There’s a Fountain Free – Mary Bridges Canedy Slade

A Massachusetts native, a minister’s wife, and a 50-year old are just some of the characteristics that could be linked to Mary Bridges Canedy Slade in 1876. She was also a teacher and an editor, and therefore someone who might be called a persuader, or a guide for others. That might be most clearly what one might think of Mary when the words of her hymn “There’s a Fountain Free” are scrutinized.  She asks a leading question of those who choose to sing her poem, mingled with a radiant portrayal of what she thinks is much more than the two basic elements commonly called H₂O. She says it’s free…what would you and I do if signs like the one shown here instead became the norm? Perhaps the picture she draws is this way because of the source of the water, and because she says it quenches more than physical thirst.     

Mary Slade was most likely a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, including the city known as Fall River, from where she composed “There’s a Fountain Free”. Did Mary gather her thoughts about water and a fountain from her surroundings? This is a plausible proposition that one would consider for other writers, in fact. Let’s hypothesize for a moment, admittedly in the absence of any other compelling evidence telling us the reason for the song’s composition. Fall River, as its name suggests, has some geographic features that have contributed to its development. In short, it has lots of water -- about 17% of the city is liquid, including rivers, ponds, lakes, and a waterfall that once played an important role – in fact, that was part of the place’s economic engine. So, as Mary lived and took note of her community, did she note these features and intentionally draw an analogy to God’s kingdom? All of Fall River’s abundant water, available to everyone in the area to enjoy, was certainly an advantage to its inhabitants, maybe one that most took for granted. Mary, on the other hand, knew and treasured water, particularly the variety of this quenching commodity from the Divine hand. It has the ‘love’ (v.1) ingredient, as well as a living quality (v.2). While others of her time may have found their own water unpotable on occasion, Mary compared God’s water to ‘crystal’ (v. 2) and said it was ‘pure’ (v.3). While Mary did not openly share the source event for ‘There’s a Fountain Free’, we can know that she was trying to sway those whom she knew. Her poem words coax hearers with the question ‘Will you come to the fountain free?’ What better analog can a writer use than what’s within her own field of vision? Can you and I hear her telling a neighbor ‘See the river or that pond over there? Now, what do you think those are like in God’s home?’

And so, Mary’s conversation with a neighbor would have begun. Natural water has no flavor, of course, perhaps because it needs none. Instead, it takes on another concoction’s taste when merged. A generous Creator certainly is able to satisfy my thirst with other choice drinks, even using water to craft His gift, as His son did on one occasion (John 2:1-10). Yet, natural water is just how He intended it – pure, as Mary reminds us with her words. Water’s one of the simplest molecules, the basic necessity that scientists hunt when searching for life. So, how can it be free, since it’s so valuable? Mary suggests the answer in her words. Because it’s from Him.     
   
See this site for very brief information on the author: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/s/l/a/slade_mbc.htm
See this site for all the song’s verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/a/f/tafountf.htm

See this site for description of place in Massachusetts where author lived: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_River,_Massachusetts

Let Him In (There’s a Stranger at the Door) – Jonathan B. Atchinson

This author was 41 years old – seemingly in mid-life. Could Jonathan Burtch Atchinson have even imagined that his own mortal finish line was so near when he counseled himself and others to “Let Him In” (otherwise known as “There’s a Stranger at the Door”) in 1881? His own demise would leave him in a grave in the following year in New York’s Niagara area (see map here). His well-considered advice could not have been too foreign, since he’d become a minister several years earlier, and had probably warned others with similar words for some time. Were these words the occasion of a sermon that he delivered, or a class he taught? We can guess that his words were meant to enter the hearts of those who’d been resisting the nudge to make some spiritually decisive choices. Ever been there? Does He ever pound on that door, or is it more often a persistent tap? Which sound was Jonathan urging his hearers to tune in?

There are many questions about Jonathan Atchinson, with just a few answers forthcoming. He was a native of New York state, and evidently served in ministry there and in Michigan. His passion reportedly was Sunday schools, so one could imagine that whatever he wrote might have been intended to further the education of Christians, young and old. As an ordained Methodist minister, perhaps his words found their way to the pulpit, too. Did any of his Civil War memories as a soldier (in the Union forces, one would assume, since he was from New York) impact his outlook? There’s an old adage that says there are no atheists in battlefield foxholes, so it would not be hard to imagine that Jonathan himself had endured or had seen others confront life-or-death episodes during that conflict by making a pact with the Creator-Savior. Perhaps one or more of his war recollections helped stir ‘Let Him In’.  But, war is a brutal method to push the reluctant toward God – more like what a hammer does to a nail. Atchinson’s poetry is much more gentle – a door knock (v.1), a loving voice (v.3) – that indicate he realized God’s not an overbearing dictator. Instead, He asks to enter. Was that also part of Jonathan’s character, to encourage and sway, with an arm around the shoulders, rather than a rope around the waist yanking someone to a cliff’s edge? Was Jonathan perhaps reading what Jesus said about a stranger’s true identity (Matthew 25), and reinforced by the Hebrews writer (13:2)? What does the stranger at the door do, once He’s allowed to enter? It’s all positive, as Jonathan’s persuasive words indicate – friendship, protection, caretaking (v.2); joy (v.3); a feast, clemency, and an awesome home (v.4). In Jonathan’s equation, the stranger (v.1) eventually becomes the heavenly guest (v.4).

How does a houseguest remain welcome, while another might become a burden? You know the latter, perhaps. He’s the one that spills something on the sofa, or says something contrary – maybe even about your football team! He’s there, but not because you really like him. He’s like the tax you gotta pay. On the other hand, what’s the first houseguest like? He’s not pushy, yet lifting your spirit – you go places emotionally that otherwise are outta reach. In short, you want Him around so much because of the vigor, the transformation He brings. Maybe you’re not in a gutter, or perhaps a war like Jonathan endured, or in a homeless shelter. Nevertheless, your house still might seem a little empty. What’s missing? Maybe it’s a ‘who’ you need there.  

See all the song’s verses here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/e/t/lethimin.htm

See brief biography on the author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/a/t/c/atchinson_jb.htm

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