O Holy Night – Placide Cappeau and John S. Dwight

A 35-year old French poet was asked to celebrate Christmas in his hometown. That must have been an easy request for this fellow, who loved to write poetry. The town was Roquemaure (see its coat of arms here) in southern France, where Placide Cappeau was the mayor and wine merchant, and the poet to whom the church’s priest looked for some words to rejoice on the occasion of Christmas and the use of the church’s refurbished organ in 1843. It must have been a hit, for it made its way across the ocean not long afterwards to another poet in America, 42-year old John Sullivan Dwight, who translated the song-poem into English in 1855. What was it Placide and John wanted to say about the holy night? For Placide, did the renovation of the church’s organ remind him at all of the celebration of humankind’s renewed condition because of Him?        

Jesus was the central message of the poem that Placide wrote and that John recast into English – not really a surprise for a Christmas message. The Divine babe is the focus, with the scriptural imagery of rejoicing angels and worshipping wise men from the East inhabiting the words of the first two verses translated into the English language version. Man’s troubled condition lay in juxtaposition to the holy child, as the author reminds us that He’s here to address…’the world in sin and error…’ (v.1) and in ‘…our trials’ and ‘…our weakness’ (v.2). It’s evident that the Frenchman Cappeau and his American counterpart Dwight were of the same mind – we earthlings need help from above, and that His arrival should indeed spawn elation among us who acknowledge our mortal condition. The message of love, brotherhood, and redemption that the Christ conveyed once He came out of the crib walking and talking and relating to people (v.3) concludes ‘O Holy Night’. This was a new concept that was difficult for the first century’s humans, even if they accepted their prophets’ and scribes’ teachings, to grasp. Just look at Jesus’ contemporaries’ reactions. What, no earthly kingdom? And, we’re supposed to love our enemies? And, the Christ will die (something that Placide and John do not directly mention, actually) in order to trigger the redemption clause in this God-to-human relationship? Kinda revolutionary, wouldn’t you say? Yet, it is the beginning of His earthly life, and His undisputed power to reclaim my lowly, decaying state, where Cappeau and Dwight center their thoughts.

Let’s rejoice! When Placide’s priest suggested to him that repair of the church’s organ should arouse their spirits, we can imagine that the poet agreed, since he did take up his pen to write. The circumstances of ‘O Holy Night’s’ inception may have been the successful repair of a piece of equipment, but what stuck out to Cappeau –and translated by Dwight – was the same sort of regeneration for the human. Where do you and I go to get the repairs we need? Doctors are really helpful, with diagnoses that usually have me feeling better and at peak (as peak as I can be here in this body!) condition before too long. And yet, I often have a recurrence of the ailment, or I get others I haven’t had before. And, there’s that other type of problem that never seems to heal up – that blemish, like an ugly wart. Placide and John had this affliction too. It’s called SIN. You think that maybe that’s why they cherished the holy night so much?     

See the following site for all three verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/h/o/l/oholynit.htm

See history of the song here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Holy_Night

See the link here for brief biography on the original French author: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/a/p/cappeau_p.htm

See the link here for brief biography on the American writer/translator of the English language version of the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/w/i/dwight_js.htm

God of Our Fathers -- Daniel Crane Roberts

This fellow was a patriot, and proved it in two significant ways that survive over a century later. As an Ohioan, Daniel Crane Roberts volunteered to serve in the army during the mid-19^th Century’s American Civil War, and perhaps that episode stuck with him over a decade later when he penned “God of Our Fathers” to commemorate the nation’s centennial. By 1876 Daniel was in Brandon, Vermont (see map here) and was serving in a very different way, as a man of peace and of the cloth in a Presbyterian church in the northeastern part of America. What was it he remembered as he cast his vision backward, and was it only about what had already happened? Was there something else he entreated his God to do, upon the occasion of the 4^th of July celebration in Brandon? Daniel could say his two gifts of devotion to his country – his military service to preserve the Union, and this song-poem he authored over 10 years later -- merged with his allegiance to God.

 Daniel Roberts was 34 years old in the months leading up to the July 4^th that would mark the nation’s 100^th birthday, no small feat considering the war that had threatened the Union in the previous decade. His time among the 84^th Ohio Volunteers as a young man in his 20s undoubtedly must have been on his mind as he pondered that cataclysmic event, yet he dwelt not on the past exclusively as he called out to God in this hymn. Daniel looked ahead, too. He recalls the war’s imagery (verses 2 and 3) with a recognition that God’s protection was evident then ‘…in the past’ (v.2), amid all of ‘…war’s alarms and deadly pestilence’ (v.3). There must have been times that Daniel was overwhelmed with the experience, which was a far cry from Kenyon College in Gambier in central Ohio where he had been in the few years before the war commenced. Had Daniel thought about serving God in professional ministry while at Kenyon College, or otherwise before 1861 arrived and altered his life forever? History does not record what his life objectives were as a 20-year old, someone who threw caution to the wind and put his life at risk, along with many others. But, we do know that by 1865 he had been ordained as a deacon in the church in which he chose to devote the remainder of his life. His broader perspective on mortal -- and immortal life, especially – emerges from his inner thoughts, a window that tells us he knew God would guide his and his country’s future. Is it much of a leap to suspect that this viewpoint developed in his spirit as he marched into and out of battlefields? He could see and write about ‘…shining worlds in splendor’ (v.1), and implore God to ‘Refresh thy people…lead us from night to never ending day’ (v.4), hopeful visions that Daniel Roberts could imagine and call others to dream with him on July 4^th, 1876.

Did Daniel Roberts experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the way many other warriors, even to the present day, find it difficult to escape? His ministerial life, and at least to a small extent this hymn, may have been therapy that Daniel needed to overcome the war. Did his fellow Brandon, Vermont citizens wonder about this as they sang his words for the first time on that 1876 Independence Day? Daniel probably didn’t want them to focus on that, however, but on the One who he must have felt saved him over 10 years earlier. He’s still in that saving business, by the way.   

   

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; and 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985.

Also see this link, showing all four original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/g/o/d/o/godofath.htm

Also see this link for author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/r/o/b/e/roberts_dc.htm

Also see this site for song information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_Our_Fathers  

My Country 'Tis of Thee -- Samuel Francis Smith

Samuel Francis Smith knew a lot of languages, not the least of which was the language of music. So when a music publisher/educator/composer (Lowell Mason) had a gap in his own knowledge while in possession of some German-language songs, he sought out Samuel. The year was 1831 or early 1832, and Samuel was at Andover Theological Seminary (see seal of the town here; the seminary later merged with and relocated to another seminary in Newton) in Massachusetts. The eyes of this young (early 20’s) student soon fell upon a patriotic song extolling the German (Saxon) nation that captured his imagination. Of course, the words did not fit what was in his heart about his own country, but the tune and the nature of the original words sparked his creativity. In just 30 minutes time, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was thus written.

Samuel F. Smith’s patriotism was obviously tied to his faith, and the use of ‘My Country…’ in the few months and the nearly two centuries since its inception have underscored Samuel’s musical/patriotic sense. The Independence Day after Samuel first wrote his four or five original verses was the public premier of this patriotic hymn, sung by Sunday school children at a celebration of the day’s significance in Boston. Smith, evidently with encouragement from Lowell Mason, who conducted the children’s choir that day, saw the freedom of the nation as a holy gift, worth rejoicing and emphasizing as something He gave them. ‘Freedom’ or forms of the word or its synonyms is the focal point of every verse Samuel penned. But, independence was not merely a circumstance of a past generation’s sacrifices or just a fortunate coalescence of world events, as Smith saw it. Samuel’s final verse attributes American freedom to the God above – He is the ‘author’. It’s notable that the first few verses Samuel wrote contain no reference to this ‘author of liberty’, the One ‘to Thee we sing’. That makes it therefore possible that a crowd could mouth an abbreviated version of Smith’s words and not arrive at the same conclusion he did – that God is the One at work in American liberty. Yet, examine closely what Samuel implies in those verses, and it appears that the freedom he celebrates doesn’t just exist as a concept. It inhabits the people and the land, somewhat as a Spirit might. It comes from ‘every mountainside’ (v.1), filling him (Smith) with a ‘rapture’ (v.2), as music ‘swell(s) the breeze’ (v.3/4). Smith even indicates ‘rocks (would) their silence break’ (v. 3/4), perhaps not unlike what Jesus suggested (Luke 19:40) would happen if people failed to acknowledge God’s presence. Smith calls out to Him as ‘Great God our King’ (last verse) with his concluding words.

Am I therefore missing something minus Samuel Smith’s last verse? Without intending it perhaps, Smith’s construction of the song allows a secular use of ‘My Country…’ that could ensue if the last verse is excluded, perhaps in some sense therefore making it more broadly popular. Freedom in America is great, no doubt about it; just ask those elsewhere who don’t have it. It’s really what we all want – freedom from oppression, sickness, poverty – though no physical space or governing body on this planet does it perfectly. It’s a matter of perspective and recent experience, for I might highly value the freedom I now have because it’s better than what I had somewhere else. Yet, I always run into something that’s un-free, no matter how good the place and time is. Samuel Smith has pointed to someone who knows all about freedom, and where it’ll never disappoint. Found such a person yet?  

   

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; Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003; and A Treasury of Hymn Stories – Brief Biographies of 120 Hymnwriters with Their Best Hymns, by Amos R. Wells, Baker Book House Company, 1945.

Also see this link, showing all five original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/m/c/t/mctisoft.htm

Also see this link for author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/m/i/t/h/s/smith_sf.htm

Also see this site for song information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_(My_Country,_%27Tis_of_Thee)