It's a wonderful hymn and I hope you enjoy the commentary concerning it... may your day be filled with the 'Glory of God'.
Be a blessing to someone today!
In His Love, Grace, and Glory!
Roy
Sermon - To God be the Glory
November 19, 2017
Today we continue our journey through a few of our best-known and most well-loved hymns. Today, as you just heard, we are looking at the Hymn “To God be the Glory” by Frances J. Crosby. It's interesting to note that Fanny as she preferred to be called, was alive and working during the same time period as our hymn writers from last weeks sermon, Horatio Spafford, and Philip Bliss. In fact, Fanny was also well acquainted with D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey, just like both Spafford and Bliss. Fanny's hymns were actually being used by Moody and Sankey on their evangelical mission trip to Europe that we talked about last week. You'll remember that this was the trip that Horatio Spafford's wife Anna and four daughters were going off to join and participate in when their ship sank and the four girls were killed.
One can't help but wonder if Fanny was acquainted with either Spafford or Bliss or even perhaps both men. It would be wonderful to know the relationship between these writers, but, sadly, I found no evidence concerning this.
And with that note, let's now take a look at our hymn writer for today: Frances J Crosby; (born March 24, 1820 – deceased February 12, 1915), more commonly known as Fanny Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was one of the most prolific composers of hymns in history, writing more than 8,500 hymns and gospel songs... yes I did say 8 thousand 5 hundred... a nearly impossible number, with more than 100 million copies being printed, all of this despite being blind from infancy. She is also known for her teaching and her rescue mission work. By the end of the 19th century, she was, in fact, a household name.
Frances Jane Crosby was born on March 24, 1820, in the village of Brewster, New York, which is approximately 50 miles north of New York City. She was the only child of John Crosby and his second wife Mercy Crosby, both of whom were relatives of Revolutionary War spy Enoch Crosby. John was a widower he did have another daughter from his first marriage. It is believed that John and Mercy were first cousins, however, "by the time Fanny Crosby came to write her memoirs in 1906, the fact that her mother and father were related... had become such a source of embarrassment to her, and she maintained that she did not know anything about her father's genealogy.
At the age of six weeks, Fanny contracted a cold and developed inflammation of the eyes. Mustard poultices were applied to treat the discharges. According to Crosby, this procedure damaged her optic nerves and led to her loss of sight, but modern physicians believe that her blindness was much more likely congenital and, given her very young age, was simply not noticed by her parents prior to this time.
John Crosby, Fanny's Father, died in November 1820 when Fanny was only six months old, so young Fanny was raised by her mother and her maternal grandmother Eunice Paddock Crosby. These women grounded her in Christian principles, helping her memorize long passages from the Bible, and she became an active member of the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Manhattan.
When Crosby was three, the family moved to North Salem, New York, where Fanny's grandmother Eunice had been raised. In April of 1825, her eyes were examined by Valentine Mott, who concluded that her condition was inoperable and that her blindness was permanent.
At age eight, Crosby wrote her first poem which described her condition. She later remarked: "It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me." She also once said, "when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior".
Crosby enrolled at the New York Institution for the Blind in 1835, just prior to her 15th birthday. She remained a student there for eight years and work as a graduate pupil for two additional years. During her years there she learned to play the piano, organ, harp, and guitar, and she also became a talented soprano singer.
Crosby was known as the "Queen of Gospel Song Writers" and as the "Mother of modern congregational singing in America", with nearly every American hymnal containing her work. Her gospel songs were the model by which all revival music was to be judged, and Ira Sankey attributed the success of the Moody and Sankey evangelical campaigns largely to Crosby's hymns. Some of Crosby's best-known songs include “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour”, “Blessed Assurance”, "Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You Home", "Praise Him, Praise Him", "Rescue the Perishing", and of course “To God Be the Glory” the hymn that we are discussing today. Fanny was so prolific that when some publishers were hesitant to have so many hymns by one individual in their hymnals, she began to create under aliases. Crosby ultimately used nearly 200 different pen-names during her career.
Crosby also wrote more than 1,000 secular poems and four books of her own poetry were published, along with two best-selling autobiographies. Additionally, she co-wrote popular secular songs, as well as political and patriotic songs and at least five cantatas on biblical and patriotic themes, including The Flower Queen, the first secular cantata by an American composer. She was committed to Christian rescue missions and was known for her public speaking.
Crosby was proud of her Puritan heritage. She traced her ancestry from Anna Brigham and Simon Crosby who arrived in Boston in 1635 and were among the founders of Harvard College. Their descendants married into Mayflower families making Crosby a descendant of Elder William Brewster, Edward Winslow, and Thomas Prence. Fanny was a proud member of the 'Daughters of the Mayflower' as well as a member of the 'Daughters of the American Revolution. Fanny was also related to the well-known ministers Howard Crosby and Ernest Howard Crosby, as well as related to the very well-known singers Bob Crosby and Bing Crosby.
Becoming friends with several US Presidents, Crosby was one of the most important advocates for the cause of the blind in the United States, even addressing a session of Congress on the topic.
Her lyrics were set to the compositions of some of the most prominent gospel composers of the day including William Bradbury, William Doane, Robert Lowry and Ira Sankey. She married blind musician Alexander Van Alstyne, and British hymnals have long insisted on using her married name, Frances Van Alstyne.
How hymns travel throughout space and time is fascinating. “To God be the glory” was included in William Doane’s 'Songs of Devotion' in 1870, indicating that it was written at least five years earlier than the 1875 date that is usually cited for its creation.
Ira Sankey probably saw the hymn in Doane’s collection and incorporated it into the first edition of his 'Sacred Songs and Solos' published in 1875. Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey helped to establish the hymn’s popularity during their revivals in Great Britain in the late 19th century. It also appeared in several British hymnals including the 'Methodist Hymn Book' in 1933.
The song became largely forgotten in the United States, however, and it was not until the 1954 Billy Graham Crusade in Nashville that Cliff Barrows re-introduced this song to congregations in the United States. Mr. Graham and Mr. Barrows had learned about the song during the 1952 revivals they had conducted in Great Britain.
Hymnologist William J. Reynolds, writing in his hymnal companion 'Hymns of Faith' published in 1964, documented the return of this hymn to the USA: “It is most extraordinary that this long-forgotten American gospel song should have been imported back from England to become immensely popular once again in the United States.
The hymn is a proclamation by Crosby of all that she lived through. Throughout it all, she gave the glory to God. In spite of being sightless, she accomplished and created more hymns than any other hymn writer.
Let's take a look at this hymn now a bit at a time:
To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.
“So Loved He the world that He gave us His Son,”
This line immediately brings to mind John 3:16;
John 3:16 (NRSV)
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
and echoes so very many other verses in scripture proclaiming God's love for each of us.
“Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,”
This line accentuates the depth of God's love for each of us.
1 John 2:2 (NRSV)
2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
“And opened the life gate that all may go in.”
Scripture proclaims that all are desired by Christ Jesus our Lord;
1 Timothy 2:3-6 (NRSV)
3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human,
6 who gave himself a ransom for all —this was attested at the right time.
Philippians 2:10-11 (NKJV)
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Romans 14:11 (NRSV)
11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
The second stanza, though referring to “the promise of God,” centers on Christ, the “perfect redemption, the purchase of blood.” It echoes the third line of the first stanza but obviously more graphically.
The next three lines address that no matter how sinful our lives might have been, that once we proclaim our belief in Christ all is forgiven.
1 Peter 3:18 (NRSV)
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,
Ephesians 1:7 (NRSV)
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
Truly, the gospel of Christ as taught to His Disciples and passed down to us must be the greatest of all teachings. The teaching proclaimed in “Great things He hath taught us” is God's teaching, and does not include only the teachings of Christ but rather all of Scripture. Of course, the focus shifts directly upon Christ in the second, third and fourth lines, especially with the ending of the fourth line with “our wonder, our transport,” and the one that we long to see in glory. All of us look longingly forward to that day when we see Christ Himself. Remember Fanny's own reflection "when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior" Fanny throughout her life certainly longed for that day, as should we all.
And the Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.
What a great and uplifting 'refrain' this hymn proclaims. First we lift up praise, then we listen for God's voice, and finally, we rejoice in what God has given us.
"Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,"
God sent His Son into this world to bring us to God, we give God in the fullness of His glory all our praise... what an incredible thing our God has done for us all.
Praise God, Let us pray...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be respectful in your comments to each other and to myself as well.
Thank you and Bless you for reading and commenting.