Hymns in Human ExperienceHart, William J. (William John)
Religion
Hymns in Human Experience
Hart, William J. (William John)
Hymns -- History and criticism
All was quiet as this Highlander wandered backward and forward and it
seemed as though his quest would be futile. He then raised his voice and
called out: “Sing it again, laddie, sing it again.” The laddie heard and
responded and sang on till the searcher found him and carried him back
to the base. In due course he returned home wounded but thankful that He
had not slumbered who kept him.
The higher unity of faith carries further than the discordant notes of
mere nationalism. This was illustrated by a writer in the Kansas City
_Times_, relating the experience of
A Violinist in the Trenches
Outside of the dugout, shells whined and machine guns spattered with a
staccato of rat-tat-tats. Inside a violin sang and sobbed. The magic of
its music made men forget. They forgot the homesickness. They forgot the
mud. They forgot the cold. They forgot the ever presence of danger and
death.
They listened, heads propped up on sand bags and feet wrapped in
blankets as they stretched on mattresses of sand bags covering the rough
planks of their underground cots.
In another dugout, across No Man’s Land on the German side, others were
also listening. They heard the strains of Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song,”
as sweet and gentle and refreshing as an early summer shower. A strange
thing happened. A German picked up a cornet, and floating to the Allies’
dugout came the notes of the horn harmonizing with the violin.
CHAPTER VI
_Heard Within Prison Walls_
Some of the world’s greatest books were written in prison. Think of the
Epistles of St. Paul which came from such secluded confines. _The
Pilgrim’s Progress_, which has been translated into more languages than
any other book except the Bible, was written by Bunyan in Bedford Jail.
Silvio Pellico, an Italian man of letters, recounted his ten years of
imprisonment at Spielberg, Austria, and declared that religion was his
chief consolation. The singing of St. Paul and Silas during their
imprisonment at Philippi had memorable results. There are many other
instances of beneficial consequences in connection with these dismal
incarcerations.
The incidents in this chapter have to do with the influences upon the
prisoners themselves and how they were converted to Christ and comforted
in their distress. Such transcripts of life under inconceivably trying
circumstances give evidence of the power of the Gospel. One of the most
remarkable recent books is entitled _A Gentleman in Prison_, giving the
experiences of Tokichi Ishii, a converted Japanese criminal, who was
executed in due course for murder.
The first one tells how
Prisoners Sang “The Glory Song”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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