A blessed night

A couple of nights ago I was going through my Nook, looking at all the books/documents I have downloaded and not read yet.

I came across this

This may be the first compiled hymn-book for the Christian & Missionary Alliance. It was published in 1897. And I thought my 1935 Blue Book was old!!

What a blessing it was to work my way through the first 50 or 60 hymns. And by work through I mean sing through. Yes, you read that right! You wouldn’t have wanted to make a recording, but I was singing my way through the hymn-book!

It was really cool to see the obvious emphasis of the Alliance at this time – the first section, the first 40 songs, devoted to the Holy Spirit. And by that I mean, the deeper life. Here is the first hymn:

Breathe upon us, Lord from heaven
Fill us with the Holy Ghost
Promise of the Father given
Send us now a Pentecost

Breathe upon us, breathe upon us
With Thy love our hearts inspire
Breathe upon us, breathe upon us
Lord, now baptize us with fire
(Breathe Upon Us by R. Kelso Carter)

The first forty hymns! All prayers for the Lord to pour out His Spirit, to baptize, to fill, to sanctify. From Carter, Simpson, Wesley, Watts. Amen. And Amen. and Amen again! This was the Alliance I was joining many years ago; this is what I sought to continue in my pastorates. And I confess, this is what I miss and what I have tried to find: somebody openly committed to promoting, encouraging, expecting, and experiencing the deeper life in Christ.

Here is a Charles Wesley hymn, number 30, to the tune of Azmon (O For A Thousand Tongues):

Jesus, Thine all-victorious love
Shed in my soul abroad;
Then shall my heart no longer rove,
Rooted and fixed in God.

Oh, that in me the sacred fire
Might now begin to glow;
Burn up the dross of base desire,
And make the mountains flow.

Oh that it from heaven might fall
And all my sins consume
Come, Holy Ghost, for thee I call
Spirit of burning, come

Refining fire, go through my heart,
Illuminate my soul;
Scatter Thy life through every part,
And sanctify the whole.

My steadfast soul, from falling free,
Shall then no longer move,
While Christ is all the world to me,
And all my heart is love.


Blessed night!