Hark the Gentle Voice - Mary B.C. Slade

What would a 50-ish minister’s wife, teacher, and editor have to say that could be the subject of one of her spouse’s sermons, as well as be published and used for her own testimony about herself? Mary Bridges Canedy Slade was probably sitting in her home or somewhere nearby in 1870s Massachusetts (see the town of Fall River here) when she sketched an emotional picture of the Divine One in “Hark the Gentle Voice”.  Was she also sharing with a professor-friend what she thought, so that they could converse and have her musings communicated with his students, too? Mary was feeling like another Mary of His acquaintance: He’s God, but so very kind to those who will draw close. She related that such a relationship isn’t a one-way street, however, prompting someone who’s cautious to note that bearing each other’s burdens, with God in the exchange, is a breathtaking reciprocal thing. I unload some of my stuff on Him, but I also take on some of His. Ready?

Mary Slade was well-along in her life by the time she wrote “Hark the Gentle Voice”, while serving in various roles. And so, she was likely writing with her minister-husband, Albion King Slade, and others in mind. The words she crafted sound like what someone might say from the pulpit to coax others to respond, particularly with the words ‘Come, and I will give you rest’ that conclude the refrain. Perhaps it was even more likely that her friend Professor R.M. McIntosh was the recipient of Mary’s verses, since she reportedly wrote most of her handful of hymns for him. What’s the character of Jesus like? That’s a question an educator and writer might ask; so did Mary, as a teacher herself, have occasion to discuss this with McIntosh to arrive at her perspective of Him? What God-like character traits did she paint into the picture of Jesus? Tenderness (vv.1, 3); meekness (v.2); of course, love (vv.1, 3); and holiness (v.2) are all there in her poem. Mary the teacher likewise heard His teaching offer (v.2). Yet, there’s also Jesus’s yoke and burden (vv.2-3) that Mary invites the believer to accept, a circumstance that would naturally prompt a momentary pause, particularly if His ultimate sacrifice is considered. Want to dump your troubles and take on God’s instead? We can presume that Mary had made this kind of exchange and thought it was worth it, in fact ‘light and easy’ (v.3). If I cringe at the burden (death) He carried, I also embrace with hope and triumph (resurrection) what follows. Sound like a plan to mortgage your life on?

Calculate what you get, versus what you forfeit, Mary says. How was the calculation of one Mary in Jesus’s time changed when she observed a stunning reversal – i.e., how the burden vanishes in His presence (John 11:28-44)? It must have seemed pretty confusing to see Him actually consumed later by this death-burden in His own life after what He did for Lazarus. Yet, one instant does not a done deal make when the God-Son is involved. That’s what Mary in 33 A.D. discovered, and what another Mary some 1,800 years later underscored once again. Don’t fret over your own burden, or over taking on His. We’re talking about Him, not the burden. You and I just have to keep hearing His voice, the way the 1876 Mary did.    

Brief biographic sketch of the author is here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/l/a/slade_mbc.htm

A little more biography here: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/nutter/hymnwriters.Slade_NB.html

See all the song’s verses here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/h/a/r/k/harkgevo.htm