He Will Hold Me Fast Music – This devotional hymn has its roots in three continents. This story begins with the American journalist R.A. Torrey (1856–1928) and his music director, Charles Alexander (1867–1920), who were touring Australia in 1902 when they met the young pianist, Robert Harkness (1880–1961).
Dr. Terry and Mr Alexander came to my home town of Bendigo in June. Before they arrived, a mission committee came to me, and asked if I Won’t you help out at the meeting by playing the piano part of the time? I don’t care about gospel meetings; Indeed, I was against them, but the thought struck me, that perhaps my good father and mother would be pleased if I took part in these meetings, and I consented. I was not in the first meeting ten minutes before I found out that It will be decidedly warm, much warmer than I expected.
He Will Hold Me Fast Music
Mr. Alexander announced the 7th hymn, and soon I was playing two lines of the hymn, with an old southern melody. I don’t care deeply, and play it on the outside. In playing through the “Glory Song,” when I came to sing, I closed the book; I memorized it quickly and improvised with the chorus trying to displease Mr. Alexander; But instead of displeasing him, he turned to me and said, “Keep it. Keep it. That’s what we want.” So I continue. The next time we sang a full octave, I thought he would be angry, but he was not. At the end of the meeting, Dr. Terry asked me if I was a Christian. I straightened up and said, “No, I’m here to play the piano.” Dr. Terry left me and went away, to pray for me—I think.[1]
He Will Hold Me Fast Sheet Music For Piano, Female, Male, Cello (satb)
After that experience, Alexander challenged Harkness to accept Christ. Harkness, moved by Alexander’s genuine concern for his spiritual well-being, accepted. In addition, Alexander was so impressed with Harkness’s talent that he hired the young man in his traveling music team, establishing a partnership that lasted for many years.
After their work in Australia, the team traveled to Tasmania, New Zealand, and India before turning their efforts to the British Isles. In 1905, while in London, at the end of their campaign, the team entered Befriended singer Ada Habershon (1861–1918), forming his first collaboration. you:
A few days before the action in the Strand ended, a new gospel song was added to the set. Alexander’s Revival Hymn, which was instantly popular. It’s called, “Oh, Things Have Changed! And it’s written by a woman who knows widely known for her sacred scriptures, Ada Ara Harberson. She was a preaching work, and heard Dr. Tree speak one afternoon on “The Second Coming of God Christ.” She was very impressed by the doctor’s words, and when she returned home she wrote a beautiful hymn. . . . Shortly afterwards, Mrs. Habershon gave the lines to Mr. Harkness with the request that he would set them to music. During Dr. Terry’s sermon one night, as the pianist was scanning the lines, he was inspired, and drew a sheet of paper from his pocket. The hymn was quickly printed as originally written—without any alteration—and delighted all who were privileged to hear it. During the last days of the campaign in the Strand it was sung on an average at least once in each meeting.[2 ]
In early 1906, the team was in Toronto, Canada. By one account, Harkness met a young convert there, who “expressed a fear that he would not be able to bear it,” [3] so he wrote to Habershon in England to request more texts to address this feeling. Harkness later described Habershon’s response after the team moved the job to Philadelphia:
Worship Song Highlight:
It was 1906, during the mission in Philadelphia. I remember that Dr. Torrey preached to about 4000 people in the Armory. During the sermon, I took out some pieces of paper with the words that Mrs. Habershon had sent in response to the request. of some verses about maintaining the authority of Christ. I read in the series of “He will hold me fast”; The melody came to me, and I worked it out there and then, wrote the music for the verse and the chorus.[4]
The following summer, 1907, the song was presented at the Moody Bible Conference in Northfield, Massachusetts. One journalist described how the song “captured everyone’s heart… and was sung and echoed all over the floor”.[5]
In the spring of 1908, Charles Alexander returned to Philadelphia with evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman (1859–1918) and later relayed this testimony about the impact of the song:
During the ministry in Philadelphia last spring, Dr. Charles W. Gordon called me across the waiting room of the hotel where we were staying and introduced me. You know a handsome young man, and told me this story. … His face lit up as he told us how he had been in our meeting a few days before and had been converted. When I asked him I found him in the dark and felt that he was too weak to live a Christian life. He was in the meeting when I led the people in the song “He’ll Catch Me You,” and he said that was the message he wanted so much. The idea that Christ can hold him, and that he need not depend on the power of his own heart, or his own strength, is how he decides for Christ.
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Just a few weeks after the Battle of Philadelphia, Chapman and Alexander (and possibly Harkness) led a crusade in Kansas. City. One journalist described how “he would hold me” as a highlight of the experience. to:
The climax of the song service came when Alexander joined the choir and the audience—6,000 people—in singing Mr. Harkness’ new hymn, “He Will Bind Me.” The people were electrified by the vastness of the music, such as had never before been heard in the building, and by the thought of Christ holding us fast in the midst of all the temptations and trials of life.[7]
“He Shall Hold Me to Perseverance” was first published in pamphlets and/or booklets. prepared for revival meetings, including pamphlets published in Toronto in 1907 (WorldCat). Its first appearance in a hymn book or hymn book is in
(NY: Christian Herald, 1907). The original version has four stanzas and bans. Musically, it has an unusual feature of placing the melody in the bass line. In a 1909 interview, Harkness explained his reasons for doing this:
He Will Hold Me Fast Hymn Lyrics Hymnal Sheet Sheet Music
I adopted the plan of placing the melody in the left hand and writing a little sequence for the right. Ti, get the idea from hearing the cello in the orchestra. It’s used in secular music, but it’s something new in gospel music—and I have The ultimate desire to escape from the old song of three or four chapters. Some of the leading gospel writers said that these should not be sung, because they were contrary to the rules of gospel hymns, but apparently the public did not care about any of the rules, as they quickly became popular, and have since been adopted by numerous writers. principle.[8]
Despite the initial success of the song, it fell out of use after the middle of the twentieth century. In recent years, it has enjoyed a renaissance through reconfiguration by Matt Merker of Capitol Hill Baptist Church (Washington, DC). According to Merker, members of his congregation gave him original gospel songs, but he initially Leave it.
I forgot about the song for a while, but later pulled it out again when I Walked through a difficult personal season of doubt and uncertainty. I wrestled with the weighty questions of religion and tried to put Trust in the sustaining power of God’s protecting grace. John Piper’s sermon from T4G 2012 on Jude vv. 20-25 is the path of my life, and Jude 24 has become steady for the soul of I when trying to: “Now who can make you not to stumble and Abandon mistakes before the presence of His glory with joy. ” … I pulled out “He will hold me” again and the words touched me deeply. I want to see the resurrection and the return of Christ shown in the song, because our hope is assured by the fact that Christ has risen and will come again. I first shared the song with my wife and then with our pastor and he suggested that we should try singing it as The congregation. We introduced the song to CHBC in early 2013 and the church quickly owned the song and got Start singing happily (and very loudly!).[9]
Merker’s version combines Habershon’s original four stanzas into two, with some minor changes, and adds a
He Will Hold Me Fast (satb + Cello)
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