Handbook to the Mennonite HymnaryHostetler, Lester
Religion
Handbook to the Mennonite Hymnary
Hostetler, Lester
Hymns, English -- History and criticism; Mennonites -- Hymns -- History and criticism
_MUSIC._ ARMENIA was composed by Sylvanus Billings Pond, 1792-1871,
Albany, N. Y., a piano manufacturer. Billings wrote many fine tunes and
in 1841 issued the _United States Psalmody_, in which this tune
appeared.
323. How sweet, how heavenly is the sight _Joseph Swain_, 1761-96
A beautiful hymn of Christian love, suggesting lines by Alice Carey:
He who loves best his fellowman
Is loving God the holiest way he can.
It appeared in the author’s _Walworth Hymns_, 1792, entitled, “The Grace
of Christian Love.”
Joseph Swain, English Baptist minister and hymn writer, lost his parents
early in life and was apprenticed to an engraver. He led a careless,
frivolous life until his conversion at the age of twenty-two, when he
became a fervent Christian. He qualified for the Baptist ministry and
began serving as minister of a congregation in East Street, Walworth, in
1791. His poetic gifts, formerly given worldly and superficial
expression, were now turned with great effect to his evangelistic
appeals. His short ministry of five years, cut off by a lamented early
death, was very successful.
_MUSIC._ REMEMBER ME. For comments on Asa Hull, composer of the tune,
see Hymn 232.
MISSIONS
324. The morning light is breaking _Samuel F. Smith_, 1808-95
A great missionary hymn, though a little too optimistic. It was written
in 1832 while the author was a student in Andover Theological Seminary.
After reading an inspiring account by Adoniram Judson of his great
missionary work in Burma, Smith put his enthusiasm for missions into
these verses, now sung in all the churches.
Rev. Samuel F. Smith, Harvard graduate in the class with Oliver Wendell
Holmes, became the foremost American Baptist hymn writer of the 19th
century. He is the author of numerous hymns but is best known by “My
country, ’tis of thee” and the present hymn. His desire to be a
missionary himself was never fulfilled, but his son volunteered for the
service and became the successor to Judson in the great work in Burma.
“The morning light is breaking” has been translated into many tongues.
In a letter dated March 17, 1883, the author said of this hymn: “I have
heard versions of it sung in Karen, Burman, Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese, Swedish, German, and Telegu.” Dr. Smith was a great
linguist. He taught modern languages for a time in Colby College and had
a familiarity with no less than fifteen languages. It is said that at
the age of 86 he was seeking a suitable textbook to use in the study of
the Russian language. He served as minister of Baptist churches at
Waterville, Me., and Newton Center, Mass., and was secretary of the
Baptist Missionary Union for 15 years.
_MUSIC._ WEBB. For comments on this tune and its composer, George J.
Webb, see Hymn 65.
325. Far and near the fields are teeming _J. O. Thompson_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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