God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before thee,
Praising thee their sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
Fill us with the light of day!
Earth and heav’n reflect thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around thee,
Centre of unbroken praise:
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
Blooming meadow, flashing sea,
Chanting bird and flowing fountain,
Call us to rejoice in thee.
Ever blessing, ever blest,
Well-spring of the joy of living,
Ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our brother,—
All who live in love are thine:
Teach us how to love each other,
Lift us to the joy divine.
Which the morning stars began;
Father-love is reigning o’er us,
Brother-love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward,
Victors in the midst of strife;
Joyful music lifts us sunward
In the triumph song of life.
This hymn was first published in 1911 in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (Henry Van Dyke, New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1911, pp. 332-333). It is titled “Hymn of Joy,” with the note “To the Music of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.” It is situated in the section “Songs of Hearth and Altar.” Later that year (1911) it was published in The (Presbyterian) Hymnal (No. 115).[i] There it is titled His Fatherhood and Love. The arrangement of the music by Beethoven is by the English organist and composer Edward Hodges (1796-1867).
There is a slight discrepancy as to when the hymn was written. In The Poems of Henry Van Dyke it is dated 1908, while The Hymnal dates it to 1907.
Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Jr. was born November 10, 1852 in Pennsylvania, the son of Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Sr. and Henrietta Ashmead. His father was a notable Presbyterian minister, and Henry Jr. also became a Presbyterian minister. He graduated from Princeton University and Princeton Seminary, and taught at Princeton University. He married Ellen Reid in 1881. In 1879 he was ordained, and pastored at the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1883-1900. Prior to World War I, he served as an ambassador to Holland and Luxembourg, appointed by President Woodrow Wilson.
Henry Van Dyke died April 10, 1933 at age 80. He and his wife are buried at the Princeton Cemetery in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey.
[i] The Hymnal, Published in 1895 and Revised in 1911 by Authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Philadelphia, PA: The Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1911.
No comments:
Post a Comment