Above:  Glasgow Bridge, Glasgow, Scotland, 1890

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-07598

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RALPH WARDLAW (DECEMBER 22, 1779-DECEMBER 15, 1853)

Scottish Congregationalist Minister, Hymn Writer, and Liturgist

He had a powerful mind,  was a doughty controversialist on the chief problems of his time, and published a number of theological, expository works.

—James Moffatt, The Handbook to the Church Hymnary–Revised Edition (1927), page 529

Ralph Wardlaw came from a Scottish Presbyterian family.  His father was a merchant and a magistrate of Glasgow.  His mother descended from the Reverend Ebenezer Erskine (1680-1754), who broke away from The Church of Scotland in 1733 ad founded the Associate Presbytery (the United Secession Church).  (The United Secession Church merged into the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (1847-1900), which became part of the United Free Church of Scotland (1900-1929), which reunited with The Church of Scotland.)  Wardlaw studied the arts at Glasgow University before turning his attention to theology at the Theological Hall of the United Secession Church.

Then our saint became a Congregationalist.  He joined the Congregational Union of Scotland (1812-2000), which merged into The United Reformed Church (1972-).  Wardlaw served one church in Glasgow.  In 1811 he helped to found the theological seminary of the Congregational Union; he taught there for about forty years.  (His roles as pastor and professor overlapped temporally.)  Chorley turned down positions elsewhere to remain in Glasgow.  He published many works of theology, opposed the African slave trade, wrote hymns, and compiled a hymnal.  He prepared A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship (1803), which contained eleven of his hymns and ran to thirteen editions, to replace the poorly edited Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Tabernacles in Scotland (1800).

Chorley died at Glasgow on December 15, 1853.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 22, 2015 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY MAGDALENE, EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES

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Holy God, whose majesty surpasses all human definitions and capacity to grasp,

thank you for those (especially Ralph Wardlaw)

who have nurtured and encouraged the reverent worship of you.

May their work inspire us to worship you in knowledge, truth, and beauty.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

1 Chronicles 25:1-8

Psalm 145

Revelation 15:1-4

John 4:19-26

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 27, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES INTERCISUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR

THE FEAST OF HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGIAN

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Image in the Public Domain

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ALFRED TENNYSON (AUGUST 6, 1809-OCTOBER 6, 1892)

English Poet

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For finished and exquisite artistry he had no peer among his contemporaries.  His mind moved habitually on high levels; his teaching was always on what ennobles and exalts; and though his sensitive spirit was acutely alive to to the questionings and spiritual uncertainties of his age, which his work faithfully reflects, his faith in Divine goodness and guidance and in the life beyond gave comfort and strength to his generation.

–James Moffatt, ed. Handbook to the Church Hymnary (London, England, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927), pages 516 and 517

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Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), perhaps the most famous English poet of the Victorian age, was son of George Clayton Tennyson, an Anglican priest.  Our saint published is first volume of poetry with his brother Charles; Poems by Two Brothers (1827) debuted before Tennyson started his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge (1828).  While a student there he published a solo volume, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical (1830).  Many great poems followed.  Our saint became the national Poet Laureate in 1850.  In 1884 he became a peer, the Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Farringford.  He died in 1892, interred at Westminster Abbey.

Tennyson, who never wrote hymns per se, did compose texts from which others excerpted hymns.  Here is one example:

Sunset and evening star,

And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar

When I put out to sea,

++++

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

Turns again home.

+++++

Twilight and evening bell,

And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell

When I embark;

+++++

For, though from out our bourne of time and place

The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

When I have reached the bar.

And here is another example:

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

+++++

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

++++

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrow lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

I found these texts and another one (which I have added to my GATHERED PRAYERS weblog) in The Hymnal (1933), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., one of the better hymnbooks–certainly one classier ones–of the previous century.  And I found another Tennyson in Hymns for the Family of God (1976), one of the hymnals on the other end of the spectrum from classy:

More things are wrought by prayer

Than this world dreams of.

Wherefore, let thy voice

Rise like a fountain for me night and day.

For what are men better than sheep or goats

That nourish a blind life within the brain,

If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer

Both for themselves and those who call them friends,

For so the whole round earth is every way

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.

That text is a rare bright spot of quality in that hymnal, populated by a combination of gold and dross–mostly the latter.

This is a post about Tennyson, however, so I return to him.  Our saint, a man of deep piety and great literary ability, used his talents to glorify God and to beautify the world–to exalt the noble and the lovey.  He set the bar very high.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JANUARY 28, 2014 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS, ROMAN CATHOLIC THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF CHARLES KINGSLEY, ANGLICAN PRIEST, NOVELIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH BARNBY, ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF RICHARD FREDERICK LITTLEDALE, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND TRANSLATOR OF HYMNS

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Eternal God, light of the world and Creator of all that is good and lovely:

We bless your name for inspiring Alfred Tennyson

and all those who with words have filled us with desire and love for you;

through Jesus Christ our Savior, who with you and the Holy Spirit

lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

1 Chronicles 29:14b-19

Psalm 90:14-17

2 Corinthians 3:1-3

John 21:15-17, 24-25

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 728

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Above:  Ruins of Melrose Abbey, Between 1860 and 1890

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-USZ62-109098

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ELIZABETH CECILIA CLEPHANE (JUNE 18, 1830-FEBRUARY 19, 1869)

Scottish Presbyterian Philanthropist and Hymn Writer

Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane and her two sisters were daughters of the Sheriff of Fife and Kinross.  After he died they left Edinburgh, Scotland, for Ormiston, East Lothian, then for Melrose, where our saint settled.  The sisters, members of the Free Church of Scotland, devoted themselves to philanthropy in the community.  Our saint, although ill for most of her short life, was, according to James Moffatt:

…gentle and retiring in disposition, and generous to a degree; she was known as “the Sunbeam” among the poor and suffering in Melrose.  The sisters spent all their income each year, giving what was not needed for their maintenance to charity.

—Handbook to The Church Hymnary, Revised Edition (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, page 299)

Our saint published some of her hymns in periodicals, such as The Children’s Hour.  Others appeared in print posthumously.  Among her hymns was “Beneath the Cross of Jesus.”

Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane could have focused on her own problems to the exclusion of those of others.  Yet she walked a different spiritual path–the correct one.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 9, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHANN RUDOLPH AHLE AND JOHANN GEORG AHLE, GERMAN LUTHERAN ORGANISTS AND COMPOSERS

THE FEAST OF EARL WARREN, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES

THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS OF GORKUM, HOLLAND

THE FEAST OF ROBERT GRANT, BRITISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AND HYMN WRITER

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O God, your Son came among us to serve and not to be served,

and to give his life for the life of the world.

Lead us by his love to serve all those to whom

the world offers no comfort and little help.

Through us give hope to the hopeless,

love to the unloved,

peace to the troubled,

and rest to the weary,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:18-23

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60

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Revised on December 9, 2016

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Above:  Princess Street and Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland, Between 1890 and 1900

Published by Detroit Publishing Company, 1905

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-07586

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ANNE ROSS CUNBELL COUSIN (APRIL 27, 1824-DECEMBER 6, 1906)

Scottish Presbyterian Hymn Writer

Anne Ross Cunbell, born at Hull, England, was the only child of David Ross Cunbell, M.D., of Leith, Scotland.  He was a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars.  She, a skilled musician and linguist, spoke German, French, and Italian fluently and read the New Testament in the original Greek.  Our saint, raised in the Scottish Episcopal Church, became a Presbyterian because of the Oxford Movement.  In 1847 she married the Reverend William Cousin, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland who served at Duns then at Chelsea then at Irvine then at Melrose.  He retired to Edinburgh, where he died in 1882, having raised six children.

Our saint wrote verses and published some of them anonymously over the decades.  Her collected works i(to a certain point, of course) were Immanuel’s Land and Other Poems (1876).  James Moffatt wrote:

All her hymns are songs of gratitude and praise, of love and hope, characteristic of the spirit of one whose deep evangelical piety invested with a rarer beauty a nature already gentle and full of grace.

—Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, page 308)

Among those hymns was “The Sands of Time are Sinking,” from 1857:

The sands of time are sinking;

The dawn of heaven breaks;

The summer morn I’ve sighed for,

The dark, sweet morn awakes.

Dark, dark hath been the midnight,

But daybreak is at hand,

And glory, glory dwelleth

In Immanuel’s land.

+++++

O Christ! He is the fountain,

The deep, sweet well of love;

The streams on earth I’ve tested

More deep I’ll drink above:

There is an ocean fulness

His mercy doth expand,

And glory, glory dwelleth

In Immanuel’s land.

+++++

With mercy and with judgment

My web of time He wove,

And aye the dews of sorrow

Were lustred by His love;

I’ll bless the hand that guided,

I’ll bless the heart that planned,

When throned where glory dwelleth

In Immanuel’s land.

+++++

I’ve wrestled on towards heaven,

‘Gainst storm and wind and tide;

Now, like a weary traveller

That leaneth on his guide,

Amid the shades of evening,

While sinks life’s lingering sand,

I hail the glory dawning

In Immanuel’s land.

Anne Ross Cousin devoted her literary life to the glory of God.  That constitutes a fine and noble legacy.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 25, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, 1957

THE FEAST OF JAMES WELDON JOHNSON, POET AND NOVELIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT WILLIAM OF VERCELLI, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT; AND SAINT JOHN OF MATERA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Anne Ross Cunbell Cousin and others, who have composed hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH

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Above:  University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Between 1890 and 1901

Published by the Detroit Publishing Company

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-D4-12742

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EDWIN HATCH (SEPTEMBER 9, 1835-NOVEMBER 11, 1889)

Anglican Priest, Scholar, and Hymn Writer

Edwin Hatch, born at Derby, grew up in a Non-Conformist (non-Anglican) family.  Yet he took Holy Orders in The Church of England and served a London congregation.  Most of Hatch’s career, however, was academic.  From 1859 to 1862 the Oxford graduate was Professor of Classics at Trinity College, Ontario.  Then he was both Professor of Classics at Morrin College, Quebec City, Quebec, and Rector of the high school there.  Our saint returned to England in 1867 to become the Vice-Principal of St. Mary’s Hall, Oxford.  He delivered the Bampton Lectures (The Organization of the Early Christian Churches) in 1880.  Three years later our saint became the Rector of Purleigh, Essex, followed by the position of University Reader in Ecclesiastical History in 1884.  He delivered the Hibbett Lectures (The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages on the Christian Church) in 1888.

James Moffatt wrote of Hatch:

A man of great learning, original mind, and force of character, he won a European reputation by work of rare independence and thoroughness in historical research; in this field he was acknowledged a master.  [Adolf von] Harnack [1851-1930] translated his Bampton Lectures into German and said of him:  “In his learning that of England’s great old theologians, Ussher and Pearson, lived to me again.  He was a glorious man, whose loss I shall never cease to mourn.”  Profound as his learning was, his published sermons show that his piety was as simple and unaffected as a child’s.

—Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, 363)

That piety is also evident in “Breathe on Me, Breath of God,” a hymn Hatch wrote.

Edwin Hatch combined scholarship, literary beauty, and deep piety to great effect.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 25, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, 1957

THE FEAST OF JAMES WELDON JOHNSON, POET AND NOVELIST

THE FEAST OF SAINT WILLIAM OF VERCELLI, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT; AND SAINT JOHN OF MATERA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

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O God, you have endowed us with memory, reason, and skill.

We thank you for the faithful legacy of [Edwin Hatch and all others]

who have dedicated their lives to you and to the intellectual pursuits.

May we, like them, respect your gift of intelligence fully and to your glory.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Psalm 103

Philippians 4:8-9

Mark 12:28-34

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 6, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CHRODEGANG OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF EDMUND KING, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN

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Above:  Eton College

Published on April 6, 1905

Image Source = Library of Congress

(http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003670152/)

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-pga-01833

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ARTHUR CAMPBELL AINGER (JULY 4, 1841-OCTOBER 26, 1919)

English Educator, Scholar, and Hymn Writer

Arthur Campbell Ainger, the son of the Anglican Vicar of Hampstead, attended Eton College then Trinity College, Cambridge.  Taking Holy Orders, our saint served as the Curate of Alweras, Staffordshire, from 1860 to 1864.  Then, from 1864 to 1901, he was the Assistant Master of Eton College.  Ainger, a scholar blessed with an excellent memory, devoted his life to Eton and won great respect.  James Moffatt wrote of him:

He had a facile and fertile pen.

—Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, page 248)

That facile and fertile pen, partnered with his able and trained intellect, produced hymns and poems.  Sir Joseph Barnby (1838-1896) (https://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/feast-of-joseph-barnby-january-28/) set Vale and Carmen Etonense (1901) to music.  Ainger also co-edited an English-Latin Verse Dictionary and wrote Eton Songs (1901-1902) and Memories of Eton Sixty Years Ago (1917).

The following hymn dates to 1894:

God is working His purpose out, as your succeeds to year:

God is working His purpose out, and the time of drawing near–

Nearer and nearer draws the time– the time that shall surely be,

When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

—–

From utmost east to utmost west, where’er man’s foot hath trod,

By the mouth of many messengers goes forth the voice of God;

Give ear to Me, ye continents–ye isles, give ear to Me,

That the earth may be filled with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea.

—–

What can we do to work God’s work, to prosper and increase

The brotherhood of all mankind–the reign of the Prince of Peace?

What can we do to hasten the time–the time that shall surely be,

When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea?

—–

March we forth in the strength of God, with the banner of Christ unfurled,

That the light of the glorious Gospel of truth may shine throughout the world:

Fight we the fight with sorrow and sin, to set their captives free,

That the earth may be filled with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea.

—–

All we can do is nothing worth, unless God blesses the deed;

Vainly we hope for the harvest-tide, till God gives life to the seed;

Yet nearer and nearer draws the time–the time that shall surely be,

When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea.

Arthur Campbell Ainger was truly a gentleman, a scholar, and a man of God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 24, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

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O God, you have endowed us with memory, reason, and skill.

We thank you for the faithful legacy of [Arthur Campbell Ainger and all others]

who have dedicated their lives to you and to the intellectual pursuits.

May we, like them, respect your gift of intelligence fully and to your glory.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Psalm 103

Philippians 4:8-9

Mark 12:28-34

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MARCH 6, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT CHRODEGANG OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF EDMUND KING, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN

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Above:  Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, Between 1890 and 1900

Published by the Detroit Publishing Company, 1905

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-009878

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RICHARD WHATELY (FEBRUARY 1, 1787-OCTOBER 8, 1863)

Anglican Archbishop of Dublin

Of Richard Whately all the following statements are accurate:

1. Many people opposed him vigorously.
2. Many people respected him greatly.
3. He was not creative.
4. He was a great intellectual endowed with well-developed logic.
5. He cared deeply for others and sought practical solutions to many of their problems.
6. His bluntness regarding some with whom he disagreed offended them.
7. He sought to serve Christ in those around him.

The London-born logician and theologian was a natural academic.  He emphasized the intellectual side of faith (a natural course for an Anglican), pairing it with careful study of the Bible and culminating in personal discipleship–following Jesus.  Our saint, a radical moderate–a Broad Churchman–with a direct tongue and pen, advocated for such then-controversial causes as religious toleration (Catholic emancipation, Jewish emancipation, and toleration of Atheists).  Some of his quirks, such as wearing white at Oxford while walking his white dog, inspired name-calling.  Yet our saint’s mind was one of his greatest assets in serving God:

[He] had no ear for music, and no sense of natural beauty, had little speculative faculty;….

—James Moffatt, Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, page 540)

yet exercised his powerful intellect effectively.

Whately had been a Fellow at Oriel College, Oxford University (1811 forward), become a tutor at Oxford, taken Holy Orders in 1814, served as Principal of St. Alban’s Hall (1825-1829), then been Professor of Political Economy (1829-1831).  His last appointment was as the Anglican Archbishop of Dublin (1831-1863).  This was a controversial appointment:

Whately had from the beginning stood aloof from political parties, and ecclesiastically his position was that of an Ishmaelite fighting for his own hand.  The Evangelicals regarded him as a dangerous latitudinarian on the ground of his views on Catholic emancipation, the Sabbath question, the doctrine of election, and certain quasi-Sabellian opinions he was supposed to hold about the character and attributes of Christ, while his view of the church was diametrically opposed to the High Church party.

—Encyclopedia Britannica (1955), Volume 23, page 558

Yet John Henry Newman, in his autobiography, Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864), credited Whately for teaching him how to reason at Oxford.

Whately wrote much, including:

• The Elements of Logic;
• Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte, a satire on historical skepticism regarding the canonical Gospels;
• On the Use and Abuse of Party Spirit in Matters of Religion (1822);
• Peculiarities of the Christian Religion (1825);
• Difficulties of the Writings of the Apostle Paul (1828);
• On the Errors of Romanism Traced to Their Origin in Human Nature (1830);
• Thoughts on the Sabbath (1832);
• Easy Lessons on Reasoning (1836);
• Easy Lessons on Morals (1836);
• Easy Lessons on the Mind (1836);
• Easy Lessons on the British Constitution (1836);
• Christian Evidences (1837); and
• The Kingdom of Christ Delineated (1841).

Archbishop Whately tried his best to do the best job possible.  He was a skilled administrator.  In 1832, out of his own funds, he endowed the Chair of Political Economy at Trinity College, Dublin.  He chaired the Royal Commission on the Condition of the Irish Poor.  He and his wife, Elizabeth Pope Whately (married in 1821; died in 1860), herself a religious writer, worked to alleviate the devastating effects of the Irish Potato Famine.  And Archbishop Whately favored a national system of non-sectarian education.  The attempt to create such a system failed when the Roman Catholic Archbishop of London vetoed the proposal.

Archbishop Whately also wrote hymns, including the following verses:

Guard us waking, guard us sleeping,

And, when we die,

May we, in Thy mighty keeping,

All peaceful lie.

When the last dread trumps shall wake us,

Do not Thou, our Lord, forsake us,

But to reign in glory take us

With Thee on high.

There is a footnote, one I wish I could develop further.  One of the Archbishop’s daughters, Blanche Whately Wale, his youngest, wrote poems and hymns.  She published a book of them, Songs in the Night, in 1858.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 24, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

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For Further Reading:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book//lookupname?key=Whately%2c%20Richard%2c%201787-1863

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O God, your Son came among us to serve and not to be served,

and to give his life for the life of the world.

Lead us by his love to help all those to whom the world offers no comfort and little help.

Through us give hope to the hopeless,

love to the unloved,

peace to the troubled,

and rest to the weary,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Hosea 2:18-23

Psalm 94:1-15

Romans 12:9-21

Luke 6:20-36

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60

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Above:  Kirby Londale Market Square, Between 1880 and 1890

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsca-12298

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JAMES ALLEN (JUNE 24, 1734-OCTOBER 31, 1804)

English Inghamite then Glasite/Sandemanian Hymn Writer

great-uncle of

OSWALD ALLEN (1816-OCTOBER 2, 1878)

English Glasite/Sandemanian Hymn Writer

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Before I write about our saints for today I must, for the sake of clarity, explain the terms “Inghamite” and “Glasite/Sandemanian.”

John Glas (1695-1773) was a minister of the Church of Scotland who left that denomination for a variety of reasons.  Among them was his opinion that there was no New Testament basis for having a national church.  The Church of Scotland suspended him in 1728 and defrocked him two years later.  Thus Glas became the leader of the Glasite sect, which practiced, among other things, weekly communion, communal ownership of property, and relative (to its culture) egalitarianism.  His son-in-law, Robert Sandeman (1718-1771), developed doctrines further and led the sect after Glas died.  The sect has become extinct, many of its last members converting to the Congregationalist Church.

Benjamin Ingham (1712-1772), ordained an Anglican priest in 1735, traveled to Georgia with John and Charles Wesley.  Ingham was

full of missionary zeal for the conversion of the Indians.

–Quoted in Henry Thompson Malone, The Episcopal Church in Georgia, 1733-1957 (Atlanta, GA:  The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Atlanta, 1960, page 13)

In 1738 Ingham joined John Wesley, recently escaped from Georgia, on a trip to Germany.  Afterward he broke with Wesley, siding mostly with the Moravians they had gone to visit.  Ingham proceeded to found the Moravian Methodists, for Inghamites, at Yorkshire.  He built up eighty congregations, which he oversaw.  In 1754 Ingham broke with the Moravians; his congregations had become independent.  Six years later he adopted much Glasite/Sandemanian mysticism.  Then the Inghamite movement fell apart.  He became a Glasite/Sandemanian, taking thirteen congregations with him.  Most of the others became Methodists.

James Allen (1734-1804) grew up in The Church of England.  The family’s intention was that he would take Holy Orders, but he abandoned that plan at Cambridge, where he converted to the Inghamites.  Later he followed Ingham into the Glasite/Sandmanian sect.  Allen preached, finally at a chapel he built near his home.  He edited and contributed to the Kendall Hymn Book (1757).  Among his hymns was the following:

Glory to God on high!

Let earth and skies reply;

Praise ye his name:

His love and grace adore,

Who all our sorrows bore;

Sing aloud evermore,

Worthy the Lamb.

—–

Jesus, our Lord and God,

Bore sin’s tremendous load,

‘Praise ye his name:

Tell what his arm hath done,

What spoils from Death he won,

Sing his great name alone;

Worthy the Lamb.

—–

While they around the throne

Cheerfully join in one,

Praising his name:

Those who have felt his blood

Sealing their peace with God,

Sound his dear fame abroad,

Worthy the Lamb.

—–

Join, all ye ransomed race,

Our holy Lord to bless;

Praise ye his name:

In him we will rejoice,

And make a joyful noise,

Shouting with heart and voice,

Worthy the Lamb.

—–

What though we change our place

Yet shall we never cease

Praising his name:

To him, our gracious King,

And without ceasing sing,

Worthy the Lamb.

—–

Then let the hosts above,

In realms of endless love,

Praise his dear name:

To him ascribed be

Honor and majesty,

Through all eternity,

Worthy the Lamb.

James Allen’s great-nephew, Oswald Allen (1816-1878), grew up a Glasite/Sandemanian.  Oswald, like his father, was a banker.  Oswald, educated at home, had a life-long problem, which James Moffatt described as

a diseased spine.

—Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, page 251)

Oswald left his hometown, Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland, for Edinburgh, to work at the stock exchange there, but had to return home in 1848 due to his spine.  So he started a career at the Lancaster Banking Company, rising to Manager.  During the Winter of 1858-1860 Oswald, confined to his home, completed Hymns of the Christian Life, a collection of 148 texts published in 1861.  As James Moffatt wrote,

When the little book was published, the Bank staff, it is said, viewed this proceeding on the part of one of their officials with no little perturbation.

—Handbook to The Church Hymnary, page 252

The original text of one of Oswald’s hymns begins

Today Thy mercy calls me….

but hymnal committees have traditionally changed the first-person singular to first-person plural.  The Church Hymnary (1927) omits one stanza yet The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) contains all of them.  So here is the version of that hymn from the latter volume:

Today Thy mercy calls us

To wash away our sin.

However great our trespass,

Whatever we have been,

However long from mercy

Our hearts have turned away,

Thy precious blood can cleanse us

And make us white today.

—–

Today Thy gate is open,

And all who enter in

Shall find a Father’s welcome

And pardon for their sin.

The past shall be forgotten,

A present joy be giv’n,

A future grace be promised,

A glorious crown in heav’n.

—–

Today our Father calls us,

His Holy Spirit waits;

His blessed angels gather

Around the heav’nly gates.

No question will be asked us

How often we have come;

Although we oft have wandered,

It is our Father’s home.

—–

O all-embracing Mercy,

O ever-open Door,

What should we do without Thee

When heart and eye run o’er?

When all things seem against us,

To drive us to despair,

We know one gate is open,

One ear will hear our prayer.

One name–Oswald Allen–launched me on the journey which culminates in this post.  Now I know more about English and Scottish church history and have read some lovely hymns.  I am better for all the above.  And I pray that you, O reader, are edified likewise.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 23, 2013 COMMON ERA

PROPER 7–THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR C

THE FEAST OF SAINT NICETAS OF REMESIANA, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF WIREMU TAMIHANA, MAORI PROPHET AND KINGMAKER

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

James Allen and Oswald Allen and others, who have composed hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH

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Above:  General View of Covent Garden, Looking North, Circa 1720

From an Engraving by Sutton Nicholls

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsca-12670

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CHARLES EDWARD OAKLEY (1832-SEPTEMBER 15, 1865)

Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer

Charles Edward Oakley, born in Rhyl, Wales, attended Oxford and trained in civil law.  His real vocation, however, was the priesthood.  He served as the Rector of Wickwar from 1856 to 1863 then as Rector of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, London, from 1863 until his untimely death.  He also wrote hymns, such as the following, with missions and Advent themes:

Hills of the North, rejoice:

River and mountain-spring,

Hark to the advent voice!

Valley and lowland, sing!

Though absent long, your Lord is nigh,

He judgment brings, and victory.

+++++

Isles of the Southern seas,

Deep in your coral caves

Pent be each warring breeze,

Lulled be your restless waves:

He comes to reign with boundless sway,

And make your wastes His great highway.

+++++

Lands of the East, awake!

Soon shall your sons be free,

The sleep of ages break,

And rise to liberty:

On your far hills, long cold and grey,

Has dawned the everlasting day.

+++++

Shores of the utmost West,

Ye that have waited long,

Unvisited, unblest,

Break forth to swellkng song;

High raise the note, that Jesus died,

Yet lives and reigns—the Crucified!

+++++

Shout while ye journey home!

Songs be in every mouth!—

Lo, from the North we come,

From East, and West, and South:

City of God, the bond are free;

We come to live and reign in thee.

Our saint’s memorial at S. Paul’s Church reads in part:

This remarkable man, endowed with mental powers of the highest order, had cultivated and excelled in all.  None could hear without admiration his brilliant and impressive eloquence, or fail to love his noble and gentle nature…..He bore witness not only with his lips but in his life to the power of Divine grace….Although his pastoral charge over this parish lasted for only two years, yet the great work which in that short time he was enabled to effect will long be gratefully remembered by those who would appreciate the worth of his loving spirit, devotedness of life, and eminently Christian character.

–Quoted in James Moffatt, Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, 451).

Charles Edward Oakley could have done more for the glory of God and the benefit of others with more time, but he did much with the short life he had.  What will you, O reader, do with the time God has granted you?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 12, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF EDWIN PAXTON HOOD, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, CONGREGATIONALIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF EMMEGAHBOWH, EPISCOPAL PRIEST

THE FEAST OF SAINT FREDERICK OF UTRECHT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR; AND SAINT ODULT OF UTRECHT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST

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O God, our heavenly Father, who raised up your servant Charles Edward Oakley

to be a pastor in your Church and to feed your flock:

give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of the Holy Spirit,

that they may minister in your household as true servants of Christ

and stewards of your divine mysteries; through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Acts 20:17-35

Psalm 84 or 84:7-11

Ephesians 3:14-21

Matthew 24:42-47

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 719

Above:  Falmouth, Cornwall, England, Between 1890 and 1900

Image Creator = Detroit Publishing Company

Image Source = Library of Congress

(http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002696587/)

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-08217

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JANE FOX CREWDSON (OCTOBER 1809-SEPTEMBER 14, 1863)

English Quaker Poet and Hymn Writer

Of Jane Crewdson (1809-1863) I found little information.  She was born Jane Fox in a Quaker family at Cornwall in October 1809.  Jane married Thomas D. Crewdson, a manufacturer in Manchester, in 1836.  She wrote books of poetry:

• Aunt Jane’s Verses for Children (1851);
• Lays of the Reformation and Other Lyrics (1860);
• The Singer of Eisenach; and
• A Little While, and Other Poems (1864).

Sources refer to an unspecified “long illness” which caused our saint much pain.  Of Jane Crewdson James Moffatt wrote:

As a constant sufferer, the spiritual life deepening, and the intellectual life retaining all its power, she became well prepared to testify to the all-sufficiency of her Saviour’s love.

–Handbook to The Church Hymnary (London, UK:  Oxford University Press, 1927, page 310)

I have already posted two of our saint’s hymns here.  Her hymns did reflect a profound spirituality, for which I honor her.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 11, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT BARNABAS THE APOSTLE, COWORKER OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

THE FEAST OF VERNON JOHNS, NATIONAL BAPTIST PASTOR AND CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER

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Aunt Jane’s Verses for Children:

http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009563432

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Dear God of beauty,

you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to

Jane Crewdson and others, who have composed hymn texts.

May we, as you guide us,

find worthy hymn texts to be icons,

through which we see you.

In the Name of God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15

Psalm 147

Revelation 5:11-14

Luke 2:8-20

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK

THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP

THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH

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