A Hymn Devotion for 12 January 2021 Anno Domini, the Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide
17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever. Psalms 45:17
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. Revelations 14:13
Not many days ago, I was reviewing a packet of correspondence and literature that I had received from Bishop James Parker Dees, the founder of our Church in 1963. This material covers a long period of communication mostly via mail since we did not enjoy internet service in the olden days. Bishop Dees faced hard choices that lesser men would not fain to make. He saw the Episcopal church (PECUSA) launching out into the dark and turbid waters of doctrinal heresy. Not willing to be party with those who would reject Holy Scripture and embrace heresy, Bishop Dees withdrew and instituted the Anglican Orthodox Communion based on the solid doctrinal formularies and biblical foundation of the English Reformation. He was scorned and demeaned by ministers of his former church (PECUSA) by demonstrators with loudspeakers and torches well into the night for three days, but he did not deviate from his righteous course. He committed his family savings to the building and perpetuation of the Church.
There were many old tracts and news clippings of mission trips among ther many papers; but I came upon a copy of an old, old hymn that I believe is a proper memorial of the work of such courageous men as Bishop Dees – ONLY REMEMBERED. The hymn is written by the Rev. Horatius Bonar of Edinburg, Scotland,(1808-1889) and was sung at the funeral of Dr. C.H. Spurgeon. Bonar helped found the Free Church of Scotland and worked as well to organize evangelical meetings of D.L. Moody on his visits to the English Isles. His many hymns were codified by the music director of Moody, Ira Sankey.
ONLY REMEMBERED
(Up and Away, Like the Dew of the Morning)
1 Fading away like the stars of the morning,
Losing their light in the glorious sun–
Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling,
Only remembered by what we have done.
Refrain:
Only remembered, only remembered,
Only remembered by what we have done;
Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling,
Only remembered by what we have done.
2 Shall we be miss’d though by others succeeded,
Reaping the fields we in springtime have sown?
No, for the sowers may pass from their labors,
Only remembered by what they have done. [Refrain]
3 Only the truth that in life we have spoken,
Only the seed that on earth we have sown;
These shall pass onward when we are forgotten,
Fruits of the harvest and what we have done. [Refrain]
4 Oh, when the Saviour shall make up His jewels,
When the bright crowns of rejoicing are won,
Then shall His weary and faithful disciples,
All be remembered by what they have done. [Refrain]
1 Fading away like the stars of the morning, Losing their light in the glorious sun– Thus would we pass from the earth and its toiling, Only remembered by what we have done. When a small lad, my father would wake me early in the morning before sunrise, splash cold water on my face, and take me out in the meadowlands surrounding our home. In those days (I was about five years old) it would not have been my willing desire to go out at such an hour while it was yet dark, but no it is one of my fondest memories. In the late autumn months, the ground and vegetation would be covered with frost. My dad, I suppose, was trying to toughen me up since he had learned the importance of early rising and exercise during the Second World War which had just been concluded. I remember the pristine skies of the autumn and winter months, the chill of the air which was usually dead calm, but the most beautiful memory I have of that time was the pristine canopy of heaven punctuate by brilliant points of light.
The sky was literally full of those lights with the cloudlike Milky Way bisecting the Universe above. My father pointed out the Big Dipper, the Seven Sisters and other celestial bodies and made me identify them each morning. I was very puzzled that the stars only shown at night. Why did they disappear after sunrise? The Bright and Morning Star was always last to abandon its place in heaven. It was very bright during the hours of darkness but disappeared with the coming of the Sun. That Bright and Morning Star represents our Lord in our dark and dreary pilgrimage in the wilderness of the sins of this world. He is there to renew His promise that He will never leave nor forsake us – even when darkness is all around. But there comes a Sunrise to the people of God – a time when the very Sun of Righteousness (and our Day Star) shall arise. In that day, all other heavenly lights will vanish in the brilliance of His beams. Whatsoever treasure we have placed on deposit beyond the Gates of Splendor will be our earnest deposit for that day.
2 Shall we be miss’d though by others succeeded, Reaping the fields we in springtime have sown? No, for the sowers may pass from their labors, Only remembered by what they have done. Why should we remember and honor those saints of God who precede us in death? It is not them that we honor, but the Lord Jesus Christ who labored through them to do the works of righteousness. In every success I may have in life, I honor my mother and father for I would not have been here to do so had God not given my mother conception that I might be born. In all the works of nature, we see no accidents! Every flower, every bird, every raindrop, is a creation of the Maker of all things. In remembering the martyrs of faith, the great Reformers, the Apostles of the Lord – we are actually honoring and remembering the One who gave strength and direction to their labors. All my good works (the little that I do) are not my own, but Christ who works in and through me. The unfruitful works I do belong solely to me.
3 Only the truth that in life we have spoken, Only the seed that on earth we have sown; These shall pass onward when we are forgotten, Fruits of the harvest and what we have done. The sowers of the filed may not seem like illustrious workers but wait for the due time when those seed produce a profusion of fruit. Without the sower, there would be no crop other than weeds and briars (the fruits sown by the Adversary). Only those things we do out of compulsion of love will survive the fervent fires of this world. In fact, love is the only thing that we own that will survive death. “38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
4 Oh, when the Saviour shall make up His jewels, When the bright crowns of rejoicing are won, Then shall His weary and faithful disciples, All be remembered by what they have done. I am often troubled by the dreary thought of appearing empty-handed before the Lord. After all He has done for me, and all that He has given in blessing, how could I presume to come before him naked and penniless? The treasures we bring are the kinds that are most often not seen by the world – the broken chains we made possible for those in bondage, the happy smile of an orphan child whom we may have fed and clothed, the grateful tears of the widow for whom we provided shelter – all these are the treasures we have laid up on heavenly account. We who love the Lord are the same jewels, in His eye, as the beloved and obedient child of the blessed mother’s bearing. We go to Him in our imperfections that have been tempered by love and faith. “And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Malachi 3:17 Do not forget the service with the love.
