Week 13: Writing II

Handouts:

Christ, From Whom All Blessings Flow

Text: Charles Wesley (1707–1788), 1740

Tune: Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625), 1623

  1. Wesley is known for (among other things) the scriptural content of his hymns. This hymn also quotes some non-biblical sources as well. What references can you find?

    • 1 Corinthians 12 talks about spiritual gifts and one-body-many-members
    • Ephesians 4 talks about unity (“one Lord, one faith, one baptism”)
    • Galatians 3:27-28 talks about ending divisions (“there is neither Jew nor Greek” …)
    • Opening line comes from Thomas Ken’s “All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night”, which gave us our doxology
    • Final three lines of the opening match portions of the Book of Common Prayer
    • Final verse paraphrases a poem by Matthew Prior, Solomon, saying:

      Or grant Thy passion has these names destroy’d
      that Love, like Death, makes all distinctions void.

  2. What unique features of this hymn make it memorable and meaningful? How well are these techniques executed?

    • Literary devices:
      • Epanalepsis: “Join us, in one spirit, join”
      • Repetition: The “all in all” is used first for the completeness of Christ’s fulfillment, then as a title for God
    • In the first line, “perfecting” has syllables mismatched with the “natural” flow of the tune

Exercises

  1. Use the thoughts and ideas from last week to write a first verse focusing on church unity at the “world-wide” scale. Use CMD (8.6.8.6D) and this opening line as a starting point: “O Christian church across the globe…”