****Come, Christians, Join To Sing

In the past few years, I have researched and written over 200 weekly hymn stories and commentaries. And I have been surprised to learn that a fair number of the hymns we sing were originally written for children.

COME CHRISTIANS, JOIN TO SING is one of them.

It was written in 1843 and was originally titled, “Come, Children, Join To Sing.”

The author, Pastor Christian Henry Bateman, published it along with several of his other children’s hymns, in a songbook called, Sacred Melodies for Children.

To be fair, the hymn didn’t originate with Bateman; it was a reworking of an 1836 hymn with the same music and meter, and similar lyrics written by William Hickson.

The hymn was very popular in Scotland and sold over 6 million copies. When Bateman discovered that adults also enjoyed singing it, he changed the word, Children, to Christians, to make it more universally functional.

The song is an invitation to sing praises to God; an act that is referenced about 60 times in the book of Psalms.

In Psalm 47, God’s people are called to: “Sing praises, sing praises to God! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding” (Ps. 47:6-7).

In the new testament, the Apostle, Paul, wrote to the Church instructing them to “Sing and make music in your heart for the Lord, always giving thanks.” (Eph.5:19-20)

The word, "Alleluia" (or Hallelujah) means “praise the Lord.”  The word, "amen," means assuredly or truly.  Those words, coupled together, are repeated at the end of each phrase, to remind and instruct the children (and all of us) to “Praise the Lord in Truth.”  

****MY JESUS, I LOVE THEE

Over the past three years, I have presented stories and commentaries on twelve hymns that share something in common.  They are:

1. Holy Bible, Book Divine 
2. Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks To The Risen Lord
3. May The Mind Of Christ, My Savior
4. Now Thank We All Our God
5. I Sing The Mighty Power Of God
6. Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us
7. Stand Up And Bless The Lord
8. Take My Life And Let It Be Consecrated
9. For The Beauty Of The Earth
10. Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
11. All Creatures Of Our God And King
12. More About Jesus

So, what do they have in common?  They were all written for CHILDREN.

Last week I did an internet search for best hymns and Sunday School songs for children, and NONE of those hymns were listed.   Instead, I found songs like:

1. This Little Light Of Mine
2. He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands
3. Give Me Oil In My Lamp
4. Father Abraham Has Many Sons
5. I’m In The Lord’s Army
6. Zacchaeus Was A Wee Little Man
7. Deep And Wide
8. O You Can’t Get To Heaven On A Roller Skate
9. Ten Little Angels

I think we do children a disservice by presuming that they can’t understand and appreciate good hymns.  Music is an effective tool for worship, for teaching and for memorization so, instead of giving them the musical equivalent of junk food, we should teach them hymns that build them up in the faith, support biblical doctrines, and glorify God.

 

Today’s hymn, MY JESUS, I LOVE THEE, was not written FOR children but it was written by a very young man.  His name was William Featherston and, according to most hymn historians, he wrote the poem shortly after he was saved, at the age of about 12 years.

So, how could a young, new Christian write such a fine hymn? 

Well, there’s not much available information about him, except that he attended church throughout his childhood.  Certainly, he must have learned great truths about his great God from the teachings of his parents, the preaching of the Word of God by his pastor, and, quite possibly, from the rich hymns of the faith that were sung each week in his church.

 One Christian writer, Tim Challies, noted that this song assures us of our salvation, celebrates the Gospel, delights us in the loveliness of Christ, strengthens our resolve to praise Him through all our circumstances, and fixes our hope on our eternal home in glory.

William Featherston never saw his hymn in print or heard it sung. He died at the age of 27.  It was several years after his death that Adoniram Judson Gordon gave the poem a melody and published it in his book of hymns.  

****MORE ABOUT JESUS

Eliza Hewitt was born in 1851. She graduated valedictorian of her class at the Girl’s Normal School of Philadelphia and became a school teacher. But her teaching career ended early. 

An angry student struck her in the back with a heavy slate causing a serious and painful spinal injury. She was laid up in a full-body cast for six months and remained bedridden for quite a while after that.

During that time, Eliza developed a love for God’s Word, and a desire to share His love. So, she began to sing and write. She wrote children’s poems, Sunday School literature, and children’s songs. 

She never fully recovered but, eventually, her condition improved enough that she was able to serve in Christian ministry where she remained committed to reaching children with the message of the gospel through Sunday School songs and hymns. She attended Methodist Camp meetings in New Jersey where she worked on the hymn, “When We All Get to Heaven.” 

She was the superintendent of the Sunday school at the Northern Home for Friendless Children and an active member of the Mt. Olivet Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia.

She developed a close friendship with Fanny Crosby, and they often met to share ideas about their hymn writing. 

When she moved to another section of Philadelphia, she joined the Calvin Presbyterian Church and was the primary department Sunday School superintendent until she died in 1920, at the age of 68.

One of her songs, MORE ABOUT JESUS, came to the attention of John Sweeney who set it to music.

There are critics who complain that this song is too repetitious. But these are not vain repetitions.  Eliza's use of repetition makes an important distinction between materialistic people and spiritually minded people.  

The world clamors for more.  They are gluttons for more fun, more food, more money, more attention, and more stuff.   In contrast, the spiritual person hungers for more of God and all that pertains to the spiritual and eternal world.

Paul, the apostle, wrote, “...what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and... that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings...”  (Phil. 3:7-10)


In her hymn, MORE ABOUT JESUS, Eliza Hewitt expresses that same kind of spiritual longing:

To know MORE about the Lord Jesus.

To show MORE of His grace to others.

To experience MORE of His saving fullness.

To understand MORE of His love.

To discern MORE of His will.

To hear MORE of His Word.

To enjoy MORE of His communion.

And to anticipate MORE of His future glory.

****ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING

About 800 years ago, St. Francis of Assisi wrote a hymn that personified the elements of creation with familial gender terms: He referred to the Sun, wind, and fire as, “our brothers.”  The moon and water he called "our sisters.”  And he revered the earth as our “Our Mother, our dear Mother.”

 

That’s weird but, in his defense, some hymnologists and church historians have suggested that those phrases were only used, symbolically, to praise the Lord in the way the psalmist personified creation in Psalm 145 which says, “All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, And Your saints shall bless You.  They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power.”

That may be true but, in the biographical accounts we have on St. Francis, there are good reasons to be skeptical.  In fact, if a strict translation of that poem was the actual text of the song, we wouldn’t be singing it today because St. Francis’ lyrics imply some serious theological problems.

St. Francis was canonized as the patron saint of animals and he is venerated by ecologists for his love of nature.  So, his hymn could be construed to endorse all kinds of false doctrinal beliefs such as mysticism, animism, pantheism, and other aberrations of non-Christian religions, some of which have crept into and are embraced by Christians even today.

  

Just to be clear, we should and do see evidence of God’s handiwork in His creation.  We marvel at the way He works all things according to His purposes.

 

But there is an absolute distinction between God and His creation.  God is God over all creation; He is not part of it.

I am not saying that Francis intended or even believed in a pantheistic worldview, but there are plenty of people in our churches today, who are willing to read some kind of earth-worshiping theology into his words.  And so, theologians have been right to approach this hymn with caution.

Early in the twentieth century, William Henry Draper rescued and wrote a loose translation of St. Francis’ hymn.  It was originally intended for use as a children’s hymn. 

ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING is a good, doctrinally sound, hymn that reads like a paraphrase of Psalm 148 where we see that everything was created by God and everything exists for the praise of His Glory.  And, in the last stanza, Draper inserted a doxology that affirms the triune nature of our God.

 

His, much-improved hymn is the song we sing today.  It’s been published in almost all English hymnals for nearly a century and is listed among the most loved Christian hymns of all times.

Last year, Sovereign Grace Music released a new, version of ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING.   Three stanzas were removed, leaving only the first and last.  And then, two new ones have been added.  Stanza three is a gospel-centered verse about Christ’s atoning work, and the last stanza affirms our hope; Jesus is coming again.

Here are the new lyrics:

(3)    All the redeemed washed by His blood,

Come and rejoice in His great love.

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Christ has defeated every sin.

Cast all your burdens now on Him.

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

(4)    He shall return in pow’r to reign.

Heaven and earth will join to say,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Then who shall fall on bended knee?

ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING.

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

In my opinion, this new version is a great improvement that turns a good hymn into an excellent hymn and still retains a respectful attitude toward the decrees of Psalm 148, “Let (all creation) praise the name of the Lord, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven.” (vs.13)

****THOU DIDST LEAVE THY THRONE

THOU DIDST LEAVE THY THRONE was written by Emily (Elizabeth Steele) Elliott in the late 1800s.  She was the daughter of Charlotte Elliot who wrote, “Just As I Am.”

Emily had a passion for her work in rescue missions and teaching Sunday school, and she saw those occupations as opportunities to reach children with the gospel.

For six years, she edited a missionary publication for children’s ministries, in which she published a collection of 48 of her hymns.

But THOU DIDST LEAVE THY THRONE was different; it was printed separately and written exclusively for the children’s choir in her father’s parish in Brighton, England.  She wrote this hymn to clarify the meaning, of Advent and the Birth of Jesus, to the children she taught, and there are some great doctrinal truths to be discovered in it.

The text is based on Luke 2:7, “And (Mary) brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

In the structure of this hymn, Emily used a literary technique called rhetorical antithesis.  Two observations, in each verse, are intentionally contrasted to emphasize the difference.  And each contrast hinges on the same conjunction, “BUT.”

In the first stanza, Jesus left His glorious heavenly home, BUT there was no room for Him in Bethlehem.

In the second, He is described as the King surrounded by angels always singing His praises, BUT His birth on earth was lowly and humble.

Verse three is a poetic paraphrase of Matthew 8:20 “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, BUT the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

And in the fourth verse, He came from heaven bringing words of love and life BUT, on earth, He was mocked and scorned.

A similar contrast is implied in the refrain; there was no room for Him in the Inn, BUT there is room for Him in the hearts of believers. 

  The song is sometimes used as an invitation hymn because of the last phrase in each of the first four stanzas, “O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.”

But that usage misses the point.

This is not a hymn of invitation for sinners to come to the Savior; it emphasizes the reality that we have NOTHING big enough, grand enough, valuable enough, or good enough to offer that would impress God and merit His good grace and favor.  All we can do is come broken and needy and offer Him our hearts.

But, should God be pleased with that?

Well, frankly, I can’t think of anything dirtier; not even that filthy stable.  The words of Jeremiah the prophet, remind me what God thinks of my heart:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;

Who can know it?

"I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jer. 17:9-10)

Nevertheless, the Spirit of God indwells His people anyway.  He has given us a new heart and while we are still in these sin-sick bodies, He is at work cleaning us and making us fit to live with Him.

  The point is, we have nothing to boast; ALL the glory for our sanctification belongs to Him.

The final stanza proclaims our Hope.  We are looking forward to that day when He will call us home to dwell with Him forever. 

****FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH

I read, this week, that The Church of Sweden has urged its clergy to use more gender-neutral language when referring to God and to avoid referring to the deity as “Lord” or “he.”

The move is one of many made by the national Evangelical Lutheran Church, which is in the process of updating a 31-year-old handbook, which will outline how services should be conducted in terms of language, and that will include necessary revisions to the hymns they sing.

It is not unusual that many of our older hymns have gone through some revisions.  Sometimes those changes have been improvements but there are some that were made for the wrong reasons.

In 1864, Folliot Pierpoint published an eight-stanza poem, “The Sacrifice of Praise.”  It was originally meant to be used as a communion hymn.

In the original refrain, “Christ, our God, to Thee we raise, This, our sacrifice of praise,” reflected the author’s intent for a communion hymn.  But it was changed to “Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise.”

As it turns out, that was a good change, but it was forced by political correctness.  There were heresies then, like now, that denied the deity of Christ and there were spineless publishers who were uncomfortable with the way the text equated Christ with God.

 

Pierpoint stood firm in his defense of the original text.  He argued that there had been a long tradition of Christians singing hymns to Christ as God; and, besides, the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553), referencing 1 Cor. 2:8, affirmed that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified in the flesh, is true God, and the “Lord of glory”.

Nevertheless, the hymn was changed and, I think, for the better.  Two stanzas, that weren’t very good, have been omitted and two have been combined. 

So, now, FOR THE BEAUTY OF THE EARTH, is a five-stanza hymn with a new refrain.  And the focus of the original hymn has been broadened from a communion hymn to a song of praise and thanksgiving to the “Lord of all.”

The progression in the imagery of this hymn makes it a good teaching aid for children.  The thanksgiving starts with the natural creation; the world around us and then progresses to thanks for human relationships, then the Church, and finally, to the incarnation; the Gift of God’s own Son in human flesh.

****TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE CONSECRATED

What we call Contemporary Christian Music got its start in the middle of the twentieth century.  Baby boomers who were bored with the old music of the church brought new styles into the mainstream of American evangelical churches.

 

Much of the music deserved the criticism it got.  It was sometimes silly, doctrinally anemic, and borderline heretical; it was often man-centered and appealing to the flesh.  But, something amazing happened in the latter part of the century.   Contemporary Christian Music grew up. 

In the midst of all the clamor, emerged a plethora of excellent Christian composers, writers, and singers who brought us some of the best and most inspiring, classical and contemporary, God-honoring music in our lifetime.

 

It was in that musical environment, that a frustrated, renegade music professor developed a new, revolutionary approach to choral conducting.  Most of his contemporaries were highly critical but Dr. Gary Bonner’s master’s program produced hundreds of graduates who launched a rebirth in Church choir music throughout the Christian world.

Children’s music was elevated too.  A man named Ernie Rettino painted his face blue, put on some blue tights and a big foam costume in the shape of a book; and the character, Psalty, the Singing Hymnbook, was created.   Ernie and his wife, Debby, produced dozens of musicals designed to teach children biblical principles and doctrines using new and traditional hymns.

In one of their most successful productions, the characters took a Hymnological Adventure in a Time Machine.  They traveled back in history, to meet some famous hymn writers like David, the Shepherd King, Isaac Watts, and Fanny Crosby.  That musical resulted in teaching some of the greatest old hymns of our faith to a whole generation of children.

 

One of those hymns, TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE, is a prayer of consecration written by Frances Havergal.   It may have been inspired by these words in Leviticus; “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. “

In Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, he wrote, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).

 

In this hymn, Frances Havergal holds nothing back in her offering to the Lord.  She starts with a dedication of her life but then she gets specific; not only her life but all her days and every moment.  When she offers her hands and her feet, she is asking God to direct everything she does and everywhere she goes.  She submits every word from her lips and every thought to His control.  Her treasures, her will, and her heart; everything she has is Consecrated to God for His use and His glory. 

****CHILDREN'S HYMNS

In his book, “Confronting Contemporary Christian Music,” Dr. H. T. Spence warns, “If we teach our children only by choruses without giving equal weight to the strong, meaty hymns of the faith, we may be spiritually damaging their generation.” 

Much of what we believe is either taught or supported by the songs we sing.  So, it is important that we teach and sing songs that contain correct doctrine. 

What would you think if, one Sunday morning, your music pastor or worship leader had selected only children’s songs for the entire service?

Well, that’s what I did for our church today and you might be surprised at the content.  All these hymns were originally written for children.  But there is nothing here, that resembles what we have come to expect from modern children’s music.  When we teach songs like “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,” we not only fill our children’s heads with nonsense, we imply that they are too immature for the worship service and should be in Children’s Church where they will be taught at their own level.

Here are the brief introductory statements for the six children’s hymns that are God-centered and rich in doctrinal truth.

STAND UP AND BLESS THE LORD

James Montgomery was the Christian journalist who was imprisoned, twice, in the Castle of York, for speaking out against the oppressive government in England in the late 1700s.

In 1824, he wrote this children’s hymn for the anniversary celebration of the Red Hill Wesleyan Sunday School.

The text was based on Neh. 9:5: “Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.”

STAND UP AND BLESS THE LORD is a call for God’s people to stand with courage and to boldly speak up and proclaim our faith regardless of the political climate. 

  

I SING THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD

Isaac Watts wrote over 600 hymns.  He is known as the Father of Modern Hymnody and, like most writers of children’s hymns in earlier generations, he wrote good, substantive, and doctrinally sound words that accomplish what, I believe, Paul intended when he instructed the Church to, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”  Col. 3:16

One of his favorite projects was a collection of songs that he wrote and compiled all together in a hymnbook just for kids.  I SING THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD, is the most famous of all his children’s hymns and it is one of the greatest hymns of our faith.

NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD

Is it possible to be thankful during extremely hard times?  Martin Rinkart was. He was the German pastor who led his community through the Thirty Years War in the 1600s, and then through a great plague, and then through another invasion where the governors impose unbearable taxation on the people.  In one year, nearly 8000 of his parishioners died.

Yet his spirit was never broken.  In the middle of those terrible times of calamities and incredible losses, he wrote a table grace for his own unclothed and undernourished children to use while praising God for all His blessings. 

NOW THANK WE ALL, OUR GOD has become one of our most loved Thanksgiving hymns.

MAY THE MIND OF CHRIST, MY SAVIOR

This children’s song was written by Kate Wilkinson after meditating on Phil. 2:5. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."

To have the mind of Christ is to think His thoughts; to keep His commands; to do His will; to submit to His authority.  The song is a prayer that asks God to help us add these various aspects of the will of Christ to our lives.

There are six stanzas that were intended as daily devotional reminders; one for each day of the week leading up to Sunday.

SAVIOR, LIKE A SHEPHERD, LEAD US

We don’t know, for sure, who wrote the words to this hymn but it has been attributed to Dorothy Thrupp. 

It was originally written for children and it first appeared in a children’s hymnal that she compiled in 1836.

In some ways, it is reminiscent of Psalm 23.  SAVIOR, LIKE A SHEPHERD, LEAD US reveals how needy and dependent we are on our Good Shepherd. 

He loves us, He receives us, He cares for us, He leads us, and He protects us.

ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!  GIVE THANKS TO THE RISEN LORD

This children’s praise song has a simple, easy to sing, melody.   It was intended to be sung responsively, by an adult on each of the five stanzas and by the children on the chorus.

In all its simplicity, ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!  GIVE THANKS TO THE RISEN LORD, is a profound proclamation of the Gospel.  In just a few short lines, it proclaims that Jesus is Lord; He is the King of all creation.  He died on the cross for our sins; we were raised together with Him in newness of life as He rose, triumphantly, from the grave.  He is our Savior.  And He is worthy of our thanks and our praise.

****STAND UP AND BLESS THE LORD

The reformation was responsible for many Christians fleeing Europe to relocate where they could exercise their faith without persecution.  And the result was the spreading of the Gospel throughout the world.

The Hussite movement that became the Moravian Church, was started by John Huss in the early 15th century in what is today, the Czech Republic.   Hus protested some of the unbiblical doctrines and the political persecutions executed by the Roman Catholic Church.  Since the movement predated the Protestant Reformation by a century, some historians claim the Moravian Church was the first Protestant church.

About 400 years later, James Montgomery, a Moravian orphan grew up to become a prominent British journalist and one of England’s greatest hymn writers.

   

As a newspaper editor in Sheffield, England, he developed a reputation for his radical editorials which he used to advocate for social reforms and humanitarian causes.  He was passionately critical of slavery, he promoted democracy in government, and the end of the exploitation of child chimney sweeps.  Other causes, he championed, included hymn singing in the Anglican church services, foreign missions, and the British Bible Society.

In Europe, in the late 18^th century, Christians who spoke against governments or the Church, were often punished or persecuted.   And so was James Montgomery. He was imprisoned, twice, in the Castle of York, for his editorial activism. The first time was for printing a poem that celebrated the fall of the Bastille which, ironically, was a French prison for political critics who wrote things that displeased the royal government.

A year after his release, he was incarcerated, again, for criticizing a judge who forcefully dispersed a political protest in Sheffield.

So, from his cell, James used his writing ability to profit from his imprisonment.  In 1797, he published a pamphlet of poems written during his captivity, that he titled, Prison Amusements, with a subtitle, Words with Wagtails (wagtails are birds that would frequently visit him on his prison window sill).

In a long poem titled, The Pleasure of Imprisonment, An Epistle to A Friend, he details every moment of his daily routine as a prisoner.   I was amused at this verse where he figuratively thumbs his nose at his captors:

Fanatic dreams amuse my brain, 

And waft my spirit home again:

Though captive all day long, ‘tis true, 

At night, I am as free as you;

Not ramparts high, nor dungeons deep,

Can hold me – when I’m fast asleep!

James Montgomery wrote over 400 hymns including the Christmas carol, “Angels We Have Heard on High” and the communion hymn, “I Will Remember Thee.”   About him, the writer Alfred H. Miles wrote, “His Christian songs are vigorous in thought and feeling, simple and direct in action, broad in Christian charity, and lofty in spiritual aspiration.”

In 1824, he wrote a children’s hymn for the Red Hill Wesleyan Sunday School anniversary celebration in Sheffield.  The song began, “Stand up and bless the Lord, ye children of His choice.”  A short time later, the word “children” was changed to “people.” 

The text was based on Neh. 9:5: “Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.”

This hymn uses simple and clear language to proclaim the glory of God.  It’s a call for God’s people to stand up with courage and praise God and to boldly speak up and proclaim their faith regardless of the political climate.    

STAND UP AND BLESS THE LORD.