The Queen’s favourite hymn

Along with the 23rd Psalm, sung at her wedding, were hymns known the world over. The use of John Ellerton’s hymn, ‘The day thou gavest Lord is ended’ was appropriate for the funeral of one who supremely felt she had been commissioned by God for the role she filled in national life.

Likewise, the choice of ‘Lord divine, all loves excelling’, with the line ‘till we cast our crowns before Thee’ was fitting for one who freely acknowledged her allegiance to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But what was the Queen’s favourite hymn? On the eve of the funeral, an item on BBC late news provided the answer. In a clip of film, a former minister of Crathie Kirk near to the Balmoral estate told how he had put that question to the Queen herself. Her Majesty revealed that it was the hymn, ‘There were ninety and nine’, based on Jesus’s Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15;1-7). It was a hymn which her late father, King George VI often sang to the young Elizabeth as she fell asleep at night.

The parable of the lost sheep was told by Jesus to defend himself against those who complained ‘this man welcomes sinners, and eats with them’. The shepherd of the story was not content that ninety-nine sheep were safe in his care. Instead, he was so deeply concerned for the one lost sheep that he went searching until he found it.

Jesus rounded off the story with the glorious promise that there would be rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.

The hymn ‘There were ninety and nine’ was written by Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane, born in Melrose, Scotland in 1830. Though her life was short, a mere 39 years, she enriched the church by two fine hymns, the second of which was a bold testimony, ‘Beneath the cross of Jesus, I fain would take my stand’.

Clephane’s lyrics were spotted in a newspaper by Ira D. Sankey, who provided musical support in the evangelistic missions conducted by DL Moody. Sankey had noticed the lyrics, but paid only modest attention to it.

Then a few nights later, after Moody preached on the subject of ‘The Good Shepherd’, and turned to Sankey for an appropriate song, Sankey remembered the verses he had read, and set them to music almost as he went along.

The shepherd in the song determined, ‘although the road be rough and steep, I go to the desert to find my sheep’. Jesus the Good Shepherd went the way of Calvary to find his sheep. The message for any wanderer reading these lines is that there is One who is seeking you, and who will welcome you with open arms.