberculosis.

The HIStory Behind the Hymn: #110 "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"
Words and Music: Martin Luther, 1529, translated from the German in 1853 by Frederic Henry Hedge.

from “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan p. 14

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" – Psalm 46:1

We think of Martin Luther as a great reformer, Bible translator, political leader, fiery preacher, and theologian. But he was also a musician, having been born in an area of Germany known for its music. There in his little Thuringian village, young Martin grew up listening to his mother sing. He joined a boys’ choir that sang at weddings and funerals. He became proficient with the flute (recorder), and his volcanic emotions often erupted in song.

When the Protestant Reformation began, Luther determined to restore worship to the German Church. He worked with skilled musicians to create new music for Christians, to be sung in the vernacular. He helped revive congregational singing and wrote number of hymns. Often he “borrowed” popular secular melodies for his hymns, though occasionally a tune brought criticism and he was “compelled to let the devil have it back again” because it was too closely associated with bars and taverns.

In the forward of a book, Luther once wrote: “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits…. A person who… does not regard music as a marvelous creation God… does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs."

Luther’s most famous hymn is “Sin’ fest Burg ist unser Gott,”—“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Based on Psalm 46, it reflects Luther’s awareness of our intense struggle with Satan. In difficulty and danger, Luther would often resort to this song, saying to his associate, “Come, Philipp, let us sing the 46th Psalm.”

This is a difficult hymn to translate because the original German is so vivid. At least 80 English translations are available. The most popular in America was done by Frederic Henry Hedge. But an older version appeared in the Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book of 1868:

A mighty fortress is our God, / A trusty Shield and Weapon; /

He helps us free from every need, / That hath us now overtaken.

The British version of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” is Thomas Carlyle’s translation:

A safe stronghold our God is still, / A trusty shield and weapon; /

He’ll help us clear from all the ill / That hath us now overtaken.

The HIStory Behind the Hymn: #218 "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear"

From UMC Discipleship Ministries: Dr. Hawn, a professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology.

This may be the only commonly sung Christmas carol in our hymnals that does not mention the birth of Christ! The focus is rather on the song of the angels, “Peace on the earth, good will to men,” taken from Luke 2:14.

The historical context sheds some light. [Sandisfield] Massachusetts native Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810-1876) earned a degree from Harvard Divinity School and was ordained a Unitarian minister in 1839, serving congregations throughout Massachusetts.

As UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young puts it so well, the “hymn’s central theme contrasts the scourge of war with the song of the angels’ ‘peace to God’s people on earth.’” He observes that this is one of the earliest social gospel hymns written in the U.S.

The movement gathered strength as the 20th century approached, influenced by the writings of Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) and hymns such as Washington Gladden’s “O Master, let me walk with thee” (1879) and Frank Mason North’s “Where cross the crowded ways of life” (1903).

Sears’ context was the social strife that plagued the country as the Civil War approached. This hymn comes from a Boston publication, Christian Register, published on Dec. 29, 1849. The original stanza three, missing from our hymnals, sheds light on the poet’s concerns about the social situation in the U.S. in the mid-19th century:

“But with the woes of sin and strife, the world has suffered long;

Beneath the angel-strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong;

And man, at war with man, hears not the love-song, which they bring:

O hush the noise, ye men of strife and hear the angels sing!”

The current stanza three in The United Methodist Hymnal poignantly articulates the situation of so many with images of those “beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow....” The second half of this stanza offers hope that the song of the “blessed angels” who “bend on hovering wings” would soothe the “Babel sounds” of a suffering world.

Sears, though a Unitarian, wrote in Sermons and Songs of the Christian Life (1875), “Although I was educated in the Unitarian denomination, I believe and preach the Divinity of Christ.” He authored books quite popular in his day, including Athanasia, or Foregleams of Immortality (1857) and The Fourth Gospel, the Heart of Christ (1872).

Sears was co-editor of the Monthly Religious Magazine, where most of his hymns were first published. John Julian, editor of the Dictionary of Hymnology, an important British reference work at the turn of the 20th century, offers high praise for Sears’ two Christmas hymns (the other being the lesser-known “Calm on the listening ear of night”), calling them some of the best in the English language.

British hymnals prefer the tune NOEL by Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1906) for this hymn, but hymnals in the U.S. overwhelmingly prefer CAROL by Richard Storrs Willis (1819-1900). The tune appeared with other texts as early as 1850 and was first joined with Sears’ poem in the Methodist Hymnal (1878).

It is right that we should joyfully sing “Hark! the herald angels sing” and “Joy to the world” each Christmas season. But always there are moments when we realize the message of peace has not yet been fully realized on earth. Then we sing “It came upon the midnight clear,” and the power of the Incarnation and the message of the gospel touch us even more deeply.

The HIStory Behind the Hymn: #327 "Crown Him with Many Crowns"
from “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan p. 125

"... and on His head were many crowns." – Revelation 19:12

The original form of this hymn was written by Matthew Bridges and consisted of six eight-line stanzas. He thought of his hymn as a sermon in song, based on Revelation 19:12. He called his hymn, "The Song of the Seraphs." Matthew, who once wrote a book condemning Roman Catholics, ended up converting to Catholicism in 1848. He followed John Henry Newman out of the Church of England.

In 1874, Godfrey Thring, a staunch Anglican clergyman feared that some of Bridges' verses smacked too much of Catholic doctrine. Verse two, for example, said:

Crown Him the virgin's Son, the God incarnate born,

Whose arm those crimson trophies won which now His bro adorn;

Fruit of the mystic rose, as of that rose the stem;

The root whence mercy ever flows, the Babe of Bethlehem.

It seems odd to us now that such a verse would cause controversy, but in the end Godfrey wrote six new verses for the same song. "Crown Him with Many Crowns," therefore became a six-verse hymn that was written twice!

Over the years, these twelve stanzas have become intermingled in the hymn books, with editors mixing and matching verses. In the United Methodist Hymnal, we sing the verses written by Bridges, except for verse 2, written by Thring.

The HIStory Behind the Hymn: #57 "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing"

Although listed as hymn #57 in The United Methodist Hymnal, it's the FIRST HYMN in our hymnal. Here is a portion of the annotation printed just to the left of the hymn: "Beginning with stanza 7, "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" has traditionally been the opening hymn in the Methodist hymnals throughout the world since the time of Wesley's "Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists" (1780). The number of stanzas tends to vary, but the complete eighteen, seventeen of which are included in No. 58, seem never to have been used as a hymn, and much of the poem's original content is little known. It was written in 1739 by Charles Wesley to commemorate his conversion on May 21, 1738, and was published in "Hymns and Sacred Poems" (1740) with the title "For the Anniversary Day on One's Conversion." The first six stanzas deal with Charles Wesley's own emotions upon his spiritual transformation. The music to the hymn we now sing was written 100 years later, in 1839 by Carl G. Glaser.

From “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan, p. 47

The Wesley brothers sent word of their conversion to their sainted mother, Susanna, who didn't know what to make of it. "I think you have fallen into an odd way of thinking," she replied. "You say that till within a few months you had no spiritual life and no justifying faith.... I heartily rejoice that you have attained to a strong and lively hope in God's mercy through Christ. Not that I can think that you were totally without saving faith before, but it is one thing to have faith, and another thing to be sensible we have it."

Well, Charles was now very sensible of having it. His life changed, and he gained victory over both his temper and his unfortunate drinking habit "I was amazed to find my old enemy, intemperance, so suddenly subdued, that I almost forgot I was ever in bondage to him."

He also began to spread the news of what had happened to him. "In the coach to London," he wrote, "I preached faith in Christ. A lady was extremely offended... (and) threatened to beat me. I declared I deserved nothing but hell; so did she; and must confess it, before she could have a title to heaven. This was most intolerable to her."

New vitality came into Charles' public preaching. He discontinued the practice of reading his sermons, and began preaching extemporaneously.

He found a fruitful arena for ministry at the infamous Newgate Prison, and allowed himself to be locked up with condemned men on nights before their executions, that he might comfort and witness to them during their final hours.

As the first anniversary of his conversion approached, Charles wrote an eighteen-stanza hymn describing his praise to the Lord. It was titled, "For the Anniversary Day of One's Conversion," and the first stanza began: "Glory to God, and praise, and love..." Verse 7 began, "O for a thousand tongues to sing," inspired by a statement Charles had once heard: "Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise Him with them all."

Beginning with a 1767 hymnbook, the seventh stanza was made the first, and when John Wesley compiled his "Collection of Hymns in 1780, he chose this for the first hymn in the book.

The HIStory Behind the Hymn: #399 "Take My Life, and Let It Be"
from “Then Sings My Soul” by Robert J. Morgan p. 191

Although hymnist Francis Havergal, 36, had served the Lord for years, she felt something was missing in her Christian experience. Then one day in 1873, she received a little book called “All for Jesus,” which stressed the importance of making Christ the King of every corner and cubicle of one's life. Soon thereafter, she made a fresh and complete consecration of herself to Christ.

Years later when asked about it, she replied, “Yes it was on Advent Sunday, December 2, 1873, I first saw clearly the blessedness of true consecration. I saw it as a flash and what you see, you can never un-see. There must be full surrender before there can be full blessedness."

On one occasion, she pondered the words, “Take my voice and let me sing always only for my King,” she felt she should give up her secular concerts. Her beautiful voice was in demand, and she frequently sang with the Philharmonic. But from that moment, her lips were exclusively devoted to the songs of the Lord.

On another occasion, she was praying over the stanza that says, “Take my silver and my gold / Not a mite would I withhold.” She had accumulated a great deal of jewelry, but now she felt she should donate it to the Church Missionary Society. Writing to a friend, she said, “I retain only a brooch for daily wear, which is a memorial to my dear parents; also a locket with the portrait I have of my niece in heaven. I had no idea I had such a jeweler’s shop; nearly 50 articles are being packed off. I don't think I need to tell you I never packed a box with such pleasure."

Have you given your whole life—everything—over to Jesus? Why not make this the date of your own complete consecration?