His Yoke Is Easy -- Daniel S. Warner

 

This ‘Floating Bethel’ (shown here) was a barge on the Ohio River that was apparently what a certain evangelist had ridden in his travels, perhaps even during the time in which he wrote some poetry in 1893. Daniel Sydney Warner (more often called D.S. Warner) told those who would listen that “His Yoke Is Easy”, a message he must have related countless times in his trips to preach and convert people to Christ. This poem was one that he penned near the end of his life, after decades of sermons. So what was D.S wanting to communicate, and what spurred him to write the words? Let’s see what we do know, and what we might have to leave for later.

 

The short answer about D.S. Warner’s “His Yoke Is Easy” is that we don’t really know what or if a specific episode stimulated his creation. Nevertheless, he travelled widely, and must have needed plenty of compelling resources to help convey his messages, so perhaps ‘His Yoke…’ was created in that spirit. Much of his experience as an evangelist was in the Ohio River valley, including the episode on the Ohio River barge in the year following his 1893 penmanship of the song. He also travelled as far as California and to several states in the Midwest and South, and to Ontario, Canada. At 51 years old, when he wrote the poem that would subsequently be put to music (by Barney E. Warren), Warner had undoubtedly encountered so many people who needed God, but needed coaxing. A song might help advance Warner’s point; could that have been the impetus for the scores of song poems that he crafted, that they would be readily available tools in his journeys? If so, ‘His Yoke…’ is written as if it’s a personal endorsement of God by the author, an appeal from himself to an audience listening to his pitch. ’I’, ‘me’, ‘my’, and ‘mine’ are the personal pronouns that D.S. employs 16 times in his verses and three more times in his refrain to emphasize the intimate nature of his experience with the One he came to recommend. If we can surmise from his poetry what kind of preaching message he usually delivered, we might conclude that Warner didn’t use the hellfire and brimstone approach, as other evangelists might have. Instead, D.S. persuaded his hearers with God’s love (vv. 1-2), His rescue of the sinner (vv. 3 and 5), and his own response of devotion to this God. These are messages that still work today. Everyone wants a loving God, and we’re all mistake-makers.

 

D.S. Warner also realized that God’s opponent (Satan) is often near, trying to steer me away from the Savior (v. 4). Don’t be fooled, Warner admonished. It was a warning that he needed to heed himself two years later, when death came knocking and took him in Michigan, probably before he expected to go. The same year that Warner wrote ‘His Yoke…’, he co-authored with his musical collaborator, Barney Warren, a collection called Echoes of Glory. One might guess that ‘His Yoke…’ is among the Echoes collection. Someday, when we all arrive home, we might think of all the songs we’ve sung here as echoes. But, they won’t be faint ones. They’re strong foretastes now, pulling me like magnets toward the destination I should choose. The other way is the one our adversary has waiting for the unfortunate fool. D.S. might have said it many times as an evangelist: Listen to the message He’s singing to your heart.     

 

See this link for information about the author: https://hymnary.org/person/Warner_Daniel

See extensive biographic on author here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Sidney_Warner

Also see this link for author’s very brief biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/a/r/n/warner_ds.htm

Jesus Loves Me -- Anna Bartlett Warner

So easy that a child could understand it? How about an army cadet? Maybe someone asked Anna Bartlett Warner those questions in 1860 when the subject of her poem “Jesus Loves Me” came up in conversation, for she and her sister Susan had encountered and tried to teach both children and military men in their life on Constitution Island in Highland Falls, New York (see a picture here of the island). They spent a good deal of time teaching the bible to army cadets at West Point, but they also wrote works intended for children, the apparent motivating factor in what they both did to bring life to this title phrase that is so elemental to Christian faith. It’s so simple a child could grasp it, but not too juvenile for young men in uniform to hold fast to it, too.    

Anna Warner was 33 years old by the time “Jesus Loves Me” appeared in print, perhaps one of the highlights of the Warner sisters’ efforts spanning several decades in southeastern New York state. Perhaps decades earlier, when both of them were children living in New York City with their wealthy attorney-father, they could not have imagined the life they would eventually pursue out of need. The collapse and loss of most of their family’s treasure in 1837 ushered in radical changes for the Warners, including a move to the island that sits adjacent to the U.S. Military Academy. An uncle had been the academy’s chaplain, a connection that probably gave the sisters an entrance to bible instruction for the young men attending there. But, making financial ends meet was also necessary, thus spurring Anna and Susan to write as their chief means of provision. The two objectives – teaching bible and making a living –at least occasionally intersected, including when ‘Jesus Loves Me’ was penned. Say and Seal was a novel, with an episode relating a Sunday school teacher’s attempts to console a child who is facing death, that Susan had in work. The poem that Anna wrote was this fictious character’s solution for the angst-ridden child whose departure is certain. Yes, death may be sure, but Anna’s poetry makes other facts about life and death abundantly clear, thus transmitting courage to a fearful child – and the rest of us, too -- about to enter the unseen. An unshakeable truth emerges from Anna’s heart via her pen. The God-Son who died and arose loves me, and has paved the way for me to join Him. Is anything more consequential at the end than this knowledge? Was it just a child’s perspective that Anna and Susan had in mind with this, or could the gravity of life, and what might await of group of army cadets in their pursuits, also have been at work in the mid-19^th Century? We’re all children, particularly when death approaches with a brutal, numbing certainty.

How does anyone face death with composure? A minister at my mother’s wake reminded us that death is an ‘appointment’, one that none of us can miss. The Warner poetry acknowledges this as well, that life’s end has an unavoidable poignancy. But, Anna says, that’s not all. That’s not even a wisp compared to what He says to me. Perhaps that’s why William Bradbury (he wrote the chorus to Anna’s poem) has us vocalize those three words repeatedly and innocently, yet boldly. It’s not something I need to gloat about, but it is reassuring. If you still have no peace when you think of the end, you need this. No one needs to miss this.

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

Also see this link, showing all four original verses and a brief account of the song’s development: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/e/s/u/jesuslme.htm

Also see here for song information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Loves_Me

Also see this site author information: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/a/r/n/warner_ab.htm

Here also for biography of author/composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Bartlett_Warner