Above:  St. Peter and St. Paul Episcopal Church, Marietta, Georgia, August 15, 2017

Photographer = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

Text (1740) by John Cennick (1718-1755)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Be with me, Lord, where’er I go,

Teach me what wouldst have me do;

Suggest  whate’r I think or say,

Direct me in the narrow way.

+++++

Prevent me lest I harbor pride,

Lest I in my own strength confide;

Show me in my weakness, let me see

I have my power, my all, from Thee.

+++++

Enrich me always with Thy love,

My kind Protector ever prove:

Lord, put Thy seal upon my breast,

And let Thy Spirit on me rest.

+++++

Assist and teach me how to pray,

Incline my nature to obey;

What Thou abhorest, let me flee,

And only love what pleaseth Thee.

+++++

O may I never do my will,

But Thine, and only Thine, fulfill;

Let all my time and all my ways,

Be spent and ended to Thy praise.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Abyssian Pilgrims at Jerusalem, February 16, 1899

Photographer = Benjamin West Kilburn

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsca-10654

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

Words (1742) by John Cennick (1718-1755)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Children of the heavenly King,

As ye journey, sweetly sing;

Sing your Saviour’s worthy praise,

Glorious in His works and ways.

+++++

We are traveling home to God

In the way the fathers trod;

They are happy now, and we

Soon their happiness shall see.

+++++

Lift your eyes, ye sons of light,

Zion’s city is in sight;

There our endless home shall be,

There our Lord we soon shall see.

+++++

Fear not, brethren; joyful stand

On the borders of your land;

Jesus Christ, your Father’s Son,

Bids you undismayed go on.

+++++

Lord, obediently we go,

Gladly leaving all below;

Only Thou our Leader be,

And we still will follow Thee.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Alpha and Omega

Image in the Public Domain

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

Words (1741) by John Cennick (1718-1755)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hail, Alpha and Omega, hail,

Thou Author of our faith,

The Finisher of all our hopes,

The Truth, the Life, the Path.

+++++

Hail, First and Last, Thou great I AM,

In whom we live and move;

Increase our little spark of faith,

And fill our hearts with love.

+++++

O, let that faith which Thou hast taught,

Be treasured in our breast;

The evidence of unseen joys,

The substance of our rest.

+++++

Then shall we go from strength to strength,

From grace to greater grace;

From each degree of faith to more,

Till we behold Thy face.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Logo of the Moravian Church

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923), Moravian Church in America

Words by John Cennick (1718-1755)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lamb of God beloved,

Once for sinners slain,

Thankful we remember

What Thou didst sustain;

Nothing Thee incited

But unbounded grace,

To bear condemnation

In the sinner’s place.

+++++

I with sacred sorrow

View Mount Calvary;

But my soul rejoces

O’er Thy death for me;

Since Thou by Thy passion

Didst for me atone,

Take me as an offering,

Thine I’ll be alone.

+++++

In Thy wounds, O Jesus,

I have found true peace;

Thou in all distresses

Art my hiding-place;

Unto Thee I’ll ever

Look with humble faith,

And rejoice, and glory

In Thy wounds and death.

+++++

I unworthy sinner

Lie before Thy throne;

Though I scarce am able

To express, I own,

All my wants, dear Saviour,

Yet Thou know’st them well;

Now in me the counsel

Of Thy love fulfill.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

To me, to all, Thy bowels move–

Above:  Jacob Struggling with the Angel, from the Gutenberg Bible 

Image in the Public Domain

Text (published in 1742) by Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Hymn Source = Robert Guy McCutchan, Our Hymnody:  A Manual of The Methodist Hymnal (1937), pages 336-337

Here we have what is, according to reputation, the finest text (original title = “Wrestling Jacob”) by Charles Wesley, one of the greatest English hymn writers.  It is certainly a fine work of literature and theology, one renowned during his lifetime and afterward.  The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) prints all 14 stanzas, with only slight alteration.  The most obvious change, dating to 1893, is in the stanza that begins with “‘Tis Love! ’tis Love!  Thou diedst for me.”  In that verse, in the original version, one reads,

Thy nature and Thy name is love.

I can confirm, based on my library, that the divine bowels moved in A Collection of Hymns for Public, Social, and Domestic Worship (Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1847;  Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes for the Use of Christian Congregations (Henry Ward Beecher, 1855);  A Collection of Hymns and Tunes for Public, Social, and Domestic Worship (Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1874); and The Presbyterian Hymnal (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1874).

Since 1893, however, as Brian Wren informs me, “Thy mercies” have moved instead.

This is a case study in changing idioms–in this case, the bowels as the seat of emotion.  One finds such language in the original texts of the Bible.  Modern Biblical translators modernize the idiom, fortunately.  We retain vestiges of the idiom in modern English usage; we speak and write of “gut feelings,” for example.  As grateful as I am for the updating of the archaic idiom for the sake of clarity, I also care about what the author wrote.  I, therefore, having access to what Wesley wrote, share it here.

Brian Wren, in his excellent and informative Praying Twice:  The Music and Words of Congregational Song (2000), cites the alteration of this hymn in Chapter Nine,

“To Me, to All, Thy Bowels Move”:  Why Do They Keep Changing the Good Old Hymns?

It is a memorable title for a thorough and critical (in the highest sense of that word) chapter.  I advise reading it.

As for this hymn and the reasons for its long-lasting reputation, I defer to the companion volume to The Methodist Hymnal (1966) for analysis:

The construction of the poem is as clear as its language is crisp, compact, and powerful.  The first 8 sts. set forth with mounting pathos the anguished cry of man–not “Who am I” but “Who art Thou?”  The last 6 with glad assurance provide the full answer, each ending with the line Thy nature and thy name is love.

–Emory Stevens Bucke, ed., Companion to the Hymnal (1970), page 150

Yet since most congregations that sing the hymn sing only a few stanzas, they will not notice the organization of the full poem.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Come, O thou Traveler unknown,

Whom still I hold, but cannot see,

My company before is gone,

And I am left alone with Thee;

With Thee all night I mean to stay,

And wrestle till the break of day.

+++++

I need not tell Thee who I am,

My misery or sin declare,

Thyself has called me by my name,

Look on Thy hands and read it there;

But who, I ask Thee, who art Thou?

Tell me Thy name, and tell me now.

+++++

In vain Thou strugglest to get free,

I never will unloose my hold;

Art Thou the Man that died for me?

The secret of Thy love unfold;

Wrestling, I will not let Thee go

Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

+++++

Wilt Thou not yet to me reveal

Thy new unutterable name?

Tell me, I still beseech Thee, tell;

To know it now resolved I am;

Wrestling, I will not let Thee go

Till I not let Thee go

Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

+++++

‘Tis all in vain to hold Thy tongue,

Or touch the hollow of my thigh;

Though every sinew be unstrung,

Out of my arms Thou shalt not fly;

Wrestling, I will not let Thee go

Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

+++++

What though my shrinking flesh complain,

And murmur to contend so long,

I rise superior to my pain,

When I am weak then I am strong;

And when my all of strength shall fail,

I shall with the God-man prevail.

+++++

My strength is gone, my nature dies,

I sink beneath Thy weighty hand,

Faint to revive, and fall to rise;

I fall, and yet by faith I stand–

I stand, and will not let Thee go

Till I Thy name, Thy nature know.

+++++

Yield to me now, for I am weak,

But confident, in self-despair;

Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,

Be conquer’d by my instant prayer:

Speak, or Thou never hence shalt move,

And tell me if Thy name is Love?

+++++

‘Tis Love! ’tis Love!  Thou diedst for me;

I hear Thy whisper in my heart;

The morning breaks, the shadows flee,

Pure Universal Love Thou art;

To me, to all Thy bowels move–

Thy nature and Thy name is Love.

+++++

My prayer hath power with God; the grace

Unspeakable I now receive;

Through faith I see Thee face to face–

I see Thee face to face and live;

In vain I have not wept and strove;

Thy nature and Thy name is Love.

+++++

I know Thee, Saviour, who Thou art–

Jesus, the feeble sinner’s Friend;

Nor wilt Thou with the night depart,

But stay and love me to the end;

Thy mercies never shall remove–

Thy nature and Thy name is Love.

+++++

The Sun of Righteousness on me

Hath rose with healing in His wings;

Wither’d my nature’s strength, from Thee

My soul its life and succor brings;

My help and Thy name is Love.

+++++

Contented now upon my thigh

I halt, till life’s short journey end;

All helplessness, all weakness, I

On Thee alone for strength depend;

Nor have I power from Thee to move–

Thy nature and Thy name is Love.

+++++

Lame as I am, I take the prey,

Hell, earth, and sin with ease o’ercome;

I leap for joy, pursue my way,

And as a bounding hart fly home,

Through all eternity to prove

Thy nature and Thy name is Love.

Above:  Snow-Covered Trail, Seward, Alaska, 1916

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-01960

Text (1769; published in 1772) by William Cowper (1731-1800)

Hymn Source #1  = The Hymnal (1941), Evangelical and Reformed Church

Hymn Source #2 = The Hymnal 1940 Companion (1949), The Episcopal Church

The original text was six stanzas long.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

O for a closer walk with God,

A calm and heavenly frame,

A light to shine upon the road

That leads me to the Lamb.

+++++

Where is the blessedness I knew,

When first I saw the Lord?

Where is the soul-refreshing view

Of Jesus, and his word?

+++++

What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!

How sweet their memory still!

But they have left an aching void

The world can never fill.

+++++

Return, O Holy Dove, return,

Sweet messenger of rest;

I hate the sins that made Thee mourn,

And drove Thee from my breast.

+++++

The dearest idol I have known,

Whate’er that idol be,

Help me to tear it from Thy throne,

And worship only Thee.

+++++

So shall my walk be close with God,

Calm and serene my frame;

So purer light shall mark the road

That leads me to the Lamb.

Above:  Twelve Apostles

Image in the Public Domain

Original German Text (1738) by Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760)

English Translation (1746), recast in 1788

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jesus’ love unbounded

None can e’er explain,

Yet we His disciples

Often cause Him pain;

Even they forget Him

Who have seen His face,

Even they still grieve Him

Who enjoy His grace.

+++++

While we Thy past dealings

Gratefully review,

We’re assured, Thy mercies

Are each morning new;

Pardon our transgressions,

Hear our earnest cry;

Us in soul and body

Heal and sanctify.

+++++

All our days, O Jesus,

Hallow unto Thee;

May our conversation

To Thy honor be;

Let us all experience,

To the end of days,

Thy abiding presence

‘Midst Thy chosen race.

Above:  A Crucifix, Which I Have Donated to My Parish Library Since I Took This Picture

Image Source = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Original German Text (1721) by Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760)

English Translation (1738) by John Wesley (1703-1791)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

O Thou, to Whose all-searching sight

The darkness shineth as the light!

Search, prove my heart; it pants for Thee;

O, burst these bonds, and set it free.

+++++

Wash out its stains, refine its dross;

Nail my affections to the Cross;

Hallow each thought; let all within

Be clean, as Thou, my Lord, art clean.

+++++

If in this darksome wild I stray,

Be Thou my Light, be Thou my Way;

No foes, no violence I fear,

No harm, while Thou, my God, art near.

+++++

Teach me where’er Thy steps I see,

Dauntless, untired, to follow Thee;

O let Thy hand support me still,

And lead me to Thy holy hill.

+++++

If rough and thorny be my way,

My strength proportion to my day;

Till toil, and grief, and pain shall cease

Where all is calm and joy and peace.

Above:  Pentecost Dove, May 24, 2015

Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

Original German Text (1732) by Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760)

English Translation (1789) by John Swertner (1746-1813)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jesus, by the Holy Spirit

May we all instructed be;

Sanctify us by the merit

Of Thy blest humanity.

+++++

Grant that we may love Thee truly;

Lord, our thoughts and actions sway,

And to every heart more fully

Thy atoning power display.

+++++

Lead us so that we may honor

Thee, the Lord our Righteousness,

And bring fruit to Thee, the Donor

Of all gospel-truth and grace.

Above:  All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia, May 8, 2016

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Original German Text (1737) by Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760)

English Translation (1808)

Hymn Source = Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum) (1923)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

O Jesus, my Lord,

For ever adored,

My Portion, my All,

At Thy holy feet with abasement I fall.

+++++

As sure as I prove

Thy mercy and love,

As Thou life didst gain

For me, and my comfort dost ever remain,–

+++++

So sure may I be

Devoted to Thee,

And cheerfully stand,

Prepared to comply with Thy every command.

+++++

Keep me through Thy power

So minded each hour,

That I naught beside

May know but Thee only, and Thee Crucified.

+++++

Soul, spirit and mind

To Thee be resigned,

Thy throne there erect,

Till Thou Thy whole purpose in me dost effect.

+++++

Make me Thine abode,

A temple of God,

A vessel of grace,

Prepared for Thy service, and formed to Thy praise.

+++++

The covenant is made

With Thee as my Head;

Lord, grant my request,

To love and to serve Thee, till with Thee I rest.