Ten of the Best-Known Early English Hymns

The text was written shortly after his conversion by Charles Wesley (1707-1788). No one knows the exact circumstances under which it was penned. However, it does bear the marks of three tremendous experiences in his early life–the near sinking of his ship during a great storm on the Atlantic when returning from Georgia to England in 1736, his great spiritual awakening and change on May 21, 1738, and his ministration to the felons in Negate Prison in July 1738, which climaxed with the execution of ten of them at Tyburn Hill. Sometime after this, at age 31, Wesley produced what is considered the most famous of his 6,500 hymns. The official date given for its writing is 1739, although some believe that it was actually finished in 1738. It was first published in 1740 in Wesley’s hymnbook, Hymns and Sacred Poems. The most commonly used tune (Martyn) in the United States was composed by Simeon Butler Marsh (1798- 1875).

In the fall of 1834, Marsh traveled on horseback from Amsterdam to Johnstown, NY, to conduct a singing school. This melody came to his mind, so he stopped his horse, dismounted, and sketched the music. It was first published in the 1836 Musical Miscellany set to another hymn and was first joined to Wesley’s words in the 1842 Sacred Songs for Family and Social Worship by Thomas Hastings.

The song emphasizes how important it is for us to look to Jesus for strength and comfort.

O Thou Fount of Every Blessing

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

The text was written by Robert Robinson (1735-1790). He was born into humble circumstances. For several years, he became associated with a notorious gang of hoodlums and led a debauched life. However, in 1752, at the age of seventeen, he heard a sermon preached by George Whitefield, whose strong message impressed him. After three years of spiritual turmoil, he professed Christianity in 1855 and shortly afterward, at age twenty, became minister of a Calvinistic Methodist chapel at Mildenhall in Suffolk. However, a few months later, he left the Calvinistic Methodists and organized an Independent congregation at Norwich in Suffolk, probably in association with Selena, the Countess of Huntington.

This hymn was produced in either 1757 or, most likely, 1758 to show gratitude to God for saving him from a life of dissipation. It first appeared in A Collection of Hymns used by the Church of Christ in Angel Alley, Bishopsgate, published in 1759. The original began, "Come, Thou Fount of every blessing."

The tune (Nettleton or Hallelujah) is a traditional American melody often attributed to Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844). He was a well-known evangelist of early nineteenth-century America who included Robinson’s hymn in his popular 1825 Village Melodies for Social Worship. However, the book contained no music and there is no evidence that Nettleton was known as a composer or produced any tunes in his life. The tune's first appearance was in the 1813 Repository of Sacred Music: Part Second, compiled by Massachusetts printer John Wyeth (1770-1858). No composer’s name is given in the index, but it is identified as a new tune, leading to speculation that Wyeth may have composed it. However, it seems that he was not known as a tune composer either but published his tunebook strictly as a business venture "for the use of Christian churches." Thus, it is not known precisely where the tune came from nor who was responsible for it. Some sources suggest that a friend of Nettleton’s may have composed it and named it in his honor.

The hymn praises the Lord as the source of everything good.

There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood

“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness” (Zechariah 13:1).

The text was written by William Cowper (1731-1800). The son of an Anglican minister, he suffered physically all his life because of a weak constitution. In addition, the death of his mother when he was six years old left him emotionally sensitive and subject to periodic bouts of uncontrollable depression. His father encouraged him to study law, and he was called to the bar in 1754. However, the prospect of appearing for his final examination before the House of Lords to receive the post of Clerk of the Journals so frightened him that it caused a severe mental breakdown from which he never fully recovered. He made several suicide attempts.

Finally, he was invited to move to Olney, England, and reside with the family of a friend, John Newton. Cowper joined them and remained for nineteen years. During that time, he produced religious poetry. "There Is A Fountain" is dated 1771 and first appeared in A Collection of Psalms and Hymns from Various Authors, 2nd Edition, published by R. Conyers in 1772. Cowper was recognized as the greatest poet of his day and is now considered the most honored English poet between Alexander Pope and Percy Shelley. Yet, he is equally remembered for his wonderful hymns.

The tune (Cleansing Fountain or Cowper) is believed to be a traditional American Western folk melody, characteristic of the frontier camp meeting songs. It is often attributed to Lowell Mason (1792-1872). Mason had probably heard the camp meeting song and arranged it for this text in 1830.

The hymn emphasizes the importance of Christ’s blood to our salvation.

Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me

“And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (I Corinthians 10:4).

The text was written by Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778). In The Gospel Magazine of Oct. 1775, a single stanza beginning "Rock of Ages, cleft for me" appeared in an article entitled "Life–A Journey" by Toplady under the pseudonym "Minimus." In the same magazine, March 1776, Toplady published an article dealing with the absolute impossibility of one’s paying his indebtedness to God, and it concluded with the full poem in four stanzas, entitled "A Living and Dying Prayer for the Holiest Believer in the World." Later that year, the first hymnbook publication was in Toplady’s own Psalms and Hymns for Public and Private Worship. Toplady, who is credited with around 133 hymns and poems, died of overwork and tuberculosis at the early age of 38, just two years after writing his article.

The tune (Toplady), most popular in the United States, was composed for this text in 1830 by Thomas Hastings. It was first published in his 1832 collection Spiritual Songs for Social Worship.

The song urges us to find our consolation and security in Christ, our Rock.

Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Except for the last stanza, the text was written by John Newton (1725-1807). A former slave ship owner, in 1748, at the age of 23, Newton was sailing from Brazil back to England. There was a terrible storm in which his ship, the Greyhound, was almost destroyed, and he nearly lost his life. To pass the time away while recovering from his exhaustion, he began reading The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis. As he stepped off the plank in Southampton, he was determined to leave the sea eventually. After sixteen years of self-education while working as a tide surveyor and clerk at the port of Liverpool, he became a minister of the Anglican Church in 1864 at age 39. He began work with the small church at Olney, England, where he stayed for fifteen years.

During this time, he produced many hymns and, in 1779, published the three volumes of his Olney Hymns in collaboration with poet William Cowper. It includes perhaps his most famous hymn, "Amazing Grace." Originally in six stanzas, it first appeared under the title "Faith’s Review and Expectation" in the 1779 Olney Hymns, Book I, published by Newton and Cowper. What is today usually used as the final stanza is not from Newton but is often attributed to John P. Rees (1828-1900). However, this is almost certainly unlikely because it appeared as early as 1790 in A Collection of Sacred Ballads compiled by Richard and Andrew Broaddus.

The tune (New Britain or Harmony Grove) is an early American melody of unknown origin. It appears to have begun life as a plantation folk song known as "Loving Lambs." The earliest known printing seems to be in the 1831 Virginia Harmony, compiled by James P. Carrell and David S. Clayton of Lebanon, VA. It is sometimes attributed to William Walker (1809-1875). He prepared a collection of hymns, Southern Harmony, with Benjamin Franklin White, which was printed at New Haven, SC, in 1835. Evidently, it was in Walker’s book that this tune was first used with Newton’s hymn, and its inclusion gave it widespread usage. The modern arrangement was made by Edwin Othello Excell.

It identifies several things that God’s grace can do for us.

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9).

The text was written by Edward H. Perronet (1721-1792). He was a descendant of French Huguenots who fled first to Switzerland and then to England because of persecution. His father was a minister with the Church of England. Edward also became an Anglican minister but broke with the Established church to found a small, independent Congregational chapel at Canterbury in 1779. In this same year, Perronet penned his most famous hymn, and the first stanza appeared anonymously in the November issue of The Gospel Magazine, edited by Augustus M. Toplady. The entire hymn was carried in the April 1780 issue. Perronet had already produced several hymns and, during his lifetime, published three different song collections. The second, Occasional Verses, Moral and Sacred, compiled in 1782, was the first hymnbook to include "All Hail the Power." Since its first publication, "All Hail the Power" has undergone many alterations, the most extensive in the 1787 songbook, Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, where numerous changes were made and the final stanza added by the editor, John Rippon (1751-1836).

The tune (Coronation) most often used in the United States was composed by Oliver Holden (1765-1844). In 1786, this Charlestown, MA, carpenter who was a self-taught musician produced this melody to commemorate the birth of his daughter. Later, in 1792, he had become a Baptist minister in Boston, MA, and was compiling a hymnbook. He found Perronet’s words published anonymously in a magazine and discovered that they perfectly matched his own music written earlier. This version was first published that year in Holden’s Union Harmony, or Universal Collection of Sacred Music.

The song is a salutation to Jesus in memory of His ascension into heaven.

How Firm a Foundation

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity" (II Timothy 2:19).

The text, for reasons unknown, is often attributed to George Keith. It was first printed in the 1787 Selection of Hymns, published by John Rippon (1751-1836). In 1772, at the age of 21, he became a minister with the Baptist Church at Carter Lane in London and remained for 63 years. In the original edition of his well-known hymnbook, the author was identified only as "K." The 1822 edition listed him as "Keen." Because Robert Keene (or Keen) was a close friend of Rippon and served as song director at the Carter Lane Baptist Church, many have concluded that Keene is the author. After Rippon’s death, someone changed the "K" to "Kirkham" for Thomas Kirkham, but it is fairly certain that he did not write it. But no one knows for sure who did.

The composer of the tune (Foundation or Protection) most commonly used in the United States is also unknown. Some sources cite an English hymn writer, Anne Steele (1716-1778). However, this is highly unlikely, and the probable error resulted from over-crowding on a page of the Hymn and Tune Book of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1889. It is known to have been included in A Compilation of Genuine Church Music, published at Winchester, VA, in 1832 by Joseph Funk (1778-1862). It was later used in the 1844 Sacred Harp, published in Harris County, GA, by Benjamin Franklin White (1800-1879). There, it is called "Bellvue" and credited to a "Z. Chambless." Efforts to identify the source with any certainty have proved fruitless, and it is now generally regarded simply as a genuine American southern folk melody.

The song is a great hymn about the Bible and its precious promises.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty

“And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

The text was written by Reginald Heber (1783-1826). After his education, he became an Anglican minister and served from 1807 to 1823 with his family’s small church at Hodnet, near Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, western England. During these years, he produced nearly sixty hymns, the first one printed in the Christian Observer in 1811, most of which he never bothered to have published. About 1819, he began compiling his own collection. In 1823, Heber accepted the post of bishop of Calcutta in India, where he drowned in a swimming pool as the result of an apoplectic stroke at the age of 43. The date usually given for this hymn is 1826 because it was first published posthumously in A Selection of Psalms and Hymns of the Parish Church at Banbury, third edition. However, it is believed to have been written during Heber’s time at Hodnet, probably sometime between 1811 and 1823. Tennyson called it the finest hymn ever written in the English language.

The tune (Nicea) was composed for this text in 1861 by the noted English church musician and also an Anglican minister John Bacchus Dyke (1823-1876). It first appeared in Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861.

The hymn describes several characteristics of God for which we praise Him.

Abide with Me, Fast Falls the Eventide

“But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them” (Luke 24:29).

The text was written by Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847). There is some evidence that he may have actually penned it, or at least started it, in 1820 following the tragic death of a minister friend. But the date usually given is 1847, when he prepared it, perhaps completing or adapting it, as a farewell before leaving his home at Lower Brixham, England, for Rome, Italy, because of ill health. If it had been done earlier, this is when he made it public, giving it to a relative who put it away in a trunk. However, Lyte never made it to his destination and died in Nice, France.

The hymn was first published later that year after Lyte’s death in a leaflet with the author’s own tune and was then published in a book, Lyte’s Remains, in 1850. The tune (Eventide or Monk), which is almost universally used today with the hymn, was composed for Lyte’s text by William Henry Monk. His tune for "Abide With Me" first appeared in the 1861 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern. There are two stories on the origin of the tune. The most reliable sources say that it was produced in ten minutes at the close of a committee meeting compiling Hymns Ancient and Modern, despite a piano lesson being given in an adjoining room. However, after Monk’s death, his widow reported that her husband came up with the tune while in her company outdoors, at a time of great sorrow, after they had stood for a time watching the sunset. Perhaps the original sketches were made while watching the sunset with his wife, and the finishing touches were done at the meeting.

The song suggests that we need the Lord to always abide with us.