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Stories Behind The Hymns
His father was put into prison twice for "his conscience sake". The mother carried Isaac in her arms while visiting his father in prison. She sang hymns to her husband to cheer him up before leaving the prison each visit. As Isaac grew up, he was not impressed with the hymns his mother and father sang at church and complained to his father that the congregation was listless. His father challenged him to provide better hymns. He took his father advice and at the age of fifteen he composed several hymns that the congregation enjoyed. On his twenty-first birthday, Isaac preached his first sermon in the Independent Church in Mark- Lane, London. His health began to fail in 1708 and he offered to resign his pastorate, but the congregation instead brought in an assistant pastor to help him. In 1712 his good friends Sir Thomas and Lady Abney invited him to their estate, which was twelve miles from the church for some recuperation and leisure time. He intended to stay a week, but the visit turned out to last the rest of his life. They seemed to be made for each other. He still preached each week when he was able to get to the church. He died in 1748. Although he did pastor a church, God gave him hymns to write that have been passed down for over 250 years for us to sing each week in our own churches. He had a song book published in 1707 titled "Hymns and Spiritual Songs". In 1719 his large collection of hymns was published as "The Psalms of David in the language of the New Testament". These were written for the common folks. Isaac used a number of scriptures to write, "Joy to the World", Psalm 98:4-9," Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth make a loud noise, rejoice, and sing praise." He also used Genesis 3:17-18 and Romans 5:20. Although, Isaac wrote the song of rejoicing for Israel's salvation from Babylon, the song is concerned with redemption of the whole world from sin and sorrow. Luke 2:10; Isa.40: 3-5 and Phil. 4:4. So it is a great hymn of the advent and of the nativity . He felt all nature thrilling with the Savior's birth. Religion was never at a lower ebb in England according to historian John Richard Green. How powerful and prophetic were these words in such a time when Christian hymns were not used in the Church of England. (Psalms were sung and chanted). We need to read and then sing the words to "Joy to the World", and I think we will have a different view and feeling of the message in this song. The music was written by George F. Handel in 1742, and adapted to "Joy to the World" by Lowell Mason in 1830. Stories Behind The Hymns is written by Warren Shiver of Biscoe,NC. Shiver has been fascinated with the true stories behind the hymns since he was a 12-year old attending East Gaffney Baptist Church in Gaffney, S.C. He began studying the stories behind the hymns in 1957. If you have questions or comments, he can be reached by email at wshiver99@embarqmail.com or by mail at PO BOX 775,Biscoe,NC 27209. JOY TO THE WORLD Verse 1 Joy to the world, the Lord is come Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing And heaven and nature sing And heaven, and heaven and nature sing Verse 2 Joy to the earth! The Saviour reigns, Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains Repeat the sounding joy. Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. Verse 3 No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found Far as, far as, the curse is found Verse 4 He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteous And wonders of His love And wonders of His love And wonders, wonders of His love |
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