Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown

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Wrestling Jacob
Methodist Hymn
Jacob wrestling with the Angel
Other name"Come, O thou traveller unknown"
TextCharles Wesley
Based onGenesis 32:24–32
Meter8.8.8.8.8.8
Melody"Candler" (Traditional Scottish), "Penuel" by William McDonald
Published1742 (1742)
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"Wrestling Jacob", also known by its incipit, "Come, O thou traveller unknown", is a poem and hymn on the nature of God which appears in some Protestant hymnals. The text is attributed to Methodist minister Charles Wesley.[1] It focuses on the change that can occur in one's own heart and is based on Genesis 32:24-32, which is the story of Jacob wrestling with an angel sent by God at Peniel.

The hymn was first published in Wesley's 1742 collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. In its original form, it consists of fourteen stanzas, each with six lines. When John Wesley included it in the 1780 Methodist hymnal Collection of Hymns for the use of the People called Methodists, he removed the fifth and seventh stanzas.[2] It was also divided into two parts, with the second given the heading "Yield to me now, for I am weak." The 1849 hymnbook Hymns for the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church divides the text into four parts, each given a separate hymn number: "Come, O Thou Traveller unknown", "Wilt Thou not yet to me reveal", "Yield to me now, for I am weak", and "The Sun of Righteousness on me".[3]

In more recent hymnals, it is commonly abbreviated to only include four stanzas.[4] Hymns Ancient and Modern (1904) has 5 stanzas, The English Hymnal (1906) has 4, and The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), includes a 4-stanza version alongside the 12-stanza text.[2]

The editor of A Dictionary of Hymnology, John Julian, considered the hymn "unsuited to Public Worship", arguing the text is best treated as a poem rather than a congregational hymn.[3]

The hymn is written in Long Particular Metre (88.88.88), which was commonly used by Wesley, appearing in over 1000 pieces written by him. It has an ABABCC rhyming pattern.[5] The words have been described as a "spiritual autobiography" or "pilgrimage of the soul".[5] It is one of three hymns of an autobiographical nature that Wesley wrote in the years following his conversion, alongside "And Can It Be" and "Where Shall My Wondering Soul Begin?".[6]

Wesley is known to have preached on this Old Testament narrative on at least eight occasions.[7]

Wesley interprets the Old Testament narrative from an explicitly Christian perspective, identifying the "traveller" in the final stanza as Jesus: "Tis Love, 'tis Love! Thou diedst for me!"[4] Wesley treats the account as a "typology of Christian experience".[8] In the hymn, he "takes the experience of Jacob wrestling with the angel and presents it as the story of the agony and joy of every truly repentant and eventually justified sinner."[9]

It is sung to one of several tunes, including "Candler" (a traditional Scottish tune),[1] "Wrestling Jacob" (by Wesley's grandson Samuel Sebastian Wesley), "David's Harp" (by Robert King)[10] and Vernon (by Lucius Chapin).[11] In 1969, Erik Routley composed a tune for this hymn, entitled "Woodbury",[12] which appears in the 1982 hymnal of the American Episcopal Church.[4]

Legacy[edit]

This hymn is commonly described as one of Charles Wesley's greatest compositions.[7] Isaac Watts, the "Father of English Hymnody", remarked that Wesley's poem was "worth all the verses that he himself had written."[13][14] John Wesley quoted these words in his eulogy to Charles at the 1788 Methodist Conference.[15]

Erik Routley commented: "I believe that here you have a hymn whose deep mysterious language will unerringly lead the singer toward a depth of faith which no other hymn can quite achieve for him."[16] Hymnologist Carl F. Price described it as "Charles Wesley's greatest lyric poem".[17] James Montgomery, in his book The Christian Psalmist described it as "among Charles Wesley's highest achievements... in which with consummate art he carries on the action of a lyrical drama".[18]

In 1876, Dean Stanley read the words of this hymn at the dedication of a memorial to Charles and John Wesley in Westminster Abbey.[19][7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Wesley, Charles (1989). "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown". The United Methodist Hymnal. Nashville, TN: The United Methodist Publishing House. pp. 386–7. ISBN 0-687-43132-8. Retrieved 2014-09-16.
  2. ^ a b Dudley-Smith, Timothy. "Come, O thou Traveller unknown". The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press.
  3. ^ a b Julian, John (1907). A Dictionary of Hymnology. p. 250.
  4. ^ a b c Glover, Raymond F. (1987). A Commentary on New Hymns. Church Hymnal Corporation. pp. 118–119.
  5. ^ a b Lovelace, Austin C. (1982). The Anatomy of Hymnody. G.I.A. Publications. pp. 30–31.
  6. ^ Young, Carlton R. (1995). Music of the Heart: John and Charles Wesley on Music and Musicians. Hope Publishing. p. 157. ISBN 0916642585.
  7. ^ a b c Schoenhals, Lawrence (1980). Companion to Hymns of Faith and Life. Light & Life Communications. pp. 232–233.
  8. ^ McElwain, Randall D. (2009). "Biblical Language in the Hymns of Charles Wesley". Wesley and Methodist Studies. 1: 66–67.
  9. ^ Mitchell, T. Crichton (1994). Charles Wesley: Man with the Dancing Heart. Beacon Hill. p. 245.
  10. ^ Hymns and Psalms. London: Methodist Publishing House. 1983. p. 434. ISBN 0-946550-01-8.
  11. ^ "VERNON (Chapin)". Hymnary.org.
  12. ^ Leaver, Robin A.; Litton, James H., eds. (1985). Duty and Delight: Routley Remembered. Canterbury Press. p. 282. ISBN 0907547486.
  13. ^ Young, Carlton (1993). Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. p. 295. ISBN 0-687-09260-4.
  14. ^ Clark, Glenn (1988). "Charles Wesley's Greatest Poem". Methodist History. 26 (3): 168.
  15. ^ Exploring the Mennonite Hymnal: Handbook. Mennonite Publishing House. 1973. p. 182.
  16. ^ Routley, Erik (1966). Hymns Today and Tomorrow. Darton, Longman and Todd. p. 44.
  17. ^ Price, Carl F. (1926). Curiosities of the Hymnal. The Methodist Book Concern. pp. 29–30.
  18. ^ Duncan, Watson Boone (1914). Studies in Methodist Literature. Methodist Episcopal Church. p. 59.
  19. ^ Blanchard, Kathleen (1939). Stories of Popular Hymns (3rd ed.). Zondervan. p. 33.
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