Written in the summer of 1861 by John Monsell for Epiphany (the commemoration of the visit of the Wise Men to the Baby Jesus) under the title “For the Fourth Sunday After Easter,” this hymn was first published in Monsell’s Hymns of Love and Praise, 1863. It catches the happy spirit of the psalmist. The first line has an extra syllable, for it is an exact word-for-word rendering of Psalm 96:9, but the parallel scripture used by Monsell and lacking this “O” is found in 1 Chronicles 16:29, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” In the hymn the gifts of the Wise men—gold, frankincense, and myrrh— are shown to have their counterparts in the Christian’s offering of “gold of obedience, and incense of lowliness,” and “burden of carefulness.” The latter is also expressed as sorrows and represented by the bitter myrrh. Such gifts will be accepted as treasure indeed, just as precious as the gifts of the Magi in their worship of the Lord. There were five stanzas in the original, the last being a repetition of the first.

John Samuel Bewley Monsell was born March 2, 1811, the son of the archdeacon of Londonderry, Ireland, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Ordained in 1834, he served several places in Ireland before going to England to be vicar of Egham, Surrey, 1853, and rector at St. Nicholas, Guilford, 1870. On April 9, 1875, while watching the reconstruction of his church, he fell from the roof, and died as a result. Nearly 300 hymns came from his pen and were published in 11 volumes of his poetry. He knew the power of congregational singing and urged that we should be “more fervent and joyous. We are too distant are reserved in our praises; we sing, not as we should sing to Him who is Chief among ten thousand, the Altogether Lovely.” Monsell also wrote the texts at SDAH 68, “On Our Way Rejoicing,” and SDAH 613, “Fight the Good Fight.”

SOUTHAMPTON, named after the English shipping port, was composed by Edwin Barnes about the time he was assisting F.E. Belden (see Biographies) in editing The Seventh-day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book, 1886, which is known by the abbreviation Hymns and Tunes. He contributed 21 original tunes for that book. This tune was included in Christ in Song, 1908, and The Church Hymnal, 1941. This combination of Monsell’s text and Barnes’s tunes seems to be unique to SDA hymnody.

Edwin Barnes was born on March 15, 1864, in Shirley, a suburb of Southampton, England. Although he had not traveled more than 2o miles from home in his first 17 years, he accepted an invitation from Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in 1881 to go to the United Stated to Battle Creek, Michigan, where he became organist for the Seventh-day Adventist Church there and a student at Battle Creek College. He made five trips to Europe to improve his knowledge in voice piano, and organ. He became a thorough teacher, as well as being head of the music Department at Battle Creek College for nearly 20 years. He raised the cultural standard of the city by bringing noted singers and musicians to assist in oratorio concerts. In 1903 he directed the chorus at the dedication of the new Battle Creek Sanitarium, which replaced the one that had been destroyed by fire the previous year.

At the time, many members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church became disaffected because of the influence of Kellogg, and it seems that Barnes, who had been sponsored by Kellogg earlier, slowly drifted away from attendance. He became wrapped up in his music, in which he found fulfillment in the Congregational church and in the musical life of the city. Barnes formed an amateur music club and instituted an annual May festival of music at Battle Creek. He also operated the Battle Creek Conservatory of music, where piano, organ, voice, and violin were taught, but this closed in June 1926 because of his ill health. He served as organist and choir director in the First Congregational church Battle Creek, holding these positions for a continuous period of more than 30 years. He directed choral societies and orchestras, and on occasion directed the visiting New York and Chicago Symphony orchestra. In 1920 Hillsdale College, Michigan, conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Music because of his outstanding service in this field. He composed many hymn tunes and organ pieces. Some of his hymn tunes were named after English towns, some even after towns in his home country of Hampshire. From 1926 his health deteriorated, and he died four years later at Battle Creek, Michigan, on April 11, 1930.

The passing of the years and usage by congregations have a way of winnowing out the “finest of the wheat.” In Hymns and Tunes Barnes had 20 original tunes. The Church Hymnal, 1941, cut that down to eight. Only two have been saved for SDAH, the other one being NO. 554, “MORTON,” for “O Let Me Walk With Thee”