Before the Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above

I have a strong and perfect plea

A great High Priest who's name is Love

Who ever lives and pleads for me

My name is graven on His hands

My name is written on His heart

I know that while in heaven He stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart

No tongue can bid me thence depart

When satan tempts me to dispair

And tells me of the guilt within

Upward I look and see him there

Who made an end of all my sin

Because a sinless savior died

My sinful soul is counted free

For God the judge is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me

To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there the Risen Lamb

My perfect spotless righteousness

The great unchangable I Am

The King Of Glory and of grace

One in Himself I cannot die

My soul is purchased by His blood

My life is hid with Christ on high

With Christ my Savior and my God

With Christ my Savior and my God

These lyrics were written by Charitie Lees Bancroft who was a hymn writer in the late 19th century.

(Charitie was born on 21 June 1841, at Bloomfield, County Dublin, the fourth child of Rev George Sidney and Charlotte Lees. The Rev George Smith was the minister of Colebrooke church, in the Church of Ireland parish of Aghalurcher from 1838-1867 and during this period the family including Charitie lived in Ardunshin House near Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Ireland. In 1860 one of Charitie's first compositions O for the robes of whiteness appeared in leaflet form in the immediate aftermath of the Irish 1859 revival. In 1863 she wrote perhaps her best known hymn "Before the Throne of God Above" which she entitled The Advocate (a hymn which was revived in evangelical circles in the late Twentieth Century). In 1867 Charitie's father took the family to Tattyreagh, Omagh, County Tyrone, when he became the rector of St Columba's Church Charitie continued with her compositions eventually publishing them in a volume entitled Within the Veil in 1867.

In 1869 a Liverpudlian Arthur Bancroft married Charitie in Edinburgh, Scotland. Records of her married life are scarce but it seems she was widowed twice. She died on 20 June 1923, in Oakland, California, USA aged 82 bearing the name de Cheney.)

It Is Well With My Soul

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. (NKJV) Philippians 4:7

For many Christians, a life characterized by God’s peace seems out of reach. It’s a great goal, but it never seems to materialize. It seems possible on Sunday, but when Monday rolls around, it’s just doesn’t happen. Life is just too hectic. Thankfully, the Bible reminds us that peace and harmony can be the rule rather than the exception.

It’s helpful to know over the last 5,500 years of recorded history, only about 290 years have known a time when there was no war. What an amazing statistic! Peace and harmony have not been the norm; war, hostility and aggression have dominated our human existence. So does it surprise us that in our own experience, conflict, fear and frustration dominate our emotions?

Our hymn helps us find an answer to our dilemma, for it takes us to God, the author of peace. Mr. Spafford, the author of our hymn reminds us that life’s storms emanate from the author of discord and disagreement, Satan. But despite Satan’s attacks, Jesus Christ "hath regarded my helpless estate", that is, Christ knows everything about our lives, regardless of how insignificant we may feel. And He loves us!

The power of the love of Jesus Christ is incredible—you just have to focus your mind, that is your intellect and your emotion—on Christ and let Him do His work in your life. It sounds simple—and it really is! As you focus on Christ, you exchange your own attitudes—that is, your fear and frustration—for that of Christ. And then peace will be the reality, not the negative emotions conveyed by Satan and his evil helpers.

You are in a battle. But the Prince of Peace is on your side. Your conscience can be clear. Godly living can be the rule, not the exception. As you focus on the words of this hymn, remember that Jesus Christ can take your sin—the source of your frustration—and eliminate it completely. Your sin has been nailed to the cross. You will sin again, but confess it and then claim the cross of Christ as your sign of victory. Satan has no power over you. Only when you neglect to focus on Christ do Satan’s forces have influence over you!

So, sing this hymn—and memorize Phillipians 4:7. It may take 7 days to learn, but instead of frustration, you will know peace and contentment. It will be "well with your soul!"

Hymn Story:

Horatio G. Spafford was a successful businessman in Chicago in the late 1860s, heavily invested in real estate along the shores of Lake Michigan. The disastrous Chicago fire of 1871 wiped out his holdings. He immediately worked to rebuild the city and assist the many that were left homeless.

In 1873 he arranged to take his family to Europe. He was close to D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey and planned to attend their evangelistic meetings in England, then take a vacation. At the last minute, urgent business kept him home, but he sent his wife and four daughters ahead on the S.S. Ville du Havre, planning to soon follow. The night of November 22, 1873, the Ville du Havre, was struck by an English iron sailing vessel, the Lochearn. The ship sank in 12 minutes. Of the 273 people on board, only 47 of them survived. Mrs. Spafford was found nearly unconscious, clinging to a piece of the wreckage. Their four daughters did not survive. When she reached Cardiff, Wales, she cabled home, "Saved alone, what shall I do?"

Grief-stricken, Horatio immediately started to Europe to join his wife. En route, the captain pointed out the place where he believed the Ville du Havre had gone down. Returning to his cabin, he wrote, "It is well; the will of God be done." He later wrote the hymn "It Is Well with My Soul", based on these words.

Although Spafford in his hymn tells of the comfort that God gives, no matter the circumstance, he does not dwell on tragedy. In the third stanza he directs our attention on Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, and in stanza four, anticipates His Second Coming. As we through faith understand these things, we too can say, "It is well with my soul."

Lyrics:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:

It is well, with my soul,

It is well, with my soul,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.

Used with permission: http://www.songsandhymns.org/

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

"You were like sheep going astray,
But now you have been returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."
2 Peter 2:25

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love (from the 3rd stanza of our hymn…)

William Cowper was a well-known minister and hymn writer. (Among the hymns he wrote are "There is a fountain filled with blood" and "God moves in a mysterious way".) Yet, he had wandered. He wrote these words,

Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and His Word?
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed how sweet their memory still,
But they have left an aching void the world can never fill.

And so have many of us. Some have wandered by flirting with false teaching. Even in the early church, St. Peter warned that "false teachers…will secretly introduce false heresies." 2 Peter 2:1

Others wander by adopting a lifestyle that is at odds with God’s requirements. Recall the sorry story of the prodigal son. And then, think of one of the saddest sentences in the Bible: "Demas, because he loved this world has deserted me having loved this present world…" 2 Timothy 4:10.

And unfortunately, some have wandered from God taking both roads.

Thank God that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost—and the wandering. Remember the shepherd who left the 99 sheep to hunt, even at great peril to himself, the one who had wandered. Remember the woman who had lost a precious coin and would not stop searching until she found it?

The comic strip "Dennis the Menace" features a young boy constantly at odds with Mr. Wilson. Dennis says to his friend Joey, "Don’t ever play hide and seek with Mr. Wilson. "He doesn’t seek!" Thankfully, God does!

The dearest idol I have known, whate’er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from thy throne, so shall my walk be close with God…

William Cowper knew the joy of being found—and restored. And so can we! But, the most obvious question is: why would any of us "be prone to wander?" For as we know, it only brings grief. Why?

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for thy courts above.

Hymn Story:

Robert Robinson, following the tradition of ministers of the time, wrote "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" as a hymn-poem for the conclusion of his sermon for Whitsunday, 1758. He was 23 years old at the time. It was published the following year in A Collection of Hymns used by the Church of Christ in Angel Alley, Bishopsgate (1759). There has been some speculation that it was written by the Countess of Huntingdon, but it is generally agreed to be the work of Robinson.

Originally "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" had four stanzas. The fourth stanza was omitted by Martin Madan in Psalms and Hymns, 1860 and has not been used since.

The statement in stanza two, "Here I raise my Ebenezer" refers to I Samuel 7:12, "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the LORD has helped us." Ebenezer is the Hebrew for "Stone of Help." Israel had suffered defeat because of its sin. But the people had repented of their sin, God had helped them and they were victorious. Samuel placed the stone to remind Israel that God had them, their victory was because of Him.

In stanza three, Robinson speaks of being "prone to wonder, prone to leave the God I love". This seems to be a forecast of his later life, when he lapsed into sin, unstableness and involvement with Unitarianism. There is a well-known story of Robinson, riding a stagecoach with a lady who was deeply engrossed in a hymnbook. Seeking to encourage him, she asked him what he thought of the hymn she was humming. Robinson burst into tears and said, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then."


Lyrics:

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of God's redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Original 4th stanza
O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

Used with permission http://www.songsandhymns.org/