Scripture Verse

Introduction

Introduction

The last time that Hen­ry W. Beech­er was in his pul­pit—6th March, 1887—he re­mained for some time at the close of the ev­en­ing service list­en­ing to the choir prac­tis­ing, and was evi­dent­ly moved by their ren­der­ing of this hymn.

While sit­ting and list­en­ing he no­ticed two street Ar­abs com­ing in­to the church to enjoy the mu­sic al­so. He came down, and speak­ing to them ten­der­ly he drew them to his heart and kissed them.

Whether this touch of hu­ma­ni­ty was due to the hymn or simp­ly the res­ponse of his deep­ly emo­tion­al na­ture in see­ing two un­for­tu­nates before him, with all their un­de­vel­oped pos­si­bi­li­ties, we can­not say, but of this we are sure, that the last grand ut­ter­ance that he heard in his church was this hymn: I Heard the Voice, etc.

For, a few hours af­ter­wards the sha­dows of the long night fell upon his ethe­re­al spir­it; the sil­ver cord that bound him with the out­er world was loosed, and though the soul still lin­gered ov­er the mor­tal frame which she had filled with abun­dant life for sev­en­ty-four years, as if loath to de­part, the eyes, the sens­es were all but seal­ed, and the lips on which list­en­ing thou­sands had hung for half a cen­tu­ry were si­lent.

It was fit­ting that he who took such an ac­tive part in the eman­ci­pa­tion of the slave should close his life un­der the in­spi­ra­tion of this ten­der hymn, and take those two street Ar­abs to his heart as rep­re­sent­ing the hu­ma­ni­ty he loved so well!

Morrison, pp. 221–22