Christ is our cornerstone

‘This must be one of the finest, and most memorable, first lines of any hymn’—so David and Jill Wright (1983), who recommend it for weddings as well as church dedications etc. Like the preceding hymn, it is a translation from the Lat of many centuries ago; unlike it, it is not necessarily limited to gatherings on the Lord’s Day. It is the first of 2 classic paraphrases (see 567) of Angularis fundamentum lapis Christus missus est; a hymn probably from the 7th c, though its first known appearance is at Poitiers in a much later Pontifical, or bishop’s liturgical book. Comfortingly, even the Lat text varies in its 10th-c and 11th-c mss. John Chandler’s version, in a metre quite different from the original, was made from a 1736 text in the Paris Breviary. It was published alongside the Lat in his Hymns of the Primitive Church, 1837, and reprinted with the translator’s own changes in 1841. A rich list of Scripture allusions would include Isaiah 28:16, 1 Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20, 1 Peter 2:4–7, and the many NT uses of Psalm 118:22. As adapted here, ‘this place of prayer’ replaces ‘these hallowed courts’ (2.2, which could limit its usefulness); and 3.3–5 formerly read ‘Accept each faithful vow/ and mark each suppliant sigh;/ in copious shower …’ Some hymnals drop this stz altogether, and most omit Chandler’s original doxology or stz 5.

The tune HAREWOOD by S S Wesley has come to be the natural choice for this hymn. It is one of his earliest published tunes; if less adventurous than some later classics, it still provides its own exhilarating movement, and moments. First set to Rejoice, the Lord is King (words by the composer’s grandfather) it featured in C D Hackett’s The National Psalmist in 1839. Harewood Park was a mansion between Ross-on-Wye and Hereford, where Wesley was briefly the cathedral organist. ST GODRIC (312 etc) is named as an alternative for those seeking one.

b Witley, nr Godalming, Surrey 1806, d Putney, Surrey (SW London) 1876. Corpus Christi Coll Oxford (BA 1827, then a Fellow). Ordained (CofE) 1831, to be curate of Witley before succeeding his father, John F Chandler, as its Vicar, thus remaining in the same parish all his life. In 1837 he published his significant pioneer work, Hymns of the Primitive Church, now first Collected, Translated, and Arranged: 108 hymns in Lat and English, most from the 1736 Paris Breviary, with additional items. In this he was a pioneer like Isaac Williams, whose example encouraged him some years before J M Neale’s work 30 miles to the west. A further collection appeared 4 years later, with a similar title but pruned and much revised. 30 such texts have been included in various edns of A&M, with 7 in the current one, Common Praise 2000. Julian observed that sometimes ‘doctrinal difficulties are either evaded or softened down’, but in this Chandler was hardly unique. He also compiled Horae Sacrae: Prayers and Meditations from the writings of the Divines of the Anglican Church (1844), as well as tracts, other books of prayers and in 1842 a biography of William of Wykeham (1324–1404). Nos.226, 316, 348.