Desert Island Hymns

The hymn chosen by Robert Mansell for today, comes from the pen of John Bunyan; variously known as “He who would valiant be,” and “Who would true valour see.”

To Be a Pilgrim is the best known hymn using words of John Bunyan in The Pilgrim's Progress . It first appeared in Part 2 of The Pilgrim's Progress, written in 1684. The hymn recalls the words of Hebrews 11:13: "...and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

The words were modified extensively by Percy Dearmer for the 1906 The English Hymnal. At the same time it was given a new tune by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, who used a melody taken from the traditional song "Our Captain Cried All Hands" which he collected in the hamlet of Monk's Gate, in West Sussex – hence the name of "Monks Gate" by which the melody is referred to in hymn books.

For a time, Bunyan's original version was not commonly sung in churches, perhaps because of the references to "hobgoblin" and "foul fiend." However, one commentator has said: "Bunyan's burly song strikes a new and welcome note in our Hymnal. The quaint sincerity of the words stirs us out of our easygoing dull Christianity to the thrill of great adventure. Recent hymn books have tended to return to the original, for example, the Church of England's Common Praise, the Church of Scotland's Church Hymnary 4th Edition and the latest Methodist Hymnbook, Singing the Faith.

1. Who would true valour see, 

Let him come hither; 

One here will constant be, 

Come wind, come weather; 

There’s no discouragement 

Shall make him once relent 

His first avowed intent 

To be a pilgrim.

2. Whoso beset him round 

With dismal stories 

Do but themselves confound; 

His strength the more is, 

No lion can him fright; 

He’ll with a giant fight; 

But he will have a right 

To be a pilgrim.

3. Hobgoblin nor foul fiend 

Can daunt his spirit; 

He knows he at the end 

Shall life inherit, 

Then fancies fly away, 

He’ll fear not what men say; 

He’ll labour night and day 

To be a pilgrim.

Perhaps Paul captures  for us the essence of this hymn in Romans 8 ‘As it is written:“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.’