Weary and worn, and bent with years and pain, A pale form kneels upon that altar-stair; Long years have flown since from his pastoral chair,- Once more to tread, and breathe the words of prayer, Then was it hard to balance loss and gain. And led, through clouds and darkness, on to light, 'One sows; another reaps'-yea, Lord, e'en so, e'en so. EDWARD HAYES PLUMPTRE. I. THOMAS KEN. In one of the deeply interesting familiar letters of that remarkable man, the Rev. Frederick W. Robertson, these words may be found: "I will tell you of a want I am beginning to experience very distinctly. I perceive more than ever the necessity of devotional reading. I mean the works of eminently holy persons, whose tone was not merely uprightness of character and high-mindedness, but communion-a strong sense of personal and ever-living communion-with God besides. I recollect how far more peaceful my mind used to be when I was in the regular habit of reading daily, with scrupulous adherence to a plan, works of this description." The writers of the Bible were "eminently holy persons," even as St. Peter declares, "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Those who gave shape to our "Book of Common Prayer" must have been "eminently holy persons," for the stamp of pre-eminent sanctity imperishably remains upon their work. So with the authors of our hymnal. As a class the writers of hymns, more than the theologians, more even than the missionaries of the Gospel, have been men who, in quiet communion, walked with God. They may have been less able intellectually, and less heroic, but they have been more saintly. For the Christian disciple the best books for special study are (1), the Bible, (2), the Book of Common Prayer, (3), the Hymnal. Henry Ward Beecher has well said: "Hymns are the exponents of the inmost piety of the Church. They are crystalline tears, or blossoms of joy, or holy prayers, or incarnated raptures. They are the jewels which the Church has worn; the pearls, the diamonds and precious stones formed into amulets more potent against sorrow and sadness 1 than the most famous charms of wizard or magician. And he who knows the way hymns flowed, knows where the blood of piety ran, and can trace its veins and arteries to the very heart. "There are Crusaders' hymns, that rolled forth their truths upon the Oriental air, while a thousand horses' hoofs kept time below and ten thousand palm leaves whispered and kept time above. Other hymns fulfilling the promise of God, that His saints should mount up with wings as eagles, have borne up the sorrows, the desires, and the aspirations of the poor, the oppressed and the persecuted, of Huguenots, of Covenanters, and of Puritans, and winged them to the bosom of God. "One hymn hath opened the morning in ten thousand families, and dear children, with sweet voices, have charmed the evening in a thousand places with the utterance of another. Nor do I know of any steps now left on earth by which one may so soon rise above trouble or weariness as the verses of a hymn and the notes of a tune. And if the angels that Jacob saw sang when they appeared, then I know that the ladder which he beheld was but the scale of divine music let down from heaven to earth." It is the purpose of the author of the following pages to try, in a simple way, to tell some of his fellow Christians and fellow Churchmen the story of some of our well-known hymns, and of the men and women who wrote them. He confines himself to the hymns contained in the hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church, not because he believes that to be the only book of hymns worthy of his attention, or necessarily even the best book, but because it is the book which has received the sanction of the Church to which he himself, through strong conviction and long association, is most deeply attached, and its hymns are most largely familiar. Let us begin with the hymns and the life story of a man who, for his day and time, has often been called the saintliest soul in England, concerning whom the poet Montgomery has well said, "Bishop Ken has laid the Church of Christ under abiding obligations by his three hymns, Morning, Evening and Midnight. Had he endowed three hospitals he might have been less a benefactor to humanity." Awake, my soul, and with the sun Direct, control, suggest this day, That all my powers, with all their might, In thy sole glory may unite. How many millions of men and women have sung those words, and have been spiritually strengthened thereby! And so with these other words, even more familiar: All praise to Thee, my God, this night, Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son, And then, too, that wonderful doxology which follows, dear to many generations of the faithful: Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him above, angelic host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I had rather have written those words than anything else ever written by man, composed only of four brief lines. They seem fitting words to be sung by the myriad hosts of the redeemed, when in the great day of final reward they shall stand before the throne with palms in their hands and boundless rejoicing in their souls. THOMAS KEN, their author, was born in Hertfordshire in the year 1637. His mother died when he was four years old, his father in his boyhood. Fortunately, his elder sister had married, before his father's death, the famous Izaak Walton, a Christian gentleman of rarely exalted spirit, who stamped him resumed the matter often, and pronounced many short ejaculations and prayers." The wrongs done to the Queen were so effectively stated that the King begged her forgiveness, as he said, "with all his heart." Surely, here was a man of God, ministering not with eyeservice as a man-pleaser, but as a servant of the Great Ruler above! Monmouth's invasion followed-his defeat and sentence of death. Ken was with him in his last hours, faithful to him as to his King. Then came years of busy diocesan labor, and of continuing Christlike charity. But sterner duties were at hand. The sympathy of King James with the Church of Rome became strongly manifested. A first "indulgence" was declared, and then a second. Possibly quiet might have been maintained, had there not gone forth an order that this second declaration should be publicly read in the churches. Certain bishops then met to determine the course they should pursue. A petition being drawn up, Ken with a few others took it to the King, who declared it to be the lifting of the standard of rebellion. "We have two duties to perform," answered Ken: "our duty to God and our duty to your Majesty. We honor you, but we fear God." "You are trumpeters of sedition," was the King's reply. "What do you here? Go to your dioceses, and see that I am obeyed." "God's will be done," said Ken; and White, of Peterborough, echoed his words. The seven bishops were imprisoned in the Tower, and after a manner tried; but the voice of the people was roaring so loudly that soon a verdict of acquittal came. Then followed the landing of William and the flight of James. In Parliament Ken voted against conferring the crown on William and Mary; but the Protestant sentiment of the country had been so thoroughly stirred that a regency was voted down, and William was declared to be King. Not unnaturally Ken's conscience was troubled. He would have welcomed William and Mary readily enough for a temporary cleansing of the land, and for much needed works of righteousness, but he could not take the oath of allegiance when a previous oath to James stood immediately confronting him. |