Many of my favorite hymns come from England and Germany, but this is an American Folk hymn. Its authorship is attributed to several different men, but perhaps the most well known is William Walker (1809-1875), who collected and arranged many folk tunes from the South.
This hymn was written using shape-note notation, which was developed during the 19th century to help teach people how to read music. The current version of the hymn found in most hymnals of today has been arranged to place the melody in the soprano line. However, if you go here and click on the "midi" link, you will hear the hymn in its original version, which sounds quite different. Either way, the hymn has a plaintive quality to it which, along with the text, is well suited for Lent.
What Wondrous Love Is This?
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb Who is the great “I Am”;
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme, I will sing.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on.
3 comments:
Maalie King said...
The line in your hymn goes "What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss".
Do you imagine that the lord loves everybody? Even the millions of babies and children in Africa that he decides to give AIDS to? If he is truly omnipotent, he must make these decisions. How does he decide who gets good luck, or bad? Who will get killed in a war, who will get lucky?
[These questions were asked by a gentleman in England, but got posted on my previous post's comment area.]
Mr. Fowler,
Greetings from across The Pond!
First of all, there are many mysteries of God that I can never comprehend. That is part of what makes Him God. Secondly, the verse which you quoted doesn't end there. It goes on to marvel that God bore the punishment that was supposed to be ours. Third, the fact that good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people is one of the many perplexing truths of this life. Part of this is due to the free will that God has granted us. That babies die of AIDS in Africa due to no fault of their own is indeed heartbreaking. Yet, despite this and all of the other sufferings in this world, I believe that God DOES love us. I've seen it in my own life, in the lives of others, and it's written about in the Bible.
Beautiful post, Deb...and oh, how we LOVE shape-note singing! :)
I don't know much about the history of shape-note singing. I do remember in the "Little House" books, where Laura and Almanzo went to singing classes, and it sounded a lot like the shape-note instruction of that time period.
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