Thursday, April 10, 2025

It is the 10th of April 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

We are back at it- the daily show as, well… at least I intended it, the 6-8 minute “on this day” that we have been celebrating for the past week or so and now back to the work at hand. If you are listening on this, the 10th of April we will be doing the live show at noon and if you are listening later you can find that, I’m sure, through the 1517 YouTube page and website.

And what a treat to come back to find that outside of a small reference 6 years ago, I have not told the story of Henry Van Dyke- the pastor, professor, poet, and storyteller who died on this, the 10th of April in 1933.

The life of Van Dyke could be categorized as one of blue blood or a Brahmin in the North East during the gilded age. A graduate of Princeton in 1873 and the seminary there in 1877, he served as a professor of literature at his alma mater. and when the president of Princeton, Woodrow Wilson, became president of the United States, he made his friend Henry the ambassador to the Netherlands, and he would serve as a professor at the University of Paris before coming home and serving on the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also considered both Hellen Keller and Mark Twain as friends, he preached the funeral sermon for Twain in 1910.

As graduate of Princeton seminary he was ordained and served as a parish pastor from time to time, but for all of his prestigious positions he is best remembered for a simple story he told and a beloved hymn.

The story has been referenced on this show before- it was made into a very underrated movie, 1985’s The Fourth Wise Man, starring Martin Sheen. Sheen plays the 4th Wise Man from Van Dyke’s story- a man named Artaban who is waylaid and unable to join the other three Magi and spends the rest of his life trying to seek out Christ. I won’t ruin the story if you haven’t read it or watched the film- all available online.

He also wrote a popular short story (though not as popular) called “The First Christmas Tree,” which tells the story surrounding St. Boniface and his mission to the Germans in the 700s.

But if you know none of that, I would guess most anyone listening knows- and I can’t imagine not loving- a hymn he wrote in 1907. The story goes that he was serving as a guest preacher at a college in Massachusetts when he took a hike into the Berkshire mountains. So inspired, he wrote his hymn, handed it to the president of the college he was speaking at, and said, “Here is a hymn for you; your mountains were my inspiration; it must be sung to the music of Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy”. Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy was inspired by a poem from Friedrich Schiller, but Van Dyke forever linked the tune to Christian theology and hymnody with his hymn, which begins with “joyful joyful we adore thee."

And while “the mountains” may have inspired him, it is not merely a praise of the “God of nature” hymn that was prevalent in his day. Instead it recognized the need to have the “clouds of sin and sadness” melted and to “drive the dark of doubt away”. Van Dykes notoriety and work in both stories and hymns made him an obvious choice to put together the first Presbyterian printed liturgy in America- the first Book of Common Worship.

Van Dyke was survived by his wife and nine children- his son, Tertius… yes, that was the name of his 3rd child- would write a biography of his father and follow in his footsteps in the ministry. Born in 1852 and dying on this on the 10th of April in 1933, Henry Van Dyke was 80 years old.

 

The Last word for today comes from the famous hymn, Joy Joyful We Adore You by Henry Van Dyke. 

1 Joyful, joyful, we adore You,

God of glory, Lord of love;

Hearts unfold like flow'rs before You,

Op'ning to the sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;

Drive the dark of doubt away;

Giver of immortal gladness,

Fill us with the light of day!

 

2 All Your works with joy surround You,

Earth and heav'n reflect Your rays,

Stars and angels sing around You,

Center of unbroken praise;

Field and forest, vale and mountain,

Flow'ry meadow, flashing sea,

Chanting bird and flowing fountain

Praising You eternally!

 

3 Always giving and forgiving,

Ever blessing, ever blest,

Well-spring of the joy of living,

Ocean-depth of happy rest!

Loving Father, Christ our Brother,

Let Your light upon us shine;

Teach us how to love each other,

Lift us to the joy divine.

 

4 Mortals, join the mighty chorus,

Which the morning stars began;

God's own love is reigning o’er us,

Joining people hand in hand.

Ever singing, march we onward,

Victors in the midst of strife;

Joyful music leads us sunward

In the triumph song of life.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 10th of April 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who hears about a dude with 9 kids and thinks “slacker,” he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who would likely crumble under the weight of a third child… Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.