Once again it happened in Chicago

New article later this evening. In the meantime: 

A great old hymn, Elizabeth Clephane’s “Beneath the Cross of Jesus,” goes, “I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place . . .  content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss.”

Clephane, a Scottish woman who lived from 1830-1869, is also responsible for the classic hymn, “The Ninety and Nine.” According to Wikipedia, “Folklore claims that Elizabeth wrote ‘The Ninety and Nine’ for her brother, George Clephane (1819-1851), who had ‘returned to the flock’ only a short time before his death. As the story goes, he fell from his horse and struck his head upon a rock and was killed instantly.”

The tune is famously based on Jesus Christ’s question in Matthew 18 (also in Luke 15): “If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?”

It represents the first and most famous composition of Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908), often called the “father of the gospel song” for making the “new” type of music a major focus in his famous evangelical campaigns with D.L. Moody (The two were actually in the middle of a revival meeting when the Great Chicago Fire broke out!)

One of my hymn history books tells this great anecdote regarding "The Ninety and Nine”:

“Sankey and Moody were en route from Glasgow to Edinburgh, Scotland, in May, 1874, as they were to hold a three-day campaign there. This was at the urgent request of the Ministerial Association.

“Prior to boarding the train, Sankey bought a weekly newspaper for a penny. He found nothing of interest but a sermon by Henry W. Beecher and some advertisements. Then, he found a little piece of poetry in a corner of one column that he liked, and he read it to Moody, but only received a polite reply.

“Sankey clipped the poem and tucked it in his pocket. At the noon day service of the second day of the special series, Moody preached on The Good Shepherd. Horatius Bonar added a few thrilling words and then Moody asked Mr. Sankey if he had a final song. An inner voice prompted him to sing the hymn that he found on the train.

“With conflict of spirit, he thought, this is impossible! The inner voice continued to prod him, even though there was no music to the poem, so he acquiesced. As calmly as if he had sung it a thousand times, he placed the little piece of newspaper on the organ in front of him.

“Lifting up his heart in a brief prayer to Almighty God, he then laid his hands on the keyboard, striking a chord in A flat. Half speaking and half singing, he completed the first stanza, which was followed by four more.

“Moody walked over with tears in his eyes and said, ‘Where did you get that hymn?’ 'The Ninety and Nine' became his most famous tune and his most famous sale from that time on. The words were written by Elizabeth Clephane in 1868. She died in 1869, little realizing her contribution to the Christian world.”

*****

Wikipedia says of the Chicago trial-by-fire for Sankey and Moody, “The two men barely escaped the conflagration with their lives. Sankey ended up watching the city burn from a rowboat far out on Lake Michigan.”

In my book from 1982, “101 Hymn Stories,” author Kenneth W. Osbeck writes, “Although the singing of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs had always been an important part of public worship starting in the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation, Sankey introduced a style of congregational singing that was ‘calculated to awaken the careless, to melt the hardened, and to guide the inquiring souls to Jesus Christ.’

“It was frequently said that Sankey was as effective a preacher of the gospel of salvation with his songs as his associate, D. L. Moody, was with his sermons.

“For nearly thirty years Sankey and Moody were inseparable in the work of the gospel, both in this country and throughout Great Britain. Sankey’s smooth, cultured ways complemented and made up for Moody’s poor English and impulsiveness. They were often referred to as the ‘David and Jonathan of the gospel ministry.’

“Sankey had little or no professional voice training. He generally accompanied himself on a small reed organ, singing simply but with careful enunciation and much feeling and expression. His voice was described as an exceptionally strong baritone of moderate compass. An English newspaper once wrote the following review:

‘As a vocalist, Mr. Sankey has not many equals. Possessed of a voice of great volume and richness, he expresses with exquisite skill and pathos the gospel message, in words very simple but replete with love and tenderness, and always with a marked effect on the audience.

‘It is, however, altogether a mistake to suppose that the blessing which attends Mr. Sankey’s efforts is attributed only or chiefly to his fine voice and artistic expression. These, no doubt, are very attractive, and go far to move the affections and gratify the taste for music; but the secret of Mr., Sankey’s power lies, not in his gift of song, but in the spirit of which the song is only the expression.’

“Another writer wrote as follows regarding Sankey’s manner of singing: ‘There was something about his baritone voice that was enormously affecting. He had a way of pausing between lines on the song, and in that pause the vast audience remained absolutely silent.’ ”