I sang a song in church this morning, one that I have liked for a while but had never gotten around to figuring out how to play. It is a 19th-century American hymn which doesn't seem to have much circulation today. The only place I've ever heard it sung is on a CD of hymns that I've had for years, by a Christian singer named Crystal Lewis. Although I don't particularly care for Lewis' affected style of singing (and I was only partially successful in purging myself of those affectations when I sang the song this morning), I've always been struck by the song itself.

When I looked up the song on the CyberHymnal the other day, I found that it has an interesting history. The music was written in 1836 by a man named John Matthias, with a title and lyrics that were different from the current version, yet on a similar theme. There is the same device of a pilgrim walking through life, but his cry at the end of each verse is not "The yoke is easy..." but "Deliverance Will Come." And deliverance does come when the pilgrim finally makes it to heaven. The alternate version (the one below) appeared in a hymnal in 1894 with words that were heavily re-written but anonymous.

I find the two versions to be an interesting commentary on how we deal with various trials, even suffering, that come to us in life. I think many people have the idea of Christians (and it may be sadly true of some) that they are all about "escapism," that they don't put much effort into engaging with daily life in this world because all they care about is getting to heaven. The older "Deliverance" version of this song seems to me to exemplify this attitude, with the pilgrim seemingly finding no joy whatsoever in our present life, his only real engagement with it resulting in him "stopping his ears and running," and with deliverance being realized only after he gets to heaven. I wouldn't be surprised if the anonymous person who rewrote the song in 1894 felt similarly to me, because he has a much more balanced approach. The hope of heaven certainly is a powerful truth, and the new version rightly devotes a single verse to it. But there is more than plenty of hope, comfort, perspective, and joy to be found in the here and now, when you consider it from a spiritual perspective.

So here is the song. Just for fun, I've taken all of the allusions to the Bible that I noticed and linked them to the actual Bible passages referred to. For a somewhat clunky version of the melody, go to the CyberHymnal entry for this song.

The Bloodwashed Pilgrim

I saw a bloodwashed pilgrim, a sinner saved by grace,
Upon the King's great highway, with peaceful, shining face;
Temptations sore beset him, but nothing could affright;
He said, "The yoke is easy, the burden is light."

Refrain:
Then palms of victory, crowns of glory,
Palms of victory I shall wear.

I saw him in the furnace; he doubted not nor feared,
And in the flames beside him the Son of God appeared;
Though seven times 'twas heated with all the tempter's might,
He said, "The yoke is easy, the burden is light."

Refrain

’Mid storms, and clouds, and trials, in prison, at the stake,
He leapt for joy, rejoicing, ’twas all for Jesus’ sake;
That God should count him worthy was such supreme delight,
He cried, “The yoke is easy, the burden is so light.”

Refrain

I saw him overcoming, through all the swelling strife,
Until he crossed the threshold of God’s eternal life;
The crown, the throne, the scepter, the name, the stone so white,
Were his, who found, in Jesus, the yoke and burden light.

Refrain

 

Posted by Matt on 2/09/2004 12:50:00 AM