CHAPTER VII

HYMNS THAT CHANGED LIVES

Twice it has been my privilege to go to the Fiji Islands, the second time just passing through on the ship. I never forgot the things told me on my first visit. A hundred years ago all over the island of Tonga the people were cannibals, but I saw Christian schools and colleges, in one of which I addressed 400 girls, from 13 to 19 years of age, who worked up to matriculation standard. When I had finished speaking they sang to me a Fijian farewell song. Then I saw these 400 big girls in their blue tunics scampering over the green, skin ebony black, teeth ivory white. Their parents were all slaves; their grandparents cannibals, but these girls burst into spontaneous singing and the words they sang were:

"What a wonderful change in my life has been made, Since Jesus came into my heart!"

--_Rev. Norman Dunning, at the Sudan Interior Mission._ --_The Christian Herald, London._

Presiding at a great meeting in City Road Chapel, London, in 1933, when the object was to inform the audience what was being done among the men of the army, the navy, and the air force by the churches, Mr. Joseph Rank opened by giving his own experience. One Sunday evening he went to hear the famous and eloquent Hugh Price Hughes, who long conducted a successful mission in London. Before he began to preach, the company sang:

"'Tis the promise of God, full salvation to give Unto him who on Jesus, His son, will believe.

"Hallelujah, 'tis done! I believe on the Son; I am saved by the blood of the crucified One."

"While singing it with the rest," said Mr. Rank, "the question came to me, 'Can you truthfully say that?' By the time we came to the chorus again, I had the peace that passeth understanding. I had the same warmed heart that John Wesley got, that Luther got, and that thousands of others got in the same way, through believing in Jesus Christ."

When Catherine Booth Made the Great Decision

A Salvation Army Band led the singing and a Salvation Army officer delivered the address at one of the three meetings held in connection with the 150th anniversary of Stockwell Green Congregational Church, London, during the summer of 1946. Very special reasons lay back of the recognition of the Salvation Army on that occasion, for in that church the wife of General William Booth made the "great decision"; and in front of the speaker was the pew bearing the number 23 where Catherine Mumford always sat with her family. She was also a teacher in its Sunday School. In that church on one June day she was converted, and on another June day she was married to the Rev. William Booth, a young Methodist minister. The future years led these two young people, one a Congregationalist and the other a Methodist, in paths of Christian service beyond their utmost dreams.

Catherine had a gloriously happy memory in the hymn which led to her conversion, and rejoiced in its emphatic assurance, as expressed by Charles Wesley:

"My God, I am Thine; What a comfort divine, What a blessing to know that my Jesus is mine! In the heavenly lamb Thrice happy I am, And my heart it doth dance at the sound of His name."

This hymn has always been popular in British Methodism, and in the latest edition of their hymn-book (1933) it is set to the tune of _Harwich_. Telford characterized it as "a hymn with an extraordinary history of blessing ever since it was written." One can easily imagine, therefore, with what delight the young convert could henceforth sing the second verse:

"True pleasures abound In the rapturous sound; And whoever hath found it hath paradise found. My Jesus to know, And to feel His blood flow, 'Tis life everlasting, 'tis heaven below."

His Song and Experience in a Coal Mine

"The greatest English poet of his age," said Dr. James Moffatt when speaking of William Cowper. But this same writer gave us some of our most cherished hymns. They are greatly beloved in our American churches as well as in his native land. Among those richly cherished and frequently used in worship is the one which deals with Divine Providence:

"God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform."

This hymn "has helped multitudes to bear up under the blows of apparently adverse fortune," we are told by W. T. Stead. Referring to the verse which reads:

"Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head,"

we are told that "It has been much used in times of danger and distress."

In confirmation of this statement, we have the experience of the Rev. Eric Kinworthy, Rotherham, England. This personal incident won first prize among six hundred hymn stories submitted to _The Methodist Recorder_, London, in a "Readers' Christmastide Symposium," December, 1946. We give the story in the words of Mr. Kinworthy, who indicated the effect it had on his life:

"As a boy in my 'teens my work was that of a pony-driver in the local coal-mine, and being a lover of horses, my work-mate and I were on good terms. Usually we were kept very busy, for two ponies and their drivers were needed to keep the colliers supplied with empty tubs, and to take away the full tubs from the coal-face.

"One afternoon, since but few of the men were at work, Captain, my pony, was well able to do the work by himself. The other pony was allowed to stay in the stables. As we went on our way to the end of the level with a full load, I was singing a hymn.

"Suddenly, there was an awful crash. We were jerked to a standstill. It was impossible to see anything until the dust cleared. In a little while, I found the roof had caved in, and resting on top of the first two tubs was a huge stone weighing about two hundredweights. Other big stones were lying around. I was badly frightened, but realized my life had been wonderfully spared from death or certain injury. If the pony had not increased his pace a moment or two before, nothing could have saved us. I had been singing a moment before--

"'God moves in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform.'

Immediately I knelt in the dust and dedicated my life to God. He had spared me for some high purpose. Today I am trying to fit in, in that great purpose, as a minister."

Decision of the "Incorrigible"

One of the great hymns of the twentieth century, and one which attained immediate popularity, the author tells us, was "written for a Consecration Service at Boston University School of Religious Education in 1926." The opening lines begin with a striking question and a significant answer:

"'Are ye able,' said the Master, 'To be crucified with me?--' 'Yea,' the sturdy dreamers answered, 'To the death we Follow Thee.'"

Many interesting stories have gathered around this hymn, written by Professor Earl Marlatt, then of the Boston University School of Theology. Among these stories, which he treasures, was one given to me by Professor Marlatt, with full permission to use the same. Therefore I give it in his own words: "One of my former students, serving as a chaplain in Sherborn Prison for Women, wrote me a letter to say that she had used this hymn in a Sunday vesper service at the prison. Two hours later she was called to the cell of one of the so-called 'incorrigibles.' The girl was very quiet now and soft-spoken.

"'I suppose you were surprised to have me call for you,' she said to the chaplain, 'and I don't wonder. I've never done much with religion. If I had I wouldn't be here, probably. That song we sang tonight made me see what the things you believe can mean to people like me. Please tell your friend, that he's never seen me, but he wrote that second verse for me.'

"She repeated the second verse from memory:

"'Are ye able to remember, When a thief lifts up his eyes, That his pardoned soul is worthy Of a place in Paradise?'

"Just thank him, please, and tell him I'll try to remember and be different."

Few hymns have so captured young people as this one, and they love to sing it. The refrain, especially, makes an appeal to them, and with glowing radiance on their faces they happily sing:

"'Lord, we are able' Our spirits are Thine, Remold them, make us, Like Thee, divine. Thy guiding radiance Above us shall be A beacon to God, To love and loyalty."

The Hymn That Wrought a Miracle

The Wembley Stadium is known as a great sports center in England. With it, however, there is associated a very remarkable story of the effect of one of our choicest hymns. English periodicals have reported this incident under the headings of "The Miracle at Wembley" and "The Song in the Stadium." Naturally the story is associated with an individual, who in this case is Mr. T. P. Ratcliffe, "the conductor in tennis flannels," and dates back to a "memorable day at the Wembley Stadium, in April, 1927, when the crowd numbered 96,000 people."

Refusing to be discouraged by the statements of his friends, that "singing at Wembley would not be a success," this leader of community singing had his great audience begin with "Pack Up Your Troubles," and followed with other popular songs of the day. The people liked it. Said he: "On my right, 48,000 waved their song-sheets and shouted 'Cheerio' to a similar number on my left."

This period of singing was about to close, when, greatly daring, the leader announced that they would, in conclusion, sing the "grand old hymn, 'Abide With Me.'" He was about to ask all to stand, when, glancing at the Royal box, he saw King George V rise and bare his head.

The hymn created a great depth of religious feeling. Said the leader, as quoted in _The British Weekly_: "Wembley became for the moment a great open air cathedral." One who knew the circumstances remarked: "If ever any felt a possible incongruity in the singing of 'Abide With Me' by almost 100,000 people on a football ground and in between two exciting parts of a game that awakened an immense sporting enthusiasm they should listen to some of the stories of the influence of that hymn under those conditions." One of those related was particularly arresting.

This concerned a man who was in a muddled condition because of drink, but the strange experience of "singing a church hymn on a football stand apparently sobered him." And an usher stated that he pulled off his cap for the final stanza.

Two years later Mr. Ratcliffe, the leader, was singing in a mission hall in the north of England, and a lady who was present asked him to her home to visit her husband. When he reached the house her husband, Bill, with shining eyes, grasped the visitor's hand, and expressed his happiness. He was the confused Wembley singer, and he thus related what happened to him: "When you sang 'Abide With Me' something snapped. I could never explain, but I felt myself a new man. The singing of the first verse recalled my Christian parents, and a godly home, while the second brought before me my unhappy wife and children. I tried to join in the third verse which was a prayer just suited to me." This is the verse which begins:

"I need Thy presence every passing hour: What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power?"

Bill's wife then explained how she was affected as she took the visitor to the window, and told how she was waiting Bill's return. She expected that when she saw him he would be "in his usual state." But as he turned the corner he was running and singing, and when he entered the house he kissed her, and, between sobs, told her what had happened.

Later years have found him in the home three times, said this visitor in the latter part of 1945. The three children were taught to call him "Uncle Tom." Each time he visited the family the little girl got the large Bible and read one of the miracles of Jesus. Then the father would put an arm around the group of children and narrate the "miracle" that happened to him at Wembley "when the football crowd sang 'Abide With Me.'" "Uncle Tom" would then sing the hymn that caused the miracle.