J. Wesley Hughes: gospel songs for revival and Sunday school

About J. Wesley Hughes

Hymn dictionaries date J. Wesley Hughes 1852-1932, credit him with 57 tunes and print no biography; his birthplace, teacher and death place are not recorded in the standard indexes. What can be documented is his work as an editor and supplier of gospel songs. He was one of four editors of Hymns of the Kingdom, a collection for religious meetings issued in Philadelphia in 1905 by Geibel & Lehman, alongside Adam Geibel, R. Frank Lehman and William Stone. The book's copyright notices show him writing tunes for H. J. Zelley's texts in the years around 1901-1905, and several of those songs carry his own copyright line.

Those songs are the core of the catalogue. In the Throne-Room takes Esther 5:2 for its image of the king's sceptre; The Kingdom of God is Within You sets a text signed J. W. H.; I Have a Hope, a Glorious Hope uses words by A. H. Sembower; Stand Out of My Sunlight turns Diogenes' reply to Alexander into a chorus. When I survey the wondrous cross is Isaac Watts's hymn in a Hughes setting rather than an original text.

The twenty-five entries run to about sixteen minutes, an average under a minute each, and ten include lyrics. All are filed as classical, a catalogue convention rather than a description of the music. Three sit at complexity index 0, nine at index 1 and thirteen at index 2.

Listening and playing notes

These are gospel songs, not anthems: a tune in the soprano or tenor, three supporting parts and a refrain that returns unchanged. Keep the accompaniment light and the words forward, because the effect depends on the chorus being easy to join. In the Zelley settings the refrain carries the argument, so do not let it become softer than the verse. The index-2 entries have more notes per bar than the rest and will need a slower rehearsal. Where two files hold the same song, compare the first page before deciding which to print.

Selected scores

1. In the Throne-Room

   The most-viewed score here and the best documented: H. J. Zelley's text on Esther 5:2, printed as In the Throne-Room in Hymns of the Kingdom (1905) with Hughes's copyright line.

2. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

   Isaac Watts's 1707 hymn in a Hughes tune; the parenthetical surname separates it from the many other settings in the catalogue.

3. There's a Time of Refreshing

   A revival chorus titled by its full first line, the kind of piece the Evangelistic Department of Hymns of the Kingdom was built around.

4. The Kingdom of God Is Within You

   Opens the 1905 hymnal as item 8, with a text signed J. W. H. and a refrain that repeats the title.

5. I Have Found the Blessed Saviour

   A conversion testimony in chorus form; the catalogue records the whole first line as the title.

6. Will They Know I Am Coming?

   E. E. Hewitt's heaven hymn, asking whether the loved ones already in glory will recognise the singer who comes to join them.

7. Can You Not Hear the Saviour Gently Calling?

   An invitation hymn: the title's question is the whole appeal, and the refrain supplies the answer.

8. I Have a Hope, a Glorious Hope

   A. H. Sembower's text, headed Hebrews 6:19 in Hymns of the Kingdom; the hope is an anchor in the chorus.

9. There's Many a Soul Will Perish

   One of the more solemn entries on the page, built on the contrast between the perishing and the saved.

10. Through Many Years I Tried to Serve the Lord

    A retrospective testimony, unusual among these titles for looking back over a long life rather than addressing a listener.