Hymns #193 & 194 Text: St. Thomas Aquinas (c.1225-1274) Music: Adam of St. Victor  (d. c. 1192) Tune names: LAUDA SION & BONE PASTOR   THE TEXT In the 1260s, Pope Urban IV commissioned St. Thomas Aquinas to compose texts for a special Mass and offices for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Among the texts St. Thomas produced was a 24-stanza sequence (i.e., the hymn sung in the Mass just before the Gospel) known as Lauda Sion Salvatorem. The text used in hymns #193 and #194 in our Hymnal are paraphrases of stanzas 1, 2, 5, 3 and 12 of this longer work   THE TUNES In our parish, we most frequently…

Hymn #418 Text: John Keble (1792-1866); W. J. Hall (1793-1861) Music: Johann B, König (1691-1758) Tune name: FRANCONIA   THE TEXT The son of an Anglican vicar, John Keble was a brilliant scholar who was instrumental in starting the Oxford Movement. His 1827 collection of religious verse, The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holidays throughout the Year, was one of the most popular collections of English poetry in the nineteenth century. The first and last stanza of this hymn are from a 17-stanza poem by Keble, based on the Beatitudes. The middle stanzas are the work of W. J. Hall, an Anglican priest and hymnal editor. 1.…

Hymn #253 Text: Jonathan Friedrich Bahnmaier (1774-1841) Music: Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen (1670-1739) Tune name: LÜBECK   THE TEXT Bahnmaier, a German educator, published two volumes of hymns. This text, privately printed in 1827, is one of the first early nineteenth-century Lutheran hymns to move away from individualistic Pietism toward a more outward, world-embracing faith. 1. Spread, O spread, thou mighty word, spread the kingdom of the Lord, that to earth’s remotest bound men may heed the joyful sound; 2. Word of how the Father’s will made the world, and keeps it, still; how his only Son he gave, Man from sin and death to save; 3. Word of how the Saviour’s…

Hymn #190 Text: Ancient Greek hymn Translator: John Brownlie (1859-1925) Music: Johann Crüger (1598-1662) Tune name: LUISE THE TEXT This text was first published in 1907 in Hymns from the East, being Centos and Suggestions from the Service Books of the Holy Eastern Church. The volume was one of many books of hymn translations edited by John Brownlie, a Scots educator and Free Church minister. Sadly, the source for this hymn is not cited in Brownlie’s book. 1. Let thy blood in mercy poured, let thy gracious body broken, be to me, O gracious Lord, of thy boundless love the token.   Refrain: Thou didst give thyself for me, now I give myself…

Hymn #339 Text: James George Deck (1802-1884) Music: Fredecick D. Maker (1844-1927) Tune name: ST. CHRISTOPHER   THE TEXT Born in the county of Suffolk in 1802 and educated for the army, Deck became an officer in the Indian service. After retiring from the Army for health reasons, Deck returned to England and became involved with the Plymouth Brethren movement. He wrote dozens of hymns, most of which reflect on the Second Coming, a central concern for the Brethren faithful. Hymnologist John Julian judges: “His compositions are marked by directness of aim, simplicity of language, and great earnestness. The rhythm is good, and an expressive tenderness pervades many of them.”…

Hymn #332 Text: Robert Grant (1739-1838) Music: Benjamin Carr (1768-1831) Tune name: SPANISH CHANT   THE TEXT Educated at Cambridge, Sir Robert Grant served as a Member of Parliament, a Director of the East India Company, and Governor of Bombay. A medical college was established in Bombay (now Mumbai) in his name, and to this day is considered one of India’s premier health-care institutions. Among Grant’s other hymns is the lofty “O worship the King” (#288). The present hymn was first published in 1815, and included a stanza omitted in our Hymnal: By the sacred griefs that wept o’er the grave where Lazarus slept; by the boding tears that flowed over…

Hymn #417 Text: Synesius of Cyrene (370-430) Translation: Allen William Chatfield (1808-1896) Music: Samuel Howard (1710-1782) Tune name: ST. BRIDE THE TEXT Synesius of Cyrene, noted as a philosopher and statesman, was made bishop of Ptolemais (now in modern Libya) in 410. The text of this hymn was an epilogue/prayer appended to a collection of nine other hymns. The text we sing is more of a poetic paraphrase than a translation. A more literal translation of the original is offered by Erik Routley in his A Panorama of Christian Hymnody:  Christ, Son of the most high God, remember your servant, a man of sinful heart, who writes this; send deliverance…

Hymn #60 Text: Cornelius Elven (1797-1873) Music: Thomas Campian (1567-1620) Tune name: BABYLON’S STREAMS   THE TEXT An English Baptist pastor and close friend of Charles Spurgeon, Cornelius Elven wrote this hymn for a series of special services in his congregation in 1852. The text expresses the penitence of the Publican in the parable in St. Luke 18:9-14. 1. With broken heart and contrite sigh a trembling sinner, Lord, I cry: thy pardoning grace is rich and free O God, be merciful to me. 2. I smite upon my troubled breast, with deep and conscience guilt oppressed; Christ and his cross my only plea: O God, be merciful to me.…

Hymn #59 Text: Claudia Frances Hernaman (1838-1898) Music: John Day’s Psalter (1562) Tune name: ST. FLAVIAN   THE TEXT The wife of an English inspector of schools, Claudia Frances Hernaman wrote many hymns for children and compiled several collections of hymns for use in religious instruction. This hymn first appeared in her Child’s Book of Praise (1873). 1. Lord, who throughout these forty days for us didst fast and pray, teach us with thee to mourn our sins and close by thee to stay. 2. As thou with Satan didst contend, and did the vict’ry win, O give us strength in thee to fight, in thee to conquer sin. 3. As…

Hymn #335 Text: 18th Century Italian hymn Translation: Edward Caswall (1814-1878) Music: Friedrich Filitz (1804-1860) Tune name: CASWALL   THE TEXT Our hymn includes five stanzas of Edward Caswell’s translation of this Italian hymn, the theme of which is the power of the blood of Christ. One of the missing stanzas reads: Abel’s blood for vengeance pleaded to the skies; but the blood of Jesus for our pardon cries. This stanza clearly has in view the claim made in Hebrews 12:24, that the blood of Jesus “speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Other texts alluded to in this hymn include Ephesians 1:6-8 and 1 Peter 1:18-19. 1. Glory…