Best Loved Hymns and Readings. Martin Manser
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of itself but thee!
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
Each eve Earth falleth down the dark
This poem by the English poet, artist and designer William Morris celebrates the revival of life and hope through faith and has a clear religious message. It remains a poignant source of consolation and encouragement to those who face disappointment or disillusionment.
Each eve Earth falleth down the dark,
As though its hopes were o’er; Yet lurks the sun when day is done Behind tomorrow’s door.
Grey grows the dawn while men-folk sleep,
Unseen spreads on the light, Till the thrush sings to the coloured things, And earth forgets her night.
No otherwise wends on our Hope;
E’en as a tale that’s told Are fair lives lost, and all the cost Of wise and true and bold.
We’ve toiled and failed; we spake the word;
None hearkened; dumb we lie; Our Hope is dead, the seed we spread Fell o’er the Earth to die.
What’s this? For joy our hearts stand still,
And life is loved and dear, The lost and found the Cause hath crowned, The Day of Days is here.
William Morris (1834-96)
Eternal Father, strong to save
This evergreen hymn, published in 1861, is indelibly associated with seafarers and is sometimes called the ‘sailors hymn’. Although an unsubstantiated tradition claims that William Whiting, a London-born grocer’s son who became Master of the Winchester choirboys, wrote this hymn for one of his choristers who was about to leave for America, it seems Whiting rather intended his lines to be interpreted as a metaphor for baptism and the ‘restless wave’ to stand for the world and all its troubles. The tune, written by John Bacchus Dykes, is called ‘Melita’, this being a reference to Malta (the place where St Paul was shipwrecked, according to Acts 27).
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm doth bind the restless wave, Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea.
O Saviour, whose almighty word
The winds and waves submissive heard, Who walkedst on the foaming deep, And calm amid its rage didst sleep: O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea.
O sacred Spirit, who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude, Who bad’st its angry tumult cease, And gavest light and life and peace: O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea.
O Trinity of love and power,
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour; From rock and tempest, fire and foe, Protect them wheresoe’er they go: And ever let there rise to Thee Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
William Whiting (1825-78)
This biblical passage, from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, is a favourite choice of reading for marriage services, but it may also be recited on other occasions and remains one of the most oft-repeated descriptions of the generous nature of love. The Authorized (King James) Version of the passage renders ‘love’ as ‘charity’.
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
This biblical passage, found at Proverbs 31:1-20, celebrates the virtues of the ideal wife. It is consequently often quoted at wedding celebrations.
The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:
No, my son! No, son of my womb! No, son of my vows!
Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings.
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine,
or for rulers to desire strong drink; or else they will drink and forget what has been decreed, and will pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress;
let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more.
Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute.
Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor
and needy.
A capable wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no
lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food
from far away.
She rises while it is still night and provides food for her
household and tasks for her servant-girls.
She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands
she plants a vineyard.
She girds herself with strength, and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp
does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches out her hands
to the needy.
(New Revised Standard Version)