A. L. Byers: Gospel Trumpet hymns for the Church of God

About Andrew L. Byers

Byers was born on 26 August 1869 near Albany, Illinois, the son of Andrew Byers and the hymn writer Nancy Byers. He joined Daniel S. Warner and Barney E. Warren in evangelistic work in 1890 and was hired by the Gospel Trumpet Company at Anderson, Indiana, in 1891 as music editor. He married Della Florence Wickersham in 1895 and stayed with the press until 1922, when ill health took him into pastoral and evangelistic work in Idaho and Oregon; from 1934 he was pastor of a congregation in Sacramento, California, where he died on 9 November 1952.

His editorial hand shaped the movement's songbooks. Songs of the Evening Light (1897) was compiled with Warren; Salvation Echoes (1900) and Truth in Song (1907) with Warren, Clarence Hunter and Daniel O. Teasley; Select Hymns (1911) with Warren and Clara Brooks; and Songs of Grace and Glory (1918) with Teasley and Henry C. Clausen. He also wrote the movement's biography of its founder, Birth of a Reformation, published at Anderson in 1921.

The 61 items come from those books, which is why so many titles are first lines rather than formal names. 'The church has one foundation' is not Samuel Stone's Anglican hymn but Charles W. Naylor's Church of God text, set by Byers in 7.6.7.6 D and still numbered fourth in Evening Light Songs. 'Jesus bids us shine' sets Emily H. Miller's children's text to a new tune. Every entry is filed as classical, which says more about the catalogue's categories than about the music.

Listening and playing notes

These are hymns for a congregation that sang without a choir, so the melody has to carry. Keep the rhythm square and the harmony plain; the parts are largely block chords, and the tenor often doubles the tune at the octave. The texts are revivalist and direct, and the refrains are meant to be repeated, so avoid rubato and let the words land. In 'The church has one foundation' the long metre needs a firm pulse, or the phrases sag at the middle cadence.

Selected scores

1. Jesus Bids Us Shine with a Clear Pure Light (Byers)

   Emily H. Miller's children's hymn given a new tune by Byers; it was printed as No. 86 in From the Cross to the Crown (1921).

2. O the Cross! The Precious Cross!

   A meditation on the crucifixion built on a repeated cross refrain; it travelled widely enough to appear in six hymnals and in The Cyber Hymnal.

3. The Church Has One Foundation

   Charles W. Naylor's Church of God text in 7.6.7.6 D, with Byers's tune; No. 4 in Evening Light Songs and No. 420 in the 1953 Hymnal of the Church of God.

4. Why Stand Ye All Day Idle?

   A harvest-field hymn on the labourers of Matthew 20, with the title's question as its opening line.

5. In the Shadow of the Cross Let Me Hide

   A short refuge hymn whose image is drawn from the crucified body rather than from a psalm.

6. Following Jesus from Day to Day

   A discipleship song in the everyday register the Gospel Trumpet books favoured, with a refrain on walking in his steps.

7. I Mean to Go Right On Until the Crown Is Won

   A perseverance hymn in the revival idiom, its long title the first line of the verse.

8. Sinner, Will You Lose Your Soul (Byers)

   An invitation hymn addressed directly to the unconverted, of the kind sung at the close of a Gospel Trumpet service.

9. O Church of God, Thou Spotless Bride

   A hymn on the Church as the bride of Christ, a favourite image in the holiness movement's songbooks.

10. Softly Whisper, "Jesus Loves You!"

    A quiet invitation piece, unusually gentle for the revival repertory, with the title phrase as its refrain.