The past year has seen many changes, some extremely painful, not only for Eileen and me, but for many in our extended family as well.
Never has the Presence of “Thou who changest not” been more precious to our souls.
Change and decay in all around I see.
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
. – Henry Francis Lyte
Henry Lyte (1793-1847) was born into a world of change.
His life spanned the Age of Revolution.
Turbulent times convulsed America, France, Ireland.
There followed the Napoleonic Wars; then further uprisings in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Poland, Hungary; as well as in the Spanish colonies in the Americas.
In 1798, the English parliament was in a state of shock as Protestants and Catholics in Ireland joined forces (as the Society of United Irishmen), to rise in rebellion against the oppression of English landlords.
Henry’s father, Capt. Thomas Lyte, was among the troops sent from Britain to put down the rebellion; his wife and their three sons followed later, and there the family settled.
Henry had a very close relationship with his mother. In his early childhood she told him of the love of God, taught him his prayers at her knee and read him stories from the Bible.
Sadly, his father was not as godly; he was described as a “ne-er do-well … more interested in fishing and shooting than in facing up to his family responsibilities”. He made arrangements for Henry to attend school in Enniskillen (now in Northern Ireland); then deserted the family.
His mother, with her youngest son, went back to England where, after a short time, both died. Henry never knew what had happened to them.
He found himself, at the age of nine, alone and without any means of support.
“Change and decay in all around I see.”
The headmaster of the school took pity on Henry, recognising the young boy had talent, and looked after him and provided for his education.
After he finished school, Henry worked his way through Trinity College Dublin, graduating at age 21.
Henry originally thought to become a doctor. But a year after he graduated, he changed his mind and, with very limited training, he chose the Anglican ministry, becoming a curate in Wexford (in the south east of Ireland).
But at this stage, like many who entered the Anglican ministry back then, it was just a job; he was not converted. His “sense of vocation was vague at this early stage. Perhaps he felt an indefinable desire to do something good in life.”
But God’s grace pursued him:
Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.
Elsie Houghton (Christian Hymn-Writers) tells how:
“A neighbouring minister sent for him, feeling that he was dying and that he was unpardoned and therefore unprepared to die.
Together he and Lyte searched the Scriptures, particularly Paul’s Epistles; together they gained a knowledge of Christian doctrine and came into possession of the pardon and peace which Christ alone can give.
The other minister died, happy in the knowledge of sins forgiven and acceptance with God.
Lyte, now also a converted man, went on to live a busy, useful but fairly short life, beset by much illness. Even at the time his ministerial friend died his health was poor, and the help it was necessary for him to give to the bereaved family proved too much for his weak constitution. Only a prolonged holiday on the Continent restored him to a measure of health.”
He moved to Marazion in Cornwall.
Here he met and married Anne Maxwell, daughter of a Methodist minister, and herself a staunch Methodist – they attended separate churches all their married life, though by all accounts it was a happy and otherwise united marriage.
Later they moved to Brixham, on the south coast of England, where Henry ministered for the remaining 25 years of his life. There, he and Anne entered fully into the work of serving the people of Brixham.
Brixham was a fishing port, and those Henry ministered to were mainly fishermen from the town. But Brixham was also a naval port, as well as a military station, both of which “seriously affected the morality of the town.” Yet Lyte was “able to identify with his parish of fishermen, visiting them at their homes and on board their ships in harbour, supplying every vessel with a Bible, and compiling songs and a manual of devotions for use at sea.”
Elsie Houghton comments:
“He soon became ‘a power for good and a person much-loved’. In fact Brixham knew him as a Mr. Greatheart, serving the people in things both temporal and spiritual. Many sailors came to church out of respect for him and their hazardous occupation made him all the more concerned to meet their spiritual needs.”
He was also greatly concerned for the welfare of the nation.
As a friend of William Wilberforce, he joined him in opposing slavery, organising an 1833 petition to Parliament requesting it be abolished in Great Britain.
Lyte was a devout Christian; he frequently rose at 6 am and prayed for two or more hours before breakfast.
But all this did not prevent some difficulties in church life, and later on the church where he ministered went through a split, which was painful for all involved.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
Throughout his life, Lyte suffered various respiratory illnesses and, by the 1840s, he was regularly spending winters in the warmer climates of France and Italy.
In weakness and suffering incessant coughing spasms, yet his friends usually found him buoyant, cheerful, and keenly interested in affairs of the Europe around him.
In the summer of 1847 he preached a final sermon to his congregation.
His daughter later wrote:
“His family were surprised and almost alarmed at his announcing his intention of preaching once more to his people. His weakness and the possible danger attending the effort, were urged to prevent it, but in vain. “It was better”, as he used to say often playfully, when in comparative health, “to wear out than to rust out”. He felt that he should be enabled to fulfil his wish, and feared not for the result. His expectation was well founded. He did preach, and amid the breathless attention of his hearers, gave them a sermon on the Holy Communion…”
Elsie Houghton takes up the story:
“Later that evening he gave his daughter the hymn ‘Abide with me’, with the music he had adapted to it.
The hymn had been written earlier, probably in France.
Its words and phrases are the true expression of a heart deeply feeling the need of Christ’s presence and firmly assured that it will not be denied. There is an impassioned earnestness in the hymn and a familiarity with the Master altogether free from presumption.”
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
“That same week the enfeebled writer left home for Europe with his wife, his second son and a faithful friend.
On arrival in Nice he became very ill, but during his intense sufferings he rested calmly in God, saying that ‘he had nothing and was nothing in himself.’ In his heart of hearts he gloried only in the cross of Christ.”
Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes.
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
“In his active years Lyte had thought with distress of the act of dying but the God who had given him grace to live gave him grace to die.
He died in Nice and was buried there.”
I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless,
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting?
Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Life is full of, often unexpected, changes in our lives.
All change – especially painful change – reminds us of how frail and ineffectual we are left to our own devices.
But there is One who never changes. He is our Rock.
He alone will never fail us.
We need Him “every passing hour.”
I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who like Thyself my guide and strength can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me.
Only God, He alone, is our Strength.
Only in Christ do we have the Surety that can never fail. He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me
Principal Sources:
Christian Hymn-Writers, by Elsie Houghton
http://www.taghmon.com/vol1/3lyte/3lyte.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Francis_Lyte