Beneath the Sacred Throne of God

Introduction.

Sacred Throne is a beloved Sacred Harp song. It was added to Original Sacred Harp, Denson Revision in 1966. According to Warren Steel in The Makers of The Sacred Harp, Hugh McGraw arranged the well-known arrangement by Hugh Wilson of a Scottish tune (called Avon, Martyrdom, et al.) by adding his own treble and alto. The treble has much similarity to the treble of the tune Avon in The Southern Harmony (page 290), and might perhaps be considered an alteration of it. The Southern Harmony does not have an alto part.[i]  

A friend who shares a love of Sacred Harp, Will Fitzgerald, recently brought up and discussed the hymn by John Kent which is used in Original Sacred Harp with this tune (page 569).[ii] The words in The Sacred Harp book have an unusual feature in the 3rd stanza (4th stanza from Kent’s original). The hymn by Kent is found in his own hymn book with the heading “Everlasting Love.”[iii] The words appear as follows in A Collection of Original Gospel Hymns (Hymn XCV [95], page 85, 6th edition, 1826).[iv]

XCV     C.M.

Everlasting Love.

 

1. Beneath the sacred throne of God

I saw a river rise,

The streams were peace and pard’ning blood

Descending from the skies.

2. Angelic minds cannot explore

This deep, unfathom’d sea;

’Tis void of bottom, brim, or shore,

And lost in Deity.

3. I stood amaz’d, and wonder’d when,

Or why, this ocean rose,

That wafts salvation down to men,

His traitors and his foes.

4. That sacred flood, from Jesu’s veins,

Was free to take away

A Mary’s or Manasseh’s stains,

Or sins more vile than they.

5. Free to the sinner, dead to God,

Who sought the road to hell;

That trampled on a Saviour’s blood.

And on his buckler fell.

6 Triumphant grace, and man’s free will.

Shall not divide the throne; 

For man’s a fallen sinner still, 

And Christ shall reign alone.

Thomas Reed, 1835.

An interesting adaptation of Kent’s hymn is found in A Collection of Hymns, intended for the use of the citizens of Zion, by Thomas Reed in 1835. This version of the hymn has 5 stanzas. It leaves out the original 5th stanza, then revises the 6th stanza, making it the new 5th stanza. It is not clear whether this might be an attempt to mute some perceived miswording in the 6th stanza, or perhaps indicates a desire to add proclamation of the news to the hymn. The rest of Reed’s hymn book suggests he agrees with Kent’s Calvinistic theology. Reed’s stanza is as follows:

Triumphant Grace! thy mighty fame,

Shall dwell upon my tongue; 

With saints above, will I proclaim 

The wonders thou hast done.

I was unable to identify Thomas Reed – other than that he was a minister of the gospel – or his denominational affiliation.

Original Sacred Harp, 1966.

This brings us back to Kent’s hymn and its presentation in The Sacred Harp. Hugh McGraw chose to use stanzas 1, 3, and 4, introducing some differences in his stanza 1 and 3.[v] There are a few other minor differences that I will not discuss at this time.

1. Beneath the sacred throne of God

I saw a river rise,

The streams where peace and pard’ning blood

Descending from the skies.

3. That sacred flood, from Jesus’ veins,

Was free to make a way;

And Mary’s or Manasseh’s stains,

Or sins more vile than they.

Stanza 1 in The Sacred Harp has “where” in line 3 rather than “were.” This variant is found in several previous books, including some printings of Kent’s own Original Gospel Hymns.[vi] It was likely found that way in McGraw’s source. In my opinion, “were” is  the intended word in the first stanza. If Kent had meant “where,” a more likely sentence would be “The streams where peace and pard’ning blood, descended from the skies.” In fact, after printing “descending” in the 1966 and 1971 editions, the 1991 edition changed the word to “descended,” probably for that reason.

The variants in stanza 3 are “Jesus’ veins” instead of “Jesu’s veins” and “make a way; And…”[vii]  instead of “take away a…” The first is a simple modernization that appears many times before it was used in The Sacred Harp in 1966. However, the second variant is an unusual one that seems to be unique to The Sacred Harp. As of today (9 July 2023), I have checked 28 hymn (or hymn & tune) books other than Kent’s that include this hymn. None of them have this variant other than The Sacred Harp 1966/1991. It does not appear that it was copied from elsewhere, but originally printed this way in 1966.

This raises the question – is this a printing error or a deliberate modification? With Hugh McGraw no longer living, unless he left some record of it, we will probably never know. 

It seems the more common idea is that this is a printer’s error. Perhaps it is, but it seems to be an unusual one, in changing “take” to “make,” “away” to “a way,” and “A” to “And.” That embraces several changes rather than the simple slip of a letter. That at least suggests intentionality. Nevertheless, it might have been an unintended error, especially if the printer tried on his own to interpret what was written and messed it up (and then no one caught it in the editing process). On the other hand, this could encompass a slightly different theological interpretation. “Take away” expresses the work of the “sacred flood from Jesus’ veins” more sovereignly than “make a way” – which could be taken as the atonement making a way whereby man can then make a choice from his free will. One could wonder whether Hugh McGraw would be too concerned about a technical change in the theology of verse 3, though. There are texts in The Sacred Harp that might be considered as much or more Calvinistic than the 4th stanza in Kent’s hymn.

Only Hugh knows for sure. (Unless he wrote it down or told someone.)

John Kent.

Kent was born at Bideford, Devonshire in 1766. He was a shipwright by trade.[ix] He was writing poetry by 1799, since some of it was published in A Selection of Evangelical Hymns (Samuel Reece, Plymouth-Dock: J. Heydon, 1799). His own book was first published in 1803. Its popularity can be seen in its going through eight editions in his lifetime, and at least a couple more after his death.

Despite the popularity of Kent’s hymns, they seem to have gradually fallen out of general acceptance. According to John Julian (1892, p. 623), “The greatest use made of them in modern hymn-books has been by Mr. Spurgeon (O. O. H. Bk., 1866) and Mr. Snepp (Songs of G. & G., 1872).”[viii] Josiah Miller (pp. 333-334) says there are 12 Kent hymns in Spurgeon’s hymn book, some altered. Julian, however, failed to mention Gadsby’s hymn book. I found 16 Kent hymns in the 1838 edition of Gadsby’s A Selection of Hymns for Public Worship. More were added as the book was increased in size. It currently includes 53 hymns by John Kent. “Beneath the sacred throne” is not in the 1838 book, but is hymn 914 in the current edition.

The strong Calvinism of Kent’s hymns limit their use in churches that have no such a theological system. For example, Kent writes in one popular hymn:

“’Twas with an everlasting love, that God his own elect embraced; Before he made the worlds above, or earth on her huge columns placed...”

The majority of his hymns still in common use are found used among the Strict Baptists in the United Kingdom and Primitive Baptists in the United States.[x] However, the (Southern) Baptist Hymnal of 1991 (# 218) includes Kent’s “’Tis the church triumphant singing.” In Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (p. 258), Donald C. Brown writes, “Its obvious emphasis on praise made the hymn acceptable to some who rejected others of his hymns because of their Calvinistic leanings.”

I found little mention in biographical notes of the church affiliation of John Kent. However, in his son’s “Memoir of the Author” in Original Gospel Hymns and Poems (p. xxviii), (published posthumously) he mentions Kent’s worshipping at Rehoboth Chapel in Plymouth-Dock. This appears to have been an independent church (possibly Baptist or Presbyterian).

According to Duffield (English Hymns), Kent lost his sight some years before his death, which occurred on November 15, 1843. He apparently suffered a great deal. His son records many of the last thoughts of his father, including his dying words, “I am accepted—accepted.” The place of his burial is unknown to this author.

Hugh Wilson.

Hugh Wilson was born at Fenwick, Ayrshire, Scotland around 1766. He was a Scottish composer, mathematician, schoolteacher, and learned the shoemaking trade from his father. He was a member of the Secession Church that separated from the Church of Scotland, and served as precentor at the church in Duntocher. He died at Duntocher, Scotland in 1824. According to Bert Polman, before his death Hugh Wilson instructed that his music manuscripts be destroyed. Knowledge of his composing a few songs – such as Martyrdom/Avon – has survived.

The Psalter Hymnal Handbook of 1987 relates the following story of Hugh Wilson’s tune adaptation – which they call Martyrdom. (The tune has several other less common names as well.) According to this work, Martyrdom was an 18th-century Scottish folk melody used for the ballad “Helen of Kirkconnel.” Wilson adapted the folk tune into a hymn tune, circa 1800. Wilson’s tune was in duple meter. In 1825 Robert A. Smith (1780-1829) published an adaptation in triple time (3/2) in his book Sacred Music (No. 32). Later there was a legal dispute over who was the composer, which was settled for Hugh Wilson. (Wilson was no longer living at this time.) Despite the tune being credited to Wilson, the triple-time adaptation appears to be the favorite of a majority of singers and publishers. The song is more often printed in 3/4 time (as it appears in The Sacred Harp 1966/1991).

[Note on John Kent’s church affiliation, added August 1st: “John Kent was a shipwright at Plymouth Dock (now Devonport) and was a member of Dr Robert Hawker’s C of E congregation at Charles Church, Plymouth. It was said that his hymns contain the ministry of Dr Robert Hawker in verse.” David Woodruff, Strict Baptist Historical Society Librarian, 28 July 2023.]

Endnotes.

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[i] The alto shows some similarity to the alto on Avon in The Sacred Harp, 1911, J. L. White. It certainly is not a copy of it, but Hugh probably looked at it to see what ideas it might provide.
[ii] The song continues in The Sacred Harp, 1991 Revision – the successor to the Original Sacred Harp, Denson Revision.
[iii] Some later hymn books, such as Gadsby’s, add a reference to the Bible texts Ezekiel 4: 5 and Zechariah 14:8.
[iv] According to hymnologists, Kent’s hymn book first appears in 1803. It is not known whether “Beneath the sacred throne of God” was in that edition. A Selection of Evangelical Hymns by Samuel Reece, 1799, was the first book to include any of Kent’s hymns. “Beneath the sacred throne of God” is not in it. It is in Hymns Composed on Various Subjects by Joseph Hart, 1811 (No. 261), and A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors by William Williams, 1819 (No. 17).
[v] William Penrose also altered the 3rd stanza, but not in the way it is found in The Sacred Harp: “Love sent its streams through Jesu’s veins, in blood to take away…” A Selection of Hymns, 1843, Hymn 232. 

[vi] I found scans of Kent’s Original Gospel Hymns on Google Books that give it both ways, the older being “were.”
[vii] Though interpreted by the committee or printer as “away” in 1991, the text appears as “a way” in 1966 and 1971.
[viii] Fifteen hymns by Kent are listed in the index of the 1880 printing of Songs of Grace and Glory.

[ix] In “Images of Sin and Salvation in Sacred Throne,” Will Fitzgerald notes that this shipwright (builder and/or repairer of ships) uses a lot of “water imagery” in this hymn [river, streams (st. 1), deep, unfathomed sea (st. 2), ocean (st. 3), flood (st. 4)].

[x] And perhaps other Calvinistic Baptists or independent churches in England, of whom I know little of their hymn use. Other books I have found to include something by Kent are: Hymns for the Church of God (London: 1852), Little Flock Hymn Book (Wigram, Exclusive Brethren), and Trinity Hymns (London: 1876).