A

X

Funeral and harvest hymns

ALL SAINTS' DAY

HYMN which is said to have been a favourite with the late Queen Victoria is

that for funeral services :

Now the labourer's task is o'er;

Now the battle-day is past;

Now upon the farther shore

Lands the voyager at last.

Father, in Thy gracious keeping

Leave we now Thy servant sleeping.

This hymn was originally written in six stanzas of four lines each with the well-known refrain. It has, however, in almost all hymnals, been reduced, and the following verse omitted :

There the penitents, who turn

To the Cross their dying eyes,

All the love of Jesus learn

At His Feet in Paradise.

In his Notes on Church Hymns, for which

230

collection this composition was specially written, Canon Ellerton tells us that the whole hymn, especially the third, fifth, and sixth verses, owes many thoughts, and some expressions, to a beautiful poem of the Rev. Gerald Moultrie's, beginning, "Brother, now thy toils are o'er."

Another well-known funeral hymn by Canon Ellerton is "God of the living, in whose eyes." This was one of the first hymns the author wrote, being composed before he had reached the age of thirty. It is equal in merit to many of his more popular hymns, and will probably increase in favour. Canon Ellerton wrote it, I believe, for the funeral of one of his Sunday school children at Brighton, where he was curate at the time. It soon found its way into several hymnals, one of the last editors to appropriate it being Prebendary Thring. In the original it does not appear in as many stanzas as we are accustomed to sing it, and the probability is that Canon Ellerton added to it afterwards. In many collections the following verse is omitted:

Released from earthly toil and strife,
With Thee is hidden still their life;

Thine are their thoughts, their works, their powers,
All Thine, and yet most truly ours;

For well we know, where'er they be,

Our dead are living unto Thee.

This hymn was a favourite with the author, probably from its associations with his early days. It has been successfully set to music by various composers, one of the most attractive and appropriate melodies being "God of the living" by

Mr. Everard Hulton.

Miss Sarah Doudney is, perhaps, better known as a novelist than a hymnist, probably from the fact that her hymns are very few in number. What she has written in this way, however, is very excellent, and her hymn for funeral services is now among the best for those solemn occasions :—

Sleep on, beloved, sleep, and take thy rest;
Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour's breast;
We love thee well, but Jesus loves thee best :

:

Good-night!

This hymn, Miss Doudney tells me, was written after the death of a very dear friend of her girlhood. It was suggested by a custom of the early Christians who bade their friends "good-night" when they entered the arena for the final trial of their faith, so sure were they of their re-union. "Darkness and Dawn," and "Quo Vadis" have given us a sense of the reality and simplicity of their belief in the awakening to a better life. Christina Rosetti, in one of her poems, has the same idea, beautifully expressed :—

We meet in joy, though we part in sorrow;
We part to-night, but we meet to-morrow.

"The sixth verse of my hymn," writes Miss Doudney, "which reads:

Only 'good-night!' beloved, not 'farewell!

A little while and all His saints shall dwell
In hallowed union, indivisible :

Good-night!

will hardly bear criticism: 'indivisible' does not rhyme well with 'farewell' and 'dwell'; but the verses have become so dear to many mourners that I did not like to make any change. They were set to music, when they first appeared in a religious monthly, by the late Mrs. Worthington Bliss; but Mr. Sankey's setting is far better known."

In America," Sleep on, beloved " is the favourite funeral hymn, and has been sung at the obsequies of many public men and women. In England it is also very popular, and was sung at the Duchess of Teck's memorial service by command of the late Queen Victoria.

"Just before my mother died," continues Miss Doudney's interesting letter, "I was drawn to the open window by the sound of voices singing the hymn on a spring evening. The singers were

hidden by the trees; darkness was closing in, and I never saw them come or depart. But the strain seemed even then to foretell the passing of the one I loved best; and one more sacred memory was added to those which cling to the lines, written so long ago."

The beautiful setting to which this hymn is invariably sung, known as "The Blessèd Rest" was specially composed for it by the late Sir Joseph Barnby.

From Dean Milman's "Martyr of Antioch" we get one of the loveliest of all funeral hymns :

Brother, thou art gone before us; and thy saintly soul is flown

Where tears are wiped from every eye, and sorrow is unknown;

From the burden of the flesh, and from care and fear

released,

"Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest."

To the many thousands who have listened to Sir Arthur Sullivan's musical version of "The Martyr of Antioch" it is needless to say how impressive this funeral hymn is when sung, as it invariably is, unaccompanied. The melody is exquisite in its solemnity, and it is surprising to find that "Brother, thou art gone before us" is in