Manuscripts

A REVIEW OF “THE CHURCH’S ONE FOUNDATION” by Norman W. Starling Born in Imboden, Arkansas, to Jewel and Geneva Barden Starling in 1928, Norman grew up there, spending much time on his grandparents’ farm and in his father’s grocery stores. After graduation from Sloan-Hendrix Academy, he enrolled at Harding College, where he began preaching nearby in his freshman year. In summer 1948 he learned personal evangelism and campaign techniques with Harding’s Andy T. Ritchie in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. With majors in Bible and physical education, he graduated in 1949 and began his first full-time work as a summer evangelist in Jasper, Texas. In September that year he married Betty Ross Jones, a Harding sophomore from Mississippi and immediately began full time with the Sanford Avenue congregation in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. After a move back to Jasper, Norman and Betty’s one child, Angela, was born in 1952. Norman next served as full-time evangelist in Beaumont, Texas, before returning to Harding in 1956 for a master’s degree that would enable him to teach Bible in a college and to offer spiritual guidance daily to college students. While pursuing those studies, he was local evangelist with the Judsonia, Arkansas, congregation until 1959, when he began work as McCarty Student Center director and Bible instructor at Southwest Texas State University under the auspices of the local congregation. With that move to San Marcos came opportunities to preach nearby in gospel meetings and on Sundays. Among those experiences with Central Texas churches was the Sunday work in the early 1960s with the Dripping Springs congregation, a group of Christians remembered for their dedication to God and their encouragement to this evangelist. Especially inspiring to Norman then and treasured today are the Sunday afternoon conversations with Jarrell Moore about his hope for the future of the congregation and his prayers for its stability, purity, and growth. After 18 _ years with the Bible chair, Norman accepted requests first to train preachers formally full time and later to return to San Marcos as full-time evangelist. In time, beckoned by increasing opportunities to preach the Word in other states and in foreign countries, he began international evangelism full time in 1984, preaching meetings and often taking U.S. personal workers on foreign campaigns. Now in 2002, having pursued this work in 9 states and 15 foreign countries, he serves as an elder in San Marcos and concentrates his part-time mission work in Romania and Jamaica. Biographical Background As we consider the sentiment in Samuel John Stone’s widely acclaimed hymn “The Church’s One Foundation,” let us look first at the writer’s background. Stone was born at Whitmore, Staffordshire, England, in April, 1839, and was educated at John Wesley’s Charterhouse School, London (Bailey, 375). He earned the B.A. and M.A. degrees at Pembroke College, Oxford University, in 1862 and 1872 respectively (Julian, 1095). In his early life Stone and his sister spent much time reading, having as their favorites Pilgrim’s Progress and The Holy War. Stone was inspired the most, however, by the writings of Sir Walter Scott and Elizabeth Browning (Ellerton, 1298). Some of his early reading likely influenced Stone toward a religious emphasis and poetic style in his own writing. As an adult he became a parish priest in the Church of England (Anglican). Viewed as “a man of spotless character” and “chivalrous toward the weak and unfortunate,” Stone aspired to “be a good shepherd, which many people confirmed him to be (Bailey, 376). Early in his life Stone developed strong convictions regarding parochial schools, the inspiration of the Scriptures, the creation, and the origin of humans. Even with his dedication and concerns as a parish priest, Stone was known more as a religious poet than as a “strenuous parish priest” (Ellerton, 1298). Among Stone’s poetic works were many that became hymns set to music scores by various composers. By 1886 he had written fifty-five hymns. Many of those became widely popular, including “Round the Sacred City Gather,” “Weary of Earth and Laden with Sin,” and the hymn that is our focus here: “The Church’s One Foundation” (Julian, 1095). The Religious Climate in Stone’s Time In the 1860’s--the chief period of Stone’s hymn writing--major religious differences arose among Anglican clerics in both England and its colony South Africa. The Church of England was being assailed by proponents of the so-called “New Knowledge,” i.e., Darwin’s theory of evolution and the “New Textual,” or “Higher,” criticism of the Bible (Pollard, 46).1 A South African Anglican bishop named Colenso espoused the Higher Criticism, gaining considerable following in his colony, especially among the Zulu people, whose polygamy he condoned. The Zulus even gave him the name Sobantu, meaning Father of the People (Northcott, 141). With such a following, Bishop Colenso continued to disseminate views unacceptable to Stone and to most Anglicans in England. In 1861 Colenso wrote a commentary on Romans which attracted attention throughout the Anglican body. With applications of New Textual Criticism, his discussions on the atonement and the Lord’s Supper were unorthodox (Northcott, 141). Bishop Colenso’s views shook the foundation of the Church of England; they were considered so dangerous that nearly every Anglican bishop in the colony called upon him to resign. He refused, and was brought to trial for heresy in 1863 by his superior, Bishop Gray of Cape Town. Bishop Calenso was not only condemned, deposed, and prohibited from the exercise of any office but was also excommunicated. Not to be totally restricted from spreading his unorthodox teaching, he moved from South Africa to England, where he continued to preach and where numerous people flocked to hear him and were influenced by him (Bailey, 378). This controversial challenge to fundamental tenets of the Anglican church likely stirred Stone in 1866 to write “The Church’s One Foundation” (Northcutt, 141). Another possible impetus to Stone’s writing the hymn was Anglican Archbishop Gray’s writing to defend the traditional position on the Christian faith (Northcott, 141). Similarly, but in verse rather than in prose, Stone wrote to express his own faith as well as to teach the fundamentals of the Christian faith through a chain of Biblical phrases. One analyst notes that the tone in this hymn is dogmatic in part. On the other hand, he says, the overriding emphasis of the song is hope (Julian,1096). It is also believed that Stone wrote the hymn secondarily as an attempt to clarify the Apostles’ Creed (devised 400 A.D.) for naïve Anglican parishioners who were accustomed to repeating it as one of their prayers without any notion of its meaning. In fact, Stone wrote a different hymn on each of the twelve articles of the Apostles’ Creed. He then published the hymns in a book titled Lyra Fidelium so that the people could use them at home as well as in their public services (Bailey, 377- 378). Analysis of the Hymn Of the six original stanzas of the hymn, three that are accompanied by G.J. Webb’s music score still appear widely in hymnals, including those used in the worship of churches of Christ and the major Protestant denominations. An examination of the concepts in those stanzas can help us to better understand and appreciate what the hymn expresses. The three stanzas are as follows: The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is His new creation By water and the word; From heav’n He came and sought her To be His holy bride; With His own blood He bought her, And for her life He died. Elect from ev’ry nation, Yet one o’er all the earth; Her charter of salvation: One Lord, one faith, one birth; One holy name she blesses, Partakes one holy food, And to one hope she presses With ev’ry grace endued. Tho’ with a scornful wonder We see her sore oppressed, Her doctrine rent asunder, By names and creeds distressed. Yet saints their watch are keeping, They cry, “How long, how long?” And soon the night of weeping Shall be the morn of song. (Howard, 517) The opening stanza is a plain Biblical statement in verse, using phrases that bring to mind key passages, including l Cor. 3:11, Eph. 2:10, Eph. 5:25-33 (Routley, 39). The author wanted the hymn to make the church’s doctrine apparent and meaningful. This effect is achieved through the series of simple images from those scriptures--images impressed on worshippers over centuries of use (Pollard, 47). In his study of Stone’s work, Albert Bailey points out that some editions of the hymn included scriptures that corroborate the message Stone sought to instill in worshippers. Bailey cites these: I Cor. 3:11, Eph. 5:26-27, Eph. 2:20-22, Rev. 21:2,9, Acts 20:28, Phil. 2:8 (377). These writers say little about the content of the hymn beyond their summary comments. It can be helpful in this review to examine meanings of specific words and concepts of the hymn. Thus such clarification here will supplement the findings and views of other writers, for whom citations are given. Stone’s lines in Stanza 1 paraphrase Paul’s statements of the church’s nature and its relationship to Christ: Christ the foundation (I Cor. 3:11, Eph. 2:20); a body created by “water and the word” (Eph. 5:26-27, Acts 20:28), i.e., cleansed or made spotless and ready for Him by believers’ baptism in water (Rom. 6:3, Gal. 3:27) through instruction from His Word, the Scriptures; “His holy bride,” the church (Rev. 21:2,9, Eph. 25:29-32, Rom. 7:4). Bailey says the second stanza pictures the church as a worldwide body existing in every nation and unified with one name, Jesus Christ; it partakes, he notes, of “one holy food” and pursues one objective, heaven (377). Also, Bailey lists the scriptures often accompanying the stanza: I Cor. 3:11, Eph. 5: 26-27, Eph. 2:20-22, Rev. 21:2,9, Acts 20:28, Phil. 2:8--duplicates of some of those cited above (377). To clarify further what Stone’s lines likely signify, it can be noted that God’s “elect” refers to those chosen for their obedience to Him, all being united in one name, Jesus Christ. The chosen partake of “one holy food”--the Word of God, the Bible--with one objective--heaven. “Her charter of salvation” refers to these: the church’s rights to “one Lord, one faith--the gospel (Eph. 4:4-6), one birth--entry into the church (I Pet. 1:23, Jno. 3:5), “one holy name she blesses-- Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:10, Acts 4:12, Jno. 11:52), “one holy food--the Word of God (I Pet. 2:1-2). In the phrase “with every grace endued,” Stone reminds the worshipper that God provides to His chosen ones, the church, every grace, or spiritual favor (II Cor. 9:8). Before analyzing a third stanza, it is useful to note that variations among hymnals exist in respect to that stanza. Three stanzas from the original six are omitted from most hymnals today, and editors’ selections for Stanza 3 are not always the same. In Stone’s original writing, according to Bailey, the following comprised the third stanza: The church shall never perish! Her dear Lord to defend, To guide, sustain and cherish, Is with her to the end; Though there be those that hate her, And false sons in her pale, Against a foe or traitor She ever shall prevail. (377) In some hymnals Stone’s original Stanza 5 appears as Stanza 3. This substitution appears in a hymnal edited by Ellis J. Crum. This is the stanza: ’Mid toil and tribulation, And tumult of her war, She waits the consummation Of peace forevermore; Till, with the vision glorious, Her longing eyes are blest, And the great church victorious Shall be the church at rest. (213) Besides the different choice for Stanza 3 in Crum’s selection, the music score also varies in part from that in the traditional, more widely used version of the hymn. Crum identifies the composer of the music score not as G. J. Webb but Samuel S. Wesley (213). Now let us continue to examine the version of Stanza 32 mostly widely included in today’s hymnals (see the fourth page of this review). It has contrasting images of despair and hope, Routley points out. First, there is the image of the church divided, a painful circumstance marked by the quotation from Rev. 6:10: “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord’” (39). According to Bailey, Stone’s critics contended that this third stanza consisted of a “strenuous assertion of High Church dogma supplemented with mud-slinging against those who disagreed with him. It is certain, Bailey believes, that Stone had in mind Colenso and all those who accepted the Higher Criticism of the Old Testament” (378). The “scornful wonder” of the stanza describes the liberals who resented the Anglican church’s opposition to political, social, and religious reform, Bailey says (378). Bailey lists these Scriptures as those that pertain to the stanza: 2 Pet. 2:1, Luke 12:37, Rev. 6:10, Ps. 30:5 (377). Watson suggests that “this moving and cogent song tried to perceive the church as it might have been seen from the outside” (833). More explanation of Stone’s words in this stanza is warranted. The “scornful wonder” (2 Pet. 2:1) suggests that Stone’s contemporaries viewed his position with contempt and ridiculed him and his fellow churchmen. Thus he and his brethren were sorely, or hurtfully, oppressed and criticized (Acts 14:22). Further, Stone lamented that the Anglican church’s doctrine, or its fundamental beliefs, were being “rent,” or torn, “asunder,” or apart, by different names used to identify it and by different “creeds,” or beliefs (I Tim. 4:1-4). Then at the end of the stanza, there is the image of hope that Routley points out (39). Like Routley’s recognition of Stone’s emphasis on hope, Watson says of the closing, “The thought of the line ‘Yet saints their watch are keeping’ is the prelude to a brighter vision of the future. Hope still stirs the soul” (431). It is here that Stone makes powerful use of his contrasting metaphors for despair, “night,” and hope, “morn,” with the lines “And soon the night of weeping / Shall be the morn of song,” echoing Psa. 30:5: “Weeping may tarry for the night / But joy cometh in the morning.” Conclusion As the Scripture references have shown here, “The Church’s One Foundation” is Scriptural in content and moving in its call to worshippers to take heart amid trials, trusting in their hope. Christians who know the depth of the song’s meaning will be stirred in their souls to follow the New Covenant of Jesus fully. The song is as relevant today as it was at its writing in the nineteenth century. The dark clouds of apostasy are forming inside God’s church, and storms of disbelief and rejection swirl around it, challenging its right to exist and flourish. May God help us always to remain pure in the Faith, recognizing the deity of Jesus Christ our Lord, contending for the redemptive plan, preserving the organization and worship authorized in the New Testament, and striving for “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). END NOTES 1 “Textual Criticism” as used by Pollard (also called “Higher Criticism” by some Bible critics) is an attempt to 1) determine authorship and dates of writings, 2) find errors made over the years in transmission of the text, 3) substitute what they regard as more historically accurate words, and 4) thus produce new interpretations of the text. 2 The Stanza 3 quoted on the fourth page of this review had appeared as Stanza 4 in the original six, according to Bailey (377). Now all versions of the original six except one are available in this study: the original first two, also quoted on the fourth page of this review; the original third one, quoted from Bailey on page 6; the original fourth one, quoted on page 4 as the text widely appearing as Stanza 3; and the original fifth one, occurring in some hymnals as Stanza 3, quoted on page 7 from Crum’s hymnal. The original sixth stanza was not available for this study. WORKS CITED Adey, Lionel (1988), Class and Idol in the English Hymn (Vancouver, British Columbia Press). Bailey, Albert Edward (1952), The Gospel in Hymns: Backgrounds and Interpretations (New York, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons). Crum, Ellis J., ed. (1960), Sacred Selections for the Church (Kendallville, Indiana: Sacred Selections). Ellerton, F.G., ed. (1903), A Memoir of Samuel John Stone: Poems and Hymns (London: Methuen and Co.). Howard, Alton H., ed. (1971), Songs of the Church (Monroe, La.: Howard Publishers). Julian, John (1957), Setting Forth the Origin and History of Christian Hymns of All Ages and Nations, Vol. II, P to Z (New York, New York: Dover Publications, Inc.). : Northcott, Cecil (1951), Stories of the Hundred Most Popular Hymns (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press). Pollard, Arthur, ed. (1956), English Hymns (London: Longmans, Green & Co.). Watson, J. R. (1999), The English Hymn (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press).