God of our fathers, known of old, The tumult and the shouting dies, Far-called, our navies melt away, On dune and headland sinks the fire; Lo all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre. If, drunk with sight of power, we loose Such boasting as the Gentiles use Or lesser breeds without the law, For heathen heart that puts her trust, And guarding, calls not Thee to guard, Thy mercy on thy people, Lord! Had Kipling cared more for his poem, and kept it longer in hand, he might have revised a line or two that would possibly seem commonplace to him and corrected the grammar in the first line of the second stanza. But of so fine a composition there is no call for finical criticism. The "Recessional" is a product of the poet's holiest mood. "The Spirit of the Lord came upon him”—as the old Hebrew phrase is, and for the time he was a rapt prophet, with a backward and a forward vision. Providence saved the hymn, and it touched and sank into the better mind of the nation. It is already learned by heart-and sung-wherever English is the common speech, and will be heard in numerous translations, with the wish that there were more patriotic hymns of the same Christian temper and strength. Rudyard Kipling was born in Hindostan in 1865. Even with his first youthful experiments in the field of literature he was hailed as the coming apostle of muscular poetry and prose. For a time he made America his home, and it was while here that he faced death through a fearful and protracted sickness that brought him very near to God. He has visited many countries and described them all, and, though sometimes his imagination drives a reckless pen, the Christian world hopes much from a man whose genius can make the dullest souls listen. THE TUNE. The music set to Kipling's hymn is Stainer's "Magdalen" (not his "Magdalina," which is a common-metre tune)—and bears the marks of hav ing been written to the words, con amore. It is a grave and earnest melody in D flat, with two bars in unison at "Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet," making the utterance of the prayer a deep and powerful finale. John Stainer, Doctor of Music, born June 6, 1840, was nine years the chorister of St. Paul's, London, and afterwards organist to the University of Oxford. He is a member of the various musical societies of the Kingdom, and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. His talent for sacred music is rare and versatile, and he seems to have consecrated himself as a musician and composer to the service of the church. Every civilized nation has its patriotic hymns. In fact what makes a nation a nation is largely the unifying influences of its common song. Even the homeless Hebrew nation is kept together by its patriotic Psalms. The ethnic melodies would fill a volume with their story. The few presented in this chapter represent their range of quality and character-defiant as the Marseillaise, thrilling as "Scots' wha hae," joyful as "The Star-spangled Banner," breezy and bold as the "Ranz de Vaches," or sweet as the "Switzers' Song of Home." CHAPTER X. SAILORS' HYMNS. The oldest sailors' hymn is found in the 107th Psalm, vss. 23-30: They that go down to the sea in ships, To do business in great waters, These see the works of the Lord, Montgomery has made this metrical rendering of these verses: They that toil upon the deep, And in vessels light and frail In the chariots of the wind. The hymn is not in the collections, and has no tune. Addison paraphrased the succeeding verses of the Psalm in his hymn, "How are thy servants blessed O Lord," sung to Hugh Wilson's* tune of "Avon": *Hugh Wilson was a Scotch weaver of Kilmarnock, born 1764; died 1824. When by the dreadful tempest borne They know Thou art not slow to hear, The storm is laid, the winds retire, Obedient to Thy will; The sea that roars at Thy command, At Thy command is still. "FIERCE WAS THE WILD BILLOW." (Ζοφερᾶς τρικυμίας) The ancient writer, Anatolius, who composed this hymn has for centuries been confounded with "St" Anatolius, patriarch of Constantinople, who died A. D. 458. The author of the hymn lived in the seventh century, and except that he wrote several hymns, and also poems in praise of the martyrs, nothing or next to nothing, is known of him. The "Wild Billow" song was the principle seaman's hymn of the early church. It is being introduced into modern psalmody, the translation in use ranking among the most successful of Dr. John Mason Neale's renderings from the Greek. Fierce was the wild billow, Dark was the night; Foam glimmered white; Peril was nigh; Then said the God of God, "Peace! It is I!" |