Abide with me, fast falls the eventide

This classic 19th-c hymn has remained one of Britain’s top dozen favourites throughout the 20th c; some would narrow that down considerably—top 6, top 3 … ? (It was among the top 10 in James King’s methodical survey in 1885.) It is certainly one of the most widely known beyond the church doors. As such, it has survived many battles—over its date and origin, meaning and appropriate classification, usability and appropriate use, and (until comparatively recently) even its tune. Three facts at least are undisputed. First, its author was Henry Francis Lyte, by 1823 established in his main and (as it turned out) final ministry as the Church of England incumbent of the southern coastal parish of Lower Brixham in Devon. Second, that after an early career whose social and academic brilliance masked a rather formal, second-hand faith, by the time he wrote this text he had undergone a profound spiritual conversion to the living Christ. And third, that the solemn words of the hymn have their roots in another encounter with the risen Saviour, as recorded in Luke 24:13–35—the Emmaus road. At what they thought was journey’s end on that first day of the week, the two travelling friends ‘constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent’ (v29 AV).

Some hymnals locate this text under ‘Evening’ (surely a mistake), ‘Faith’, or ‘Funerals’; only a 1926 school collection ventures to place it in the ‘Resurrection/Ascension’ section. It seems needless to add much to the vast amount already written about the hymn; one 1997 book using the opening words as its title is subtitled ‘The World of Victorian Hymns’. Lyte may have immortalised them, but must have known Keble’s Sun of my soul from 1820, where they begin the 1st and 3rd lines of the original stz 8. Some have detected in its language the sound of the sea (‘ebbs out …’ etc). Lyte almost certainly wrote it in 1847, less than 3 months before his death, when Victoria had been queen for 10 years. It is linked with his last-ever sermon, preached on 4 Sept and given to a relative with his own melody provided. With small changes it was printed that month on a leaflet from ‘Berryhead’ (his home), appeared in his posthumously collected verse (1850), and was included in the first A&M, 1861. Its singing before almost every FA Cup Final since 1927 led one broadcaster to describe it as ‘a football song’; such aberrations are still part of the hymn’s subsequent story.

Most editors agree that Lyte’s 8 stzs should be reduced; the first 2 and last 3 are generally thought appropriate, as here. The original 5th is highly personal: ‘Thou on my head in early youth didst smile …’, while his 4th is both moving and revealing: ‘Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,/ but kind and good, with healing in thy wings …’ (In paraphrasing earlier in 103B he had described the ‘King of heaven’ as ‘Father-like’; ‘slow to chide and swift to bless’.) Some textual changes are well-established while others are newer. 1.2 was ‘the darkness thickens …’; 2.4, ‘O thou who changest not …’; 3.3, ‘… guide and stay …’; and 5.2, ‘speak through the gloom’. HTC and PHRW include different changes; the latter retains Lyte’s original stz 3 (‘Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word …’) but omits ‘I need your presence …’

Lyte’s original tune has now faded away. William H Monk’s EVENTIDE has held the field since 1861 (it was composed for A&M), in spite of valiant attempts to give the words a facelift with the help of fresh music. The composer claimed to have produced the tune in 10 minutes while an audible piano lesson proceeded nearby. Another option is SUPREME SACRIFICE at 922.

b Ednam nr Kelso, Roxburghshire, Scotland 1793, d Nice, France 1847. Portora Royal Sch (a charity school for orphans), Enniskillen, N Ireland, andTrinity Coll Dublin (3 English poetry prizes; BA 1814). Having abandoned his medical course for theology, he was ordained in 1815 to a Wexford curacy at Taghmon, then moved to England and ministered in Marazion, Cornwall. It was here that, moved by the illness and death of a fellow clergyman, he experienced a deep spiritual renewal, abandoning among other things his contempt for the neighbouring Methodists. His friend had known that he had ‘deeply erred’, but died happy in the confidence that ‘there was One whose death and sufferings would atone for his delinquencies, and be accepted for all that he had incurred’. Lyte continues, ‘I was greatly affected by the whole matter, and brought to look at life and its issue with a different eye than before [cf 2 Cor 5:16–17], and I began to study my Bible, and preach in another manner than I had previously done’.

He then ministered briefly in Lymington, Hants, and from 1823 as ‘Perpetual Curate’ of Lower Brixham in Devon. While visiting the fishing fleet he made sure that every boat had a Bible; he was active in Wilberforce’s anti-slavery campaigning. King William IV, much impressed, presented him with Berry Head House where he lived for the next 24 years. While there he built up an impressive library and became both author and editor of much verse including Tales on the Lord’s Prayer in Verse (1826), Poems, chiefly religious (1833 and 1845), and The Spirit of the Psalms (1834, a title used only 5 years earlier by H Auber). We also owe to HFL two of the best known hymns in English, both being not only frequently sung but also often quoted well beyond the usual contexts of hymnody. The texts in two further edns of the 1834 book, the last issued posthumously at Torquay, vary considerably. Among other works Lyte edited the poems of Henry Vaughan, with a memoir, in 1846. His own verse is often tinged with sadness; writing of darkness and loss, he finds security and permanence in God and expresses his faith in disciplined, patterned verse. In spite of his comparatively enlightened attitude to dissent, he did not find it easy to relate to the newer and locally very active ‘Plymouth’ Brethren, and his schools work proved very demanding. He wintered in Rome and Southern Italy in 1844–45 without noticeable gain; in 1847 his fragile health broke down, and although travelling to Nice to recuperate, he died there later that year. Julian commends the tenderness and beauty of his texts, which ‘rarely [?] swell out into joy and gladness’; Ellerton especially commends his treatment of the Psalms, ‘in seizing the leading idea of a psalm, and embodying it in a few verses’. Between 3 and 6 of his hymns are still commonly found in mainstream American and British books; 7 have featured in the various edns of A&M, 6 were in Congregational Praise (1951) and 8 in CH, and at least two of his more joyful ones, as well as one solemn masterpiece, remain in great demand. Nos.67, 103B, 843, 905.