81M 81M 8
8IP SIM PIM SIP
81M 81M 8
SIP
A. Toplady J. Cennick C. Wesley J. Swain E. Jones
J. Newton R Robinson I. Watts J.Hart J. Wesley
P. Doddridge W.Cowper
Beethoven's Col.
S. Stennett [Kirkham]
C. Wesley J. Newton J. Newton
Anderson's Col.
Anonymous Anonymous S. Medley O. Heginbotham A. Toplady L Watts LWatts I. Watts Ryland
R Robinson W. Cowper I. Watts M. Masters I. Watts I. Watts
S. Stennett 1. Boden Certainly many other hymns published in Baptist Chorals were significant to Baptists at the time. While the English Baptist pastor John Fawcett is largely known today by his famous hymn of benediction, "Blest be the tie that binds," Baptist Chorals
included four additional hymns of his. His most popular hymn among early Southern Baptists seems to have been "Afi1icted saint, to Christ draw near." Samuel Stennett,
a contemporary of Fawcett's, authored three hymns in Manly Jr.' s collection. "How charming is the place" and "Where two or three in one accord" were popular among early Southern Baptists; "Majestic sweetness sits enthroned" remains popular today.
Though not widely popular among Baptists in America today, "Come, Holy Spirit, Dove divine" is significant as the work of Adoniram Judson, the first American Baptist foreign missionary. Another hymn writer of early American fame was Timothy Dwight, the first president of Yale University. His famous text, "I love Thy kingdom, Lord" was preserved in Baptist Chorals. James Winchell produced the most significant arrangement of Watts's Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs in the early nineteenth century.79 "Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim" was one of many significant texts by Charles Wesley that were introduced to early American Baptists in "Winchell's Watts" (1818).
Many of the most famous texts by Wesley and Watts were honored in Baptist Chorals. Contributions from Watts included "Jesus shall reign where'erthe sun," "Joy to the world, the Lord is come," "0 God, our help in ages past," and "When I survey the wondrous cross." Wesley's historic texts included "Come, Thou long expected Jesus:' from Madan's Collection, "0 for a thousand tongues to sing," and "Rejoice the Lord is King." Though their works were not afforded the same prominence, historic hymns of other eighteenth-century, English evangelicals were favored with inclusion in Baptist Chorals. Representative hymns include "Jesus, I my cross have taken," attributed to Grant but written by Henry Lyte, "Just as I am, without one plea" by Charlotte Elliot,
79David W. Music, ''Music in the First Baptist Church, Boston, Massachusetts, 1665-1820,"
in Singing Baptists, ed. Harry Eskew et al. (Nashville: Church Street, 1994),37.
"My faith looks up to Thee" by Robert Palmer, and "Rock of Ages, cleft for me" by Augustus Toplady.
As is evident from the roster of authors above, Manly Jr. 's second compilation was remarkably comprehensive. Baptist Chorals featured the hymn texts of 88 authors.
Baptists were well-represented through the hymns of Benjamin Beddome, John Fawcett, Basil Manly Jr., John Needham, Robert Robinson, Samuel F. Smith, Samuel Stennett, Joseph Swain, and others. Of all the Baptist authors, Anne Steele made the most prolific contribution, with eighteen hymns featured in the repertory. Non-Baptist authors whose hymns were prominently featured included Philip Doddridge, James Montgomery, Isaac Watts, and Charles Wesley. Not surprisingly, Watts and Wesley were the best- represented hymn writers in the repertory of Baptist Chorals, with 25 of Wesley's hymns and 122 of Watts being included.
Among historic hymn collections, Olney Hymns was well-represented, with six hymns by Cowper and a dozen by Newton. Many hymns were gleaned from the denominational hymnals of the early nineteenth century. Due to Manly Jr.'s generic designations, however, it is difficult to determine the specific editions he used. The denominational hymnals he acknowledged included the English Baptist Collection, Episcopal Collection, Lutheran Collection, and the Presbyterian Collection. The most historic collections acknowledged by Manly Jr. were Rippon's Selection (1787), Tate and Brady's "New Version" ofthe Psalms (1696), and "Winchell's Watts" (1818).
The little-known compilation of hymns by Josiah Pratt (1829) was awarded the greatest representation in Baptist Chorals, with thirteen hymns. Twenty-eight collections were
cited as sources for the hymns in Baptist Chorals.
In spite of such a comprehensive repertory, there were some surprising omissions from the contents of Baptist Chorals. "Alas and did my Savior bleed" and
"Am I a soldier of the cross" were two of Isaac Watts's most popular texts in the early nineteenth century. Both hymns were featured in Murrell's list of Southern ante-bellum Baptist hymnody. Both hymns have retained their popularity among Southern Baptists of the present day, as is evidenced by their inclusion in The Baptist Hymnal (1991).
Though both hymns appeared in The Baptist Psalmody, neither was included in Baptist Chorals. Similarly, "Christ the Lord is risen today," "Glorious things of thee are spoken," "Guide me, 0 Thou Great Jehovah," "Hark! The herald angels sing," and
"Jesus, Thy boundless love to me" are all missing from Baptist Chorals.
A particularly regrettable omission from the repertory of Baptist Chorals was Basil Manly Jr.'s most famous hymn text, "Soldiers of Christ in truth arrayed." As a founding faculty member of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Manly Jr. was commissioned to write a hymn for the seminary's first commencement service in 1860.
Since he composed the hymn only months after the pUblication of Baptist Chorais, Southern Baptists had to wait more than a century for the inclusion of "Soldiers of Christ in truth arrayed" in a denominational hymnal. Four of its six original stanzas were first published in The Baptist Hymnal (1975); the same number has been retained in The Baptist Hymnal (1991).
Conclusion
Baptist Chorals was one of the most innovative and serviceable hymnals produced by Baptists in the mid-nineteenth century. It was the first Southern Baptist
hymn collection to articulate a philosophy for congregational singing in corporate worship. It was designed to complement the two most widely-used Baptist hymnals of its day. Nonetheless. its content was comprehensive to the degree that it could be employed affectively as a hymnal for corporate worship in itself. The hymnal was innovative in its design. providing worshipers the opportunity to associate the most popular hymn texts with tunes of historic significance as well as contemporary relevance.
The collection preserved the hymn texts of the preeminent European evangelicals, Baptist pioneers, and early American church musicians while promoting the works of contemporaneous writers and composers.
Baptist Chorals represents a significant step forward in the progress of Baptist hymnody and more of a milestone in the development of Southern Baptist hymnody than has been previously acknowledged. Paul A. Richardson has asserted that Manly Ir.'s second compilation failed from achieving broader acceptance due to the outbreak of the Civil War.so One might speculate along those lines that had such a national crisis not intervened, perhaps the common repertory and commendable design of Baptist Chorals could have even helped to repair the rift between Baptists in opposing regions of the Union. The hymns sung by both parties were certainly worthy of preservation and in need of presentation in a more accessible fonnat than they had previously received.
Baptist Chorals succeeded in meeting both needs. Examined in retrospect, it serves as a commendable model upon which Baptists of the present day may design their own hymnals for corporate worship.
SDruchardson, "Basil Manly, Jr.," 24.
MANLY'S CHOICE (1891) AND THE CHOICE (1892)
Introduction
The final hymn compilations to be considered in this dissertation are Manly's Choice (1891) and The Choice (1892). As their titles indicate, the collections contain the repertory of Christian hymnody that Basil Manly Jr. considered to be most worthy of preservation among Baptists. The principal edition, released in October, 1891, contained only texts. It was followed with the edition containing tunes entitled The Choice. It is fitting that Manly Jr., who was instrumental in providing Southern Baptists with their first comprehensive collection of hymn texts, also had opportunity to see his final work meet with the approval of the Baptist believers he loved. In a letter to the Franklin Type Foundery, the firm that produced the stereotype plates from which both editions were printed, Manly Jr. wrote, "The word edition is out, and the people are inquiring for the music edition somewhat clamorously."l However, BasH Manly Jr.
became gravely ill in the opening weeks of 1892. He died on January 31, one week prior to the release of The Choice. In his memoir of Manly Jr., A. T. Robertson described the passion with which his friend and colleague pursued his final work. Of The Choice
iBasii Manly Jr., letter to the Franklin Type Founciery, 21 October 1891 (press Books, Manly Papers, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary).
105
Robertson wrote, "His soul was wrapt up in this work of love . .,2
This chapter win discuss the contents of Manly Jr.'s final two collections in considerable detail. particular attention will be given to the prefaces of both editions;
these key primary sources provide pertinent information on the contents, criteria for hymn selection, method of compilation, cost, and physical size of each edition. More significant however, is the philosophy of congregational song set forth in the preface to The Choice. From the combined perspectives of a hymn compiler, pastor, theologian, and leader of congregational worship. Manly Jr. sought to strike a balance between preservation and popular appeal. The following passage from the preface summarizes his philosophy of hymn compilation.
Having compiled heretofore two hymn books, "The Baptist Psalmody," and
"Baptist Chorals," and having had some share as an advisor in two others of our most popular books, my attention has been directed specially to the subject of hymnology all my ministerial life. I think I know what our people need, and what they desire. To meet that need and that desire the present work is offered.,,3 Chronology of Contributions
As he indicated in the preface, Basil Manly Jr. had been associated with the development of Southern Baptist hymnody from its inception. His instrumental work in the compilation ofthe first Southern Baptist hymnal, The Baptist Psalmody (1850), was outlined in Chapter Two. His effort to bridge the hymnological gap between Baptists in the North and Southern Baptists through the common repertory of Baptist Chorals (1859), was examined in Chapter Three. Though he produced no compilation of his
2A. T. Robertson, "Rev. Basil Manly, D.D., LL.D.," The Seminary Magazine 5 (March 1892):
298.
3Basil Manly Jr., Preface to Manly's Choice (Louisville: Baptist Book Concern, 1891), [H]-ill.
own in the thirty years that followed, Manly Jr. exerted significant influence on Baptist congregational song in other ways.
Basil Manly Jr.' s duties at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Greenville, SC, came to an end in the spring of 1862 when the strife of the Civil War necessitated the Seminary's closure. In May of the following year, he was elected president of the first Southern Baptist Sunday School Board.4 In that capacity, Manly Jr. determined to produce hymnals as well as educational materials for Southern Baptists.
Two collections of Sunday school hymnody were published under his supervision. Both The Little Sunday School Hymn Book (1863) and The Confederate Sunday School Hymn Book (1863) were released in the first year of his presidency. C. J. Elford, the first corresponding secretary of the Board, served as the compiler of the latter collection. 5
In addition to the supervision of hymn compilations, Basil Manly Jr. submitted his own material for publication in the compilations of others. The fust collection to feature one of his tunes was Glad Tidings: New Hymns and Tunes for Sunday-Schools (1867) compiled by R. M. Mcintosh. 6 Manly Jr.'s tune was set to a text entitled "Only waiting till shadows." Though. the tune is not named, Mcintosh attributed it to "Rev. B.
Manly Jr., D.D., of Greenville, S.C." The combination often and tune was reprinted in an altered fonn in Kind Words (1871).7
4Joseph Powhatan Cox, "A Study of the Life and Work of Basil Manly Jr." (Th.D. thesis, The Southern Baptist Thoological Seminary, 1954), 195.
~ M. Mcintosh., Glad Refrain: New Hymns and Tunes for Sunday-Schools (Baltimore:
T. Newton Kurtz, 1867); cited by Paul A. Richardson, "Basil Manly, Jr.: Southern Baptist Pioneer in Hymnody," in Singing Baptists, ed. Harry Eskew et al. (Nashville: Church Street, 1994), 105.
7G . W. Linton and Howard M. Teasdale, eds., Kind Words (Memphis: Sunday School Board, Southern Baptist Convention, 1871).
During the Civil War and his years of service at the Sunday School Board, Manly Jr. was instrumental in the development of a small monthly devotional paper for the impoverished children of the Confederacy. The pamphlet featured elementary lessons written by the leaders of the denominatio~ songs, and poems. Manly Jr.'s poems were among those featured in the circular.s When the war came to an end and the Board determined to produce its next collection ofStmday school songs, it compiled those that had been printed in the children's circular and entitled the collection Kind Words in Melody (1871).9 Four of Manly Jr.'s tunes were contained in the edition. They were, HARK! HERALD ANGELS, JESUS, TENDER SAVIOUR, REALMS OF THE BLEST, and THE LAND WHERE JESUS DWELLS. Paul A. Richardson suggests that Manly Jr.
may have been the author of the unattributed text, "We are going home," to which the last tune was set. to The setting is displayed in Appendix 12 of the dissertation. I I
The next American hymnal with which Basil Manly Jr. was associated was The Baptist Hymn and Tune Book/or Public Worship (1871). It contained his hymn "Holy, holy, holy Lord" that had been previously published in The Baptist Psalmody (1850).
Charles Spurgeon included the latter hymn in his oollectio~ Our Own Hymn Book (1866) for the New Park Street Baptist Church in London. It was also featured in The Baptist Praise Book/or Congregational Singing (1872). The latter hymnal was significant as the fU'St attempt since The Psalmist (1843) to produce a collection for Baptists in general.
8Cox., "A Study of the Life and Work of Basil Manly Jr.," 2()4..0S.
'William J. Reynolds, "Baptist Hymnody in America," in Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992),43-44.
l~chardson, "Basil Manly, Jr.," 105.
uAppendix 12 displays all the hymn tunes by Basil Manly Jr. that have been discussed in the dissertation.
Leading Baptists from the North and the South were asked to contribute to the compilation. Richard Fuller, E. T. Winkler, and Basil Manly Jr. were among the Southerners whose expertise was sought. In addition to "Holy, holy, holy Lord,"
the Baptist Praise Book contained Manly Jr. 's "God with us! Ob, wondrous name!"
He submitted a third hymn. "Come, ye who feel your sins a load," for inclusion in the collection but it was not accepted.12 The text is extant however, in the Manly Papers of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.13
The Baptist Praise Book, which had been privately published, was not successful in achieving acceptance among Baptists at large. In 1883 another attempt was made by the American Baptist Publication Society. The Baptist Hymnal for Use in Church and Home (1883) was significantly more successful than its predecessors.
According to Henry S. Burrage, the hymnal "had a very large circulation, extending to all parts of the country.',14 The chief musical editors for the collection were E. H.
Johnson and W. H. Doane. As had been the case in The Baptist Praise Book (1871), a distinguished panel of Baptists leaders was assembled to advise the editorial staff.
Basil Manly Jr. was among those selected to serve in an advisory capacity.
In the process of consultation to the editors of The Baptist Hymnal (1883), Manly Jr. submitted a document entitled "Suggestions as to the New Hy. Book."
According to Paul A. Richardson, the document featured "six pages of wisdom and
12Richardson, "Basil Manly Jr.," 105.
13Basil Manly Jr., letter to Smith & McDougal, 3 August 1871 (Press Books, Manly Papers, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary).
14Henry S. Burrage, Baptist Hymn Writers and Their Hymns (portland, ME: Brown Thurston
& Co., 1888),667.
practical advice.,,15 The document could not be located in the archives of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and thus was not available for examination for the present study. However. it is apparent that Manly Jr.'s counsel was considered in high regard by at least one of the editors. William H. Doane and Basil Manly Jr. frequently corresponded with one another in the years that followed their editorial contributions to The Baptist Hymnal (1883). Their collegial association eventually developed into an unofficial collaboration on Manly Jro's fInal collection, The Choice (1892).
Influences of the Era
It is ironic that William H. Doane would have such a favorable impact on the repertory of The Choice. Doane was perhaps the most prolifIc composer of gospel hymn tunes in the mid-nineteenth century. It is generally acknowledged that he contributed more than 2.200 hymn tunes to the congregational repertory. Many of his most popular compositions were associated with the texts of Fanny Crosby. Like Doane, she contributed the most prolific collection of hymn texts to the repertory of gospel hymnody.16 Certainly, their collaborations in hymnody are among the most memorable and serviceable settings still in popular use. As prolific as Crosby and Doane were, however, their impact on congregational song was overshadowed in the late-nineteenth century by that of the two men who made gospel hymnody an international sensation.
According to William J. Reynolds and Milburn Price, Baptist Philip P. Bliss
15Richardson, "Basil Manly, Jr.," 106.
l<nany Eskew and Hugh T. McElrath, Sing with Understanding (Nashville: Church Street Press, 1995), 198.
"was one of the most widely known and best loved musicians ofhis day.,,17 In addition to being a prolific writer of hymn texts and composer of tunes. Bliss compiled several collections of gospel songs for the John Church Company. Bliss's final compilatioI4 prior to his untimely death in 1876, was entitled Gospel Songs (1874). It benefited from broad distribution even prior to Bliss's association with the undisputed celebrity of gospel hymnody, Ira D. Sankey.
Sankey came to fame as the song-leader for the prominent Chicago pastor and evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Moody was at the forefront of urban revivalism in Chicago and cities across the Northern United States. When he determined to embark on an evangelistic crusade of England in 1872, Moody sought to employ both Philip P. Bliss and Philip Phillips for leadership in worship.18 When the two men declined, he engaged the less experienced but equally gifted song-leader, Ira D. Sankey.
During the evangelistic meetings in England, Sankey employed Phillip's collection Hallowed Songs with great success. The demand was so substantial that he determined to append his own songs to the collection and publish a new edition in England. When permission was denied, Sankey produced a small pamphlet of 24 songs entitled, Sacred Songs and Solos (1873). Upon his return to the States, Sankey joined forces with Philip P. Bliss to produce an amalgamation of their individual collections entitled Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs (1875). Subsequent editions appeared until 1894 when the collection of739 songs was compiled into Gospel Hymns No. 1-6
17William J. Reynolds and Milburn Price, A Survey a/Christian Hymnody, 4th ed., rev. and enlarged by David W. Music and Milburn Price (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1999), 118.