The Methodist Hymn-Book Illustrated/The Hymns of the Christian Church
II
THE HYMNS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
A few facts concerning the Church's praise will be of interest in such a volume as this. The subject may be pursued with growing delight in the pages of Dr. Julian's monumental Dictionary of Hymnology. The vastness of the subject can be gauged when we remember that we have above 400,000 hymns, in more than two hundred different languages and dialects.
Augustine says a hymn 'is a song with praise of God. If thou singest and praisest not God, thou utterest no hymn. A hymn, then, containeth these three things: song, and praise, and that of God. Praise, then, of God in song is called a hymn'. Gregory Nazianzen put it thus: 'Modidata laus est hymnus' A definition in the Cottonian MS. says a hymn must be praise of God or of His saints, be capable of being sung, and be metrical. Lord Selborne, in his Book of Praise, holds that 'a good hymn should have simplicity, freshness, and reality of feeling; a consistent elevation of tone, and a rhythm easy and harmonious, but not jingling or trivial. Its language may be homely, but should not be slovenly or mean. Affectation or visible artifice is worse than excess of homeliness; a hymn is easily spoilt by a single falsetto note. Nor will the most exemplary soundness of doctrine atone for doggerel, or redeem from failure a prosaic, didactic style.'
If that standard were strictly applied, all our hymn-books would shrink in size, and many of her cherished treasures would lose their place In the Church's praise. Happily for us all, it is not possible to apply it.
Lord Byron's tribute to the first great leader of church music gains new meaning as we trace his influence in succeeding ages. 'David's lyre grew mightier than his throne,' conveys after all but a faint expression of the ever-growing influence of that minstrel king who 'opened a new door in the side of sacred literature—a Bible within a Bible'. The Psalms were our Lord's hymn-book, from which He and His disciples gathered comfort when, 'having hymned', they went forth to the Mount of Olives. Ambrose bears witness to the charm of the Psalter in the fourth century, when he says that if other parts of the Scripture were read in church you could scarce hear anything, but when the Psalter was read all were silent. St. Augustine found in 'those faithful songs and sounds of devotion, which exclude all swelling of spirit', a voice to express his most intense and varied feeling in the crisis of his life at Milan. 'What utterances would I send up unto Thee in those Psalms, and how was I inflamed towards Thee by them, and burned to rehearse them, if it were possible, throughout the whole world, against the pride of the human race' (Confessions, x. 4, § 87). The Psalms early found their place in English church life. When the watchman who had been posted on the tower of Lindisfarne saw the signal of Cuthbert's death for which he had been waiting, and hurried with the news into the church, the brethren of Holy Island were singing the words, 'Thou hast cast us out and scattered us abroad; Thou hast also been displeased; Thou hast shown Thy people heavy things; Thou hast given us a drink of deadly wine'.
The distinctively Christian hymn has its root in the poetry and worship of the Old Testament, whose songs and rhythmical passages passed directly into the services of the Greek Church. The Alleluia was early incorporated with Christian song. Jerome notes how the Christian ploughman shouted it at his work. Sailors encouraged one another by a loud alleluia as they plied the oar. St. Germanus of Auxerre and his soldiers used the word as their battle-cry when they won the Alleluia victory over the Picts and Scots in 429. It became the recognized Easter morning salutation, and soon gained a fixed position in the liturgies of the day, especially on the great festivals. The Ter Sanctus, derived from the hymn in Isa. vi. 3, had also been used in Jewish ritual. 'The Hosanna which so constantly accompanies it in early liturgies was partly the echo of the Triumphal Entry, but partly also of the older refrain used at the Feast of Tabernacles'. Antiphonal singing, which Ignatius introduced among the Greeks at Antioch, may be traced to the choir of the old Jewish temple. The refrains and short ejaculations of praise which are a marked feature of Greek hymns are also a legacy from the Jewish to the Christian Church.
The great hymns of the Nativity, which we owe to St. Luke's research, were probably used as canticles at a very early period. They may fairly be described as the first and grandest songs of the Christian Church. The rhymic fragments in the Epistles throw some light on the hymns which St. Paul bids the churches at Ephesus and Colossae use. 'Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light', perhaps bears the evidence of such use. Two of the 'faithful sayings' of the Pastoral Epistles and the grand fragment (i Tim. iii. 16), on our Lord's Incarnation and triumph', betray a similar origin. Clement of Alexandria's 'Bridle of Steeds untamed', is the oldest of all Christian hymns. Its phraseology is adapted to the perfect Gnostic of the second century, but 'there is nothing in its bright versicles—full of childlike trust in Christ, as the Shepherd, the Fisher of Souls, the Everlasting Word, the Eternal Light—that is not to be found in the pages of Holy Writ'. The greatest early hymnist, Gregory Nazianzen, who wrote in classic metres, has been compared to our own Ken. Certain passages in his troubled history furnish a striking parallel to the life of our devout and high-souled bishop. Gregory's morning and evening hymns are far inferior to Ken's, but in all his other productions the Greek hymn-writer distinctly bears the palm.
The compositions of Synesius lie on the borderland between Christianity and Neo-Platonism, but they contain many fine specimens of speculative adoration of the Triune Godhead, such as the Platonic philosophy inspired. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem in 629, was the author of long poems on the chief events of New Testament history. That on the 'Holy Places' has special interest from the insight it gives into the appearance of Jerusalem and its sacred sites in the seventh century. Basil speaks of the 'Thanksgiving at Lamp-lighting', which was already old in the latter half of the fourth century. The Greek form of the 'Gloria in Excelsis' is of early date, and the 'Te Deum' seems to have had a Gallican origin. These facts form landmarks in the history of early hymnody in the East.
The younger Pliny tells us in his famous letter to Trajan that the Christians were accustomed to meet before day, and to sing a hymn Christ as God, 'by turns, one after another'. There was, however, a certain reserve as to their general introduction into the services of the Church. Antioch indeed adopted this form of praise so early as 269, but even in the fourth and fifth centuries the more conservative monastics had scruples as to the use of anything save the Psalms. The Council of Braga in Spain, which met in 561, actually forbade the use of hymns. They seem, indeed, to have made their reputation out of doors among the people, and thus gradually to have established their right to a place within the Church. Hymns have in all ages been a favourite means of propaganda. The early heretics were quick to perceive their efficacy as a vehicle for spreading their own opinions. The Church was not slow to learn the same lesson. The Gnostic hymns of his day led Ephrem the Syrian to adopt similar metres and rhythms. His metrical homilies, sung in the religious services, were longer than hymns and more distinctly didactic in character, but they rendered great service to the churches of Syria. The Arians of Alexandria and Constantinople taught their songs to millers, sailors, and merchants. Athanasius and Chrysostom thus learned what an important part hymns might play in the service of orthodoxy, and used the weapon with great success.
Greek hymnology reached its most splendid development at the close of the eighth century. St. Andrew of Crete, whose Great Canon, 2,500 strophes in length, is sung entire on Thursday in Mid-Lent 'cum labore multo et pulmonum fatigatione', is one of the chief hymnists of the time. The strophes of his canon 'have not the point of those of John of Damascus, and make no use of refrains. The aim of it is penitential; a spirit of true penitence breathes through it, it has many beautiful passages, and is rich in allusions to the personages of the Bible, either as warnings or examples to the penitent, but its excellences are marred by repetition and prolixity'. The Laura of St. Sabas, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, became the centre of a school of hymn-writers, of whom Cosmas and John of Damascus hold foremost rank among the Greek ecclesiastical poets. The Canon on the Ascension, by John of Damascus, is full of triumph, and gladness, and dramatic realization. His Easter Canon is the grandest effort of sacred poetry in the Greek Church. A spirit of rapt contemplation is the chief characteristic of Eastern hymnody. Where an English hymn opens up the human blessings, and seeks to bring home the great truths of religion to heart and conscience, the Greek hymnist is absorbed with the doctrine itself. The human aspect is either made secondary or entirely overlooked. The contrast between the genius of the Greek and the Latin race is strikingly evident in the hymnology of the two churches, as indeed in the whole course of their history. One is speculative, the other practical. The Eastern hymns on the divine perfections and the Incarnation differ widely from 'our self-regarding mode of praise'. This habit of thought has, however, its disadvantages. By its discouragement of the development of human emotion, aspiration, and benefit, the range of subjects and reflection is narrowed, and in the later poets the repetition of the same types, epithets, and metaphors, issues in sameness, conventional diction, and fossil thought. It is impossible to avoid the conviction that the great bulk of Greek hymns would have had a richer value if inspiration had been sought in the deep spiritual analysis of St. Paul, or the interpretation of the changing moods of the soul, which are of such preciousness in the Psalms.
We have dwelt in some detail on Greek hymnody because the East first taught the value of hymn-singing to the Latin Church. Hymns made their way with Christianity as it spread over the Roman Empire. Jerome, indeed, complains in the preface to his Commentary on the Galatians that they were unacceptable in Northern Gaul, but that region was a striking exception to the rule. The hymns were at first sung in the original Greek, for Latin had not yet come into common use. It is somewhat surprising to find that no name can be associated with any Latin hymn till we arrive at the times of St. Hilary and Pope Damasus. Ambrose of Milan is the founder of Latin hymnody. It was he who taught the whole congregation to take its share in singing the psalms and hymns which, up to that time, had been recited by individuals singly or by clerks. During his memorable struggle with the Arian Empress, Justina, the Archbishop and his faithful people enlivened their long vigils with hymns of praise and trust. Augustine adds that this singing was imitated 'by many, yea, by almost all of Thy congregations throughout the rest of the world'. The effect which the Ambrosian hymnody produced on St Augustine finds memorable expression in the Confessions. 'How greatly did I weep in thy hymns and canticles, deeply moved by the voices of thy sweet-speaking Church! The voices flowed into mine ears, and the truth was poured forth into my heart, whence the agitation of my piety overflowed, and my tears ran over, and blessed was I therein'. A learned prefect of the Ambrosian Library at Milan has paid a well-deserved tribute to the style of the great prelate's hymns—clear, sweet, and yet vigorous, grand, and noble. Closeness of thought is combined with singular brevity of expression. Archbishop Trench shows how suitably the faith, which was in actual conflict with the powers of the world, found utterance in such, hymns as these, 'wherein is no softness, perhaps little tenderness, but a rock-like firmness, the old Roman stoicism trans muted and glorified into that nobler Christian courage which encountered, and at length overcame, the world.'
Benedict expressly adopted the hymns of Ambrose and his successors in his 'Order of Worship'. The vast community which owned the rule of himself and his successors spread rapidly over Europe. Its customs and usages of worship were followed in England as well as over the north of Europe, 'and, with local variations, in the remainder of Western Christendom'. The glorious strains of the hymn 'Exultet jam angelica turba coelorum', said to have been composed by Augustine when a deacon, were sung by the deacon at the Benediction of the Paschal Candle. The name of Benedict must therefore be linked with that of Ambrose in the history of Latin hymnody. Prudentius of Spain wrote some noble hymns, which found their way into general use. Before the eleventh and twelfth centuries closed the place of hymns in public services had been fixed and settled. They found their way into the Missals, Breviaries, and other offices of that time. Each church also added local hymns in honour of its own founders and patrons. With a few striking exceptions, the clergy and the monks had become the chief poets of the age. Their verses 'were no longer confined to the direct worship and praise of the Creator, of Christ, of the Holy Ghost; to the honour of the Blessed Virgin and of the Apostles, and certain principal saints, and appropriated to the various solemnities of the Church relating to them, such as were those of Ambrose, Gregory, Prudentius Fortunatus, and their successors. They became amplified and refined into eulogies, descriptions of, and meditations upon, the Passion and Wounds of Christ, on His Sacred Countenance, on His Cross, on His Sweet Name, on the Vanity of Life, on the Joys of Paradise, on the Terrors of Judgement; into penitential exercises, of the Holy Sacrament, of the lives and sufferings of numerous Saints—most especially into praises of the Blessed Virgin, on her dignity, on her Joys and Dolours.'
When Jumièges was destroyed by the Normans in 851, some of its monks took refuge at St. Gall, bringing their Gregorian Antiphonary with them. The anthem preceding the Gospel, which was known as the Gradual, ended on Festal days 'with a long Alleluia, which was a musical jubilation on a certain number of notes, called Neumes, without words, on the final A; also called the Sequentia, as following thereon.' These Neumes owed their origin to two chanters sent by Pope Adrian to Charlemagne. One opened a school at Metz, the other became musical preceptor in the monastery of St. Gall, where he was detained by illness. The Neumes were exceedingly difficult to remember. A young monk called Notker was therefore delighted to find that in the Jumièges music words had been attached corresponding to the number of the Neumes. This made it comparatively easy to recall the cadences. He set himself to contrive words for other musical Sequences sung at the different festivals of the year. Every note now had a corresponding word attached. These unrhymed Sequences became known as Notkerian Proses. Gradually they were rhymed, and increased in beauty and popularity. Then an entirely novel and original system both of versification and music, derived from popular airs, was introduced by the church musicians in the north of France. The Sequences composed by Adam of St. Victor are singularly fine and impressive. His musical and flowing verses are saturated with Scriptural truth and imagery. The Dies Irae, almost the solitary Sequence which Italy has produced, and the Stabat Mater dolorosa are among the most precious treasures thus bequeathed to Christendom. Its latest gems were due to Thomas Aquinas, but at the beginning of the fourteenth century the glory had departed from Latin hymnology.
King Alfred tells us that when Aldhelm saw how the people who had flocked to attend mass at Malmesbury trooped away from the church before the sermon, he took his stand, disguised as a gleeman, on a bridge which they must cross, and gathered them round him to hear his songs, with which he generally managed to weave a little instruction. The anecdote suggests that sacred songs formed part of the gleeman's repertory. The hymn which Cædmon composed whilst sleeping in the stable is the earliest piece of Saxon poetry extant. Cuthbert also refers to a hymn sung by Bede in his last illness. No collection of mediaeval English hymns has yet been made. If some one would undertake this task, considerable light might be thrown on the devotions of the laity in olden times. But if we know little of English hymnody in these early days, Latin hymns were widely used in our island down to the time of the Reformation. The English Reformers unhappily refused them a place in the Book of Common Prayer, even though they formed an integral part of the offices on which that book was based. Luther, on the other hand, who had learned to love these hymns in the monastery, freely used them after he broke with Rome. Two renderings of 'Veni Creator' are the only traces of Latin hymnody in the Book of Common Prayer. But if such hymns were dying out, 'the fashion of Psalm-singing was mastering the people.' It quickly became an integral part of the national life. On the accession of Elizabeth, the enthusiasm aroused by the Psalter was almost as great as that with which Clement Marot's version had been greeted in France, or at the field-preaching in the Netherlands. Sometimes six thousand voices were thus raised in praise at St. Paul's Cross after the sermons of the bishops. Psalms were introduced at St. Antholin's, and quickly spread to other London churches. It is amusing to read that certain men and women from London disturbed the six-o clock matins in Exeter Cathedral by singing psalms. They were prohibited by the Dean and Chapter, but were supported by the Queen's Visitors, Jewel, and other influential men, who sharply reproved the authorities. The Dean and Chapter appealed to Archbishop Parker, but he bade them 'permit and suffer' congregations to 'sing or say the godly Prayers set forth and permitted in this Church of England.' This use of godly prayers as equivalent to psalms is interesting. In June, 1559, permission to sing hymns in public worship was granted by a royal injunction. 'For the comforting of such as delight in music, it may be permitted that in the beginning or end of Common Prayer, either at morning or evening, there may be sung an hymn or such-like song to the praise of Almighty God in the best melody and music that may be devised, having respect that the sentence of the hymn may be understood and perceived.'
Thomas Sternhold, the father of English metrical psalmody, died ten years before this injunction was issued. He was groom of the robes to Henry VIII, who bequeathed him a legacy of a hundred marks. His psalms were originally composed for his own 'godly solace,' and sung by him to his organ. His young master, Edward VI, chanced to overhear them, and invited Sternhold to repeat them in his presence. The first edition of nineteen psalms was dedicated to the King. Wood says that Sternhold had musical notes set to the Psalms, and hoped that the courtiers would sing them instead of their amorous and obscene songs. His psalms are godly ballads in the older form of common measure, known as the Chevy Chace measure, with only two rhymes. It was not till 1562 that the complete Psalter was published by John Daye. It was some years later before it assumed its final shape. Sternhold himself is responsible for forty versions. John Hopkins, who seems to have been a Gloucestershire clergyman and schoolmaster, wrote sixty, which are also in common metre, but with four rhymes to a stanza. William Whittingham was the scholar of the company. He had fled from the Marian persecution to Geneva, where he married Calvin's sister and succeeded Knox in the pastorate of the exiled English congregation. He had a prominent share in the preparation of the Genevan Bible. On his return to England he was made Dean of Durham. During his tenure of office he protested against the wearing of habits, and is said to have destroyed the image of Cuthbert, but he has the merit of having introduced metrical canticles into the Cathedral services. The Old Version has twelve psalms of Whittingham's. 'Few books have had so long a career of influence.' Psalm-singing soon came to be regarded as the most divine part of public worship. When a psalm was read the heads of the worshippers were covered, but all men sat bare-headed when the psalm was sung.
Thomas Mace, in his Music's Monument, 1676, speaks of psalm-singing in York Minster before the sermon, during the siege of 1644. 'When that vast concording unity of the whole congregational chorus came thundering in, even so as it made the very ground shake under us, oh, the unutterable ravishing soul's delight! in the which I was so transported and wrapped up in high contemplations, that there was no room left in my whole man, body, soul, and spirit, for anything below divine and heavenly raptures; nor could there possibly be anything to which that very singing might be truly compared, except the right apprehension or conceiving of that glorious and miraculous quire, recorded in the Scriptures at the dedication of the Temple.' In the revision of the Prayer-book in 1661-2 the famous rubric was inserted after the third Collect at Morning and Evening Prayer, 'In quires and places where they sing, here followeth the Anthem.' Authority was thus given by Church and State to the introduction into the service at this point of an anthem, which was to be chosen by the minister. Hymns in verse were used as well as unmetrical passages of Scripture, set to music by Blow, Purcell, and other composers. There was no technical meaning such as we now attach to anthems, but metrical hymns were given a right of way into the service.
The New Version by Tate and Brady, published in 1696, did not easily displace the Old. Bishop Beveridge, in 1710, made a vigorous onslaught on it as 'fine and modish', 'flourished with wit and fancy,' 'gay and fashionable.' He says one vestry had cast it out after it was introduced by the clergyman. Beveridge strenuously defends the Old Version as a venerable monument of the Reformation.
In Scotland, where services had been established in the vernacular after the breach with Rome, the metrical psalm was preferred to the chanted prose psalm, both because it was more convenient for popular use and was deemed to be nearer to the Hebrew structure. The Psalter has, indeed, had 'a mighty influence upon the Scottish mind and heart.' So late as 1749 metrical psalmody was the only part of the service in which Scotch congregations joined. The singing of hymns, other than the Paraphrases of 1741-81, did not become at all general among the United Presbyterians till after 1852. The Established Church was eighteen years later, and the Free Church three years later still. Calvin had adopted Marot's version of the Psalms, and when Marot himself fled to Geneva the Reformer induced him to revise his earlier versions and add new ones. After his death Beza continued the work. In the completed Psalter published in 1562, forty-nine versions are by Marot, the rest by Beza. French tunes and French metres found their way from this collection into the Scotch Psalter. Sternhold's psalms were also known at Geneva, and thence exerted some influence on Scotland. The Dundie Psalmes, or Gude and Godlie Ballates, was the first version used in Scotland. The book was probably issued in a rudimentary form as early as 1568. The earliest perfect edition we possess, that of 1578, is a poetical miscellany. It contains sixteen 'spiritual Sangis', eleven from the German, one from the Latin; twenty 'Ballatis of the Scripture', one of which is from the German. Its last edition is entitled Psalmes of David with uther new pleasand Ballatis Translatit out of Euchiridion Psalmorum to be sung. Twenty-two psalm versions are included, thirteen of them being from the German; three hymns from the German, one from the Latin; seven adaptations from secular ballads, and thirty-six other items. 'Some of the pieces, though rude, have a wonderful pathos, and even beauty. Reading the anti-papal satires, one does not wonder at the rage they excited among the Roman ecclesiastics'.
In 1564 appeared the complete Scotch Psalter, prepared by order of the General Assembly. Thirty-nine of the versions were by Sternhold, thirty-seven by Hopkins, sixteen by Whittingham, twenty-five by Kethe. The Assembly ordained that every minister, reader, and exhorter should have and use a copy. Charles I sought to enforce the use of another version, which was largely the work of William Alexander, Earl of Stirling. The opposition aroused led Alexander largely to rewrite his version. It was then bound up with Laud's luckless Service Book of 1637, which was indignantly rejected by all Scotland. The General Assembly was restored, and Alexander's monopoly came to an untimely end. When the Westminster Assembly met, in 1643, Parliament instructed it to prepare a Psalter for use in both kingdoms. This was done with much care. But the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was not satisfied with the result. It therefore appointed four persons to make further revision. The book was published in 1650, and is to this day the one Psalter used by Presbyterian Scotland. Even though sometimes rude in style, its faithfulness, vigour, and terseness cannot be denied. It is woven into the very fibre of the national religion.
The popularity of psalm-singing entirely destroyed the influence of Latin hymnody in England. During the Reformation epoch we catch a few echoes of Luther's muse. With the exception of two pieces, nearly the whole of Coverdale's Goostly Psalmes and Spiritual Songs is a more or less close rendering from the German. It was a misfortune that Coverdale's example was not followed; but Calvin's influence was dominant, and he was not prepared to admit anything into public worship save paraphrases of Scripture, and 'even of Scripture little outside the Psalms became the stern rule of our hymnody for the next century and a half'. The metrical paraphrases, which were partly liturgical, but mainly drawn from Scripture, gradually prepared the way for hymns. 'The real cradle of English hymns is the English Bible'. That volume seemed to the Reformers the divinely given wellspring of praise. Much of it actually consisted of songs of praise, and in those days of heated theological debate rigid adherence to the actual language of the Bible appeared to be the one safeguard against error. The Song of Solomon was most frequently reproduced in these paraphrases, but twelve chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul's Epistles, and other somewhat unlikely parts of Scripture were versified. It was thought that the Bible was universally capable of musical expression. This feeling, though strained unnaturally, bore good fruit. 'That grand note of our greatest hymns, impregnation with Scripture, is in great measure the heritage of the paraphrases'. Dr. Watts is careful to state in the preface to his hymns that he 'might have brought some text . . . and applied it to the margin of every verse'. To the paraphrases, also, we owe the division of our hymns into objective and subjective. Their free and joyous praise with the less introspective expressions of sorrow and penitence are a heritage from the Psalms; the delineation of more subtle emotions and moods is mainly the reflection of the New Testament paraphrases. The free grouping of texts which characterized the later paraphrases naturally led to the type of hymn with which we are familiar in Watts. 'The habit of sermon and commentary made it an almost irresistible impulse to interweave the familiar parallel passages, to make one passage a theme of expansion by others, to omit and combine for the sake of unity; all the while, as they believed, keeping within the letter of Scripture. Then came the license of some connecting verse as a piece of machinery. And only one step more converted the Scriptural Paraphrase into the Scriptural Hymn'. Dr. Watts gave a somewhat loose interpretation to the word 'paraphrase', but he kept the thought steadily in view. His first hymn, 'Behold the glories of the Lamb', is based on Rev. v., and his best poetry bears the same stamp.
Before the publication of Wither's collection our hymns were few in number. They had already, however, won a place in English devotion. Dr. Donne often had his own verses, 'Wilt Thou forgive that sin?' sung in his presence at St. Paul's. George Herbert, on the last Sunday of his life, called for his viol and sang to its accompaniment his own words, 'The Sundays of man's life'. F. B.P.'s 'Hierusalem, my happie home', which was written before 1601, is one of the treasures of English hymnody. In 1623, George Wither gained permission to have his Hymns and Songs of the Church bound up with every copy of the Metrical Psalms. Besides the usual paraphrases, it contained hymns for all the festivals. Instead of fame and profit, however, the work brought him persecution and loss. In 1641, many of these pieces were republished in Hallelujah, Britain's Second Remembrancer, dedicated to the Long Parliament. That collection cannot be accused of any want of variety, for 'When Washing, On a Boat, Sheep-shearing, House-warming, For Lovers, Tailors, Jailer, Prisoner, Member of Parliament', are some of its headings.
We owe to this period some fine hymns. Samuel Crossman, Prebendary and afterwards Dean of Bristol, published in 1664 some pieces which are still sung with delight in many a congregation, 'Jerusalem on high', and 'Sweet place, sweet place alone'. Ken's three hymns were written within ten years of that time; Richard Baxter's tender hymn of resignation, 'Lord, it belongs not to my care', appeared in 1681.
Singing almost became a lost art for Nonconformity during the rigour of the Conventicle Act. An amusing account of the way in which Benjamin Keach succeeded in gradually restoring it to the worship of his own Baptist church is given in Mr. Spurgeon's history of his Tabernacle. Keach had risked much for devotional music. His congregation had been surprised by its singing. He had himself been trampled on by a trooper's horse and thrown into prison, but his conviction that singing the praises of God 'was a holy ordinance of Jesus Christ' was only deepened by such troubles. He wrote a little book in defence of hymns, and managed at last to get them safely restored to Dissenting worship. Keach also published two volumes of hymns. Other collections soon sprang up. Dr. Watts made a memorable advance on his predecessors. Dr. Julian pays a high tribute in the Dictionary of Hymnology to the soft richness of his diction; his free, vigorous rhythm, especially in his long metres; and to the pervading joyfulness and buoyant faith which light up even his saddest hymns. Watts often complained of the fetter put on him by 'the old narrow metres', as well as by the necessity of giving each line a complete sense in itself, and 'sinking it to the level of a whole congregation'. His faults are 'bombast and doggerel', but to him we owe that proportion of parts and central unity which have become so marked a characteristic of our hymns. Those written before his time have little unity. The change originated probably in the slow singing, which limited the number of verses; in the clerk's habit of skipping and combining verses in the metrical psalms; and in the preacher's desire to condense into a closing hymn the substance or application of his sermon. Watts's Psalms and Hymns soon took the place of all others in Nonconformist worship, and long held undisputed possession.
The work which Watts began was carried on by the Wesleys, who are 'almost as interesting from the hymnologist's as from the Church historian's point of view'. The old Rector of Epworth—Samuel Wesley—was the author of the Good Friday hymn—
Behold the Saviour of mankind
Nailed to the shameful tree,
which was found lying singed on the grass after his parsonage had been burned down; Samuel Wesley, jun., usher at Westminster School, wrote 'The Lord of Sabbath let us praise', and other hymns of high merit; John Wesley's translations from the German relinked English hymnody to that of Germany, and his fine classic taste raised the whole tone of Methodist praise. Dr. Abel Stevens says, 'John Wesley was rigorously severe in his criticisms, and appeared to be aware that the psalmody of Methodism was to be one of its chief providential facts—at once its liturgy and psalter to millions'. 'But after all', says Canon Overton in his interesting biographical article, 'it was Charles Wesley who was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family—perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages'. His evangelical conversion opened his lips in praise, and to the end of his days he sang on with undiminished fervour. He is said to have written six thousand five hundred hymns, 'and though, of course, in so vast a number some are of unequal merit, it is perfectly marvellous how many there are which rise to the highest degree of excellence.... It would be simply impossible within our space to enumerate even those of the hymns which have become really classical. The saying that a good hymn is as rare an appearance as that of a comet is falsified by the work of Charles Wesley; for hymns, which are really good in every respect, flowed from his pen in quick succession, and death alone stopped the course of the perennial stream.'
Charles Wesley's hymns were one of the chief factors in the making of Methodism. Mr. Garrett Horder says, 'For spontaneity of feeling, his hymns are pre-eminent. They are songs that soar. They have the rush and fervour which bear the soul aloft.' Dr. Schaff writes, 'It is a remarkable fact that some of the greatest religious revivals in the Church as the Reformation, Pietism, Moravianism, Methodism—were sung as well as preached, and written into the hearts of the people, and that the leaders of those revivals—Luther, Spener, Zinzendorf, Wesley—were themselves hymnists.' The force of those words will be felt by every student of church history, not least by those who are familiar with the work of Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey in England and Scotland. Mr. Sankey said, 'I find it much more difficult to get good words than good music. Our best words come from England; the music which best suits our purpose comes from America.'
A few hymns crept into the Scottish Psalter of 1564-5, but they do not seem to have received direct ecclesiastical sanction. None of them were transferred to the Psalter of 1650, or to the Translations and Paraphrases. The General Assembly having already made various unsuccessful attempts to secure a suitable collection of sacred songs, appointed a Committee, in 1742, to prepare a volume of Scripture paraphrases. Some of the Scotch contributions are good, but the collection of 1741-81 'is hardly what might have been expected from the gifts and graces of the ministers of the Church of Scotland' at that time.
The article on Children's Hymns in the Dictionary of Hymnology by Mr. W. T. Brooke, 'whose acquaintance with early English hymnody,' the editor says, is unrivalled, will repay careful study. The early vernacular carols and hymns do not appear to have been composed expressly for children, though young folk naturally rejoiced to sing them. The history of juvenile hymnody begins with the Reformation. Wither's Hallelujah contains a hymn or two for the young, and Herrick wrote a child's grace. Jeremy Taylor's Golden Grove contained some 'Festival Hymns' 'fitted to the fancy and devotion of the younger and pious persons, apt for memory, and to be joined to their other prayers.' Dr. Watts was the first great hymn-writer for the young. His Divine and Moral Songs for Children mark an epoch in this branch of our hymnody. The numerous editions published in town and country for more than a century showed what a need these songs supplied. Charles Wesley also remembered the children. His 'Gentle Jesus, meek and mild' is perhaps the chief classic among our nursery hymns. As Sunday schools sprang up in all parts of the country, psalms and hymns for the young multiplied. Jane and Ann Taylor's Hymns for Infant Minds have endeared themselves to every generation since they were written. Mr. Brooke thinks Mrs. Alexander's Hymns for Little Children 'unequalled and unapproachable,' whilst the Methodist Sunday School Hymn-Book 'ranks first in merit of any collection for children yet made.' Certainly the Church's later gift of song has been abundantly consecrated to the service of the nursery and the Sunday school.
Germany surpasses all other lands in its wealth of hymns. The number cannot fall short of a hundred thousand; about ten thousand have become more or less popular. Ever since the Reformation, Germany has been adding to her treasury of sacred song. Some of the most exulting strains were sung amid the conflicts of the Reformation, others belong to later days of quickening and revival. 'Thus these hymns constitute a most graphic book of confession for German evangelical Christianity, a sacred band which enriches its various periods, an abiding memorial of its victories, its sorrows, and its joys, a clear mirror, showing its deepest experiences, and an eloquent witness for the all-conquering and invincible life-power of the evangelical Christian faith.' In the Middle Ages German hymnody is full of hagiolatry and Mariolatry. Luther was himself the first evangelical hymnist. He gave the people the Bible, through which God spoke to their hearts; he gave them the hymn-book, by which they poured out their hearts to God. Dr. Schaff styles Luther the Ambrose of German hymnody. His sacred songs proved, next to the German Bible, 'the most effective missionaries of evangelical doctrines and piety.' Others caught his spirit, and used their gifts of sacred song to promote the Reformation cause. German hymnody had its dark age between 1757 and 1816, when Rationalism wrought havoc in the country. Purists set themselves to remove the uncouth language, irregular rhymes, antiquated words, and Latinisms, which disfigured many old hymns. Klopstock altered twenty-nine of them. 'He was followed by a swarm of hymnological tinkers and poetasters who had no sympathy with the theology and poetry of the grand old hymns of faith; weakened, diluted, mutilated, and watered them, and introduced these mis-improvements into the churches. The original hymns of rationalistic preachers, court chaplains, and superintendents, now almost forgotten, were still worse, mostly prosy and tedious rhymes on moral duties. . . . Instead of hymns of faith and salvation, the congregations were obliged to sing rhymed sermons on the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, the delights of reunion, the dignity of man, the duty of self-improvement, the nature of the body, and the care of animals and flowers.' Yet this was the classic age of German literature. A better time dawned at last; 'rich in hymns which combine the old faith with the classical elegance of form, sound doctrine with deep feeling.'
Any one who wishes to appreciate the labours of Dr. Julian and his staff of helpers should turn to the annotations and biographical sketches which form the staple of his huge Dictionary. Twelve columns deal with the text of the Dies Irae, discuss its authorship, liturgical use, and translations, of which there are more than a hundred and fifty. Daniel says every word of this glorious sequence 'is weighty, yea, even a thunderclap.' Archbishop Trench grows enthusiastic in his description of the triple rhyme falling on the ear like blow following blow on the anvil. Thomas Celano's confidence in the universal interest of his theme made him handle it with an unadorned plainness which renders it intelligible to all. His Great Judgement hymn has written its own history broad and deep on the Middle Ages. What influence a hymn may exert is seen in St. Bernard's 'Jesu, dulcis memoria.' It was probably written when he was in retirement, smarting under the indignation of his contemporaries over the disastrous failure of the Second Crusade, of which he had been the preacher. It is true that his 'Joyful Rhythm' on the Name of Jesus labours under the defect of a certain monotony and want of progress, but the fascination of the theme and the tenderness and warmth of the minstrel s touch have made the hymn a sacred heritage. A few hymns have been more extensively translated into English, 'but no other poem in any language has furnished to English and American hymn-books so many hymns of sterling worth and well-deserved popularity. St. Bernard seems as if he had scattered abroad the sacred fire and raised up a whole choir of singers who shared his own devotion. Around Luther’s most famous hymn—’Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott’ the battle-song of the Reformation, a history of its own has gathered. ’Jesu, Lover of my soul,’ is one of Charles Wesley’s lyrics, the popularity of which increases with its age. Few hymns have been so extensively used. The transformations of its first four lines make them unique as an editorial curiosity. Dr. Julian knows no portion of a stanza which has undergone so many alterations. He awards the palm for popularity among Charles Wesley’s hymns to ’Hark! how all the welkin rings.’ Amongst English hymns, it is equalled in popularity only by Toplady’s "Rock of Ages," and Bishop Ken s Morning and Evening hymns, and is excelled by none. In literary merit it falls little, if anything, short of this honour.
Roman Catholicism during the second half of this century has given us a group of hymn-writers whose names have been household words among all the churches. It is a significant fact that John Henry Newman, Frederick W. Faber, Edward Caswall, and Frederick Oakeley, the chief hymn-writers of that communion, were all clergymen of the Church of England, and went over to Rome. Before Newman’s accession Roman Catholics were scarcely aware of the ’treasures of hymnody in their own office-books,’ or awake to the vast possibilities of congregational singing. ’Considering how many are the hymns of singular power and beauty, venerable also, through their long use, which are contained in the Roman Missal, Offices, and Breviary, it is surprising that Roman Catholic poets did not long before the present century render them more frequently into English verse.’ There were some attempts in this direction. The Jesuit Southwell, who suffered for treason in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, wrote a few good hymns and carols. The English Roman Catholics who settled on the Continent during days of persecution issued some translations from the Latin with versions of the Old Church hymns. Dryden’s translation of 'Veni, Creator Spiritus', and Pope’s 'Vital Spark', were notable Romanist contributions to the general service of praise. But it is Cardinal Newman who ranks as ’one of the great restorers of Roman Catholic hymnody.’ His most popular hymn, 'Lead, kindly light', was indeed written before he renounced Anglicanism, and his Tract 'On the Roman Breviary,' published in 1836, contained translations of fourteen Latin hymns. He carried on this work when he sought a new home. Dr. Julian holds that his influence on hymnody has not been of a marked character. He says, 'two brilliant original pieces, and a little more than half a dozen translations from the Latin, are all that can claim to rank with his inimitable prose.' We are inclined to consider this a just verdict, yet much may be said for Mr. Earle s view in the article on Roman Catholic Hymnody. He thinks Newman's influence, as 'in himself a type of rhythmical utterance, and the author of several hymns and translations of supreme [excellence', has been deep and widespread. His 'Praise to the Holiest in the height', from the 'Dream of Gerontius', is also a noble hymn, though it has not attained the popularity of the earlier piece. Edward Caswall’s version of St. Bernard’s 'Joyful Rhythm' on the Name of Jesus 'has become a national treasure'. It was published in his Lyra Catholica two years after he resigned his living and in the year before he was received into the Roman Catholic communion. Caswall’s translations of the Latin hymns are only surpassed in popularity by those of Dr. Neale. His faithfulness to the original and his purity of rhythm go far to explain the charm of his renderings. Frederick Faber, the most fruitful of modern Romanist hymnists, did more than any other man to promote congregational singing in his adopted communion. 'He certainly perceived and appreciated, as a scholar, and from his standpoint as a Roman Catholic, the double advantage possessed by a church which sings both in an ancient and modern tongue, making twofold melody continually unto God. He did not prize the less the magnificent hymns of Christian antiquity in Latin, because he taught congregations to sing in the English of to-day'. In the preface to his Jesus and Mary, he says it was natural 'that an English son of St. Philip (Neri) should feel the want of a collection of English Catholic hymns fitted for singing. The few in the Garden of the Soul were all that were at hand, and of course they were not numerous enough to furnish the requisite variety. As to translations, they do not express Saxon thoughts and feelings, and consequently the poor do not take to them. The domestic wants of the Oratory, too, keep alive the feeling that something of the sort was needed'. Hence Faber became a hymnist. He had already written hymns which 'became very popular with a country congregation'. We gather that he refers to Elton in Huntingdonshire, where he was rector before he left the Anglican Church. He had been taught the power of hymns before he went over to Rome. We may add that he learned his art from Protestant models, for he set himself to emulate the simplicity and intense fervour of the Olney hymns and those of the Wesleys. Speaking of them as a whole, Faber's hymns are too luscious and sentimental; nevertheless some of them are treasures which we would be sorry indeed to lack in our Common Book of Praise. Mr. Earle says, 'To these three—Cardinal Newman, Caswall, and Faber—the Roman Catholic hymnody in England principally owes its revival.' Anglicanism produced them all. Roman Catholic congregations thus owe no small debt to the Church of England, and in some sense they have well repaid it. Our noblest hymns are dear alike to all sections of the Church. They show that deep down beneath all our differences lie great fundamental truths in which true Christian people are at one. Such hymns are what Dean Stanley would have called the homely facts which turn away the wrath 'kindled by an anathema, by an opinion, by an argument.' The hymns which Romanist and Protestant alike delight to sing are a step towards that true catholicity of spirit which, amid all our divergences, we delight to cultivate.
As Henry Ward Beecher puts it, 'There is almost no heresy in the hymn-book. In hymns and psalms we have a universal ritual. It is the theology of the heart that unites men. Our very childhood is embalmed in sacred tunes and hymns. Our early lives and the lives of our parents hang in the atmosphere of sacred song. The art of singing together is one that is for ever winding invisible threads about persons.'
England is a nation of hymn-singers. Mr. Stead says, 'The songs of the English-speaking people are for the most part hymns. For the mmense majority of our people to-day the minstrelsy is that of the hymn-book. And this is as true of our race beyond the sea as it is of our race at home. Surely those hymns which have most helped the greatest and best of our race are those which bear, as it were, the hallmark of heaven'.
A guide to the development of the Church's song and to some of its national divisions may be found by studying the names and numbers that follow.
The Psalms: Venite, 982; Jubilate, 985; Cantate, 987: Deus Misereatur, 989.
The Gospel Hymns: Benedictus, 984; Magnificat, 986; Nunc Dimittis, 988.
Latin Hymns.
Ambrose, 902, 903; Te Deum, 983, 30; Veni, Creator Spiritus, 228, 751; Veni, Sancte Spiritus, 237; Dies Irae, 844, 845.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Bernard of Cluny, Notker, Santeüil, St. Theodulph.
Translators: Cosin, Dryden, Chandler, Irons, Neale, Caswall, Oakeley, Ray Palmer, Williams, Winkworth.
The Greek Church.
St. John of Damascus, 178; Anatolius, 915; St. Joseph the Hymnographer, 835. Translator: Neale.
German Hymns.
Luther, Weisse, P. Herbert, Stegmann, Löwenstern, Rinkart, Gerhardt, Scheffler, Richter, Neumark, Schütz, Dessler, E. Lange, Schmolck, Dober, Freylinghausen, J. Lange, Rothe, Zinzendorf, Gellert, Tersteegen, Spangenberg, Claudius, Bahnmaier, Spitta.
Translators: John Wesley, Carlyle, Winkworth, Cox, Alexander, Borthwick, Findlater, Foster and Miller, Massie, Pope, Campbell, P. Pusey.
French Hymns: Bourignon, Monod. Danish: Ingemann. Spanish: Xavier and 429.
Earlier English Hymns.
Old Version: Sternhold, Kethe, 14, 2.
New Version: Tate and Brady, 17, 20, 78, 131, 298, 510.
Milton, Grossman, More, Baxter, Ken, Addison, Watts, Doddridge, the Wesleys, Cowper, Newton, Cennick, Byrom, Toplady, Olivers, Harvey.
Scotch Hymn-writers and Translators: Bonar, Borthwick, Bruce, Clephane, Cousin, Findlater, Small.
Irish: Kelly, Denny, Potter, Mrs. Alexander.
Welsh: W. Williams.
American: J. W. Alexander, Bliss, Bryant, Brooks, Coxe, Davies, Doane, Duffield, Duncan, Dwight, Gladden, Holmes, Hosmer, Lathbury, March, Miller, Ray Palmer, Rankin, Sears, Whittier, Wolcott.