Hymn: Eternal Father, Strong to Save
From The Presbyterian Hymnal
Companion: The text was written by William Whiting for a student who was
about to set sail for America (1860). It was published in an altered form in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). In
America the hymn is known as the “Navy Hymn,” because it is used at the Naval
Academy at Annapolis.
Hymn: To God Be the Glory
Fanny Crosby wrote this hymn for children and titled it, “Praise
for Redemption.” It was published in an 1875 hymnal and long forgotten until
1954. In that year, someone suggested the hymn to Cliff Barrows to be used
during the Billy Graham Greater London Crusade. It soon became a favorite of
the crusade and was used at the 1954 Nashville Crusade. This particular hymn is
different from other Crosby works in that it takes a more objective, distant
point of view rather than a subjective, personal nature.
Hymn: Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
The text of this hymn is based on Isaiah 33:20-21 and “gives
a general notion of the state of the redeemed in the kingdom of God,” according
to LindaJo McKim. Paul Westermeyer notes that John Newton’s hymn came with a
footnote referencing another of his hymns, “Zion, the City of Our God.” He
writes, “One paraphrases what those who walk righteously, speak uprightly,
despise oppression, wave away a bribe, stop their ears from bloodshed, and shut
their eyes from evil (Isaiah 33:15) will see in the glorious city of Zion…
Though the glories of the city are not absent, they are not the point. The
point is God’s grace that evokes our praise.”
Anthem: Grant Us Thy Peace
English composer John Rutter writes this about Felix Mendelsson’s
piece, originally titled Verleih uns
Frieden: In 1830 Franz Hauser, a Viennese singer and Bach enthusiast, sent
a Lutheran Hymnal to Mendelssohn, who was in Rome. This treasury of words and
music inspired Mendelssohn to compose six chorale cantatas, two motets, and the
present hymn-setting, which takes only Luther’s text, the music being entirely
his own. He wrote to Hauser in 1831: “I intend to set the little song Verleih uns Frieden as a canon with
cello and bass.”
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