The writers and stories behind ten of our most beloved and influential hymns.

 

All Creatures of Our God and King – St. Francis of Assisi
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God – Martin Luther
Doxology (Praise God from whom All Blessings Flow) — Thomas Ken
Christ the Lord is Risen Today — Charles Wesley
Amazing Grace – John Newton
Battle Hymn of the Republic – Julia Ward Howe
Blessed Assurance – Fanny Crosby
Jesus Loves Me — Anna B. Warner
Great Is Thy Faithfulness — Thomas O. Chisolm
Take My Hand, Precious Lord — Thomas Dorsey

From St. Francis of Assisi’s, ‘All Creatures of Our God and King’, to Thomas Dorsey’s ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’,   hymns written to the glory of God have encouraged, sustained and uplifted people of faith for hundreds of years. Here are the stories and writers behind ten of the most beloved and influential  hymns written for the glorification of Jesus Christ.

All Creatures of Our God and King
Words: St. Francis of Assisi, 1182-1226
English translation: Henry Draper, 1855-1933
Music:  From a German hymnal in 1623, the Geistliche Kirchengesang

All creatures of our God and King
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!
O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

All Creatures of Our God and King, St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh See and hear it on YouTube.

St. Francis of Assisi was born Giovanni Bernardone into a wealthy family in 1282. After serving as a soldier and engaging in behaviors and indiscretions that ultimately proved unrewarding, he experienced a spiritual awakening, and dedicated his life to serve Jesus Christ. He renounced his father’s wealth, and proceeded to live out in the open, in nature, if you will, dressed in rags, working for, and sometimes even begging for food. [1]   A group of young men joined Francis. They traveled the countryside preaching the Gospel. St. Francis would go on to found the Franciscan Order of Friars. A female follower created the ‘Poor Clare’ order of nuns.

Francis traveled to Rome to seek approval of his brotherhood from Pope Innocent III.  At first the bedraggled preacher in beggar’s rags who openly spoke of the simplicity of the Gospel, in stark contrast to the wealth of the Church, was thrown out of the audience with the Pope. However he was later asked to return and received a listening ear from the pontiff.

In his final years, St. Francis suffered from ill health, and began to lose his sight.  It was at this time that he wrote his famous canticles. (A canticle is ‘a hymn or chant, typically with a biblical text, forming a regular part of a church service’ [2]). ‘All Creatures of Our God and King’ was taken from his ‘Canticle of the Sun.’

St. Francis is famous for his love of nature. He is the patron saint of animals, ecology, among other activities and occupations. [3]  He died in 1226 after a lengthy illness.

For more information on St. Francis of Assisi, please visit my blog post on this inspirational servant of God.

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Words and music: Martin Luther, 1483-1546

A mighty Fortress is our God,
A trusty Shield and Weapon;
He helps us free from every need
That hath us now o’ertaken.
The old evil Foe
Now means deadly woe;
Deep guile and great might
Are his dread arms in fight;
On Earth is not his equal.

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (with words), Pipe Organ Recording See and hear it on YouTube.

Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Saxony [Germany], about 200 km southeast of the city of Hanover. Martin Luther was a an Augustinian monk, theologian, and, together with John Calvin, one of the pillars of the Protestant Reformation.[4]

On October 21, 1517 Martin Luther reportedly nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Schlosskirche (Castle Church) in Wittenberg.  [5] The Theses was originally a protest against the doctrine of indulgences. Encyclopedia Britannica describes indulgences as follows:

Indulgences were the commutation for money of part of the temporal penalty due for sin—i.e., the practical satisfaction that was a part of the sacrament of penance. They were granted on papal authority and made available through accredited agents. Not at any time did they imply that divine forgiveness could be bought or sold or that they availed for those who were impenitent or unconfessed. But during the Middle Ages, as papal financial difficulties grew more complicated, they were resorted to very often, and abuses grew common.  [6].

Word of Luther’s Theses spread, aided by the relatively new invention of the printing press.  Originally written in Latin they were translated into German and distributed throughout the country.  The Theses implicitly criticized papal policy in this matter, and, at the same time, stressed “the spiritual, inward character of the Christian” [7]. The creation and dissemination of Luther’s Theses is considered the birth of the Protestant Reformation. [8].

One of the tenets of the Reformation was congregational singing.    Luther himself was a believer in the power of sacred music. Kenneth Osbeck, in his book, 101 Hymn Stories, quotes Luther:

“I wish to compose sacred hymns so that the word of God may dwell among the people also by means of songs.” [9].

Based on Psalm 46, the hymn has been translated into “practically every known language”  ‘It became ‘one of the most powerful hymns of the Protestant Reformation Movement.’ [10]

Doxology

(Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow)
Words: Thomas Ken, 1637-1711
Music: Loys Bourgeois, 1510-1561

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Doxology, Pipe Organ Recording See and hear it on YouTube.

A doxology is a hymn or form of words containing an ascription of praise to God [11]. There are actually three common doxologies: the greater (or Gloria in Excelsis), lesser, and metrical doxologies. The Doxology presented here is one of the most familiar metrical doxologies, written by Thomas Ken.

Thomas Ken was born in the village of Little Berkhampstead in the civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. He was ordained at about 1661 or 1662 [12]. In 1672 he was sent to Holland and appointed chaplain to the royal court at The Hague. The following year he was appointed chaplain to Charles II. In 1685 Charles II appointed him bishop of ‘Bath and Wells’ [13]. Twelve days later Ken attended Charles II at his deathbed.

In1688 James II, successor to his brother, Charles II, reissued his Declaration of Indulgence, which suspended the penal code against all religious nonconformists—including Catholic and other Dissenters. [14]. In effect the Declaration sought to be inclusive of religious denominations outside the Church of England. Ken, together with six other bishops, not only refused to publish the Declaration but issued a petition against it. For this he and the other bishops were imprisoned in the Tower of London and tried for sedition. The bishops were eventually acquitted. [15]. However Thomas Ken was removed from the bishopric by James II’s successor, William III.

Fifteen years earlier, in 1673 Thomas Ken wrote a book entitled A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Scholars of Winchester College. It included three hymns which Ken requested the students sing each day as part of their devotions. Each of these hymns ended with the four lines we now know as the ‘Doxology’.

The melody with which ‘Doxology’ has become associated was written by Loys Bourgeois. Born in Paris, France, in 1510, he moved to Switzerland in 1541 and became an ‘ardent’ follower and friend of John Calvin, and follower of the Reformed Reformation Movement. He was one of the composers who either wrote, compiled or edited many ‘settings’ of the Genevan Psalter, a monumental work that translated the 150 Biblical Psalms into French and set them to music [16].

Christ The Lord Is Risen Today

Words: Charles Wesley, 1707-1788
Music: Lyra Davidica, 1708
(The Lyra Davidica is a collection of divine songs and hymns, partly translated from High-German and Latin hymns, and set to easy and pleasant tunes, for more general use. [17])

Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heav’ns, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Christ the Lord is Risen Today, acoustic performance See and hear it on YouTube.

Christianity Today has called Charles Wesley one of the two greatest hymn writers of all time. The other candidate being Isaac Watts [18].

Charles Wesley was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, in December, 1707, the eighteenth of nineteen children [19] [20]. He attended Oxford University where, together with his brother, John, and a handful of others, formed the Holy Club. Members celebrated Communion weekly and observed a strict regimen of spiritual study. Because of the group’s religious regimen the members were called ‘methodists’ [21].

From 1730 on, the group added social services to their activities, visiting Oxford prisoners, teaching them to read, paying their debts, and attempting to find employment for them. The Methodists also extended their activities to workhouses and the poor, distributing food, clothes, medicine, and books and also running a school. However when the Wesleys left the Holy Club in 1735, the group disintegrated.

George Whitefield, an Anglican clergyman who had undergone a “conversion experience,” invited his friend John Wesley to come to the city of Bristol to preach to the colliers (people who carry or sell coal [22]) of Kingswood Chase, who lived and worked in the most debased conditions. Wesley accepted the invitation, and the Methodist Revival was born.  [23].

This hymn was written by Charles Wesley for the first service at the first Wesleyan chapel in England, in 1739. The composer of the melody is not known, and the alleluia refrain was not written by Wesley, but by an editor some time later [24].

Charles Wesley wrote more almost 9,000 hymns [25]. George Frideric Handel wrote music specifically for some of his works [26].  Henry Ward Beecher, a famous preacher of the nineteenth century, and brother of  Uncle Tom’s Cabin author, Harriet Beecher Stowe,  once said of another Wesley hymn, “I would rather have written that hymn of Wesley’s, ‘Jesus, Lover of My Soul,’ than to have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on the earth” [27].

Amazing Grace

Words: John Newton, 1725-1807
Music: Based on an American folk melody, entitled ‘Loving Lambs’ [28]

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see.
Original words to Amazing Grace, by John Newton, The Amazing Works of John Newton, edited by Harold J. Chadwick, Bridge-Logos, 2009 p ix

Amazing Grace, Il Divo See and hear it on YouTube.

John Newton’s biography is perhaps one of the best known stories of redemption within the Christian faith for the past 500 years. Born into a British sea-fearing family, he joined his father’s ship at age eleven as a seaman.

His early years were marked with irresponsible behavior and hard living. Swear words were so commonplace for John that he would resort to making up his own as he saw fit [29]. He eventually became the captain of his own slave ship. He thought himself a Christian, holding public worship services for his crew on Sunday [30]. He eventually became convicted of the inhuman treatment of the slaves and returned to England and a job as a clerk at the Port of Liverpool. Influenced by notable Christians, such as John and Charles Wesley, he became an ordained minister at the age of 39 [31]. He began his pastorate at a church in the village of Olney, near Cambridge, England. Dissatisfied with the psalms that were sung in other Anglican churches, Newton, together with his friend and neighbor, William Cowper—a noted writer in his own right–wrote the 349 hymns for the Olney Hymns hymnal, reportedly ‘one of the most important single contributions made to the field of evangelical hymnody’ [32]. Cowper is reported to have written sixty-seven of the hymns, and Newton, the remainder. In later years Newton developed  a relationship with William Wilberforce, the noted abolitionist and member of parliament, who was instrumental in the abolishment of the British  slave trade, and ultimately of slavery throughout the British empire. (For more information on the faith of William Wilberforce, please see my blog post on this inspirational figure.)

‘Amazing Grace’ which is in effect the confession of a repentant sinner, and the remarkable forgiveness of an all-loving and patient God, has resonated with millions for centuries.

I’ll be writing a blog post on John Newton in the coming months.

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

Words: Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910
Music: Melody to the song, ‘John Brown’s Body’, 1852

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

The Battle Hymn of the Republic, The U.S. Army Chorus See and hear it on YouTube.

Julia Ward Howe was born in New York City in 1819.  She was raised in a conservative Episcopalian family. Her father was a successful Wall Street banker and an ardent Calvinist [33].

In 1843 Julia married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, who was famous for ‘his work on behalf of the Greek Revolution, for his reform work for prisoners, and his efforts in education for the blind.’[34]. The marriage experienced difficulties and they separated in 1852 [35].

Dr. Howe however was an abolitionist and became heavily involved in the John Brown revolution, [36] Julia, too, supported the abolitionist cause as well as women’s rights, prison reform and education.  She studied philosophy and became a member of the Unitarian Church. Though a liberal thinker she defended her faith strongly. “Nothing of what I have heard or read has shaken my faith in the leadership of Christ in a religion which makes each man the brother of all, and God the beneficent Father of each and all” [37].

One day Julia Ward Howe heard Union Soldiers singing snide, derisive words to an old southern camp tune [38] [39]. She was pressed by a friend and former pastor to write more ‘decent’ words to the tune.  She agreed to do so. Early the next morning, the words to what became known as ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ were put to paper [40]. The poem was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in February of 1862 [41].

Julia Ward Howe “answered to no one except herself and God. [She] traveled the world promoting Women’s Rights, Peace, Prison and Education Reform as a preacher, lecturer and dignitary.” She spoke seven languages fluently.   She also published three volumes of poetry, children’s books and travel books [42]. She died on October 17^th, in Newport, Rhode Island.

Blessed Assurance

Words: Frances (Fanny) Crosby, 1820-1915
Music: Phoebe Knapp, 1839-1908

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
 
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

Blessed Assurance, CeCe Winans and Terrence Blanchard See and hear it on YouTube.

Frances Jane Crosby was born in Putnam County, New York.  [43]. She was reportedly blinded by a ‘quack’ doctor when she was just a few months old. Shortly before her thirteenth birthday she was sent to the New York Institute for the Blind, where she would eventually spend twenty-three years, twelve as a student, eleven as a teacher [44].  There she wrote poetry, for herself and for special occasions at the Institute. She would eventually go on to write more than 8,000 ‘gospel song texts’[45] under many pen-names.

Author Kenneth Osbeck relates an incident where a minister remarked that, given her many gifts, it was such a ‘pity’ that she was blind.  She replied: “Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition to my Creator, it would have been that I should be born blind…” Why?  “Because, when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.” [46]

Though a musician, Crosby put music to only a few of her hymns. Composers would often visit her with music already written and ask her to put words to them. One day, Phoebe Knapp, the wife of the one-time president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife) [47] and a close friend of Crosby, presented a melody to her and reportedly asked: “What does this tune say?” “Why, that says, ‘Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine’” [48].

Fanny Crosby died on February 15^th, 1915, in Bridgeport, Ct., a few weeks before her ninety-fifth birthday [49].

Jesus Loves Me

Words: Anna B. Warner, 1827-1915
Music: William B. Bradbury, 1816-1868

Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so;
Little ones to Him belong, They are weak but He is strong.
Yes Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

Jesus Loves Me, 7 year old singer See and hear it on YouTube.

Anna Bartlett Warner and her sister Susan were born into a well-to-do family and lived all of their lives along the Hudson River near the U.S. Military Academy at West Point [50]. Both sisters taught Bible classes at the Academy and were eventually buried there.

Anna and Susan were writers. Susan, more than Anna, was a successful novelist. Her first book, The Wide, Wide World, written under the pseudonym Elizabeth Wetherell and published in 1851, is reportedly the first book by an American to sell a million copies [51]. Anna wrote novels as well and two collections of verse. This hymn, written by Anna, first appeared in one of Susan’s novels, Say and Seal, when one of the characters comforts a dying child [52]

Dr, William Bradbury was a composer, choir director and organist in several Baptist churches. He became known for his work with children [53]. He composed the music specifically for Miss Warner’s poem in 1861.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Words: Thomas O. Chisolm, 1866-1960
Music: William Runyan, 1870-1957

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand have provided
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

Great is Thy Faithfulness, Jordan Smith. See and hear it on YouTube.

Thomas Chisolm was born on July 29, 1866 in Franklin, Kentucky, near the Tennessee border. At sixteen he began a career as a schoolteacher. At twenty-one he became the associate editor of his hometown daily newspaper, and six years later accepted Christ as his personal savior at a revival meeting [54] He went to Louisville, Kentucky at the urging of Dr. D. H. C. Morrison, the conductor of the revival meeting, and worked at Morrison’s publication, the ‘Pentecost Herald’. He was ordained a Methodist minister but resigned shortly thereafter because of poor health. [55].

In 1923 Mr. Chisolm sent ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’ together with a number of his other poems to Rev. William Runyan, a musician associated with the Moody Bible Institute. Rev. Runyan says of this piece:

“This particular poem held such an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carry over its meaning in a worthy way’ [56]. The hymn has since become a favourite at the Moody Bible Institute, evangelical churches, and with the Billy Graham crusades. The hymns was front and centre in popular culture in 2015 when a twenty-two year old singer and musician, Jordan Smith, received a standing ovation after he performed the song, on his way to winning the ninth season of NBC’s music competition show, ‘The Voice‘  [57].

Take My Hand, Precious Lord

Words and music: Thomas Dorsey, 1899-1993
Music is based on old hymn called “Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?” by George Allen. [58]

Precious Lord, take my hand
Lead me on, let me stand
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

Take My Hand, Precious Lord, Mahalia Jackson See and hear it on YouTube.

Thomas Andrew Dorsey, sometimes called ‘The Father of Gospel Music’ [59], or the ‘Father of Black Gospel Music’ [60] was born on July 1, 1899, in Villa Rica, Ga. His father was a Baptist preacher and his mother a church organist. [61]

At eleven Thomas left school and started working at a vaudeville theatre. [62]. In 1916 he moved to Chicago and attended the College of Composition and Arranging. In the 1920s he toured with Ma Rainey (‘widely recognized as the first great female blues vocalist’ [63]), and his own bands. [64]. At 21 he suffered a nervous breakdown. After recovering he married his beloved, Nettie Harper. However he suffered a second nervous breakdown in 1925, which left him unable to play music for several years [65] After his recovery, in 1929, he dedicated his life to writing gospel music, applying his blues background to his compositions. He started attending the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago. Beginning in 1932, he served as the church’s choir director, a position he would hold for forty years.  [66]. One August day in 1932, Mr. Dorsey was at a revival service in St. Louis, Mo. After his performance he was handed a telegram. His wife had died giving birth to their first child. When he arrived back in Chicago he learned that the baby boy had survived the birth. However his son died later that night [67].

According to the Discipleship Ministries online publication of the United Methodist Church, Mr. Dorsey is quoted as saying:

“Then I fell apart. For days I closeted myself. I felt that God had done me an injustice. I didn’t want to serve Him anymore or write gospel songs. I just wanted to go back to that jazz world I once knew so well. . .

“But still I was lost in grief. Everyone was kind to me, especially a friend, Professor Frye, who seemed to know what I needed. On the following Saturday evening he took me up to Malone’s Poro College, a neighborhood music school. It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows. I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse over the keys.”

And there ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’ was born.

The following Sunday his friend, ‘Professor Frye’, took the song to the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King, Sr. was the pastor. The song was performed in public for the first time. [68].

‘Precious Lord’ has been recorded by numerous artists, including Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley. It is reported as being Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s favourite song. It was played at the rally in Memphis the night before Dr. King was assassinated. President Lyndon B. Johnson requested that it be played at his funeral. [69]. Thomas A. Dorsey died in Chicago, IL, on January 23, 1993.

Final Thoughts

There’s something extremely special and unique about these beloved hymns—something unique not only within music, but within gospel music as well. It’s not enough to say that they are inspired, no, it’s as if they open a direct line to God, a line of communication where you can feel His presence, a gentle, peaceful, all-encompassing love that wraps around you and holds you close—a love that says that ‘no matter what happens to me, things are eventually going to be okay.’ It’s no wonder that these wonderful songs have been around for hundreds of years, and, I think it’s safe to say, they’ll be around for hundreds more, probably forever.

Photograph

GettyImages
Author: NBC
© 2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC

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© Weldon Turner, 2016, All Rights Reserved.

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New fiction, ‘Ayana’s Ride’, a short story