Wednesday, April 29, 2015

A Close Reading: I Saw One Weary

 On August 19, 1852, Annie Rebekah Smith penned a poem entitled The Blessed Hope. Smith’s poem was published on the same day it was written in The Advent Review & Sabbath Herald.  “Her poems and hymns have endured through the years and provide us with a window into the past of a movement that was driven by mostly young people: days of hardship, sacrifice, and commitment to a cause greater than self” (Richards 1).  Smith has given us a view of the past by sharing her thoughts, through the use of allusion, on the life of our pioneers.

The poem sprung from Smith’s exposure to the hardships endured at this time in history for an Advent Christian. Eventually music was added to the words, and the name was changed to I Saw One Weary.  The hymn is found on page 441 of the current Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal and consists of four stanzas.

The first thing that fills the mind when reading I Saw One Weary is the allusion to the struggle of battle as a means of achieving the goal—“the blessed hope.”  The language evokes pictures of pilgrims on a crusade, some dressed with “sword and shield” to fight the battles of the Lord.  Weariness, poverty, the loss of friends and, if necessary, even passing through “the portals of the tomb” are allusions used to explain the hazards of the quest.  On first blush it seems a noble endeavor.
However, as the prose is considered more closely, other thoughts begin to fill the mind. Perhaps hardship and bitter disappointments lurk on this road one must travel?  Pondering the reality of “trials deep and conflicts sore” and “tribulation, hate and scorn” takes a bit of the luster from the initial spirit of a knightly escapade.  One must seriously count the cost of traveling this road.  This path should not be a hasty, untried choice.

It is interesting that each of the verses describe a journey in a similar direction, however, the first three verses paint a somewhat different landscape of the road traveled.  Perhaps this is because Smith reportedly allegorized the struggles of leaders in the budding Advent Movement as she wrote these verses.  Readers could be recounting the journeys of Joseph Bates, James White and even Annie Smith, though out of modesty she couched the description in masculine euphemisms (Early Advent Singing).

Two pages earlier in the church hymnal, page 439, is another hymn written by Smith.  It is interesting that the language of this second hymn, How Far From Home, is very similar to the hymn under review.  In this second hymn Smith writes of wielding swords and battles fought while “the whole creation, waiting groans, to hear the trumpet sound” (SDA Hymnal 439).  The imagery of both hymns is very similar.

The first stanza of I Saw One Weary brings to mind a traveler who has been on this road a long time.  One “who long the hallowed cross had borne.”  Despite the lines of “grief and care” etched on his face from the journey, he presses on with “eager steps … looking for the promised day.”  Disapproval of the path he has chosen, symbolized by “the world’s cold frown,” threatens to trammel his quest for freedom in Christ.  But his desire is undiminished and soldiers onward.

Verse two is somewhat different.  This verse depicts a more knight-like figure who valiantly battles “to win an everlasting crown.”  Notwithstanding toil and oppression, the same reward offered to the previous character causes this hero to fight on in pursuit of the prize.  His eye is set on the prize for “no murmur from his heart arose.”  The reward is seen to be worth the sacrifice.

Verse three personifies one who left behind the friends of youth, with its plans and dreams, to engage in the Christian struggle.  Despite the sacrifice of his worldly hopes, this pilgrim is pictured wearing a smile.  This suggests contentment with the decision made.  He is satisfied with the course of his life and peace reigns in the heart as he pursues his goal.

In the last stanza Smith refers to the world as “this dark vale of sin and gloom.”  These words conjure images of a valley covered by dark, ominous clouds with perhaps a cold wind blowing over a dry, leafless landscape.  There appears to be no respite from this journey until the longed for destination is reached.

What is prominent in Smith’s writing is that Christianity costs something to all who travel this road.  But despite the hardships, the metaphors used all paint a picture of patient endurance.  Nay, not only longsuffering, but even joy!  Is such a thing possible for one who is suffering under this calling’s heavy load?  The end of each verse gives the answer.

Invariably, at its conclusion, each verse expounds the point of the entire work—“the blessed hope.”  The anticipation of the second coming of Christ is the zenith of the Christian’s hope.  The Apostle Paul framed this expectation in the words of Titus 2:13, which is noted in the upper left corner on the same page of the SDA hymnal as the hymn.  As the hymn implies, Christians are waiting with anxiousness of spirit and “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (KJV Bible).

Works Cited

"Early Advent Singing." Google Books. Review & Herald Publishing Assn., p. 91. n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2015.
The Holy Bible, King James Version. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers. 2013. Print
Richards, Erica. "The Story of Annie Smith." Adventist World: The Story of Annie Smith. Adventist World, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2015.
Smith, Annie R. "How Far From Home?" Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal. Washington, DC: Review and Herald Pub. Association, 1988. 439. Print.

5 comments:

  1. What a powerful and inspirational hymn from smith.You are blessed

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anytime I hear this song, it tells me a lot of things in this world and today too I learn something from the story behind this song, after the dead of my brother, I know and I learn a lot of things, thank you

    ReplyDelete