composer – BIBLE Students DAILY

My Goal Is Christ – Hymns of Dawn No. 4

“(13) Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (14) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (15) Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you” (Philippians 3:13-15, ESV).

Lyrics

1.
Ah, tell me not of gold or treasure,
Of pomp and beauty here on earth!
There’s not a thing that gives me pleasure,
Of all this world displays for worth.

Each heart will seek and love its own;

Chorus
My goal is Christ and Christ alone,
My goal is Christ and Christ alone.

2.
The world and her pursuits will perish;
Her beauty’s fading like a flower;
The brightest schemes the earth can cherish
Are but the pastime of an hour.

Each heart will seek and love its own;

3.
Against this tower there’s no prevailing;
His Kingdom passes not away;
His throne abides, despite assailing,
From henceforth unto endless day.

Each heart will seek and love its own;

4.
And though a pilgrim I must wander,
Still absent from the One I love,
He soon will have me with him yonder
In his own glory-realms above.

Triumphantly I therefore own,

The History Of This Hymn

Author – William Hunter (1811-1877)

Hunter, William, D.D, son of John Hunter, was born near Ballymoney, County Antrim, Ireland, May 26, 1811. He removed to America in 1817, and entered Madison College in 1830. For some time he edited the Conference Journal, and the Christian Advocate. In 1855 he was appointed Professor of Hebrew in Alleghany College: and subsequently Minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Alliance, Stark Country, Ohio. Over 125 hymns were written by William Hunter. Some of these have been translated into various Indian languages.

Composer – Edwin Othello Excell (1851 -1921)

Excell_EO - Hymns of Dawn No. 4 composer.jpg E. O. Excell, was a prominent American publisher, composer, song leader, and singer of music for church, Sunday school, and evangelistic meetings during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

His 1909 stanza selection and arrangement of “Amazing Grace” became the most widely used and familiar setting of that hymn by the second half of the twentieth century.

Excell compiled or contributed to about 90 secular and sacred song books and is estimated to have written, composed, or arranged more than 2,000 of the songs he published. The music publishing business he started in 1881 and that eventually bore his name was the highest volume producer of hymnbooks in America at the time of his death.

Excell was the son of German Reformed minister and self-published author J. J. Excell. He was born in Uniontown, Stark County, Ohio and attended public schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania. After marrying in 1871 near Brady’s Bend, Pennsylvania, he relocated to that state and supported his family for several years as a plasterer, bricklayer, and singing instructor. His focus was turned to sacred music through his experience leading songs at revivals and worship services of Methodist Episcopal churches, first in East Brady and then, starting in 1881, Oil City, Pennsylvania. Between 1877 and 1883 he studied music formally at the Normal Musical Institutes of George F. Root where he also received vocal training under Root’s son, Frederick. He moved to Chicago, base of Root’s operations, in 1883 to pursue music publishing in earnest.

Excell was described as “a big, robust six-footer, with a six-in caliber voice” and extraordinary range that enabled him to solo as baritone or tenor. Publisher George H. Doran observed him leading songs at a revival and later noted that Excell “was a master of mass control; he might easily have become conductor of some mighty chorus”. These talents fostered his early success as a rural singing teacher in Pennsylvania and helped secure a position as church choirmaster for the two years preceding his move to Illinois.

Hymn Book Purchase

The Hymns Of Dawn (hymn book) can be purchased here:

The Chicago Bible Students Online Bookstore: https://chicagobible.org/product-category/books/page/4/
The Dawn Bible Students Association: http://www.dawnbible.com/dawnpub.htm

Acknowledgment & References

Br. Charles Taze Russell

Br. Charles Russell—the founder of the Bible Students movement, who is the compiler of “Poems and Hymns of Millennial Dawn” which was published in Allegheny, Pa., in 1890. This Bible Students’ devotional originally contained a total of 151 poems and 333 hymns.

Later on, the hymns from this book formed a basis for the hymnal titled ““Hymns of Dawn” which was published by the Dawn Bible Students Association in East Rutherford, New Jersey (USA) and the 1999 edition contains a total of 361 hymns.