When the revision of the “Trinity Hymnal” (the official hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, published in 1990) was being developed, the committee wanted to include as broad a spectrum of theological topics as possible to be able to be sung in worship of evangelical Presbyterian churches. They realized that one of the topics for which few hymns were available was that of infant (“covenant”) baptism. They found a couple of possibilities, but thought it would be good to add to that with a fresh composition.
They commissioned Edmund P. Clowney to write a new hymn to be included in that section on the sacraments. He was well-known to members of the revision committee from his ministry, including his seminary teaching and presidency, his authorship of books and articles, and some poetry as well. His wife, Jean, was a member of the hymnal revision committee, and agreed to pass along the request for this, as well as a couple of other “commissions.” The committee was delighted with his text for use on occasions when an infant was being baptized, “In Your Arms, Lord Jesus Christ,” and it is number 419 in the revised “Trinity Hymnal.”
Dr. Clowney (1917-2005) was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and spent most of his ministry life in that city as President of Westminster Theological Seminary, where he also taught courses in practical theology (especially homiletics). He was educated at Wheaton College (B.A. and D. D.), Westminster Seminary, and Yale Divinity School. A committed churchman, he wrote numerous works and lectured in the field of Biblical theology. From 1942 to 1946, he served as pastor in churches in Connecticut, Illinois, and New Jersey. He was invited to become an assistant professor of practical theology at Westminster in 1952, and then in 1966 became the seminary’s first President.
He served in that position until 1984, when he became the theologian-in-residence at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlotteville, Virginia, where Joseph (“Skip”) Ryan was Senior Pastor. Skip was himself a Westminster graduate and member of Westminster’s Board of Directors. In 1990, Clowney moved to Escondido, California to be an Adjunct Professor at Westminster’s California branch. In 2001 he began a full-time position as Associate Pastor at Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas. Two years later, he returned to Trinity in Charlottesville to be part-time theologian-in-residence, a position he held until his death in 2005.
In addition to his books, he authored many articles, lectures and sermons, including the anonymous humor column “Eutychus and His Pin” (later renamed “Eutychus and His Kin”) for the magazine “Christianity Today” from 1955-60, and Bible studies for Ligonier Ministries’ daily devotional booklet “Tabletalk.” The late Tim Keller has said that Clowney and Old Testament scholar Alec Motyer were “the fathers of my preaching ministry.” Clowney was a widely respected champion of redemptive-grammatical-historical preaching, which sought to view every text from the perspective of its place in the pattern of the outworking of God’s plan of redemption. That led to preaching Christ from every text. Indeed, the title of one of his most widely-studied books is “Preaching Christ in All of Scripture.”
In 1990 a Festschriff was published in his honor, “Practical Theology and the Ministry of the Church, 1952-1984: Essays in Honor of Edmund P. Clowney.” It included contributions from Jay Adams, William Edgar, Roger Nicole, J. I. Packer, Robert Rayburn, and Geoff Thomas. Clowney married Jean Granger Wright (1920-2008) in 1942. They had five children. One is married to theologian Peter Jones, and another (David) is the author of the hymn “God, All Nature Sings Thy Glory,” which was popularized in Inter Varsity songbooks before being included in the “Trinity Hymnal,” with the tune ODE TO JOY.
While not all branches of Christendom practice infant baptism, those who do so maintain this as one gracious dimension of the sacrament of baptism. The sacrament is described in question # 94 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism with these words.
Baptism is a sacrament, wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s.
In Reformed (covenant) theology, baptism in the New Testament is understood to be essentially the same as circumcision in the Old Testament. In both instances it points to cleansing and the removal of sin, in the Old Testament by cutting away the flesh of the foreskin, and in the New Testament by the symbol of washing with water. And in that parallel understanding, both were applied to the children of believers, not as a sign of what the recipient of the sacrament had done (as with “believer’s baptism”), but as a sign of what parents prayed God would do as their child grew to understand and embrace the covenant of grace.
So when baptism is examined, it is seen as something done in continuity with the covenant of grace throughout the Old Testament, the same covenant that was made with Abraham where it was sealed by circumcision. And it is the same covenant as that made with David and with Jeremiah. Baptism is not really a new covenant as much as it is a RE-newed covenant between God and His people. Both circumcision and baptism in the Bible were signs that these persons had now been set apart as part of the visible church, and as such were granted the privileges of participation in and benefits from that connection.
Those who have this perspective of infant baptism find a number of examples of that in the New Testament. On the day of Pentecost, as Peter’s evangelistic sermon called people to believe and be baptized, he assured them that “the promise is for you and your children.” This would have been familiar language to Jews that would have meant that just as in the past they could bring their infant sons for circumcision to become part of the covenant, so now in Christ they could bring their infant children to receive the sign of the covenant. In addition, the references in Acts 16 to the conversion of Lydia and the Philippian jailer tell us that their entire households were also baptized, an event that clearly sounds like children were a part of that sacramental sign and seal.
And so those churches that practice infant baptism can sing this song, confident that they are doing what God has not only authorized but also commanded, and that they can count on God’s blessing in doing so. In no way should this be understood in the sense of “baptismal regeneration” that guarantees that the child is saved, regardless of the life they live in the years ahead. Just as circumcised infants in the Old Testament needed to ratify that covenant as they grew to adulthood, even so baptized children need to ratify that covenant by personal saving faith in the Lord Jesus. Thus, the term “christening” is not really an appropriate synonym for baptism, since it suggests that the baptized child has been “Christianized.”
But on the other hand, neither should people make too little of the privilege of baptism. Where parents come in genuine faith and dependence on the Lord to present their children for baptism, and when new adult converts are baptized, they should make much of this sign of the covenant, and continue to pray in faith that the Lord would accomplish in the heart what has been applied to the head. It has been recorded that when facing temptation, Martin Luther would remind himself,
“The only way to drive away the Devil is through faith in Christ, by saying: ‘I have been baptized, I am a Christian.’”
Like many hymns, Clowney’s text is addressed to the Lord, and specifically to Jesus, who famously said, “Let the little children come to Me” (Mark 10:13-16). And it is a prayer, asking Him to bless these infants in very specific ways. It would most appropriately be sung on a Sunday morning at the time of the baptism of a covenant child. How marvelous for the congregation to sing these words as parents stand before the church, with their baby in their arms (or perhaps by this point, in the arms of their pastor). It is the plea of every believing parent that the Lord who has redeemed them and made them His adopted children, would do the same for each of their children from the earliest days of their lives.
Stanza 1 tells Jesus that we are placing our children in His arms, knowing that He welcomes them, and asking that He bless them with the saving grace that is at the center of His loving care.
In Your arms, Lord Jesus Christ, children have a place:
brought to You to feel Your touch, Lord, bless them with Your grace.
Stanza 2 tells Jesus that we are trusting that in this sacrament we believe that the Father has claimed them, and so we ask that He “seal them as His children,” placing His name upon them.
Savior, on these little ones place Your Father’s claim;
seal them as His children, Jesus, give to them Your name.
Stanza 3 tells Jesus that we need Him to wash away their sin, symbolized by the water we apply, knowing that it’s their hearts that need to be cleansed within from sin.
Wash them at the fountain, Lord, opened for our sin;
we baptize with water’s symbol: Yours to cleanse within.
Stanza 4 tells Jesus that we see them as our heritage, given to Him, and given to us, but ultimately belonging to Him, needing His Holy Spirit to come into their hearts.
Yours they are, our heritage, granted in Your love:
children of Your promise, Savior, send Your Spirit’s dove.
Stanza 5 tells Jesus that we need His help to guide us in teaching these little ones, who are His children, so that they might know Him and live joyfully not just at our side, but at His side.
Teach us, Lord, to teach Your child; guide us as we guide.
Lead this little one to know You, joyful at Your side.
The music the hymnal committee chose for this text has the name LISTENING, written in 1969 by Norman Leonard Warren (1934-2019). He was an Anglican priest and author. Born in London and educated at Dulwich College and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he was ordained in 1961. After beginning as Curate in Bedworth, he went on to hold incumbencies in Leamington Priors and Morden, then as Rural Dean of Merton. He concluded his ministry as Archdeacon of Rochester from 1989 until his retirement in 2000.
His simple evangelistic tract “Journey into Life; A Pictorial Guide to the Christian Life,” one of many paperbacks that he wrote about the Christian life, was first issued in 1964 while serving at Leamington Spa, and became a best-seller with worldwide sales of 30 million, and is his greatest legacy. That booklet was the fruit of Warren’s own journey from “cradle Anglican” to a committed follower of the Savior with a real and deep personal relationship with Jesus. Born into an Anglican churchgoing family in 1934 and active in many a church choir, by his own admission he had grown up knowing about Jesus without truly knowing him.
That all changed when, at the age of 18, he was captivated by a sermon delivered in Central Hall, Westminster, by the then Bishop of Liverpool, Dr Clifford Martin. Warren was convicted by a question posed by the bishop in his sermon, which was based on Revelation 3:20, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.” Dr Martin asked, “So is Jesus inside or outside that door?” It was a lifechanging moment for Warren, who realized that until that point, Jesus had been on the outside. And it proved to be the springboard for decades of devoted and fruitful ministry as an Anglican priest. During his first parish, St. Paul’s Leamington Spa grew from a small handful of people and the threat of closure, to the flourishing congregation which continued after his departure.
His close friend and successor at St Paul’s Leamington Spa, the Rev. Canon Andrew Dow, delivered the funeral address, an excerpt of which can be read below.
Norman created a legacy for which the entire Christian world will be eternally grateful to him. An evangelistic tool, not just for his own “fishing”, but to help thousands of others of us who wanted to “fish”, but were less gifted.
Initially rejected by established Christian publishers as too naïve, Church Pastoral Aid Society eventually took on Journey into Life – and it became a bestseller: half a million copies year after year; even now it is still printing at about 25,000 a year, and in many different languages.
I wonder how many of us here were brought to follow Jesus Christ through this remarkable booklet, or who have given it to those who happened to come near enough to our “fishing hook”.
Thank you, Norman, for “Journey into Life”.
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Yes – in Bedworth, here in Leamington, then Morden, Rochester, and long after official retirement – Snitterfield; with Jesus Christ in his heart, and Bible and “Journey into Life” in his hand.
As John 10: 10, one of his favourite Bible verses, puts it, he really did enjoy “life to the full.”
But if there was lots of fun, there was also a very serious side to Norman’s ministry of fishing. You see, as an integral part of his relationship with Jesus, Norman loved to read the Bible; he devoured it – and if he had ever done a lexical study on the word “follow” in the Bible, he would have discovered – and I’m sure he knew this anyway – a sobering truth from God: that if you are not following Jesus, that does not mean that nothing or no one is your leader, or guiding force.
You may not be aware of it – but you are following some other spirit, consciously or otherwise. Between them, Paul, Peter, and Jude list no less than nine magnetic forces that will draw men and women away to ultimate destruction if they do not follow the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s no time to list the nine here, but in summary they represent false saviours, false ideas, false hopes, and corrosive desires.
This, amongst other things, made Norman passionate to fish the helpless out of the murky waters threatening to overwhelm them.
Do you and I have that kind of passion, and love for the lost?
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Of course, Jesus never promised that so to follow would be easy or straightforward – and the last six months of Norman’s life were a severe trial for him. It is a mystery why God permitted such anguish for Norman and family. But I think I’m right in saying that in the midst of great darkness, Norman wrote his last piece of musical composition – something based on Isaiah chapter 43: “When you walk through the fire, the flames will not set you ablaze.” And “fear not, for I have redeemed you; you are mine.”
Yes, to follow Jesus is to follow him through life, and through death – to resurrection with him. That’s been Norman’s “journey into life”. Will it be yours and mine too, following Norman, following Jesus?
Warren was a gifted musician and prolific writer and composer of hymn tunes and texts, songs, anthems, musical plays, and instrumental pieces, mainly for the organ. He composed LISTENING for a paraphrase of Psalm 61 which begins with the well-known words, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” He wrote that it was a text “which demanded a gentle tune.” It was published in the 1973 “Psalm Praise.” Its two long lines flow together in apparent perpetual motion, and so it should be performed that way, too, with no significant breaks between the stanzas.
A founding member of Jubilate Hymns, Norman Warren served on the teams which produced “Youth Praise” (1966 and 1969) in which his first published work appeared. This was followed, among other publications, by “Psalm Praise” (1973), “Jesus Praise” (which he edited, 1982), “Hymns for Today’s Church” (1982), “Carol Praise” (1987), “Church Family Worship” (1988), and “Sing Glory” (1999). He worked closely with Michael Perry (1942-1996), who was also an Anglican clergyman and one of England’s leading hymnologists of the 20th century. They often collaborated, in print or in person, when introducing worship and training for churches and groups. More than a hundred of Warren’s hymn tunes are published world-wide, of which one is named after his wife Yvonne and others after members of their family. He died on June 19, 2019.
Here is Clowney’s text with Warren’s tune.