At the Name of Jesus 

Caroline Maria Noel (1817-1877), who wrote this hymn probably in 1870, was the daughter of Gerard Thomas Noel, a C of E vicar and hymn writer in Kent.  She wrote hymns early, beginning at the age of 17, and sto when she was 20; then, at age 40 she began writing again, when she was seriously ill.   She wrote most of her work later in life, while suffering from debilitating illness.  She   published The Name of Jesus, and other Verses for the Sick and Lonely in 1861, with an enlarged edition in 1870 (which contains this hymn).  The poem which provides the book’s title begins, “One Name alone in all this death-struck earth.” “At the name of Jesus” is entitled “Ascension Day.”  Noel’s original is 8 8-line stanzas, but modern hymns usually omit some.  We sing a version which omits two stanzas and slightly alters the first line of the last stanza. The words echo Philippians 2:6-11, the kenosis hymn, which presents the incarnation, the humiliation, and the exaltation of the Christ.  (In these verses, scholars agree, Paul is alluding to, or quoting, an early Christian hymn.)  The last lines of the opening stanza echo the opening of the gospel of John.  Noel’s second stanza then presents the creation, the third Jesus’ earthly life, and the fourth his ascension.  The fifth stanza turns to the singers themselves And the last stanza looks forward to the second coming.

 

The tune “Evelyns” was written for Noel’s hymn by William Henry Monk (1823-1889) for the second edition of A&M (1875).  Monk, London born, studied with several organists and teachers in London.  He was appointed organist of several London churches before he was 25.  By 1847 he was choirmaster of King’s College, University of London, and two years later was also the organist.  In 1852 he was appointed organist and choirmaster of the newly-built Church of St Matthias in Stoke Newington (east London), where he remained for 37 years. The next year he oversaw the installation of Henry Willis’s organ there.  In 1857 the Proprietors of a new hymnal appointed Monk music editor, and it was he who suggested the book’s title, Hymns Ancient and Modern (first edition 1861).  Monk composed several tunes for the first and subsequent editions. Later he was appointed professor of vocal studies at King’s and then he also took on positions in Bedford College, London and the National Training School for Music, as well as the School for the Indigent Blind.  Monk edited The Scottish Hymnal in 1876, and in 1886, The Congregational Psalmist Hymnal.