826 OUB HYMNS :
WILLIAM HURN.
17541829. " The God of truth His church has blest." No. 826.
IN the original this hymn is headed
" The Church loved with an everlasting love."
It is the 3 1 6th hymn in a collection, entitled " Hymns and Spiritual Songs, with metrical versions from the Psalms. Second edition. (1824). By the Rev. William Hum." This is an original work. The first edition (1813) in which this hymn is No. 307, was not entirely original. The second edition contains 150 hymns not printed before, and consists in all of 430 pieces. In the preface, dated Woodbridge, 1824, Mr. Hum gives a his tory of his experience as a hymnbook maker and hymnwriter. He had not at first fully recognized the responsibility of preparing a hook to guide the religious thoughts and devotions of congre gations ; but when he felt how great that responsibility was, he gave himself to the work with care and thought. He had con sulted existing collections, and found them wanting in hymns on practical subjects, and rendered unfit for public worship by incau tious expressions, such as those expressing a strong desire to depart out of this world, and by exaggerated statements of indi vidual experience, which the congregation as a whole could not truth fully employ. In these criticisms, in which the author borders on hypercriticism, he has undoubtedly hit a blot in some of our best hymns. But, unfortunately, his own productions, while free from the defects of the masters, are at the same time without their unrivalled excellencies. They are close to the original in render ing the Scriptures, careful in their versification, but without the charm and moving power of sanctified genius. Hymn 826, an excellent and useful one, is a very favourable specimen of Mr. Hum s productions. It is given in full, but with alterations.
Mr. Hum was vicar of Debenham, and afterwards minister
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