The state-of-the-art ship was massive and was supposed to be unsinkable. It was one of the greatest achievements of the age, but an iceberg on a calm moonless night contributed to one of the greatest maritime disasters in recent history, and many souls found themselves literally nearer to God than they would have dreamed when setting out from England, France and Ireland just a few days previous.
But our story begins several millennia earlier.
c. 2000 BC, around 4000 years previous
The night was dark, and Jacob was exhausted from his trek across the land that would one day bear his future name of Israel. He found a stone and placed it on the ground to use as a pillow. As he slept, he dreamed about a stairway stretching into the sky with angels walking up and down it. God stood at the top and gave Jacob the following promise:
“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”Genesis 28:13-15
Upon waking, Jacob was awe-struck, and he named the place Bethel, or "House of God." He took the rock he had used as a pillow, and set it up as a pillar.
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| El sueño de Jacob/Jacob's Dream Bartholomé Esteban Murillo Oil on canvas 1665 |
1841
British actress Sarah Flower Adams had been obliged to leave the stage due to health troubles, and in 1841, her pastor was working on a sermon about Jacob's dream. He needed a song to go with it in the service, and Adams volunteered to write it. Her sister Eliza Flower set it to music, though a different tune by Lowell Mason would eventually become the one commonly used. (Incidentally, Mason also set the poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb" to music.) Summarizing Jacob's dream, Sarah wrote:
Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
yet in my dreams I'd be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
Then, with my waking thoughts bright with thy praise,
out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise;
so by my woes to be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
Or if, on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I fly,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
Adams would write multiple poems and hymns, but this was her most well known. They couldn't know how poignant these words would be about 72 years later.
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| Sarah Flower Adams Margaret Gillies Sketch, touched with chalk artwork c. 1850-1875 |
April 14-15, 1912
It was a dark but calm night. The appropriately-named ship was titanic (that is, massively huge), and it was on its maiden voyage. Just 39 years after the SS Ville du Havre had collided with another ship and sunk (inspiring another hymn), a much greater disaster was about to go down, literally. RMS Titanic also collided, but this time with an iceberg around 800 miles southwest of the other collision (if my calculations are accurate).
Around 11:40 PM, lookout Frederick Fleet sounded the alarm: "Iceberg! Right ahead!" First Officer William Murdoch immediately ordered the ship "hard-a-starboard" to turn around posthaste! (Starboard is the ship's right side.) They did their best, but were too close to the iceberg, which scraped the starboard side, rupturing at least five watertight compartments. Captain Edward J. Smith ordered wireless operator Jack Phillips to begin sending distress signals, which he and his fellow operator Harold Bride did. The ship let off flares that lit up the sky. The RMS Carpathia received the signals, but being 58 nautical miles away, it would take them about three hours to reach the Titanic. The massive ship only had 20 lifeboats, not nearly enough for all their passengers.
There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me
nearer, my God, to thee;nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
Hartley has said that he wanted that hymn played at his funeral. It would be the last song he would direct as he and the entire band found themselves nearer to God. Over 1500 souls were lost that night.
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| RMS Titanic departing Southampton April 10, 1912 Photo by Francis Godolphin Osbourne Stuart |
