Handbook to the Mennonite HymnaryHostetler, Lester
Religion
Handbook to the Mennonite Hymnary
Hostetler, Lester
Hymns, English -- History and criticism; Mennonites -- Hymns -- History and criticism
Francois H. Barthélémon was born in Bordeaux, July 27, 1741, and died in
London, July 20, 1808. He gave up his position as an officer in the
French army to make music his profession and became a composer and
distinguished violinist and conductor in England. Most of his
compositions were of a secular nature. His other church pieces are
“Morning Hymn” (25) and “Ballerma” (146, 585). Late in life Barthélémon
joined the Swedenborgian Church. He died of paralysis at the age of 67.
3, 4, 5. All hail the power of Jesus’ name _Edward Perronet_, 1726-92
The original version of this hymn contained eight stanzas and first
appeared in the _Gospel Magazine_, Augustus Toplady’s journal, the first
stanza together with the tune “Miles Lane,” in November, 1779, and the
remaining stanzas in April, 1780. It is one of the popular, stirring
hymns of the English language, sung in England almost invariably to the
tune “Miles Lane” and in America more generally to “Coronation.”
Edward Perronet was born in 1726 and became a vicar in the Church of
England in Shoreham. Later, under the influence of John Wesley, he left
the established church to become an itinerant Methodist preacher. After
some years he left the Methodists and ministered to a small dissenting
congregation in Canterbury, where he died in 1792.
The fourth stanza is attributed by some authorities to the Rev. John
Rippon, a Baptist minister.
A missionary in India, E. P. Scott, went to visit a mountain tribe when
one day he found himself surrounded with a number of wild, ferocious
tribesmen, pointing their spears at him. Expecting death, he closed his
eyes and sang this hymn, “All hail the power of Jesus’ name,” playing
the tune “Miles Lane” on his violin. The music and words produced such a
profound effect upon these wild tribesmen that they spared Scott’s life
and invited him to settle among them. For over two years, until his
health failed, he worked with great success among them, and when he was
compelled to return to America, they accompanied him thirty or forty
miles and begged him to return. Upon regaining his health, he did return
and labored with them until his death.
_MUSIC._ MILES LANE (No. 3) was composed by William Shrubsole,
1760-1806, especially for this hymn. He was an intimate friend of the
author of the hymn. Most of his life was spent as music teacher and
organist in various English churches. The tune is very effective,
especially in its thrilling climax in the fourfold repetition of “Crown
Him.” However, due to its wide melodic range, its sustained notes, and
interrupted pace, it is more difficult to sing than “Coronation.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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