HOTC #23: LSB 441, Ride On, Ride On in Majesty

*Entry of Christ into Jerusalem* by Anthony van Dyck, 1617

We come to the end of our Lenten journey by picking up the journey that is Holy Week. More finely detailed, longer, and more graphic than any other in the gospels. It will take us to the Upper Room and Calvary, of course, and ultimately to the empty tomb next Sunday, but it begins here, on Palm Sunday.

The Author

Henry Hart Milman, portrait by George Frederic Watts, ca. 1863

Henry Hart Milman is one of those incredibly-educated polyglots for which Victorian England is somewhat famous. His father had been King George III’s physician, and young Milman was given one of the finest educations in England, matriculating at Eton College, followed by a record at Oxford described modestly as “brilliant.” He was ordained in the Church of England in 1816, and by 1821 had been elected professor of poetry at Oxford.

He climbed the Church of England’s hierarchy effectively, moving from his first posting as a parish priest at St. Mary’s, Reading to the post of rector at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster (next door to Westminster Abbey) in 1835, and was made dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, in 1849.

In and amongst his ecclesiastical activities, Milman’s talent as a writer and poet led him to become a playwright of considerable popularity. His first drama predates his ordination, with his tragic play Fazio premiering in 1815. He also adapted several works by ancient authors (including Aeschylus and Euripides). His poetry alone filled three volumes when published in 1839.

Rounding out Milman’s Renaissance Man-like credentials, he was also a historian of considerable worth. His History of the Jews proved so controversial that it delayed his advancement within the Church of England for some time. He wrote extensively on church history (his History of Latin Christianity was fantastically successful), and appears to have had a penchant for the work of Edward Gibbon, as he edited his classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and then proceeded to publish a history of Gibbon himself.

On top of all that, he produced an entire edition of the works of the Roman poet Horace, and was in the final stages of a history of St. Paul’s Cathedral at the time of his death on September 24, 1868. He is buried in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

The Text

Reginald Heber, portrait by Thomas Phillips

It was Milman’s notoriety (and presumed popularity) as a poet and playwright that brought him to the attention of Reginald Heber in or around 1820. Heber had preceded Milman at Oxford, and was on something of a mission to re-popularize the singing and use of hymns within the services of the Church of England, something he felt had been neglected for sometime (indeed, many authorities within Anglicanism at this time disapproved of anything beyond metrical psalm settings). Heber himself was a hymnwriter of some note, and his hymns appear four times in Lutheran Service Book (LSB #400, LSB #507, LSB #661, and LSB #877).

Many, if not most, of Heber’s hymns were composed for inclusion in his Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year, to which he had also asked Milman to contribute. It is from this invitation that the current text arises. The publication of the collection was delayed by Heber’s appointment as Bishop of Calcutta in 1823. He would die in India in 1826, and the work would be published the following year.

The text presented in Lutheran Service Book (and The Lutheran Hymnal before) is not entirely Milman’s original. With the best will in the world, Victorian Anglican hymns have a tendency to focus on the scenery or some other thing tangentially (at best) related to the actual story. Rather than list examples here, I’ll just direct you over to this fantastic video on the subject from Lutheran Satire. While not quite on the same level, Milman’s original gives “Thine humble beast pursues his road” in the third phrase of the first verse, which the subsequent Lutheran usages alter to “O Savior meek, pursue thy road,” thereby preserving the focus on Christ and unifying the five verses of the hymn further.

Each of the hymn’s five verses begins with the entreaty that Christ “Ride on, ride on in majesty!” before continuing to a description of some facet of the Palm Sunday story. There’s no sandbagging here: while the first verse is all hosannas and palm branches, the second verse has perhaps one of the darkest turns in the entire hymnal - five phrases into the hymn we hit the words “In lowly pomp ride on to die.” That’s stark stuff, followed by the giving away of the rest of the story: “O Christ, Thy triumphs now begin / O’er captive death and conquered sin.”

The third verse turns the lens toward the hosts of Heaven, looking “…down with sad and wond’ring eyes / To see the approaching sacrifice.” One can almost feel the weight of Good Friday crowding into the narrative here - the next verse juxtaposes “Thy last and fiercest strife…” with an image of the throne room of God - amazing imagery. The final verse dwells still further on the forthcoming events of Good Friday, before giving us a glimpse of Easter: “Then take, O God, Thy pow’r and reign.”

With all the Good Friday imagery crowding in after the initial meditations on Palm Sunday, and with the obvious references to Easter sprinkled in, this hymn works well to close Palm Sunday worship, as it encapsulates most of the story that will play out over the coming week (though, curiously, it ignores Maundy Thursday entirely).

While effective in this role, I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of this hymn on a couple of accounts:

Firstly, there are hymns that fill the “preparation for Holy Week” more effectively, and with greater theological depth. My personal favorite in this roll is LSB #438, A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth, which contains some of the best atonement language in the entire hymnal (it’s by Paul Gerhardt, so go figure).

Secondly, the tune WINCHESTER NEW seems, to me at least, too cheerful for the content here. Sure, it fits the first verse’s jubilation well enough, but for a hymn that contains the phrase “In lowly pomp ride on to die.” it just seems a bit too lighthearted. A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth wins on this point, too, being set to Wolfgang Dachstein’s Lutheran classic AN WASSERFLUSSEN BABYLON, a chorale with deep Lutheran roots and some of the most somber affekt in the genre. There is an alternative tune for Ride On, Ride On in Majesty at the back of the Accompaniment Edition of Lutheran Service Book, but those are the super top secret hymns that aren’t included in the pew edition and which I will talk about separately sometime.

Thirdly, I feel this hymn text gives away the story a bit. It’s Palm Sunday - from our point of view within the liturgical year, we are standing on the verge of some amazing events, but those events won’t come along in the story until later in the week. Giving away the joy of Easter on Palm Sunday somewhat deflates the anguish of Good Friday, from a storytelling point of view. If you’re doing Passion Sunday rather than Palm Sunday, then perhaps this hymn fits somewhat better, as there’s very little incentive to hold back the narrative in this way .

So, there you go: I’m not saying it’s a bad hymn, I’m just saying there’s better choices. My two cents, I suppose.

The Tune

This tune has its origins in the Late Baroque German hymntune DIR, DIR JEHOVA (which appeared as TLH #21). The Wesley brothers (John and Charles) borrowed it for their own ends and it eventually emerged in its present form as WINCHESTER NEW.

It is remarkably singable for a hymn with such a large range, and the contours of the melody provide for a driving, almost march-like feeling under the hands of a competent organist. There’s plenty of room for flourishes and passing tones to embellish both the melody and the harmony on the more jubilant bits, too.

It has been a popular tune across Christianity since its inception, and Hymnary.org lists it in some 339 hymnals to date. This has in turn led to a certain amount of popularity amongst church music composers, as can be seen from the list of selections below.