{"slug": "higher-ground", "title": "Higher Ground", "first_line": "I'm pressing on the upward way", "author": "johnson-oatman-jr", "author_date": "1898", "foot": "iambic", "meter": {"pattern": [8, 8, 8, 8], "doubled": false, "refrain": true, "alleluia": false, "irregular": false}, "topics": ["Aspiration", "Christian Life", "Consecration", "Faith", "Holiness", "Perseverance", "Prayer"], "scripture": ["Psalm 61:2", "Philippians 3:13-14", "Colossians 3:1-2"], "provenance": {"layer": "text", "source": "hymns-of-the-christian-life-3-1904", "source_kind": "hand_encoded", "pd_basis": "pub_pre_1931", "pd_evidence": "Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1856-1922), 1898. Transcribed word for word and point for point off the printed underlay of Hymns of the Christian Life No. 3 (New York/Nyack: Christian Alliance Publishing Co., 1904), no. 200 \u2014 archive.org hymnsofchristi1904simp, scan leaf 213 \u2014 the same page this hymn's harmonization is read from, so text and setting are the one printing. Public domain on the date of that pre-1931 publication (the plate notice reads \"Copyright, 1899, by J. Howard Entwisle. Property of John J. Hood. Used by per.\"), and independently on the author's death in 1922. THE POINTING IS THE 1904 PAGE'S, INCLUDING ITS INCONSISTENCIES, and two of them are worth naming because later printings differ: stanza 1 line 4 is printed \"Lord plant my feet on high-er ground.\" with NO comma after the vocative, where stanza 4 prints \"Lord, lead me on\" and where Great Songs of the Church, 1921 (archive.org greatsonchur00jorg leaf 94) prints \"Lord, plant\"; and stanza 2 line 4 is printed \"My pray'r my aim is high-er ground.\" with no commas and with the elision \"pray'r\", where the 1921 printing has \"My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.\" Both were kept as the cited page has them rather than modernised. The refrain line \"By faith on heav-en's ta-ble-land;\" likewise carries no comma after \"faith\" on this page. Elisions ev'ry, pray'r, Tho', heav'n, I've, I'll, I'm are the page's own, not editorial contractions. Four stanzas, 32 syllables each, matching the 32 verse notes of HIGHER GROUND one to one; the refrain is 32 syllables against notes 33-64.", "pd_jurisdictions": {"US": true}, "hymnary_ids": {"text_auth": "im_pressing_on_the_upward_way", "total_instances": 414}}, "stanzas": {"1": {"syllabified": "I'm press -- ing on the up -- ward way, New heights I'm gain -- ing ev -- 'ry day; Still pray -- ing as I on -- ward bound, \"Lord plant my feet on high -- er ground.\"", "prose": ["I'm pressing on the upward way,", "New heights I'm gaining ev'ry day;", "Still praying as I onward bound,", "\"Lord plant my feet on higher ground.\""]}, "2": {"syllabified": "My heart has no de -- sire to stay Where doubts a -- rise and fears dis -- may; Tho' some may dwell where these a -- bound, My pray'r my aim is high -- er ground.", "prose": ["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."]}, "3": {"syllabified": "I want to live a -- bove the world, Tho' Sa -- tan's darts at me are hurled; For faith has caught the joy -- ful sound, The song of saints on high -- er ground.", "prose": ["I want to live above the world,", "Tho' Satan's darts at me are hurled;", "For faith has caught the joyful sound,", "The song of saints on higher ground."]}, "4": {"syllabified": "I want to scale the ut -- most height, And catch a gleam of glo -- ry bright; But still I'll pray till heav'n I've found, \"Lord, lead me on to high -- er ground.\"", "prose": ["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.\""]}}, "refrain": {"syllabified": "Lord, lift me up and let me stand, By faith on heav -- en's ta -- ble -- land; A high -- er plane than I have found, Lord, plant my feet on high -- er ground.", "prose": ["Lord, lift me up and let me stand,", "By faith on heaven's tableland;", "A higher plane than I have found,", "Lord, plant my feet on higher ground."]}, "license": "The hymn texts and tunes are in the public domain; per-layer provenance is recorded on each record."}