Lyrics: Charles Wesley

Music: ABERYSTWITH by Joseph Parry.
MARTYN by Simeon Butler Marsh.
HOLLINGSIDE
by John Bacchus Dykes.
Greg Thompson at Indelible Grace/RUF has a new tune setting.

Theme: The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him. Nahum 1:7

Henry Ward Beecher: “I would rather have written that hymn of Wesley’s than to have the fame of all kings that ever sat on earth; it is more glorious, it has more power in it. I would rather be the author of that hymn than to hold the wealth of the richest man in New York. He will die after a little while, pass out of men’s thoughts, what will there be to speak of him? But people will go on singing that hymn until the last trump brings forth the angel band; and then I think it will mount upon some lips to the very presence of God.”

1. 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 Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past;
safe into the haven guide; O receive my soul at last.

2. 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 defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing.

3. Wilt Thou not regard my call? Wilt Thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall! Lo! on Thee I cast my care!
Reach me out Thy gracious hand while I of Thy strength receive;
Hoping against hope I stand, dying, and behold I live!

4. 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.

5. 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.

When Charles first presented the lyrics of Jesus, Lover of My Soul to his brother, John Wesley rejected it as being too sentimental. I’ve heard this hymn ridiculed as a sort of Jesus-is-my-boyfriend, hiding from the world, pietist ode to complete withdrawal from the all things earthly. However, it doesn’t really read that way, does it? It’s more an acknowledgment of my complete dependence on the grace and mercy of Jesus. And what is sentimental about the words “I am all unrighteousness/False and full of sin I am”? I rather like the frank and unsentimental estimate of my unworthiness and Christ’s sufficiency.

Sources:
Hymntime: Jesus Lover of My Soul.
Suite 101: Jesus Lover of My Soul.
Hymnary: Jesus Lover of My Soul.

Lyrics: Elisha Hoffman, 1887.

Music: Anthony Showalter, 1887.

Theme: The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:27

This Gaither Vocal Band performance is classic, especially with the harmonica:

Or if you prefer, here’s Chet Atkins on guitar and Carman doing the singing.

Or the blogger at Subversive Influence has Mahalia Jackson.

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Refrain:
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

The story is that Mr. Showalter wrote the chorus to this hymn after an appeal for comfort from two separate friends whose wives (or perhaps close friends?) had died. He then sent his lyrics to Elisha Hoffman who penned the verses.

Sources:
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms by Deborah Macomber.

Lyrics: Charles Wesley

Music: BEECHER by John Zundel. This tune is the only one I’ve ever heard for this hymn, but as I began to explore I found it set to all sorts of tunes: HYFRYDOL, BLAENWERN (said to be a popular choice for British weddings?), LOVE DIVINE (STAINER) by John Stainer. And finally, there’s this modern composition by British composer Howard Goodall, which I’m not sure would work at all for a normal congregation, but it’s a beautiful choral piece:

Theme: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.
I Corinthians 5:17-19.

Conjubilant With Song: “He sometimes wrote hymn texts that would suggest other works familiar to his followers. One of his best-known hymns was intended to evoke memories of the poet John Dryden’s ode to England, Fairest isle, all isles excelling. Wesley’s text has now far outlived Dryden’s, being sung across many denominations around the world and to many different tunes. Though I would not go so far as to call this my favorite hymn, I do think that it is one of the most perfect hymns ever written.”

Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down;
fix in us thy humble dwelling; all thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation; enter every trembling heart.

2.
Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast!
Let us all in thee inherit; let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
end of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.

3.
Come, Almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive;
suddenly return and never, nevermore thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.

4.
Finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee;
changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Read The Journal of Charles Wesley.

Lyrics: Jean Sophia Pigott, 1845-1882.

Music: TRANQUILITY by James Mountain.
This tune by Matthew Smith is the one we sing at my church, and I’m rather fond of it.

Jesus, I Am Resting – Matthew Smith

Theme:

My Two Cents: “Concentrate on the rich text that urges you to gaze on Christ, to find delight in Him, to rest in Him, to be satisfied in Him alone.”

Rebecca Writes: “This hymn points to the beauty of Christ and his work and reminds us that trust in him is resting in what he is done and is doing for us. Buddy Greene is my go-to artist for this one.”

Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, and Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power, thou hast made me whole.

O, how great Thy loving kindness, vaster, broader than the sea!
O, how marvelous Thy goodness, lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved, know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise, and have made it mine.

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless, satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings, meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings: thine is love indeed!

Ever lift Thy face upon me as I work and wait for Thee;
Resting ’neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus, earth’s dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father’s glory, sunshine of my Father’s face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting, fill me with Thy grace.

James Mountain was an English revivalist and musician, influenced by the ministry and example of Americans Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey. He also wrote the tunes EVERLASTING LOVE (I Am His and He Is Mine) and WYE VALLEY (Like a River Glorious).

This hymn was said to be China missionary Hudson Taylor’s favorite, and it gave him comfort in troubled times.

“Having returned to England in ill health, he was brought to the very doors of death by the terrible news of the disruption of the work and the murder of hundreds of missionaries, as well as hundreds of native Christians, in connection with the Boxer uprising of 1900. Anguish of heart was killing him. Yet he believed that this baptism of blood would, under God, work out to the furtherance of the gospel.”

As J. Hudson Taylor was taking comfort in the words of Ms. Pigott’s hymn, Jean Sophia Pigott’s brother, Thomas Wellesley Pigott, a missionary in China, was martyred during the Boxer Rebellion.

Sources:
Our Home With God: Hymn Devotionals.
Wholesome Words: J. Hudson Taylor, God’s Mighty Man of Prayer by Eugene Myers Harrison.
HymnTIme: Jean Sophia Pigott.

Lyrics: Frances Havergal

Music: HENDON by Henri A.C. Malan. Malan was “one of the originators of the hymn movement in the French Reformed Church.” In addition to this tune, he also wrote the tune SILCHESTER, which is sung to the Isaac Watts hymn Marching to Zion. I love that tune.
Take My Life and Let It Be can be and is sung to a number of alternate tunes, but the ohter one that I’m familiar with, Baptist that I am, is William b. Bradbury’s YARBROUGH. We sang both HENDON and YARBROUGH out of the old Baptist Hymnal in my church growing up.
See Hymn TIme for an exhaustive list of alternate tunes.

Here’s Chris Tomlin’s version:

Theme:

Joni Eareckson Tada: “Because of my spinal-cord injury, I can’t use my hands. That means I can’t hold things, and I don’t have very much strength in my arms. I can’t walk or run. But I can sing, and that’s why I love this special hymn, “Take My Life, and Let It Be.” I may be in a wheelchair, but I can still do a whole lot of things for God.”

Lydia’s Extra Thoughts: “I know, it’s just a goal. One says, ‘Hey, here’s a thought. Tomorrow I start out with that in mind. I say only those things Christ would want me to say. My voice is his voice. My lips are his lips. My hands are his hands, and so forth. What a concept.'”

Wordwise Hymns: Though they never met, Miss Havergal was an admirer of Fanny Crosby, and wrote a touching poem to her. It says in part:
Dear blind sister over the sea,
An English heart goes forth to thee.

Here Barbara at Stray Thoughts reviews the book In Trouble and In Joy by Sharon James which tells the stories of four Christian women, including Frances Ridley Havergal.

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.

Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee;
Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.

Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee;
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.

Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise;
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine;

Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.

On December 2, 1873, partially as a result of reading a book called All for Jesus, Frances Havergal consecrated her entire life to the Lord Jesus Christ. The words of this hymn are an expression of that consecration which continued to be worked out in her life as she grew older and found more and more areas of life to give over the lordship of Jesus.

Sources:
Steve Webb’s Lifespring Hymn Stories: Take My Life and Let It Be.
Girl With a Treasure: Frances Ridley Havergal.

Lyrics: Gerard Moultrie from a 4th century text.

Music: PICARDY from a French folk tune, arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Theme: [Jesus said:] I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. John 6:51

Here is a Greek Orthodox version of this ancient hymn (not your more accessible PICARDY) that derives from what is called the Liturgy of St. James.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded,
For with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six wingèd seraph,
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia, Alleluia
Alleluia, Lord Most High!

The words to this hymn are taken from a prayer written in the fourth century, used by the Orthodox church in Constantinople and still recited by Orthodox Christians to this day. The tune is based on a French carol melody and harmonized by Ralph Vaughn Williams. I’m especially pleased that this sort-of Christmas-y hymn made the list, because it has become one of my favorites since I was introduced to it just a few years ago.

And here’s the Picardy tune:

Such powerful images! And the music somehow intensifies the drama. I love singing this hymn with and before the “host of heaven” in a congregation “with fear and trembling” standing.