Wordwise Hymns

Irishman James Chadwick was educated at Ushaw College, Durham, where he was ordained in 1836, and served first as a professor, and later as president of the school. In 1866, he became the Roman Catholic bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. Chadwick is known in hymnody for his translation of the traditional French song Les Anges dans Nos Campagnes, which gave us the popular carol Angels We Have Heard on High.

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?

(2) Today in 1920 Eliza Hewitt Died
Eliza Edmunds Hewitt lived her entire life in the city of Philadelphia. She taught school for awhile, but developed spinal trouble and was confined to bed for many years. During that time of suffering, she devoted herself to writing, and produced an amazing collection of popular gospel songs. Many of them are still in use a century later. (Some of these were written under the pen name Lidie H. Edmunds. For more about the use of this name and about Eliza Hewitt, see the second item under Today in 1814.)

After some years, her physical condition improved, and she served as Sunday School Superintendent at the Northern Home for Friendless Children, and later at the Calvin Presbyterian Church. She was also a regular contributor to Sunday School Helps. Here is just a small sampling of her songs.

Come, for All Things Are Ready
Give Me Thy Heart
In a Little While We’re Going Home
More About Jesus
My Faith Has Found a Resting Place
Since the Fullness of His Love Came In
Singing I Go
Stepping in the Light
Sunshine in My Soul
When We All Get to Heaven
Will There Be Any Stars?

The author spent six months in a body cast, as doctors worked to heal her spine. When she was finally able to take a simple walk in the park, her great joy prompted the writing of Sunshine in My Soul.

There is sunshine in my soul today,
More glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky,
For Jesus is my Light.

O there’s sunshine, blessèd sunshine,
When the peaceful, happy moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face,
There is sunshine in the soul.

There is music in my soul today,
A carol to my King,
And Jesus, listening, can hear
The songs I cannot sing.