THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT - What Wondrous Love (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached on 11/16/2014)

Some History from Wikipedia

The hymn's lyrics were first published in Lynchburg, Virginia in the c.1811 camp meeting songbook A General Selection of the Newest and Most Admired Hymns and Spiritual Songs Now in Use. The lyrics may also have been printed, in a slightly different form, in the 1811 book Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Original and Selected published in Lexington, Kentucky.  (It was included in the third edition of this text published in 1818, but all copies of the first edition have been lost.) In most early printings, the hymn's text was attributed to an anonymous author, though the 1848 hymnal The Hesperian Harp attributes the text to a Methodist pastor from Oxford, Georgia named Alexander Means.

Most sources attribute the hymn's melody to the 1701 English song "The Ballad of Captain Kidd", which describes the exploits of pirate William Kidd (misnamed "Robert" in American versions of the ballad).  The melody itself predates the Kidd usage, however, possibly by more than a century.  (In addition, at least a dozen popular songs were set to the same melody after 1701.) In the early 1800s, when the lyrics to "What Wondrous Love Is This" were first published, hymnals typically lacked any musical notation.  Camp meeting attendees during the Second Great Awakening would sing the hymns printed in these hymnals to a variety of popular melodies, including "The Ballad of Captain Kidd", which was well known at the time; this is likely how the text and melody came to be paired.  The text and melody were first published together in The Southern Harmony, a book of shape note hymns compiled by William Walker. Sources disagree, however, about which edition of The Southern Harmony first contained the hymn, giving contradictory dates of 1835, 1840, and 1843. The three-part harmony printed in The Southern Harmony was arranged by James Christopher of Spartanburg, South Carolina.  In a later printing of the hymn, William Walker noted that it was a "very popular old Southern tune".

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.

Ye wingèd seraphs fly, bear the news, bear the news!
Ye wingèd seraphs fly bear the news!
Ye wingèd seraphs fly, like comets through the sky,
Fill vast eternity with the news, with the news!
Fill vast eternity with the news!

Ye friends of Zion’s king, join His praise, join His praise;
Ye friends of Zion’s king, join His praise;
Ye friends of Zion’s king, with hearts and voices sing,
And strike each tuneful string in His praise, in His praise!
And strike each tuneful string in His praise!

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb who is the great I Am;
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme, I will sing.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on.

Yes, when to that bright world we arise, we arise,
Yes, when to that bright world we arise;
When to that world we go, free from all pain and woe,
We’ll join the happy throng, and sing on, and sing on,
We’ll join the happy throng, and sing on.