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<\/a>Lorenzo Veneziano, Christ Saving St. Peter<\/em><\/p>\nMount Calvary Church<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A Roman Catholic Congregation of<\/p>\n The Personal Ordinariate\u00a0of the Chair of \u00a0St. Peter<\/p>\n Anglican Use<\/em><\/p>\n Trinity IX<\/span><\/p>\n Hymns<\/strong><\/p>\n Eternal Father, strong to save<\/em>.<\/p>\n What wondrous love<\/em><\/p>\n From all that dwell below the skies<\/em><\/p>\n ___________________________<\/p>\n Eternal Father, strong to save<\/em><\/strong>. The first three stanzas of this hymn by William Whiting (1825\u20141878) appeal to the Trinity with Scripture passages wherein each Person controlled the sea, imploring \u201cO hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea.\u201d The first stanza refers to God’s discourse with Job, in which the Lord asks \u201cOr who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I \u2026 said, \u2018Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed\u2019?\u201d (Job 38:8, 11) The second stanza refers to two occasions when Jesus calmed the raging sea: when He walked on the water (Mark 6:45-52), and when He slept through a storm until His terrified disciples woke Him (Mark 4:35-41). The third stanza alludes to Creation, when \u201cThe earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.\u201d (Genesis 1:2 ) The final stanza summarizes the hymn and promises continued praise \u201cfrom land and sea.\u201d<\/p>\n 1 Eternal Father, strong to save, 2 O Savior, whose almighty word 3 O Holy Spirit, who did brood 4 O Trinity of love and pow’r, Here are (most appropriately) the Navy Sea Chanters<\/a>. Here it is sung in Portsmouth<\/a>, England. William Whiting<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n William Whiting was born in 1825 in London. He was educated in Chapham and at King Alfred’s College in Winchester. He became master of Winchester College Choristers\u2019 School in 1842, where he remained for 36 years until his death. He wrote numerous volumes of poetry and contributed hymns to various collections. His works include Rural Thoughts and Scenes, 1851 and Edgar Thorpe, or the Warfare of Life, 1867. He is best known for his hymn “Eternal Father, Strong to Save.”<\/p>\n ____________________<\/p>\n What wondrous love<\/em><\/strong> is an American folk hymn, as its repetitions evidence, from the Second Great Awakening. This hymn articulates the question that Christians ask every day: what did I do to deserve such a wonderful love from God and from Christ? The hymn is an offering of thanks to the Son for laying aside his crown as King and humbling himself even unto death. Jesus took on the sin and shame of man and thereby became the Lamb who was slain to save us from our sins. Jesus is not only the Lamb, but he is I AM<\/strong>, Lord and God. Our response is endless praise, and forever we shall marvel and ask, \u201cWhat wondrous Love?\u201d<\/p>\n What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul! When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing, And when from death I\u2019m free, I\u2019ll sing on, I\u2019ll sing on, As a folk hymn the exact history of What wondrous love is not entirely clear. It is\u00a0sometimes described as a “white spiritual”, from the American South.<\/p>\n The hymn’s lyrics were first published in Lynchburg, Virginia in the c. 1811 camp meeting songbook\u00a0A General Selection of the Newest and Most Admired Hymns and Spiritual Songs Now in Us<\/em>e. The lyrics may also have been printed, in a slightly different form, in the 1811 book\u00a0Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Original and Selected<\/em>, published in Lexington, Kentucky. (It was included in the third edition of this text published in 1818, but all copies of the first edition have been lost.) In most early printings, the hymn’s text was attributed to an anonymous author, though the 1848 hymnal\u00a0The Hesperian Harp<\/em>\u00a0attributes the text to a Methodist pastor from Oxford, Georgia, named Alexander Means.<\/p>\n The tune was discovered by composer William Walker on his journey through the Appalachian region of America. Though the tune had been around for many years, it was passed on by rote, and not written down. Walker decided in 1835 that he would change that, and added the hymn to his collection\u00a0Southern Harmony<\/em>. The Appalachian region is well known for having many Irish and Scottish immigrants, which is shown in the hymns haunting text and minor tune. The hymn is written in a way that made it easy to pass on from generation to generation, repetition of lyrics. The hymn was written in the early 1800’s, a time when hymnals were scarce and music was rarely written down. To make it easier for people to learn hymns (Especially in the time of the Second Great Awakening), the author would often times write the same lyrics over and over again to drive home the point, while still keeping the text simple and easy to learn.<\/p>\n The hymn is sung in Dorian mode, giving it a haunting quality. Though The Southern Harmony and many later hymnals incorrectly notated the song in Aeolian mode (natural minor), even congregations singing from these hymnals generally sang in Dorian mode by spontaneously raising the sixth note a half step wherever it appeared. Twentieth-century hymnals generally present the hymn in Dorian mode, or sometimes in Aeolian mode but with a raised sixth. The hymn has an unusual meter of 6-6-6-3-6-6-6-6-6-3. The meter of “What Wondrous Love” derives from an old English ballad about the infamous pirate Captain Kidd:<\/p>\n My name was Robert Kidd, when I sailed, when I sailed; (His real name was William; Americans erroneously called him Robert.)<\/p>\n A popular style of singing during this time was Shape Note Singing, which is a form of singing that uses shapes to denote which pitch should be sung, instead of the traditional European notation that we find in most music now-a-days. In order for the shape note singing to be done correctly, the congregation would be divided into four different sections, and each section was given a different part to sing. This was easier for people to sing, because most people during that time had no idea how to read music, and Shape Note Singing was a way to take something like music and give it to everyone, even the unlearned. The repetitious lyrics also made the text easy to remember.<\/p>\n William Walker (1809-1875)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n William Walker<\/strong>\u00a0was born in Martin Mills, South Carolina in 1807 and grew up just outside of Spartanburg, where, in order to distinguish the difference between himself and other William Walkers, he was nicknamed “Singing Billy.” in 1835 he published a collection of four-shape Shape Note tune books entitled\u00a0Southern Harmony<\/em>. This was used for many years and was revised several different times, the final of which was printed in 1854 and is still used today in Kentucky at several different camp meetings. In 1846 Walker published another tune book that was supposed to be used as an index to\u00a0Southern Harmon<\/em>y. The Publication was entitled\u00a0The Southern and Western Pocket Harmonis<\/em>t, which contained several different camp meeting tunes. in 1867 Walker published another tune book entitled Christian Harmony where he adopted a new shape notation that contained seven different shapes instead of the traditional four shapes. Christian Harmony shared many similarities with\u00a0Southern Harmony<\/em>, but the biggest difference of note was the addition of the Alto harmony in tunes that previously did not contain that particular harmony. William Walker lived a long life, and finally passed away in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 1875. He has an infamy that continues still today with the singing of traditional Shape Note tunes at conventions around the country and especially groups such as the Sacred Harp Singers Of Georgia and Alabama.<\/p>\n In 1952, American composer and musicologist Charles F. Bryan included\u00a0What Wondrous Love Is This<\/em>\u00a0in his folk opera\u00a0Singin’ Billy,\u00a0<\/em>loosely based on Walker’s life as a singing school teacher. In 1958, American composer Samuel Barber composed\u00a0Wondrous Love: Variations on a Shape Note Hymn<\/em>\u00a0(Op. 34), a work for organ, for Christ Episcopal Church in Grosse Pointe, Michigan; the church’s organist, an associate of Barber’s, had requested a piece for the dedication ceremony of the church’s new organ. The piece begins with a statement that closely follows the traditional hymn; four variations follow, of which the last is the “longest and most expressive.” Here is\u00a0a performance<\/a>. In 1966, the\u00a0United Methodist Book of Hymns<\/em>\u00a0became the first standard hymnal to incorporate\u00a0What Wondrous Love<\/em>.<\/p>\n Here is the St. Olaf choir<\/a> singing\u00a0What Wondrous Love<\/em>. Here is a shape note choir singing the hymn at\u00a0Berea Colleg<\/a>e. The\u00a0Germans\u00a0<\/a>have taken up shape note singing. Here is a chamber setting for\u00a0piano and viola<\/a>\u00a0and variations for\u00a0solo vi<\/a>olin.<\/p>\n ___________________<\/p>\n From all that dwell below the skies<\/em><\/strong> is a metrical paraphrase of Psalm 117, the shortest psalm in the Bible: \u201cO praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord.\u201d Isaac Watts (1674\u20141748), the first important composer of hymns in English, told his father that even though the psalms were the word of God they did not share the message of salvation in Christ, so in his paraphrases he made the deeper Christian meaning of the Psalms explicit. This hymn first appeared in Watts’ Psalms of David Imitated, in the Language of the New Testament<\/em> (1719). Watts considered this, his last poetical collection, his greatest work. He devoted years of diligent effort to its completion and incorporated into it the evangelical vision already suggested in his earlier poems: \u201cChrist and His cross is all our theme.\u201d Watts recognized how radical his work would appear to English Christians who, since the Reformation, had generally favored church use of nothing but Psalms. In Psalms of David<\/em>, Watts set out to accommodate the Book of Psalms to Christian worship, making imaginative applications of David\u2019s expressions to Christian experience.<\/p>\n 1 From all that dwell below the skies; 2 Eternal are Thy mercies, Lord, 3 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
\nWhose arm does bind the restless wave,
\nWho bids the mighty ocean deep
\nIts own appointed limits keep;
\nO hear us when we cry to Thee
\nFor those in peril on the sea.<\/p>\n
\nThe winds and waves submissive heard,
\nWho walked upon the foaming deep,
\nAnd calm amid the rage did sleep;
\nO hear us when we cry to Thee
\nFor those in peril on the sea.<\/p>\n
\nUpon the waters dark and rude,
\nAnd bid their angry tumult cease,
\nAnd give for wild confusion peace;
\nO hear us when we cry to Thee
\nFor those in peril on the sea.<\/p>\n
\nYour children shield in danger’s hour;
\nFrom rock and tempest, fire, and foe,
\nProtect them where-so-e’er they go;
\nThus, evermore shall rise to Thee
\nGlad hymns of praise from land and sea.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhat wondrous love is this, O my soul!
\nWhat wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
\nto bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
\nto bear the dreadful curse for my soul?<\/p>\n
\nwhen I was sinking down, sinking down;
\nwhen I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
\nChrist laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,
\nChrist laid aside his crown for my soul.<\/p>\n
\nto God and to the Lamb, I will sing;
\nto God and to the Lamb who is the great I AM –
\nwhile millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
\nwhile millions join the theme, I will sing.<\/p>\n
\nand when from death I\u2019m free, I\u2019ll sing on;
\nand when from death I\u2019m free, I\u2019ll sing and joyful be,
\nand through eternity, I\u2019ll sing on, I\u2019ll sing on,
\nand through eternity I\u2019ll sing on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nMy name was Robert Kidd, when I sailed;
\nMy name was Robert Kidd, God’s laws I did forbid,
\nSo wickedly I did when I sailed, when I sailed
\nSo wickedly I did when I sailed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nLet the Creator’s praise arise;
\nLet the Redeemer’s name be sung,
\nThrough every land by every tongue.<\/p>\n
\nEternal truth attends Thy Word;
\nThy praise shall sound from shore to shore,
\nTill suns rise and set no more.<\/p>\n
\nPraise Him, all creatures here below;
\nPraise Him above, you heavenly host;
\nPraise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n