Reginald Heber

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’
Matthew 28:16-20

 From Greenland’s Icy Mountains SBH 310

 From Greenland’s icy mountains, From India’s coral strand;
Where Afric’s sunny fountains Roll down their golden sand:
From many an ancient river, From many a palmy plain,
They call us to deliver their land from error’s chain!

 What though the spicy breezes blow soft o’er Java’s isle;
Though every prospect pleases, and only man is vile:
In vain with lavish kindness the gifts of God are strown;
The heathen, in his blindness, bows down to wood and stone!

 Can we, whose souls are lighted with wisdom from on high,
Can we to men benighted the lamp of life deny?
Salvation! oh salvation! The joyful sound proclaim,
Till earth’s remotest nation has learned Messiah’s name!

 Waft, waft, ye winds, His story, and you, ye waters, roll
Till, like a sea of glory, it spreads from pole to pole;
Till o’er our ransomed nature the Lamb for sinners slain,
Redeemer, king, creator, in bliss returns to reign!

 Reginald Heber, 1783-1826

 In 1819, a royal letter was sent out to all the parishes in England authorizing a collection to aid "The society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign Lands." Reginald Heber was a pastor without call visiting his father-in-law (also a pastor) who asked him to preach at the evening service and to also write a hymn appropriate for the collection. So Heber went into a corner and 20 minutes later came out with 3 stanzas of this hymn. The next morning, he added a 4th stanza to give it a more triumphant ending.  When he wrote this hymn, he had never been out of England.  He didn't know India did not have coral strands, nor realize that his next call would be as Bishop of Calcutta where he would serve until his death! 

This is another hymn from my youth, part of the old SBH hymnal.  It was found in a section of the book titled “The Propagation of the Gospel”.  I didn’t know then what that meant, nor at the time that the mission field to which I would later be called would not be in “Afric,” Ceylon or India...but in my own back yard!  Yet even with its quaint if sometimes off putting language this hymn did help me realize that Christians in every generation needed to be mindful of the Great Commission, and that it applied to every person, in every place, and in every age!

 Prayer:  Lord God, you call us to mission, to preach your Gospel. Make us bold in that witness, clear in our language, and faithful in our work.  Amen.