rown for me.

* * * * *

O precious cross! O glorious crown!
O Resurrection Day!
Ye angels from the stars flash down
And bear my soul away!

The hymn is a personal New Testament. No one who analyzes it and feels
its Christian vitality will wonder why it has lived so long.

_THE TUNE._

For half a century George N. Allen, composer of "Maitland," the music
inseparable from the hymn, was credited with the authorship of the words
also, but his vocal aid to the heart-stirring poem earned him sufficient
praise. The tune did not meet the hymn till the latter was so old that
the real author was mostly forgotten, for Allen wrote the music in 1849;
but if the fine stanzas needed any renewing it was his tune that made
them new. Since it was published nobody has wanted another.

George Nelson Allen was born in Mansfield, Mass., Sept. 7, 1812, and
lived at Oberlin, O. It was there that he composed "Maitland," and
compiled the _Social and Sabbath Hymn-book_--besides songs for the
_Western Bell_, published by Oliver Ditson and Co. He died in
Cincinnati, Dec. 9, 1877.

"AWAKE MY SOUL, STRETCH EVERY NERVE!"

This most popular of Dr. Doddridge's hymns is also the richest one of
all in lyrical and spiritual life. It is a stadium song that sounds the
starting-note for every young Christian at the outset of his career, and
the slogan for every faint Christian on the way.

A _heavenly_ race demands thy zeal,
And an immortal crown.

Like the "Coronation" hymn, it transports the devout singer till he
feels only the momentum of the words and forgets whether it is common or
hallelujah metre that carries him along.

A cloud of witnesses around
Hold thee in full survey;
Forget the steps already trod,
And onward urge thy way!

'Tis God's all-animating voice
That calls thee from on high,
'Tis His own hand presents the prize
To thine aspiring eye.

In all persuasive hymnology there is no more kindling lyric that this.
As a field-hymn it is indispensable.

_THE TUNE._

Whenever and by whomsoever the brave processional known as "Christmas"
was picked from among the great Handel's Songs and mated with
Doddridge's lines, the act gave both hymn and tune new reason to endure,
and all posterity rejoices in the blend. Old "Christmas" was originally
one of the melodies in the great Composer's Opera of "Ciroe" (Cyrus)
1738. It was w