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Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Author: Mary Elizabeth Byrne, 188-1931; Eleanor H. Hull, 1860-1935 Meter: 10.10.9.10 Appears in 159 hymnals Lyrics: 1 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
all else be nought to me, save that thou art—
thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
2 Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord;
thou my great Father; thine own may I be;
thou in me dwelling, and I one with thee.
3 High King of heaven, when victory is won,
may I reach heaven's joys, bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all. Topics: Jesus Christ our Lord Used With Tune: SLANE Text Sources: Irish, ca. 700
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Beneath the cross of Jesus
Author: Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane, 1830-1869 Meter: 7.6.8.6.8.6.8.6 Appears in 525 hymnals Lyrics: 1 Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
the shadow of a mighty rock
within a weary land,
a home within a wilderness,
a rest upon the way,
from the burning of the noontide heat
and the burden of the day.
2 Upon the cross of Jesus
mine eyes at times can see
the very dying form of one
who suffered there for me;
and from my smitten heart with tears
two wonders I confess:
the wonders of redeeming love
and my unworthiness.
3 I take, O cross, thy shadow
for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
the sunshine of his face;
content to let my pride go by,
to know no gain nor loss,
my sinful self my only shame,
my glory all the cross. Topics: Jesus Christ our Lord Used With Tune: ST. CHRISTOPHER
Beneath the cross of Jesus
Brightest and best of the stars of the morning
Author: Reginald Heber, 1783-1826 Meter: 11.10.11.10 Appears in 912 hymnals Lyrics: 1. Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
dawn on our darkness, and lend us thine aid;
star of the east, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
2. Cold on his cradle the dewdrops are shining,
low lies his head with the beasts of the stall;
angels adore him in slumber reclining,
Maker and Monarch and Savior of all.
3. Shall we then yield him, in costly devotion,
odors of Edom, and offerings divine,
gems of the mountain, and pearls of the ocean,
myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine?
4. Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
vainly with gifts would his favor secure,
richer by far is the heart’s adoration,
dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.
5. Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;
star of the east, the horizon adorning,
guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.
Topics: Epiphany Used With Tune: MORNING STAR
Brightest and best of the stars of the morning
Blest be the King whose coming
Author: Federico F. Pagura, b. 1923; F. Pratt Green, b. 1903 Hymnal: EH1982 #74 (1985) Meter: 7.6.7.6 D Lyrics: 1 Blest be the King whose coming
is in the name of God!
For him let doors be opened,
no hearts against him barred!
Not robed in royal splendor,
in power and pomp, comes he;
but clad as are the poorest,
such his humility!
2 Blest be the King whose coming
is in the name of God!
By those who truly listen
his voice is truly heard;
pity the proud and haughty,
who have not learned to heed
the Christ who is the Promise,
who has atonement made.
3 Blest be the King whose coming
is in the name of God!
He only to the humble
reveals the face of God.
All power is his, all glory!
All things are in his hand,
all ages and all peoples,
till time itself shall end!
4 Blest be the King whose coming
is in the name of God!
He offers to the burdened
the rest and grace they need.
Gentle is he and humble!
And light his yoke shall be,
for he would have us bear it
so he can make us free. Languages: English Tune Title: VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN
Blest be the King whose coming
By the Creator, Joseph was appointed
Author: Hieronimo Casanate, d. 1700 Hymnal: EH1982 #262 (1985) Meter: 11.11.11.5 Topics: Holy Days and Various Occasions Saint Joseph (March 19) Languages: English Tune Title: BICKFORD
By the Creator, Joseph was appointed
By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered
Author: F. Pratt Green, b. 1903; Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906-1945 Hymnal: EH1982 #696 (1985) Meter: 11.10.11.10 Lyrics: 1 By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
and confidently waiting come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning,
and never fails to greet us each new day.
2 Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
O give our frightened souls the sure salvation,
for which, O Lord, you taught us to prepare.
3 And when this cup you give is filled to brimming
with bitter suffering, hard to understand,
we take it thankfully and without trembling,
out of so good and so beloved a hand.
4 Yet when again in this same world you give us
the joy we had, the brightness of your Sun,
we shall remember all the days we lived through,
and our whole life shall then be yours alone. Languages: English Tune Title: LE CÉNACLE
By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered
Bernard, of Cluny
1100 - 1199 Person Name: Bernard of Cluny, 12th cent. Hymnal Number: 624 Author of "Jerusalem the golden" in The Hymnal 1982 Bernard of Morlaix, or of Cluny, for he is equally well known by both titles, was an Englishman by extraction, both his parents being natives of this country. He was b., however, in France very early in the 12th cent, at Morlaix, Bretagne. Little or nothing is known of his life, beyond the fact that he entered the Abbey of Cluny, of which at that time Peter the Venerable, who filled the post from 1122 to 1156, was the head. There, so far as we know, he spent his whole after-life, and there he probably died, though the exact date of his death, as well as of his birth is unrecorded. The Abbey of Cluny was at that period at the zenith of its wealth and fame. Its buildings, especially its church (which was unequalled by any in France); the services therein, renowned for the elaborate order of their ritual; and its community, the most numerous of any like institution, gave it a position and an influence, such as no other monastery, perhaps, ever reached. Everything about it was splendid, almost luxurious. It was amid such surroundings that Bernard of Cluny spent his leisure hours in composing that wondrous satire against the vices and follies of his age, which has supplied—and it is the only satire that ever did so—some of the most widely known and admired hymns to the Church of today. His poem De Contemptu Mundi remains as an imperishable monument of an author of whom we know little besides except his name, and that a name overshadowed in his own day and in ours by his more illustrious contemporary and namesake, the saintly Abbot of Clairvaux.
The poem itself consists of about 3000 lines in a meter which is technically known as Leonini Cristati Trilices Dactylici, or more familiarly—to use Dr. Neale's description in his Mediaeval Hymns, p. 69—" it is a dactylic hexameter, divided into three parts, between which a caesura is inadmissible. The hexameter has a tailed rhyme, and feminine leonine rhyme between the two first clauses, thus :—
" Tune nova gloria, pectora sobria, clarificabit: Solvit enigmata, veraque sabbata, continuabit, Patria luminis, inscia turbinis, inscia litis, Cive replebitur, amplificabitur Israelitis."
The difficulty of writing at all, much more of writing a poem of such length in a metre of this description, will be as apparent to all readers of it, as it was to the writer himself, who attributes his successful accomplishment of his task entirely to the direct inspiration of the Spirit of God. "Non ego arroganter," he says in his preface, "sed omnino humiliter, et ob id audenter affirmaverim, quia nisi spiritus sapicntiae et intellectus mihi affuisset et afftuxisset, tarn difficili metro tarn longum opus con-texere non sustinuissem."
As to the character of the metre, on the other hand, opinions have widely differed, for while Dr. Neale, in his Mediaeval Hymns, speaks of its "majestic sweetness," and in his preface to the Rhythm of Bernard de Morlaix on the Celestial Country, says that it seems to him "one of the loveliest of mediaeval measures;" Archbishop Trench in his Sac. Lat. Poetry, 1873. p. 311, says "it must be confessed that" these dactylic hexameters "present as unattractive a garb for poetry to wear as can well be imagined;" and, a few lines further on, notes "the awkwardness and repulsiveness of the metre." The truth perhaps lies between these two very opposite criticisms. Without seeking to claim for the metre all that Dr. Neale is willing to attribute to it, it may be fairly said to be admirably adapted for the purpose to which it has been applied by Bernard, whose awe-stricken self-abasement as he contemplates in the spirit of the publican, “who would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven," the joys and the glory of the celestial country, or sorrowfully reviews the vices of his age, or solemnly denounces God's judgments on the reprobate, it eloquently pourtrays. So much is this the case, that the prevailing sentiment of the poem, that, viz., of an awful apprehension of the joys of heaven, the enormity of sin, and the terrors of hell, seems almost wholly lost in such translations as that of Dr. Neale. Beautiful as they are as hymns, "Brief life is here our portion," "Jerusalem the Golden," and their companion extracts from this great work, are far too jubilant to give any idea of the prevailing tone of the original. (See Hora Novissima.)
In the original poem of Bernard it should be noted that the same fault has been remarked by Archbishop Trench, Dean Stanley, and Dr. Neale, which may be given in the Archbishop's words as excusing at the same time both the want, which still exists, of a very close translation of any part, and of a complete and continuous rendering of the whole poem. "The poet," observes Archbishop Trench, "instead of advancing, eddies round and round his object, recurring again and again to that which he seemed thoroughly to have discussed and dismissed." Sac. Lat. Poetry, 1873, p. 311. On other grounds also, more especially the character of the vices which the author lashes, it is alike impossible to expect, and undesirable to obtain, a literal translation of the whole. We may well be content with what we already owe to it as additions to our stores of church-hymns.
-John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Bernard of Cluny, p. 137, i., is best described thus: his place of origin is quite uncertain. See the Catalogue of the Additional MSS. of the B. M. under No. 35091, where it is said that he was perhaps of Morlas in the Basses-Pyrenees, or of Morval in the Jura, but that there is nothing to connect him with Morlaix in Brittany. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
Bernard, of Cluny
Johann Sebastian Bach
1685 - 1750 Person Name: Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750 Hymnal Number: 46 Harmonizer of "O WELT, ICH MUSS DICH LASSEN" in The Hymnal 1982 Johann Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach into a musical family and in a town steeped in Reformation history, he received early musical training from his father and older brother, and elementary education in the classical school Luther had earlier attended.
Throughout his life he made extraordinary efforts to learn from other musicians. At 15 he walked to Lüneburg to work as a chorister and study at the convent school of St. Michael. From there he walked 30 miles to Hamburg to hear Johann Reinken, and 60 miles to Celle to become familiar with French composition and performance traditions. Once he obtained a month's leave from his job to hear Buxtehude, but stayed nearly four months. He arranged compositions from Vivaldi and other Italian masters. His own compositions spanned almost every musical form then known (Opera was the notable exception).
In his own time, Bach was highly regarded as organist and teacher, his compositions being circulated as models of contrapuntal technique. Four of his children achieved careers as composers; Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Chopin are only a few of the best known of the musicians that confessed a major debt to Bach's work in their own musical development. Mendelssohn began re-introducing Bach's music into the concert repertoire, where it has come to attract admiration and even veneration for its own sake.
After 20 years of successful work in several posts, Bach became cantor of the Thomas-schule in Leipzig, and remained there for the remaining 27 years of his life, concentrating on church music for the Lutheran service: over 200 cantatas, four passion settings, a Mass, and hundreds of chorale settings, harmonizations, preludes, and arrangements. He edited the tunes for Schemelli's Musicalisches Gesangbuch, contributing 16 original tunes. His choral harmonizations remain a staple for studies of composition and harmony. Additional melodies from his works have been adapted as hymn tunes.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
Johann Sebastian Bach
William Bright
1824 - 1901 Person Name: William Bright, 1824-1901 Hymnal Number: 337 Author of "And now, O Father, mindful of the love" in The Hymnal 1982 Bright, William, D.D., born at Doncaster, Dec. 14, 1824, and educated at University College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. (first class in Lit. Hum.) in 1846, M.A. in 1849. In 1847 he was Johnson's Theological Scholar: and in 1848 he also obtained the Ellerton Theological Essay prize. He was elected Fellow in 1847, and subsequently became Tutor of his College. Taking Holy Orders in 1848, he was for some time Tutor at Trinity College, Glenalmond; but in 1859 he returned to Oxford, and in 1868 became Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Canon of Christ Church. His publications include:—
(1) Ancient Collects, selected from various Rituals, 1857, 2nd ed., 1862; (2) History of the Church from the Edict of Milan to the Council of Chalcedon, 1860; (3) Sermons of St. Leo the Great on the Incarnation, translated with notes, 1862; (4) Faith and Life, 1864-66; (5) Chapters of Early English Church History, 1877; (6) Private Prayers for a Week; (7) Family Prayers for a Week; (8) Notes on the Canons of the First tour Councils. He has also edited (9) Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, 1872; (10) St. Athanasius's Oration against the Arians, &c, 1873; (11) Socrates' Ecclesiastical Hist.; (12) with the Rev. P. G. Medd, Latin Version of the Prayer Book, 1865-69. His poetical works are, (13) Athanasius and other Poems, by a Fellow of a College, 1858; and (14) Hymns & Other Poems, 1866; revised and enlarged, 1874. The last two works contain original hymns and translations. To the hymn-books he is known through his original compositions, seven of which are given in the revised edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern and some are found elsewhere. In addition to “And now the wants are told," and "At Thy feet, O Christ, we lay" (q.v.), there are:—
1. And now, 0 Father, mindful of the love. Holy Communion. Published in Hymns Ancient & Modern1875. Part of a composition in his Hymns, &c.
2. Behold us, Lord, before Thee met. Confirmation. Printed in the Monthly Packet, Nov. 1867, and, in a revised form, in the Appendix to Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1868.
3. How oft, O Lord, Thy face hath shone. St. Thomas. Published in Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1875.
4. Once, only once, and once for all. Holy Communion. Written in 1865, and published in his Hymns, &c, 1866, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines. It was given in the Appendix to Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1868; the new edition, 1875, and several other collections.
5. We know Thee, Who Thou art. Prayer after Pardon. Written in 1865, and published in his Hymns , &c, 1866, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. It was included in the Appendix to Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1868, &c.
Canon Bright's hymns merit greater attention than they have received at the hands of compilers. He died March 6, 1901.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Bright, William, p. 182, i. Other hymns in common use are:—
1. God the Father, God the Son. Litany of the Resurrection. Second stanza, "Risen Lord, victorious King." From Iona, &c, 1886.
2. Pie sat to watch o'er customs paid. St. Matthew. In the 1889 Supplemental Hymns to Hymns Ancient & Modern.
3. Holy Name of Jesus. Name of Jesus. From Iona, &c., 1886.
4. Now at the night's return we raise. Evening. Rugby School Hymn Book, 1876, and others.
5. Thou the Christ for ever one. Mission to the Jews. In the 1889 Supplemental Hymns to Hymns Ancient & Modern.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
William Bright
