“Lord, save us: we perish.”
Save, Lord, Or We Perish (No. 224) is an unique Sacred Harp tune, and among my favorites. You can listen to a rendition of it HERE.
Written by Reginald Heber, the words appear as “FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. No. IV. R. H.” in Hymns, Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (Reginald Heber. London: John Murray, 1827, p. 39).[i] It has 3 stanzas of 4 lines, with 12 syllables per line.
The author of this hymn, Reginald Heber, was born in 1783 at Cheshire, England. After several years of service in England, he was made the Church of England’s Bishop of Calcutta in June 1823, and arrived in India in October of that year. Heber died in India in 1826, and was buried at St. John’s Church, Trichinopoly, Tamil Nadu, India. The hymn book was published posthumously the year after his death. “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty” and “From Greenland’s icy mountains” are among his best-known hymns. Many of the 57 hymns he wrote are still in use.
1. When through the torn sail the wild tempest is streaming,
When o’er the dark wave the red lightning is gleaming,
Nor hope lends a ray the poor seaman to cherish,
We fly to our Maker—“Save, Lord! or we perish.”
Matthew 8:24-27
2. Oh Jesus! once toss’d on the breast of the billow,
Aroused by the shriek of despair from thy pillow,
Now, seated in glory, the mariner cherish,
Who cries in his danger—“Save, Lord! or we perish!”
Hosea 8:7; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:10
3. And oh, when the whirlwind of passion is raging,
When hell in our heart his wild warfare is waging,
Arise in thy strength thy redeemèd to cherish,
Rebuke the destroyer—“Save, Lord! or we perish.”
The hymn is sometimes titled “Stilling the Sea.” The first stanza ascribes to the Maker the power to still the sea, to save the perishing mariners. The second stanza becomes more specific, referencing the incident of the disciples on the sea of Galilee. The third stanza applies the idea to the Lord stilling the tempests and temptations that rage in our sinful hearts.
I have added above the stanzas some Bible verses that I think appropriately go with the hymn. The original has “Help, Lord” rather than “Save, Lord.” I kept “Save, Lord” since that is the way I know it, as well as it seeming to better match the disciples’ statement in Matthew 8:25
The Sacred Harp tune was written by Matthew Mark Wynne.[ii] Wynne was born in 1835 in Franklin County, Georgia, the son of Sloman Wynne and Mahala Camp. He married Sarah Carolyn Garrison in 1859 in Haralson County, Georgia. Wynne was a farmer, school teacher and music teacher, and later a newspaper editor. He was active in the Sacred Harp Conventions of Georgia before moving to Texas.[iii] Several of his compositions appeared in The Sacred Harp by B. F. White and E. J. King. After the death of his first wife, Wynne married Mrs. Frances J. (Lewis) Tolbert August 18, 1891 in Goldthwaite of Mills County, Texas.
M. M. Wynne was a Confederate Veteran and a Mason. Wynne served for a time as editor of the People’s Advocate newspaper of Goldthwaite before assuming control of the Brownwood Living Issues paper early in 1894. At least in his later years, he was very active in the People’s (Populist) Party of Texas and his newspapers represented that viewpoint. Matthew Mark Wynne died November 18, 1895 in Brownwood, Brown County, Texas and is buried at the Greenleaf Cemetery there. His grave was either never marked or has been lost. “Editor M. M. Wynne, of the Living Issues, died at his home in this city Monday after a protracted illness, and was laid to rest Tuesday evening in Greenleaf cemetery. Mr. Wynne had long been in feeble health, only doing with an effort the duties of his office. He had gained many friends during his residence in Brownwood and these join The Bulletin in sympathy for the bereaved family and relatives.”
Some songbooks pair the hymn with Sullivans (also known as Cardiff and Heber) by Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900).
[ii] Sometimes his last name appears as “Wynn” and his first name as “Mathew”.
[iii] M. M. Wynne served as secretary of the two oldest continuing Sacred Harp Conventions – the Chattahoochee Musical Convention (org. 1852) and the East Texas Musical Convention (org. 1855).
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