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.
What a powerful and inspirational hymn from smith.You are blessed
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed a very bit of it.
ReplyDeleteMy all time favourite hymn
ReplyDeleteAnytime 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
ReplyDeletebest
ReplyDelete