The Prayer of Cyrus Brown

Cyrus Brown and his advisers, on the posture of prayer:

THE PRAYER OF CYRUS BROWN

“The proper way for a man to pray,”
  Said Deacon Lemuel Keyes,
  “And the only proper attitude
  Is down upon his knees.”

“Nay, I should say the way to pray,”
  Said Reverend Dr. Wise,
  “Is standing straight with outstretched arms
  And rapt and upturned eyes.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” said Elder Snow;
  “Such posture is too proud.
  A man should pray with eyes fast closed
  And head contritely bowed.”

“It seems to me his hands should be
  Austerely clasped in front.
  With both thumbs pointing toward the ground,”
  Said Reverend Dr. Hunt.

“Las’ year I fell in Hodgkin’s well
  Head first,” said Cyrus Brown,
  “With both my heels a-stickin’ up,
  My head a-p’inting down;

“An’ I made a prayer right then an’ there;
  Best prayer I ever said;
  The prayingest prayer I ever prayed;
  A-standin’ on my head.”

– By Samuel Walter Foss (1858-1911)

Search After Happiness

I found the following in some old files, which I apparently wrote in June of 2020.

The Search After Happiness

The following hymn is an excerpt from A Search After Happiness: A Pastoral in Three Dialogues, written by “A Young Lady” (Hannah More), in 1762/1773.[1] In the second edition, the title was changed to The Search After Happiness: A Pastoral Drama, and this portion of the poem was expanded to seven 4-line stanzas.[2] The poem/hymn as used in The Sacred Harp and other shape-note books has some word changes, and only six stanzas (the third stanza is not used).

In later printings, the “Preface” explains the purpose of the “Pastoral Drama”:

The object of the following Poem, which was written in very early youth, was an earnest wish to furnish a substitute for the very improper custom, which then prevailed, of allowing plays, and those not always of the purest kind, to be acted by young Ladies in boarding schools. And it has afforded a serious satisfaction to the Author to learn that this little Poem, and likewise the Sacred Dramas, have very frequently been adopted to supply the place of those more dangerous amusements. If it may be still happily instrumental in promoting a regard to Religion and Virtue in the minds of young persons, and afford them an innocent, and perhaps not altogether unuseful, amusement in the exercise of recitation, the end for which it was originally composed, and the author’s utmost wish in its re-publication, will be fully answered.

In the drama this portion is sung by the character Florella, a young shepherdess.

1. While beauty and youth are in their full prime,
And folly and fashion affect our whole time;
O let not the phantom our wishes engage,
Let us live so in youth that we blush not in age.
 
2. The vain and the young may attend us a while,
But let not their flattery our prudence beguile;
Let us covet those charms that shall never decay
Nor listen to all that deceivers can say.
 
3. I sigh not for beauty, nor languish for wealth,
But grant me, kind Providence, virtue and health;
Then richer than kings, and far happier than they,
My days shall pass swiftly and sweetly away.
 
4. For when age steals on me, and youth is no more,
And the moralist Time shakes his glass at my door,
What pleasure in beauty or wealth can I find?
My beauty, my wealth, is a sweet peace of mind.
 
5. That peace! I’ll preserve it as pure as ’twas given
Shall last in my bosom an earnest of heaven;
For Virtue and Wisdom can warm the cold scene,
And sixty can flourish as gay as sixteen.
 
6. And when I the burden of life shall have borne,
And death with his sickle shall cut the ripe corn,
Reascend to my God without murmur or sigh,
I’ll bless the kind summons, and lie down and die.

The third stanza that Florella sings is:

How the tints of the rose, and the jess’mine’s perfume,[3]
The eglantine’s fragrance, the lilac’s gay bloom,
Tho’ fair and tho’ fragrant, unheeded may lie,
For that neither is sweet when Florella is by.

This is the stanza not used in songbooks. The other six stanzas are used with the tune Morality, number 136 in The Sacred Harp. It is in other shape-note tune books as well, such as The Southern Harmony. It can be found on YouTube sung at Waycross Primitive Baptist Church.

Hannah More was born February 2, 1745 in the village of Fishponds in Gloucestershire. She was a daughter of Jacob and Mary Grace More. He was a schoolmaster. She was taught by her father, then attended a girls’ school of her oldest sister Mary. Hannah later taught at the school, and wrote A Search After Happiness circa 1762.[4] She left teaching and earned most of her living through writing. After a religious conversion she became close friends of John Newton and& William Wilberforce. She was one of the most successful writers of her time. She died September 7, 1833 and is buried at All Saints Churchyard in Somerset, England.

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[1] A Search After Happiness: A Pastoral in Three Dialogues, A Young Lady, Bristol: S. Farley, 1773, pp. 30-31. The “Advertisement” in the Google version purported to be printed in 1773 strongly suggests that this is the first printed/book version of A Search After Happiness.
[2] The first printed version had 26 lines rather than 28 lines.
[3] The first version appears to have jessamine (jess’mine’s), while later versions change this to “jasmine.”

[4] The scan of the book at Google Books does not have a date printed, but it is believed to be from around 1762. However, Google Books dates it as 1766.

’Twas the Night Before... What?

“This volume is like a beautiful old picture which has come down to us in a state of extraordinary perfection.”

Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) is best known as author of the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (also known as “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.”[i] Additionally, Moore was Professor of Oriental & Greek Literature and Divinity & Biblical Learning at the General Theological Seminary in New York City – a seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church (i.e., the Anglican Church in the United States). He compiled A Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language, in Two Volumes (New York, NY: Collins & Perkins, 1809).

On November 14, 1825, Clement C. Moore gave a lecture at Christ Church in New York City. Professor Moore’s lecture was reported in the February 1826 issue of The Christian Journal and Literary Register (Vol. X, No. 2, pages 51-52). The author said Moore’s “description of the Bible is unequalled.”

“Such, my young friends, is the wonderful volume, to the study of which a large portion of the time to be passed by you in the seminary is allotted. When the difficulties of its language are surmounted, it opens an abundant store of treasures to the antiquary, the historian, the chronologer, the philologist, the grammarian, the orator, the poet, and the divine. Its entire freedom from every thing that makes the least approach to affectation; the unrivalled simplicity of its style; its admirable touches of pathos; the perfect picture of nature in its narratives and descriptions; the beautiful metaphors, allegories, and similies; the noble hymns of praise; the profound strains of penitence and prayer with which it abounds, added to its high and holy import, render it a work of a nature fitted, in every point of view, to excite the most intense interest, and to afford the most exquisite gratification. And I hope it is not presumptuous in a layman to dissuade you from being influenced by the practice of those bold critics who, by conjectural emendations of the original text, attempt to throw light upon such parts of it as the lapse of ages has rendered obscure. This volume is like a beautiful old picture which has come down to us in a state of extraordinary perfection. Some defects and blemishes, it is true, appear; but they materially hurt neither the design nor the colouring; and it is not for modern and obtrusive hands to attempt to repair the injuries done by time to such a venerable and matchless work.” 

Moore’s discourse was printed by T. and J. Swords of New York in a booklet as A Lecture Introductory to the Course of Hebrew Instruction in the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States.

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[i] The poem was first published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel on December 23, 1823. Moore later claimed authorship.

Three tombstone inscriptions

Below are three tombstone inscriptions by which I was impressed.

“Beneath this stone two sisters sleep who’ve left us here a while to weep; in bloom of youth were call’d away, transient as theirs may be our stay.”

“Death is the close of life’s alarms, the watch-light on it’s shores, the clasping in immortal arms of loved one’s gone before.”

“Beneath this dolesome veil she rests, her weary head serene, from busy life, she’s peaceful laid, no sorrows intervene.”

On Smyrna’s 150th Anniversary

A Poem.

On the sixteenth day of August
In Eighteen Hundred Seventy-Three
A church was constituted
By a neighboring presbytery.

From Zion Hill, Sparkman and Deason
Called with an urgent plea.
Seventeen souls with letters
Came forth in covenant to agree.

Elder Sparkman offered prayer,
For preservation and unity.
One hundred fifty years later
Some in covenant still agree.

May God bless these people,
May God be their light—
The Bible be their practice
God’s Spirit be their guide.

A critic of the sacred book

From “The Progress of Error” by William Cowper

And of all arts sagacious dupes invent,
To cheat themselves and gain the world’s assent,
The worst is–Scripture warp’d from its intent...

A critic on the sacred book should be
Candid and learn’d, dispassionate and free;
Free from the wayward bias bigots feel,
From fancy’s influence, and intemperate zeal...

Whatever shocks or gives the least offence
To virtue, delicacy, truth, or sense
(Try the criterion, ’tis a faithful guide),
Nor has, nor can have, Scripture on its side.

The cross once seen

From “The Progress of Error” by William Cowper

But if the wanderer his mistake discern,

Judge his own ways, and sigh for a return,

Bewilder’d once, must he bewail his loss

For ever and for ever? No–the cross!

There and there only (though the deist rave,

And atheist, if Earth bear so base a slave);

There and there only is the power to save.

There no delusive hope invites despair;

No mockery meets you, no deception there.

The spells and charms, that blinded you before,

All vanish there, and fascinate no more.

I am no preacher, let this hint suffice–

The cross once seen is death to every vice;

Else He that hung there suffer’d all his pain,

Bled, groan’d, and agonised, and died, in vain.

Ye scholars, hearken (again)

1. Ye scholars, hearken unto me,
Ye, who against my Bible be;
Ye work and toil, the “King” to foil
Therefore, its beauties do not see.

2. Ye scholars, on your letters high,
Do cause us plebes to weep and sigh;
Why fight ye so, to such lengths go
To smite the Bible hip and thigh?

3. Ye scholars, with a single eye,
Would like to wave the “King” good-bye;
Both halt and lame, ye ply your aim
New Bible versions to supply.

What Rules the World

Blessings on the hand of woman!

Angels guard her strength and grace,

In the palace, cottage, hovel,

Oh, no matter where the place.

Would that never storms assailed it,

Rainbows ever gently curled;

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Infancy’s the tender fountain,

Power may with beauty flow,

Mothers first to guide the streamlets,

From them souls unresting grow—

Grow on for good or evil,

Sunshine streamed or darkness hurled;

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Woman, how divine your mission

Here upon our natal sod;

Keep, oh, keep the young heart open

Always to the breath of God!

All true trophies of the ages

Are from mother-love impearled;

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

Blessings on the hand of women!

Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,

And the sacred song is mingled

With the worship in the sky—

Mingled where no tempest darkens,

Rainbows evermore are curled;

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.

William Ross Wallace (1819-1881) wrote “What Rules the World.” Sources indicate it was first submitted to and published in various magazines in 1865. The earliest I found it at Newspapers.com was 1873. The magazines in which the poem was published are probably not on that site.

Treasures

Treasures.
 
The following poem was written by Martha Snell Nicholson. She was born 1888 in Nance County, Nebraska, the daughter of Samuel F. Snell and Mary B. Coy. In 1919 she married Howard Wren Nicholson in Washington and thy soon moved to California. According to her obituary and various internet sources, Mrs. Nicholson was an invalid and bedridden for about 30 years before her death in 1957. She and her husband are buried at the Westminster Memorial Park in Orange County, California.
 
Of her, pastor and well-known radio teacher J. Vernon McGee wrote:

I was privileged to know the poet, Martha Snell Nicholson, and to be her pastor. She suffered terrible pain whenever her body was touched, so much so she couldn’t leave her home. Well, she wanted to be baptized by immersion. So, we went to her home and as I baptized her, lowering her into a bathtub filled with water, she screamed out in pain. It was horrible. But if you read any of her poetry, you’d never dream that she suffered so. It was God’s beautiful discipline working in her in order to bless others.

Despite her chronic illnesses (apparently she was a sickly child even from birth), she read widely and developed an enjoyment of poetry. Her suffering became a catalyst for her poetry, spiritual, biblical, and heartfelt in praising her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. WorldCat library catalog has over 2 dozen listings for Martha Snell Nicholson, including Twenty Years of Pain and Thankfulness: by One Who has Learned Songs in the Night (a small brochure).

“Treasures” is the title of the poem below, which teaches that God in his providence empties our hands of “every glittering toy” to fill them with “his own transcendent riches.” I was not aware that the poem had ever been put to music. Since it is 8s.7s. meter, I thought it would work with the well-known tune Holy Manna. Later I discovered that a gospel group called The Couriers have sung it under the title Empty Hands (the music apparently written by Tom Fettke). A lady named Mary W. Bentley has a song on YouTube titled One By One, which uses Nicholson’s poetry from “Treasures.”[i]
 
1. One by one He took them from me,
All the things I valued most,
Until I was empty-handed;
Every glittering toy was lost.
 
2. And I walked earth’s highways, grieving.
In my rags and poverty.
Till I heard His voice inviting,
“Lift your empty hands to Me!”
 
3. So I held my hands toward heaven,
And He filled them with a store
Of His own transcendent riches,
Till they could contain no more.
 
4. And at last I comprehended
With my stupid mind and dull,
That God could not pour His riches
Into hands already full!

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[i] Library records suggest that “He became sin for us,” a poem by Martha Snell Nicholson, is used with a song in Harmony Bells (G. Kieffer Vaughan, editor, Lawrenceburg, TN: James D. Vaughan Company, 1949).

God Knows

O tired heart!
God knows.
Not you nor I.
Who reach our hands for gifts
That wise love must deny.
We blunder where we fain would do our best
Until aweary, then we cry, “Do Thou the rest.”
And in His hands the tangled thread we place
Of our pour, blind weaving, with a shamed face.
All trust of ours He sacredly will keep.
So, tired heart – God knows – go thou to work or sleep.

O tired heart!
God knows.
Where we but guess,
Of unknown future years,
Their joys or bitterness.
For we are finite, limited, enfurled,
His vision in its sweep reaches from world to world.
Our hidden, complex selves, His eye doth see,
And with exceeding tenderness, weighs equally.
O wisdom infinite! O love naught can o’erwhelm!
Rest, tired heart – God knows – give unto Him the helm.

“Resignation,” or “God Knows,” was written by Hannah Coddington. I did not find any biographical information on the author, but poetry under her name appears a good bit in the late 1800s. The above poem can be found in Life of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the World’s Great Preacher (1892), Songs for the Shut-in (1893), and The Year Book of American Authors (1894). The latter book certainly suggests she was an American.

My soul, there is a country

“Peace” was written by Henry Vaughan (1621–1695). Henry Vaughan was a Welshman, born April 17, 1622, the son of Thomas Vaughan (d. 1658).[i] This Vaughan family was of Tretower Court, the parish of Llanfihangel Cwm-du, Brecknock. As a child, Vaughan was taught by a minister named Matthew Herbert. Except for his time studying in Oxford and London, Henry Vaughan resided “his entire adult life in Brecknockshire on the estate where he was born and which he inherited from his parents.” Henry Vaughan called himself a “Silurist,” signifying the heritage of natives of Brecknockshire in Wales. He also styled himself a convert of George Herbert, crediting his change of views to “the blessed man, Mr. George Herbert, whose holy life and verse gained many pious converts, of whom I am the least.” Vaughan was a poet, translator, studied law, and practiced medicine from in the 1650s until his death. “Peace” appeared in his Silex Scintillans – “The Glittering Flint,” first published in 1650 and enlarged in 1655. He published other works, including Thalia Rediviva in 1678.

Henry Vaughan married twice, first to Catherine Wise in 1646, and after her death in 1653, to her sister Elizabeth Wise (circa 1655). Henry and Catherine had four children (a son and three daughters). He died April 23, 1695, and was buried at St. Brides Churchyard in Llansantffraed, Powys, Wales.

1. My Soul, there is a country 

Afar beyond the stars, 

Where stands a winged sentry 

All skillful in the wars; 

2. There, above noise and danger 

Sweet Peace sits, crown’d with smiles, 

And One born in a manger 

Commands the beauteous files. 

3. He is thy gracious friend 

And (O my Soul awake!) 

Did in pure love descend, 

To die here for thy sake. 

4. If thou canst get but thither, 

There grows the flow’r of peace, 

The rose that cannot wither, 

Thy fortress, and thy ease. 

5. Leave then thy foolish ranges, 

For none can thee secure, 

But One, who never changes, 

Thy God, thy life, thy cure.

The poem as transcribed above exhibits modernized spellings. It is a fitting tribute to the peace of God which passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7). The author calls the reader away from earthly views and places to consider a country far from mortal sight, which by faith is seen. Vaughan’s vocabulary is simple, yet sufficient. Though not written as a hymn, the verse structure is generally 7s.6s., with an alternate rhyming pattern. The poem invites readers to sing it, and it has in fact been set to music. One pairing is with Christus Der Ist Mein Leben by Melchior Vulpius. Vulpius published this tune as a setting for the funeral hymn “Christus, der ist mein Leben” – “For Me to Live Is Jesus” – in Ein Schön Geistlich Gesangbuch (1609).

As descendants of Vaughans (Vaughns) of Wales, our family possibly has some kinship to this hymn writer.

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[i] The Dictionary of Welsh Biography states that Thomas Vaughan “married the heiress of Newton in Llansantffraed.” In letters to John Aubrey, Vaughan reveals his mother’s name as Denise Morgan, and that he had a twin brother named Thomas. (Thomas, Jr. became a rector in the Church of England.) Most biographies give Vaughan’s birth year as 1621. However, his tombstone gives his age at time of death as 73 years old. If April 17 is the correct birthday for Henry Vaughan, and if he was 73 years old when he died, then 1622 is the correct birth year. However, Vaughan seems to give the year as 1621 in one of his letters to John Aubrey.

Avoid warping scripture

Credited to William Cowper by Charles H. Spurgeon in Commenting and Commentaries. I have not located the original source.

A critic on the sacred text should be
Candid and learn’d, dispassionate and free;
Free from the wayward bias bigots feel,
From fancy’s influence and intemperate zeal;
For of all arts sagacious dupes invent,
To cheat themselves and gain the world’s assent,
The worst is—Scripture warped from its intent.

Hymn Meter Again

Here are miscellaneous comments on hymn meter that I have written or collected – some of which may need more context for clarification. I have previous posts on hymn meter HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. These may help.

Unless they are irregular[i] or have prose texts, hymns follow a “metrical” pattern – that is, the hymn meter indicates the number of syllables in the lines in each stanza of a hymn. The number corresponds to the number of syllables per line of poetry. It further, in some cases, implies a certain stress pattern, such as iambic, trochaic, dactylic, or anapestic.[ii] This pattern of syllables and stress in the text is different from the meter of the music, which is the arrangement of the rhythm into measures and signified by the time signature (a symbol at the beginning of the musical staff, e.g. 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, etc.). The hymn meter is the pattern of syllables and stresses in the text itself. While there is some relationship between the two, they are not the same thing.

The listing of meter in hymn and tune books is generally based on a four-line stanza. The named meters – e.g., Common, Long, Short – are usually quatrains (four lines).When the letter “D” follows the meter designations, the pattern is repeated (doubled). For example, rather than four lines of stanza there will be eight lines.

Another metrical variation is the hymn with a standard meter and an added chorus or refrain. Most hymnals and songbooks do not count out the number of syllables in refrains.  In this case, if a hymn is listed as “C. M. with Refrain,”[iii] it means the stanzas are Common Meter, and the refrain is in addition to and does not correspond with that. (See At the Cross for an example.)  The only way to know for sure is to count the syllables in the refrain.

Common Meter (C. M.) is often referred to as ballad meter outside of hymnals (though some make a difference in common meter and ballad meter).

M. T.  means Meter Twelves (four lines of 12 syllables per line).

William Gadsby’s A Selection of Hymns, for Public Worship uses 104th for the 10.10.11.11 pattern, 112th for L. P. M., 122nd for S. P. M., and 148th for H. M. These less common meters were related to old psalm tunes. For example, H. M. (6.6.6.6.8.8.) was the meter for the Old Version Psalm 148.

Most of the numerical symbols are reasonably intuitive, but some are not. For example, many books use the label 8.7.4. The actual pattern of the hymn is 8.7.8.7.4.7.

The numerical symbols vary in the ways they are printed in different hymnals. For example, a four-line stanza of eight syllables might be listed in any of the following ways (and probably others).

• 8s.
• 88.88
• 8.8.8.8.
• 8,8,8,8.
• 88 88

Hymns written with a particular syllabic pattern may be sung to any tune in that same pattern, as long as the poetic foot/stress conforms. For example, “How tedious and tasteless the hours” (8s.) could only with difficulty be sung with Hamburg (L. M.), though both have eight syllables per line.

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[i] Not the same from one stanza to another. Some editors call anything that does not fall into one of the more common metrical categories either “P. M.” or “Irregular.” Others distinguish between these terms, using P. M. for lyrics whose meters are definite, regular, but rare (an unusual meter that is unlikely to be matched by another hymn or tune) – as opposed to using “Irregular” to denotes lyrics whose syllable counts do not bear definition (as above, the syllable counts are not the same from one stanza to another). In this case, P. M. is “Peculiar Meter” or “Particular Meter.” Tunes labeled P. M. is usually not interchangeable with other tunes labeled P. M. However, in some books, P. M. stands for Psalm Meter, which is 8s.7s. or 8.7.8.7.

[ii] Some designations by some editors may intend to encompass rhyme patterns as well.

[iii] Or, “C. M. D. with Chorus.”

Explanation of Meter, from The Baptist Standard Hymnal

The following explanation of Meter (the author prefers the spelling “Metre” which we do not as commonly use nowadays) is taken from The Baptist Standard Hymnal, with Responsive Reading: a New Book for All Services, edited by Mrs. A. M. (Willa Ann) Townsend and published in 1924 by the Sunday School Board of the National Baptist Convention (page 6). The explanation is presumably written by the editor.

Follow the link above to also see some examples that are on the page. The examples are helpful, but contain some markings I was unable to reproduce.

METRE— EXPLAINED 

The term Metre or Meter, is a Greek word and properly belongs to poetry, from whence it is transferred to music. Metre is the Measure, or the Standard by which the long and short syllables in the verses of a hymn are rhythmically and definitely arranged into groups of syllables called poetic “Feet.” Each “Foot,” having a distinctive name, is to poetry what a measure is, in many respects, to music. Very little is known of the actual way Greek verse was adapted to singing tones, yet it is safe to assume that every long syllable was sung to a longer tone and every short syllable to a shorter tone. Modern verse is set to a larger variety of patterns of long and short tones, provided that the “Accented” Syllables match with “Accented” Tones. The regular recurrence of the “Accent” constitutes and determines the Metre of the line or verse. In a modern Hymnal a very large number of forms may be represented but the form of every hymn-tune depends on the verse-form to which it belongs. Out of four or five types of “Feet,” developed the fundamental rhythm of modern music and its types of Metre. Of the many recognized “Feet,” Iambic with lines sometimes of 10 or more syllables, Dactylic, Amphibrachic, Anapestic and Trochial are the chief types. Trochial, having the greatest extension in the variety. Syllables of two and three “Feet” are called Simple Feet. When there are four, five and six syllables in a word they are reckoned as “Double” or “Compound Feet,” though often they are resolved Into Single Feet. The most frequently used Meters are: Common Metre (C. M.), Common Hallelujah Metre (C. H. M.), Long Metre (L. M.), Long Particular Metre (L. P. M.), Hallelujah Metre (H. M.), (Short Metre (S. M.), Short Particular Metre (S. P. M.) 7s; 8s; 8s 7s; 8s 7s 4s; 10s; 10s 11s; 11s; 12s.

HOW TO KNOW WHAT METRE TO ADAPT 

Common Metre 

Common Metre is known by a stanza of four lines composed of one short unaccented syllable and one long accented syllable in each poetical foot. The syllables being in number and order as follows: 8, 6, 8, 6, that is, there are 8 syllables in first and third lines and 6 syllables in the second and fourth lines.

Iambic Feet — C. H. M. 

Common Hallelujah Metre is a stanza of six lines, each poetical foot consisting of one short unaccented syllable and one long accented syllable. The syllables each being in number and order as follows: 8, 8, 6, 8, 8, 6.

Iambic Feet — L. M.

Long Metre consists of four lines, of which each foot contains one short unaccented and one long accented syllable. Each line contains 8 syllables.

Iambic Feet — L. P. M. 

Long Particular Metre differs from Long Metre only in having six lines Instead of four, each of which contains 8 syllables.

Iambic Feet — H. M. 

Hallelujah Metre is a stanza of 6 lines with one short unaccented syllable, and one long accented syllable in each poetical measure or Musical foot. The syllables of each being in number and order as follows: 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, 8.

Iambic Feet — S. M. 

Short Metre consists of a stanza of four lines whose poetic foot is composed of two syllables — a short or unaccented syllable followed by a long or accented syllable. The syllables in number and order are as follows: 6, 6, 8, 6.

Iambic Feet — S. P. M. 

Short Particular Metre consists of six lines whose poetic foot is made up of two syllables — one short or unaccented followed by a long or accented syllable. The syllables in number and order are 6, 6, 8, 6, 6, 8.

Trochaic Feet — 7s

A stanza of Sevens consists of four lines with a poetic foot containing one long and one short syllable. The accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable. Each line contains 7 syllables.

Trochaic Feet — 7s 6s 

A stanza with a Metre thus designated consists of eight lines in Trochaic and Iambic feet.

Anapestic Feet — 8s 

A stanza of four lines with a poetical foot containing two short syllables followed by one long syllable, is known as 8s. Each line contains eight syllables and is marked 8s.

Trochaic Feet — 8s 7s 

Eights and Sevens consists of four lines with a poetic foot containing one long and one short syllable; an accented syllable is followed by an unaccented one and designated thus: 8s 7s. The syllables are as follows: 8, 7, 8, 7.

Trochaic Feet — 8s 7s 4s 

A Metre designated 8, 7, 4, differs from the Metre 8s 7s only in that it contains six lines instead of four lines; the syllables being in number and order as follows: 8, 7, 8, 7, 4, 7.

Anapestic Feet — 10s 11s 

10s 11s Metre consists of a stanza of 4 lines with 2 short syllables followed by a long syllable. The syllables in number and order are 10, 10, 11, 11, or six lines with a poetical foot consisting of one short unaccented and one long accented syllable thus: 10, 10, 10, 11, 11.

Anapestic Feet — 11s 

A Metre designated 11s, consists of a stanza of four lines with a poetical foot containing 2 short syllables followed by a long syllable, each line containing eleven syllables.

Anapestic Feet — 12s 

A Metre of twelves consists of a stanza of four lines, each containing twelve syllables with two short syllables followed by a long syllable, composing the poetical foot.

Dactylic Feet 

is just the reverse of the Anapestic, being composed of one long accented syllable followed by two short unaccented syllables.

Amphibrachic Feet 

is represented by three syllables. The first and third syllables are short, the middle syllable is long.

Us four, and no more

Plea of the narcissist:

God bless me and my wife,
Our son John -- his wife,
Us four, and no more.

The way is short

Below is an almost unreadable epitaph on a tombstone at the Isabell (Isbell) Chapel Cemetery at Sand Hill, Rusk County, Texas. The name on the tombstone is no longer visible.

The way is short, my friend,

That reaches out before us,

God’s tender heavens above us bend,

His love is smiling o’er us.

A little while is ours,

For sorrow or for laughter;

I’ll lay the hand you love in yours,

On the shore of the hereafter.

When I searched online to see if I had deciphered the reading correctly, I found it was part of a poem written by Mary Clemmer. The first four lines are on the stone at Isabell Chapel, and I found the four lines that come after.

The Stretcher Bearer

Would you be my stretcher bearers, when I can no longer stand? 
Would you each pick up a corner of my pallet in your hand? 
This burden’s just too heavy, I find I cannot bear 
Its pain, its grief, its sorrow; and so I chance to dare — 
To ask if you would carry me through valleys dark and wide; 
Then set me safely down again where peace and hope abide. 
God said His yoke was easy and His burden would be light; 
That’s surely why He sent you each to lead me through the night. 
And now I must lift others and the burdens they may bring; 
I’ll be a stretcher bearer, carrying wounded for the King.

This poem is sometimes credited to Thomas Albert Crawford (1897-1980), but his is a different poem that begins “My stretcher is one scarlet stain” – written in 1916, apparently after he was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in France. In her book Diamonds in the Dust: 366 Sparkling Devotions, Joni Eareckson Tada credits the above poem to Bev Engeldinger. I have no information on this author.

The Gospel Colors

I read the following poem in the July 2017 Voice of Faith newsletter. It is uncredited, so I don't know who wrote it. It seems designed to use colors to help kids remember some things about the gospel.

Blue is for the Son of God, who came from heaven above.
Brown is for the cross he bore, to show us his great love.
Red is for the blood he shed, to take away our sin.
White is for forgiveness, and the peace he gives within.
Green is for eternal life God gives to those who trust.
Gold is for our home above, where Jesus waits for us. 

God’s Man

I strive to be God's Man... -- A Poem by John R. Himes as found at Pulpit Poetry blogspot.

God’s Man

By John R. Himes

(Grandson of John R. Rice)

God’s man is who I long to be,

A preacher of the Gospel free!

God’s place is all I long to have,

And there a road to heaven pave!

God’s work is quite the best there is,

Transcending all that is not His!

God’s Word I’ll hide within my heart,

Consumed by fire to do my part!