Musical Notes

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.”
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In His service,
Israel