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Songs of
Holiness Series - Part 3
by
Major Melvyn Jones
In my
previous article I presented the eleven ever-present holiness
songs and stated that I would reveal the common theme shared
by the songs in this article: well here it is.
The common theme is one of geography not of theology:
and the geography is related to the authors. Charles Wesley
for a period lived and ministered in the USA, as did the Frenchman Theodore
Monod. James Nicholson emigrated from
Britain
to the USA
as did Francis Bottome. Lewis Hartsough was a Methodist from
the USA as was
Wilbur Fisk Crafts. Mary James, one of the two women on this
list of authors was also from the
USA
together with William Burrell and Lowell Mason. That leaves
the odd man out – or to be more precise the odd women out –
Antoinette Bourignon: but even in this case there is still a
USA
link. John Wesley translated this song and in so doing brought
the song to the recognition of the English-speaking world.
John like his brother Charles spent some time in the
USA.
For good measure, William
Booth – under whose authority these songs were originally
included in Salvation Army Song Books – seriously considered
emigrating to the USA in his younger days. Thus the
common theme is geography in general and the USA in particular. The sub-text
however is one of theology. The
USA
in the nineteenth century was a centre for revival – or
revivalism – and of a renewed interest in Wesleyan based
holiness teaching. It was this heady mix of holiness and
revival that initially attracted William Booth to the USA when he was
struggling against British ecclesiastical opposition. Also the
American ‘free market’ approach to church must have tempted
the entrepreneurial Booth. He was to stay in Britain and as a
result the International Headquarters of The Salvation Army is
situated in London not New York: but the Atlantic Ocean – the
big pond – can be crossed both ways and the USA sent over
numerous promoters of holiness and revival during the nineteen
century: Charles Finney, Phoebe Palmer, James Caughey, Dwight
Moody and that fascinating married couple Hannah Whittal and
Robert Pearsall Smith were part of this significant influx
from America. A history of evangelical Christianity in
Victorian Britain cannot be written without reference to the
influence of the USA. The world famous and hugely
influential Keswick Convention based in the romantic Lake
District of England owes a great deal to the
USA
in terms of its origins and it continues to have strong links
across the Atlantic Ocean. Equally a history of the holiness teaching
of The Salvation Army has to recognise that same significant USA influence:
an influence that was to culminate in the saintly American
Commissioner Samuel Logan Brengle.
I
stand all bewildered with wonder
And
gaze on the ocean of love
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