Sunday, August 19, 2007

History of the Hymns

August 19, 2007
‘How Firm a Foundation’ (1866) Page 529
Words: from ‘A Selection of Hymns’ from John Rippon (1751 – 1836)
Music: from Genuine Church Music by Joseph Funk (1778 – 1862)

General Curtis Guild, Jr., has written an article in ‘The Sunday School Times’ how this hymn, ‘How Firm a Foundation,’ was sung on a famous Christmas morning.
The Seventh Army Corps was encamped on the hills above Havana, Cuba, on Christmas Eve of 1898 on a beautiful tropical night. Suddenly a sentinel from the camp of the Forty-ninth Iowa called, “Number ten; twelve o’clock, and all’s well!”
Suddenly, a strong voice raised the chorus, and manly voices joined in until the whole regiment was singing. Then the Sixth Missouri added its voices, and the Fourth Virginia, and all the rest, ’til there, as General Guild said, on the long ridges above the great city where Spanish tyranny once went forth to enslave the New World, a whole American army corps was singing:
‘Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed;
For, I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.’
The Northern soldier knew the hymn as one he had learned beside his mother’s knee. To the Southern soldier it was that and something more—it was the favorite hymn of General Robert E. Lee, and was sung at that great commander’s funeral.
Protestant and Catholic, South and North, singing together on Christmas day in the morning—that’s an American army!

Meanwhile…1866…141 years ago…in the United States…
President: Andrew Johnson …V.P.: None
Jesse James took part in his 1st bank holdup
The world’s 1st roller rink opened in Newport, Rhode Island
Edson P. Clark of Northampton, Massachusetts patented the pencil
Jasper Daniel (“Jack Daniels”) began distilling whiskey in Lynchburg, Tenn.
The 1st successful telegraph cable was laid underwater between N. America & Europe

Ref. HymnHistories Cyberhymnal WebEdelic HymnNuts TanBible Wikipedia

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