Lead On, O King Eternal -- Ernest W. Shurtleff

He was just 25 years old, and feeling as if the roadmap was laying out before him, with more than a bit of anticipation and zeal. It was graduation day in 1887, and Ernest Warburton Shurtleff was thinking about not just himself, but also about his classmates, and probably wondering what it would be like if he could stare into a crystal ball and see where they all might be, what they might accomplish in the next several decades. And so, Ernest besought God with the words “Lead On, O King Eternal” as he and his fellow graduates prepared to bid the Andover Theological Seminary (see it in this painting) outside Boston goodbye and go in their various directions doing God’s work. What did Ernest think it would be like – tough or enjoyable with a few hurdles? See what you think after you consider his poem.

 

Ernest Shurtleff’s Andover classmates’ recognition of his poetic ability led them to solicit his creation of three verses to commemorate their special day in 1887, but they probably couldn’t have anticipated that what Ernest would compose would eventually capture his life’s biography so well. Ernest must have thought that the worker in God’s field would respond to the call in multiple places, with his reference to ‘tents...our home’ (verse 1), and indeed Ernest served from one end of the American continent to the other – California to Massachusetts, and Minnesota in between, and then in Germany and France by the early 20^th Century. His call out to God to ‘lead on…’ in each of his three verses suggests he intended to listen and obey as he thought in 1887 about where he might travel as a minister, to treat his ministry as a ‘day of march’ (v.1). Would it always be pleasant? This was a question he seems to have considered as he penned his words, with the answer being in the negative; his use of martial words like ‘conquest’, ‘battle’ (vv.1, 3), and ‘fierce war’ (v.2) indicate Ernest knew the enemy would be present to offer resistance. Ernest nevertheless looked ahead with courage, feeling that day in 1887 that Andover had been his ‘days of preparation’, that he had been ‘made..strong’ (v.1); that ‘…not with fears’ was a bold attitude not unwarranted when God was out front. Ernest knew that his battles were not mingled with the typical military trappings, but with weapons uniquely in God’s arsenal – with ‘grace’(v.1); holiness, a ‘sweet amen of peace’, and ‘deeds of love and mercy’ (v.2). While some poetry and an accompanying melody have an enchanting quality to draw its devotees for many years, Ernest’s words when paired with the music of Henry Smart (from an 1836 tune) are more like a soldier’s cadence, an obedient heartbeat played for the minister who is on task each day. Perhaps Ernest thought this image captured more appropriately what he saw his classmates and himself doing in the next few years – not necessarily near each other, but nevertheless shoulder-to-shoulder in pursuit of the Lord’s mission.               

 

Ernest Shurtleff must have looked back to his 1887 graduation with lots of conviction for the following 30 years until his departure from life in 1917. Shurtleff’s poetry indicates he realized the end of his days at Andover were actually a commencement, a notion that frankly not many graduates grasp in similar moments, including this blogger-writer. I missed school, felt melancholy, and spent significant hours -- indeed years -- trying to hang on to those memories of school. Blessed is the person who instead is given or somehow acquires the vision ahead, to a place and with Eternal Ones, and memories that won’t fade. That’s what Ernest saw in 1887.     

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 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982.

 

Also see this link, showing all four original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/e/a/d/o/leadonok.htm

Also see this link for author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/h/u/shurtleff_ew.htm