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This newspaper page contains 9 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
The Mobile Item
Location
Mobile, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Dec 30, 1916
Page
10
A critical look at turning martial hymn lyrics like Onward Christian Soldiers into peaceful praise. The piece questions wartime language and suggests revisions to emphasize unity, mercy, and reconciliation within Christian worship.
The hymn presents a faith centered in Christ Jesus as defender against evil. It describes God as a mighty fortress and the right man on our side, who helps believers endure trouble and triumph through truth. It emphasizes reliance on divine power over human strength and collective brotherhood.
Simon N Patten argues modern worship must pivot from war and dominance to social unity and humane progress. He notes language lags in naming new heroes, urges reinterpretation of religion, and frames evolution as small, civic battles against everyday evils rather than grand battles of old.
The passage argues for a modern gospel expressed in emotion through collective effort. It compares past and present faiths, urging ordinary people to create language that conveys social struggle, progress, and the duty to prevent small fires from becoming crises.
Editor notes present new hymn versions from Professor Pat Ten per his permission. The page highlights his recent volume Advent Songs with readable adaptations of familiar hymns.
A temperance hymn by Prof Patten titled Che Blight of Rum sung to Old Black Joe laments lost friends and social decay caused by rum. It questions sorrow and toil and imagines welfare, wages, and freedom arising when the blight of rum is removed.
The verse compares missionary themes with imperial rhetoric, citing Greenland's icy mountains and India's coral strand. It contrasts pagan idolatry with Christian preaching and questions charitable works if the heathen remain in blindness. The two versions present imagery of seas and lands to deliver.
A religious verse fragment contrasts a garish past with a turn toward divine guidance. The speaker seeks moral renewal and service as they are led by a higher light through life’s maze. The text moves from sin to repentance and longing for truth.
Poem praising divine holiness and equity. Emphasizes universal brotherhood, mercy, and salvation through Christ. Calls for lifting the weak, spreading charity, and proclaiming Messiah’s name to all nations.
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