Anthem

“ When o'er the green, undeluged earth Heaven's covenant thou didst shine, How came the world's gray fathers forth To watch thy sacred sign! And when its yellow luster smiled O'er mountains yet untrod, Each mother held aloft her child To bless the bow of God. Methinks, thy jubilee to keep, The first-made anthem rang On earth, delivered from the deep, And the first poet sang. Nor ever shall the Muse's eye Unraptured greet thy beam ”

“ The golden sunlight of God slept amongst the heads of his apostles, his martyrs, his saints; the fragment from the litany, the fragment from the clouds, awoke again the lawny beds that went up to scale the heavens—awoke again the shadowy arms that moved downward to meet them. Once again arose the swell of the anthem, the burst of the hallelujah chorus, the storm, the trampling movement of the choral passion, the agitation of my own trembling sympathy, the tumult of the choir, the wrath of the organ. ”

“ The anthem of gladness and triumph sing:
"Glory be given
To the Lord of Heaven!"
4.
Our voices now blending
With their songs unending,
All-joyful, dear Jesus, Thy glory sing.
Be our endeavor
Thus to praise Thee ever! ”

“ They have opened the day with the psalm of Thy praise, with the anthem of Thy glory, with the hymn of Thy mercy, with the hosanna of Thy holiness. May they enjoy the day, as they have begun it, in adoring and worshipping Thee ! ”

“ The tone of the service, and the swell of the organ, even now, give wings to worship, when the anthem rises beneath this lofty vault, and dies away in the profound depth of the nave, or spreads itself amid aisles and columns, with multiplied reverberations and undulations of harmony; but oh! what might not be its heavenly effect, were the choir and nave all one, and filled with kneeling thousands, lifting up their voice with one accord in the overwhelming common-prayer of the Anglican Church! ”

“ Thou, wandering wind, shalt be my organist; and ye larks and nightingales, who are my pride and joy, and all ye merry little birds, the melody is yours; and ye surging billows, and muttering clouds, and roaring cataracts, to you the base belongs.
“Sing on, now, my children; sing on, and practice well, that ye may know your parts when, by and by, I call upon you for a grand and glorious anthem that shall fill the world with wonder.” ”

“ The roar of the surf, the whisper of the zephyr, the rustling of the forest, the gurgling of the stream, the song of the bird, the low of the kine, the rain gently pattering among the forest leaves, and the thunder wheeling and rattling among the hills, are all notes in that great anthem of praise which continually goes up from earth—an anthem which is swelled by the music of satellites and worlds, aye! of a revolving universe, sweeping sphere on sphere beyond the ken of man. All creation is but one vast whole, engaged day and night in hymning Jehovah’s praise. ”

“ And ever sweeter and clearer, calm and happy, with a triumph which is at first repressed and reverential, but which increases as the light becomes diffused, the words are heard strong and quiet—a plain-song now that will swell into an anthem presently—"he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." ”

“ Who died to make the slave a man,
And link with toil reward.
There let the common heart keep time
To such an anthem sung
As never swelled on poet's rhyme,
Or thrilled on singer's tongue.
Song of our burden and relief,
Of peace and long annoy;
The passion of our mighty grief
And our exceeding joy!
A song of praise to Him who filled
The harvests sown in tears,
And gave each field a double yield
To feed our battle-years.
A song of faith that trusts the end
To match the good begun,
Nor doubts the power of Love to blend
The hearts of men as one! ”

“ The holy service proceeds with a sense of exquisite deliberation, leading one, as by a ladder, through the ancient ways, up to the message of to-day. Through psalm and canticle and anthem the solemnity passes on; and perhaps some single slender voice, some boyish treble, unconscious of its beauty and pathos, thrown into relief, like a fountain springing among dark rocks, by the slow thunders of the organ, comes to assure the heart that it can rest, if but for a moment, upon a deep and inner peace, can be gently rocked, as it were, in a moving boat, between the sky and translucent sea. ”

“ Blessed is the spot wherein the anthem of His praise is raised, and blessed the ear that hearkeneth unto that which hath been sent down from the heaven of the loving-kindness of thy Lord, the All-Merciful. ”

“ Continue as long as thou canst this melody in the gatherings of the beloved; thus may the minds find rest and joy and become in tune with the love of God. When eloquence of expression, beauty of sense and sweetness of composition unite with new melodies the effect is very great, especially if it be the anthem of the verses of oneness and the songs of praise to the Lord of Glory. ”

“ At times a secondary music rises; the cataract seems to seize its own rhythm and sing it over again, so that the ear and soul are roused by a double vibration. This is some effect of the wind, causing echoes to the thundering anthem. It is very sublime, giving the effect of a spiritual repetition through all the spheres. ”

“ But this soundless music thrills me with its mysterious power, and sometimes it throws me into dejection, though I cannot tell why. To me, when what I firmly believe was the great anthem of this wonderful race, was played in the sky with spectral harmonies, there was, underlying all its mystic beauty, an infinite sadness, an impending sense of something tragic and terrible. ”

“ We waited eighty years for our American National Anthem. At last God inspired an illustrious and noble woman to utter in undying verse the thought which we hope is forever to animate the soldier of the Republic. ”

“ A pure, bright star is marching through the field to the music of the spheres; and at the very instant predicted, even to the fraction of a second, it stalks across the wire and is gone:—The song that was sung by the morning stars has been felt, and the heart swelling with emotions too deep for the organs of speech, almost bursts with the unutterable anthem. ”

“ I do not know a grander effect of music on the moral feelings than to hear the full choir and the pealing organ performing a Christmas anthem in a cathedral, and filling every part of the vast pile with triumphant harmony. ”

“ In 32the rhythm of the anthem of them singing along the rails, we shall find again the worship we have lost in church, the worship we fain would find in the simpered prayers and paid praises of a thousand choirs,—the worship of the creative spirit, the beholding of a fragment of creation morning, the watching of the delight of a man in the delight of God,—in the first and last delight of God. ”

“ Life is not all poetry, and in those stern prose moments which will come to you as they come to us all, may the music song of this hour, like the grand old anthem which was chanted at creation's birth, float over you as a prophetic inspiration of the future haven which shall witness the consummation of more than wedded bliss. ”

“ Playing the while our little children sing:
⁠The world is full of music — not for me!
I dreamed last night of some dim abbey choir:
⁠The lights were burning where the singers stood
Chanting my anthem. I crouched in the dark,
⁠Weeping for joy to hear they called it good!
O music of my sleep, that mocks my soul
⁠With cruel joys that are fulfilled no more
Than his who dreams of light and love at home. ”

“ Then will the heart throw off its Glorias, not in one burst of song, which subsides quickly into silence, but in one perpetual anthem, which ever becomes more loud and sweet as the day of its perfected redemption draweth nigh; for when the Divine displeasure is turned away, and a Divine peace or comfort takes its place, who can but say, "O Lord, I will praise Thee"? ”

“ An anthem of rejoicing swells up from myriads of unseen harpists, who heed not the fate that awaits them, but make themselves merry in every place that is visited by sunshine or the south-wind. The golden-rod sways its beautiful nodding plumes in the borders of the fields and by the rustic roadsides ”

“ In fulfilment of such a prophecy let us share the good-heartedness and charity of the Christmas season. Let us lend our ears to hear once more the song which, though it comes from heaven through the voice of angels, has its message for the souls of men on earth. Let us turn our backs upon the selfish and the discordant till the angelic anthem is echoed back with human voice to the Throne of God. Then heaven and earth shall have become one indeed. ”

“ When the soul hears thy distant voice profound,
Lone-worshipping, and knows that through the night
'Twill worship still, then most its anthem tone
Speaks to our being of the Eternal One,
Who girds tired nature with unslumbering might. ”

“ Anthem is any musical setting of words bearing upon the services of the day, other than a hymn or canticle, although the canticles are sometimes called anthems, as in the rubric before the Venite in the Morning Prayer. The rubric in the Evening Prayer provides for an anthem after the Collect beginning, "Lighten our darkness." Antiphon has come to mean a verse of Scripture which is sung wholly or in part before and after the Psalms or Canticles, and designed to strike the key-note of the teaching of the day. ”

“ Come, O Lord, with Thy all-conquering love, and enkindle my cold heart and the hearts of all careless Christians with the flames of love! Come to me in the fulness of Thy graces and blessings, and stir up my sluggish humor; enlighten all needy souls with the abundance of Thy eternal brightness, that we may now, and for all eternity, sing the angelic anthem: Holy, holy, holy, is Our God! Amen.
[pg 044] The Secret.
O kind Father! in humility I beg of Thee, through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, may our sacrifice and prayers please Thee. ”

“ Then with hearts thrilled with joy and delight and voices tuned in harmony with truth and righteousness, we shall send up to heaven the anthem of praise, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation ”

“ This anthem comprises two short movements; the first a larghetto in F, three-eight time; the second rather quicker, in common time, made up of verse and an alternating chorus for the usual voices. The whole composition is evidently the production of an accomplished musician, but the first movement will gain most suffrages; the clearness of the phraseology or rhythm, and the richness of the harmony—full, but not affectedly crowded—cannot fail to please all who possess a cultivated taste. ”

“ If the list of his compositions is smaller than that of his father’s, it must be remembered that his anthems, in which is contained his best work, are far more important and more extensive than most compositions so called: in many of them the whole anthem is no longer sung, but even the selections from them make up anthems of ordinary length. They are masterly in design, fine in inspiration and expression, and noble in character. ”

“ Anthem. A vocal composition set to words generally selected from the Psalms, and adapted to cathedral service. There are five species of anthems : the verse and chorus anthem, consisting of verse and chorus, but beginning in chorus; the verse anthem, containing verse and chorus, but beginning in verse; the full anthem, consisting wholly of chorus ; the solo anthem, consisting of solos and choruses, but without verse ; the instrumental anthem, which may be similar to either of the foregoing, but is furnished with accompaniments. Anthem singing is very ancient in the church ”

“ No Englishman is stirred by the name 'British,' the name 'English' irritates all Scotchmen, and the Irish are irritated by both alike. Our national anthem is a peculiarly flat and uninspiring specimen of eighteenth-century opera libretto and opera music. ”

“ Nothing can be more various in form, extent, and treatment, than the music of 'the anthem' as at present heard in churches and cathedrals. Starting at its birth from a point but little removed from the simplicity of the psalm- or hymn-tune, and advancing through various intermediate gradations of development, it has frequently in its later history attained large dimensions; sometimes combining the most elaborate resources of counterpoint with the symmetry of modern forms, together with separate organ, and occasionally orchestral, accompaniment. ”

“ Thy will be done!
Strike, Thou the Master, we Thy keys,
The anthem of the destinies!
The minor of Thy loftier strain,
Our hearts shall breathe the old refrain,
Thy will be done! ”

“ To him the swelling anthem raise;
Repeat his name with joy divine,
And fill the temple with his praise.
3All-gracious God, to thee we owe
Each joy and blessing time affords,--
Light, life, and health, and all below,
Spring from thy presence, Lord of lords.
4Thine be the praise, for thine the love
That freely all our sins forgave,
Pointed our dying eyes above,
And showed us life beyond the grave.
158. L. M. Watts. The Same. Ps. 145.
1My God, my King, thy various praise
Shall fill the remnant of my days;
Thy grace employ my humble tongue
Till death and glory raise the song. ”

“ In the library of the Royal College of Music four out of the five chants described as ‘Welles tunes’ are attributed to Jackson, together with the organ part of the service in C, and of the anthems, ‘The days of Man,’ ‘O Lord, let it be Thy pleasure,’ ‘The Lord said unto my Lord,’ ‘O how amiable,’ ‘Christ our Passover,’ ‘Many a time’ (a thanksgiving anthem for 9 Sept. 1683) , ‘God standeth in the congregation,’ and ‘I said in the cutting off of my days’ (a thanksgiving anthem for recovery from a dangerous illness) . ”

“ unless the next word that thou speak'st
Have some malignant power upon my life:
If so, I pray thee, breathe it in mine ear,
As ending anthem of my endless dolour. ”

“ While the medals were scattered, and the homage of the lords performed, the choir sung this anthem, with instrumental music of all sorts, as a solemn conclusion of the King's coronation.
ANTHEM VI.
Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heaven and the earth are thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord; and thou art exalted as head over all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest [Pg 241] over all; and in thine hand is power and might ”