HYMN STORIES: The Songs We Sing
“How Firm a Foundation”
This Sunday we will sing at our services How Firm a Foundation, which tells the message of human trials and the need for a perfect Savior. Only that message – the Gospel message – could give peace to dying men and unite the bitterest of foes, which is exactly what this Christian hymn has done.
How Firm a Foundation first reached the public when John Rippon – an influential English minister who pastored Carter Lane Baptist Church in London – published A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors in 1787. Though the author was unknown, the hymn survived through its great message. It was especially popular with men who felt the weight of the world on their shoulders, and many leaders in America chose it as their favorite hymn. Andrew Jackson requested it be sung at his deathbed, and Robert E. Lee and Theodore Roosevelt, both requested it be sung at their funerals. During the American Civil War, both Northern and Southern soldiers could be heard singing it; a testament to how God bridges the gap between all men.
In 1898, How Firm a Foundation was used to unite a divided American army. It happened during the Spanish-American war, a time soon after the Civil War when tensions between North and South were still high. Soldiers needed to put aside differences to face a new conflict, but that was easier said than done. Lieutenant-Colonel Curtis Guild Jr. was there on the night it happened, and here is his account:
On Christmas Eve of 1898 I sat before my tent in the balmy tropical night [near Havana] chatting with a fellow officer of Christmas and home. Suddenly from the camp of the Forty-ninth Iowa rang a sentinel’s call, “Number ten; twelve o’clock, and all’s well!” It was Christmas morning. Scarcely had the cry of the sentinel died away, when from the bandsmen’s tents of that same regiment there rose the music of an old, familiar hymn, and one clear baritone voice led the chorus that quickly ran along those moonlit fields: ‘How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord!’ Another voice joined in, and another, and another, and in a moment the whole regiment was singing, and then the Sixth Missouri joined in, with the Fourth Virginia, and all the rest, till there, on the long ridges above the great city whence Spanish tyranny once went forth to enslave the New World, a whole American army corps was singing –
Biblical references within the hymn mirrors Isaiah 41:10, which states “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (KJV). The final stanza primarily draws language from Deuteronomy 31:6 and 8, which offers reassurance: “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee… he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” This sermon in song’s lasting power stems from its masterful blending of unchangeable Scriptural promises into an expression of God’s faithfulness. Indeed, what a firm Foundation can be found in our Lord and King!
Shared by Lindrew Johnson, Director of Worship
