Hello OCBC family,
“Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.” (Psalm 150:1-2). 

The book of Psalms ends with this explosion of praises to our God, and every musical instrument is good to praise our God. Trumpet, lute, harp, tambourine, dance, strings, pipes (organ, in King James Version), cymbals, can be used to lift up the name of the LORD.

Henry W. Baker used this psalm as inspiration to write the hymn “Sing Praise to the Lord.” Who is Henry Baker? Sir Henry Baker was born in London on May 27, 1821. He went to Trinity College, Cambridge. He became, in 1851, Vicar of Monkland, Herefordshire. And he holds  this position until his death on Feb. 12, 1877. Is during this time that he wrote many hymns, and his first one is, “Oh! what if we are Christ's”, but he is more famous for his setting of Psalm 150, “Sing Praises to the Lord.”

“Sing praise to the Lord! Praise God in the height;
rejoice in his word, you angels of light;
O heavens, adore him by whom you were made,
and worship before him in brightness arrayed.”

The original title was, “ O Praise Ye the Lord” and people say that this is the finest hymn by Baker. It was published in 1875 for a collection called, “Hymns Ancient and Modern” and Baker was the editor of this collection.

“Sing praise to the Lord! All things that give sound,
each jubilant chord, re-echo around;
loud organs, his glory proclaim in deep tone,
and trumpets, the story of what he has done.”

The melody was composed by C. Hubert H. Parry and it is called Laudate Dominum, the opening words of Psalm 150 in Latin.

This hymn is good to be use in any season, because the Bible calls us to praise the Lord every day.

“Sing praise to the Lord! Thanksgiving and song
to him be outpoured all ages along;
for love in creation, for heaven restored,
for grace of salvation, sing praise to the Lord!”

This might be an obscure hymn for many of you, but even you don’t know the melody, please, use the lyrics as a worship prayer, and obey our Lord on what he says in Psalm 150:6,
“Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.”
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.” (Psalm 48:1a).
After “Amazing Grace”, the most well know hymn for Christians is “How Great Thou Art”, a majestic hymn that tells us that God is the Creator, and He provided a salvation for sinners through His Son, Jesus Christ, and one day, He will return to take us to our heavenly home.

This hymn is not originally in English, but in Swedish, and it came to us through a “language journey.” The author was Carl Boberg, born on August 16, 1859, Mönsterås parish, Kalmar County, Sweden. He was a poet, schoolteacher and member of parliament. He wrote a poem for a collection of hymns for a hospital, and the name of the hymn was, “O store Gud” (“O Great God”). It became very popular hymn among Swedish believers.

Manfred von Glehn, an Estonian, prepared a German translation of the text in 1907, which became the basis for a Russian translation by Ivan S. Prokhanoff in 1912.

This Russian version called the attention of Stuart Wesley Keene Hine, born in London in 1899, while he was doing missionary work with his wife in Ukraine.

Hine completed the English version in 1949 and it became very popular worldwide when George Beverly Shea sang it during Billy Graham’s crusade in Toronto, 1955.

A minor change was made from the original British version to the American version.

Believers in England sing the first stanza in this way,
“O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

Believers in America sing the first stanza in this way,
“O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

The third stanza is a powerful presentation of the gospel. It is based on Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

“And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
that on the cross my burden gladly bearing
he bled and died to take away my sin.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

Perhaps Carl Boberg used this passage to pen the last stanza.

“When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
and there proclaim: ‘My God, how great thou art!’”

Please, enjoy this hymn every time you sing it, and repeat with Boberg/Hine,
“Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!”

In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” (Psalm 103:1).

“Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” might be a not too familiar hymn, nevertheless, the author of this hymn is very well known because of other of his hymns, like “ Abide with Me” and “Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken.” His name was  Henry F. Lyte. He was born at Ednam, near Kelso, on June 1, 1793; his father was captain Thomas Lyte. When he was in college, he became very popular for writing poems, and he won several awards because of his talent for writing poetry.

He became a pastor and was a faithful pastor in his local church in Brixham for twenty-three years. He loved to write hymns based on psalms and “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” is a wonderful example of this.

“Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
To His feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Evermore His praises sing;
Alleluia! Alleluia! praise the everlasting King.”

He became very sick, his lungs were weak, nevertheless, he established a Sunday school of eight hundred children in Brixham. He was a faithful pastor, not just to his flock but also to sailors on the docks, plus, he wrote many sermons, poems, and hymns; everything that he did, was for God’s glory.

“Frail as summer's flow'r we flourish;
blows the wind and it is gone;
but, while mortals rise and perish,
God endures unchanging on:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise the high eternal One.”

He wrote this hymn for a collection that he created in 1834. Just for trivia information, this hymn was later chosen by Princess Elizabeth, who became Queen Elizabeth II, for her wedding hymn in Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947 – the one hundredth anniversary of Lyte’s death.

Yes, Henry Lyte died on November 20, 1847, on the French Riviera, because doctors told him to spend the rest of his life in a warmer clime. Two months before his death, he preached his last sermon and celebrated the Lord’s Supper for the last time with his congregation. What a wonderful example. We know that, because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, our brother Lyte is in heaven singing with the angels and saints, the glories of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“Angels in the height, adore Him;
Ye behold Him face to face;
Saints triumphant, bow before Him;
gathered in from ev'ry race;
Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise with us the God of grace.”

“Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!

Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!” (Psalm 103:20-22).
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights!” (Psalm 148:1).

The hymn “Praise the Lord! Ye Heavens Adore Him” uses the whole Psalm 148 as based on its three stanzas. A very powerful hymn to declare God as the Creator of the whole universe. Who is the author of this glorious hymn, we do not know; in each hymnal we can read that the author of the lyrics is Anonymous.

“Praise the Lord! ye heav'ns, adore Him;
Praise Him, angels, in the height.
Sun and moon, rejoice before Him;
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.
Praise the Lord! for He hath spoken;
Worlds His mighty voice obeyed.
Law which never shall be broken
For their guidance hath He made.”

Captain Thomas Coram (1668-1751) was a very devout Anglican and a very close friend of the Wesleys. But during his time in London, he noticed that many children lived on the dirty streets of London, and nobody helped these little ones; Coram tried to help them.

He was not a wealthy man, so he asked for help from rich men in London, but they did not agree to help with this task. London was indeed a city of abandoned babies.

But Coram had a better idea, to approach the wives of these rich men, and show them the reality of the babies and little ones in London, and these ladies agreed to help the helpless ones. They opened a hospital in 1741, and on the first night, hundreds of women with little ones in their arms arrived asking for help; they received the help that they needed.

Soon, many artists supported this project, and a very famous artist in London helped this hospital with his most famous piece of art: George Frederich Handel was the artist, and “Messiah” his masterpiece. For each performance, Handel donated the money for the hospital that Coram founded.

What is the connection of this story with the hymn “Praise the Lord! Ye Heavens Adore Him” ? In 1796, Coram published a hymnbook entitled “Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems of the Founding Hospital, London.” And one of the hymns that was in this collection is this anonymous hymn. We don’t know unto this day who wrote this hymn, but we will never forget that it is associated with God’s love for children and His concern for the fatherless.

“Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto Thee.
Young and old, Thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in heav'n adore Thee;
We would bow before Thy throne.
As Thine angels serve before Thee,
So on earth Thy will be done.”
​
In His service,
Israel