It is amazing how many great hymns from history were born of
sad things and accompanying intense emotions—the death of a loved one, personal
tragedy, ailments and impairments, tremendous physical and/or mental hardships,
on and on.
I was quite surprised to learn that the author of a very
favorite hymn of mine since childhood, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” is speculated
to have actually committed suicide!
“There are conflicting reports about the death of Joseph
Scriven,” writes Helen Salem Rizk in her 1964 book, “Stories of the Christian
Hymns.” “Some authorities say he died of natural causes; others that he took
his life in a fit of melancholia. However, they all agree as to the humility
and kindness that ruled his days from the great tragedy on the eve of his marriage,
when his bride-to-be accidentally drowned, to the day of his death in 1886.”
Considered one of the ten most popular Christian hymns ever published,
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” was discovered “in a very dramatic manner,”
says Rizk. “When Scriven, who lived an extremely tragic life, was in his last
days, a friend who was sitting with him during a time of severe illness came
upon the manuscript. The friend was very impressed and wondered why it never
had been published. Scriven replied, ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus,’ has been
written by God and me to comfort my mother during a time of great sorrow.’
“He explained that he never intended that it be used by
anyone else. Strange are the ways of fate; a song written only for the life and
need of one person became the inspiration of millions!”
*****
The classic hymns, “O For a Closer Walk with God” and “There
is a Fountain Filled With Blood,” were written by the son of a clergyman,
William Cowper (born in England in 1731), who four times in his life was
committed to insane asylums; many times he attempted suicide, says Rizk.
“His sixty-nine years of life were physical torture and
mental anguish,” she writes. “The burden of his mental affliction and at times
partial insanity was lightened by his desire and ability to write . . . This
suffering man was loved by many and known to be a true Christian. He was able
to produce some of our sweetest and most spiritual hymns.
Of “There is a Fountain Filled With Blood,” she noted, “People
have sung this grand old favorite through the years. Probably unaware of the
struggle Cowper had in his life, they see only the beauty and feeling reflected
in this hymn.”
*****
For George Matheson’s “O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go,” Rizk
summarizes, “This great hymn of courage and faith was written, strangely
enough, under circumstances of tragic inner conflict and severe mental
suffering as a release from personal tragedy . . . The courage and fortitude of
Dr. Matheson (1842-1906) was evidenced by the dramatic fact that from this deep
sorrow and heartache he could write: ‘O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my
weary soul in thee.’ ”
*****
The classic of classics, “Sweet By and By,” is written by Sanford
Filmore Bennett (1836-1898). “It is said
that this entire hymn, including words by S.F. Bennett and music by J.P.
Webster, was written and composed in less than 30 minutes,” Rizk’s book
confirms. “Webster, who was subject to moods of melancholy and depression, once
visited his friend Bennett who was writing at his desk.
“Walking to the fire, Webster turned his back to his friend
without a word. When Bennett asked him what the matter was, he received the
curt reply that ‘it would be alright, by and by.’ Seizing upon the last three
words, Bennett exclaimed, ‘The sweet by and by! That would make a good title
for a hymn!’
“Whereupon, he wrote without stopping, covering the paper as
fast as his pen could go. When he finished he handed the manuscript to Webster,
who immediately sat down and composed a melody to fit the stirring words. From
this union in the village of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, the gospel hymn was born: ‘There’s
a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar, For the Father
waits, over the way, To prepare us a dwelling-place there.’ ”
*****
Proverbs 23 says, ‘For as he thinketh in his heart,
so is he.’
Jordan explains, “Your heart has a mind to it. It has a
capacity to think. Paul says in Romans 10:10: ‘For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.’
“So a part of your heart is the fact you have a will. You’re
able to choose. You can will. Believing is to choose to accept and trust something.
Your heart is where your will is, but your heart also has emotions. You can be
exceedingly sorrowful. Those three components make up your soul.
“Your constitution when God made you—the way He designed
you, you have a spirit, soul and body. Your will takes the things in your mind
and believes it, trusts it and depends on it. Your will, making a choice to
depend on something, gives that thing you’re trusting control of your life.
When your will makes the choice, your emotions can respond to your will and the
action comes out of there.
“Take the E off of emotion and what do you have? Motion. The
connecting point between your soul, your mind, your inner man and your body,
it’s sort of like the connection is involved in your emotions. What happens is
your emotions are a function of your soul that can reach into your physical
frame and stimulate it. It can shoot the adrenalin. You know, all the different
emotions.
*****
“Love and fear are the two ultimate emotions. Every other
emotion you have is a gradation of those two, and for some, a combination of
them. Your emotions are designed to make you move, get you acting, because
there’s something inside of you that’s working out of you.
“Your emotions are absolutely dumb. They have no intellect
at all. The facts of life, of a situation, do not determine your experience.
It’s how you THINK about those facts that determine your experience.
“If you were to get news that your family had been in a
horrific accident and killed, how would you feel? You’d feel devastated because
you believed a report. You have no factual evidence; all you’re doing is believing
what someone told you. The facts may be entirely different. Somebody might be
lying to you.
“When your mind is programmed by truth, then your will can
take an action based on faith and truth. And when you trust God’s Word, what
does it do? It works effectually in you that believe; having truth be what
programs your mind …
“When your mind is programmed by error, what happens is it
produces some predictable emotional responses because error always does that.
And those predictable emotional responses and desires that error produce result
in erroneous behavior.
“Romans 7. We talk about addicts. They want that feeling so
they depend on that pill (or whatever it is) to give it to them. The dependence
on that pill is controlling them. You see, anything you depend on will control
your life, so if you depend on truth, truth will control your life.
“When you sin, you’re going to respond to that sin in one of
two ways. Your response to it is going to be based upon your flesh, you resources.
And that’s what you find in Romans—a law response. The law is simply a performance-based
acceptance mentality: ‘I’ll be accepted based on my performance.’
“The law, the standard you’re performing by, might be God’s
law, might be your wife’s law, might be your law, might be your company’s . . .
It’s just, ‘I can live up to whatever it is.’
“The other way to respond is to respond in your identity in
Christ. Respond in your spirit and that would be responding on the basis of
grace. Grace is all that God is free to do through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Grace is who I am in Christ, who He is and who God’s made me in Him.
“So when I sin I have a choice. I look at what’s happened
and I say, ‘I can go to operation cover-up or I can go to operation, ‘Let’s fix
this thing.’ Every time sin is in your life, that’s the choice."
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