Sunday's Hymn: Rise Up, O Men of God!

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of kings.

Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
Her strength unequal to her task;
Rise up and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where His feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!

—Will­iam P. Mer­rill

There are countless performances of this particular arrangement of Rise Up, O Men of God on YouTube. This one by the Northern Lights Chorale might be the best.

This is a different arrangement—one of only a few I found—sung by the Wheaton College Men’s Glee Club.

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• Update: Come, Ye Thankful People, Come at Graces Daily
• My Heart Is Filled with Thankfulness at By Grace Alone
• Thanks to God at The Happy Wonderer
• Of the Father’s Love Begotten at Gospel Grace
• None But Christ! at Theology for Girls
• The narrow way by the strait gate at Tried With Fire 
• Lifting Up Our Hearts - 9 at The Upward Call
• Lord’s Day 47, 2013 at The Thirsty Theologian
• You Weekly Dose of Spurgeon at Pyromaniacs: Our singing God

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.

Beatrix Potter, Unconventional Woman

Another repost from a an old series of posts on a few of the author/illustrators of classic children’s literature.

Although Beatrix Potter’s upbringing might sound a little odd to us, for her time and social class, it was fairly typical. Both her mother and father inherited a fortune, and although her father was a lawyer, he didn’t work much because he had no need to earn an income. Beatrix lived a rather isolated life, playing only with her younger brother. She had no formal schooling, but was educated at home by governesses, which meant, in Beatrix’s case, that she was mostly left alone to pursue her own interests.

Beatrix was eight years old when she sketched these caterpillars It’s in her interests that she shows us she wasn’t an ordinary girl. She and her brother grew up surrounded by animals and plants—dogs, rabbits, frogs, salamanders, and more as pets, and large gardens and moors for roaming. They spent their time together studying, sketching—and even dissecting—the birds and animals and insects they found. When I was younger, I didn’t enjoy typical girl activities, either, but little Beatrix Potter took things a lot further than I thought to go. I can’t help but admire her for that.

As she grew into young adulthood, Beatrix’s passion became mycology, the study of fungi. She collected fungi, dissecting, painting, and drawing them. Her hope was that her detailed illustrations would be used in a textbook, but that didn’t happen. She also developed a theory about the germination of mold spores, and her uncle Henry, who was a noted chemist, presented a paper she wrote on this to the Linnaean Society of London. Her theory was rejected out of hand by the all-male society, because, according to every biography I’ve read, she was an amateur and a woman.

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Louis Slobodkin, Sculptor and Storyteller

Another repost from a an old series of posts on a few of the author/illustrators of classic children’s literature.

Louis Slobodkin was the illustrator of one of my favorite children’s books, The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. Before he was an illustrator of children’s books, Slobodkin was a sculptor.

His statue of the young Abe Lincoln (right) was done for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, but it was never exhibited there. Instead, 

when the Slobodkins arrived at the Fair on opening day to inspect the installation, they were informed by a doorman: “‘Taint here any more.” The shocking word quickly went round that workmen had demolished the statue on order of Theodore Hayes, Executive Assistant to the Federal Commissioner for the World’s Fair, Edward Flynn. Five days later, Slobodkin told The New York Times that, according to a source in Washington, his sculpture had indeed been set upon with sledgehammers, reportedly because a lady who “lunched with Flynn” had not found it to be in “good taste.” (source)

It’s hard for me to imagine, looking back, what it was about Slobodkin’s young Abe that the woman found not in good taste. What could it be? That it was a bit exaggerated, and not entirely realistic? And why would anyone think it was a good idea to destroy it? I feel better knowing that the destruction of the Rail Joiner caused plenty of controversy, even drawing Eleanor Roosevelt, who was disheartened by what happened to the statue, into the fray.

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