How Firm a Foundation

Glory to God: 463

Text K. 1763
Music: American Folk Melody

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in God's excellent Word!
What more can be said than to you God hath said,
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

"Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
for I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

"When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
for I will be near thee, thy troubles to bless,
and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
my grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

"The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake."

“Who done it?”

This week’s hymn is a veritable “Who done it?”
See if you can decide who K. really is!

In John Rippon's A Selection of Hymns (1787, plus numerous subsequent editions), "How Firm a Foundation" (no. 128) is attributed simply to "K—". Two other hymns in the collection bear the same mark, "In songs of sublime adoration and praise," and "The Bible is justly esteemed." The hymn's author has never been definitively identified, the most common candidates are listed below.

I. Robert Keen(e)

Robert Keene, who served as precentor at Rippon's church, is the most likely possibility. The evidence for connecting K with Keene comes (1) from his close acquaintance with Rippon, (2) from Rippon's tune book, and (3) the testimony (of sorts) of Thomas Walker.

After Rippon started publishing a tune book, A Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1792), to go with his hymnal, both books were cross-referenced against each other; the tunes suggested for "How Firm a Foundation" were GEARD (no. 156) and BROUGHTON (no. 172). Both GEARD and BROUGHTON first appeared in Rippon's tunebook and were probably written for it. BROUGHTON is by T. [Thomas] Walker., and GEARD is by R. [Robert] Keene, thus the association with "K.", but the connection is speculative at best.

Julian, in his article on "How Firm" in the Dictionary of Hymnology, notes that Walker later assisted Alexander Fletcher with his A Collection of Hymns  (1822), and in that collection the text is attributed to Keen.

II. George Keith

In Josiah Miller's Singers and Songs of the Church (1869), "How Firm" is attributed to George Keith. According to Julian, the motivation behind this attribution was Daniel Sedgwick—-Miller credits him in the preface with having contributed special hymnological knowledge--yet Julian notes that Sedgwick garnered his information from "an old woman whom Sedgwick met in an almshouse." Keith was a publisher in London and was the son-in-law of Dr. Gill, Rippon's distinguished predecessor at Carter Lane.

III. Thomas Kirkham

In 19th-century editions of Rippon's Selection, the hymn was attributed to "Kirkham." Thomas Kirkham published A Collection of Hymns in 1788, yet "How Firm" was not included. His connection to Rippon is unclear.

IV. Kennedy/Kennady

Still, other collections offer a different possibility: a Kennedy or Kennady. This attribution appears as early as 1826 in Nettleton's Village Hymns. In Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book (1866), he offers "Kirkham or Kennedy, 1787." This person has yet to be identified.

V. John Rippon

In his preface to the Selection, Rippon wrote:
In most places, where the names of the authors were known, they are put at full length, but the hymns which are not so distinguished, or which have only a single letter prefixed to them, were, many of them composed by a person unknown, or else have undergone some considerable alterations.

Since Rippon is known to have significantly altered hymns in his collection ("All hail the power of Jesus' name," being a notable example), Rippon likely deserves at least partial credit for texts bearing the mark "K."
—Chris Fenner
with contributions from Eric Stedfeld, Peter Irvine, and Peter Rehwaldt

Sources:

Today’s info comes from the website www.hymnary.org

Hymn of the Week: June 7, 2024