We often close our performances with a long time signature tune that is based on the old familiar hymn named “Higher Ground.”
The lyrics to the original hymn were composed by Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1856 – 1922). According to a biographical newspaper article about him, Oatman’s father Johnson Oatman, Sr. had a rich and powerful voice. He was a merchant in Lumberton, N. J. and was then considered the best singer in the state. His son grew up sitting next to his father and loved to hear him sing. He worked in the family firm, Johnson Oatman and Son, but early on felt the calling to Christian service. He studied for the Methodist ministry and was later ordained. The writer noted that young Oatman began serving as a preaching minister but became inspired to write his own hymns. Though his singing talent was not at the level of his father, he found that he could write hymns that others liked to sing. This became his calling.
The writer Clint Bonner writes in the May 24, 1953 issue of the Star-Ledger published in Newwark, New Jersey:
It was in 1892 that Johnson Oatman Jr. picked up his pen. Three years later the world was singing, among scores of others, ‘There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus, no not one, no not one.’ In 1898 presses rolled off a favorite that is found in hymnals around the globe … His inspiring “Higher Ground.” ‘
Around 1898, Oatman’s inspiring hymn was set to a melody composed by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel, a leading gospel song composer/arranger of the day.
Gabriel (1856 – 1932) was the composer of around 8,000 hymns (under his own name and pseudonyms) and is remembered as the author of many revival songs associated with the ministry of evangelist Billy Sunday. Gabriel’s father was a farmer. Charles was musically gifted, though not formally trained. He began serving as a music director in a San Francisco Methodist church around 1890. A prolific composer, Gabriel is known for his huge body of work which includes, in addition to his hymns, the editing of 35 gospel song books, 8 Sunday school song books, seven books for male choruses, six books for ladies, ten children’s song books, nineteen collections of anthems, 23 choir cantatas, 41 Christmas cantatas, 10 children’s cantatas, and others. His autobiography is entitled “Sixty Years of Gospel Song.”
“Higher Ground,” the collaboration of Oatman and Gabriel, has become one of the most widely performed gospel hymns in Protestant churches and appears in hundreds of hymnals.
I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I onward bound,
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
Refrain:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s table land;
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Tho’ some may dwell where these abound,
My pray’r, my aim is higher ground.
I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.
I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till Heav’n I’ve found,
Lord, lead me on to higher ground.
[Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #313]
“To God be the glory.”
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