To be a pilgrim
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"To be a Pilgrim" is the only hymn John Bunyan is credited with writing but is indelibly associated with him. It first appeared in Part 2 of Pilgrim's Progress, written in 1684 while he was serving a twelve-year sentence in Bedford Gaol on a charge of preaching without a licence. The hymn recalls the words of Hebrews 11:13: ". . .and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." The verses were slightly modified by Percy Dearmer for the 1906 The English Hymnal.[1]
It was set to music by British composer Vaughan Williams to the traditional Sussex melody "Monk's Gate." The hymn has also been sung to the melody "Moab" (John Roberts, 1870) and St. Dunstans (Charles W. Douglas, 1917).
Although included in the English Hymnal it is not commonly sung in churches today, perhaps because of the references to "hobgoblin" and "foul fiend." However, one commentator has said: "Bunyan's burly song strikes a new and welcome note in our Hymnal. The quaint sincerity of the words stirs us out of our easygoing dull Christianity to the thrill of great adventure."[2]
The hymn's refrain "to be a pilgrim" has entered the language and has been been used in the title of a number of books dealing with pilgrimage in a literal or spiritual sense.[3]
Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band recorded the song on their album Sing Lustily and with Good Courage.
[edit] References
- ^ The English Hymnal, London: Oxford University Press, 1906
- ^ The Hymnal 1940 Companion, New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1949, p. 331.
- ^ For example, the novel To be a Pilgrim by Joyce Cary, To be a Pilgrim: A spiritual notebook by Basil Hume, To be a Pilgrim: The medieval pilgrimage experience by Sarah Hopper, and To be a Pilgrim: The Anglican ethos in history by Frederick Quinn.
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