It would be impossible for all to agree on the question, “What is God’s greatest gift to you?” We would certainly think beyond material or temporal things, like health or family or financial provisions, though they are all wonderful and come to us as gifts from Him (James 1:17). Focusing on eternal gifts of a spiritual nature, would it be our salvation, or maybe the Bible, or perhaps our increasing spiritual insights? But isn’t the greatest thing He has given us … Himself? And on Pentecost Sunday, we would certainly think about the Holy Spirit as a great gift of God!
That is especially true when we remember all those things which are the unique work of the third person of the Holy Trinity. He was the one who moved over the face of the earth at creation’s first moments, as described in Genesis 1. He was the one who anointed and empowered prophets, priests, and kings throughout the ages of the Old Testament. He is the one who guided David and others in the writing of the texts of the Old Testament. He is the one whose power caused the incarnation in Jesus’ supernatural conception in Mary’s womb. He is the one who “breathed out” each word in Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16). He is the one who has been the agent of regeneration in the heart of every elect in every age, causing us to be born again (1 Peter 1:3).
And on Pentecost Sunday the church takes special notice of Him and His work, not only in the past, but also in the present and into the future until the return of Christ. When He was poured out on that first Pentecost gathering, He came just as Jesus had promised in the Upper Room Discourse to comfort, counsel, and instruct the followers of the Savior. He was also given to empower them (and us) as witnesses to the gospel. And they were blessed with that power on that day as Peter’s sermon resulted in the Holy Spirit’s creating new life in the hearts of 3,000 souls! He is still doing that wonderful work in and through us today, and we should desire and expect it, as we read in Romans 8:11, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.”
It’s a shame that for many today, when they think about the Holy Spirit and the church, they think about the gifts of the Spirit more than about the fruit of the Spirit. And frequently attention is drawn to the supernatural gifts of the Spirit, gifts of tongues and visions and healing, when even Paul said these are the inferior gifts compared to the Spirit’s fruit of love. In addition, there is the wide consensus (though not unanimous) among most Reformed people that the supernatural gifts were only temporary, intended to authenticate the apostles’ teaching until the permanent testimony of inspired scripture was completed at the end of the first century.
When we look in our hymnals for hymns about the Holy Spirit to use on Pentecost Sunday, we will find a good selection, but, sadly, not nearly as large in number as those for the Father and the Son. Nevertheless, we have a wealth of possibilities that tell us who He is, what His work is, and the sorts of things for which we are invited to ask from Him. This all serves to remind us not only that the Holy Spirit is a person (not an impersonal force), one who has a divine personality, but also one who hears and answers prayer, and who makes decisions, such as choosing what spiritual gifts to distribute to each believer. And so, it is entirely legitimate sometimes to address our prayers to the Holy Spirit, making specific request of Him which match what the Bible tells us about His on-going work in the sanctification of believers and expansion of the gospel.
This current study will be of the hymn, “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me.” It was written in 1855 by Thomas Toke Lynch (1818-1871), an English Congregational minister. The son of John Burke Lynch, a surgeon, he was born in Essex. He was educated at a school in Islington, London, where he then became a teaching assistant. In 1841 he became a Sunday school teacher and district visitor, occasionally preaching and giving lectures on sight-singing and temperance. He married the daughter of a minister in Highgate.
In 1843 Lynch entered Highbury Independent College, but then shortly withdrew, largely for health reasons. He was pastor of Highgate Independent Church from 1847 to 1879, and of another congregation from 1849 to 1852. In 1852 he delivered a course of lectures on literature at the Royal Institution, Manchester. In failing health, Lynch resigned his charge in 1856, but resumed it in 1860 in Gower Street, pending the opening of Mornington Church, a new structure in the Hampstead Road, where he ministered until his death on May 9, 1871. Lynch’s congregations were small, and he was not liked as a preacher. The church was pulled down in 1888.
Lynch is best known for his “Hymns for Heart and Voice: The Rivulet,” first issued in 1855. It was intended to be a supplement to the hymns of Isaac Watts. Some of Lynch’s hymns were criticized as pantheistic and theologically unsound. Lynch himself replied to his opponents in 1856 in “The Ethics of Quotation,” and in a pamphlet of poorly written verse, entitled “Songs Controversial.” He was the author of several prose works, as well as lectures, addresses, sermons, controversial tracts, and magazine articles along with a few hymn tunes. The influence of Lynch’s ministry was great, and reached far beyond his own congregation (which was never large), since it included many students from the Theological Colleges of London, and thoughtful men from other churches, who were attracted to him by the freshness and spirituality of his preaching. His prose works were numerous, beginning with “Thoughts on a Day” in 1844, and concluding with “The Mornington Lecture” in 1870. Several of his works were published after his death. His “Memoir,” by W. White, was published in 1874.
The hymn, “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me,” is based on the words in Romans 8:11, “He shall also give life to your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” We see that reflected very well in Lynch’s hymn, since each stanza begins with the same prayer request, that the Spirit would, as promised, “dwell with me.” Each stanza characterizes the person and work of the Holy Spirit in ways that are very helpful for us today in our dependence on His work in our lives. Requesting that the Spirit “dwell with me” does not necessitate some kind of miraculous, or even direct, indwelling on His part. It can simply be a desire that the Spirit would abide in my heart through the influence of the scriptures that He inspired and gave to all mankind. And thus this Third Person of the Trinity can produce a spirit or attitude of godliness in my life, as I ask Him, “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me.” Here are what appear to be the original six stanzas, though most hymnals only print four of them.
Stanza 1 calls Him a gracious Spirit. The grace we need not only saves us by applying the benefits of Christ’s atoning death for the forgiveness of our sins, but God’s unmerited favor also comes to us through the ministrations of the Holy Spirit who enables us to be gracious “with words that help and heal,” “and with actions bold and meek.” How appropriate that we seek the Spirit’s transforming grace to make us increasingly helpful in strengthening others. (Galatians 6:1-2).
Gracious Spirit, dwell with me: I myself would gracious be;
And with words that help and heal Would Thy life in mine reveal,
And with actions bold and meek Would for Christ my Savior speak.
Stanza 2 calls Him a truthful Spirit. Since He is the one who inspired (“breathed out”) the Scriptures, which are the revelation of God’s truth (John 17:17, “Thy word is truth”), therefore it is very fitting that we see Him as the “truthful Spirit” who teaches us divine truth. In His Upper Room Discourse (John 14 and 16), Jesus promised that He would send this “other Comforter” to teach us, to lead us into the truth, and to enable us to understand what the Lord has taught us, specifically through the apostles.
Truthful Spirit, dwell with me: I myself would truthful be;
And with wisdom kind and clear, Let Thy life in mine appear,
And with actions brotherly Speak my Lord’s sincerity.
Stanza 3 calls Him a mighty Spirit. He has shown His power in creation, in our regeneration, in the incarnation, in the inspiration of Scripture, and in so many other ways. And so in our Pentecost hymn, we ask that as He dwells with us, He would empower us to resist temptation, to devote ourselves to the pursuit of godliness, and to the perseverance we need (Philippians 4:13) as we await Jesus’ promised return.
Mighty Spirit, dwell with me: I myself would mighty be;
Mighty so as to prevail Where unaided man must fail,
Ever by a mighty hope Pressing on and bearing up.
Stanza 4 calls Him a tender Spirit. How wonderful it is that He, just like the Father and the Son, is described as being tender. This is a word that conjures up images of gentleness and affection that we experience in close human relationships. How marvelous that this awesome, majestic, powerful, sovereign God deals with us in tenderness. We remember the hymn “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us,” picturing the tenderness of our divinely-sent Comforter. Lynch also has us ask that the Spirit would “shut my heart up like a flower in temptation’s darksome hour.” Visualize the Hibiscus blossom that closes up tightly at night. And then we pray concerning our hearts that the Spirit would “open it when the sun shines.”
Tender Spirit, dwell with me: I myself would tender be;
Shut my heart up like a flower In temptation’s darksome hour.
Open it when shines the sun, And His love by fragrance own.
Stanza 5 calls Him a silent Spirit. He is sometimes called the invisible or forgotten person of the Trinity. That’s because He does not draw attention to Himself, but instead points people to Jesus. And thus He is the “Silent Spirit,” and is a model for us to be silent in that same way, not drawing attention to ourselves, but rather pointing to Jesus in all that we do and say. The hymn imagery is that of the quietness with which blades of grass rise “through the earth” until they are visible when the “morning light” puts “mists and chills to flight.”
Silent Spirit, dwell with me; I myself would quiet be,
Quiet as the growing blade Which through earth its way has made;
Silently, like morning light, Putting mists and chills to flight.
Stanza 6 calls Him a holy Spirit. This is certainly the most fitting title, since it is the name given to Him in Scripture. It focuses on the primary thing the Holy Spirit is doing today, working salvation in the heart of those God has called to Himself, causing us to be born again, and advancing our sanctification as we learn in the language of question 35 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. “Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.”
Holy Spirit, dwell with me: I myself would holy be;
Separate from sin, I would Choose and cherish all things good,
And whatever I can be, Give to Him who gave me Thee!
The tune REDHEAD 76 is named for its composer, Richard Redhead (1820 – 1901), who published it as number 76 in his influential “Church Hymn Tunes, Ancient and Modern”(1853) as a setting for the hymn text “Rock of Ages.” It has been associated with Psalm 51 since the 1912 “Psalter,” where the tune was named AJALON. The tune is also known as PETRA from its association with “Rock of Ages,” and GETHSEMANE, which derives from the text “Go to Dark Gethsemane.” Of the three long lines constituting REDHEAD 76, the last is almost identical to the first, and the middle line has an internal repeat.
Redhead, born in Harrow, Middlesex, England, was a chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford. At age nineteen he was invited to become organist at Margaret Chapel (later All Saints Church), London. Greatly influencing the musical tradition of the church, he remained in that position for twenty-five years as organist and an excellent trainer of the boys’ choirs. Redhead and the church’s rector, Frederick Oakeley, were strongly committed to the Oxford Movement, which favored the introduction of Roman elements into Anglican worship. Together they produced the first Anglican plainsong psalter, “Laudes Diurnae” (1843). Redhead spent the latter part of his career as organist at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Paddington (1864-1894).
K. Lee Scott has used this text to compose a lovely anthem based on the ADORO TE DEVOTE tune, and it is this which is most often available on You Tube. You can hear it here:
Here is a recording of the hymn to the REDHEAD 76 tune, though the words from the congregation are not clearly heard.