Come, Ye Disconsolate

For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up;
they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me:
O Lord, make haste to help me.
~ (Psalm 40:12-13)



Every person, at some point (and probably many) in life, will know profound sorrow and anguish. It may be the passing of a loved one, some material or financial devastation, or a diagnosis of serious illness. It may be the dashing of one's hopes and dreams: the failure of a business venture, or worse, the breakup of a marriage. Or it may be the guilt, shame, and regret that usually follow upon gravely sinful conduct. Whatever it is, the sufferer may be crushed by feelings of loneliness, helplessness, and hopelessness--unless he or she finds someone who can sympathize, ease the burden, and provide encouragement and hope.

One of the most precious truths we know is that such comfort is available to every person, without condition, 24/7: our very own Savior and brother Jesus Christ. He entreats us to  "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)  He is our advocate with the Father, our "great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God . . . we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)

So we are reminded in one of the greatest hymns of reassurance, Come, Ye Disconsolate. The text was written in 1816 by Thomas Moore (1779-1852), an Irish-born poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer. Under the title "Relief in Prayer," it was first published that same year in Moore's Sacred Songs, Duets and Trios, one of 32 hymn texts in that collection.

Thomas Moore, 1817

We don't often see the word "disconsolate" in modern American usage; it has been defined as "without consolation or solace; hopelessly unhappy; inconsolable."  At least outwardly, Thomas Moore's career  was not of the sort one would expect to engender despair.  Son of a Dublin grocer, Moore initially studied law but achieved fame, even as a young man, once he turned his talents to poetry, music, and the performing arts. He married an actress, traveled extensively in Europe and America, and was a widely read poet, playwrite, songwriter, biographer, novelist, and social critic. He also became a popular society figure in London, hobnobbing with the Prince of Wales and performing for the future Queen Victoria. He is still fondly remembered today for the lyrics to the Irish patriotic song The Minstrel Boy, as well as those to such romantic songs as The Last Rose of Summer and Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms. Nevertheless, his personal life was dogged by tragedy, including the deaths of all his five children within his lifetime, and a stroke in later life, which disabled him from performances--the activity for which he was most renowned.

Thomas Hastings

While Moore's career flourished, "Relief in Prayer" remained obscure until it was reworked in 1831 by American composer and choir master Thomas Hastings (1784-1872). He was born in Connecticut, moving with his family at the age of two to Clinton, Oneida County, New York. There, amid rough frontier life, his opportunities for education were small; but at an early age he developed a taste for music, and began teaching it in 1806. Seeking a wider field, he went, in 1817, to Troy, then to Albany, and in 1823 to Utica, New York, where he directed the Oneida County Choir and was editor of a religious magazine, The Western Recorder. In 1832 Hastings was invited by twelve churches to come to New York City to improve their psalm singing. He stayed there the rest of his life, composing, writing, teaching, and directing. He was a prolific writer of hymn tunes, and what fellow hymnist Lowell Mason called the "simple, easy, and solemn" style of his music remains a major influence on the hymns of the Protestant churches to this day. Hastings is best remembered today as the composer of TOPLADY, the tune for the hymn Rock of Ages.

Hastings made a few minor changes to the first and second stanzas of Moore's text, and substituted his own third stanza, when he published the hymn under the title Come, Ye Disconsolate in Spiritual Songs for Social Worship (Utica, New York: 1831-32), compiled by Hastings and Lowell Mason. It is generally agreed that these changes made Moore's poem easier to sing and more suitable for evangelical church use. [See Kenneth W. Osbeck, Amazing Grace: 365 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions, Kregel Publications 1990, 2002, p. 199]

Samuel Webbe, Sr.

For the hymn's tune, Hastings adapted one originally set for solo voice to the Marian hymn "Alma redemptoris mater" by English composer and organist Samuel Webbe, Sr. (1740-1816) in his Collection of Motetts or Antiphons (1792).  The tune is now generally known as CONSOLATION, although it is sometimes given as ALMA or CONSOLATOR.

The version of the text below, found in modern hymnals, incorporates the changes to Moore's original words (which can be read here) made by Thomas Hastings:

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
"Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure."

Here see the Bread of Life, see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove.

Here is Come, Ye Disconsolate as it appeared in Hastings' 1831 collection Spiritual Songs for Social Worship:

  

 Here is a presentation in a more modern notation style:

REFLECTIONS

Come, Ye Disconsolate is an invitation, a call for sufferers and sinners to come to Christ and find healing (st. 1), hope, and comfort (st. 2), and to enjoy spiritual sustenance in the feast of the Lamb (st. 3). The text emphasizes the consolation that Christ offers to those who turn to him in faith. To Him we may bring our anguish, and cast upon Him all our cares (1 Peter 5:7). Comfort and salvation are promised to sinners who approach Him in repentance (2 Cor. 7:10; John 14:16-18). Indeed, Jesus Himself is the bread of life who gives life unto the world (John 6:32-33); it is through Him that we can see the waters flowing from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1-2) and are able to participate in the "feast of love," the bounty of joy in oneness with God that looks forward to the eternal marriage feast (Rev. 19:9). Come, Ye Disconsolate surely ranks as one of the most moving hymns of consolation and reassurance, along with such treasures as It is Well With My Soul.

COMFORT IN THE DARKNESS OF WAR

We know the great impact that hymns can have on the lives of individuals: sparking eternal insights, stirring emotions, creating precious memories of childhood, family, and home. Sometimes, one hymn can have a deep and lasting effect on the lives of many who hear it at the same time, and thus on history itself. And so it was with Come, Ye Disconsolate.

On the night of July 2, 1863, at the height of the American Civil War, as many as four thousand dead and wounded soldiers carpeted the 26 acres of the (now) infamous "Wheat Field," where some of the most vicious fighting of the Battle of Gettysburg had just taken place between the Army of the Potomac (Union) and and the Army of Northern Virginia (Confederate). As darkness gathered, the field became a macabre “no-man’s land” between the exhausted armies. As reported by Cpt. George Hillyer of the Ninth Georgia Infantry regiment, which spent the night lying within earshot of the Wheat Field after being beaten back from the nearby hill known as Little Round Top, one of the men between the lines began to sing, loudly enough to be heard on both sides.

“He was probably a boy raised in some religious home in the South,” Hillyer recalled later, “where the good old hymns were the standard music.” There were “thousands of desperately wounded men lying on the ground within easy hearing of the singer,” the captain observed,“ and as his voice rang out like a flute . . . not only the wounded, but also five or ten thousand and maybe more of the men of both armies could hear and distinguish the words.”  The lines that they heard had been penned four decades earlier by an Irish poet named Thomas Moore and then set to music and published in 1831:

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish; / Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel; / Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish; / Earth has no sorrow that heav’n cannot heal.

When the unidentified man finished singing, thousands of soldiers on both sides clapped and cheered.  [See Robert Tracy McKenzie, "The Battlefield at Gettysburg–Final Reflections" (November 1, 2013);  Allen C. Guelzo, Gettysburg: The Last Invasion (Vintage Books, 2013), p. 570]

Union dead at on the Gettysburg battlefield

VIDEO PRESENTATIONS

Several high-quality video renditions of Come, Ye Disconsolate can be found online, although there seems to be a trend to re-arrange the Webbe-Hastings tune or give the hymn an entirely new musical setting. This writer prefers the hymn as originally set, but the modern efforts are also impressive.

In the video below, the hymn is sung beautifully to the traditional tune CONSOLATION, by an unidentified choir. The Moore-Hastings text is included, so it's easy to follow along.



The performance below is by Freddie Ashby, Hope Shepherd, and Daron Bradford to a more reflective, plaintive arrangement. The video itself is beautiful and moving, as is the orchestration:



Yet another touching modern arrangement, by contemporary Christian composer and producer Rob Gardner, is sung in the video below by Loni Hawkins.

* * * * *

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death,

neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain:

for the former things are passed away.

(Rev. 21:4)

All Things Bright and Beautiful

Autumn, in much of the United States and Canada, immerses us in brilliantly colored leaves and flowers, cool breezes, and spicy fragrances. The summer haze has given way to stunning sunsets and crystal clear nights, and a new arrangement of stars is unfolding in the sky. Geese begin their annual migration south, while squirrels, deer, and many other animals are moving about, eating all they can, and getting ready for the coming of winter. As in springtime, we thrill again to the wonder and beauty of God's creation.

There are many people who can see and even appreciate this magnificent thing we call Creation, but can't bring themselves to acknowledge that it had a Creator. They believe that it all came from nothing and resulted by pure accident. Could the Pieta have sculpted itself?  Did the Mona Lisa really spring forth from random molecular collisions?  Creation is infinitely more vast, complex, and compelling than these works, as wondrous as they are; how could it have been brought into being without a Mind to so masterfully organize all that matter and space, and the intricate laws that govern them?

Scripture only declares what we should already know by observation and insight: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork."  (Psalm 19:1) As St. Paul observed, "[t]he invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse . . ."  (Romans 1:20)  When we pause to reflect on these profound truths, we're apt to say with the Psalmist: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (Psalm 8:3)

Children seem to intuitively understand the divine authorship of Creation, and are awed--yet comfortable--with it. Perhaps this was part of the insight behind one of the sweetest Christian hymns, All Things Bright and Beautiful.

THE TEXT AND ITS LEGACY

Cecil Frances Alexander

The text was written in 1848 by English writer and poet Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), the wife of Anglican clergyman William Alexander, who later became Primate of All Ireland. It has been said that Mrs. Alexander was inspired to write this hymn when trying, with difficulty, to teach a group of children the meaning of the Apostles' Creed. When traditional teaching methods failed, she decided to write a series of hymns based on selected passages in the Creed.  She developed All Things Bright and Beautiful from the phrase, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth."  That may be more abstract than the typical child can appreciate, but the text of the hymn expresses this fundamental truth in terms familiar to a child's (as well as an adult's) experience and interest. Here are the original words (today, due to its seeming endorsement of the class system, the stanza referring to "the rich man in his castle" is generally omitted):

Refrain

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

Refrain

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

Refrain

The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.

Refrain

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

Refrain

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.

Refrain

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

Refrain

This hymn celebrates the wonders of Nature that fascinate children and adults alike: flowers, birds, mountains, rivers, trees, meadows, sunshine, sunsets, wind. But its central teaching is that "The Lord God made them all"--and made them well!

Mrs. Alexander wrote more hymns to illustrate other elements of the Apostles' Creed, including Once in Royal David's City, and There Is a Green Hill Far Away. She published these and others in a collection entitled Hymns for Little Children in 1848.  It was enormously successful and went through 69 editions during her lifetime and 100 editions altogether. Mrs. Alexander donated the profits from Hymns for Little Children to a school for the deaf, adding to her other endeavors supporting a ministry to unwed mothers and establishing a district nursing service.

It has also been suggested that All Things Bright and Beautiful may have been inspired by a verse from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: "He prayeth best, who loveth best; All things great and small; For the dear God who loveth us; He made and loveth all." (the verse appears in the graphic at right)

Llanwenarth House

The place of the hymn's composition also figures in its story. It has been claimed that Mrs. Alexander wrote All Things Bright and Beautiful while staying at Llanwenarth House in Govilon, in the Usk valley of Monmouthshire, Wales.  In this connection, the refrain "the purple headed mountains, the river running by," may refer to the Sugar Loaf and Blorenge mountains and the River Usk (interestingly, Llanwenarth House was sold in 2012). The place of composing the hymn's text has also been attributed to Markree Castle in County Sligo, Ireland, and to Mineheadand the nearby village of Dunster in Somerset, England.

Along the River Usk

While Mrs. Alexander's hymn continued to be widely sung through the years since its publication, it gained greater notoriety when English veterinarian James Herriot, at the suggestion of his young daughter, named his first book All Creatures Great and Small, after a phrase in the hymn's refrain. He later wrote three more books named after the other three lines of the refrain: All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Things Wise and Wonderful, and The Lord God Made Them All. These best-sellers inspired a movie as well as a long-running BBC television series.

THE MUSIC

William H. Monk

All Things Bright and Beautiful has been matched with several melodies over the years. The earliest (1887), and my favorite, is BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL by English organist, church musician, and music editor William Henry Monk (1823–1889) (who also composed the tune "Eventide" used for the hymn "Abide with Me").  This tune is set forth below (only the music to the refrain and first stanza is presented here; I couldn't find a complete rendering of the text and music):

Martin F. Shaw

At least as popular today, especially in Great Britain, is the 17th-century English melody ROYAL OAK as adapted and arranged in 1915 by English composer Martin F. Shaw (1875-1958).  The original tune takes its name from a tree at Boscobel, Shropshire, England, in which King Charles II hid during the Battle of Worcester in 1651), which concluded the English Civil War. Here is the music to Mr. Shaw's arrangement:

Also quite popular today, at least outside church services, is a full choral arrangement by contemporary English composer and conductor John Rutter (b. 1945).

REFLECTIONS ON THE HYMN

While All Things Bright and Beautiful may have been written specifically for children, in a way that appeals to their natural curiosity and sense of wonder, it affirms some of the most profound truths of being--truths that even adults tend to forget, lost as we become in the murk of worldly distraction and self-absorption.

The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament teaches that God created the heavens and the stars, sun and moon; the seas with all its creatures; the earth and all its flora and fruit; the birds and animals; and finally, the pinnacle of His Creation, Man (and Woman!). He saw that they were all very good, and enjoined them to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." (Genesis 1:1-1:31)  That God created this magnificent universe is declared joyfully in the New Testament as well as the Old (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11).  We learn that He cares for us and for all creatures and elements of His Creation, the small and the great--and especially for us, His children: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26)

Attitudes of wonder, humility, thankfulness, and joy need to be cultivated from the earliest age, if children are to grow into spiritually healthy and happy adults. Appealing, instructive hymns like All Things Bright and Beautiful serve that purpose well.

VIDEO PRESENTATIONS

The following rendition of All Things Bright and Beautiful is by an unidentified chorus singing William H. Monk's tune "Bright and Beautiful," accompanied by a charming video.



Martin F. Shaw's arrangement of "Royal Oak" is the tune sung by another unidentified choir in the following video; both the visual and musical experiences here are matchless:



Featured in the following video--another gem--is John Rutter's arrangement of All Things Bright and Beautiful. The choir is not identified, but I believe it is The Cambridge Singers:

* * * * *

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them. ~ Isaiah 11:6

Be Thou My Vision

 Statue of St. Patrick atop the Hill of Slane

 [B]e not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what [is] that
good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

~  Romans 12:2

If you've ever known someone whose entire life was devoted to God--every day and hour, in thought and in acts small and great--you've known something not only beautiful, but all too rare. Burdened with daily obligations to family and employers, as well as the myriad temptations and distractions today's world puts in our way, a single-minded devotion to our Lord might seem all but unattainable to the average person. Yet, this is the standard He has set: "[W]hat doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?" (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)  Christ Himself reiterated this truth and expanded on it:  "[T]hou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."  (Mark 12:30-31)

These admonitions call us to a life of utmost devotion to our Heavenly Father and all His children.  As author Charles E. Orr observed, "[d]evotion to God implies ardent affection for Him—a yielding of the heart to Him with reverence, faith, and piety in every act . . ."  Moreover, "[e]very devoted Christian desires to be more devoted to his God. . . . It is pleasant to feel in our hearts an ardent desire to love God more." This is a very natural and commendable desire, but one the World treats with contempt and resists fiercely.

This desire, and the challenges thrown against it, are beautifully expressed in the hymn Be Thou My Vision (Irish: Bí Thusa 'mo Shúile). With its text and melody both springing from the green hills of Ireland, it's fitting to explore it here in the month of March, when we celebrate the feast (March 17) of her patron Saint Patrick.

Dallán Forgaill

St. Patrick

Be Thou My Vision is based on an Old Irish text called Rop tú mo Baile, which is often attributed to 6th-century Christian Irish poet Dallán Forgaill (ca. 530–598). This poem is said to have been written in tribute to the missionary zeal of St. Patrick, as exemplified in an event that occurred in 433 A.D. when St. Patrick came to the Hill of Slane in County Meath, Ireland, during his work to convert that then-pagan country to Christianity. It was the night before Easter, as well as the beginning of the Druids' festival of Bealtine and of the spring equinox. The pagan High King Lóegaire mac Néill had issued a decree that no fires were to be lit until the lighting of a blaze atop the nearby Hill of Tara, which would mark the spring equinox. The first fire was not King Lóegaire's, however, but a flame (either a bonfire or candles) lit by St. Patrick to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. According to legend, the King was so impressed by St. Patrick's courage that instead of putting him to death, he allowed Patrick to continue with his missionary work throughout Ireland. As one observer has noted,"the lighting of a fire seems trivial to us, but at the time it was equivalent to declaring war on the Druids and their pagan beliefs and war against the King of Ireland. That small act of starting a fire was a turning point in St. Patrick's life and in the history of Ireland."

Rop tú mo Baile remained a part of Irish monastic tradition for centuries. Finally, in 1905, it received a literal translation from Old Irish into English prose by Irish linguist Mary E. Byrne (1880-1931). In 1912 the text was first versified by Irish scholar Eleanor H. Hull (1860-1935) and published in her work Poem Book of the Gael.

The tune most widely association with Be Thou My Vision is called, appropriately, Slane.  It is an old Irish folk melody, named for the Hill of Slane, where occurred the confrontation between St. Patrick and King Lóegaire that supposedly inspired Dallán Forgaill's poem. Though centuries old, the melody was first published by Irish historian and music collector Patrick Weston Joyce (1827-1914) in his 1909 collection, Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, under the title "By the Banks of the Bann."  Not until 1919 was this melody coupled with Eleanor Hull's versified text of Be Thou My Vision, by Leopold Dix (1861-1935) in the Irish Church Hymnal.

Here are the text and music to this beautiful hymn of devotion:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

[Click here to hear the original Old Irish text of Rop tú mo Baile sung to the tune Slane.]

As observed by the Center for Church Music, "[the hymn's] prominent theme encourages single-hearted focus and devotion to Christ. In the hymn lyrics, the poet expresses his adoration of God through the many titles he gives him: Vision, Wisdom, Word, Great Father, Power, Inheritance, High King of heaven, Treasure, bright heaven's Sun, Ruler of all. Today, we continue to sing the words of this hymn, echoing the poet's response to God's many titles. 'Thou my best thought, Thy presence my light.'"

* * * * *

There are many good renditions of Be Thou My Vision available for viewing and listening on the Internet, and that makes it hard to select just a handful to present here.  I thought the four below were strong in musical and video quality, and capture the consuming devotional spirit of the hymn. [NOTE: If you subscribe to these posts by email, the videos may not appear; in that case you can see them at the Songs of Praises web site.]

The first is a beautiful choral presentation by the George Fox University Concert Choir and String Ensemble, with a video showing scenes of the students' missionary and outreach work--just what it means to let God "be your vision"!



The next choral arrangement, by Lisa Campagnoli Bloom and performed by her as soloist with South Bend, Indiana's Vesper Chorale, is just a little more inventive--and just as moving:



Here is an excellent contemporary performance by the Christian group 4Him, featuring Irish instrumentation as well as lovely artwork and photography:



The live performance below, by Irish Christian singer and songwriter Robin Mark, pairs the hymn with an inspiring pictorial review of some of history's greatest Christian evangelists:

* * * * *

True devotion to the Lord is a formidable challenge in an age of godlessness and social depravity. Nevertheless, Scripture and history are replete with examples of people, many otherwise unremarkable, who lived God-centered lives in the midst of such conditions. It's done by countless people everywhere, even today. Our God would not lay upon us an expectation that we could not fulfill. Every person has within him- or herself the capacity to walk steadily hand-in-hand with the Lord. Doing so only requires that we develop the inner discipline, patience, and courage that spring from and nourish the defining qualities of the true believer: faith, hope, and selfless love. Let us strive to make Christ our Vision every moment of every day.

 

I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me,
and gave himself for me.
~ Galatians 2:20