Ephesians 6:14
Words by George Duffield, 1818-1888
Music by George J. Webb, 1803-1887 Adam Geibel, 1885-1933
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In the year 1858 a great city-wide revival swept across
the city of Philadelphia. It was called The Work of God in
Philadelphia. Of the participating ministers none was more
powerful than the twenty-nine year old Episcopalian,
Dudley Tyng. He was known as a bold, fearless and
uncompromising preacher with great influence on the other
spiritual leaders around him. His father, the Rev. Stephen
H. Tyng, was for many years the pastor of the large
Episcopalian Church of the Epiphany in Philadelphia. After
serving a short time as his father's assistant, Dudley
succeeded his father in this pulpit. However, some of the
more fashionable members soon became upset with their
young preacher because of his straight-forward doctrinal
preaching and his strong stand against slavery. He
resigned this pulpit and with a group of faithful
followers organized The Church of the Covenant.
In addition to his duties as pastor of the new and growing
congregation, Tyng began holding noon-day services at the
downtown YMCA. Great crowds were attracted to hear this
dynamic young preacher. On Tuesday, March 30, 1858, over
5,000 men gathered for a noon mass meeting to hear young
Tyng preach from Exodus 10:11 - "Go now ye that are men
and serve the Lord." Over 1,000 of these men responded by
committing their hearts and lives to Christ and His
service; the sermon was often termed one of the most
successful of the times.
During the sermon the young preacher remarked, "I must
tell my Master's errand, and I would rather that this
right arm were amputated at the trunk than that I should
come short of my duty to you in delivering God's message."
The next week, while visiting in the country and watching
the operation of a corn thrasher in a barn, he
accidentally caught his loose sleeve between the cogs; the
arm was lacerated severely, the main artery was severed
and the median nerve was injured. Four days later
infection developed. As a result of shock and a great loss
of blood, Dudley Tyng died on April 19, 1858. At his death
bed, when asked by a group of sorrowful friends and
ministers for a final statement, he whispered, "Let us all
stand up for Jesus."
The next Sunday Tyng's close friend and fellow worker, the
Rev. George Duffield, pastor of the Temple Presbyterian
Church in Philadelphia, preached his morning sermon as a
tribute to his departed friend, choosing as his text
Ephesians 6:14: "Stand, therefore, having your loins girt
about with truth, and having on the breastplate of
righteousness." He closed his sermon by reading a poem of
six stanzsas that he had written, inspired, as he told his
people, by the dying words of his esteemed friend. Rev.
Duffield's Sunday School superintendent was so impressed
by the verses that he had them printed for distribution
throughout the Sunday School. The editor of a Baptist
periodical happened to receive one of these pamphlets and
promptly gave it a wider circulation. From there it
eventually found its way into the hymnals and hearts of
God's people across the world.
George Duffield was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on
September 12, 1818. He studied at Yale University and
Union Theological Seminary. He received a D.D. Degree from
Knox College in recognition of his many accomplishments.
For seven years he served as a member of the Board of
Regents of the University of Michigan.
The most familiar tune, "Webb," was borrowed by an editor
of a hymnal from a secular song written by George J. Webb,
a song entitled "Tis Dawn, the Lark is Singing," which had
been used for a musical show on board a ship crossing the
Atlantic. Webb was born in Salisbury, England, on June 24,
1803, and came to the United States in 1830. He settled in
Boston and became active in the musical affairs of that
city, serving as organist of the Old South Church for
forty years.
The stirring but less familiar "Geibel" tune was composed
by Adam Geibel especially for Duffield's text in 1901.
Adam Geibel was born in Germany, on September 15, 1885.
Upon settling in this country, he became an organist and
music teacher. He founded the Adam Geibel Music Company,
which later became the Hall-Mack Company and eventually
merged with the Rodeheaver Hall-Mack Company. Geibel was
totally blind, the result of an eye infection at the age
of eight. Yet despite this affliction, he was a skillful
organist, conductor and a prolific composer, both of
sacred and secular songs. His most popular secular songs
were "Kentucky Babe" and "Sleep, Sleep, Sleep." He was
especially known for his ability to write and arrange for
male voices.
Truly God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform.
A dynamic young Episcopalian preacher, a corn-threshing
machine, a tragic fatal accident, a Presbyterian
minister's hymn text tribute, two tunes-one secular and
another by a blind composer-and the revival of 1858, the
Work of God in Philadelphia, still have their influence on
us today each time we open our hymnals to this hymn.
Quoted from "101 Hymn Stories" by Kenneth Osbeck. Kregel Publishers, P.O. Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501, 1982.
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