168 OUR HYMXS :
The well-known hymn
" Jesus, my all, to Leaven is gone," No. 334,
expressive of the poet s own experience, is No. 64 in the last- mentioned collection. It is headed in the original
" Following Christ, the sinner s way to God,"
and consists of nine stanzas. Hymns 341 and 890 are also in the same collection. The compilers have wisely dispensed with several inferior verses. There is little poetry in Cennick s hymns, and the favourite words, phrases, and doctrines of the writer s particular school appear with unpleasant frequency. Here and there we are offended by such "couplets as
" Louder we than any ought Jesus and His grace to shout ;"
but they are full of Christian fervour, and of the lessons of the writer s singular experience. They are generally written in the form of dialogues ; each pair of lines being complete in itself, and the last two of the four printed in italics, as if to be repeated in response.
" Children of the Heavenly King." No. G30.
This is also by Cennick, and bears date 1743. Of the same date also is hymn 396.
To Cennick also we are indebted for
" Lo ! He comes with clouds descending," No. 418 ; one of the finest hymns ever written. His hymn begins " Lo ! He cometh ; countless trumpets."
It first appeared in a Dublin collection, entitled " A Collection of Sacred Hymns," 1752. To it belongs the credit of being the first attempt to render the thoughts and sentiments of the " Dies me " in this fine appropriate measure : the flowing majestic lines first, then the first trumpet note of the chorus, then the full sounding line at the close ; upon which, to change the figure, the whole verse rests gracefully, but firmly. There were many
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