O'er the Gloomy Hills of Darkness
O'er the Gloomy Hills of Darkness | |
---|---|
Genre | Hymn |
Written | 1772 |
Text | William Williams Pantycelyn |
Based on | Isaiah 9:2 |
Meter | 8.7.8.7.4.7 |
Melody | "Regent Square" by Henry Smart, "Zion" by Thomas Hastings |
"O'er the Gloomy Hills of Darkness", also titled "O'er Those Gloomy Hills of Darkness",[1] is a Welsh Christian hymn by William Williams Pantycelyn written in 1772.[2] The hymn was written as a missionary hymn; there are conflicting accounts of why the hymn was written. The hymn was later published in 374 hymnals worldwide,[3] though it was censored and altered in the United States by slaveholders for evangelising to slaves. The hymn later fell out of favour with hymn book editors in the 1960s.
History
There are conflicting accounts of why the hymn was written. According to one account,
In 1836, "O'er the Gloomy hills of Darkness" was reviewed in an issue of
Abolitionism
The second verse of the hymn begins with the lines "Let the Indian, let the negro, Let the rude barbarian see". Williams included this after hearing stories of promising missionary contact with Cherokee tribes and with slaves in the Province of Georgia.[11] When the hymn became established in the United States, slave owners changed the line referencing "Indian" and "negro" to "Let the dark benighted pagan". The abolitionist Ebenezer Davies claimed “The altered reading, I learned, prevails universally in America, except in the original version used by the Welsh congregations. Slave-holders, and the abettors of that horrid system which makes it a crime to teach a negro to read the Word of God, felt perhaps that they could not devoutly and consistently sing "Let the Indian, let the negro ... see”.[12] With its original words, the hymn was understood to speak to the experience of slavery, even if in an evangelising frame, and Pantycelyn had previously written critically of the transatlantic slave trade.[13] E. Wyn James (2007) notes that the hymn "was sung with gusto, for example, on board the ships which took former slaves from America to the colony of Sierra Leone in the 1790s, as part of the attempt by members of the ‘Clapham Sect’ and others to create a homeland for freed slaves back in Africa".[13]
In the 1850s, the Baptist Union of Great Britain dropped the hymn from usage. The reason published in the Baptist Magazine stated "But the verses are too rude and unfinished to be generally accepted in modern day".[9] In later years in the 19th century churches, including the Church of England, started to publish the hymn replacing the second verse with the American slave owner's amended version.[14] In the early 1900s, the second verse would often be omitted altogether from hymnals.[15]
Hymnals
"O'er the Gloomy Hills of Darkness" first appeared in published
The hymn's lyrical style set the tone for future missionary hymns. "O'er the Gloomy Hills of Darkness" inspired the founder of Methodism, Charles Wesley, to write "Sun of Unclouded Righteousness" for missionaries working with "Mahometans".[16]
Lyrics
The lyrics of "O'er the Gloomy Hills of Darkness" as published in Gloria in Excelsis: or hymns of praise to God and the lamb in 1772.[19]
1.
- O'er those gloomy Hills of Darkness
- Look my Soul, be still and gaze,
- All the Promises do travel
- On a glorious Day of Grace,
- Blessed Jubil, & c.
- Let thy glorious Morning dawn.
2.
- Let the Indian, let the Negro,
- Let the rude Barbarian see
- That divine and glorious Conquest
- Once obtain'd on Calvary;
- Let the Gospel, & c.
- Word resound from Pole to Pole.
3.
- Kingdoms wide that sit in Darkness,
- Let them have the glorious Light,
- And from Eastern Coast to Western
- May the Morning chase the Night,
- And Redemption, & c.
- Freely purchas'd win the Day.
4.
- May the glorious Days approaching,
- From eternal Darkness dawn,
- And the everlasting Gospel
- Spread abroad thy holy Name.
- Thousand Years, & c.
- Soon appear, make no Delay.
5.
- Lord, I long to see that Morning,
- When thy Gospel shall abound,
- And thy Grace get full Possession
- Of the happy promis'd Ground;
- All the Borders, & c.
- Of the great Immanuel's Land.
6.
- Fly abroad, eternal Gospel,
- Win and conquer, never cease;
- May thy eternal wide Dominions
- Multiply, and still increase;
- May thy Scepter, & c.
- Sway th'enlight'ned World around.
7.
- O let Moab yield and tremble,
- Let Philistia never boast,
- And let India proud be scatt'red
- With their numerable Host;
- And the Glory, &c.
- Jesus only be to thee.
References
- ISBN 978-1848933446.
- ^ ISBN 0708311229.
- ^ "O'er the gloomy hills of darkness". Hymnary.org. Retrieved 2016-06-14.
- ^ a b Kirk, 100
- ^ Mason, John; Shepherd, Thomas (1859). Spiritual Songs, or Songs of Praise to Almighty God: upon several occasions. D. Sedgwick. p. 2.
- ^ G. T. Hughes, Williams Pantycelyn, University of Wales Press, 1983.
- ^ Kirk, 99-102, 201.
- ^ Allen, William (October 1836). "Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship". The Eclectic Review. 16: 288.
- ^ a b Olivers, Thomas (1868). Hymns, and an Elegy on the death of John Wesley; reprinted from the originals. With a biographical sketch of the author by J. Kirk (reprint ed.). D. Sedgwick; Hamilton, Adams, and Co. p. 5.
- ^ "No. II.-Welsh Calvanistic Methodists". New York Times. 1853-11-26. Retrieved 2016-06-08 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Kirk, 108
- ^ Davies, Ebenezer (1849). American Scenes and Christian Slavery: A Recent Tour of Four Thousand Miles in the United States (1 ed.). J. Snow. p. 150.
- ^ a b "Welsh ballads and American slavery (2007)". Cardiff University. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
- ^ "Church Hymnal 260. O'er the gloomy hills of darkness". Hymnary.org. Retrieved 2016-06-11.
- ^ "Methodist Hymn and Tune Book: official hymn book of the Methodist Church page 314". Hymnary.org. Retrieved 2016-06-11.
- ^ ISBN 0719061431.
- ^ "O'er the gloomy hills of darkness". Hymnary.org. Retrieved 2016-04-30.
- ^ Campbell, Douglas. "Changes in LDS hymns: Implications and Opportunities" (PDF). Dialogue. Retrieved 2016-06-08.
- ^ Williams, William (1772). Gloria in Excelsis: or hymns of praise to God and the lamb. J. Ross. pp. 33–34.
Bibliography
- Jones, John Gwilym (1969). William Williams, Pantycelyn. Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru. ISBN 090076807X.
- Lewis, Saunders (1991). Williams Pantycelyn. Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru. ISBN 0708311229.
- Kirk, John, ed. (2013). Cultures of Radicalism in Britain and Ireland. Routledge. ISBN 978-1317320654. See Chapter 5: E. Wyn James, "'Blessed Jubil!': Slavery, Mission and the Millennial Dawn in the Work of William Williams of Pantycelyn".
External links