Janice Pibworth tells the story of hymnwriter Ada Ruth Habershon (1861–1918)
Will the circle be unbroken is inscribed on the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Rotunda.
(The inscription does not feature a question mark.) This song is sung at every annual induction ceremony of new members of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Members will have made a significant contribution to country music.
Serious challenge
The song was often recorded unattributed, or sometimes it was stated that A. P. Carter composed it. Many famous artists have sung and recorded this song. Will the Circle be Unbroken epitomises country music. A. P. Carter changed the first line of the chorus to ‘Can the circle be unbroken’ without the question mark; this possibly devalued the intentional, serious challenge about people’s eternal dwelling. In addition he incorporated a new first verse, which he attributed to his deceased mother.
Yet most country music followers do not realise that the author is a little-known female English hymnwriter, Ada Ruth Habershon, with music by Charles H. Gabriel. Many hearers of this song would not be considering Ada’s question about their eternal destination. The ones that will be in this better place are the ones who told of the ‘wondrous love’ and ‘pointed to the dying Saviour’. Here are the original words:
There are loved ones in the glory
Whose dear forms you often miss.
When you close your earthly story,
Will you join them in their bliss?
Chorus:
Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, by and by?
Is a better home awaiting
In the sky, in the sky?
In the joyous days of childhood
Oft they told of wondrous love
Pointed to the dying Saviour;
Now they dwell with Him above.
You remember songs of heaven
Which you sang with childish voice.
Do you love the hymns they taught you,
Or are songs of earth your choice?
You can picture happy gath’rings
Round the fireside long ago,
And you think of tearful partings
When they left you here below.
One by one their seats were emptied.
One by one they went away.
Now the family is parted.
Will it be complete one day?
London home
Ada Ruth Habershon (1861–1918) was born in London, the youngest daughter of Christian parents, Dr Samuel Osborne and Grace Habershon. Her father was a renowned physician of his time. Their home was a place of Christian hospitality with many visitors, including some well-known Christians, such as Spurgeon, Moody and Sankey. At an early age, Ada came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as her own personal Saviour. From that time forward she devoted herself to God and served him in many different ways, one of which was to write hymns.
Charles M. Alexander was an American gospel song leader and evangelist who asked her, while he was in England with the Torrey-Alexander Mission of 1905, to write some gospel songs. Within a year she had supplied him with over 200. He thought she might become the ‘best gospel songwriter in the world’. She went on to write many more hymns.
Her other well-known hymn, with its recent arrangement by Matt Merker, is He will hold me fast, (given a recent new lease of life by the Gettys’ version). The first line of the hymn is ‘When I fear my faith will fail’. It is thought that this hymn was written after C. M. Alexander had told her about a person who lacked assurance.
Ada’s gospel hymns were sung at huge revival mission meetings worldwide.
Friend of Spurgeon
Many of the visitors to her parents’ home were influential in her life. It was there that she first met the American evangelists, D. L. Moody and I. D. Sankey. C. H. Spurgeon was a close family friend and she attended many of his meetings. He and others encouraged her to search the Scriptures and she became an avid Bible scholar.
Later on, Moody asked Ada to annotate his Bible. He thought so highly of her biblical knowledge and understanding that he invited her to lecture in America. While she was in America her health deteriorated and for many years she was an invalid – but this time of ill health was used profitably in the writing of hymns, poems and books.
Author of books
the Ada’s works include: The Study of Types; The Study of the Parables; The Priests and Levites; Hidden Pictures: or, How the New Testament is Concealed in the Old Testament; The Day of Atonement in its Prophetic Aspect; Outline Study of the Tabernacle; Study of the Miracles and The Titles of the Lord of Glory. A Gatherer of Fresh Spoil (1918) is her autobiography with memoirs, edited by her sister Ellen Mary Habershon.
Ada also wrote a significant book of her time, The British Museum and the Bible, where she takes the reader on a journey through the museum relating them to Bible times and to the truths of the Scriptures. This reflects her attention to historical accuracy and her high views of Scripture. She fervently defended the Bible against the attacks of the Higher Criticism.
Ada formed the Women’s Branch of the Prophecy Investigation Society and was a regular lecturer. These lectures were then published. Along with some Dispensationalists of the time, Ada was influenced by the idea of the Secret Rapture. Maybe this is one of the reasons why her books are no longer widely read, as well as being difficult to acquire.
The text on Ada’s grave summarises her life: ‘we look for the Saviour’ (Philippians 3.20). She wanted to see the Saviour in the Scriptures; she was looking for the return of Christ to the earth and to see the fulfilment of his prophecies and she was looking forward to seeing the Saviour in glory.
Together with Christ in glory
Both Ada’s parents died in the same year, 1880, aged 68 and 63. After their deaths her brother, Dr Samuel Herbert Habershon, moved into the family home and continued his medical practice there. Ada, with her unmarried sister Ellen Mary, moved to a new home. Ada died 1 February 1918 aged 57 and was buried in the same grave as her parents and her brother Samuel, who had died aged 57 in 1915.
‘Now the family is parted.
Will it be complete one day?’
‘Will the circle be unbroken?’
In the case of Ada’s family members she would be reunited with them in Christ in the heavens. They had looked to the Saviour for ‘a better home awaiting in the sky’ and the circle was not broken.
But Ada, I am sure, would like to leave the challenge to everyone with the words: ‘Will the circle be unbroken?’ and do you have ‘a better home awaiting in the sky?’ Ada’s name is inscribed in the Lamb’s Book of Life, which is a far better place than the Country Music Hall of Fame.
