  Even in these days of pulpit exchanges, ministers show their denominational alliances in their sermons. Not so when it comes to hymns, which are more catholic and comprehensive than creeds and other ecclesiastical pronouncements. Indeed, the hymnal of any church contains the writings of Catholics and of Protestants of every variety, for most hymns express the deeper aspirations of the soul without any sectarian accent. They are admitted into these compilations because of their intrinsic worth as transcripts from Christian experience, dealing with the essential truths of the Gospel. There is a healthy omission of those incidentals which interrupt whole-hearted Christian fellowship with all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as their central authority. If our preaching were as free and fervent as the hymns sung by ministers and people, and if our practice more closely harmonized with the sentiments in hymns, the day of Christian union would come more quickly. Here are some incidents which It is in a crisis that the depths of the heart are exposed as here when A Minister Requested His Favorite HymnDr. R. W. Dale, of Birmingham, England, preached a beautiful sermon in memory of his college friend, the Rev. E. S. Glanville, of Warwick. He told how the dying minister had requested his father and sister to sing to him his favorite hymn, and they sat in the chamber of death and sang: “There is a land of pure delight, Where saints immortal reign; Infinite day excludes the night, And pleasures banish pain.” Equally significant was the Marching Song of Veteran MinistersWhen the names of the forty-five retired ministers were called in the Baltimore Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1930, these men who were facing the sunset period of life stood and sang: “Come, we that love the Lord, And let our joys be known; Join in a song with sweet accord And thus surround the throne.” “The light that never was on sea or land” crept into their faces as they recalled the days and the songs of their pilgrimage, and blended their voices in the triumphant refrain: “We’re marching to Zion, Beautiful, beautiful Zion; We’re marching upward to Zion, The beautiful city of God.” Then, to give emphatic expression to their Christian joy, when Dr. Charles W. Baldwin, a veteran leader, ninety-one years of age, gave the signal, they exclaimed in unison: “Hallelujah!” But those who are in active service show their spirit of consecration by being Ready for Another Day’s WorkThe business had been transacted, the committees had reported, and the resolutions of appreciation had been read. The closing moments of the Many had seen years of service. For some of them this would probably be the closing year, for it generally happens that during the year some fall at the post of duty. But among the number there were nine young men who for the first time would enter on their great adventure of ministerial service. The closing hymn selected was one rarely heard at such a moment, yet it was impressively appealing, and soon all the ministers were blending their voices in the words of Miss Warner: “One more day’s work for Jesus, One less of life for me! But heaven is nearer, And Christ is dearer Than yesterday, to me.” In connection with what was said above about young ministers, it was an impressive occasion When a Bishop Sang at the Ordination ServiceA group of young men were ordained into the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church on a glorious Sunday afternoon in May in the presence of many hundreds of ministers, relatives and others. The service apparently was about to end when Bishop Adna W. Leonard knelt inside the altar by the side of these young preachers. By pre-arrangement with the organist, the strains of music softly came and then the voice of the bishop was heard singing the expressively appropriate words: “It may not be on the mountain’s height, Or over the stormy sea; It may not be at the battle’s front My Lord will have need of me; But if by a still small voice He calls To paths that I do not know, I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in Thine, I’ll go where You want me to go.” The young ministers who had just taken upon themselves the solemn vows of the ordination service then joined with the soloist in the chorus: “I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord, O’er mountain or plain or sea; I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord, I’ll be what You want me to be.” The voice of the bishop was again heard: “Perhaps today there are loving words Which Jesus would have me speak; There may be now in the paths of sin Some wanderer whom I should seek. O Saviour, if Thou wilt be my guide, Tho’ dark and rugged the way, My voice shall echo Thy message sweet, I’ll say what You want me to say.” Then for the second time, the young ministers united their voices with the one who was leading them in song, as together they rendered the chorus. The third stanza followed, by the Bishop: “There’s surely somewhere a lowly place, In earth’s harvest fields so wide, Where I may labor through earth’s short day, For Jesus the crucified; So trusting my all to His tender care, And knowing Thou lovest me, I’ll do Thy will with a heart sincere, I’ll be what You want me to be.” Hundreds of eyes by this time were mist-filled, Few were the words spoken by the leader of the service before another hymn was rendered: “I need Thee every hour, Most gracious Lord; No tender voice like Thine Can peace afford.” These lines voiced a prayer for divine strength, guidance and blessing. With the young ministers now standing at the altar, young people were asked to consecrate their lives to the service of Christ. From all parts of that historic church young men and young women moved forward until sixty of them had publicly registered their decision. Some of them for the first time took their stand for Christ, others expressed a desire to become ministers, missionaries, workers in their home churches. The effects of this service will remain for many years. For there went forth from that church in the central part of the Empire State of New York a great company of hearts touched by the Spirit of The consciousness of the divine providence was emphasized in the confession: “Thou My Daily Task Shall Give”When sixty ministers, heads of various Summer Schools of Ministerial Training in the Methodist Episcopal Church, met in Evanston, Illinois, to review the work of the previous year and to plan for the future, the leader of the devotions one morning called attention to a hymn of great personal value. Then, on that January day, it was sung with deep feeling as the ministers were just entering on their task for another year. This hymn was written by a layman, Josiah Conder, who “passed a busy life as bookseller, editor and author.” It is well worth committing to memory; at least, such was the conviction of that group of ministers who sang: “Day by day the manna fell: O to learn this lesson well! Still by constant mercy fed, Give me, Lord, my daily bread. ‘Day by day,’ the promise reads, Daily strength for daily needs: Cast foreboding fears away; Take the manna of today. Lord! my times are in Thy hand: All my sanguine hopes have planned, To Thy wisdom I resign, And would make Thy purpose mine. Thou my daily task shalt give: Day by day to Thee I live; So shall added years fulfill, Not my own, my Father’s will.” The assurance of divine guidance was expressed in the declaration: “All My Help From Thee I Bring”“When ... storms of unpopularity and tempests of financial disaster threaten the tiny bark upon life’s troubled seas,” wrote Sir Henry Lunn, “my friend and colleague, Hugh Price Hughes, whose ministry in some small degree I shared, asked me to believe with confidence that there was One ‘in the heavens to give attention to our personal concerns,’ and taught me to say with a new emphasis, ‘Thou, O Christ, art all I want,’ ‘Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee, . . . . . . . . . All my trust on Thee is stayed, All my help from Thee I bring.’ “And now that the limit of three score years and ten is passed and life’s journey must be drawing to a close, I say triumphantly: ‘Here I raise my Ebenezer. Hitherto the Lord hath helped me and hither by His grace I have come.’” Episcopal dignity was enriched on a recent occasion when, according to Zion’s Herald, Bishops Sang Their Special HymnWhen the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church held their semi-annual meeting in San Francisco, in November, 1929, they were given a reception and a banquet. Eight hundred persons assembled to do them honor, including officials of the city and the state. The bishops contributed a vocal number to the evening’s entertainment. Bishop Francis J. McConnell, with his richly melodious voice, led his colleagues in the episcopal hymn, ‘Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and But these bishops are not really confined to just one hymn, for they also sang on another occasion “Land Me Safe on Canaan’s Side”The most remarkable feature of the singing of the Board of Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, wrote Bishop Francis J. McConnell, when reporting one of their meetings in Boston in May, 1930, consisted in their skill in fitting almost any song to the “only tune which I have heard them sing with any conspicuous success.” Reference was then made to a dramatic moment “when that one tune was sung with marvelous power.” Bishop Earl Cranston, at the age of eighty-nine, “had just made a farewell speech in which he had said that he did not see how he could again attend the Bishops’ Meeting. At the conclusion of the address the bishops sang, adapting their favorite tune, the stanza: ‘When I tread the verge of Jordan.’” One can easily imagine that scene, and how “When I tread the verge of Jordan, Bid my anxious fears subside; Bear me through the swelling current, Land me safe on Canaan’s side: Songs of praises I will ever give to Thee.” This confidence of immortality is also shared by others as seen on a memorable occasion when Ministers Sang Their HopeMany ministers had assembled to pay their last tribute to a comrade who had fallen while in the ranks of service. Words of commendation were spoken concerning the fidelity and devotion of the one whom God had called in the prime of life. Prayers were offered. Soon the body, accompanied by the bereaved relatives, would start for the little cemetery in the boyhood home. But before leaving the church where the services were conducted, the “There’s a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar; For the Father waits over the way, To prepare us a dwelling-place there.” The refrain voiced the assurance of immortality cherished and preached by that company of pastors: “In the sweet by-and-by, We shall meet on that beautiful shore.” |
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