The Story of the Hymns and TunesButterworth, Hezekiah
Religion
The Story of the Hymns and Tunes
Butterworth, Hezekiah
Hymns -- History and criticism; Religious poetry
When two or three with sweet accord,
Here at Thy table, Lord, we meet,
and--
"'Tis finished," so the Saviour cried.
"Majestic Sweetness" began the third stanza of his longer hymn--
To Christ the Lord let every tongue.
Dr. Stennett died in London, Aug. 24, 1795.
_THE TUNE._
For fifty or sixty years "Ortonville" has been linked with this devout
hymn, and still maintains its fitting fellowship. The tune, composed in
1830, was the work of Thomas Hastings, and is almost as well-known and
as often sung as his immortal "Toplady." (See chap. 3, "Rock of Ages.")
"ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS' NAME."
This inspiring lyric of praise appears to have been written about the
middle of the eighteenth century. Its author, the Rev. Edward Perronet,
son of Rev. Vincent Perronet, Vicar of Shoreham, Eng., was a man of
great faith and humility but zealous in his convictions, sometimes to
his serious expense. He was born in 1721, and, though eighteen years
younger than Charles Wesley, the two became bosom friends, and it was
under the direction of the Wesleys that Perronet became a preacher in
the evangelical movement. Lady Huntingdon later became his patroness,
but some needless and imprudent expressions in a satirical poem, "The
Mitre," revealing his hostility to the union of church and state, cost
him her favor, and his contention against John Wesley's law that none
but the regular parish ministers had the right to administer the
sacraments, led to his complete separation from both the Wesleys. He
subsequently became the pastor of a small church of Dissenters in
Canterbury, where he died, in January, 1792. His piety uttered itself
when near his happy death, and his last words were a Gloria.
All hail the power of Jesus' name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
To crown Him Lord of all.
Ye seed of Israel's chosen race,
Ye ransomed of the fall,
Hail Him Who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget
The wormwood and the gall,
Go, spread your trophies at His feet,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Let every tribe and every tongue
That bound creation's call,
Now shout the universal song,
The crowned Lord of all.
With two disused stanzas omitted, the hymn as it stands differs from the
original chiefly in the last stanza, though in the second the initial
line is now transposed to read--
Ye chosen seed of Israel's race.
The fourth stanza now reads--
Let every kindred, every tribe
On this terrestrial ball
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all.
And what is now the favorite last stanza is the one added by Dr.
Rippon--
O that with yonder sacred throng
We at His feet may fall,
And join the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all.
_THE TUNE._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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