Jerusalem on high

With all its past, present and future associations, ‘Jerusalem’ is a wonderful word (and perhaps the best place-name) with which to begin a hymn, not to be taken lightly; this and the next are two which use it with a beautiful appropriateness. (Watts and Wesley hardly ever use it thus, if at all, but the 16th-c Jerusalem, my happy home is another fine example.) Samuel Crossman’s text is the 2nd of his two classics, included here as in other books, both in the same metre and both found in his The Young Man’s Meditation, or Some few Sacred Poems upon Select Subjects, and Scriptures, published in 1664 and reprinted in 1863. The 4 stzs here come from a 14- verse poem; pt 1 began ‘Sweet place, sweet place alone’ and pt 2 as here. EH and A&M selected 6 of these stzs; Following HTC, Praise! omits the lines about apostles, ‘the harpers’ and ‘the bleeding martyrs’, and a final stz ‘Ah me!, ah me! that I/ in Kedar’s tents here stay …’ The refrain is adapted from ‘… my God, with thee/ to see thy face?’ and at 2.1 ‘reigns’ replaces ‘dwells’ as a stronger verb. Although the brief version here loses something of the blend of ‘delight and sadness’ praised in Julian’s Dictionary by Leigh Bennett, it retains what he calls the charm of its ‘crisp rhythm, the longing refrain,
and a trace of Puritan feeling’.

For J B Dykes’ ST GODRIC, see 312 and 930 where it is set in the key of G. Other possibilities are CHRISTCHURCH (164) and the 16th-c Psalm tune, the OLD 136TH.

b Bradfield Monarchorum, Suffolk c1624, d Bristol, 1683/4. After study at Pembroke Coll Cambridge (BD) he became vicar of All Saints’ Sudbury, Suffolk, which was in effect a Congregational or Independent puritan church. He was appointed a ‘messenger’ to the Savoy Conference of 1658, and 1662 was one of the ejected clergy who would not conform to the new Prayer Book and canons. However, a change of heart led him in 1665 to be ordained by a bishop, even becoming one of the king’s chaplains. In 1667 he became a Prebendary of Bristol and Vicar of St Nicholas’ ch; in 1682 he was chosen to be the cathedral’s treasurer, but his key appointment as Dean in 1683 was cut short by his death a few months later at the age of 59. Some of his more notable sermons, preached in Bristol and London, were printed. His verse was published in 1664 as The Young Man’s Meditation; or Some few Sacred Poems on Select Subjects, and Scriptures; headed by lines from Philo and G Herbert. Among these 9 items are an eloquent text ‘Upon the Fifth of November’ and two which have become favourite hymns among Free and Anglican churches. They have sometimes been printed (keeping the best till last?) together with the texts of John Ryland and Clare Taylor, SC followed the 1664 book with The Young Man’s Monitor. Nos.403, 970.