The song “Beauty for
Ashes,” according to Church Gospel Songs
& Hymns, was written by Grant Colfax Tullar in 1948 and copyrighted that
year by the Gospel Advocate Company. According
to Praise for the Lord, that
copyright was renewed in 1976. Copyright
law is complicated. Prior to 1978, it
was common for a song to have its copyright renewed after 28 years. If the song had been copyrighted after 1978,
then there would be no need for renewal of copyright since the copyright
endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term
of 120 years from the year of its creation (whichever expires first.) It was explained to me that to use a hymn on
a TV program, it had to pass a two-part test:
(1) the copyright of the one who wrote the hymn, and (2) the performance
of the hymn that I wanted to use. And
people claim the Bible is hard to figure out!
Grant Colfax Tullar (1869-1950), Lyricist & Composer
Grant Colfax Tullar was
born in Bolton, Connecticut on August 5, 1869.
His first name came from President Ulysses Grant, and his middle name
was from Grant’s Vice President, Schuyler Colfax. Of course naming a child after a President
was not new, but one wonders how many children’s first and middle name come
from the President and Vice President’s names?
His father fought in the Civil War and was among the wounded at Antietam,
which was one of the bloodiest conflicts in the War. His mother died when he was but 2 years
old. He had no formal education and
worked in the mills and as a shoe clerk.
He became a Methodist when he was 19 years old at a camp meeting. He would go on for training to become a
Methodist minister at Hackettstown Academy which he did for about 10 years. In 1893 he co-founded the Tullar-Meredith
Publishing Company of New York where they published several gospel hymns and
hymnbooks. There is no record of him
marrying or having any children. Tullar
died May 20, 1950 in Ocean Grove, New Jersey and is buried in Restland Memorial
Park in Hanover, New Jersey. So we know
the hymn was from near the end of his life.
Tullar wrote both the
lyrics and the music which appear in some of our hymns. He wrote the music for “Face to Face” and
“Nailed to the Cross”. Beauty for Ashes has a meter of 99.99,
and the tune is entitled TULLAR. It is
believed that L. O. Sanderson secured this song as the Music Editor for the
Gospel Advocate. The song is believed to
have first appeared in their 1948 Christian
Hymns, No. 2, and it also appears in Christian
Hymns, No. 3 in 1966.
Beauty for Ashes
With the song is a scripture
reference of Isaiah 61:3 which reads: “To console those
who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes ,the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
(Isaiah 61:3 NKJV) Notice the
contrasts: beauty|ashes, joy|mourning,
and praise|heaviness. It was not
uncommon for those weeping to wear sackcloth and sit in ashes and pour ashes
over themselves. Jeremiah wrote
Lamentations which was a funeral for the destruction of Jerusalem that had been
destroyed by the Babylonians. He
included this phrase: “Those who ate
delicacies are desolate in the streets; those who were brought up in scarlet
embrace ash heaps.” (Lamentations 4:5 NKJV) Ashes denote total loss and intense grief. We
have different ways of expressing grief.
The two verses prior to
this, Isaiah 61:1–2, were quoted as being fulfilled by Jesus (cf. Luke
4:18–21). There is no doubt that Jesus
is applying these words forward to the ministry He had begun. There is no doubt that many spiritual
blessings reside in being a member of the Lord’s church. That being said, not all the spiritual
blessings reside in the church alone
on the earth. To be clear, all spiritual
blessings are found in Christ alone, but we will receive spiritual blessings
both in the church here and ultimately in heaven where Christ reigns from.
The Lord had made great
promises to the children of Israel when they were about to enter the promised
land of Canaan and these promises were conditional (cf. Deuteronomy 31:19–21). The generation that came out of Egypt
perished in the wilderness because of their breaking of the condition of
faithfulness. Now, their descendants
were about to enter and they were given the same condition of faithfulness to
keep the precious land. God worked with
them through many ups-and-downs including a cycle of apostasy recorded in the
book of Judges. They would eventually
lose the land at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians because of
violation to the condition of faithfulness.
There would come a time when they would be allowed to return and
rebuild, but their unfaithfulness would still cost them the land with the
rejection of the Messiah.
The Bible talks about a
rest to come: “Therefore, since a promise remains of
entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as
well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in those who heard it. For
we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: ‘So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not
enter My rest,’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the
world.”
(Hebrews 4:1–3 NKJV) What
“rest” is the Hebrew writer speaking of?
Canaan? No. I believe the Hebrew writer is talking about
Heaven, not Canaan. The ultimate rest
is in Heaven where the redeemed ones of Heaven go to live eternally
evermore.
Some quote 1 Corinthians
2:9, “Eye has
not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things
which God has prepared for those who love Him.”(NKJV) but fail to notice that this has been
revealed: “But God has revealed them to us through
His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10 NKJV) Some state that these matters do not relate
to Heaven as these have been revealed; however, could it not be that just
because something has been revealed it has not been realized fully? Among the last words written by the apostle
Paul were: “For I am already being poured out as a
drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the race, I have kept the faith. Finally,
there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all
who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6–8 NKJV) Certainly sounds like the apostle Paul had
hopes greater than life here on this planet!
The chosen people of the
Old Testament failed to achieve the full blessings God had in store for them
because they failed to remain faithful.
The chosen people of the New Testament, Christians, must remain faithful
if they are to achieve the full blessings that God has in store for us. How God accomplishes these matters is
difficult to explain, and I do not understand these matters myself. I do know
this–I do not want to miss what the Lord has provided for His people!
--------------------------------------------
SOURCES:
“Grant Colfax
Tullar 1869-1950,” No pages. Cited 27 May 2017. Online: http://cyberhymnal.org/bio/t/u/l/tullar_gc.htm.
Hamrick, David,
“Beauty for Ashes,” No pages. Cited 27 May 2017. Online: http://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2009/04/beauty-for-ashes.html.
Howard, V. E.,
and Broadus E. Smith, eds. Church Gospel Songs & Hymns.
Texarkana, TX: Central Printers &
Publishers, 1983.
Hans DePold “Grant
Tullar, Music Publisher,” Bolton, CT: Bolton Historical Society, No pages.
Cited 27 May 2017. Online: http://www.boltoncthistory.org/granttullar.html.
Sanderson, L.
O., Editor. Christian Hymns Number Two.
Nashville, TN: Gospel Advocate Company, 1948.
Sanderson, L.
O., Editor. Christian Hymns Number Three.
Nashville, TN: Gospel Advocate Company, 1966.
Wiegand, John
P., Editor. Praise for the Lord.
Nashville, TN: Praise Press, 1997.
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