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Church and Organ Music [excerpt]
The words of this widely-known hymn
were amongst the last utterances of President McKinley, whose tragic
death, in common with all English-speaking people, we greatly deplore.
The hymn was written by Mrs. Sarah Adams (née Flower), born
at Harlow, Essex, February 22, 1805, and died, London, August 14,
1848. She married, in 1834, Mr. William Bridges Adams, an eminent
civil engineer. ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’ made its first appearance
sixty years ago in a collection entitled ‘Hymns and Anthems’ (1841),
edited by the Rev. W. J. Fox, minister of the Unitarian Chapel in
South Place, Finsbury, of which congregation Mrs. Adams was a member.
The hymn has been translated into many European and other languages,
and is often sung. Dr. Garnett says of it: ‘which as a simple expression
of devotional feeling at once pure and passionate, can hardly be
surpassed.’ The lyric has not, however, escaped being ‘improved,’
according to some lights. The late Bishop Walsham How re-wrote it
‘as expressing more definitely Christian faith, and better adapted
for congregational worship’! The Rev. Dr. Julian, editor of the
‘Dictionary of Hymnology,’ in commenting upon this version, says,
with subtle irony: ‘although in somewhat extensive use, it is the
least musical of Bishop How’s hymns.’
‘Nearer, my God, to Thee,’ which has
found its way into many hymnals, is an instance of the catholicity
of worship-song. Written by an Unitarian, it is sung by all sections
of the Christian church, and has touched the hearts of millions
of worshippers. An elder sister of Mrs. Adams—Miss Eliza Flower—is
well-known as the composer of ‘Now pray we for our country.’
The tune to which the words are invariably
sung is that by the late Rev. J. B. Dykes, named ‘Horbury.’ It made
its first appearance in ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’ (1861), and has
been reprinted in many collections. An extract from ‘The Life and
Letters of John Bacchus Dykes’ (John Murray, 1897), throws an interesting
light upon the composition of the tune and furnishes the origin
of its name. His biographer, the Rev. J. T. Fowler, says:—
On June 1st [1859] he visited
the Rev. John Sharp, at Horbury, and preached there. The special
object of this visit was to make his first confession. The hymn-tune
which he named ‘Horbury’ was written at this time, to the words—
“Nearer, my God, to Thee,”
and it was, to him, a perpetual reminder of the peace and comfort
he found there.
Horbury is a manufacturing village,
of some five or six thousand inhabitants, four miles south-west of
Wakefield. Another well-known hymn-tune setting of Mrs. Adams’s words
is Sullivan’s Proprior Deo, which he originally contributed
to the ‘Hymnary.’ |
