Friday, June 7, 2019

Odds and ends


Maintenance free tyres

About primates

Marsupials

Nearer my God to Thee

https://youtu.be/414J9NAJ9fs?list=RDrwLl5nY5WPI

The hymn is based on the bible story of Jacob;s  ladder - 
10 ¶ And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
12 And he adreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the bangels of God ascending and descending on it.
13 And, behold, the aLord stood babove it, and said, I am the cLord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the dland whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the anorth, and to the south: and in thee and in thy bseed shall all the cfamilies of the earth be dblessed.
15 And, behold, aI am with thee, and will keep thee in all placeswhither thou goest, and will bbring thee again into this cland; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
16 ¶ And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of aheaven.
18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a apillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
19 And he called the name of that place aBeth-el: but the name of that city was called bLuz at the first.
20 And Jacob vowed a avow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
21 So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the aLord be my God:
22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the atenth unto thee.
"Jacob's Dream", artwork on the campus of
The lyrics to the hymn are as follows:[1][2][3]


Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me;
Still all my song shall be nearer, my God, to Thee,

Chorus: Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I'd be nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
There let the way appear steps unto heav'n;
All that Thou sendest me in mercy giv'n;
Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Then with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise;
So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Or if on joyful wing, cleaving the sky,
Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upwards I fly,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
A sixth verse was later added to the hymn by Edward Henry Bickersteth Jr. as follows:[1]
There in my Father's home, safe and at rest,
There in my Saviour's love, perfectly blest;
Age after age to be, nearer my God to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

The Story Behind Nearer My God To Thee
Sarah Flower Adams was a British actress who received praise for her performance in an 1837 production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. After health problems disrupted her plans to continue with theater, she found comfort in writing poems and hymns.
Her most notable hymn, “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” came about in 1841 when Adam’s pastor was looking for a hymn for the following week’s sermon on Genesis 28:11-19, which is referred to by many as “Jacob’s ladder,” or “Jacob’s dream.” Adams offered to write the hymn and completed it within a week to go along with the pastor’s sermon. The hymn was originally set to music written by her sister, Eliza Flower, but another hymn-tune called “BETHANY,” written by Lowell Mason in 1856, has become most widely recognized and is most familiar to listeners today.