Alexander, Cecil Frances

In the beginning “God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good.” As it was then it is now for those rare souls near enough to their Maker to share His view-point. Mrs. Alexander beheld God’s world as “very good.” Her eye saw every precious thing—beauty was everywhere.
Artist and musician, she brought her gifts—the poetry of sight and sound—back again to the Giver, for Him to use in blessing for His little ones.
Had she so aspired it might have been otherwise. She wrote hymns for adults and poems of considerable value, but it was to interpret heavenly truths, in verse, to children that she was called.
Mrs. Alexander was interested in, and supported the two great religious movements of her day. When The Oxford Movementrushed along the highways in a chariot of song, John Keeble, its chief minstrel, found in her a kindred spirit. She revered him as a father in God. From her earliest years she had dwelt much upon, and strictly observed, the Church Calendar. Her Verses for Holy Seasons appeared in 1846. Keeble’s Christian Year had been published in 1827. When she wrote her Hymns for Little Children, a tiny book judged to be “unequalled and unapproachable,” Keeble wrote the preface.
Mrs. Alexander’s gift of song found its true fulfillment with the rising of The Sunday School Movement. The Church of Jesus Christ was at last awakening to the fact that children were capable of intelligently receiving the truths of Christianity and should be taught the vital doctrines of the Church. Mrs. Alexander was able to express these truths in words so simple that the least could understand. Her speech “did distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb.”
She brought to the Sunday School Movement an enrichment that has since become the inheritance of the youth of every branch of the Christian Church. She was not only the children’s hymnist but their theologian as well. From the scholars of her own Sunday School class, which she took week by week, she learned the inward working of the child mind. She seemed to take upon herself their nature and to become one with them.
It was no drab or colorless picture they saw as her word-painting described the glowing colors of the flowers, or the sparkling flash of tiny wings, the purple headed mountain, the dawn with roseate hues, and the rising of the red sun. How attractive was that
“Land we have not seen
Where the trees are always green.”
Lest any of her phraseology should be misunderstood by the more robust modern child, let it be remembered that “times have changed.” We do not now talk to one another in the superb period-language of Isaac Watts, but it will outlive our little day!
Her aim was to fortify the minds of her scholars against the then prevailing agnostic and atheistic propaganda, and to provide them with a sure foundation for their Christian faith. The Creed gave the text for her various hymns.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth, was simplified as they sang,
“All things bright and beautiful . . .
The Lord God made them all.”
“Once in Royal David’s city.”
Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord was born of the Virgin Mary.

“He came down to earth from Heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall.”

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.
Yes, on that

“Green Hill far away,
The dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all.”

Because there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin—and the whole Gospel of the Love of God in Jesus Christ is here—

“He died that we might be forgiven.
He died to make us good.
That we might go at last to Heaven
Saved by His precious Blood.”

As these lines are being written, young voices from East and West assembled at a Youth Conference at Swanwick, can be heard singing

“Oh dearly, dearly has He loved,
And we must love Him too,
And trust in His redeeming Blood,
And try His works to do.”

And as their youth turns to age, the story of their redemption will deepen in reality, and with passing years new generations shall arise and re-tell it, until it reaches the uttermost part of the earth.
It is told that when the little daughter of Charles Gounod was at school in England, she was expected to commit to memory certain hymns. After returning to her home in France, she recited to her father, “There is a green hill far away.” He, being impressed by the words asked her to repeat them over again. There and then Gounod sat down at the piano and composed the music which has charmed and blessed millions of listeners, and multiplied exceedingly the message of the hymn.
“He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty” was transcribed into—
“The golden gates are lifted up,
The doors are opened wide,
The King of Glory is gone in
Unto His Father’s side.”
Fear gives place to joy when a child understands that He that:
“Shall come to judge the quick and the dead” Is none other than the Jesus we loved at Bethlehem.
“And our eyes at last shall see Him
Through His own redeeming love.
Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him: but in Heaven
Set at God’s right hand on high.”
It was no soft or easy religion that Mrs. Alexander offered her children. She would have them know that there was “a war to wage with sin, a death to die for Jesu’s sake.” They were called to be Christ’s soldiers. Each Christian child had much to do without and within. Not only must they fight the sin that is in the world, but the conquest of self was a very real part of the warfare, and required stern dealing.

“When deep within our swelling hearts
The thoughts of pride and anger rise,
When bitter words are on our tongues
And tears of passion in our eyes;
Then we may stay the angry blow,
Then we may check the hasty word,
Give gentle answers back again
And fight a battle for our Lord.”

At this time there was no helpful outside Movement for the control of week-day leisure. Scouts and Guides, Cubs and Brownies, and the many other kindred associations, had not then been thought of. Little has been handed down of Mrs. Alexander’s contacts with her scholars other than on Sundays. Surely we may assume shared country rambles, and games in those “meadows where we play,” with the “trees in the greenwood” inviting adventure.
Exploring wild haunts with one as conversant with the ways of Nature as was their Sunday school teacher, would, for those fortunate children, equal Out with Romany for a later generation.
In her hymn:
“Jesus calls us o’er the tumult
Of our life’s wild restless sea,”
we seem to sense something of the author’s own heart history. From earliest years she had heard the call to follow Christ. Day by day there was the one ever insistent call. With passing years, still He called—in her joys and sorrows, in her cares and pleasures. His great Love allured her from the attraction of this world’s golden store—from every idol that might keep her from the one ever-increasing determination to “yield her heart to His obedience, to serve and love Him best of all.”
“Love Him best of all.” “More than these.” Here was the secret of her Lord’s trusted commission, “Feed my lambs”!
Cecil Frances Alexander died on October 12^th, 1895, at the age of seventy-two. Her grave in the cemetery at Londonderry is a place of pilgrimage for many to whom her hymns have been helpful.
At that sacred spot, holy memories will be revived and early resolves rekindled.
“To trust in His Redeeming Blood
And try His works to do.”

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“There is a Green Hill far away” is the leading Passiontide hymn and was written for children. Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander was a “mother in Israel,” so to speak. This hymn was written for her four children. . . . She wrote this hymn at the age of twenty-three years. Four hundred hymns flowed from her pen. She was a poetess of no mean distinction, with a fine spiritual touch and gift of making the great Christian doctrines live and be understandable to little folk. She wrote a poem about “The Burial of Moses” which caught the imagination of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who said he would have been proud to be the author of such a great composition. Her husband dedicated to her a volume of his writings in these terms, “To Cecil Frances Alexander in remembrance of twenty-seven years of helpful love and example with full assurance that my own estimate of her hymns and sacred songs is that of the church and of the English-speaking Christians generally.”
Humble, religious, devout, thoughtful, Mrs. Alexander disliked praise or flattery. All the profits of her writings were given to an Irish school of mutes. She was greatly beloved of all, particularly the poor, the needy, whom she greatly benefited by her charity and generosity. The hymn is based on the words of the Creed of the Church of England. “Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.”—W. Bramwell-Hill.

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Jesus Calls us o’er the Tumult
By Cecil Frances Alexander
Grace W. Haight
Jesus calls us o’er the tumult
Of our life’s wild, restless sea;
Day by day His sweet voice soundeth,
Saying, Christian, follow Me!
As of old St. Andrew heard it
By the Galilean lake,
Turned from home, and toil, and kindred,
Leaving all for His dear sake.
Jesus calls us from the worship
Of the vain world’s golden store,
From each idol that would keep us,
Saying, Christian, love Me more!
In our joys and in our sorrows,
Days of toil and hours of ease,
Still He calls, in cares and pleasures,
Christian, love me more than these!
Jesus calls us! By Thy mercies,
Savior, may we hear Thy call;
Give our hearts to Thine obedience,
Serve and love Thee best of all!

This popular hymn appeared in 1852 in Psalms and Hymns, published by the “Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,” which had been in existence since 1698 for advancing the work of the Church of England in spreading the Gospel at home and in the colonies. It is based on the text: “He saith unto them, follow Me!” (Matt. 4:19).
Its gifted author, Cecil Frances Alexander, . . . was an ardent churchwoman, able to give a reason for the faith that was in her. She could express her convictions and sentiments in such vivid poetic form that the hearts of others were kindled to serve the Lord, or to suffer for Him as the case might be.
Mrs. Alexander’s eyes were ever fixed on an eternal goal. She wrote many beautiful paraphrases of the Psalms. Three of the Messianic Psalms, the 22^nd, 23^rd, and 24^th, have been aptly described as “the Cross, the Crook, and Crown Psalms.” The 24^th has been beautifully paraphrased by Mrs. Alexander in her hymn, “The Golden Gates Are Lifted Up.” The fourth stanza is as follows:
“Lift up our hearts, lift up our minds,
Let Thy dear grace be given,
That while we tarry here below
Our treasures be in Heaven!”
Some four hundred hymns and poems were written by Mrs. Alexander. Children’s hymns were her forts. “Once in Royal David’s City,” and “There Is a Green Hill Far Away Without a City Wall” have been sung and are still being sung by hosts of children. A little child once asked Mrs. Alexander, “Why was the green hill far away without a city wall?” Whereupon Mrs. Alexander changed the word “without” to “outside” in a subsequent hymn book; but most publishers, however, have adhered to the word “without.”
On October 12, 1895, with her soul well prepared for an abundant entrance, Mrs. Alexander left Londonderry . . . for the many mansions that God has prepared for them that love Him.—The Fellowship News.

All Things Bright and Beautiful
By Cecil Frances Alexander
Grace W. Haight
All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky;
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

The refrain is sung before the first stanza. This bright hymn is one of the eight hymns by Mrs. Alexander in the late Hymnal of the Protestant Church. . . .As a child she wrote poetry, and as time went by many of her songs and hymns came into popular use. Dr. David J. Beattie in his Romance of Sacred Song, says that “As a writer of children’s hymns, no name has attained so high a position as that of Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander.”
. . . Mrs. Alexander’s long poem, “The Burial of Moses,” ranks as one of the classic poems of English literature. The first stanza is as follows:

By Nebo’s lonely mountain,
On this side of Jordan’s wave,
In a vale in the land of Moab,
There stands a lonely grave;
But no man dug that sepulcher,
And no man saw it e’er;
For the angels of God upturned the sod,
And laid the dead man there.

Notice the contrasting words, “dug” and “upturned.” But alas! in many late collections of poetry, this graphic stanza has been weakened by modern “poetry menders” who have substituted the word “knows” for “dug,” and have sought to justify the effrontery of their unfortunate emendation by placing at the head of the poem a part of the chapter, “But no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day.”