Oh, What a Savior!

I really do like this song.  For a good example of the song, see the video of "Rosie" Rozelle  singing it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADdmdDt03XY

NO.  905  WHAT A SAVIOR                       ©1948

            W & M By Marvin Dalton       Bb    4/4

                        CCLI Number:   132472

1.  Once I was straying in sin's dark valley,

No hope within could I see;

They searched thru' Heaven and found a Savior,

To save a poor, lost soul like me.

Cho.

Oh, what a Savior!  Oh, Hallelujah!

 His heart was broken on Calvary;

His hands were nail-scarred, His side was riven,

He gave his life-blood for even me.

2.  He left the Father, with all His riches,

with calmness sweet and serene

Came down from Heaven and gave His lifeblood,

To make the vilest sinner clean.

3.  Death's chilly waters I'll soon be crossing,

His hand will lead me safe o'er.

I'll join the Chorus in that great City,

And sing up there forever more!

ONE DAY [When Heaven Was Filled With His Glory]

“ONE DAY”

My name is Leon, and I have a story to tell.

J Wilbur Chapman had been a noted Evangelist in the late 1800’s ever since being called at one of  Dwight L. Moody’s campaigns.  He left the Field in 1896 to be come a Pastor of a church.  One day in 1898 Wilbur Chapman met Charles Marsh, who was then 12 years old.  Rev. Chapman asked Charles to play the piano at a conference for 3 months that summer -- -- Rev Chapman paid him $100.00 for the 3 months.

            One day 10 years later Rev Chapman wrote a poem.  That summer he was again in charge of a conference at Stoneybrook, New York.  He sought out Charles and asked him to come and play the piano at the conference.  When Charles arrived, Brother Chapman handed him his poem and asked that he write music to go with the words. 

            The poem wasn’t:  “O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM”, or

                                           “THE HEALER”, or

                                            “HE WAS NAILED TO THE CROSS FOR ME”, or

                                            “HE AROSE”, or

                                    “THERE’S GOING TO BE A MEETING IN THE AIR”,

but somehow the poem tells the story of all of these songs.

Charles wrote music to go with the words, and they sang the song several times at that conference, calling it:  “LIVING, HE LOVED ME”.   After the conference they wanted to get it published in a song book.   Two different publishers wanted to print the song, but at first there was disagreement as to who owned the rights to the song.   Once that was lined out, the song was first published in 1911.

                

    Mr. Alexander published it with the same title as the title of the Original Poem:  ONE DAY WHEN HEAVEN WAS FILLED WITH HIS GLORY.  Then later The Rodeheaver Publishing Company bought the song from Charles Alexander.  But when it came time for renewing the copyright, Charles Marsh was still living, so in 1937 the copyright was returned to him.

At some point a publisher printed the song with yet a 3^rd title:  “ONE DAY”, which is the title by which I knew it.

I’d like to just read the first 2 stanzas, then sing the rest:

NO. 346     ONE DAY        C     9/8   (1908) ©1911

       Words: J Wilbur Chapman      Music: Charles H. Marsh

1. One day when heaven was filled with His praises,

One day when sin was as black as could be,

Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin,

Dwelt among men, my Example is He!

CHORUS:

Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;

Buried He carried my sins far away;

Rising, He justified freely forever;

One day He's coming, Oh glorious day!

2. One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain,

One day they nailed Him to die on the tree;

Suffering anguish, despised and rejected:

Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He!

3. One day they left Him alone in the garden,

One day He rested, from suffering free;

Angels came down o'er His tomb to keep vigil;

Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He!

4. One day the grave could conceal Him no longer,

One day the stone rolled away from the door;

Then He arose, over death He had conquered;

Now is ascended, my Lord evermore!

5. One day the trumpet will sound for His coming,

One day the skies with His glories will shine;

Wonderful day, my beloved ones bringing;

Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine!

JOY UNSPEAKABLE

JOY UNSPEAKABLE

This song was published in 1900.   I remember singing this as a child in church. 

I was reading in I Peter today, Chap 1:8   Whom [Jesus Christ], having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.      This is probably the basis for the author’s writing the words since he uses the last phrase in the chorus.

Barney Elliott Warren                     1867-1951;  or B E Warren.   According to HymnTime:  http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/a/r/warren_be.htm,  Mr. Warren wrote lyrics to 280 Hymns.  They list 4 to which he wrote both the words and music.   There are at least 5 others in the list of 280 to which he wrote both the words and the music:  “Beautiful”[Robes], “Victory”, “It Is Truly Wonderful”, “Joy Unspeakable”, and “When The Bridegroom Cometh”.

Warren was con­verted in 1884 at a re­viv­al near Bang­or, Mi­chi­gan. Two years lat­er he joined Dan­i­el Sid­ney War­ner and his evan­gel­is­tic sing­ing com­pa­ny as a bass sing­er. The group was part of the Church of God Re­form­a­tion Move­ment in An­der­son, In­di­a­na. War­ren Is cred­it­ed with writ­ing over 7000 songs. His wife was Nan­nie Ki­gar, who be­longed to the sing­ing group that tra­veled the coun­try­side in the late 1800’s.
Warren was a Church of God min­is­ter as well as a song writ­er, and pas­tored sev­er­al con­gre­ga­tions. He al­so worked on pro­duc­ing song books and hymn­als for the Gos­pel Trum­pet Com­pa­ny from 1888 un­til 1940. His works in­clude

• Echoes From Glo­ry, with Dan­i­el War­ner (Grand Junc­tion, Mi­chi­gan: The Gos­pel Trump­et Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1893)[1]

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/j/o/y/joyunspk.htm   The tempo of the music played at HymnTime is, to me, a good tempo.   I think this song should always be sung joyfully.  Just read the words to the stanzas and let the words soak in:

JOY UNSPEAKABLE                        Key:  Bb    4/4

     W & M By Barney E Warren            (1900)

1. I have found His grace is all complete, He supplieth every need;

 While I sit and learn at Jesus' feet, I am free, yes, free indeed.

CHORUS:

It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, Full of glory, full of glory;

It is joy unspeakable and full of glory, Oh, the half has never yet been told.

2. I have found the pleasure I once craved, It is joy and peace within;

What a wondrous blessing I am saved, From the awful gulf of sin.

3. I have found that hope so bright and clear, Living in the realm of grace;

Oh, the Savior's presence is so near, I can see His smiling face.

4. I have found the joy no tongue can tell, How its waves of glory roll!

It is like a great o'erflowing well, Springing up within my soul.

---

[1] Schwanz, Keith. The Birth of a Hymn. Kan­sas Ci­ty, Mis­sou­ri: Lil­le­nas Pub­lish­ing Com­pa­ny, 1997.

A SHELTER IN THE TIME OF STORM

I have always liked this song.  Vernon Charlesworth originally wrote the words and music in 1880.   But, in 1885, Ira Sankey re-wrote the music, and tells why:

“I found this hymn in a small pa­per pub­lished in Lon­don, called “The Post­man.” It was said to be a fav­o­rite song of the fish­er­man on the north coast of Eng­land, and they were oft­en heard sing­ing it as they ap­proached their har­bors in the time of storm. As the hymn was set to weird mi­nor tune, I decided to com­pose one that would be more prac­ti­cal, one that could be more ea­si­ly sung by the peo­ple.”[1]

Sankey, Ira Da­vid. My Life and the Sto­ry of the Gos­pel Hymns. Har­per & Bro­thers, 1906., pp. 106-7
Vernon John Charlesworth    (1839 – 1915)

Son of Thom­as Charles­worth of Bark­ing and ne­phew of Jo­seph W. Charles­worth, Vi­car of Heach­am, Nor­folk, Charles­worth was ed­u­cat­ed at Ho­mer­ton Coll­ege. He served as co-pas­tor (with New­man Hall) of Sur­rey Cha­pel (1864-69), head­mas­ter of Charles Spur­geon’s Stock­well Or­phan­age (1869-1915), and a Min­is­ter­ing El­der of Spurg­eon’s Me­tro­pol­i­tan Ta­ber­na­cle. His works in­clude:

• The Life of Row­land Hill
• Flowers and Fruits of Sac­red Song and Evan­gel­is­tic Hymns (in con­junc­tion with J. Man­ton Smith)

The Stockwell Orphanage was for fatherless children to be able to live without charge, and given shelter, food, clothing, care, instruction and education.  It had been started two years earlier and was open to orphans of all religious backgrounds.  It was provided as an alternative to “poor houses” where orphans and the poor were used as slaves for businesses and given very inadequate and abusive care. The goal was to incorporate the children into large families, and to care and provide for the children as part of “normal” Christian families, instead of as if they were herds of institutionalized children. This was an expensive and tough ministry to start and maintain, but one that grew abundantly.  [2]

A SHELTER IN THE TIME OF STORM   

   Words and Orig Music By: Vernon J Charlesworth, circa 1880

     Music: altered by Ira D Sankey, circa 1885

"I found this hymn in a small paper published in London, called "The Postman." It was said to be a favorite song of the fisherman on the north coast of England, and they were often heard singing it as they approached their harbors in the time of storm."

My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns, by Ira D. Sankey (Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania: The Sunday School Times Company, 1907).

  1.  The Lord's our rock, in Him we hide,

A shelter in the time of storm;

  Secure whatever ill betide,

  A shelter in the time of storm.    

 

   CHORUS:

  Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,

  A weary land, a weary land;

  Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,

  A shelter in the time of storm.

    

  2. A shade by day, defense by night,

  A shelter in the time of storm;

  No fears alarm, no foes affright,

  A shelter in the time of storm.

      

  3. The raging storms may round us beat,

  A shelter in the time of storm;

  We'll never leave our safe retreat,

  A shelter in the time of storm.

  4. O Rock divine, O Refuge dear,

  A shelter in the time of storm;

  Be Thou our helper ever near,

  A shelter in the time of storm.

---

[1] http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/s/h/e/sheltime.htm

[2] http://bereanbibleheritage.com/extraordinary/charlesworth_vernon.php