Music Notes for Sunday, March 16, 2025

Music for the Second Sunday in Lent

Take Up Your Cross, the Saviour Said – Text: Charles William Everest (1814-1877) / Music: Melody Locheimer Gesangbuch 1452; harm. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

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This Sunday’s offertory hymn in church, Take Up Your Cross the Saviour Said, was written by Charles William Everest in six stanzas of four lines, and published in his Visions of Death and other Poems 1833, when the author was only 19. The reference is to Mark 8:34. The strength of this hymn lies in the gradual approach towards a bid for commitment in stanza five. The author, a native of Connecticut, attended Trinity College, Hartford and graduated in 1838. After ordination in 1842 he was appointed rector of Hampden near New Haven, where he remained until 1873.

Breslau has been used more frequently for this hymn than any other tune. It grew out of a folksong, ‘Ich far dahin,’ which was in the Locheimer Gesangbuch c. 1452. Many variants were known in Germany up to the end of the 17th century. Mendelssohn used it as a chorale in his oratorio St. Paul; Hymns Ancient & Modern 1861 used the tune twice. Bach used a melody in his Choralgesänge to the words ‘Ach Gott, wie manches Herzelied,’ which appears to be founded on this melody. The form in our hymn books owes more to Mendelssohn than to any other person.

Take up thy cross, the Saviour said,
If thou wouldst my disciple be;
Deny thyself, the world forsake,
And humbly follow after me.

Take up thy cross; let not its weight
Fill thy weak spirit with alarm;
His strength shall bear thy spirit up,
And brace thy heart, and nerve thine arm.

Take up thy cross, nor heed the shame,
Nor let thy foolish pride rebel;
The Lord for thee the Cross endured,
To save thy soul from death and hell.

Take up thy cross then in his strength,
And calmly every danger brave;
‘Twill guide thee to a better home,
And lead to victory o’er the grave.

Take up thy cross, and follow Christ,
Nor think till death to lay it down;
For only he who bears the cross
May hope to wear the glorious crown.

To thee, great Lord, the One in Three,
All praise for evermore ascend;
O grant us in our home to see
The heavenly life that knows no end.

Gerald Harder

 

 

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Music Notes for Sunday, March 9, 2025

Music for the First Sunday in Lent

Jesus, Lover of My Soul – Text: Charles Wesley (1707-1788) / Music: Joseph Parry (1841-1903)

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Written by Charles Wesley in 1738, this Sunday’s offertory hymn in church, Jesus, Lover of My Soul, was originally published in 1740 under the title “In Temptation.” Charles was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, and perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. This hymn has as its theme the sufficiency of Christ to give comfort, power, and grace in any circumstance. It is a plea that Jesus will provide sanctuary to the tempted (st. 1), because there is no other refuge (st. 2). Christ is declared to be the sole desire of the Christian, who is undeserving (st. 3), while Christ’s grace is declared sufficient to cleanse the Christian from all his vile sins (st. 4). Charles’ brother John did not publish it in his later hymnals, perhaps because its language was considered too pietistic and too intimate for public worship, concerns which other hymnal editors shared. Nevertheless, it has survived and remains well-known and loved.

There are two tunes that are commonly associated with this text. One is the Welsh tune “Aberystwyth” by Joseph Parry, written in 1876 and named after the coastal town in which he was living at the time. This is the tune with which this hymn is paired in both of our hymnals, Common Praise and The New English Hymnal, although the latter also includes the tune “Hollingside”. Parry published “Aberystwyth” in Ail Llyfr Tonau ac Emynau (The Second Book of Tunes and Hymns) in 1879. It is paired with many different texts, but Jesus, Lover of My Soul is by far the most frequent.

Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high:
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last.

Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on thee;
Leave, ah, leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed,
All my help from thee I bring;
Cover my defenceless head
With the shadow of thy wing.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in thee I find:
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
Heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is thy name,
I am all unrighteousness;
False and full of sin I am,
Thou art full of truth and grace.

Plenteous grace with thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound,
Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art,
Freely let me take of thee,
Spring thou up within my heart,
Rise to all eternity.

Gerald Harder

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