March 13, 2005

Yield Not to Temptation

Words and Music by Horatio Richmond Palmer, 1834-1907

    Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41.

    Harotio Palmer’s mother died when he was three years old. At age seven, he began singing in the church choir directed by his father. Palmer attended the Rushford Academy in New York, then taught there, 1855-1865, becoming the Academy’s music director, and organizing a cornet band there.
    Palmer later moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he was choir director at the Second Baptist Church. In addition, he published the magazine Concordia.
    Palmer moved back to New York in 1873, and set up the Church Choral Union in 1881. The organization eventually grew to 20,000 singers, and performed in locations such as Madison Square Garden in New York City (where it fielded a 4,000 member choir). Palmer went on to organize similar groups in New York state, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC. In 1877, the Summer School of Music at Chautauqua, New York, was established, and Palmer led it for 14 years. He also conducted annual music festivals in Courtland, New York, and directed the choir at the Broome Street Tabernacle in New York City for 11 years.
    Harotio Palmer tells of Yield Not to Temptation:

This song was an inspiration. I was at work on the dry subject of ‘Theory,’ when the complete idea flashed upon me, and I laid aside the theoretical work and hurriedly penned both words and music as fast as I could write them. I submitted them to the criticism of a friend afterward, and some changes were made in the third stanza, but the first two are exactly as they came to me — I am reverently thankful it has been a power for good.

    Hymns by Harotio Palmer include:

Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin;
Each victory will help you some other to win;
Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue,
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

Shun evil companions, bad language disdain,
God’s Name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain;
Be thoughtful and earnest, kindhearted and true,
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

To him that o’ercometh, God giveth a crown;
Through faith we shall conquer, though often cast down;
He Who is our Savior our strength will renew;
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

Chorus:
Ask the Savior to help you,
Comfort, strengthen and keep you;
He is willing to aid you,
He will carry you through.