The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-04-27
Hoetifai
81 WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAY.,

WOULD NOT LIVE ALWAY.,
The New York .Mdi says the death of
Rev. DIR. Muhlenberg will lend interest to
an account of the hymn, II would not
live AWAY" upon which the deceased
clergyman's world d-wide fame mainly rests.
This celebrated and beautiful hymn was
| not, originally, a hymn at all, but a poem
I of some six stanZas of eight lines each,
aad first appeared in the Episcopal r.
corder, of Philadelphia, in 1924. We pre-
sent this poem 10 our readers IN iis origi-
nal form:
As FIRT WRITTEN.
! ] would not live alway-lIve alway below
Oh. no; I'll not linger when hidden to 60;
The days of our pilgrimage granted Us here.
Are enough for life's woes, full enough
/ for its cheer;
/ Would | shrink from the paths which the
prophets of God,
Apostles, and martyrs, so joyfully trod.
Like spirit unblest, DER the earth would
roam,
While brethren and friends are all hasten
ing home.
would not live alway-I ask not to stay,
Where storm after storm rises dark o'er
the way;
Where, seeking for rest, VIC but hover
around.
Like the patriarch's bird, and no resting is
found;
Where hope, when she paints her gay bow
in the air,
Leaves its radiance TO fade in the night of
despair,
And joys fieeting angel ne'er sheds glad
ray,
Save the gleam of the plumage thai bears
him away.
/ would not live alway-thus fettered by
SIN,
Temptation without and corruption within
In moment of strength if sever the chain
Scarce the victory is mine ere Tn captive
again;
Zen the rapture 0f pardon is mingled
with fears,
And the cup of thanksgiving with peni
tent tears,
The festival trump calls for jubilant songs,
But my spirit her own a.tserere prolongs.
l would not live alway-nO, welcome the
tomb;
Since Jesus has lain there. dread not lis
gloom,
Where He deigned to sleep, III too bow
my head,
All PEACEFUL to slumber on that hallowed
bed.
Then the glorious day break to follow
that night,
| The orient gleam of the angels of light,
With their clarion call for the sleepers TO
rise
And chant forth their mathis. away to the
skies.
VITO would live always away from his God,
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode
Where the rivers of pleasure flow DER the
bright plains,
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns;
Where the saints of all ages IN harmony
meet
Their Saviour and brethren. transported
TO greet,
While the songs of salvation exultingly
roll,
And the smile Of the Lord is the feast of
the soul:
That heavenly music what is il | hears
The notes of the harper ring sweet in
mine ear,
And see, soft unfolding those portals of
gold,
The King all arrayed in His beauty behold!
o, give ne; o. give me, the wings OF q
dove,
To adore Him, he near Him, enrapt in
His love;
| but wait the summons, | list for the
word
Allelulia-Amen; evermore with the Lord.
In 1876 the General Convention OF the
Episcopal Church appointed Committee
to prepare a collection of hymns to be
added 10 the fifty-siN, then the whole
number attached to the prayer book. This
measure was in consequence of ali awak-
ened interest in tymnology, owing TO ar
ticles on Church Poetry" and a ''Plrs,
for Christian Hymns" addressed to the
masnates of the Churc'i by DIR. MnhleD-
berg, through ;he religious press. He
was chosen by the Convention a. ,ne Of
the committee, and the Rev. DIR. II. TN
dcrdonk, of Brooklyn, as unothcr DR..
Muhlenberg was ,urther appointed on a
Subcommittee. to pass preliminary judg-
meni upon ali ymns submitted. DIR
Onderdonk took mp the poem which DR..
Muhlenberg had published two years he
fore in the Rsc0rder, and, abridging If. so
as to adapt it in length and form for
church use, submitted il TO its author for
revision. Thus it received the form which
is now 50 familiar TO every Christian heart
and household 1t was then passed upon
favorsbly by the sub committee, who pre-
senicd il To- The general committee having
charge "i thc subject. There were TO
changes from The sentiment uf the orgi-
nal compO, iiinn; only four lines in the
new differed from the original, and those
only in few words