Angels from the Realms of Glory -- James Montgomery

He was a poet and sometimes a controversial editor, a one-time wanderer and orphan, a missionary supporter and humanitarian. James Montgomery might have been called all of these names, but at the heart of his character was the Christian hymns he authored, including “Angels from the Realms of Glory” that he composed for a Christmas edition of the newspaper that had become his life’s work in the early 19^th Century. This 45-year old native Scot had found his purpose in the central England area of Sheffield, where he published this well-known Christmas carol in 1816. What in particular moved James to compose his seven verses at Christmas time that year?

From the life he had lived and the verses he penned, we can easily surmise the James Montgomery believed in the Christmas story and was re-reading the account of it in Luke as the time for noel approached in 1816. His verses show he was paying homage to the Messiah as He entered earth’s realm (v.1,2), being at once the Desire (v.3), and Lord (v.4), and infant (v.6), and Divine Son (v.7). Luke’s story line compelled James, and so he wrote with all these ancient characters’ perspectives in view. All have one thing in common – to worship Him. The angels, the shepherds, the sages (wise men), the saints, and indeed all of us in humanity – nations, creation, and even sinners, as James calls them out – can look to Him. Whatever angle from which you come to God, it doesn’t matter, James' poetry suggests. He himself must have seen his own existence up until his 45^th year as somewhat varied, yet bended toward the God he served in all the roles he played. It must have been in no small measure due to the early life in which he found himself orphaned, yet nurtured in spite of his parents’ death. At the time of his penning “Angels from the Realms…”, James had been editor of the Sheffield Iris (formerly known as the Sheffield Register) for over 20 years, following an uncertain beginning to his life’s calling. Though his first efforts beyond school failed, including two stints in merchandise businesses through which he wandered briefly during his teenage years, his parents’ commitment to the Moravian traditions of missionary work (they would perish in the missionary field), music, and a personal devotion to one’s God must have touched Montgomery at a deep level. While he did not finish his schooling at the Moravian School where his parents left him upon their departure for mission work in the West Indies, he pursued the life of a poet and would compose the texts to some 400 hymns over his lifetime. This was in addition to the newspaper editorship at Sheffield for 31 years, a forum that he used for promoting humanitarian efforts in which he believed – some of them politically risky, imprisoning him twice -- among them abolition of slavery. His personal devotion to Christian principles also drew him to publicly support foreign missions and a bible society, undoubtedly a reflection of his parents’ influence early in his life.             

The poetry that flowed from James Montgomery’s hand in 1816 was not surprising, but no less significant because it was predictable. He kept alive the Christian faith in his era by holding fast to what he believed and publishing works that his contemporaries could acknowledge. He wrote a poem because he was a writer. And, it was a recitation of the ancient Christian story because it was what he believed. He had the gift to write, and the beliefs that moved his gift into a tangible result. James might say that I need to marry my gifts with my beliefs, and see what can happen.     

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 seven original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/a/f/r/afrglory.htm  

Also see these sites for author information: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/o/n/t/montgomery_j.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Montgomery_(poet)

See the link here for the theological background of the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravian_Church

America the Beautiful -- Katherine Lee Bates

She had used two modes of travel and absorbed the scenery along the way. Katherine Lee Bates tells a story about “America the Beautiful” that urges one to climb a mountain to find a view, and also to ponder what might pass before one’s eyes on a train ride. She’d already travelled abroad to study by the time she was 34 years old, so maybe that helped her appreciate even more the homeland of which she wrote during the last decade of the 19^th Century. But, she didn’t stop with the vivid imagery of the scenery she’d beheld. Toward whom did she and the nation she called home owe their allegiance? This patriot would call upon the Provider and the Creator for Divine intervention, and would remind her fellow citizens of His presence and blessings on them.

  

Katherine Bates and some other college professors went to the top of Pike’s Peak in Colorado’s

Rocky Mountains in 1893, apparently without the assistance of a railway (shown here in 1901) that others might have taken later on that ascent. It was an exhausting adventure, but that didn’t prevent her from capturing the vision she beheld at the top. Skies and mountains towered over the plains (v.1), so how could she not pause to appreciate what she was seeing for the first time from that spot? She also thought about the gleaming ‘white city’ of Chicago and the World’s Fair that she had visited on the way to Colorado (an ‘alabaster’ city, v.4). Katherine was gifted with the English language, which served her well as a professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, but the sights she apprehended on her trip west that year in 1893 spawned something fresh, four verses of poetry that she produced for publication first in 1895. She entitled it ‘Pike’s Peak’ initially and then ‘America’ for broader distribution, including in 1904 and 1911 when she re-crafted some of the words; this trip west was not something she quickly forgot, apparently. She had studied abroad just a couple of years earlier (1890-1) at Oxford, England, so travel to see other parts of the world far from her East Coast hometown was becoming part of her personality. Another part of her character was the spirit of her father, who was a Congregational minister who died when she was just a few weeks old; her mother and aunt who raised Katherine were graduates of Mount Holyoke Seminary, so Katherine had more than a notion about her Creator when she reflected on the blessings of her home country as she stood atop Pikes Peak.

She called out to her own countrymen, and upon God, as she penned four stanzas that summer of 1893. ‘Remember who has blessed us with these stunning vistas’ (v.1), she reminded those who would read her words on that Fourth of July, 1893. ‘Brotherhood’, she coaxed them, was the way to ‘pay forward’ what each of them as Americans possessed; this would not have been a casual suggestion for her or any other citizens still living in the shadow of the Civil War. The nation’s history that included the first pilgrims (v.2) and other ‘heroes’ (v.3) up until her own time occupied Katherine’s thoughts. Hers was not a spotless, invulnerable country, so she asked everyone to call out to the Creator to ‘mend…flaw(s)’ (vv.2,4) ‘refine’ them as a people (v.3), and exercise ‘self-control’ in submitting to the law (v.4). America! The Beautiful…it’s not just a picture-postcard collection. Katherine Bates saw and hoped for much more than that. Think about what she said today, OK?      

   

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 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985; 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 four original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/b/f/obfsskis.htm

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

Beautiful Star of Bethlehem -- Adger M. Pace

He had written so many songs by the time the words came for another song in 1940, that he really didn’t need a special time of the year to spur the words for this one. And yet, the poetry he crafted indicates that Adger McDavid Pace was thinking about a Christmas theme when he penned “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem”. This 58-year old teacher, performer, writer, and editor was probably somewhere near or at his home in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee (in southern Tennessee, see map) in that year, though in his mind he was far from there. Gazing at the sky, as shepherds did nearly two millennia previously, Adger was helping direct the attention of others to see an undimmed star in a faraway place. Shine on, he called out.

Adger M. Pace had likely written many hundreds, or even thousands of songs by the time 1940 arrived, and ‘Beautiful Star of Bethlehem’ was one more that illustrated where his life’s work had been spent and what road he would continue to travel. He reportedly wrote or co-wrote some 4,000 songs in the Southern gospel tradition, a brand of music that emphasized the four-part male harmony that Pace and the Vaughan Publishing Company helped popularize in the early 20^th Century. Adger began his musical career as the editor for the company, but also performed on the radio and taught at the company’s school, all in Lawrenceburg. What circumstances transpired in 1940 that prompted his thoughts about the star over Bethlehem is not clear, but given what we know of Adger, it’s not difficult to imagine why he took up his pen yet again. It was Christmas, or perhaps he was looking forward to that time of year, and his musical juices flowed to generate a song for the four-part harmony with which he was so familiar. Perhaps many of his acquaintances thought the best work of this 58-year old was in the past, but this new song became one of his most recognized when people reflected on his life later on. Adger drew upon the wise men and the Christ-child’s nativity scene (v.1) in the ancient village in Judea to relate his musical version of this well-known Christmas story. But, he must have wanted to broaden the impact of the story, if we can surmise something more from what he wrote. He suggests that the ‘beautiful star’ can encompass more than the holiday season, something we can infer from his words ‘Shine on’, which are a refrain in each of his verses. Was it something that Adger noted in his own corner of the world that made him focus on this thought poetically and musically? Did Pace believe that the influence of Christ was too distant at other times of the year? Is it mere speculation, or is it true that more of our world could profit spiritually if the star shone brighter – or, instead, if we all looked more intently at it – throughout a calendar year?

Adger Pace spent his life teaching, writing, singing, and leading people to see what he saw. And so, he didn’t deviate from that when it came to the holiday season. ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’, someone says, a phrase that Adger would have undoubtedly embraced. He just seems to say that the ‘season’ doesn’t end on December 26^th. Can you see the star that Adger saw, on this June day, when we’re pretty far distant from the Christmas season? Adger might say it’s always Christmas time.      

See the following link for biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adger_M._Pace

See also here: https://hymnary.org/person/Pace_Adger

And here for reference to author and a few of the songs attributed to him: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/p/a/c/e/pace_am.htm