Asahel Nettleton, Part 3: Salvation in the Hymnbooks

This is the final article in a series on Asahel Nettleton, a revival preacher during the Second Great Awakening. The first part of this series highlighted who Nettleton was and his place in history. The second article focused on Nettleton’s soteriological beliefs and how they countered the typical soteriological teachings during his lifetime. Lastly, this article will discuss the hymns that mention soteriology in Village Hymns and show the relationship to Nettleton’s soteriological beliefs. 

While recovering from a long illness, Nettleton compiled a hymnbook to use in his revival services. This book did not contain printed tunes (same as the others printed during this time), so it only contained the hymn text. Because Nettleton took such care in curating his book, the hymns he selected accurately reflect his theological teachings, especially his soteriological beliefs.

Specifically, Nettleton’s selected hymns did not include an urgency of immediate response, although it was becoming popular during his day. Rather, the soteriological hymns in Village Hymns reflect Nettleton’s Calvinistic beliefs that God alone moves the soul to salvation without aid from the preacher. Hymns analyzed in this section will specifically highlight the Holy Spirit’s role in salvation, which I have labeled “pneuma-soteriological hymns.”

Village Hymns for Social Worship

Village Hymns for Social Worship, Selected and Original: Designed as a Supplement to Dr. Watts’s Psalms and Hymns was compiled by Asahel Nettleton in 1824 while he convalesced from typhus, an illness from which he never fully recovered. While he rested on his sickbed, the hymns and tunes which he had sung in his meetings prior to his illness continued to run through his mind. This hymnbook ultimately became the book used in Nettleton’s services in and after 1824.

The intent of publishing Village Hymns was not to replace the hymn books in weekly Sabbath worship. Instead, Nettleton notes in his Preface that the “prevalence of revivals, which are so characteristic of the present day, demand a new selection of hymns.” These hymns, as will be shown, include compositions by composers such as Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, John Newton, William Cowper, and Anne Steele. At this point in his life, Nettleton had spent many years laboring as an itinerant minister in the Northeast and relied upon other hymn books in his services. By having the time to compile his own book, Nettleton could select and organize the hymns that carried his same theological message. 

Village Hymns is a hymnbook that stands against the shifts of theology in the Second Great Awakening. Nettleton ordered his book according to the stages of revival: “the majesty of God, awakening to sin, conviction of sin, repentance, regeneration, rejoicing in new-found religion.” Since Nettleton desired to keep Watts in weekly Sabbath worship, his hymnbook was created to help the awakened sinner through the process of salvation. Thus, the arrangement of hymns was purposeful, allowing the awakened sinner to use the hymnbook as a devotional aid. He specifically selected soteriological hymns written prior to the nineteenth century, which accurately demonstrated his soteriological beliefs. Within the scope of soteriological hymns, specific hymns on the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation most clearly reveal Calvinistic or Arminian teachings.

The first of these hymns is John Newton’s (1725-1807) “In sin by blinded passions led,” in stanzas one through four. Newton provides multiple roles for the Holy Spirit, including Regenerator and Sanctifier.

In sin by blinded passions led,

  In search of fancied good we range;

The paths of disappointment tread,

  To nothing fix’d - but love of change.

But, when the Holy Ghost imparts

  A knowledge of the Savior’s love;

Our wand’ring, weary, restless hearts,

  Are then renew’d no more to rove.

Now a new principle takes place,

  Which guides and animates the will;

This love, another name for grace,

  Constrains to good and bars from ill.

By love’s pure light we soon perceive

  Our noblest bliss and proper end;

And gladly ev’ry idol leave,

  To love and serve our Lord and Friend.

Newton specifically mentions the Holy Spirit as the One who communicates the love of Jesus to our hearts in salvation. The entire second stanza describes the Spirit as Regenerator when He renews our “restless hearts … no more to rove.” Newton acknowledges that Jesus accomplishes our salvation, but the Spirit applies it in “But when the Holy Ghost imparts / A knowledge of the Savior’s love.”

The hymn writer states that after the Holy Spirit moves the soul to salvation, He begins to sanctify us. The Spirit is described as Sanctifier in the entirety of the third stanza, when the Spirit “guides and animates the will,” and “constrains to good and bars from ill.” The role of the Holy Spirit as Regenerator and Sanctifier are explicitly confirmed in this hymn, which provides the reasoning for Nettleton’s inclusion of this hymn in Village Hymns, as he preached the specific role of the Spirit in the salvation process.

The second example of a pneuma-soteriological hymn is the great Samuel Davies’ (1723-1761) “Eternal Spirit, source of Light,” in stanzas one through three. Davies captures many roles of the Spirit in this hymn, including Regenerator, Indweller, and being sent from God.

Eternal Spirit, source of light,

  Enliv’ning, consecrating fire,

Descend, and with celestial heat

  Our dull, our frozen hearts inspire:

    Our souls refine, our dross consume!

    Come, condescending Spirit, come!

In our cold breasts, O strike a spark

  Of the pure flame, which seraphs feel,

Nor let us wander in the dark,

  Or lie benumb’d and stupid still:

    Come, vivifying Spirit, come,

    And make our hearts thy constant home!

Let pure devotion’s fervor rise;

  Let every pious passion glow:

O let the raptures of the skies

  Kindle in our cold hearts below!

    Come, condescending Spirit, come,

    And make our souls thy constant home!

In the first stanza the Spirit is seen as descending from God, offering us the illumination of salvation in the midst of earth’s darkness. Davies asks the Spirit to inspire our frozen or dead hearts, implicitly referencing his role of Regenerator. The second stanza invites the Spirit to “make our hearts thy constant home,” referring to Spirit as Indweller and the salvific work of God. Davies repeats the plea for the Spirit to indwell our hearts on the final stanza and requests the sanctifying work of the Spirit in our cold and evil hearts. Thus, the Spirit is seen as being sent from God, as well as Regenerator and Sanctifier, in this hymn by Davies.

The last pneuma-soteriological hymn example is John Rippon’s (1751-1836) “Descend, Holy Spirit, the Dove,” in stanzas one through four. Rippon’s hymn provides the most thorough explanation of the roles of the Holy Spirit of the Hymns selected for study. The Holy Spirit is described as Regenerator, Sanctifier, Comforter, Indweller, and being sent from God.

Descend, Holy Spirit, the Dove,

  And visit a sorrowful breast;

My burden of guilt to remove,

  And bring me assurance and rest;

    Thou only hast power to relieve

      A sinner o’erwhelm’d with his load;

    The sense of redemption to give,

      And sprinkle his heart with thy blood.

With me, if of old thou hast strove,

  And kindly withheld me from sin;

Resolv’d by the strength of thy love,

  My worthless affections to win;

    The work of thy mercy revive,

      Invincible mercy exert,

    And keep my weak graces alive,

      And set up thy rest in my heart.

If when I have put thee to grief,

  And madly to folly return’d,

Thy goodness has been my relief,

  And lifted me up as I mourn’d;

    O spirit of pity and grace,

      Relieve me again and restore

    My spirit in holiness raise,

      To fall, and to grieve thee, no more.

If not I lament after God,

  And pant for a taste of his love, -

If Jesus, who pour’d out his blood,

  Obtain’d me a mansion above; -

    Come, heav’nly Comforter, come,

      Sweet witness of mercy divine!

    And make me thy permanent home,

      And seal me eternally thine.

Rippon’s hymn substantially describes the role of the Spirit in the life of a Christian. The first stanza shows the Spirit as sent from God above, and Rippon uses the metaphor of the Spirit as Dove, as seen when John witnessed the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove (John 1:32). At the end of the first stanza, Rippon states, “and sprinkle his heart with thy blood,” which implicitly refers to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and the Spirit’s relationship as being sent from Him. The second and third stanzas show the Spirit as Sanctifier, while Rippon mentions the Spirit as Comforter in the fourth stanza, and requests the Spirit to reside in his heart.

These specific hymns to the Holy Spirit accurately reflect Nettleton’s soteriological belief that the Holy Spirit worked independently of the preacher. It could be seen that, because Nettleton did not emphasize an emotional urgency to respond to his preaching, he was lackadaisical in strong preaching against sin. This would not be a true assessment. The hymns Nettleton selected for awakening a lost sinner “were designed to make the sinner aware of his sin and to create a willingness to submit to the will of God.” This led to conviction of the sinner and “his terror before the throne of God.” Thus, Nettleton’s pneuma-soteriological hymns predominantly reflected the themes of the Spirit as Sanctifier, Regenerator, and being sent from God.

Nettleton kept these weighty themes in his sermons and hymns, remembering that his responsibility was to preach the Word, and God chose whom He would, to respond to the Spirit’s drawing. The pneumatological hymns selected by Nettleton reflect Sinclair Ferguson’s belief that the Spirit's work in regeneration consists of three aspects: intellectual illumination, liberation of the will, and cleansing.

As this series concludes, I hope this last installment has demonstrated the need for correct theology in our hymns. A robust hymnody should include all these elements listed here, which testify to the transcendent and immanent characteristics of the Holy Spirit. Pastors today need to examine their biblical doctrine and strategically select hymns that reflect a proper view of soteriology. 

The method for assessing a convert has always been in the fruit exhibited from his life. Wherever the Lord is at work, there can be true converts. And once the Holy Spirit has done the work of salvation in his life, the true convert will continue a path of sanctification until his final glory with God in heaven. May our hymns always accurately explain biblical truths in beautiful forms.

References

(1) Asahel Nettleton, Village Hymns for Social Worship (Hartford: CT: Goodwin and Company, 1824), iii.

(2) E. A. Johnston, Asahel Nettleton: Revival Preacher (Skyland, NC: Revival Literature, 2012), 201.

(3) Paul G. Hammond, “Music in Urban Revivalism in the Northern United States, 1800-1835,” (DMA diss.,The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1974), 85.

(4) Hammond, “Music in Urban Revivalism,” 85.

(5) Ferguson, The Holy Spirit (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 121.