Praising and Hymning

After his conversion from paganism, Titus Flavius Clemens (Clement) became an ordained presbyter and head of The Catechetical School of Alexandria, a school for Christian theologians that is believed to have been founded by John Mark, author of The Gospel of Mark.

In his writings, Clement left us a glimpse of what hymn-singing was like in the post-apostolic era:

“We cultivate our fields, praising; we sail the sea, hymning….[The believer’s] whole life is a holy festival. His sacrifices are prayers and praises, and Scripture readings before meals, psalms and hymns during meals and before bed, and prayer again during night. By these he unites himself to the heavenly choir.”

Clearly a hymn singer, Clement was also a hymn writer and included “Shepherd of Tender Youth at the end of His book, the Tutor, which he wrote to new converts to Christianity.

The most common version we see in our hymnals is quite a singable version, although a loose translation of the original which was written in 200 A.D. (making this the earliest hymn we have that can be dated).

In 1847, Congregationalist minister Henry Dexter first translated the hymn from Greek to English prose and then versified it in connection with a sermon he preached on Deuteronomy 32:7 which exhorts us to “remember the days of old.”

Dexter’s version you see below can be sung to the tune ITALIAN HYMN (Come, Thou, Almighty King) or OLIVET (My Faith Looks Up to Thee.)

Remember

Print, mail or post this printable postcard on your fridge or bulletin board, clip in a photo holder or place in a frame.