No, Not One

There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus 

with HARPER MEMORIAL (NO NOT ONE)

A couple of years after Johnson Oatman Jr. (1856–1922) retired from the insurance business in Mount Holly, New Jersey, he penned the words to the gospel hymn “No, Not One” (“There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus”). In addition to his career as an insurance salesman, Oatman was ordained as a preacher in the Methodist church. Oatman’s text was set to music by George C. Hugg (1848–1907), who at the time was a church musician in Philadelphia, PA. Hugg was actively involved in the Sunday School movement and in revival campmeetings. Hugg not only composed the tune for this song, he was responsible for publishing it in his collection Heaven’s Echo, or Songs of the Golden Land (Philadelphia: Methodist Episcopal Book Room, 1895 | Fig. 1).

Hugg’s tune was later named HARPER MEMORIAL, a nod to his tenure as deacon, elder, trustee, and Sunday School superintendent at Harper Memorial Presbyterian Church in Phildelphia. It is also sometimes called NO NOT ONE.

The relationship between Oatman and Hugg is unclear, but they likely met at a campmeeting, such as the famed Methodist meetings in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, where other prominent gospel writers developed connections (see “When we all get to heaven”). Oatman’s song, “When our ships come sailing home,” was “sung at Ocean Grove in 1894 with tremendous power.”[1]

Gospel biographer J.H. Hall said the song “No, Not One” “carried the name of Oatman to every clime and land on earth”:

It went like wild-fire from the start. Within one year it had been copied into thirty-five books and took a place among the immortal songs of the religious world. The late Bishop Isaac W. Joyce had the song translated into Chinese and Japanese. During the war in South Africa the Christian Herald of New York had a full-page picture of the Boer refugees on the border of India engaged in worship, singing this popular song. . . . Many fine songs are only appropriate for certain occasions, but “No, Not One” can be sung at any time, place, or occasion.[2]

Oatman’s text, originally published in five stanzas with a refrain, points primarily to the sufficiency of Christ. The first stanza refers to Jesus as a friend (John 15:13–14) and a healer of souls (Is. 53:5, Matt. 7:15–20). The second stanza points to the duality of Christ’s holiness (1 Peter 1:13–16) and his meekness (Matt. 8:20; see also Phil. 2). The third speaks of his nearness (Matt. 28:20) and his presence in darkness (John 1:5, 8:12). The fourth appeals to God’s promise to never forsake us (Deut. 31:6), and his openness to all sinners who call on his name (John 6:37, Rom. 10:13). The final stanza refers to the Savior as a gift (Eph. 2:8–9) and again appeals to Christ’s open call. The last phrase might give some singers pause, as God has certainly refused some souls a place in heaven, but it should not be seen as an endorsement of universalism, rather it refers to “us” who are believers, who appeal to Christ for salvation. The refrain, “Jesus knows all about our struggles,” recalls passages like Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (ESV).

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
15 January 2020

Footnotes:

Charles H. Gabriel, “Johnson Oatman Jr.,” The Singers and Their Songs: Sketches of Living Gospel Hymn Writers (Chicago: Rodeheaver, 1916), p. 21.

J.H. Hall, “Johnson Oatman Jr.,” Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers (NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1914), p. 357.

Related Resources:

Paul A. Richardson, “There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus,” Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), p. 254.

Robert Cottrill, “No, not one,” Wordwise Hymns (10 April 2015):
https://wordwisehymns.com/2015/04/10/no-not-one/