Hymns of Hope: O Holy Night (the origins)

The first major radio broadcast with voice and music was by Canadian inventor and radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden. It was on Christmas Eve in 1906, in Brant Rock, Massachusetts. It was heard by radio operators on ships along the Atlantic Coast. During the transmission, he played a piece of music on his violin and followed it by reading from Luke chapter 2. The song he played was John Sullivan Dwight's 'O Holy Night.'

Dwight lived and died in Boston, MA. The Harvard graduate became an ordained a minister, but ministry proved not to be his vocation. It was music. In 1852, he founded Dwight's Journal of Music, which became one of the most respected and influential periodicals in country. In 1855, he wrote English lyrics for the Christmas carol "O Holy Night,".which was originally written in French.

The origins of this beloved song began eight years earlier when the local priest in French Village asked worldly poet Placide Cappeau to write a poem for Christmas mass.

Not knowing exactly where to turn, he opened a bible to the book of Luke and put himself into the wonder of that night and imagined all the emotions and miracles he might have seen. He was so pleased with Cantique De Noel,” he asked musician friend, Adolphe Charles Adams, a Jew, to write music for it. The French village immediately embraced it. Years later, upon discovering Cappeau was a worldly man and Adams was a Jew, the church banned the song, but parishioners continued to sing it in their own homes behind closed doors.

Fast forward several decades to when John Sullivan Dwight discovered the song and fell in love with it. He published his rewritten version in his magazine and the nation quickly embraced it.

So, there you have it. Upon finishing his reading of Luke 2, Fessenden picked up his violin and played the strains of “O Holy Night,” not only marking the moment as the first broadcast of a man’s voice, but the first song ever to be played over the airwaves.

O holy night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and e’er pining
‘Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees
O hear the Angels voices
O night divine O night when Christ was born
O night divine, O night, O night divine

Thomas Chalmers - O Holy Night (Edison Records, 1914)

O Holy Night was originally a poem written by Frenchman Placide Cappeau in 1843. Composer Adolphe Adam set it to music in 1847 and John Sullivan Dwight of Boston, Massachusetts translated it to English in 1855.

About my disk...

Opera singer Thomas Chalmers, who was born in New York City almost thirty years later, recorded this version of "O Holy Night" (Edison Records 82055-R) on January 9, 1914 at the Edison Recording Studio in Manhattan, New York. It was pressed onto a 78rpm 10 inch-disk that is a quarter inch thick.

It is being played on my 1919 Edison Phonograph, which was purchased by someone at Drennen Piano Company in Orlando, Florida between 1919 and 1927.

I Know Whom I Have Believed

"But I know Whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day"
This great hymn published in 1883 and written by Major Daniel Webster Whittle has been in my head pretty strong the past couple of days. Usually that happens it means it is something that I need to hear. I want to believe this is God's way of speaking to me. Is this something that happens to you?

Major Whittle wrote over 200 hymns in his lifetime, including "There Shall Be Showers of Blessings." Born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts on November 22, 1840, he worked as a cashier for Wells Fargo bank beginning in his teenage years and in 1861 joined the Union Army, where he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant and later rose to the rank of Major.

In the summer of 1862, as the Civil War began to intensify, his unit was called to go South. At his departure, his mother placed a New Testament in a pocket of the haversack she'd arranged for him. A haversack is similar to a backpack, but with one shoulder strap. The New Testament would have a vital role in his life.

Wounded in battle, he was captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp, where one of his arms was amputated. It was while in this POW camp that he began of to read his New Testament. One night a nurse informed him that a dying soldier from his unit was begging for someone to pray for him.

"I dropped to my knees and held the boys hand in mine," he wrote. In a few broken words I confessed my sins and asked Christ to forgive me. I believed right there that He did forgive me. I then prayed earnestly for the boy. He became quiet and pressed my hand as I prayed and pleaded God's promises. When I arose from my knees, he was dead. A look of peace had come over his troubled face, and I cannot but believe that God who used him to bring me to the Savior, used me to lead him to trust Christ's precious blood and find pardon. I hope to meet him in heaven."

Years later, Major Whittle began to write lyrics and, at the encouragement of D.L. Moody, entered into music evangelism. It was during this time that he wrote the words to "I Know Whom I Have Believed." The refrain is a direct quotation from II Timothy 1:12: "...for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

"I Know Whom I Have Believed" is about many things, such as faith and how the Lord paid the price for our redemption. Most folk, including me, identify with verse four's theme of assurance. Assurance that, no matter what the days may hold, in heaven, I will eventually see God in all His glory.

"I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me
Of weary ways or golden days
Before His face I see

But I know Whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day"