History of Hymns: 'King of My Life' ('Lead Me to Calvary')

“King of My Life” (“Lead Me to Calvary”)
by Jennie Evelyn Hussey
Songs of Zion, 45

King of my life I crown Thee now—
Thine shall my glory be;
Lest I forget Thy thorn-crowned brow,
Lead me to Calvary.
Refrain:
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine agony,
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.*

*© 1944 Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Christian hymnody is replete with verses on the experience of crucifixion. Throughout the centuries, Christians have expressed a longing to be present at the foot of the cross in poetic and musical terms. These expressions reveal their particular cultural, ethnic, and ecclesial context. The poetic longings include the venerable “Stabat Mater dolorosa” (The Mother stood grieving beside the cross), a Medieval hymn ascribed to Jacopone da Todi (c. 1236–1306); “Beneath the Cross of Jesus,” a Victorian hymn by Scotswoman Elizabeth Clephane (1830–1869); as well as the African American spiritual "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord."

The specific mention of Calvary is particularly prominent in nineteenth-century gospel songs, especially in the United States. Some more notable examples include “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross” (“In the Cross”) (1869) by legendary Methodist hymnwriter Fanny Crosby (1820–1915); “I Will Sing the Wondrous Story” (1886) by Baptist minister Francis Rowley (1854–1952); and “Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride” (“At Calvary”) (ca. 1895) by Moody Bible Institute superintendent William R. Newell (1868–1956). The word “Calvary” was still central to evangelicals in the mid-twentieth century, including Scottish/Canadian Baptist minister John M. Moore (1925–2017), composer of “Days are Filled with Sorrow and Care” (“Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary”) (1952), and Gospel Music Hall of Fame recipient Eugene M. Bartlett (1885–1941), composer of “I Heard an Old, Old Story” (“Victory in Jesus”) (1939).

To the latter group, we add “King of My life” (“Lead Me to Calvary”) by New England Quaker Jennie Evelyn Hussey (1874–1958), published in 1921, by far, her most commonly sung hymn. “Lead Me to Calvary” has the structure and theological approach of nineteenth-century gospel songs. This gospel hymn has all the salient features of the genre:

• compelling and memorable refrain,
• a succinct “hook”—a repeated line that captures the essence of the song’s theme,
• first-person singular perspective characteristically,
• direct and evocative language, and
• a singable and easily learned melody.

The effective use of anaphora (repeating the first word or words in successive phrases) characterizes the refrain. In addition, the tercet rhyming pattern—the rhyming of three successive phrases—is unusual and demonstrates more skill than many rhymes in this genre. United Methodist Hymnal editor Carlton R. Young correctly calls this a “plangent refrain” (Young, Canterbury Dictionary, n.d.):

Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget thine agony,
Lest I forget thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.

The “hook”—“Lead me to Calvary”—is just the correct length. When singing all stanzas, it is repeated six times, just enough to solidify the theme in the singer’s mind and heart.

The hymn, written in the first-person singular, invites the singer to participate directly in the passion narrative. In stanza 1, the singer crowns the “King of my life”—a sign of royal devotion that alludes to Christ’s “thorn-crowned brow”—an effective play on words. The third line of the first stanza (“Lest I forget . . .”) foreshadows the powerful use of anaphora in the refrain. The refrain alludes to the Garden of Gethsemane. Stanza 2 describes the tomb where Christ lay in the time between his death and resurrection. In stanza 3, the singer joins Mary in the garden to witness the empty tomb—“Let me like Mary . . . / come with a gift for thee.” Stanza 4 takes a sudden turn in a different direction. Rather than continuing the narrative toward the risen Christ's triumphal appearance, the hymn writer, perhaps autobiographically, seeks to identify totally with the suffering Christ as a sign of devotion and solace—to bear the cross and cup of grief first borne by Christ.

The straightforward language refers to specific biblical accounts and evokes images in the singer's mind. The purpose, however, is not to recount the historical sequence of occurrences that took place during Christ’s passion and resurrection, but to experience those events—anamnesis in Greek—to relive and remember them personally—“Lest I forget . . . .”

Finally, the music by Pennsylvania gospel song composer William J. Kirkpatrick (1838–1921) complements the text by its direct and uncomplicated melodic form and harmonic progressions. The melody reaches its zenith on the third phrase of the refrain, leaping up a sixth after four measures of mostly midregister stepwise movement. One always sings the “hook” to the same stepwise melodic fragment, covering the mere span of a major third.

The curious and somewhat perceptive reader may have had a nagging question from above: “How does this hymn fit with the life of Jennie Hussey, a New England Quaker?” Hymn singing in a congregational sense during the “silent” meetings of the Society of Friends is not the usual practice. Founder George Fox encouraged singing in the Spirit. Both “outer” (psalm-singing sung by “the world”) and “inner” (songs sung by “the saints”) were allowed if started by a Society member in a meeting (Dobbs, Canterbury Dictionary, n.d.). A glance at hymnology databases certainly indicates that Quakers used hymns in various settings outside their meetings. The latest collection, Quaker Song Book (1981), was compiled for these gatherings. Perhaps the most famous Quaker poet was John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892), who did not claim to be a hymn writer. Others set his verse to melodies for congregational use (Watson and Young, Canterbury Dictionary, n.d.). Quakers were suspicious of hymns from the beginning as they were “forms without power” (Nickalls, 1952, 1975, p. 35).

Hussey, a fourth-generation Quaker, was an avid writer of poems, including 150 hymns. She cared for her invalid sister much of her adult life (Young, Canterbury Dictionary, n.d.). Writing poetry at the age of eight, she published her poems by age thirteen. Hussey also wrote children's stories for magazines and published her first hymn in 1898 at age twenty-four (Ashworth, 2020, n.p.). Similar to other frontier denominations, Quakers were influenced by the fervor of evangelical singing in the later nineteenth century. Some groups adapted their historic meeting practices to incorporate congregational singing in a programmed manner.

Hymnologist and music educator Ann Divine weaves these threads together to provide more insight into the poet’s life: